Unknown Woman de Caen, Concubine #1 of Henry I of England

From: Medlands .Mistress (1): ---, a woman from Caen. The name of King Henry's first mistress is not known. Her origin is assumed because her son is styled "Robertus de Cadomo " by Orderic Vitalis. A possible family connection of hers is suggested by the undated charter, arranged with charters dated 1127/28 in the compilation, under which Henry I King of England confirmed an exchange of property between the abbot of Fécamp and "Nigello filio Willelmi, nepote Roberti comitis Gloecestrie filii mei", "Nigellus" donating property "in villa Fiscanni habuit et avus et pater eius"[155]. The wording of the document is incompatible with "Willelmi" being another son of King Henry I. The relationship with Robert Earl of Gloucester must presumably therefore be established through Robert´s mother. The alternatives appear to be that William, father of Nigel, was the son of Robert´s mother by a later marriage (and therefore uterine half-brother of Earl Robert), that William´s wife was her daughter by a later marriage (uterine half-sister of Earl Robert), or that the word nepos denotes a more remote blood relationship and that Nigel was the first or second cousin of Earl Robert. Another relative of Robert Earl of Gloucester was Christiana, who married, as his first wife, William FitzAlan. Orderic Vitalis records that "William fitz Alan castellan and vicecomes of Shrewsbury" married "a niece of Robert Earl of Gloucester"[156]. "William Fitz Alan" donated the fishery of Upton-upon-Severn to Haughmond abbey by undated charter, witnessed by "Walter his brother, Christiana his wife…"[157].