Notes for Gunnor DE CRÉPON


From Wikipedia:

The names of Gunnor's parents are unknown, but Robert of Torigni wrote that
her father was a forester from the Pays de Caux and according to Dudo of
Saint-Quentin she was of noble Danish origin.[3] Gunnor was probably born
c.  950.[2] Her family held sway in western Normandy and Gunnor herself was
said to be very wealthy.[4] Her marriage to Richard I was of great political
importance, both to her husband[a] and her progeny.[5] Her brother, Herfast de
Crepon, was progenitor of a great Norman family.[4] Her sisters and nieces[b]
married some of the most important nobles in Normandy.[6]

Robert of Torigni recounts a story of how Richard met Gunnor.[7] She was
living with her sister Seinfreda, the wife of a local forester, when Richard,
hunting nearby, heard of the beauty of the forester's wife. He is said to have
ordered Seinfreda to come to his bed, but the lady substituted her unmarried
sister, Gunnor. Richard, it is said, was pleased that by this subterfuge he
had been saved from committing adultery and together they had three sons and
three daughters.[c][8] Unlike other territorial rulers, the Normans recognized
marriage by cohabitation or more danico. But when Richard was prevented from
nominating their son Robert to be Archbishop of Rouen, the two were married,
"according to the Christian custom", making their children legitimate in the
eyes of the church.[
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