Oreguen

Oreguen married Duke of Bretagne I Alain about 884 in France. I (son of Count of Nantes Ridoredh) was born about 860 in Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Paskwitan married Rennes about 909 in France. (daughter of Count of Rennes Berenger) was born about 890 in Rennes, Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Juhel married Gerberge about 942 in Bretagne, France. Gerberge was born about 924 in Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Conan married Ermengarde d'Anjou about 970 in Le Mont Saint Michel, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France,. Ermengarde (daughter of Geoffrey "Greymantle" d'Anjou and Adelaide de Vermandois) was born on 11 Nov 952 in Anjou, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France; died on 27 Jun 992 in Anjou, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Judith married Richard, Duke of Normandy II in 996 in France. Richard (son of Richard I "The Fearless", Duke of Normandy and Gunnora de Crepon) was born on 28 Aug 962 in Fécamp, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 28 Aug 1026 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Geoffrey married Hedwig de Normandy in 996 in Bretagne, France. Hedwig (daughter of Richard I "The Fearless", Duke of Normandy and Gunnora de Crepon) was born in 977 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 21 Feb 1034 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; was buried in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

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]

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: 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]

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]

Notes:

CHAPTER II: THE FAMILY OF THE CONQUEROR
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874........

I introduce here the few observations I have to make on the uncertain and disputed points in the history of William the Conqueror, his queen and family, to which I alluded at the commencement of the former chapter, in lieu of placing them as an appendix at the end of the volume, as they principally turn on questions of date, and those who care to discuss them would naturally desire to do so before passing to other subjects. The less curious reader can "skip and go on."

The first and most important date open to controversy is that of the birth of William-most important because it affects all the rest...

The latest investigators place it in 1027 or 1028, and one (Mons. Deville) endeavours to fix it exactly to the month of June or of July in the former year.

Were it a question of only a few weeks or a few months I should not have thought it necessary to moot it here; but it is one of years, and of much more consequence than it appears at first sight.

The calculations of the upholders of the dates 1027-28 are founded on:

1. The contract of marriage of Duke Richard II and Judith, the parents of Robert, said to be dated in 1008. According to this date, Robert being their second son, would hardly have been born before 1010, and could be only seventeen or eighteen at the birth of William, and consequently his passion for Herleve was that of a boy of sixteen or seventeen at the utmost.

2. A charter granted by Robert previous to his departure on pilgrimage to Jerusalem dated in the ides of January, 1035, and as it is agreed on all hands that William was between seven and eight years old when his father left Normandy, that would place his birth in 1027-28.

3. The cartulary recently discovered at Falaise recording William's birth and baptism therein 1027.

4. The statement of Guillaume de Jumièges that William was not quiteeeeee sixty at his death iiin 1087.

A sort of collateral substantiation of the date of the pilgrimage I find also in the story told by the author of the "Gesta Consulum Andegavensium," of the meeing of Duke Robert with Fulk Nera, Count of Anjou, at Constantinople in 1035, and their travelling thence to the Holy Land together, escorted by some merchants of Antioch, who had offered to be their guides. Robert becoming fatigued was carried in a litter by four Moors. A Norman pilgrim returning from Jerusalem, meeting his sovereign with this equipage, asked if he had any message to send to his friends. "Tell them," said the Duke, "that thou sawest me borne to Paradise by four devils." But it is to be observed that Fulk was also a pilgrim to the Holy Land in 1028, and that the compiler of "L'Art de Vérifierrr lesssss Dates" remarks that the work I have quoted "ne mérititite ppp papass beaucouppp de créance."""""""""

On the other hand we have also to consider the statement of William himself, who, according to Orderic, declared on his death-bed that he was sixty-four, which would make him born in 1023; that he was eight years old when his father went into what he calls voluntary exile, and that he had ruled the duchy fifty-six years, thus placing the death of Robert in 1031. That date is supported by the perfectly independent testimony of the Saxon Chronicle, which becomes more trustworthy in the eleventh century, wherein we read, "A 1031. . . . and Robert, Earl of Normandy, went to Jerusalem and there died, and William, who was afterwards king in England, succeeded to Normandy, though he was but a child." The words I have printed in italics, however, detract from the value of the evidence; as they must have been written at least thirty-five years after the event, and perhaps much later.

The Peterborough and Canterbury chronicles follow the Saxon, and Roger of Wendover and Matthew of Westminster are merely copyists of the earlier writers.

I have seen too many errors in the dates of charters and other MSS., arising from clerical or typographical carelessness, to pin my faith upon any copy, printed or other, even when the original document is undoubtedly genuine, and therefore hesitate to accept the date accorded to the contract of marriage of Richard and Judith, particularly as there are several obvious inaccuracies in the copy printed in Martene (Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, vol. i.).

Judith was the only child of Conan le Tort, Count of Rennes, by his second wife Ermengarde, daughter of Geoffrey Grisegonelle, married according to the "Chroniques de Mont St. Michel" in 9 70. Conan was slain at the battle of Conquereux in 992. Now, if these dates can be at all relied on, what age was Judith likely to be in 1008, if not married till then? At what period of the two-and-twenty years of her parents' married life was she born? If in the ordinary course of nature, she must have been five- or six-and-thirty in 1008!

Judith died in 1017, the mother of five children: Richard, Robert, Guillaume, Alix (also called Judith), and Eleanore; and if only married in 1008 her eldest son Richard could scarcely have been born before 1009, and Robert, as already remarked, 1010. Whether Guillaume or Alix was their third child is uncertain, but before 1025 Alix was the wife of Renaud, son of Otto-Guillaume, Count of Burgundy, who, having fallen into the power of Hugues, Bishop of Auxerre and Count of Chalons, was strictly confined in prison by that prelate. Richard II, Duke of Normandy, thereupon sent his sons, Richard and Robert, with an army to relieve their brother-in-law, and Count Hugues was compelled to present himself with a saddle on his back (the usual custom at that period) and crave mercy at the hands of the sons of the Duke of Normandy.

Now, doubting that young warriors were mere boys of fifteen and sixteen years of age in 1025 (Richard, the eldest, dying in 1027, and leaving a natural son named Nicholas, who was Abbot of St. Ouen in 1042), I cannot bring myself to believe in the "extreme youth" of Robert, as pointed out by Mons. Deville, and without presuming to fix an exact date, believe that both Richard and Robert were nearly of full age at the death of their father, whether that event occurred in 1026 or 1027.

Leaving, therefore, the precise period of the birth of William the Conqueror still undecided, the weight of evidence inclining rather to 1027, let us hasten to the consideration of the equally vexed question concerning the number and ages of his family, consisting undoubtedly of four sons, and presumably of five or six daughters. [Freeman: Nor. Con., vol. v. [. 468, note4.]

Notwithstanding the various and conflicting dates suggested for the marriage of William and Matilda, ranging from 1047 to 1053, I think we may consider it sufficiently proved that it was solemnized at the close of 1053 or beginning of 1054, and that Robert, their first child, was born in the course of the latter year.

Their second child I take to have been Adeliza, eldest daughter, born apparently in 1055, being seven years old in 1062, when betrothed to Harold, and dead before 1066, as her decease was the undeniable answer of the Saxon king to one of William's charges of broken faith.

Cecilia must have been the third child, as she was clearly born in 1056, dedicated to the service of God by her father and mother at the consecration of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Caen, 18th June, 1066, was elected abbess on the death of Matilda, the first abbess, in 1112, and died on the 30th of July, 1125, in the seventieth year of her age.

The fourth child appears to have been Richard, born 1057-58, who, with his younger brother, William (fifth child), born 1060, witnessed the consecration of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Caen in 1066.

Richard was killed in the New Forest by accident during the reign of his father in England; and his brother William, surnamed Rufus, who succeeded the Conqueror as King of England, met his death, as is well known, A.D. 1100, in the same forest, doomed apparently to be fatal to the progeny of the heartless despot who had sacrificed to his passion for the chase the homes and hearths of thousands of his unfortunate subjects.

The sixth child I take to be Constance, born in 1061, married to Alain, Duke of Brittany, in 1086, and who died, poisoned by her own servants, according to some writers, on the 13th of August, 1094, at the early age of thirty-three.

Mrs. Green, notwithstanding she places her birth "most likely about 1057," subsequently tells us, upon the authority of no less than four chronicles, that she died in 1094 " when she had scarcely attained her thirty-third year." If the latter statement is to be depended upon, she must have been born in 1061, and the probabilities are all in favour of that date. Miss Strickland, by a curious inadvertency, makes Constance die some years before her mother, "after seven years' unfruitful marriage." The marriage having taken place three years after her mother's death!

The seventh child I believe to have been Adela, born circa 1062, married, at Chartres in 1080, to Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, and deceased in 1137, in tbe seventy-fourth year of her age.

Agatha, believed by Mrs. Green to be also Matilda, whose name appears in Domesday, the eighth and last child born in Normandy, circa 1064, was promised to Edwin, the Saxon Earl of Chester, in 1067, when only three years old, and after his death contracted to Alfonso 1, King of Castile and Galicia. She died on her journey to Spain, having, as the story goes, prayed she might not live to be married, and by unceasing genuflections caused a horny substance to form on her knees.

More incredible is the sentimental account of "blighted hopes" and "crushed affections" indulged in by Mrs. Green, as the child was but three years old when she first saw the "fair-haired Saxon," seven when her "lover" was murdered, and scarcely fifteen when she was contracted to Alfonso; for she must have been dead in 1080, as in that year the Castilian monarch married the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy.

This is of course according to my calculation, which I by no means presume to be irrefutable, and also applies solely to Agatha, leaving it to others to identify her with Matilda "filiae regis," whose chamberlain (Geoffrey) held lands in Hampshire of the King for service rendered to his said daughter. That there was a Matilda, daughter of King William, is undeniable, not only from the entry in Domesday, but from her being named with her sisters Adelaide and Constance in an encyclical letter to the nuns of the Holy Trinity at Caen in 1112. But as the survey was only begun in 1085, and completed in 1086, it will be difficult, I think, to prove that Agatha, who must have been dead in 1080, was the same daughter as Matilda, supposed to be living five or six years later.

Henry, afterwards King Henry 1, the youngest of the whole family, was the only child born in England, and the date of his birth is generally acknowledged to be 1068, his mother having come over from Normandy for her coronation in that year. Now let us see when it would be possible that a tenth child, if not a twin, could have been born to William by his duchess, and of sufficient age to have a chamberlain appointed to her before 1085.

Robert, born 1054.
Adeliza, born 1055; dead before 1066.
Cecilia, born 1058.
Richard, born 1057-58.
William, born 1060.
Constance, born 1061.
Adela, born 1062.
Agatha, born 1064; dead before 1080.
Henry, born 1068.

The ingenious theory that Matilda was no other than the mysterious Gundrada, the former name being simply a translation of the latter, is negatived by the fact that Gundrada died wife of William de Warren in 1085, while the survey was in the course of compilation. That one daughter should have been named after her mother is most natural. That the King had a daughter so named, and that she was apparently living in 1085, must be conceded; but that she was the same person as Agatha "the inexorable logic of facts" positively contradicts. There is just the possibility of its being Constance, who survived her mother, and was married to Alain, Duke of Brittany, as before stated, in 1086. She is said to have been the favourite daughter and companion of Queen Matilda, and for nearly six years the only princess at Court. At the period of her niother's death she would have been twenty-three, and previous to her marriage would no doubt have had a chamberlain and other officers appointed for her service. That she was ever called Matilda there is no evidence yet discovered; but there is no daughter of Matilda's more likely to have been so. But then we have to get over the awkward fact of Matilda and Constance being separately named in the encyclical letter of 1112. ["Matildem Anglorum reginam, nostri cnobii fondatricem, Adelidem, Mathildem Constantiam, filias ejus." Also in the Bouleau des Morts of the same Abbey we read: Ç "Orate pro nostria Mathilde Regina etttt Wiiiiillielmoooo ejus filio atque pro filiabus ejus Adelide, Mathilde, Constancia." -- Recherches sur le Domesday, p. 234.] Matilda is consequently, as Mr. Freeman truly describes her, "without a history." The vexed question of Gundrada will be discussed in the chapter comprising the biography of her husband, William, Earl of Warren and Surrey, and in connection with it the presumed widowhood of Matilda of Flanders, and her passion for Brihtric Meaw.

Robert married of Conversano Sybil in 1071/1104. Sybil was born in 1050/1070; died in 1071/1154. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry I (of England) (1068-1135), third Norman king of England (1100-1135), fourth son of William the Conqueror. Henry was born in Selby. Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made several unsuccessful attempts to gain territories on the Continent. On the death of his brother William II in 1100, Henry took advantage of the absence of another brother-Robert, who had a prior claim to the throne-to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned king at Westminster. Henry subsequently secured his position with the nobles and with the church by issuing a charter of liberties that acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the church. In 1101 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, invaded England, but Henry persuaded him to withdraw by promising him a pension and military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy (Normandie), where they were aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinchebray, France, in 1106, Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he constantly had to put down uprisings that threatened his rule in Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, over the question of lay investiture (the appointment of church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise that left the king with substantial control in the matter.

Because he had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his daughter Matilda as his heiress. After his death on December 1, 1135, at Lyons-la-Faret, Normandy, however, Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne, plunging the country into a protracted civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, Henry II, in 1154.

"Henry I (of England)," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia copyright 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.

At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.

Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important de Clare family. He and some of the de Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.

Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realizes that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.

Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he changed her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.

In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of 2000 pounds. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.

He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Belleme, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.

In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.

In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organization within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.

In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.

Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimony of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.

But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes and Noble Books, New York, 1995]

Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.

At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.

Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important de Clare family. He and some of the de Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.

Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realizes that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.

Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he changed her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.

In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of 2,000 pounds. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.

He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of BellÃssme, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry hhhhhad known for manyy yearrssss asss aaa dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.

In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.

In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organization within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.

In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.

Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimony of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.

But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]

Henry married Adeliza de Leuven on 2 Feb 1121 in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England. Adeliza (daughter of Count of Leuven and Brussels, Landgraves of Brabant Godfrey de Leuven, Duke of Lorraine I and of Chiny Ida) was born about 1094 in Affligem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium; died on 23 Apr 1151 in Affligem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Ansfride about 1089. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Nest verch Rhys about 1090. Nest (daughter of King of Deheubarth Rhys ap Tewdwr Mawr and Gwladus verch Rhiwallon) was born about 1073 in Dynevor, Llandyfeisant, Caemarvonshire, Wales; died about 1163. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Sibyl Corbet about 1089. Sibyl (daughter of Burgess of Caen Robert Corbet) was born about 1077 in Alcester, Warwickshire, England; died after 1157. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Isabel (Elizabeth) de Beaumont about 1119. Isabel (daughter of 1st Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, Count Meulan I and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born in 1098 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England; died on 6 Jan 1147 in Tunbridge, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Edith FitzForne about 1089. Edith (daughter of 1st Lord of Greystoke Forne FitzSigulf) was born about 1072 in Greystoke, Cumberland, England; died in 1152 in Oseney Abby, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Princess of Scotland Matilda (Edith) mac Maíl Coluim on 11 Nov 1100 in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. Matilda (daughter of King of Scots Malcolm III "Canmore" mac Dhonnchaidh and Margaret "of Scotland" Ætheling) was born about 1080 in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland; died on 1 May 1118 in Westminster Palace, London, Middlesex, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

It was thought that Matilda (Gundred) married William de Warren, 1st Earl of Surrey. That has since been disproved. For details see "Early
Yorkshire Charters" by C. T. Clay or "tudes sur Quelques Points de
l'Histoire de Guillame le Conqurant" by H. Prentout described under
Surrey in "The Complete Peerage" by G.E. Gibbs.

Ranulf married Margaret d'Avranches about 1069 in Normandy, France. Margaret (daughter of Viscount of Avranches Richard le Goz and Emma de Conteville) was born about 1054 in Avranches, Normandy, France; died in 1136 in Chester, Cheshire, England; was buried in Chester, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Agnes married Robert de Grandmesnil in 1075 in Grandmesnil, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. Robert (son of Sheriff of Leicester Hugh I de Grandmesnil and Adeliza (Aelis) (Alice) de Beaumont) was born about 1062 in Grandmesnil, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 1 Jun 1136 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The sources conflict on who was Gisele's father. Some show Otto William of Burgundy, grandson of Gerbega; another shows William I of Burgundy. I have picked the Stammtafeln version.

Gisela married Count of Maurienne and Savoy, Marquis of Turin Humbert II de Maurienne in 1090 in Savoy, France. Humbert (son of Count of Savoy Amadeus (Amadeo) de Maurienne, II and Joan de Geneva) was born about 1062 in of Savoie, France; died on 17 Oct 1103; was buried on 19 Oct 1103. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gisela married Marquess of Montferrat Renier in 1105 in Bourgogne, Marne, France. Renier was born about 1084 in of Bourgogne, France; died in May 1135. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married Duke of Burgundy Eudes I "The Red" Borel de Bourgogne in 1077/1098 in Burgundy, France. Eudes (son of Duke of Burgundy Henry Capet and Countess of Barcelona Sibylle) was born in 1058 in Burgandy, France; died on 23 Mar 1103 in Tarsus, Cilicia, Asia Minor. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Murdered

Stephen married of Lorraine Beatrix about 1087. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sibylla married Duke of Burgundy Eudes I "The Red" Borel de Bourgogne in 1080. Eudes (son of Duke of Burgundy Henry Capet and Countess of Barcelona Sibylle) was born in 1058 in Burgandy, France; died on 23 Mar 1103 in Tarsus, Cilicia, Asia Minor. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Raymond married Countess of Castile Urraca in 1087 in Toledo, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Urraca (daughter of King of Castile and Leon Alfonso VI "The Brave" and of Burgundy Constance Capet) was born in Apr 1079 in Castile, Leon, Castilla-Leon, Spain; died on 8 Mar 1126 in Saldaña, Palencia, Castilla-Leon, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ermentrude married Duke of Alsace-Lorraine II Thierry about 1089. II (son of Count of Alsace-Lorraine Gerard, Count of Metz and Chatenois Duke of Lorraine I and of Namur Hedwig) was born about 1044 in Bar-le-Duc, Meuse, Lorraine, France; died on 23 Jan 1115. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Ida Clementia
• Death: 1133, Nottinghamshire, England

Ida married Robert, Count of Flanders II in 1096 in Flanders, Belgium, Netherlands. Robert (son of Robert, Count of Flanders and Artois I and Gertrud Wettin) was born in 1065 in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium; died on 5 Oct 1111 in Brie, Meaux, Seine-et-Marne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Notes:

Maud, m. 1st, to Simon de St. Liz, and 2ndly, to David, brother of Alexander, King of Scotland. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 467, St. Liz, Earls of Huntingdon]

Maud married King of Scotland David I "The Saint" mac Maíl Coluim in 1113. David (son of King of Scots Malcolm III "Canmore" mac Dhonnchaidh and Margaret "of Scotland" Ætheling) was born about 1083/1085 in Scotland; died on 24 May 1153 in Carlisle, Cumberland, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married Simon de Senlis, 1st Earl of Northampton and 2nd Earl of Huntingdon I in 1090 in Huntington Castle,, Huntingdonshire, England. Simon (son of Laudry de Senlis and Ermengarde) was born about 1046 in Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died in 1109 in Priory of La Charité-sur-Loire, Nievre, Bourgogne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alice married Lord Flamstead Raoul de Toeni, Seigneur de Conches-en-Ouche III in 1103 in England. Raoul (son of Raoul de Toeni, Seigneur de Conches-en-Ouche II and Dame Nogent-le-Roy Isabel de Montfort) was born about 1081 in Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England; died about 1126 in Conches, Sein-et-Marne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Thibaud IV
• Birth: Abt 1088, of Blois, Loir-et-cher, France
• Death: 8 Jan 1152

Theobald married Princess of Carinthia Mathilde von Sponheim in 1123 in Blois, Loir-et-cher, France. Mathilde (daughter of Duke of Carinthia, Margrave of Istre II Engelbert and Utha von Passau) was born in 1097 in Karnten, Austria; died on 13 Dec 1160 in Fontrevault, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Earl of Chester Richard d'Avranches. Richard (son of Earl of Chester Hugh "Lupus" d'Avranches and Countess Of Chester Ermentrude de Clermont) was born about 1094; died on 25 Nov 1120 in Drowned in wreck of the White Ship near Barfleur, Manche, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Count of Vermandois Raoul I de Vermandois. Raoul (son of Hugh "The Great" Capet, Duke of France and Burgundy and Adelaide de Vermandois) was born in 1085; died on 14 Oct 1152. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal01397

Reigned 1135-1154. He seized the throne from Matilda who invaded England in 1139. The civil war that followed proved him a brave soldier but revealed his lack of political sense. In 1152, after much of the country had been ravaged in factional fighting and the royal administration had broken down, Stephen recognized Matilda's son Henry as heir to the throne. Duke of Normandy 1135-1144, deposed. Duke of Blois, Count of Mortain, Count of Boulogne.

Stephen married Countess of Boulogne Matilda de Talvas in 1125 in Westminster, London, England. Matilda (daughter of Count of Boulogne and Lens Eustace III de Talvas and Princess of Scotland Mary mac Maíl Coluim) was born about 1105 in Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 3 May 1152 in Hedingham Castle, Essex, England; was buried in Faversham Abbey, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Agnes de Sully. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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

Son of Etienne II, Comte de Champagne and Brie, by Adele, supposed to have been a daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, but by which of his wives or mistresses has not been ascertained. Now if such were the fact, Odo was the nephew of Duke Robert, the father of the Conqueror, and consequently first cousin of the latter and of his sister Adelaide or Adeliza, as far as blood was concerned. A marriage with her, therefore, would have been within the prohibited degrees so rigidly construed by the Church of Rome. William of Jumiegrave;ges, who styles him Count of Champagne, says he was nearly allied to King William by consanguinity, being grandson of Maud, daughter to Richard I, Duke of Normandy, wife of Odo, Earl of Blois and Chartres. This assertion is still more unfortunate, for Maud died childless, and Etienne, the father of our Odo, was the son of the Count of Blois' second wife Ermengarde, daughter of Robert I, Count of Auvergne, whom he married in 1020. I therefore deny the maternal descent of Odo from any near relation of William, Duke of Normandy, of whom he has been set down as a kinsman on the above authority only.

Dugdale, who appears to have been perfectly bewildered respecting him, has printed in his Monasticon two accounts, one from the Book of Meaux, an abbey in Holderness, and the other from the Register of Fountains Abbey, which is nearly verbatim, but in one or two instances more explicit.

The story as told in them is as follows: Odo having killed a magnate of his own country, took refuge in the dominions of his kinsman, William, Duke of Normandy, who gave him, through the intercession of the Archbishop of Rouen, his sister for wife, and subsequently bestowed upon him the island (according to the Book of Meaux), the county (according to the Register of Fountains), of Holderness. To the same Archbishop, not named, he is said to have been indebted for the grant of the county "comitatum" (the Register of Fountains reads "civitatem") of Albemarle on condition that he should attend the primate in any expedition with ten knights, and bear his standard before him.

The author of L'Art de Vérifier les Dates, and Père Anselm follow this s s s s s s s s s account, b bubut spepecicify the Archbishop as Jean de Bayeux, who entertained a great friendship for Odo, and, with the consent of the Chapter, bestowed upon him the lands of Aumale on the above-named condition.

Now let us see what light the crucial test of dates flings upon these statements. Etienne, the father of Odo, could not have been born earlier than 1021, and would have been about sixteen or seventeen when he succeeded his father in 1037 as Comte de Champagne and Brie. Allowing that he married before he was of full age, say 1040, Odo must have been a mere child at his death in 1047/8, when he was immediately dispossessed of his inheritance by his uncle, Thibaut III, legally, it would appear, according to the law at that period, which, if the heir to the lordship was not of sufficient age to receive investiture by the ceremony of girding with the sword, authorized the nearest in blood of full age to claim the succession. Sharp practice, it may be said, but still the law, and one, it may be worth remarking, which would justify the rebellions against William in the first years of his rule had he even been legitimate.

At what time Odo took refuge in the Court of William, Duke of Normandy, is not stated, but he must have been a most precocious young swashbuckler if he killed "a magnate of his own country" before he entered his teens, and the loss of his estates would have been quite sufficient to have caused him at a later period to seek his fortune elsewhere, without having killed anyone fairly or foully.

At the time of the invasion of England Odo would have been about five-and-twenty, and what more likely than, having nothing to lose and everything to gain, he should eagerly have volunteered his services to William? But if we are to believe that Odo was indebted to Jean de Bayeux for the hand of his wife and the lands of Aumale, how could he be the "Sire d'Aubemare" who fought at Senlac in 1066, when the said Jean de Bayeux was not elevated to the primacy till after the death of Archbishop Maurilius in 1067?

The labours of Mr. Stapleton before alluded to, and those of the authors of Recherches sur le Domesday, enable us to solve the riddle in the most satisfactory manner. The old Norman Chroniclers state clearly enough that Odo de Champagne was the husband of the Conqueror's sister, though differing as to the fact of her being of the whole or the half blood, but not one of them had the kindness to inform us, if they knew, that the lady had been twice previously married, and had left issue by each husband.

The facts of the case, which have been elicited from the records of the Church of St. Martin d'Auchi (de Alceio), commonly called of Aumale, from its vicinity to the town of that name, are as follows: In or about the year 1000 a castle was built on the river Eu, now known as the Bresle, at the point where it divides the provinces of Normandy and Picardy, by a certain Guerinfroi (Guerinfrides), who also, in 1027, founded in its neighbourhood the Abbey of St. Martin d'Auchi. This Guerinfroi, who was Sire d'Aumale (not Count, as he has been incorrectly called), had an only daughter named Berta, who became the wife of Hugh II, Comte de Ponthieu, and mother by him of Enguerrand, or Ingleram, Sire d'Aumale in right of his mother, who married Adelaide, sister of the Conqueror, and was killed in an ambush at St. Aubin, near Arques, in 1053, leaving an only daughter, named Adelaide after her mother, and having settled on his wife the lands of Aumale in dower. The widow of Enguerrand, being still young, married secondly, and in the first year of her widowhood, Lambert, Count of Lens, in Artois, and brother of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and had by him a daughter, named Judith, whose hand was given by her uncle, William the Conqueror, to Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland. Count Lambert could scarcely have seen the birth of his child, for he was killed at Lille the following year, in a battle between Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the Emperor Henry III. A widow for the second time, and still in the prime of life, she married, thirdly, Odo of Champagne, by whom she was the mother of Stephen, who, on the death of his elder sister Adelaide, became the first Comte d'Aumale, or Earl of Albemarle, the Seigneurie having been made a Comte by King William, but upon what occasion and at what time we have no evidence.

The name of Adeliza with the title of "Comitissa de Albemarle" occurs in Domesday, but not that of Odo, which first appears in connection with English transactions in 1088 (1st of William Rufus), when Count Odo and his son Stephen gave the manor and church of Hornsea, in the wapentake of Holderness, to the Abbey of St. Mary of York.

This latter fact also leads to the correction of Orderic Vital's assertion, that King William granted the earldom of Holderness to Odo of Champagne at the same time that he distributed cities and counties with great honours and domains among other lords who had assisted him in the Conquest, viz, in 1070. In the first place, Holderness was not an earldom; and in the second, as late as the completion of Domesday, A.D. 1086, the whole district so named was still part of the honour of Drogo de Brevere, a Fleming who had fought for William at Senlac, and received the greater part of the territory of Holderness amongst other portions of the spoil.

The gift of the lands (Dugdale says, of the city) of Aumale to Odo by the Archbishop of Rouen has also to be explained, for as Jean de Bayeux, if it were he, as stated by the author of L'Art de Vérifier les Dates,,,, wassss not advanced to the primacy before 1067, such donatiooon coouuld not have been made previous to the invasion of England, at which period, and as late as 1086, the city and Castle of Aumale, with such lands as had not been given to the church of Auchi, were in possession of Adeliza, as Lady or Countess of Aumale, the wife, or if she were deceased, the stepdaughter of that very Odo.

It depends therefore entirely upon the date of Odo's marriage, whether it was he who, in 1066, was the "Sire d'Aubemare" (in right of his wife) alluded to by the rhyming chronicler as a combatant in the great battle. The evidence brought to light by the industry of Mr. Stapleton, and published by him in the 23rd vol. of the Archaeologia, supplemented by his letter to the late Sir Charles G. Young, Garter-King-of-Arms, and communicated by the latter to the Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. vi. p. 265, and also set forth by Mr. Stapleton in his notes on the Norman rolls of the Exchequer, has been epitomized by the authors of Recherches sur le Domesday, published in 1842, and it is singular, therefore, that the information of the triple marriage of the Countess of Ponthieu should have escaped the vigilance of Mr. Freeman, who has been led by Mr. Stapleton into the serious error which his later discoveries allowed him to correct, of making Odo the husband of the younger Adelaide, who at the time the record was written had succeeded, as daughter and sole heir of Count Enguerrand, to the "Suzeraineté""" offfff Aumale.....

Whether the expatriated Count of Champagne fleshed his maiden sword at Senlac or not, he appears to have made no mark either for good or for evil in the annals of this country till, misled by ambition, he was induced to join in the conspiracy the collapse of which has given him an unenviable reputation in them.

History is quite silent about him until after the death of the Conqueror, when we are told that Odo found himself embarrassed by his position as a feudatory of William Rufus in England and of Robert Court-heuse in Normandy. He owed allegiance to each; but how could he serve two masters who were at war with one another? He decided in favour of Rufus, and received an English garrison in his Castle of Aumale, which, in conjunction with his son Stephen, he enlarged and strengthened, at the expense of the royal treasury, on the invasion of Normandy by the Red King in 1090.

Five years afterwards, however, he joined in a conspiracy with Robert de Mowbray, William d'Eu, and other disaffected nobles, to depose Rufus and place his own son Stephen d'Aumale upon the throne.

The conspiracy failing in consequence of timely warning having been given to the King, Odo and his son were both arrested, the former thrown into a prison, from which he never emerged alive, and the latter condemned to have his eyes put out; but the piteous prayers of his wife and family, to say nothing of the payment of a considerable sum of money, obtained a remission of his sentence and restoration to liberty. How long Odo lingered in his dungeon is unknown. The exact date of his death is as uncertain as nearly every other part of his history, but it is presumed to have taken place in 1108.

Dugdale says, "the lordships whereof he was possessed, as appears by the Conqueror's Survey, were only these," and he then enumerates certain manors, which, in "the Conqueror's Survey," are distinctly set down as held by Adeliza, Countess of Albemarle, Odo's name, as I have previously stated, not occurring in a single instance throughout the work; but Holderness, he adds, "was not given him till after that Survey." There he is right, as we shall find in the following notice of Drogo de Brevere.

Family/Spouse: Amice de Gael. Amice (daughter of Lord of Montfort Ralph de Gael and Emma Avice de Vermandois) was born in 1108 in Montford de Gael, Brittany, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Notes:

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

Robert married Maud FitzHamon about 1115 in Gloucestershire, England. Maud (daughter of Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzHamon and Sybil de Montgomery) was born about 1094 in Gloucestershire, England; died in 1157 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Not shown in The Complete Peerage, but shown in Weir as having an unknown mother.

Joan married of Galloway Fergus in 1112/1160. Fergus was born in 1092/1139; died on 12 May 1161 in Holyrood Abbey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Count of Brittany III Conan. III (son of Duke of Brittany Alan IV Fergant and Ermengard d'Anjou) was born before 1112; died in 1148. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: King of Scotland Alexander I "The Fierce" mac Maíl Coluim. Alexander (son of King of Scots Malcolm III "Canmore" mac Dhonnchaidh and Margaret "of Scotland" Ætheling) was born about 1080 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland; died on 23 Apr 1124 in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Reginald had been invested with the Earldom of Cornwall by King Stephen of England, but having afterwards taken up the cause of the Empress Matilda, his sister, he forfeited his lands and honours. Around 1173 he granted a charter to his free bugesses of Triueru, and he addressed his meetings at Truro to All men both Cornish and English suggesting a continuing differentiation.

Family/Spouse: Beatrice de Mortaigne. Beatrice (daughter of Earl of East Cornwall William de Mortaigne and Isabel FitzRichard) was born in 1114 in Cornwall, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married Rotrou II "The Great" de Perche in 1103. Rotrou (son of Count of Perche and Mortaigne Geoffrey II de Perche and Beatrice de Montdidier) was born in 1089; died on 8 May 1144 in Siege of Rouen, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was designated Henry's heir, and on his death (1135), Stephen seized the throne and Matilda invaded England (1139) inaugurating a period of inconclusive civil war. She and her second husband (Geoffrey) captured Normandy and in 1152 the Treaty of Wallingford recognized Henry as Stephen's heir.

Burke says she was betrothed in her eighth year (1119) to Henry.

MATILDA (1102-1167), empress, was the daughter of Henry I of England by his first marriage. She was betrothed in 1109 and married in 1114 to the German emperor Henry V. When her husband died (1125) leaving her childless, her father, whose only surviving legitimate child she then was, persuaded his reluctant barons to accept her, on oath, as his successor (Jan. 1, 1127). The novel prospect of a female ruler was itself unwelcome; Matilda's 17-year absence in Germany (where she was not unpopular) and her apparent arrogance estranged her from her father's subjects. Difficulties also might result from her remarriage to provide for the succession. Her marriage in 1128 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, heir to Anjou and Maine (designed by Henry I, like her first marriage, for political ends), whose father, Count Fulk, departed immediately after the ceremony to become the consort of Melisende of Jerusalem, flouted the barons' stipulation that she should not marry outside England without their consent, and was unpopular in Normandy and England. On Henry I's death, his nephew Stephen by prompt action secured England and was recognized by Pope Innocent II. Matilda and Geoffrey, however, made some headway in Normandy. Matilda's subsequent challenge to Stephen's position in England mainly depended on the support of her half-brother Earl Robert of Gloucester. After the defeat and capture of Stephen at Lincoln (Feb. 1141), Matilda was elected "lady of the English" and would have been queen could she have proceeded to coronation, but active support for her cause still came mainly from the western counties. Her chance of consolidating her precarious victory was swiftly destroyed by a reaction imitated by her tactless handling of London. After her defeat at Winchester in Sept. 1141, her supporters, slowly reduced by death and defection, maintained a stubborn defense until Earl Robert died (1147) and Matilda retired (1148) to Normandy, of which her husband had gained possession. She continued to interest herself in the government of the territories of her eldest son, the future Henry II of England. Her career was not entirely unsuccessful: all the subsequent monarchs of England have been her descendants, not Stephen's. She died in Normandy on Sept. 10, 1167.

Died:
Abbey of Notre Dame de Pres, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France

Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou V on 22 May 1127 in Le Mans Cathedral, Anjou, France. Geoffrey (son of Fulk V "The Younger" d'Anjou, Count of Anjou King of Jerusalem and of Maine Ermengarde de la Fletche) was born on 24 Aug 1113 in Anjou, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France; died on 7 Sep 1151 in Château-du-Loir, Eure-et-Loire, Normandy, France; was buried in St Julian's Church, Le Mans, Anjou, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married Holy Roman Emperor V Henry on 7 Jan 1113 in Mainz, Germany. V (son of Holy Roman Emperor IV Heinrich and Bertha de Savoy) was born on 11 Aug 1086; died on 23 May 1125 in Utrecht. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: William "The Atheling"
• Birth: 5 Aug 1103, Winchester, Hampshire, England
• Death: 25 Nov 1120

Family/Spouse: Matilda d'Anjou. Matilda (daughter of Fulk V "The Younger" d'Anjou, Count of Anjou King of Jerusalem and of Maine Ermengarde de la Fletche) was born in 1111; died in 1154. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ranulf or Randle de Meschines, surnamed de Bricasard, Viscount Bayeux, in Normandy, (son of Ralph de Meschines, by Maud, his wife, co-heir of her brother, Hugh Lupus, the celebrated Earl of Chester), was given by King Henry I the Earldom of Chester, at the decease of his 1st cousin, Richard de Abrincis, 2nd Earl of Chester, of that family, without issue. By some historians, this nobleman is styled Earl of Carlisle, from residing in that city; and they further state that he came over in the train of the Conqueror, assisted in the subjugation of England, and shared, of course, in the spoil of conquest. He was lord of Cumberland and Carlisle, by descent from his father, but having enfeoffed his two brothers, William, of Coupland, and Geffrey, of Gillesland, in a large portion thereof, he exchanged the Earldom of Cumberland for that of Chester, on condition that those whom he had settled there should hold their lands of the king, in capite. His lordship m. Lucia, widow of Roger de Romara, Earl of Lincoln, and dau. of Algar, the Saxon, Earl of Mercia, and had issue, Ranulph, his successor; William, styled Earl of Cambridge, but of his issue nothing in known; Adeliza, m. to Richard FitzGilbert, ancestor of the old Earls of Clare; and Agnes, m. to Robert de Grentemaisnil. The earl d. in 1128 and was s. by his elder son, Ranulph de Meschines. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 365, Meschines, Earls of Chester]

Ranulf married Lucy de Taillebois in 1098 in Normandy, France. Lucy (daughter of Earl of Anjou, 1st Baron of Kendal, Earl of Holland in Lincolnshire Ivo (Ives) de Taillebois and of Mercia Lucia) was born on 23 May 1074 in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England; died on 28 Jun 1144 in Chester, Cheshire, England; was buried in Chester, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Alice de Beaumont. Alice (daughter of 1st Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, Count Meulan I and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born in 1105 in Beaumont, Sur-Oise, Normandy, France; died on 11 Jul 1191 in Rheims, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adélaïde married Constable of France Matthieu de Montmorenci in 1141 in Savoie, France. Matthieu was born about 1190. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adélaïde married King of France Louis VI "The Fat" Capet on 3 Aug 1115 in Paris, Seine, France. Louis (son of King of France Philip I "The Fair" Capet and Countess of Holland Bertha) was born in 1081 in Herbst, France; died on 1 Aug 1137 in Bethizy Castle, Paris, Seine, France; was buried in St Denis, Seine-Saint-Deni, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Amadeus married Mahaut (Mafalda Matilda) d'Albon in 1123. Mahaut died after 1148. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hugh married Maud de Turenne in 1103/1135 in Bourgogne, Marne, France. Maud (daughter of Viscount of Turenne I Boso and Gerberge de Terrasson) was born about 1090 in of Mayenne, France; died after 1162 in Beaune, Cote-d'Or, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Poncette de Treves in 1088/1140. Poncette was born about 1090 in Treves, France; died about 1156. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

III married of Lorraine Agathe about 1130. Agathe (daughter of Duke of Lorraine I Simon and Adelaide de Leuven) was born about 1120; died after 1147. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Count of Blois Hugo (Hugh), I about 1110. 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]

Notes:

Died:
Abbey des Ayes, France

Clemence-Marguerite married Guigues IV d'Albon in 1132. Guigues was born about 1095; died on 28 Jun 1142 in La Buissaire, France; was buried in Notre Dame de Grenoble, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Abbey de Perseigne, Le Mans, France

Family/Spouse: Count of Alencon and Ponthieu William Talvas, Count of Ponthieu III. William (son of 3rd Earl Shrewsbury Count of Ponthieu, Alecon, and Montreuil Robert de Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury II and Agnes de Ponthieu) was born about 1093 in Alençon, Orne, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 30 Jun 1171. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Helie married Count of Ponthieu III William in 1115. III was born about 1095; died on 20 Jun 1172. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Helie married Bertrand de Toulouse, Count of Toulouse in Jun 1095. Bertrand died in 1112. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Returning from an expedition against Almohad possession, he died.

Alfonso married Berenguela Raimundo on 17 Nov 1128 in Saldaña, Palencia, Castilla-Leon, Spain. Berenguela (daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Barcelona III and Countess of Provence Douce, heiress of Provence) was born on 3 Feb 1113 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; died on 15 Jan 1149 in Palencia, Leon, Castilla-Leon, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alfonso married of Poland Richeza Piast in Jul 1152 in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland. Richeza was born in 1140 in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland; died on 16 Jun 1185 in Palencia, Leon, Castilla-Leon, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Margery married Gilbert de Venables in 1105 in Kinderton, Cheshire, England. Gilbert (son of Gilbert de Venables) was born in 1085 in Évreux, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France; died in 1130 in Venables, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Ada (Adelaide) de Warenne in 1139. Ada (daughter of 2nd Earl of Surrey William II de Warenne and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born about 1120 in Surrey, England; died in 1178 in Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, England; was buried in Kelso, Roxburgh, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Simon married Isabel (Elizabeth) de Beaumont in 1141/1186 in of Leicestershire, England. Isabel (daughter of 1st Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, Count Meulan I and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born in 1098 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England; died on 6 Jan 1147 in Tunbridge, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Maud m. 1st, Robert, son of Richard de Tonbridge, and 2ndly, to William de Albini, according to Dugdale, but Hornby, in his remarks upon Dugdale's errors, proves that such alliances, if not impossible, were very improbable. A Maud de St. Liz is mentioned as wife of Saier de Quincy, being father and mother of Saier, 1st Earl of Winchester. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 468, St. Liz, Earls of Huntingdon]

Maud married Saer de Quincy, Lord of Bushby I in 1136. Saer (son of Richard de Quincy and Judith Orabilis) was born in 1100 in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England; died in 1158 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married Lord of Dunmow Robert FitzRichard in 1119 in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, England. Robert was born about 1075 in Tunbridge, Kent, England; died in 1134 in Little Dunmow, Essex, England; was buried in Priory of St Neot, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Walter I de Clifford. Walter (son of Lord of Cantref Bychan Richard FitzPonce and Maud FitzWalter de Pitres) was born in 1115 in of Corfham and Culminton, Salopshire, England; died before 1190 in Godstow, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: of Hainault, Heiress of Brinkley Ida (Gertrude). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Constance de Beaumont. Constance (daughter of Richard de Beaumont) was born about 1115 in Flamsted, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adele married King of France Louis VII "The Younger" Capet on 18 Oct 1160. Louis (son of King of France Louis VI "The Fat" Capet and Countess of Savoy Adélaïde de Maurienne) was born in 1120 in Fontainebleau, France; died on 18 Sep 1180 in Notre Dame de Barbeau, Fontainebleau, France; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Acre, Palestine

Theobald married Alix Capet in 1164. Alix (daughter of King of France Louis VII "The Younger" Capet and Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor) was born in 1151; died in 1197/98. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: of France Marie Capet. Marie (daughter of King of France Louis VII "The Younger" Capet and Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor) was born in 1145; died on 11 Mar 1198. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Marie married Duke of Burgundy II Eudes about 1145 in Burgundy, France. II (son of Duke of Burgundy Hugh II "the Peaceful" and Maud de Turenne) was born in 1118 in Burgundy, France; died on 27 Sep 1162. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Marie married Count of Boulogne Matthew d'Alsace in 1160. Matthew (son of Duke of Alsace, Count of Flanders III Thierry and Sibylla d'Anjou) was born about 1137 in Flanders, Belgium; died on 25 Jul 1173 in Battle of Driencourt. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matilda married Count of Meulan Earl of Worcester Waleran de Beaumont in 1136. Waleran (son of 1st Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, Count Meulan I and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born in 1104 in Beaumont, Normandy, France; died on 4 Oct 1166. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Countess of Surrey Isabel de Warenne about 1149. Isabel (daughter of 3rd Earl of Surrey William III de Warenne and Adela d'Alencon) was born in 1137 in Surrey, England; died on 13 Jul 1199 in Lewes, Sussex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Henry d'Eu. Henry (son of Count of Eu, Lord of Hastings William II d'Eu and Beatrice de Builly) was born about 1090 in Leicestershire, England; died on 12 Jul 1140 in Foucaemont, France; was buried in Foucaemont Abbey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Walter de Ridelisford. Walter was born about 1146 in Carriebenan, Kildare, Ireland; died after 1226. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married 2nd Earl of Chester Ranulph de Gernon about 1141 in Gloucestershire, England. Ranulph (son of Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester and Lucy de Taillebois) was born in 1099 in Guernon Castle, Normandy, France; died on 16 Dec 1153 in Chester, Cheshire, England; was buried in St Werburgh, Chester, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

William married Hawise de Beaumont about 1150. Hawise (daughter of 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert II de Beaumont and Amice de Gael) was born in 1129 in Leicestershire, England; died on 24 Apr 1197. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Uchtred married of Allendale Gunhild in 1193/1218. Gunhild was born in 1095/1123; died in 1193/1218. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Count of Meullent Robert de Beaumont. Robert was born in 1140 in Meulan, Aquitaine, France; died in Oct 1207 in Palestine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Count of Maine Elias II d'Anjou. Elias (son of Fulk V "The Younger" d'Anjou, Count of Anjou King of Jerusalem and of Maine Ermengarde de la Fletche) was born about 1111; died on 15 Jan 1151. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Reigned 1154-1189. He ruled an empire that stretched from the Tweed to the Pyrenees. In spite of frequent hostilities with the French King his own family and rebellious Barons (culminating in the great revolt of 1173-74) and his quarrel with Thomas Becket, Henry maintained control over his possessions until shortly before his death. His judicial and administrative reforms which increased Royal control and influence at the expense of the Barons were of great constitutional importance. Introduced trial by Jury. Duke of Normandy.

Henry II was born at Le Mans in 1133. He was the eldest son of the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, by her second marriage to Geoffrey the Fair of Anjou. His parents' marriage was tempestuous, and both parties were glad when politics brought a separation, with Matilda going to England to fight King Stephen, and Geoffrey of Normandy to win a heritage for young Henry.

He first came to England at the age of nine when his mother made her dramatic escape from Oxford where she was besieged by Stephen, across the ice and snow, dressed all in white, to welcome him at Wallingford. His next visit, when he was fourteen, showed his character: he recruited a small army of mercenaries to cross over and fight Stephen in England, but failed so miserably in the execution of his plans that he ended up borrowing money from Stephen to get back home. A third expedition, two years later, was almost as great a failure. Henry was not a soldier, his were skills of administration and diplomacy; warfare bored and sometimes frightened him. For the meanwhile he now concentrated on Normandy, of which his father had made him joint ruler. In 1151, the year of his father's death, he went to Paris to do homage to Louis VII for his duchy. There he met Queen Eleanor, and she fell in love with him.

Henry was by no means averse. To steal a king's wife does a great deal for the ego of a young duke; he was as lusty as she, and late in their lives he was still ardently wenching with 'the fair Rosamund' Clifford, and less salubrious girls with names like 'Bellebelle'; finally, she would bring with her the rich Duchy of Aquitaine, which she held in her own right. With this territory added to those he hoped to inherit and win, his boundaries would be Scotland in the north, and the Pyrenees in the south.

Henry was, apart from his prospects, a 'catch' for any woman. He was intelligent, had learned Latin and could read and possibly write; immensely strong and vigorous, a sportsman and hard rider who loved travel; emotional and passionate, prone to tears and incredible rages; carelessly but richly dressed, worried enough in later life to conceal his baldness by careful arrangement of his hair, and very concerned not to grow fat.

But now he was in the prime of youth, and in 1153, when he landed with a large force in Bristol, the world was ready to be won. He quickly gained control of the West Country and moved up to Wallingford for a crucial battle with Stephen. This was avoided, however, because in the preparations for the battle Henry fell from his horse three times, a bad omen. Henry himself was not superstitious -- he was the reverse, a cheerful blasphemer -- but he disliked battles and when his anxious advisers urged him to heed the omen, he willingly agreed to parley privately with Stephen. The conference was a strange occasion: there were only two of them there, at the narrowest point of the Thames, with Henry on one bank and Stephen on the other. None the less, they seem to have come to an agreement to take negotiations further.

That summer Stephen's son died mysteriously, and Eleanor bore Henry an heir (about the same time as an English whore Hikenai produced his faithful bastard Geoffrey). The omens clearly showed what was soon confirmed between the two -- that when Stephen died, Henry should rule in his place. A year later Stephen did die, and in December 1154, Henry and Eleanor were crowned in London.

Henry was only 21, but he soon showed his worth, destroying unlicensed castles, and dispersing the foreign mercenaries. He gave even-handed justice, showing himself firm, but not unduly harsh. A country racked by civil war sighed with relief. Only two major difficulties appeared: first Henry's failure in his two Welsh campaigns in 1157 and 1165, when guerilla tactics utterly defeated and on the first occasion nearly killed him; second was the reversal of his friendship for Becket when he changed from being Chancellor to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162.

The quarrel with Becket was linked with the King's determination to continue his grandfather's reform of the administration of justice in the country. He was anxious for a uniform pattern, operated by royal justices, to control the corrupt, ill-administered and unequal local systems operated by barons and churchmen. At Clarendon in 1166 and Northampton in 1176, he got his council's agreement to a series of measures which established circuits of royal justices dealing with the widest range of criminal activities. The method of operation was novel, too, relying on a sworn jury of inquest of twelve men. Though not like a modern jury, in that they were witnesses rather than assessors, the assize juries were the ancestors of the modern English legal system.

Henry traveled constantly, and much of the time in his Continental territories, for there were constant rebellions to deal with, usually inspired or encouraged by Louis of France. Henry was determined to keep the integrity of his empire, and to pass it on as a unity. To do this was no small task, but in 1169 Henry held a conference with the King of France which he hoped would achieve his objectives: he himself again did homage for Normandy, his eldest son Henry did homage for Anjou, Maine and Brittany, and Richard for Aquitaine. The next year he had young Henry crowned in his own lifetime. If anything could preserve the succession, surely this would, yet, in fact, it brought all the troubles in the world onto Henry's head, for he had given his sons paper domains, and had no intention that they should rule his empire. Yet a man with a title does not rest until he has that title's power.

Late in 1171 Henry had a pleasant interlude in Ireland - escaping from the world's condemnation for the murder of Becket. He spent Christmas at Dublin in a palace built for him out of wattles by the Irish.

Meanwhile, Eleanor had been intriguing with her sons, urging them to revolt and demand their rights. Early in 1173 they trooped off to the French court, and with Louis joined in an attack on Normandy. Henry clamped Eleanor into prison and went off to meet the new threat. Whilst he was busy meeting this, England was invaded from Flanders and Scotland, and more barons who fancied a return of the warlord days of Stephen broke into revolt.

Plainly it was St. Thomas's revenge, and there was no hope of dealing with the situation without expiation. In July 1174 Henry returned to England, and went in pilgrim's dress to Canterbury. Through the town he walked barefoot, leaving a trail of blood on the flinty stones, and went to keep his vigil of a day and a night by the tomb, not even coming out to relive himself. As he knelt, the assembled bishops and all the monks of Christchurch came to scourge him -- each giving him three strokes, but some with bitterness in their hearts laying on with five.

It was worth it though, for the very morning his vigil ended Henry was brought the news that the King of Scotland had been captured. He moved quickly northwards, receiving rebels' submission all the time. He met up with Geoffrey who had fought valiantly for him, and commented, 'My other sons have proved themselves bastards, this one alone is my true and legitimate son.'

Returning to France, he quickly came to an agreement with Louis and his three rebel sons, giving each a substantial income, though still no share of power.

Richard set to work reducing the Duchy of Aquitaine to order, and quickly proved himself an able general who performed tremendous feats, such as capturing a fully manned and provisioned castle with three walls and moats to defend it. But the people were less easy to subdue - they loved war for its own sake as their poet-leader, Bertrand de Born, shows well in his works: '. . . I love to see amidst the meadows tents and pavilions spread; and it gives me great joy to see drawn up on the field knights and horses in battle array; and it delights me when the scouts scatter people and herds in their path; and my heart is filled with gladness when I see strong castles besieged, and the stockades broken and overwhelmed, and the warriors on the bank, girt about by fosses, with a line of strong stakes, interlaced . . . Maces, swords, helms of different hues, shields that will be riven and shattered as soon as the fight begins; and many vassals struck down together; and the horses of the dead and wounded roving at random. And when battle is joined, let all men of good lineage think of naught but the breaking of heads and arms: I tell you I find no such savor in food or in wine or in sleep as in hearing the shout "On! On!" from both sides, and the neighing of steeds that have lost their riders, and the cries of "Help! Help!"; and in seeing men great and small go down on the grass beyond the fosses; in seeing at last the dead, with the pennoned stumps of lances still in their sides.'

These robust knights were actively encouraged by the young King Henry. He was handsome, charming and beloved of all, but also feckless and thoughtless -- far keener on tournaments and frivolity than the serious business of government. Then in the middle of his new rebellion he caught dysentery and shortly died. His devoted followers were thunderstruck --one young lad actually pined to death -- and the rebellion fizzled out.

The young king was dead, but Henry, wary of previous errors, was not going to rush into making a new one. He called his favorite youngest son, John, to his side and ordered Richard to give his duchy into his brother's hands. Richard -- his mother's favorite -- had made Aquitaine his home and worked hard to establish his control there; he refused to give his mother's land to anyone, unless it were back to Eleanor herself.

Henry packed John off to Ireland (which he speedily turned against himself) whilst he arranged to get Eleanor out of her prison and bring her to Aquitaine to receive back the duchy. Meanwhile the new King of France, Philip, was planning to renew the attack on English territories, all the while the three, Henry, Richard, and Philip, were supposed to be planning a joint crusade.

In 1188 Henry, already ill with the abscessed anal fistula that was to cause him such an agonizing death, refused point blank to recognize Richard as his heir. The crazy project for substituting John was at the root of it all, though Henry may have deluded himself into thinking he was playing his usual canny hand.

But diplomacy was giving way to the Greekest of tragedies. In June 1189, Philip and Richard advanced on Henry at his birthplace in Le Mans, and he was forced to withdraw with a small company of knights, showering curses on God. Instead of going to the safety of Normandy, he rode hard, his usual long distance, deep into Anjou. This worsened his physical condition and, in high fever, he made no effort to call up forces to his aid. Forced to meet Philip and Richard, he was so ill he had to be held on his horse whilst he deliriously mumbled his abject agreement to their every condition for peace.

Back in bed after his last conference he was brought the news that John, for whom he had suffered all this, had joined the rebels' side. Two sons-- both rebels -- were dead, two sons -- both rebels -- lived, and it was his bastard Geoffrey who now tended him in his last sickness. There was not even a bishop in his suite to give him the last rites. Over and again he cried out in agony "Shame! shame on a vanquished king!"

After his death the servants plundered him, leaving him in a shirt and drawers. When the marshal came to arrange the burial he had to scratch around for garments in which to dress the body. A bit of threadbare gold edging from a cloak was put around Henry's head to represent his sovereignty.

And yet Henry had foreseen it all. According to Gerald of Wales, he had long before ordered a fresco for one of his rooms at Winchester: the picture showed an eagle being pecked by three eaglets, and a fourth perched on his head, ready to peck out his eyes when the time should come. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes and Noble Books, New York, 1995]

Henry married Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor on 18 May 1152 in Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France. Eleanor (daughter of Duke of Aquitaine William X "The Toulousan" and Eleanor Chatellerault de Rochefoucald) was born about 1122 in Chateau de Belin, Guinne, France; died on 31 Mar 1204 in Mirabell Castle, Poitiers, France; was buried in Fontevraud Abbey, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Rosamond de Clifford. Rosamond (daughter of Walter I de Clifford and Margaret de Toeni) was born in 1136 in Clifford Castle, Clifford, Hertfordshire, England; died in 1176 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alice married Lord of Tonbridge Lord of Cardigan Richard FitzGilbert de Clare about 1115. Richard (son of Earl Hertford Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare and Adeliza (Alice) de Clermont) was born in 1090 in Clare, Suffolk, England; died on 15 Apr 1136 in Slain by Welsh near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales; was buried in Tonbridge, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alice married Lord of Appleby Robert de Condet after 1136. Robert (son of Lord Wickhambreux Osbert de Condet and Adelaide de Chesney) was born about 1108 in Thorngate Castle, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England; died about 1141. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ranulph de Meschines (surnamed de Gernons, from being born in Gernon Castle, in Normandy), Earl of Chester. This nobleman, who was a leading military character, took an active part with the Empress Maud, and the young Prince Henry, against King Stephen, in the early part of the contest, and having defeated the king and made him prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, committed him to the castle of Bristol. He subsequently, however, sided with the king, and finally, distrusted by all, died under excommunication in 1155, supposed to have been poisoned by William Peverell, Lord of Nottingham, who being suspected of the crime, is said to have turned monk to avoid its punishment. The earl m. Maud, dau. of Robert, surnamed the Consul, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of King Henry I, and had issue, Hugh, his successor, named Keveliok, from the place of his birth, in Merionethshire; Richard; Beatrix, m. to Ralph de Malpas. His lordship was s. by his elder son, Hugh (Keveliok), 3rd Earl of Chester. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 365, Meschines, Earls of Chester]

----------

Ranulf II de Gernons, 4th Earl of Chester, VICOMTE (Viscount) DEBAYEUX, VICOMTE D'AVRANCHES, Ranulf also spelled RANDULF, or RALPH (b. c. 1100--d. Dec. 16, 1153), a key participant in the English civil war (from 1139) between King Stephen and the Holy Roman empress Matilda (also a claimant to the throne of England). Ranulf, nicknamed 'aux Gernons' (i.e. moustaches), played a prominent and vacillating part in the civil war of Stephen's reign, his actions, in common with most of his peers, springing from personal grievances rather than dynastic loyalty or principle. Ranulf's father, Ranulf I, had been granted the earldom of Chester in 1121 after his maternal uncle had drowned in the White Ship disaster (1120) but, in return, had been compelled to surrender Cumberland and his patrimony of Carlisle. The restoration of these lost estates was the mainspring of much of Ranulf II's political life. Inheriting the Chester earldom in 1129, he initially supported Stephen as king after 1135. However, successive treaties between Stephen and King David of Scotland in 1136 and 1139 gave the Scots large tracts of land in Cumberland coveted by Ranulf who reacted by seizing the town and besieging the castle. Ranulf now allied with the Empress Matilda in defeating the king at Lincoln in February 1141, capturing and briefly imprisoning Stephen. Ranulf's association with the Angevin party was cemented by his marriage in 1141 to the daughter of Robert of Gloucester. Later (1149) he transferred his allegiance to the king in return for a grant of the city and castle of Lincoln. Coventry received its original charter from him. However, his territorial ambitions were no closer realization as the king of Scots was also a close ally of Matilda. In 1145, Ranulf was reconciled to Stephen. However, there was no love lost between Ranulf and the king's entourage, many of whom had suffered at his hands. In August, 1146, at Northampton, Ranulf was suddenly arrested and put in chains when he refused the king's demand to restore all lands he had taken. He was only released when he surrendered all former royal property, including Lincoln. Stephen's arrest of Ranulf was a public relations disaster. He had broken his oath of reconciliation of 1145 and his own promise of protection, thus deterring any more defections from the Angevin faction. Stephen had breached a central tenet of effective medieval rule, that of being a good -- i.e. fair -- lord. Ranulf joined Henry FitzEmpress and was reconciled with David of Scotland who, in return for the lavish grant to Ranulf of most of Lancashire, retained Carlisle. But Ranulf was never a party man. His priorities remained centered on his own territorial and dynastic advantage, as shown by his 'conventio' with a leading royalist baron Robert of Leicester (1149/53). Under this treaty, the two magnates , independently of their rival liege-lords Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress, agreed to limit any hostilities forced between them by their masters and to protect their respective tenurial positions. Ranulf's career, notorious for his arrest in 1146, is more significant as evidence that the drama of high politics was played against a dense background of baronial competition for rights, lands, and inheritances which took precedence over any claims of royalty. [Encyclopedia Britannica CD'97, RANULF DE GERNONS, 4TH EARL OF CHESTER]

Ranulph married Maud FitzRobert de Caen about 1141 in Gloucestershire, England. Maud (daughter of 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert de Caen and Maud FitzHamon) was born in 1117 in Gloucestershire, England; died on 29 Jul 1189 in Chester, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Cecily de Romilly. Cecily (daughter of Robert de Romilly and Murel) was born about 1100 in of Normandy; died in 1151. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Petronella married 3rd Earl of Leicester Robert III de Beaumont in 1152/1180. Robert (son of 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert II de Beaumont and Amice de Gael) was born before 1135 in Leicestershire, England; died on 31 Aug 1190 in Durazzo, Greece. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor on 22 Jul 1137 in Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France, and was divorced in 1152. Eleanor (daughter of Duke of Aquitaine William X "The Toulousan" and Eleanor Chatellerault de Rochefoucald) was born about 1122 in Chateau de Belin, Guinne, France; died on 31 Mar 1204 in Mirabell Castle, Poitiers, France; was buried in Fontevraud Abbey, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Adele de Blois on 18 Oct 1160. Adele (daughter of Count of Blois and Champagne Theobald IV de Blois and Princess of Carinthia Mathilde von Sponheim) was born about 1140 in Blois, Loire-et-Cher, France; died on 4 Jun 1206 in Paris, Seine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Constance Burgundy before 18 Nov 1153. Constance (daughter of Emperor of All the Spains Alfonso VII Burgundy and Berenguela Raimundo) was born in 1141 in Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain; died on 4 Oct 1160 in Ile De La Cite, Paris, Ile-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Pierre married Elizabeth about 1150. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Hawise d'Evereaux in 1144 in Reims, Marne, France. Hawise (daughter of Sheriff of Wiltshire Walter FitzEdward d'Evereaux and Sibyl de Chaworth) was born in 1123 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England; died in 1152 in Braine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Agnes de Baudement in 1152 in Ende, France. Agnes (daughter of Guy de Vaudemont and Alice (Adelaide)) was born about 1130 in France; died on 11 Jul 1218 in France; was buried in St Ived Abbey, Braine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Countess of Rochefort Agnes after 1141 in Reims, Marne, France. Agnes was born about 1125. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Humbert married Beatrix de Macon in 1175. Beatrix (daughter of Count of Macon and Vienne I Gerard and of Salins Maurette) was born about 1160; died on 8 Apr 1230. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

II married Marie de Champagne about 1145 in Burgundy, France. Marie (daughter of Count of Blois and Champagne Theobald IV de Blois and Princess of Carinthia Mathilde von Sponheim) was born about 1129 in Champagne, France; died on 17 Aug 1190 in Fonterault, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

I married of Salins Maurette in 1119/1167. Maurette (daughter of III Walter) died on 15 Sep 1184. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Judith d'Alsace. Judith (daughter of Count of Boulogne Matthew d'Alsace and Marie de Blois) was born about 1155 in Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

I married Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa" von Hohenstaufen on 9 Jun 1156 in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany. Frederick (son of Duke of Swabia Frederick II von Hohenstaufen and of Bavaria Judith) was born in 1122 in Waiblingen, Germany; died on 10 Jun 1190. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adela married 3rd Earl of Surrey William III de Warenne in 1132/1147. William (son of 2nd Earl of Surrey William II de Warenne and Isabel (Elizabeth ) de Vermandois) was born in 1118 in Vermandois, Neustria, France; died on 19 Jan 1147 in Laodicea, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adela married 1st Earl of Salisbury Patrick d'Evereaux before 1152. Patrick (son of Sheriff of Wiltshire Walter FitzEdward d'Evereaux and Sibyl de Chaworth) was born about 1129 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England; died on 27 Mar 1168 in Slain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Guy married Ida de St. Pol about 1145 in Ponthieu, France. Ida (daughter of Hugues IV St. Pol and Beatrix) was born about 1126 in St. Pol, Artois, Pas-de-Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Constance de Bourgogne
• Birth: 1133, Castilla y Leon, Spain
• Death: 4 Oct 1160

Notes:

Died:
Died during childbirth.

Constance married King of France Louis VII "The Younger" Capet before 18 Nov 1153. Louis (son of King of France Louis VI "The Fat" Capet and Countess of Savoy Adélaïde de Maurienne) was born in 1120 in Fontainebleau, France; died on 18 Sep 1180 in Notre Dame de Barbeau, Fontainebleau, France; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

III married of Navarre Blanche on 30 Jan 1151 in Calahorra, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ferdinand married of Portugal Urraca in 1165. Urraca (daughter of King of Portugal Alfonso I Henriques) was born about 1151; died on 16 Oct 1188. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Monasterio De Jaen

Sancha married King of Aragon Alfonso II "The Chaste" Burgandy on 18 Jan 1174 in Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Alfonso (son of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Barcelona IV and Queen of Aragon Petronilla) was born on 4 Apr 1152 in Huesca, Huesca, Aragon, Spain; died on 25 Apr 1196 in Perpignan, Pyrenees-Orientales, Languedoc-Roussillon, France; was buried in Poblet, Provincia de Tarragona, Cataluna, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Mary Oliphant in 1159 in Duffus, Moray, Scotland. Mary (daughter of David Oliphant, Justiciar of Scotland) was born in 1139 in Duffus, Moray, Scotland; died after 1204 in Moray, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

Margaret married Conan of Penthièvre, Duke of Brittany IV in 1160. Conan (son of Alan "The Black" of Penthièvre and of Brittany Bertha of Cornouaille, Duchess of Brittany) was born in 1138; died on 20 Feb 1171. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford Lord of Trowbridge Constable of England III in Apr 1175 in Hereford, Herefordshire, England. Humphrey (son of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Baron of Trowbridge II and Margaret de Gloucester) was born in 1144 in Bromyard, Herefordshire, England; died in Dec 1181 in Brosse, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France; was buried in Hempsted, City of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Maude "of Chester" de Kevelioc. Maude (daughter of 3rd Earl of Chester Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester and Bertrade de Montfort) was born in 1171 in Chester, Chestershire, England; died on 6 Jan 1233. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Born in 1143, William the Lion was the younger brother of Malcolm IV. A year after his accession, he went to Normandy with Henry II and later spent Easter 1170 at Windsor. In 1174, however, he joined Henry II's son in his rebellion against his father, and invaded England. He was captured at Alnwick, Northumberland and brought to Henry II with 'his feet shackled beneath the belly of his horse.' He was then held prisoner first in Yorkshire, later at Northampton and finally in France. He was released by the terms of the Treaty of Falaise of 8 December 1174, having been forced to agree to do homage to Henry II 'for Scotland and for all his other lands', and surrender key Scottish castles such as Edinburgh and Stirling.

As William's feudal lord, Henry now had the right to arrange his marriage, and he gave him Ermengarde de Beaumont, whose father was the son of an illegitimate daughter of Henry I. William eventually recovered Scotland from the English king's feudal overlordship, however, when Henry II was succeeded by Richard I. Richard, determined to raise money for his third Crusade, surrendered his feudal superiority over Scotland for 10,000 merks by the Quitclaim of Canterbury on 5 December 1189 and Scotland was an independent country once more. In 1196-7, William established his sovereignty in Caithness.

Under William, the development of feudal institutions continued; in part, the Scottish monarchy's government closely resembled England's. William established royal burghs in eastern Scotland up to moray Firth, and extended the use of sheriffs in the same area. Perth and Stirling became major centres of royal administration.

William I was a vigorous royal patron of the Scottish Church - he founded Arbroath Abbey, Angus in or before 1178. In 1182 Pope Lucius III sent him the Golden Rose and in 1188 Pope Clement III took the Scottish Church under his special protection. In 1192, the Pope granted a Bull to William that recognised the separate identity of the Scottish Church (previously the Church in Scotland had been brought under the authority of the Archbishop of York), and its independence of all ecclesiastical authorities apart from Rome. Gervase of Canterbury described William as 'a man of outstanding sanctity ... much preferring to have peace than the sword and to provide for his people by wisdom rather than iron'. William died at Stirling on 4 December 1214, aged 71, and was buried at Arbroath

Family/Spouse: William de Say. William (son of William de Say and Beatrice de Mandeville) was born about 1126 in Kimbolton, Norfolk, England; died before 1 Aug 1177. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married Camerarius of Hanslope William de Mauduit in 1105/1212. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Alice de Gand. Alice (daughter of Earl of Lincoln Gilbert de Gand and Rohese de Clare) was born about 1146 in Folkingham, Lincolnshire, England; died in 1185; was buried in Bridlington. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

married Lord of East Bradenham Roger de Huntingfield about 1166 in Suffolk, England. Roger (son of William de Huntingfield and Sybil) was born about 1141 in Huntingfield, Suffolk, England; died in 1204. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Countess of Leuchars Orabilis de Leuchars about 1153 in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. Orabilis (daughter of Ness de Leuchars) was born about 1135 in Leuchars, Fife, Scotland; died before 30 Jun 1203 in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Walter FitzRobert, in the 12th of Henry II, upon the assessment in aid of marrying the king's dau., certified his knights' fees to be in number sixty-three and a half, de Veteri feoffamento; and three and a fourth part, de Novo, for all of which he paid 44p. 10s. In the great controversy between John, Earl of Moreton, (brother of King Richard, ) and William de Longchamp, bishop of Ely, whom the king left governor of the realm during his absence in the Holy Land, this Walter adhered to the bishop and had, at that time, custody of the castle of Eye, in Suffolk. He m. 1st, Margaret de Bohun, who d. in 1146; and 2ndly in 1148, Maud de Lucy, with whom he had the lordship of Dis, in Norfolk, and by whom he left at his decease, 1198, a son, Robert FitzWalter. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 212, FitzWalter, Barons FitzWalter]

Walter married Matilda de Lucy about 1154 in of Norfolk, England. Matilda (daughter of Richard de Lucy and Rohaise de Foliot) was born about 1136 in of Diss, Norfolk, England; died about 1243. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: King of England Henry II "Curtmantlel" Plantagenet. Henry (son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou V and Princess of England Matilda Normandy) was born on 25 Mar 1133 in Le Mans, Sarthe, Normandy, France; died on 6 Jul 1189 in Castle Chinon, Saumer, Indre Et Loire, France; was buried in Fontevraud Abbey, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lady of Cavenby Agnes de Condet. Agnes (daughter of Lord Coventry Roger de Condet and Basilia de Dammartin) was born about 1165 in Cavenby, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Goda married 3rd Earl of Derby William de Ferrers about 1162. William (son of 2nd Earl of Derby Robert de Ferrers and Margaret Peverel) was born in 1130 in Tutbury, Stafforshire, England; died on 31 Dec 1189 in Siege of Acre, Jerusalem, Palestine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died at sea

Family/Spouse: Petronilla de Lacy. Petronilla was born in Meath, Ireland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]