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Matilda, Duchess Of Saxony

Matilda, Duchess of Saxony

Matilda of England (1156 - July 13, 1189), also known as Maud, was the eldest daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Matilda was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. She was a younger sister of William, Count of Poitiers and Henry the Young King. She was also an older sister of Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine, Joan of England and John of England. Matilda seems to have spent much of her early life in the company of her mother, Queen Eleanor. In 1165 Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, arrived at the court of King Henry II at Rouen, to negotiate a German match for Matilda. There was conflict during the negotiations, however, when Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester refused to greet the archbishop, alleging him to be a schismatic and a supporter of the anti-pope, Victor IV. The original plan to match a daughter of Henry II with a son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was abandoned, and instead Matilda left England in September 1167 to marry Henry the Lion. She married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, on February 1, 1168 at Brunswick. They had four sons and one daughter: # Matilda (Richenza) (1172-1213), married Geoffrey III, Count of Perche. # Henry I, Palatine Count of the Rhein (1173-1227). # Lothar (1174-1190). # Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Swabia (1175-1218). # William, Duke of Lüneburg (1184-1213). At the time of their marriage, Henry the Lion was one of the most powerful allies of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda governed her husband's vast estates during his absence in the Holy Land from 1172 to 1173. In 1174, Henry the Lion became involved in a conflict with the Emperor Frederick, and Henry and Matilda were forced to flee Germany and take refuge in Normandy at her father's court in 1182. During this time at the royal court at Argentan, Matilda became acquainted with the troubador Bertran de Born, who, calling her "Elena" or "Lana", made her the object of his desire in two of his poems of "courtly love". Matilda, her husband, and their family remained in Normandy under the protection and support of King Henry until 1185, when they were able to return to Saxony. When her father Henry II died in 1189, Matilda survived him by only one week. The picture shows an idealized portrait made between 1230 and 1240 on the tomb of Matilda and Henry the Lion in Brunswick cathedral.

See also


- Betran de Born, [http://www.cam.org/~malcova/troubadours/bertran_de_born/poem8.html Casutz sui de mal en pena]
- Bertran de Born, [http://www.cam.org/~malcova/troubadours/bertran_de_born/poem9.html Ges de disnar non for'oimais maitis]

Sources


- Ralph of Diceto
- Robert of Torigny
- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002
- Diggelmann, Lindsay. [http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/parergon/v022/22.1diggelmann01.html Exile and the Poetic Standpoint of the Troubadour Bertran de Born], 2005 Category:1156 births Category:1189 deaths Category:Women in war Category:House of Anjou

1156

Events


- Establishment of the Carmelite Order
- Hogen Rebellion in Japan
- January 20 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
- The Privilegium Minus elevates Austria to the status of a duchy ruled by the Babenburgs family. (see History of Austria).
- Mosan artists create the Stavelot Triptych, a masterpiece of goldsmithing, as a reliquary to house purported pieces of the True Cross.

Births


- October 27 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (died 1222)
- Matilda of England, daughter of Henry II of England (d. 1189)
- Minamoto no Noriyori, Japanese general (died 1193)

Deaths


- January 17 - André de Montbard, fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- January 20 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
- July 20 - Emperor Toba of Japan (born 1103)
- Hoel III, Duke of Brittany
- Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair, High King of Ireland (born 1088)
- Demetre I, King of Georgia
- Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln
- William, Count of Poitiers (born 1153)
- Mas'ud of Rüm, Seljuk sultan of Rüm
- Sverker I of Sweden
- Minamoto no Tameyoshi, Japanese general (born 1096) Category:1156 ko:1156년

July 13

July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining.

Events


- 1174 - William the Lion of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, was captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.
- 1558 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.
- 1573 - Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months.
- 1643 - English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down - In England, Lord Henry Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, wins a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.
- 1772 - HMS Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, set sail from Plymouth, England.
- 1787 - The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
- 1793 - Jean Paul Marat, one of the leaders of the French revolution, is murdered by Charlotte Corday.
- 1794 - Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria
- 1822 - Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeat Ottoman forces at Thermopylae.
- 1837 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom moves into the first Buckingham Palace in London and is the first British monarch to live there.
- 1854 - In the battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon.
- 1863 - New York Draft Riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
- 1878 - Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia and Montenegro become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.
- 1900 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.
- 1908 - Women compete in modern Olympics for the first time.
- 1909 - Gold discovered near Cochrane, Ontario.
- 1919 - The British airship R-34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.
- 1923 - The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally reads "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.
- 1930 - The first FIFA World Cup begins in Uruguay.
- 1936 - A heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States. The all-time highest temperatures for the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana are all recorded on this date.
- 1941 - World War II: Montenegrins start the first popular uprising in Europe against the Axis Powers (Crnogorski ustanak).
- 1942 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- 1948 - The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops.
- 1972 - The United States Democratic Party nominates George McGovern for president at its convention in Miami Beach, Florida but, because of an impassioned platform dispute, McGovern does not give his acceptance speech until the early morning hours of the 14th.
- 1973 - Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.
- 1977 - The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.
- 1978 - Ford Motor Company President Lee Iacocca is fired by chairman Henry Ford II, ending a long dispute between the men.
- 1978 - Sheldon Souray, Defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens, was born in Alberta,Canada.
- 1982 - Montreal hosts the first baseball All-Star Game outside the United States.
- 1983 Around 3,000 Tamils were slaughtered by Sinhalese Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka and some 400,000 Tamils fled to neighboring Tamil Nadu, India and this incident led directly to beginig of civil war in Sri Lanka.
- 1985 - The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow.
- 1996 - A Garuda Indonesia Airways DC-10 crashes on take-off from Fukuoka Airport, Japan, killing 3 passengers.
- 2002 - A lighting strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which had burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km2) when finally contained on September 5.
- 2005 - Three trains collide in the Ghotki rail crash in Ghotki, Pakistan, killing over 150 people.

Births


- 100 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman general and polititian (d. 44 BC)
- 40 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain (d. 93)
- 1527 - John Dee, English scientist (d. 1609)
- 1579 - Arthur Dee, English physician and alchemist (d. 1651)
- 1590 - Pope Clement X (d. 1676)
- 1607 - Václav Hollar, Czech-born actor (d. 1677)
- 1608 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1657)
- 1808 - Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, President of France (d. 1893)
- 1821 - Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader (d. 1877)
- 1841 - Otto Wagner, Austrian architect (d. 1918)
- 1858 - Stewart Culin, American ethnographer (d. 1929)
- 1864 - John Jacob Astor IV, American entrepreneur (d. 1912)
- 1894 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (d. 1940)
- 1900 - George Lewis, American musician (d. 1969)
- 1913 - Dave Garroway, American television host (d. 1982)
- 1918 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (d. 1955)
- 1921 - Ernest Gold, Austrian composer (d. 1999)
- 1921 - Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d. 2005)
- 1924 - Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor
- 1927 - Simone Veil, French politician
- 1928 - Bob Crane, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1929 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
- 1931 - Frank Ramsey, American basketball player
- 1934 - Wole Soyinka, Nigerian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 - Aleksei Yeliseyev, cosmonaut
- 1935 - Jack Kemp, American football player and Vice Presidential candidate
- 1936 - Albert Ayler, American musician (d. 1970)
- 1940 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
- 1941 - Robert Forster, American actor
- 1942 - Harrison Ford, American actor
- 1942 - Roger McGuinn, American musician
- 1944 - Ernő Rubik, Hungarian inventor, sculptor, and architect
- 1946 - Cheech Marin, American actor and comedian
- 1950 - George "Pinky" Nelson, astronaut
- 1953 - Johnny Clegg, South African composer and musician
- 1954 - Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer and songwriter
- 1957 - Cameron Crowe, American film director and writer
- 1959 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
- 1961 - Tim Watson, Australian footballer and coach
- 1962 - Rhonda Vincent, American singer and musician
- 1963 - Neal Foulds, English snooker player
- 1966 - Gerald Levert, American singer
- 1968 - Calvin Phelps, American artist
- 1970 - Barry Pinches, English snooker player
- 1974 - Jarno Trulli, Italian race car driver
- 1976 - Bruce Price, American engineer
- 1978 - Sheldon Souray, Canadian NHL player.
- 1979 - Craig Bellamy, Welsh footballer
- 1992 - Dylan Patton, American actor

Deaths


- 939 - Pope Leo VII
- 1189 - Matilda of England, daughter of Henry II of England (b. 1156)
- 1205 - Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury and Justicier of England
- 1357 - Bartolus de Saxoferrato Italian jurist (b. 1313)
- 1399 - Peter Parler, German architect (b. 1330)
- 1402 - Jianwen Emperor of China (b. 1377)
- 1551 - John Wallop, English soldier and diplomat
- 1621 - Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor of the Low Countries (b. 1559)
- 1626 - Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman (b. 1563)
- 1628 - Robert Shirley, English adventurer
- 1629 - Caspar Bartholin the Elder, Swedish physician and theologian (b. 1585)
- 1645 - Tsar Michael I of Russia (b. 1596)
- 1683 - Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, English statesman (b. 1631)
- 1705 - Titus Oates, English protestant conspirator (b. 1649)
- 1755 - Edward Braddock, British general
- 1761 - Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shogun (b. 1712)
- 1762 - James Bradley, English Astronomer Royal (b. 1693)
- 1789 - Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, French economist (b. 1715)
- 1793 - Jean Paul Marat, French revolutionary (murdered) (b. 1743)
- 1807 - Henry Benedict Stuart, Jacobite claimant to the throne of England (b. 1725)
- 1889 - Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet (b. 1830)
- 1896 - Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz, German chemist (b. 1829)
- 1946 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (b. 1864)
- 1951 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
- 1954 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
- 1967 - Tom Simpson, British cyclist (exhaustion) (b. 1937)
- 1974 - Patrick Blackett, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1976 - Joachim Peiper, German military leader (b. 1915)
- 1980 - Seretse Khama, first President of Botswana (b. 1921)
- 1983 - Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author (b. 1909)
- 1993 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (b. 1961)
- 2002 - Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born photographer (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1907)
- 2004 - Goodwin Girdler, Russian composer (b. 1923)
- 2004 - Arthur Kane, American musician (New York Dolls) (leukemia) (b. 1951)
- 2004 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances


- Kiribati - Independence Day, 2nd day (not a holiday)
- Mongolia - Naadam Holiday, 3rd day
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Kálimát (Words) - First day of the seventh month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Bon Festival - Buddhist festival to honor the dead (East Japan)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/13 BBC: On This Day] ---- July 12 - July 14 - June 13 - August 13 - more listing of all days ko:7월 13일 ms:13 Julai ja:7月13日 simple:July 13 th:13 กรกฎาคม

1189

Events


- January 21 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade
- September 3- Richard I of England is crowned as king of England.
- August 29- Ban Kulin wrote "The Charter of Kulin", which become a symbolic "birth certificate" of Bosnian statehood
- This year was fixed as the start of time immemorial in English law in 1276.
- Beginning of the Siege of Acre.
- The Crusader castles of Montreal and Kerak are captured by Saladin.

Births


- Yuri II, grand prince of Vladimir (died 1238)

Deaths


- May 17 - Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (born 1159)
- July 6 - King Henry II of England (born 1133)
- July 13 - Matilda of England, daughter of Henry II of England (b. 1156)
- October 1 - Gerard de Ridefort, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- Saito Musashibo Benkei, Japanese fighting monk
- Conchobar Maenmaige Ua Conchobhair, King of Connacht
- William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex
- Geoffrey Ridel, Lord Chancellor of England
- William II of Sicily (born 1153) Category:1189 ko:1189년

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine (Bordeaux, France,c. 1122 – March 31, 1204 in Fontevrault, Anjou) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the Middle Ages. She was Queen consort of both France and England in her lifetime.

Biography

Early Life

The oldest of three children, her father was William X, Duke of Aquitaine, and her mother was Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimeric I, Vicomte of Chatellerault. William's and Ænor's marriage had been arranged by his father, William IX of Aquitaine the Troubador, and her mother, Dangereuse, William IX's long-time mistress. Eleanor was named after her mother and called Aliénor, which means other Aenor in the langue d'oc (Occitan language), but it became Eléanor in the northern Langue d'oïl . She was raised in one of Europe's most cultured courts, the birthplace of courtly love. She was highly educated for a woman of the time, and knew how to read, how to speak Latin, was well versed in music and literature, and enjoyed riding, hawking, and hunting. She became heiress to Aquitaine, the largest and richest of the provinces that would become modern France, when her brother, William Aigret, died as a baby.

Marriage to Louis VII of France

William X died on Good Friday, 1137 while on a pilgrimage to Spain. Eleanor was young, probably around the age of 15 and now Duchess of Aquitaine, and the most eligible heiress in Europe. As these were the days when kidnapping an heiress was seen as a viable option for attaining title, William wrote a will on the very day he died, instructing that his daughter marry Louis VII of France. The marriage, on July 22, 1137, brought to France the area from the river Loire to the Pyrenees: most of what is today the southwest of France. However, there was a catch: the land would remain independent of France, and Eleanor's oldest son would be both King of France and Duke of Aquitaine. Thus, her holdings would not be merged with France until the next generation. She gave him a wedding present that is still in existence, a rock crystal vase on display at the Louvre. Something of a free spirit, Eleanor was not much liked by the staid northerners (particularly, according to sources, her mother-in-law, Adélaide de Maurienne), who thought her flighty and a bad influence. Her conduct was repeatedly criticized by Church elders (particularly Bernard of Clairvaux and Abbot Suger) as indecorous. The King, on the other hand, was madly in love with his beautiful and worldly wife, and granted her every whim, even though her behavior baffled and vexed him to no end.

Crusade

Though Louis was a pious man he soon came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II. The archbishopric of Bourges became vacant, and the king supported as candidate the chancellor Cadurc, against the pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre, swearing upon relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought the interdict upon the king's lands. Louis became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne, by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, Eleanor's sister. Eleanor urged Louis to support her sister's illegitimate marriage to Raoul of Vermandois. Champagne also sided with the pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry. More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church, died in the flames. Overcome with guilt, Louis declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. On Easter 1146 both Eleanor and Louis took up the cross during a sermon preached by Bernard of Clairvaux She was followed by some of her royal ladies in waiting as well as 300 non-noble vassals. She insisted on taking part in the Crusades as the feudal leader of the soldiers from her duchy. The story that she and her ladies dressed as Amazons is disputed by serious historians. However, her testimonial launch of the Second Crusade from Vézelay, the rumored location of Mary Magdalene's burial, dramatically emphasized the role of women in the campaign. The Crusade itself was something of a disaster. Louis was a weak and ineffectual military leader with no concept of maintaining troop discipline or morale, or of making informed and logical tactical decisions. The French army was betrayed by Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor, who feared that their aims would jeopardize the tenuous safety of his empire. A particularly poor decision to camp one night in a lush valley surrounded by tall peaks in hostile territory led to an attack by the Turks, who slaughtered as many as 7000 Crusaders. As this decision was made by Eleanor's vassal, Geoffrey the Fair, Count of Anjou (with whom it was rumored that she had an affair), many believed that it was her directive. This did nothing for her popularity in Christendom. Eleanor's reputation was further sullied by her supposed affair with her uncle Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch.

Divorce from Louis

Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged. The city of Antioch had been annexed by Bohemond of Hauteville in the First Crusade, and it was now ruled by her flamboyant uncle, Raymond of Antioch (rumored to be her lover), who had gained the principality by marrying its reigning Princess, Constance of Antioch. Clearly, Eleanor supported his desire to re-capture the nearby County of Edessa, the cause of the Crusade. Louis was directed by the Church to visit Jerusalem instead. When Eleanor declared her intention to stand with Raymond and the Aquitaine forces, Louis had her brought out by force. His long march to Jerusalem and back north debilitated his army, but her imprisonment disheartened her knights, and the divided Crusade armies could not overcome the Muslim forces. For reasons unknown, likely the Germans' insistence on conquest, the Crusade leaders targeted Damascus, an ally until the attack. Failing in this attempt, they retired to Jerusalem, and then home. When they passed through Rome on the way to Paris, Pope Eugene III tried to reconcile Eleanor and Louis. Eleanor conceived their second daughter, Alix of France (their first was Marie), but there was no saving the marriage. In 1152; it was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity. Her estates reverted to her and were no longer part of the French royal properties. However, while in the eastern Mediterranean Eleanor learned about maritime conventions developing there: the beginnings of what would become admiralty law. She introduced those conventions in her own lands, for instance on the island of Oleron in 1160, and later into England as well. She was also instrumental in developing trade agreements with Constantinople and ports of trade in the Holy Lands.

Marriage to Henry II of England

On May 18, 1152, six weeks after her annullment, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. She was about 11 years older than he, and related to him in the same degree as she had been to Louis. One of Eleanor's rumored lovers was Henry's own father, Geoffrey of Anjou, who, not surprisingly, advised him not to get involved with her. Over the next 13 years, she bore Henry five sons and three daughters: William, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan. Despite her reputation in later historical accounts, Eleanor was incensed by Henry's philandering; their son, William, and Henry's bastard son, Geoffrey, were born months apart. Henry fathered other bastard children throughout most of their marriage. Some time between 1168 and 1170, she instigated a separation, deciding to establish a new court in her own territory of Poitou. In Poitiers, she reached the height of her powers creating the Court of Love. A small fragment of her codes and practices was written by Andreas Capellanus. Henry concentrated on controlling his increasingly-large empire, badgering Eleanor's subjects in attempts to control her patrimony of Aquitaine and her court at Poitiers. Straining all bounds of civility, Henry had Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered at the altar of the church in 1170 (to be fair, there is debate as to if it truly was Henry's intent to be rid of his Archbishop once and for all). This aroused not only Eleanor's horror and contempt, but most of Europe's.

Revolt and Imprisonment

In 1173, aggrieved at his lack of power and egged on by his father's enemies, the younger Henry launched the Revolt of 1173-1174, joined by Richard and Geoffrey, and supported by several powerful English barons, as well as Louis VII and William I of Scotland. When Eleanor tried to join them, she was intercepted. Henry, who put down the rebellion, imprisoned her for the next 15 years, much of the time in various locations in England. About four miles from Shrewsbury and close by Haughmond Abbey is "Queen Eleanor's Bower," the remains of a triangular castle which is believed to have been one of her prisons. Henry lost his great love, Rosamund Clifford, in 1176. He had met her in 1166 and begun the liaison in 1173, supposedly contemplating divorce from Eleanor. When Rosamund died, rumours spread that Eleanor had poisoned her, but there is no evidence to support this. Rosamund Clifford In 1183, Henry the Young tried again. In debt and refused control of Normandy, he tried to ambush his father at Limoges. He was joined by troops sent by his brother Geoffrey and Philip II of France. Henry's troops besieged the town, forcing his son to flee. Henry the Young wandered aimlessly through Aquitaine until he caught dysentery and died. The rebellion petered out.

Later Life

Upon Henry's death in 1189, Eleanor helped her son Richard I to the throne, and he released her from prison. She ruled England as regent while Richard went off on the Third Crusade. She personally negotiated his ransom by going to Germany. She survived him and lived long enough to see her youngest son John on the throne. Eleanor died in 1204 and was entombed in Fontevraud Abbey near her husband Henry and son Richard. Her tomb effigy shows her reading a Bible. She was the patroness of such literary figures as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-More, and Chrétien de Troyes.

In Historical Fiction

Eleanor and Henry are the main characters in the play The Lion in Winter, by James Goldman, which was made into a film starring Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn, and remade for television in 2003 with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. The depiction of her in the film Becket is totally inaccurate. She appears briefly in the BBC production Ivanhoe portrayed by Sian Phillips. She is also a major character in Thomas B. Costain's Below the Salt, and the subject of E. L. Konigsburg's children's book A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver. Her life is chronicled in three books by Sharon Kay Penman "When Christ and His Saints Slept", "Time and Chance", and "The Devil's Brood". The novel The Book of Eleanor by Pamela Kaufman tells the story of Eleanor's life from her own point of view. She is also included In Wiliam Shakespeare's King John with a different spelling of her name.

Biographies


- Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, John Carmi Parsons & Bonnie Wheeler, 2002
- Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World, Polly Schover Brooks (©1983) (for young readers)
- Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography, Marion Meade (©1977)
- Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings, Amy Kelly (©1950)
- Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Mother Queen, Desmond Seward (©1978)
- Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life, Alison Weir (©1999)
- Women of the Twelfth Century, Volume 1 : Eleanor of Aquitaine and Six Others, Georges Duby Category:1122 births Category:1204 deaths Category:Women in war Category:English queen consorts Aquitaine, Eleanor, duchesse d' Category:Crusades Category:House of Anjou simple:Eleanor of Aquitaine

Marie de Champagne

Marie of France, or Marie Capet, Countess of Champagne (1145 – March 11, 1198), was the elder daughter of Louis VII of France and his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was an older sister of Alix of France. She was an older paternal half-sister to Marguerite of France, Alys, Countess of the Vexin, Philip II of France and Agnes of France. She was also an older maternal half-sister to William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of England, Joan of England and John of England. Her parents' marriage was annulled in 1152, and the custody of Marie and her sister Alix was awarded to their father, King Louis. Their mother Eleanor remarried to King Henry II of England, and so left France. In 1160, when her father King Louis married Adele of Champagne, he betrothed both Marie and Alix to Adele's brothers. After her betrothal, Marie was sent to the abbey of Avenay in Champagne for her education. In 1164, Marie married Henry I, Count of Champagne. They had four children: # Scholastique of Champagne (died 1219), married William V of Macon # Henry II (1166–1197) # Marie of Champagne (died 1204), married Baldwin I of Constantinople # Theobald (1179–1201) Marie was left as Regent for Champagne when Henry I left on a pilgrimmage to the Holy Land. While her husband was gone, Marie's father died and her half-brother Philippe became king. He confiscated the dower lands of his mother Adele (also Marie's sister-in-law) and then married Isabelle of Hainaut, who had been previously betrothed to Marie's eldest son. This prompted Marie to join a party of disgruntled nobles -- including Queen Adele and the archbishop of Reims -- in plotting against Philippe. Eventually, relations between Marie and her royal brother improved. Her husband returned from the Holy Land, but died almost immediately. Now a widow with four young children, Marie considered marrying Philip of Flanders, but the engagement was broken off suddenly for unknown reasons. After Henry I's death in 1181, Marie acted as regent from 1181 to 1187, when her son Henry came of age. However, Henry II left to go on Crusade, and so Marie once again served as regent in his absence from 1190 to Henry's death in 1197. She retired to the nunnery of Fontaines-les-Nones near Meaux, and died there in 1198. Marie is remembered today mainly for her role in the heresy that was the target of the Albigensian Crusade. She was also a patron of literature, including Andreas Capellanus, who served in her court, and Chrétien de Troyes. She was literate in French and Latin and maintained her own library.

Sources


- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002
- Evergates, Theodore. Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, 1999 Marie of Champagne Marie of Champagne Category:French nobility

Alix of France

Alix of France (1150 – 1197/1198) was the second daughter born to Louis VII of France by his first wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was named after her aunt Petronilla of Aquitaine, who was also called "Alix". The birth of a second daughter to Eleanor and Louis instead of a badly needed son was one of the final nails in the coffin of their marriage. Her parents were soon divorced, although the princesses were declared legitimate, and the custody of young Alix and her sister Marie was awarded to their father. Their mother Eleanor left the French court and was remarried to King Henry II of England. King Louis also remarried twice. Alix was an older paternal half-sister to Marguerite of France, Alys, Countess of the Vexin, Philip II of France and Agnes of France. She was also an older maternal half-sister to William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine , Joan Plantagenet and John of England. She married Theobald V of Blois in 1164. Her sister Marie also married his brother Henry. Alix served as regent when her husband left for the East, and since their son was underage, she continued as regent for several years after Theobald's death in 1191. Alix and Theobald had seven children: # Theobald (d. 1182) # Louis I of Blois, who died in Constantinople in 1205 # Henri (d. 1182) # Philippe (d. 1202) # Marguerite of Blois (d. aft. 1230), who married (1) Otto II, Count of Burgundy; (2) Gauthier II, Seigneur of Avesnes. # Isabelle of Chartres (1180–1247/1248), married (1) Sulpice of Amboise; (2) Jean de Montmirail # Alix of Blois, abbess of Fontevrault

Sources


- Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1991
- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002 France, Alix of France, Alix of France, Alix of

William, Count of Poitiers

William (August 17, 1153 – 1156) was the first child of Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II of England) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, strangely born on the same day that his father's rival Eustace IV of Boulogne died. William was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was an older brother of Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine , Joan Plantagenet and John of England. He died aged three years, and was buried in Reading Abbey at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I. At the time of his death, he had already been given the title of Count of Poitiers. For centuries, the dukes of Aquitaine had held this as one of their minor titles, so it had passed to Eleanor from her father; giving it to her son was effectively a revival of the title, separating it from the dukedom. Some authorities say he also held the title of "Archbishop of York", but this is probably an error. His bastard half-brother Geoffrey Plantagenet (d. 1212), who was born within months of William, did later hold that office, causing the confusion.

Sources


- Robert of Torigny
- Annals of Waverly Poitiers, William, Count of Poitiers, William, Count of Poitiers, William, Count of Poitiers, William, Count of Poitiers, William, Count of

Henry the Young King

Henry the Young King (February 28, 1155 – June 11, 1183) was the second of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers. He was also an older brother to Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine , Joan Plantagenet and John of England. Fostered by Thomas à Becket, in June 1170 the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father's lifetime, but he never actually ruled and is not counted among the monarchs of England. There is a story that at the banquet following his coronation, he was waited on by his father, who remarked what a rare honour it was to be waited on by a king; the younger Henry replied that it was only fitting for the son of a count to wait on the son of a king. He is now known as "Henry the Young King" to distinguish him from his nephew Henry III of England. He broke with his father and allied with his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine and brothers in a civil war (1173–74) in which he tried to wrest the power of the crown from his father. When he died at the age of 28 of dysentery, during the middle of a second rebellion, his father is said to have exclaimed: "He cost me much, but I wish he had lived to cost me more." The historian W. L. Warren said of him, "The Young Henry was the only one of his family who was popular in his own day. It was true that he was also the only one who gave no evidence of political sagacity, military skill, or even ordinary intelligence…", and elaborated in a later book, "He was gracious, benign, affable, courteous, the soul of liberality and generosity. Unfortunately he was also shallow, vain, careless, empty-headed, incompetent, improvident, and irresponsible." Henry did not seem much interested in the day-to-day business of government, or in the subtleties of military tactics. Instead he spent much of his time at tournaments or meddling in the affairs of his brothers. Henry the Young King was married to Marguerite of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile, on November 2, 1160 when he was 5 years of age and she was 2. The marriage was orchestrated by Henry’s father, Henry II, in order to gain control over Marguerite’s dowry, the strategically vital castles of the Vexin region between Normandy and Paris. Her maternal grandparents were Alfonso VII of Castile and Berenguela of Barcelona. Berenguela was a daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona by his third wife Douce of Provence. The only child of Henry and Marguerite was William, born prematurely on June 19, 1177, and dying on June 22 of the same year. This difficult delivery seems to have rendered her sterile, as she had no further children by Henry or her second husband. In 1182 Henry accused her of having a love affair with the famed knight William Marshal. Henry repudiated his wife and sent her back to France, and exiled Marshal from his court. Marshal offered to prove his innocence via trial by combat, but this offer was refused. Henry the Young King died of dysentery in 1183, near Martel Castle in the Turenne, while in rebellion against his father and brother Richard. On his deathbed he reportedly asked to be reconciled to his father, but King Henry, fearing a trick, refused to see him. After some drama on the way, Young Henry was eventually buried in Rouen Cathedral, where his tomb can be seen, appropriately, on the opposite side of the altar from his younger brother Richard, with whom he was perpetually quarrelling. The tomb of the Bishop of Rouen, who had married Henry and Margaret, lies nearby in the ambulatory. His brothers Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland both later became king.

References


- Henry II, by W.L. Warren, ISBN 0520034945
- The Young King Henry Plantagenet, 1155–1183, in history, literature, and tradition, by O.H. Moore
- William Marshal: the flower of chivalry, by Georges Duby
- Marriage as Tactical Response: Henry II and the Royal Wedding of 1160, Lindsay Diggelmann, English Historical Review CXIX, no. 483, September 2004, pp. 954-964 Henry the Young King Henry the Young King Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Category:Counts of Anjou Category:Heirs apparent who never acceded Category:House of Anjou

Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany

Geoffrey Plantagenet (September 23 1158 – August 19 1186) was Duke of Brittany between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England and Richard I of England. He was also an older brother of Leonora of Aquitaine, Joan of England and John of England. King Henry, always anxious to enrich his sons at little cost to himself, arranged for Geoffrey to marry Constance, the heiress of Brittany. Geoffrey was invested with the duchy, and he and Constance were married in 1181. Geoffrey and Constance would have three children, one born posthumously: # Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (1184-1241) # Maud of Brittany (1185-before May 1189) # Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187-1203) Unsatisfied with his share of the vast Angevin empire, Geoffrey joined the Revolt of 1173-1174 alongside his brothers Young Henry and Richard and their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, against King Henry. The rebellion was quashed, the three brothers submitted to their father, and Queen Eleanor was imprisoned. In 1183 another conflict erupted between Young Henry and Richard when Richard refused to do homage to his elder brother. King Henry invited Young Henry to invade Aquitaine and subdue his brother Richard. Geoffrey allied with Young Henry, and they invaded Aquitaine from Gascony and Brittany. The mayhem got so out of control that King Henry was forced to intercede to try to stop his warring sons. Young Henry died suddenly that summer, which ended the war but not the quarreling between King Henry and his sons. Geoffrey withdrew to Paris and the court of King Philip II of France, who became his friend and made him the suzerain of France, largely to annoy King Henry. According to Gerald of Wales, Geoffrey was "overflowing with words, soft as oil, possessed by his sweet and persuasive eloquence, to corrupt two kingdoms with his tongue; of tireless endeavor, a hypocrite in everything, a deceiver and a dissembler." Geoffrey was killed suddenly in Paris, stamped to death by his horse, after a fall during a tournament. He was buried in the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, and King Philip was so overcome with grief during the ceremony that he had be dragged away from Geoffrey's casket. During his life, Geoffrey had been the presumptive heir of his older brother Richard, the Lionheart, who remained single at the time. His premature death opened the way of John Lackland to the throne of England, which he occupied in 1199. Geoffrey's widow Constance succeeded him and ruled Brittany until 1196, when she abdicated to their son Arthur. Arthur of Brittany fought his uncle John for the throne and was subsequently murdered. Geoffrey's daughter Eleanor was imprisoned at Corfe and died in 1241, still a prisoner of the crown. See also: Dukes of Brittany family tree – British monarchs family tree – Other politically important horse accidents

Fictional Portrayals

With a character closely resembling that given by Gerald of Wales above, Geoffrey appears as a major character in the James Goldman play The Lion in Winter. In the 1968 film version of the play, Geoffrey is played by John Castle and in the 2003 film version the role is portrayed by John Light.

Sources


- Everard, Judith. Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family, 1171-1221, 1999
- Reston, James. Warriors of God: Richard the Lion-Heart and Saladin in the Third Crusade, 2001

Links


- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1183hovden.html The 1183 Revolt] Category:1158 births Category:1186 deaths Category:Dukes of Brittany Category:Earls in the Peerage of England Category:House of Anjou

Joan of England

Joan of England was the name of four female members of the medieval English royal family (later, retroactively, known as the Plantagenet dynasty). All four women became queen consorts of foreign rulers.

Queen Consort of Sicily

Joan of England (October, 1165 – 4 September, 1199) was the seventh child of King Henry II of England and his Queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Joan was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. She was a younger sister of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Leonora of Aquitaine. She was also an older sister of John of England. Joan was born at Angers, in Anjou, and spent her youth at her mother's courts at Winchester and Poitiers. In 1176, King William II of Sicily sent ambassadors to the English court to ask for Joan's hand in marriage. The betrothal was confirmed on May 20, and on August 27 Joan set sail for Sicily, escorted by the bishop of Norwich and her uncle, Hamelin de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey. After a hazardous voyage, Joan arrived safely, and on February 13, 1177, she married William II of Sicily and was crowned Queen of Sicily at Palermo Cathedral. They had one son, who died in infancy. Following William's death in 1189, she was kept a prisoner by the new king, Tancred of Sicily. Finally, her brother Richard I of England arrived in Italy in 1190, on the way to the Holy Land. He demanded her return, along with every penny of her dowry. When Tancred balked at these demands, Richard seized a monastery and the castle of La Bagnara. He decided to spend the winter in Italy and attacked and subdued the city of Messina. Finally, Tancred agreed to the terms and sent Joan's dowry. In March 1191 Eleanor of Aquitaine arrived in Messina with Richard's bride, Berengaria of Navarre. Eleanor returned to England, leaving Berengaria in Joan's care. Richard decided to postpone his wedding, put his sister and bride on a ship, and set sail. Two days later the fleet was hit by a fierce storm, destroying several ships and blew Joan and Berengaria's ship off course. Richard landed safely in Crete, but they were stranded near Cyprus. The self-appointed despot of Cyprus, Isaac Comnenus was just about to capture them when Richard's fleet suddenly appeared. The princesses were saved, but the despot made off with Richard's treasure. Richard pursued and captured Isaac, threw him into a dungeon, and sent Joan and Berengaria on to Acre. Joan was Richard's favorite sister, but he was not above using her as a bargaining chip in his political schemes. He even suggested marrying her to Saladin's brother, Saphadin, and making them joint rulers of Jerusalem. This plan fell apart when Joan refused to marry a Muslim and Saphadin refused to marry a Christian. His ally, King Philip II of France expressed some interest in marrying her, but this too fell apart. Instead Joan was married in 1196 to Raymond VI of Toulouse, with Quercy and the Agenais as her dowry. She was the mother of his successor Raymond VII of Toulouse (1197-1249). This new husband treated her none too gently, however, and Joan came to fear him and his knights. In 1199, while pregnant with a second child, Joan was left to face a rebellion alone. Joan fled to her mother Queen Eleanor's court at Rouen, where she was offered refuge and care in her illness. Joan asked to be admitted to Fontevrault Abbey, an unusual request for a married, pregnant woman, but this request was granted. She died in childbirth and was veiled a nun on her deathbed. Her son lived just long enough to be baptised (he was named Richard). Joan was thirty-three years old. She was buried at Fontevrault Abbey, and fifty years later her son Raymond VII would be interred next to her. Sources
- Robert of Torigny
- Roger of Hoveden
- Ralph of Diceto
- Payne, Robert. The Dream and the Tomb, 1984
- Owen, D.D.R. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend
- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002

Queen Consort of Scotland

Joan of England (July 22, 1210 – March 4, 1238), was the first legitimate daughter and third child of King John of England and Isabella of Angouleme. Joan married King Alexander II of Scotland on June 21, 1221, at York Minster. He was aged 23, she was 11. They would have no children. Joan died in Essex in 1238, and was buried at Tarant Crawford Abbey in Dorset. Sources
- Tewkesbury Annals
- Worcester Annals
- Rotuli Litterarum Patencium

Princess of Wales

Joan of England (died March 1236) was an illegitimate daughter of King John of England and a woman named Clemence. She should not be confused with her legitimate half-sister Joan, Queen of Scotland. Little is known for certain about Joan's early life; she was evidently born before her father, King John, married his first wife in 1189. Her mother's name is known only from Joan's obituary in the Tewkesbury Annals, where she is mysteriously called "Regina Clementina" (Queen Clemence). Joan seems to have spent her childhood in France, as King John had her brought to England from Normandy for her wedding in December 1203. Joan married Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, between December 1203 and October 1204. She and Llywelyn had at least four children together: # Gwladys Ddu (died 1251), married (1) Reginald de Broase and (2) Ralph de Mortimer # Elen (died 1253), married (1) John le Scot, Earl of Chester and (2) Robert de Quincy # Susanna, who was sent to England as a hostage in 1228 # Dafydd ap Llywelyn (after 1211-1246) In April 1226 Joan obtained a papal decree from Pope Honorius III, declaring her legitimate on the basis that her parents had been unmarried at the time of her birth, but without giving her a claim to the English throne. In 1230, Llywelyn discovered Joan in adultery with William de Braose in their bedchamber. William de Braose was hanged, and Joan herself was imprisoned for some time before Llywelyn accepted her back as his wife. Joan was buried at the priory of Llanfaes near Beaumaris, and her stone coffin can be seen in Beaumaris parish church. Fiction This princess Joan and her affair with William de Braose was the subject of Saunders Lewis's Welsh verse play Siwan. Joan appears as a main character in Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel "Here Be Dragons". Sources
- Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi I, p. 12.
- Luard, Henry. Annales Monastici 1, 1864
- Tewkesbury Annals
- [http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/hanes/chronicle/chroniclearglwyddrhys.htm Chronicle of Ystrad Fflur]

Queen Consort of Scotland

Joan of England (July 5, 1321–September 7, 1362), known as 'Joan of the Tower', was the first wife and Queen consort of David II of Scotland. Born in 1321 at the Tower of London, Joan was the youngest daughter of Edward II of England and Isabella of France. On July 17, 1328, she married David II at Berwick-upon-Tweed. She died in 1362, aged 41, at Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire, and was buried at Grey Friars Church, London. Category:1165 births Category:1199 deaths Category:1210 births Category:1238 deaths Category:1236 deaths Category:1321 births Category:1362 deaths Category:English people Category:Queen consorts Category:House of Anjou

1165

Events


- November 23 - Pope Alexander III enters Rome.
- Emperor Rokujō ascends to the throne of Japan. He is one year old.
- William I becomes King of Scotland.
- Andronicus I escapes from prison.
- Henry II of England begins affair with Rosamund Clifford.
- Henry II of England invades Wales but is forced to retreat.
- Moslems take Caesarea Philippi from Crusaders.
- Leipzig gains city and market privileges.

Births


- August 21 - King Philip II of France (died 1223)
- Ibn Arabi, Syrian Sufi philosopher (died 1240)
- Henry I, Duke of Brabant (d. 1235)
- Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier (died 1229)
- Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1197)
- Joan of England, daughter of Henry II of England (died 1199)
- Phillipe de Plessis, Grand Master of the Knights Templar (died 1209)

Deaths


- September 5 - Emperor Nijō of Japan (born 1143)
- December 9 - King Malcolm IV of Scotland
- Stephen of Armenia, Marshal of Armenia
- Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi, Arab philosopher and physicist (born 1080) Category:1165 ko:1165년 simple:1165

Rainald of Dassel

Rainald of Dassel (German: Rainald von Dassel) (c. 1120 – August 14, 1167 near Rome) was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philipp I. von Heinsberg.

Life

A younger son of a rich Saxon count, Reinold I of Dassel, and destined as such to be an ecclesiastic, he was sent to the cathedral school at Hildesheim in 1146, where he started working as subdeacon. At a later date he probably went to Paris. As early as 1130 he is said to have had a high reputation for classical learning, and to have been a member of the cathedral chapter of Hildesheim. According to documentary evidence he was provost in 1148, and in 1154 received the provostship of Petersberg at Goslar and of St. Moritz at Hildesheim. Soon after 1154 he was also provost of the cathedral chapter at Münster but declined the See of Hildesheim. As a member of the embassy sent by Frederick I in 1153 to Pope Eugenius III at Rome he first revealed his political ability, and in 1156 the emperor appointed him chancellor of the empire. The Diet of Besançon (October 1157) left no doubt as to the drift of his policy. He inaugurated a German policy which insisted upon the rights and the power of the German kings, the strengthening of the Catholic Church in the German Empire, the lordship of Italy, and the humiliation of the papacy. Full of life, at times rough and blunt and again careful and calculating, Rainald, who, in spite of his ecclesiastical dignities, knew how to wield the sword, henceforth influenced the policy of his imperial masters. Though he did not wish to separate Germany entirely from Rome and still held the medieval respect for the Church, his temperament carried Barbarossa much further than the latter desired, or then was advantageous in the circumstances. When Frederick finally submitted, it was Rainald who prevented him from making concessions which might have proved of advantage. The struggle with the curia began at the Diet of Besançon, where Rainald vigorously rejected the use of the word beneficium, which might mean fief as well as benefit. In the expression used, that the pope would have been glad to grant the emperor even greater beneficia (or benefits), it was thought that the old desire of the curia for the mastery of the world was to be found. In 1158 Rainald undertook a diplomatic journey into Italy to prepare the way for the emperor. In 1159 he was appointed Archbishop of Cologne in absence, and during the schism between Pope Alexander III and Antipope Victor IV supported the imperial pope. In 1160 he was the ambassador of the emperor to the courts of the French and English kings, whom he endeavoured to win to the side of the antipope, but he did not succeed. In January 1159 the imperial envoy Rainald entered the city of Milan, which had been peacefully conquered in 1158, and he was expelled and almost murdered by the inhabitants. Then the emperor Barbarossa began the second siege of Milan, which would end with the destruction of the city in 1162. Rainald was also employed in diplomatic negotiations with Genoa, Pisa, and Louis VII; these, however, failed. In 1163 Alexander III excommunicated Rainald, who had loudly proclaimed in these negotiations the right of the emperor to dispose of the papal see. Basing his action on the Roncalian decrees issued at the Diet of Roncaglia, near Piacenza, in 1158, Rainald was once more successfully employed in Italy in the affairs of the emperor. When Victor IV died, Rainald, of his own volition and without waiting for the consent of the emperor, elected at Lucca a new antipope, Paschal III. Frederick would hardly have continued the schism. Rainald knew this and therefore wished to force the emperor to continue the struggle for imperial supremacy. In 1164 he was again in Germany, and brought the bones of the Three Magi with him back to Cologne as loot from Milan and as a gift of emperor Frederick Barbarossa; today they are still in the Cologne cathedral. In the meantime the number of the adherents against the lawful pope increased in Germany. Rainald won the consent of the King of England to common ecclesiastico-political action in behalf of Paschal and once more took up arms in defence of his one ambition, which he hoped the proposed canonization of Charlemagne at Aachen in 1165 would advance. In 1167 he was again in Italy, actively engaged in preparing the way for the emperor. Together with Christian I of Buch, archbishop of Mainz, and under Rainald´s guidance an army won a victory over the Romans by Tusculum against a much larger force of Roman troops in May 29, 1167. His death was likely of malaria; he was buried in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral at Cologne.

External links


- [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/r/rainald_v_d.shtml Biography of Rainald von Dassel]
- [http://homepages.compuserve.de/dietmarscherm/Eustorgius.htm Die Reliquien der Heiligen Drei Könige im Kölner Dom]
- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/williamofnewburgh-two.html#8 William of Newburgh: Of the destruction of Milan; and of the relics of the magi]
- [http://www.mittelalter-genealogie.de/mittelalter/erzbistuemer/koeln/rainald_von_dassel_erzbischof_von_koeln_+_1167.html Medieval genealogies: Rainald von Dassel] Category:1120 births Category:1167 deaths Category:German bishops

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168), also known as Robert "Le Bossu" (meaning "Robert the Uneven" in French), was an English nobleman of French ancestry. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois, the twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont. The two brothers, Robert and Waleran, were adopted into the royal household shortly after their father's death (upon which instance Robert inherited all of his father's hereditary titles, chiefly Earl of Leicester). They accompanied King Henry I among various missions, firstly to Normandy, then to meet with Pope Callixtus II in 1119. In 1135, the two twins were present at King Henry's deathbed; the monarch's death led to The Anarchy (under the weak rule of King Stephen), and Robert eventually captured his rival, Roger de Tosny. In June of 1139, the inseparable brothers led the actions against Roger of Salisbury (the Bishop of Salisbury) and Alexander (the Bishop of Lincoln); the former was killed in December of that year, while the latter survived for eight more years. King Stephen had taken the two brothers as his personal advisors; the two brothers remained in his confidence for several decades. However, after Stephen's compromise with his cousin, Matilda (wherein Henry, Matilda's son, would succeed Stephen as king), the twins provided Henry, soon to be crowned Henry II of England, with "means for his struggle." Thereafter, the brothers were in the new monarch's confidence, as evidenced by Robert's appointment as chief justiciar and as a hereditary steward; eventually, he bought out Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk (another noble who enjoyed the confidence of the crown) and is considered the first Lord High Steward of England. Robert enjoyed a high status in Henry's court, even acting as head of the kingdom (in a vice-regal capacity) for a time. His name appeared at the top of the Constitutions of Clarendon, and he was present at the Council of Northampton. He founded, in addition to St. Mary de Pré, the abbey of Garendon, the monastery of Nuneaton, the priory of Lusfield, and the hospital of Brackley, and was a liberal benefactor to many other houses.

Family and children

He married Amice de Montfort, daughter of Raoul, senior of Gael et of Montfort. They had four children: #Hawise, who married William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester; #Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester; #Isabel, who married with: ## Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton; ## Gervase Paynel of Dudley. #Margaret, who married Ralph V de Tosny

References


- [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10681.htm thePeerage.com]
- [http://www.thepeerage.com/e276.htm "Beaumont, Robert de, Earl of Leicester", The Dictionary of National Biography, Rpt. in thePeerage.com] Leicester, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa (see: Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28names_and_titles%29#Monarchical_titles, exception #2)

Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion (1129 – August 6 1195; in German, Heinrich der Löwe) was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony as Henry III since 1142, and Duke of Bavaria as Henry XII since 1156. He held both duchies until 1180 and was the most powerful of the German princes of his time, until the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating him and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony during the reign of his cousin Frederick I and of Frederick's son and successor Henry VI. At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania. Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen, in part through the legacies of his four grandparents. He was the son of Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of Duke Welf IV and an heiress of the Billungs, former dukes of Saxony. Henry's mother was Gertrud, only daughter of Emperor Lothair II and his wife Richenza of Nordheim, heiress to the Saxon territories of Nordheim and the properties of the Brunones, counts of Brunswick. Henry's father died in 1139, aged 32, when Henry was still a child. King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud, who had been his rival for the crown in 1138, of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and Bavaria to Leopold of Austria. Henry, however, did not relinquish his claims to his inheritance, and Conrad returned Saxony to him in 1142. In 1156 Henry also reacquired Bavaria by a decision of the new Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Henry is the founder of Munich (1157/58; München) and Lübeck (1159); he also founded and developed the cities of Stade, Lüneburg and Brunswick. In Brunswick, his capital, he had a bronze lion, his heraldic animal, erected in the yard of his castle Dankwarderode in 1166 — the first bronze statue north of the Alps. Later, he had Brunswick Cathedral built close to the statue. In 1147 Henry married Clementia of Zähringen, thereby gaining her hereditary territories in Swabia. He divorced her in