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athilda of Flanders was the wife of King William
The Conqueror.
It should
be noted that many of the branches of the family are intertwined from this
point in history.
Mathilda was married to King William I The
Conqueror.
Mathilda’s ancestors can be traced back to the
first King of Scotland and the first King of Ireland. In this chapter, I am
following her line through her father Baldwin V, Count of Flanders.
Mathilda was the daughter of Baldwin V the Count
of Flanders and Adele of France who was the daughter of King Robert of France.
In 1028 Baldwin married Adèle of France in Amiens,
daughter of King Robert II of France; at her instigation he rebelled
against his father but in 1030 peace was sworn and the old count continued to
rule until his death.
Adèle
of France
or Adela of Flanders,[a]
known also as Adela the Holy or Adela of Messines; (1009 – 8
January 1079, Messines),
she was the Countess of Normandy (January 1027–August 1027), Countess of Flanders (1028–1067) Adèle was the
second daughter of Robert II (the Pious), and Constance of Arles.In January 1027 she married Richard III, Duke of Normandy. The marriage was short-lived for on 6 August of that same year Richard III suddenly died. Adela secondly married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders in 1028.
Adèle’s influence lay mainly in her family connections. On the death of her brother, Henry I of France, the guardianship of his seven-year-old son Philip I fell jointly on his widow, Ann of Kiev, and on his brother-in-law, Adela's husband, so that from 1060 to 1067, they were Regents of France.
Baldwin V was the son of Baldwin Baudouin IV of Flanders and Ogive of Luxenbourg.
Baldwin IV first married Ogive of Luxembourg, daughter of Frederick of Luxembourg,[2]
by whom he had a son and heir:- Baldwin V, Count of Flanders
(1012 – 1067). Married Adèle of France
(1009-1079), and had issue, Baldwin VI, Queen Matilda and Robert I of Flanders.
Baldwin IV later
married Eleanor of Normandy, daughter of Richard II of Normandy, by whom he had a daughter:
- Judith (1033 –
1094) who married Tostig Godwinson and secondly Welf I, Duke of Bavaria.
Baldwin IV was the son of Arnulf II Count of Flanders
and Mathilde Billung daughter of Hermann Billung the Duke of Saxony
Hermann
Billung maybe was married twice: According to the chronicles of St Michael's
Abbey in Lüneburg, a Countess Oda died on 15 March in an unknown year after
973, the Xanten
annals noted the death of one Ode, spouse of Duke Hermann, on the same
day. She probably was related with the royal Ottonian dynasty; Henry the
Fowler's grandmother was named Oda (herself a member of the Billung dynasty),
which was also the name of his sister. A second wife Hildesuith or
Hildegard of Westerburg is mentioned in the chronicles, but her relation to Oda
remains unclear. Hildegard was also the name of the spouse of Hermann's son
Bernard. The name of Hermann's grand-daughter Oda
of Meissen indicate that Oda was the mother of his children.
- Mathilde (born between 935
and 945, died 25 May 1008 in Ghent, buried in St. Peter's church),
married:
1.
"shortly
before 961" to Balduin III, Count of Flanders (died 1
January 962),
2.
Gottfried der Gefangene (died on 3/4
April after 995) in 963/982, Count of Verdun (Wigeriche), buried in St. Peter's
church in Ghent
He was the son of Baldwin III of Flanders and Mathilde
Billung of Saxony, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony.[1]
His father Baldwin III died in 962, when Arnulf was just an infant, while
Arnulf's grandfather, Arnulf I, was still alive.
When Arnulf I died three years later (965), the regency was held by his kinsman
Baldwin Balso, who died in 973.
Rozala of Italy (also known as
Rozala of Lombardy, Rozala of Ivrea or Susanna of Ivrea;
c. 950–960 –1003). By
her first marriage, she was Countess of Flanders; by her second, she was Queen
consort of France (of the Franks).
She was a descendant of Charlemagne
both through Lothair II and Gisela. Rozala (Susanna), born sometime between
950–960, was the daughter of King Berengar of Ivrea, King of Italy (c. 900 –
966). Her mother was Willa of Tuscany, the daughter of Boso, Margrave of Tuscany and his wife
Willa. In 968 she married Count Arnulf II of Flanders (d. 987).
On her husband's death, she acted as regent for her young son.
Baldwin III The Young of Flanders (c. 940–962) was Count
of Flanders, who briefly ruled the County of Flanders (an area that is now
northwestern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands),
together with his father Arnulf I (c. 890 – 965). Baldwin III was born
c. 940, as the son
of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders and his second wife, Adele of Vermandois (c. 915 – 969), daughter of
Herbert II, Count of Vermandois.His father, Arnulf I had made Baldwin co-ruler in 958, but Baldwin died before his father and was succeeded by his infant son Arnulf II, with Arnulf I acting as regent until his own death. Then Baldwin Balso continued as the regent for the child.
During his short rule, Baldwin was responsible for establishing the wool manufacturing industry at Ghent and markets at other towns in Flanders. Baldwin III died on 1 January 962. After Baldwin's death, Arnulf I arranged for King Lothair of France to become the guardian of Baldwin's son Arnulf II.
Arnulf I The Great Count of Flanders
Arnulf
of Flanders
(c. 890–March 28, 965), called the Great, was the third Count
of Flanders, who ruled the County of Flanders, an area that is now
northwestern Belgium
and southwestern Netherlands. Arnulf was the son of count Baldwin II of Flanders and Ælfthryth of Wessex,
daughter of Alfred the Great.Through his mother he was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and through his father, a descendant of Charlemagne. Presumably Arnulf was named after Saint Arnulf of Metz, a progenitor of the Carolingian dynasty.
At the death of their father in 918, Arnulf became Count of Flanders while his brother Adeloft or Adelolf succeeded to the County of Boulogne. However, in 933 Adeloft died, and Arnulf took the countship of Boulogne for himself, but later conveyed it to his nephew, Arnulf II.
Arnulf I greatly expanded Flemish rule to the south, taking all or part of Artois, Ponthieu, Amiens, and Ostrevent. He exploited the conflicts between Charles the Simple and Robert I of France, and later those between Louis IV and his barons.
In his southern expansion Arnulf inevitably had conflict with the Normans, who were trying to secure their northern frontier. This led to the 942 murder of the Duke of Normandy, William Longsword, at the hands of Arnulf's men. The Viking threat was receding during the later years of Arnulf's life, and he turned his attentions to the reform of the Flemish government.
Adele of
Vermandois (bef.
915–960) was both a Carolingian as well as a Robertian
Frankish noblewoman who was the Countess of Flanders (934–960).
Adele,
born c. 910–915was a daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois and his
wife, Adele, daughter of Robert I of France.[2]
She died in 960 in Bruges.
In 934
Adele married, as his second wife, Count Arnulf I of Flanders (c. 890 – 965).
Together they had the following children:
- Hildegarde, born c. 934,
died 990; she married Dirk II, Count of Holland.
- Liutgard, born in
935, died in 962; married Wichmann IV, Count of Hamaland.
- Egbert, died 953.
- Baldwin III of Flanders.[3] (c. 940 – 962). Married Mathilde Billung of Saxony (c. 940 - 1008), daughter of Hermann Billung, and had issue,
Arnulf I, skipping one generation.
- Elftrude; married Siegfried,
Count of Guînes.
His mother was Elfthryth the Countess of Wessex and she married Baldwin II Count of Flanders
Baldwin
II
(c. 865 – September 10, 918), nicknamed Calvus (the Bald) was the
second count of Flanders and ruled from 879-918. He was
the son of Baldwin I of Flanders and Judith, a daughter of Charles
the Bald and as such a descendant of Charlemagne. In 884 Baldwin married Ælfthryth (Ælfthryth, Elftrude,
Elfrida), a daughter of King Alfred
the Great of England. The immediate goal of this Anglo-Flemish alliance was to help Baldwin control
the lower Canche River valley.The early years of Baldwin's rule were marked by a series of devastating Viking raids into Flanders where little north of the Somme was left untouched. By 883 he was forced northward to the flat marshes of the pagus flandransis which became the territory most closely associated with the counts of Flanders from that time on. Baldwin constructed a series of wooden fortifications at Saint-Omer, Bruges, Ghent, and Courtrai and seized those lands abandoned by royal and ecclesiastical officials. Many of these same citadels later formed castellanies housing government, militia and local courts.
Ælfthryth of Wessex (877 – June
7, 929), also known as Elftrudis (Elftrude, Elfrida), was an English
princess and a countess consort of Flanders.
Life
She was
the youngest child of Alfred the Great, the Saxon
King of England
and his wife Ealhswith.
She had four or five siblings, including King Edward
the Elder and Ethelfleda.
Ælfthryth
married Baldwin II (died 918), Count
of Flanders.
They had
the following issue:
- Arnulf I of Flanders (c. 890–964),
married Adela of Vermandois
- Adalulf (c.
890–933), Count of Boulogne
- Ealswid
- Ermentrud
Ælfthryth
was an ancestor of Matilda of Flanders, who married William the Conqueror, first monarch from the
House of Normandy, which means that even after
the Norman conquest of England, all the
monarchs of England, were also descendants of the House
of Wessex as well.
Ælfthryth was the daughter of Alfred The Great, King of
Wessex.
I wonder also if Mathilde knew when she married William and became Queen of England that she was a descendant of King Alfred?
Hope you are able to follow this family jigsaw, believe me the worst is still to come!!!!
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