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.
Family background
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.
FitzMartin
FitzMartin was the surname of a Norman family based in England and Wales between 1085 and 1342.
Family origins
The first known member of the family was William Martyn de Tours, who appears to have died prior to 1100. Records show a Sir William Martyn of Tours, as having been born c. 1020 to Nicholas de Caineis in Tours,Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne, France. This Sir William Martyn joined William the Conqueror in his invasion of England. Duke William became the King of England after a successful military campaign which began as the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Norman French system of government was implanted in England. Sir William Martyn obtained the lands of Combe Martin in Devon, England, then engaged in his own battle against Wales, acquiring by force a barony in Pembrokeshire. Sir William Martyn died c. 1094 at was buried St Dogmaels Abbey, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Sir William Martyn, Lord Combe Martin, Lord Kemys, married Geva de Burci, daughter and sole heiress of Serlo de Burci, feudal baron of Blagdon in Somerset. By Geva de Burci, William Martyn he was father to a Sir Robert FitzMartin.
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