Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (19 page)

1  
Geoffrey

He was born on 1 June, 1134, at Rouen or at Argentan, Normandy, and was created Count of Nantes in
c.
1150. He died unmarried on 26 July, 1158, at Nantes, Brittany, where he was buried.

2  
William

He was born on 21 July, or in August, 1136, at Argentan in Normandy or at Angers, France, and was called Count of Poitou. He died unmarried on 30 January, 1164, at Rouen, Normandy, and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.

1  Marie (1145–1198); she married Henry I, Count of Champagne (1127–1181), and had issue.

2  Alice (1150–1197/8); she married Theobald V, Count of Blois (
d.
1191), and had issue.

1  
William

He was born on 17 August, 1153, at Poitiers, Poitou, and was styled Count of Poitiers. He died in
c
.April or June, 1156, at Wallingford Castle, Berkshire, and was buried in Reading Abbey, Berkshire.

2  
Henry

He was born on 28 February, 1155, at Bermondsey Palace, Surrey. He was crowned King of England on 14 June, 1170, at Westminster Abbey, during the lifetime of his father, being styled King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. Thereafter he was known as ‘the young king’. He was again crowned on 27 August, 1172, at Winchester Cathedral. He died on 11 June, 1183, at the house of a burgher, Etienne Fabri, at Martel in Quercy, France, and was buried in Le Mans Cathedral, Anjou; his remains were later removed to Rouen Cathedral in Normandy.

  (i)
  
William

He was born on 19 June, 1177, in Paris, and died there on 22 June, 1177.

3  
Matilda

She was born in June, 1156, either in London or, less probably, at Windsor Castle. She married Henry V ‘the Lion’, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (1129–1195), on 1 February, 1168, at Brunswick Cathedral, Germany, and had issue:

1  Richenza (1172–1210); she married firstly Geoffrey III, Count of Perche (
d.
1202), and had issue, and secondly Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy.

2  Henry, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (1175–1227); he married Agnes (
d.
1204), daughter of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and had issue.

3  Lothaire (1181–1191).

4  Son (name not known) (
b
.&
d.
1182?).

5  Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Earl of York and Count of Ponthieu (1183?–1218); he married firstly Beatrice of Swabia, daughter of Philip, Emperor of Germany, and secondly Mary, daughter of Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

6  William, Duke of Lüneberg and Brunswick (1184–1213); he married Helen, daughter of Waldemar I, King of Denmark.

7  Matilda.

8  Eleanor (?).

9  Gertrude (
d.
1197); she married Canute VI, King of Denmark (1163–1202).

10  Ingibiorg (?); she is said to have married Waldemar II, King of Denmark (1170–1241).

Matilda died on 28 June, 1189, at Brunswick in Germany, and was buried in Brunswick Cathedral.

4
Richard
I
(
see here
).

5
Geoffrey

He was born on 23 September, 1158, in England, and was styled Earl of Richmond and Duke of Brittany in right of his wife shortly after 6 September, 1181. He was either trampled to death during a tournament, or died of a fever, on 18 or 19 August, 1186, in Paris, and was buried in the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, Paris.

Geoffrey married, in July, 1181 (although no record exists as to where):

Constance

She was the daughter of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany and Earl of
Richmond, by Margaret of Huntingdon, granddaughter of David I, King of Scotland. Constance was born around 1160/62 in Brittany. After the death of Geoffrey, she married secondly Ranulf de Blundeville, 4th Earl of Chester (1172?–1232), on 3 February, 1188. This marriage was dissolved in 1199 after Constance deserted her husband. She married thirdly Guy of Thouars (
d
.1213) in 1199 at Angers in Anjou, and had issue:

1  Alice, Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond (1201–1221); she married Peter of Dreux, Duke of Brittany (1187?–1250), and had issue.

2  Katherine (
b
.1201); she married Andrew de Vitre of Brittany.

Constance died on 3, 4 or 5 September, 1201, at Nantes, Brittany, in childbirth, although some sources say she died of leprosy. She was buried in Villeneuve Abbey, Nantes, Brittany.

Issue of marriage:

  (i)
  Eleanor

She was born in 1184, and was styled Countess of Richmond from 27 May, 1208. She spent most of her life in honourable confinement, King John realising that her claim to the throne was superior to his own. She died, perhaps murdered or starved to death, on 10 August, 1241, at Bristol Castle (or, less probably, at Corfe Castle, Dorset), and was buried in St James’s Church, Bristol. Her remains were later removed to Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire.

 (ii)
  Matilda

She was born in 1185, and died young.

(iii)
  
Arthur

He was born on 29 March, 1187 at Nantes, Brittany, and – as his father’s posthumous son – was styled Duke of Brittany from birth. He was styled Earl of Richmond from 18 April, 1199. He is said, with good probability, to have been murdered by order of King John because of his (Arthur’s) superior claim to the throne of England, probably on 3 April, 1203, either at Rouen or Cherbourg in Normandy. He certainly disappeared before Easter, 1203. He was buried at Notre Dame des Prés at Rouen, Normandy.

6?
Philip

In 1611, the English antiquarian John Speed claimed in his History
of Great Britain that Henry and Eleanor had a son called Philip, who was born between 1158 and 1162, but died young; there is no contemporary evidence for his existence, and Speed may have confused him with Richard I’s bastard son Philip.

7  
Eleanor

She was born on 13 October, 1161, at Domfront Castle, Normandy. She married Alfonso VIII, King of Castile (1156–1214), in September, 1177, at Burgos Cathedral, Castile, and had issue:

1  Sancho (
b
.&
d.
1180).

2  Berengaria, Queen of Castile (1181–1234); she married Alfonso IX, King of Léon (1173–1230), and had issue.

3  Urracca (1182–1220); she married Alfonso II, King of Portugal (1185–1223), and had issue.

4  Blanche (1183?–1253); she married Louis VIII, King of France (1187–1226), and had issue.

5  Henry (
b.c.
1184;
d.
young).

6  Ferdinand (1189–1209 or 1211).

7  Eleanor (1190–1253); she married James I, King of Aragon (1205–1276), and had issue. She was divorced in 1229.

8  Constance, Abbess of Las Huelgas, Castile (
d.
1243).

9  Sanchia (
d.
young).

10  Matilda (
d.
young).

11  Henry I, King of Castile (1204–1217); he married Matilda (
d.
1257), daughter of Sancho I, King of Portugal. The marriage was later annulled.

12  Constance (
d.
young).

Eleanor died on 31 October, 1214, at Burgos, Castile, and was buried there in the Abbey of Las Huelgas.

8  
Joan

She was born in October, 1165, at Angers Castle, Anjou. She married firstly William II, King of Sicily (1154–1189), on 13 February, 1177, at Palermo Cathedral, Sicily, and had issue:

1 Bohemond, Duke of Apulia (
b
.&
d.
1181).

Joan was crowned Queen of Sicily on 13 February, 1177, at Palermo Cathedral. She married secondly Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (1156–1222) (who was the son of Constance of France, daughter-in-law of King Stephen), in October, 1196, at Rouen, Normandy, and had issue:

2  Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse (1197?–1249); he married firstly Sanchia, daughter of Alfonso II, King of Aragon, and had issue. They were divorced in 1241. He married secondly Margaret, daughter of Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche, by Isabella, widow of King John.

3  Mary or Wilhelmina (
b
.1198); she married Berald of Elbine, Prince of Orange.

4  Richard (or, less probably, Bertrand) (
b.
&
d
.1199).

After being veiled as a nun on her deathbed, Joan died on 4 September, 1199, at Fontevrault Abbey, France, either in childbirth or of injuries received in a fire; she was buried at Fontevrault, but her tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution.