Melisende and Fulk, Part 3

The King and Queen of Jerusalem were very involved in supporting and promoting the Christian religion. Queen Melisende contributed to many convents, for instance, starting with the Convent of Sant Anne where her sister Ioveta was.

Fulk and Melisende convinced the Patriarch of Jerusalem to give them jurisdiction over Bethany near Jerusalem so that they could build a monastery or convent. Melisende in 1138 would start building a convent. The Convent of Saint Lazarus took six years to build, and in 1144 it was granted the status of an abbey by Pope Celestine II. An experienced abbess was installed, with the understanding that the young Ioveta would succeed her, which she did in short order. Fulk's daughter from his first marriage, Sibylla of Anjou, became a nun there during a pilgrimage with her husband, and never returned to Europe.

There were other gifts to religious institutions. The Temple of the Lord (now called the Dome of the Rock) was given lands from which to draw revenue. Melisende gave grants to the Hospitallers, to the leper hospital of the Order of Lazarus (not connected to Ioveta's abbey), and to the Premonstratensians and their Church of Saint Samuel.

Melisende's mother, Morphia of Melitene, was buried in the Abbey of Saint Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat, a Benedictine abbey founded by Godfrey of Bouillon in the eastern part of the Old City of Jerusalem. This burial started a tradition of the queens of Jerusalem being buried apart from their husbands. Melisende herself would also be buried there. (The illustration is part of the recovered artwork from the abbey, now in a museum in Jerusalem.)

She also supported the Syriac Orthodox Church. When a Frankish knight tried to claim some land possessed by the Syriac Church, Fulk supported the knight. Melisende expressed her displeasure at this, and Fulk agreed that no decision would be final until the case was debated in Melisende's presence. Once that happened, the land stayed in Syriac hands.

On 7 November 1143, the court was at Acre, enjoying a picnic. During a ride, Fulk decided to chase a hare. His horse threw him, and Fulk was knocked unconscious. He was carried back to Acre where he died on the 10th. That Christmas, Melisende went through a second coronation, this time including her son Baldwin III, who was 13 years old. Although Baldwin tried to assert himself, Melisende had complete control over the government now. Let's find out what that was like, starting tomorrow.

Sibylla in Jerusalem

When Thierry of Alsace, the Count of Flanders, made his third pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1157, he took his wife, Sibylla of Anjou. They had been married for over 15 years and had several children who went on to successful careers.

In Jerusalem at the time was Queen Melisende, the Queen of Jerusalem after the death of her father, Baldwin II. Melisende was the second wife of Fulk of Anjou, which made Melisende Sibylla's stepmother (and made Sibylla's father King of Jerusalem jure uxoris ("by right of [his] wife").

Baldwin had four daughters, the youngest of whom, Ioveta, was the abbess of the Benedictine Convent of St. Lazarus in Bethany, an abbey founded by Melisende so that Ioveta could be its abbess. The abbey was founded on the reputed site of the tomb of Lazarus. (see illustration)

Thierry assisted against the Muslims in the siege of Shaizar in northern Syria. The siege fell apart because Thierry argued with Raynald of Châtillon over which of them would take command of the town. Which of the two men was being the more difficult is not easy to know, but Raynald later was killed for his lack of respect.

Sibylla was housed with Ioveta in Bethany while her husband was away fighting. The two women were close in age and became good friends, so much so that Sibylla chose to stay in Jerusalem when Thierry went home, leaving him to see to the raising of their children.

Sibylla became a nun at Ioveta's abbey. She died in Bethany in 1165 and was buried at the abbey.

Sibylla was a great supporter of Queen Melisende, the first female ruler of Jerusalem, who deserves to have her story told. We will start that tomorrow.

Sibylla of Anjou

When Fulk V of Anjou married his daughter Sibylla (c. 1112 – 1165) to William Clito, a grandson of William the Conqueror, it seemed like a match with much potential. Unfortunately, King Henry I of England, who had invaded Normandy and taken it from his brother Robert Curthose (William Clito's father), objected and convinced Pope Calixtus II to annul the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity.

William Clito's fate was covered here, but what happened to Sibylla? She was not even a teen when the marriage took place and still not a teen when it was annulled a year later. Her dowry was the County of Maine (which came to her through her mother), so she would have been not an inconsequential match for someone else. She did not re-marry until 1134 at the age of 22, when she was wedded to Thierry, Count of Flanders.

In a curious twist, had Sibylla remained married to William Clito, she would have become Countess of Flanders sooner: Louis VI of France helped William get the position (against objections from people like Thierry). In fact, it was opposition to William by Thierry's forces that led to William's wounding and death in 1128. Thierry succeeded him as count. (Thierry was already married at the time, but his wife, Margaret of Clermont, died in 1132.)

Thierry had one daughter by Margaret, but several children with Sibylla. When Thierry went on the Second Crusade, Sibylla was left as regent in Flanders. During this time, Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut thought it was a good time to attack Flanders, but Sibylla was ready for him. She plundered Hainaut in a counter-attack. In response, Baldwin attacked the territory of Artois. It took the Archbishop of Rheims to negotiate a truce. (Still, when Thierry returned from overseas in 1149, he took revenge on Baldwin.)

Their children were Philip I, who became Count of Flanders; Matthew of Alsace who became the Count of Boulogne; Margaret, who married Baldwin of Hainaut's son, Count Baldwin V of Hainaut; Gertrude of Flanders, who married Humbert III, Count of Savoy. There was also a daughter Matilda, who became abbess of Fontevrault, and a son Peter who was slated to become bishop of Cambrai but was never consecrated.

The illustration shows her with her husband on the facade of the Holy Blood Basilica in Brugge. She was not buried in Brugge, or even in Europe, however, but on the southeastern slop of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. How that came about, and how she abandoned her husband and children, is a story for tomorrow.

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.

The Story of William Clito

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, but when Rufus died suddenly Henry raced to take the kingdom, becoming Henry I.

So the older son got a duchy and the younger son a kingdom. In 1106, King Henry I conquered Normandy from Robert. Robert Curthose had a son, William Clito, who pressed a claim to Normandy after his father died, but Henry wanted to give Normandy to his own son, William Adelin.

King Louis VI of France and William Clito were opposed to Henry's assertion of authority over Normandy. Battles and alliances took place over a few years with Henry always coming out on top. William Clito spent some time flying "under the radar." Then something happened that gave him a chance to re-assert his claim.

William Adelin died in the White Ship tragedy.

Henry had no more male heirs. Worse, William Adelin was supposed to marry Matilda, the daughter of Fulk V of Anjou, and Fulk wanted the dowry back (several castles and towns between Normandy and Anjou). Henry wouldn't give up those places, and so Fulk married another daughter, Sibylla of Anjou, to a young man who was 18, popular, and had recent experience in military campaigns—none other than William Clito. The two were married in 1123.

Henry strongly objected to this, and wrote to Pope Calixtus II to complain that William and Sibylla were too closely related for the marriage to be appropriate, due to the laws of consanguinity. Calixtus annulled the marriage, an action which was objected to by the bride's father until Calixtus excommunicated him and placed Anjou under interdict.

This is the event that I mentioned in yesterday's post: that the papal legate was allowed into England by Henry later after eight legates were refused as a quid pro quo because the papacy had done Henry the favor of annulling the marriage.

The marriage was done, but Clito was not. Tomorrow I'll tell you what happened and about his death some years later. The illustration is his seal when Louis made him Count of Flanders.