[MyTree.GED]
d. Sept. 1, 1067
also called BALDWIN OF LILLE, French BAUDOUIN DE LILLE, Dutch BOUDEWIJN VAN RIJSEL, count of Flanders who became one of the most influential figures of 11th-century Europe. He was an active, enterprising man and greatly extended his power by wars and alliances. He obtained from the Holy Roman emperor Henry IV the territory between the Scheldt and the Dender as an imperial fief, as well as the margravate of Antwerp. So powerful had he become that on the decease of Henry I of France he was appointed regent during the minority of Philip I (1060-66). Before his death he saw his eldest daughter Matilda (d. 1083) sharing the English throne with William the Conqueror; saw his eldest son, Baldwin of Mons, in possession of Hainaut in right of his wife Richilde, heiress of Regnier V (d. 1036); and saw his second son, Robert the Frisian, regent (voogd) of the county of Holland.
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