Robert II (archbishop of Rouen)

Robert called the Dane (le Danois, * between 967 and 974; † 1037) of the Rollonid family was Archbishop of Rouen from 989 and Count of Évreux from 996. He was a son of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, and the Dane (hence the epithet) Gunnora.

At a young age, his father made him Archbishop of Rouen, the most important ecclesiastical office in Normandy. The historian William of Jumièges reports that the clergy opposed the appointment as long as the duke refused to marry his mistress Gunnora. Richard finally gave in and entered into marriage with Gunnora.

A few years later, in 996, the year of his father's death, Robert was given the earldom of Évreux, and in this dual capacity he was now the most powerful person in the Norman court after his brother Richard II, the new duke.

As Count of Évreux, he took the right to marry. He took as his wife Herleve, perhaps a daughter of Turstin the Rich, by whom he had several children, including Richard, who succeeded him at Évreux, and Raoul de Gacé. Even taking into account that the Gregorian reforms made celibacy compulsory only later, married bishops were already the exception at that time. The historian François Neveux writes that Robert was a more secular than spiritual archbishop.

Towards the end of the 1020s, Robert began enlarging Rouen Cathedral. In addition, we know from the excavations of the archaeologist Jacques Le Maho that at the beginning of the 11th century he began to develop his castle at Gravenchon into a country residence. As a patron of the arts, he gathered around him a literary circle. Dudo of Saint-Quentin and the satirist Garnier de Rouen dedicated several works to him.

In 1027, his nephew Robert I the Magnificent took over the government in Normandy, and he soon came into conflict with Robert the Dane for unknown reasons. Archbishop Robert had to leave Rouen and withdrew with some knights to Évreux, where he was besieged by the Duke. After some resistance, Robert the Dane went to France, where he excommunicated the duke - a move that must have brought the duke to his knees. Uncle and nephew came to an understanding, and the archbishop returned to the ducal court, where he even became one of the most important advisors in the duchy - a position that was strengthened when Robert the Magnificent died in 1035, leaving a child to succeed him, William II. Archbishop Robert was now the strongman of Normandy until his death in 1037.