Kings, Queens, Presidents and First Ladies

12. Duke Robert de Normandie II-[18113] (William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born circa 1052 in Normandy, France, died on 2-10-1134 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.

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] (William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 9-1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, was christened on 8-5-1100 in Selby, Yorkshire, died on 12-11-1135 in Gisors, St. Denis, France at age 67, and was buried on 1-4-1136 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

+ 41 M iii. Earl Robert de Caen de Mellent-[18095] was born about 1090 in Caen, Calvados, France and died on 10-31-1147 in Bristol, England about age 57.

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

Henry next married Queen Edith "Atheling" Mathilda of Scotland-[18091] [MRIN:6107] on 11-11-1100 in Westminster Abbey, London. Edith was born in 10-1079 in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland and died on 5-1-1118 in Westminster Palace, London, England at age 38.

+ 45 F i. Queen Matilda Adelaide of England-[18089] was born on 8-5-1102 in Winchester, England and died on 9-10-1167 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 8-5-1103 in Selby, Yorkshire, England and died on 11-26-1119 at Sea at age 16.

48 M iv. Prince of England Richard Beauclerc-[19138] was born in 1105 in England and died on 9-26-1119 at Sea at age 14.

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Kings, Queens, Presidents and First Ladies

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