Robert
DUKE OF NORMANDY, surnamed THE DEVIL; the younger son of Duke Richard II. by his marriage with Judith, a daughter of Count Godfrey of Brittany. In 1028 he succeeded his elder brother, Richard III., whom he is charged with having poisoned. The first years of his government were employed in bringing his rebellious vassals into subjection, and he then restored Count Baldwin of Flanders to his states, assisted Henry I., King of France, against his mother Constantia, and humbled Count Otho of Champagne. In 1034 his fleet was wrecked off Jersey while on its way to England to support his nephews Alfred and Edward against Canute, who had excluded them from the succession to the English throne. Hereupon he concluded a truce with Canute, by which the two princes were promised half of England.
În 1033 he set out to visit the holy places, and subsequently made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot. While returning he died suddenly in Nicæa in Asia Minor (1035), and is supposed to have been poisoned by his servants. William the Conqueror was his son.
ROBERT I. See BRUCE, ROBERT.
ROBERT II., King of Scotland; born in Scotland, March 2, 1316; the son of Marjory, daughter of Robert Bruce, and of Walter, steward of Scotland, and was thus the first of the Stewart or Stuart kings. He was recognized by Parliament in 1318 as heir to the crown. On the death of David II. he was crowned at ROBERT 14, 1402, resulted in a disastrous defeat of the Scotch. In this year the Duke of Rothesay died in Falkland Castle, where he had been imprisoned; and it was commonly believed that he was starved to death at the instigation of Albany.
Dread of Albany, who had recovered the regency, induced the king to send his second son, James, to France in 1406; but the vessel which carried him was captured by the English, and Henry IV. long detained him as a prisoner. Soon after this event Robert died in Rothesay, Bute, in 1406.