{{Short description|11th-century Norman Noblewoman}} {{Infobox noble | name = Fressenda | title = Lady of Hauteville-la-Guichard | spouse = Tancred of Hauteville | issue = {{plainlist|*Robert Guiscard *Mauger *William *Aubrey *Humbert *Tancred *Frumentin *Roger I *Fressenda (wife of Richard I of Capua)}} | issue-link = | issue-pipe = | noble family = House of Normandy (possibly)<br>House of Hauteville (by marriage) | house-type = | father = Richard II of Normandy (disputed) | mother = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1000}}<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | birth_place = | death_date = {{circa|1060}}<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | death_place = Italy | burial_date = | burial_place = Benedictine Abbey of Sante-Eufemia | occupation = | memorials = }}
'''Fressenda''' ({{langx|la|Frensendis or Fredesendis}}) was an 11th-century Norman noblewoman and the wife of Tancred of Hauteville. She is known as the mother of Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily.
==Name== Goffredo Malaterra recorded her name as ''Frensendis''{{sfn|Goffredo Malaterra|2007}} and Orderic Vitalis as ''Fredesendis''{{sfn|Ordericus Vitalis|1840|p=90}} in latin. Her name has been anglicized as ''Fresenda''{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=239}} or ''Fressenda''{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}} in English literature.
==Origin== Fressenda's origin is not known. Contemporary historian Goffredo Malaterra, wrote that she was "a lady who in birth and morals was by no means inferior to his first wife." in reference to Tancred's first marriage who was of reputable birth.{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=239}}
Some historians have suggested that Fressenda was a illegitimate daughter of Richard II of Normandy.{{sfn|Schwennicke|1984|p=Table 79 & 205}}{{sfn|Stasser|1990|p=55}} Historian Elisabeth van Houts dismisses this claim as a 16th-century myth without evidence.{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=224}}
Historian Graham Loud wrote that Girard of Buonalbergo might have been related to Fressenda to explain his unwavering loyalty towards Robert Guiscard, her son, despite Robert's divorce of Gerard's paternal aunt. He admits that it is only speculation.{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=113}}
==Biography== Fressenda's early life is unknown but at some point she married Tancred of Hauteville in Normandy. He was a widower petty lord of Hauteville-la-Guichard in western Normandy. Tancred's first wife was close to him but died when he was still young enough to remarry.{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=238}} ===Family=== With Tancred, Fressenda had at least seven sons and one daughter. Tancred had already got five sons from his first marriage. She is said to have raised all her sons and stepsons fairly.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}
Since Tancred’s patrimony was too small to divide equally between all of their 12 sons, it became necessary for them to seek fortune elsewhere.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=30}} At first Fressenda's older stepsons left for Italy in {{circa}}1035.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=201}} Upon hearing of their success in securing the county of Apulia and Calabria, her oldest son Robert Guiscard was called to join them soon followed by Mauger, William, the youngest son Roger. Her daughter Fressenda also left with the brothers and married a Norman lord,{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=30}} Richard I of Capua.{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} Her remaining sons, Aubrey, Humbert, and Tancred appears to have stayed behind in Normandy and faded out of history. Fressenda herself left for Italy after the death of her husband at an unknown date.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=30}}
right|thumb|Ruins of the Abbey of Sainte-Eufemia. ===Death=== It is unknown when Fressenda died, but she was buried in the Abbey of Sainte-Eufemia that Duke Robert, her son, founded in 1062 for the abbot Robert de Grandmesnil who fled from Normandy.{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=247}} Fressenda's legacy survived through her sons, Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily, both remembered as rulers in mainland Italy and the island of Sicily respectively.{{sfn|Luscombe|Riley-Smith|2004|p=760}} ===Issue=== {{main|Hauteville family#Genealogy}} *Robert Guiscard (d. 1085), duke of Apulia and Calabria{{sfn|Luscombe|Riley-Smith|2004|p=760}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}} *Mauger (d. 1064){{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *William (d. 1080){{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *Aubrey{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *Humbert{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *Tancred{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *Frumentin *Roger (d. 1101), grand count of Sicily{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Luscombe|Riley-Smith|2004|p=760}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}} *Fressenda (d. 1078), wife of Richard I of Capua{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=28}}{{sfn|Van Houts|2000|p=298}}
==References== {{reflist|20em}}
===Primary sources=== *{{Cite book |last=Ordericus Vitalis |author-link=Orderic Vitalis |editor-last1=Le Prévost |editor-first1=Augustus |date=1840 |chapter = Liber III |title=Orderici Vitalis Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ |volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/ordericivitalis06deligoog/page/90/mode/2up?q=fredesendis |language=latin |location=Paris |page=90 }} *{{Cite book |last=Goffredo Malaterra |author-link=Goffredo Malaterra |date=2007 |chapter=Incipit liber primus |title=De rebus gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius |url=https://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0870/_P3.HTM |language=latin |publisher=Eulotech}}
===Secondary sources=== *{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Gordon S. |date=2003 |title=The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily |publisher=McFarland & Company |pages=28-30|isbn=9780786414727}} *{{cite book |last=Loud |first=Graham A. |author-link=Graham Loud |date=2000 |title=The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page= |isbn=9781315846224}} *{{cite book |editor-last1=Luscombe |editor-first1=David |editor-last2=Riley-Smith |editor-first2=Jonathan |date=2004 |chapter=Appendix: genealogical tables |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History: Part 2 |volume=4 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=760}} *{{cite book |last=Stasser |first=Thierry |date=1990 |chapter='Mathilde, fille du Comte Richard.' Essai d'identification |title=Annales de Normandie |volume=40 |issue=40-1|pages=49-64 |language=french |doi=10.3406/annor.1990.1855}} *{{cite book |last=Schwennicke |first=Detlev |date=1984 |chapter=Die ausserdeutschen Staaten: Die regierenden Häuser der übrigen Staaten Europas |trans-chapter=The States Outside of Germany: The Reigning Houses of the Remaining European States |title=Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten |volume=2 |location=Marburg |publisher=J.A. Stargardt |language=german |pages=Tables 79, 205}} *{{cite book |last=Van Houts |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elisabeth van Houts |date=2000 |title=The Normans in Europe |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |pages=1-320 |isbn=9780719047510}}
Category:Date of birth unknown Category:Date of death unknown Category:11th-century Normans Category:11th-century Norman women Category:Hauteville family Category:Mothers of Sicilian monarchs