Robert de Grantmesnil

Robert de Grantmesnil (or Grandmesnil), son of Robert I of Grantmesnil and Hawisa d'Échauffour, abbot of Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche in Normandy, which he helped restore in 1050, and later Bishop of Troina and subsequently Archbishop of Messina in Italy.

He was the younger son of Robert de Grandmesnil and Hawise d'Echaffour, and the younger brother of Hugh de Grandmesnil. [Orderic Vitalis, Forester translation, vol. I, p, 395] He became a monk at St. Evroul, [Orderic Vitalis, Forester translation, vol. I, p, 400] and subsequently its abbot. [Orderic Vitalis, Forester translation, vol. I, p, 422]

After entering into a violent quarrel with William II of Normandy, he was forced to flee to Rome in January 1061 and thence to the court of Robert Guiscard in Salerno, taking with him eleven of his monks, including his nephew Berengar.

In his time, Saint-Evroul was famed for its musical programme and these eleven monks brought its musical traditions to the abbey of Sant'Eufemia in Calabria, a foundation of the Guiscard's, of which Robert became abbot. [Joranson, 390.] After his establishment in Italy, his two half-sisters joined him there. One of them, Judith, soon married Roger I of Sicily. The newly famous singers of Sant'Eufemia performed at the wedding ceremony of Judith and Roger late in 1061.

In his later career, Robert was Bishop of Troina and subsequently Archbishop of Messina.

ources

;Primary sourcesThe chief primary sources for his life is the chronicle of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert de Torigny. This chronicle is known by various names ("Gesta Normannorum Ducum" etc.). Torigny also mentions Robert in his "De Immutatione Ordinis Monachorum".
*"The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni". Edited and translated by Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1995.
* "The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy" by Orderic Vitalis. Two translations are available: the 1853 translation of Thomas Forester, and the translation by Majorie Chibnall.

;Secondary sources
*Norwich, John Julius. "The Normans in the South 1016-1130". Longmans: London, 1967.
*Chalandon, Ferdinand. "Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile". Paris, 1907.
*Joranson, Einar. " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-7134%28194807%2923%3A3%3C353%3ATIOTCO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N The Inception of the Career of the Normans in Italy — Legend and History.] " "Speculum", Vol. 23, No. 3. (Jul., 1948), pp 353–396.

;Notes