Eleanor Of CHAMPAGNE

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: "le Sage" "Count of Chartres & Tours"
• Fact: Count of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres
• Name: Stephen II Count Of Blois
• Fact: 1096, A Crusader, a leader of the 1st Crusade

Stephen married Adela Of ENGLAND between 1080 and 1085 in Breteuil and Chartres. Adela (daughter of William I The CONQUEROR and Matilda Of FLANDERS) was born about 1062 in Normandy, France; died on 8 Mar 1137 in Cluniac Priory of Marcigny-sur-Loire; was buried in Abbey Of the Holy Trinity in Caen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Alice Princess of England
• Birth: Abt 1062

Notes:

Name:
Adela was born around 1062 and was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilde of Flanders. She was very well educated, spoke several languages, and was deeply religious. Around 1080/81, she married Stephen III, Count of Blos who was one of the richest men in Europe and a king in all but name. They had eleven children.

Adela's formidable political abilities first showed themselves in 1095 when Stephen became one of the leaders of the First Crusade and left for the Holy Land. He was County of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres and controlled hundreds of estates in France. he was away four years, and Adela was such an effective ruler of his domains in his absence that she became known as "the heroine of the Fist Crusade."

From 1099 when Stephen returned until he departed again on the Crusade of 1101, Adela continued to support several scholars and poets that she had invited to her court and that significantly contributed to the spiritual and cultural life of her era.

From 1101, Adela was once again ruling Stephen's domains. After May 1102 when he was killed at the battle of Ramleh, she became regent for their eldest son Thibaud and was the most important woman in Europe until he came of age in 1109. She generously endowed abbeys and churches. Several letters on ecclesiastical matters written to her by Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans, have survived.

Around 1122, Adela became a nun, entered the Cluniac priory of Marigney-sur-Loiure, and died there on 8 march 1137. She was buried in Caen in the abbey of the Holy Trinity next to her mother and her sister Cecilia.

Adela's brothers William and Henry both became kings of England, as William II and Henry I. So did her son Stephen.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Theobald III
• Fact: Count of Blois and Champagne
• Death: Between 29 and 30 Sep 1089, Epernay

Thibaut married Alix DE CREPI. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Duke of Normandy
• Name: Guillaume De Normandie I
• Fact: Between 1066 and 1087, King of England
• Crowned: 25 Dec 1066, Westminster Abbey

Notes:

Guillaume, also known as William the Conqueror was crowned December 25, 1066. Sometimes he was called William the Bastard. William's heart was left to Rouen Cathedral,( which he had founded) and his entrails were interred at the church in Chalus. HIs burial place has been often disturbed: in 1522, Rome instructed an examination of the grave contents; in 1562, Calvinists caused "complete devastation" of the tomb, in which the only bit of remains of the Conqueror was a thigh bone ( it was reburied under a new monument); the grave was again demolished in the riots of the revolution of 1793. What was the grave of William the Conqueror is today marked with a stone slab. It is believed that William the Conqueror had no illegitimate issue. His reputation was one of faithfulness to his wife.

Excerpt from "Directory of Royal Genealogical Data":
Reigned 1066-1087. Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. Invaded England defeated and killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. The Norman conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the etablishment of feaudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges of service and loyalty. As King William was noted for his efficient if harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnel especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085 started Domesday Book.

In the middle of the 11th century, the Normans conquered both Southern Italy and England. William, who had a claim on the English throne, defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and was crowned King on Christmas Day in 1066. A new alien aristocracy was imposed upon more than two million English people, and England was given firm, but arrogant, government. The Normans dispossessed many of the Anglo-Saxon landowners, pressed the peasantry into service on their new feudal territories, and treated their Anglo-Saxon subjects with contempt, but they also taught better farming, developed the economy, put an end to Viking raids, and built many fine stone cathedrals and churches.

William married Matilda Of FLANDERS in 1053. Matilda (daughter of Count of Flanders Baldwin V "the Pious" and Adela Of FRANCE) was born in 1031/2 in Flandres; died between 02 and 03 Nov 1083 in Caen, Normandy; was buried in Abbey Of Holy Trinity, Caen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Crowned: 11 May 1068, (Whit Sunday), Winchester Cathedral

Notes:

Matilda was crowned May 11, 1068 (Whit Sunday), Winchester Cathedral. She is burried at Abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen, which she had founded.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Odo II Count of Blois
• Fact: 1005, Count of Blois
• Fact: 1019, Count of Champagne, Chartres, Tours and Beauvais

Eudes married Ermengarde Of AUVERGNE about 1010. Ermengarde (daughter of Robert I Count Of AUVERGNE and ERMENGARDE) died on 10 Mar 1040. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Raoul married ? UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Robert II the Devil of Normandy
• Fact: Sometimes called "the Devil or the Magnificent"
• Fact: A Crusader
• Birth: Abt 1000, Normandy
• Fact: Between 1027 and 1035, Duke of Normandy
• Fact: 06 Aug 1028, Acceded

Notes:

Robert I the Magnificent and Arlette were not married.

Excerpt from "Directory of Royal Genealogical Data":
Robert contributed to the restoration of Henry King of france to his throne, and received from the gratitude of that monarch, the Vexin, as an additional to his patrimonial domains. In the 8th year of his reign, curiosity or devotn (?) induced him to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where the fatiges of the jouney and the heat of the climate so impaired his constitution, he died on his way home.

Robert married Arlette DE FALAISE about 1023. Arlette (daughter of Fulbert DE FALAISE and Doda Of FALAISE) was born about 1003 in Falaise, Normandie; died about 1050. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Arlett-Herleve De Falaise

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: 1035, Acceded
• Fact: Between 1035 and 1067, Count

Notes:

Excerpt from "Directory of Royal Genealogical Data":
Entered into hostilities with Emporer Otho II and aquired from that monarch Valenciennes and the Isles of Zealand. he subsequently further increased his territories by another rich accession, that of the citadel of Ghent.

Baldwin married Adela Of FRANCE about 1028 in Paris. Adela (daughter of Robert II and Constance Of ARLES) was born in 1009 in France; died on 08 Jan 1079 in Monastaere De L'ordre De St., Benoist, Messines, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
During their long marriage, Baldwin and Adela founded several churches and a Benedictine convent in western Belgium in the village of Mesen (sometimes called Messines). they also rebuilt the monastery of Einham. After Baldwin's death in 1067. Adela became a nun, receiving her veil from the hand of Pope Alexander II. She then retired to her convent at Mesen. She died on 8 January 1079 and was buried in the crypt of the convent's church, which is called the Church of St. Nicholas.