Robert fitz Martin

Robert fitz Martin (c. 10?? – c. 1159) was a Norman knight from the west of England who supported Henry I in his campaigns in Wales.

Martin became first Lord of Cemais and founded St Dogmaels Abbey. His descendants continued to hold lands in England and Wales until the 14th century.

Robert fitz Martin was born some time in the late 11th century to Geva de Burci, heiress of Serlo de Burci.

Geva de Burci's second husband was William de Falaise, with whom she had daughters, Emma and Sybil. "Emma de Falise married William de Courcy as her second husband. Earlier, she had been briefly married to William fitz Humphrey, but was evidently a widow soon after 1100 for, by 1106, she and her sister, Sybil, attested their father's charter without mention of their husbands. As a bride's possessions passed to her husband on marriage, he would normally attest before her but a widow acted in her own right."

Emma de Falise married William de Courcy, a son of Richard de Courcy of Courcy-sur-Dives, Normandy. They received the manor of Stoke (renamed Stoke-Courcy, now Stogursey) in Somerset from William, and were grandparents of John de Courcy. This made Robert fitz Martin a brother-in-law of William de Courcy, who "was most active in royal administration during the first decade of the reign" of Henry I, to whom de Courcy was a royal dapifer.

Robert inherited property from William and from his grandfather, Serlo de Burci, in Somerset, Dorset, and Devon. Early in the reign of Henry I he participated in the Norman invasions of Wales, and obtained the barony of Cemais, located between Fishguard and Cardigan, setting his caput at Nevern (Nanhyfer).

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