Person Page 454

Annulled/divorced in 1181 on ground of consanquinity.

Robert de Grantmesnil (also known as Grandmesnil), son of Robert I of Grantmesnil and Hawisa d'Échauffour, was the abbot of Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche in Normandy, which he helped restore in 1050, and later Bishop of Troina and subsequently Archbishop of Messina in Italy. He was the younger son of Robert de Grandmesnil and Hawise d'Echaffour, and the younger brother of Hugh de Grandmesnil.[1] He became a monk at Saint-Evroul,[2] and subsequently its abbot.[3]

After entering into a violent quarrel with William II of Normandy, he was forced to flee to Rome in January 1061 and thence to the court of Robert Guiscard in Salerno, taking with him eleven of his monks, including his nephew Berengar. In his time, Saint-Evroul was famed for its musical programme and these eleven monks brought its musical traditions to the abbey of Sant'Eufemia in Calabria, a foundation of the Guiscard's, of which Robert became abbot.[4] After his establishment in Italy, his two half-sisters joined him there. One of them, Judith, soon married Roger I of Sicily. The newly famous singers of Sant'Eufemia performed at the wedding ceremony of Judith and Roger late in 1061. In his later career, Robert was Bishop of Troina and subsequently Archbishop of Messina.