First Generation  

1. Duke William de Normandie I "Longsword" [18626] was born c893 and died on 17 Dec 942 at age 49.

General Notes: Died Dec. 17, 942, Picardy [France]

Also called William Longsword, French Guillaume Longue-épéeson of Rollo and second duke of Normandy (927–942). He sought continually to expand his territories either by conquest or by exacting new lands from the French king for the price of homage. In 939 he allied himself with Hugh the Great in the revolt against King Louis IV; through the mediation of the pope, the war ended, and Louis renewed William's investiture of Normandy (940). William, however, continued his territorial ambitions, especially northward. Drawn to a conference on an island in the Somme River, he was assassinated on the orders of the count of Flanders, Arnulf I.

William married Espriota Unknown [19065] [MRIN: 6389].

The child from this marriage was:

+ 2 M    i. Duke Richard de Normandie I "The Fearless" [18625] was born c932 and died in 996 at age 64.

  Second Generation  

2. Duke Richard de Normandie I "The Fearless" [18625] was born c932 and died in 996 at age 64.

General Notes: Born c. 932
Died 996

Richard The Fearless, French Richard Sans Peurduke of Normandy (942–996), son of William I Longsword.

Louis IV of France took the boy-duke into his protective custody, apparently intent upon reuniting Normandy to the crown's domains; but in 945 Louis was captured by the Normans, and Richard was returned to his people. Richard withstood further Carolingian attempts to subdue his duchy and, in 987, was instrumental in securing the French crown for his brother-in-law, the Robertian Hugh Capet.

Richard married Gunnora of Denmark [19066] [MRIN: 6388], daughter of King of Denmark Harald Bluetooth [19067] and Gunhilda of Sweden [19068]. Gunnora died in 1031.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 3 M    i. Duke Richard "the Good" de Normandie II [18126] was born c963 in Normandie, France and died on 28 Aug 1027 in Normandie, France at age 64.

  Third Generation  

3. Duke Richard "the Good" de Normandie II [18126] was born c963 in Normandie, France and died on 28 Aug 1027 in Normandie, France at age 64.

General Notes: Richard The Good, French Richard Le Bonduke of Normandy (c963–1027), son of Richard I the Fearless. He held his own against a peasant insurrection, helped Robert II of France against the duchy of Burgundy, and repelled an English attack on the Cotentin Peninsula that was led by the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred II the Unready. He also pursued a reform of the Norman monasteries.

Richard married Judith de Bretagne [18127] [MRIN: 6125], daughter of Robert II Brittany [18129] and Unknown, about 999 in Normandie, France. Judith was born in 982 in Bretagne, France and died on 16 Jun 1017 in Normandie, France at age 35.

Children from this marriage were:

   4 M    i. Archbishop Mauger de Normandie [18137] .

Noted events in his life were:

• Title: Archbishop of Rouen

   5 M    ii. Duke Richard de Normandie III [18132] was born about 1001 in Normandie, France and died on 6 Aug 1028 about age 27.

+ 6 M    iii. Duke Robert de Normandie I "The Magnificent" [18124] was born c1003 in Normandie, France, died on 22 Jul 1035 in Nicea, Bithynia, Turkey at age 32, and was buried in Nicea, Bithynia, Turkey.

   7 M    iv. Count William (Guillaume) de Normandie [18138] was born in 1005 in Normandie, France and died in Jun 1025 at age 20.

Noted events in his life were:

• Title: Count of Arques

   8 F    v. Alice (Adelais) de Normandie [18133] was born about 1007 in Normandie, France and died after Jul 1037 in France.

Alice married Count Renaud of Burgundy [18134] [MRIN: 6130].

   9 F    vi. Eleanor de Normandie [18135] was born about 1009 in Normandie, France and died in 1071 about age 62.

Eleanor married Count Baldwin of Flanders IV [18136] [MRIN: 6131].

Richard next married Adela Unknown [18128] [MRIN: 6126].

Richard next married Astrid Forkbeard [18130] [MRIN: 6128], daughter of Swein Forkbeard [18131] and Unknown.

  Fourth Generation  

6. Duke Robert de Normandie I "The Magnificent" [18124] was born c1003 in Normandie, France, died on 22 Jul 1035 in Nicea, Bithynia, Turkey at age 32, and was buried in Nicea, Bithynia, Turkey.

General Notes: died July 1035, Nicaea

Robert The Magnificent, or The Devil, French Robert Le Magnifique, or Le Diable duke of Normandy (1027–35), the younger son of Richard II of Normandy and the father, by his mistress Arlette, of William the Conqueror of England. On the death of his father (1027), Robert contested the duchy with his elder brother Richard III, legally the heir, until the latter's opportune death a few years later. A strong ruler, Robert succeeded in exacting the obedience of his vassals. On the death of Robert II the Pious, king of France (1031), a crisis arose over the succession to the French throne. The Duke gave his support to Henry I against the party favouring his younger brother; in reward for his services he demanded and received the Vexin Français, a territory not far north of Paris. A patron of the monastic reform movement, he died while returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Robert married Herleva de Falaise [18125] [MRIN: 6124]. Herleva was born about 1003 in Falaise, Normandie, France and died c1050 about age 47.

Children from this marriage were:

   10 F    i. Adbelahide de Normandie [19135] was born about 1027 in Normandie, France and died before 1090.

+ 11 M    ii. King William de Normandie I "the Conqueror" [18092] was born in Oct 1028 in Falaise, was christened in 1066, died on 9 Sep 1087 in St. Gervais, Rouen at age 58, and was buried in Abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, Normandie, France.

  Fifth Generation  

11. King William de Normandie I "the Conqueror" [18092] was born in Oct 1028 in Falaise, was christened in 1066, died on 9 Sep 1087 in St. Gervais, Rouen at age 58, and was buried in Abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, Normandie, France.

General Notes: On September 9, 1087, William I was injured when a horse bolted as a burning roof collapsed in Mantes within sight of Paris. William's protruding stomach struck the pommel of the saddle and he died in intense agony several days later in Roen, France.

William The Conqueror, or William the Bastard as he was known in his day, though out of his hearing, was the illegitimate son of of Robert I, Duke of Normandy. The Normans were Vikings who had settled in northern France and had taken on the lifestyle of the French aristocracy without losing that passion for conquest. William was descended from RAGNALD, the ancestor of the Earls of Orkney.

While in Normandy, William believed the throne of England had been promised to him by EDWARD THE CONFESSOR as far back as 1051. Although historians have found nothing of a record of Edward's promise, William held to its provision.

When Edward died in 1066, Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, assumed the throne and was crowned king. William saw him as a usurper and prepared for warfare by building alliances. During the decade of the 1050's William worked at this consolidation and found himself in a number of skirmishes in defense of Normady against Henri I of France, giving him and his army battle experience.

William acquired territories, namely; Maine in 1062, Anjou, and Brittany. He prepared for the invasion of England in September 1066 and the campaign lasted until the 25th of December 1066 when he was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. His dominion was primarily in the south covering the old kingdoms of Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex. Within a year William began a slow campaign of territorial acquisition and this continued until 1068 when he brought his wife, Matilda to England to be crowned queen.

Within the process of this campaign, William had caused to be built 78 castles, the most famous being the Tower of London.

The King of Denmark and Edgar of Atheling joined forces and decided to recapture England, and they did manage to capture York in September of 1069. This angered William and he abandoned his previous campaign of slow calculated military movement and marched north, this time destroying everything in his path. In 1070 the Danish retreated, made a brief second attempt then abandoned the Isles.

To pay for his considerable army, William had to raise taxes. To determine how to levy this tax he ordered a survey conducted, now known as the Domesday Book.

In July 1087, while beseiging the town of Mantes, his horse jumped over a ditch and William received an injury from the pommel of the saddle which ripped his stomach. The wound caused peritonitis. William lingered for five weeks and died in September.

His body was returned to Caen for burial but the tomb was not large enough for his considerable girth. Finally the attendants attempted to force the body into the tomb, the already decaying and swollen body burst open letting out an intense smell of putrefaction that caused most to flee the site. Only a hardy few completed the burial.

Noted events in his life were:

• Life Summation: WILLIAM I "THE CONQUEROR".
Also called "THE BASTARD".
King of England, late November/early December 1066-9 September 1087.

Crowned: Westminster Abbey, 25 December 1066.
Titles: King of England, Duke of Normandy and County of Maine.

Born: Falaise, Normandy, Autumn 1028.
Died: St. Gervais, Rouen, 9 September 1087, age 59.
Buried: Abbey of St. Stephen, Caen.

Married: c1053, Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders, 10 children.

William married Countess of Flanders Matilda van Vlaanderen [18093] [MRIN: 6108], daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders Vlaanderen [18112] and Unknown, in 1053 in Notre Dame Cathedral d'eu. Matilda was born about 1031 in Flanders (Belgium), died on 2 Nov 1083 in Caen, Normandie, France about age 52, and was buried in Eglise de la Sainte Trinitbe, Caen, Normandie, France.

General Notes: Died 1083

French Mathilde, or Mahault, De Flandre queen consort of William I the Conqueror, whom she married c. 1053. During William's absences in England, the duchy of Normandy was under her regency, with the aid of their son, Robert Curthose (see Robert II [Normandy]), except when he was in rebellion against his father. The embroidery of the Bayeux tapestry was once wrongly attributed to her.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 12 M    i. Duke Robert de Normandie II [18113] was born circa 1052 in Normandy, France, died on 10 Feb 1134 in Cardiff Castle, Wales at age 82, and was buried in St. Peters Church, Gloucester, England.

   13 M    ii. Prince of England Richard de Normandie [18114] was born in 1054 in Normandy, France and died in 1081 in New Forest, Hampshire, England at age 27.

   14 F    iii. Princess of England Cecilia Normandie [18119] was born about 1055 in Normandy, France and died on 30 Jul 1126 in Caen, Calavados, France about age 71.

Noted events in her life were:

• Profession: Nun.

   15 M    iv. King of England William de Normandie II "Rufus" [18115] was born c1056 in Normandy, France and died on 1 Aug 1100 in New Forest, England at age 44.

General Notes: William II Rufus (1087–1100)

Under William I's two sons William II Rufus and Henry I, strong, centralized government continued, and England's link with Normandy was strengthened. Rebellion by Norman barons, led by the king's half uncles, Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain, was soon put down by William II, who made promises of good government and relief from taxation and the severity of the forest laws. Odo of Bayeux was banished, and William of St. Calais, bishop of Durham, tried for treason. As an ecclesiastic he rejected the jurisdiction of the king's court. But Lanfranc pointed out that it was not as a churchman but as lord of his temporal fiefs that he was being tried. He was finally allowed to leave the country, in return for surrender of his fiefs.

William II's main preoccupation was to win Normandy from his elder brother Robert. After some initial skirmishing, William's plans were furthered by Robert's decision to go on crusade in 1096. Robert mortgaged his lands to William for 10,000 marks, which was raised in England by drastic and unpopular means. In his last years William campaigned successfully in Maine and the French Vexin so as to extend the borders of Normandy. His death was the result of an “accident” possibly engineered by his younger brother Henry: he was shot with an arrow in the New Forest. Henry, who was conveniently with the hunting party, rode post haste to Winchester, seized the treasury, and was chosen king the next day.

WILLIAM II "Rufus", King of England, 9 September 1087 to 2 August 1100. Crowned at Westminster 26 September 1087.

Born: Normandy c 1057
Died: New Forest 2 August 1100, age 43.
Buried: Winchester Cathedral.

   16 F    v. Adeliza Normandie [18120] was born about 1057 in Normandie, France and died in 1065 about age 8.

Noted events in her life were:

• Profession: Nun

   17 F    vi. Princess of England Constance de Normandie [18121] was born about 1061 in Normandy, France, died on 13 Aug 1090 in England about age 29, and was buried in St. Edmondsbury, Suffolk, England.

Constance married Alain IV of Brittany [18122] [MRIN: 6123].

   18 F    vii. Princess of England Adela Normandie [18116] was born c1062 in Normandie, France, died on 8 Mar 1135 in Marsilly, Aquitaine at age 73, and was buried in Caen, Normandie, France.

Adela married Count Stephen Blois [18117] [MRIN: 6121].

   19 F    viii. Princess of Normandie Gundred de Normandie [19134] was born in 1063 in Normandie, France and died on 27 May 1085 at age 22.

   20 F    ix. Agatha Normandie [18123] was born about 1064 in Normandy, France, died before 1086 in Calavados, France, and was buried in Bayeux, Calavados, France.

+ 21 M    x. King Henry "Beauclerc" I [18090] was born in Sep 1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, was christened on 5 Aug 1100 in Selby, Yorkshire, died on 11 Dec 1135 in Gisors, St. Denis, France at age 67, and was buried on 4 Jan 1136 in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England.

  Sixth Generation  

12. Duke Robert de Normandie II [18113] was born circa 1052 in Normandy, France, died on 10 Feb 1134 in Cardiff Castle, Wales at age 82, and was buried in St. Peters Church, Gloucester, England.

General Notes: Born c. 1052
Died February 1134, Cardiff, Wales

Name:
Robert Curthose, French Robert Courteheuse duke of Normandy (1087–1106), a weak-willed and incompetent ruler whose poor record as an administrator of his domain was partly redeemed by his contribution to the First Crusade (1096–99).

The eldest son of William I the Conqueror, Robert was recognized in boyhood as his father's successor in Normandy. Nevertheless he twice rebelled against his father (1077/78 and c. 1082–83) and was in exile in Italy until he returned as duke on his father's death in 1087. He was totally unable to control his rebellious vassals or to establish a central authority in Normandy.

In 1091 Robert's younger brother, King William II of England, invaded Normandy and compelled Robert to yield two counties. William attacked again in 1094, and when a peace was made that gave him control of Normandy in return for money, Robert joined the First Crusade. He fought at Dorylaeum (1097) and was at the capture of Jerusalem (1099). His courageous leadership contributed to the victory at Ascalon (1099).

When Robert's youngest brother, Henry I, succeeded William as king of England (1100), Robert was in Italy. He hastened back to invade England, with ignominious results, and Henry in turn invaded Normandy (1105 and 1106). Captured in the Battle of Tinchebrai (Sept. 28, 1106), Robert spent the rest of his life as a prisoner, dying in Cardiff castle.

Robert married Sybillia Unknown [18118] [MRIN: 6122].

The child from this marriage was:

   22 M    i. Count of Flanders William Clito [19076] was born in 1101 and died in 1128 at age 27.

General Notes: Born c. 1101
Died July 28, 1128, Aalst, Flanders [now in Belgium]

Named:
French Guillaume Cliton count of Flanders and titular duke of Normandy (as William IV, or as William III if England's William Rufus' earlier claim to the duchy is not acknowledged).

Son of Duke Robert II Curthose (and grandson of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders), William Clito was supported by Louis VI of France in claiming the duchy when his father was imprisoned (1106) by the English. Henry I of England, however, had his own son William the Aetheling recognized as heir to Normandy and, in 1119, decisively defeated Louis VI and Clito at Bremule. When the Aetheling was drowned (1120), Clito made further trouble in Normandy but died in 1128.

21. King Henry "Beauclerc" I [18090] was born in Sep 1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, was christened on 5 Aug 1100 in Selby, Yorkshire, died on 11 Dec 1135 in Gisors, St. Denis, France at age 67, and was buried on 4 Jan 1136 in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England.

General Notes: Born 1069, Selby, Yorkshire, Eng.
Died Dec. 1, 1135, Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy


Henry Beauclerc (Good Scholar), French Henri Beauclerc youngest and ablest of William I the Conqueror's sons, who as king of England (1100–35) strengthened the crown's executive powers and, like his father, also ruled Normandy (from 1106).

Henry was crowned at Westminster on August 5, 1100, three days after his brother, King William II, William the Conqueror's second son, had been killed in a hunting accident. Duke Robert Curthose, the eldest of three brothers, who by feudal custom had succeeded to his father's inheritance, Normandy, was returning from the First Crusade and could not assert his own claim to the English throne until the following year. The succession was precarious, however, because a number of wealthy Anglo-Norman barons supported Duke Robert and Henry moved quickly to gain all the backing he could. He issued an ingenious Charter of Liberties, which purported to end capricious taxes, confiscations of church revenues, and other abuses of his predecessor. By his marriage with Matilda, a Scottish princess of the old Anglo-Saxon royal line, he established the foundations for peaceable relations with the Scots and support from the English. He recalled St. Anselm, the scholarly archbishop of Canterbury whom his brother, William II, had banished.

When Robert Curthose finally invaded England in 1101, several of the greatest barons defected to him. But Henry, supported by a number of his barons, most of the Anglo-Saxons, and St. Anselm, worked out an amicable settlement with the invaders. Robert relinquished his claim to England, receiving in return Henry's own territories in Normandy and a large annuity.

Although a crusading hero, Robert was a self-indulgent, vacillating ruler who allowed Normandy to slip into chaos. Norman churchman who fled to England urged Henry to conquer and pacify the Duchy and thus provided moral grounds for Henry's ambition to reunify his father's realm at his brother's expense. Paving his way with bribes to Norman barons and agreements with neighboring princes, in 1106 Henry routed Robert's army at Tinchebrai in southwestern Normandy and captured Robert, holding him prisoner for life.

Between 1104 and 1106 Henry had been in the uncomfortable position of posing, in Normandy, as a champion of the church while fighting with his own archbishop of Canterbury. St. Anselm had returned from exile in 1100 dedicated to reforms of Pope Paschal II, which were designed to make the church independent of secular sovereigns. Following papal bans against lay lords investing churchmen with their lands and against churchmen rendering homage to Henry himself. Henry regarded bishopics and abbeys not only as spiritual offices but as great sources of wealth. Since, in many cases, they owed the crown military services, he was anxious to maintain the feudal bond between the bishops and the crown.

Ultimately, the issues of ecclesiastical homage and lay investiture forced Anselm into a second exile. After numerous letters and threats between King, Pope and archbishop, a compromise was concluded shortly before the Battle of Tinchebrai and was ratified in London in 1107. Henry relinquished his right to invest churchmen while Anselm submitted on the question of homage. With the London settlement and the English victory at Tinchebrai, the Anglo-Norman state was reunified and at peace.

In the following years, Henry married his daughter Matilda to Emperor Henry V of Germany and groomed his only legitimate son, William as successor. Henry's right to Normandy was challenged by William Clito, son of the captive Robert Curthouse, and Henry was obliged to repel two major assaults against eastern Normandy by William Clito's supporters: Louis VI of France, Count Fulk of Anjou, and the restless Norman barons who detested Henry's ubiquitous officials and high taxes. By 1120, however, the barons had submitted, Henry's son had married into the Angevin house, and Louis VI, defeated in battle, had concluded a definitive peace.

The settlement was shattered in November 1120 when Henry's son perished in a shipwreck of the "WHITE SHIP" destroying Henry's succession plans. After Queen Matilda's death in 1118, he married Adelaide of Louvain in 1121, but this union proved childless. On Emperor Henry V's death in 1125, Henry summoned the empress Matilda back to England and made his barons do homage to her as his heir. In 1128 Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet, heir to the county of Anjou and in 1133 she bore him her first son, the future King Henry II. When Henry I died at Lyons-la-Foret in eastern Normandy, his favorite nephew, Stephen of Blois, disregarding Matilda's right of succession, seized the English throne. Matilda's subsequent invasion of England unleashed a bitter civil war that ended with King Stephen's death and Henry II's unopposed accession in 1154.

Henry married Anstrida Anskill [18174] [MRIN: 6148].

Children from this marriage were:

   23 M    i. Richard of Lincoln [18175] was born c1100 and died in 1120 at age 20.

General Notes: Drowned in the "White Ship".

   24 M    ii. Fulk "Beauclerc" [18176] .

General Notes: A monk. Died young.

   25 F    iii. Juliana "Beauclerc" [18177] .

Juliana married Lord of Breteuil Eustace de Pacy [18178] [MRIN: 6149].

Henry next married Nester Rhys ap Tewdwr [18179] [MRIN: 6150].

The child from this marriage was:

   26 M    i. Henry Fitzhenry [18180] was born c1103 and died in 1157 at age 54.

General Notes: Killed during Henry II's invasion of Anglesey.

Henry next married Edith Sigulfson of Greystoke [18181] [MRIN: 6151].

The child from this marriage was:

   27 M    i. Baron of Okehampton Robert Fitzedith [18182] died in 1172.

Henry next married Isabel de Beaumont [18183] [MRIN: 6152].

Henry next married Edith Unknown [18184] [MRIN: 6153].

The child from this marriage was:

   28 F    i. Matilda "Beauclerc" [18185] was born circa 1090 and died in 1120 at age 30.

General Notes: Drowned in the "White Ship".

Matilda married Duke Conan III Brittany [18190] [MRIN: 6155].

Henry next married Unknown Mother [18186] [MRIN: 6154].

Children from this marriage were:

   29 M    i. Gilbert "Beauclerc" [18187] was born c1130 and died after 1142.

   30 M    ii. William de Tracy "Beauclerc" [18188] died c1136.

   31 F    iii. Matilda "Beauclerc" [18185] was born circa 1090 and died in 1120 at age 30.

General Notes: Drowned in the "White Ship".

Matilda married Duke Conan III Brittany [18190] [MRIN: 6155].

+ 32 F    iv. Constance "Beauclerc" [18191] .

   33 F    v. Eustacia "Beauclerc" [18195] .

   34 F    vi. Alice "Beauclerc" [18196] .

General Notes: Had five sons.

Alice married Matthew de Montmorenci Constable of France [18197] [MRIN: 6158].

   35 F    vii. Unknown "Beauclerc" [18198] .

Unknown married William de Warenne [18199] [MRIN: 6159].

Henry next married Unknown [18200] [MRIN: 6160].

Children from this marriage were:

   36 F    i. Joan "Beauclerc" [18201] .

General Notes: Ancestor to John Balliol.

Joan married Fergus of Galloway [18202] [MRIN: 6161].

   37 F    ii. Emma "Beauclerc" [18203] .

Emma married Guy de Laval [18204] [MRIN: 6162].

   38 F    iii. Sybilla "Beauclerc" [18170] was born c1092 and died in 1122 at age 30.

Sybilla married King Alexander I Scotland [18171] [MRIN: 6147].

Sybilla next married Baldwin de Boullers [18206] [MRIN: 6163].

Henry next married Sybilla Corbet [18094] [MRIN: 6109] about 1092. Sybilla was born about 1077 in Alcester, Warwick, England and died after 1156.

Children from this marriage were:

   39 M    i. Gundrada "Beauclerc" [18172] .

   40 F    ii. Rohese "Beauclerc" [18173] died after 1176.

+ 41 M    iii. Earl Robert de Caen de Mellent [18095] was born about 1090 in Caen, Calvados, France and died on 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, England about age 57.

   42 F    iv. Sybilla "Beauclerc" [18170] was born c1092 and died in 1122 at age 30.

Sybilla married King Alexander I Scotland [18171] [MRIN: 6147].

Sybilla next married Baldwin de Boullers [18206] [MRIN: 6163].

   43 M    v. William "Beauclerc" [18169] was born c1105 and died after 1187.

+ 44 M    vi. Earl of Cornwall Rainald de Dunstanville [18168] was born c1110 in Dunstanville, Kent, England and died on 1 Jul 1175 in Chertsey, Surrey at age 65.

Henry next married Queen Edith "Atheling" Mathilda of Scotland [18091] [MRIN: 6107] on 11 Nov 1100 in Westminster Abbey, London. Edith was born in Oct 1079 in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland and died on 1 May 1118 in Westminster Palace, London, England at age 38.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 45 F    i. Queen Matilda Adelaide of England [18089] was born on 5 Aug 1102 in Winchester, England and died on 10 Sep 1167 in Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine Maritime, Normandy at age 65.

   46 F    ii. Princess of England Elizabeth Beauclerc [19136] was born in 1095 in Ralby, Yorkshire, England.

   47 M    iii. Prince of England William "Atheling" Beauclerc [19137] was born on 5 Aug 1103 in Selby, Yorkshire, England and died on 26 Nov 1119 at Sea at age 16.

   48 M    iv. Prince of England Richard Beauclerc [19138] was born in 1105 in England and died on 26 Sep 1119 at Sea at age 14.

  Seventh Generation  

32. Constance "Beauclerc" [18191] .

Constance married Roscelin de Beaumont [18192] [MRIN: 6156].

The child from this marriage was:

   49 F    i. Ermengarde de Beaumont [18193] .

Ermengarde married King William the Lyon of Scotland [18194] [MRIN: 6157].

41. Earl Robert de Caen de Mellent [18095] was born about 1090 in Caen, Calvados, France and died on 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, England about age 57.

Robert married Mabel FitzHamon [18096] [MRIN: 6110] in 1109. Mabel was born in 1090 and died in 1157 at age 67.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 50 M    i. Earl William FitzRobert [18097] was born on 23 Nov 1116 in Gloycestershire, England and died on 23 Nov 1183 at age 67.

44. Earl of Cornwall Rainald de Dunstanville [18168] was born c1110 in Dunstanville, Kent, England and died on 1 Jul 1175 in Chertsey, Surrey at age 65.

General Notes: Reginald, earl of Cornwall.

Rainald married Beatrice FitzRichard [18207] [MRIN: 6164] in 1135. Beatrice was born in 1114 in Cardinan, Cornwall and died in 1162 at age 48.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 51 F    i. Beatrice de Vaux [18208] was born in 1149 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died on 24 Mar 1217 at age 68.

45. Queen Matilda Adelaide of England [18089] was born on 5 Aug 1102 in Winchester, England and died on 10 Sep 1167 in Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine Maritime, Normandy at age 65.

General Notes: Born 1102, London
Died Sept. 10, 1167, near Rouen, Fr.

Also called Maud, German Mathild, consort of the Holy Roman emperor Henry V and afterward claimant to the English throne in the reign of King Stephen.

She was the only daughter of Henry I of England by Queen Matilda and was sister of William the Aetheling, heir to the English and Norman thrones. Both her marriages were in furtherance of Henry I's policy of strengthening Normandy against France. In 1114 she was married to Henry V; he died in 1125, leaving her childless, and three years later she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, effectively count of Anjou.

Her brother's death in 1120 made her Henry I's sole legitimate heir, and in 1127 he compelled the baronage to accept her as his successor, though a woman ruler was equally unprecedented for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy. The Angevin marriage was unpopular and flouted the barons' stipulation that she should not be married out of England without their consent. The birth of her eldest son, Henry, in 1133 gave hope of silencing this opposition, but he was only two when Henry I died (1135), and a rapid coup brought to the English throne Stephen of Blois, son of William I the Conqueror's daughter Adela. Though the church and the majority of the baronage supported Stephen, Matilda's claims were powerfully upheld in England by her half brother Robert of Gloucester and her uncle King David I of Scotland. Matilda and Robert landed at Arundel in September 1139, and she was for a short while besieged in the castle. But Stephen soon allowed her to join her brother, who had gone to the west country, where she had much support; after a stay at Bristol, she settled at Gloucester.

She came nearest to success in the summer of 1141, after Stephen had been captured at Lincoln in February. Elected “lady of the English” by a clerical council at Winchester in April, she entered London in June; but her arrogance and tactless demands for money provoked the citizens to chase her away to Oxford before she could be crowned queen. Her forces were routed at Winchester in September 1141, and thereafter she maintained a steadily weakening resistance in the west country. Her well-known escape from Oxford Castle over the frozen River Thames took place in December 1142.

Normandy had been in her husband's possession since 1144, and she retired there in 1148, remaining near Rouen to watch over the interests to her eldest son, who became duke of Normandy in 1150 and King Henry II of England in 1154. She spent the remainder of her life in Normandy exercising a steadying influence over Henry II's continental dominions.

Matilda married Duke Geoffrey Plantagenet "the Fair" [18088] [MRIN: 6106] in Jun 1128 in Le Mans Cathedral. Geoffrey was born on 24 Aug 1113 in Anjou, France and died on 7 Sep 1151 in Le Mans, France at age 38.

General Notes: Born Aug. 24, 1113
Died Sept. 7, 1151, Le Mans, Maine [France]

Also called Geoffrey Plantagenet, by name Geoffrey The Fair, French Geoffroi Plantagenet, or Geoffroi Le Belcount of Anjou (1131–51), Maine, and Touraine and ancestor of the Plantagenet kings of England through his marriage, in June 1128, to Matilda (q.v.), daughter of Henry I of England. On Henry's death (1135), Geoffrey claimed the duchy of Normandy; he finally conquered it in 1144 and ruled there as duke until he gave it to his son Henry (later King Henry II of England) in 1150.

Geoffrey was popular with the Normans, but he had to suppress a rebellion of malcontent Angevin nobles. After a short war with Louis VII of France, Geoffrey signed a treaty (August 1151) by which he surrendered the whole of Norman Vexin (the border area between Normandy and Île-de-France) to Louis.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 52 M    i. King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle" [18085] was born on 5 Mar 1133 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France and died on 6 Jul 1189 in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France at age 56.

   53 F    ii. Agnes Plantagenet [19139] was born in 1130 in LeMans, France and died in 1192 in Anyore, England at age 62.

   54 M    iii. Geoffrey "Mantell" Plantagenet VI [19140] was born on 3 Jun 1134 in Rouen, France, died on 27 Jul 1157 in Nantes, France at age 23, and was buried in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France.

   55 M    iv. Guillaume Plantagenet [19141] was born on 22 Jul 1136 in Argentan, Orne, France, died on 30 Jan 1164 in Rouen, France at age 27, and was buried in Notre Dame, Rouen, France.

   56 F    v. Emma Plantagenet de Normandie [19142] was born in 1138 in Normandie, France.

Matilda next married Holy Roman Emporer Henry de Normandie V [18784] [MRIN: 6448]. Henry died in 1125.

  Eighth Generation  

50. Earl William FitzRobert [18097] was born on 23 Nov 1116 in Gloycestershire, England and died on 23 Nov 1183 at age 67.

William married Hawise de Beaumont [18098] [MRIN: 6111] about 1150 in Leicestershire. Hawise was born about 1130 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England and died on 24 Apr 1183 about age 53.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 57 F    i. Mabel FitzRobert [18099] was born in 1155 and died in 1188 at age 33.

51. Beatrice de Vaux [18208] was born in 1149 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died on 24 Mar 1217 at age 68.

Beatrice married William II de Briwere [18209] [MRIN: 6165] in 1174. William was born in 1145 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died about 1230 in Devonshire, England about age 85.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 58 F    i. Gracia de Briwere "The Dark" [18210] was born in 1186 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died in 1223 at age 37.

52. King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle" [18085] was born on 5 Mar 1133 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France and died on 6 Jul 1189 in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France at age 56.

General Notes: Henry II, "FitzEmpress" or "Curtmantle".
King of England 25 October 1154 to 6 July 1189
Titles: King of England; Duke of Normandy; Duke of Aquitaine, County of Anjou, Touraine and Maine.
Born: Le Mans, Maine, 5 March 1133
Died: Chinon Castle, Anjou, 6 July 1189, aged 56.
Buried: Fontevrault Abbey, France
Married: 18 May 1152 at Bordeaux Cathedral, Gascony, Eleanor (c1122-1204), daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and divorcee' of Louis VII King of France.
8 children.
12 illegitimate children.

Henry of Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, Henry Fitzempress, or Henry Curtmantle (Short Mantle)duke of Normandy (from 1150), count of Anjou (from 1151), duke of Aquitaine (from 1152), and king of England (from 1154), who greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and with members of his family (his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and such sons as Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland) ultimately brought about his defeat.

After receiving a good literary education, part of it in England, Henry became duke of Normandy in 1150 and count of Anjou on the death of his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, in 1151. Although the claim of his mother, Matilda, daughter of Henry I, to the English crown had been set aside by her cousin, King Stephen, in 1152, Henry advanced his fortunes by marrying the beautiful and talented Eleanor, recently divorced from King Louis VII of France, who brought with her hand the lordship of Aquitaine. Henry invaded England in 1153, and King Stephen agreed to accept him as coadjutor and heir. When Stephen died the following year Henry succeeded without opposition, thus becoming lord of territories stretching from Scotland to the Pyrenees.

The young king lacked visible majesty. Of stocky build, with freckled face, close-cut tawny hair, and gray eyes, he dressed carelessly and grew to be bulky; but his personality commanded attention and drew men to his service. He could be a good companion, with ready repartee in a jostling crowd, but he displayed at times the ungovernable temper of a furious animal and could be heartless and ruthless when necessary. Restless, impetuous, always on the move, regardless of the convenience of others, hewas at ease with scholars, and his administrative decrees were the work of a cool realist. In his long reign of 34 years he spent an aggregate of only 14 in England.

His career may be considered in three aspects: the defense and enlargement of his dominions, the involvement in two lengthy and disastrous personal quarrels, and his lasting administrative and judicial reforms.

His territories are often called the Angevin Empire. This is a misnomer, for Henry's sovereignty rested upon various titles, and there was no institutional or legal bond between different regions. Some, indeed, were under the feudal overlordship of the king of France. By conquest, through diplomacy, and through the marriages of two of his sons, he gained acknowledged possession of what is now the west of France from the northernmost part of Normandy to the Pyrenees, near Carcassonne. During his reign, the dynastic marriages of three daughters gave him political influence in Germany, Castile, and Sicily. His continental dominions brought him into contact with Louis VII of France, the German emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), and, for much of the reign, Pope Alexander III. With Louis the relationship was ambiguous. Henry had taken Louis's former wife and her rich heritage. He subsequently acquired the Vexin in Normandy by the premature marriage of his son Henry to Louis's daughter, and during much of his reign he was attempting to outfight or outwit the French king, who, for his part, gave shelter and comfort to Henry's enemy, Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury. The feud with Louis implied friendly relations with Germany, where Henry was helped by his mother's first marriage to the emperor Henry V but hindered by Frederick's maintenance of an antipope, the outcome of a disputed papal election in 1159. Louis supported Alexander III, whose case was strong, and Henry became arbiter of European opinion. Though acknowledging Alexander, he continued throughout the Becket controversy to threaten transference of allegiance to Frederick's antipope, thus impeding Alexander's freedom of action.

Early in his reign Henry obtained from Malcolm III of Scotland homage and the restoration of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland, and later in the reign (1174) homage was exacted from William the Lion, Malcolm's brother and successor. In 1157 Henry invaded Wales and received homage, though without conquest. In Ireland, reputedly bestowed upon him by Pope Adrian IV, Henry allowed an expedition of barons from South Wales to establish Anglo-Norman supremacy in Leinster (1169), which the King himself extended in 1171.

His remarkable achievements were impaired, however, by the stresses caused by a dispute with Becket and by discords in his own family.

The quarrel with Becket, Henry's trusted and successful chancellor (1154–62), broke out soon after Becket's election to the archbishopric of Canterbury (May 1162). It led to a complete severance of relations and to the Archbishop's voluntary exile. Besides disrupting the public life of the church, this situation embroiled Henry with Louis VII and Alexander III; and, though it seemingly did little to hamper Henry's activities, the time and service spent in negotiations and embassies was considerable, and the tragic denouement in Becket's murder earned for Henry a good deal of damaging opprobrium.

More dangerous were the domestic quarrels, which thwarted Henry's plans and even endangered his life and which finally brought him down in sorrow and shame.

Throughout his adult life Henry's sexual morality was lax; but his relations with Eleanor, 11 years his senior, were for long tolerably harmonious, and, between 1153 and 1167, she bore him eight children. Of these, the four sons who survived infancy—Henry, Geoffrey, Richard, and John—repaid his genuine affection with resentment toward their father and discord among themselves. None was blameless, but the cause of the quarrels was principally Henry's policy of dividing his dominions among his sons while reserving real authority for himself. In 1170 he crowned his eldest son, Henry, as co-regent with himself; but in fact the young king had no powers and resented his nonentity, and in 1173 he opposed his father's proposal to find territories for the favored John (Lackland) at the expense of Geoffrey. Richard joined the protest of the others and was supported by Eleanor. There was a general revolt of the baronage in England and Normandy, supported by Louis VII in France and William the Lion in Scotland. Henry's prestige was at a low ebb after the murder of Becket and recent taxation, but he reacted energetically, settled matters in Normandy and Brittany, and crossed to England, where fighting had continued for a year. On July 12, 1174, he did public penance at Canterbury. The next day the King of Scots was taken at Alnwick, and three weeks later Henry had suppressed the rebellion in England. His sons were pardoned, but Eleanor was kept in custody until her husband died.

A second rebellion flared up in 1181 with a quarrel between his sons Henry and Richard over the government of Aquitaine, but young Henry died in 1183. In 1184 Richard quarrelled with John, who had been ordered to take Aquitaine off his hands. Matters were eased by the death of Geoffrey (1186), but the King's attempt to find an inheritance for John led to a coalition against him of Richard and the young Philip II Augustus, who had succeeded his father, Louis VII, as king of France. Henry was defeated and forced to give way, and news that John also had joined his enemies hastened the King's death near Tours in 1189.

In striking contrast to the checkered pattern of Henry's wars and schemes, his governance of England displays a careful and successful adaptation of means to a single end—the control of a realm served by the best administration in Europe. This success was obscured for contemporaries and later historians by the varied and often dramatic interest of political and personal events, and not until the 19th century—when the study of the public records began and when legal history was illuminated by the British jurist Frederic William Maitland and his followers—did the administrative genius of Henry and his servants appear in its true light.

At the beginning of his reign Henry found England in disorder, with royal authority ruined by civil war and the violence of feudal magnates. His first task was to crush the unruly elements and restore firm government, using the existing institutions of government, with which the Anglo-Norman monarchy was well provided. Among these was the King's council of barons, with its inner group of ministers who were both judges and accountants and who sat at the Exchequer, into which the taxes and dues of the shires were paid by the King's local representative, the sheriff (shire-reeve). The council contained an unusually able group of men—some of them were great barons, such as Richard de Lucy and Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester; others included civil servants, such as Nigel, bishop of Ely, Richard Fitzneale, and his son, Richard of Ilchester. Henry took a personal interest in the technique of the Exchequer, which was described at length for posterity in the celebrated Dialogus de scaccario, whose composition seemed to Maitland “one of the most wonderful things of Henry's wonderful reign.” How far these royal servants were responsible for the innovations of the reign cannot be known, though the development in practice continued steadily, even during the King's long absences abroad.

In the early months of the reign the King, using his energetic and versatile chancellor Becket, beat down the recalcitrant barons and their castles and began to restore order to the country and to the various forms of justice. It was thus, a few years later, that he came into conflict with the bishops, then led by Becket, over the alleged right of clerics to be tried for crime by an ecclesiastical court. A result of this was the celebrated collection of decrees—the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164)—which professed to reassert the ancestral rights of the King over the church in such matters as clerical immunity, appointment of bishops, custody of vacant sees, excommunication, and appeals to Rome. The Archbishop, after an initial compliance, refused to accept these, and they were throughout the controversy, a block to an agreement. The quarrel touched what was to be the King's chief concern—the country's judicial system.

Anglo-Saxon England had two courts of justice—that of the hundred, a division of the shire, for petty offenses, and that of the shire, presided over by the sheriff. The feudal regime introduced by the Normans added courts of the manor and of the honor (a complex of estates). Above all stood the royal right to set up courts for important pleas and to hear, either in person or through his ministers, any appeal. Arrest was a local responsibility, usually hard upon a flagrant crime. A doubt of guilt was settled by ordeal by battle; the accused in the shire underwent tests held to reveal God's judgment. Two developments had come in since William the Conqueror's day: the occasional mission of royal justices into the shires and the occasional use of a jury of local notables as fact finders in cases of land tenure.

Henry's first comprehensive program was the Assize of Clarendon (1166), in which the procedure of criminal justice was established; 12 “lawful” men of every hundred, and four of every village, acting as a “jury of presentment,” were bound to declare on oath whether any local man was a robber or murderer. Trial of those accused was reserved to the King's justices, and prisons for those awaiting trial were to be erected at the King's expense. This provided a system of criminal investigation for the whole country, with a reasonable verdict probable because the firm accusation of the jury entailed exile even if the ordeal acquitted the accused. In feudal courts the trial by battle could be avoided by the establishment of a concord, or fine. This system presupposed regular visits by the King's justices on circuit, and these tours became part of the administration of the country. The justices formed three groups: one on tour, one “on the bench” at Westminster, and one with the King when the court was out of London. Those at Westminster dealt with private pleas and cases sent up from the justices on eyre.

Equally effective were the “possessory assizes.” In the feudal world, especially in times of turmoil, violent ejections and usurpations were common, with consequent vendettas and violence. Pleas brought to feudal courts could be delayed or altogether frustrated. As a remedy Henry established the possessory writ, an order from the Exchequer, directing the sheriff to convene a sworn local jury at petty assize to establish the fact of dispossession, whereupon the sheriff had to reinstate the defendant pending a subsequent trial at the grand assize to establish the rights of the case. This was the writ of Novel Disseisin (i.e., recent dispossession). This writ was returnable; if the sheriff failed to achieve reinstatement, he had to summon the defendant to appear before the King's justices and himself be present with the writ. A similar writ of Mort d'Ancestor decided whether the ancestor of a plaintiff had in fact possessed the estate, whereas that of Darrein Presentment (i.e., last presentation) decided who in fact had last presented a parson to a particular benefice. All these writs gave rapid and clear verdicts subject to later revision. The fees enriched the treasury, and recourse to the courts both extended the King's control and discouraged irregular self-help. Two other practices developed by Henry became permanent. One was scutage, the commutation of military service for a money payment; the other was the obligation, put on all free men with a property qualification by the Assize of Arms (1181), to possess arms suitable to their station.

The ministers who engaged upon these reforms took a fully professional interest in the business they handled, as may be seen in Fitzneale's writing on the Exchequer and that of the chief justiciar, Ranulf de Glanville, on the laws of England; and many of the expedients adopted by the King may have been suggested by them. In any case, the long-term results were very great. By the multiplication of a class of experts in finance and law Henry did much to establish two great professions, and the location of a permanent court at Westminster and the character of its business settled for England (and for much of the English-speaking world) that common law, not Roman law, would rule the courts and that London, and not an academy, would be its principal nursery. Moreover, Henry's decrees ensured that the judge-and-jury combination would become normal and that the jury would gradually supplant ordeal and battle as being responsible for the verdict. Finally, the increasing use of scutage, and the availability of the royal courts for private suits, were effective agents in molding the feudal monarchy into a monarchical bureaucracy before the appearance of Parliament.

Henry II lived in an age of biographers and letter writers of genius. John of Salisbury, Thomas Becket, Giraldus Cambrensis, Walter Map, Peter of Blois, and others knew him well and left their impressions. All agreed on his outstanding ability and striking personality and also recorded his errors and aspects of his character that appear contradictory, whereas modern historians agree upon the difficulty of reconciling its main features. Without deep religious or moral conviction, Henry nevertheless was respected by three contemporary saints, Aelred of Rievaulx, Gilbert of Sempringham, and Hugh of Lincoln. Normally an approachable and faithful friend and master, he could behave with unreasonable inhumanity. His conduct and aims were always self-centred, but he was neither a tyrant nor an odious egoist. Both as man and ruler he lacked the stamp of greatness that marked Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror. He seemed also to lack wisdom and serenity; and he had no comprehensive view of the country's interest, no ideals of kingship, no sympathetic care for his people. But if his reign is to be judged by its consequences for England, it undoubtedly stands high in importance, and Henry, as its mainspring, appears among the most notable of English kings.

Henry married Eleanore d' Aquitanie [18087] [MRIN: 6105] on 18 May 1152 in Poitiers. Eleanore was born about 1122 in Chateau de Belin, Guinne, France and died on 1 Apr 1204 in l'Abbaye de Maine et Loire, France about age 82.

General Notes: born c. 1122
died April 1, 1204, Fontevrault, Anjou, Fr.

Also called Eleanor Of Guyenne, French Éléonore, or Aliénor, D'aquitaine, or De Guyennequeen consort of both Louis VII of France (in 1137–52) and Henry II of England (in 1152–1204) and mother of Richard I the Lion-Heart and John of England. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe.

Eleanor was the daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers, who possessed one of the largest domains in France—larger, in fact, than those held by the French king. Upon William's death in 1137 she inherited the Duchy of Aquitaine and in July 1137 married the heir to the French throne, who succeeded his father, Louis VI, the following month. Eleanor became queen of France, a title she held for the next 15 years. Beautiful, capricious, and adored by Louis, Eleanor exerted considerable influence over him, often goading him into undertaking perilous ventures.

From 1147 to 1149 Eleanor accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade to protect the fragile Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, founded after the First Crusade only 50 years before, from Turkish assault. Eleanor's conduct during this expedition, especially at the court of her uncle Raymond of Poitiers at Antioch, aroused Louis's jealousy and marked the beginning of their estrangement. After their return to France and a short-lived reconciliation, their marriage was annulled in March 1152. According to feudal customs, Eleanor then regained possession of Aquitaine, and two months later she married the grandson of Henry I of England, Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy. In 1154 he became, as Henry II, king of England, with the result that England, Normandy, and the west of France were united under his rule. Eleanor had only two daughters by Louis VII; to her new husband she bore five sons and three daughters. The sons were William, who died at the age of three; Henry; Richard, the Lion-Heart; Geoffrey, duke of Brittany; and John, surnamed Lackland until, having outlived all his brothers, he inherited, in 1199, the crown of England. The daughters were Matilda, who married Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria; Eleanor, who married Alfonso VIII, king of Castile; and Joan, who married successively William II, king of Sicily, and Raymond VI, count of Toulouse. Eleanor would well have deserved to be named the “grandmother of Europe.”

During her childbearing years, she participated actively in the administration of the realm and even more actively in the management of her own domains. She was instrumental in turning the court of Poitiers, then frequented by the most famous troubadours of the time, into a centre of poetry and a model of courtly life and manners. She was the great patron of the two dominant poetic movements of the time: the courtly love tradition, conveyed in the romantic songs of the troubadours, and the historical matière de Bretagne, or “legends of Britanny,” which originated in Celtic traditions and in the Historia regum Britanniae, written by the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth some time between 1135 and 1139.

The revolt of her sons against her husband in 1173 put her cultural activities to a brutal end. Since Eleanor, 11 years her husband's senior, had long resented his infidelities, the revolt may have been instigated by her; in any case, she gave her sons considerable military support. The revolt failed, and Eleanor was captured while seeking refuge in the kingdom of her first husband, Louis VII. Her semi-imprisonment in England ended only with the death of Henry II in 1189. On her release, Eleanor played a greater political role than ever before. She actively prepared for Richard's coronation as king, was administrator of the realm during his crusade to the Holy Land, and, after his capture by the Duke of Austria on Richard's return from the east, collected his ransom and went in person to escort him to England. During Richard's absence, she succeeded in keeping his kingdom intact and in thwarting the intrigues of his brother John Lackland and Philip II Augustus, king of France, against him.

In 1199 Richard died without leaving an heir to the throne, and John was crowned king. Eleanor, nearly 80 years old, fearing the disintegration of the Plantagenet domain, crossed the Pyrenees in 1200 in order to fetch her granddaughter Blanche from the court of Castile and marry her to the son of the French king. By this marriage she hoped to insure peace between the Plantagenets of England and the Capetian kings of France. In the same year she helped to defend Anjou and Aquitaine against her grandson Arthur of Brittany, thus securing John's French possessions. In 1202 John was again in her debt for holding Mirebeau against Arthur, until John, coming to her relief, was able to take him prisoner. John's only victories on the Continent, therefore, were due to Eleanor.

She died in 1204 at the monastery at Fontevrault, Anjou, where she had retired after the campaign at Mirebeau. Her contribution to England extended beyond her own lifetime; after the loss of Normandy (1204), it was her own ancestral lands and not the old Norman territories that remained loyal to England. She has been misjudged by many French historians who have noted only her youthful frivolity, ignoring the tenacity, political wisdom, and energy that characterized the years of her maturity. “She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant”; and, as the nuns of Fontevrault wrote in their necrology: a queen “who surpassed almost all the queens of the world.”

Children from this marriage were:

   59 M    i. William Plantagenet [18627] .

   60 M    ii. Henry Plantagenet [18628] .

   61 F    iii. Matilda Plantagenet [18632] .

   62 F    iv. Eleanor Plantagenet [18633] .

   63 F    v. Joan Plantagenet [18634] .

   64 M    vi. King Richard de Aquitaine I "Lionheart" [18629] was born on 8 Sep 1157 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England, died on 6 Apr 1199 in Chalus, Aquitaine at age 41, and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, Anjou.

General Notes: born Sept. 8, 1157, Oxford
died April 6, 1199, Châlus, Duchy of Aquitaine

Richard The Lion-heart, or Lion-hearted, French Richard Coeur De Lionduke of Aquitaine (from 1168) and of Poitiers (from 1172) and king of England, duke of Normandy, and count of Anjou (1189–99). His knightly manner and his prowess in the Third Crusade (1189–92) made him a popular king in his own time as well as the hero of countless romantic legends. He has been viewed less kindly by more recent historians and scholars.

Richard was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and he was given the Duchy of Aquitaine, his mother's inheritance, at the age of 11 and was enthroned as duke at Poitiers in 1172. Richard possessed precocious political and military ability, won fame for his knightly prowess, and quickly learned how to control the turbulent aristocracy of Poitou and Gascony. Like all Henry II's legitimate sons, he had little or no filial piety, foresight, or sense of responsibility. He joined his brothers in the great rebellion (1173–74) against their father, who invaded Aquitaine twice before Richard submitted and received pardon. Thereafter Richard was occupied with suppressing baronial revolts in his own duchy. His harshness infuriated the Gascons, who revolted in 1183 and called in the help of the “Young King” Henry and his brother Geoffrey of Brittany in an effort to drive Richard from his duchy altogether. Alarmed at the threatened disintegration of his empire, Henry II brought the feudal host of his continental lands to Richard's aid, but the younger Henry died suddenly (June 11, 1183) and the uprising collapsed.

Richard was now heir to England, and to Normandy and Anjou (which were regarded as inseparable), and his father wished him to yield Aquitaine to his youngest brother, John. But Richard, a true southerner, would not surrender the duchy in which he had grown up, and even appealed, against Henry II, to the young king of France, Philip II Augustus. In November 1188 he did homage to Philip for all the English holdings on French soil and in 1189 openly joined forces with Philip to drive Henry into abject submission. They chased him from Le Mans to Saumur, forced him to acknowledge Richard as his heir, and at last harried him to his death (July 6, 1189).

Richard received Normandy on July 20 and the English throne on September 30. Richard, unlike Philip, had only one ambition, to lead the crusade prompted by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187. He had no conception of planning for the future of the English monarchy and put up everything for sale to buy arms for the crusade. Yet he had not become king to preside over the dismemberment of the Angevin empire. He broke with Philip and did not neglect Angevin defenses on the Continent. Open war was averted only because Philip also took the cross. Richard dipped deep into his father's treasure and sold sheriffdoms and other offices. With all this he raised a formidable fleet and an army, and in 1190 he departed for the Holy Land, traveling via Sicily.

Richard found the Sicilians hostile and took Messina by storm (October 4). To prevent the German emperor Henry VI from ruling their country, the Sicilians had elected the native Tancred of Lecce, who had imprisoned the late king's wife, Joan of England (Richard's sister), and denied her possession of her dower. By the Treaty of Messina Richard obtained for Joan her release and her dower, acknowledged Tancred as king of Sicily, declared Arthur of Brittany (Richard's nephew) to be his own heir, and provided for Arthur to marry Tancred's daughter. This treaty infuriated the Germans, who were also taking part in the Third Crusade, and it incited Richard's brother John to treachery and rebellion. Richard joined the other crusaders at Acre on June 8, 1191, having conquered Cyprus on his way there. While at Limassol in Cyprus, Richard married (May 12) Berengaria of Navarre.

Acre fell in July 1191, and on September 7 Richard's brilliant victory at Ars¨f put the crusaders in possession of Joppa. Twice Richard led his forces to within a few miles of Jerusalem. But the recapture of the city, which constituted the chief aim of the Third Crusade, eluded him. There were fierce quarrels among the French, German, and English contingents. Richard insulted Leopold V, duke of Austria, by tearing down his banner and quarreled with Philip Augustus, who returned to France after the fall of Acre. Richard's candidate for the crown of Jerusalem was his vassal Guy de Lusignan, whom he supported against the German candidate, Conrad of Montferrat. It was rumored, unjustly, that Richard connived at Conrad's murder. After a year's unproductive skirmishing, Richard (September 1192) made a truce for three years with Saladin that permitted the crusaders to hold Acre and a thin coastal strip and gave Christian pilgrims free access to the holy places.

Richard sailed home by way of the Adriatic, because of French hostility, and a storm drove his ship ashore near Venice. Because of the enmity of Duke Leopold he disguised himself, but he was discovered at Vienna in December 1192 and imprisoned in the Duke's castle at Dürnstein on the Danube. Later, he was handed over to Henry VI, who kept him at various imperial castles. It was around Richard's captivity in a castle, whose identity was at first unknown in England, that the famous romance of Blondel was woven in the 13th century.

Under the threat of being handed over to Philip II, Richard agreed to the harsh terms imposed by Henry VI: a colossal ransom of 150,000 marks and the surrender of his kingdom to the Emperor on condition that he receive it back as a fief. The raising of the ransom money was one of the most remarkable fiscal measures of the 12th century and gives striking proof of the prosperity of England. A very high proportion of the ransom was paid, and meanwhile (February 1194) Richard was released.

He returned at once to England and was crowned for the second time on April 17, fearing that the independence of his kingship had been compromised. Within a month he went to Normandy, never to return. His last five years were spent in warfare against Philip II, interspersed with occasional truces. The King left England in the capable hands of Hubert Walter, justiciar and archbishop of Canterbury. It was Richard's impetuosity that brought him to his death at the early age of 42. The Vicomte of Limoges refused to hand over a hoard of gold unearthed by a local peasant. Richard laid siege to his castle of Châlus and in an unlucky moment was wounded. He died in 1199. He was buried in the abbey church of Fontevrault, where Henry II and Queen Eleanor are also buried, and his effigy is still preserved there.

Richard was a thoroughgoing Angevin, irresponsible and hot-tempered, possessed of tremendous energy, and capable of great cruelty. He was more accomplished than most of his family, a soldier of consummate ability, a skillful politician, and capable of inspiring loyal service. He was a lyric poet of considerable power and the hero of troubadours. In striking contrast with his father and with King John, he was, there seems no doubt, a homosexual. He had no children by Queen Berengaria, with whom his relations seem to have been merely formal.

Richard married Berengaria Sancho [18086] [MRIN: 6390] on 12 May 1191 in Limassol, Cyprus. Berengaria was born c1163 and died after 1230.

   65 M    vii. Duke Geoffrey Plantagenet de Brittany [18630] was born on 23 Sep 1158 and died in Aug 1186 in Paris, France at age 27.

General Notes: born Sept. 23, 1158
died Aug. 19?, 1186, Paris [France]

also called Geoffrey Plantagenet, French Geoffroi Plantagenet duke of Brittany and earl of Richmond, the fourth, but third surviving, son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

In 1166, in furtherance of his father's policy of extending and consolidating Angevin power in France, Geoffrey was betrothed to Constance, daughter and heir of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany. At the same time, Duke Conan was forced to surrender to Henry II for Geoffrey's use the whole duchy of Brittany except the county of Guingamp. Geoffrey received the homage of the Breton nobles in 1169, and in 1173 he joined the rebellion against Henry II led by his eldest brother, Henry, the “Young King,” and supported by the rulers of France, Scotland, and Flanders. He submitted to his father at Michaelmas, 1174, and was sent back to Brittany, where he proceeded to recover lost ducal estates and subdue rebellious barons. He and Constance were married in 1181.

From then until his death he fought against both his brother Richard the Lion-Heart and his father (toward whom he behaved atrociously), largely for possession of Anjou. In 1185 he issued an “assize” at Rennes regularizing the succession to military fiefs in Brittany. He died at Paris, either of illness or in a tournament, leaving a daughter, Eleanor, and a posthumous son, Arthur I.

+ 66 M    viii. King John Plantagenet "Lackland" [18631] was born on 24 Dec 1167 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England and died on 19 Oct 1216 in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England at age 48.

Henry next married Ida Plantagenet [18081] [MRIN: 6104] in 1176. Ida was born in 1154 in Norfolk, England.

  Ninth Generation  

57. Mabel FitzRobert [18099] was born in 1155 and died in 1188 at age 33.

Mabel married Gruffudd ap Ifor Bach [18100] [MRIN: 6112]. Gruffudd was born about 1158 and died in 1211 about age 53.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 67 M    i. Rhys ap Gruffudd [18101] .

58. Gracia de Briwere "The Dark" [18210] was born in 1186 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died in 1223 at age 37.

Gracia married Reginald de Braose [18211] [MRIN: 6166]. Reginald was born in 1178 in Bramber, Sussex, England and died on 9 Jun 1228 in Brecon, Breconshire, Wales at age 50.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 68 M    i. Lord William de Braose "Black Will" [18212] was born about 1200 in Brecknock, Surrey, England and died on 2 May 1230 in Wales about age 30.

66. King John Plantagenet "Lackland" [18631] was born on 24 Dec 1167 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England and died on 19 Oct 1216 in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England at age 48.

General Notes: born Dec. 24, 1167, Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England
died Oct. 19, 1216, Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England.

King of England, Lord of Ireland, County of Mortain, Duke of Normandy.

John Lackland, French Jean Sans Terreking of England from 1199 to 1216. In a war with the French king Philip II, he lost Normandy and almost all his other possessions in France. In England, after a revolt of the barons, he was forced to seal the Magna Carta (1215).

John was the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry's plan (1173) to assign to John, his favorite son (whom he had nicknamed Lackland), extensive lands upon his marriage with the daughter of Humbert III, count of Maurienne (Savoy), was defeated by the rebellion the proposal provoked among John's elder brothers. Various provisions were made for him in England (1174–76), including the succession to the earldom of Gloucester. He was also granted the lordship of Ireland (1177), which he visited from April to late 1185, committing youthful political indiscretions from which he acquired a reputation for reckless irresponsibility. Henry's continued favor to him contributed to the rebellion of his eldest surviving son, Richard I (later called Coeur de Lion), in June 1189. For obscure reasons John deserted Henry for Richard.

On Richard's accession in July 1189, John was made count of Mortain (a title that became his usual style), was confirmed as lord of Ireland, was granted lands and revenues in England worth £6,000 a year, and was married to Isabella, heiress to the earldom of Gloucester. He also had to promise (March 1190) not to enter England during Richard's absence on his crusade. But John's actions were now dominated by the problem of the succession, in which his nephew, the three-year-old Arthur I, duke of Brittany, the son of his deceased elder brother Geoffrey, was his only serious rival. When Richard recognized Arthur as his heir (October 1190), John immediately broke his oath and returned to England, where he led the opposition to Richard's dictatorial chancellor, William Longchamp. On receiving the news in January 1193 that Richard, on his way back from the crusade, had been imprisoned in Germany, John allied himself with King Philip II Augustus of France and attempted unsuccessfully to seize control of England. In April 1193 he was forced to accept a truce but made further arrangements with Philip for the division of Richard's possessions and for rebellion in England. On Richard's return, early in 1194, John was banished and deprived of all his lands. He was reconciled to Richard in May and recovered some of his estates, including Mortain and Ireland, in 1195, but his full rehabilitation came only after the Bretons had surrendered Arthur to Philip II in 1196. This led Richard to recognize John as his heir.

In 1199 the doctrine of representative succession, which would have given the throne to Arthur, was not yet generally accepted, and following Richard's death in April 1199 John was invested as duke of Normandy and in May crowned king of England. Arthur, backed by Philip II, was recognized as Richard's successor in Anjou and Maine, and it was only a year later, in the Treaty of Le Goulet, that John was recognized as successor in all Richard's French possessions, in return for financial and territorial concessions to Philip.

The renewal of war in France was triggered by John's second marriage. His first wife, Isabella of Gloucester, was never crowned, and in 1199 the marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity, both parties being great-grandchildren of Henry I. John then intervened in the stormy politics of his county of Poitou and, while trying to settle the differences between the rival families of Lusignan and Angoulême, himself married Isabella (August 1200), the heiress to Angoulême, who had been betrothed to Hugh IX de Lusignan. This politically conceived marriage provoked the Lusignans into rebellion the next year; they appealed to Philip II, who summoned John to appear before his court. In the general war that followed his failure to answer this summons, John had a temporary success at Mirebeau in August 1202, when Arthur of Brittany was captured, but Normandy was quickly lost (1204). By 1206, Anjou, Maine, and parts of Poitou had also gone over to King Philip.

These failures, foreshadowed under Henry II and Richard, were brought about by the superiority of French resources and the increasing strain on those of England and Normandy. Nevertheless, they were a damaging blow to John's prestige, and, equally important, they meant that John resided now almost permanently in England. This factor, coinciding with the death (1205) of the chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, gave his government a much more personal stamp, which was accentuated by the promotion of members of his household to important office. His determination to reverse the continental failure bore fruit in ruthlessly efficient financial administration, marked by taxation on revenues, investigations into the royal forests, taxation of the Jews, a great inquiry into feudal tenures, and the increasingly severe exploitation of his feudal prerogatives. These measures provided the material basis for the charges of tyranny later brought against him.

John's attention was diverted and his prestige disastrously affected by relations with the papacy. In the disputed election to the see of Canterbury following the death of Hubert Walter, Pope Innocent III quashed the election of John's nominee in procuring the election of Stephen Langton (December 1206). John, taking his ground on the traditional rights of the English crown in Episcopal elections, refused to accept Langton. In March 1208, Innocent laid an interdict on England and excommunicated John (November 1209). The quarrel continued until 1213, by which time John had amassed more than £100,000 from the revenues of vacant or appropriated sees and abbeys. But such a dispute was a dangerous hindrance to John's intention to recover his continental lands. In November 1212 he agreed to accept Langton and the Pope's terms. Apparently at his own behest, he surrendered his kingdom to the papal nuncio at Ewell, near Dover, on May 15, 1213, receiving it back as a vassal rendering a tribute of 1,000 marks (£666 13s. 4d.) a year. He was absolved from excommunication by Langton in July 1213, and the interdict was finally relaxed a year later. John thus succeeded in his aim to secure the papacy as a firm ally in the fight with Philip and in the struggle already pending with his own baronage. But his treatment of the church during the interdict, although arousing little if any opposition among the laity at the time, angered monastic chroniclers, who henceforth loaded him with charges of tyranny, cruelty, and, with less reason, of sacrilege and irreligion.

In August 1212 recurrent baronial discontent had come to a head in an unsuccessful plot to murder or desert John during a campaign planned against the Welsh. Pope Innocent's terms had included the restoration of two of those involved, Eustace de Vesci and Robert Fitzwalter, and, although the barons soon lost papal support, they retained the protection of Stephen Langton. John, skillfully isolating the malcontents, was able to launch his long-planned campaign against the French, landing at La Rochelle in February 1214. He achieved nothing decisive and was forced to accept a truce lasting until 1220. Returning to England in October 1214, he now had to face much more widespread discontent, centered mainly on the northern, East Anglian, and home counties. After lengthy negotiations in which both sides appealed to the Pope, civil war broke out in May 1215. John was compelled to negotiate once more when London went over to the rebels in May, and on June 19 at Runnymede he accepted the baronial terms embodied in the Magna Carta, which ensured feudal rights and restated English law. This settlement was soon rendered unworkable by the more intransigent barons and John's almost immediate appeal to Pope Innocent against it. Innocent took the King's side, and in the ensuing civil war John captured Rochester castle and laid waste the northern counties and the Scottish border. But his cause was weakened by the arrival of Prince Louis (later Louis VIII) of France, who invaded England at the barons' request. John continued to wage war vigorously but died, leaving the issues undecided. His death made possible a compromise peace, including the restoration of the rebels, the succession of his son Henry III, and the withdrawal of Louis.

John's reputation, bad at his death, was further depressed by writers of the next generation. Of all centuries prior to the present, only the 16th, mindful of his quarrel with Rome, recognized some of his quality. He was suspicious, vengeful, and treacherous; Arthur I of Brittany was probably murdered in captivity, and Matilda de Braose, the wife of a recalcitrant Marcher baron, was starved to death with her son in a royal prison. But John was cultured and literate. Conventional in his religion rather than devout, he was remembered for his benefactions to the church of Coventry, to Reading Abbey, and to Worcester, where he was buried and where his effigy still survives. He was extraordinarily active, with a great love of hunting and a readiness to travel that gave him a knowledge of England matched by few other monarchs. He took a personal interest in judicial and financial administration, and his reign saw important advances at the Exchequer, in the administration of justice, in the importance of the privy seal and the royal household, in methods of taxation and military organization, and in the grant of chartered privileges to towns. If his character was unreliable, his political judgment was acute. In 1215 many barons, including some of the most distinguished, fought on his side.

John married Suzanne de Warenne [18082] [MRIN: 6101]. Suzanne was born about 1166.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 69 M    i. King Henry III Plantagenet [18079] was born on 1 Oct 1207 in Winchester Castle Hampshire, England and died on 16 Nov 1272 in Westminster Palace, London, England at age 65.

John next married Clemence de Arcy [18083] [MRIN: 6102]. Clemence was born about 1173 and died in Sep 1196 about age 23.

John next married Isabelle Taillefer [18084] [MRIN: 6103] on 24 Jun 1200 in Bordeaux. Isabelle was born in 1188 in Angouleme, France and died on 31 May 1246 in Fontevrault at age 58.

  Tenth Generation  

67. Rhys ap Gruffudd [18101] .

Rhys married.

His child was:

+ 70 F    i. Joan verch Rhys [18102] .

68. Lord William de Braose "Black Will" [18212] was born about 1200 in Brecknock, Surrey, England and died on 2 May 1230 in Wales about age 30.

William married Eva Marshal [18213] [MRIN: 6167]. Eva was born about 1206 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales and died before 1246 in England.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 71 F    i. Eva de Braose [18214] was born in 1220 in Bramber, Sussex, England and died before 28 Jul 1255.

69. King Henry III Plantagenet [18079] was born on 1 Oct 1207 in Winchester Castle Hampshire, England and died on 16 Nov 1272 in Westminster Palace, London, England at age 65.

General Notes: Married 14 January 1236 at Canterbury Cathedral - nine children.
Born October 1, 1207, Winchester, Hampshire, Eng.
Died November 16, 1272, London

King of England from 1216 to 1272. In the 24 years(1234–58) during which he had effective control of the government, he displayed such indifference to tradition that the barons finally forced him to agree to a series of major reforms, the Provisions of Oxford (1258).

The elder son and heir of King John (ruled 1199–1216), Henry was nine years old when his father died. At that time London and much of eastern England were in the hands of rebel barons led by Prince Louis (later King Louis VIII of France), son of the French king Philip II Augustus. A council of regency presided over by the venerable William Marshal, 1st earl of Pembroke, was formed to rule for Henry; by 1217 the rebels had been defeated and Louis forced to withdraw from England. After Pembroke's death in 1219 Hubert de Burgh ran the government until he was dismissed by Henry in 1232. Two ambitious Frenchmen, Peter des Roches and Peter des Rivaux, then dominated Henry's regime until the barons brought about their expulsion in 1234. That event marked the beginning of Henry's personal rule.

Although Henry was charitable and cultured, he lacked the ability to rule effectively. In diplomatic and military affairs he proved to be arrogant yet cowardly, ambitious yet impractical. The breach between the King and his barons began as early as 1237, when the barons expressed outrage at the influence exercised over the government by Henry's Savoyard relatives. The marriage arranged (1238) by Henry between his sister, Eleanor, and his brilliant young French favorite, Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, increased foreign influence and further aroused the nobility's hostility. In 1242 Henry's Lusignan half brothers involved him in a costly and disastrous military venture in France. The barons then began to demand a voice in selecting Henry's counsellors, but the King repeatedly rejected their proposal. Finally, in 1254 Henry made a serious blunder. He concluded an agreement with Pope Innocent IV (pope 1243–54), offering to finance papal wars in Sicily if the Pope would grant his infant son, Edmund, the Sicilian crown. Four years later Pope Alexander IV (pope 1254–61) threatened to excommunicate Henry for failing to meet this financial obligation. Henry appealed to the barons for funds, but they agreed to cooperate only if he would accept far-reaching reforms. These measures, the Provisions of Oxford, provided for the creation of a 15-member privy council, selected (indirectly) by the barons, to advise the King and oversee the entire administration. The barons, however, soon quarrelled among themselves, and Henry seized the opportunity to renounce the Provisions (1261). In April 1264 Montfort, who had emerged as Henry's major baronial opponent, raised a rebellion; the following month he defeated and captured the King and his eldest son, Edward, at the Battle of Lewes (May 14, 1264), Sussex. Montfort ruled England in Henry's name until he was defeated and killed by Edward at the Battle of Evesham, Worcestershire, in August 1265. Henry, weak and senile, then allowed Edward to take charge of the government. After the King's death, Edward ascended the throne as King Edward I.

Henry married Eleonore de Provence [18080] [MRIN: 6100] on 14 Jan 1236 in Canterbury. Eleonore was born about 1217 in Aix-en-Provence, France and died on 24 Jun 1291 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England about age 74.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 72 M    i. King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks" [18077] was born on 17 Jun 1239 in Westminster and died on 7 Jul 1307 in Burh by Sands near Castile at age 68.

+ 73 M    ii. Earl Edmund Plantagenet "Crouchback" [18580] was born on 16 Jan 1244 in London, England and died on 5 Jun 1296 in Bayonne, France at age 52.

  Eleventh Generation  

70. Joan verch Rhys [18102] .

Joan married Sir Ralph Maelog [18103] [MRIN: 6114].

The child from this marriage was:

+ 74 F    i. Ann Maelog [18104] .

71. Eva de Braose [18214] was born in 1220 in Bramber, Sussex, England and died before 28 Jul 1255.

Eva married Baron William de Cantelupe III [18215] [MRIN: 6168] after 25 Jul 1238. William was born about 1216 in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire and died on 25 Sep 1254 in Calne, Wiltshire, England about age 38.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 75 F    i. Millicent de Cantelupe [18216] was born in 1250 and died on 7 Jan 1299 at age 49.

72. King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks" [18077] was born on 17 Jun 1239 in Westminster and died on 7 Jul 1307 in Burh by Sands near Castile at age 68.

General Notes: King of England; Wales, Man, Scotland, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Gascony, Earl of Chester.
Born: Palace of Westminster, 17 June 1239
Died: Burgh-on-Sands, near Carlisle, 7 July 1307, at age 68
Buried: Westminster Abbey
Married: (1) October 1254 at Las Huelgas, Castile, to Eleanor, daughter of Ferdinand III King of Castile - 16 children. (2) 10 September 1299 at Canterbury Cathedral, to Margaret, daughter of Philippe III, King of France - 3 children. One illegitimate child.

Edward "Longshanks" son of Henry III and king of England in 1272–1307, during a period of rising national consciousness. He strengthened the crown and Parliament against the old feudal nobility. He subdued Wales, destroying its autonomy; and he sought (unsuccessfully) the conquest of Scotland. His reign is particularly noted for administrative efficiency and legal reform. He introduced a series of statutes that did much to strengthen the crown in the feudal hierarchy. His definition and emendation of English common law has earned him the name of the “English Justinian".

Edward was the eldest son of King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. In 1254 he was given the duchy of Gascony, the French Oléron, the Channel Islands, Ireland, Henry's lands in Wales, and the earldom of Chester, as well as several castles. Henry negotiated Edward's marriage with Eleanor, half sister of Alfonso X of Leon and Castile. Edward married Eleanor at Las Huelgas in Spain (October 1254) and then traveled to Bordeaux to organize his scattered appanage. He now had his own household and officials, chancery and seal, with an exchequer (treasury) at Bristol Castle; though nominally governing all his lands, he merely enjoyed the revenues in Gascony and Ireland. He returned to England in November 1255 and attacked Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Gwynedd, to whom his Welsh subjects had appealed for support when Edward attempted to introduce English administrative units in his Welsh lands. Edward, receiving no help from either Henry or the marcher lords, was defeated ignominiously. His arrogant lawlessness and his close association with his greedy Poitevin uncles, who had accompanied his mother from France, increased Edward's unpopularity among the English. But after the Poitevins were expelled, Edward fell under the influence of Simon de Montfort, his uncle by marriage,with whom he made a formal pact. Montfort was the leader of a baronial clique that was attempting to curb the misgovernment of Henry.

Edward reluctantly accepted the Provisions of Oxford (1258), which gave effective government to the barons at the expense of the king. On the other hand, he intervened dramatically to support the radical Provisions of Westminster (October 1259), which ordered the barons to accept reforms demanded by their tenants. In the dangerous crisis early in 1260 he supported Montfort and the extremists, though finally he deserted Montfort and was forgiven by Henry (May 1260). He was sent to Gascony in October 1260 but returned early in 1263. Civil war had now broken out between Henry and the barons, who were supported by London. Edward's violent behavior and his quarrel with the Londoners harmed Henry's cause. At the Battle of Lewes (May 14, 1264) his vengeful pursuit of the Londoners early in the battle contributed to Henry's defeat. Edward surrendered and became a hostage in Montfort's hands. He escaped at Hereford in May 1265 and took charge of the royalist forces, penned Montfort behind the River Severn, and, by lightning strategy, destroyed a large relieving army at Kenilworth (August 1). On August 4 he trapped and slew Montfort at Evesham and rescued Henry. Shattered and enfeebled, Henry allowed Edward effective control of government, and the latter's extreme policy of vengeance, especially against the Londoners, revived and prolonged rebel resistance. Finally, the papal legate Ottobuono, Edward's uncle Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and other moderates persuaded Henry to the milder policy of the Dictum of Kenilworth (Oct. 31, 1266), and after some delay the rebels surrendered. Edward took the cross (1268), intending to join the French king Louis IX on a crusade to the Holy Land, but was delayed by lack of money until August 1270. Louis died before Edward's arrival; and Edward, after wintering in Sicily, went to Acre, where he stayed from May 1271 to September 1272, winning fame by his energy and courage and narrowly escaping death by assassination but achieving no useful results. On his way home he learned in Sicily of Henry III's death on Nov. 16, 1272.

Edward had nominated Walter Giffard, archbishop of York, Philip Basset, Roger Mortimer, and his trusted clerk Robert Burnell to safeguard his interests during his absence. After Henry's funeral, the English barons all swore fealty to Edward (Nov. 20, 1272). His succession by hereditary right and the will of his magnates was proclaimed, and England welcomed the new reign peacefully, Burnell taking charge of the administration with his colleagues' support. The quiet succession demonstrated England's unity only five years after a bitter civil war. Edward could journey homeward slowly,halting in Paris to do homage to his cousin Philip III for his French lands (July 26, 1273), staying several months in Gascony and reaching Dover on Aug. 2, 1274, for his coronation at Westminster on August 19. Now 35 years old, Edward had redeemed a bad start. He had been arrogant, lawless, violent, treacherous, revengeful, and cruel; his Angevin rages matched those of Henry II. Loving his own way and intolerant of opposition, he had still proved susceptible to influence by strong-minded associates. He had shown intense family affection, loyalty to friends, courage, brilliant military capacity, and a gift for leadership; handsome, tall, powerful, and tough, he had the qualities men admired. He loved efficient, strong government, enjoyed power, and had learned to admire justice, though in his own affairs it was often the letter, not the spirit of the law that he observed. Having mastered his anger, he had shown himself capable of patient negotiation, generosity, and even idealism; and he preferred the society and advice of strong counselors with good minds. As long as Burnell and Queen Eleanor lived, the better side of Edward triumphed, and the years until about 1294 were years of great achievement. Thereafter, his character deteriorated for lack of domestic comfort and independent advice. He allowed his autocratic temper full rein and devoted his failing energies to prosecution of the wars in France and against Scotland.

Shrewdly realistic, Edward understood the value of the “parliaments,” which since 1254 had distinguished English government and which Montfort had deliberately employed to publicize government policy and to enlist widespread, active support by summoning representatives of shires and boroughs to the council to decide important matters. Edward developed this practice swiftly, not to share royal power with his subjects but to strengthen royal authority with the support of rising national consciousness. From 1275 to 1307 he summoned knights and burgesses to his parliaments in varying manners. The Parliament of 1295, which included representatives of shires,boroughs, and the lesser clergy, is usually styled the Model Parliament, but the pattern varied from assembly to assembly, as Edward decided. By 1307, Parliament, thus broadly constituted, had become the distinctive feature of English politics, though its powers were still undefined and its organization embryonic.

Edward used these parliaments and other councils to enact measures of consolidation and reform in legal, procedural, and administrative matters of many kinds. The great statutes promulgated between 1275 and 1290 are the glory of his reign. Conservative and definitory rather than original, they owed much to Burnell, Edward's chancellor. With the vast developments and reorganization of the administrative machine that Burnell coordinated, they created a new era in English government. The quo warranto inquiry, begun in 1275, the statutes of Gloucester (1278) and of Quo Warranto (1290) sought with much success to bring existing franchises under control and to prevent the unauthorized assumption of new ones. Tenants were required to show “by what warrant” or right they held their franchises. Edward strove, unsuccessfully, to restore the feudal army and strengthen local government institutions by compelling minor landowners to assume the duties of knighthood. His land legislation, especially the clause de donis conditionalibus in the miscellaneous Second Statute of Westminster (1285) and the statute Quia Emptores (Third Statute of Westminster, 1290), eventually helped to undermine feudalism, quite contrary to his purpose. By the Statute of Mortmain (1279) the crown gained control of the acquisition of land by ecclesiastical bodies. The Statute of Winchester (1285) codified and strengthened the police system for preserving public order. The Statute of Acton Burnell (1283) and the Statute of Merchants (1285) showed practical concern for trade and merchants. These are but the most famous of many statutes aimed at efficiency and sound administration.

Meanwhile, Edward destroyed the autonomous principality of Wales, which, under Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, had expanded to include all Welsh lordships and much territory recovered from the marcher lords. Domestic difficulties had compelled Henry III to recognize Llywelyn's gains by the Treaty of Shrewsbury (1267), but Edward was determined to reduce Llywelyn and used Llywelyn's persistent evasion of his duty to perform homage as a pretext for attack. He invaded Wales by three coordinated advances with naval support (1277), blockaded Llywelyn in Snowdonia, starved him into submission, and stripped him of all his conquests since 1247. He then erected a tremendous ring of powerful castles encircling Gwynedd and reorganized the conquered districts as shires and hundreds. When English rule provoked rebellion, he methodically reconquered the principality, killing both Llywelyn (1282) and his brother David (1283). By the Statute of Wales (1284) he completed the reorganization of the principality on English lines, leaving the Welsh marchers unaffected. A further Welsh rising in 1294–95 was ruthlessly crushed, and Wales remained supine for more than 100 years.

After 1294, matters deteriorated. Queen Eleanor had died in 1290, Burnell in1292, and Edward never thereafter found such good advisers. The conquest and fortification of Wales had badly strained his finances; now endless wars with Scotland and France bankrupted him. He quarrelled bitterly with both clergy and barons, behaving as a rash and obstinate autocrat who refused to recognize his limitations. Philip III and Philip IV of France had both cheated him of the contingent benefits promised by the Treaty of Paris (1259). By constant intervention on pretext of suzerainty they had nibbled at his Gascon borders and undermined the authority of his administration there. After doing homage to Philip IV in 1286, Edward visited Gascony to reorganize the administration and restore authority. On returning to England in 1289 he had to dismiss many judges and officials for corruption and oppression during his absence. In 1290, having systematically stripped the Jews of their remaining wealth, he expelled them from England. French intervention in Gascony was now intensified; affrays between English and French sailors inflamed feelings; and in 1293 Philip IV tricked Edward's brother Edmund, earl of Lancaster, who was conducting negotiations, into ordering a supposedly formal and temporary surrender of the duchy, which Philip then refused to restore. The Welsh rising and Scottish troubles prevented Edward from taking action, and when at last, in 1297, he sailed to attack France from Flanders, his barons refused to invade Gascony, and William Wallace's rising forced him to return. He made peace with Philip (1299) and by Boniface VIII's persuasion married Philip's sister Margaret, and eventually recovered an attenuated Gascon duchy.

For more than 100 years relations between England and Scotland had been amicable, and the border had been remarkably peaceful. Edward inaugurated 250 years of bitter hatred, savage warfare, and bloody border forays. The deaths of Alexander III of Scotland (1286) and his granddaughter Margaret, the Maid of Norway (1290), whom Edward planned to marry to his heir, Edward of Caernarvon (afterward Edward II), ended the line of succession. Many dubious claimants arose, and the Scottish magnates requested Edward's arbitration. Edward compelled the nobles and the claimants to recognize his suzerainty, and only then adjudged John de Balliol king (1292). Balliol did homage and was crowned, but Edward's insistence on effective jurisdiction, as suzerain, in Scottish cases eventually provoked the Scottish nobles to force Balliol to repudiate Edward's claims and to ally with France (1295). Edward invaded and conquered Scotland (1296), removing to Westminster the coronation stone of Scone. Wallace led a revolt in 1297, and Edward, though brilliantly victorious at Falkirk (July 22, 1298), could not subdue the rebellion despite prolonged campaigning (1298–1303).

The strain of these years provoked heavy collisions between Edward and his magnates. He had quarrelled violently with his archbishops of Canterbury, John Peckham (1279–92) and Robert Winchelsey (1293–1313), over ecclesiastical liberties and jurisdiction. In 1297 Winchelsey, obeying Pope Boniface VIII's bull Clericis Laicos (1296), rejected Edward's demands for taxes from the clergy, whereupon Edward outlawed the clergy. His barons now defied his orders to invade Gascony and, when Edward went to Flanders, compelled the regents to confirm the charters of liberties, with important additions forbidding arbitrary taxation (1297), thereby forcing Edward to abandon the campaign and eventually to make peace with France. Although Pope Clement V, more pliant than Boniface, allowed Edward to exile Winchelsey and intimidate the clergy (1306), the barons had exacted further concessions (1301) before reconciliation. Edward renewed the conquest of Scotland in 1303, captured Stirling in 1304, and executed Wallace as a traitor in 1305; but when Scotland seemed finally subjected, Robert I the Bruce revived rebellion and was crowned in 1306. On his way to reconquer Scotland, Edward died near Carlisle.

Edward married Eleanor de Castilie [18078] [MRIN: 6099] on 18 Oct 1254 in Abbey of Las Huelgas, Castile. Eleanor was born in 1241 in Castile and died on 29 Nov 1290 in Herdby, Lincolnshire at age 49.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 76 M    i. John de Botetourte [20073] was born in 1265 and died on 25 Nov 1324 at age 59.

   77 F    ii. Eleanor Plantagenet [20066] was born in 1269 and died in 1298 at age 29.

Eleanor married Count Henri III of Bar [20067] [MRIN: 6822]. Henri died in 1302.

+ 78 F    iii. Joan of Acre [18245] was born in 1272 in Acre, Palestine and died on 23 Apr 1307 in Clare, Suffolk, England at age 35.

   79 M    iv. Earl Alfonso of Chester [20068] was born in 1273 and died in 1284 at age 11.

+ 80 F    v. Margaret Plantagenet [20069] was born in 1275 and died in 1318 at age 43.

+ 81 F    vi. Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet [18076] was born on 7 Aug 1282 in Rhuddlan Castle Carnev and died on 5 May 1316 in Quendon, Essex at age 33.

+ 82 M    vii. King Edward Plantagenet II [18449] was born on 25 Apr 1284 in Carnarvon Castle and died on 21 Sep 1327 in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire at age 43.

Edward next married Margaretha of France [18635] [MRIN: 6391] on 10 Sep 1299 in Canterbury Cathedral, England. Margaretha was born in 1279 and died on 14 Feb 1317 in Marlborough Castle, England at age 38.

Noted events in their marriage were:

• Married from: Daughter of King Philippe III of France.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 83 M    i. Earl Edmund of Woodstock [18975] was born on 5 Aug 1301 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England and died on 19 Mar 1330 in Winchester, Hampshire, England at age 28.

+ 84 M    ii. John de Botetourte [20073] was born in 1265 and died on 25 Nov 1324 at age 59.

   85 M    iii. Earl Thomas Plantagenet of Norfolk [20072] was born in 1300 and died in 1338 at age 38.

73. Earl Edmund Plantagenet "Crouchback" [18580] was born on 16 Jan 1244 in London, England and died on 5 Jun 1296 in Bayonne, France at age 52.

General Notes: born Jan. 16, 1245, London, Eng.
died , c. June 5, 1296, Bayonne, France

Crouchback, second surviving son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, who founded the house of Lancaster.

At the age of 10, Edmund was invested by Pope Innocent IV with the kingdom of Sicily (April 1255), as an expression of his conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, who held Sicily; but Edmund was never more than an absentee titular king, and Pope Alexander IV canceled the grant (December 1258).

In 1265 Edmund received the earldom of Leicester, and two years later was created Earl of Lancaster. He joined the crusade of his elder brother, the Lord Edward (1271–1272); and Edward, on his accession as King Edward I, found in Edmund a loyal supporter. In 1275, two years after the death of his first wife, Edmund married Blanche of Artois, the widow of Henry III of Navarre and Champagne, and assumed the title Count Palatine of Champagne and Brie. When the court of King Philip IV of France pronounced that the king of England had forfeited Gascony, Edmund renounced his homage to Philip and withdrew with his wife to England. He was appointed lieutenant of Gascony in 1296 but died in the same year, leaving his son Thomas to succeed him in his English possessions.

Edmund's nickname “Crouchback” (meaning “Crossback,” or crusader) was misinterpreted, probably intentionally, by his direct descendant, King Henry IV, who, in claiming the throne (1399), asserted that Edmund had really been Henry III's eldest son but had been disinherited as a hunchback.

Edmund married Blanche d' Artois [18581] [MRIN: 6365] on 3 Feb 1276 in Paris, France. Blanche was born about 1245 in Arras, France and died on 2 May 1302 in Paris, France about age 57.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 86 M    i. Earl Henry Plantagenet [18582] was born about 1281 in Grosmont Castle, England and died on 22 Sep 1345 in Leicester, England about age 64.

  Twelfth Generation  

74. Ann Maelog [18104] .

Ann married Sir Gwrgi Ghant [18105] [MRIN: 6115].

The child from this marriage was:

+ 87 M    i. Jenkins ap Gwrgi [18106] .

75. Millicent de Cantelupe [18216] was born in 1250 and died on 7 Jan 1299 at age 49.

Millicent married Eudes la Zouche [18217] [MRIN: 6169] on 13 Dec 1273. Eudes was born about 1244 in Haryngworth, Northamptonshire and died on 28 Apr 1279 about age 35.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 88 F    i. Elizabeth la Zouche [18218] died after 1297.

76. John de Botetourte [20073] was born in 1265 and died on 25 Nov 1324 at age 59.

John married Maud FitzThomas [19085] [MRIN: 6824] about 1290. Maud died after 28 Apr 1329.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 89 M    i. Sir Otto de Botetourte [20074] died in 1345.

78. Joan of Acre [18245] was born in 1272 in Acre, Palestine and died on 23 Apr 1307 in Clare, Suffolk, England at age 35.

Joan married Lord Ralph de Monthermer [18246] [MRIN: 6187] in Jan 1297 in Akko, Hazafon, Israel. Ralph was born c1262 and died on 5 Apr 1325 at age 63.

Joan next married Earl Gilbert de Clare II "The Red" [18247] [MRIN: 6188] in Nov 1289. Gilbert was born on 2 Sep 1243 in Christchurch, Hampshire, England and died on 7 Dec 1295 in Monmouth Castle, England at age 52.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 90 F    i. Margaret de Clare [18248] was born in Oct 1292 in Caerphilly Castle, England and died on 13 Apr 1342 at age 49.

80. Margaret Plantagenet [20069] was born in 1275 and died in 1318 at age 43.

Margaret married Duke John II of Brabant [20070] [MRIN: 6823]. John died in 1312.

The child from this marriage was:

   91 M    i. John III of Brabant [20071] was born in 1300 and died in 1355 at age 55.

81. Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet [18076] was born on 7 Aug 1282 in Rhuddlan Castle Carnev and died on 5 May 1316 in Quendon, Essex at age 33.

Elizabeth married Earl Humphrey de Bohun VIII [18075] [MRIN: 6098] on 14 Nov 1302 in Westminster. Humphrey was born in 1276 and died on 16 Mar 1321 in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire at age 45.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 92 M    i. Earl William de Bohun [18073] was born in 1312 and died in 1360 at age 48.

+ 93 F    ii. Alionore de Bohun [18321] was born in 1304 and died on 7 Oct 1363 at age 59.

+ 94 F    iii. Mary de Bohun [18688] was born c1369 and died in 1394 at age 25.

82. King Edward Plantagenet II [18449] was born on 25 Apr 1284 in Carnarvon Castle and died on 21 Sep 1327 in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire at age 43.

General Notes: King of England and Scotland, Lord of Ireland, Prince of Wales, Duke of Acquitaine.

born April 25, 1284, Caernarvon, Caernarvonshire, Wales
died September 1327, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, Eng. (Murdered)

Edward of Caernarvon, King of England from 1307 to 1327. Although he was a man of limited capability, he waged a long, hopeless campaign to assert his authority over powerful barons.

The fourth son of King Edward I, he ascended the throne upon his father's death (July 7, 1307) and immediately gave the highest offices to Edward I's most prominent opponents. He earned the hatred of the barons by granting the earldom of Cornwall to his frivolous favorite (and possible lover), Piers Gaveston. In 1311 a 21-member baronial committee drafted a document-known as the Ordinances-demanding the banishment of Gaveston and the restriction of the King's powers over finances and appointments. Edward pretended to give in to these demands; he sent Gaveston out of the country but soon allowed him to return. In retaliation the barons seized Gaveston and executed him (June 1312).

Edward had to wait 11 years to annul the Ordinances and avenge Gaveston. Meanwhile, the Scottish king Robert I the Bruce was threatening to throw off English overlordship. Edward led an army into Scotland in 1314 but was decisively defeated by Bruce at Bannockburn on June 24. With one stroke, Scotland's independence was virtually secured, and Edward was put at the mercy of a group of barons headed by his cousin Thomas of Lancaster, who by 1315 had made himself the real master of England. Nevertheless, Lancaster proved to be incompetent; by 1318 a group of moderate barons led by Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, had assumed the role of arbitrators between Lancaster and Edward. At this juncture Edward found two new favorites-Hugh le Despenser and his son and namesake. When the King supported the younger Despenser's territorial ambitions in Wales, Lancaster banished both Despensers. Edward then took up arms in their behalf. His opponents fell out among themselves, and he defeated and captured Lancaster at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, in March 1322. Soon afterward, he had Lancaster executed.

At last free of baronial control, Edward revoked the Ordinances. His reliance on the Despensers, however, soon aroused the resentment of his queen, Isabella. While on a diplomatic mission to Paris in 1325, she became the mistress of Roger Mortimer, an exiled baronial opponent of Edward. In September 1326 the couple invaded England, executed the Despensers, and deposed Edward in favor of his son, who was crowned (January 1327) King Edward III. Edward II was imprisoned and in September 1327 died, nor by starvation as is often reported and first attempted, rather he was held down while a red hot poker was inserted into his bowels; thus he perished.

Noted events in his life were:

• Length of Rule: Ruled England from 8 July 1307 to 25 January 1327 at which time he abdicated. Edward II was actually crowned on the 25 February 1308 at Westminster Abbey.

• Titles: King of England; King of Scotland; Lord of Ireland; Prince of Wales; Duke of Aquitane.

• Death: The Queen, Isabella, became acquainted with Roger Mortimer, whom she took as a lover. She and Roger had raised an army while she was in France for the purpose of disposing of Edward but the King of France (Charles IV) stood in her way for a time; but Isabella and Mortimer sailed for London, landing on 24 September 1326. It took a mere two months before they had Edward captive at Kenilworth Castle. Isabella called a parliament on 20 January 1327 to seek the deposition of Edward but the parliament had no authority for such decisions. Finally, under pressure, Edward capitulated in favor of his son on 25 January and Edward was transported to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, where his rescue was attempted by Rhys ap Gruffydd. Isabella and Mortimer feared that Edward might yet make a resurgence, and so Mortimer arranged for Edward's death. He did not want it to appear that violence had been committed against the King. He was hoping for a natural death. So, he tried starving the King. It did not work. In the end Edward was held down while a red hot poker was inserted into his bowels.

He was buried at Gloucestershire Cathedral. It was not until 1330 that his death was avenged. Roger Mortimer was tried and executed and Queen Isabella was placed in confinement at Castle Rising in Norfolk. She lived on for thirty years after her husbands death, dying on 22 August 1358 and was buried at Greyfriars Church at Newgate Prison in London.

Edward married Isabella de France "The She-Wolf" [18450] [MRIN: 6295], daughter of King Philippe de France IV [18451] and Unknown, on 25 Jan 1308 in Boulogne Cathedral. Isabella was born in 1296 and died on 22 Aug 1358 in Hertford Castle at age 62.

General Notes: At their coronation, Isabella had thought she was insulted by Edward by his show of affection for another (Gaveston). She held this grudge and finally entered into an affair with Roger Mortimer.

Relations with France becoming hostile, she requested a visit with the King of France and was soon joined by Roger Mortimer, who lived with her as a lover. In time, she and Mortimer raised an army and landed at Harwich on 24 September 1326. Edward showed little resistance, retreating to a stronghold in Wales. In two months he was captured.

He was held captive at Kenilworth Castle. Meanwhile, Isabelle called upon Parliame