April 12, 1256: Death of Marguerite de Bourbon, Queen of Navarre and Countess of Champagne

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Countess of Champagne, Eleanor of Aquitaine, John of England, King Sancho VII of Navarre, King Theobald I of Navarre, King Theobald II of Navarre, Louis VII of France, Marguerite de Bourbon, Philippe II of France, Queen of Navarre, Regent, Richard I of England

Marguerite de Bourbon (c. 1217 – April 12, 1256) was Queen of Navarre and Countess of Champagne from 1234 until 1253 as the third wife of King Theobald I of Navarre. After her husband’s death, she ruled both the kingdom and the county as regent for three years in the name of their son, King Theobald II of Navarre.

Marguerite was born into the House of Dampierre, the eldest daughter of Archambaud VIII, Lord of Bourbon. Her mother was her father’s first wife, Alice of Forez, daughter of Guigues III, Count of Forez. Archambaud was the constable of Count Theobald IV of Champagne.

Queen

Marguerite was 15 years old when, on September 12, 1232, she became the third wife of the 32-year-old recently widowed Count Theobald. His first wife, Gertrude of Dagsburg, had been repudiated and already deceased, while the second, Agnes of Beaujeu, died leaving only a daughter, Blanche.

Their marriage was one of only two unions of the counts of Champagne with a significant age disparity between spouses, the other one being the marriage of Henri I of Champagne (1127 – 1181) and Marie of France (1145 – 1198) with Henri being eighteen years older than his wife.

Marie of France was a French the elder daughter of King Louis VII of France and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. Marie had numerous half-siblings on both her mother’s and father’s side, including the eventual kings Philippe II of France and Richard I and John of England.

Marguerite brought a large dowry, but an unusual clause in her marriage contract stipulated that only a prorated part of it would be returned to her father in case of her death without issue within the first nine years of the marriage and nothing if she died after nine years had passed. Only if the union ended in annulment, as her parents’ and Theobald’s first marriage had, was the entire sum to be returned.

Regency

Marguerite’s marriage lasted twenty years, during which she delivered seven children. In 1234, she became Queen of Navarre when Theobald inherited the kingdom from his maternal uncle, Sancho VII. Little is known about Margaret’s life as queen consort, which appears to have been spent in relative obscurity.

Her husband’s death in 1253, however, brought her to spotlight: their son, Theobald II of Navarre, was 14, while the laws of the realm required the king to be 21 to take control of his inheritance.

She immediately had to deal with a succession crisis in the kingdom. Although her husband, also Count of Champagne, had resided in Navarre much of the time after his accession to the royal throne, the nobility of the kingdom were unwilling to accept his son as their king.

Marguerite prevented the outbreak of an open rebellion by travelling with Theobald to the capital, Pamplona, and by allying with the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon. She also inherited her husband’s long-standing dispute with the Knights Templar, who had bought much feudal property in Champagne despite his disapproval. Marguerite resolutely prohibited them from acquiring any more land within the county.

In 1254, Marguerite was persuaded by her son to arrange a marriage for him with Isabella, daughter of King Louis IX of France. King Theobald II reached the age of majority in 1256. No longer regent, Queen Marguerite retired to her large dower lands, consisting of seven castellanies (as much as a third of the comital revenues), where she spent the rest of her life. She died in Provins and was buried at the Saint Joseph de Clairval Abbey in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain.

Issue

Eleanor, died young
Theobald II of Navarre
Peter (died in 1265)
Margaret, who in 1255 married Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine and bore him Theobald II of Lorraine
Beatrice of Navarre, Duchess of Burgundy married Hugh IV Duke of Burgundy
Henry I of Navarre married Blanche of Artois

April 1, 1204: Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Angevin Empire, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, Louis VII of France, Pope Eugene III, The Third Crusade, William IX of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122 – 1 April 1204)

Eleanor (or Aliénor) was the oldest of three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and his wife, Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimery I, Viscount of Châtellerault, and Dangereuse 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 Dangereuse with her paternal grandfather William IX. Her father was renowned in early 12th-century Europe for having a glittering ducal court.

A romanticized portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine

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 the most likely year of her birth.

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.

As the heir of the House of Poitiers, rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. She was patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn. She was also known to have led armies several times in her life and was a key leading figure of the unsuccessful Second Crusade.

She became Duchess of Aquitaine upon her father’s death in April 1137, and three months later she married Louis, son of her guardian King Louis VI of France. A few weeks later, Prince Louis became the French king, Louis VII of France.

King Louis VII of France

Eleanor and Louis had two daughters, Marie and Alix. As Queen of France, Eleanor participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Soon afterwards, she sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III.

Eventually, Louis agreed to an annulment, as 15 years of marriage had not produced a son. The marriage was annulled on March 21, 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate, custody was awarded to Louis, and Eleanor’s lands were restored to her.

As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to her third cousin Henry, Duke of Normandy. The couple married on Whitsun, May 18, 1152. In 1154 Henry became King Henry II of England and Eleanor became Queen of England as his Consort. Because of Jure uxoris (a Latin phrase meaning “by right of (his) wife”) Henry II became Duke of Aquitaine and ruler of all his wife’s lands. Joining these lands with England and Normandy to create the vast Angevin Empire.

King Henry II of England

Eleanor and Henry II had five sons and three daughters. However, Henry II and Eleanor eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting the revolt of their eldest son, Henry the Young King, against him.

Eleanor was not released until July 6, 1189, when her husband died and their third son ascended the throne as King Richard I the Lionheart.

As queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade. She lived well into the reign of her youngest son, King John of England, Lord of Ireland.

The Angevin Empire. Part III.

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Angevin Empire, Count of Anjou, Empress Matilda, Fulk the Younger, Geoffrey V of Anjou, King Henry I of England, King of Jerusalem, Louis VII of France, Pope Adrian IV, Robert of Gloucester, The Anarchy, The White Ship, William Adelin

Formation of the Angevin Empire

Background

The Counts of Anjou had been vying for power in northwestern France since the 10th century. The counts were recurrent enemies of the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany and often the French king. Fulk IV, Count of Anjou, claimed rule over Touraine, Maine and Nantes; however, of these only Touraine proved to be effectively ruled, as the construction of the castles of Chinon, Loches and Loudun exemplify.

Fulk IV married his son and namesake, called “Fulk the Younger” (who would later become King of Jerusalem), to Ermengarde, heiress of the province of Maine, thus unifying it with Anjou through personal union. While the dynasty of the Angevins was successfully consolidating their power in France, their rivals, the Normans, had conquered England in the 11th century. Meanwhile, in the rest of France, the Poitevin Ramnulfids had become Dukes of Aquitaine and of Gascony, and the Count of Blois, Stephen, the father of the next king of England, Stephen, became the Count of Champagne. France was being split between only a few noble families.

The Anarchy and the question of the Norman succession

In 1106, Henry I of England had defeated his brother Robert Curthose and angered Robert’s son, William Clito, who was Count of Flanders from 1127. Henry used his paternal inheritance to take the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England and then tried to establish an alliance with Anjou by marrying his only legitimate son, William, to Fulk the Younger’s daughter, Matilda. However, William Adelin died in the White Ship disaster in 1120. This lead to a period of time known as The Anarchy.

The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1135 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a succession crisis precipitated by the accidental death by drowning of William Adelin, the only legitimate son of Henry I, in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120.

Henry I’s attempts to install his daughter, the Empress Matilda, as his successor were unsuccessful and on Henry’s death in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois seized the throne with the help of Stephen’s brother, Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester. Stephen’s early reign was marked by fierce fighting with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders and Scottish invaders. Following a major rebellion in the south-west of England, Matilda invaded in 1139 with the help of her half-brother Robert of Gloucester.

Neither side was able to achieve a decisive advantage during the first years of the war; the Empress came to control the south-west of England and much of the Thames Valley, while Stephen remained in control of the south-east.

The war dragged on for many more years. Empress Matilda’s husband, Geoffrey V of Anjou, conquered Normandy, but in England neither side could achieve victory. Rebel barons began to acquire ever greater power in northern England and in East Anglia, with widespread devastation in the regions of major fighting. In 1148 the Empress returned to Normandy, leaving the campaigning in England to her young son Henry FitzEmpress. In 1152 Stephen and Matilda of Boulogne, queen consort and Stephen’s wife, unsuccessfully attempted to have their eldest son, Eustace, recognised by the Catholic Church as the next king of England. By the early 1150s the barons and the Church mostly wanted a long-term peace.

When Henry FitzEmpress re-invaded England in 1153, neither faction’s forces were keen to fight. After limited campaigning and the siege of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry agreed a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Wallingford, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir.

Chroniclers described the period as one in which “Christ and his saints were asleep” while the term “the Anarchy” was coined by Victorian historians because of the widespread chaos, although modern historians have questioned the accuracy of the term and of some contemporary accounts.

Upon Stephen’s death on October 25, 1154, Henry FitzEmpress became King Henry II of England, the first Angevin king of England, beginning a long period of reconstruction. Subsequently, the question was again raised of Henry’s oath to cede Anjou to his brother Geoffrey. Henry received a dispensation from Pope Adrian IV under the pretext the oath had been forced upon him, and he proposed compensations to Geoffrey at Rouen in 1156. Geoffrey refused and returned to Anjou to rebel against his brother. Geoffrey may have had a strong claim, but his position was weak. Louis VII would not interfere since Henry paid homage to him for his continental possessions. Henry crushed Geoffrey’s revolt, and Geoffrey had to be satisfied with an annual pension. The Angevin Empire had now been formed.

September 23, 1158: Birth of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany.

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Conan IV of Brittany, Constance of Brittany, Duke of Brittany, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Geoffrey II of Brittany, Geoffrey of Anjou, King Henry II of England, Louis VII of France, Philip II of France

Geoffrey II (September 23, 1158 – August 19, 1186) was Duke of Brittany and 3rd Earl of Richmond between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth of five sons of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.

Life

In the 1160s, Henry II began to alter his policy of indirect rule in Brittany and to exert more direct control. Henry had been at war with Conan IV, Duke of Brittany. Local Breton nobles rebelled against Conan, so Conan sought Henry II’s help. In 1164, Henry intervened to seize lands along the border of Brittany and Normandy and, in 1166, he invaded Brittany to punish the local barons.

Henry then forced Conan to abdicate as duke and to give Brittany to his five-year-old daughter, Constance, who was handed over and betrothed to Henry’s son Geoffrey. This arrangement was quite unusual in terms of medieval law, as Conan might have had sons who could have legitimately inherited the duchy. Geoffrey and Constance eventually married, in July 1181.

Growing tensions between Henry II and Louis VII, King of the Franks, finally spilled over into open war in 1167, triggered by a trivial argument over how money destined for the Crusader states of the Levant should be collected. Louis VII allied himself with the Welsh, Scots and Bretons and attacked Normandy.

Henry II responded by attacking Chaumont-sur-Epte, where Louis VII kept his main military arsenal, burning the town to the ground and forcing Louis to abandon his allies and make a private truce. Henry was then free to move against the rebel barons in Brittany, where feelings about his seizure of the duchy were still running high.

Geoffrey was fifteen years old when he joined the first revolt against his father. He later reconciled to Henry in 1174 when he participated in the truce at Gisors. Geoffrey prominently figured in the second revolt of 1183, fighting against Richard, on behalf of Henry the Young King.

Geoffrey was a good friend of Louis VII’s son Philippe, and the two men were frequently in alliance against King Henry. Geoffrey spent much time at Philippe’s court in Paris, and Philippe made him his seneschal. There is evidence to suggest that Geoffrey was planning another rebellion with Philippe help during his final period in Paris in the summer of 1186. As a participant in so many rebellions against his father, Geoffrey acquired a reputation for treachery.

Gerald of Wales wrote the following of him: “He has more aloes than honey in him; his tongue is smoother than oil; his sweet and persuasive eloquence has enabled him to dissolve the firmest alliances and by his powers of language able to corrupt two kingdoms; of tireless endeavour, a hypocrite in everything, a deceiver and a dissembler.”

Geoffrey also was known to attack monasteries and churches in order to raise funds for his campaigns. This lack of reverence for religion earned him the displeasure of the Church and, as a consequence, of the majority of chroniclers who wrote about his life.

Family

Geoffrey and Constance had three children, one born after Geoffrey’s death:

• Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (1184–1241)
• Maud/Matilda of Brittany (1185–before May 1189)
• Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187–1203?)

Death

Geoffrey died on August 19, 1186, at the age of 27, in Paris. There is also evidence that supports a death date of August 21, 1186. There are two alternative accounts of his death. The more common first version holds that he was trampled to death in a jousting tournament. At his funeral, a grief-stricken King Philippe II of the Franks is said to have tried to jump into the coffin. Roger of Hoveden’s chronicle is the source of this version; the detail of Philippe II’s hysterical grief is from Gerald of Wales.

In the second version, in the chronicle of the French royal clerk Rigord, Geoffrey died of sudden acute chest pain, which reportedly struck immediately after his speech to Philippe II boasting his intention to lay Normandy to waste. Possibly, this version was an invention of its chronicler, sudden illness being God’s judgment of an ungrateful son plotting rebellion against his father, and for his irreligiosity.

Alternatively, the tournament story may be an invention of Philippe II’s to prevent Henry II’s discovery of a plot; inventing a social reason, a tournament, for Geoffrey’s being in Paris, Philippe II obscured their meeting’s true purpose.

Marie of Champagne, with whom Geoffrey was on good terms, was present at the requiem for her half-brother and established a mass chantry for the repose of his soul.

Geoffrey was buried in the choir of Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, but his tombstone was destroyed in the 18th century before the French revolution. His body was exhumed in 1797 and measured at 5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m).

Succession

After Geoffrey’s death, Henry II arranged for Constance, Geoffrey’s widow, to marry Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. Ranulf would become Duke of Brittany, jure uxoris, for a short time before this marriage was annulled.

May 23,1052: Birth of Philippe I, King of the Franks.

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Bernard II of Saxony, Bertha of Holland, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henri I of France, Louis VI of France, Louis VII of France, Philip I of France, William I of England, William the Conqueror

Philippe I (c.May 23, 1052 – July 29, 1108), called the Amorous, was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low it reached in the reign of his father and he added to the royal demesne the Vexin and Bourges.

Philippe I, King of the Franks

Philippe was the eldest son of Henri I, King of the Franks and his wife Anne of Kiev, daughter of Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev, Prince of Novgorod, and his second wife Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden, the daughter of Swedish King Olof Skötkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites .

Philippe was an unusual name for the time in Western Europe, his name was of Greek origin, being bestowed upon him by his mother. However, the name Philippe did become popular within the French Royal Family and France itself. Although he was crowned King of the Franks at the age of seven, until age fourteen (1066) his mother acted as regent, the first queen of the Franks (France) ever to do so. Count Baldwin V of Flanders also acted as co-regent.

Count Baldwin V of Flanders was the son of Baldwin IV of Flanders and Ogive of Luxembourg. Baldwin married Adela of the Franks daughter of King Robert II of the Franks, in 1028 in Amiens; at her instigation he rebelled against his father but in 1030 peace was sworn and the old count continued to rule until his death. The couple had three children: Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (1030–1070) Matilda (c. 1031–1083), who was married to William the Conqueror, King of the English, and Robert I, Count of Flanders (c. 1033–1093).

Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders was married to Richilde, Countess of Hainaut (c.1018-1086) who is most likely a daughter of Reinier of Hasnon (died c.1049) and Adelheid of Egisheim.

On his deathbed in 1070, Baldwin VI left Flanders to his elder son, Arnulf III, and Hainaut to the younger son, Baldwin, with the provision that if either preceded the other in death, he would inherit the other’s county as well. Baldwin VI further entrusted Robert, his brother, with the safeguard of Arnulf III, who was still a minor, to which Robert gave his oath of homage and solemn promise to protect his nephew Arnulf. Richilde, Arnulf’s mother, was to be regent until Arnulf came of age.

Despite the oath, Robert disputed the succession of his nephew Arnulf III upon Baldwin VI’s death and entered Ghent with the intent of taking Flanders for himself. Richilde appealed to King Philippe I of the Franks who summoned Robert to appear before him.

Robert refused and continued his war with Richilde at which point Philippe I amassed an army which he brought to Flanders. Philippe’s army was accompanied by Norman troops, probably sent by Robert’s sister, Queen Matilda, and led by William FitzOsborn. William had an interest in marrying Richilde but he was killed in battle at Cassel on June 22, 1071.

In that engagement Robert’s forces were ultimately victorious but Robert himself was captured and his forces in turn captured Countess Richilde. Both were freed in exchange and the battle continued to its conclusion. Among the dead was Arnulf III, killed by Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester, who apparently fought for Robert. As a result of the battle Robert became the new Count of Flanders. Countess Richilde and her son Baldwin returned to Hainaut but continued to instigate hostilities against Robert.

Count Robert I of Flanders eventually gained the friendship of King Philippe I of the Franks by offering him the hand in marriage of his stepdaughter, Bertha of Holland. As a part of their negotiations Corbie, an important trade center on the border between Flanders and lesser France, was returned to royal control.

Philip first married Bertha of Holland in 1072. Bertha was the daughter of Count Floris I of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony, the daughter of Bernard II, Duke of Saxony and Eilika of Schweinfurt.

Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philippe fell in love with Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou. He repudiated Bertha (claiming she was too fat) and married Bertrade on May 15, 1092.

Bertrade de Montfort was the daughter of Simon I de Montfort and Agnes of Evreux. Her brother was Amaury de Montfort.

In 1094, he was excommunicated by Hugh of Die, for the first time; after a long silence, Pope Urban II repeated the excommunication at the Council of Clermont in November 1095. Several times the ban was lifted as Philippe promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her, but in 1104 Philippe made a public penance and must have kept his involvement with Bertrade discreet.

Philippe appointed Alberic first Constable of France in 1060. A great part of his reign, like his father’s, was spent putting down revolts by his power-hungry vassals. In 1077, he made peace with William the Conqueror, who gave up attempting the conquest of Brittany. In 1082, Philippe I expanded his demesne with the annexation of the Vexin, in reprisal against Robert Curthose’s attack on William’s heir, William Rufus. Bother we’re sons of the Conqueror. Then in 1100, he took control of Bourges.

It was at the aforementioned Council of Clermont that the First Crusade was launched. Philippe at first did not personally support it because of his conflict with Urban II. Philippe’s brother Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.

Philippe died in the castle of Melun and was buried per his request at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire and not in St Denis among his forefathers. He was succeeded by his son, as Louis VI, King of the Franks.

Philippe’s children with Bertha were:

1. Constance (1078-1126), married Hugh I of Champagne before 1097 and then, after her divorce, to Bohemund I of Antioch in 1106.
2. Louis VI of the Franks (1081-1137).
3. Henri (1083 – died young).

Philippe’s children with Bertrade were:

1. Philippe, Count of Mantes (1093 – fl. 1123), married Elizabeth, daughter of Guy III of Montlhéry.
2. Fleury, Seigneur of Nangis (1095-1119)
3. Cecile (1097-1145), married Tancred, Prince of Galilee and then, after his death, to Pons of Tripoli.

King Philippe I of the Franks was the grandfather of King Louis VII of the Franks, first husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

May 18, 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Conclusion

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Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, King of England, King of France, King of the English, King of the Franks, King Stephen of England, Louis VII of France, royal wedding

After the marriage between Eleanor and Louis VII, Eleanor traveled to Poitiers, two lords —Theobald V, Count of Blois, and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, brother of Henry Curtmantle, now called, Henry II, Duke of Normandy — tried to kidnap and marry her to claim her lands. Despite the annulment with Louis VII, Eleanor remained Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right making her a very wealthy, powerful and desirable woman.

Henry II, King of the English, Duke of Normandy

As soon as she arrived in Poitiers, Eleanor sent envoys to Henry II, Duke of Normandy and future King of the English, asking him to come at once to marry her. On May 18, 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after her annulment, Eleanor married Henry “without the pomp and ceremony that befitted their rank.”

Eleanor was related to Henry even more closely than she had been to Louis VII: 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 they were also descended from King Robert II of the Franks. A marriage between Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Marie had earlier been declared impossible due to their status as third cousins once removed. It was rumored by some that Eleanor had had an affair with Henry’s own father, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, who had advised his son to avoid any involvement with her.

The marriage instantly reignited Henry’s tensions with Louis VII: it was considered an insult, it ran counter to feudal practice and it threatened the inheritance of Louis and Eleanor’s two daughters, Marie and Alix, who might otherwise have had claims to Aquitaine on Eleanor’s death. With his new lands, Aquitaine and Normandy combined, Henry now possessed a much larger proportion of France than Louis. Louis organised a coalition against Henry.

Fighting immediately broke out again along the Normandy borders, where Henry of Champagne and Robert captured the town of Neufmarché-sur-Epte. Louis’s forces moved to attack Aquitaine. King Stephen of the English responded by placing Wallingford Castle, a key fortress loyal to Henry along the Thames Valley, under siege, possibly in an attempt to force a successful end to the English conflict while Henry was still fighting for his territories in France. Henry moved quickly in response, avoiding an open battle with Louis in Aquitaine and stabilising the Norman border, pillaging the Vexin and then striking south into Anjou against Geoffrey, capturing one of his main castles (Montsoreau). Louis fell ill and withdrew from the campaign, and Geoffrey was forced to come to terms with Henry.

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine

In November 1152 the King Stephen and Duke Henry II of Normandy ratified the terms of a permanent peace. Stephen announced the Treaty of Winchester in Winchester Cathedral: he recognised Henry as his adopted son and successor, in return for Henry paying homage to him; Stephen promised to listen to Henry’s advice, but retained all his royal powers; Stephen’s son William would pay homage to Henry and renounce his claim to the throne, in exchange for promises of the security of his lands; key royal castles would be held on Henry’s behalf by guarantors whilst Stephen would have access to Henry’s castles; and the numerous foreign mercenaries would be demobilised and sent home. Henry and Stephen sealed the treaty with a kiss of peace in the cathedral. The peace remained precarious, and Stephen’s son William remained a possible future rival to Henry. Rumors of a plot to kill Henry were circulating and, possibly as a consequence, Henry decided to return to Normandy for a period.

On October 25, 1154, King Stephen died and Henry became king of the English. Eleanor was crowned queen by the archbishop of Canterbury on December 19, 1154. She may not have been anointed on this occasion, however, because she had already been anointed in 1137. Over the next 13 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. Geoffrey of York, for example, was an illegitimate son of Henry, but acknowledged by Henry as his child and raised at Westminster in the care of the queen.

May 18, 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Part II.

Tags

Anullment, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Matilda, Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry I of England, Henry II of England, Louis VI of France, Louis VII of France, Pope Eugene III, The Second Crusade

The marriage between the Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou proved difficult, as the couple did not particularly like each other. There was a further dispute over Matilda’s dowry; she was granted various castles in Normandy by King Henry I, but it was not specified when the couple would actually take possession of them. It is also unknown whether King Henry intended Geoffrey to have any future claim on England or Normandy, and he was probably keeping Geoffrey’s status deliberately uncertain.

Soon after the marriage, Matilda and Geoffrey separated Matilda returned to Normandy. King Henry appears to have blamed Geoffrey for the separation, but the couple were finally reconciled in 1131. Henry summoned Matilda from Normandy, and she arrived in England that August. It was decided that Matilda would return to Geoffrey at a meeting of the King’s great council in September. The council also gave another collective oath of allegiance to recognize Matilda as Henry’s heir.

Matilda gave birth to her first son in March 1133 at Le Mans, the future Henry II. King Henry was delighted by the news and came to see her at Rouen. At Pentecost 1134, their second son Geoffrey was born in Rouen, but the childbirth was extremely difficult and Matilda appeared close to death. Matilda made arrangements for her will and argued with her father about where she should be buried. Matilda preferred Bec Abbey.

King Henry I died on December 1, 1135, and his corpse was taken to Rouen accompanied by the barons, where it was embalmed; his entrails were buried locally at the priory of Notre-Dame du Pré, and the preserved body was taken on to England, where it was interred at Reading Abbey.

Despite Henry’s efforts, to secure the succession to the throne for Matilda with the Barons, the succession was disputed. In July 1136 Matilda gave birth to her third son William at Argentan.

The news of Henry’s death had reached Stephen of Blois, conveniently placed in Boulogne, and he left for England, accompanied by his military household. Robert of Gloucester had garrisoned the ports of Dover and Canterbury and some accounts suggest that they refused Stephen access when he first arrived.

Henry I, King of the English

Nonetheless Stephen reached the edge of London by December 8, and over the next week he began to seize power in England. The crowds in London proclaimed Stephen the new King of the English, believing that he would grant the city new rights and privileges in return, and his brother, Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, delivered the support of the Church to Stephen.

Stephen had sworn to support Matilda in 1127, but Henry of Blois convincingly argued that the late King had been wrong to insist that his court take the oath, and suggested that the King had changed his mind on his deathbed. Stephen’s coronation was held a week later at Westminster Abbey on December 26.

A civil war between the factions of King Stephen and Empress Matilda dominated the majority of King Stephen’s reign.

Count Geoffrey of Anjou died in September 1151, and Geoffrey’s eldest son, Henry Curtmantle, postponed his plans to return to England, as he first needed to ensure that his succession, particularly in Anjou, was secure. At around this time he was also probably secretly planning his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, then still the wife of King Louis VII of the Franks.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – April 1, 1204) was queen consort of the Franks (1137–1152) and the English (1154–1189) and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right (1137–1204). As a member of the Ramnulfids (House of Poitiers) rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.

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.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

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

The King of the Franks, known as Louis VI the Fat, was also gravely ill at that time, suffering from a bout of dysentery from which he appeared unlikely to recover. Yet despite his impending death, Louis VI’s mind remained clear. His eldest surviving son, Louis the Younger,, had originally been destined for monastic life, but had become the heir apparent when the firstborn, Philippe, died in a riding accident in 1131.

The death of Guillém X of Aquitaine, one of the king’s most powerful vassals, made available the most desirable duchy in France. While presenting a solemn and dignified face to the grieving Aquitainian messengers, Louis VI exulted when they departed. Rather than act as guardian to the duchess and duchy, he decided to marry the duchess to his 17-year-old 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 House of Capet.

Within hours, the king had arranged for his son Louis the Younger to be married to Eleanor, with Abbot Suger in charge of the wedding arrangements. Louis was sent to Bordeaux with an escort of 500 knights, along with Abbot Suger, Theobald II, Count of Champagne, and Count Ralph.

On July 25, 1137, Eleanor and Louis VII were married in the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux by the archbishop of Bordeaux.nImmediately after the wedding, the couple were enthroned as reigning Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. It was agreed that the land would remain independent of France until Eleanor’s oldest son became both King of the Franks and Duke of Aquitaine. Thus, her holdings would not be merged with France until the next generation.

The pairing of the monkish Louis VII and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she reportedly once declared that she had thought to marry a king, only to find she had married a monk. There was a marked difference between the frosty, reserved culture of the northern court in the Íle de France, where Louis had been raised, and the rich, free-wheeling court life of the Aquitaine with which Eleanor was familiar. Louis VII and Eleanor had two daughters, Marie and Alix.

In the autumn of 1145 Louis was still burned with guilt over the Massacre at Vitry and wished to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to atone for his sins. Massacre at Vitry was when 1,300 people burned alive in a church by forces of King Louis VII of the Franks. Also in the autumn 1145, Pope Eugene III r. 1145-1153) requested that Louis lead a Crusade to the Middle East to rescue the Frankish states there from disaster.

Louis VII, King of the Franks

Accordingly, Louis declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. The Second Crusade (1147–1150) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.

Eleanor also formally took up the cross symbolic of the Second Crusade during a sermon preached by Bernard of Clairvaux. In addition, she had been corresponding with her uncle Raymond, Prince of Antioch, who was seeking further protection from the French crown against the Saracens.

However, even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, and their differences were only exacerbated while they were abroad. 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.

Pope Eugene III 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 manipulated 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.

Without a male heir the marriage was now doomed. Facing substantial opposition to Eleanor from many of his barons and her own desire for annulment, Louis bowed to the inevitable. On March 11, 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 archbishop of Bordeaux and Rouen. Archbishop Samson of Reims acted for Eleanor.

On March 21, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene, granted an annulment on grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree; Eleanor was Louis VII’s third cousin once removed, and shared common ancestry with King Robert II of the Franks. Despite the annulment their two daughters were, however, declared legitimate.

Eleanor remained the Duchess of Aquitaine and was considered beautiful, lively and controversial.

March 21, 1152: Annulment of the marriage of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Annulment, Conrad III of Germany, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Géza II of Hungary, Henry II of England, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of the Franks, Louis VII of France

Louis VII (1120 – September 18, 1180), called the Younger or the Young was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI, hence his nickname, and married Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees, but was annulled in 1152 after no male heir was produced.

Louis was born in 1120 in Paris, the second son of Louis VI, King of the Franks and Adelaide of Maurienne. The early education of Prince Louis anticipated an ecclesiastical career. As a result, he became well-learned and exceptionally devout, but his life course changed decisively after the accidental death of his older brother Philippe in 1131, when he unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France. In October 1131, his father had him anointed and crowned by Pope Innocent II in Reims Cathedral.

Louis VII, King of the Franks

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – April 1, 1204) was queen consort of France (1137–1152) and England (1154–1189) and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right (1137–1204). As a member of the Ramnulfids (House of Poitiers) rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. Eleanor (or Aliénor) was the oldest of three children of Guillém X Duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering ducal court was renowned in early 12th-century Europe, and his wife, Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimery I, Viscount of Châtellerault, and Dangereuse de l’Isle Bouchard, who was Guillém IX’s longtime mistress as well as Eleanor’s maternal grandmother. Her parents’ marriage had been arranged by Dangereuse with her paternal grandfather Guillém IX.

Following the death of Duke Guillém X of Aquitaine, Louis VI moved quickly to have his son married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had inherited William’s territory, on July 25, 1137. In this way, Louis VI sought to add the large, sprawling territory of the duchy of Aquitaine to his family’s holdings in France. On August 1, 1137, shortly after the marriage, Louis VI died, and Louis VII became king. The pairing of the monkish Louis and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she reportedly once declared that she had thought to marry a king, only to find she had married a monk. Louis VII and Eleanor had two daughters, Marie and Alix.

In June 1147, in fulfillment of his vow to mount the Second Crusade, Louis VII and his queen set out from the Basilica of St Denis, first stopping in Metz on the overland route to Syria. Soon they arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary, where they were welcomed by the king Géza II of Hungary, who was already waiting with King Conrad III of Germany.

Louis VII and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII’s interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with King Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.

Eleanor, Queen of the Franks, Queen of the English, Duchess of Aquitaine

The expedition to the Holy Land came at a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor that led to the annulment of their marriage. Perhaps the marriage to Eleanor might have continued if the royal couple had produced a male heir, but this had not occurred. The Council of Beaugency found an exit clause, declaring that Louis VII and Eleanor were too closely related for their marriage to be legal, thus the marriage was annulled on March 21, 1152.

The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment, but in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between Louis and Eleanor, with a decreasing likelihood that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. On May 18, 1152, Eleanor married the Count of Anjou, the future King Henry II of England. She gave him the duchy of Aquitaine and bore him three daughters and five sons.

In 1154, Louis VII married Constance of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and Berengaria of Barcelona. She also failed to supply him with a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Margaret and Alys. The official reason for her husband’s annulment from Eleanor of Aquitaine had been that he was too close a relative of Eleanor for the marriage to be legal by Church standards; however, he was even more closely related to Constance. Constance died giving birth to her second child.

Louis VII was devastated when Constance died in childbirth on October 4, 1160. As he was desperate for a son, he married Adela of Champagne just 5 weeks later. Adela of Champagne was the third child and first daughter of Theobald II, Count of Champagne and Matilda of Carinthia, and had nine brothers and sisters. Adela’s coronation was held the same day. She went on to give birth to Louis VII’s only male heir, Philippe II of France and Agnes, a Byzantine Empress by marriage to Alexios II Komnenos and Andronikos I Komnenos.

This date in History: August 27, 1172. Marriage and 2nd Coronation of Henry the Young King of England.

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Bela III of Hungary, Duke of Anjou, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, Henry the Young King, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Louis VII of France, Philippe II Augustus of France, Richard the Lion Heart

Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155 – June 11, 1183) was the eldest surviving son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry the Young King was the only King of England since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father’s reign, but spent his reign frustrated by his father’s refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power.

Little is known of the young Prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His half-siblings (mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France) were Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix of France. He had one elder brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (August 17, 1153 – December 2, 1156) and his younger siblings included Matilda, Richard, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John.

In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father’s lifetime, something originally practised by the French Capetian dynasty and adopted by the English kings Stephen and Henry II. The physical appearance of Henry at his coronation in 1170 is given in a contemporary court poem written in Latin, where the fifteen-year-old prince is described as being very handsome, “tall but well proportioned, broad-shouldered with a long and elegant neck, pale and freckled skin, bright and wide blue eyes, and a thick mop of the reddish-gold hair.”

He was known in his own lifetime as “Henry the Young King” to distinguish him from his father. Because he was not a reigning king, he is not counted in the numerical succession of the Kings of England.

Henry is described as a constant competitor at tournaments across northern and central France between 1175 and 1182. With his cousins, Philippe I, Count of Flanders, and Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, he was a key patron of the sport. Though Henry lacked political weight, his patronage brought him celebrity status throughout western Europe.

On November 2, 1160, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was 5 years of age and she was at least 2. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry’s grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144.

By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of the Norman Vexin to her new husband. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles for himself. A bitter border war followed between the kings.

Henry and Margaret were formally married on August 27, 1172 at Winchester Cathedral, when Henry, aged seventeen, was crowned King of England a second time, this time together with Margaret, by Rotrou, the Archbishop of Rouen.

Young Henry fell out of favor with his father in 1173. Contemporary chroniclers allege that this was owing to the young Henry’s frustration that his father had given him no realm to rule, and his feeling starved of funds. The rebellion seems, however, to have drawn strength from much deeper discontent with his father’s rule, and a formidable party of Anglo-Norman, Norman, Angevin, Poitevin and Breton magnates joined him.

The revolt of 1173–1174 came close to toppling King Henry II; he was narrowly saved by the loyalty of a party of nobles with holdings on the English side of the Channel, and by the defeat and capture of William I, the King of Scotland. Young Henry sought a reconciliation after the capture of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the failure of the rebellion. His funds were much increased by the terms of the settlement, and he apparently devoted most of the next seven years to the amusement of the tournament.

In November 1179, Henry represented his father at the coronation of Philippe II Augustus as associate king of France at Reims. He acted as Steward of France and carried the crown in the coronation procession. Later, he played a leading role in the celebratory tournament held at Lagny-sur-Marne, to which he brought a retinue of over 500 knights at huge expense.

Henry the Young King contracted dysentery at the beginning of June 1183, during the course of a campaign in Limousin against his father and his brother Richard the Lionheart. Young Henry had just finished pillaging local monasteries to raise money to pay his mercenaries. He Weakening fast, he was taken to Martel, near Limoges. It was clear to his household that he was dying on June 7, when he was confessed and received the last rites.

As a token of his penitence for his war against his father, he prostrated himself naked on the floor before a crucifix. He made a testament and, since he had taken a crusader’s vow, he gave his cloak to his friend William Marshal, with the plea that he should take the cloak (presumably with the crusader’s cross stitched to it) to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

On his deathbed, he reportedly asked to be reconciled to his father, but King Henry II, fearing a trick, refused to see him. He died on June 11, aged 28, six years before his father, leaving his brother Richard to become the next king. Henry died clasping a ring his father had sent as a sign of his forgiveness. After his death, his father is said to have exclaimed: “He cost me much, but I wish he had lived to cost me more.”

Three years after the death of her husband, Margaret, titular Queen of England and Duchess of Anjou by righter of her husband, became the second wife of Béla III of Hungary in 1186, after receiving a substantial pension in exchange for surrendering her dowry of Gisors and the Vexin. She was widowed for a second time in 1196 and died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land at St John of Acre in 1197, having only arrived eight days prior to her death.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England: Part III

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Alfonso X of Castile, Alfred the Great, Edward I of England, Eleanor of Castile, Ferdinand III of Castile, Henry I of England, Henry II of England, Henry III of England, Henry VII of England, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Louis VII of France, Margaret of Wessex, Matilda of Scotland

We left off with the descendants Isabella of France, wife of Edward II, in our examination of the royal ancestry of Henry VII. Today we will begin with Eleanor of Castile the wife of Edward I, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

Edward I (June 17/18, 1239 – July 7, 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Before his accession to the throne, he was commonly referred to as The Lord Edward. Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III of England (1216-1272) and Eleanor of Provence. Edward is an Anglo-Saxon name, and was not commonly given among the aristocracy of England after the Norman conquest, but Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), and decided to name his firstborn son after the saint.* Edward I was a tall man (6’2″) for his era, hence the nickname “Longshanks“. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, and he often instilled fear in his contemporaries.

Nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. Edward I is credited with many accomplishments during his reign, including restoring royal authority after the reign of Henry III, establishing Parliament as a permanent institution and thereby also a functional system for raising taxes, and reforming the law through statutes. At the same time, he is also often criticised for other actions, such as his brutal conduct towards the Welsh and Scots, and issuing the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, by which the Jews were expelled from England.

Edward I, King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine.

In 1252, Alfonso X of Castile and León (1252-1284) had resurrected another ancestral claim, this time to the duchy of Gascony, in the south of Aquitaine, last possession of the Kings of England in France, which he claimed had formed part of the dowry of Eleanor of England. Henry III of England swiftly countered Alfonso X’s claims with both diplomatic and military moves. Early in 1254 the two kings began to negotiate the marriage between his fifteen-year-old son and thirteen-year-old Eleanor, Alfonso X’s half-sister. After haggling over the financial provision for Eleanor, Henry III and Alfonso X agreed Eleanor would marry Henry’s son Edward, and Alfonso would transfer his Gascon claims to Edward. Eleanor and Edward were married on November 1, 1254 in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Castile. As part of the marriage agreement, the young prince received grants of land worth 15,000 marks a year.

Eleanor was born in Burgos, daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile León (1230-1252) and Joan, Countess of Ponthieu. Her Castilian name, Leonor, became Alienor or Alianor in England, and Eleanor in modern English. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Eleanor of England, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This made Edward and Eleanor second cousins once removed.

Eleanor of Castile’s great-great grandfather was Louis VII of France (1137-1180) and his great-grandmother was Alice of Normandy the daughter of of Richard II, Duke of Normandy (972–1026) and Judith of Brittany. Richard II of Normandy was the the paternal grandfather of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) King of England, Duke of Normandy. This displays that Eleanor of Castile’s lineage descends not only from the Kings of England but from at least two lines from the Dukes of Normandy.

Louis VII, King of France.

I will not pursue the descendants of the wives of Henry II, John or Henry III for they simply repeat descent from either the kings of France or other members of the French nobility. However, I do want to mention Henry VII’s descent from Henry I of England (1100-1135) specifically his spouse, Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080 – May 1, 1118) and her mother Margaret of Wessex.

Matilda, originally christened Edith, was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry I. She acted as regent of England in the absence of her spouse on several occasions. Matilda was the daughter of Margaret of Wessex and Malcolm III, King of Scots. On November 11, 1100 Matilda married Henry I of England. Henry was now around 31 years old, Margaret was about 19/20 years of age but late marriages for noblemen such as Henry was not unusual in the 11th century. The pair had probably first met earlier the previous decade, possibly being introduced through Bishop Osmund of Salisbury.

Matilda’s mother was St. Margaret of Wessex (c. 1045 – November 1093), she was an English princess and a Scottish queen, sometimes called “The Pearl of Scotland.” Born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary, was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund II Ironside, King of England (1016) Margaret and her family returned to the Kingdom of England in 1057, but fled to the Kingdom of Scotlandfollowing the Norman conquest of England in 1066. By the end of 1070, Margaret had married King Malcolm III of Scotland (1058-1093) becoming Queen of Scots.

Malcolm III, King of Scots greets Margaret of Wessex.

Margaret was a descendant of Alfred The Great, King of Wessex from 871 to c. 886 and King of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. And further back she descends from Cerdic leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, reigning from c.519 to c.534.

Margaret’s husband Malcolm III, king of Scots and their eldest son Edward, were killed in the Battle of Alnwick against the English on November 13, 1093. Her son Edgar was left with the task of informing his mother of their deaths. Not yet 50 years old, Margaret died on November 16, 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son. The cause of death was reportedly grief. Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) canonized St. Margaret in 1250 in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church, work for ecclesiastical reform, and charity.

* Since the use of ordinal numbers had not come into common usage during the reign of Edward Longshanks, he was simply known as King Edward or King Edward Longshanks. It wasn’t until the successive reigns of his son and grandson, also named Edward, that Edward Longshanks became known as Edward I. But this was not accurate for there were three Anglo-Saxon kings named Edward prior to the Norman conquest. Therefore, Edward I was in reality the fourth King of England by that name and should have been called King Edward IV.