ROBERT III. who disputed the dukedom of Artois with Mahaud his aunt; but he lost his suit by two sentences given in against him in 1302 and 1318. He wished to revive the process in 1329, under Philip of Valois, by means of pretended new titles, which were found to be false. Robert was condemned the third time, and banished the kingdom in 1331. Having found an asylum with Edward III. king of England, he undertook to declare him king of France; which proved the cause of those long and cruel wars which distressed that kingdom. Robert was wounded at the siege of Vannes in 1342, and died of his wound in England. John, son to Robert, and count of Eu, was taken prisoner at the battle of Poitiers in 1356, and terminated his career in 1387. His son Philip II. high constable of France, carried on war in Africa and Hungary, and died in 1397, being a prisoner of the Turks. He had a son named Charles, who died in 1472, leaving no issue.
ROBERT of Anjou, furnished the Wife, third son of Charles the Lame, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Naples in 1309, by the protection of the popes, and the will of the people, to the exclusion of Charobert son of his eldest brother. He aided the Roman pontiffs against the emperor Henry VII. and, after the death of that prince, was nominated in 1313 vicar of the empire in Italy, in temporal matters, unless a new emperor was elected. This title was given him by Clement V. in virtue of a right which he pretended to have to govern the empire during an interregnum. Robert reigned with glory 33 years, eight months, and died on the 19th of January 1343, aged 64. "This prince (says M. De Montigni) had not those qualities which constitute heroes, but he had those which make good kings. He was religious, affable, generous, kind, wife, prudent, and a zealous promoter of justice." He was called the Solomon of his age. He loved the poor,
Robert and caused a ticket to be placed upon his palace, to give notice when he meant to distribute from the throne. He had no other passion but a very great love for learning. He used to say, that he would rather renounce his crown than his study. His court soon became the sanctuary of the sciences, which he encouraged equally by his example and his bounty. This prince was versed in theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, mathematics, and medicine. Bocace says, "that since the days of Solomon we have not seen so wise a prince upon the throne." For a great part of his life he had no taste for poetry; he even despised it, as, in his opinion, unworthy of a man of learning. A conversation which he had with Petrarch, however, undeceived him; he retained this poet at his court, and attempted himself to write some poems, which are still extant. He was forced to engage a little in war, for which he possessed no great talents: alluding to which, may be seen on his tomb a wolf and a lamb drinking out of the same vessel. Philip of Valois refrained from giving battle in 1339, by the repeated advice which this prince gave him, who was a great friend to France, both from inclination and interest. He detested quarrels among Christian princes, and had studied the science of astrology, not so much to know the course of the stars, as to learn by this chimerical science the hidden things of futurity. He believed that he read in the grand book of heaven a very great misfortune which would befall France if Philip hazarded a battle against the English.
ROBERT the First, called the Magnificent, duke of Normandy, second son of Richard II. succeeded in 1208 his brother Richard III. whom it is reported he poisoned. He had early in his reign to suppress frequent rebellions of several of the great vassals. He re-established in his estates Baudouin IV. count of Flanders, who had been unjustly stripped of his possessions by his own son. He forced Canute king of Denmark, who was also king of England, to divide his possessions with his cousins Alfred and Edward. In the year 1035, he undertook barefooted a journey to the Holy Land; on his return from which he died, being poisoned at Nice in Bithynia, leaving as his successor William his natural son, afterwards king of England, whom he had caused before his departure to be publicly acknowledged in an assembly of the states of Normandy.