The Death of William Clito

So King Henry I of England managed to get the marriage of William Clito and Sibylla of Anjou annulled in 1124 through the help of Pope Calixtus II. Henry did not want Clito allied with the powerful Fulk of Anjou, and also wanted to spite William who was in a position to make a claim on Henry's kingdom as well as Normandy.

In England, Henry named a new heir and had his barons swear an oath of loyalty to her: his daughter the Empress Matilda (empress because she was married to Holy Roman Emperor Henry V).

In Normandy, a rebellion favoring William rose up. King Louis VI of France supported William, but Henry of England persuaded his son-in-law Henry V to cause trouble on France's eastern border, which divided French forces so they could not help William when England's forces defeated the rebellion at the Battle of Bourgthéroulde in March 1124.

Then Charles the Good, Count of Flanders, was killed in 1127, and Louis managed to get William Clito elected as the new count. Henry challenged this and ordered his vassal Stephen of Blois to attack Flanders, a move which was unsuccessful. Other claimants to William's title caused non-stop trouble, despite William having powerful allies.

One claimant was Thierry of Alsace, a cousin of Charles the Good (their mothers were both daughters of Robert I, Count of Flanders, mentioned here as Robert the Frisian). Thierry with an army of 300 mounted men-at-arms and 1,500 infantrymen besieged Axspoele, an estate held by an ally of William, on 19 June 1128. William brought 450 men-at-arms the next day, positioning two-thirds of his army on a hill where they could easily be seen. Thierry's cavalry decided to attack what looked like an equal number of opponents. After some serious fighting, William feigned a retreat and led the cavalry into an ambush where the rest of his men were waiting on the other side of the hill. Thierry's battle-weary men were now facing fresh fighters.

Thierry's cavalry was crushed, Thierry's infantry panicked and fled and were followed by William's men.

William then besieged Thierry at Oostkamp in West Flanders. Thierry retreated to the city of Aalst, where William also besieged him. William Clito sustained a wound from a Flemish foot soldier (see illustration). The wound turned gangrenous, and William Clito died on 28 July 1128. On his deathbed he wrote to Henry, requesting forgiveness for William's followers, which was granted.

Of course, when Henry died, Stephen of Blois seized the throne instead of staying true to his oath to Matilda and started a civil war called The Anarchy, but that's all been covered before.

In the middle of William's troubles, he remarried, this time in 1127 to Joanna (or Joan) of Montferrat, who died in 1128. What happened to Sibylla of Anjou, William's first wife? She remarried many years after the events related here, and lived until 1165. Let's follow her story tomorrow.

Vegetables in the Middle Ages

By "vegetables" we are going to include any plant matter grown for food and not just flavoring (such as herbs and spices), because so much of what was grown for consumption in the Middle Ages was not "leafy greens." So what did they have?

Squashes and parsnips were mentioned by Pliny; the Roman cook book of Apicius has over a dozen recipes for squash. If you hollowed out certain squashes and dried the skin, they could become containers, utensils, ornamentation like masks, and even birdcages and musical instruments. Parsnips were common in European gardens until the 16th century.

Turnips were grown for consumption for thousands of years, important to the Classical and Medieval Eras, and making their way to Japan by 700CE. 

Cabbages were cultivated Before the Common Era, and were known in the Middle Ages as an inexpensive food that had an unfortunate odor when cooked and an unfortunate side effect when consumed. 

The wild pea was found all around the Mediterranean and have been eaten for millennia. Charles the Good, the Count of Flanders, wrote how the consumption of peas was a staple that staved off a famine in 1124-25.

Brussels sprouts were cultivated extensively in Brussels in the 13th century, but were known in Northern Europe since the 5th century.

Onions, garlic, fennel, shallots, leeks, carrots, beans, artichokes, lentils—all were known to the Romans and made use of in Medieval Europe.

Tomorrow I will share some vegetable recipes, and then later look at the more widely used grains.