William Clito
William Clito | |
---|---|
Charles I | |
Successor | Thierry |
Born | 25 October 1102 Rouen, Caux, Normandy |
Died | 28 July 1128 Aalst, Flanders | (aged 25)
Burial | , Flanders |
Spouse | |
House | Normandy |
Father | Robert Curthose |
Mother | Sibylla of Conversano |
William Clito (25 October 1102 – 28 July 1128) was a member of the
Youth
William was the son of Duke
Robert was defeated and captured by his brother King
First Norman Rebellion, 1118–19
William's first refuge was with King Henry's great enemy,
The Norman border counts and Count Baldwin between them were too powerful for the king and seized much of the north of the duchy.[9] But the promising campaign abruptly ended with Baldwin's serious injury at the siege of Arques (September 1118). The next year the cause of William Clito was taken up by King Louis VI of France. He invaded the duchy down the river Seine, and on 20 August 1119 was met by the troops of King Henry at the Battle of Brémule, where the French were decisively defeated.
William had ridden as a new knight amongst the king's guard that day, and barely escaped capture. His cousin, King Henry's son, William Adelin, the next day sent him back the horse he had lost in the battle with other "necessities" in a courtly gesture. The rebellion collapsed, but William continued to find support at the French court. Louis brought his case to the pope's attention in October 1119 at Reims, and forced Henry I to justify his treatment of the exiled boy.
Second Norman Rebellion, 1123–24
The death by drowning in the
In the meantime, a serious aristocratic rebellion broke out in Normandy in favour of William, but was defeated by Henry's intelligence network and the lack of organisation of the leaders, who were defeated at the
Count of Flanders
Louis VI made great efforts to further William's cause in 1127.[12] In January he granted him the royal estates in the French Vexin as a base to attack down the Seine into Normandy, and he was married to Joanna of Montferrat, a half sister of Queen Adelaide of France.[12] The murder of Count Charles the Good of Flanders on 2 March 1127 gave King Louis an even better chance to further William's fortunes.[12] He marched into Flanders at the head of an army and on 30 March got the barons of the province to accept William as their new count.[12]
Initially, William did well, securing most of the county by the end of May. But English money and the emergence of a rival in
At this point, William was joined by Count
William had written letters to his uncle, Henry I, asking for his followers to be pardoned; Henry did as requested. Some followers returned to Henry I while others set out for the crusade.[14]
William's body was carried to the abbey of St Bertin in St. Omer and buried there. He left no children and was survived by his imprisoned father by six years.
References
- Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 81
- ISBN 9780521038652– via Google Books.
- ISBN 9781843836605– via Google Books.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 675.
- ^ C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003), pp. 204-6
- ^ C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003), p. 206
- ^ a b David Crouch, The Normans; The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, New York, 2007), p. 185
- ^ Kathleen Thompson, 'Robert of Bellême Reconsidered', Anglo-Norman Studies XIII; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1990, Ed. Marjorie Chibnall (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1991), p. 278
- ^ a b David Crouch, The Normans; The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, New York, 2007), p. 187
- ^ a b c d Sandy Burton Hicks, 'The Anglo-Papal Bargain of 1125: The Legatine Mission of John of Crema', Albion, Vol. 8, No. 4, (Winter, 1976), p. 302
- ^ Edward Augustus Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England, Its Causes and Its Results, Vol V (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1876), p. 199
- ^ a b c d Henry I and the Anglo-Norman World; Studies in memory of C. Warren Hollister, Ed. Donald F. Fleming, Janet M. Pope (Boydell Press, UK, 2007), pp. 318-19
- ^ William M. Aird, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy: C. 1050-1134, (The Boydell Press, 2008), 272.
- ^ C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003), p. 325
Further reading
- Galbert of Bruges, The Murder of Charles the Good, trans. J.B. Ross (repr. Toronto, 1982)
- Sandy Burton Hicks, "The Impact of William Clito upon the Continental Policies of Henry I of England," Viator 10 (1979), 1–21.
- J. A. Green, Henry I (Cambridge, 2006)