Robert the Magnificent dies at Nicaea

July 3, 1035

The Duke of Normandy, returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, died suddenly in Bithynia, leaving his seven-year-old illegitimate son William as his designated heir. The boy, the product of a brief affair with a tanner's daughter, would survive assassination attempts for a decade to become the Conqueror. Norman nobles mocked his birth as base, a taunt that fueled a lifelong rage for legitimacy.