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
FATHER:
William I(
MOTHER:
Matilda of Flanders(
SIBLINGS: (
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. (
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.
4 Richard
He drowned with his brother William on 25 November, 1120, when the White Ship sank off Barfleur in Normandy. Some sources state that the Richard who drowned in the White Ship was Henry I’s natural son, and that his legitimate son Richard died in infancy. However, both Robert of Gloucester and the Saxon Chronicle state that Queen Matilda’s son Richard drowned in the White Ship.
Henry I married secondly, on 29 January (or, less probably, 2 February), 1121, at the Chapel Royal in Windsor Castle:
Adeliza
Alternatively known as Adelicia, Adela, Adelaide, Adeline or Alice, she was the daughter of Geoffrey VII, Count of Louvain, Duke of Lower Brabant and Lower Lorraine, by Ida, daughter of Albert III, Count of Namur and Countess of Namur in her own right. There are no records of Adeliza’s date of birth, but she was described as ‘nubile’ in 1120, thus she was perhaps born between c.1103 and c.1106. She was crowned Queen Consort on 30 January (or, less probably, 3 February), 1121, at Westminster Abbey. After the death of Henry I, she married secondly William d’Albini, Earl of Arundel ( d.1176), after 1136 and before September, 1139, and had issue:
1 William, 2nd Earl of Arundel (before 1150–1193); he married Matilda, daughter of James de St Hilary du Harcourt, and had issue.
2 Reyner.
3 Henry.
4 Geoffrey.
5 Alice ( d.1188); she married firstly John, Count of Eu, Lord of Hastings ( d.1170), and had issue. She married secondly Alvred de St Martin ( d. after 1189).
6 Olivia. She died young, and was buried in Boxgrove Priory, Sussex.
7 Agatha. She died young, and was buried in Boxgrove Priory, Sussex.
Adeliza became a nun at Affligem Abbey, near Alost in South Brabant, in c.1149/50. She died on 23/24 March (or 23 April), 1151 at Affligem Abbey, and was buried there.
Henry I also had the following illegitimate issue:
By Sybilla (also known as Adela or Lucy), daughter of Sir Robert Corbet of Alcester, Co. Warwick, and afterwards wife of Herbert FitzHerbert ( d. by 1165):
1 Robert Fitzroy of Caen, Earl of Gloucester (1090/95–1147); he married Mabel ( d.1157), daughter of Robert FitzHamon, Earl of Gloucester, and had issue. There is no certain evidence to show that Sybilla really was Robert’s mother, who may have been an unknown woman of Caen.
2 Reginald or Rainald of Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall (by 1110?–1175); he married Beatrice, daughter of William FitzRichard, and had issue.
3 William (by 1105–after 1187); he married a lady called Alice, of whom nothing more is known.
4 Sybilla (
5 Gundrada (alive in 1130).
6 Rohese ( d. after 1176); she married Henry de la Pomerai ( d.c.1167), and had issue.
By Ansfrida, widow of Anskill, a knight and tenant of Abingdon Abbey:
7 Richard of Lincoln (drowned in the White Ship, 1120).
8 Fulk ( b.before 1100); he either died young, or grew up and became a monk at Abingdon Abbey.
9 Juliana (1090?–after 1136); she married Eustace of Breteuil, Lord of Pacy ( d.1136), and had issue. In widowhood, she became a nun at Fontevrault Abbey. There is some doubt that Ansfrida was her mother, but circumstantial evidence makes this likely.
By Nesta, Princess of Deheubarth ( d.c.1114), daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, Prince of Deheubarth, by Gladys of Powys, and wife of Gerald de Windsor ( d. by 1136):
10 Henry FitzHenry (1103? or 1105?; by 1109–killed 1157); he married an unknown lady and had issue.
By Edith, daughter of Forn Sigulfson, Lord of Greystoke, Cumberland ( d.1173); afterwards wife of Robert d’Oilli:
11 Robert FitzEdith, Baron of Okenhampton ( d.1172); he married Matilda, Dame du Sap, daughter of Robert d’Avranches, and had issue.
By Isabella of Meulan ( b.c.1102/7), daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, and afterwards Countess of Pembroke:
12 Isabella or Elizabeth ( b.1120?). Died unmarried.
By Edith, of unknown origin ( d.after 1130):
13 Matilda or Mary (1090?–1120: drowned in the White Ship); she married Rotrou II, Count of Perche ( d.1144), and had issue.