Amice of Gael and Norfolk
Overview
Biography
Amice was the daughter of Ralph, lord of Gael and of Montfort in Brittany, son of the earl of Norfolk, and Emma, daughter of William Fitz-Osbern. She was engaged to Richard, illegitimate son of Henry I, but he was lost in the White Ship in 1120. Amice married Robert II, earl of Leicester, “le Bossu” (the Hunchback), who died in 1168; Robert and his twin brother, Waleran, had been brought up at the court of Henry I. Robert and Amice had a son, Robert III “Blanchmains,” who succeeded his father, and three daughters, Isabel, Hawise, and Margaret. Robert III supported the rebellion of the young prince Henry in 1173 and went in and out of royal favor. Amice witnessed one charter of her husband Robert’s in 1147 and attested another, but after 1155-59 her name no longer appears as witness to charters witnessed by other women in her family, (i.e., her daughters, Hawise, countess of Gloucester, and Margaret), so she may have withdrawn from the world by then.1 Robert III married Petronilla, and their son Robert died without issue, leaving his sisters Amicia of Beaumont, countess of Leicester, and Margaret, countess of Winchester to divide his inheritance.Letters from Amice of Gael and Norfolk
A letter to Public (c.1150)Letters to Amice of Gael and Norfolk
A letter from Gilbert Foliot (1148-63)A letter from Gilbert Foliot (1163-68)