Robert de Barry (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1175) was a Cambro-Norman warrior from Manorbier in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

who participated in the colonisation of the Kingdom of Desmond following the Norman invasion of Ireland.

Ancestry

Robert's role in the invasion and colonisation of Ireland, and his position in the medieval Welsh-Irish Norman society, was largely due to his membership of the extended family of descendants of Princess

Nest ferch Rhys Nest ferch Rhys (c. 1085 – c. 1136) was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth in Wales, by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. Her family is of the House of Dinefwr. Nest was the wife of Gerald de Windsor (c. ...

of Deheubarth. Nest had three sons and a daughter with her husband Gerald de Windsor: the daughter, Angharad, married William de Barry. Nest also had a son - Robert Fitz-Stephen - by her second husband. William Fitz Odo de Barry was the son of Odo or Otho, a Norman knight who assisted in the Norman Conquest of England and Wales during the 11th century. William rebuilt Manorbier Castle in stone and the family retained the lordship of Manorbier until the 15th century. Barry's brothers were

Philip de Barry Philip de Barry (fl. 1183), was a Cambro-Norman warrior from Manorbier in Pembrokeshire who participated in the colonisation of Kingdom of Desmond following the Norman invasion of Ireland. He was the founder of the Barry or De Barry family in Cou ...

Edmond de Barry Edmond is a given name related to Edmund. Persons named Edmond include: * Edmond Canaple (1797–1876), French politician * Edmond Chehade (born 1993), Lebanese footballer * Edmond Conn (1914–1998), American farmer, businessman, and politician ...

and Gerald of Wales. He accompanied his half-uncle Robert to Ireland in 1169 and took part in the

Siege of Wexford The Sack of Wexford took place from 2 to 11 October 1649, during the campaign known as the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. It was part of the wider 1641 to 1653 Irish Confederate Wars, and an associated conflict of the Wars of the Three King ...

,''Expugnatio Hibernica'' (extract)
by Gerald of Wales (1189) - reproduced by permission of ''The Medieval Source Book'' on Britannia Internet Magazine. where he was wounded. He is mentioned as still engaged in warfare about 1175 by his brother Gerald, the historian, who highly extols his prowess.

Note

According to the "Archdall's Lodge" (1789) source, Robert, "after his services in Ireland is said to seat himself at Sevington, in Kent," and "about the year 1185 being killed at Lismore,". But as he was elder than his brother Gerald, who was born in 1146 or 1147, this Robert was about forty years old in 1185. The same source reports that the Robert who was slain near Lismore in that year was only an ''adolescens'' that is, between fifteen and twenty eight years of age. It is improbable therefore that Robert (aged 40) was slain at Lismore. That person is more likely to be his namesake, the son of his brother Philip.

References

Robert Norman participants of the invasion of Ireland Norman warriors Year of birth missing Year of death missing 12th-century Welsh people {{ireland-bio-stub