Robert de Grandmesnil

[2] But Robert also had a love of arms and fighting and was for five years an esquire to Duke William, who at the end of that period knighted him and rewarded him generously for his service.

[1] In 1050, Robert and his elder brother Hugh de Grandmesnil had decided to found a monastery and asked their uncle, William fitz Giroie,[a] to advise them.

[1] The brothers agreed and compensated the monks of Bec who owned the old ruins and then generously funded, along with contributions from their mother's fitz Giroie family, the restoration of the abbey.

[5] In one instance she and her husband Roger convinced Duke William to confiscate the lands of Arnold d'Échauffour (Robert's uncle), and turn them over to her.

[5] Upon learning these were false and discovering the duke had intentions of harming him, Robert consulted Bishop Hugh of Lisieux.

Duke William then had Osbern, a monk of the Holy Trinity, Rouen, installed as abbot of Saint-Evroul in Robert's place.

[8] The monks of Saint-Evroul on being notified of Osbern being judged an intruder and being excommunicated, left to join their lawful abbot Robert.

[1] Hugh, who left Normandy with Robert, returned in time to accompany William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, and subsequently was sheriff of Leicester and held sixty-seven manors at Domesday.