The Rebellion of 1088

When William the Conqueror died, he had already made his wishes clear about the division of his lands. His older son, Robert Curthose, became Duke of Normandy, a large and prosperous province on the continent. A younger son, William Rufus, became king of England. (A third surviving son, Henry, was left with nothing.)

Sibling rivalry was a problem between the two older boys, even if they were willing to accept their father's decision, but it was not the two who started the rebellion. It was the land-owning nobles under them. Some of those nobles owned land on both sides of the English Channel. Facing the possibility that they would have to please two different lords with different demands, they decided the best option for the future of the kingdom was to bring both locations under one rule again, as they were under the Conqueror.

William senior died in September 1087, and around Easter 1088, the rebellion began. It was led by the two arguably most prominent members of William's family: Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain, the Conqueror's half-brothers. They chose to support the elder brother Duke Robert as the rightful heir to England and Normandy instead of King William II Rufus. There were, however, those who supported William. All the bishops of England as well as the Earl of Surrey and other nobles. Many of the largest land-holding barons supported Robert.

William II proved to be a clever strategist. He promised as much money and land as they wanted to his supporters. For the populace of England, he promised the best law code that had ever been. Then he led his own army against the rebels.

Odo was captured, and Robert, leading forces from Normandy, was blown off-course by bad storms. With the continental reinforcements, many of the English rebels surrendered. Orderic Vitalis recorded the arguments of those barons loyal to William when dealing with those who opposed him:

If you temper your animosity against these great men, and treat them graciously here, or permit them to depart in safety, you may advantageously use their amity and service, on many future occasions. He who is your enemy now, may be your useful friend another time.

Odo was stripped of any remaining belongings (he had already suffered previously due to indiscretions) and banished to Normandy. Robert Curthose was forced to acknowledge William as king, and had to stay in England (so that he could not raise an army in Normandy).

What sort of king was William II "Rufus"? I'll tell you next time.

Odo's Downfall

After the Trial in 1076 that re-apportioned some of the property (and therefore income) of Odo of Bayeux, he was quiet for a few years. As Earl of Kent (granted to him by his half-brother, William the Conqueror), he still had impressive resources and a comfortable living. He wanted more, however, and made a step that proved detrimental to his freedom.

Over in Rome, Pope Gregory VII was embroiled in the Investiture Controversy with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Although Henry's penance was made prior to 1082, there were still arguments over who gets to invest clerics, the Church or the secular powers.

Odo gathered his Kentish forces and planned a military expedition to Italy. Why would he do this? The following is conjecture. Perhaps it was the Holy Roman Emperor's hostility to the pope that gave Odo an idea. Historians writing a couple decades later said Odo wanted to be pope. Either he would take an army to support Henry, who might then support Odo as pope, or possibly he thought he could bring his own army to Gregory's defense and be named his successor for the effort. In 1080, Henry declared Gregory deposed and installed his own pope, Antipope Clement III.

All we know is that Odo was prepared to take a large number of English—Saxon and Norman—subjects out of the country and march across other countries to engage in war with someone, and William wasn't having it.

In 1082, William had Odo imprisoned on the continent, where he spent the next five years. He remained Bishop of Bayeux (his seal is depicted above), but William took back all lands in England and the title Earl of Kent.

In 1087, William was on his deathbed. William's other half-brother, Robert of Mortain, persuaded William to forgive Odo, who was allowed to return to England. Unfortunately, he made another choice to back the wrong horse. William had made his eldest son Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy, and the second son William Rufus was made King of England. (Normandy was far larger than England.) Robert also wanted England, and Odo decided to support him.

The rivalry between William and Robert turned into the Rebellion of 1088, and that's where we will pick up the story tomorrow.

As for Odo, he joined the First Crusade and died on the way, in Palermo in early 1097. He was buried in Palermo Cathedral.

The Trial of Penenden Heath

Odo of Bayeux had it all. He was the half-brother of Duke William of Normandy (they shared a mother), who made him a bishop. When William took over the throne of England in 1066, Odo provided ships and support and fought in the battles. He was a close advisor to King William, was made Earl of Kent, and was given the responsibility to act as regent in England when William went back to the continent. You can see him in the illustration at a feast from the Bayeux Tapestry, under the Latin term for bishop, episcopus.

Not all went smoothly for Odo, however.

Ten years after the Norman Invasion of England, he was on trial, though not necessarily because of his own actions. The accusation was brought by Lanfranc. In 1070, Lanfranc had become the Archbishop of Canterbury, and decided to look into both Odo and the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Stigand. Lanfranc (who was pretty strict: he had denied William's marriage to Matilda on the grounds of consanguinity), suspected the two had defrauded Kent and the Crown in order to enrich themselves.

While it seems that lands belonging to Canterbury (and their revenues) were being possessed by the Earl of Kent, it is also likely that this transfer of land was not initiated by Odo, but had taken place prior to the Invasion by the powerful Earl Godwin, taken from his enemy, Robert of Jumièges, the previous archbishop. Odo had simply inherited the lands appropriated by his unscrupulous predecessor. The king decided to throw the decision onto the nobles of Kent, and declared a trial on Penenden Heath (now a suburb of Maidstone in Kent). The Trial brought in current lords as well as those who had knowledge of the Saxon laws and history. The Trial showed respect for English history prior to William's reign.

(Penenden remained a useful gathering place. The Domesday Book recorded it as a place where Kent landowners gathered to discuss matters. Wat Tyler used it as a staging place for a mob during the Peasants' Revolt.)

After three days, it was determined that certain properties did not belong to Odo, or rather, did not belong to the Earl of Kent. He subsequently lost a lot of the revenue he had previously taken in. This was not a reflection on Odo or his governance of Kent; it simply restored and re-apportioned properties appropriately according to what was considered historical.

How Odo took the judgment, we cannot say. A few years later, however, he initiated a project that would cause him to fall out of his half-brother's favor, and ultimately lead to imprisonment and disgrace. I'll share that story with you next time.

Odo of Bayeux

William the Conqueror had two half-brothers, due to his father having an affair with Herleva of Falaise, who later had two sons after marrying. One half-brother was Robert of Mortain; the other was Odo of Bayeux.

We don't know when he was born, but William made him a bishop in 1049, when we assume he was at least 18 years old (a stretch, yes, but William could do what he liked in Normandy as its duke). A "best guess" for his birth is c.1030.

Being made a bishop was often a way for a lord to reward a subject with a respectable title and the revenues from tithes and property values of the diocese, so there is no reason to assume Odo was a priest in anything more than name. His time in the historical record is more about being an advisor to William and a warrior who took part in the Norman Invasion of England and following battles. The illustration from the Bayeux Tapestry shown here has him wielding a club against the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Why a club? Some say that as a priest he was forbidden the use of a sword, but the club was a cheaper and common weapon, capable of doing great damage to an opponent. William himself is shown with a club later in the tapestry. He also had with him a retinue that would have surrounded him and kept him safer than a typical soldier.

After the Conquest, the time came for rewards. William valued his half-brothers, granting them titles and lands. Odo became Earl of Kent in 1067 and remained a royal advisor, sometimes acting as regent when William was out of the country.

Unfortunately, he got a little too big for his mitre and did something that caused him to lose some lands. After that, he made an even bolder move that led to imprisonment. Tomorrow we'll look at how the mighty can fall.

Robert of Mortain

When William of Normandy decided to conquer England, he planned carefully. This was going to be a big undertaking, and he needed help and advice. A large amount of that help came from his half-brother, Robert, Count of Mortain (c.1031 - c.1095).

William of Malmesbury (writing decades later, to be fair) described him as crassi et hebetis ingenii, "thick and dull of character." There is also his reputation for having physically abused his wife, mentioned in the biography of Vitalis of Savigny. Vitalis either threatened him with dissolution of the marriage, or left his service which so bothered Robert that he repented of his ways.

Robert and William shared a mother, Herleva of Falaise, who was also the mother of Odo of Bayeux, who became a bishop. As Duke of Normandy, William had jurisdiction over the county of Mortain. A 12th century poet, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, wrote that Duke William exiled a prior Count of Mortain named William Werlenc and replaced him with Robert. When the planning for the Norman Invasion of England began, Count Robert was part of the council and promised 120 ships, a larger number than any other source.

Robert is also included among the definitively known companions of Duke William in the Battle of Hastings. Trying to identify from records those who were present—and those who appear on the Bayeux Tapestry—has been a pastime for historians (fewer than two dozen have been "confirmed"). In the scene above one can see "Rotbert" at William's left side and Odo on his right, showing the importance of his half-brothers to the duke.

For his participation, Robert received from William an enormous amount of land. By the time the Domesday Book recorded all real estate and ownership, Robert held 797 castles, mostly in Cornwall where he held so much that he was functionally "Earl of Cornwall" even though he did not formally hold the title (the first Earl of Cornwall was officially Brian of Brittany, who also was a supporter of Duke William).

In 1069, Robert led a force northward that slaughtered many Danes in Lindsey, after which he drops out of the records except for the mention in Domesday. He was succeeded as count by his only son William, the 2nd Earl of Cornwall, who was offered Mary of Scotland, the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland, for his bride, but turned her down. He had three daughters.

Speaking of women and wives, let's turn to Robert's mother, Herleva, for tomorrow's post. See you then.

And Then There's Maud

Matilda of Flanders (c.1031-1083), also called Maud, was the wife of William II of Normandy (later William the Conqueror). Their legendary and odd "courtship" was described here. The odd thing is that, after the supposed abuse he heaped on her when she first refused his hand, she later defied her father, Count Baldwin of Flanders, and refused to marry anyone else.

The pope objected, because they were too closely related. Determining the exact relationship has been difficult for modern scholars, however:

It has thus been suggested that both William and Matilda were cousins in the fifth degree, being both directly descended from Rolf the Viking. ... Finally, it has been suggested (perhaps with greater probability) that the prohibition was based on the fact that after the death of Baldwin V's mother, Ogiva, his father, Baldwin IV, had married a daughter of Duke Richard II of Normandy. All these theories have difficulties to overcome, and the matter may well therefore be left in some suspense. —William the Conqueror, David C. Douglas (1964)

We know that she was a direct descendant of Alfred the Great, and also was a descendant of Charlemagne, but those connections should not have sparked the pope's concern. Whatever his objections, they were overcome eventually with the help of Lanfranc (see the link above).

Matilda proved to be an admirable consort. She outfitted a ship, the Mora, with her own funds to join his fleet for the Conquest of England. She also had skills as an administrator: William left the Duchy of Normandy in her hands when he headed to England in 1066 to defeat Harold. In fact, although she did spend time with her husband in England—notably when she accompanied him during his Harrying of the North campaign—except for giving birth to their fourth child, Henry, in Yorkshire while on that campaign, all of their other children were born in Normandy.

One thing she likely did not do is work on the Bayeaux Tapestry. As picturesque as the image is of her and her ladies in waiting working away as seamstresses and embroiderers, it is now believed that the tapestry (actually a banner) was arranged by Bishop Odo of Bayeaux (William's half-brother) and created by Kentish artists.

So far as we know, once she captured William's heart she never let it go again. There are no records of William having any children outside of his marriage, or of taking a mistress. They had nine children, all of whom lived to adulthood. Two of them became kings: William II, called Rufus, who ruled England after the Conqueror, and Henry who ruled after William as Henry I.

Her illness and death, with William at her side, was devastating for her husband. William survived her by four years, but he was changed. True, in 1085 he called for the Domesday Book, but his interest in ruling England was waning, and he returned to Normandy for good in 1086. There are also reports that he became more cruel. When he died, he was buried in Caen, near but not with his wife. While he was buried at Abbaye aux Hommes (Abbey of Men), at which Lanfranc had once been abbot, Matilda was interred down the road at the Abbaye aux Dames (Abbey of Women), which had been founded by William and Matilda in 1062. She is buried under a slab of black marble.

Matilda of Flanders died 929 years ago today. The illustration is a statue of her in Paris