Matilda of Flanders, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Statue of Matilda of Flanders in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, France; Credit – Wikipedia

Matilda of Flanders, wife of King William I of England (the Conqueror), was born around 1031 in the County of Flanders.  Today the lands of the County of Flanders include parts of Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Matilda was the middle child and the only daughter of the three children of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and Adela of France, the daughter of King Robert II of France.

Matilda had one older brother and one younger brother:

Matilda was a direct descendant of the famous Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. Alfred’s youngest child Ælfthryth married Baldwin II, Count of Flanders. This line of ancestry from Alfred the Great through the Counts of Flanders to Matilda was appealing to William II, Duke of Normandy since he was eight years old. William’s childless first cousin once removed, Edward the Confessor, sat upon the throne of England. In 1151, William visited Edward the Confessor, King of England (also a direct descendant of Alfred the Great) and apparently Edward named William as his successor. Despite there being other claimants to the English throne, William was now ambitious to be the heir, and marrying Matilda could only help his cause.

In 1051 or 1052, William married Matilda of Flanders, without the approval of the Pope. Finally, in 1059 papal approval was received, but both William and Matilda were required to found an abbey in Caen as penance: the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (St. Stephen’s) and the Abbaye-aux-Dames (Holy Trinity). William and Matilda were devoted to each other and there is no evidence that William had illegitimate children.

William and Matilda had four sons and at least five daughters. Despite her royal duties, Matilda oversaw the upbringing of her children, and all were known for being well-educated. Her daughters were educated and taught to read Latin at the Abbaye-aux-Dames (Holy Trinity) in Caen. For her sons, she secured Lanfranc, later Archbishop of Canterbury as their teacher.

William and Matilda had four sons and at least six daughters.  The birth order of the boys is clear, but that of the girls is not. The list below is not in birth order.  It lists the sons first in their birth order and then his daughters in their probable birth order.

In January 1066, Edward the Confessor died and Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful person in England after the king, was named King of England by the Witan, the king’s council. When William heard that Harold Godwinson had been crowned King of England, he began careful preparations for an invasion of England. During the summer of 1066, he assembled an army and an invasion fleet. When William was preparing to invade England, Matilda outfitted a ship using her own funds, and gave it to him. This ship, the Mora, became William’s flagship. William and his fleet left Normandy for England on September 27, 1066. Matilda was appointed regent of Normandy in William’s absence, a position she often held when William was in England after he became king.

The Bayeux Tapestry’s depiction of the Norman invasion fleet, with the Mora in front, marked by the papal banner on the masthead; Credit – Wikipedia

Harold Godwinson, King Harold II of England, was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. On Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned King William I of England at Westminster Abbey. In March 1067, William returned to Normandy and remained there until early December 1067. During the last days in December, Matilda and William’s last child, the future King Henry I of England, must have been conceived. The pregnant Matilda left Normandy for England in the spring of 1068. She was crowned Queen of England on May 11, 1068, at Westminster Abbey.

Later in 1068, Matilda accompanied William on a military campaign to subdue unrest in northern England. Her only child to be born in England, the future King Henry I, was born probably in September 1068 in Selby, Yorkshire, England. Most of Matilda’s time was spent in Normandy where she took care of affairs of the duchy and the abbeys she had founded. In 1080, she was the godmother of Edith of Scotland, the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland. The infant Edith pulled at Matilda’s headdress, which was seen as an omen that she would be a queen one day. Years later, with her name changed from the Anglo-Saxon Edith to the Norman Matilda upon her marriage, that infant became the first wife of Queen Matilda’s son King Henry I of England.

In 1083, Matilda became ill. William rushed from England to Normandy to be at her bedside. She died in Caen, Normandy on November 2, 1083, at the age of about 52. Matilda was buried at the Abbaye-aux-Dames (Holy Trinity) in Caen founded by Matilda and William at the time of their marriage. Her grave is at the back of the church under the original black stone inscribed with her epitaph.

Tomb of Matilda of Flanders; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Normandy Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King William I of England (the Conqueror)

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

William the Conqueror, Bayeux Tapestry; Credit – Wikipedia

King William I of England, also known as William the Conqueror, the only son of Robert I the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, was born circa 1027-1028 at the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Duchy of Normandy (now in France). William was illegitimate as his mother Herleva of Falaise was his father’s mistress, and for that reason, he is sometimes called William the Bastard.

Normandy was a French fiefdom originally created as the County of Rouen in 911 by King Charles III “the Simple” of France for Rollo, a Viking leader whose original name may have been Hrólfr. After participating in many Viking raids along the Seine, culminating in the Siege of Paris in 886, Rollo was finally defeated by King Charles III. Rollo swore fealty to the French King and converted to Christianity. Charles then granted Rollo territories around Rouen, which came to be called Normandy after the Northmen/Norsemen, another name for Vikings. Rollo is the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. Through William, he is an ancestor of the British Royal Family, all current European monarchs, and a great many claimants to abolished European thrones.

Counts/Dukes of Normandy before William:

Counts (Earls or Jarls) of Normandy

Dukes of Normandy

The three sons of Herleva of Falaise: William, Duke of Normandy, in the centre, Odo, the bishop of Bayeux, on the left and Robert, Count of Mortain, on the right (from the Bayeux Tapestry Scene 44; Credit – Wikipedia

William had several half-siblings:

From his mother Herleva ‘s marriage to Herluin de Conteville

William’s half-brothers Odo and Robert were prominent during William’s reign as King of England. Odo was likely the one who commissioned the famous Bayeux Tapestry which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England and ending in the Battle of Hastings. As there are no contemporary portraits of William, the Bayeux Tapestry contains the only pictorial representations of him. The scenes of the Bayeux Tapestry and the English translation of the Latin captions can be seen at Wikipedia: Bayeux Tapestry tituli.

William had a sibling from his father Robert I the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy and his mother Herleva or possibly another concubine:

William’s great-aunt, Emma of Normandy, daughter of Richard I the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, was a queen consort of England, Denmark, and Norway through her marriages to Æthelred II the Unready, King of England and Cnut the Great, King of England, Denmark, and Norway. Emma was the mother of two kings, Harthacnut, King of Denmark and King of England and Edward the Confessor, King of England.

In 1034, William’s father Robert I went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem despite protests from some of his nobles. Before he left, Robert had his nobles swear fealty to William as his heir. Robert died in Nicaea (now in Turkey) in July 1035 as he was returning to Normandy. William was only seven or eight years old when he became William II, Duke of Normandy. Young William grew up under the protection of Alan III, Duke of Brittany, Gilbert, 2nd Count of Brionne, and Osbern the Seneschal.  All three guardians were assassinated. The sons of Gilbert, 2nd Count of Brionne accompanied William to England and their descendants would become some of the most powerful families in England: the English house of de Clare, the Barons FitzWalter, the Earls of Gloucester, and the Earls of Hertford. In 1047, William’s cousin Guy of Burgundy led a revolt for the control of Normandy which William successfully defeated.

In 1051 or 1052, William married Matilda of Flanders, daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and Adèle of France, daughter of King Robert II of France.  The couple married without the approval of the Pope. Finally, in 1059 papal approval was received but William and Matilda each had to found an abbey in Caen, Duchy of Normandy, now in France, as penance: the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (St. Stephen’s) and the Abbaye-aux-Dames (Holy Trinity). William and Matilda were devoted to each other and there is no evidence that William had any illegitimate children.

William and Matilda had four sons and at least six daughters.  The birth order of the boys is clear, but that of the girls is not. The list below is not in birth order.  It lists the sons first in their birth order and then his daughters in their probable birth order.

Bayeux Tapestry – Scene 1: King Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson at Winchester; Credit – Wikipedia

In England, Edward the Confessor, William’s first cousin once removed was King of England. Edward had married Edith of Wessex, the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful earl in England. Edward and Edith’s marriage was childless and there was concern over the succession. At that time, succession to the throne was not entirely based upon primogeniture. The Anglo-Saxons had a king’s council called the Witan and one of the Witan’s jobs was to elect the king. There were several potential candidates to succeed Edward the Confessor.

1) Edward the Exile (1016 – 1057) also called Edward Ætheling was the son of King Edmund Ironside (King Edmund II). Edmund Ironside was the half-brother of Edward the Confessor from Æthelred II the Unready’s first marriage, so Edward the Exile was Edward the Confessor’s nephew. Edmund Ironside succeeded his father Æthelred II (the Unready) as King of England in 1016. Edmund’s reign was short-lived. During his seven-month reign, Edmund battled against the Danish Cnut the Great for control of England. After a victory for the Danes at the Battle of Assandun on October 18, 1016, Edmund was forced to sign a treaty with Cnut which stated that all of England except Wessex would be controlled by Cnut. When one of the kings died, the other would take all of England, that king’s son being the heir to the throne. Edmund Ironside died on November 30, 1016, and Cnut became king of all England. King Cnut sent Edward the Exile to King Olaf Skötkonung of Sweden to be murdered, but instead, the king sent him to Kiev where his daughter was the queen. There he grew up in exile. Edward the Exile had the best hereditary claim to the English throne.

2) Edgar the Ætheling (c. 1051 – c. 1126) was the son of Edward the Exile. After his father’s death, Edgar had the best hereditary claim to the English throne.

3) Harald III Hardrada, King of Norway (c. 1015 – 1066) was named the heir to the childless nephew King Magnus I of Norway.  Magnus and King Harthacnut of England and Denmark, Edward the Confessor’s half-brother and his predecessor, made a political agreement that the first of them to die would be succeeded by the other. As Magnus’ heir, Harald Hardrada, thought he had a claim to the English throne.

4) Harold Godwinson (c. 1022 – 1066) was the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful earl in England and the brother of Edward the Confessor’s wife. Harold succeeded his father as Earl of Wessex in 1053 and became the most powerful person in England after Edward the Confessor, King of England.

5) William II, Duke of Normandy was the first cousin once removed of Edward the Confessor. Edward the Confessor’s mother Emma of Normandy was the sister of William’s grandfather Richard II the Good, Duke of Normandy.

Family relationships of the claimants to the English throne in 1066, and others involved in the struggle. Kings of England are shown in bold; Credit – Wikipedia

William’s marriage to Matilda of Flanders may have been motivated by his growing desire to become King of England. Matilda was a direct descendant of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. In 1051, William visited his first cousin once removed, Edward the Confessor, King of England, and apparently Edward named William his successor.

In 1057, Edward the Confessor discovered that his nephew Edward the Exile was still alive and summoned him to England as a potential successor. However, Edward died within two days of his arrival in England and the cause of his death has never been determined. Murder is a possibility, as he had many powerful enemies. His three children Edgar the Ætheling, Margaret, and Cristina were then raised in the court of Edward the Confessor. Margaret, known as Saint Margaret of Scotland, married King Malcolm III of Scotland and their daughter Edith married King Henry I of England, son of William.

In 1064, Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, was shipwrecked on the shores of Ponthieu and was captured by Guy I, Count of Ponthieu as the Bayeux Tapestry relates. William demanded the release of Harold, and after being paid a ransom for him, Guy delivered Harold Godwinson to William. Harold was not released from Normandy until he had sworn on holy relics to be William’s vassal and to support his claim to the throne of England.

Guy capturing Harold, scene 7 of the Bayeux Tapestry; Credit – Wikipedia

Harold swearing the oath, scene 23 of the Bayeux Tapestry; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1065, it is possible that Edward the Confessor had a series of strokes. He was too ill to attend the dedication of his greatest achievement, the church at Westminster, now called Westminster Abbey, on December 28, 1065. Edward the Confessor died several days later, on January 5, 1066. According to the Vita Ædwardi Regis, before Edward died he briefly regained consciousness and named Harold Godwinson his heir. The Witan met the next day and selected Harold Godwinson to succeed Edward as King Harold II. It is probable that Harold was immediately crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Harold meeting Edward shortly before his death, depicted in scene 25 of the Bayeux Tapestry; Credit – Wikipedia

When William heard that Harold Godwinson had been crowned King of England, he began careful preparations for an invasion of England. During the summer of 1066, he assembled an army and an invasion fleet. Meanwhile, in England, Harold Godwinson was forced to march to Northumbria in September 1066 to deal with an invasion by his brother Tostig Godwinson and Harald III Hardrada, King of Norway. Harold Godwinson defeated the invaders and killed Tostig Godwinson and Harold Hardrada on September 25, 1066, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The Norman invasion fleet sailed two days later and landed in England on September 28, 1066, at Pevensey Bay.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Normans preparing for the invasion of England; Credit – Wikipedia

While William waited for Harald III Hardrada to march south with his armies, he ordered the first of his many fortifications to be built, Pevensey Castle at the place he landed and Hastings Castle about 15 miles east along the coast. William’s army met Harold Godwinson’s army about six miles northwest of Hastings on October 14, 1066. The exact strength of the two armies is unknown, but modern estimates are around 10,000 for William and about 7,000 for Harold. The English army was composed almost entirely of infantry and some archers. The Norman army was infantry, with the rest split equally between cavalry and archers.  Harold appears to have tried to surprise William, but Norman scouts found his army and reported its arrival to William, who marched from Hastings to the battlefield to confront Harold. The battle lasted from about 9 AM to dusk. Early efforts of the Normans to break the English battle lines had little effect. In response, the Normans adopted the tactic of pretending to flee in panic and then turning on their pursuers. Harold’s death, probably near the end of the battle, led to the retreat and defeat of most of his army.

The Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry Scene 52a; Credit – Wikipedia

Harold is slain, Bayeux Tapestry Scene 57; Credit – Wikipedia

Following Harold’s death in battle, the Witan elected the teenaged Edgar the Ætheling, the last of the House of Wessex, King of England. As William’s position grew stronger, it became evident to those in power that King Edgar should be abandoned and that they should submit to William. On Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. The south and east of England quickly submitted to William’s rule, but there were risings in parts of England for the next five years. The Normans lived like an army of occupation, building castles, keeps, and mottes throughout England from which they could dominate the population.

White Tower

The White Tower at the Tower of London was begun by William in 1066; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

Anglo-Saxon lords were superseded by Norman and French lords and continental feudalism was introduced. Likewise, Anglo-Saxon bishops were replaced with Norman and French bishops, and Lanfranc of Pavia, who had served William in Normandy, became Archbishop of Canterbury and reorganized the Anglo-Saxon Church in the style of the Norman and French Churches.

Statue of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, from the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1071, William felt England was secure enough and he could then consider the situation in Normandy which was more vulnerable to attacks from the King of France and the Count of Anjou. At Christmas 1085, William ordered the compilation of a survey of the landholdings held by himself and by his vassals throughout the kingdom, organized by counties, now known as the Domesday Book.  The Domesday Book is an invaluable primary source for historians, both professional and amateur. No survey of landholdings approaching the scope and extent of Domesday Book was attempted again until 1873. The original Domesday Book is stored at The National Archives at Kew, London. In 2011, the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online. See OPEN DOMESDAY – The first free online copy of Domesday Book

Towards the end of 1086, William returned to Normandy where the marriage of his daughter Constance was celebrated. In 1087, the French garrison at Mantes made a raid into Normandy. William retaliated by sacking the town. While he was urging on his soldiers, William’s horse stumbled and he was violently flung against his saddle pommel. He received serious internal injuries, most likely a ruptured bladder. William was taken to the Priory of St. Gervais in Rouen where peritonitis developed. As he knew he was dying, William wrote a letter to Lefranc, Archbishop of Canterbury stating that Normandy should go to his eldest son Robert, England should go to his second son William Rufus, and his youngest son Henry should receive money. The youngest son later became King Henry I of England. King William I the Conqueror died on September 9, 1087, aged about 59.

William was buried at the abbey he built at the time of his wedding, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (St. Stephen’s) in Caen, Normandy (now in France). His grave was disturbed several times. In 1522, it was opened on orders of the Pope. French Huguenots desecrated the grave in 1562, leaving only William’s left thigh bone. This was thought to have been destroyed during the French Revolution but was later found and reburied under a new grave marker in 1987.

Tomb of King William I the Conqueror of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Stone marking the grave; Credit – Wikipedia

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Isabella of Angoulême, Countess of Angoulême, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Isabella of Angoulême’s effigy; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella, Countess of Angoulême (in her own right) and Queen of England (wife of King John) was born around 1188, probably in the County of Angoulême, today in southwest France. She was the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême and Alice of Courtenay, a French noblewoman of the House of Courtenay and a granddaughter of King Louis VI of France.

When Isabella was 12 years old, she was betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, the heir of Hugh IX de Lusignan, Count of La Marche. This marriage would have joined La Marche and Angoulême, and the de Lusignan family would then control a vast, rich, and strategic territory between the two Plantagenet strongholds, Bordeaux and Poitier. To prevent this threat, King John of England decided to marry Isabella himself.  John had become king upon the death of his brother King Richard I in 1199. The same year, John had his ten-year childless marriage to Isabella, Countess of Gloucester (in her own right) annulled. Isabella of Angoulême’s parents had no objection to the marriage with the 34-year-old John.  After all, he was a king and their daughter would be a queen. Isabella and John were married on August 24, 1200, and then Isabella was crowned Queen of England on October 8, 1200, at Westminster Abbey.

Isabella and John had five children:

A 13th-century depiction of John and his children, (l to r) Henry, Richard, Isabella, Eleanor, and Joan; Credit – Wikipedia

King John of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella’s father died in 1202, and she succeeded him as Countess of Angoulême in her own right. However, her title was largely empty because John denied Isabella control of her inheritance. John appointed a governor, Bartholomew de Le Puy who conducted most of the administrative affairs of Angoulême until John’s death in 1216.

King John died on October 18, 1216, leaving his eldest son Henry, a nine-year-old, to inherit his throne in the midst of the First Barons’ War (1215–17), in which a group of rebellious barons supported by a French army, made war on King John because of his refusal to accept and abide by the Magna Carta. Because a large part of eastern England was under the control of the rebellious barons and the French, it was thought that Henry should be crowned as soon as possible to reinforce his claim to the throne. Therefore, Henry was crowned on October 28, 1216, at Gloucester Cathedral with a golden circlet belonging to Isabella as the royal crown had recently been lost in The Wash, along with the rest of King John’s treasure.

In July of 1217, Isabella left her son, King Henry III of England, in the care of his regent, William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and returned to France to assume control of her inheritance, the County of Angoulême. There, she once again met her jilted fiancé Hugh de Lusignan, now the 10th Count of La Marche. He had never married, and previously a betrothal between him and Isabella’s 10-year-old daughter Joan had been arranged. Upon seeing Isabella once again, he decided that he preferred Joan’s still beautiful mother. Isabella and Hugh married on May 10, 1220, and they had nine children.

In 1242, Isabella and Hugh were implicated in a plot against the life of King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis), and they were both called before the court of inquiry. Isabella remained on her horse at the door of the court, and when she heard that matters were likely to go against her, she left in a terrible rage. Before she could be taken into custody, she sought refuge at the Fontevrault Abbey in Anjou, which was associated with King John’s family, and remained there for the rest of her life. Her husband and a son were able to take care of the legal issues with King Louis IX.

Isabella died on May 31, 1246, at Fontevrault Abbey and, at her request, was initially buried in the common graveyard there. In 1254, her son King Henry III visited Fontevrault and he personally supervised the reburial of his mother’s remains in the abbey church next to the tombs of his grandparents King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Her remains at Fontevrault Abbey are believed to have been scattered by Huguenots in 1562 when they sacked and pillaged the Abbey. However, her effigy, a wooden sculpture of a reclining figure, can still be seen in the abbey church.

Effigy of Isabella of Angoulême at Fontevrault Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

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King John of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King John of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, England on December 24, 1167, King John of England was the fourth surviving son and the youngest of the eight children of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right. His mother was around 44 years old at the time of his birth.

John had seven siblings:

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (l to r) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John; Credit – Wikipedia

John also had two half-sisters from his mother’s first (annulled) marriage to King Louis VII of France:

As a young child, John was sent to Fontevrault Abbey in his father’s possession of Anjou. Later, he was brought up in the household of his eldest brother Henry the Young King, who was crowned king during his father’s reign as was customary in the French monarchy. His teacher was Ranulf de Glanville, a legal scholar, and later the Chief Justiciar of England.  As a young child, John received the nickname Lackland from his father because it appeared he would not inherit substantial land like his three elder brothers. Henry the Young King would be King of England and receive his father’s Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou. Richard was to receive his mother’s possessions, the Duchy of Aquitaine and the County of Poitou. Geoffrey was to become Duke of Brittany through his marriage.

As Henry’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philippe II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, and their mother Eleanor. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry II eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons.

John’s parents, Henry II and Eleanor, holding court; Credit – Wikipedia

After the revolt of his sons, Henry II promised John an annuity of 1,000 pounds from England and 1,000 livres from Normandy and Anjou. Little by little, Henry II began to find land for John, usually at his nobles’ expense. When Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall died in 1175 without surviving legitimate male offspring, Henry II gave the estates to John.

In 1176, Henry betrothed John to Isabella of Gloucester, the daughter of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester. The 2nd Earl was a first cousin of King Henry II as his father Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was the illegitimate son of King Henry I and Henry II’s mother Empress Matilda was the legitimate daughter of King Henry I. Robert was Matilda’s chief military support during her long civil war with their cousin Stephen of Blois (King Stephen of England) for the English throne. Isabella stood to inherit part of her father’s estate along with her two elder sisters because their only brother had died. However, Henry disinherited Isabella’s elder sisters so that John would eventually receive the whole Gloucester estate. As Isabella was only three and John was only nine, the marriage had to be delayed.

In 1185, Henry II sent 18-year-old John to Ireland as Lord of Ireland to complete the Norman conquest of Ireland.  John arrived in Ireland in April 1185 and by December 1185, he was back in England, most likely due to the lack of money and the rude nature with which he treated the Irish leaders.

Henry the Young King; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1182 – 1183, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Henry II’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris, leaving a posthumous son Arthur I, Duke of Brittany and a daughter Eleanor.

By the time Henry II turned age 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child and Henry’s favorite. King Philip II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John King, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York was at his father’s deathbed when King Henry II died on July 6, 1189.

King Henry II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Upon hearing of his father’s death, Richard set out for England, stopping at Rouen, the capital of the Duchy of Normandy, where he was invested as Duke of Normandy on July 20, 1189. He was crowned King Richard I of England at Westminster Abbey on September 3, 1189. A few days earlier, on August 29, 1189, John and Isabella of Gloucester were married at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, and John assumed the Earldom of Gloucester in her right. Because John and Isabella were second cousins, Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury declared the marriage null due to consanguinity. but he was overruled by Pope Clement III. The couple was not a good match and they had no children.

King Richard I of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard spent very little time in England, perhaps as little as six months, during his ten-year reign. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or actively defending his lands in France. Richard was back in Normandy by Christmas 1189, preparing to leave on the Third Crusades. Later, when Richard was captured in Germany on his way home from the crusades, Eleanor negotiated his ransom by going to Germany.  At the same time,  John and King Philippe II of France, offered Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor 80,000 marks to hold Richard prisoner until September 1194, but the offer was rejected. Finally, with the ransom in the emperor’s possession, Richard was released on February 4, 1194. Philippe II of France warned Richard’s brother John, “Look to yourself. The devil is loose.”

When Richard arrived in England in March 1194, he found that John had been depleting the treasury and was planning to overthrow him. However, when Richard and John met in person, Richard forgave John and named him as his heir in place of their nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany. Arthur was the posthumous son of John’s older brother Geoffrey and had a better primogeniture claim to the English throne than John. During Richard’s long absence, his enemies including King Philippe II of France threatened his French possessions. Richard spent most of his time regaining lost territory and strengthening his hold over his French possessions. In late March 1199, when Richard was dying of gangrene from an arrow wound, his mother Eleanor made her way to his deathbed. Richard died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, and the last son John became King of England.

On April 25, 1199, John was invested as Duke of Normandy in Rouen, the capital. He then left for England and his coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on May 27, 1199. John’s next order of business was to have his marriage to Isabella of Gloucester annulled. Isabella had not been acknowledged as queen and the marriage was easily annulled using the grounds of consanguinity. John kept Isabella’s lands and Isabella did not contest the annulment. Isabella married two more times:

  1. Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex in January 1214: King John charged Geoffrey 20,000 marks to buy her in marriage and to obtain her title, Jure uxoris, a Latin term that means “by right of his wife.” The marriage had no issue and Geoffrey died in 1216.
  2. Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent in September 1217: Within a few weeks, on October 14, 1217, Isabella died at age 43 and was buried at Canterbury Cathedral. Isabella’s nephew Gilbert de Clare, the son of her sister, Amice and Richard de Clare, became the 5th Earl of Gloucester.

Isabella of Angoulême; Credit – Wikipedia

It came to John’s attention that 12-year-old Isabella of Angoulême, the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême and therefore destined to be Countess of Angoulême in her own right, had become betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, the heir of Hugh IX de Lusignan, Count of La Marche. This marriage would join La Marche and Angoulême, and the de Lusignan family would then control a vast, rich, and strategic territory between the two Plantagenet strongholds, Bordeaux and Poitier. To prevent this threat, King John of England decided to marry Isabella. Isabella of Angoulême’s parents had no objection to the marriage with the 34-year-old John. After all, he was a king and their daughter would be a queen. Isabella and John were married on August 24, 1200, and then Isabella was crowned Queen of England on October 8, 1200, at Westminster Abbey. Isabella’s father died in 1202, and she succeeded him as Countess of Angoulême in her own right. However, her title was largely empty because John denied the control of her inheritance. John appointed a governor, Bartholomew de Le Puy, who conducted most of the administrative affairs of Angoulême until John died in 1216.

John and Isabella had five children:

13th-century depiction of John and his children, (l to r) Henry, Richard, Isabella, Eleanor, and Joan; Credit – Wikipedia

John had many illegitimate children. His most noteworthy one was a daughter Joan (or Joanna) In 1205, Joan married Llywelyn Fawr (Llywelyn the Great), Prince of Gwynedd and Prince of Powys Wenwynwyn.  In 1216, Llewellyn received the allegiance of other Welsh lords and although he never used the title, was the de facto Prince of Wales. Llywelyn dominated Wales for 45 years, and was one of only two Welsh rulers to be called “the Great.” Joan, Llywelyn, and their family are among the characters in Sharon Penman‘s historical fiction trilogy, The Welsh Trilogy.

When John became King, the succession had bypassed the children of his deceased elder brother Geoffrey who had better claims to the throne based upon the laws of primogeniture. In 1166, as part of an agreement by Henry II to end his attacks on Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, Geoffrey had been betrothed to Conan’s daughter and heir Constance. The couple married in 1181 and had two surviving children, Arthur, who became Duke of Brittany upon his father’s death in 1186, and Eleanor, known as the Fair Maid of Brittany.

Arthur I, Duke of Brittany paying homage to King Philip II of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Many members of the French nobility refused to recognize John upon his accession to the English throne and his French lands. They believed that Arthur had a better claim because his father was John’s elder brother. In 1202, 15-year-old Arthur started a campaign against his uncle John in Normandy with the support of King Philip II of France. John’s territory of Poitou revolted in support of Arthur. Arthur besieged his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, John’s mother, in the Château de Mirebeau in Poitou. John marched on Mirebeau, taking Arthur by surprise on July 31, 1202. Arthur was captured and imprisoned in the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Normandy. By 1203, Arthur had disappeared. His fate is unknown, but presumably, he was murdered on the orders of his uncle John.

Eleanor of Brittany; Credit – Wikipedia

Arthur’s sister Eleanor was also King John’s prisoner because she and any future children posed a threat to John’s throne. She remained imprisoned for her entire life, into the reign of John’s son King Henry III of England, dying in 1241 at the age of 57 or 59. Her imprisonment in England made it impossible for her to claim her inheritance as Duchess of Brittany. During her 39-year imprisonment, Eleanor, apparently innocent of any crime, was never tried or sentenced. She was considered a state prisoner, was forbidden to marry, and guarded closely even after her childbearing years. Arthur was succeeded by his half-sister Alix of Thouars, the daughter of his mother Constance and her third husband Guy of Thouars.

Angevin Empire around 1172, solid yellow shows Angevin possessions, checked yellow shows areas where there was Angevin influence; By Cartedaos (talk) 01:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4781085

At the time of John’s accession to the English throne, his territories, the Angevin Empire, formed by his paternal grandparents, Geoffrey V of Anjou and Empress Matilda, his parents King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and preserved and protected by his brother King Richard I of England, were basically what appears on the map above. The apparent murder of Arthur, Duke of Brittany on the orders of John, outraged King Philip II of France. Philip, as the overlord of both the Duchy of Brittany and John’s possession, the Duchy of Normandy, declared Normandy forfeit and began an invasion. Château Gaillard,  built to defend Normandy by John’s brother King Richard I, fell to Philip in March 1204. In June 1204, the French king entered Rouen, the capital city of Normandy. Philip’s war against John eventually cost John his territories of Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Anjou, and Poitou, all ancestral territories of his Norman or Angevin ancestors.

King John and King Philip II of France making peace with a kiss; Credit – Wikipedia

While John was trying to save his French territories, his discontented English barons led by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, were protesting John’s continued misgovernment of England. The result of this discontent was the best-known event of John’s reign, the Magna Carta, the “great charter” of English liberties, forced from King John by the English barons and sealed at Runnymede near Windsor Castle on June 15, 1215. Among the liberties were the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown. The Magna Carta is still an important symbol of liberty and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities. Four versions of the original 1215 charter remain in existence. Two are held by the British Library and one each is at Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.

One of the remaining four versions of the original Magna Carta; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Infuriated by being forced to agree to the Magna Carta, John turned to Pope Innocent III, who declared the Magna Carta null and void and the rebel barons excommunicated. The conflict between John and the barons was transformed into an open civil war, the First Barons’ War (1215-1217). The rebels appealed to the French king and offered his son, the future King Louis VIII, the English crown. The war continued after John’s death, but William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, slowly managed to get most barons to switch sides from Louis to the new King Henry III and attack Louis. The Magna Carta was reissued in King Henry III’s name with some of the clauses omitted and was sealed by the nine-year-old king’s regent William Marshal.

King John of England in battle with the Franks (left), Louis VIII of France on the march (right); Credit – Wikipedia

Amid the First Barons’ War, John was traveling through East Anglia, from Spalding in Lincolnshire to Bishop’s Lynn, in Norfolk, became ill with dysentery, and decided to turn back, taking the longer road route. However, he sent his baggage train, including his crown jewels, through The Wash, the large indentation in the coastline of Eastern England that separates the curved coast of East Anglia from Lincolnshire. This route, flat, low-lying, and often marshy, was usable only at low tide. The horse-drawn wagons moved too slowly for the incoming tide, and many were lost.

John managed to ride to Swineshead Abbey where he spent the night. The next day, he was taken by a litter to Newark Castle where he died on October 19, 1216, at the age of 49. At his request, King John was buried in Worcester Cathedral as close to the shrine of St. Wulfstan as possible. A new tomb was made in 1232, during the reign of his son and heir King Henry III.

King John’s Tomb; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1217, John’s widow Isabella of Angoulême left her young son King Henry III of England in the care of his regent, William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and returned to France to assume control of her inheritance, the County of Angoulême. There, she once again met her jilted fiancé Hugh de Lusignan, now the 10th Count of La Marche, who had never married. Isabella and Hugh married on May 10, 1220, and they had nine children. Isabella died on May 31, 1246, at Fontevrault Abbey and was initially buried in the common graveyard there at her request. In 1254, her son King Henry III visited Fontevrault and personally supervised the reburial of his mother’s remains in the abbey church next to the tombs of his grandparents King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

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England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Anne of Austria, Queen of France

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Anne of Austria, Queen of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

Anne of Austria was the wife of King Louis XIII of France and served as Regent from 1643-1651. She was born Ana María Mauricia, Infanta of Spain and Portugal, on September 22, 1601, at Benavente Palace in Valladolid, Spain. Although a Spanish Infanta, she was known as Ana of Austria, as the Spanish monarchs at the time were members of the House of Habsburg. The eldest daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, Ana had seven younger siblings:

Ana was raised at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in Spain in a very close and loving family. She was given a very strong religious upbringing, and often visited convents and churches. After her mother’s death in childbirth in 1611, Ana became a surrogate mother to her younger siblings and maintained a very close relationship with her father.

Anne of Austria, circa 1607. source: Wikipedia

At just ten years old, Ana was betrothed to King Louis XIII of France, the son of King Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, and given a large dowry and an extensive collection of jewels. The marriage contract required her to give up her rights to the Spanish throne but provided them to be restored if she were to become a childless widow. It also stipulated that if that happened, she would return to Spain with her entire dowry, as well as her jewels and wardrobe.

The couple was married by proxy on October 18, 1615, in Burgos, Spain. The same day, her brother and Louis’s sister were married by proxy in Bordeaux, France. This followed the tradition of marriages between the French and Austrian royal families. Upon her arrival in France, Ana and Louis were married on November 24, 1615, at the Bordeaux Cathedral. Just 14 at the time, it was allegedly several years before the marriage was consummated.

The marriage was strained from the onset. Taking up her apartments in the Louvre Palace in Paris, France, Ana was more or less ignored by her new husband. Her mother-in-law, Marie de’ Medici, refused to give any deference to Ana, who was the new Queen of France. Ana herself didn’t do much to ingratiate herself with her new family and country. She surrounded herself with nearly 100 Spanish ladies, and continued to abide by Spanish etiquette, and made little effort to learn the French language. It would several years before the relationship between Ana and Louis would begin to thaw.

In 1617, King Louis took full control of the monarchy from his mother (who had been serving as Regent) and sent her into exile. His advisor, Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes, made it his mission to bring Louis and Ana closer together. He replaced her Spanish entourage with French ladies-in-waiting and arranged for various court functions that would have both of them in attendance. Through his influence, as well as Anne’s new French ladies, she started to dress and carry herself in more of a French style. Reportedly, it was Luynes who then encouraged Louis to consummate their marriage, resulting in the birth of a stillborn child, the first of four stillborn births over the next 12 years.

Anne with her two sons; Credit – Wikipedia

Finally, after nearly 23 years of marriage, Queen gave birth to the first of two healthy sons:

In 1625, when Louis’s sister Henriette married King Charles I of England, Anne and her mother-in-law accompanied Henriette to the French border where they were met by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who was to accompany Henriette back to England. Supposedly, Buckingham made advances to Queen Anne, causing quite a scandal throughout the courts of Europe. He was subsequently forbidden from setting foot on French soil. The truth of this story is questionable.

Continuing to visit convents and churches in her new country just as she had done in Spain, Queen Anne found a friend in Marguerite de Veny d’Arbouse, a prioress at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce de-la-Ville-d’Evêque. Anne arranged for the establishment of an abbey with Marguerite as Abbess, and in 1621, the Queen herself purchased land in Paris and had the convent moved there. She had a small church built, as well as an apartment for herself. This would become her refuge several times during her marriage, as well as in her later years. Years later, after her husband’s death, Queen Anne commissioned the building of the Church of the Val-de-Grâce.

More strain came to Anne’s relationship with her husband when France declared war on Spain in 1635. Very close with her brother, King Felipe IV of Spain, Anne kept up a secret correspondence that put her under great suspicion. Two years later, Cardinal Richelieu, her husband’s senior minister, forced Anne to allow her correspondence to be inspected, and she was kept under close watch.

King Louis XIII died in 1643, leaving his five-year-old son as the new King Louis XIV. In his will, the late King sought to limit any power that Queen Anne might have had, including becoming Regent. He instructed that a regency council be established instead. However, just days after his death, Queen Anne was able to convene the Parliament of Paris and had that part of his will overturned. Anne was named sole Regent for her young son. She then took her two sons and moved from the Louvre Palace to the Palais-Royal in Paris, formerly the Palais-Cardinal, home of Cardinal Richelieu.

Queen Anne in her later years – source: Wikipedia

Queen Anne appointed Cardinal Jules Mazarin as her chief minister and relied on him to maintain the government. The two were rumored to be lovers, or perhaps even secretly married, although nothing has ever been proven. Anne retained much of her power even after her son came of age in 1651. She oversaw his marriage to her own niece, Maria Teresa of Spain in 1660, and the following year, after Mazarin’s death, Queen Anne stepped aside and retired to the Covent of Val-de-Grâce in Paris, France. Five years later, on January 20, 1666, she died there of breast cancer. She is buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris.

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France Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King Louis XIII of France

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Louis XIII of France; Credit – Wikipedia

King Louis XIII of France was born September 27, 1601, at the Château de Fontainebleau in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, France. He was the eldest son of King Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, and had five younger siblings:

At just two months old, Louis was brought to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where he was raised with his father’s illegitimate children, and later his own siblings. He was nearly five years old when his christening occurred at Fontainebleau in September 1606. His godparents were Pope Paul V, and his maternal aunt, Eleonora de’ Medici, Duchess of Mantua.

From a young age, Louis showed a great interest in music and learned to play the lute at just three years old. This love of music continued for his entire life, and in 1635 he wrote The Ballet de la Merlaison which was first performed that year at the Château de Chantilly. Louis is credited with writing the story, composing the music and lyrics, and choreographing the dancing. He also danced in several performances of the show.

King Louis XIII, c1613. source: Wikipedia

Louis also developed an early love of horses and the military. Once his education began, he did not show much interest in languages, math, or science, but excelled in history and the arts. Growing up, he was much closer to his father King Henri IV than his mother, even though his father would often mistreat him. Sadly, Louis was only eight years old when his father King Henri IV was assassinated on May 14, 1610, and he became King Louis XIII of France. Due to his youth, his mother Marie de’ Medici was appointed Regent, to serve until he came of age. Despite reaching his majority in 1614, his mother continued to exert her influence as Regent, deeming her son “too weak in body and spirit” to assume his rightful position.

It would be several years before Louis asserted his authority. In April 1617, he organized a coup d’état, ousting his mother’s primary minister Concino Concini, and sending his mother into exile. He replaced Concini with his favorite advisor, Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes. One of the first challenges in his reign was the Thirty Years’ War which began in 1618, in which there was much disagreement on which side the French should support. There was also growing disagreement with Luynes and his actions. These all led to a rebellion against the King, led by his mother who had escaped from exile. Through the influence of the Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu, better known as Cardinal Richelieu, Louis and his mother were reconciled, and within a few years, Louis permitted her to return to the French court. By 1624, Louis was now ruled by council and Cardinal Richelieu took a more prominent role in the King’s reign.

“The Marriage of Louis XIII, King of France and of Navarre, and Anna of Austria” by Jean Chalette. source: Wikipedia

In 1612, at just eleven years old, Louis became betrothed to Anna of Austria, keeping with the tradition of inter-marriages between the French and Spanish monarchies. She was the daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. The couple was married by proxy on October 18, 1615, in Burgos, Spain. The same day, Louis’s sister Elisabeth married Anna’s brother, the future King Felipe IV of Spain. Following Anna’s arrival in France, the couple was married in a religious ceremony at the Bordeaux Cathedral in France on November 24, 1615.  After four stillborn children, and 23 years after their marriage, the couple had two sons:

The hunting lodge at Versailles, c1630-1640. source: Wikipedia

Although best associated with later generations of French monarchs, the Palace of Versailles has its origins with Louis XIII. Having gone on several hunting trips in the area, King Louis XIII ordered the construction of a hunting lodge in 1624. Several years later, he acquired the surrounding land and began to enlarge the building. Under his son’s reign, the small hunting lodge was transformed into a grand palace and became the seat of the French monarchy.

King Louis XIII and Queen Anne with their eldest son, the future King Louis XIV. Cardinal Richelieu is pictured behind the King. source: Wikipedia

After several weeks of intense illness, King Louis XIII died in Paris on May 14, 1643. Ironically, it was 33 years earlier on the same day that his own father had died.  Just like his father, Louis left behind a very young son – not yet five years old – to succeed him on the French throne. He was interred at the Basilica of St. Denis near Paris, France with very little pomp or ceremony, per his wishes that the French people not be subjected to any excessive or unnecessary expense due to his death. Knowing his death was near, the King had revised his will, limiting the powers of his wife who would go on to serve as Regent for their young son.

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France Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Effigy of Berengaria of Navarre; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Berengaria of Navarre was the only English queen never to set foot in the country. Her husband King Richard I of England spent about only six months of his ten-year reign in England. There is evidence that she may have visited England in the years following his death when she was Queen Dowager. Berengaria was the fourth of the seven children of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his first wife Berengaria of Barcelona. The Kingdom of Navarre, originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a Basque-based kingdom that occupied lands on either side of the western Pyrenees Mountains, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.

Navarre (light green) in 1190; Credit – Wikipedia

Berengaria was born around 1163 in Pamplona, the capital of Navarre. She had six siblings:

  • King Sancho VII of Navarre (1154 – 1234), married (1) Constance of Toulouse, no issue, marriage annulled (2) identity of the second wife is disputed
  • Ferdinand of Navarre (died circa 1207)
  • Ramiro of Navarre, Bishop of Pamplona (died circa 1228)
  • Constance of Navarre (died circa 1205)
  • Blanche of Navarre, Countess of Champagne, Regent of Champagne, Regent of Navarre (died 1229), married Theobald III, Count of Champagne, had issue; Blanche acted as Regent of Champagne for her son, and as Regent of Navarre for her brother King Sancho VII of Navarre when he retired due to illness
  • Theresa (died young)

Berengaria had met her future husband King Richard I of England years before their marriage at a tournament in Pamplona. When Richard became king in 1189, he was urged to marry and his thoughts turned to Berengaria. In the summer of 1190, Richard left to participate in the Third Crusade. He asked his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine to go to Navarre and arrange his marriage with Berengaria, and then escort her to whatever point he reached on his way to the Crusades. In 1190, Eleanor met King Sancho VII in Pamplona where he hosted a banquet in the Palacio Real de Olite in her honor. Richard had been betrothed for many years to Alys of France, sister of King Philippe II of France, so his betrothal to Berengaria could not be celebrated until he terminated his betrothal to Alys, which he did when he arrived in Messina, Sicily. Eleanor escorted Berengaria as far as Messina where she handed her over to her recently widowed daughter Joan, Queen of Sicily.

Richard and Berengaria were to have married in Sicily, but Richard postponed the wedding and set off for the Holy Land along with Berengaria and Joan who were on a separate ship.  Two days after setting sail, Richard’s fleet was hit by a strong storm. Several ships were lost and others were way off course.  Richard landed safely in Crete, but the ship Berengaria and Joan were on was marooned near Cyprus.  Berengaria and Joan were about to be captured by the ruler of Cyprus when Richard’s ships appeared to rescue them.  On May 12, 1191, King Richard I of England married Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus. Then his fleet, along with Berengaria and Joan, traveled to the Holy Land. Berengaria and Richard’s marriage was childless.

Richard and Berengaria on the way from Cyprus to the Holy Land; Credit – Wikipedia

Berengaria and Joan accompanied Richard throughout the Crusade. Richard treated Berengaria courteously, but it is unknown if the marriage was ever consummated. The two women returned from the Holy Land before Richard. They landed in Naples and then proceeded to Rome where they had to stay for a year until the Pope gave them safe conduct to travel to Marseilles. Upon his return to Europe, Richard was held captive for two years by Leopold V, Duke of Austria and Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor for an enormous ransom estimated to be worth around £2 billion at today’s prices. Berengaria remained in Europe, based at Beaufort-en-Vallée, in the County of Maine (now in France) attempting to raise money for his ransom. Eventually, Richard’s mother Eleanor arrived to arrange Richard’s release. After his release in 1194, Richard returned to England and was not joined by his wife.

In 1195, Richard returned to his French lands but made no attempt to rejoin Berengaria until a monk persuaded Richard that he should once again reunite with his wife. Richard and Berengaria spent Christmas of 1196 together in Poitiers. In March 1199, Richard was suppressing a revolt by besieging a castle, the Château de Châlus-Chabrol in Châlus in the present-day Limousin region in western France. On the evening of March 25, 1199, Richard was walking the perimeter of the castle observing the trenches that were being dug. Not wearing his chainmail, Richard was hit by an arrow from a crossbow shot by a soldier on the castle battlements. Richard unsuccessfully tried to pull out the arrow and a doctor did a less than adequate job of treating the injury which became infected with gangrene. Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, arrived before Richard’s death. He died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, at the age of 41.

After Richard’s death, Berengaria received the revenues of the tin mines in Devon and Cornwall in England. The city of Le Mans, the capital of the County of Maine, was settled on her as dower, the provision accorded by law, but traditionally by a husband or his family, to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband. In 1228, Berengaria founded the Cistercian Abbey of L’Epau near Le Mans and retired there. She died at the Abbey of L’Epau in Le Mans, County of Maine, now in France; on December 23, 1230, and was buried there in a magnificent tomb.

Tomb of Berengaria of Navarre at the Abbey of l’Epau; Credit – Wikipedia

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England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King Richard I of England (the Lionheart)

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Effigy of King Richard I; By Adam Bishop – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17048652

King Richard I of England was born on September 8, 1157, at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, England, the third son and the fourth of eight children of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Richard had seven siblings:

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (l to r) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard also had two half-sisters from his mother’s first (annulled) marriage to King Louis VII of France:

Richard probably spent his childhood in England. His first recorded visit to the European mainland was in May 1165, when his mother took him to Normandy. Little is known about Richard’s education. He was born in Oxford, and it appears he was brought up in England until the year he turned eight. It is not known to what extent he used or understood English. Richard was an educated man who composed poetry and wrote in his mother’s Occitan language and French. A contemporary Latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade said of Richard: “He was tall, of elegant build; the color of his hair was between red and gold; his limbs were supple and straight. He had long arms suited to wielding a sword. His long legs matched the rest of his body.” From an early age, Richard showed significant political and military ability.

During the reign of Richard’s father, the Angevin Empire was vast and consisted of an area covering half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales. The last part of Henry II’s reign was taken up by disputes with and between his sons, often encouraged by their mother Eleanor. As Henry and Eleanor’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philippe II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, and their mother, Eleanor. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons. In 1182–83, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Henry II’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris.

Angevin Empire around 1172, solid yellow shows Angevin possessions, checked yellow shows areas where there was Angevin influence; By Cartedaos (talk) 01:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4781085

By the time King Henry II turned 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child and Henry’s favorite. King Philippe II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John King, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philippe and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York was at Henry II’s deathbed when he died on July 6, 1189.

Upon hearing of his father’s death, Richard set out for England, stopping at Rouen, the capital of the Duchy of Normandy, where he was invested as Duke of Normandy on July 20, 1189. He was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on September 3, 1189. However, Richard spent very little time in England during his ten-year reign, perhaps as little as six months. Rather than regarding the Kingdom of England as a responsibility requiring his presence as the king, Richard saw England as a source of revenue to support his armies. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or defending his lands in France. Richard was back in Normandy by Christmas of 1189, preparing to leave on the Third Crusade.

Richard I being anointed during his coronation in Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard had met his future wife, Berengaria of Navarre, years before their marriage at a tournament in Pamplona, the capital of the Kingdom of Navarre.  Berengaria was the fourth of the seven children of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his first wife Berengaria of Barcelona. When Richard became king in 1189, he was urged to marry, and his thoughts turned to Berengaria.

In the summer of 1190, Richard left to participate in the Third Crusade. He asked his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to go to Navarre and arrange his marriage with Berengaria, and then escort her to whatever point he reached on his way to the Crusades. In 1190, Eleanor met Berengaria’s brother, King Sancho VII, in Pamplona, where he hosted a banquet in the Palacio Real de Olite in her honor. Richard had been betrothed to Alys of France, sister of King Philippe II of France, for many years, so his betrothal to Berengaria could not be celebrated until he terminated his betrothal to Alys, which he did when he arrived in Messina, Sicily. Eleanor escorted Berengaria as far as Messina, where she handed her over to her recently widowed daughter, Joan, Queen of Sicily.

Richard and Berengaria were to have married in Sicily, but Richard postponed the wedding and set off for the Holy Land along with Berengaria and Joan, who were on a separate ship.  Two days after setting sail, Richard’s fleet was hit by a strong storm. Several ships were lost, and others were way off course.  Richard landed safely in Crete, but Berengaria and Joan’s ship was marooned near Cyprus.  Berengaria and Joan were about to be captured by the ruler of Cyprus when Richard’s ships appeared to rescue them.  On May 12, 1191, King Richard I of England married Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus. Then his fleet, along with Berengaria and Joan, traveled to the Holy Land. Berengaria and Richard’s marriage was childless.

Richard and Berengaria on the way from Cyprus to the Holy Land; Credit – Wikipedia

The Third Crusade, also known as The Kings’ Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to wrest the Holy Land from Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and the Muslim military leader. However, the Third Crusade failed to capture Jerusalem, and the only significant achievement was the capture of Acre in 1191. A truce was concluded with Saladin, against Richard’s wishes, and the Crusaders left for their homes.

Richard and Philip II of France at Acre; Credit – Wikipedia

On his way home from the Crusades, Richard was shipwrecked, forcing him to take a dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law, Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Richard was arrested near Vienna in December 1192 by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who had also participated in the Third Crusades and suspected Richard of murdering his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Acre.  Leopold had also been offended by Richard throwing down his standard from the walls of Acre.

In March 1193, Richard was transferred to the custody of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demanded that a ransom of 150,000 marks (100,000 pounds of silver) be delivered to him before he would release Richard. This was an enormous amount, equal to two to three times the annual income of the English Crown at that time. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, worked to raise the ransom. At the same time, Richard’s brother John and King Philippe II of France offered the emperor 80,000 marks to hold Richard prisoner until September 1194, but the offer was rejected. Finally, with the ransom in the emperor’s possession, Richard was released on February 4, 1194. Philippe II of France warned Richard’s brother John, “Look to yourself. The devil is loose.”

Depiction of Richard being pardoned by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, circa 1196; Credit – Wikipedia

When Richard arrived in England in March 1194, he found that his brother John had been depleting the treasury and was planning to overthrow him. However, when Richard and John met in person, Richard forgave John and named him his heir, in place of their nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany. Arthur was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, King Henry II’s second eldest surviving son, so Arthur had a better primogeniture claim to the English throne than John.

During Richard’s long absence, his enemies, including King Philippe II of France, threatened his French possessions. Richard found it necessary to spend most of his time regaining lost territory and strengthening his hold over his French possessions. Richard had the great fortress in Normandy, the Château Gaillard built, and he may have been the architect. The Château Gaillard’s purpose was to guard the border between Normandy and France.

Ruins of the Château Gaillard; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In March 1199, Richard was suppressing a revolt by Aimar V, Viscount of Limoges by besieging a castle, the Château de Châlus-Chabrol in Châlus in the present-day Limousin region in western France. On the evening of March 25, 1199, Richard was walking the perimeter of the castle, observing the trenches that were being dug. Not wearing his chainmail, Richard was hit by an arrow from a crossbow shot by a soldier on the castle battlements.

Richard unsuccessfully tried to pull out the arrow, and a doctor did a less-than-adequate job of treating the injury, which became infected with gangrene. Knowing he was dying, Richard forgave the man who shot the arrow and asked him to be set free. Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, arrived before Richard’s death. He died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, at the age of 41. After Richard’s death, the forgiven crossbowman was flayed alive and hanged by Mercadier, one of Richard’s mercenary captains

Richard’s heart was buried at Rouen Cathedral in Normandy, now in France, his entrails in the chapel at Châlus where he died, and the rest of his body was buried at Fontevrault Abbey in Anjou. All the remains at Fontevrault Abbey are believed to have been scattered by Huguenots in 1562 when they sacked and pillaged the abbey, but the effigies remain. In 1794, a search of the vaults by French Revolutionaries found no remains. Richard’s heart monument survived both the Huguenots and the French Revolution, and his entrails remain in Châlus. Richard’s youngest brother John succeeded him as king.

Richard I’s effigy at Fontevrault Abbey near Chinon, France;  Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

UPDATED: Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster has died

Prince+Charles+Duke+Westminster+Prince+Wales+v-ki8OEb-mGl

The Prince of Wales and the 6th Duke of Westminster; Photo Credit – zimbio.com

Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster died suddenly at the age of 64 on August 9, 2016.  The Duke was a close friend of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.  He was a Knight of the Order of the Garter.  His daughter Lady Edwina was a godchild of Diana, Princess of Wales. His son 25 year old son Hugh Grosvenor, who is one of the godparents of Prince George of Cambridge, succeeds his father as the 7th Duke of Westminster.

BBC: Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died aged 64
Telegraph: Billionaire landowner and close friend of Prince Charles the Duke of Westminster dies aged 64 after sudden illness
Telegraph: Who is new Duke of Westminster? Hugh Grosvenor is 25-year-old godfather to Prince George
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UPDATED August 11, 2016

Telegraph: Duke of Westminster died of heart attack, coroner’s office confirms

 

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Eleanor of Aquitaine’s effigy; By Adam Bishop – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17048657

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, Queen of France (the first wife of King Louis VII of France, marriage annulled after 15 years) and Queen of England (wife of King Henry II of England) survived her first husband, her second husband, and eight of her ten children. She was the longest-lived British Queen Consort until the death of Queen Mary, wife of King George V, 749 years later.  Currently, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother holds the record for the longest-lived British Queen Consort.

Through some historical detective work, historians deduced that Eleanor was most likely born in 1122 in Poitiers, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-l’Autis, all cities in her father’s lands, all now in France. She was the eldest of the three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aenor de Châtellerault.  Eleanor is said to have been named after her mother Aenor and called Aliénor from the Latin alia Aenor, which means “the other Aenor.” It became Eléanor in the French and Eleanor in English.

Eleanor had two siblings:

Eleanor received an education as befitted a noblewoman of her time at the court of Aquitaine, one of the finest courts of the twelfth century, which saw the birth of courtly love and the influence of Occitan language at the various residences of the Dukes of Aquitaine. Eleanor learned Latin, music, literature, riding, hawking, and hunting. Eleanor’s grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, a lyric poet in the Occitan language, was the earliest troubadour whose work has survived. In 1127, Eleanor’s grandfather died and her father became Duke of Aquitaine. Eleanor’s brother and mother died in 1130, and the eight-year-old Eleanor became her father’s heir.

However, the reign of Eleanor’s father was short. In 1137, William decided to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to atone for his sins. Before leaving, he made his vassals swear to respect the rights of his heir, Eleanor. At the same time, he put both his daughters under the protection of his lord, King Louis VI of France. Eleanor and Petronilla accompanied their father to Bordeaux, where he left them in the care of the archbishop. William then continued his journey to the Shrine of Saint James of Compostela in the company of other pilgrims. However, William never arrived at his destination because he died on Good Friday, April 9, 1137. 15-year-old Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and became the most eligible potential bride in Europe.

King Louis VI of France was not in good health. The heir to the French throne was his second son, Louis.  The devout Louis had been destined for the priesthood, but this changed when his elder brother Philip was killed in a horrible accident six years earlier. When the ailing Louis VI heard that his vassal William X, Duke of Aquitaine died, leaving a wealthy female heir, he saw an opportunity and declared that his son Louis would marry Eleanor. In this way, Louis VI would add the large territory of the Duchy of Aquitaine to his family’s holdings in France. Eleanor and Louis were married on July 25, 1137, in the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. Immediately after the wedding, the couple was enthroned as Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. However, Aquitaine would remain independent of France until Louis and Eleanor’s oldest son became both King of France and Duke of Aquitaine. Therefore, Eleanor’s holdings would not be merged with France until the next generation. As a wedding gift, Eleanor gave Louis a rock crystal vase that her grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine had given her.  Louis subsequently gave the vase to the Abbey of Saint-Denis, now a basilica, the traditional burial place of the French kings and consorts. The vase is displayed at the Louvre and is the only object connected with Eleanor of Aquitaine that still survives.

The rock crystal vase on display at the Louvre; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

At left, a 14th-century representation of the wedding of Louis and Eleanor; at right, Louis leaving on Crusade; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleanor and Louis VII had two children, both daughters:

A week after Eleanor and Louis’s wedding, King Louis VI died, and Eleanor’s husband was King Louis VII of France, and Eleanor was Queen of France. Eleanor and Louis were very incompatible. Eleanor was high-spirited, and Louis led a life strongly influenced by his monastic youth. In 1147, Louis VI and Eleanor left France to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade.  The expedition to the Holy Land came at a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor that led to the annulment of their marriage.

Perhaps the marriage to Eleanor might have continued if the royal couple had produced a male heir, but this had not occurred. While in the Holy Land, Eleanor and Louis visited her paternal uncle Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch.  Louis became suspicious of the attention Raymond gave Eleanor, and the long conversations they enjoyed. Raymond was only seven years older than Eleanor, and they had been close during childhood, however, an affair between uncle and niece was suspected by many. Raymond and Eleanor also differed with Louis regarding the tactics of the Second Crusade. Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, but the situation now had worsened. Due to their disagreements, Louis and Eleanor left the Holy Land on separate ships.

The ships of Eleanor and Louis were attacked and besieged by storms. Neither was heard from for over two months, and they were given up for dead. Eventually, Eleanor and Louis turned up in Calabria, and they decided to go to the Pope, hoping for a marriage annulment. However, Pope Eugene III did not grant an annulment. Instead, he attempted to reconcile Eleanor and Louis, confirming the legality of their marriage. The Pope arranged events so that Eleanor had no choice but to sleep with Louis in a bed specially prepared by the Pope. Their second child was conceived, but it was another daughter.

Louis knew the marriage should end. He had no heir, Eleanor wanted an end to the marriage, and she would be supported by her vassals. On March 21, 1152, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene, granted an annulment on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Eleanor was Louis’ third cousin once removed and shared common ancestry with Robert II of France. Their two daughters were declared legitimate.

Eleanor then set out for her own land in Poitiers. However, two would-be suitors for a wealthy heiress, Theobald V, Count of Blois, (the future husband of Eleanor’s daughter Alix of France) and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (the brother of Eleanor’s 2nd husband, the future King Henry II, of England) tried to kidnap her to marry her to claim her lands. As soon as she reached Poitiers, Eleanor contacted the young Henry, Duke of Normandy, the future King Henry II of England, who had been fighting for the English throne, asking him to marry her at once. Henry knew it was a good deal because of Eleanor’s land. Even though Henry was more closely related to Eleanor than Louis, 19-year-old Henry married 30-year-old Eleanor eight weeks after the annulment, on May 18, 1152, in Bordeaux in Eleanor’s Duchy of Aquitaine.

Eleanor and Henry had eight children and were the grandparents of many sovereigns and queen consorts.

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (l to r) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John; Credit – Wikipedia 

Eleanor’s second husband Henry, Duke of Normandy was born on March 5, 1133, in Le Mans, the capital of the County of Maine, now in France. He was the eldest of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine and Empress Matilda (sometimes called Maud). Henry’s mother was the widow of Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor, and she used her style and title from her first marriage for the rest of her life. More importantly, Matilda was the only surviving, legitimate child of King Henry I of England and Duke of Normandy.

Matilda’s only sibling and her father’s heir had drowned when his ship sank, leaving Matilda as the heir to the throne of England. On Christmas Day of 1226, King Henry I of England gathered his nobles at Westminster, where they swore to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have as his successors. That plan did not work out. Upon hearing of Henry I’s death in 1135, Stephen of Blois, one of Henry I’s nephews, quickly crossed the English Channel from France, seized power, and was crowned King of England on December 22, 1135. This started the terrible civil war between Stephen and Matilda, known as The Anarchy. The future Henry II was two years old when this civil war started, and it was to affect his childhood as England did not see peace for 18 years.

The civil war between first cousins, Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois, King of England since 1135, dragged on for many years. Stephen unsuccessfully attempted to have his son Eustace recognized by the Church as the next King of England. By the early 1150s, most barons and the Church wanted long-term peace. Ironically, Stephen’s son Eustace died the same day that Eleanor and Henry’s eldest son William was born. Although William died when he was three years old, the irony of the birth and the death must have been noticed at the time.

When Henry re-invaded England in 1153, neither side’s forces were eager to fight. After limited campaigning and the siege of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry agreed upon a negotiated peace, the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognized Henry as his heir. Stephen died on October 25, 1154, and Henry ascended the throne as King Henry II, the first Angevin King of England. Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey on December 19, 1154. His wife Eleanor was crowned with him.

12th-century depiction of Henry and Eleanor holding court; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleanor and Henry’s marriage was reputedly tumultuous and argumentative. Henry was not faithful, and Eleanor was somewhat ambivalent towards his affairs, as evidenced by her raising one of Henry’s illegitimate sons Geoffrey, the future Archbishop of York, in her household. By late 1166, Henry’s notorious affair with Rosamund de Clifford had become known, and Eleanor’s marriage to Henry appears to have become permanently strained. As their children grew up, the couple grew further apart, and Eleanor seemed to take delight in backing one son and then another against Henry.

Henry and Eleanor; Credit – Wikipedia

During Henry II’s reign, the lands of the Angevin Empire consisting of an area covering half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales.

Angevin Empire around 1172, solid yellow shows Angevin possessions, checked yellow shows areas where there was Angevin influence; By Cartedaos (talk) 01:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4781085

The last part of Henry’s reign was taken up by disputes with and between his sons, often encouraged by Eleanor. As Henry II’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philippe II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by Eleanor and his brothers Richard and Geoffrey. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry II eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons. In 1182–83, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Eleanor and Henry’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris.

By the time Henry II turned 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child, Henry’s favorite. King Philip II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John the next King of England, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, was at his father’s deathbed, and it moved Henry to observe that his illegitimate son had proved more loyal than his legitimate sons: “Baseborn indeed have my other children shown themselves. This alone is my true son.” King Henry II of England died at the Château de Chinon on July 6, 1189, at the age of 56, and was succeeded by his son Richard.

Richard was not in England when his father died. One of Richard’s first acts as king was to send William Marshal to England with orders to release Eleanor from her imprisonment, but when Marshal arrived, he found that she had already been released. Eleanor traveled to Westminster and received the oaths of fealty from lords and bishops on behalf of Richard. She ruled England in Richard’s name until his arrival in August of 1189, signing herself “Eleanor, by the grace of God, Queen of England”. However, Richard spent little time in England during his ten-year reign, perhaps as little as six months. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or in actively defending his lands in France.

Eleanor escorted Richard’s bride Berengaria of Navarre on part of her journey to Cyprus, where he was preparing for the Third Crusade and where the couple married. Eleanor ruled England as regent while Richard was on the Third Crusade. Later, when Richard was captured in Germany on his way home from the crusades, Eleanor negotiated his ransom by going to Germany. In late March 1199, when Richard was dying of gangrene from an arrow wound, Eleanor made her way to his deathbed. Richard died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, and the last son John became king.

On April 1, 1204, Eleanor died at Fontevrault Abbey in Fontevraukt, near Chinon, in the Duchy of Anjou, now in France, at the age of 82. In 1562, the abbey church was pillaged and looted by the Huguenots during the Protestant Reformation. There are stories that the royal remains were thrown into a nearby river and also that the monks reburied them in a secret location. However, Eleanor’s effigy, showing her reading a Bible, survived and can still be seen.

Eleanor’s effigy next to Henry’s effigy; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In popular culture, Eleanor, Henry II, and their family are the subject of plays, films, and historical fiction. Eleanor, Henry, and their sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John are characters in James Goldman‘s 1966 play The Lion in Winter and in the 1968 film adaptation of the play with Peter O’Toole playing Henry and Katharine Hepburn in an Academy Award-winning role as Eleanor.

The late American historical fiction author Sharon Kay Penman‘s excellently researched and highly recommended Plantagenet Series deals with Eleanor, Henry II, and their family.

  • When Christ and His Saints Slept (1995) introduces the beginnings of the Plantagenet dynasty as Empress Matilda (Penman uses Maude) fights to secure her claim to the English throne.
  • Time and Chance (2002) continues the story of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and focuses on the rift between Henry II and Thomas Becket.
  • Devil’s Brood (2008) opens with the conflict between Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their four sons, which escalates into a decade of warfare and rebellion pitting the sons against the father and the brothers against each other while Eleanor spends the period imprisoned by Henry.
  • Lionheart (2011) focuses on Richard the Lionheart’s Crusades in the Holy Land and on what happened to Eleanor when she was finally released after spending sixteen years in confinement that was ordered and enforced by her husband.
  • A King’s Ransom (2014) is about the second half of Richard’s life, during and following his imprisonment, ransom, and life afterward.

Penman also wrote a series of mysteries set in the reigns of her sons Richard and John in which the fictional “detective” Justin de Quincy works for Eleanor of Aquitaine in the later years of her life.

  • The Queen’s Man (1996)
  • Cruel as the Grave (1998)
  • Dragon’s Lair New York (2003)
  • Prince of Darkness New York (2005)

British historical fiction author Elizabeth Chadwick wrote a series of three novels about Eleanor’s life. Chadwick uses Eleanor’s original name, Alienor, and her research, like Penman’s, is impeccable.

  • The Summer Queen (2013) deals with Eleanor’s early life and her time as Queen of France.
  • The Winter Crown (2014) deals with Eleanor’s marriage to Henry II of England, their children, and the family rebellion.
  • The Autumn Throne (2016) deals with Eleanor’s imprisonment after the family rebellion and her later life.

England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.