Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gunnora or Gunnor (circa 936 – 1031) was the wife and consort of Richard I of Normandy. Her parentage is unknown, earliest sources reporting solely that she was of Danish ancestry and naming siblings including brother Herefast de Crepon who is sometimes erroneously given as her father.

She was living with her sister Seinfreda, the wife of a local forester, when Richard passed by hunting. He is said to have approached Seinfreda with amorous intentions, but the lady rejected his advance, suggesting that her unmarried sister Gunnor might prove more receptive. They became lovers, Gunnor first acting as his mistress and eventually marrying him.

They were parents to six children:

  • Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy (966)
  • Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux, died 1037.
  • Mauger, Earl of Corbeil, died after 1033; his alleged grandson (or perhaps great-grandson) was Robert Fitz Hamon, an important Anglo-Norman baron.
  • Robert Danus, died between 985 and 989
  • Emma of Normandy (c.985-1052) wife of two kings of England.
  • Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres
This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.