Janet Stewart1

F, #8071

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: Sir Thomas de Somerville b. c 1375, d. 1434

  • Last Edited: 14 Jan 2019

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p18645.htm#i186450
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p18645.htm#i186452
  3. [S861] Ancestry.com, online www.ancestry.com, 0861 - 8067 - William Somerville.docx.

Sir Alexander Stewart of Darnley1,2

M, #8072, d. 1404

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Sir Alexander Stewart of Darnley was born in Scotland.1
  • Death*: He died in 1404 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: He was the son of Sir Alexander Stewart of Darnley. It is not known who his first wife was, but evidence that his son John Stewart of Darnley bore the emblems of Clan Turnbull as a quartering on his arms, suggests that she was of that blood. By this unknown spouse Darnley had six children.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 27 Feb 2013

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p18645.htm#i186452
  2. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…).

Sir William de Somerville1

M, #8073, b. circa 1350, d. 1403

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Sir William de Somerville was born circa 1350 in Scotland.1
  • Death*: He died in 1403 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: He lived at Carnwarth, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He lived at Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland. In 1357 he was one of the hostages for for the ransom of David II, King of Scotland.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p18645.htm#i186451
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407196

Sir Thomas de Somerville1

M, #8074, b. circa 1260

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Marriage*: Sir Thomas de Somerville married Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas, in Scotland.1
  • Birth*: Sir Thomas de Somerville was born circa 1260 in Scotland.1
  • Biography*: He lived at Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He lived at Carnwarth, Lanarkshire, Scotland.2

Family: Elizabeth Douglas b. c 1325

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407196
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407197

Elizabeth Douglas1

F, #8075, b. circa 1325

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: Sir Thomas de Somerville b. c 1260

  • Last Edited: 6 Nov 2017

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407196
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407198

Sir James Douglas1

M, #8076, b. circa 1300

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family:

  • Last Edited: 6 Dec 2017

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407198
  2. [S1164] Herbert Eustace, Sir Maxwell, A history of the house of Douglas, page 229 (285).
  3. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407199

Sir Walter de Somerville1

M, #8077, b. circa 1230, d. circa 1330

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: Giles Herring b. c 1230

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407197
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407200

Giles Herring1

F, #8078, b. circa 1230

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: Sir Walter de Somerville b. c 1230, d. c 1330

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407197
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407201

Sir John Herring1

M, #8079
  • Relationships: 16th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 21st great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Sir John Herring was born.1

Family:

  • Last Edited: 7 Oct 2012

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407201

Thomas de Somerville1

M, #8080, b. circa 1200, d. circa 1300
  • Relationships: 16th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 21st great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Thomas de Somerville was born circa 1200 in Scotland.1
  • Death*: He died circa 1300 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: He lived at Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He lived at Carnwarth, Lanarkshire, Scotland.1 On 15 May 1296 he swore fealty to King Edward I. In 1297 he joined Sir William Wallace.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40720.htm#i407200
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407202

Sir William de Somerville1

M, #8081, b. circa 1175, d. 1282
  • Relationships: 17th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 22nd great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Birth*: Sir William de Somerville was born circa 1175 in Scotland.1
  • Death*: He died in 1282 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: He lived at Carnwarth, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He lived at Linton, Roxburghshire, Scotland.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407202
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407203

William de Somerville1

M, #8082, b. circa 1150
  • Relationships: 18th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 23rd great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: Margaret Newbigging b. c 1150

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407203
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564264

Margaret Newbigging1

F, #8083, b. circa 1150
  • Relationships: 18th great-grandmother of Margaret MacDonell, 23rd great-grandmother of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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Family: William de Somerville b. c 1150

  • Last Edited: 5 Jan 2018

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407203
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564269
  3. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p40721.htm#i407203
    http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564269

Walter Newbigging1

M, #8084, b. circa 1125
  • Relationships: 19th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 24th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

Family:

  • Last Edited: 5 Jan 2018

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564269
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564270

William de Somerville1

M, #8085, b. circa 1130
  • Relationships: 19th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 24th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Birth*: William de Somerville was born circa 1130 in England.1
  • Biography*: He is supposed to have obtained the lands of Linton, Co. Roxburgh from William the Lion for killing a serpent in that quarter.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564264
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564265

William de Somerville1

M, #8086, b. circa 1100, d. before 1161
  • Relationships: 20th great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 25th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Birth*: William de Somerville was born circa 1100 in England.1
  • Death*: He died before 1161 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: In 1144 he was witness to a charter of David I, King of Scotland and the Abbey of Kelso.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564265
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564266

William de Somerville1

M, #8087, b. circa 1080, d. 1142
  • Relationships: 21st great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 26th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Birth*: William de Somerville was born circa 1080 in England.1
  • Death*: He died in 1142 in Scotland.2
  • Biography*: He attached himself to David I, King of Scotland, and settled there. He was a witness to the Foundation Charter of Melrose.2

Family:

  • Last Edited: 12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564266
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564267

Sir Gaulter de Somerville1

M, #8088, b. circa 1025
  • Relationships: 22nd great-grandfather of Margaret MacDonell, 27th great-grandfather of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Sir Gaulter de Somerville was born circa 1025 in France.1
  • Biography*: Sir Gaulter de Somerville was A companion of the Norman Conqueror. He was Lord of Whichnour, co. Stafford.

    The name Somervile is a corruption of Somerville, derived from Saint-Omer in Normandy.

    The first of the Somervilles was Sir Gaulter de Somerville, who fought with William the Conqueror in England. He was Lord of Whichnour, County Stafford. He died at the end of the Eleventh Century and left three sons. William Somervile descended from the third son and was the last of the English Somerville house (a Scottish line continued). Their crest had inscribed on it, "The Woe Laird".

    His family includes other famous figures in Scottish history. One of his relatives was named William de Somerville, who according to legend killed the last snake in Scotland. Philip of Whichnow, another relative, instituted the tradition of the Dunmow Flitch which is giving a gift of bacon to two people who have been married a year without having an argument. Philip's son Sir Thomas joined William Wallace to fight for the freedom of Scotland. James Somervile served with the French and Venetian service and when he returned home he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel.2,3

Family:

  • Last Edited: 16 Dec 2016

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564267
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p56427.htm#i564268
  3. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Somervile

Eadmund I (?) King of England1

M, #8089, b. between 920 and 922, d. 26 May 946

Edmund
King of the English

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Eadmund I (?) King of England was born between 920 and 922 in England.4
  • Marriage*: He married Saint Aelfgifu (?) of Shaftesbury circa 940 in England.5
  • Death*: Eadmund I (?) King of England died on 26 May 946 in Pucklechurch, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England.6
  • Burial*: He was buried after 26 May 946 in Glastonbury, Somerset, England.6
  • Biography*: Eadmund I, King of England was born between 920 and 922. He was the son of Eadweard I, King of Wessex and Eadgifu (?). He married, firstly, Ælfgifu (?) circa 940. He married, secondly, Æthelflæd, daughter of Ælfgar, Ealdorman of the Wilsaetas, circa 946. He died on 26 May 946 at Pucklechurch, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, murdered, by an outlaw named Liofa. He was buried at Glastonbury, Somerset, England.

    Eadmund I, King of England also went by the nick-name of Edmund 'the Elder' (?). He succeeded to the title of King Eadmund I of England on 27 October 939. He was crowned King of England on 29 November 939 at Kingston-upon-Thames, London, England.

    Edmund was the half-brother of Athelstan and was only 18 years old on his accession. When Vikings from Ireland invaded, the Archbishop of Canterbury arranged a treaty between them and the English and this divided the country. Later Edmund defeated these Vikings and regained the lost territory. Edmund had allies in the Welsh princes and together they laid waste to Strathclyde. Edmund was warlike and an effective monarch. An interesting story about Edmund concerns Dunstan, who in later years became Archbishop of Canterbury. Edmund and Dunstan were good companions but treacherous courtiers wrongly discredited Dunstan and he was so upset that he contemplated leaving the country he loved so much. Just afterwards, the year was 943, he and Edmund were out riding at Cheddar when Edmund's horse reared up and bolted towards the cliffs of the Gorge. When all seemed lost, the thought struck Edmund of the evil done to Dunstan by the courtiers. He struggled and managed to regain control of his horse and thus avoid the cliffs. He called Dunstan and straightway rode with him to Glastonbury and immediately appointed his good friend as Abbot there.

    Edmund I (Old English: ?admund; 921 – 26 May 946), called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent, was King of England from 939 until his death. He was a son of Edward the Elder and half-brother of Æthelstan. Athelstan died on 27 October 939, and Edmund succeeded him as king.

    Military threats
    Edmund came to the throne as the son of Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great, great-grandson of Æthelwulf of Wessex, great-great grandson of Egbert of Wessex and great-great-great grandson of Ealhmund of Kent. Shortly after his proclamation as king, he had to face several military threats. King Olaf III Guthfrithson conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands; when Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands. In 943, Edmund became the god-father of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund was successful in reconquering Northumbria. In the same year, his ally Olaf of York lost his throne and left for Dublin in Ireland. Olaf became the king of Dublin as Amlaíb Cuarán and continued to be allied to his god-father. In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde but ceded the territory to King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military support. Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in England began.

    Louis IV of France
    One of Edmund's last political movements of which there is some knowledge is his role in the restoration of Louis IV of France to the throne. Louis, son of Charles the Simple and Edmund's half-sister Eadgifu, had resided at the West-Saxon court for some time until 936, when he returned to be crowned King of France. In the summer of 945, he was captured by the Norsemen of Rouen and subsequently released to Duke Hugh the Great, who held him in custody. The chronicler Richerus claims that Eadgifu wrote letters both to Edmund and to Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in which she requested support for her son. Edmund responded to her plea by sending angry threats to Hugh, who brushed them aside. Flodoard's Annales, one of Richerus' sources, report:
    Edmund, king of the English, sent messengers to Duke Hugh about the restoration of King Louis, and the duke accordingly made a public agreement with his nephews and other leading men of his kingdom. [...] Hugh, duke of the Franks, allying himself with Hugh the Black, son of Richard, and the other leading men of the kingdom, restored to the kingdom King Louis.

    Death and succession
    On 26 May 946, Edmund was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while attending St Augustine's Day mass in Pucklechurch (South Gloucestershire). John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury add some lively detail by suggesting that Edmund had been feasting with his nobles, when he spotted Leofa in the crowd. He attacked the intruder in person, but in the event, Leofa killed him. Leofa was killed on the spot by those present.

    Edmund's sister Eadgyth, wife to Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, died (earlier) the same year, as Flodoard's Annales for 946 report.

    Edmund was succeeded as king by his brother Eadred, king from 946 until 955. Edmund's sons later ruled England as:
    Eadwig, King of England from 955 until 957, king of only Wessex and Kent from 957 until his death on 1 October 959.
    Edgar the Peaceful, king of only Mercia and Northumbria from 957 until his brother's death in 959, then king of England from 959 until 975.6,7

Family: Saint Aelfgifu (?) of Shaftesbury b. c 900, d. bt 944 - 946

  • Last Edited: 22 Jan 2015

Saint Aelfgifu (?) of Shaftesbury1,2

F, #8090, b. circa 900, d. between 944 and 946

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Birth*: Saint Aelfgifu (?) of Shaftesbury was born circa 900 in England.1
  • Marriage*: She married Eadmund I (?) King of England, son of Eadweard I (?) King of Wessex and Eadgifu (?), circa 940 in England.3
  • Death*: Saint Aelfgifu (?) of Shaftesbury died between 944 and 946 in Shaftsbury Abbey, Dorset, England.4
  • Biography*: She was also known as Edgira.

    Saint Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, also known as Saint Elgiva (died 944) was the first wife of Edmund I (r. 939–946), by whom she bore two future kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and Edgar (r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflæd, she had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May.

    Family background
    Her mother appears to have been an associate of Shaftesbury Abbey called Wynflæd (also Wynnflæd). The vital clue comes from a charter of King Edgar, in which he confirmed the grant of an estate at Uppidelen (Piddletrenthide, Dorset) made by his grandmother (ava) Wynflæd to Shaftesbury. She may well be the nun or vowess (religiosa femina) of this name in a charter dated 942 and preserved in the abbey's chartulary. It records that she received and retrieved from King Edmund a handful of estates in Dorset, namely Cheselbourne and Winterbourne Tomson, which somehow ended up in the possession of the community.

    Since no father or siblings are known, further speculation on Ælfgifu's background has largely depended on the identity of her mother, whose relatively uncommon name has invited further guesswork. H. P. R. Finberg suggests that she was the Wynflæd who drew up a will, supposedly sometime in the mid-10th century, after Ælfgifu's death. This lady held many estates scattered across Wessex (in Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire) and was well connected with the nunneries at Wilton and Shaftesbury, both of which were royal foundations. On that basis, a number of relatives have been proposed for Ælfgifu, including a sister called Æthelflæd, a brother called Eadmær, and a grandmother called Brihtwyn.

    There is, however, no consensus among scholars about Finberg's suggestion. Simon Keynes and Gale R. Owen object that there is no sign of royal relatives or connections in Wynflæd's will and Finberg's assumptions about Ælfgifu's family therefore stand on shaky ground. Andrew Wareham is less troubled about this and suggests that different kinship strategies may account for it. Much of the issue of identification also seems to hang on the number of years by which Wynflæd can plausibly have outlived her daughter. In this light, it is significant that on palaeographical grounds, David Dumville has rejected the conventional date of c. 950 for the will, which he considers “speculative and too early” (and that one Wynflæd was still alive in 967).

    Married life
    The sources do not record the date of Ælfgifu's marriage to Edmund. The eldest son Eadwig, who had barely reached majority on his accession in 955, may have been born around 940, which gives us only a very rough terminus ante quem for the betrothal. Although as the mother of two future kings, Ælfgifu proved to be an important royal bed companion, there is no strictly contemporary evidence that she was ever consecrated as queen. Likewise, her formal position at court appears to have been relatively insignificant, overshadowed as it was by the queen mother Eadgifu of Kent. In the single extant document witnessed by her, a Kentish charter datable between 942 and 944, she subscribes as the king's concubine (concubina regis), with a place assigned to her between the bishops and ealdormen. By comparison, Eadgifu subscribes higher up in the witness list as mater regis, after her sons Edmund and Eadred but before the archbishops and bishops. It is only towards the end of the 10th century that Æthelweard the Chronicler styles her queen (regina), but this may be a retrospective honour at a time when her cult was well established at Shaftesbury.

    Much of Ælfgifu's claim to fame derives from her association with Shaftesbury. Her patronage of the community is suggested by a charter of King Æthelred, dated 984, according to which the abbey exchanged with King Edmund the large estate at Tisbury (Wiltshire) for Butticanlea (unidentified). Ælfgifu received it from her husband and intended to bequeath it back to the nunnery, but such had not yet come to pass (her son Eadwig demanded that Butticanlea was returned to the royal family first).
    Ælfgifu predeceased her husband in 944. In the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury wrote that she suffered from an illness during the last few years of her life, but there may have been some confusion with details of Æthelgifu's life as recorded in a forged foundation charter of the late 11th or 12th century (see below). Her body was buried and enshrined at the nunnery.

    Sainthood
    Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint soon after her burial at Shaftesbury. Æthelweard reports that many miracles had taken place at her tomb up to his day, and these were apparently attracting some local attention. Lantfred of Winchester, who wrote in the 970's and so can be called the earliest known witness of her cult, tells of a young man from Collingbourne (possibly Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire), who in the hope of being cured of blindness travelled to Shaftesbury and kept vigil. What led him there was the reputation of “the venerable St Ælfgifu […] at whose tomb many bodies of sick person receive medication through the omnipotence of God”. Despite the new prominence of Edward the Martyr as a saint interred at Shaftesbury, her cult continued to flourish in later Anglo-Saxon England, as evidenced by her inclusion in a list of saints' resting places, at least 8 pre-Conquest calendars and 3 or 4 litanies from Winchester.

    Ælfgifu is styled a saint (Sancte Ælfgife) in the D-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (mid-11th century) at the point where it specifies Eadwig's and Edgar's royal parentage. Her cult may have been fostered and used to enhance the status of the royal lineage, more narrowly that of her descendants. Lantfred attributes her healing power both to her own merits and those of her son Edgar. It may have been due to her association that in 979 the supposed body of her murdered grandson Edward the Martyr was exhumed and in a spectacular ceremony, received at the nunnery of Shaftesbury, under the supervision of ealdorman Ælfhere.

    Ælfgifu's fame at Shaftesbury seems to have eclipsed that of its first abbess, King Alfred's daughter Æthelgifu, so much so perhaps that William of Malmesbury wrote contradictory reports on the abbey's early history. In the Gesta regum, he correctly identifies the first abbess as Alfred's daughter, following Asser, although he gives her the name of Ælfgifu (Elfgiva), while in his Gesta pontificum, he credits Edmund's wife Ælfgifu with the foundation. Either William encountered conflicting information, or he meant to say that Ælfgifu refounded the nunnery. In any event, William would have had access to local traditions at Shaftesbury, since he probably wrote a now lost metrical Life for the community, a fragment of which he included in his Gesta pontificum.4,5

Family: Eadmund I (?) King of England b. bt 920 - 922, d. 26 May 946

  • Last Edited: 10 Jan 2016

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10243.htm#i102421
  2. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, King of the English.
  3. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10243.htm#i102421
    http://www.thepeerage.com/p10243.htm#i102429
  4. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10243.htm#i102429
  5. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lfgifu_of_Shaftesbury

Eadgifu (?)1

F, #8091, b. circa 903, d. 25 August 968

Picture of Queen Eadgifu from The Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury and The Saxon Saints Buried Therein

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  • Name Variation: Eadgifu (?) was also known as Edgiva (?)2
  • Birth*: She was born circa 903 in England.1,3
  • Marriage*: She married Eadweard I (?) King of Wessex, son of King Alfred (?) The Great and Eahlswith (?) Princess of Mercia, circa 920 in England.4
  • Death*: Eadgifu (?) died on 25 August 968 in England.2
  • Biography*: Eadgifu of Kent (also Edgiva or Ediva) (in or before 903 - in or after 966) was the third wife of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons.

    Eadgifu was the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent, who died at the Battle of the Holme in 902. She became the mother of two sons, Edmund I of England, later King Edmund I, and Eadred of England, later King Eadred, and two daughters, Saint Eadburh of Winchester and Eadgifu. She survived Edward by many years, dying in the reign of her grandson Edgar.

    She disappeared from court during the reign of her step-son, King Æthelstan, but she was prominent and influential during the reign of her two sons. As queen dowager, her position seem to have been higher than that of her daughter-in-law; In a Kentish charter datable between 942 and 944, her daughter-in-law Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury subscribes herself as the king's concubine (concubina regis), with a place assigned to her between the bishops and ealdormen. By comparison, Eadgifu subscribes higher up in the witness list as mater regis, after her sons Edmund and Eadred but before the archbishops and bishops.

    Following the death of her younger son Eadred in 955, she was deprived of her lands by her eldest grandson, King Eadwig, perhaps because she took the side of his younger brother, Edgar, in the struggle between them. When Edgar succeeded on Eadwig's death in 959 she recovered some lands and received generous gifts from her grandson, but she never returned to her prominent position at court. She is last recorded as a witness to a charter in 966.

    She was known as a supporter of saintly churchmen and a benefactor of churches.3

Family: Eadweard I (?) King of Wessex b. c 871

  • Last Edited: 2 Nov 2014

Eleanor (?) Dutchess of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Queen of England1

F, #8092, b. 1122

Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor's effigy at Fontevraud Abbey.

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Eleanor (?) Dutchess of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Queen of England was born in 1122 in Aquitaine, France.1
  • Marriage*: She married Henry II 'Curtmantle' d'Anjou King of England, son of Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine and Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England, circa 1151 in France.1
  • Married Name: As of circa 1151,her married name was d'Anjou.1
  • Biography*: Eleanor of Aquitaine (French: Aliénor d’Aquitaine; Éléonore de Guyenne; 1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages, a member of the Ramnufid dynasty of rulers in southwestern France. She became Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right while she was still a child, then later queen consort of France (1137–1152) and England (1154–1189). She was the patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn.

    Eleanor's succession to the duchy of Aquitaine in 1137 made her the most eligible bride in Europe. Three months after she became duchess, she married King Louis VII of France, son of her guardian, King Louis VI. As queen of France, she participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Soon after, Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III. However, after the birth of her second daughter Alix, Louis agreed to an annulment in consideration of her failure to bear a son after fifteen years of marriage. The marriage was annulled on 11 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate and custody was awarded to Louis, while Eleanor's lands were restored to her.

    As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to Henry, Duke of Normandy, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry was her third cousin (cousin of the third degree) and nine years younger than she. The couple married on 18 May 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after the annulment of Eleanor's first marriage, in a cathedral in Poitiers, France. Over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry eight children: five sons, three of whom would become kings, and three daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting her son Henry's revolt against her husband, and she was not released until 1189.

    Eleanor was widowed on 6 July 1189. Her husband was succeeded by their son, King Richard I, who immediately released his mother. Now queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade. Eleanor survived Richard and lived well into the reign of her youngest son John. By the time of her death, she had outlived all her children except for King John and Queen Eleanor of Castile.

    Early life
    Eleanor's year of birth is not known precisely: a late 13th-century genealogy of her family listing her as 13 years old in the spring of 1137 provides the best evidence that Eleanor was perhaps born as late as 1124. On the other hand, some chronicles mention a fidelity oath of some lords of Aquitaine on the occasion of Eleanor's fourteenth birthday in 1136. This, and her known age of 82 at her death, make 1122 more likely the year of birth.[5] Her parents almost certainly married in 1121. Her birthplace may have been Poitiers, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-l'Autise, where her mother and brother died when Eleanor was 6 or 8.

    Eleanor (or Aliénor) was the oldest of three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering ducal court was renowned in early 12th-century Europe, and his wife, Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimeric I, Viscount of Châtellerault, and Dangerose de l' Isle Bouchard, who was William IX's longtime mistress as well as Eleanor's maternal grandmother. Her parents' marriage had been arranged by Dangerose with her paternal grandfather William IX.

    Eleanor was named for her mother Aenor and called Aliénor from the Latin alia Aenor, which means the other Aenor. It became Eléanor in the langues d'oïl of Northern France and Eleanor in English. There was, however, another prominent Eleanor before her: Eleanor of Normandy, an aunt of William the Conqueror, who lived a century earlier than Eleanor of Aquitaine.

    By all accounts, Eleanor's father ensured that she had the best possible education. Although her native tongue was Poitevin, she was taught to read and speak Latin, was well versed in music and literature, and schooled in riding, hawking, and hunting. Eleanor was extroverted, lively, intelligent, and strong-willed. In the spring of 1130, her four-year-old brother William Aigret and their mother died at the castle of Talmont, on Aquitaine's Atlantic coast. Eleanor became the heir presumptive to her father's domains. The Duchy of Aquitaine was the largest and richest province of France; Poitou (where Eleanor spent most of her childhood) and Aquitaine together were almost one-third the size of modern France. Eleanor had only one other legitimate sibling, a younger sister named Aelith but always called Petronilla. Her half brothers William and Joscelin were acknowledged by William X as his sons, but not as his heirs. Later, during the first four years of Henry II's reign, all three siblings joined Eleanor's royal household.

    Inheritance
    In 1137, Duke William X left Poitiers for Bordeaux and took his daughters with him. Upon reaching Bordeaux, he left them in the charge of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, one of his few loyal vassals. The duke then set out for the Shrine of Saint James of Compostela in the company of other pilgrims. He died, however, on Good Friday of that year (9 April).

    Eleanor, aged twelve to fifteen, then became the Duchess of Aquitaine, and thus the most eligible heiress in Europe. As these were the days when kidnapping an heiress was seen as a viable option for obtaining a title, William dictated a will on the very day he died that bequeathed his domains to Eleanor and appointed King Louis VI of France as her guardian. William requested the king to take care of both the lands and the duchess, and to also find her a suitable husband. However, until a husband was found, the king had the legal right to Eleanor's lands. The duke also insisted to his companions that his death be kept a secret until Louis was informed – the men were to journey from Saint James of Compostela across the Pyrenees as quickly as possible to call at Bordeaux to notify the archbishop, then to make all speed to Paris to inform the king.
    The king of France, known as Louis the Fat, was also gravely ill at that time, suffering from a bout of (dysentery) from which he seemed unlikely to recover. Despite his immense obesity and impending mortality, Louis remained clear-minded. To his concerns regarding his new heir, Louis, who had been destined for the monastic life of a younger son (the former heir, Philip, died from a riding accident), was added joy over the death of one of his most powerful vassals – and the availability of the most desirable duchy in France. Presenting a solemn and dignified manner to the grieving Aquitainian messengers, he became overjoyed when they departed, stammering in delight. Rather than act as guardian to the duchess and duchy, he decided that he would marry the duchess to his heir and bring Aquitaine under the control of the French crown, thereby greatly increasing the power and prominence of France and its ruling family, the Capets. Within hours Louis had arranged for his 17 year-old son, Prince Louis, to be married to Eleanor, with Abbot Suger in charge of the wedding arrangements. Prince Louis was sent to Bordeaux with an escort of 500 knights, as well as Abbot Suger, Theobald II, Count of Champagne, and Count Ralph.

    First marriage
    Eleanor of Aquitaine (French: Aliénor d’Aquitaine; Éléonore de Guyenne; 1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages, a member of the Ramnufid dynasty of rulers in southwestern France. She became Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right while she was still a child, then later queen consort of France (1137–1152) and England (1154–1189). She was the patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn.

    Eleanor's succession to the duchy of Aquitaine in 1137 made her the most eligible bride in Europe. Three months after she became duchess, she married King Louis VII of France, son of her guardian, King Louis VI. As queen of France, she participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Soon after, Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III. However, after the birth of her second daughter Alix, Louis agreed to an annulment in consideration of her failure to bear a son after fifteen years of marriage. The marriage was annulled on 11 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate and custody was awarded to Louis, while Eleanor's lands were restored to her.

    As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to Henry, Duke of Normandy, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry was her third cousin (cousin of the third degree) and nine years younger than she. The couple married on 18 May 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after the annulment of Eleanor's first marriage, in a cathedral in Poitiers, France. Over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry eight children: five sons, three of whom would become kings, and three daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting her son Henry's revolt against her husband, and she was not released until 1189.

    Eleanor was widowed on 6 July 1189. Her husband was succeeded by their son, King Richard I, who immediately released his mother. Now queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade. Eleanor survived Richard and lived well into the reign of her youngest son John. By the time of her death, she had outlived all her children except for King John and Queen Eleanor of Castile.

    Louis's tenure as Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony lasted only few days. Although he had been invested as such on 8 August 1137, a messenger gave him the news that Louis VI had died of dysentery on 1 August while he and his wife were making a tour of the provinces. Thus he became King Louis VII of France. He and Eleanor were anointed and crowned King and Queen of the Franks on Christmas Day of the same year.

    Possessing a high-spirited nature, Eleanor was not popular with the staid northerners (according to sources, Louis's mother Adélaide de Maurienne thought her flighty and a bad influence). She was not aided by memories of Constance of Arles, the Provençal wife of Robert II, tales of whose immodest dress and language were still told with horror.
    Eleanor's conduct was repeatedly criticized by church elders (particularly Bernard of Clairvaux and Abbot Suger) as indecorous. The king, however, was madly in love with his beautiful and worldly bride and granted her every whim, even though her behavior baffled and vexed him. Much money went into making the austere Cité Palace in Paris more comfortable for Eleanor's sake.

    Conflict
    Although Louis was a pious man, he soon came into a violent conflict with Pope Innocent II. In 1141, the Archbishopric of Bourges became vacant, and the king put forward as a candidate one of his chancellors, Cadurc, while vetoing the one suitable candidate, Pierre de la Chatre, who was promptly elected by the canons of Bourges and consecrated by the pope. Louis accordingly bolted the gates of Bourges against the new bishop. The pope, recalling William X's similar attempts to exile Innocent's supporters from Poitou and replace them with priests loyal to himself, blamed Eleanor, saying that Louis was only a child and should be taught manners. Outraged, Louis swore upon relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought an interdict upon the king's lands. Pierre de la Chatre was given refuge by Theobald II, Count of Champagne.

    Louis became involved in a war with Count Theobald by permitting Raoul I, Count of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife Eléonore of Blois, Theobald's sister, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, Eleanor's sister. Eleanor urged Louis to support her sister's marriage to Count Raoul. Theobald had also offended Louis by siding with the pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry. More than a thousand people who sought refuge in the church there died in the flames.

    Horrified, and desiring an end to the war, Louis attempted to make peace with Theobald in exchange for his support in lifting the interdict on Raoul and Petronilla. This was duly lifted for long enough to allow Theobald's lands to be restored; it was then lowered once more when Raoul refused to repudiate Petronilla, prompting Louis to return to Champagne and ravage it once more.

    In June 1144, the king and queen visited the newly-built monastic church at Saint-Denis. While there, the queen met with Bernard of Clairvaux, demanding that he have the excommunication of Petronilla and Raoul lifted through his influence on the pope in exchange for which King Louis would make concessions in Champagne and recognise Pierre de la Chatre as Archbishop of Bourges. Dismayed at her attitude, Bernard scolded her for her lack of penitence and interference in matters of state. In response, Eleanor broke down and meekly excused her behaviour, claiming to be bitter because of her lack of children. In response to this, Bernard became more kindly towards her: "My child, seek those things which make for peace. Cease to stir up the King against the Church, and urge upon him a better course of action. If you will promise to do this, I in return promise to entreat the merciful Lord to grant you offspring."

    In a matter of weeks, peace had returned to France: Theobald's provinces were returned and Pierre de la Chatre was installed as Archbishop of Bourges. In April 1145, Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, Marie.
    Louis, however, still burned with guilt over the massacre at Vitry and desired to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to atone for his sins. Fortunately for him, in the autumn of 1145, Pope Eugene III requested that Louis lead a Crusade to the Middle East to rescue the Frankish Kingdoms there from disaster. Accordingly, Louis declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on crusade.

    Crusade
    Eleanor of Aquitaine took up the Second Crusade formally during a sermon preached by Bernard of Clairvaux. However she had been corresponding with her uncle Raymond, king and holder of family properties in Antioch, who was seeking further protection from the French crown. She recruited some of her royal ladies-in-waiting for the campaign, as well as 300 non-noble vassals. She insisted on taking part in the Crusades as the feudal leader of the soldiers from her duchy. The story that she and her ladies dressed as Amazons is disputed by historians, sometimes confused with the account of King Conrad's train of ladies during this campaign (in Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire). Her testimonial launch of the Second Crusade from Vézelay, the rumored location of Mary Magdalene´s grave, dramatically emphasized the role of women in the campaign.

    The Crusade itself achieved little. Louis was a weak and ineffectual military leader with no skill for maintaining troop discipline or morale, or of making informed and logical tactical decisions. In eastern Europe, the French army was at times hindered by Manuel I Comnenus, the Byzantine Emperor, who feared that the Crusade would jeopardize the tenuous safety of his empire. Notwithstanding, during their three-week stay at Constantinople, Louis was fêted and Eleanor was much admired. She was compared with Penthesilea, mythical queen of the Amazons, by the Greek historian Nicetas Choniates. He added that she gained the epithet chrysopous (golden-foot) from the cloth of gold that decorated and fringed her robe. Louis and Eleanor stayed in the Philopation palace just outside the city walls.

    From the moment the Crusaders entered Asia Minor, things began to go badly. The king and queen were still optimistic – the Byzantine Emperor had told them that the German King Conrad had won a great victory against a Turkish army (when in fact the German army had been massacred), and the troupe was still eating well. However, while camping near Nicea, the remnants of the German army, including a dazed and sick King Conrad, staggered past the French camp, bringing news of their disaster. The French, with what remained of the Germans, then began to march in increasingly disorganized fashion towards Antioch. They were in high spirits on Christmas Eve, when they chose to camp in a lush Dercervian valley near Ephesus. Here they were ambushed by a Turkish detachment; the French proceeded to slaughter this detachment and appropriate their camp.

    Louis then decided to cross the Phrygian mountains directly in the hope of reaching Eleanor's uncle Raymond in Antioch more quickly. As they ascended the mountains, however, the army and the king and queen were horrified to discover the unburied corpses of the previously slaughtered German army.

    On the day set for the crossing of Mount Cadmos, Louis chose to take charge of the rear of the column, where the unarmed pilgrims and the baggage trains marched. The vanguard, with which Queen Eleanor marched, was commanded by her Aquitainian vassal Geoffrey de Rancon. Unencumbered by baggage, they reached the summit of Cadmos, where Rancon had been ordered to make camp for the night. Rancon however chose to continue on, deciding in concert with Amadeus III, Count of Savoy (Louis's uncle) that a nearby plateau would make a better campsite: such disobedience was reportedly common.

    Accordingly, by mid-afternoon, the rear of the column – believing the day's march to be nearly at an end – was dawdling. This resulted in the army becoming separated, with some having already crossed the summit and others still approaching it. At this point the Turks, who had been following and feinting for many days, seized their opportunity and attacked those who had not yet crossed the summit. The French (both soldiers and pilgrims), taken by surprise, were trapped; those who tried to escape were caught and killed. Many men, horses, and much of the baggage were cast into the canyon below. The chronicler William of Tyre placed the blame for this disaster firmly on the amount of baggage (much of it reputedly belonging to Eleanor and her ladies) and the presence of non-combatants.

    The king, having scorned royal apparel in favour of a simple pilgrim's tunic, escaped notice (unlike his bodyguards, whose skulls were brutally smashed and limbs severed). He reportedly "nimbly and bravely scaled a rock by making use of some tree roots which God had provided for his safety", and managed to survive the attack. Others were not so fortunate: "No aid came from Heaven, except that night fell."

    Official blame for the disaster was placed on Geoffrey de Rancon, who had made the decision to continue, and it was suggested that he be hanged (a suggestion which the king ignored). Since he was Eleanor's vassal, many believed that it was she who had been ultimately responsible for the change in plan, and thus the massacre. This did nothing for her popularity in Christendom – she was also blamed for the size of the baggage train and the fact that her Aquitainian soldiers had marched at the front, thus not involved in the fight. Continuing on, the army became split, with the commoners marching toward Antioch and the royalty traveling by sea. When most of the land army arrived, the king and queen had a profound dispute. Some, such as John of Salisbury and William of Tyre, say Eleanor's reputation was sullied by rumours of an affair with her uncle Raymond. However, this may have been a ruse, as Raymond through Eleanor tried to forcibly sway Louis to use his army to attack the actual Muslim encampment at nearby Aleppo, gateway to recovering Edessa, the objective of the Crusade by papal decree. Although this was perhaps the better military plan, Louis was not keen to fight in northern Syria. One of Louis's avowed Crusade goals was to journey in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and he stated his intention to continue. Eleanor then reputedly requested to stay with Raymond and brought up the matter of consanguinity – the fact that she and Louis were related within prohibited degrees. This was grounds for divorce in the medieval period. Rather than allow her to stay, Louis took Eleanor from Antioch against her will and continued on to Jerusalem with his army dwindling.

    Eleanor was humiliated by this episode and maintained a low profile for the rest of the crusade. Louis's subsequent assault on Damascus in 1148 with his remaining army, fortified by King Conrad and Baldwin III of Jerusalem, achieved little. Damascus was a major trading centre that abounded in wealth and was under normal circumstances a potential threat, but the rulers of Jerusalem had recently entered into a truce with the city, which they then forswore. It was a gamble that did not pay off, and whether through military error or betrayal, the Damascus campaign was a failure. The French royal family retreated to Jerusalem and then sailed to Rome and back to Paris.

    While in the eastern Mediterranean, Eleanor learned about maritime conventions developing there, which were the beginnings of what would become admiralty law. She introduced those conventions in her own lands on the island of Oleron in 1160 (with the "Rolls of Oléron") and later in England as well. She was also instrumental in developing trade agreements with Constantinople and ports of trade in the Holy Lands.

    Annulment
    Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, and their differences were only exacerbated while they were abroad. Eleanor's relationship with her uncle Raymond, the ruler of Antioch, was a major source of discord. Eleanor supported her uncle's desire to re-capture the nearby County of Edessa, the cause of the Crusade. In addition, having been close to him in their youth, she now showed excessive affection towards her uncle. While many historians[who?] today dismiss this as familial affection (noting their early friendship and his similarity to her father and grandfather), many of Eleanor's adversaries interpreted the generous displays of affection between uncle and niece for an incestuous affair. Louis's long march to Jerusalem and back north, which Eleanor was forced to join, debilitated his army and disheartened her knights; the divided Crusade armies could not overcome the Muslim forces, and the royal couple had to return home.

    Home, however, was not easily reached. Louis and Eleanor, on separate ships due to their disagreements, were first attacked in May 1149 by Byzantine ships attempting to capture both on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor. Although they escaped this predicament unharmed, stormy weather served to drive Eleanor's ship far to the south (to the Barbary Coast) and lose track of her husband. Neither was heard of for over two months. In mid-July, Eleanor's ship finally reached Palermo in Sicily, where she discovered that she and her husband had both been given up for dead. The king still lost, she was given shelter and food by servants of King Roger II of Sicily, until the king eventually reached Calabria, and she set out to meet him there. Later, at King Roger's court in Potenza, she learned of the death of her uncle Raymond, who was beheaded by Muslim forces in the Holy Land. This appears to have forced a change of plans, for instead of returning to France from Marseilles, they went to see Pope Eugene III in Tusculum, where he had been driven five months before by a revolt of the Commune of Rome.

    Eugene did not, as Eleanor had hoped, grant an annulment. Instead, he attempted to reconcile Eleanor and Louis, confirming the legality of their marriage. He proclaimed that no word could be spoken against it, and that it might not be dissolved under any pretext. Eventually, he arranged events so that Eleanor had no choice but to sleep with Louis in a bed specially prepared by the pope. Thus was conceived their second child – not a son, but another daughter, Alix of France.

    The marriage was now doomed. Still without a son and in danger of being left with no male heir, facing substantial opposition to Eleanor from many of his barons and her own desire for divorce, Louis had no choice but to bow to the inevitable. On 11 March 1152, they met at the royal castle of Beaugency to dissolve the marriage. Hugues de Toucy, Archbishop of Sens, presided, and Louis and Eleanor were both present, as were the Archbishops of Bordeaux and Rouen. Archbishop Samson of Reims acted for Eleanor.

    On 21 March, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene, granted an annulment on grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree (Eleanor and Louis were fourth cousins, once removed, and shared common ancestry with Robert II of France). Their two daughters were, however, declared legitimate and custody of them awarded to King Louis. Archbishop Samson received assurances from Louis that Eleanor's lands would be restored to her.

    Second marriage
    Two lords – Theobald V, Count of Blois, and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (brother of Henry II, Duke of Normandy) – tried to kidnap Eleanor to marry her and claim her lands on Eleanor's way to Poitiers. As soon as she arrived there, Eleanor sent envoys to Henry, Duke of Normandy, asking him to come at once to marry her. On 18 May 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after her annulment, Eleanor married Henry "without the pomp and ceremony that befitted their rank".

    Eleanor was related to him more closely than she had been to Louis; they were cousins to the third degree through their common ancestor, Ermengarde of Anjou (wife of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy and Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais), and were also descended from King Robert II of France. A marriage between Henry and Eleanor's daughter Marie had indeed been declared impossible due to their status as third cousins once removed. One of Eleanor's rumoured lovers had been Henry's own father, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, who had advised his son to avoid any involvement with her.

    On 25 October 1154, Eleanor's second husband became King of England. Eleanor was crowned Queen of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 19 December 1154. It may be, however, that she was not anointed on this occasion, because she had already been anointed in 1137.

    Over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry five sons and three daughters: William, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan. John Speed, in his 1611 work History of Great Britain, mentions the possibility that Eleanor had a son named Philip, who died young. His sources no longer exist, and he alone mentions this birth.

    Eleanor's marriage to Henry was reputed to be tumultuous and argumentative, although sufficiently cooperative to produce at least eight pregnancies. Henry was by no means faithful to his wife and had a reputation for philandering. Henry fathered other illegitimate children throughout the marriage. Eleanor appears to have taken an ambivalent attitude towards these affairs: for example, Geoffrey of York, an illegitimate son of Henry, was acknowledged by Henry as his child and raised at Westminster in the care of the queen.

    The period between Henry's accession and the birth of Eleanor's youngest son was turbulent: Aquitaine, as was the norm, defied the authority of Henry as Eleanor's husband; attempts to claim Toulouse, the rightful inheritance of Eleanor's grandmother Philippa of Toulouse, were made, but they ended in failure; the news of Louis of France's widowhood and remarriage was followed by the marriage of Henry's son ("young Henry") to Louis's daughter Margaret of France; and there was a bitter feud between the king and Thomas Becket, his Chancellor and later Archbishop of Canterbury. Little is known of Eleanor's involvement in these events. It is known that by late 1166, Henry's notorious affair with Rosamund Clifford had become known, and her marriage to Henry appears to have become terminally strained.

    The year 1167 saw the marriage of Eleanor's third daughter, Matilda, to Henry the Lion of Saxony. Eleanor remained in England with her daughter for the year prior to Matilda's departure to Normandy in September. Afterwards, Eleanor proceeded to gather together her movable possessions in England and transport them on several ships in December to Argentan. At the royal court celebrated there that Christmas, she appears to have agreed to a separation from Henry. Certainly, she left for her own city of Poitiers immediately after Christmas. Henry did not stop her; on the contrary, he and his army personally escorted her there before attacking a castle belonging to the rebellious Lusignan family. Henry then went about his own business outside Aquitaine, leaving Earl Patrick (his regional military commander) as her protective custodian. When Patrick was killed in a skirmish, Eleanor (who proceeded to ransom his captured nephew, the young William Marshal), was left in control of her inheritance.

    The Court of Love in Poitiers
    Of all her influence on culture, Eleanor's time in Poitiers between 1168 and 1173 was perhaps the most critical, yet very little is known about it. Henry II was elsewhere, attending to his own affairs after escorting Eleanor there.

    It is Eleanor’s court in Poitiers that some believe to have been the "Court of Love", where Eleanor and her daughter Marie meshed and encouraged the ideas of troubadours, chivalry, and courtly love into a single court. It may have been largely a court (meaning a place rather than a judicial setting) to teach manners, as the French courts would be known for in later generations. The existence and reasons for this court are debated.
    In The Art of Courtly Love, Andreas Capellanus (Andrew the chaplain) refers to the court of Poitiers. He claims that Eleanor, her daughter Marie, Ermengarde, Viscountess of Narbonne, and Isabelle of Flanders would sit and listen to the quarrels of lovers and act as a jury to the questions of the court that revolved around acts of romantic love. He records some twenty-one cases, the most famous of them being a problem posed to the women about whether or not true love can exist in marriage. According to Capellanus, the women decided that it was not at all likely.

    Some scholars believe that the "court of love" probably never existed, since the only evidence for it is Andreas Capellanus’ book. To strengthen their argument, they say that there is also no other evidence that Marie ever stayed with her mother in Poitiers.[20] Andreas wrote for the court of the king of France, where Eleanor was not held in esteem.

    Polly Schoyer Brooks (the author of a non-academic biography of Eleanor) suggests that the court did exist, but that it was not taken very seriously and that acts of Courtly Love were just a “parlor game” made up by Eleanor and Marie in order to place some order over the young courtiers living there.

    There is no claim that Eleanor invented courtly love, since it was a concept that had begun to grow before Eleanor’s court arose. All that can be said is that her court at Poitiers was most likely a catalyst for the increased popularity of courtly love literature in the Western European regions.

    Amy Kelly, in her article “Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Courts of Love”, gives a very plausible description of the origins of the rules of Eleanor's court: “in the Poitevin code, man is the property, the very thing of woman; whereas a precisely contrary state of things existed in the adjacent realms of the two kings from whom the reigning duchess of Aquitaine was estranged.”

    Revolt and capture
    In March 1173, aggrieved at his lack of power and egged on by his father's enemies, the younger Henry launched the Revolt of 1173–1174. He fled to Paris. From there, "the younger Henry, devising evil against his father from every side by the advice of the French King, went secretly into Aquitaine where his two youthful brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, were living with their mother, and with her connivance, so it is said, he incited them to join him". One source claimed that the Queen sent her younger sons to France "to join with him against their father the king". Once her sons had left for Paris, Eleanor may have encouraged the lords of the south to rise up and support them.

    Sometime between the end of March and the beginning of May, Eleanor left Poitiers, but was arrested and sent to the king at Rouen. The king did not announce the arrest publicly; for the next year, the Queen's whereabouts were unknown. On 8 July 1174, Henry and Eleanor took ship for England from Barfleur. As soon as they disembarked at Southampton, Eleanor was taken either to Winchester Castle or Sarum Castle and held there.

    Years of imprisonment 1173–1189
    Eleanor was imprisoned for the next sixteen years, much of the time in various locations in England. During her imprisonment, Eleanor became more and more distant with her sons, especially Richard (who had always been her favorite). She did not have the opportunity to see her sons very often during her imprisonment, though she was released for special occasions such as Christmas. About four miles from Shrewsbury and close by Haughmond Abbey is "Queen Eleanor's Bower", the remains of a triangular castle which is believed to have been one of her prisons.

    Henry lost the woman reputed to be his great love, Rosamund Clifford, in 1176. He had met her in 1166 and began his liaison in 1173, supposedly contemplating divorce from Eleanor. This notorious affair caused a monkish scribe to transcribe Rosamond's name in Latin to "Rosa Immundi", or "Rose of Unchastity". The king had many mistresses, but although he treated earlier liaisons discreetly, he flaunted Rosamond. He may have done so to provoke Eleanor into seeking an annulment but, if so, the queen disappointed him. Nevertheless, rumours persisted, perhaps assisted by Henry's camp, that Eleanor had poisoned Rosamund. Henry donated much money to Godstow Nunnery, where Rosamund was buried.

    In 1183, the Young King Henry tried again to force his father to hand over some of his patrimony. In debt and refused control of Normandy, he tried to ambush his father at Limoges. He was joined by troops sent by his brother Geoffrey and Philip II of France. Henry II's troops besieged the town, forcing his son to flee. After wandering aimlessly through Aquitaine, Henry the Younger caught dysentery. On Saturday, 11 June 1183, the Young King realized he was dying and was overcome with remorse for his sins. When his father's ring was sent to him, he begged that his father would show mercy to his mother, and that all his companions would plead with Henry to set her free. Henry II sent Thomas of Earley, Archdeacon of Wells, to break the news to Eleanor at Sarum. Eleanor reputedly had had a dream in which she foresaw her son Henry's death. In 1193 she would tell Pope Celestine III that she was tortured by his memory.

    King Philip II of France claimed that certain properties in Normandy belonged to his half-sister Margaret, widow of the young Henry, but Henry insisted that they had once belonged to Eleanor and would revert to her upon her son's death. For this reason Henry summoned Eleanor to Normandy in the late summer of 1183. She stayed in Normandy for six months. This was the beginning of a period of greater freedom for the still-supervised Eleanor. Eleanor went back to England probably early in 1184. Over the next few years Eleanor often traveled with her husband and was sometimes associated with him in the government of the realm, but still had a custodian so that she was not free.

    Widowhood
    Upon the death of her husband Henry on 6 July 1189, Richard was his undisputed heir. One of his first acts as king was to send William Marshal to England with orders to release Eleanor from prison, who found upon his arrival that her custodians had already released her.

    Eleanor rode to Westminster and received the oaths of fealty from many lords and prelates on behalf of the king. She ruled England in Richard's name, signing herself ""Eleanor, by the grace of God, Queen of England". On 13 August 1189, Richard sailed from Barfleur to Portsmouth, and was received with enthusiasm. Eleanor ruled England as regent while Richard went off on the Third Crusade. Later, when Richard was captured, she personally negotiated his ransom by going to Germany.

    Eleanor survived Richard and lived well into the reign of her youngest son King John. In 1199, under the terms of a truce between King Philip II of France and King John, it was agreed that Philip's twelve-year-old heir-apparent Louis would be married to one of John's nieces of Castile. John deputed Eleanor to travel to Castile to select one of the princesses. Now 77, Eleanor set out from Poitiers. Just outside Poitiers she was ambushed and held captive by Hugh IX of Lusignan, which had long ago been sold by his forebears to Henry II. Eleanor secured her freedom by agreeing to his demands and journeyed south, crossed the Pyrenees, and travelled through the Kingdoms of Navarre and Castile, arriving before the end of January 1200.

    King Alfonso VIII and her daughter, Queen Eleanor of Castile, had two remaining unmarried daughters, Urraca and Blanche. Eleanor selected the younger daughter, Blanche. She stayed for two months at the Castilian court. Late in March, Eleanor and her granddaughter Blanche journeyed back across the Pyrenees. When she was at Bordeaux, where she celebrated Easter, the famous warrior Mercadier came to her and it was decided that he would escort the Queen and Princess north. "On the second day in Easter week, he was slain in the city by a man-at-arms in the service of Brandin", a rival mercenary captain. This tragedy was too much for the elderly queen, who was fatigued and unable to continue to Normandy. She and Blanche rode in easy stages to the valley of the Loire, and she entrusted Blanche to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who took over as her escort. The exhausted Eleanor went to Fontevraud, where she remained. In early summer, Eleanor was ill and John visited her at Fontevraud.

    Eleanor was imprisoned for the next sixteen years, much of the time in various locations in England. During her imprisonment, Eleanor became more and more distant with her sons, especially Richard (who had always been her favorite). She did not have the opportunity to see her sons very often during her imprisonment, though she was released for special occasions such as Christmas. About four miles from Shrewsbury and close by Haughmond Abbey is "Queen Eleanor's Bower", the remains of a triangular castle which is believed to have been one of her prisons.

    Henry lost the woman reputed to be his great love, Rosamund Clifford, in 1176. He had met her in 1166 and began his liaison in 1173, supposedly contemplating divorce from Eleanor. This notorious affair caused a monkish scribe to transcribe Rosamond's name in Latin to "Rosa Immundi", or "Rose of Unchastity". The king had many mistresses, but although he treated earlier liaisons discreetly, he flaunted Rosamond. He may have done so to provoke Eleanor into seeking an annulment but, if so, the queen disappointed him. Nevertheless, rumours persisted, perhaps assisted by Henry's camp, that Eleanor had poisoned Rosamund. Henry donated much money to Godstow Nunnery, where Rosamund was buried.

    In 1183, the Young King Henry tried again to force his father to hand over some of his patrimony. In debt and refused control of Normandy, he tried to ambush his father at Limoges. He was joined by troops sent by his brother Geoffrey and Philip II of France. Henry II's troops besieged the town, forcing his son to flee. After wandering aimlessly through Aquitaine, Henry the Younger caught dysentery. On Saturday, 11 June 1183, the Young King realized he was dying and was overcome with remorse for his sins. When his father's ring was sent to him, he begged that his father would show mercy to his mother, and that all his companions would plead with Henry to set her free. Henry II sent Thomas of Earley, Archdeacon of Wells, to break the news to Eleanor at Sarum.[28] Eleanor reputedly had had a dream in which she foresaw her son Henry's death. In 1193 she would tell Pope Celestine III that she was tortured by his memory.

    King Philip II of France claimed that certain properties in Normandy belonged to his half-sister Margaret, widow of the young Henry, but Henry insisted that they had once belonged to Eleanor and would revert to her upon her son's death. For this reason Henry summoned Eleanor to Normandy in the late summer of 1183. She stayed in Normandy for six months. This was the beginning of a period of greater freedom for the still-supervised Eleanor. Eleanor went back to England probably early in 1184. Over the next few years Eleanor often traveled with her husband and was sometimes associated with him in the government of the realm, but still had a custodian so that she was not free.2

Family: Henry II 'Curtmantle' d'Anjou King of England b. 5 Mar 1133, d. 6 Jul 1189

  • Last Edited: 9 Oct 2017

Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine1

M, #8093, b. 24 August 1113, d. 7 September 1151

Geoffrey Plantagenet
Duke of the Normans
Count of Anjou, Maine and Mortain

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine was born on 24 August 1113 in France.3
  • Marriage*: He married Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England, daughter of Henry I "Beauclerc" (?) King of England and Matilda (?) of Scotland, Queen of England, on 22 May 1128 in Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans, France.4
  • Death*: Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine died on 7 September 1151 in Chateau-du-Loir, France, at age 38.2
  • Burial*: He was buried after 7 September 1151 in Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans, France.2
  • Biography*: Geoffrey V Plantagenet, Comte d'Anjou et Maine also went by the nick-name of Geoffrey 'the Fair'. He was also known as Geoffrey of Anjou. He gained the title of 10th Comte d'Anjou in 1129. He succeeded to the title of 12th Duc de Normandie on 19 January 1144. He gained the title of Comte de Maine. He abdicated as Duke of Normandy in 1150.

    Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome (French: le Bel) and Plantagenet, was the Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine by inheritance from 1129 and then Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144. By his marriage to the Empress Matilda, daughter and heiress of Henry I of England, Geoffrey had a son, Henry Curtmantle, who succeeded to the English throne and founded the Plantagenet dynasty to which Geoffrey gave his nickname.


    Early life
    Geoffrey was the elder son of Fulk V of Anjou and Eremburga de La Flèche, daughter of Elias I of Maine. Geoffrey received his nickname from the yellow sprig of broom blossom (genêt is the French name for the planta genista, or broom shrub) he wore in his hat. King Henry I of England, having heard good reports on Geoffrey's talents and prowess, sent his royal legates to Anjou to negotiate a marriage between Geoffrey and his own daughter, Matilda. Consent was obtained from both parties, and on 10 June 1128 the fifteen-year-old Geoffrey was knighted in Rouen by King Henry in preparation for the wedding.

    Marriage
    On 11 June 1128 Geoffrey married Empress Matilda, the daughter and heiress of King Henry I of England by his first wife Edith of Scotland, and widow of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor. The marriage was meant to seal a peace between England/Normandy and Anjou. She was eleven years older than Geoffrey, and very proud of her status as an Empress (as opposed to being a mere Countess). Their marriage was a stormy one with frequent long separations, but she bore him three sons and survived him.

    Count of Anjou
    The year after the marriage Geoffrey's father left for Jerusalem (where he was to become king), leaving Geoffrey behind as count of Anjou. John of Marmoutier describes Geoffrey as handsome, red-headed, jovial, and a great warrior; however, Ralph of Diceto alleges that his charm concealed his cold and selfish character.

    When King Henry I died in 1135, Matilda at once entered Normandy to claim her inheritance. The border districts submitted to her, but England chose her cousin Stephen of Blois for its king, and Normandy soon followed suit. The following year, Geoffrey gave Ambrieres, Gorron, and Chatilon-sur-Colmont to Juhel de Mayenne, on condition that he help obtain the inheritance of Geoffrey's wife. In 1139 Matilda landed in England with 140 knights, where she was besieged at Arundel Castle by King Stephen. In the "Anarchy" which ensued, Stephen was captured at Lincoln in February, 1141, and imprisoned at Bristol. A legatine council of the English church held at Winchester in April 1141 declared Stephen deposed and proclaimed Matilda "Lady of the English". Stephen was subsequently released from prison and had himself recrowned on the anniversary of his first coronation.

    During 1142 and 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine, and, on 14 January 1144, he crossed the Seine and entered Rouen. He assumed the title of Duke of Normandy in the summer of 1144. In 1144, he founded an Augustine priory at Chateau-l'Ermitage in Anjou. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149, when he and Matilda conjointly ceded it to their son, Henry, which cession was formally ratified by King Louis VII of France the following year.

    Geoffrey also put down three baronial rebellions in Anjou, in 1129, 1135, and 1145–1151. He was often at odds with his younger brother, Elias, whom he had imprisoned until 1151. The threat of rebellion slowed his progress in Normandy, and is one reason he could not intervene in England. In 1153, the Treaty of Wallingford allowed Stephen should remain King of England for life and that Henry, the son of Geoffrey and Matilda should succeed him.

    Death
    Geoffrey died suddenly on 7 September 1151. According to John of Marmoutier, Geoffrey was returning from a royal council when he was stricken with fever. He arrived at Château-du-Loir, collapsed on a couch, made bequests of gifts and charities, and died. He was buried at St. Julien's Cathedral in Le Mans France.

    Children
    Geoffrey and Matilda's children were:
    Henry II of England (1133–1189)
    Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (1 June 1134 Rouen- 26 July 1158 Nantes) died unmarried and was buried in Nantes
    William X, Count of Poitou (1136–1164) died unmarried
    Geoffrey also had illegitimate children by an unknown mistress (or mistresses): Hamelin; Emme, who married Dafydd Ab Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales; and Mary, who became a nun and Abbess of Shaftesbury and who may be the poetess Marie de France. Adelaide of Angers is sometimes sourced as being the mother of Hamelin.

    Heraldry
    The first reference to Norman heraldry was in 1128, when Henry I of England knighted his son-in-law Geoffrey and granted him a badge of gold lions (or leopards) on a blue background. (A gold lion may already have been Henry's own badge.) Henry II used two gold lions and two lions on a red background are still part of the arms of Normandy. Henry's son, Richard I, added a third lion to distinguish the arms of England.5

Family 1: Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England b. 7 Feb 1102, d. 10 Sep 1167

Family 2: Adelaide (?) of Angers b. c 100

  • Last Edited: 28 Mar 2019

Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England1

F, #8094, b. 7 February 1102, d. 10 September 1167

Matilda of England
Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Germany

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Name Variation: Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England was also known as Empress Maude (?)3
  • Birth*: She was born on 7 February 1102 in England.1,3
  • Marriage*: She married Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine, son of Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou and Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine, on 22 May 1128 in Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans, France.4
  • Death*: Matilda (?) 'The Empress' of England died on 10 September 1167 in Normandy, France*, at age 65.3
  • Biography*: Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood. However, her brother's death at age 17 in the White Ship disaster on 25 November 1120 resulted in Matilda being her father's sole heir.

    As a child, Matilda was betrothed to and later married Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, thus becoming Holy Roman Empress. The couple had no known children and after eleven years of marriage Henry died, leaving Matilda widowed. However, she was then married to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, in a union which her father hoped would produce a male heir and continue the dynasty. She had three sons by Geoffrey of Anjou, the eldest of whom eventually became King Henry II of England. Upon the death of her father in 1135, the throne was usurped by her cousin, Stephen of Blois, who moved quickly and successfully to claim the throne whilst Matilda was in Normandy, pregnant with her third child.

    Their rivalry for the throne led to years of unrest and civil war in England that have been called the Anarchy. Matilda was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England, though the length of her effective rule was brief: a few months in 1141. She was never crowned and failed to consolidate her rule (legally or politically). For this reason, she is normally excluded from lists of English monarchs, and her rival Stephen is usually listed as monarch for the period 1135–1154. She campaigned unstintingly for her oldest son's inheritance, living to see him ascend the throne of England in 1154.

    Early life and first marriage
    Matilda was the elder of the two children born to Henry I of England and his first wife, Matilda of Scotland, who survived infancy; her younger brother and heir apparent to the throne was William Adelin.[nb 1] Her father had at least twenty illegitimate children, half-siblings to Matilda.[2] Most historians believe Matilda was born in Winchester, but one, John M. Fletcher, argues for the possibility of the royal palace at Sutton (now Sutton Courtenay) in Berkshire. As a child her relationship with her father was probably not close, considering Henry I ventured to Normandy when Matilda was two years old, and the king stayed there for three years. It is likely she saw little of him upon his return either, as Matilda then commenced her education at the Abbey of Wilton, where she was educated by the nuns.

    When Matilda was still in early childhood, envoys from Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, travelled to England and asked for her hand in marriage. In spring of 1110 she was sent to Germany, taking with her a large dowry, estimated at 10,000 marks in silver, to become the bride of the emperor. The couple met at Liège before travelling to Utrecht where, on 10 April, they became officially betrothed. On 25 July of the same year, she was crowned queen of the Romans in a ceremony at Mainz. As well as being a young stranger in a foreign court, she also saw most of her English retinue dismissed by the emperor, who also wished that Matilda learn to speak German. She found herself continuing her education in Germany, being taught by Archbishop Bruno of Trier. Matilda and Henry were married in June 1114. The title she then assumed is somewhat dubious; she was never crowned empress by the pope, though she was crowned in Rome by the archbishop of Braga, Maurice Bourdin, at Pentecost (13 May 1117). As Matilda later claimed to have been crowned twice, a ceremony may have taken place earlier in the year at Easter. To add further ambiguity to the title, Archbishop Bourdin was excommunicated by the pope in April 1117, before Pentecost but after Easter. However, as she was the lawfully wedded wife and anointed queen at the time of her husband's coronation by Pope Paschal in 1111, her title held some legitimacy and official records addressed her as regina Romanorum. Bourdin, following the death of Paschal in January 1118, became Antipope Gregory VIII, in opposition to Pope Gelasius II. Later, she led Norman chroniclers to believe that she had been crowned by the pope himself.

    Matilda acted as her husband's regent in Italy, gaining valuable political experience. Her tenure as regent of the Italian lands of the Holy Roman Empire probably lasted from 1117 to 1119, whereupon she rejoined her husband in Lotharingia. However, on 25 November 1120, Matilda's brother William Adelin drowned in the White Ship disaster. Being the only legitimate son of King Henry, his death cast uncertainty over the succession to the throne. Matilda was the king's only legitimate child, but as a female, she was at a substantial political disadvantage. The closest male agnate at the time was William Clito, but instead of naming a successor, Henry turned his attention to fathering another child. Widowed from Matilda's mother in 1118, Henry commenced negotiations for a remarriage following Adelin's death. In 1121, he married Adeliza of Louvain, but the union failed to produce any children.

    Meanwhile, the marriage of the imperial couple remained childless, and the empress's father was at the time unwilling to rest his hopes on his daughter providing an heir, assuming that she may be barren. The emperor had already produced an illegitimate daughter, so it was presumed that he was not infertile. Nonetheless, though she had failed to produce an heir for her husband, she was not blamed; instead, the couple's childlessness was regarded as God's punishment to Henry V for his mistreatment of his father. The emperor died on 23 May 1125, leaving Matilda a widow at the age of 23. They had no surviving offspring, but Hermann of Tournai stated that Matilda bore a child who lived only a short while. On his deathbed, Henry V entrusted Matilda with the imperial insignia. Having not produced a legitimate child, the Salian dynasty ended. Though the imperial throne was elective rather than hereditary, the title often passed from father to son. Matilda handed over the insignia, which was at Trifels Castle, to Adalbert, archbishop of Mainz, and he began proceedings towards the election, which resulted in the enthronement of her husband's former rival, Lothair III.

    Widowhood, heiress and second marriage
    Following her husband's death, Matilda was summoned to Normandy by her father. Matilda was displeased; she was a respected figure in the Empire which was her home since childhood, and German was now her first language. Nonetheless, she had ceased to be involved in German political affairs and with an opponent on the throne, her future there did not promise anything significantly worthwhile. Accepting that likeliness of his marriage providing him a son was slim, Henry I decided that Matilda would be his heiress presumptive. After residing in Normandy for nearly a year with her father and stepmother, they set sail for England in 1126. In January 1127, Henry made his court, including Stephen of Blois, swear an oath of allegiance to Matilda. John of Worcester described a second oath, taken one year after the first, at Henry's Easter court on 29 April 1128.

    The question of marriage was entirely down to Matilda's father. King Louis VI of France was discontented about Normandy and England united and as such, promoted the claim of William Clito in order to attempt to cause a rift in the court. Furthermore, Fulk, Count of Anjou, was likely to support Clito's claim due to the longstanding hostility between Normandy and Anjou. The animosity between Normandy and Anjou had temporarily been repaired with the marriage of William Adelin to Fulk's daughter Matilda. However, William's death meant the match was brief. Fulk then married his younger daughter Sibylla to William Clito, though Henry managed to sever the union by having Pope Calixtus II annul the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. However, Louis VI then offered his wife's half-sister Joan to Clito for marriage. Her dowry was the Vexin, an area of land bordering Normandy. Furthermore, the murder of Charles I, Count of Flanders, in 1127 gave Louis the opportunity to install William as the new Count of Flanders, thus setting him up to be a strong rival of Matilda.

    Henry was faced with a predicament of Clito's rising power and he recognised that his daughter must marry in a union of diplomacy to counter this. He arranged for her to marry Geoffrey of Anjou, Fulk's son. Matilda was outraged, and viewed Geoffrey as entirely beneath her, though she could not do anything to prevent the marriage. Matilda was sent to Normandy early in 1127, under the care of Robert of Gloucester, her half-brother. The wedding could not take place straight away, as Geoffrey was considered too young, having not yet turned 14. Nonetheless, he was considered handsome and intelligent, though neither of these traits served to console Matilda. The marriage took place in June 1128 at Le Mans. A month after the marriage, William Clito died suddenly from a battle wound, thus strengthening Matilda's position further.

    The marriage, however, was a tempestuous relationship, and a little over a year after their wedding, Matilda left Geoffrey, travelling to Normandy and residing at Rouen. The cause behind the soured relations is not fully known, though historian Marjorie Chibnall stated that, "historians have tended to put the blame on Matilda [...] This is a hasty judgement based on two or three hostile English chroniclers; such evidence as there is suggests Geoffrey was at least as much to blame". Henry eventually summoned her from Normandy, whereupon Matilda returned to England in August 1131. At a great council meeting on 8 September, it was decided that Matilda would return to her husband. Here she received another oath of allegiance, where Stephen once more made his vow to Matilda. The marriage proved a success when, in March 1133, Matilda gave birth to their first child, Henry, in Le Mans. In 1134, the couple's second son, Geoffrey, was born in Rouen. Matilda nearly died in childbirth, and as she lay critically ill, her burial arrangements were planned. However, she recovered from her illness.

    Struggle for the throne of England
    In 1120, her brother William Adelin drowned in the disastrous wreck of the White Ship, making Matilda the only surviving legitimate child of her father King Henry. Her cousin Stephen of Blois was, like her, a grandchild of William the Conqueror; but her paternal line meant she was senior to Stephen in the line of succession.

    After Matilda returned to England, Henry named her as his heir to the English throne and Duchy of Normandy. Henry saw to it that the Anglo-Norman barons, including Stephen, twice swore to accept Matilda as ruler if Henry died without a male heir of his body.

    When her father died in Normandy, on 1 December 1135, Matilda was with Geoffrey in Anjou, and, crucially, too far away from events rapidly unfolding in England and Normandy. She and Geoffrey were also at odds with her father over border castles. Stephen of Blois rushed to England upon learning of Henry's death and moved quickly to seize the crown from the appointed heir. He was supported by most of the barons and his brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, breaking his oath to defend Matilda's rights. Matilda, however, contested Stephen in both realms. She and her husband Geoffrey entered Normandy and began military campaigns to claim her inheritance there. Progress was uneven at first, but she persevered. In Normandy, Geoffrey secured all fiefdoms west and south of the Seine by 1143; in January 1144, he crossed the Seine and took Rouen without resistance. He assumed the title Duke of Normandy, and Matilda became Duchess of Normandy. Geoffrey and Matilda held the duchy conjointly until 1149, then ceded it to their son, Henry, which event was soon ratified by King Louis VII of France. It was not until 1139, however, that Matilda commanded the military strength necessary to challenge Stephen within England.

    During the war, Matilda's most loyal and capable supporter was her illegitimate half-brother, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester.

    Matilda's greatest triumph came in February 1141, when her forces defeated and captured King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln. He was made a prisoner and effectively deposed. Her advantage lasted only a few months. When she arrived in London, the city was ready to welcome her and support her coronation. She used the title of Lady of the English and planned to assume the title of queen upon coronation (the custom which was followed by her grandsons, Richard and John). However, she refused the citizens' request to halve their taxes and, because of her own arrogance, they closed the city gates to her and reignited the civil war on 24 June 1141.

    By November, Stephen was free (exchanged for the captured Robert of Gloucester) and a year later, the tables were turned when Matilda was besieged at Oxford but escaped to Wallingford, supposedly by fleeing across snow-covered land in a white cape. In 1141, she escaped Devizes in a similar manner, by disguising herself as a corpse and being carried out for burial.

    In 1148, Matilda and Henry returned to Normandy, following the death of Robert of Gloucester, and the reconquest of Normandy by Geoffrey. Upon their arrival, Geoffrey turned Normandy over to Henry and retired to Anjou.

    Later life
    Matilda's first son, Henry, was showing signs of becoming a successful leader. It was 1147 when Henry, aged 14, had accompanied Matilda on an invasion of England. It soon failed due to lack of preparation but it made him determined that England was his mother's right, and so his own. He returned to England again between 1149 and 1150. On 22 May 1149 he was knighted by King David I of Scotland, his great uncle, at Carlisle.

    Although the civil war had been decided in Stephen's favour, his reign was troubled. In 1153, the death of Stephen's son Eustace, combined with the arrival of a military expedition led by Henry, led him to acknowledge the latter as his heir by the Treaty of Wallingford.

    Matilda retired to Rouen in Normandy during her last years, where she maintained her own court and presided over the government of the duchy in the absence of Henry. She intervened in the quarrels between her eldest son Henry and her second son Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, but peace between the brothers was brief. Geoffrey rebelled against Henry twice before his sudden death in 1158. Relations between Henry and his youngest brother, William X, Count of Poitou, were more cordial, and William was given vast estates in England. Archbishop Thomas Becket refused to allow William to marry the Countess of Surrey and the young man fled to Matilda's court at Rouen. William died there in January 1164, reportedly of disappointment and sorrow. She attempted to mediate in the quarrel between her son Henry and Becket, but was unsuccessful.
    Although she gave up hope of being crowned in 1141, her name always preceded that of her son Henry, even after he became king. Matilda died at Notre Dame du Pré near Rouen in 1167 and was buried in the Abbey of Bec-Hellouin, Normandy. Her body was transferred to Rouen Cathedral in 1847; her epitaph reads: "Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring: Here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."

    Historical fiction
    The civil war between supporters of Stephen and the supporters of Matilda has proven popular as a subject in historical fiction. Novels dealing with it include:
    Graham Shelby, The Villains of the Piece (1972) (published in the US as The Oath and the Sword)
    The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, and the TV series made from them starring Sir Derek Jacobi
    Jean Plaidy, The Passionate Enemies, the third book of her Norman Trilogy
    Sharon Penman, When Christ and His Saints Slept tells the story of the events before, during and after the civil war
    Haley Elizabeth Garwood, The Forgotten Queen (1997)
    Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth
    E. L. Konigsburg, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
    Cecelia Holland, The Earl
    Joan Wolf, No Dark Place and The Poisoned Serpent are medieval romantic mysteries about supporters of both Stephen and Matilda
    Ellen Jones, The Fatal Crown (highly inaccurate)
    Juliet Dymoke, The Lion's Legacy (Being part of a trilogy, the first being, Of The Ring Of Earls, the second, Henry of the High Rock)
    Elizabeth Chadwick, "Lady of the English" (2011)
    One novel goes so far as to posit a love-affair between Matilda and Stephen, the Janna Mysteries by Felicity Pulman, set during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda.
    Matilda is a character in Jean Anouilh's play Becket. In the 1964 film adaptation she was portrayed by Martita Hunt. She was also portrayed by Brenda Bruce in the 1978 BBC TV series The Devil's Crown, which dramatised the reigns of her son and grandsons.
    Alison Pill portrayed her in the 2010 TV miniseries The Pillars of the Earth, an adaptation of Follett's novel, although she is initially known in this as Princess Maud not Empress Matilda.3

Family: Geoffrey V Plantagenet Comte d'Anjou rt Maine b. 24 Aug 1113, d. 7 Sep 1151

  • Last Edited: 31 Oct 2014

Matilda (?) of Scotland, Queen of England1

F, #8095, b. circa 1079, d. 1 May 1118

Matilda [Edith] of Scotland
Queen consort of England

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Name Variation: Matilda (?) of Scotland, Queen of England was also known as Edith Queen of England.1
  • Name Variation: Matilda (?) of Scotland, Queen of England was also known as Edith (?) of Scotland.3
  • Birth*: She was born circa 1079 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland.2
  • Marriage*: She married Henry I "Beauclerc" (?) King of England, son of William I "The Conqueror" (?) King of England and Matilda de Flandre Queen Consort of England, on 11 November 1100 in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Greater London, England.4
  • Death*: Matilda (?) of Scotland, Queen of England died on 1 May 1118 in Westminster Palace, Westminster, Greater London, England.5
  • Burial*: She was buried after 1 May 1118 in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Greater London, England.5
  • Biography*: Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080 – 1 May 1118), born Edith, was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry I.

    Early life
    Matilda was born around 1080 in Dunfermline, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret. She was christened (baptised) Edith, and Robert Curthose stood as godfather at the ceremony. Queen Matilda, the consort of William the Conqueror, was also present at the baptismal font and served as her godmother. Baby Matilda pulled at Queen Matilda's headdress, which was seen as an omen that the younger Matilda would be queen one day.

    The Life Of St Margaret, Queen Of Scotland was later written for Matilda possibly by Turgot of Durham. It refers to Matilda's childhood and her relationship with her mother. In it, Margaret is described as a strict but loving mother. She did not spare the rod when it came to raising her children in virtue, which the author presupposed was the reason for the good behaviour Matilda and her siblings displayed, and Margaret also stressed the importance of piety.

    When she was about six years old, Matilda of Scotland (or Edith as she was then probably still called) and her sister Mary were sent to Romsey Abbey, near Southampton, where their aunt Cristina was abbess. During her stay at Romsey and, some time before 1093, at Wilton Abbey, both institutions known for learning, the Scottish princess was much sought-after as a bride; refusing proposals from William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, and Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond. Hériman of Tournai claimed that William II Rufus considered marrying her. Her education went beyond the standard feminine pursuits. This was not surprising as her mother was a great lover of books and literate. Her daughters learned English, French, and some Latin, and were sufficiently literate to read St. Augustine and the Old and New Testaments.

    In 1093, her parents betrothed her to Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond, one of her numerous suitors. However, before the marriage took place, her father entered into a dispute with William Rufus. In response, he marauded the English king's lands where he was surprised by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria and killed along with his son, Edward. Upon hearing of her husband and son's death, Margaret, already ill, died on November 16. Edith was now an orphan. She was abandoned by her betrothed who ran off with a daughter of Harold Godwinson, Gunhild of Wessex. However, he died before they could be married.

    She had left the monastery by 1093, when Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to the Bishop of Salisbury ordering that the daughter of the King of Scotland be returned to the monastery that she had left. She did not return to Wilton and until 1100, is largely unaccounted for in chronicles.

    Marriage
    After the mysterious death of William II in August 1100, his brother, Henry, immediately seized the royal treasury and crown. His next task was to marry and Henry's choice was Matilda. Because Matilda had spent most of her life in a convent, there was some controversy over whether she was a nun and thus canonically ineligible for marriage. Henry sought permission for the marriage from Archbishop Anselm, who returned to England in September 1100 after a long exile. Professing himself unwilling to decide so weighty a matter on his own, Anselm called a council of bishops in order to determine the canonical legality of the proposed marriage.

    Matilda testified that she had never taken holy vows, insisting that her parents had sent her and her sister to England for educational purposes, and her aunt Cristina had veiled her to protect her "from the lust of the Normans." Matilda claimed she had pulled the veil off and stamped on it, and her aunt beat and scolded her for this act. The council concluded that Matilda was not a nun, never had been and her parents had not intended that she become one, giving their permission for the marriage.

    Matilda and Henry seem to have known one another for some time before their marriage — William of Malmesbury states that Henry had "long been attached" to her, and Orderic Vitalis says that Henry had "long adored" her character. It is possible that Matilda had spend some time at William Rufus's court and that the pair had met there. It is also possible Henry was introduced to his bride by his teacher Bishop Osmund. Whatever the case, it is clear that the two at least knew each other prior to their wedding. Additionally, the chronicler William of Malmesbury suggests that the new king loved his bride.

    Matilda's mother was the sister of Edgar the Ætheling, proclaimed but uncrowned King of England after Harold, and, through her, Matilda was descended from Edmund Ironside and thus from the royal family of Wessex, which in the 10th century had become the royal family of a united England. This was extremely important because although Henry had been born in England, he needed a bride with ties to the ancient Wessex line to increase his popularity with the English and to reconcile the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. [9] In their children, the two factions would be united, further unifying the new regime. Another benefit was that England and Scotland became politically closer; three of Matilda's brothers became kings of Scotland in succession and were unusually friendly towards England during this period of unbroken peace between the two nations: Alexander married one of Henry I's illegitimate daughters and David lived at Henry's court for some time before his accession.

    Matilda had a small dower but it did incorporate some lordship rights. Most of her dower estates were granted from lands previously held by Edith of Wessex. Additionally, Henry made numerous grants on his wife including substantial property in London. Generosity aside, this was a political move in order to win over the unruly Londoners who were vehement supporters of the Wessex kings.

    Queen
    After Matilda and Henry were married on 11 November 1100 at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, she was crowned as "Matilda," a hallowed Norman name. By courtiers, however, she and her husband were soon nicknamed 'Godric and Godiva'. These two names were typical English names from before The Conquest and mocked their more rustic style, especially when compared to the flamboyance of William II.

    She gave birth to a daughter, Matilda, born in February 1102, and a son, William, called "Adelin", in November 1103. As Queen, she resided primarily at Westminster, but accompanied her husband on his travels around England, and, circa 1106–1107, probably visited Normandy with him. Matilda was the designated head of Henry's curia and acted as regent during his frequent absences.

    During the English investiture controversy (1103-07), she acted as intercessor between her husband and archbishop Anselm. She wrote several letters during Anselm's absence, first asking him for advice and to return, but later increasingly to mediate.

    Works
    Matilda had great interest in architecture and instigated the building of many Norman-style buildings, including Waltham Abbey and Holy Trinity Aldgate. She also had the first arched bridge in England built, at Stratford-le-Bow, as well as a bathhouse with piped-in water and public lavatories at Queenhithe.

    Her court was filled with musicians and poets; she commissioned a monk, possibly Thurgot, to write a biography of her mother, Saint Margaret. She was an active queen and, like her mother, was renowned for her devotion to religion and the poor. William of Malmesbury describes her as attending church barefoot at Lent, and washing the feet and kissing the hands of the sick. Matilda exhibited a particular interest in leprosy, founding at least two leper hospitals. She also administered extensive dower properties and was known as a patron of the arts, especially music.

    Death
    After Matilda died on 1 May 1118 at Westminster Palace, she was buried at Westminster Abbey. The death of her son, William Adelin, in the tragic disaster of the White Ship (November 1120) and Henry's failure to produce a legitimate son from his second marriage led to the succession crisis of The Anarchy.

    Legacy
    After her death, she was remembered by her subjects as "Matilda the Good Queen" and "Matilda of Blessed Memory", and for a time sainthood was sought for her, though she was never canonized. Matilda is also thought to be the identity of the "Fair Lady" mentioned at the end of each verse in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down.

    Issue
    Matilda and Henry had issue
    Euphemia (July/August 1101.5

Family: Henry I "Beauclerc" (?) King of England b. Sep 1068, d. 1 Dec 1135

  • Last Edited: 14 Oct 2015

Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou1

M, #8096, b. circa 1092, d. 13 November 1144

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou was born circa 1092 in France*.3
  • Marriage*: He married Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine, daughter of Helias I de la Fleche Comte de Maine and Mathilde de Chateau-du-Loire, circa 1110 in France.2
  • Death*: Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou died on 13 November 1144 in Palestine*.2
  • Biography*: Fulk V d'Anjou, 9th Comte d'Anjou also went by the nick-name of Fulk 'the Younger'. He gained the title of 9th Comte d'Anjou in 1109. He succeeded to the title of King Fulk of Jerusalem in 1131.

    Fulk (in French: Foulque or Foulques; 1089/1092 place Unknown – 13 November 1143 Acre), also known as Fulk the Younger, was Count of Anjou (as Fulk V) from 1109 to 1129, and King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death. He was also the paternal grandfather of Henry II of England.

    Count of Anjou
    Fulk was born at an unknown place, between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband and bigamously married King Philip I of France.
    He became count of Anjou upon his father's death in 1109. In the next year, he married Erembourg of Maine, cementing Angevin control over the County of Maine.

    He was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King Louis VI of France, but in 1118 or 1119 he had allied with Henry when Henry arranged for his son and heir William Adelin to marry Fulk's daughter Matilda. Fulk went on crusade in 1119 or 1120, and became attached to the Knights Templar. (Orderic Vitalis) He returned, late in 1121, after which he began to subsidize the Templars, maintaining two knights in the Holy Land for a year. Much later, Henry arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Fulk's son Geoffrey of Anjou, which she did in 1127 or 1128.

    Crusader and King
    By 1127 Fulk was preparing to return to Anjou when he received an embassy from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter Melisende to succeed him. Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter's inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war.

    However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the Queen; he wanted to be king alongside Melisende. Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk's fortune and military exploits, acquiesced. Fulk abdicated his county seat of Anjou to his son Geoffrey and left for Jerusalem, where he married Melisende on 2 June 1129. Later Baldwin II bolstered Melisende's position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son by Fulk, Baldwin III, born in 1130.

    Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II's death. From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done; but as Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Melisende's sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of Antioch once more after the death of her father. She allied with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north in 1132; Fulk and Pons fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again.

    In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These "natives" focused on Melisende's cousin, the popular Hugh II of Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, who was devotedly loyal to the Queen. Fulk saw Hugh as a rival, and it did not help matters when Hugh's own stepson accused him of disloyalty. In 1134, in order to expose Hugh, Fulk accused him of infidelity with Melisende. Hugh rebelled in protest. Hugh secured himself to Jaffa, and allied himself with the Muslims of Ascalon. He was able to defeat the army set against him by Fulk, but this situation could not hold. The Patriarch interceded in the conflict, perhaps at the behest of Melisende. Fulk agreed to peace and Hugh was exiled from the kingdom for three years, a lenient sentence.

    However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh. Fulk, or his supporters, were commonly believed responsible, though direct proof never surfaced. The scandal was all that was needed for the queen's party to take over the government in what amounted to a palace coup. Author and historian Bernard Hamilton wrote that the Fulk's supporters "went in terror of their lives" in the palace. Contemporary author and historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk "he never attempted to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without (Melisende's) consent". The result was that Melisende held direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime before 1136 Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric was born.

    Securing the borders
    Jerusalem's northern border was of great concern. Fulk had been appointed regent of the Principality of Antioch by Baldwin II. As regent he had Raymund of Poitou marry the infant Constance of Antioch, daughter of Bohemund II and Alice of Antioch, and niece to Melisende. However, the greatest concern during Fulk's reign was the rise of Atabeg Zengi of Mosul.

    In 1137 Fulk was defeated in battle near Baarin but allied with Mu'in ad-Din Unur, the vizier of Damascus. Damascus was also threatened by Zengi. Fulk captured the fort of Banias, to the north of Lake Tiberias and thus secured the northern frontier.

    Fulk also strengthened the kingdom's southern border. His butler Paganus built the fortress of Kerak to the south of the Dead Sea, and to help give the kingdom access to the Red Sea, Fulk had Blanche Garde, Ibelin, and other forts built in the south-west to overpower the Egyptian fortress at Ascalon. This city was a base from which the Egyptian Fatimids launched frequent raids on the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Fulk sought to neutralise this threat.

    In 1137 and 1142, Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus arrived in Syria attempting to impose Byzantine control over the crusader states. John's intention of making a pilgrimage, accompanied by his impressive army, to Jerusalem alarmed Fulk, who wrote to John pointing out that his kingdom was poor and could not support the passage of a large army. This lukewarm response dissuaded John from carrying through his intention, and he postponed his pilgrimage. John died before he could make good his proposed journey to Jerusalem.

    Death
    In 1143, while the king and queen were on holiday in Acre, Fulk was killed in a hunting accident. His horse stumbled, fell, and Fulk's skull was crushed by the saddle, "and his brains gushed forth from both ears and nostrils", as William of Tyre describes. He was carried back to Acre, where he lay unconscious for three days before he died. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Though their marriage started in conflict, Melisende mourned for him privately as well as publicly. Fulk was survived by his son Geoffrey of Anjou by his first wife, and Baldwin III and Amalric I by Melisende.

    Depictions
    According to William, Fulk was "a ruddy man, like David... faithful and gentle, affable and kind... an experienced warrior full of patience and wisdom in military affairs." His chief fault was an inability to remember names and faces.

    William of Tyre described Fulk as a capable soldier and able politician, but observed that Fulk did not adequately attend to the defense of the crusader states to the north. Ibn al-Qalanisi (who calls him al-Kund Anjur, an Arabic rendering of "Count of Anjou") says that "he was not sound in his judgment nor was he successful in his administration." The Zengids continued their march on the crusader states, culminating in the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144, which led to the Second Crusade (see Siege of Edessa).

    Family
    In 1110, Fulk married Ermengarde of Maine (died 1126), the daughter of Elias I of Maine. Their four children were:
    Geoffrey V of Anjou (1113–1151, father of Henry II of England.
    Sibylla of Anjou (1112–1165, Bethlehem), married in 1123 William Clito (div. 1124), married in 1134 Thierry, Count of Flanders.
    Alice (or Isabella) (1111–1154, Fontevrault), married William Adelin; after his death in the White Ship she became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault.
    Elias II of Maine (died 1151)
    His second wife was Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem
    Baldwin III of Jerusalem
    Amalric I of Jerusalem.2,4

Family: Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine b. c 1090, d. c 1126

  • Last Edited: 16 Nov 2014

Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine1

F, #8097, b. circa 1090, d. circa 1126

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

Please be patient until the page fully loads.

  • Name Variation: Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine was also known as Erembourg Countess of Maine.3
  • Name Variation: Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine was also known as Ermengarde Countess of Maine.3
  • Birth*: She was born circa 1090 in Maine, France*.1
  • Marriage*: She married Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou, son of Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou and Bertrada de Montfort, circa 1110 in France.4
  • Death*: Aremburga de la Fleche Comtesse de Maine died circa 1126 in France.2
  • Biography*: Ermengarde or Erembourg of Maine, also known as Erembourg de la Flèche (died 1126), was Countess of Maine and the Lady of Château-du-Loir from 1110 to 1126. She was the daughter of Elias I of Maine, Count of Maine, and Mathilda of Château-du-Loire.

    In 1109 she married Fulk V of Anjou, thereby finally bringing Maine under Angevin control. She gave birth to:
    Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
    Elias II of Maine (d. 1151)
    Matilda of Anjou (d. 1154), who married William Adelin, the son and heir to Henry I of England
    Sibylla of Anjou (d. 1165), married in 1121 to William Clito, and then (after an annulment in 1124) to Thierry, Count of Flanders
    She died in 1126, on either the 15th January or the 12 October. After her death, Fulk left his lands to their son Geoffrey, and set out for the Holy Land, where he married Melisende of Jerusalem and became King of Jerusalem.3

Family: Fulk V d'Anjou 9th Comte d'Anjou b. c 1092, d. 13 Nov 1144

  • Last Edited: 20 Nov 2014

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10205.htm#i102047
  2. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10475.htm#i104743
  3. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erembourg_of_Maine
  4. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10250.htm#i102497

Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou1

M, #8098, b. circa 1043, d. 14 April 1109

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou was born circa 1043 in Anjou, France*.3
  • Marriage*: He married Bertrada de Montfort, daughter of Simon I de Montfort Sire de Montfort L'Aumari and Agnes d'Evereux Countess of Evreux, circa 1089 in France.3
  • Divorce*: Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou and Bertrada de Montfort were divorced on 15 May 1092 in France.2
  • Death*: Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou died on 14 April 1109 in Anjou, France*.2
  • Biography*: Fulk IV (in French Foulques IV) (1043 – 14 April 1109), called le Réchin, was the Count of Anjou from 1068 until his death. The nickname by which he is usually referred has no certain translation. Philologists have made numerous very different suggestions, including "quarreler", "rude", "sullen", "surly" and "heroic".

    Life
    He was the younger son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais (sometimes known as Aubri), and Ermengarde of Anjou, a daughter of Fulk the Black, count of Anjou, and sister of Geoffrey Martel, also count of Anjou.

    When Geoffrey Martel died without direct heirs he left Anjou to his nephew Geoffrey III of Anjou, Fulk le Réchin's older brother.

    Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067. Under pressure from the Church he released Geoffrey. The two brothers soon fell to fighting again, and the next year Geoffrey was again imprisoned by Fulk, this time for good.

    Substantial territory was lost to Angevin control due to the difficulties resulting from Geoffrey's poor rule and the subsequent civil war. Saintonge was lost, and Fulk had to give the Gâtinais to Philip I of France to placate the king.

    Much of Fulk's rule was devoted to regaining control over the Angevin baronage, and to a complex struggle with Normandy for influence in Maine and Brittany.

    In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou", though the authorship and authenticity of this work is disputed. Only the first part of the history, describing Fulk's ancestry, is extant. The second part, supposedly describing Fulk's own rule, has not been recovered. If he did write it, it is one of the first medieval works of history written by a layman.

    Family
    Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding the exact number or how many he repudiated.

    His first wife was Hildegarde of Beaugency. After her death, before or by 1070, he married Ermengarde de Bourbon in 1070, and then in 1076 possibly Orengarde de Châtellailon. Both these were repudiated (Ermengarde de Bourbon in 1075 and Orengarde de Chatellailon or Châtel-Aillon in 1080), possibly on grounds of consanguinity.

    By 1080 he may have married Mantie, daughter of Walter I of Brienne. This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1087. Finally, in 1089, he married Bertrade de Montfort, who was apparently "abducted" by King Philip I of France in or around 1092.

    He had two sons. The eldest (a son of Ermengarde de Bourbon), Geoffrey IV Martel, ruled jointly with him for some time, but died in 1106. The younger (a son of Bertrade de Montfort) succeeded him as Fulk V.
    He also had a daughter by Hildegarde of Beaugency, Ermengarde, who married firstly with William IX, count of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine and secondly with Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.4

Family: Bertrada de Montfort b. c 1070, d. 14 Feb 1117

  • Last Edited: 16 Nov 2014

Bertrada de Montfort1

F, #8099, b. circa 1070, d. 14 February 1117

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Bertrada de Montfort was born circa 1070 in France.1,2
  • Marriage*: She married Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou, son of Geoffrey (?) Count of Gatinais and Ermengarde d'Anjou, circa 1089 in France.3
  • Divorce*: Bertrada de Montfort and Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou were divorced on 15 May 1092 in France.4
  • Death*: Bertrada de Montfort died on 14 February 1117 in France.2
  • Biography*: Bertrade de Montfort (c. 1070 – 14 February 1117) was the daughter of Simon I de Montfort and Agnes, Countess of Evreux. Her brother was Amaury de Montfort.

    Marriages
    First married to Fulk IV, Count of Anjou in 1089 and the mother of his son Fulk of Jerusalem, when the lovely Bertrade caught his eye. According to the chronicler John of Marmoutier:
    The lecherous Fulk then fell passionately in love with the sister of Amaury de Montfort, whom no good man ever praised save for her beauty.

    Bertrade and Fulk were married, and they became the parents of a son, Fulk, but in 1092 Bertrade left her husband and took up with King Philip I of France. Philip married her on 15 May 1092, despite the fact that they both had spouses living. He was so enamoured of Bertrade that he refused to leave her even when threatened with excommunication. Pope Urban II did excommunicate him in 1095, and Philip was prevented from taking part in the First Crusade. Astonishingly, Bertrade persuaded Philip and Fulk to be friends.

    Children
    With Fulk IV, Count of Anjou:
    Fulk of Jerusalem, Count of Anjou and King of Jerusalem (1089/92–1143)

    With Philip I of France:
    Philip of France, Count of Mantes (living in 1123)
    Fleury of France, Seigneur of Nangis (living in 1118)
    Cecile of France (died 1145), married (1) Tancred, Prince of Galilee; married (2) Pons of Tripoli

    Later life
    According to Orderic Vitalis, Bertrade was anxious that one of her sons succeed Philip, and sent a letter to King Henry I of England asking him to arrest her stepson Louis. Orderic also claims she sought to kill Louis first through the arts of sorcery, and then through poison. Whatever the truth of these allegations, Louis succeeded Philip in 1108. Bertrade lived on until 1117; William of Malmesbury says: "Bertrade, still young and beautiful, took the veil at Fontevraud Abbey, always charming to men, pleasing to God, and like an angel." Her son from her first marriage was Fulk V of Anjou who later became King of Jerusalem iure uxoris. The dynasties founded by Fulk's sons ruled for centuries, one of them in England (Plantagenet), the other in Jerusalem.2

Family: Fulk IV 'le Rechin' d'Anjou Comte d'Anjou b. c 1043, d. 14 Apr 1109

  • Last Edited: 21 Nov 2014

Geoffrey (?) Count of Gatinais1

M, #8100

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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  • Birth*: Geoffrey (?) Count of Gatinais was born in France.1
  • Marriage*: He married Ermengarde d'Anjou, daughter of Fulk III d'Anjou 5th Comte d'Anjou and Hildegarde (?), circa 1043 in France.1
  • Biography*: Geoffrey II, de Château-Landon ( -1043/6) was the Count of Gâtinais. He was traditionally viewed as son of Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais by Beatrice of Macon, the daughter of Aubry II of Mâcon, but recent research has suggested the alternative that he was son by another husband of Beatrice, Hugh of Perche. About 1035 he married Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy, daughter of Fulk III, Count of Anjou.. After Geoffrey's death she married secondly Robert I, Duke of Burgundy.2

Family: Ermengarde d'Anjou b. bt 1010 - 1018, d. 21 Mar 1076

  • Last Edited: 19 Dec 2015

Citations

  1. [S742] The Peerage, online thepeerage.com, http://www.thepeerage.com/p10475.htm#i104748
  2. [S746] Wikipedia, online http://Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_II,_Count_of_G%C3%A2tinais.