Matilda (Maud) of Flanders 
Matilda, known as Maud, was born in 1031 in Flanders, France.1 Maud's father was Baldwin of Flanders V and her mother was Princess Adelais Capet of France. Her paternal grandparents were Baldwin of Flanders IV and Ogive de Ardennes; her maternal grandparents were King Robert II (The Pious) Capet Of France and Constance Of Toulouse. She had three brothers and a sister, named The Frisian, Richard, The Peaceable and Judith. She had two half-brothers and two half-sisters, named William, The Burgundian, Alix and Le Bon. She died at the age of 52 on November 2nd, 1083 in Caen, Calvados, France. She was buried in Church of the Holy Trinity (St. Stephen's), Caen, Calvados, France.1 1 General Notes
Matilda of Flanders (~1031 - 1083) was queen of England, the wife of William the Conqueror She was the daughter of count Baldwin V of Flanders, and Adela Capet (1000-1078/9), daughter of Robert II of France.
A spoiled young lady used to speaking her mind and getting her way, the 4'2"-tall Matilda (or "Maud") told the representative of William, Duke of Normandy (later king of England as William the Conqueror), who had come asking for her hand, that she was far too high-born (being descended from King Alfred the Great of England) to consider marrying a bastard. When that was repeated to him, William, all 5'10" of him, rode from Normandy to Bruges, found Matilda on her way to church, dragged her off her horse (some said by her long braids), threw her down in the street in front of her flabbergasted attendants, and then rode off. After that, she decided to marry him, and even a papal ban (on the grounds of consanguinity) did not dissuade her.
There were rumors that Matilda had been in love with the English ambassador to Flanders, a Saxon so pale he was nearly an albino, named Brihtric (but nicknamed "Snow"), who was already married. Whatever the truth of the matter, years later when she was acting as regent for William in England, she used her authority to confiscate Brihtric's lands (without even any formal charges, much less a trial) and throw him into prison, where he died under suspicious circumstances consistent with poisoning.
When William was preparing to invade England, Matilda outfitted a ship, the Mora, out of her own money and gave it to him. For many years it was thought that she had something to do with creating the Bayeux Tapestry, but historians no longer believe that; it seems to have been commissioned by William's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and made by Saxons in Kent.
Matilda bore William ten children, and he was believed to have been faithful to her, at least up until the time their son Robert rebelled against his father and Matilda sided with Robert against William. After she died, in 1083 at the age of 51, William became tyrannical, and people blamed it on his having lost her. She was buried at St. Stephen's in Caen, Normandy (then, France now), and William was eventually buried there, too. Years later their graves were opened and their bones measured, which is how we know how tall they were.
-
Ancestor Pedigree Chart
-
*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.19 May 0890 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium d.27 Mar 0964 in St. Peter's, Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
- b.0933 in Flanders d.01 Nov 0962
- b.0912 in Vermandois, Neustria d.10 Oct 0960 in Bruges, Aquitaine
- b.Dec 0961 in Flanders, France d.30 Mar 0987 in Chapel de St. Laurent, France
- b.0910 in Luneburg, Saxony, Germany d.27 Mar 0973 in Luneburg, Saxony, Germany
- b.0937 in Luneburg, Saxony, Germany d.25 May 1008
- b.0918 in Westerberg, Saxony, Germany
- b.0980
- b.0880 in Ivrea, Piemonte region, Tuscany, Italy d.0932 in Spoleto, Tuscany, Italy
- b.0900 in Bamberg, Germany d.06 Aug 0966 in Bamberg, Germany
- b.0901 d.29 Feb 0932
- b.0952 in Luxembourg d.26 Jan 1002 in Gent, Flanders, France
- b.0881 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy d.0936 in Arles, Toulouse, France
- b.0924 in Tuscany, Italy d.0936 in Bamburg, Germany
- b.0906 in Bourgogne, France d.0936
- b.1012
- b.0895 in Verdun, France d.0923
- b.0922 in Luxembourg d.15 Aug 0998
- b.0890 in Luxembourg, Belgium d.0927
- b.0965 in Moselgau, France d.06 Oct 1009
- b.0900 d.18 Dec 0972
- b.0934 d.13 Dec 0992
- b.0915 d.0974
- b.0995 in Flanders, Belgium d.21 Feb 1030 in Flanders, France
- b.0880 in Souabe d.12 Dec 0949
- b.0925 d.0992
- b.0892 in Vermandois, Normandy, France d.12 Dec 0949
- b.0948 in Gleiberg, Germany
- b.0948 in Gleiberg, Germany
- b.1031 in Flanders, France d.02 Nov 1083 in Caen, Calvados, France
- b.0860 d.15 Jun 0923
- b.0895 in Paris, Ile-de-France, France d.16 Jun 0956 in Deurdan, Dourdan, France
- b.0880 d.0931
- b.0938 d.24 Aug 0996 in Paris, France
- b.0876 in Saxony, Germany d.02 Jun 0936 in Membleben, Saxony, Germany
- b.0910 in Nordhausen, Saxony, Germany d.14 Mar 0964 in Aix-le-Chappelle, France
- b.0892 in Mesleben, Saxony, Germany d.14 Mar 0967 in Memleben, Saxony
- b.27 Mar 0972 in Orleans, France d.20 Jul 1031 in France
- b.0952 in France d.1004 in France
- b.23 Nov 0912 d.07 May 0973
- b.0932
- b.1003 in France d.08 Jan 1079 in Monasteraere De L'Ordre De St. Benoist, Messines, France
<Unknown>
- b.0947 in Poitiers, Aquitaine d.Sep 1037
- b.0974 d.1032
- b.0852 in Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway d.0890 in Orkney, Scotland
- b.0872 in Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway d.0931 in Notre Dame, Rouen, Normandie, Neustria
- b.0858 in Orkney, Orkney Islands, Scotland
- b.0917 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France d.14 Oct 0962
- b.0847 in Bayeux, Calvados, Normandy, France d.0886 in Viking attack at Bayeaux, Normandy, France
- b.0872 in Evreux, Neustria
- b.0855
-
Details of Maud's family with William (The Conqueror) de Normandie
Details of Maud's family with Gerbod de St. Omer
1 http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&id=I4176
Further source/citation:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tmebl&id=I01956
Further source/citation:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tmebl&id=I01956
Page last modified