Lineage to William The Conqueror
(Willem de Veroveraar)


William The Conqueror (1027-1087) ~

William The Conqueror (1027-1087)

Château de Falaise is a castle located in the south of the commune of Falaise ("cliff" in French) in the Calvados département of Normandy, France. William the Conqueror, the son of Duke Robert of Normandy, was born at the castle. The castle was deserted during the 17th century. Since 1840 it has been protected as a monument historique.
William grew up on Château de Falaise (click on left pic. for large photo and more details). Descending from Viking raiders, William had been Duke of Normandy since 1035 under the name of William II. He faced a long struggle to establish his power when he became duke at the age of seven or eight, but by 1060 his hold over Normandy was secure.

On his father's death (on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land) in 1035, William was recognized as heir, with his great uncle serving as regent. In 1042, he began to take more personal control. From 1046 until 1055, he dealt with a series of baronial rebellions. William's political and military successes helped him in negotiations to marry Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders in 1053.

Early in 1066, Edward the Confessor, king of England died and Harold, Earl of Wessex was crowned king. William was furious, claiming that in 1051 Edward, a distant cousin, had promised him the throne and that Harold had later sworn to support that claim.

William landed in England - with 7,000 troops- on 28 September 1066, establishing a camp near Hastings. Harold had travelled north to fight another invader, Harold Hardrada, King of Norway and defeated him at Stamford Bridge near York. He marched south as quickly as he could and on 14 October, his army met William's. It was a close-fought battle lasting all day, but Harold was killed and his army collapsed. William was victorious and on Christmas Day 1066, he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey. A Norman aristocracy became the new governing class and many members of the native English elite, including bishops, were replaced with Normans.

The Bayeux Tapestry -c. 70 metres (230 ft) long- depicts the history. Click pic to view.

The first years of William's reign were spent crushing resistance and securing his borders, which he did with ruthless efficiency. In 1086, William ordered a survey to be made of the kingdom. This became known as the Domesday Book and remains one of the oldest valid legal documents in Britain.

With the kingdom increasingly settled, William spent most of his last 15 years in Normandy, leaving the government of England to regents, usually clergymen. He spent the last months of his reign fighting Philip I, King of France. He died on 9 September 1087 from injuries received when he fell from his horse at the Siege of Mantes. He divided his lands between two of his sons, with Robert receiving Normandy and William Rufus, England. His youngest son, Henry, later became the famous King Henry I of England.
 
Mathilda of Flanders (1032-1083)

Mathilde of Flanders (1031 - 1083). Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy

Flanders was a principality north of France, roughly where Belgium is now. Matilda's father was Count Baldwin V and her mother was Adela, the daughter of Robert II "The Pious", King of France. Her great-great-great-great grandfather on her father's side had married Elftrude, the daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex (England). She could boast of being very high born indeed.

Matilda came to the attention of the rich and powerful William, Duke of Normandy. He was approximately 5'10" tall and Matilda was no taller than 5'. They probably made a striking appearance. They were married in 1053, despite a papal ban on their marriage due to consanguinity (being cousins). William and Matilda fought the papal ban on their marriage for almost a decade. When the ban was finally lifted in 1062, they both founded two abbeys (the Men's Abbey and the Ladies' Abbey) in Caen, Normandy in gratitude.

The Abbaye aux Hommes ("Men's Abbey") is considered, along with the neighbouring Abbaye aux Dames ("Ladies' Abbey"), to be one of the most notable Romanesque buildings in Normandy. Lanfranc (1005 - 1089), before being archbishop of Canterbury, was the abbot here.
William was buried here and Matilda was buried in the Abbaye aux Dames (Ladies' Abbey).
The Abbaye aux Dames ("Ladies' Abbey") was founded in the late 11th century by William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda of Flanders, together with Abbaye aux Hommes ("Abbey of Men"). The works began in 1062, starting from the rear and finished in 1130. Matilda, who died in 1083, was buried in the choir under a slab of black marble.
Men's Abbey. Click to enlarge for more details. Ladies' Abbey. Click to enlarge for more details.

William and Matilda had at least ten or eleven children. All the sons (heirs) have been recorded well in those days, but the daughters less so.

When King Edward the Confessor of England died in 1066, William was ready to press his claim to the throne of England by invading and attacking King Harold, Edward's successor. Matilda gave William a ship called the MORA in which he sailed to England. William named Matilda as Regent of Normandy while he was gone, ruling in the name of her eldest son Robert. He trusted her fully to keep the duchy safe. He went on to defeat King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and was crowned King of England soon after. Matilda came to England in March of 1068 to be crowned Queen.

By July of 1083, Matilda's health had begun to deteriorate. She was 52, an advanced age for the time and the strains from the family relationships, her great responsibilities and travels and many years of childbearing had finally taken a toll. She passed away after a long illness on November 2, 1083 and was buried in the Ladies' Abbey.

|
Gundrade de Normandie (1053-1085) ~

Gundred of Normandy (1053-1085)

Gundred was a daughter of William the Conqueror by his spouse Matilda of Flanders. Some historians believe that she might have been born before the marriage. Girls were not always describes as well as boys (heirs).

Gundred married (before 1070) William de Warenne (spelled "Varennes" in French), 1st Earl of Surrey.
Sometime between 1078 and 1082, Gundrada (French spelling) and her husband set out for Rome visiting monasteries along the way. In Burgundy they were unable to go any further due to a war between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII.
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line to the south of Lewes in the County of Sussex.
They visited Cluny Abbey and were impressed with the monks and their dedication. William and Gundred decided to found a Cluniac priory on their own lands in Sussex (40 miles south of London). It became the Lewes Priory (see pic. on the left) dedicated to St. Pancras.
A marble tablet from 1775, placed against the wall of Southover church, bears the following inscription: "Within this pew stands the tomb stone of Gundred, daughter of William the Conqueror, and wife of William, the first Earl of Warren, which having been deposited over her remains, in the Chapter house of Lewes Priory, was removed to this place".


Gundred died in childbirth on 27 May 1085 at Castle Acre, Norfolk, one of her husband's estates, and was buried at the Chapter house of Lewes Priory (see pic of her tombstone on the right). Her husband William was later buried beside her.
William I de Varennes (1055-1088)

William I de Varennes (1055-1088)

William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes, was a Norman nobleman from Varenne, Seine Maritime. He is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. At the Domesday Survey he held extensive lands in thirteen counties including the Rape (a rape is a sub-division) of Lewes in Sussex. He was created Earl of Surrey under William II 'Rufus'.

William's father Ranulf II was not a major landholder in Normany and, as a second son, William de Warenne did not stand to inherit the family's small estates. But, during the rebellions of 1052-1054, the young William de Warenne proved himself a loyal adherent to Duke William and played a significant part in the Battle of Mortemer for which he was rewarded with lands confiscated from his uncle, Roger of Mortemer, including the Castle of Mortimer and most of the surrounding lands. At about the same time he acquired lands at Bellencombre including the castle which became the center of William de Warenne's holdings in Normandy.

Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. The castle was built in 1069 by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. William de Warenne and his descendants also had estates and built castles in Reigate, Surrey (Reigate Castle) and in Yorkshire (Sandal Castle and Conisbrough Castle).
Castle Acre in Norfolk is one of the largest and best preserved monastic sites in England dating back to 1090. It was the home of the first Cluniac order of monks to England and the Cluniac love of decoration is everywhere reflected in the extensive ruins.
After his move to England, William built Lewes Castle (see pic on the left) in Sussex (40 miles south of London), making it his chief residence. William and Gundred also founded a Cluniac priory here, with an additional large subsidiary in Norfolk (north-east of London) called Castle Acre (see pic. on the right). Gundred died here in childbirth on 27 May 1085.

William was mortally wounded at the siege of Pevensey Castle and died 24 June 1088 at Lewes and was buried next to his wife Gundred at the Chapterhouse of Lewes Priory. At his death he was the 3rd or 4th richest magnate in England.

|
William II de Warenne (1071-1138) ~

William II de Warenne (1071 - 1138)

William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey was the son of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and his wife Gundred. He was more often referred to as Earl Warenne or Earl of Warenne than as Earl of Surrey.

Le château de Mortemer en Normandie.
In 1088 William II inherited his father's lands in England and his Norman estates including the castles of Mortemer and Bellencombre in Haute-Normandy. But William II was not as disposed to serve the king as his father was. In 1093 he attempted to marry Edith, daughter of king Malcolm III of Scotland. She instead married Henry I of England, and this may have been the cause of William's great dislike of Henry I, which motivated him in the following years.

When Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1101, William joined him. But when Curthose promptly surrendered to Henry I, William lost his English lands and titles and was exiled to Normandy. There he complained to Curthose that he had expended great effort on the duke's behalf and in return lost all of his English possessions. Curthose's return to England in 1103 was apparently made to convince his brother, the king, to restore William's earldom. This was successful, though Curthose had to give up his 3000 mark annual pension he had received after the 1101 invasion, after which William's lands and titles were restored to him.

In 1118 William finally acquired the royal-blooded bride he desired when he married Elizabeth de Vermandois. She was a daughter of count Hugh of Vermandois, a granddaughter of Henry I, King of France, and was the widow of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester.

William's death is recorded as 11 May 1138 in the register of Lewes Priory and he was buried at his father's feet at the Chapter house there. His wife, the countess Elizabeth, survived him, dying before July 1147
Elisabeth de Vermandois (1085-1147)

Elisabeth de Vermandois (1085 - 1147)

Elizabeth of Vermandois, or Elisabeth or Isabel de Vermandois (c.1085 - 1148), was the third daughter of Hugh Magnus and Adelaide of Vermandois, and as such represented both the Capetian line of her paternal grandfather Henry I of France, and the Carolingian ancestry of her maternal grandfather Herbert IV of Vermandois. As the wife of two Anglo-Norman magnates, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, she is the ancestress of hundreds of well-known families down to the present time.

Countess of Leicester:
In 1096, Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan reputed to be "the wisest man in his time between London and Jerusalem" insisted, in deference to the laws of the church, on marrying a very young (c. 11 years young) Elizabeth, he being over fifty at the time. In early 1096 Bishop Ivo, on hearing of the proposed marriage, wrote a letter banning the marriage and preventing its celebration on the grounds the two were related within prohibited degrees. In April of that year Elizabeth's father count Hugh left on Crusade, his last act being to see his daughter married to count Robert. The crusader was able to convince Pope Urban to issue a dispensation for the marriage which then went forward.

Her husband was a nobleman of some significance in France, having inherited lands from his maternal uncle Henry, Count of Meulan, and had fought at the Battle of Hastings as a known companion of William the Conqueror. He was rewarded with ninety manors in the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire. The count of Meulan was one of Henry I's "four wise counsellors and was one of the king's commanders at the Battle of Tinchebray 28 September 1106. In 1107 Robert became Earl of Leicester.

Countess of Surrey:
Elizabeth, Countess of Meulan apparently tired of her aging husband at some point during the marriage. The historian James Planché says (1874) that the Countess was seduced by or fell in love with a younger nobleman, William de Warenne for whom she left her husband Robert. William II de Warenne had sought a royal bride in 1093 in a failed attempt to wed Edith who later married Henry I, but obtained a bride of royal blood when he married Elizabeth in 1118, at the death of Earl Robert. Elizabeth survived her second husband William, dying c. 1148.

Children:
By her first husband, Robert de Beaumont, Elizabeth had three sons and five or six daughters. By her second husband, William de Warenne, Elizabeth had three sons and two daughters.

Saint

St. Margaret of Scotland (1046-1093), Queen of Scots

St. Margaret was the grandaughter of King Edmund Ironside of England through his son Edward the Aethling. She had been exiled to the eastern continent with the rest of her family when the Danes overran England. She was well educated, mostly in Hungary. She returned to England during the reign of her great-uncle, Edward the Confessor, but, as one of the last remaining members of the saxon Royal Family, she was forced to flee north to the Royal Scots Court at the time of the Norman Conquest.

Beautiful, intelligent and devout, Margaret brought some of the more detailed points of current European manners, ceremony and culture to the Scottish Court and thus highly improved its civilized reputation. She had a taste for the finer things in life and, in 1069, she won over the Scots King, Malcolm Canmore, and married him. Their union was exceptionally happy and fruitful for both themselves and the Scottish nation.

Margaret was one of the principal agents of the reform of the Church of Scotland which was, at the time, at a low point in its history. Church councils now promoted Easter communion and abstinence from servile work on a Sunday. Margaret founded churches, monasteries and pilgrimage hostels.

St Margaret Queen of Scots.
Window in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland
Margaret bore the King eight children, all with English names. Alexander and David followed their father to the throne, while her daughter, Matilda, brought the ancient Anglo-Saxon Royal bloodline into the veins of the Norman Invaders of England when she marrie and bore children to King Henry I. Margaret died aged forty-seven, not long after learning of the deaths of her husband and son in a campaign against William Rufus of England. She was buried in Dunfermline Abbey and miracles at her tomb brought her canonization by 1249.

|
Aleida (Ada) de Varennes (1120-1178) ~

Aleida (Ada) de Varennes (1120-1178)

Ada de Warenne (or Adeline de Varenne) was the Anglo-Norman wife of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria and Earl of Huntingdon. She was the daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey by Elizabeth of Vermandois, and a great-granddaughter of Henry I of France. She became mother to two Kings of Scots, Malcolm the Maiden and William the Lion.

Ada and Henry were married in England in 1139. They had seven children:
  • Ada of Huntingdon, married Count Floris III of Holland.
  • Margaret of Huntingdon married 1) Conan IV, Duke of Brittany and 2) Humphrey III de Bohun.
  • Malcolm IV, King of Scots.
  • William the Lion, King of Scots
  • David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon married Mathilda (Maud) of Chester.
  • Matilda of Huntingdon, born and died 1152.
  • Marjorie of Huntingdon, married Gille Críst, Earl of Angus.
As part of her marriage settlement, the new Countess Ada was granted the privileges of Haddington, amongst others in East Lothian. Previously the seat of a thanage Haddington is said to be the first Royal burgh in Scotland, created by Countess Ada's father-in-law, David I of Scotland, who held it along with the church and a mill.

In close succession both her husband and King David died, in 1152 and 1153 respectively. Following the death of Henry, King David arranged for his grandson to succeed him, and at Scone on 27 May 1153, the twelve-year-old was declared Malcolm IV, King of Scots.
On Thursday 9 December 1165 King Malcolm died at the age of 25 without issue. His mother had at that time been attempting to arrange a marriage between him and Constance, daughter of Conan III, Duke of Brittany, but Malcolm died before the wedding could be celebrated. Following his brother's death Ada's younger son William became King of Scots at the age of twenty two. William the Lion was to become the longest serving King of Scots until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Henry of Scotland (1114-1152)

Henry of Scotland (1114-1152)

Henry was a prince of Scotland, heir to the Kingdom of Alba (Gaelic for Scotland). He was also the 3rd Earl of Northumberland and the 3rd Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton.

He was the son of King David I of Scotland and Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon. His maternal grandparents were Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and Huntingdon, (beheaded 1075) and his spouse Judith of Lens. His paternal grandparents were Malcolm, King of Scotland and Margaret, Queen of Scots, who was canonised by Pope Innocent IV and became Saint Margaret. Read story under "a Saint" on the page under this popup.

Henry was named after his uncle, King Henry I of England, who had married his paternal aunt Edith of Scotland (the name Edith gallicised as Matilda after becoming Queen consort in 1100). He had three sons, two of whom became King of Scotland, and a third whose descendants were to prove critical in the later days of the Scottish royal house. He also had three daughters.


AR Penny (1.18 gm, 10h). Corbridge mint; (H)erebald, moneyer.
+hENRICVS •[F RE?], crowned bust right, sceptre before
+EREBALD: ON [C]OREB:, cross moline with fleur in each angle within tressure.
After King Henry I died in 1135, there were several contestants to the throne, sparking a 15 year civil war, the Period of Anarchy. During this period many of the (contesting) nobles struck coins in their own names. The photo shows a one penny coin of Prince Henry of Scotland, dated 1139. Click to enlarge with further details.

Henry's eldest son became King of Scots as Malcolm IV in 1153. His second son became king in 1165 on the death of his brother, reigning as William I. Both in their turn inherited the title of Earl of Huntingdon. His third son, David also became Earl of Huntingdon. It is from the 8th Earl that all Kings of Scotland after Margaret, Maid of Norway claim descent.

|
Ada of Scotland (1146-1204) ~ Floris III of Holland (1138-1190)

William the Conqueror or Pillager?

William the Conqueror or Pillager?

The translation of William the Conqueror into other European languages can give the name a different appreciation or "feel". Conqueror, Conquérant and Conquistador all sound rather great and positive, whereas Veroveraar and Eroberor sound more like "Robber" or "Pillager".

The Normans (French) were, after 1066, also in charge of English legislation and (history) record keeping. No wonder they chose a lofty name for William. The Dutch and Germans probably saw the invasion as a hostile takeover and therefore chose another appropriate name for him.
  • English
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Dutch
  • German
  • William the Conqueror
  • Guillaume le Conquérant
  • Guillermo el Conquistador
  • Willem de Veroveraar
  • Wilhelm der Eroberer


References
Most articles come from Wikipedia.

The "tree" comes from Wikipedia and
https://home.comcast.net/~jamesleeweaver/weaverjl/pafg1556.htm#50124