Biography of William Clito Normandy Count Flanders 1102-1128

Paternal Family Tree: Norman

1087 King William "The Conqueror" Dies King William II Succeeds

1119 Battle of Bremule

1127 Oath of Allegiance to Empress Matilda

1128 Death of William Clito

1134 Death of Robert Curthouse

In 1063 [his father] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 12) was created Count Maine.

King William "The Conqueror" Dies King William II Succeeds

On 09 Sep 1087 [his grandfather] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 59) died at the Priory of St Gervaise, Rouen [Map]. He was buried at the Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen [Map], at a ceremony presided over by Gilbert Arques Bishop Evreux. [his uncle] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 19) attended. His son [his uncle] King William II of England (age 31) succeeded II King England. His son [his father] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 36) succeeded III Duke Normandy.

Before 25 Oct 1102 [his father] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 51) and [his mother] Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy were married. She by marriage Duchess Normandy. He the son of [his grandfather] King William "Conqueror" I of England and [his grandmother] Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England.

On 25 Oct 1102 William Clito Normandy Count Flanders was born to Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 51) and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy. He a grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

On 18 Mar 1103 [his mother] Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy died.

Battle of Bremule

On 20 Aug 1119 at the Battle of Bremule at Gaillardbois Cressenville [his uncle] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) and his son William Adelin Normandy Duke Normandy (age 16) defeated the army of King Louis VI of France (age 37) who had invaded Normandy in support of William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 16) who claimed the Duchy of Normandy.

In 1123 William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 20) and Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex and Flanders (age 11) were married. She the daughter of Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem (age 34) and Ermengarde La Flèche De Baugency Countess Anjou. He the son of Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 72) and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy. He a grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

In 1124 William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 21) and Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex and Flanders (age 12) were divorced.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. After 26 Mar 1124. After this went the [his uncle] king (age 56), and won all the castles of the Earl Waleram (age 20) that were in Normandy, and all the others that his enemies held against him. All this hostility was on account of the son of the [his father] Earl Robert (age 73) of Normandy, named William (age 21). This same William had taken to wife the younger [his former wife] daughter (age 12) of [his former father-in-law] Fulke, Earl of Anjou (age 35): and for this reason the King of France (age 42) and all the earls held with him, and all the rich men; and said that the king held his brother Robert wrongfully in captivity, and drove his son William unjustly out of Normandy.

1127 Oath of Allegiance to Empress Matilda

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1127. This year held the [his uncle] King Henry (age 59) his court at Christmas in Windsor. There was David the king of the Scots (age 43), and all the head men that were in England, learned and lewd. And there he engaged the archbishops, and bishops, and abbots, and earls, and all the thanes that were there, to swear England and Normandy [Map] after his day into the hands of his daughter Athelicia (age 24), who was formerly the wife of the Emperor of Saxony. Afterwards he sent her to Normandy; and with her went her brother Robert, Earl of Glocester (age 28), and Brian, son of the Earl Alan Fergan (age 27);¹⁵⁴ and he let her wed the [his former brother-in-law] son (age 13) of the [his former father-in-law] Earl of Anjou (age 38), whose name was Geoffry Martel. All the French and English, however, disapproved of this; but the king did it for to have the alliance of the Earl of Anjou, and for to have help against his nephew William (age 24).

Note 154. See an account of him in "Ord. Vit." 544. Conan, another son of this Alan, Earl of Brittany, married a daughter of Henry I.

In 1127 William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 24) and Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex were married. She by marriage Countess Essex. She the daughter of Rainier Aleramici Marquis of Monferrat (age 43) and Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy (age 57). He the son of Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 76) and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy. They were third cousins. He a grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1127. And the King of France (age 45) brought William (age 24), the son of the [his father] Earl of Normandy (age 76), and gave him the earldom; and the people of that land accepted him. This same William had before taken to wife the [his former wife] daughter (age 15) of the Earl of Anjou; but they were afterwards divorced on the plea of consanguinity. This was all through the [his uncle] King Henry (age 59) of England. Afterwards took he to wife the sister¹ of the king's [his sister-in-law] wife of France; and for this reason the king gave him the earldom of Flanders.

Note. Maternal half-sister; their mother [his mother-in-law] Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy (age 57).

On 02 Mar 1127 Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders (age 43) was murdered at Church of St Donatian. His second cousin William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 24) succeeded Count Flanders. [his former wife] Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex and Flanders (age 15) by marriage Countess Flanders.

In 1128 [his wife] Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex died.

On 17 Jun 1128 [his former brother-in-law] Geoffrey Plantagenet Duke Normandy (age 14) and Empress Matilda (age 26) were married. She the daughter of [his uncle] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 60) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England. He the son of [his former father-in-law] Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem (age 39) and [his former mother-in-law] Ermengarde La Flèche De Baugency Countess Anjou.

1128 Death of William Clito

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 27 Jul 1128. All this year was the [his uncle] King Henry (age 60) in Normandy, on account of the hostility that was between him and his nephew (age 25), the Earl of Flanders. But the earl was wounded in a fight by a swain; and so wounded he went to the monastery of St. Bertin; where he soon became a monk, lived five days afterwards, then died, and was there buried. God honour his soul. That was on the sixth day before the calends of August.

Florence of Worcester. 27 Jul 1128. William (age 25), count of Flanders, surnamed The Sad, falling into an ambush, was wounded by his enemies, and, his sufferings increasing, died, amidst universal lamentations, on the sixth of the calends of August [27th July], and was buried at St. Bertin.

After 1132 Thierry Count Flanders (age 33) and [his former wife] Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex and Flanders (age 20) were married. She by marriage Countess Flanders. She the daughter of [his former father-in-law] Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem (age 43) and [his former mother-in-law] Ermengarde La Flèche De Baugency Countess Anjou. He the son of Theodoric "Valiant" Metz II Duke Lorraine and Gertrude Flanders Duchess Lorraine.

Death of Robert Curthouse

On 03 Feb 1134 [his father] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 83) died at Cardiff Castle having spent twenty-eight years in captivity. He was buried at Gloucester Cathedral [Map].

In 1165 [his former wife] Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex and Flanders (age 53) died.