Individual Details

Birth

Gerard was a Norman baron with substantial estates in the Pays de Caux, the Hiemois, the Evrecin and Risle valley. He was a vassal of William of Talou in Arques.
In 1035, when Robert I, Duke of Normandy left on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Gerard Flaitel was one of his companions. In the spring of 1035 the group left Normandy probably taking the favored route through the Danube river basin to Constantinople. Duke Robert obtained permission for him and his retinue to continue on to Muslim-controlled Jerusalem. In Turkey Robert paid the required mussella (pilgrim tax). They arrived in time to spend Holy Week in Jerusalem. On their return through Asia Minor, Duke Robert fell ill while they were in Nicaea, and died there about 2 July. As he lay dying Gerard was asked to take possession of a Holy relic Robert acquired in Jerusalem, reputedly a finger-bone of Saint Stephen, and to make a gift of it to the abbey or monastery of his choosing. Gerard returned to Normandy and became a monk at the Abbey of St. Wandrille taking the relic with him. He died after 1047.