Raoul III of Tosny (1079-1126), Lord of Conches-en-Ouche (A commune in the Eure département in northern France), was an Anglo-Norman nobleman of the

House of Tosny The House of Tosny was an important noble family in 10th and 11th century Normandy, though it did not include any comtes or vicomtes. Its founder was Raoul I of Tosny (died after 1024). Origin The earliest account of the origin of the Tosny famil ...

Life

Born in 1079, Raoul was the son of Raoul II of Tosny and Isabel de Montfort. Following the death of

William II of England William II (; – 2 August 1100) was List of English monarchs, King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Duchy of Normandy, Normandy and influence in Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. He was less successfu ...

, Raoul III chose to support Henry I "Beauclerc" instead of

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose ( – February 1134, ), the eldest son of William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy as Robert II from 1087 to 1106. Robert was also an unsuccessful pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of England. The epithet "Curthose" ...

who was on crusade. On Raoul III's father's death in 1102, he crossed the Channel to take up his father's possessions in England, rallying to Henry and thus allowing himself to make a good marriage to Adelise, daughter and heiress of the Anglo-Saxon earl Waltheof of Northumbria. From 1104, Raoul accompanied Henry in his campaign to conquer

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. After the Battle of Tinchebray (1106), the campaign led to the imprisonment of duke

and his replacement by Henry, thus re-uniting England and Normandy under one master as it had been at the time of William. Raoul III's support for Henry was confirmed during the revolt of the barons of eastern Normandy against Henry in 1118-1119. Raoul did not rally to the rebels. Throughout the revolt, if

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...

is to be believed, he appears to have remained neutral or flexible in his allegiances. The leader of the revolt (Raoul's uncle Amaury III of Montfort) explained to king

Louis VI of France Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat () or the Fighter (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Like his father Philip I of France, Philip I, Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing ...

that he had to attack Normandy from the southeast since Raoul III was helping them. Amaury assured him that Raoul would join his vassals with Louis's troops and open four castles to him: Conches,

Acquigny Acquigny () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. The 16th century Château d'Acquigny is located here. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of th ...

, Portes, Tosny. In autumn 1119, Louis VI decided to intervene but the events that followed showed that Raoul III was not backing up Louis's force as Amaury had hoped and was not a sure supporter of the revolt. Raoul II de Gaël, one of Henry's supporters, suspected the Lord of Tosny of wanting to capture him. On Henry's advice, he conceded him Pont-Saint-Pierre and Val de Pîtres to keep him loyalOrderic Vital, ''ibid'', p. 319. Pont-Saint-Pierre and le Val-de- Pîtres formed part of the lands of Adelise de Conches, Raoul III's paternal aunt and the wife of William FitzOsbern. These domains included the "honneur" of Breteuil. In 1119, Raoul II de Gaël obtained this "honneur" from the king. In 1123-1124, Amaury de Montfort began another revolt against the king, during which Raoul III remained loyal.

Marriage and issue

Raoul married Adelise (Alice of Northumbria), daughter of Waltheof,

earl of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian people, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman England, Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the ...

and his wife

Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...

. They had: *Hugues *Margaret Isabel de Tosny, married Walter de Clifford *Roger III de Tosny (1104-1162), married Ida de Hainaut

References

Bibliography

* * *Orderic Vitalis, ''History of Normandy'', éd. Guizot, volume IV, book XII and XIII, 1826 *Lucien Musset, "Aux origines d'une classe dirigeante : les Tosny, grands barons normands du Xe au XIIe siècle", ''Sonderdruck aus Francia Forschungen zur westeuropäischen Geschichte'', Munich, 1978, p. 45-80 *Remfry. P.M., Clifford Castle, 1066 to 1299 () {{DEFAULTSORT:Raoul 03 Of Tosny Anglo-Normans Norman warriors 1126 deaths Year of birth unknown