by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Princess Augusta Sophia was the second of the six daughters and the sixth of the fifteen children of King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was born at the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) in London, England on November 8, 1768. A month later, on December 6, 1768, the infant princess was christened by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury in the Great Council Room at St. James’ Palace. Her godparents were:

• Prince Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her maternal uncle, later Karl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
• Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark (her paternal aunt)
• Augusta, Hereditary Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (her paternal aunt, later Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel)

Princess Augusta had fourteen siblings:

• King George IV (1762 – 1830), married Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had issue: Princess Charlotte of Wales who died in childbirth as did her child
• Prince Frederick, Duke of York (1763 – 1827), married Frederica of Prussia, no issue
• King William IV (1765 – 1837), married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, no surviving legitimate issue, has illegitimate descendants
• Charlotte, Princess Royal, Queen of Württemberg (1766 – 1828), married King Friedrich I of Württemberg, no issue
• Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1767 – 1820), married Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had issue: Queen Victoria, present British Royal Family are his descendants
• Princess Elizabeth (1770 – 1840), married Friedrich, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, no issue
• King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland (1771 – 1851), married Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue
• Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773 – 1843), married twice, both in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 1) Lady Augusta Murray, had issue, marriage annulled 2) Lady Cecilia Buggin (later 1st Duchess of Inverness), no issue
• Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774 – 1850), married Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, had issue, present British Royal Family are his descendants through his granddaughter Mary of Teck who married King George V of the United Kingdom
• Princess Mary (1776 – 1857), married Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, no issue
• Princess Sophia (1777 – 1848), never married, possible illegitimate issue
• Prince Octavius (1779 – 1783), died in childhood
• Prince Alfred (1780 – 1782), died in childhood
• Princess Amelia (1783 – 1810), never married, no issue

Augusta and her sisters were raised by their governess Lady Charlotte Finch who served the Royal Family for over 30 years. Lady Charlotte supervised the royal nursery and was responsible for the princes’ education until they lived in their own households. She was responsible for the princesses until they turned 21. Augusta and her sisters studied geography, German, English, grammar, music, needlework, dancing, and art. They were taught French by a tutor, Julie Krohme. The princesses had art lessons from famous artists Thomas Gainsborough and Benjamin West. Augusta was considered the most attractive of her sisters, however, she was quite shy.

Augusta’s childhood was very sheltered and she spent most of her time with her parents and sisters.  The living conditions of King George’s daughters came to be known as “the Nunnery.” None of the daughters was allowed to marry at the age when most princesses would marry. Perhaps this over-protection of King George III’s daughters was due to what happened to his sister Caroline Matilda when she married King Christian VII of Denmark.  Christian’s mental illness led to Caroline Matilda having an affair, being caught, the execution of her lover, her exile, and her early death from scarlet fever at age 23.  The story was told in several novels including Per Olov Enquist’s The Visit of the Royal Physician (1999) and in the Danish film A Royal Affair (2012). Stella Tillyard also covers Caroline Matilda’s affair in her nonfiction book A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings (2006). Despite what happened to their aunt, the sisters longed to escape from “the Nunnery.”

Before King George’s first bout with what could have been porphyria in 1788, he had told his daughters that he would take them to Hanover to find husbands.  Further bouts occurred in 1801 and 1804 and prevented the discussion of marriage for his daughters. Queen Charlotte feared that the subject of marriage, which always bothered her husband, would push him back into insanity.  She was stressed by her husband’s illness and wanted her daughters to remain close to her.  The sisters – Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia – continued to be over-protected and isolated, restricting them from meeting eligible suitors of their own age.

Starved for male companionship, Sophia got pregnant by her father’s 56-year-old equerry and secretly gave birth to a boy who was placed in a foster home. Amelia had an affair with another equerry. Three of the six daughters would eventually marry, all later than was the norm for the time. Charlotte, Princess Royal married the future King of Württemberg, Friedrich I, at the age of 31, and had one stillborn daughter. Mary married her cousin Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester at the age of 40 and had no children. Elizabeth was the last of the daughters to finally escape from “the Nunnery” when she married the future Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Homburg at the age of 48.

Being the second daughter, Augusta could not marry until her elder sister Charlotte married. Although Charlotte married at the age of 31, Augusta never did marry. There seemed to be a possibility that a marriage could be arranged with her first cousin, the future King Frederick VI of Denmark. However, King George III rejected any possible marriage alliances with Denmark because of the fate of his sister Caroline Matilda. In 1797, Augusta received a proposal from Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden, a proposal given without the approval of the King of Sweden. Around 1799, Augusta became enamored with Major General Sir Brent Spencer. She even wrote a letter to her brother George after he had become Prince Regent begging for his permission for a secret marriage. There was court gossip that Augusta and Spencer had secretly married, but nothing definite could be confirmed. Apparently, Augusta and Spencer had a long relationship.

Princess Augusta became her mother’s companion. Queen Charlotte kept Augusta at her side, isolating her from society, and turning her into a kind of chaperone. This continued until the Queen’s death, ten days after Augusta’s 50th birthday. After the death of her father King George III, Augusta lived at Frogmore House near Windsor Castle and an apartment at the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) in London. The new king, King George IV, made it clear that his brothers and sisters would only be welcome at Windsor Castle when he had invited them to be his guests.

In 1837, Augusta’s niece Victoria became Queen upon the death of her brother King William IV. All of Victoria’s aunts considered their duty to Victoria to be sacred. She was the child of their brother Edward and now their sovereign. Victoria invited her aunts to dine with her at Buckingham Palace and spent time with her aunts although she was busy with her new position. King William IV’s widow Queen Adelaide moved out of Clarence House and Augusta moved in. It was to be her London home for the rest of her life. Augusta attended Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 and her wedding in 1840.

Following Queen Victoria’s wedding in 1840, Augusta’s health deteriorated. On July 2, 1840, a Windsor newspaper reported “the serious and alarming illness of the Princess Augusta.” Three days later, Queen Victoria ordered the gates of Green Park, which borders Clarence House, closed so that traffic would not bother Princess Augusta. With her sister-in-law Queen Adelaide, her surviving sisters Mary and Sophia, and her brother Adolphus at her bedside, Princess Augusta died at the age of 71 on September 22, 1840, at Clarence House in London. Her remains lay in state at Frogmore House and then were taken to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle where they were buried in the Royal Vault on October 2, 1840.

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.

Recommended books that deal with Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom
George III’s Children by John Van Der Kiste (1992)
The Georgian Princesses by John Van Der Kiste (2000)
Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser (2004)

Earlier this month on September 9, 2016, The Princess Royal was briefly admitted to the hospital for tests.  She was diagnosed with a severe chest infection, was told to rest, and her engagements were cancelled.  However, it appears she is recovering slower than anticipated. On September 27-30, 2016, The Princess Royal was scheduled to visit Mozambique and then Botswana to attend Botswana’s 50th anniversary of independence celebrations.

Kamagra order online viagra purchasing click for more info can be made from a local pharmacy can affect the privacy of the person using it, also, the prescription forms don’t hold any privacy for him. Therefore if you are haunting for the medication to go off buy viagra in usa patent will join the fray and manufacture a generic version of this popular drug. It began when generic cialis cipla I dropped a ceramic pie dish for no apparent reason. They become anxious for this problem and they find it more difficult to make intercourse cialis tadalafil generico pleasurable. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said on September 16, 2016: “The Princess Royal is still recovering from a bad chest infection. HRH’s working programme for next week has therefore been scaled back, with a number of engagements cancelled. As a precaution, on the advice of doctors, the princess will not undertake the planned visit to Botswana and Mozambique at the end of the month. The Duke of York will now undertake this visit.”

The Princess Royal will still attend her engagements in the United Kingdom beginning next week.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Prince Frederick, Duke of York was born on August 16, 1763, at St. James Palace in London, England. He was the second son and the second of the fifteen children of King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. At the time of his birth, his father King George III was the reigning monarch and baby Frederick was second in the line of succession after his elder brother George.

The infant prince was christened Frederick Augustus on September 14, 1763, in the Presence Chamber at St James’s Palace by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were:

• Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, his maternal great-uncle
• Prince Edward, Duke of York, his paternal uncle
• Princess Amelia of Great Britain, his paternal great-aunt

Frederick had 14 siblings:

• King George IV (1762 – 1830), married Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had issue: Princess Charlotte of Wales who died in childbirth as did her child
• King William IV (1765 – 1837), married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, no surviving legitimate issue, had illegitimate children
• Charlotte, Princess Royal (1766 – 1828), married King Friedrich I of Württemberg, no surviving issue
• Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1767 – 1820), married Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had issue: Queen Victoria, present British Royal Family are his descendants
• Princess Augusta Sophia (1768 – 1840), never married, no issue
• Princess Elizabeth (1770 – 1840), married Friedrich, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, no issue
• King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland (1771 – 1851), married Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue
• Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773 – 1843), married twice, both in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 1) Lady Augusta Murray, had issue, marriage annulled 2) Lady Cecilia Buggin (later 1st Duchess of Inverness), no issue
• Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774 – 1850), married Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, had issue, present British Royal Family are his descendants through his granddaughter Mary of Teck who married King George V of the United Kingdom
• Princess Mary (1776 – 1857), married Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, no issue
• Princess Sophia (1777 – 1848), never married, possible illegitimate issue
• Prince Octavius (1779 – 1783), died in childhood
• Prince Alfred (1780 – 1782), died in childhood
• Princess Amelia (1783 – 1810), never married, no issue

When Frederick was six months old, he was elected Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony. The Bishopric of Osnabrück was ruled alternately by a Catholic bishop and a Protestant bishop from the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg under the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia. King George III as Elector of Hanover alternated the selection of the bishopric with the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. Frederick was created Knight of the Order of the Bath in 1767 and a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1771.

Frederick was raised and educated with his elder brother George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV) at Kew Palace. Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness was their governor and William Markham, Bishop of Chester was their chief tutor. After Markham became Archbishop of York, Richard Hurd, Bishop of Worcester became the princes’ chief tutor. The young princes spent eight hours a day with their tutors and learned to ride and fence.

In 1780, King George III decided that Frederick would have a career in the army and made the 17-year-old a colonel. Shortly after Christmas 1780, Frederick was sent off to Hanover for military training under the supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Fulke Greville. The people of Hanover had not seen their Elector since the reign of King George II, so they enthusiastically welcomed their Elector’s second son.

From 1781 to 1787, Frederick lived in Hanover, where he participated in maneuvers with the Austrian and Prussian armies and attended the University of Göttingen with his brothers Edward, Ernest, Augustus, and Adolphus. While in Hanover, Frederick was swiftly promoted in the army.

• March 26, 1782: Colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards (now 2nd Life Guards)
• November 20, 1782: Major General
• October 27, 1784: Lieutenant General
• October 28, 1784: Colonel of the Coldstream Guards

Frederick was created Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster on November 27, 1784, and became a member of the Privy Council. On his return to England in 1787, Frederick, as Duke of York, took his seat in the House of Lords. In the summer of 1788, King George III’s mental health deteriorated, possibly as the result of the hereditary disease porphyria, and Parliament began debating a regency. On December 15, 1788, in the House of Lords, Frederick strongly opposed the Regency Bill proposed by William Pitt in a speech supposedly inspired by George, Prince of Wales.

On September 29, 1791, in the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia now in the German state of Brandenburg, Frederick married Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and his first wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg.  When the new Duchess of York arrived in London, she received an enthusiastic welcome. A second marriage was held on November 23, 1791, at the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) because the Archbishop of Canterbury was not authorized to grant a license for a ceremony held in Prussia. The marriage was unsuccessful. Frederick was unfaithful and the couple was unable to have children. In 1794, the couple separated and Frederica lived out her life at Oatlands Park in Weybridge, Surrey England. Frederick and Frederica remained on good terms and the couple never caused any scandal. Frederica did not like London and did not get involved in the quarrels of her in-laws, instead, she spent her time in Weybridge helping the needy.

In 1793, Frederick was promoted to full general. In that same year, the Flanders Campaign began and lasted until 1795. It was a coalition of military forces along the French borders, with the goal to invade France and end Napoleon’s French First Republic. Frederick was the commander of the British forces and took part in the successful Siege of Valencienne in July of 1793. After a few more successes and several defeats, Frederick was recalled to England in 1795. Ultimately, the coalition was unable to advance beyond the French border fortresses and was eventually forced to withdraw.

A well-known nursery rhyme is supposedly about Frederick’s defeat at the Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign.

The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up.
And when they were down, they were down.
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down

Frederick was promoted to Field Marshal and made Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of Great Britain and Ireland in 1795. As Commander-in-Chief, Frederick instituted a number of reforms in the British Army. In 1801, he supported the founding of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst for training infantry and cavalry officers. He was also in charge of the preparations against Napoleon’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. Frederick’s program of reforms enabled a stronger British Army to serve with the armies of other countries in the Peninsular War that finally defeated Napoleon.

In 1803, Frederick started an affair with Mary Anne Clarke.  In 1809 charges were brought up against Frederick in the House of Commons by Gwyllym Wardle, Member of Parliament for Okehampton, that Frederick allowed Clarke to influence him in the granting of commissions in the army. A national scandal arose when Clarke testified before the House of Commons that she had sold army commissions with Frederick’s knowledge. The scandal was the subject of much humor and mockery, especially by caricaturists such as Isaac Cruikshank who created cartoons making fun of the scandal. Isaac Cruikshank’s cartoon below shows Mary Anne Clarke, wearing the Duke of York’s military cloak, extending it to cover a crowd of miniature soldiers, civilians, and clergymen clustering around her with outstretched arms. Gwyllym Wardle is standing to the right side, gazing at her and declaring his fascination. Frederick was acquitted of any implications, but ten days after the cartoon’s publication, he resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Two years later, it was revealed that Clarke had received payment from Frederick’s chief accuser, Gwyllym Wardle. Frederick’s brother George, who had become Prince Regent in 1811 when his father was deemed unfit to reign, reappointed Frederick as Commander-in-Chief on May 29, 1811. Frederick held the position until his death and thereafter exercised strict impartiality with officer commissions and promotions.

• The History of Parliament: The Duke of York Scandal, 1809

In 1817, there was a succession crisis. King George III was still living but not reigning due to his mental incapacity. Eleven of the king’s fifteen children were living, but only four of them had married and only one had managed to produce a legitimate grandchild: Princess Charlotte of Wales, the daughter of George, Prince of Wales. On November 6, 1817, a great tragedy struck the British Royal Family. Twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. Frederick was now second in line to the throne. Unless his brother George had another child, Frederick would be the heir presumptive upon the death of King George III. Frederick’s unmarried brothers rushed to find brides, but any children born to them would be behind Frederick in the line of succession.

In 1819, Frederick was entrusted with the care of King George III, blind, deaf, and in a state of dementia, living at Windsor Castle. Under the care of Frederick, King George III lived on until January 29, 1820, six days after the death of his fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent, the father of the infant Princess Victoria. Frederick’s brother succeeded as King George IV and Frederick became heir presumptive to the throne. Frederica, Frederick’s wife, died on August 6, 1820, and requested to be buried at her Weybridge church.

During January 1827, Frederick was staying at Rutland House, Arlington Street in London, England, the home of his friend, John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, while his home was being redecorated. It was there that Frederick, Duke of York died on January 5, 1827, at the age of 63. He was buried in the Royal Vault at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.

With Frederick’s death, King George III’s third childless son William, Duke of Clarence (the future King William III) became the heir to the throne and Frederick’s seven-year-old niece, the only child of King George III’s fourth son Edward, Duke of Kent, moved a step closer to the throne she would inherit as Queen Victoria.

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.

Works Cited
Hibbert, Christopher. George III. New York: Basic Books, 1998. Print.
“Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 21 July 2016. Web. 2 Aug. 2016.
“Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2016. Web. 2 Aug. 2016.
Van Der Kiste, John. George III’s Children. Trowbridge: Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999. Print.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Stephen of England, born Stephen of Blois, was born in Blois (now in France) in either 1092 or 1096. The County of Blois was in northern France and bordered the Duchy of Normandy, the County of Anjou, the County of Poitou, and the Ile de France, the area controlled by the King of France.

Stephen was the fourth of the eleven children of Stephen II, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy and England, a daughter of King William I of England (the Conqueror).

• William, Count of Sully (circa 1085 – circa 1150), married Agnes of Sully, the heiress to the Lordship of Sully-sur-Loire, had issue
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090 – 1152), married Matilda of Carinthia, had issue
• Odo, died young
• Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d’Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester, both drowned in the sinking of the White Ship on November 25, 1120, no issue
• Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset
• Eleanor (died 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois, had issue, divorced; Raoul made a second marriage to Petronilla of Aquitaine, the sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Alix (circa 1100 – 1145), married Renaud III of Joigni, had issue
• Adelaide, married Milo II of Montlhéry, Viscount of Troyes, divorced, no issue
• Henry, Bishop of Winchester (circa 1098 – 1171)
• Humbert, died young

Stephen’s father died in 1102 during the Crusade of 1101 fighting in the Second Battle of Ramla. After his father’s death, Stephen and his siblings were brought up by their capable mother who served as regent during the minority of her eldest son. Stephen was raised in his mother’s household rather than being sent to a close relative as was the common practice. He was taught Latin, history, and Biblical stories by his tutor William the Norman.

Stephen’s maternal uncle was King Henry I of England. Even though Stephen’s family had regional power, as the third surviving son in the family, he could use the support of a powerful patron such as King Henry I of England. Around 1113 – 1115, Stephen first visited his uncle’s court in England. He soon became a favorite of his uncle who bestowed upon him lands won in battle, the County of Mortain (in France) and Alençon in southern Normandy. In 1125, King Henry I arranged for Stephen to marry Matilda of Boulogne, the only surviving child and heiress of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland.  Matilda would be the Countess of Boulogne in her own right. Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France from 896 – 1501, centered on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a coastal city in Northern France.

Stephen and Matilda had three sons and two daughters:

• Baldwin of Blois (circa 1126 – 1135)
• Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (c. 1129 – 1153) married Constance of France, no children
• Matilda of Blois (circa 1133 – circa 1137), died in childhood
• Marie of Blois, Countess of Boulogne (circa 1136 – 1182) married Matthew of Alsace, had two daughters
• William of Blois, Count of Boulogne (circa 1137 –  1159) married Isabel de Warenne, no children

Five years before the marriage of Stephen and Matilda, a terrible tragedy caused a succession crisis in England.  The White Ship, carrying King Henry I of England’s only legitimate son William Ætheling, sank as it left France to sail to England, and William Ætheling drowned.  Empress Matilda was King Henry I’s only legitimate child, and on Christmas Day of 1126, Henry had his barons swear to recognize Empress Matilda and any future legitimate heirs she might have as his successors.

• Unofficial Royalty: The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

After the sinking of the White Ship, Stephen and his wife Matilda stayed close to King Henry I and lived most of the time in England realizing that Stephen was very close to the throne.  Henry’s daughter Empress Matilda had left England as a child to marry Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.  The marriage was childless and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V died in 1125.  After her husband’s death, Empress Matilda went to the royal court in Normandy (Kings of England were also Dukes of Normandy). Eventually, King Henry I made arrangements for his daughter to marry Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou in 1128.  The marriage was not a happy one.  The couple often lived apart and failed to produce a child until 1133.

On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died.  Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel from Boulogne to England, accompanied by his military household.  With the help of his brother, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen seized power in England and was crowned king on December 22, 1135.  Matilda of Boulogne was unable to accompany her husband because she was pregnant, so she was crowned on Easter Day, March 22, 1136.  Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153.

During the civil war, Matilda of Boulogne proved to be her husband’s strongest supporter.  Matilda was as strong and resourceful as Stephen was weak and indecisive. When England was invaded in 1138, Matilda rallied troops from Boulogne and its ally Flanders, and successfully besieged Dover Castle.  She then went north to Durham, where she made a treaty with King David I of Scotland in 1139.  After Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, she rallied Stephen’s supporters and raised an army with the help of William of Ypres, Stephen’s chief lieutenant.  It was Matilda of Boulogne who recaptured London for Stephen and forced Empress Matilda to withdraw from the siege of Winchester, leading to Stephen’s release in 1141 in exchange for the Empress’ illegitimate brother and chief supporter Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester.

By the mid-1140s, the fighting had slowed down and there was a stalemate and the succession began to be the focus.  Empress Matilda returned to Normandy in 1147.  In the same year, the Empress’ husband and her eldest son Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II,  mounted a small, unsuccessful mercenary invasion of England.  Empress Matilda remained in Normandy where she focused on stabilizing the Duchy of Normandy and promoting her son’s rights to the English throne.

Matilda of Boulogne died of a fever on May 3, 1152, at Hedingham Castle in Essex, England.  She was buried at Faversham Abbey in Kent, England which she and her husband had established.  Perhaps if she had not died and her husband had not lost his strongest supporter, the result of the civil war would have turned out differently.

On August 17, 1153, Stephen and Matilda’s eldest surviving son Eustace died.  Ironically, this was the same day that the first child of Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine was born.  The child, William IX, Count of Poitiers, survived for only two years, but he was followed by seven siblings, two of whom became Kings of England.

Shortly after Eustace died in 1153, Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress reached a formal agreement known as the Treaty of Wallingford (or Winchester or Westminster).  The treaty allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death but forced him to recognize Empress Matilda’s son Henry FitzEmpress, as his heir.

Stephen survived his wife by a little more than two years.  He died apparently of appendicitis at Dover Castle on October 25, 1154, and a line of 14 Plantagenet kings who ruled until 1485 started.  Stephen was buried with his wife Matilda and his son Eustace at Faversham Abbey which Stephen and Matilda had founded. All three tombs were lost when Faversham Abbey was demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. Their remains were reportedly thrown into the nearby Faversham Creek. Their empty tombs were unearthed in 1964 near what had been the center of the choir. At St. Mary of Charity Church, the parish church in Faversham, there is a tomb where it is said that the remains of King Stephen, his wife Matilda, and his son Eustace were reinterred after the destruction of Faversham Abbey.

Sharon Kay Penman’s excellent historical fiction novel When Christ and His Saints Slept deals with The Anarchy and most of the historical figures mentioned here are characters.

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

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King William II Rufus of England was born in Normandy (now in France) between 1056 and 1060. He was the third of the four sons of King William I of England (the Conqueror) and Matilda of Flanders.  At the time of William Rufus’ birth, his father was the Duke of Normandy.

William Rufus had at least nine siblings. 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 William’s brothers first in their birth order and then his sisters in their probable birth order.

• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (1051-1054 – 1134), married Sybil of Conversano, had one son
• Richard of Normandy (circa 1054 – circa 1070), died in a hunting accident in the New Forest
• Henry I, King of England (1068 – 1135), married (1) Edith of Scotland, had one son and one daughter (2) Adeliza of Louvain, no children
• Agatha of Normandy died before 1074, unmarried
• Adeliza of Normandy (circa 1055 – before 1113), probably a nun at the Abbey of St Léger in Préaux, Duchy of Normandy
• Cecilia of Normandy (circa 1056 – 1127), Abbess of Holy Trinity in Caen
• Matilda of Normandy (circa 1061 – c. 1086)
• Constance of Normandy (1057-1061 – 1090, married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, no issue
• Adela of Normandy (circa 1067 – 1137), married Stephen II, Count of Blois, had ten children including King Stephen of England

William Rufus had red hair and a ruddy complexion which earned him the nickname Rufus, by which he was known. He was educated with his brothers by Lanfranc, then the abbot of the Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen, later Archbishop of Canterbury. As the third son of the Duke of Normandy, William Rufus was destined to enter Holy Orders. However, the death of Richard, the second son, between 1069 and 1075, changed the situation. William Rufus was knighted and then served with his father in preparation for eventually being the heir to a portion of his father’s land. Chroniclers of the time described William Rufus as a good boy and respectful, loyal, and faithful to his father.

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy invaded England and defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold II Godwinson, King of England at the Battle of Hastings. The Duke of Normandy was now also King William I of England. Even before the division of land occurred, William Rufus and his brothers had a strained relationship. The contemporary chronicler Orderic Vitalis, wrote about an incident that occurred at L’Aigle in Normandy in 1077. William Rufus and Henry grew bored with playing dice and decided to make mischief by emptying a chamber pot on their brother Robert from an upper gallery. Robert was infuriated, a brawl broke out and their father had to intercede to restore order. Angered because his father did not punish his brothers, Robert and his followers then attempted to siege the castle at Rouen (Normandy) but were forced to flee when the Duke of Normandy attacked their camp. This led to a three-year estrangement between Robert and his family which only ended through the efforts of Robert’s mother.

In 1087, King William I divided his lands between his two eldest surviving sons. Robert Curthose was to receive the Duchy of Normandy and William Rufus was to receive the Kingdom of England. Henry was to receive 5,000 pounds of silver and his mother’s English estates. King William I of England (the Conqueror) died on September 9, 1087. Robert Curthose became Robert II Curthouse, Duke of Normandy, and William Rufus became King William II Rufus of England. Henry received the money, but no land. William Rufus never married and had no children.

William Rufus and Robert Curthose continued having a strained relationship. William Rufus alternated between supporting Robert against the King of France and opposing him for the control of Normandy. Henry was constantly being forced to choose between his two brothers and whichever brother he picked, he was likely to annoy the other. After William I died and his lands were divided, nobles who had land in both Normandy and England found it impossible to serve two lords. If they supported William, then Robert might deprive them of their Norman land. If they supported Robert, then they were in danger of losing their English land.

The only solution the nobles saw was to reunite Normandy and England, and this led them to revolt against William in favor of Robert in the Rebellion of 1088, under the leadership of the Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the half-brother of William the Conqueror. The rebellion was unsuccessful partly because Robert never showed up to support the English rebels.

In 1096, Robert left for the Holy Land on the First Crusade. In order to raise money for the crusade, he mortgaged the Duchy of Normandy to his brother King William II Rufus. The two older brothers made a pact stating that if one of them died without heirs, both Normandy and England would be reunited under the surviving brother. William then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert’s absence. Robert did not return until September 1100, one month after William’s death.

Probably the most famous part of William Rufus’ life was his death. On August 2, 1100, King William II Rufus rode out from Winchester Castle on a hunting expedition to the New Forest, accompanied by his brother Henry and several nobles. His elder brother Richard, in circa 1070, and his nephew Richard, the illegitimate son of his brother Robert, in May 1100, had both been killed in hunting accidents in the New Forest.

According to most contemporary accounts, William Rufus was chasing after a stag followed by Walter Tirel, a noble.  William Rufus shot an arrow but missed the stag. He then called out to Walter to shoot, which he did, but the arrow hit the king in his chest, puncturing his lungs, and killing him. Walter Tirel jumped on his horse and fled to France.

The next day, William Rufus’ body was found by a group of local farmers. The nobles had fled to their Norman and English lands to secure their possessions and ensure law and order following the death of the king. The farmers loaded the king’s body on a cart and brought it to Winchester Cathedral where he was buried under a plain flat marble stone below the tower with little ceremony.

• Unofficial Royalty: Suspicious Death of William II Rufus, King of England

William Rufus’ elder brother, Robert Curthose, was still on Crusade, so Henry was able to seize the crown of England for himself. Henry hurried to Winchester to secure the royal treasury. The day after William’s funeral at Winchester, the nobles elected Henry king. Henry then left for London where he was crowned three days after William’s death by Maurice, Bishop of London because there was no Archbishop of Canterbury at that time.

Was there a conspiracy to assassinate William Rufus? Walter Tirel was an excellent archer, but he badly missed his shot. William’s brother Henry was among the hunting party that day and would have benefited directly from William’s death. Some modern historians find the assassination theory credible. Others say that hunting accidents were common (William’s brother and nephew did die in hunting accidents) and there is not enough hard evidence to prove murder. In the New Forest, a memorial stone, known as the Rufus Stone, claims to marks the spot where William Rufus died.

In 1107, the tower at Winchester Cathedral near William Rufus’ grave collapsed and the superstition at that time said that the presence of William Rufus’ remains was the cause. Around 1525, the royal remains in Winchester Cathedral were rearranged. William Rufus’ remains were transferred to one of the mortuary chests next to the mortuary chest of King Cnut the Great atop the stone wall around the high altar.

In 1642, Winchester Cathedral was sacked by Parliamentary Troops during the English Civil War. The remains in the mortuary chests were scattered around the cathedral. Later the remains were returned to the mortuary chests in no particular order. On February 3, 2015, this press release was published: “The Dean and Chapter of Winchester has announced that, as part of an initial assessment of the Cathedral’s Renaissance Mortuary Chests and an inventory of their contents, a project to record and analyze the contents has begun. The Chests are thought to contain the mortal remains of some of the early Royal Families of Wessex and of England, and three bishops, amongst other artifacts and mortal remains.” All the mortuary chests were brought to the Lady Chapel at Winchester Cathedral where a laboratory was set up. The chests are to be restored and conserved and modern technology will attempt to identify the remains. In 2012, an examination of the remains in the chests began and the project is still ongoing. The examination included DNA testing, reassembly of the skeletons, and analysis to determine the sex, age, and other characteristics of the remains. The six mortuary chests were found to hold the remains of at least 23 individuals, more than the 12 – 15 remains originally thought.

• Current Archaeology: Unlocking the secrets of the Winchester Cathedral mortuary chests

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

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

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:

• Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (c. 1030–1070), married Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut, had issue
• Robert I, Count of Flanders (c. 1035–1093), married Gertrude of Saxony, had issue

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.

• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (1051-1054 – 1134), married Sybil of Conversano, had one son
• Richard of Normandy (circa 1054 – circa 1070), died in a hunting accident in the New Forest
• William II Rufus, King of England (1056-1060 – 1100), unmarried, killed in the New Forest
• Henry I, King of England (1068 – 1135), married (1) Matilda of Scotland, had one son and one daughter (2) Adeliza of Louvain, no children
• Agatha of Normandy died before 1074, unmarried
• Adeliza of Normandy (circa 1055 – before 1113), probably a nun at the Abbey of St Léger in Préaux, Duchy of Normandy
• Cecilia of Normandy (circa 1056 – 1127), Abbess of Holy Trinity in Caen
• Matilda of Normandy (circa 1061 – c. 1086)
• Constance of Normandy (1057-1061 – 1090, married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, no issue
• Adela of Normandy (circa 1067 – 1137), married Stephen II, Count of Blois, had ten children including King Stephen of England

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.

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.

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

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

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

• Rollo (c. 846 – c. 932)
• William I Longsword (c. 893 – 942), son of Rollo
• Richard I the Fearless ( 942–996), son of William I Longsword

Dukes of Normandy

• Richard II the Good (963 – 1026), son of Richard I the Fearless
• Richard III (997/1001 – 1027), son of Richard II the Good
• Robert I the Magnificent (1000 – 1035), son of Richard II the Good

William had several half-siblings:

From his mother Herleva ‘s marriage to Herluin de Conteville

• Odo, Earl of Kent, Bishop of Bayeux (circa 1030 – 1097)
• Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (circa 1031–1090), married (1) Matilda, daughter of Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, had issue; (2) Almodis, no issue
• Emma, married Richard LeGoz, Count of Avranches
• Daughter of unknown name, married William, Lord of la Ferté-Macé

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:

• Adelaide of Normandy, Countess of Aumale (c. 1030 – before 1090), married (1) Enguerrand II, Count of Ponthieu, had issue (2) Lambert II, Count of Lens, had issue (3) Odo II of Champagne, had issue

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.

• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (1051-1054 – 1134), married Sybil of Conversano, had one son
• Richard of Normandy (circa 1054 – circa 1070), died in a hunting accident in the New Forest
• William II Rufus, King of England (1056-1060 – 1100), unmarried, killed in the New Forest
• Henry I, King of England (1068 – 1135), married (1) Matilda of Scotland, had one son and one daughter (2) Adeliza of Louvain, no children
• Agatha of Normandy died before 1074, unmarried
• Adeliza of Normandy (circa 1055 – before 1113), probably a nun at the Abbey of St Léger in Préaux, Duchy of Normandy
• Cecilia of Normandy (circa 1056 – 1127), Abbess of Holy Trinity in Caen
• Matilda of Normandy (circa 1061 – circa 1086)
• Constance of Normandy (1057-1061 – 1090, married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, no issue
• Adela of Normandy (circa 1067 – 1137), married Stephen II, Count of Blois, had ten children including King Stephen of England

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

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:

• King Henry III of England (1207 – 1272), married Eleanor of Provence, had five children including King Edward I of England
• Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans (1209 – 1272), married (1) Isabel Marshal, had three sons and a daughter, only one son survived childhood, Isabel died in childbirth (2) Sanchia of Provence, had two sons, only one son survived childhood (3) Beatrice of Falkenburg, no children
• Joan of England (1210 – 1238), married Alexander II, King of Scots, no children
• Isabella of England (1214 – 1241), married Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, had at least four children
• Eleanor of England (1215 – 1275), married (1) William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, no children (2) Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, had seven children

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.

• Hugh XI de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Count of Angoulême (1221 – 1250), married Yolande de Dreux, Countess of Penthièvre and of Porhoet, had issue
• Aymer de Lusignan, Bishop of Winchester (1222 – 1260)
• Agnès de Lusignan (1223 – 1269), married William II de Chauvigny, had issue
• Alice de Lusignan (1224 – 1256), married John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, had issue
• Guy de Lusignan (c. 1225 – 1264), killed at the Battle of Lewes
• Geoffrey de Lusignan (c. 1226 – 1274), married in 1259 Jeanne, Viscountess of Châtellerault, had issue
• Isabella de Lusignan (c.1226/1227 – 1299), married (1) Maurice IV, Seigneur de Craon, had issue (2) Geoffrey de Rancon, no issue
• William de Lusignan, 1st Earl of Pembroke (c. 1228 – 1296), married Joan de Munchensi, had issue
• Marguerite de Lusignan (c. 1229 – 1288), married (1) Raymond VII of Toulouse, no issue (2) Aimery IX de Thouars, Viscount of Thouars, had issue

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.

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England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
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• House of Angevin Burial Sites
• Norman and Plantagenet Weddings