William I of Normandy , William the Conqueror
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1028 - Falaise Castle Normandy, France
Christening:
Death: 9 Sep 1087 - Priory of St. Gervais, Mantes, France
Burial: in St. Stephen's Abbey at Caen, Normandy
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Matilda of Flanders (1031 - 2 Nov 1083)
Marriage: 1052 - Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Eu, Normandy
Status:
Children:
1. Robert II Duke of Normandy (1054-1134)
2. William II (Rufus) , King of England (1057-1100)
3. Henry 1 Beauclerc King of England (1068-1135)
4. Richard (1054-1075)
5. Adeliza , a Nun (1055- )
6. Cecily , Abbess (1056-1126)
7. Adela (1062-1137)
Notes
General:
Acceded: 1035 as Duke of Normandy
Cornation: 25 December 1066: King of England, Wesminister Abbey, London, England
A Norman King and also known as "William the Bastard" his father, Duke Robert, persuaded the Norman Barons to recognize his only son as heir. Duke Robert was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1034, on the way back to Normandy he died in Asia Minor, in 1035, young William was pronounced Duke of Normandy.
This meant Normandy was without a ruler for 10 years. A great deal of disorder and chaos went unchecked until the mid 1040's when William began to govern for himself and eventually became a harsh and ruthless campaigner. It is surprising that he survived to his majority, as many disloyal family members wished his demise. His mother's kinsmen were largely responsible for his protection. Having been a target for assasination himself may explain his distrustfulness of others.
William was surrounded by powerful leaders. King Henry of France, Count Geoffrey of Anjou and Count Baldwin of Flanders. Between 1052 and 1060, France and Anjou became hostile toward Normandy. William relied on the friendship of Flanders to see him through.
William I had asked Count Baldwin for the hand of his daughter, Matilda, but in 1049 the Pope forbade the marriage. It is presumed that the Pope denied it as the couple were too closely related. However, William married Matild anyway. The Flemish alliance was too important to allow papal disapproval to stop the marriage. (It is noted while judging from the bones in their graves, Matilda and William must have been an odd sight together. He was approx. 5' 10" tall and she only about 4' 2" tall.) By all standards, it was a happy marriage and William was faithful to her. She bore him 9 children, 4 sons and 5 daughters.
In 1060, King Charles of France and Count Geoffrey of Ajou died. This left a small boy as heir to the title and a great deal of dispute on succession. William I used this situation as an opportunity to launch his campaign and conquer the country of Maine in 1063. Promptly, he turned his eyes on England.
Edward the Confessor, a distant cousin, dangled the monarchy of England in front of William I. Monarchs were not yet chosen by the strict order of hereditary at this time. There were several candidates for succession and eventually, on his deathbed, Edward the Confessor chose Harold, son of the Earl of Godwin. Henry felt cheated and prepared for an invasion of England.
In order to win papal approval for his expedition, William I claimed that he had been promised the throne by Edward and Harold had sworn his allegiance to him, also. He accused Harold of being a usurper and perjurer. Upon approval, William chose his soldiers and resources carefully. The prospect of laying their hands on the wealth of England attracted thousands from all over northern France and Flanders. Even though, he was seriously outnumbered and under financed.
As fortune would have it, the September winds were against him and would delay William from sailing across the Channel on his expedition. While waiting for fair sailing and trying desperately to hold his troops together, two other possible successors to the throne waged war upon one another. Thus clearing the beachheads and eliminating many of his problems before he arrived. On the 27th of September 1066, William set sail and was able to land unopposed at Pevensey. After two weeks of waiting, William decided he must forge on to the inland territories and face King Harold.
King Harold solved his dilemma by rushing back from the north and challenging William I to battle. On 14 October 1066 the two armies met at Hastings. It was a desperately hard struggle, but William's skill handling of the combined forces of archers and calvary soldiers enabled him to break down the English resistance. King Harold and his brothers died fighting in the battle, which left William as the only capable leader to take the throne.
William I was crowned on December 25, 1066 at Westminster Abbey. By February 1067, he departed for Normandy and left his half-brother, Odo of Bayeux, now Earl of Kent, in charge of England. Little was destroyed, outside of the Godwinsson dynasty, England was left pretty much as it was before the battle. There were sporadic outbreaks of rebellion over the next 4 years, but William was able to handle them easily. By 1071, the country of England was subdued. Rebels were punished by William confiscating their estates and giving them to Normans. The native English aristocracy was virtually wiped out. Per the English Doomsday Book, only two English landowners of any note survivied the Norman invasion.
The English Church suffered the same fate of the aristrocracy. At William's request, papal legates deposed five English bishops in 1070. The legates being men from the "continent". Archbishop Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury came to power in this period. By 1096, not a single bishopric or abbey was in English hands. The traditional learning and liturgy of the English Church was treated with contempt by the educated men of Europe. It is most likely that no other conquest in European history has ever had such a devestating effect on the defeated ruling class.
The ruling class was now of French aristocracy. The French-speaking aristocracy made few changes to the social structure, the lack of English-speaking rulers widen the gap between itself and the peasantry.
Since Normandy was his homeland and far more vulnerable than the island of England, William I gave most of his attention to diplomacy and war upon the continent. The King of France and the Counts of Anjou, as well as Flanders, resented William's newly acquired power and wealth, hence took every opportunity to diminish it. As did his own son, Robert. Robert was the Duke of Normandy, but had not been allowed to enjoy the wealth and power that went with the title. He resented his father greatly, giving opportunity for intrigue and deceitfulness at the hands of William's enemies. William I is said to have been wounded by Robert on one occasion.
In 1085 William returned to England to quell the invasion planned by the King of Denmark, Swein. It took huge sums of revenue to finance this expedition and met with a great deal of administrative grief while trying to compare for the campaign. This inspired him to look into the distribution of wealth amongst his barons. The Doomsday Book was created in 1086 and listed the major landholders in each county. It provided William with an excellent description of the sources of revenue for the barons. The Doomsday Book has provided great insight for historians, but William was unable to make much use of it before he was recalled to Normandy.
At the end of his reign, William once again found himself defending his native Normandy against the King of France. The war was concentrated in a disputed area of territory between Rouen and Paris, known as the Vexin. In July 1087 William launched a surprise attack on Mantes and took it, but during the sack of the town he received a mortal injury. He died on 9 September 1087. A most unpleasant ending came when the burial attendants at St. Stephen's Abbey at Caen tried to force William's rotund frame into his stone sarcophagus. The body burst and filled the church with a putrifying odor.
Few kings have enjoyed the luck and fortune of "William the Bastard", but even fewer took such full advantage of their good fortune as "William the Conqueror", the founder of a new royal dynasty.
Research:
p. 115. "Collins Gem Kings & Queens.".
p. 20-26. " The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England", Edited by Antonio Fraser
William II "The Good" of Sicily
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1153
Christening:
Death: 18 Nov 1189
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: William I "The Bad" (1120-1166)
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Queen Joan (Joanna) Plantagenet of Sicily (Unknown - Unknown)
Marriage: 13 Feb 1177 - Palermo, Italy
Status:
Children:
1. Bohemond of Apulia (1181-1181)
Notes
General:
William II (1153 - 1189), King of Sicily, was only thirteen years old at the death of his father William I. He was placed under the regency of his mother, Marguerite of Navarre.
Until the king came of age in 1171, the government was controlled first by the chancellor Stephen of Perche, cousin of Marguerite (1166-1168), and then by Walter Ophamil, archbishop of Palermo, and Matthew d'Ajello, the vice-chancellor.
William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy. Champion of the papacy and in secret league with the Lombard cities, he was able to defy the common enemy, Frederick I, Barbarossa. In 1174 and 1175 he made treaties with Genoa and Venice and his marriage in February 1177 with Joan, daughter of Henry II of England, marks his high position in European politics.
To secure peace with the emperor he sanctioned the marriage of his aunt Constance, daughter of Roger II, with Frederick's son Henry, afterwards the emperor Henry VI, causing a general oath to be taken to her as his successor in case of his death without heirs. This step, fatal to the Norman kingdom, was possibly taken that William might devote himself to foreign conquests.
Unable to revive the African dominion, William directed his attack on Egypt, from which Saladin threatened the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. In July 1174, 50,000 men were landed before Alexandria, but Saladin's arrival forced the Sicilians to re-embark in disorder. A better prospect opened in the confusion in Byzantine affairs, which followed the death of Manuel Comnenus (1180), and William took up the old design and feud against Constantinople. Durazzo was captured (June 11, 1185) and in August Thessalonica surrendered to the joint attack of the Sicilian fleet and army.
The troops then marched upon the capital, but the troop of the emperor Isaac Angelus overthrew the invaders on the banks of the Strymon (September 7, 1185). Thessalonica was at once abandoned and in 1189 William made peace with Isaac, abandoning all the conquests. He was now planning to induce the crusading armies of the West to pass through his territories, and seemed about to play a leading part in the Third Crusade. His admiral Margarito, a naval genius equal to George of Antioch, with 600 vessels kept the eastern Mediterranean open for the Franks, and forced the all-victorious Saladin to retire from before Tripoli in the spring of 1188.
In November 1189 William died, leaving no children. His title of "the Good" is due perhaps less to his character, than to the cessation of internal troubles during his reign. The "Voyage" of Ibn-Giobair, a traveller in Sicily in 1183-1185, shows William surrounded by Muslim women and eunuchs, speaking and reading Arabic and living like "a Moslem king."
In the Divine Comedy Dante places William II in Paradise:
He whom you see-- along the downward arc--
was William, and the land that mourns his death,
for living Charles and Frederick, now laments;
now he has learned how Heaven loves the just
ruler, and he would show this outwardly
as well, so radiantly visible.
(Paradiso, Canto XX, lines 61-66, Mandlebaum translation)
William II (Rufus) , King of England
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1057
Christening:
Death: 2 Aug 1100 - The New Forest, England
Burial: 1100 - Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, England
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: William I of Normandy , William the Conqueror (Abt 1028-1087)
Mother: Matilda of Flanders (1031-1083)
Spouses and Children
1. *Unknown
Notes
General:
William II acceded in 1087
Coronation: 26 September 1097, Westiminster, London, England
Duke of Normandy - 1096
William II was the 3rd son of William I of Normandy (also called William the Conqueror) and his wife, Matilda. Almost nothing is know of his early life, but it is certain that the time he spent in the household of Archbishop Lanfranc made little impression on him.
William II was strongly attached and loyal to his father. His loyalty was unwavering throughout his reign. His brother, Robert rebelled against their father and Richard, the second born son, was killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest, as William II would be many years later.
With Robert's rebellious attitude toward his father, it was thought that William might be the heir to the throne (Normandy), but the practice which gave ancestral lands, the patrimony, to the first-born son proved too strong. Robert succeeded to Normandy as Duke. However, William I gave his son, William II, his newly conquered land of England. Crowned William II, King of England.
William was a stout, red-faced, fair-haired individual with piercing eyes, thus he was given the nickname of "Rufus". He also had a tendancy to stutter when he was excited.
Due to the division of the Conqueror's lands, many Norman lords held estates on both sides of the Channel. They were faced with the dilemma of whom they should honor and serve, Duke Robert or King William. By 1088, Odo of Bayeus, King William's uncle, had inspired some barons to favor Duke Robertas ruler on both sides of the Channel. Robert failed to appear in England for the confrontation and the revolt soon collapsed.
By 1089 William had laid claim to Normandy by buying support with English silver. Duke Robert was in a difficult position, so he jumped at the chance to join the crusade preached by Pope Urban II. In order to equip his crusade, he pawned Normandy to William II for 10,000 Marks.
For all of his success as a generous leader of soldiers, William II's reputation remained low. Of course, the history of the time was written by monks, none of which liked or respected William II.
After the death of Archbishop Lanfranc in 1089, the court of William II fell into disrepute. The serious minded churchmen of his father's court were accustomed to conventional piety and sober discretion. This was not so with William II's court. Gaiety and licentiousness prevailed.
Because no association with mistresses or illegitimate children are mentioned in connection with William II, it is presumed that he may have been homosexual. He never married. He scorned the church and treated it as nothing but a wealthly entity, thus a source for bountiful taxation. He was lax in appointing replacement bishops and abbots, for during the vacancies he could help himself to the church's revenues. He enlisted the aid of the quick minded clerk, Ranulf Flambard to carry off the seizures of the church funds. He later appointed Flambard as Bishop of Durham.
The followers of the Gregorian Reform movement began to wield influence in England, which not even Rufus could ignore. But, William had gained greatly from his quarrels with various clergy and religious leaders. Denouncing two different Popes as being leaders of the faith, he preferred to remain uncommitted. By 1100, he enjoyed the revenues of three bishoprics and twelve abbeys, plus the loyalty of his people. The religion machine of the period had done little damage to his following. Even Eadmer, the Canterbury Monk, seemed in awe of him when he noted in the "Life of Anselm" the 'the wind and the sea seemed to obey him. Whenever he wished to cross from England to Normandy or back again every storm - and somethe the storm was raging wildly - was stilled so that his crossings were always attended by a wonderful calm'. He continued by saying, 'in war and in the acquisition of territory he enjoyed such success that you would think the whole world smiling upon him.'
But, alas, luck ran out. On 2 August 1100, William II, King of England, was struck and killed a stray arrow while hunting in the New Forest. His body was carried to Winchester and interred in the cathedral, directly below the tower. In the following year the tower collapsed, which some took as an omen.
Research:
p. 27-29. " The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England", Edited by Antonio Fraser
Count William III the Good of Hainault
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1280
Christening:
Death: 7 Jun 1337
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: John II of Hainaut (1247-1304)
Mother: Philipine of Luxemburg (1252-1311)
Earl William of Gloucester
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1145
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Unknown
Children:
1. Hawise (Isabella) of Gloucester de Clare (1169-1217)
William of Luxemburg , Count of Luxemburg
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown
Christening:
Death: 1131
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Conrad I of Luxemburg , Count of Luxemburg ( -1086)
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Unknown
Children:
1. Conrad II of Luxemburg , Count of Luxemburg ( -1136)
Notes
General:
Acceded: 1096
William of Rheims , Cardinal Archbishop
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Theobald III of Blois 4th Count of Blois (Abt 1088-1152)
Mother: Maud of Carinthia ( - )
William of Salisbury 2nd Earl of Salisbury
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Unknown
Children:
1. Countess Ela of Salisbury Fitz Patrick (Abt 1196-1261)
William V of Holland , Count of Hainaut and Holland
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1327
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria , Holy Roman Emperor (1282-1347)
Mother: Margaret of Holland (1311-1356)
William V of Juliers
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Joan of Hainault (Unknown - Unknown)
Marriage: Unknown
Status:
Children:
1. Elizabeth of Juliers ( -1411)
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