Robert "the Devout" Fitz Harding

   Another name for Robert was Robert I Fitz Harding , Lord of Berkeley.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Robert Fitz Harding was also called Robert "the Devout," son of Harding. According the Cokayne's complete Peerage, Harding was likely the son of Eadnoth, "Staller" to King Harold and to Edward the Confessor, and was killed in 1068.

Robert Fitz Harding was said to have been a merchant of Bristol. He had great wealth and influence. Henry of Anjou, gave him, among others, the Castle and "herness" of Berkeley, which was confirmed by King Henry II in around 1155. At this time Robert Fitz Harding became the feudal Lord of Berkeley. Robert, Lord of Berkeley, founded, in 1141, the Abbey of St. Agustine, at Bristol, of which he later became a canon.

Robert, Lord of Berkeley married Eve, who founded a priory of nuns on St. Michael's hill, Bristol, whereof she died a Prioress on 12 Mar 1170. Robert died 4 Feb 1170/1, at about age 75. They two were buried together.

Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Berkeley), Vol. II, pp. 124-125

• Background Information. ⁸⁹⁹
There is an old Latin deed in the chart of St. Augustine, Bristol saying, "Robert, son of Harding, to all his liegemen and trusty and friends, greeting. Know ye that I have given my [son] Maurice the land which I had in in bristol of the barony of Ric. Foliot, which Bosso held, and the land which I had of the barony of Richard de Saint Quintin in Great Street, and land which I had of the barony of Gilbert de Umfravill, to him and his heirs to have and hold hereditarily, as they were granted to me by the lords of these lands, saving the service of the lords of the same lands. And also the land which I had in 'Bradestrete' in which I first dwelt, and the whole establishment which I there had and also the great stone house which I built upon Frome, I have given to the same Maurice, my son, provided that Eva, my wife, shall hold that land during her life, and after her death it revert freely and peaceably to Maurice my son and hiers [the MS. unintelligible], together with the land in which I had a bakehouse by the wall as you go towards St. James, and with the possessions which I have given to him, as well in the town of Bristol as without."

Robert Fitz Harding and Eva had five sons and two daughters. In 1140, Robert Fitz Harding began to build the Abbey of St. Augustine. He was very wealthy, espeically in large estates of land. He possed the manors of Filton and Horfield in Gloucestershire. He owned the manors of Almondsbury, Uley, Nibley, Siston, and Thorbury, the last being where he build the body of the church and tower. He dwelt at Roll's Place, Beverston, Elberton, King's Weston, which was an ancient demesne of the Crown, which together with Beverstone, he settled on his second son, Robert. He purchased many other manors and estates, and on some of these, he build religious houses.

Robert also was the supporter of the Empress Matilda, as were many in Bristol. He is said to have granted large amounts to her cause. It is very probable that the tradition is true which says Robert befriended Prince Henry, who had come to Bristol at the age of nine, and stayed for four years. Later, King Henry II gave the entire estates that had belonged to Roger de Berkeley, with the exception of the manor of Dursley, which Roger retained as Baron of Dursley. This began a fued between the two men, which was later settled by the marriage of their children.

This an agreement, made between Sir Robert Fitz-Harding, Baron of Berkeley and Sir Roger de Berkeley, Lord and Baron of Dursley, was that Robert's son, Maurice should marry Alice, daughter of Roger de Berkeley, with her receiving the town of Slimebrigge, and that Robert, son and heir of Roger de Berkeley, should marry Helena, daughter of Robert Fitz-Harding. Alice was to have £20 a-year land of the fee of Berkeley for her dower, and Helena was to have the manor of siston assigned to her in dower.

~The Great Governing Families of England, p. 211-216

• Children.
Maurice, son and heir, married to Alice de Berkeley.
Nicholas
Robert, his father gave him three hundreds of Portbury, Bedminister, and Haverclie, and also the church of St. Nicholas by Bristol and divers lands there. He married Hawiwis de Gurney.
Thomas, was a clergy man and archdeacon of Worcester
Henry, also a clegyman and archdeacon of Exeter, and Treasure to Henry, duke of Normandy (King Henry II).
Helena, eldest daughter, was according to the agreement at Bristol, married to Robert, son and heir of Roger de Berkley lord of Dursley. Helena died 12 Jan about John 10.

• Background Information. ¹⁴⁶¹
Robert Fitz Harding of Bristol, Provost of the twon, apparently a merchant there of great wealth and influence during the reign of King Stephen. Robert was a partisan of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, on the side of the Empress Matilda. He obtained grant of Berkeley from Henry II. He received the Earl the manors of Billeswick and Bedminster. He held lands of Humphrey de Bohun and William, Earl of Warwick, 1166. He was the Founder of the Abbey of St. Augustin in 1142, became a canon therein, died on the feast of St. Agatha, 5 Feb 1170 and was buried between the stalls of the abbot and the prior.

Robert married Prioress Eve of Bristol.¹⁴¹ (Prioress Eve of Bristol was born in 1100, died on 12 Mar 1170 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England ¹⁴¹ and was buried in 1170 in St. Augustine's, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England ¹⁴¹.)