obert (I) the Devil Duke of Normandy from 1027. Also known as the Magnificent, he was the father of William the Conqueror, and was legendary for his cruelty. He became duke after the death of his brother Richard III, in which he may have been implicated. The "Robert the Devil" who is the hero of three Old French romances is a mythical figure, the product of an unholy copulation between a demon and the duchess of Normandy who, after a life of terrible brutality, became a famously holy hermit. © Copyright Helicon Publishing Ltd 1996. [The Hutchinson Encyclopedia]

Robert I, surnamed le Diable (d. 1035), Duke of Normandy. In 1035 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, on the way home from which he died at Nicæa. His son was William the Conqueror of England. [The Home University Encyclopedia, 1946]

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