King at Uppsala Refil Bjornsson

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Erik married Ingeborg about 866 in Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Bjorn married Svensdatter about 904 in Sweden. (daughter of of Sweden Sven) was born about 894 in of Upsala, Upsala, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ingeberg Thrandsdotter. Ingeberg was born about 886 in Uppsala, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Erik married Sigrid Storrada "The Haughty" Skoglar-Testedot about 949 in Sweden. Sigrid (daughter of Skoglar Toste) was born in 967 in Poznan, Poland; died on 2 Feb 1014. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Erik married Princess of Poland Swietoslava (Sygryda) (Gunhild) about 985. Swietoslava (daughter of Prince of Poland I Mieszko and Queen of Czechia Dubravka (Dobrava)) was born about 944 in of Poznan, Poland; died after 2 Feb 1014. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Styrbjorn married Queen of Norway Thyra Haraldsdotter in 947 in Denmark. Thyra (daughter of King of Denmark Herbastus (Harold) VII "Bluetooth" Gormsson and Gynrithe Olafsdatter) was born in 947 in Denmark; died on 18 Sep 1000 in Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gynrithe married King of Denmark Herbastus (Harold) VII "Bluetooth" Gormsson about 940 in Normandy, France. Herbastus (son of King of Denmark Gorm "The Old" and Thyre Haroldsdatter) was born in 910 in Blauzahan, Germany; died on 1 Nov 987 in Jomsborg, Roskilde, Denmark. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Olaf married Princess of the Obotrites Astrid (Inegrid) about 999 in of Uppsala, Sweden. Astrid (daughter of of Poland, Prince of the Obotrites III Mieceslas and Sophia) was born about 979 in Upsala, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Olaf married Princess of Wends Edla about 981 in Sweden. Edla was born about 960 in of Mecklenburg-Schw, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Sigrid. Sigrid was born about 971 in of Halland, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gunnora married Richard I "The Fearless", Duke of Normandy in 978 in Normandy, France. Richard (son of William I "Longsword" and Sporte de Bretagne) was born on 5 May 933 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 20 Nov 996 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lord of Longueville Osbern I de Bolbec. Osbern was born about 940 in Longueville, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Wevie married Touroude de Harcourt about 979. Touroude was born in 949 in Pont-Audemer, Eure, France; died in 1040; was buried in Preaux, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thyra married Prince of Sweden Styrbjorn "The Strong" Olafsson in 947 in Denmark. Styrbjorn (son of King of Sweden Olof "Mitkg" Bjornsson and Ingeberg Thrandsdotter) was born in 903 in Sweden; died in 985 in Fyrisval, Uppsala, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Cyrid. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sveyn married Sigrid Storrada "The Haughty" Skoglar-Testedot about 984. Sigrid (daughter of Skoglar Toste) was born in 967 in Poznan, Poland; died on 2 Feb 1014. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ingegarda married Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kyiv Yaroslav I "The Wise" Wladimirowwitsch Grand Prince of Kyiv in 1019 in Uppsala, Sweden. Yaroslav (son of Vladimir I "The Great" Sviatoslavich Grand Duke of Kyiv and Princess of Polotzk Rogneda Rogvolodovna) was born about 978 in Kyiv, Kraine, Ukraine; died on 20 Feb 1054 in Kyiv, Kraine, Ukraine; was buried in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Astrid married King of Norway Olav II Haraldsson in 1024 in Uppsala, Sweden. Olav (son of Harald Gudrodsson and Asta Gudbrandsson) was born about 995 in Ringerike, Norway, Denmark; died on 29 Jul 1030 in St. Klestad, Norway; was buried on 3 Aug 1030 in St. Clemens, Trondheim, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Princess of Denmark Estrid Margaret Svendsdatter. Estrid (daughter of King of Denmark, Norway and England Svend "Forked Beard" and Princess of Poland Swietoslava) was born about 955 in Denmark; died before 9 May 1047; was buried in Cathedral Roskilde, Denmark. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She died in exile.

Gytha married Godwin about 1019/20. Godwin (son of Wulfnoth) was born about 987 in of Wessex, England; died on 15 Apr 1053 in Winchester Castle, Hampshire, England; was buried in Winchester Cathedral, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Judith de Rennes in 996 in France. Judith (daughter of Conan I "The Crooked", Duke of Brittany Count of Rennes and Ermengarde d'Anjou) was born in 974 in Bretagne, France; died on 16 Jun 1017 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried in Bernay, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Princess of Denmark Estrid Svendsdatter in 1017 in Normandy, France. Estrid (daughter of Princess of Poland Swietoslava (Sygryda) (Gunhild)) was born about 962 in of Denmark; died in 9 May; was buried in Cathedral, Roskilde, Roskilde, Denmark. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Pope (Papie) about 1024 in of Normandy, France. Pope was born about 997 in of Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Geoffrey married Hawise de GuinesBrionne, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. Hawise (daughter of Count Guisnes Sigefred "The Dane" and Countess of Guisnes Elstrude de Flanders) was born in 958 in Guînes, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 19 Jul 1002 in Brionne, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hedwig married Geoffrey I Berengar in 996 in Bretagne, France. Geoffrey (son of Conan I "The Crooked", Duke of Brittany Count of Rennes and Ermengarde d'Anjou) was born in 980 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; died on 20 Nov 1008 in Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France; was buried in Bretagne-de-Marsan, Landes, Aquitaine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Beatrix married Viscount of Veretadour, Camborn and Turenne Ebles about 1000 in Roucy, Aisne, France. Ebles (son of Viscount of Ventedour II Archembaud and Sulpice de Turenne) was born in 970 in Turenne, France; died after 1030. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Havlive de Rouen. Havlive was born about 968 in Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Lescelin de Turquerville before 1017. Lescelin was born about 997; died in 1057. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Emma married King of England Æthelred II "The Unready" on 5 Apr 1002 in Winchester Cathedral, England. Æthelred (son of King of England Edgar "The Peaceful" and Ælfthryth) was born in 968 in Wessex, England; died on 23 Apr 1016 in London, Middlesex, England; was buried in St Paul's, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Emma married Canute in 1017. Canute was born about 995; died on 12 Nov 1035 in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Osbern married Avelina de Crepon about 1001 in France. Avelina (daughter of Herfast de Crepon and Cyrid) was born about 974 in of Longueville, Normandy, France; died in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Humphrey married Aubreye de la Haye Auberie about 1010 in France. Aubreye was born in 984 in Pont-Audemer, Eure, France; died on 20 Sep 1045. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Sigrid. Sigrid was born about 971 in of Halland, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Avelina married Lord of Longueville Osbern II de Bolbec about 1001 in France. Osbern (son of Lord of Longueville Osbern I de Bolbec and Wevie de Crepon) was born in 975 in Longueville, Normandy, France; died in 1063 in Longueville, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Avelina married Walter GiffordFrance. Walter was born about 978 in Of Halsbury. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Emma (Alberade) d'Ivry. Emma (daughter of Count of Ivry Ralph de Bayeaux and Erneburge de Caux) was born about 1008 in Ivry, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anna married Henry Capet, King of France I on 19 May 1051 in Maine, Charente, Poitou-Charentes, France. Henry (son of King of France Robert II "The Pious" Capet and of Toulouse Constance d'Arles) was born on 4 May 1008 in Reims, La Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 4 Aug 1060 in Vitry, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried in St Denis Abbey, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anna married Raoul IV de Valois in 1061 in Valois, Bretagne, France. Raoul was born about 1032 in Pays du Valois, Ile-de-France, France; died on 8 Sep 1074 in Mellent, Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anna married Harald III Hardrada "The Severe" Sigurdsson, King of Norway in 1044 in Kyyiv, Ukraine. Harald was born in 1015 in Ringerike, Buskerud, Norway; died in 1066 in Killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her ancestry is greatly disputed.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha%2C_wife_of_Edward_the_Exile

I have chosen the ancestry that makes the most sense to me.

Agatha married Edward "The Exile" Ætheling in 1035 in Hungary. Edward (son of King of England Edmund II "Ironside" and Ealdgyth) was born about 1016; died in 1057 in London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Irene Maria Monomachina. Irene (daughter of Emperor of Byzantium Constantine IX Monomachus and Argyra Skleraina) was born in 1030 in Greece; died on 10 Jul 1067. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ulfhild married of Saxony Ordulf about 1042 in Saxony. Ordulf (son of Duke of Saxony II Bernard and Elika von Schweinfurt) was born about 1022 in Saxony; died on 28 Mar 1072. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Flicka Dansk. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Harold Godwineson, II was created Earl of East Anglia in c. 1045, and succeeded his father as Earl of Wessex on the 15th of April, 1053. He was created Earl of Hereford in 1058, and styled 'Duke of the English' from 1064. He succeeded Edward the Confessor as King of England on the 6th of January, 1066, having been chosen by the King as his successor with the support of the Witan. Harold II was crowned on the 6th of January, 1066, probably at St. Paul's Cathedral in London (some authorities state he was crowned at Westminster Abbey, but there is no evidence for this).

He was killed at the Battle of Hastings, Sussex, England. He was felled by an arrow between his eyes - this popular myth has been perpetrated by a misreading of the Bayeus tapestry. He was, in fact, struck down by a blow from a sword wielded by a mounted Norman knight. Harold was buried on the seashore at Hastings, or on the battlefield - the latter is more likely. A stone memorial marks the spot within the grounds of Battle Abbey. Later on, Harold's remains were removed to Waltham Abbey in Essex.

He was succeeded by William, Duke of Normandy, the victor of Hastings.

THE NORMAN KINGS OF ENGLAND

Harold II was the last of the Saxon Kings of England. His successor, William I, based his claim to the English throne upon a promise made to him more than a decade before 1066 by Edward the Confessor, who is said to have told William that he, Edward, would make him his successor.

In 1064, Earl Harold was shipwrecked upon the coast of Normandy. William kept him in honorable captivity until he had sworn upon he had sworn upon holy relics to do all in his power to enforce William's claim to the English throne. William knew very well that at that time it seemed that Harold, the most powerful man in England next to the king, would be designated Edward's successor, which was what in fact happened. When, in the autumn on 1065, Edward was seen to be dying, the Witan considered all claimants and decided that Harold, as the only man with the strength and maturity that befitted him to rule England, was the natural choice. Edward, on his deathbed, accordingly left his crown to Harold, who seized power in defiance of his oath to William.

William thereupon gathered an army, sailed to England, and defeated Harold on the 14th of October, 1066 at the battle of Hastings - it should actually be called the Battle of Senlac Ridge, as that was where it took place. Hastings is 11 miles away.

At that time, there was only one living male representative of the ancient line of the Kings of Wessex, and that was a child known as Edgar the Atheling. He was the grandson of Edmund II. The Witan in London set him up as king as soon as they received the news of William's victory at Hastings, but it quickly became obvious that Edgar's impeccable claim to the throne would be no match for William's determination to wear the crown of England. Edgar submitted to William within 6 weeks, and William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.

A new royal dynasty had been founded; the joining of England with Normandy brought England very much into the forefront of European affairs. William's followers received lands and honors, and thus founded aristocratic dynasties of their own in their new realm. A new order prevailed, England was feudalized, its Church overhauled, and its legal system; and all things Saxon were disdained by the conquering Normans.

William's claim to the English throne had very little basis in dynastic terms. His great-aunt Emma had been wife to both Ethelred II and Canute. William's wife Matilda was a descendent of King Alfred. And that was all. William's own ancestor, Rollo, who founded the duchy of Normandy in the 10th century, had been a Viking pirate. It was left to William's son, Henry I, to ally himself in blood to the ancient line of Cerdic; in 1100, he married Edith, the niece of Edgar the atheling, much to the disgust of his Norman barons, who sneeringly referred to the royal couple as 'Godric and Godgifu', old Saxon names now fallen into disrepute. Yet the marriage was popular with the common people, who were, after all, Saxon, and later Kings would acknowledge that it was fitting that the blood of Cerdic flowed in their veins.

Family/Spouse: Edith Swanneshals. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harold married of Mercia Ealdgyth about 1052 in York, England. Ealdgyth (daughter of Earl of Mercia III Ælfgar and Ælgifu) was born about 1034 in Mercia, England; died after 1086 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edith married King of England Edward "The Confessor" on 23 Jan 1045. Edward (son of King of England Æthelred II "The Unready" and of Normandy Emma) was born about 1005 in Islip, Oxfordshire, England; died on 5 Jan 1066 in London, England; was buried in Westminster Palace, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was abducted by Sweyn and whom she contracted an uncanonical marriage.

Family/Spouse: of Wessex Sveyn. Sveyn (son of Godwin and Gytha Thorgilsdottir) was born about 1023; died on 29 Sep 1052 in Lycia, Constantinople, Byzantium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was created an earl in 1043.

Family/Spouse: of Wessex Elgiva. Elgiva (daughter of Godwin and Gytha Thorgilsdottir) was born about 1025; died about 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was created Earl of Northumbria in c. 1055. In that year, or later, he was also created Earl of Northampton and Nottingham. He was deprived of his earldoms on 3rd October, 1065. He was killed on the 25th of September, 1066, at the Battle of Stamford bridge in Northumberland, fighting his brother Harold II in alliance with Harold Hardraada, King of Norway.

Family/Spouse: of Flanders Judith. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was said to have been a monk at Rheims in France.

Notes:

She is said to have been a Nun at either St. Omer in France, or at Bruges in Flanders.

Notes:

He was created Earl of East Anglia in 1057.

Notes:

He created Earl of Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
in c. 1057

Notes:

Robert contributed to the restoration of Henry King of France to his throne and received from the gratitude of that monarch the Vexin as an addition to his patrimonial domains. In the 8th year of his reign, curiosity or devotion induced him to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where the fatigues of the journey and the heat of the climate so impaired his constitution he died on his way home.

Some sources call him Robert I the Magnificent!

Robert married Officer of the Household Hariette de Falaise about 1023. Hariette (daughter of Fulbert "The Tanner" de Falaise and Doda (Duxia)) was born in 1003 in Falaise, Normandy, France; died in 1035; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Adèle Capet, Princess of France in Jan 1026 in Nevers, Nièvre, Bourgogne, France. Adèle (daughter of King of France Robert II "The Pious" Capet and of Toulouse Constance d'Arles) was born in 1009 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees, France; died on 8 Jan 1078 in Monastere de Lordre de St Benoist, Messines, France; was buried in Mesen, Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alice married Renaud, Count of Burgundy I before 1 Sep 1016 in Burgundy, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France.. Renaud (son of Otto, King of Lombardy I and of Rheims Ermentrude de Roucy) was born in 990 in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France; died on 4 Sep 1057 in Fecamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried in Besancon, Franche-Comté, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Pappa married Gilbert (Gautier) de St. Valery about 1004 in of St. Valery-en-Caux, Normandy, France. Gilbert (son of Bernard St. Valery and Emma) was born about 977 in of St. Valery-en-Caux, Normandy, France; died after 1011. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Stephen II de Champagne. Stephen (son of Count of Blois, Champagne, Chartres, Tours and Beauvais Odo (Eudes), II and Ermengarde d'Auvergne) was born about 1015; died about 1047. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gilbert married Gunnora d'Anjou in 1021 in Tillieres, Eure, France. Gunnora (daughter of Fulk III "The Black", Count of Anjou and Hildegarde de Lorraine) was born in 984 in Anjou, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France; died on 12 Sep 1042 in Fecamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Constance de Eu. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Vicomte de St. Sauveur Niel III de St. Sauveur. Niel (son of Niel, Vicomte de St. Sauveur II and Countess of Bretange Hedwige) died after 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Emma married Ivo, Vicomte de Cotentin on 2 Apr 1043 in Bretagne, France. Ivo (son of Niel, Vicomte de St. Sauveur II and Adela d'Eu) was born in 1026 in Bellomontensis, Cotentin Manche Normandy, France; died on 22 May 1059 in Contentin, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Matilda about 1045 in France. Matilda was born about 1025 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Adelaide de Chalons about 1046 in France. Adelaide was born about 1025 in France; died in 1080. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

RICHARD, COMTE D'EVREUX, AND GUILLAUME HIS SON
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J. R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874........

Of the group of nobles at the head of this chapter, the first two are mentioned by Wace, and Guillaume de Poitiers speaks only of the son of Count Richard.

Other writers, however, assert that both Count Richard and his son fought side by side in the battle of Senlac. It is possible they might have done so, as Count Richard died on the 13th of December of the following year, 1067, and there is nothing to prove that he was not in the army of invasion. It is remarkable, however, that in Taylor's List it is William, Count of Evreux, who is set down as contributing eighty vessels to the fleet; and as William was not Count of Evreux in 1066, it is possible that it is one of the many mistakes we find in the baptismal names of these early nobles and their wives, and we ought to read "Richard," at least as far as the furnishing so noble a contingent as eighty vessels, which must surely have been the act of the reigning Prince, and not of his son, who might at the same time have had the command of them. Richard, Count of Evreux, was the grandson of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, and succeeded his father, Robert, Count of Evreux and Archbishop of Rouen, in 1037. Beyond the fact that at a date variously stated as 1055, 1060, and 1066 or 1067, he founded the abbey of St. Sauveur; nothing is stated of his acts and deeds worth recording; but he is described by the monk of Jumièges as equally a good Christian and aa good soldier.....

He was twice married. His first wife was Adela (called by Pere Anselm, Helene), widow of the Roger de Toeni who was slain in 1038, by whom he had William, who succeeded him, and Agnes, third wife of Simon de Montfort, and whose abduction by her half-brother, Ralph de Toeni, I have already mentioned. By his second wife, Godechilde, of whose family we know as little as we do of that of his first, he had only one daughter, named after her mother, who became abbess of St. Sauveur, the abbey founded by her father at Evreux.

Of William, Count of Evreux, the undoubted companion of the Conqueror, much more is recorded, though nothing previous to the invasion, except his being present with his father at the great Council at Lillebonne, wherein that invasion was decided upon. He is reported as having borne himself valiantly in the battle, and received an ample share of the lands in England distributed by the Conqueror in 1070 to the chieftains who had accompanied him in his expedition. He returned to Normandy in 1078, and was one of the mediators in the treaty of Peace of Blanchelande (vide p. 198, ante). Shortly afterwards, King William, as if to indemnify himself for the property he had bestowed upon him in England, took from him the Castle of Evreux, and placed a royal garrison in it. Nevertheless, he fought on the King's side during the disturbances in Maine, and was taken prisoner at the assault of the Castle of Saint Suzanne, held against the King by Hubert, Vicomte de Maine. In 1087, on the death of the Conqueror, he recovered the Castle of Evreux, driving out the royal troops both from there and from the town of Dangu in the Norman Vexin.

Being without issue, he had adopted his niece Bertrade, daughter of his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort. In 1089, Fulk le Rechin, or the Quarreler, Count of Anjou, captivated by her beauty, determined to repudiate his third wife, Arengarde, daughter of Isambert, Lord of Chalet-dillon, whom he had only married, 21st January, 1087, in order to obtain the hand of the lovely Bertrade. At this moment, the Manceaux making a fresh effort to throw off the yoke of the Normans, Duke Robert Court-heuse entreated the Count of Anjou to assist him in their repression, which he promised to do on condition that the Duke would obtain for him the hand of Bertrade. On Robert's application to the Count of Evreux, he was answered: "Not unless you will restore me Noyon- sur-Andelle, Gassai, Cravant, Ecouchi, and the other lands of Raoul, my paternal uncle, who was facetiously called 'Tete d'Ane,' on account of his head of hair, and to my nephew, William de Breteuil, Pont Saint Pierre; for Robert de Gassai, son of Raoul, has made me his sole heir." The Duke accepted the condition, and restored to him the whole of these estates, except that of Ecouchi, which was held by Gerrard de Gournay, who was of the same family. The beautiful young Bertrade was, therefore, literally sold at that price to the profligate and detestable Count of Anjou, whom she subsequently fled from with the French King, Philip I, -- the natural consequence of such an unholy union, and the guilt of which lies on the head of her uncle. I have already, in my notice of Ralph de Toeni, spoken of the war maintained for three years between him and this William, Count of Evreux, his uterine brother, kindled by the hostility of their respective wives. After their reconciliation the Count of Evreux did good service to Duke Robert against William Rufus, who endeavored to take from him the city of Rouen; but afterwards, making his peace with the King on the departure of Court-heuse for the Holy Land, he was appointed, in 1097, one of the leaders of the army sent by Rufus, as Regent of Normandy in his nephew's absence, to wrest the province of the Vexin from the King of France, and after the reduction of Maine, in the following year, was charged, in conjunction with Gilbert de 1'Aigle, with the keeping of the city of Mans.

Previous to the death of Rufus the Count of Evreux was out of favor with the King, in consequence of some reports to his disadvantage, attributed to the jealousy of Robert de Meulent, but he continued loyal to that monarch up to the day of the fatal hunt in the New Forest. He lost no time afterwards, however, in avenging himself on Robert de Meulent, whose land of Beaumont he overran and ravaged with unsparing fury.

In 1104 the new King of England, Henry I, coming over to Normandy with a numerous fleet and a great power, in order to restore something like order into the duchy, which the indolent and dissolute Robert Court-heuse had abandoned to the shameless parasites by whom he was enslaved, Robert, conscious of his misconduct, and alarmed at the attitude of his brother, implored his forgiveness and protection, offering him, as a pledge of his sincerity, the whole Comté of Evreux, with the feudal services of itss Count and all his vassals.....

"The illustrious Count," says Orderic, "hearing that he was to be transferred like a horse or an ox, and wishing to preserve his integrity and fealty, said publicly to the Princes: 'I have served your father faithfully all my days, never having stained my sworn fealty in any matter hitherto. I have also observed it to his heir, and determined to use every effort to continue in that course; but it being impossible, as I have often heard learned doctors declare, on the faith of Scripture and the Word of God, that a man can serve two masters who are opposed to each other, it is my earnest desire to be subject to one lord only, lest, being liable to a double service, I may satisfy neither. I love both the King and the Duke; both are the sons of the King, my late lord, and I wish to respect both; but I will only do homage to one, and him I will faithfully serve.'"

The chronicler adds that this candid declaration pleased every one. Duke Robert himself placed the hands of the Count between those of the King, and William became Henry's "Man," fighting for him loyally against his former lord, Robert Court-heuse, at the battle of Tenchebrai, A.D. 1106. But the restless and mischief-making spirit of his wife, by whom he was blindly guided, disturbed the good feeling between William and his sovereign, who had begun very highly to appreciate the services of the Count of Evreux. Proud and envious, she involved him in continual quarrels with the most influential nobles about the person of the King, and ultimately induced him to destroy a tower which Henry had caused to be erected in Evreux.

This act embroiled him with the King, and caused his banishment and the confiscation of his estates. He sought refuge with Fulk V, Count of Anjou, the son of his niece Bertrade, A.D. 1112. Recalled and re-established in his estates after fourteen months' exile, he was a second time banished and again pardoned and restored to his rank and property, and died of apoplexy, 18th April, 1118, without issue.

I cannot resist quoting from Orderic a ridiculous story connected with the death of this Count, because it is so seriously told by the worthy monk of St. Evroult, and illustrates the curious state of education of the period.

"About this time," says the writer, "a prodigy was seen in England. A rustic having bought a cow, presumed to be with calf, at Ely, killed and opened it by order of Henry the Breton, bishop of that diocese. Strange to say, instead of a calf, three little pigs were found in it. "A certain pilgrim returning from Jerusalem, who chanced to meet the countryman driving the cow home from market, told him, and afterwards repeated to the Bishop and other bystanders, that three great persons in the dominions of King Henry would die that year, and many severe calamities would follow. The pilgrim's prophecy was justified by events which occurred in the time specified.

"In fact, William, Count of Evreux, died on the fourteenth of the kalends of May (11th April), and was interred at Fontenelles, in the Abbey of St. Wandrille, by the side of his father Richard. Soon afterwards Queen Matilda, whose baptismal name was Edith, died on the kalends (1st) of May, and lies buried in the Church of St. Peter at Westminster; likewise Robert, Earl of Meulent, expired on the nones (5th) of June, and reposes with his father and brother in the chapters of the monks at Preaux. After the death of these distinguished persons there were great troubles in Normandy."

It needed no ghost from the grave, nor second-sighted pilgrim to predict that three persons of rank would die in the course of the ensuing twelve months, or that there would be troubles in some parts of the dominions of Henry.

The production of the three little pigs is by far the most surprising part of the story. Are we much less prone to gulp down preposterous statements in the 19th century?

One fact, however, is incidentally brought to light in this foolish fiction which is important to the genealogist. The double name of the Queen warns us of the confusion that may arise from our ignorance of such instances in other cases; one of which may possibly be discovered in the puzzling entry in Domes day Book respecting the King's daughter "Matilda" (vide p. 84, ante).

I have given you the character of Isabel, wife of Ralph de Toeni, it is but fair to place before you that of her antagonist, Havise, from the same authority.

"The Countess," writes Orderic, "was distinguished for her wit and beauty. She was one of the tallest women in all Evreux, and of very noble birth, being the daughter of William, the illustrious Count of Nevers. Disregarding the counsels of her husband's barons, she chose rather to follow her own opinion, and her ambition prompting her to meddle in political affairs, she was easily led to engage in rash enterprises."

The Countess died in 1114, and was buried at Noyon-sur-Andelles, in the priory which, with her husband, she had founded in 1108, but which was unfinished when Orderic was writing the eleventh book of his "History," viz., 1136. The building was razed to the ground in the reign of Charles IX, who laid the foundations of a magnificent palace there, and since that time the place has been called Charleval.

Family/Spouse: Adele de Toeni. Adele (daughter of Raoul I de Toeni and Fredistina de Bayeaux) was born about 1004 in Normandy, France; died in 1051. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Abbess of St. Sauveur Godechilde. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Gerrard Flaitel. Gerrard was born in Jan 983 in Longueville, Normandy, France; died in 1028 in Longueville, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Known as "the Confessor", he was born around c. 1003/4 (by 1005) at Islip, Oxon. When he succeeded his half-brother King Hartacanute, on the 8th of June, 1042, the crown of England reverted from the usurping Dainsh dynasty to the line of Cerdic once
more, and for the last tiem. Edward was crowned on the 3rd of April, 1043, at Winchester Cathedral.

He died on the 4th or 5th of January, 1066, at the Palace of Westminster, and was buried in the new Westminster Abbey, built by his command and only recently consecrated.

He was succeeded by Harold, Earl of Wessex, his brother-in-law, to whom he left his throne, with the suport of the Witan, there being no adult claimant to the crown of the line of Cerdic.

Edward and Edith's marriage was purely platonic, the King being unwilling, for religious reasons, to comsummate it, hense there were no children.

His talent lay in the building of churches.

On the 7th of February, 1161, edward the Confessor was canonised, thus becoming the only king of England to be made a saint.

Edward married of Wessex Edith on 23 Jan 1045. Edith (daughter of Godwin and Gytha Thorgilsdottir) was born about 1020; died on 18 Dec 1075 in Palace of Westminster, London, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Goda married Count of Mantes and the Vexin Walter "Dreux" de Vexin about 1023. Walter (son of Count of Vexin Walter (Gautier) II "The White" de Valois and Adele de Senlis) was born in 979 in Normandy, France; died on 1 Jul 1035 in Bithynia, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Goda married Count of Boulogne II Eustace about 1050. II (son of I Eustace and Mahaut) was born about 1015 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died in 1087. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

WALTER GIFFARD
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J. R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874..

Here we have the name of an illustrious Norman, the progenitor of a race from which the noblest families in England are proud to trace their descent; and, strange to say, beyond this fact little or nothing is known about his own family which can be supported by credible authority. Even the origin of the name of Giffard, Gifford, or Giffart, as it is indifferently spelt, has yet to be definitively settled.

The story that has been so often told about it, viz., that it signified a free-handed or liberal giver, is without any substantial foundation, and is, I believe, one of the many which have been so detrimental to the study of genealogy and heraldry, by misleading the inquirer or checking research altogether. It is upon the authority of William of Jumièges thatt this Walter Giffart, the companion of the Conqueror, the first we know of that name, has been set down as a son of Osborn de Bolbec by his wife, indifferently called Avelina and Duvelina, sister of Gonnor, wife of Richard, Duke of Normandy. Granting this to be true, as we have no documentary evidence to contradict it, the appellation of Giffart or Gifford, appears to be one of those sobriquets founded on personal peculiarities so commonly applied to distinguish certain members of a family previous to the general establishment of hereditary surnames.

Instances of the practice are familiar to the veriest schoolboy, and in the preceding memoir I have mentioned Lambert the Bearded, Eustace with the Eye, and Eustace with the Whiskers. Hence the complimentary suggestion of " Free-Giver," which I should be happy to leave undisputed could it be borne out by etymology. The family, however, was Norman, not Saxon; and it is in the Norman-French, or Low-Latin of the eleventh century, that we must look for its derivation. The word occurs in both those dialects. In Roquefort's Dictionnaire de la Langue Romane, "Giffarde" is rendered "Joufloue, qui a des grosses joues - servante de cuisine," the word being derived from giffe "the cheek," giffle also signifying in the same language "un soufflet," or blow on the cheek. An old French poet, Gautier de Coisiny, complains that women of every class paint themselves, even the torchepot, " scullion," and the Giffarde, " kitchen maid or cook." So in the new Dictionnaire Franco-Normand, by M. George Métivier, we have "Giffair, rire comme un jouflou." And, to myy great satisfaction, I find that this esteemed philologist has come to the same conclusion as myself, for under that word he has " Giffe, Giffle, Joue. Telle est l'origine de l'illustre famille Normande de Giffard, nom répandu très au-delà de cette Province (Jersey, of which Mons. Métiviervier is a native) et de nos îles." Vide also Ducange, sub voce "Giffardus,"" who has a similar interpretation, "Ancilla coquina." It is almost impossible to resist the conviction that Giffard, in the language of that day, signified a person with large cheeks, and was in consequence applied to a cook, who is popularly represented as fat and rubicund.

I beg to apologize to those of my readers who may not take any interest in such disquisitions, and hasten to the sayings and doings of Walter Giffard, with whom the name, whatever it meant, could not have originated, as an Osborne and a Berenger Giffard were his contemporaries, proving that the sobriquet of an individual had become the appellation of a family.

We first hear of him in 1035, as a companion of Hugh de Gournay in the abortive attempt of Edward son of King Ethelred to recover the crown of England (vide vol. ii. p. 113), and next in 1053, when he was left by Duke William in command of the forces blockading the Castle of Arques, and at that period was Lord of Longueville, and already past the prime of life, judging by his account of himself only thirteen years afterwards. In the following year Wace informs us he was entrusted by the Duke with the defense of the district of Caux, in which Longueville is situate, on the occasion of the invasion of Normandy by Henry, King of France. Subsequently he appears to have made a pilgrimage to St. Iago de Compostella, in Spain, or may perhaps have been sent there by the Duke on some mission to Alfonso King of Galicia, to whom William afterwards affianced his daughter Agatha, after the breaking off of the match with the Saxon Prince Edwin. All we learn from Wace is that in the great battle William's first horse had been brought to him by Giffard from Spain, "the gift of a king who had a great friendship for him." The Lord of Longueville accompanied his sovereign to England, having furnished his fleet, according to the List published by Taylor, with thirty vessels and a hundred men.

Previous to the battle, Raoul de Conches, the hereditary standard-bearer of Normandy, having prayed quittance of service on that day, that he might fight with greater freedom in the field, the Duke called to him Walter Giffard, and desired him to bear his gonfanon, who also requested to be excused the honor on the plea of being too old and too feeble. "For the mercy of God, sire," said the old knight, "look upon my white and bald head; my strength is impaired, and I am short of breath," and in answer to the Duke's passionate reproaches, urged that he had a large contingent of men-at-arms in the field, whom he was bound to lead into action, and at the head of them he was ready to die in his sovereign's cause. Whereupon the Duke excused him, and assured him that he loved him more than ever, and that if he survived that day it should be the better for him (Walter) as long as he lived.

We hear of no special exploit performed by him during the battle, Benoîtt de St.-More merely saying that he was struck down in the mélée, andnd rescued apparently by William himself. At its close, however, after Harold had been mortally wounded, this brave old Lord of Longueville, with his bald head and his white locks, is accused of assisting to mutilate the body of the heroic King!

It would be an indignity to the noble veteran to defend him against so infamous a charge, and fortunately there is no need to do so, for it is unsupported by any evidence, and the accuser stands convicted of falsehood and exaggeration sufficient to deprive him of any character for honesty whatever.

When the fight was over, and the victorious Duke had ordered a space on the top of the hill to be cleared of the dead and dying, that his tent might be pitched there, and signified his intention to sup and sleep on the spot, Walter Giffard galloped up to him. " Sire," he said, "what are you about? You are surely not fitly placed here among the dead. Many an Englishman lies bleeding and mingled with the slain, but yet living, and though wounded, only waiting to rise at night and escape in the darkness. They would delight to take their revenge, and would sell their lives dearly, no one caring who killed him afterwards, so he but slew a Norman first, for they say we have done them great wrong. You should lodge elsewhere, guarded by one or two thousand men whom you can best trust. Let a careful watch be set this night, for we know not what snares may be laid for us. You have made a noble day of it, but I like to see the end of the work." The Duke, however, adhered to his original determination. (Roman de Rou) There can be no doubt, I think, that this Walter Giffard who fought at Hastings was the person to whom William the Conqueror, in 1070, gave the earldom of Buckingham; for, old as he is said by Wace to have represented himself at that period, he lived nineteen years afterwards, and was one of the Commissioners entrusted by William to superintend the compilation of the great survey of England, and I can find no reason whatever for the ordinary assertion that his son, the second Walter, was the first earl.

There is evidence that in 1079 he founded the priory of St. Michel de Bolbec, and he is reported to have died about 1081, which we may fairly understand to be 1085, the year in which Domesday was begun and completed.

The wife of this Walter was Ermengarde, a daughter of Gerrard Flaitel, by whom he had a son, the second Walter, Earl of Buckingham, who died in 1102, and with whom he has been confounded. He had also a second son named William, who was Chancellor to William Rufus, made Bishop of Winchester by Henry I, 1107, and died in 1128, and a daughter, named Rohais or Rohesia, wife of Richard Fitz Gilbert, from whom descended the great house of Clare.

Family/Spouse: Ermentrude (Ermengarde) Fleitel. Ermentrude (daughter of Gerrard Flaitel and d'Evereaux) was born in 1014 in Longueville, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Beatrice married Tesselin de Vascoeuil, Count of Rouen in 1010 in Longueville, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. Tesselin (son of Gozelin de Rouen and Emmeline de Normandy) was born in 970 in Vascoeuil, Haute-Normandie, France; died in 1021 in Vascoeuil, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Beatrice de Arques. Beatrice (daughter of Josselyn de Arques and Emmeline) was born in 975. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Seigneur of Beaumont, Pontaudemer, Brionne and Vatteville, Normandy.

Roger was nicknamed Barbatus or La Barbe because he wore a moustache and beard while the Normans usually were clean shaven. This peculiarity is recognized in the forty-first panel of the Bayeux Tapestry where he is depicted sitting at a feast with Duke William on his left hand, Odo brother of William and Bishop of Bayeux in the centre.

Planché tells us that "he was the noblest, the wealthiest, and the most valiant seigneur of Normandy, and the greatest and most trusted friend of the Danish family." There is an explanation for this - as an older cousin who had never rebelled against the young Duke, he was part of the kinship group of noblemen that William relied upon in governing Normandy and fighting off frequent rebellion and invasions. The historian Frank McLynn notes that William relied on relatives descended via his mother (namely his half-brothers and brothers-in-law) and on relatives descended from the Duchess Gunnora's sisters, since his own paternal kin had proved unreliable.

Wace, the 12th century historian, says that "at the time of the invasion of England, Roger was summoned to the great council at Lillebonne, on account of his wisdom; but that he did not join in the expedition as he was too far advanced in years." Although Roger could not fight, he did not hesitate in contributing his share of the cost, for he provided at his own expense sixty vessels for the conveyance of the troops across the channel. Furthermore, his eldest son and heir fought bravely at Hastings as noted in several contemporary records. As a result, Roger's elder sons were awarded rich lands in England, and both eventually were made English earls by the sons of the Conqueror.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Died:
Abbey of Preaux, Pont-Audemer, Eure, France

Roger married Adeline de Meulan in 1040. Adeline (daughter of Waleran de Meulan and Ode de Conteville) was born about 1025. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Princess of Denmark Estrid Margaret Svendsdatter. Estrid (daughter of King of Denmark, Norway and England Svend "Forked Beard" and Princess of Poland Swietoslava) was born about 955 in Denmark; died before 9 May 1047; was buried in Cathedral Roskilde, Denmark. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She died in exile.

Gytha married Godwin about 1019/20. Godwin (son of Wulfnoth) was born about 987 in of Wessex, England; died on 15 Apr 1053 in Winchester Castle, Hampshire, England; was buried in Winchester Cathedral, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Conqueror and His Companions
by J. R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874........

Of the three great names at the head of this chapter [Wm F. O., Roger de Montgomeri, Robt de Beaumont], that of William Fitz Osbern claims precedence as the nearest personal friend of the Conqueror, and the chief officer of his household. Son of that Osbern the son of Herfast, otherwise Osbern de Crépon, who was foully murdered in the bed-chamberr off his young sovereign by William de Montgomeri, he succeeded him in his office of Dapifer and the favor of the Duke. No particular feat of arms is recorded of him, though he must have fought in some, if not all, of the battles in Normandy during the twenty years or more which immediately preceded the invasion of England, from that of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047 tooo that of Varaville in 1060, and was probably with the Duke in his expeditions against Conan in Brittany and his invasion of Maine in 1063. We have proof at least of his presence at the siege of Domfront in 1054, when he was sent with Roger de Montgomeri to demand an explanation from Geoffrey Martel of his conduct in marching into Normandy and seizing Alençon. It is not, however, till thee memorable year 1066 that hee becomes a prominent person in the history of Normandy and of England. He appears to have somewhat resembled his master in character, combining great valor with much readiness of wit and astuteness of policy. We have seen him entering the hall of the Palace at Rouen "humming a tune," and rousing the moody Duke from his silent and sullen consideration of the news from England by bidding him bestir himself and take vengeance on Harold, who had been so disloyal to him; to call together all that he could call, cross the sea, and wrest the crown from the perjured usurper. William followed his advice, as most people do when they have already determined on taking the course suggested, and "Osbern, of the bold heart," was very likely aware of that fact when he ventured to express his opinion. The call was made first of the Duke's relatives and most confidential friends, and then of the whole baronage of Normandy. It is at this last and large assembly at Lillebonne that the audacity and cunning of Fitz Osbern become strongly apparent.

Considerable hesitation, and in some instances direct objection, being displayed to the adoption of the project, and the council breaking up into groups to discuss it, the wily Dapifer flitted about from one influential chief to the other, suggesting the danger of driving their feudal lord to extremities; that they should rather anticipate his wishes than suffer him to ask their aid in vain, and that it would be much worse for them eventually, should the Duke have to complain that his enterprise had failed in consequence of their defection. Puzzled and irresolute they at length requested him to speak to the Duke in the name of the whole body, and say not only that they feared the sea, but also that they were not bound to serve him beyond it.

Having thus contrived to be elected their spokesman, he, with the greatest effrontery, assured the Duke that they were unanimous in their determination to support him. That to advance him they would go through fire and water. They would not only cross the sea, but double their service. He who should bring twenty knights would cheerfully bring forty; he who was bound to serve with thirty would come with sixty, and the barons who had to serve with one hundred men would join him with two hundred. As to himself, he promised to furnish sixty ships laden with fighting men. The barons were as indignant as astounded at this unwarrantable declaration. Many openly disavowed him; all was tumult and confusion. "No one could hear another speak; no one could either listen to reason or render it for himself" (Roman de Rou).

The Duke then withdrawing to one side of the hall, sent for the barons one by one, and assuring them of his love and grace, pledged himself that if they would support him, as Fitz Osbern had stated, by doubling their service on this occasion, that they should not be called on in future for service beyond what was the custom of the land, and such as their ancestors had always rendered to their feudal lord. The Duke's eloquence was successful, and, as before stated (page 51), each baron's promise was recorded by scribes ready at hand as soon as it was made.

In Taylor's List, the number of ships furnished by Fitz Osbern, whose name stands first upon it, agrees with that mentioned by Wace. "Habuit a Willielmo Dapifero, filio Osberni LX naves." No knights are mentioned.

We next hear of him on English ground. While the Duke of Normandy was haranguing his forces on the morning of the battle, "William Fitz-Osber" rode up and interrupted him, saying, "Sire, we tarry here too long, let us all arm ourselves. Allons! Allons!" Wace, who recounts this incident, says, Fitz Osbern's horse was "all covered with iron." This is one of the instances in which he has been guilty of an anachronism, no such practice existing in the days of the Conqueror (vide the Bayeux Tapestry), but at the time that he composed the Roman de Rou, the fashion had been imported from the East by the Crusaders, and the horses were often coated with chain from the tail to the nostrils. In the disposition of the army, he was selected by the Duke to be a leader of the wing composed of the men of Boulogne and Poix, but we hear of no special incident connected with his name in the course of the battle.

The reward of his great and long-continued service was promptly bestowed upon him. The earldom of Hereford and the lordship of the Isle of Wight being the principal honors; the manor of Hanley, in Worcestershire, and several in Gloucestershire and other counties, which, in consequence of his dying before the great survey, cannot now be identified.

In addition to these substantial benefits, King William, on his return to Normandy in 1067, made him governor of his newly built Castle of Winchester: an office of great responsibility, as Winchester at that period was a city second only in importance to London. Its palace was the favorite residence of Edward the Confessor and the early Norman kings. It possessed a mint and a treasury, in which the riches and regalia of the sovereign were deposited, and was consequently to be most jealously guarded. The Conqueror also associated him with Bishop Odo, in the vicegerency (sic; viceregency) of the realm during his absence. Fitz Osbern having the chief administration of justice in the north, and Odo in the south of the kingdom.

On the defeat of Edgar Athelin and his confederates at York by the Conqueror in 1068, William Fitz Osbern was appointed governor of that city, and in the following year was hastily summoned to relieve the cities of Shrewsbury and Exeter, simultaneously attacked by the Welsh and the disaffected men of Cheshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall. He was too late to save Shrewsbury, which the insurgents, under Edric the Wild, had burned and abandoned; but reaching Exeter at the moment when a sudden sally of the garrison had driven back the besiegers and thrown them into confusion, the Earl, in conjunction with Count Brian of Brittany, fell upon them and put them nearly all to the sword.

In 1070, he was sent to Normandy by King William in order to assist Queen Matilda, the duchy being at that time in a very disturbed state. About the same period war broke out in Flanders between Richilde, widow of Count Baldwin VI -- called De Mons, and mother of his eldest son and heir, Ernulph -- and Robert, surnamed the Frison, who claimed the regency during the minority of Ernulph, in conformity with the will of his deceased brother. Matilda, taking the side of her sister-in-law, sent the Earl of Hereford with what forces she could spare to her aid. The Earl was then a widower, and either from love or ambition, became a suitor for the hand of the still fair Countess of Flanders.

Richilde, either responding to his affection, or from a desire to attach the valiant Norman more thoroughly to her interest, married him, and made him titular Count of Flanders.

He did not long, however, enjoy his dignity, for, on the 22nd of February, 1071, a sanguinary engagement took place at Ravenchoven, near Cassel, between the forces of Robert the Frison and those of the Countess Richilde and her ally, Philip I, King of France, in which both her son, young Count Ernulph, and her husband, the Earl of Hereford, who fought by his side, fell together.

According to Meier, the death-blow of William Fitz Osbern was dealt by one of his own knights, named Gerbodon, who had previously unhorsed him, but we are left in doubt as to the motive of the felon. The Earl's body was carried by his men-at-arms to the Abbey of Cormeilles, in Normandy, of which he was the founder in 1060, and buried there "amid much sorrow." His first wife, Adelina or Adeliza, was the daughter of Roger de Toeni. The date of her death is uncertain, but it probably took place some few years before the Conquest. She was buried at the Abbey of Lire, on the river Risle, in Normandy, which was also founded by Fitz Osbern as early as 1046; perchance on the occasion of his marriage, as Cormeilles may have been on that of her death. The dates are at least suggestive.

By Adelina de Toeni he had three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, William, succeeded him as Lord of Breteuil and Pacy, and in all his other possessions in Normandy. The second, Ralph, was shorn a monk, when young, in the Abbey of Cormeilles; and the third, Roger de Breteuil, had the earldom of Hereford and all the land his father held in England. The eldest daughter, Emma, married Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, of whom much hereafter. The name of the second and that of her husband are at present unknown, but she became the mother of Raynold de Cracci. (It is clear, therefore, that Dugdale and the other genealogists are in error, who give to Roger de Toeni for wife Alicia, a daughter of William Fitz Osbern, independently of the fact that in that case she would have been his own grand-daughter. Adela, by Pere Anselm called Helene, the widow of Roger de Toeni, and mother of Adeline or Alicia, wife of Will. Fitz Osbern, married secondly Richard Count of Evreux, vide chapter viii., p. 249.) A natural daughter of William de Breteuil, named Isabel, married Ascelin Goel, and was the direct ancestress of the Lovels of Tichmarsh. (Vide vol. ii, ch. vii)

William married Countess of Hainault and Namur Richilda about 1070 in of Flanders. Richilda (daughter of Count of Mons Renier and Maud) was born in 1030 in Mons, Hainaut, Belgium; died on 18 Mar 1086 in Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Adeliza (Adelina) de Toeni. Adeliza (daughter of Roger I "The Spainard" de Toeni and Godehut (Goldehilde) Borrell) was born about 1035 in Tosni, France; died in Lire Abbey, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Emma married William de Vernon about 1055 in of Normandy, France. William (son of Hugh de Vernon and de Centerville) was born about 1030 in Vernon, Eure, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Philip married Bertrade de Montfort in 1095. Bertrade (daughter of Simon de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort and Agnès d'Évreux) was born in May 1059 in Montfort-l'Amaury, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France; died on 14 Feb 1117 in Fontevrault, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France; was buried in Saint-Remy-l'Honore, des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Philip married Countess of Holland Bertha in 1072. Bertha (daughter of Count of Holland Floris, Count of Holland I and Gertrud Wettin) was born about 1054 in of Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands; died on 30 Jul 1093 in Montreuil-sur-Lo, Maine-et-Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hugh married Adelaide de Vermandois in 1064 in France. Adelaide (daughter of Count of Vermandois Herbert IV de Vermandois and Adela de Valois) was born about 1048 in Valois, Isle de France, France; died on 23 Sep 1120 in Meulan, Yvelines, Ile-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal01512

Canonized 1250 and her feast day is 16th November. In 1057 she arrived at the English court of Edward the Confessor. Ten years later she was in exile after William defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings. She fled to Scotland where she was married against her wishes to King Malcolm to whom she bore six sons and two daughters. Her unlearned and boorish husband grew daily more graceful and Christian under the queen's graceful influence. Her remains were removed to Escorial Spain and her head Douai, France.

http://www.talweb.com/redlimey/gene/saxonkings.htm#MARGARET
Queen Margaret, "a saintly and determined young woman," began to strip the old Scottish traditions and ways from society. She brought with her the modern culture of England and the current religious beliefs of the Catholic church. Amoung other things, she imposed all the English religious practices upon the Scottish clergy. She was successful in nearly completely erradicating what little was left of the ancient Celtic and Druidic practices. She also saw to the rebuilding of the Monastery of Iona.

St. Margaret died 16 Nov 1093, three days after her husband was killed in an ambush. Her last words are said to have been a prayer of thanks to God for the pain and sadness which purified her in her last days. Her burial is believed to be at the Monastery of Iona. Although I have found no exact mention of this, I have found referance that all kings (and presumably their queens) were buried here up until it was taken by King Magnus Barelegs of Norway in 1098.

For all her actions and benefactions, she was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1251 and became Saint Margaret.

Margaret married King of Scots Malcolm III "Canmore" mac Dhonnchaidh in 1068 in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. Malcolm (son of King of Scots Duncan I Atholl and Sibyl FitzSiward) was born about 1031 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland; died on 13 Nov 1093; was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Dumferline, Fifeshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

One of Vladimir and Gytha's descendents was Philippa, wife of Edward III.

Family/Spouse: Princess of England Gytha. Gytha (daughter of King of England Harold II Godwineson and of Mercia Ealdgyth) was born in 1053 in Wessex, England; died on 2 May 1107. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Magnus married Princess of Hungary Sophia (Zsofia) about 1071 in Germany. Sophia (daughter of King of Hungary I Bela and Princess of Poland Rixa) was born about 1043 in of Esztergom, Hungary; died on 18 Jun 1095. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: III Æfleda. III (daughter of of Saxe-Mercia, Earl of Northumberland Aldred and Edgina) was born in 997 in Mercia, Northumberland, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was a Nun at Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire, England

Family/Spouse: Vladimir Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kyiv II. Vladimir (son of Grand Duke of Kyiv Vsevolod I Yaroslavich and Irene Maria Monomachina) was born in 1053 in Kyiv, Ukraine; died on 19 May 1125 in Kyiv, Ukraine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was perhaps born in December, 1066 in Chester, although some authorities have stated that he was an illegitimate son of Harold by his mistress Edith Swanneshals. Ulf is said by some chroniclers to have drowned at sea before 1070, but he is recorded as being alive in 1087 in Normandy.

Notes:

He grew up in exile.

Family/Spouse: Count of Lens Lambert II von Boulogne. Lambert died in 1054. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Reigned 1066-1087. Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. Invaded England defeated and killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. The Norman conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the establishment of feudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges of service and loyalty. As King William was noted for his efficient if harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnel especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085 started Domesday Book.

William married of Flanders Matilda in 1053 in Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Eu, Normandy, France. Matilda (daughter of Baldwin V "The Pious", Count of Flanders and Adèle Capet, Princess of France) was born on 24 Nov 1031 in Flanders, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 2 Nov 1083 in Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; was buried in Holy Trinity Abbey, Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alix married Ranulf "The Rich" de Briquessart, Vicomte De Bessin on 1 May 1045 in Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. Ranulf (son of Ancitel de Bayeux, Viscount of Bessin and Poppa de Senlis) was born on 17 Jan 1021 in Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 21 May 1089 in Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Stephanie de Longwy before 1060 in Bourgogne, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France. Stephanie (daughter of Adalbert de Longwy and Clemence de Foix) was born in 1035 in Longwy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France; died on 19 Oct 1092 in Besançon, Doubs, Franche-Comte, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ada de Hugleville. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Odo married of Normandy Adeliza about 1056 in of Normandy, France. Adeliza was born about 1026 in Falaise, Calvados, France; died before 1090. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 1030, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England

Notes:

also Sheriff of Devon

Family/Spouse: Rohese Giffard. Rohese (daughter of Count of Longueville Walter Giffard and Ermentrude (Ermengarde) Fleitel) was born about 1035 in Longueville, Normandy, France; died after 1133. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Baldwin de Brionis, who, for the distinguished part he had in the Conquest, obtained from King William the Barony of Okehampton, the custody of the co. of Devon, and the government of the castle of Exeter in fee. He m. Albreda, dau. of Richard, surnamed Gos, Count of Avranche, and had, with other issue,
I. Richard, surnamed de Redvers.
II. Robert, governor of Brione.
I. Emma, m. 1st to William Avenal, and 2ndly, to William de Abrincis.

[Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 140, Courtenay, Barons Courtenay, Earls of Devon]

Family/Spouse: Albreda d'Avranches. Albreda was born about 1020 in Avranches, Normandy, France; died in Okehampton, Devonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Emma. Emma was born about 1030 in Brionne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Esilia married William Malet about 1041 in Normandy, France. William (son of Earl of Mercia III Ælfgar and Alversa Malet) was born in 1014 in Graville, Normandy, France; died about 1071. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gilbert married Eva de Montfort in 1074 in France. Eva (daughter of Amaury de Montfort, Lord of Montfort I and Bertrade de Gometz) was born in 1045 in Isle, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died after 1086 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: de Plessis. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Eleanor de Crispin. Eleanor (daughter of Gilbert de Crispin and Eva de Montfort) was born in 1070 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England; died after 1114 in Somme, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

I married Gerberge de Terrasson about 1076 in France. Gerberge (daughter of Pierre de Terrasson) was born about 1055 in Terrasson, France; died in 1103. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Agnes d'Evereaux

Agnès married Simon de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort in 1058 in Normandy, France. Simon (son of Amaury de Montfort, Lord of Montfort I and Bertrade de Gometz) was born about 1025 in Montfort-l'Amaury, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France; died on 25 Sep 1087 in St Thomas, Loire, Rhône-Alpes, France; was buried in Épernon, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Count of Longueville Walter Giffard. Walter (son of Lord of Longueville Osbern II de Bolbec and Avelina de Crepon) was born about 1010 in Longueville, Normandy, France; died in 1084 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ralph married Getha Clopa about 1055. Getha was born about 1040 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ralph married Gytha FitzOsgood about 1038. Gytha (daughter of Osgood Clapa) was born in 1025 in Hereford, Herefordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Richard FitzGilbert de Clare. Richard (son of Gilbert de Clare, Count of Brionne and Gunnora d'Anjou) was born on 10 Aug 1030 in Saint-Martin-de-Bienfaite-la-Cressonnière, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 14 Nov 1090 in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, England; was buried in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Beatrice married Ralph (Rudolph) de Warenne in 1034 in Bellencombe, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. Ralph was born on 12 Dec 1020 in Varenne, Bellencombre, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 15 Feb 1074 in Varenne, Bellencombre, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Amelie. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick (? – 20 June 1123) was an English nobleman. He is also known as Henry de Neubourg or Henry de Newburgh, from the castle of Newburg near Looviers, in Normandy where he was born.

Henry was the younger son of Roger de Beaumont and Adeline of Meulan, daughter of Waleran III, Count de Meulan. He inherited the modest lordship of La Neubourg, in central Normandy, but acquired a much greater holding in England, when, in reward for help in suppressing the Rebellion of 1088, William II of England made him Earl of Warwick.

His name is included in the roll of the knights who came over with the William the Conqueror, but he does not appear to have been present at the Battle of Hastings. He spent the greater part of his life in Normandy, his name is not found in the Domesday Book. He took it leading part in reconciling the Conqueror with his eldest son Robert Curthose in 1081 and he stood high in the Conqueror's favour. He was the companion and friend of Henry I, and when in 1100 a division took place amongst the barons who had gathered together to choose a successor to William II, it was mainly owing to his advice that Henry was selected and when in the following year most of the barons were openly or secretly disloyal and favoured the attempt of Duke Robert to gain the Crown, he and his brother were amongst the few that remained faithful to the King.

He had many honours conferred upon him, in 1068 he was made Constable of Warwick Castle and shortly afterwards King William gave it to him together with the borough and manor. The Castle was enlarged and strengthened during the long succession of powerful lords, and it eventually became one of the most renowned of English fortresses and it remains even to-day the glory of the midland shires. The Bear and Ragged Staff was the badge of Guy the great opponent of the Danes, and Henry on his elevation to the Earldom in 1076 by William I, assumed it, and it has ever since been used by successive Earls. Odericus tells us that "he earned this honour by his valour and loyalty" and Wace speaks of him as "a brave man". He was made a Councillor by the King in 1079 and a Baron of the Exchequer in Normandy 12 April 1080.

In 1099 he fought against the Welsh and built a castle at Abertawy, near Swansea, which was unsuccessfully attacked by the Welsh in 1113; he also captured the Gower peninsula in the south of Glamorganshire. He built other castles at Penrhys, Llandhidian and Swansea in ll20, together with the others at Oystermouth and Aberllychor, the only remains of the latter are a mound and a keep.

Some time between 1106 and 1116 he was granted the lordship of Gower in Wales.

Henry was by disposition quiet and retiring, and was overshadowed by his elder brother Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, reputedly one of the most brilliant men in England.

He died 20 June 1123 and was buried in the Abbey at Preaux.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Family/Spouse: Margaret de Perche. Margaret (daughter of Count of Perche and Mortaigne Geoffrey II de Perche and Beatrice de Montdidier) was born about 1067 in Morlaign, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

ROBERT DE BEAUMONT

The Conqueror and His Companions
by J. R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874..

"Rogier li Veil, cil de Belmont, Assalt Engleis el primier front." Roman de Rou, 1. 13,462.

Thus sings the Prebend of Bayeux in direct contradiction, as I have already observed, of the Archdeacon of Lisieux, who as distinctly asserts that Roger de Beaumont was left in Normandy, president of the council appointed by the Duke to assist his Duchess in its government. There is more reason, however, to discredit Wace in this instance than even in the former one, as Orderic corroborates the statement of the Archdeacon that it was Robert, the eldest son of Roger de Beaumont, who was the companion of the Conqueror in 1066, and whom he describes as "a novice in arms." Mr. Taylor, in his translation of the poem, has mentioned also that in the MS. of Wace, in the British Museum, the name is Robert, though the epithet "le Viel" is not appropriate to his then age. Might not "le Viel" be a clerical error for "de Vielles," the name of Roger's father, which is latinized into "de Vitulis"? Roger de Beaumont would of course have been de Vielles as well as his father. The latinizing of proper names cannot be too much deplored and deprecated.

Of Roger, Count de Beaumont, it is unanimously recorded that he was the noblest, the wealthiest, and the most valiant seigneur of Normandy, and the greatest and most trusted friend of the Danish family. Son of Humphrey de Vielles, and grandson of Thorold de Pontaudemer, a descendant of the Kings of Denmark, through Bernard the Dane, a companion of the first Norman Conqueror, Duke Rollo, illustrious as was such as origin in the eyes of his countrymen, he considered his alliance with Adelina, Countess of Meulent, sufficiently honorable and important to induce him to adopt the title of her family in preference to that of his own.

We have already heard of his first great exploit, when, as a young man, in the early years of Duke William, he defeated the turbulent Roger de Toeni, who with his two sons were slain in that sanguinary conflict (vide p. 19, ante). Towards the invading fleet he contributed, according to Taylor's List, sixty vessels, and being at that time advanced in years, and selected to superintend the affairs of the duchy, sent his young son Robert to win his spurs at Senlac.

In that memorable battle he is said to have given proof of courage and intelligence beyond his years, and promise of the high reputation he would eventually obtain, and which won for him the surname of Prudhomme. "A certain Norman young soldier," writes William of Poitou, "son of Roger de Bellomont, and nephew and heir of Hugh, Count of Meulent, by Adelina, his sister, making his first onset in that fight, did what deserves lasting fame, boldly charging and breaking in upon the enemy with the troops he commanded in the right wing of the army."

His services were rewarded by ninety manors in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Wiltshire, and Northamptonshire. In 1080 he, with his brother Henry, afterwards Earl of Warwick, were amongst the barons who exerted themselves to reconcile King William to his son Robert Court-heuse, and in 1081 he subscribed a charter of confirmation in favour of the Abbey of Fécamp. This was the last document he signed inn the name of Beaumont, for his mother dying in year, he thenceforth wrote himself Comte de Meulent, and did homage to Philip I, King of France, for the lands to which he succeeded in that kingdom, and in 1082 sat as a Peer of France in a parliament held by the said King at Poissy.

On the death of the Conqueror, the Comte de Meulent and his brother sided with William Rufus; their father, Roger de Beaumont, leaving also the ducal court and retiring to his estates. The late King had given the Castle of Ivri jointly to Roger de Beaumont and Robert his son; but during the absence of the latter in England, Robert Court-heuse, having become Duke of Normandy, exchanged, in 1090, that castle for the Castle of Brionne with Roger de Beaumont, without obtaining the consent of Robert de Meulent. The latter, having a quarrel with the monks of Bec, whose monastery was in the territory of Brionne, was greatly angered by this transaction, and repairing to the Duke at Rouen, boldly demanded of him the restoration of Ivri. The Duke answered that he had given his father the Castle of Brionne for it, which was a fair exchange. The Count replied, "I was no party to that bargain, and repudiate it; but what your father gave to my father that will I have, or by Saint Nicaise I will make you repent your conduct to me." The Duke, highly incensed, had him immediately arrested and imprisoned, and seizing the Castle of Brionne, gave it into the keeping of Robert, son of Baldwin de Meules. Roger de Beaumont, on receipt of these tidings, sought the Duke, and with the skill of an old courtier contrived to pacify his resentment, and obtain the release of his son and the restoration of Brionne; but Robert de Meules, who was in charge of it, refused to surrender it, and the Count de Meulent was obliged to resort to force. Siege was laid to the castle in regular form, and the garrison stoutly holding out, Gilbert du Pin, commanding the beleaguering forces, caused arrows, with their steel heads made red-hot in a furnace, to be shot over the battlements, and which, falling on the roofs of the buildings within the walls, set them on fire. The conflagration spreading, the place became no longer tenable, and Brionne remained from that period in the hands of the Counts of Meulent.

The monks of Bec now found it necessary to patch up their quarrels with the Count, who behaved generously on the occasion, confirming their privileges and those also of the Abbey of Préaux, of Jumiéges, and St.t. Vaudrille, remitting certain imports due to him from the wine-growers of Mantes. I mention these circumstances, which have no interest for the general reader, only to notice a singular condition the Count attached to the franchise, namely, that the masters of all boats passing the Castles of Meulent and Mantes should play on the flageolet as they shot the bridges!

On the departure of Robert Court-heuse for the Crusades, William Rufus, to whom he had confided the government of Normaudy, as a pledge for the repayment of the money the King had lent to him for the expenses of his expedition, considered it a good opportunity to recover from France the province of the Vexin. The Count of Meulent found himself awkwardly situated between the two contending parties. He owed fealty to both sovereigns: to the King of France for the Comté of Meulent, and to thee King of England for his large estates, both in that country and Normandy. He decided in fayour of the latter, received into his castle the forces of the Red King, and so opened for him an entrance into France. The war ended without advantage to either side, and was followed by another between Rufus and Hélie de la FlÈche, Comte du Maine. After vainlyly attempting to reduce the Castle of Dangueul, the King withdrew from the siege, leaving the Count of Menlent to carry on the operations. On the 28th April, 1098, Hélie was drawn into an ambush by Count Robert, and,, after a desperate defence, made prisoner, and conducted by him to the King, who was at Rouen, and who consigned his captive immediately to a dungeon in the great tower of that city.

The incidents and results of this campaign are not sufficiently connected with the personal history of Robert de Meulent to require notice here. He was one of the royal hunting party in the New Forest on the 2nd of August, 1100, when William Rufus received his mysterious death-wound, and hastened on the instant with Prince Henry to Winchester, in order to secure the royal treasure, as well as the succession to the throne of England.

Under the reign of the new King he retained the favour and influence he had enjoyed during those of the two Williams, and commanded the English army, which achieved the conquest of Normandy by Henry I in 1106, who acknowledged himself indebted for it to the advice and valour of the Earl of Leicester, to which dignity Robert de Meulent had been advanced by him at some period not distinctly ascertained, but most probably in the first year of his reign.

Orderic Vital gives the following account of the mode by which he obtained the earldom: -- "The town of Leicester had four masters -- the King, the Bishop of Lincoln, Earl Simon" (Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Huntingdon), "and Ivo, the son of Hugh" (de Grentmesnil). The latter had been heavily fined for turbulent conduct, and was in disgrace at Court. He was also galled by being nicknamed "the Rope-dancer," having been one of those who had been let down by ropes from the walls of Antioch. He therefore had resolved to rejoin the Crusade, and made an agreement with the Count of Meulent to the following effect: -- The Count was to procure his reconciliation with the King, and to advance him five hundred silver marks for the expenses of his expedition, having the whole of Ivo's domains pledged to him as a security for fifteen years. In consideration of this, the Count was to give the daughter of his brother Henry, Earl of Warwick, in marriage to Ivo's son, who was yet in his infancy, and to restore him his father's inheritance. This contract was confirmed by oath, and ratified by the King, but Ivo died on his road to the Holy Land, and Robert de Meulent, by royal favour and his own address, contrived to get the whole of Leicester into his own hands, and being in consequence created an English earl, his wealth and power surpassed those of any other peer of the realm, and he was exalted above nearly all his family." (Book xi, c. 2)

This great warrior and able man is said to have died of sorrow and mortification, caused by the infidelity of his second wife Elizabeth, otherwise Isabella, daughter of Hugh the Great, Comte de Vermandois and of Chaumont in the Vexin. He had married -- the date at present unknown -- Godechilde de Conches, daughter of Roger de Toeni, Seigneur de Conches, but had separated from her before 1096, as in that year she, who could not then have been seventeen, became the wife of Baldwin, son of Eustace de Boulogne, who was King of Jerusalem after the decease of his brother Godfrey. Robert de Meulent, then being between fifty and sixty, and without issue, sought the hand of Elizabeth de Vermandois, who was in the bloom of youth, and was accepted by the lady; but Ivo, Bishop of Châtres, forbade the magiage on the ground of consanguinity; the Count off Vemandois and the Count of Meulent being both great-grandsons of Gautier II, surnamed "Le Blanc," Count of the Vexin. A dispensation was obtained, however, from the Pope, on condition that Count Hugh should take the Cross, and the marriage was celebrated on the eve of his departure for the Holy Land, the same year in which Robert's first wife married Baldwin de Boulogne.

The issue of Robert de Meulent by his second wife was a daughter named Emma, born, according to Orderic, in 1102; two sons (twins), baptised Waleran and Robert, born in 1104; a third son, known as Hugh the Poor, afterwards Earl of Bedford, and three other daughters, Adeline, Amicia, and Albreda, all of whom must have been born after 1104, when their father, then Earl of Leicester, was well stricken in years. Orderic, indeed, says he had five daughters, the fifth being named Isabel, after her mother.

All these children being born in wedlock, were of course in the eyes of the law legitimate, but William de Warren, Earl of Warren and Surrey, second of that name, son of the mysterious Gundred, had supplanted the Earl of Leicester for some years in the affections of his wife, and her ultimate desertion of him for his young rival affected his mind, and hurried hhn to the grave, June 5, 1118.

Henry of Huntingdon, in his "Letter to Walter," gives the following account of his last moments: -- "I will mention the Earl of Meulent, the most sagacious in political affairs of all who lived between this and Jerusalem. His mind was enlightened, his eloquence persuasive, his shrewdness acute; he was provident and wily; his prudence never failed; his counsels were profound; his wisdom great. He had extensive and noble possessions, which are commonly called honours, together witIx towns and castles, villages and farms, woods and waters, which he acquired by the exercise of the talents I have mentioned. His domains lay not only in England but in Normandy and France, so that he was able at his will to promote concord between the sovereigns of those countries, or to set them at variance and provoke them to war. If he took umbrage against any man, his enemy was humbled and crushed, while those he favoured were exalted to honour. Hence his coffers were filled with a prodigious influx of wealth in gold and silver, besides precious gems and costly furniture and apparel. But when he was in the zenith of his power it happened that a certain earl carried off the lady he had espoused, either by some intrigue or by force and stratagem. Thenceforth his mind was disturbed and clouded with grief, nor did he to the time of his death regain composure and happiness. "After days abandoned to sorrow, when he was labouring under an infirmity which was the precursor of death, and the Archbishop (of Rouen) and priests were performing their office for the confessional purification, they required of him that as a penitent he should restore the lands which by force or fraud he had wrung from others, and wash out his sins with tears of repentance, to which he replied, 'Wretched man that I am! If I dismember the domains I have acquired, what shall I have to leave to my sons?'

"Upon this the ministers of the Lord answered, 'Your hereditary estates and the lands which you have justly obtained are enough for your sons; restore the rest, or else you devote your soul to perdition.'

"The Earl replied, 'My sons shall have all. I leave it to them to act mercifully, that I may obtain mercy.'"

"Assuming the monastic habit, he then breathed his last, and was buried near his father at Préaux, his heart being sent to the monastery off Brackley in Northamptonshire, which he had founded, and there preserved in salt.

William of Malmesbury says of him, that his advice was regarded as though the oracle of God had been consulted; that he was the persuader of peace, the dissuader of strife, and capable of speedily bringing about whatever he desired by the power of his eloquence; that he possessed such mighty influence in England as to change by his single example the long established modes of dress and diet. Limiting himself on the score of his health to one meal a day, in imitation of Alexius, Emperor of Constantinople, the custom was adopted generally by the nobility. In law, he was the supporter of justice; in war, the insurer of victory; urging his lord the King to enforce the statutes vigorously, he himself not only respecting those existing, but proposing new. Ever loyal to his sovereign, he was the stern avenger of treason in others.

It is a relief to read such a character of a man in these darkest days of feudalism, imperfect civilization, and demoralizing superstition.

A word or two respecting his children.

The twins, Waleran and Robert, were carefully brought up by King Henry I from the time of their father's death, "for the King loved him much, because in the beginning of his reign he had greatly aided and encouraged him." On their arriving at the proper age they received knighthood at his hands, and Waleran was put in possession of all his father's domains in France and Normandy, his brother Robert receiving the earldom of Leicester and the lands and honours in England. Three of their sisters were given in marriage by Waleran: -- Adeline to Hugh, 4th Sire de Montfort-sur-Risle, Amicia to Hugh de Château-neuf in Thimerais; andd Albreda (or Aubrey) to William Louvel or Lupel, son of Ascelin Goel, Lord of Ivri. ( Vide vol. ii, p. 223)

Isabel became, according to the chronique scandaleuse of that day, one of the many mistresses of Henry I, and subsequently married Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke. What became of Emma, the eldest born, we know not. According to Orderic she was betrothed, when only a year old, to Aumari, nephew of William, Count of Evreux, but from some impediment which occurred the marriage never took place. She probably died in infancy, or entered a convent. The author of "L'Art de Vérifier less Dates," besides Hugh, Earl of Bedford, already mentioned, gives Robert, a fourth son, whom he calls Dreux, Sire de Boisemont.

Robert married Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois in 1096. Isabel (daughter of Hugh "The Great" Capet, Duke of France and Burgundy and Adelaide de Vermandois) was born on 13 Feb 1081 in Vermandois, Normandy, Bretagne, France; died on 13 Feb 1131 in Sens, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France; was buried in St. Nicaise, Meulan, France-Sens, Saone-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Flicka Dansk. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Harold Godwineson, II was created Earl of East Anglia in c. 1045, and succeeded his father as Earl of Wessex on the 15th of April, 1053. He was created Earl of Hereford in 1058, and styled 'Duke of the English' from 1064. He succeeded Edward the Confessor as King of England on the 6th of January, 1066, having been chosen by the King as his successor with the support of the Witan. Harold II was crowned on the 6th of January, 1066, probably at St. Paul's Cathedral in London (some authorities state he was crowned at Westminster Abbey, but there is no evidence for this).

He was killed at the Battle of Hastings, Sussex, England. He was felled by an arrow between his eyes - this popular myth has been perpetrated by a misreading of the Bayeus tapestry. He was, in fact, struck down by a blow from a sword wielded by a mounted Norman knight. Harold was buried on the seashore at Hastings, or on the battlefield - the latter is more likely. A stone memorial marks the spot within the grounds of Battle Abbey. Later on, Harold's remains were removed to Waltham Abbey in Essex.

He was succeeded by William, Duke of Normandy, the victor of Hastings.

THE NORMAN KINGS OF ENGLAND

Harold II was the last of the Saxon Kings of England. His successor, William I, based his claim to the English throne upon a promise made to him more than a decade before 1066 by Edward the Confessor, who is said to have told William that he, Edward, would make him his successor.

In 1064, Earl Harold was shipwrecked upon the coast of Normandy. William kept him in honorable captivity until he had sworn upon he had sworn upon holy relics to do all in his power to enforce William's claim to the English throne. William knew very well that at that time it seemed that Harold, the most powerful man in England next to the king, would be designated Edward's successor, which was what in fact happened. When, in the autumn on 1065, Edward was seen to be dying, the Witan considered all claimants and decided that Harold, as the only man with the strength and maturity that befitted him to rule England, was the natural choice. Edward, on his deathbed, accordingly left his crown to Harold, who seized power in defiance of his oath to William.

William thereupon gathered an army, sailed to England, and defeated Harold on the 14th of October, 1066 at the battle of Hastings - it should actually be called the Battle of Senlac Ridge, as that was where it took place. Hastings is 11 miles away.

At that time, there was only one living male representative of the ancient line of the Kings of Wessex, and that was a child known as Edgar the Atheling. He was the grandson of Edmund II. The Witan in London set him up as king as soon as they received the news of William's victory at Hastings, but it quickly became obvious that Edgar's impeccable claim to the throne would be no match for William's determination to wear the crown of England. Edgar submitted to William within 6 weeks, and William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.

A new royal dynasty had been founded; the joining of England with Normandy brought England very much into the forefront of European affairs. William's followers received lands and honors, and thus founded aristocratic dynasties of their own in their new realm. A new order prevailed, England was feudalized, its Church overhauled, and its legal system; and all things Saxon were disdained by the conquering Normans.

William's claim to the English throne had very little basis in dynastic terms. His great-aunt Emma had been wife to both Ethelred II and Canute. William's wife Matilda was a descendent of King Alfred. And that was all. William's own ancestor, Rollo, who founded the duchy of Normandy in the 10th century, had been a Viking pirate. It was left to William's son, Henry I, to ally himself in blood to the ancient line of Cerdic; in 1100, he married Edith, the niece of Edgar the atheling, much to the disgust of his Norman barons, who sneeringly referred to the royal couple as 'Godric and Godgifu', old Saxon names now fallen into disrepute. Yet the marriage was popular with the common people, who were, after all, Saxon, and later Kings would acknowledge that it was fitting that the blood of Cerdic flowed in their veins.

Family/Spouse: Edith Swanneshals. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harold married of Mercia Ealdgyth about 1052 in York, England. Ealdgyth (daughter of Earl of Mercia III Ælfgar and Ælgifu) was born about 1034 in Mercia, England; died after 1086 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edith married King of England Edward "The Confessor" on 23 Jan 1045. Edward (son of King of England Æthelred II "The Unready" and of Normandy Emma) was born about 1005 in Islip, Oxfordshire, England; died on 5 Jan 1066 in London, England; was buried in Westminster Palace, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was abducted by Sweyn and whom she contracted an uncanonical marriage.

Family/Spouse: of Wessex Sveyn. Sveyn (son of Godwin and Gytha Thorgilsdottir) was born about 1023; died on 29 Sep 1052 in Lycia, Constantinople, Byzantium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was created an earl in 1043.

Family/Spouse: of Wessex Elgiva. Elgiva (daughter of Godwin and Gytha Thorgilsdottir) was born about 1025; died about 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was created Earl of Northumbria in c. 1055. In that year, or later, he was also created Earl of Northampton and Nottingham. He was deprived of his earldoms on 3rd October, 1065. He was killed on the 25th of September, 1066, at the Battle of Stamford bridge in Northumberland, fighting his brother Harold II in alliance with Harold Hardraada, King of Norway.

Family/Spouse: of Flanders Judith. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was said to have been a monk at Rheims in France.

Notes:

She is said to have been a Nun at either St. Omer in France, or at Bruges in Flanders.

Notes:

He was created Earl of East Anglia in 1057.

Notes:

He created Earl of Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
in c. 1057

Family/Spouse: Earl of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge Ralph de Gael. Ralph (son of Earl of Hereford Ralph de Sudeley and Gytha FitzOsgood) was born about 1042 in Gael, Brittany, France; died in 1096. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Adelise Peverel about 1089 in of Isle Of Wight, Hampshire, England. Adelise (daughter of de Nottingham William Peverel and Adeline) was born about 1069 in of Nottinghamshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married of Rochefort Lucienne in 1104. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Countess of Savoy Adélaïde de Maurienne on 3 Aug 1115 in Paris, Seine, France. Adélaïde (daughter of Count of Maurienne and Savoy, Marquis of Turin Humbert II de Maurienne and Countess of Burgundy-Ivrea Gisela Burgundy) was born about 1092 in Savoy, France; died on 18 Nov 1154 in Montmartre Abbey, Paris, France; was buried in Montmartre Abbey, Paris, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Constance married Count of Blois Hugo (Hugh), I in 1104. Hugo (son of Count of Blois and Champagne III Theobald and of Maine Garsende) was born about 1048 in Blois, France; died in 1126. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married 1st Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, Count Meulan I in 1096. Robert (son of Lord of Beaumont-le-Roger and Pont-Audemer, Viscount of Hiesmes Roger de Beaumont and Adeline de Meulan) was born in 1046 in Beaumont-le-Roger, Eure, Normandy, France; died on 5 Jun 1118 in Préaux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married 2nd Earl of Surrey William II de Warenne in 1118 in Pays du Valois, Bretagne, France. William (son of 1st Earl of Surrey William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey and Princess of England Gundred) was born on 24 Jun 1085 in Surrey, England; died on 11 May 1138 in Lewes, Sussex, England; was buried in Priory of Lewes, Sussex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lord of Montfort Ralph de Gael. Ralph (son of Earl of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge Ralph de Gael and Emma FitzOsbern) was born in 1078 in Montford de Gael, Brittany, France; died in Montford de Gael, Brittany, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married Raoul de Beaugency about 1111 in Beaugency, Loiret, France. Raoul was born about 1082 in of Beaugency, Loiret, France; died in 1130. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Eléonore de Blois. Eléonore (daughter of Count of Blois Stephen Henry II (Etienne Henri) "The Sage" and Adela (Adelle)) was born in 1104; died in 1147. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: of Flanders Laurette. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, England

Family/Spouse: Princess of England Sibylla. Sibylla (daughter of King of England Henry I "Beauclerc" and Sibyl Corbet) was born about 1097 in Domfront, Normandy, France; died on 12 Jul 1122 in Island of the Woman, Loch Tay, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

David married Maud Huntingdon in 1113. Maud (daughter of Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland Waltheof Siwardsson and of Lens Judith) was born about 1072 in Huntingdon, Northumberland, England; died on 23 Apr 1130 in Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Count of Boulogne and Lens Eustace III de Talvas in 1102. Eustace was born about 1059; died on 31 May 1116. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married King of England Henry I "Beauclerc" on 11 Nov 1100 in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. Henry (son of William I "The Conqueror", King of England and of Flanders Matilda) was born about Sep 1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England; died on 1 Dec 1135 in Lyons-la-Foret, Normandy, France; was buried in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lyubava Dmitrievna. Lyubava was born in 1100; died in 1168. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Wulfhilda married Duke of Bavaria I Heinrich about 1099 in Germany. I (son of Duke of Bavaria IV Welf and Countess of Northumbria Judith (Fausta)) was born about 1074 in Bavaria; died on 13 Dec 1126. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Life and Times of Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland By Geoff Boxell
STOLEN GLORY
Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland

Unlike his contemporary and fellow resistance leader, Edric the Wild, the life of Waltheof is reasonably well documented. The youngest son of one of Canute's Danish jarls, Siward, and Aefled, the daughter of the English Earl of Northumberland, he appears to have been prepared as a child for a life in the Church. This all changed when Siward, with the encouragement of King Edward the Confessor and the Witan, led an expeditionary force in 1054 to Scotland in support of Malcolm, son of Dunstan, King of Scots, against King Thorfinn Macbeth. In the resultant campaign Siward's eldest son, Osbarn, was killed, thus leaving Waltheof at the likely age of 10, as Siward's heir. Siward died from natural causes in 1055. The earldom was given to Tostig Godwinson as Waltheof was obviously too young to control a vital marcher region.

For a variety of reasons, Northumberland revolted against Tostig in 1065 and the thegns demanded that the earldom be given to Morcar, brother of the Earl of Mercia, Edwin. The lower part of the earldom, what had been Middle Anglia, was passed to Waltheof and his title is now given sometimes as Earl of Huntingdon and sometimes that of Northampton. Given that the earldoms in England at that time were awarded on a combination of family mana and personal ability, this granting of a minor earldom to the young and inexperienced Waltheof can be seen as a wise and shrewd move.

The young Earl's involvement in the battles of 1066 is subject to much speculation. The reliable English sources are silent but various Icelandic sources contain garbled and, at times contradictory, story of him being involved in the battles of Fulford, Stamford Bridge and Hastings. Be that as it may, by late 1066 he had made his peace with William the Bastard and retained his earldom. This in itself suggests that he was not involved at Hastings, as William had proclaimed all who fought against him there traitors and their land confiscated. This presumptuous proclamation was made despite the fact that he had not being proclaimed King by the Witan until much later!

Waltheof was one of the hostages, including Edwin, Morcar and Archbishop of Canterbury Stigand, taken to Normandy in 1067 and kept there till mid 1068. The North of England at this time was still out of William's grasp, though he had appointed Copsi, a henchman of Tostig Godwinson, to rule in the absence of the hostage, Morcar. This may have been a very cunning move as the North then seethed with disputes between the various thegns appointed by King Harold, Earl Morcar and William the Bastard. Another unsettling element was the presence of Edgar Aetheling who had, after King Harold's death, been declared King by the Witan. Over this fermenting brew of self-interest there hovered the vinegar fly of Gospatric, a descendent of the old Northumbrian kings and a cousin of the King of Scots. At an opportune moment Gospatric bought the earldom of Northumberland from the money hungry William.

1068 saw the first uprising in Northumberland against the new Norman king, but the split leadership ensured it fizzled out before the flames of revolt could catch. 1069 and there were four uprisings in the area. Waltheof appears in the last and most important of them. The first uprising had been caused by the appointment of Robert of Comings as Earl of Northumberland to replace Gospatric, who had fled to Scotland when the previous year's risings had collapsed. The northerners had found it hard enough to accept a southerner such as Tostig as Earl, and they certainly didn't want a Frenchman. They killed Robert and his whole force of 500-900 men (accounts vary) at Durham, allowing only one to escape and tell the tale. Encouraged by this the City of York revolted, slaying the Norman governor, but failing to take the newly erected castle. Eastertide and the whole North erupted, but William soon brought up an army and broke the Northumbrian force that was besieging York castle. However, it was the arrival of the Danish fleet in September 1069 that caused the Normans to suffer their heaviest defeat in the North.

King Swegyn Astrithson of Denmark had a strong claim on the English throne. An appeal to him by the English to pursue that claim, and revenge his cousin, King Harold, had been made during William's absence in Normandy in 1067. Ever cautious, Swegyn did not make a move until two years later. Even then he sent his brother, Asbjorn, to lead the fleet. It was an act that, rather than uniting the English behind one war leader, as they might have behind Swegyn, just added yet another strand to the cloth of confused leadership.

Raiding the East Coast on their way North, the fleet of Danes and other elements met little success until they entered the River Humber. Here Waltheof and those who had fled earlier to Scotland, including Edgar Aetheling and Gospatric met them. The Anglo Danish force moved on York, which by this time now had two castles to keep it subservient to Norman wishes. On the arrival of the allies the Normans fired houses near the castles to clear their view and destroy any material that may have been used to fill the defensive ditches surrounding the castles. This act was done with the normal Norman delicacy, with the result that almost the entire city was burnt down! In the resultant fight the Norman garrisons left their castles to attack and then die at the hands of the allies. Waltheof's exploits of beheading many of the Normans with his long axe as they came through the gates was recorded in sagas and remembered for years after.

William's reaction was immediate and he personally hastened North with a large army. With York having been burnt and unable to provide sustenance, the allied army broke up; the Danes to the Humber where they wintered over and the English to more northern parts of the earldom. This revolt and its tying down of William and so many of his military resources led to an explosion of uprisings elsewhere. William took what was left of York and began pursuing the scattered elements of English and Danes but very quickly he was obliged to turn his attention elsewhere, leaving lieutenants to meanwhile contain the northern revolt. But they were not up to the job.

As a result of his men's failure, William then had to move back North from his base at Nottingham, only to be blocked by the flooded River Aire. Despite this and constant harassment from the locals and the Danes, he continued to move North after one of his knights found a usable ford. York was still a devastation so, given his normal priorities, the first thing William did was rebuilt the castles. He then commenced to teach the Northumbrians what it meant to upset a Norman King by starting the harrowing of the North, killing anything animate and destroying anything not. Those who could fled. The wealthy fled to the North of the Earldom or Scotland, the rest to the Camp of Refuge at the Isle of Ely, where Hereward the Wake was defying the Normans. Few made it through the winter weather and their unburied corpses littered the countryside. Having lost their Northumbrian allies, the Danes allowed themselves to be bought off. Only Waltheof and a small number of followers fought on, holding out near Coatham on the coast. However, even they eventually saw the hopelessness of their situation and submitted to King William.

It was after this that William, possibly trying to buy loyalty, married Waltheof to his own niece, Judith, in 1070. After behaving himself for 2 years, Waltheof was granted the Earldom of Northumberland as a replacement for the disgraced Gospatric. He also retained those lands he had held as Earl of Huntingdon, though it would appear he transferred the ownership of his personal holdings in the area to Judith, in the English manner of providing a wife with land of her own.

A blot on Waltheof's character now appeared in his renewing an old family feud that had its origins in 1016. Waltheof sent some of his huscarls to kill the brothers Carlson and their kin. He did this despite the fact that they, and Waltheof and his kin had earlier been fighting side by side against the Normans. Balancing this dark side of Waltheof's character is his support of the Church, including the financing of several new foundations. He also played a part in the Church's attempt to restore the northern lands that William had harrowed. Aldwin, Prior of Winchcombe, recruited two monks from Evesham, Elfwi and a former Norman knight, Reinfrid, to join him in establishing the Church's presence in the harrowed land. They based themselves at Jarrow, and it was here that Waltheof granted them the Church at Tynemouth and all its lands. He also gave them his nephew Morcar, to be educated.

From his being made Earl of Northampton in 1072 to 1075 Waltheof spen this time ruling his earldom, giving to the Church, begetting children and serving on a royal commission looking into the losses suffered by the Church at Ely.

It was in 1075 that the half English - half Breton Ralf, Earl of East Anglia, married the sister of Roger Earl of Herefordshire and, at the wedding feast, began weaving the sticky web of intrigue that was to ensnare and prove fatal to Waltheof. Just what his involvement was will never be known. Some sources, such as the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and the Book of Hyde, indicate that he was intimately involved. Others, such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury, claim that he refused to take part but had to swear an oath not to betray the plot.

The desirability of their wishing to involve Waltheof, in what became known as the Revolt of the Earls, is easy to see. His lands in the Midlands would provide a corridor between those of Roger in the West and Ralf in the East, effectively cutting England in half. Waltheof must have quickly had second thoughts about being involved as, the day after the Bridal Ale, he rushed to London and confessed his share of guilt to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc absolved him and advised him to go to Normandy and throw himself on William's mercy. This Waltheof did, together with presenting some expensive gifts that he knew would appeal to William's avarice.

William made light of the matter, but had his agents in England move against the other two Earls. An Anglo-Norman force crushed Roger who then spent his remaining years a prisoner. Another Anglo-Norman force defeated Ralf and then penned him up in Norwich. From here Ralf went to Denmark, to gather reinforcements, whilst his new bride held the city. After three months Norwich was compelled to surrender, just before the arrival of the Danish fleet. After sporadic raiding, the Danes returned home, leaving Ralf to join his wife in Brittany and thenceforth continue his war against William.

With the revolt now broken, William placed Waltheof under close arrest. The reason for this action is unknown, though some sources say that Waltheof was betrayed by his wife, Judith, William's niece, who passed on information that she had been privy to. Waltheof was kept in close confinement for several months before he was sentenced by the King to be beheaded for treason.

The execution took place on 31 May 1076 on St. Giles Hill, Winchester. After giving away his clothes to the poor, Waltheof's last moments were spent in prayer. Feeling he was taking too long, the executioner drew his sword and struck just as Waltheof got to: "Lead us not into temptation." According to witnesses, the severed head was then heard in a clear voice to complete the prayer with: "but deliver us from evil. Amen"

After lying in unconsecrated ground for a fortnight, Abbot Ulfkettle of Crowland, a foundation that Waltheof had been a patron of, asked for and was granted permission to take the body away for reburying. To his dying day, Archbishop Lanfranc insisted Waltheof was guiltless of the crime he had been accused of. It is also recorded that the English and Normans alike at William's court were horrified at the King's actions.

One fate of traitors was the confiscation of all their possessions to the crown. In this case it didn't happen. All of Waltheof's personal holdings passed to his wife, Judith, who also continued to oversee the Earldom of Huntingdon. A consideration for a beloved niece? Or a reward for providing information on her husband that allowed William the Bastard to remove the last of the native English nobility from the scene?

It was not long before the English began to treat Waltheof as a martyr in the ilk of St Edmund King and Martyr and miracles were soon being reported at his tomb. Waltheof may only have been a pseudo-Saint, more a symbol of a people's suffering and longing, but his grandson, also Waltheof, was later canonized.

Waltheof was a man who, in more peaceful times, would have been a national figure, and if needed, a powerful warrior. But he did not have the personality needed to lead the English resistance to the Norman Conquest. Often he failed to see the woods for the trees, and allowed his opportunities to be stolen from him.

Geoff Boxell is author of the novel: "Woden's Wolf" that deals with the English resistance to the Norman Conquest.

Waltheof married of Lens Judith in 1070 in Artois, France. Judith (daughter of Count of Lens Lambert II von Boulogne and of Normandy Countess of Aumale Adeliza) was born in 1054 in Lens, Artois, France; died after 1086. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lyubava Dmitrievna. Lyubava was born in 1100; died in 1168. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Judith married Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland Waltheof Siwardsson in 1070 in Artois, France. Waltheof (son of Siward Bjornsson and III Æfleda) was born about 1025 in Huntington, Northumberland, England; died on 31 May 1076 in Beheaded at St. Giles Hill, Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Became a Nun at Cluniac Priory in widowhood.

Adela married Count of Blois Stephen Henry II (Etienne Henri) "The Sage" about 1081 in Chartres Cathedral, France. Stephen (son of Count of Blois and Champagne III Theobald and of Maine Garsende) was born about 1045 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France; died on 19 May 1102 in Ramula, Holy Land. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]