Richard I, Duke of Normandy

Richard I "the Fearless"
Richard the Fearless as part of the Six Dukes of Normandy statue in the town square of Falaise.
Count of Rouen
Reign	17 December 942 – 20 November 996
Predecessor	William Longsword
Successor	Richard II
Born	28 August 933 Fécamp Normandy, France
Died	20 November 996 (aged 63) Fécamp Normandy, France
Spouse	Emma of Paris Gunnor
Issue	Richard II of Normandy Robert II (Archbishop of Rouen) Mauger, Count of Corbeil Robert Danus Willam? Emma of Normandy Maud of Normandy Hawise of Normandy Geoffrey, Count of Eu (illegitimate) William, Count of Eu (illegitimate) Beatrice of Normandy (illegitimate) Robert (illegitimate) Papia (illegitimate)
House	House of Normandy
Father	William I Longsword
Mother	Sprota

Richard I (28 August 933 – 20 November 996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French, Richard Sans-Peur)(Old Norse,"Jarl Richart) was the Count of Rouen or Jarl of Rouen from 942 to 996.Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum" (Latin, "On the Customs and Deeds of the First Dukes of Normandy"), called him a Dux. However, this use of the word may have been in the context of Richard's renowned leadership in war, and not as a reference to a title of nobility. Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy or he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign, most important Norman landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.

Richard was born to William Longsword, princeps (chieftain or ruler) of Normandy, and Sprota. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a more danico marriage. He was also the grandson of the famous Rollo. William was told of the birth of a son after the battle with Riouf and other Viking rebels, but his existence was kept secret until a few years later when William Longsword first met his son Richard. After kissing the boy and declaring him his heir, William sent Richard to be raised in Bayeux. Richard was about ten years old when his father was killed on 17 December 942. After William was killed, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller. Rodulf of Ivry was their son and Richard's half-brother.

With the death of Richard's father in 942, King Louis IV of France installed the boy, Richard, in his father's office. Under the influence of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders the King took him into Frankish territory and placing him in the custody of the count of Ponthieu before the King reneged and seized the lands of the Duchy of Normandy. He then split up the Duchy, giving its lands in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis IV thereafter kept Richard in close confinement at Lâon, but the youth escaped from imprisonment with assistance of Osmond de Centville, Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Rollo of Normandy), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane (ancestor to the families of Harcourt and Beaumont).