Officer of the Household Hariette de Falaise

Hariette married 6th Duke of Normandy Robert I "The Magnificent", 5th Duke of Normandy about 1023. Robert (son of Richard, Duke of Normandy II and Judith de Rennes) was born on 22 Jun 1000 in Rouen, Departement de la Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 22 Jul 1035 in Nice, Bithynia, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hariette married Harlevin de Conteville about 1035. Harlevin (son of Jean de Conteville) was born in 1001 in Conteville, France; died in 1041. [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]

Emma married Viscount of Avranches Richard le GozAvranches, Normandy, France. Richard (son of Lord of Heismes Thurstan le Goz) was born about 1025 in Avranches, Normandy, France; died in 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Maud de Montgomery. Maud (daughter of 1st Earl of Shrewsbury Roger de Montgomery and Mabel de Talvas d'Alencon) was born about 1041 in Manche, Basse-Normandie, France; died in 1107. [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.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Margaret le Goz
• Name: Maud Lupus

Margaret married Ranulf "Le Meschin" de Briquessart, Viscount of Bessin about 1069 in Normandy, France. Ranulf (son of Ranulf "The Rich" de Briquessart, Vicomte De Bessin and Alix De Normandy) was born in 1050 in Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died in Jan 1129 in Chester, Cheshire, England; was buried in Chester, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Lord of Sudeley Harold d'Ewyas about 1084. Harold (son of Earl of Hereford Ralph de Sudeley and Getha Clopa) was born about 1055 in Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England; died after 1115. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

HUGH D'AVRANCHES, EARL OF CHESTER

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

Here is a personage who, under the more popular name of Hugh Lupus, is perhaps almost as well known as the Conqueror himself.

Wace in his "Roman de Rou," speaks only of his father Richard: "D'Avrancin i fu Richarz."

But it is generally contended that Richard was not in the battle, and that it was Hugh, his son, who accompanied William to Hastings. The authors of "Les Recherches sur le Domesday," to whom we are so deeply indebted for information on these points, hesitate to endorse the opinion of Mons. le Prévost upon these grounds, -- that Richard was living ass late as 1082, when he appears as a witness to a charter of Roger de Montgomeri, in favour of St. Stephen's at Caen, to which also his son, Earl Hugh, is a subscriber. Their observations only point, however, to the probability of Richard, who in 1066 was Seigneur or Vicomte of Avranches, having been in the Norman army of invasion, as he survived the event some sixteen years; at the same time they deny that there is any proof that his son Hugh was in the battle, and assert, without stating on what authority, that Hugh only joined the Conqueror in England after the victory at Senlac, when he rendered the new King most important services by his valour and ability in the establishment of William on the throne, and contributed greatly towards the reduction of the Welsh to obedience. That there is authority for their assertion appears from the cartulary of the Abbey of Whitby, quoted by Dugdale in his "Monasticon," (Mon. Ang. vol. i, p. 72) where we read distinctly that Hugh Earl of Chester and William de Percy came into England with William the Conqueror in 1067: "Anno Domini millesimo sexagesimo septimo," and that the King gave Whitby to Hugo, which Hugo afterwards gave to William de Percy, the founder of the abbey there.

We have here, therefore, a parallel case to that of Roger de Montgomeri (Vide vol i, p. 181), and must similarly treat it as an open question.

The descent of Richard, surnamed Goz, Le Gotz, or Le Gois, from Ansfrid the Dane, the first who bore that surname, has been more or less correctly recorded, but in "Les Recherches" it will be found critically examined and carried up to Rongwald, or Raungwaldar, Earl of Maere and the Orcades in the days of Harold Harfager, or the Fair-haired; which said Rongwald was the father of Hrolf, or Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy. Rongwald, like the majority of his countrymen and kinsmen, had several children by a favourite slave, whom he had married "more Danico," and Hrolf Turstain, th.e son of one of them, having followed his uncle Rollo into Normandy, managed to secure the hand of Gerlotte de Blois, daughter of Thibaut Count of Blois and Chartres, which seems to have been the foundation of this branch of the great Norse family in Normandy, and the stock from which descended the Lords of Briquebec, of Bec-Crispin, of Montfort-sur-Risle, and others who figure as companions of the Conqueror.

The third son of Gerlotte was Ansfrid the Dane, the first Vicomte of the Hiemois, and father of Ansfrid the second, surnamed Goz, above mentioned, whose son Turstain (Thurstan, or Toustain) Goz was the great favouritc of Robert Duke of Normandy, the father of the Conqueror, and accompanied him to the Holy Land, and was intrusted to bring back the relics the Duke had obtained from the Patriarch of Jerusalem to present to the Abbey of Cerisi, which he had founded. Revolting against the young Duke William in 1041 (Vide vol. i, p. 21), Turstain was exiled, and his lands confiscated and given by the Duke to his mother, Herleve, wife of Herluin de Conteville.

Richard Goz, Vicomte d'Avranches, or more properly of the Avranchin, was one of the sons of the aforesaid Turstain, by his wife Judith de Montanolier, and appears not only to have avoided being implicated in the rebellion of his father, but obtained his pardon and restoration to the Vicomté of the Hiemois, to which at his death he succeeded, and to havee strengthened his position at court by securing the hand of Emma de Conteville, one of the daughters of Herluin and Herleve, and half-sister of his sovereign. By this fortunate marriage he naturally recovered the lands forfeited by his father and bestowed on his mother-in-law, and acquired also much property in the Avranchin, of which he obtained the Vicomté, in addition to that of the Hiemois..

There was every reason, therefore, that he should follow his three brothers-in-law in the expedition to England, if not prevented by illness or imperative circumstances. He must have been their senior by some twenty years, but still scarcely past the prime of life, and his son Hugh a stripling under age, as his mother, if even older than her brothers Odo and Robert, could not have been born before 1030, and if married at sixteen, her son in 1066 would not be more than nineteen at the utmost. Mr. Freeman, who places the marriage of Herleve with Herluin after the death of Duke Robert in 1035, would reduce this calculation by at least six years, rendering the presence of her grandson Hugh at Senlac more than problematical. It is at any rate clear that he must have been a very young man at the time of the Conquest. That "he came into England with William the Conqueror," as stated by Dugdale, does not prove that he was in the army at Hastings, and is reconcilable with the assertion in the "Recherches," that he joined him after the Conquest, corroborated by the cartulary of Whitby, before mentioned; very probably coming with him in the winter of 1067, and in company with Roger de Montgomeri, respecting whose first appearance in England the same diversity of opinion exists, and it might be his assistance in suppressing the rebellion in the West and other parts of the kingdom that gained him the favour of the King, and ultimately the Earldom of Chester, at that time enjoyed by Gherbod the Fleming, brother of Gundrada. The gift of Whitby, in Yorkshire, to Hugh, which he soon afterwards gave to William de Percy, would seem to show that he had been employed against the rebels beyond the Humber in 1068.

In 1071, Gherbod Earl of Chester being summoned to Flanders by those to whom he had intrusted the management of his hereditary domains, whatever they were, obtained from King William leave to make a short visit to that country; but while there his evil fortune led him into a snare, and falling into the hands of his enemies, he was thrown into a dungeon, "where he endured," says Orderic, "the sufferings of a long captivity, cut off from all the blessings of life." Whether he ended his days in that dungeon Orderic does not tell us. A little more information respecting this Gherbod and his sister would be a great boon to us. At present, what we hear about them is so vague that it looks absolutely suspicious.

In consequence of this "evil fortune" which befell Gherbod, the King, continues Orderic, gave the earldom of Chester to Hugh d'Avranches, son of Richard, surnamed Goz, who, in concert with Robert de Rhuddlan and Robert de Malpas, and other fierce knights, made great slaughter amongst the Welsh.

Hugh was in fact a Count Palatine, and had the county of Chester granted to him to hold as freely by the sword as the King held the kingdom by the crown. He was all but a king himself, and had a court, and barons, and officers, such as became a sovereign prince.

We hear but little of him during the remainder of the reign of William the Conqueror, but in the rebellion against Rufus, in 1096, he stood loyally by his sovereign; he is charged, however, with having barbarously blinded and mutilated his brother-in-law, William Comte d'Eu, who had been made prisoner in that abortive uprising. In the same year he is also accused of committing great cruelties upon the Welsh in the Isle of Anglesea, which he ravaged in conjunction with Hugh de Montgomeri, Earl of Shrewsbury, who lost his life at that period in resisting the landing of the Norwegians nnder Magnus III, King of Norway. The Norse poet tells us the Earl of Shrewsbury was so completely enveloped in armour that nothing could be seen of his person but one eye. "King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as also did a Heligoland man who stood beside the King. They both shot at once. The one shaft struck the nose-guard of the helmet, and bent it on one side, the other arrow hit the Earl in the eye and passed through his head, and this arrow was found to be the King's."

Giraldus Cambrensis gives a similar account, adding some few details, such as the derisive exclamation of Magnus, "Leit loupe! " -- "Let him leap!" as the Earl sprang from the saddle when struck, and fell dead into the sea.

As this Earl of Shrewsbury was called by the Welsh "Goch," or "the Red," from the colour of his hair, so was Hugh Earl of Chester called "Vras," or "the Fat." His popular name of Lupus, or "the Wolf," is not to be traced to his own times, and Dugdale observes that it was an addition in after ages for the sake of distinction; about the same time, I presume, that the heralds invented the coat of arms for him -- "Azure, a wolf's head, erased, argent " -- suggested, probably, by the name, which, if indeed of contemporary antiquity, might have been given him for his gluttony, a vice to which Orderic says he was greatly addicted. "This Hugh," he tells us, "was not merely liberal, but prodigal; not satisfied with being surrounded by his own retainers, he kept an army on foot. He set no bounds either to his generosity or his rapacity. He continually wasted even his own domains, and gave more encouragement to those who attended him in hawking and hunting than to the cultivators of the soil or the votaries of Heaven. He indulged in gluttony to such a degree that he could scarcely walk. He abandoned himself immoderately to carnal pleasures, and had a numerous progeny of illegitimate children of both sexes, but they have been almost all carried off by one misfortune or another."

With all this he displayed that curious veneration for the Church common to his age, which so ill accorded with the constant violation of its most divine precepts. He founded the Abbey of St. Sever in Normandy, and was a great benefactor to those of Bec and Ouche (St. Evroult) in that duchy, and also to the Abbey of Whitby in Yorkshire, and in 1092 restored the ancient Abbey of St. Werburgh at Chester, and endowed it with ample possessions, substituting Benedictine monks in lieu of the secular canons who had previously occupied it; Richard, a monk of Bec, being brought over by Abbot Anselm, the Earl's confessor and afterwards the great Archbishop of Canterbury, to be the first abbot of the new community.

Being seized with a fatal illness, this pious profligate assumed the monastic habit in the Abbey of St. Werburgh, and three days after being shorn a monk died therein, 6th kalends of August (July 27), 1101.

By his Countess Ermentrude, daughter of Hugh Comte de Clermont, in Beauvoisis, and Margaret de Rouci, his wife, he had one son, Richard, seven years of age at the time of his father's death, who succeeded him in the earldom, married Matilda de Blois, daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois, by Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, and perished with his young wife in the fatal wreck of the White Ship in 1119, leaving no issue.

Hugh married Countess Of Chester Ermentrude de Clermont about 1088 in of France. Ermentrude (daughter of Count of Clermont Hugh de Clermont and Margaret de Roucy) was born about 1066 in Clermont, Beauvais, Oise, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Isabel FitzRichard. Isabel (daughter of William FitzRichard) was born about 1084. [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]

Robert married Sybil about 1145. Sybil was born about 1101 in of Sudley, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John, the elder son, assumed his surname from Sudeley, the chief seat which he inherited, becoming John de Sudeley. He m. Grace, dau. and heir of Henry de Traci, feudal Lord of Barnstaple, and had issue, Ralph and William. He was s. by his elder son. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 520, Sudeley, Barons Sudeley]

Family/Spouse: Matilda (Maud) de Blois. Matilda (daughter of Count of Blois Stephen Henry II (Etienne Henri) "The Sage" and Adela (Adelle)) was born in 1086; died on 25 Nov 1120 in Drowned in wreck of the White Ship near Barfleur, Manche, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Geva married Baron Blaye Geoffrey de Ridel about 1096 in of Witering, Northamptonshire, England. Geoffrey was born about 1075 in of Witering, Northamptonshire, England; died on 25 Nov 1120 in Northamptonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: 1st Earl of Cornwall Reginald de Dunstanville. Reginald (son of King of England Henry I "Beauclerc" and Sibyl Corbet) was born about 1100 in Dunstanville, Kent, England; died on 1 Jul 1175 in Chertsey, Sussex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]