by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

King Henry I of England, father of Sybilla of Normandy; Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of Alexander I, King of Scots, Sybilla of Normandy, Queen of Scots, one of the many illegitimate children of King Henry I of England, was born circa 1092 in Domfront, Duchy of Normandy, then a possession of the King of England, now in France. She was the daughter of King Henry I of England and his mistress Lady Sybilla Corbet of Alcester (1077 – circa 1157), the daughter of Robert Corbet of Alcester, Constable of Warwick, and Adèle d’Alcester, Sybilla’s maternal grandparents. Sybilla’s paternal grandparents were King William I of England (the Conqueror) and Matilda of Flanders.

King Henry I holds the record for the British monarch with the most illegitimate children, 25 or so illegitimate children who were Sybilla’s half-siblings.

Sybilla had four full siblings, the children of King Henry I and Lady Sybilla Corbet of Alcester:

• William Constable (circa 1105 – circa 1187), married Alice Constable
• Reginald de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall (circa 1110 – 1175), married Mabel FitzRichard, had six children
• Gundred FitzRoy (1114 – 1130)
• Rohese FitzRoy (circa 1114 – 1176, married Henry de la Pomerai, had two children

Sybilla had two royal half-siblings from her father’s marriage to Matilda of Scotland:

• Empress Matilda, Lady of the English (1102 – 1167), married (1) Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor, no children (2) Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, had three sons including King Henry II of England
• William Ætheling, Duke of Normandy (1103 – 1120), married Matilda of Anjou, no children, William Ætheling, King Henry I’s only legitimate son and heir, died in the sinking of the White Ship

Sybilla’s mother married Herbert FitzHerbert, Lord of Blaen Llyfni. Sybilla had four half-brothers from her mother’s marriage:

• Robert FitzHerbert (circa 1106 – 1147), unmarried
• Henry FitzHerbert (circa 1110 – ?)
• William FitzHerbert (1118 – 1132)
• Herbert FitzHerbert, Lord of Blaen Llyfni, Lord Chamberlain of King Henry II of England (1125 – 1204), married Lucy FitzMiles de Gloucester and Hereford, had five children

The reverse of Alexander I’s seal; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1107, upon his accession to the Scots throne, Alexander I, King of Scots married the fifteen-year-old Sybilla. Alexander I and Sybilla’s father King Henry I were brothers-in-law as Henry I had married Alexander I’s sister Matilda (also known as Edith) of Scotland. Alexander I and Matilda were the children of Malcolm III, King of Scots and Margaret of Wessex, better known as Saint Margaret of Scotland. Margaret was born an Anglo-Saxon princess. Her father was Edward the Exile (also called Edward Ætheling), the son Edmund Ironside II, King of the English, and the last descendant of the House of Wessex and pretender to the crown of England.

The chronicler William of Malmesbury wrote an unflattering account of Sibylla. However, there is evidence that Alexander I and Sibylla were a loving but childless couple and that both were very pious. Alexander I and Sibylla founded Scone Abbey, circa 1114 – 1122.

Engraving of the ruins of the priory where Sybilla died and was buried from Adam de Cardonnell Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland, 1788; Credit: Canmore – National Record of the Historical Environment

On July 12, 1122, Sybilla of Normandy, Queen of Scots, aged around thirty, died on the Isle of Loch Tay (in Gaelic Eilean nam Bannaomh, Isle of Holy Women), north of Kenmore, a small village in Perthshire in the Highlands of Scotland. Alexander had erected a priory on the Isle of Loch Tay and granted it to Scone Abbey, which he and Sybilla had founded. It was at the priory on the Isle of Loch Tay that Sybilla died and was buried. Some sources say Sybilla was buried at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland where her husband was buried. Alexander I is listed as being buried “within the church” at Dunfermline Abbey in the source Dunfermline Abbey Burial Grounds Desk-top Survey, however, Sibylla is not listed at all in the source.

Alexander I, King of Scots did not remarry. He survived Sibylla by only two years, dying on April 23, 1124, aged 45, at Stirling Castle in Stirling, Scotland. Because his marriage had been childless, Alexander I, King of Scots was succeeded by his brother David I, King of Scots.

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Works Cited

• Ashley, Mike. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Carroll & Graf Publishers.
• Family Tree of Lady Sybilla Corbet of Alcester. Geneanet. https://gw.geneanet.org/comrade28?lang=en&n=alcester&oc=0&p=lady%2Bsybilla%2Bcorbet%2Bof
• Flantzer, Susan. (2015). King Henry I of England. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-i-of-england/
• Sybil Corbet, Lady of Alcester, Concubine #5 of Henry I of England. geni_family_tree. (2022). https://www.geni.com/people/Sybil-Corbet-Lady-of-Alcester-Concubine-5-Of-Henry-I-Of-England/6000000000440064763
• Weir, Alison. (2008). Britain’s Royal Families – The Complete Genealogy. Vintage Books.
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Alexander I of Scotland. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Scotland
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2021). Sibilla di Normandia. Wikipedia (Italian). https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilla_di_Normandia