Gunnora de Crepon ¹

  General Notes:

Her parentage is unknown, earliest sources reporting solely that she was of Danish ancestry and naming siblings including brother Herfast de Crepon who is sometimes erroneously given as her father.

She was living with her sister Seinfreda, the wife of a local forester, when Richard, hunting nearby, heard of the beauty of the forester's wife. He is said to have ordered Seinfreda to come to his bed, but the lady substituted her unmarried sister, Gunnora. Richard, it is said, was pleased that by this subterfuge he had been saved from committing adultery, and the two became lovers. Gunnora long acted as Richard's mistress or wife by more danico, but when Richard was prevented from nominating their son Robert to be Archbishop of Rouen, the two were married, making their children legitimate in the eyes of the church.

Gunnora, both as mistress and duchess, was able to use her influence to see her kin favored, and several of the most prominent Conquest-era Norman magnates, including the Montgomery, Warenne, Mortimer, Vernon/Redvers, and Fitz Osbern families, were descendants of her brother and sisters.

Gunnora married Count Richard of Normandy I (The Fearless), son of Duke William of Normandy (Longsword) and Sprota de Bretagne. (Count Richard of Normandy I (The Fearless) was born on 28 Aug 933 in Fécamp, Normandy, France and died on 20 Nov 996 ².)