Ranulph Viscount Bayeux de Briquessart Mechines born 1021 died 1089
Ranulf de Briquessart (or Ranulf the Viscount) (died c. 1089 or soon after) was an 11th century Norman magnate and viscount. Ranulf ‘s family were connected to the House of Normandy by marriage, and, besides Odo, bishop of Bayeux, was the most powerful magnate in the Bessin region.
He married Margaret, daughter of Richard Goz, viscount of the Avranchin, whose son and successor Hugh d'Avranches became Earl of Chester in England c. 1070.
Ranulf is probably the "Ranulf the viscount" who witnessed a charter of William, Duke of Normandy, at Caen on 17 June 1066. Ranulf helped preside over a judgement in the curia of King William (as duke) in 1076 in which a disputed mill was awarded to the Abbey of Mont St. Michael.
On 14 July 1080 he witnessed a charter to the Abbey of Lessay (in the diocese of Coutances), another in the same year addressed to Remigius de Fécamp bishop of Lincoln in favour of the Abbey of Préaux. and one more in the same period, 1079 x 1082, to the Abbey of St Stephen of Caen. His name is attached to a memorandum in 1085, and on 24 April 1089 he witnessed a confirmation of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy and Count of Maine to St Mary of Bayeaux, where he appears below his son in the witness list.
He certainly died sometime after this. His son Ranulf le Meschin became ruler of Cumberland and later Earl of Chester. The Durham Liber Vitae, c. 1098 x 1120, shows that his eldest son was one Richard, who died in youth, and that he had another son named William. He also had a daughter called Agnes, who later married Robert de Grandmesnil (died 1136).
He married Margaret de Goz and they had a son Ranulph de Bayeux Meschines born 1046 died 1116
Ranulph Viscount Bayeux de Briquessart Mechines may have had a concubine Alix Alixia of Normanby. Her father was Robert the Duke of Normanby.
They had a son Ranulf de Briquessart le Meschin, who was born 1070.
Ranulf le Meschin, Ranulf de Briquessart or Ranulf I [Ranulph, Ralph] (died 1129) was a late 11th- and early 12th-century Norman magnate based in northern and central England. Originating in Bessin in Normandy, Ranulf made his career in England thanks to his kinship with Hugh d'Avranches - the earl of Chester, the patronage of kings William II Rufus and Henry I Beauclerc, and his marriage to Lucy, heiress of the Bolingbroke-Spalding estates in Lincolnshire.
Ranulf fought in Normandy on behalf of Henry I, and served the English king as a kind of semi-independent governor in the far north-west, in Cumberland and Westmorland, founding Wetheral Priory. After the death of his cousin Richard d'Avranches in the White Ship Disaster of November 1120, Ranulf became earl of the county of Chester on the Anglo-Welsh marches. He held this position for the remainder of his life, and passed the title on to his son.
Ranulf le Meschin's father and mother represented two different families of viscounts in Normandy, and both of them were strongly tied to Henry, son of William the Conqueror. His father was Ranulf de Briquessart, and likely for this reason the former Ranulf was styled le Meschin, "the younger". Ranulf ‘s father was viscount of the Bessin, the area around Bayeux. Besides Odo, bishop of Bayeux, Ranulf the elder was the most powerful magnate in the Bessin region of Normandy. Ranulf le Meschin's great-grandmother may even have been from the ducal family of Normandy, as le Meschin's paternal great-grandfather viscount Anschitil is known to have married a daughter of Duke Richard III.
Ranulf le Meschin's mother, Margaret, was the daughter of Richard Goz. Richard's father Thurstan Goz had become viscount of the Hiémois between 1017 and 1025, while Richard himself became viscount of the Avranchin in either 1055 or 1056. Her brother (Richard Goz's son) was Hugh d'Avranches "Lupus" ("the Wolf"), viscount of the Avranchin and Earl of Chester (from c. 1070). Ranulf was thus, in addition to being heir to the Bessin, the nephew of one of Norman England's most powerful and prestigious families.
We know from an entry in the Durham Liber Vitae, c. 1098 x 1120, that Ranulf le Meschin had an older brother named Richard (who died in youth), and a younger brother named William. He had a sister called Agnes, who later married Robert de Grandmesnil (died 1136).
He married Lucy. Lucia Bolingbroke Countess of Taillebois born 1074 died 1144. Lucy had a few husbands.
Ivo Taillebois, when he married Ranulf ‘s future wife Lucy, had acquired her Lincolnshire lands but sometime after 1086 he acquired estates in Kendal and elsewhere in Westmorland. Adjacent lands in Westmorland and Lancashire that had previously been controlled by Earl Tostig Godwinson were probably carved up between Roger the Poitevin and Ivo in the 1080s, a territorial division at least partially responsible for the later boundary between the two counties.
Norman lordship in the heartland of Cumberland can be dated from chronicle sources to around 1092, the year King William Rufus seized the region from its previous ruler, Dolfin. There is inconclusive evidence that settlers from Ivo's Lincolnshire lands had come into Cumberland as a result.
Between 1094 and 1098 Lucy was married to Roger Fitz Gerold de Roumare, and it is probable that this marriage was the king's way of transferring authority in the region to Roger Fitz Gerold. Only from 1106 however, well into the reign of Henry I, do we have certain evidence that this authority had come to Ranulf. The "traditional view", held by the historian William Kapelle, was that Ranulf ‘s authority in the region did not come about until 1106 or after, as a reward for participation in the Battle of Tinchebrai. Another historian, Richard Sharpe, has recently attacked this view and argued that it probably came in or soon after 1098. Sharpe stressed that Lucy was the mechanism by which this authority changed hands, and pointed out that Ranulf had been married to Lucy years before Tinchebrai and can be found months before Tinchebrai taking evidence from county jurors at York (which may have been responsible for Cumbria at this point).
Ranulf likewise distributed land to the church, founding a Benedictine monastic house at Wetheral. This he established as a daughter-house of St Mary's Abbey, York, a house that in turn had been generously endowed by Ivo Taillebois. This had occurred by 1112, the year of the death of Abbot Stephen of St Mary's, named in the foundation deed. In later times at least, the priory of Wetheral was dedicated to St Mary and the Holy Trinity, as well as another saint named Constantine. Ranulf gave Wetheral, among other things, his two churches at Appleby, St Lawrences (Burgate) and St Michaels (Bongate).
As an incoming regional magnate Ranulf would be expected to distribute land to his own followers, and indeed the record of the jurors of Cumberland dating to 1212 claimed that Ranulf created two baronies in the region. Ranulf ‘s brother-in-law Robert de Trevers received the barony of Burgh-by-Sands, while the barony of Liddel went to Turgis Brandos.
He appears to have attempted to give the large compact barony of Gilsland to his brother William, but failed to dislodge the native lord, the eponymous "Gille" son of Boite; later the lordship of Allerdale (including Copeland), even larger than Gilsland stretching along the coast from the river Ellen to the river Esk, was given to William. Kirklinton may have been given to Richard de Boivill, Ranulf ‘s sheriff.
Earl of Chester
Chester Cathedral today, originally
Chester Abbey, where Ranulf ‘s body was buried
Henry probably could not wait long to replace Richard, as the Welsh were resurgent under the charismatic leadership of Gruffydd ap Cynan. According to the Historia Regum, Richard's death prompted the Welsh to raid Cheshire, looting, killing, and burning two castles. Perhaps because of his recognised military ability and social strength, because he was loyal and because he was the closest male relation to Earl Richard, Henry recognized Ranulf as Richard's successor to the county of Chester.
In 1123, Henry sent Ranulf to Normandy with a large number of knights and with his bastard son, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, to strengthen the garrisons there. Ranulf commanded the king's garrison at Évreux and governed the county of Évreux during the 1123-1124 war with William Clito, Robert Curthose's son and heir.
In March 1124 Ranulf assisted in the capture of Waleran, Count of Meulan.Scouts informed Ranulf that Waleran's forces were planning an expedition to Vatteville, and Ranulf planned an to intercept them, a plan carried out by Henry de Pommeroy, Odo Borleng and William de Pont-Authou, with 300 knights. A battle followed, perhaps at Rougemontier (or Bourgthéroulde), in which Waleran was captured.
Although Ranulf bore the title "earl of Chester", the honour (i.e., group of estates) which formed the holdings of the earl of Chester were scattered throughout England, and during the rule of his predecessors included the cantre of Tegeingl in Perfeddwlad in north-western Wales. Around 1100, only a quarter of the value of the honour actually lay in Cheshire, which was one of England's poorest and least developed counties.
The estates elsewhere were probably given to the earls in compensation for Cheshire's poverty, in order to strengthen its vulnerable position on the Anglo-Welsh border. The possibility of conquest and booty in Wales should have supplemented the lordship's wealth and attractiveness, but for much of Henry's reign the English king tried to keep the neighbouring Welsh princes under his peace.
Ranulf ‘s accession may have involved him giving up many of his other lands, including much of his wife's Lincolnshire lands as well as his lands in Cumbria, though direct evidence for this beyond convenient timing is lacking. That Cumberland was given up at this point is likely, as King Henry visited Carlisle in December 1122, where, according to the Historia Regum, he ordered the strengthening of the castle.
Hollister believed that Ranulf offered the Bolingbroke lands to Henry in exchange for Henry's bestowal of the earldom. The historian A. T. Thacker believed that Henry I forced Ranulf to give up most of the Bolingbroke lands through fear that Ranulf would become too powerful, dominating both Cheshire and the richer county of Lincoln.
Sharpe, however, suggested that Ranulf may have had to sell a great deal of land in order to pay the king for the county of Chester, though it could not have covered the whole fee, as Ranulf ‘s son Ranulf de Gernon, when he succeeded his father to Chester in 1129, owed the king £1000 "from his father's debt for the land of Earl Hugh". Hollister thought this debt was merely the normal feudal relief expected to be paid on a large honour, and suggested that Ranulf ‘s partial non-payment, or Henry's forgiveness for non-payment, was a form of royal patronage.
Ranulf died in January 1129, and was buried in Chester Abbey. He was survived by his wife and countess, Lucy, and succeeded by his son Ranulf de Gernon. A daughter, Alicia, married Richard de Clare, a lord in the Anglo-Welsh marches. One of his offspring, his fifth son, participated in the Siege of Lisbon, and for this aid was granted the Lordship of Azambuja by King Afonso I of Portugal.
So far we have followed the lives of our ancestors up to Poppa and her marriage to Ranulph, the relationship has been easy to follow, but from here on, our lineage becomes a little difficult to follow.
Hopefully you can follow as best as you can.
Our
complicated French Connections:
Unravelling our French connections from the Royal Courts of
France is not an easy task.
To try to establish the links we have to begin with King
Bernard and his son Count Peppin II
King Bernard of Italy and Queen Cunegonde de
Toulouse had a son
Count Peppin II married Rothaide de Bobbio
Their family
1.
Count Pepin III de Senlis de Valois
2. Hubert I de Vermandois m Bertha de Morvois
3. Gunhilde De Vermandois de Bayeux married Berenger de Bayeux
2. Hubert I de Vermandois m Bertha de Morvois
3. Gunhilde De Vermandois de Bayeux married Berenger de Bayeux
Count Pepin III married Cunigunde (Adela) Duchess De Rennes
They
had a son Bormard (Bernard) Comte de Senlis
he married Adalind of Gurvand daughter of Louis I Pious Grand
Emperor)
Bernard and Adalind had a son
Robert I de Senlis
Robert
I married Adelise de Peronne and had a daughter Poppa de Senlis
Poppa
married Ancitil Count de Briquessar and they had a son
1.2 Ranulph
Viscount of Bayeux de Briquessart Meschines had a mistress
Alix Fitz Richard (daughter of Richard III 5th Duke of Normandy and son of Richard II and Judith) had two children:
Alix Fitz Richard (daughter of Richard III 5th Duke of Normandy and son of Richard II and Judith) had two children:
1.3 1. Ranulph married Maud Margaret Avranches (Heiress of Chester)
2. Agnes of Bayeux who married Robert de Grandmes
Ranulph married Maud Avranches and they had a son Ranulph de Meschines
1.4 This Ranulph married Lucia of Bolingbroke Countess of Taillebois
1.5 They had a son Ranulph de Meschines who married Maud Matilda Fitz Robert de Caen who was the daughter of King Henry I of England and Sybilla Corbet of Alcester
They had a son Hugh 5th Earl of Chester de Kevelioc married Bertrade de Evreaux (daughter of Simon of Montfort)
They
had a daughter Beatrix de Kevelioc of Chester de Meschines
She married Lord William Belward of Malpas and they had a son
David
Le Clerc de Malpas. David married Constance de Kevelioc Princess of Powhys and they had a daughter
Idonea
de Malpas who married Sir Urian De Pierre
Idonea de Malpas and Sir Urian de
Pierre had two children
Joanne
De Sancto Petro
Katherin
de Pierre
Joanne married Sir Hugh de Dutton
and they had a son Hugh de Dutton
This
Hugh married Joan de Holland
They
had a son Thomas Dutton who married Ellen Thornton
Katherine de Pierre married
Randolph Thornton.
They had a son Sir Peter
Thornton who married Lucia Hellesby and they had a daughter
Ellen Thornton who married Thomas Dutton (her cousin)
Then follows
the line to the Herricks of Grey Friers
Thomas
and Ellen had a daughter Joanna de Dutton who married John de Haydock
They
had a son Sir Gilbert Haydock Knight who married Isabel de Houghton
They
had a daughter Joan Haydock
She
married Sir Richard Molyneux and they had a son Thomas Molyneux
He
married Catherine de Cotton
They
had a daughter Ellen Molyneux who married John Bond
They
had a daughter Mary Bond who married John Herrick
They
had a son Robert Herrick who married Eizabeth Manby.
These are the
great grandparents who lived in Grey Friers in Leiceter.
2. Agnes of
Bayeux who married Robert de Grandmes
. Agnes and Robert de Grandmes had
a son William De Grandmes
who married Mabilla Guiscard of Apulia
They
had a daughter Petronilla Pernel de Grandmesnil
They
had a daughter Margaret de Beaumont who married Saer De Qunicy
They had a son Roger III Earl of
Winchester de Quincy who married Helen of Galloway
They
had a daughter Elena de Quiny who married Alan La Zouche.
They had a son Sir Roger la
Zouche who married Ela Longspee
(Who is descendant of King Henry II and
Countess Ida de Tosny
These are the
18th great grandparents and in fact Ella
is related also through Molyneaux line
2. Hubert I de
Vermandois married Bertha Morvois
Their family
Robert
I Count of Vermandois married Adelaide
de Chalon
They
had 2 children
1. Adele de Vermandois Meaux
2. Hubert II de Vermandois
1. Adele married
Geoffrey I (Greygown) of Anjou and they had a daughter Ermegarde Duchess of Anjou de Bretagne
Ermegarde
married Conan I Berenger Le Tort of Brittany
They had two children
1. Geoffrey I Duke of Brittany married Hawise
of Normandy
(Daughter of Richard I of Normandy and Gunnora
Princess of Denmarke
2. Judith (Juetta) de Rennes of Brittany
married Richard II of Normandy *
(son
of Richard I and Gunnora Princess of Denmark)
Judith
and Richard had 5 children
Richard III 5th Duke of Normandy
married Aelis Adela Countess of Contenance daughter
of King Robert II of France and Constance de Arles of Toulouse
Alice of Normandy married Raynold I of Burgundy
Robert I The Magnificent Duke of Normandy married Herleva Arlette
Countess
Mortaigne Duchess of Falaise
They had a son William The Conqueror who married Mathilde of Flanders
William a Monk at Fecamp
Eleanor of Normandy married Baldwin IV Count of Flanders
son of Arnulf II Count of
Flanders and father of Baldwin V of Flanders who married Aelis Adela Countess
of Contenance, who had also married Robert III
They had a daughter Mathilde of
Flanders who married William the Conqueror.
2. Hubert II married Adlea Hildebrante de Neustria daughter of King Robert
They had two children:
Robert I Comte de Vermandois and
Sprote de Bretagne married Guillaume I (William Duke of Normandy
They had a son Richard I of Normandy who married Gunnora de Crepon
And they had a son Richard II who married Judith de Rennes
Robert married Adeliade de Chalon and they had a daughter Adele de Vermandois who married Geoffrey I of Anjou and they had a daughter Ermegarde Duchess of Ajnou
She married Conan I Berenger and they had two children
Geoffrey I Duke of Brittany
Judith Berenger of Rennes
Some
Research on Robert the Magnificent, father of William the Conqueror
Robert
the Magnificent (French: le Magnifique)[a]
(22 June 1000 – 1–3 July 1035), was the Duke
of Normandy from 1027 until his death. Owing to uncertainty over the
numbering of the Dukes of Normandy he is usually called Robert I, but sometimes
Robert II with his ancestor Rollo as Robert I
He was the father of William the Conqueror who became in 1066 King
of England and founded the House of Normandy.
Early reign
When Richard III died a year later there were
suspicions that Robert had had something to do with his death. Although nothing
could be proved, Robert had the most to gain The civil war Robert I had brought against his
brother Richard III was still causing instability in the duchy Private wars raged between neighbouring
barons. This resulted in a new aristocracy arising in Normandy
during Robert’s reign.It was also during this time that many of the lesser nobility left Normandy to seek their fortunes in southern Italy and elsewhere. Soon after assuming the dukedom, possibly in revenge for supporting his brother against him, Robert I assembled an army against his uncle, Robert, Archbishop of Rouen and Count of Évreux. A temporary truce allowed his uncle to leave Normandy in exile but this resulted in an edict excommunicating all of Normandy, which was only lifted when Archbishop Robert was allowed to return and his countship was restored. Robert also attacked another powerful churchman, his cousin Hugo III d'Ivry, Bishop of Bayeux, banishing him from Normandy for an extended period of time. Robert also seized a number of church properties belonging to the Abbey of Fecamp.
Outside of Normandy
Despite his domestic troubles Robert decided
to intervene in the civil war in Flanders
between Baldwin V,
Count of Flanders and his father Baldwin IV whom the younger Baldwin had driven out of Flanders.
Baldwin V, supported by king Robert II of France, his father-in-law, was persuaded to make peace with
his father in 1030 when Duke Robert promised the elder Baldwin his considerable
military support. Robert gave shelter to Henry I of France against his mother, Queen Constance, who favoured her younger son Robert to succeed to the French throne after his father
Robert II.For his help Henry I rewarded Robert with the French Vexin. In the early 1030s Alan III, Duke of Brittany began expanding his influence from the area of Rennes and appeared to have designs on the area surrounding Mont Saint-Michel After sacking Dol and repelling Alan's attempts to raid Avranches, Robert mounted a major campaign against his cousin Alan III.
However, Alan appealed to their uncle, Archbishop Robert of Rouen, who then brokered a peace between Duke Robert and his vassal Alan III. His cousins, the Athelings Edward and Alfred, sons of his aunt Emma of Normandy and Athelred, King of England had been living at the Norman Court and at one point Robert, on their behalf, attempted to mount an invasion of England but was prevented in doing so, it was said, by unfavourable winds. Gesta Normannorum Ducum stated that King Cnut sent envoys to Duke Robert offering to settle half the Kingdom of England on Edward and Alfred. After postponing the naval invasion he chose to also postpone the decision until after he returned from Jerusalem.
The Church and his pilgrimage
Robert's attitude towards the Church had changed noticeably certainly since his reinstating his uncle's position as Archbishop of Rouen. In his attempt to reconcile his differences with the Church he restored property that he or his vassals had confiscated, and by 1034 had returned all the properties he had earlier taken from the abbey of Fecamp.
After making his illegitimate son William his heir, he set out on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. According to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum he travelled by way of Constantinople, reached Jerusalem, fell seriously ill and died on the return journey at Nicaea on 2 July 1035. His son William, aged about eight, succeeded him.
According to the historian William of Malmesbury, decades later his son William sent a mission to Constantinople and Nicaea, charging it with bringing his father's body back to Normandy for burial. Permission was granted, but, having travelled as far as Apulia (Italy) on the return journey, the envoys learned that William himself had meanwhile died. They then decided to re-inter Robert's body in Italy.
By his mistress, Herleva of Falaise, he was father of:
- William the
Conqueror (c.1028–1087).
- Adelaide of
Normandy, who married firstly, Enguerrand
II, Count of Ponthieu. She
married secondly, Lambert
II, Count of Lens, and thirdly, Odo II of
Champagne.
William and
Mathilde are our Great Grandparents, and it would seem that they were cousins.
Richard I of Normandy (28 August 933 – 20 November
996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French, Sans Peur), was
the Duke of
Normandy from 942
to 996.[1][dubious – discuss] Dudo of
Saint-Quentin, whom Richard
commissioned to write his De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum
(Latin, On the Customs and Deeds of the First Dukes of Normandy), called
him a dux, but this use of the word may have been in the context of
Richard's leadership in war, and not a reference to a title of nobility.
Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy, or he greatly expanded it.
By the end of his reign, most important landholders held their lands in feudal
tenure.
Richard was born to William I
of Normandy, princeps
or ruler of Normandy, and Sprota. He was also the grandson of the famous Rollo. He was about 10 years old when his father was
killed on 17 December 942.
His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and
bound to William by a Danish marriage. William was told of
the birth of a son after the battle with Riouf and other Viking rebels, but his
existence was kept secret until a few years later when William Longsword first
met his son Richard. After kissing the boy and declaring him his heir, William
sent Richard to be raised in Bayeux. After William was killed, Sprota became the
wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller; Rodulf of Ivry was their son and Richard's
half-brother.
When his father died, Louis IV
of France seized
Normandy, installed the boy Richard in his father's office, then placed him in
the care of the count of Ponthieu. The king then split the lands, giving lands
in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis kept Richard in
confinement at Lâon, but he escaped with the assistance of Osmond de Centville,
Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Rollo of Normandy), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane (ancestor of families of Harcourt and Beaumont).
In 946, Richard agreed to
"commend" himself to Hugh, Count of Paris. He then allied himself
with the Norman and Viking leaders, drove Louis out of Rouen, and took back
Normandy by 947.
In 962 Theobald I, Count of Blois, attacked Rouen, Richard’s stronghold, but his
army was defeated by the Normans and retreated never having crossed the Seine. Lothair king of the West Franks stepped
in to prevent any further war between the two.
Afterwards, and until his death
in 996, Richard concentrated on Normandy itself, and participated less in
Frankish politics and petty wars. In lieu of building up the Norman Empire by
expansion, he stabilized the realm, and united his followers into a cohesive
and formidable principality.
Richard used marriage to build
strong alliances . His marriage to Emma connected him to the Capet family. His
wife Gunnor, from a rival Viking group in the Cotentin, formed an alliance to
that group, while her sisters form the core group that was to provide loyal
followers to him and his successors. His daughters provided valuable marriage
alliances with powerful neighbouring counts as well as to the king of England.
He also built on his relationship
with the church, restoring their lands and ensured the great monasteries
flourished. His reign was marked by an extended period of peace and tranquility.
His first marriage (960) was to
Emma, daughter of Hugh
"The Great" of France, and Hedwig von Sachsen. They were betrothed when both
were very young. She died after 19 March 968, with no issue.
According to Robert of Torigni, not long after Emma's death,
Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He
became enamoured of the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she being a virtuous
woman, suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor,
instead. Gunnor became his mistress, and her family rose to prominence. Her
brother, Herefast de Crepon, may have been involved in a
controversial heresy trial. Gunnor was, like Richard, of Viking descent, being
a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimise their children:
·
- Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy
- Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux[1]
- Mauger, Count of Corbeil[1]
- Emma
of Normandy,
wife of two kings of England[1]
- Maud
of Normandy,
wife of Odo
II of Blois,
Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres[1]
- Hawise
of Normandy m. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany[1]
- Papia
of Normandy
- William,
Count of Eu
Some research on Richard II of
Normandy.
Richard succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 996. During his minority, the first
five years of his reign, his regent was Count Ralph of Ivrea, his uncle, who wielded the power and put down a
peasant insurrection at the beginning of Richard's reign.
Richard had deep religious
interests and found he had much in common with Robert II
of France, who he
helped militarily against the duchy of Burgundy. He forged a marriage alliance
with Brittany by marrying his sister Hawise to Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany and by his own marriage to Geoffrey's sister, Judith of
Brittany.
In 1000-1001, Richard repelled an
English attack on the Cotentin
Peninsula that was
led by Ethelred
II of
England.
Ethelred had given orders that
Richard be captured, bound and brought to England. But the English had not been
prepared for the rapid response of the Norman cavalry and were utterly
defeated.
Richard attempted to improve
relations with England through his sister Emma of Normandy's marriage to King Ethelred.This marriage was significant in
that it later gave his grandson, William
the Conqueror, the
basis of his claim to the throne of England. This proved to be beneficial to
Ethelred when in 1013 Sweyn Forkbeard invaded England. Emma with her
two sons Edward and Alfred fled to Normandy followed
shortly thereafter by her husband king Ethelred.
Soon after the death of
Ethelred, Cnut,
King of England forced
Emma to marry him while Richard was forced to recognize the new regime as his
sister was again Queen. Richard had contacts with
Scandinavian Vikings throughout his reign. He employed Viking mercenaries and
concluded a treaty with Sweyn Forkbeard who was en route to England.
Richard II commissioned Dudo of
Saint-Quentin his
clerk and confessor to portray his ducal ancestors as morally upright Christian
leaders who built Normandy despite the treachery of their overlords and
neighboring principalities. It was clearly a work of
propaganda designed to legitimize the Norman settlement, and while it contains
numerous historically unreliable legends, as respects the reigns of his father
and grandfather, Richard I and William I it is basically reliable.
In 1025 and 1026 Richard
confirmed gifts of his great-grandfather Rollo to Saint-Ouen at Rouen. His other numerous grants to
monastic houses tends to indicate the areas over which Richard had ducal
control, namely Caen, the Éverecin, the
Cotentin, the Pays de Caux and Rouen.
Richard II died 28 Aug 1026.
He married firstly, c.1000, Judith (982–1017), daughter of Conan I of Brittany, by whom he had the following
issue:
- Richard (c. 1002/4), duke of Normandy
- Alice of Normandy (c. 1003/5), married Renaud I, Count of Burgundy
- Robert (c. 1005/7), duke of Normandy
- William (c. 1007/9), monk at Fécamp, d. 1025
- Eleanor (c. 1011/3), married to Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders
- Matilda (c. 1013/5), nun at Fecamp, d. 1033. She died young and unmarried.
- Mauger (c. 1019), Archbishop of Rouen
- William (c. 1020/5), count of Arques
3. Gunhilde
De Vermandois de Bayeux married
Berenger de Bayeux
They
had a daughter Poppa de Bayeux. She
married Robert Rognvaldsson (Duke of Normandy)
They
had a son Guillaume I Duke of Normandy who married Sprote de Bretagne
They
had a son Richard I of Normandy who married Gunnora de Crepon
They
had several children including
i.
Maud of Normandy
she married Odo II Count of Blois
ii.
Mauger of Corbeil Count of Mortain of Normandy
who married Germaine de Corbiel
iii.
Richard II (The Good King) who married Judith Berenger of Rennes
iv.
Robert Archbishop of Rouen Count of Evreuz who
married Harleve of Rouen
v.
Hawise of Normandy who married Geoffrey I Duke
of Brittany
vi.
Emma Queen of Normandy who married Cnut King of
Denmark and Norway and King
Ethelred II father of King Edward III of England
Having trouble following the lineage? Well imagine having to be the recorder of
marriages in France in these times! No
doubt each of these people probably had more than one or two wives or husbands!
Our grandparents are also our great aunts and uncles in so
many occasions.
Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders Mathilde's grandfather
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980
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30 May 1035
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Baldwin IV, born c.980, was the son of Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (c. 961 - 987) and Rozala of Lombardy (950/60 – 1003), of the House of Ivrea. He succeeded his father as Count of Flanders in 987, but with his mother Rozala as the regent until his majority.
In contrast to his predecessors Baldwin turned his attention eastward, leaving the southern part of his territory in the hands of his vassals the counts of Guînes, Hesdin, and St. Pol
To the north of the county Baldwin was given Zeeland as a fief by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, while on the right bank of the Scheldt river he received Valenciennes (1013) and parts of the Cambresis as well as Saint-Omer and the northern Ternois
In the French territories of the count of Flanders, the supremacy of the Baldwin remained unchallenged. They organized a great deal of colonization of marshland along the coastline of Flanders and enlarged the harbour and city of Brugge. Baldwin IV died on 30 May 1035.
Marriage and issue
Baldwin first married Ogive of Luxembourg, daughter of Frederick of
Luxembourg, by
whom he had a son and heir:- Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (1012 – 1067). Married Adèle of France (1009-1079), and had issue,
- Baldwin VI,
- Queen Matilda and
- Robert I of Flanders.
- Judith (1033 – 1094) who married Tostig Godwinson and secondly Welf I, Duke of Bavaria.
Baldwin V,
Count of Flanders
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He was the son of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, who died in 1035.
History
In 1028 Baldwin married Adèle
of France in Amiens, daughter of King
Robert II of France; at her instigation he rebelled against his father
but in 1030 peace was sworn and the old count continued to rule until his
death.During a long war (1046–1056) as an ally of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lorraine, against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, he initially lost Valenciennes to Hermann of Hainaut. However, when the latter died in 1051 Baldwin married his son Baldwin VI to Herman's widow Richildis and arranged that the sons of her first marriage were disinherited, thus de facto uniting the County of Hainaut with Flanders. Upon the death of Henry III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty by Agnes de Poitou, mother and regent of Henry IV. Baldwin V played host to a grateful dowager queen Emma of England, during her enforced exile, at Bruges. He supplied armed security guards, entertainment, comprising a band of minstrels. Bruges was a bustling commercial centre, and Emma fittingly grateful to the citizens. She dispensed generously to the poor, making contact with the monastery of Saint Bertin at St Omer, and received her son, King Harthacnut of England at Bruges in 1039.
From 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the co-Regent with Anne of Kiev for his nephew-by-marriage Philip I of France, indicating the importance he had acquired in international politics. As Count of Maine, Baldwin supported the King of France in most affairs. But he was also father-in-law to William of Normandy, who had married his daughter Matilda. Flanders played a pivotal role in Edward the Confessor's foreign policy. As the King of England was struggling to find an heir: historians have argued that he may have sent Harold Godwinsson to negotiate the return of Edward the Atheling from Hungary, and passed through Flanders, on his way to Germany. Baldwin's half-sister had married Earl Godwin's third son, Tostig. The half-Viking Godwinsons had spent their exile in Dublin, at a time William of Normandy was fiercely defending his duchy. It is unlikely however that Baldwin intervened to prevent the duke's invasion plans of England, after the Count had lost the conquered province of Ponthieu.]By 1066, Baldwin was an old man, and died the following year.
Family
Baldwin and Adèle had three children:- Baldwin
VI, 1030–1070
- Matilda, c. 1031–1083 who married William the
Conqueror
- Robert
I of Flanders, c.
1033–1093
- Richard the Forester,
participated the in Battle of
Hastings with his brother-in-law
and later received grant of later site of Kenilworth Castle[4]
Adèle of France
known
also as Adela the Holy or Adela of Messines; (1009 – 8 January
1079, Messines), she was the Countess of
Normandy (January 1027–August 1027), Countess
of Flanders
(1035–1067)
Life
Adèle was the second daughter of Robert II (the Pious), and Constance
of Arles. In
January 1027 she married Richard III, Duke of Normandy. The marriage was short-lived for on 6 August of
that same year Richard III suddenly died.
Adèle's influence lay mainly
through her family connections. On the death of her brother, Henry I of France,
the guardianship of his seven-year-old son Philip I fell jointly on his widow, Ann of Kiev, and on his brother-in-law,
Adela's husband, so that from 1060 to 1067, they were Regents of France.
In 1071, Adela's third son, Robert
the Frisian, planned
to invade Flanders even though at that time the Count of Flanders was Adela's
grandson, Arnulf III. When
she heard about Robert's plans, she asked Philip I to stop him. Philip sent
soldiers to support Arnulf including a contingent of ten Norman knights led by William
FitzOsborn.
Robert's forces attacked Arnulf's numerically superior army at Cassel before it
could organize, and Arnulf was killed along with William Fitz Osborn. Robert's
overwhelming victory led to Philip making peace with Robert and investing him
as Count of Flanders.
A year later, Philip married Robert's stepdaughter, Bertha of Holland, and in 1074, Philip restored
the seigneurie of Corbie to the crown.
Adèle had a strong interest in
Baldwin V’s church reforms and was behind her husband’s founding of several collegiate churches. Directly or indirectly, she was
responsible for establishing the Colleges of Aire (1049), Lille (1050) and
Harelbeke (1064) as well as the abbeys of Messines (1057) and Ename (1063).
After Baldwin’s death in 1067, she went to Rome, took the nun’s veil from the
hands of Pope
Alexander II and
retired to the Benedictine convent of Messines, near Ypres. There she later died and was buried at the
convent. Honoured as a saint in the Roman
Catholic Church, her
commemoration day is 8 September.
Family
Their children were:
- Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (c. 1030–1070).
- Matilda of Flanders (c. 1032–1083). In c. 1053 she married
- William, Duke of Normandy, the future King of England a
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