The Uncrowned Queen of Ireland: The Life of Isabel of Gloucester

"And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;

For new-made honour doth forget men's names."

- From William Shakespeare's King John

Isabel of Gloucester was the first woman since 1066 to marry a future king of England, who never became queen herself. She shares that rather sad honour with only four other women in English history - the aristocratic Mary de Bohun, who died before her husband seized the throne as Henry IV in 1399; the feisty Lady Anne Hyde, the mother of Mary II, who died whilst her husband (the last Catholic King of Britain) was still Duke of York; Sophia-Dorothea of Celle, who was divorced and imprisoned in a grim German castle on grounds of adultery, long before her equally-adulterous husband became King George I in 1714 and, of course, one expects, the late Princess Diana, who was divorced and subsequently died in a tragic car crash when her ex-husband is still heir-apparent.

Isabel of Gloucester has more in common with Sophia-Dorothea and Diana than she does with Mary de Bohun and Anne Hyde. Like them, the reason she never made it onto the consort's throne was because she was divorced, not because she died prematurely. Isabel had no say in her divorce, nor in her life after it. In many ways, Isabel's story is a sad reflection of the stultifying and miserable lives that many medieval women were forced to lead - particularly the women of the upper classes. Although they, theoretically, lived lives of far greater comfort than the vast majority of the population, their bodies were so integral to the merger and acquisition of aristocratic lands and assets that most daughters of the nobility were shuttled around depending on their menfolk's whims and political aspirations. For a very long time, there was a pervasive view amongst male historians that the royal and aristocratic women of the Middle Ages had been nothing more than "animated title deeds." And whilst glamorous or tenacious queens like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marguerite of Anjou, Matilda of Scotland and Matilda of Boulogne might suggest that this is far too simple a view, the lives of women like Isabel of Gloucester indicate that in many ways it's a grim but horrifically fair assessment of wealthy women's role in medieval society.

For instance, despite the fact that she was one of the greatest heiresses of her generation and married to a future king, we are not even one hundred percent sure of Isabel's Christian name. In part, this was because of the multi-lingual nature of the English empire at the time and the Middle Ages' promiscuous attitude towards spelling, but at various points Isabel is referred to as Isabella, Isobel, Avisa, Joan, Eleanor, Hawise or Hawisa. She was born sometime around 1173, probably on one of her father's vast estates. It was a year of rebellion, in which the elder sons of King Henry II openly rebelled against their father's authority and attempted to carve out political careers for themselves. Henry's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, sided with her boys against her husband, causing international scandal in the process. Isabel's father, William FitzRobert, Earl of Gloucester, was the King's cousin and he loyally sided with him to oppose the Queen and the princes. 

William, Earl of Gloucester was a grandson of the heroically fertile King Henry I, who had ruled England between 1100 and 1135. Unlike King Henry II, however, the Earl was not descended in the legitimate royal line. His father, Robert, had been one of Henry I's many bastards. (As another sign of how lowly women were esteemed, we have no idea who Robert's mother was - several women from Oxfordshire have been suggested, but so has a racy Welsh princess.) This generous dose of royal blood, coupled with his father's loyalty to Henry II's mother during the great civil war of the 1140s, meant that William of Gloucester stood high in the King's favour and he had managed to expand his considerable aristocratic holdings to become one of the great lords of the realm by the time of Isabel's birth. Through her father, the baby Isabel was not just related to the Royal Family, but also to some of the most powerful players in the Anglo-Norman nobility. Her uncle Roger was the Bishop of Worcester, her aunt Matilda was the phenomenally wealthy Countess of Chester and her late uncle Hamon had died a hero's death at the 1159 siege of Toulouse.

Isabel's mother was born Lady Hawisa de Beaumont, the daughter of the Anglo-French Earl of Leicester, who had served as England's de facto prime minister between 1155 and 1168. A powerful politician and a generous benefactor of the Church, Leicester's service to the King was yet another link between Isabel's family and the royals. Through him, Isabel was the niece of the current Earl of Leicester (earl then being the highest title available to the English aristocracy) and the Countess of Huntingdon and Northampton (whom Isabel may have been named after.) 

Despite her father's loyalty to the King during the princes' rebellion, for some reason Henry II began to regard the Earl of Gloucester with suspicion. Desperate to recover royal favour and to prove his loyalty to the regime, the Earl gave Bristol Castle (below) as a gift to the middle-aged monarch, when Isabel was about two years old. Of course, it says something for the Gloucesters' wealth that they were able to part with a castle and still remain one of the most affluent families in the empire. The gesture obviously worked, albeit temporarily, because a few years later Isabel's father accompanied the King on his journey to arbitrate a dispute between the kings of Navarre and Castile. There is some evidence, though, that he fell out of favour again and he was deliberately detained on the King's orders when the princes once again rebelled against their father. Whether this was because of the King's paranoia or because Gloucester had actually done something to justify his suspicions is hard to say.

We know very little about Isabel's childhood or her relationship with her parents, but it is safe to hazard the guess that she would have come as a disappointment to them. Isabel's only brother, Robert, had died before she was born and without a male heir, Lord Gloucester had been forced to negotiate a deal with the King, which would see all of the Gloucesters' vast wealth devolve to the Crown once the Earl passed away. Henry II's youngest, and favourite, son was Prince John, later enshrined as a villain in the Robin Hood legends. With the eldest son due to inherit his father's kingdoms in England and Normandy, the second set to inherit the Queen's ancestral duchy in the Aquitaine and the third married off to the heiress to the duchy of Brittany, King Henry was anxious to provide an inheritance for his youngest son, who was already being cruelly nicknamed "Lackland" by snickering courtiers. The Gloucester inheritance was perfect, because it would turn Prince John into a great magnate in his own right. The agreement hammered out between the King and the Earl therefore prepared the way for John to inherit everything when the Earl died, in return for marrying one of the Earl's three daughters - Mabel, Alice or Isabel.

Why Isabel was picked over her sisters to marry Prince John is anybody's guess, but the two were engaged when Isabel was only about three years-old. Isabel was quite probably the eldest of the three girls, since it is hard to believe that anything like her looks or personality would have influenced the royals in what was, essentially, a balance transfer. Her father died when she was about ten years old, leaving the lion's share of the inheritance to the de facto male heir, Prince John. Mabel later married the Seigneur de Montfort and Alice married the Earl of Hertford.

The Crusader's Bride: The Life of Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England

"And I have asked to be

Where no storms come, 

Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,

And out of the swing of the sea."

- Heaven-Haven by Father Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

Before it was unified with France in 1620, the small kingdom of Navarre lay in the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, bordering the Bay of Biscay. In 1170, it was ruled over by thirty-eight year old King Sancho VI, nicknamed "Sancho the Wise" or "Sancho el Sabio" by his subjects. Reflecting its location between a disunited Spain, imperialist England and fractured France, Navarre had an ethnically and religiously diverse population. The majority were either Occitan-French or Basque, but there were sizable Jewish and Islamic communities, too. The capital city was Pamplona, today part of Spain; its major cathedral was the magnificent Santa Maria le Real (the existing Santa Maria in modern Pamplona is a replacement, completed in the early sixteenth century.)

We have no way of knowing when Princess Berengaria was born into Navarre's first family - she was named after her grandmother, Berengaria of Barcelona. Records are frustratingly vague and there is a five year margin of guesswork, between 1165 and 1170. Her father, Sancho the Wise, had ruled Navarre since succeeding to the throne in 1150, at the age of eighteen. He was a tenacious defender of Navarre's independence from the neighbouring kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. A patron of the arts, particularly architecture, he was also a talented diplomat who had not only outwitted the expansionist designs of Aragon and Castile, but also established friendly relations with Henry II's England - then, unquestionably, the dominant political force in western Europe. Henry II had an empire that stretched from the Pennines to the Pyrenees; his inheritance from his father had given him huge tracts of land in northern France; his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine meant that he had de facto control of Navarre's closest neighbour and, around the time Berengaria was born, Ireland had fallen to Henry's seemingly-unstoppable taste for glory. It was therefore a very good idea to keep the English on-side in the 1170s and this policy of her father's would later shape Berengaria's entire adult life.

Her mother, Queen Sancha, was a daughter of the King of Castile and his wife, a former princess from Aragon. As things go, Sancha herself was living proof that the theory that peace between nations could be guaranteed by royal marriages was hit-and-miss, at best. The deliciously-named Sancho and Sancha had six children together, with Berengaria apparently being born somewhere in the middle. Her eldest brother, another Sancho, was the heir to the throne and nicknamed "Sancho the Strong" by his subjects. He certainly had all the looks of a handsome, medieval warrior. He was also incredibly tall - one anthropologist suggested after studying Sancho's remains that he could have reached nearly 7 ft in height, although that seems slightly improbable. Sancho seems to have been proud of his looks and when he developed a weight problem in old age, he apparently felt the humiliation keenly. The other children, apart from Berengaria, were her brothers, Ferdinand and Ramiro, and her two sisters, Constanza and Blanca. 

Appropriately enough for a girl whose father had the sobriquet of "the wise," Berengaria of Navarre acquired a reputation for intelligence. She also seems to have generally been considered very attractive. Like Anne Boleyn four centuries later however, there was one eloquent dissenter - the chronicler, Richard of Devizes, thought that Berengaria was more clever than she was beautiful. In general, however, commentators seemed to agree that Berengaria had both beauty and brains - "a beautiful and learned maiden," "beautiful" and "of renowned beauty and wisdom". Even allowing for some of the verbose flattery that was slapped on with a metaphorical trowel for medieval royals, there is enough consistency in the surviving sources to suggest that she was good-looking, like many members of her family, and that she also inherited their brains. 

In 1190, when Berengaria was probably about twenty years old, the international situation and her father's politics found her a husband. Henry II of England had died, worn out and dejected by his sons' constant rebellions against him. His eldest surviving son, Richard, had now taken the throne, with the enthusiastic support of his mother, Eleanor, who had sided with her sons against her husband and endured nearly fifteen years of house arrest as a result. The Islamic attacks on the Holy Land had resumed and Europe was once again preparing for a crusade. Determined to go, Richard needed allies and he also needed to produce a son and heir, in order to keep his troublesome younger brother in check. With her family's connections to the Plantagenets and her country's geographically significant location, Berengaria seemed the perfect choice. Already en route to Italy to deal with an assault on his family's interests in Sicily, before setting sail for Palestine, Richard sent his mother south to Pamplona to fetch his betrothed and bring her to him. It was not romantic, but at least it was practical.

By this stage, the English Queen Mother was in her sixties and Berengaria must have quailed at the thought of meeting her. Her scandalous behaviour during the last crusade, her two marriages, her rebellion against her late husband, her larger-than-life personality, her fabulous wealth and her penchant for intrigue had all served to make Eleanor of Aquitaine a legend in her own lifetime. The two women met for the first time in Pamplona and Berengaria's father hosted a splendid banquet in Eleanor's honour at the nearby Palace de Olite. (Below) Then, it was Berengaria's duty to say goodbye to her family and accompany her mother-in-law on the long and perilous journey towards Sicily. 

The evidence would suggest that Eleanor and Berengaria did not have a particularly good relationship. In later years, Eleanor was to do absolutely nothing to help Berengaria and she had a tendency, both then and later, to sideline her daughter-in-law in public and in private. The Queen Mother also rather pointedly, and nastily, omitted the usual "dilectissima" or "carissima" when she referred to her daughter-in-law in official proclamations. If this is true, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the journey from Pamplona to Messina was not an enjoyable one. Nor can it have been particularly comfortable, since the two women and their entourage had to pass through the Alps in the dead of winter and then across the inhospitable plains of Lombardy. Feverish to reach her beloved son, Eleanor did not allow any time for rest or relaxation. The only stops they made were near Milan, where Eleanor had some official duties to carry out, and again in Pisa, where she waited for further instructions from Richard. One of Berengaria's first official appearances with the English royal family would have been on her journey with Eleanor during their stopover at Lodi, near Milan, when they met the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich VI, who was also anxious to end Tancredi's control over Sicily. 

It was not an easy time for Eleanor, which may suggest that she was particularly irascible company for poor Berengaria. Her daughter, Joanna, the Queen Dowager of Sicily, had been cheated of her inheritance by a usurper, Tancredi, who had also hurled Joanna into prison and thus necessitated Richard's pre-crusade attack on the island. There were also concerns that Richard's one-time friend (and some said, more than that), King Philip-Augustus of France, was attempting to exploit Tancredi in order to weaken Richard, regardless of the fact that both England and France were theoretically committed to one another because of the crusade. 

Berengaria and Eleanor reached Sicily on the last day of March in 1191. The queen-to-be was described by one chronicler as "a wise maiden, noble, brave and fair, neither false nor disloyal." Unfortunately, her arrival coincided with Lent, the great penitential season of the Christian calender and one in which all marriages were prohibited by canon law. Richard and Berengaria could not therefore be legally joined together until the arrival of Easter, several weeks away. In the meantime, she got her first glimpse of her husband's impressive military skill, when he captured the city of Messina and forced Tancredi to release Joanna from her prison in Palermo. Joanna, King Richard's youngest sister, was reunited with her mother and brother and, it seems, that she and Berengaria soon developed a genuine friendship. 

What of Richard the Lionheart himself? Well, like his parents, he was good looking. He was also tall and muscular, thanks to his active lifestyle. Despite his commitment to the crusade, there is not much evidence to suggest that he was particularly religious, but nor did he disdain the church or pursue quarrels with it - unlike his father and foolish youngest brother. Enshrined in legend because of his role in the Robin Hood tales, where he features as the archetypal "good king" to his brother John's "bad," Richard's reputation among scholars has fluctuated greatly since his death in 1199. He spent almost none of his reign in England, which led future Victorian scholars to fulminate against him in an outburst of patriotic pique. William Stubbs, the great historian and Anglican Bishop of Oxford, famously described Richard as "a bad son, a bad husband, a selfish ruler and a vicious man" in his 1864 description of Richard's reign. At the same time, other Victorians were celebrating Richard as the progenitor of the British Empire. Richard does seem to have genuinely deserved his reputation for military genius and Islamic chroniclers at the time paid him the grim tribute of saying that they never "had to face a bolder or more subtle opponent." He was not, however, overly concerned with his subjects' welfare, although he does deserve credit for halting the church-backed anti-Semitic pogrom that broke out in London shortly after his coronation. He also had the Plantagenets' infamous temper tantrum problem. Not quite the "hail-fellow-well-met" national paterfamilias suggested by the Robin Hood legends, Richard the Lionheart was nonetheless a  perfectly competent monarch and a brilliant military leader. That being said, the Victorian verdict that he was a "bad husband" may still be a fair assessment.

"The Lady of Two Kingdoms": The Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and Queen of England (Part 3)

This is part three in this blog's look at the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, which is part of the ongoing "Queens of England" series. Part one, "The Daughter of Riches" and part two, "A woman out of legend" are available by clicking on the linked titles.

"Why have I, the Lady of two kingdoms, reached the disgrace of this abominable old age?" - Eleanor of Aquitaine (1192)

The Middle Ages is one of the very few eras in history in which scenes from a fairy tale can come close to reality. One such scene took place at the height of summer in 1189 when a man called William Marshal, later described by the Archbishop of Canterbury as 'the greatest knight who ever lived', strode into the presence of the imprisoned Queen Mother of England and informed her that she was free at last. There was certainly a moment of sublime poetic fulfilment when William Marshal handed Eleanor of Aquitaine her freedom, because over twenty years earlier she had done the same thing for him. Long before he had won his reputation as the greatest jouster of the century and before he had distinguished himself by going on Crusade for a dead prince, Marshal, the youngest son of an unpopular family, had only begun his knightly career when he was captured by French warlords. Impressed by stories of the young man's bravery, and perhaps moved by stories of his family's penury, Eleanor had stepped in and paid the ransom, thus buying Marshal his freedom from captivity. Since that day, Marshal's destiny had been inextricably tied up with Eleanor's own and he had been the most trusted companion of her son, Henry the Young King, who had died six years earlier, begging that Marshal go to the Holy Land for him to atone for his sins. Returned, reinvigorated and already a legend of military prowess in his own lifetime, the forty-two year-old Marshal had won the favour of Prince Richard, now the new king. Set to marry Isabel de Clare, the daughter of the famous Strongbow, conqueror of Ireland, and his wife, Princess Aoife of Leinster, it was Marshal who Richard trusted with the special mission of going to England to free his mother from her gilded prison which she had endured since her children's botched rebellion against their father fifteen years earlier. With her husband's sudden death at Chinon and the accession of her favourite son to the throne, Eleanor of Aquitaine was once again being unleashed upon the world.

But the Eleanor who emerged back into the world in 1189 was a very different one to the woman who had been shut away from it in 1174. She was now an old woman, particularly by the standards of her day; she was already well into her sixties. Her first husband, Louis VII, had been dead for nearly nine years, having been succeeded by his son from his third marriage, Philip-Augustus (referred to from now on as Philippe, the Gallic form of his name). Three of Eleanor's sons - William, Henry and Geoffrey - had predeceased her and in the same summer as she became a widow, she also lost her daughter, Matilda, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria, who had died suddenly at the age of thirty-three and been entombed in the gloomy splendour of the cathedral of Saint Blaise and Saint John the Baptist in Brunswick. Eleanor's eldest child, Marie, the child from her first marriage, was now a widow herself, still living in France as the Dowager Countess of Champagne. Her younger sister, Alix, was still Countess of Blois, married to the son of Eleanor's old rival. Of her daughters with Henry, Eleanor was currently living as Queen-consort of Castile, with a large family of her own, and twenty-four year-old Joanna also bore a crown, as wife to the King of Sicily. With all three of their brothers dead, it was Henry and Eleanor's two surviving sons who now mattered the most politically - thirty-two year-old Richard, the new king, and twenty-three year-old John, the heir-apparent.


If Eleanor felt anything at losing the husband who had been her lover, partner, spouse and jailer, she gave very little sign of it. Regrets or looking back are not things that Eleanor of Aquitaine seems to have overly bothered herself with. In many ways she had the final victory over Henry, not just by outliving him but by having him buried in Fontevrault - her burial ground. A magnificent structure rising splendidly out of the beautiful scenery of the Loire Valley, Fontevrault had been founded in 1100 by Eleanor's grandmother, Philippa of Toulouse, Duchess of the Aquitaine, and formally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The complex boasted both a monastery and a convent, although in defiance of conventional ecclesiastical practise, Eleanor's family had insisted the convent should always have precedence over the monastery and that the head of Fontevrault as a combined unit should always be an abbess, rather than an abbot. Since becoming Queen of England, Eleanor had spent a fortune expanding and renovating Fontevrault, deliberately crafting its church into what she planned to be the necropolis of the Plantagenet dynasty. And Richard had dutifully honoured his mother's plans by sending his father's body to be buried at Fontevrault (below). After fifteen years in his custody, Eleanor had the satisfaction of knowing that Henry's body would spend all eternity on her land.

Richard had been in France when he heard the news that his father was dead and he was now King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine and Count of Nantes. It would take him some time to make the journey back to England for his coronation and in his absence, he showed his trust and love for his mother by giving her the power that both of her husbands had denied her. Freed from captivity, Eleanor was immediately appointed Regent of England and she moved quickly to London to undertake the business of government. And for someone who technically had very little experience of ruling in her own right, Eleanor showed herself to be remarkably good at it in a remarkably short period of time. It leaves the historian wondering what her husbands might have been able to achieve with her at their side, if they had only trusted her enough. The monk and chronicler, Matthew Paris, later wrote that Eleanor's time as Regent after her son's accession made her 'exceedingly respected and beloved' by the people. 

Eleanor's political skill in leading the English government during Richard's short absence before the coronation was theoretically a dress rehearsal for a much longer stint in control. Two years before, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, known in the West as "Saladin," had inflicted a terrible defeat and massacre on the Christian orders of the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller in the Holy Land. Now, as it had been in the time of Eleanor's first marriage, the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem was under threat and, with crusading apparently running in his blood, Richard was determined to go East and finish the job his mother's first husband had so spectacularly failed at - to crush the Islamic caliphates and secure the supremacy of Christianity in the Middle East. He also hoped that in doing so, he would guarantee immortal salvation for his soul and glory for his name.

A woman out of legend: The Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and Queen of England (Part 2)

After a very long delay to this blog's Lives of the Queens of England series, here is part II of the three-part life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Part I - Daughter of Riches - can be read here.

"My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne's. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria, or Rome, or Camelot has there been such a queen."- Henry II in the play The Lion in Winter by James Goldman (1966)

History loves a good romance. Some of its most famous couples, like Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra, are remembered because of the intensity of their love for one another. Others, like Marc Antony and Cleopatra or Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are remembered not so much for the nature of their love, but because of the melodrama that surrounded them. On 18 May 1152, a newly married couple emerged from the cathedral of Saint Pierre in the city of Poitiers in modern-day France (below). They were Henry of Anjou, nineteen year-old heir-presumptive to the English throne, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the twenty-something ex-wife of the King of France. Henry and Eleanor emphatically belong to the latter category of famous historical couples. With them, it’s the drama, not the sentiment, which entices. Their marriage, celebrated less than two months after Eleanor’s divorce from her first husband, was born from political expediency, but it ended in civil war, rebellion, mutual recriminations, heartbreak and imprisonment.

I think Eleanor's mad at me

As some regular readers know, it is my intention to post on the lives of the queens of England, moving through them from William I's wife to the current Queen, over the course of a year or two. The research for each chapter, however long or short, does take quite a bit of work, which is why the regularity of The Queens of England Series is much slower than I would originally have liked. Please accept my apologies and my thanks to those of you who have been kind enough to get in touch telling me how much you have enjoyed the five installments in that series since July (Seems pitiful, doesn't it? When stated like that!)

The most recent post in the series was on the life of the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Louis VII, King of France and Henry II, King of England. Due to the length of Eleanor's life and the great drama of her story, I took the decision to divide the posts on her into three sections - one chronicling her first marriage as Queen of France, the second covering her time as Queen of England and the third, her lengthy career as England's first post-conquest Queen Mother. (Adeliza of Louvain was Queen Dowager, not Queen Mother.) The first in the Eleanor posts, Daughter of Riches, was posted on January 23rd and I had hoped to have written and uploaded the second post, A Woman Out of Legend, by now. However, I got back from Connecticut to find that we are currently renovating our study - which is something that we've really needed to do for awhile - and so all my books are currently in storage and I'm loathe to start ransacking the place to get the books I wanted to write the next chapter on Queen Eleanor. Sadly, I don't think winging it is a great idea, since Eleanor's period is not one I'm expert enough to write in without having a few books to hand to cross-reference! So, please bear with me and hopefully when it's ready, A Woman Out of Legend will be worth the wait.

I've also just completed the manuscript for Popular's sequel and I definitely enjoyed the challenges that came from writing the second installment in a series. Christopher Gortner is half-way through his sequel to A Tudor Secret and we've very, very briefly discussed how different it is to write an immediate sequel to a first installment. I think it's a really peculiar set of challenges, but, again, hopefully it's been worth it. I've just started the edits with my new editor at Penguin, Alexandra, who's working with me on this project. Honestly, a great editor is such a God-send and I've been lucky enough to have two, so far! Also, thanks to all those friends who have been so supportive during the writing of the new book. Some have offered support and some have done what all good Irish folk are supposed to do - namely dragged me out to the pub when it's necessary!

Anyway! Here's hoping the study renovation goes swiftly and delightfully and Eleanor's looming presence can be ameliorated sooner rather than later. I'll post some links below to the Queens of England posts uploaded so far.

Gareth

1. A genealogy of the House of Normandy

2. "The Friend of True Piety" - the life of Matilda of Flanders (died 1083), wife of William the Conqueror, mother of William II and Henry I

3. Daughter of the Church - the life of Matilda of Scotland (1080 - 1118), first wife of Henry I

4. "The Fair Maid of Brabant" - the life of Adeliza of Louvain (died 1151), second wife of Henry I

5. The Other Queen - the life of Matilda of Boulogne (died 1152), wife of King Stephen

6. A genealogy of the House of Plantagenet

7. Daughter of Riches - the early life of Eleanor of Aquitaine (died 1204), wife of Louis VII and Henry II

Daughter of Riches: The Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and Queen of England (Part I)

“Reared with abundance of all delights, you had a taste for luxury and refinement and enjoyed a royal liberty. You lived richly in your own inheritance, you took pleasure in the pastimes of your women, you delighted in the melodies of flute and drum ... You abounded in riches of every kind.” 

- The poet Richard of Poitiers, writing on Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1176)

This is Part V of this blog's series on the lives of the Queens of England, with apologies for the delay since its last instalment, The Other Queen. The life of Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the longest in English royal history and, furthermore, she was the queen of two countries and had a lengthy career as Queen Mother also. I have therefore decided to divide this instalment up into three posts - her career as queen of France, her career as queen of England and her widowhood.

***

The House of Plantagenet: A Genealogy

In preparation for the next stage of this blog's Queens of England series, I'm posting a genealogy of the House of Plantagenet, structured around its kings - the two Henrys, two Richards, three Edwards and one deeply unfortunate John. Next week, I plan to post two articles - a review of Elena Maria Vidal's fantastic second novel, Madame Royale, a sequel to Trianon - followed by Chapter 5 of the Queens of England series, "How am I possible?": The Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and Queen of England.

The royal family listed below, who ruled England from 1154 until 1399, are referred to by the name "Plantagenet," although it is generally accepted that they were not commonly known by that name until several centuries after their demise. At the time, they were more usually referred to as the House of Anjou or the Angevins, as a reference to the ancestral homeland of Henry II's father, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. However, since it is by the name of Plantagenet that they are more frequently referenced in later histories and in most of today's sources, I have chosen to stick with that for clarity's sake. It was an immense and fascinating period in British history, in which Ireland and then Wales were not only brought into the commonwealth for the first time, but the full and recognisable splendour and horror of the English Middle Ages was unfurled under a succession of larger-than-life monarchs and their brides.

Given the paucity of medieval records, I should also like to point out that several of these genealogies listed below may be "inaccurate" to some people, in that I have had to make educated guesses based on my own assumptions about which of the sources are most likely to be correct. 

Here follows a genealogy of the Royal House of Plantagenet ...

HENRY II

(Reigned December 19th, 1154 - July 6th, 1189)

Sometimes known as "Henry FitzEmpress," "Henry Plantagenet," or "Henry Curtmantle"

It was during King Henry's reign that Ireland was first added to the monarchy's commonwealth. Legal alterations to Ireland's position within the monarchy were subsequently made in 1494, 1541, 1800 and 1921. 

 

Son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and Maud, Dowager Holy Roman Empress and "Lady of the English"

Pre-regnal titles: Count of Touraine and Count of Maine (1151), Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou (1151) and Duke of Aquitaine suo uxoris (1152)

Born in Le Mans, Anjou, on March 5th, 1133

Died at the Château de Chinon on July 6th, 1189

Buried at Fontevrault Abbey, France

Henry II was married, whilst still Duke of Normandy, at Poitiers Cathedral, France, on May 18th 1152, to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife, Eleanor de la Rochefoucauld. Prior to this marriage, Eleanor had been Queen of France by virtue of her marriage to Louis VII, King of France, with whom she had issue. The marriage ended in divorce. Queen Eleanor was born in the Aquitaine, possibly at the Palais d'Ombriere in Bordeaux, in approximately 1121 and she died of natural causes at Fontevrault Abbey on April 1st, 1204, where she was subsequently buried.

Issue of the Marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: -

1. WILLIAM, Count of Poitiers (1153 - 1156)

2. HENRY, the so-called "Young King" (1155 - 1183). He married Marguerite of France, later Queen-consort of Hungary, and had issue.

3. MATILDA, Duchess of Saxony (1156 - 1189). She married Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Duke of Bavaria, and had issue.

4. RICHARD I, King of England (1157 - 1199). He married Berengaria of Navarre.

5. GEOFFREY, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond (1158 - 1186). He married Constance of Brittany and had issue.

6. ELEANOR, Queen of Castile (1161 - 1214). She married Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, and had issue, including the future queen-consorts of León, France, Aragon and Portugal, and two future rulers of Castile itself.

7. JOAN, Queen of Sicily (1165 - 1199). She married firstly to William the Good, King of Sicily, and had issue. After King William's death, Joan married secondly to Raymond VI, Comte de Toulouse, and also had issue. She later took the veil as a nun at Fontevrault Abbey.

8. JOHN, King of England (1166 - 1216). He married firstly to Isobel, Countess of Gloucester, and after their divorce to Isabelle of Angoulême, by whom he had issue.

Issue of King Henry's affair with a prostitute called Ikenai: -

i. Geoffrey, Archbishop of York (died 1212)

ii. Peter (born and died young)

Issue of King Henry's affair with Lady Nesta Blewer: -

iii. Morgan, Bishop of Durham

Issue of King Henry's affairs with various unknown women: -

iv. William, Earl of Salisbury (died 1226). He married Lady Ela Fitzpatrick and had issue.

v. Matilda, Abbess of Barking (died 1202)

vi. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (died 1235)

vii. Richard (born and died young)

HENRY II was succeeded by his third son, RICHARD I.

 ***

RICHARD I

(Reigned July 6th, 1189 - April 6th, 1199)

 Sometimes known as "Richard the Lionheart"

Son of Henry II, King of England, and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine

Pre-regnal titles: Duke of Aquitaine (1172)

Born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, on September 8th, 1157

Died on military campaign at the siege of Chalus in France on April 6th, 1199

Buried at Fontevrault Abbey in France

Richard I was married in the Chapel of Saint George at Lissomol, Cyprus, on May 12th, 1191, to Berengaria of Navarre, daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre, and his queen, Beatrice of Castile. Queen Berengaria was born in Béarn, Navarre, sometime around 1164 and she died at the Abbey l'Espan in Anjou, where she had taken the veil as a nun, sometime around 1230. Her body was initially interred there, but was moved in 1821 on the orders of King Louis XVIII of France to be re-buried in the Cathedral of St.-Julien in Le Mans.

King Richard never fathered a child with either queen or a mistress. It is highly unlikely on geographical grounds that he was the biological father of two children sometimes accredited to him, including Philip, Seigneur de Cognac.

RICHARD I was succeeded by his youngest brother, JOHN.

***

JOHN

(Reigned April 6th, 1189 - October 19th, 1216) 

Sometimes known as "John Lack-Land," "John Soft-Sword" or "Bad King John"

Son of Henry II, King of England, and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine

Pre-regnal titles: He held the courtesy title of "King of Ireland" from 1177, Count of Mortain (1189), Earl of Gloucester suo uxoris (1199)

Born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, on Christmas Eve, 1164

Died at Newark Castle, Lincoln, on October 19th, 1216

Buried in Worcester Cathedral, properly called the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester

John was married, whilst still Count of Mortain, at Marlborough Castle on August 29th, 1189 to Isobel of Gloucester, daughter and heiress of William, Earl of Gloucester, and his wife, Lady Hawise (née de Beaumont). Isobel was born on one of her father's estates sometime around 1176 and she died of natural causes during the winter of 1217. The marriage of John and Isobel was declared legally invalid on grounds of consanguinity on August 30th, 1199. She is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

John was married for the second time at Bordeaux Castle on August 24th, 1100 to Isabelle of Angoulême, daughter of Aymer, Comte d'Angoulême, and his wife Alice (née de Courtenay), a granddaughter of Louis VI, King of France. Queen Isabelle was born in France sometime around 1187 and she died of natural causes at Fontevrault Abbey on May 31st, 1246, where she was subsequently buried.

Issue of the Marriage of John and Isabelle of Angoulême: -

1. HENRY III, King of England (1207 - 1272). He married Eleanor of Provence and had issue.

2. RICHARD, King of the Romans (1209 - 1272). He married Isabella, Dowager Countess of Hertford, and had issue. After her death, he married Sanchia of Provence and also had issue. After her death, he married thirdly to Beatrice von Falkenburg.

3. JOAN, Queen of Scots (1210 - 1238). She married Alexander II, King of Scots.

4. ISABELLA, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Sicily (1214 - 1241). She married Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, and had issue.

5. ELEANOR, Countess of Pembroke (1215 - 1275). She married firstly William, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. After his death, she became Countess of Leicester thanks to her marriage to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, with whom she had issue. Following his death in battle, she took the veil at Montargis Abbey in France.

Issue of King John's affair with Mrs. Clementina Pinel: -

i. Joan, Princess of Wales (died 1237). She married Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, and had  issue.

Issue of King John's liaison with Hawise de Tracy: -

ii. Oliver (killed at the Battle of Damietta in modern-day Egypt in 1290)

Issue of King John's affairs with various unknown women: -

iii. Richard Fitzjohn, Baron Chilham. He married Lady Rohese of Dover and had issue.

iv. Osbert Gifford (died 1216)

v. Geoffrey FitzRoy (died 1205)

vi. Sir John Fitzjohn (died 1242)

vii. Odo FitzRoy (died 1242)

viii. Richard, Constable of Wallingford Castle 

ix. Henry Fitzjohn

x. Matilda, Abbess of Barking Convent

xi. Isabella la Blanche

At the time of his death in 1216, King John was survived by both of his wives - his ex-wife, Isobel, and his queen, Isabelle. Isobel had re-married after the annulment of her marriage to John, becoming Countess of Essex and Sussex thanks to her marriage to Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Sussex. After his death, she married for a third time to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, to whom she was married at the time of her death in 1217. There was no offspring from any of her marriages. 

Queen Isabelle re-married to Hugh de Lusignan, Comte de la Marche, and had issue.

JOHN was succeeded by his eldest son, HENRY III.

***

HENRY III

(Reigned October 19th, 1216 - November 16th, 1272) 

It was during King Henry's reign that England's formal union and claim to the Duchy of Normandy, which had existed since 1066, was renounced under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1259.)

Son of John, King of England, and his queen, Isabelle of Angoulême

Born in Winchester Castle on October 1st, 1207

Died at the Palace of Westminster on November 16th, 1272

Buried in Westminster Abbey

Henry III was married in Canterbury Cathedral on January 14th, 1236 to Eleanor of Provence, daughter of Raymond Berenger, Comte de Provence, and his wife, Beatrice of Savoy. Queen Eleanor was born at Aix-en-Provence in France, sometime around 1223, and she died of natural causes at Amesbury Abbey, where she had taken the veil as a nun on June 25th, 1291, where she was subsequently buried.

Issue of the Marriage between Henry III and Eleanor of Provence: -

1. EDWARD I, King of England (1239 - 1307). He married twice - firstly to Eleanor of Castile and after her death to Marguerite of France. There was issue from both marriages.

2. MARGARET, Queen of Scots (1240 - 1275). She married Alexander III, King of Scots, and had issue, including the future queen-consort of Norway.

3. BEATRICE, Duchess of Brittany (1242 - 1275). She married twice - firstly to John de Montfort, Earl of Richmond, and after his death to Jean II, Duke of Brittany, with whom she had issue.

4. EDMUND, Earl of Leicster and claimant to the throne of Sicily (1245 - 1296). He married twice - firstly to Lady Aveline Fortibus, Countess of Aumale, and after her death, he married Blanche of Artois, Queen Mother of Navarre, by whom he had issue.

5. RICHARD (?1247 - 1256)

6. JOHN (?1250 - 1256)

7. WILLIAM (?1251 - 1256)

8. KATHERINE (1252 - 1257)

9. HENRY (born and died young)

HENRY III was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward I.

***

EDWARD I

(Reigned November 16th, 1272 - July 7th, 1307) 

Sometimes known as "Edward Longshanks" or "Edward, Hammer of the Scots"

It was during King Edward's reign that Wales was conquered and became part of the same monarchy as England

Son of Henry III, King of England, and his queen, Eleanor of Provence

Pre-regnal titles: Duke of Gascony and Earl of Chester (1254)

Born at the Palace of Westminster in June 1239

Died on military campaign in Northumberland on July 7th, 1307

Buried in Westminster Abbey

Edward I was married, whilst still Duke of Gascony, at the Abbey of Las Huelgas in Burgos, Castile, in October 1254 to Eleanor of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile, and his queen, Jeanne d'Aumale. Queen Eleanor was born in her father's kingdom, either in 1244 or 1245, and she died of natural causes at Herby Manor, Nottinghamshire, on November 28th, 1290. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Edward I married for a second time in Canterbury Cathedral in September 1299 to Marguerite of France, daughter of Philippe III, King of France, and his queen, Marie of Brabant. Queen Marguerite was born in Paris, some time around 1279, and she died of natural causes either in 1317 or 1318. She was buried at Greyfriars Church in London, but her tomb was destroyed during the Reformation.

Issue of the Marriage of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile: -

1. ELEANOR, Queen of Aragon (died 1298). She married twice - firstly to Alfonso III, King of Aragon, and after his death, Henry III, Count of Bar, with whom she had issue.

2. JOANNA (born and died 1265)

3. JOHN (1266 - 1272)

4. HENRY (1267 - 1274)

5. JULIANA (born and died 1271)

6. JOAN, Countess of Gloucester and of Hertford (1272 - 1307). She married twice - firstly to Lord Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester and 7th Earl of Hertford, with whom she had issue. After his death, she married Lord Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Atholl, with whom she also had issue. 

7. ALFONSO, Earl of Chester (1273 - 1284)

8. MARGARET, Duchess of Brabant (1275 - 1318). She married Johann the Peaceful, Duke of Brabant, with whom she had issue.

9. BERENICE (1276 - 1279)

10. ISABELLA (born and died 1279)

11. ELIZABETH, Countess of Holland and Zeeland (1282 - 1316). She married twice - firstly to Johann I, Count of Holland and Zeeland, and after his death, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Essex, with whom she had issue.

12. EDWARD II, King of England (1284 - 1327). He married Isabella of France and had issue.

13. BEATRICE (born and died 1286)

14. BLANCHE (born and died 1289)

Issue of the Marriage between Edward I and Marguerite of France: -

1. THOMAS, Earl of Norfolk (1300 - 1338). He married twice - firstly to Alice Hales, a knight's daughter, with whom he had issue. After her death, he married Lady Mary Cobham.

2. EDMUND, Earl of Arundel (1301 - executed 1330). He married Margaret, Baroness Wake of Liddell, by whom he had issue.

3. ELEANOR (1306 - 1311).

On chronological grounds, it is unlikely that Edward I was the biological father of the Lord John Botetourt (died 1324.)

EDWARD I was succeeded by his son, EDWARD II.

***

EDWARD II

(Reigned July 7th, 1307 - Deposed January 20th, 1327)

  

Son of Edward I, King of England, and his queen, Eleanor of Castile

Pre-regnal titles: Edward II was the first heir-to-the-throne to carry the title of "Prince of Wales," which subsequently became the traditional title reserved for England's heir-apparent, similar to the title of "Dauphin" in France and "Crown Prince" in various other nations. He carried the title, and that of Earl of Chester, from 1301; he was also Count of Ponthieu and Mortain from 1290 and Duke of Aquitaine from 1306.

Born at Caernarvon Castle, Wales, on April 25th, 1284

Murdered at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, presumably on September 21st, 1327

Buried in Gloucester Cathedral, properly called the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity

Edward II  was married in Boulogne Cathedral, France, in January 1308 to Isabella of France, daughter of Philippe IV, King of France and Jeanne I, Queen of Navarre. Queen Isabella was born in Paris, some time around 1293, and she died of natural causes at Castle Rising in Norfolk on August 22nd, 1358. She was buried in Greyfriars Church, London, but her tomb was destroyed during the Reformation.

Issue of the Marriage of Edward II and Isabella of France: -

1. EDWARD III, King of England (1312 - 1377). He married Philippa of Hainault and had issue.

2. JOHN, Earl of Cornwall (1316 - 1336)

3. ELEANOR, Countess of Gueldres and Zutphen (1318 - 1355). She married Reginald II, Count of Gueldres and Zutphen, with whom she had issue.

4. JOAN, Queen of Scots (1321 - 1362). She married David II, King of Scots.

It is fundamentally unlikely that Edward II was the biological father of an illegitimate child called Adam.

EDWARD II was deposed, forced to abdicate and then murdered in favour of, but not on the orders of, his son, EDWARD III.

***

EDWARD III

(Reigned January 20th, 1307 - June 21st, 1377)

Son of Edward II, King of England, and his queen, Isabella of France

Pre-regnal titles: Earl of Chester (1312), Count of Ponthieu and Count of Montreuil, then Duke of Aquitaine (1325)

Born at Windsor Castle on November 13th, 1312

Died following a stroke at Sheen Palace on June 21st, 1377

Buried in Westminster Abbey

Edward III was married at York Minster on January 24th, 1328, to Philippa of Hainault, daughter of Wilhelm the Good, Count of Hainault and Holland, and his wife, Jeanne de Valois. Queen Philippa was born sometime around 1314, probably in Holland, and she died of natural causes on the Feast of the Assumption 1369 at Windsor Castle. She is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Issue of the Marriage of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault: -

1. EDWARD, Prince of Wales (1330 - 1376.) He married Joan, Countess of Kent, and had issue, including the future king, Richard II.

2. ISABELLA, Comtesse de Soissons (1332 - 1382.) She married Enguerrand de Coucy, Comte de Soissons and Earl of Bedford, with whom she had issue.

3. JOAN (1335 - 1348.)

4.  WILLIAM (born and died 1337)

5. LIONEL, Duke of Clarence (1338 - 1368.) He married twice - firstly to Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, by whom he had issue and after her death, Yolanda Visconti, daughter of the Duke of Milan.

6. JOHN, Duke of Lancaster and claimant to the thrones of Castile and León (1340 - 1399.) He married three times - firstly to Lady Blanche of Lancaster, by whom he had issue, including the future king, Henry IV. After her death, his second wife was Princess Constanza of Castile, via whom John acquired his controversial claim to two thrones in the Iberian peninsula. Their marriage had offspring. Finally, after Constanza's death, he married Lady Katherine Swynford, by whom he had already had issue.

7. EDMUND, Duke of York (1341 - 1402.) He married twice - firstly to Princess Isabella of Castile, his elder brother's sister-in-law, by whom he had issue, and after her death, he married Lady Joan Holland.

8. BLANCHE (born and died 1342.)

9. MARY, Duchess of Brittany (1344 - 1362.) She married Jean IV, Duke of Brittany.

10. MARGARET, Countess of Pembroke (1346 - 1361.) She married John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.

11. THOMAS (1347 - 1348.)

12. WILLIAM (born and died 1348)

13. THOMAS, Duke of Gloucester (1355 - murdered 1397.) He married Lady Eleanor de Bohun, by whom he had issue.

Issue of King Edward's affair with Alice Perrers: -

i. Sir John de Southeray (1365 - 1384.) He married Lady Matilda Percy.

ii. Joan, who married Mr. Robert Skerne and had issue.

iii. Jane, who married Mr. Robert Northland.

On chronological grounds, it is highly unlikely that King Edward was the biological father of Nicholas Lytlington, the future Abbot of Westminster.

EDWARD III was succeeded by his grandson, RICHARD II.

***

RICHARD II

(Reigned June 21st, 1377 - Deposed August 19th, 1399)

Son of Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife, Joan, Countess of Kent

Pre-regnal titles: Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester and Earl of Cornwall (1376)

Born in Bordeaux, France, in January 1366

Murdered at Pontefract Castle in the early months of 1400

Buried initially in the parish church of King's Langley in Hertfordshire, but later re-buried in Westminster Abbey on the orders of King Henry V

Richard II was married at the Palace of Westminster in January 1382 to Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, and his empress, Elisabeth of Pomerania. Queen Anne was born in Prague on May 11th, 1366 and she died during an outbreak of the plague at Sheen Palace on June 7th, 1394. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Richard II was married for the second time in Saint Nicholas's Church, Calais, in November 1396 to Isabelle de Valois, daughter of Charles VI, King of France, and his queen, Isabelle of Ingolstadt-Bavaria. Queen Isabelle was born in the Louvre on November 9th, 1389 and she died in childbirth at the Château de Blois on September 13th, 1409. She was initially buried in the Abbey of St.-Laumer in Blois, but her remains were later removed to the Church of the Celestines in Paris.

It is fundamentally unlikely on chronological grounds that Richard II could have been the father of the young man known as Richard Maudelyn.

At the time of his murder, King Richard was survived by his second wife, Isabelle de Valois, who subsequently married Charles, Duc d'Orléans, with whom she had issue.

By the time of his murder, RICHARD II had already been forcibly succeeded by his cousin, HENRY IV.

The House of Normandy: A Genealogy

The Other Queen: The Life of Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England

"In many ways, Matilda of Boulogne was a model consort. As a regent, diplomat, warrior, counsellor and mother, she occupies a position alongside her predecessors Matilda of Scotland and Matilda of Flanders, at the apogee of English queenship, after which many historians concur that the power invested in the office began to decline ... Matilda's husband is one of the great, if misunderstood, failures of English kingship. Matilda herself, though, was never anything less than a great queen." 

- Lisa Hilton, Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens (2008)

Author's Note

Firstly, a note of apology for having taken so long to write and upload the fourth instalment in this blog’s “Queens of England” series. The last update – “The Fair Maid of Brabant” – chronicling the life of Adeliza of Louvain was posted on August 31st, over two months ago. With writing the sequel to Popular and working on various scripts and my Masters degree in Medieval History, things have rather gotten away from me. This post – the life of Adeliza’s successor (although Adeliza never really regarded her as such) – is the last post chronicling the lives of the queens of the House of Normandy, which ruled England from 1066 to 1154. In terms of time, it was a short dynastic reign; in terms of importance, vast. After this, I shall be posting on the House of Normandy’s genealogy and then moving onto the queens of the House of Plantagenet, who reigned from 1154 to 1399. 

Secondly, a note on structure. Just as the names Eleanor and Isabella were to dominate the lists of their immediate successors, the name Matilda was very much the preferred name of the queens of the Anglo-Norman empire. In fact, with the exception of the decorous Adeliza of Louvain, every Anglo-Norman queen bore the name of Matilda. In part, this was because the British-Norman elite was a relatively tiny and close-knit group. Its first queen, Matilda of Flanders, stood as godmother to her future daughter-in-law and successor, who was thus also named Matilda, in her honour. This Matilda (of Scotland), in turn, stood as godmother to this queen, her niece Matilda of Boulogne. All this would potentially be complicated enough from a narrative point-of-view were it not for the fact that for the entirety of Matilda of Boulogne’s time as queen, her life was fatally intertwined with that of her cousin, also named Matilda (herself the daughter of Matilda of Scotland). At the very same time as Matilda of Boulogne claimed to be the true queen-consort of England, her cousin was claiming to be the true queen-regnant. Needless to say, neither acknowledged the legitimacy of the other’s claim. The two Matildas were intimately aware of one another, but from the perspective of telling their story, having two Matildas appearing so frequently in the text is going to be distracting. Luckily, their world was bi- and sometimes even tri-lingual. “Matilda” was the European version of their name, but their Anglo-Saxon subjects preferred to render it by its more traditional usage – “Maud.” This chapter in the series focuses primarily on the life of Matilda of Boulogne, a French heiress married to the prince who controversially seized the throne of England in 1135 and became known as “King Stephen.” Their cousin and rival, who claimed to be the true inheritor of the English crown, was an English princess and the widow of the German Emperor. She will thus be referred to either as “the Empress” or by the Anglo-Saxon variant of her name, “Maud.”

***

ENGLAND,

In the Year of Grace, 1135

The mystic’s eyes gleamed with certainty as he pronounced his prophecy. It is always difficult to tell where the fire of spiritual surety springs from – either a religious gift or a mental imbalance. But the hermit need not have worried; the prince standing before him was a pious soul, much more inclined to see the old man’s mutterings as visionary, rather than insane. It was a dangerous time in England, dangerous, even, for the prince to be consulting the hermit about the matter in question. An old and sick man, who had long outlived the sons of his first marriage, was sitting upon the throne; his queen, beautiful and charming, was barren. After over a decade of marriage, she had produced no children to replace those lost years ago in a catastrophic shipwreck off the coast of Normandy. A crisis of the succession was brewing, just as surely as there was a God in Heaven. Recently, the King’s only surviving legitimate child - a daughter - had recently been made a widow by the death of the German Emperor. In her widowhood, she had returned to her father’s realm, which placed her back in play as viable contender for the succession. Certainly, it seemed to be the old king’s wish to leave his crown to his imperial daughter. But within the elite of his kingdoms in England and Normandy, there were many great lords who said that for them to be ruled over by a woman would be an abomination. They said that the true heir was not the King’s daughter, but his nephew, Stephen.

It was that prince, Stephen, who now stood before the old man, who years earlier had eschewed the vanities of the world and retreated into a life of religious seclusion and poverty where, it was said, the angels had endowed him with the dubious gift of prophecy. The Hermit fixed his rheumy eyes upon the prince who, despite his quiet and chivalrous exterior, wanted so desperately to take the throne of England when his aged uncle at last died. The holy man spoke: the Queen would remain barren. It had been ordained by Heaven that no child would quicken the womb of Adeliza of Louvain, whilst the Crown of England still sat upon her head. The King would not die in England, the monk said next, but rather in his possessions beyond the sea – in Normandy, the land of his ancestors. Finally, he concluded the prophecy by giving the prince the news he had been so desperate to hear – the Empress would not sit upon the throne when her father died. England and Normandy would pass instead to Stephen. Infused by an intoxicating mixture of piety and ambition, Stephen received the hermit’s blessing and hurried swiftly from the dank cave where the holy man chose to worship Christ in solitude and suffering.