Daily Medieval

Walter de Coutances was a courtier and then Archbishop of Rouen whose life was tied up in the careers of three kings of England: Henry II, ...

When Edward the Confessor died on 5 January 1066, he supposedly made a deathbed statement committing his kingdom into the care of Harold God...

William wanted to marry the daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders, Matilda, in 1049, but Pope Leo IX did not approve. William was illegitimate ...

Despite his youth when succeeding his father , despite the turmoil in Normandy, William worked hard to rule Normandy properly and make it a...

When Robert I of Normandy died in 1035, while returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the rule of Normandy passed to his seven- or eight...

How lucky is it that the duke whose duchy you want to appropriate defeats you, allows you to live if you pledge loyalty to him, then dies al...

Richard I of Normandy's had several children with his second wife, Gunnor, and used them to great political advantage. By making several...

William Longsword, Count of Rouen and chieftain of Normandy, had one son, Richard, with his Breton concubine Sprota. William was assassinate...

So the Duchy of Normandy was created when King Charles the Simple made a treaty in 911 with Rollo, a Viking who had established himself as C...

The Duchy of Normandy was created in 911 by the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, an agreement between King Charles III ("the Simple...

The Duchy of Normandy was an enormous section of the European continent that we consider part of France. The name for the duchy ultimately c...

William of Poitiers (c.1020 - 1090) was born into a family of knights, and trained as a knight himself until his late 20s when he decided to...

Taking sole credit for a written work was not always as important as it is to some authors today.  William of Jumièges (c.1000 – post-1070) ...

I mentioned that Emma of Normandy's mother was an interesting character. Gunnor (c.950 - c.1031) was a countess of Normandy by virtue of...

The Battle of Tinchebray When Ralph Flambard escaped from the Tower of London, he fled to Normandy to the court of its duke, Robert Cur...

When William the Conqueror died in 1087, he decided to leave the throne of England to his second eldest, William Rufus. To his eldest, Robe...

Yesterday's post mentioned Henry becoming king of England upon the death of his brother, William Rufus. Their father was William the C...

Charles the Simple Charles III, called "the Simple" (from Latin Carolus Simplex ) was a King of Francia (what we think of tod...

From a 14th century manuscript Since Æthelred keeps getting mentioned here (most notably the past two days, due to the contested inherit...

Matilda of Flanders (c.1031-1083), also called Maud, was the wife of William II of Normandy (later William the Conqueror). Their legendary a...