Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (16 page)

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Authors: Alison Weir

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Royalty, #History, #General, #Historical, #Reference, #Genealogy & Heraldry, #Non Fiction

BOOK: Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
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9  
Agatha
Alternatively called Elgiva, or Margaret, she may have been born in 1064. She was married by proxy to Alfonso VI (
d
.1109), King of Galicia and Léon, at the Abbey of the Holy Trinity, Caen, Normandy, but died before 1074, before the marriage could be consummated. She was buried in Bayeux Cathedral, Normandy.
10  
Matilda
Very little is known of her. She died unmarried before 1112.
Note: There is no evidence that either William or Matilda were the parents of Gundrada, Countess of Surrey. Charters attesting this have been proved spurious.
WILLIAM I
He died on 9 September, 1087, at the Priory of St Gervais, Rouen, Normandy, of wounds received at the siege of Mantes. He was buried in St Stephen’s Abbey, Caen, Normandy, his own foundation.
He was succeeded in England by his son William (and in Normandy by his son Robert).
William II
F
ATHER
:
William I
(
see here
).
M
OTHER
:
Matilda of Flanders
(
see here
, under
William I
).
S
IBLINGS
: (
see here
, under
William I
).
WILLIAM II
Known as ‘Rufus’, he was born between
c.
1056 and 1060 in Normandy. He succeeded his father as King of England on 9 September, 1087, and was crowned on 26 September, 1087, in Westminster Abbey. He never married.
William is said by an unreliable 18th-century source to have had the following
illegitimate issue
:
1 Berstrand.
WILLIAM II
He was killed, perhaps murdered on the orders of his brother Henry, by an arrow in his back on 2 August, 1100, in the New Forest, Hampshire. He was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
He was succeeded by his brother Henry.
 
Henry I
F
ATHER
:
William I
(
see here
).
M
OTHER
:
Matilda of Flanders
(
see here
, under
William I
)
S
IBLINGS
: (
see here
, under
William I
).
HENRY I
Known as ‘Beauclerk’ or ‘the Lion of Justice’, he was born in September, 1068, at Selby, Yorkshire. He became Lord of Domfront in 1092, and Count of Coutances and Bayeux in 1096. He succeeded his brother William II as King of England on 3 August, 1100, and was crowned on 5/6 August, 1100, at Westminster Abbey. He usurped the duchy of Normandy on 28 September, 1106, after defeating his brother Robert, its lawful Duke, at the Battle of Tinchebrai.
Henry I married firstly
, on 11 November 1100, at Westminster Abbey:
Matilda
She was christened Edith, but adopted the name Matilda upon her marriage as it was thought the Norman barons might not respect a queen with a Saxon name. She was the daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scotland, by St Margaret, a great-granddaughter of Ethelred II, and her marriage to Henry I represented the union of Norman and Saxon royal lines. Matilda was born probably in the autumn of 1080, and was crowned Queen Consort on 11 or 14 November, 1100, at Westminster Abbey. She died on 1 May, 1118, at the Palace of Westminster, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Issue of marriage:
1  
Euphemia
She was perhaps the child born in late July or early August, 1101, at Winchester, who died young.
2  
Adelaide
She adopted the name Matilda upon her marriage. (
see here
, under Henry II).
3  
William
He was born before 5 August, 1103, at Winchester. Styled ‘Atheling’, he was designated Duke of Normandy in 1120. He drowned on 25 November, 1120, when the White Ship sank off Barfleur in Normandy.
William married, in June, 1119, at Lisieux in Normandy:
Matilda
She was christened Alice, but adopted the name Matilda upon her marriage, although she is sometimes called Isabella. She was the daughter of Fulk V, Count of Anjou, by Aremburga, daughter of Hélias I, Count of Maine, and sister to Sybilla, wife of William Clito, grandson of William I. She was born between
c
.1107 and 1111 in Anjou. After her husband drowned, she became in
c.
1121 a nun at Fontevrault Abbey in France, where she was elected Abbess in 1148. She died at Fontevrault Abbey in 1154, and was perhaps buried there. There was no issue of her marriage to William.

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