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.

The Anarchy, Part 1 (of 3)

When the White Ship sank in 1120, drowning King Henry I's son and heir, William Adelin, England was in crisis. Henry decided that his daughter, Empress Matilda (1102-1167), should inherit the throne. She was called "Empress" because she had been betrothed as a child to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V; they were married in 1114. She had actually spent some years as Henry's regent in Italy, gaining some political and administrative experience.

That came later, however. Her father, King Henry I, had about 20 illegitimate children, but none of them would have been acceptable as king, so he tried to gain himself a legitimate heir to replace William by marrying again in 1121 (to Adeliza of Louvain), but no male heir was forthcoming. Henry V died in 1125, and Henry I summoned his daughter from Germany—awkward for her, since she had essentially become a German, having grown up there since childhood, learned the language, and ruled its people. Still, she had not produced an heir for Henry V, and so that dynasty ended and the throne went to someone who had no use for the widow of his predecessor. Matilda spent a year in Normandy, becoming re-acquainted with her father, and in 1126 went to England.

Even though Henry had his Court swear oaths to accept her status, however, not everyone was pleased with the choice. King Louis VI of France suggested William Clito, Henry's eldest illegitimate son, in order to create conflict in the English court. Through a sudden and advantageous marriage, Louis managed to make Clito's status more important and potentially more disruptive to Henry's plans.

Then, in 1135, Henry I died. Matilda was in Anjou with her new husband, Geoffrey of Anjou—too far from England to take control of the situation. Her cousin, Stephen of Blois, rushed to seize the Crown, breaking—along with a majority of barons—the oath he had sworn years earlier. His action started a period of civil war that lasted for almost 20 years.

[to be continued]