King of England Harold II Godwineson

Notes:

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

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

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

THE NORMAN KINGS OF ENGLAND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes:

She was a Nun at Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire, England

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

Notes:

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

Notes:

He grew up in exile.

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

Family/Spouse: II Geza. II was born about 1130; died on 3 May 1162. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

III married Agnes de Chatillon in 1168 in Constantinople, Turkey. Agnes was born about 1150 in Versailles, France; died about 1184. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Hungarian Endre, or Andras. King of Hungary (1205-35) whose reign was marked by controversy with barons and the great feudatories and by the issuance of the Golden Bull of 1222 (q.v.), which has been called the Hungarian Magna Carta.

The son of Bela III, Andrew succeeded Laszlo III, his elder brother's son, on the throne in 1205. Powerful landed interests forced Andrew to spend royal funds so recklessly that the crown was soon impoverished and dependent on the feudatories, who soon reduced Hungary to a state of near anarchy. Objecting to the prodigality of the German followers of Andrew's first wife, Gertrude of Meran, rebellious nobles murdered her in 1213. Four years later, with an army of 15,000 men, Andrew set off on an ill-fated Crusade to the Holy Land. After his return the barons forced him to agree to the Golden Bull, which became an important source of the Hungarian constitution. It limited royal rights and prerogatives, confirmed basic rights of small holders and nobles, guaranteed justice for all, and promised to improve the coinage. Under it, nobles had the right to resist by force any royal decree.

During Andrew's reign the Teutonic Knights, who had occupied parts of Transylvania for 14 years, came into conflict with both royal and ecclesiastical authority, and the order was expelled from Hungary in 1225. Andrew's daughter by Gertrude was canonized as St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Andrew married Gertrude von Meran in 1203. Gertrude was born about 1185 in Andechs, Starnberg, Bayern, Germany; died on 28 Sep 1213. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Andrew married Violant Courtenay in 1215. Violant was born about 1198. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Princess of Byzantium Maria Laskarina. Maria was born in 1206 in Nicaea, Bursa, Turkey; died in 1270. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Violant married King of Aragon Jaime I "The Conqueror" in 1235. Jaime (son of King of Aragon Pedro II "The Catholic" Berenguer and of Montpellier Maria) was born in 1208; died in 1276. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died of a broken heart after the kindapping of his son Ladislas (Laszlo) by a trusted official.

Family/Spouse: Princess of Cumania Elizabeth (Erzsebet). Elizabeth (daughter of Prince of the Cumens Kuthen and Princess of Galicia Mstislavna) was born in 1240; died in 1292. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabelle married King of France Philip III "The Bold" Capet on 28 May 1262 in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-et-Dome, France. Philip (son of King of France Louis IX "St. Louis" Capet and Marguerite Berenguer) was born on 1 May 1245 in Poissy, Yvelines, Ile-De-France, France; died on 5 Oct 1285 in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, Languedoc-Roussillon, France; was buried in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maria married King of Naples Charles II "The Lame" d'Anjou about 1270. Charles (son of Count of Anjou Charles I d'Anjou and Beatrice Berenguer) was born in 1254; died on 5 May 1309 in Naples, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Princess of Sicily Margaret d'Anjou. Margaret (daughter of King of Naples Charles II "The Lame" d'Anjou and Princess of Hungary Maria (Mary) Arpad) was born in 1273 in Sicily; died on 31 Dec 1299; was buried in Jacobins, Paris, Seine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Matilda de Châtillon. Matilda died on 3 Oct 1358. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Philip married Queen of Navarre Jeanne I de Navarre in 1284. Jeanne (daughter of King of Navarre Henry I "The Fat" and of Artois Blanche Capet) was born on 14 Jan 1273 in Bar-sur-Seine, l'Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 4 Apr 1305 in Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, Ile-de-France, France; was buried in Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Duke of Anjou Charles III de Valois. Charles (son of King of France Philip III "The Bold" Capet and of Aragon Isabelle de Aragon) was born on 12 Mar 1270 in Fontainebleau, France; died on 15 Dec 1325. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Death: 7 Mar 1342, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Jeanne married William I "The Good" d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut on 29 May 1305 in Chanay, Ain, Rhône-Alpes, France. William (son of John d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut Holland and Zeeland II and Philippa Luxembourg) was born on 1 Nov 1286 in Avesnes, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 7 Jun 1337 in Valenciennes, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; was buried in Valenciennes, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabella married Duke of Bourbonnais Peter I de Bourbon on 25 Jan 1336. Peter was born in 1311; died on 19 Sep 1356. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabella married King of England Edward Plantagenet, King of England II on 25 Jan 1308 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Edward (son of Edward "Longshanks" Plantagenet, King of England and Eleanor "of Castile", Countess de Ponthieu) was born on 25 Apr 1284 in Caernarvon Castle, Caernarvonshire, Wales; died on 21 Sep 1327 in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England; was buried in St Peter's Abbey, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Death: 7 Mar 1342, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Jeanne married William I "The Good" d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut on 29 May 1305 in Chanay, Ain, Rhône-Alpes, France. William (son of John d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut Holland and Zeeland II and Philippa Luxembourg) was born on 1 Nov 1286 in Avesnes, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 7 Jun 1337 in Valenciennes, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; was buried in Valenciennes, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Philippa of Hainault

Notes:

Walter of Stapeldon was bishop of Exeter, and in 1319 served on an English diplomatic mission to the Low Countries to negotiate a naval agreement. As part of their responsibilities, the emissaries also visited Hainaut and gave Philippa the once-over. It is interesting that she was even then being considered as a possible future queen of England, nearly a full decade before Queen Isabella finally closed the negotiations.

A document from their trip gives a fairly full physical description of the young girl: she was well built, without any obvious deformity; good hair, neither light nor dark; neat head, with a somewhat bulbous forehead (considered a sign of beauty); her eyes were dark brown, almost black, and fairly close together (NOT a good sign). Her nose was all right, except the tip was a bit broad and the nostrils a tad large. The lips were full, especially the lower one. Her teeth were good, some whiter than others, and the lower row was noticeably irregular while the upper row protruded just a bit--not too much. Her skin was brownish, not the translucent white of a romance heroine. She resembled her father a good deal (a good sign as it suggested she was more masculine and might well have more sons than daughters), both parents were very fond of her, and all the courtiers of Hainaut thought well of her too, as far as the envoys were able to determine.

According to her mother, Philippa would have her ninth birthday at the next feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist (24 June), which puts her birth on or near that day in the year 1310. She was thus about two and one-half years older than her future husband, and would have been about 45 when she bore her last child Thomas in 1355. -- John Carmi Parsons (edited)

Philippa married Edward Plantagenet, King of England III on 24 Jan 1327 in York Minster, Deangate, Yorkshire, England. Edward (son of King of England Edward Plantagenet, King of England II and Isabella Capet) was born on 13 Nov 1312 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England; died on 21 Jun 1377 in Shene Palace On-The-Thames, Richmond, Surrey, England; was buried in Westminster Palace, Greater London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Charles V "The Wise" de Valois. Charles (son of John II "The Good" de Valois and of Luxemburg Bonne) was born on 21 Jan 1337 in Vincennes, France; died on 16 Sep 1380 in Vincennes, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 20 Nov 1312

Edward married of Hainault Philippa d'Avesnes on 24 Jan 1327 in York Minster, Deangate, Yorkshire, England. Philippa (daughter of William I "The Good" d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne de Valois) was born on 24 Jun 1314 in Le Quesnoy, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 15 Aug 1369 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Philippa of Hainault

Notes:

Walter of Stapeldon was bishop of Exeter, and in 1319 served on an English diplomatic mission to the Low Countries to negotiate a naval agreement. As part of their responsibilities, the emissaries also visited Hainaut and gave Philippa the once-over. It is interesting that she was even then being considered as a possible future queen of England, nearly a full decade before Queen Isabella finally closed the negotiations.

A document from their trip gives a fairly full physical description of the young girl: she was well built, without any obvious deformity; good hair, neither light nor dark; neat head, with a somewhat bulbous forehead (considered a sign of beauty); her eyes were dark brown, almost black, and fairly close together (NOT a good sign). Her nose was all right, except the tip was a bit broad and the nostrils a tad large. The lips were full, especially the lower one. Her teeth were good, some whiter than others, and the lower row was noticeably irregular while the upper row protruded just a bit--not too much. Her skin was brownish, not the translucent white of a romance heroine. She resembled her father a good deal (a good sign as it suggested she was more masculine and might well have more sons than daughters), both parents were very fond of her, and all the courtiers of Hainaut thought well of her too, as far as the envoys were able to determine.

According to her mother, Philippa would have her ninth birthday at the next feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist (24 June), which puts her birth on or near that day in the year 1310. She was thus about two and one-half years older than her future husband, and would have been about 45 when she bore her last child Thomas in 1355. -- John Carmi Parsons (edited)

Philippa married Edward Plantagenet, King of England III on 24 Jan 1327 in York Minster, Deangate, Yorkshire, England. Edward (son of King of England Edward Plantagenet, King of England II and Isabella Capet) was born on 13 Nov 1312 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England; died on 21 Jun 1377 in Shene Palace On-The-Thames, Richmond, Surrey, England; was buried in Westminster Palace, Greater London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He was Prince of England, in 1342 he was Earl of Richmond, in 1361 he was Earl of Lancaster, and, in 1362 he was Earl of Derby, Earl of Leicester and Earl of Lincoln. Also he was Titular King of Castile and Leon and Duke of Aquitane. In 1377, he became Earl Palatinate.

Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Richmond, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln, Duke of Aquitaine, Lord of Beaufort and Nogent, Rey de Castilla y Leon, Seigneur de Bergerac et Roche-sur-Yon, Knight of the Garter.

He virtually ran England during his Father's declining years. He was one of the wealthiest men in the realm. --- He had wealth and power over the lives of others of a type we find it hard to even imagine today. His progeny became rich and powerful in his train. Perhaps he mused that he would go down in History as Duke of Lancaster, honored, feared, magnificent and respected. And yet, because William Shakespeare [1564-1616], 200 years after the Duke of Lancaster's death --- writes a play called Richard II [1595-1596] and calls him John of Gaunt, an infant nickname that John enjoyed until the age of three, and not thereafter --- this sobriquet --- corrupted from his birthplace in Ghent, Flanders, Netherlands --- sticks to him forever. Ghent is now in Belgium. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Rey de Castilla y Leon has been dead for almost 600 years --- but Shakespeare's christening wins the historical palm and is the name he sleeps with for the eons. Scribblers are often powerful beyond belief. -- Spencer Hines

He was only able to marry her after Constanza's death, at which time her children by him were retro-actively legitimated. -- Brant Gibbard

The four original Beauforts were born to Katherine Roet Swynford and John of Gaunt while John's second wife was still alive. On her death in 1394 John married Katherine, and in 1397 Richard II, as a favour to John of Gaunt and in order to neutralize John's son Derby (later King Henry IV) legitimatized the children who had been born out of wedlock. Richard's Act of Parliament did not bar the Beauforts or their descendants from the throne. But Henry IV later wrote in, between the lines of the document, a clause excluding the Beauforts from the succession. This interlineation was, bluntly, a forgery of an Act of Parliament, and Henry VII's sccession confounded it. -- from Kings & Queens of England & Scotland (by Allen Andrews, Marshall Cavendish, London 1985)

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399), English soldier and statesman, the fourth son of King Edward III of England, and brother of Edward, the Black Prince. John was born in March 1340 in Ghent (M.E., Gaunt), now in Belgium. In 1359 he married Blanche, daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster; when Henry died, John became duke.

John of Gaunt played an important part in the wars of the period between England and France and between England and Spain. He commanded a division of the English army, led by the Black Prince, that defeated the army of Henry (later Henry II, king of Castile and Leon) at N jerera in 1367. As a result of his second marriage, to Constance, daughter of Peter the Cruel (king of Castile and Leon), John laid claim to the throne ofofof Castile. . During the Hundred Years' War, he aided (1370-1371) the Black Prince against France and established English rule over most of southern France. After a severe illness forced the return of the Black Prince to England, John took command of the English armies; by 1380 he had lost much of the territory the English had previously won. In 1386 John invaded Castile, but was defeated by John I, king of Castile and Leon. John of Gaunt gave up his claim to Castile and Leon in 1387, whe when his daughter married d Henry, later Henry III, king of Castile and Leon.

John of Gaunt was also prominent in English affairs. Together with Alice Perrers, his father's mistress, John dominated the English government. He was opposed by Parliament and by the Black Prince. In 1376 Parliament banished Alice Perrers and curtailed John's powers. The death of the Black Prince that year and the dissolution of Parliament, however, enabled John to regain his power. In 1377, on the death of Edward III and the accession of Richard II (John's nephew and son of the Black Prince), John gave up his control of the government and thereafter played the role of peacemaker; he also supported the king, by whom he was made (1390) duke of Aquitaine. In 1396, after the death of his second wife, John married his mistress Catherine Swynford, and Richard legitimized their children the following year. Saddened by the exile (1398) of his son, Henry of Lancaster (later King Henry IV of England), John died on February 3 of the following year.

Birth:
Abbaye De St Bavon, Ghent, Flandre Orientale, Belgium

John married Blanche "of Lancaster" Plantagenet on 19 May 1359 in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England. Blanche (daughter of 1st Duke of Lancaster Henry "of Grosmont" Plantagenet and Isabel de Beaumont) was born on 25 Mar 1345 in Castle Grosmont, Grosmont, Monmouthshire, England; died on 12 Sep 1369 in Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Constance of Castile on 21 Sep 1371. Constance (daughter of King of Castile III Pedro and Maria Juana de Padilla) was born in 1354; died in Jun 1394. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Katherine de Roët on 13 Jan 1396 in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England. Katherine (daughter of Paon de Roët) was born on 25 Nov 1350 in Hainault, Belgium; died on 10 May 1403 in Lincolnshire, England; was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He distinguished himself as a military leader during the Hundred Years' War. During his lifetime he was called Edward of Woodstock; the name Black Prince was given him because of the black armor he wore. Parts of his armor still hang in Canterbury Cathedral.

Edward married Joan Plantagenet, 4th Countess of Kent on 10 Oct 1361 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. Joan (daughter of Earl of Kent Edmund Plantagenet, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell) was born on 29 Sep 1326 in Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire, England; died on 7 Aug 1385 in Wallingford Castle, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabella married Enguerrand de Courcy, 1st Earl of Bedford VII on 27 Jul 1365 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England. Enguerrand (son of Ingelram de Coucy, VI and Katharina Habsburg) was born in 1343 in Coucy Le Chateau, Aisne, Picardie, France; died on 18 Feb 1397 in Bursa, Marmara, Anatolia, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lionel married Elizabeth de Burgh on 15 Aug 1342 in Tower of London, London, England. Elizabeth (daughter of 3rd Earl of Ulster William "The Brown" de Burgh and Maud Plantagenet) was born on 6 Jul 1332 in Carrickfergus Castle, Antrim, Ireland; died on 10 Dec 1363 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; was buried in Clare, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edmund married Isabella Perez, Princess of Castile and Leon about 1 Mar 1372 in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England. Isabella (daughter of King of Castile III Pedro and Maria Juana de Padilla) was born in 1355 in Morales, Tordesillas, Spain; died on 23 Dec 1392 in Langley, Hertfordshire, England; was buried in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Eleanor de Bohun in 1376. Eleanor (daughter of 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex and 2nd Earl of Northampton Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford and Joan FitzAlan) was born in 1366 in Hereford, Herefordshire, England; died on 3 Oct 1399 in Minoresses' Convent, Aldgate, London, England; was buried in Westminster, Greater London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married of Bavaria Isabeau Wittelsbach on 17 Jul 1385. Isabeau (daughter of Duke of Bavaria Stephen III Wittelsbach and Taddea Visconti) was born in 1369; died on 24 Sep 1435. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Valentina Visconti in Sep 1389. Valentina was born in 1370 in Milan, Italy; died on 4 Dec 1408 in Blois, Loire-et-Cher, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]