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- Gerard Flaitel († c. 1047) was a Norman knight and a ' most powerful lord in Normandy at the time of the Richards' according to Orderic Vitalis.
Life
Gerard was a Norman baron with substantial estates in the Pays de Caux, the Hiemois, the Evrecin and Risle valley.[1] He was a vassal of William of Talou in Arques.[2]
In 1035, when Robert I, Duke of Normandy left on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Gerard Flaitel was one of his companions.[3] In the spring of 1035 the group left Normandy probably taking the favored route through the Danube river basin to Constantinople.[4] Duke Robert obtained permission for him and his retinue to continue on to Muslim-controlled Jerusalem.[4] In Turkey Robert paid the required mussella (pilgrim tax).[3] They arrived in time to spend Holy Week in Jerusalem.[3] On their return through Asia Minor, Duke Robert fell ill while they were in Nicaea, and died there about 2 July. As he lay dying Gerard was asked to take possession of a Holy relic Robert acquired in Jerusalem, reputedly a finger-bone of Saint Stephen, and to make a gift of it to the abbey or monastery of his choosing.[3] Gerard returned to Normandy and became a monk at the Abbey of St. Wandrille taking the relic with him.[3] He died after 1047.[5]
Family
While the name of his wife (or wives) is not known Gerard Flaitel had at least the following children:
William Flaitel, Bishop of Évreux († 1066).[6]
Ermengarde, wife of Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville.[6]
Basilla, wife of Ralph de Gacé, son of Robert, Archbishop of Rouen and secondly of Hugh de Gournay.[7]
Anscherius[8]
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985 - 1047 (62 years)
[1]