Herleva OF FALAISE

Notes:

mistress

Herleva married Duke Robert II 'the Magnificent' OF NORMANDY. Robert (son of Duke Richard II "the Good" OF NORMANDY and Judith of Britanny OF BRETAGNE) was born about 1000 in Normandy; died on 3 Jul 1035 in Nicaea, Bithynia, Turkey. [Group Sheet]

Herleva married Count Gislebert "Crispin" OF BRIONNE. Gislebert (son of Count Geoffrey of Eu and Brionne OF NORMANDY) was born about 1000 in Normandy, France; died in 1040. [Group Sheet]

William married Matilda OF FLANDERS in 1049 in Normandy, France. Matilda (daughter of Count Baldwin V 'the Pious' de I'Isle OF FLANDERS and Countess Adela of Flanders OF FRANCE) was born about 1032 in Flanders, France; died on 2 Nov 1083 in Caen, Normandy, France; was buried in Holy Trinity Abbey, Caen, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Gundred married William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey (d. June 20, 1088), who rebuilt Lewes Castle, making it his chief residence. In 1078 he and Gundred founded a Cluniac Priory at Southover, adjoining Lewes, where both were buried. The Countess had died at Castle Acre, Norfolk, one of her husband's estates. In the course of the centuries which followed both tombstones disappeared from the priory but in 1774 William Burrell, Esq., an antiquary, discovered Gundred's in Isfield Church (seven miles from Lewes), over the remains of Edward Shirley, Esq., (d. 1550), whose father John was Clerk of the Kitchen to King Henry VII, and had it removed on October 2, 1775, to St. John's Church, Southover, the nearest place to its original site, and placed inside and at the south-west corner of the church, where, until 1847, it could be seen on the floor between pews with a very fine inscription detailing its origins etc. In 1845, during excavations through the Priory grounds for the South Coast Railway, the lead chests containing the remains of the Earl and his Countess were discovered, and deposited temporarily, for the next two years, beneath Gundred's tombstone. In 1847 a Norman Chapel was erected by public subscription, adjoining the present vestry and chancel. Prior to re-interring the remains in this chapel, both cysts were opened to ascertain if there were any contents, which was found to be the case. New cysts were made and used, and the ancient ones preserved and placed in two recessed arches in the southern wall. Gundred's remains in a good state of preservation although the Earl's has lost some lead. Across the upper part of the right arch is the name Gvndrada. Her tombstone is of black marble.

Gundred married William 1ST EARL OF WARREN. William (son of Unknown child of Hugh) died in 1088. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Constance, Duchess of Brittany (d.1090) was a daughter of William I of England and Matilda of Flanders, it was said she was the most highly gifted of all of the Conqueror's daughters. As she was favourite of her mother she was offerd later in marriage to Alan IV of Brittany, the year being 1086. Constance died childless, perhaps poisoned on 13 August 1090, and was buried in St Melans in Redon, in 1672 her tomb was discovered and opened, inside were some fragments of woolen stuff, which at the time the body had been wrapped and a leaden cross with her epitaph engraved with the name of her father, husband and date of death. Her husband later maried Ermengarde of Anjou.

Notes:

Adela of Normandy also known as Adela of Blois and Adela of England (c. 1062 or 1067

Notes:

Agatha, mentioned by Ordericus Vitalis as one of the daughters of William I of England and Matilda of Flanders, Agatha, who had been betrothed to Harold II, was afterwards demanded in marriage by Alphonso VI of Castile and delivered to his proxies to be conducted to him. But she, who had lost her former spouse who was to her liking, felt extreme repugnance to marry another. The Englishman she had seen and loved, but the Spaniard she was more averse to because she had never set eyes on him. She therefore, fervently prayed to the Almighty that she might never be carried into Spain, but that he would rather take her to himself. Her prayers were heard, and she died a virgin while she was on the road. Her corpse was brought back to and interred in Bayeux in 1079.

Notes:

In addition to these legitimate births, Henry is reported to have had nineteen or twenty illegitimate children, the highest number of spurious offspring for a King of England to have acknowledged. The best known of them all is Robert the Consul, Earl of Gloucester, father of Maud, wife of Ranulph de Meschines, 2nd Earl of Chester. Another was Reginald, a natural son from a relationship between Henry I. of England and his mistress, Elizabeth Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulent and Earl of Leicester, (son of Roger de Beaumont and his wife, Adelina, Countess of Meulent) and his wife Elizabeth Vermandois, younger daughter of Hugh Magnus, the Great, of France, Count of Vermandois. Reginald, married Beatrix, daughter of William Fitz Richard, a potent lord in Cornwall. They had a daughter, Matilda, who married Robert, Count of Meulent, son of Waleran II., Count of Meulent, who married Agnes de Montfort. Waleran II. was a son of the aforementioned Robert Beaumont, and his wife, Elizabeth Vermandois. Robert and Matilda had two children: Waleran III. and Mabel de Beaumont, who married William de Vernon, Earl of Devon, who had three children: Baldwin, Mary Vernon and Joan.

Henry married Matilda OF SCOTLAND on 11 Nov 1100 in Westminster Abbey, London, Greater London, England. Matilda (daughter of Malcolm III of Dunkeld KING OF SCOTLAND and St. Margaret OF WESSEX) was born on 1 Jun 1079 in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland; died on 1 May 1118 in Westminster Palace, London, Greater London, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, Greater London, England. [Group Sheet]

Henry married Isabel Beaumont DE MEULAN on 29 Jan 1121 in Windsor Castle, England. Isabel (daughter of Count Robert de Beaumont OF MEULAN and Isabel (Elizabeth) DE VERMANDOIS) was born about 1112 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England; died about 1172 in England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The name Warrene originates from the river Varenne near Dieppe. William came from France with the invasion of 1066 and was created the Earl of Surry with castles at Lewes, Castle Acre and Reigate. He was granted the Wakefiled estates by his father-in-law. William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (died 1138), was the son of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and his first wife Gundred. He is more often referred to as Earl Warenne or Earl of Warenne than as Earl of Surrey.

William de Warren II, 2nd Earl of Warren and 2nd Earl of Surrey, joined Robert de Belesme, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury, in favor of Robert Curthose, against King Henry I., and in consequence forfeited his English earldom and estates; but those were subsequently restored to him, and he was ever afterwards a good and faithful subject to King Henry. He married Isabel Vermandois, Countess of Leicester, daughter of Hugh the Great, Earl of Vermandois, and Alice, his wife, daughter of Hubert, 4th Count de Vermandois, son of Henry, 3rd Count de Vermandois, by his wife, Edgina, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England, son of Alfred the Great, King of England. Isabel was also the widow of Robert, Earl of Mellent, and granddaughter of King Henry I of France.

In January 1091, William assisted Hugh of Grantmesnil (d.1094) in his defense of Courcy against the forces of Robert de Belleme and Duke Robert. Sometime around 1093 he tried to marry Matilda (or Edith), daughter of king Malcolm III of Scotland. She instead married Henry I of England, and this may be the cause of William's great dislike of Henry I, which was to be his apparent motivator in the following years. He accompanied Robert Curthose (Duke Robert) in his 1101 invasion of England, and afterwards lost his English lands and titles and was exiled to Normandy. There he complained to Curthose that he expended great effort on the duke's behalf and had in return lost most of his possessions. Curthose's return to England in 1103 was apparently made to convince his brother to restore William's earldom. This was successful, though Curthose had to give up all he had received after the 1101 invasion, and subsequently William was loyal to Henry. To further insure William's loyalty Henry considered marrying him to one of his many illegitimate daughters. He was however dissuaded by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, for any of the daughters would have been within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. The precise nature of the consanguinous relationship Anselm had in mind has been much debated, but it is most likely he was referring to common descent from the father of duchess Gunnor.
William was one of the commanders on Henry's side (against Robert Curthose) at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106. Afterwards, with his loyalty thus proven, he became more prominent in Henry's court. In 1110, Curthose's son William Clito escaped along with Helias of Saint-Saens, and afterwards Warenne received the forfeited Saint-Saens lands, which were very near his own in upper Normandy. By this maneuver king Henry further assured his loyalty, for the successful return of Clito would mean at the very least Warenne's loss of this new territory.
He fought at the Battle of Bremule in 1119, and was at Henry's deathbed in 1135. William's death is recorded as 11-May-1138 in the register of Lewes priory and he was buried with his father at the chapter-house there.

William married Isabel (Elizabeth) DE VERMANDOIS. Isabel (daughter of Hugo 'the Great' de Crepi OF VERMANDOIS and Adelheid DE VERMANDOIS, Comtesse de Valois, daughter of Hugh Magnus 'the Great' DE VERMANDOIS and Adelheid DE VERMANDOIS) was born in 1081 in Valois, Bretagne, France; died on 13 Feb 1131. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Matilda is the Latin form of Maud, who was the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I. In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were married on 7 January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two. Unfortunately there were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125, Matilda was recalled to her father's court. Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrous Wreck of the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's only hope for the continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegiance to the young Princess and promised to make her queen after her father's death. But she needed heirs and in April 1127, Matilda found herself obliged to marry Prince Georffrey of Anjou and Maine. He was thirteen and she twenty-three. It is thought that the two never got on. However, despite this unhappy situation, they had three sons in four years. Matilda was absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1 December 1135, possibly due to pregnancy. Matilda was not in much of a position to take up the throne, which had been promised her and she quickly lost out to her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband, she attempted to take Normandy. With encouragement from supporters in England though, it was not long before Matilda invaded her rightful England domain and so began a long-standing Civil War from the power base of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in the West Country. After three years of armed struggle, she at last gained the upper hand at the Battle of Lincoln, in February 1141, where King Stephen was captured. However, despite being declared Queen or "Lady of the English" at Winchester and winning over Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, the powerful Bishop of Winchester, Matilda alienated the citizens of London with her arrogant manner. She failed to secure her coronation and the Londoners joined a renewed push from Stephen's Queen and laid seige to the Empress in winchester. She managed to escape to the West, but while commanding her rear guard, her brother was captured by the enemy. Matilda was obliged to swap Stephen for robert on 1st November 1141. Thus the King soon reimposed his Royal authority. In 1148, after the death of her half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy, leaving her son, who in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on in England. She died at Rouen on the 10th of September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey.

Matilda (Maud the Empress) of England (1102-1167), was left the sole legitimate child of Henry I. by the loss of his son in the White Ship (1120). She married (1) Emperor Henry V, Emperor of Rome, and was crowned at Mainz (1114), but was widowed in 1125 and married (2) Geoffrey IV. le Bel, Plantaganet, 10th Count of Anjou and Maine, Duke of Normandy, having won the Duchy from Stephen, son of Fulk V. the Younger, 9th Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem, and his wife, Ermengarde. See their ancestral lineage elsewhere in Vol. I. Her first husband was thirty years older, her second husband, ten years younger than herself. Henry made the barons recognize the Empress as his heir (1126, 1131, and 1133), but when he died Stephen ignored her claim to rule England by hereditary right. The Normans preferred his chivalrous geniality to her haughtiness and they disliked the House of Anjou as much as they did the House of Blois, into which Stephen's mother, the Conqueror's daughter Adela, had married. The Empress appealed to the Pope in vain (1136) and Archbishop Thurstan of York defeated her uncle and champion, David I., King of Scotland (1084-1153) at the Battle of the Standard (1138); but at last she landed in England. Geoffrey was the original Plantaganet, so named by his companions for the broom corn he wore on his person.

Matilda married Geoffrey V "the Fair" PLANTAGENET, Count of Anjou on 22 May 1128 in Cathedral of St. Julian of Le Mans, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. Geoffrey (son of Fulke V 'the Younger' Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Ermengard OF MAINE) was born on 24 Aug 1113 in Anjou, Pays-de-la-Loire, France; died on 7 Sep 1151 in Chateau-dut-Loire, France; was buried in Cathedral of St. Julian of Le Mans, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. [Group Sheet]

William married Matilda of ANJOU. Matilda (daughter of Fulke V 'the Younger' Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Ermengard OF MAINE) died in 1154. [Group Sheet]