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Pearsall Surname Project
Number of Pearsalls By Location
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Surname
History and Genealogy
of the Pearsall Family in England
and America:
Volume I
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
The Motive
Thanks
Illustrations
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Appendix I
Volume II
Volume III
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CHAPTER FIVE
RICHARD
I. DUKE OF NORMANDY
Twenty-third
in Ancestry
Section 1, Richard,
Duke of Normandy and His
Family-History-The Old
Castle.
SECTION
1.
*23.
RICHARD I, Duke of Normandy, surnamed The Grand, le Vieux, Sans-peur, and the Fearless, son of William Longsword, Duke of Normandy, Chapter 4, Section 1;
born 932; died 996. Married, first in 946 at the age of fourteen, Esme or Emma, second daughter of Hugh, Duke de France
and Bourgoyne, Count of Paris and Orleans. To this
marriage no children were born.
A majority of his kingdom were
worshipers of God according to the religion of Odin and the Norman Dukes
were themselves less than half Christian, notwithstanding the odor of
sanctity that has been thrown about their names. Moreover their title to
be kings had come directly from the old line that traced back to Asia, and they were therefore very jealous of the
rights to continue their line in the old way. Richard the third duke was
no exception. While politics forced Esme upon
him as a wife, the Danish rite was still unused, and hence he married
according to his heart's desire. This of course added a disagreeable
complication, should both wives survive him. Fortunately Esme predeceased him and on E:;me's
death, Richard married according to the Christian church, his Danish wife
Gunnora, or the 'Lady Gunnor,'
who is described as sister to Herfaste, a Dane
of Noble birth. Dudo who knew her personally,
calls her `Une tres
belle femme, .. d'une famille de Dannemark de haute noblesse.' (A very beautiful
woman, very skilful, and of great intellect, an accomplished woman of
noble Danish family.) Sir Francis Palgrave in his History of Normandy,
vol. 8, page 11, says,-Richard's fluttering affections (after the death
of Emma) were ultimately fixed on the celebrated Guenora,-a
damsel of pure Danish descent. .. Guenor's
father's name is not recorded. . . She had a brother, Herfastus,
and three sisters, Sainfrida, Gueva and Adelina. The
eldest of these damsels, distinguished for her beauty, became the wife of
Richard's Forester. By this second marriage with Gunnor,
Richard's several children by her were made legitimate according to both
the Norman and French law. There can be no doubt that they were always
legitimate according to the Danish or Norman Law. The conflict between
the religion of Odin and the religion of Christ in Normandy certainly made lots of
trouble for the reigning dukes so far as the selection of their wives and
the succession to the Duchy were concerned. It is remarkable that the
marriage More Danico seems to have always been
supreme and that this continued until the conquest brought to the English
throne a king who was legitimate according to the Danish law, but
admittedly a bastard according to the laws of the Christian nation which
he and his descendants ruled. [Historie Genealogique et Chronol.,
by Anselme.]
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