‘My daughter wanted me to treat her more like a princess.
So, I married her to a stranger to strengthen the alliance with Poland!’
From dutiful daughters to runaway nuns, from empresses to rebels. The life of a medieval princess was, perhaps, not as predictable as we have been led to believe. At times, it is true, they were married off to a foreign prince, never to see England or their family again. But we can count the number of girls that happened to on one hand. Which is quite remarkable, given the distances and pace of travel in medieval times, when a horse could cover around 20 miles a day and a horse litter, the popular form of travel for noble women, would cover far less than that.
Some princesses even visited home after they married or were visited by members of their family; some never even left England.
Marrying your daughter to a prince in a distant land and never hearing from her again was not the purpose of a royal marriage. It was never in the king’s interest to abandon his daughter, or sister, once she was married abroad. Royal daughters were raised to be a personal and diplomatic link to their homeland. They were the means of keeping communications open when all other options failed; private letters were used to warn against treachery or prevent a breakdown in diplomatic relations.
Some did escape this destiny. For instance, a number of William the Conqueror’s daughters became nuns. Cecilia had that life decided for her from a young age, but Adelida appears to have chosen this course after a number of failed marriage proposals. Perhaps she had had enough of the royal marriage market? King Stephen’s daughter, Mary, was also destined for the Church, with her parents even founding a religious house for her. Kidnapped for her royal blood, and forced into marriage, she would return to the convent after becoming a mother. The scandal was not of her making, unlike Gunhild, the daughter of King Harold II, who seems to have had a rather relaxed attitude to marriage and relationships; a woman before her time – by about 1,000 years! Gunhild had spent time in the convent, possibly having sought sanctuary after the Norman Conquest. There is uncertainty as to whether she ever took her vows; though the church seemed to believe she had and sought her return to the cloistered life.
Mary of Woodstock
Edward I’s daughter, Mary of Woodstock, was also destined for a career in the church, though she does not appear to have been suited to the contemplative lifestyle. She managed to spend as much time as she could at court; her father and brother regularly paying off gambling debts. Controversy even followed her beyond the grave, when John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, trying to obtain a divorce from Mary’s niece, Joan of Bar, claimed that he had had an affair with her, a nun!
The last medieval royal nun was Bridget of York, the seventh and youngest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Only 3 years old when her father died and she and her siblings were declared illegitimate, by 1489 Bridget was living at Dartford Priory, in the care of its Prioress, Elizabeth Cressener. Although she was cloistered, Bridget was not forgotten, nor isolated from her family. In 1492, she was able to attend her mother’s funeral. She was remembered in the will of her grandmother Cecily Neville, Duchess of York and Elizabeth of York’s wardrobe accounts from 1502 to 1503 indicate that the queen sent money to her sister at Dartford.
One English princess travelled far from home, into Kyivan Rus. King Harold’s oldest daughter, Gytha, came from a different society and generation. The Godwin family had strong Scandinavian ties, and it would have been natural for Gytha and her brothers to look for shelter and a future within that sphere, which stretched all the way to the court of the Grand Princes of Kyiv, as far away from the conquering Normans as possible.
Following the Norman Conquest, the focus of England’s foreign policy changed. Royal daughters were married into the European countries that would benefit England, those with close links geographically and culturally.
While English kings married French princesses, and Scottish kings married English princesses, the reverse happened rarely, if ever. Only one Scottish princess, Matilda of Scotland, married an English king, Henry I. And no English princess ever married a French king or an heir to the French throne, not in medieval times. The closest we came to it was Blanche of Castile, granddaughter of Henry II and niece of King John, who married the future Louis VIII. With John having no legitimate daughter at the time, he had to be creative and reach out to his wider family for a suitable princess to cement the fragile peace between him and Philip II of France.
Empress Matilda depicted at the coronation of her granddaughter, Matilda of England, as Duchess of Saxony, in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
Although no English princess became a queen of France, that is not to say English princesses did not marry Frenchmen. It is, perhaps, a clear indication of the animosity of Anglo-French relations in medieval times that kings of England were far happier to marry their daughters to the counts and dukes of the many semi-autonomous regions of France, such as Brittany, Toulouse and Blois; regions that challenged and stalled the expansion of the kingdom of France itself. The marriages of daughters into Germany, the Low Countries and Spain also served the policy of containing England’s biggest rival within its borders and preventing expansion into territories that could threaten England’s trading routes and sphere of influence.
Royal women journeyed great distances to marry. Empress Matilda is, perhaps, the most famous, but also Joanna Plantagenet, Henry II’s daughter and Richard I’s sister, and Isabella, Henry III’s sister, travelled further than most of the English princesses. While Empress Matilda remained close to her family through letters, there may also have been a meeting with her father on the borders of their respective domains in the late 1110s. Of Joanna and Isabella, each received visits from their brothers. Though in Isabella’s case it was her brother Richard, rather than Henry himself, she would also have met up with her younger sister, Eleanor, who stayed in Italy while her husband, Simon de Montfort, joined her brother Richard on Crusade. And in Joanna’s case, it was a little more than a visit, joining her brother, Richard the Lionheart, in the Third Crusade. But it seems apparent that both brothers, on their way to the Crusades, planned their routes to facilitate a meeting with their respective sisters.
And then there were the scandals, King Henry I’s illegitimate daughter, Juliane, who tried to kill her own father with a crossbow. And Joan, Lady of Wales, the illegitimate daughter of King John, the wife of Llywelyn the Great, who was found in her husband’s bedroom with another man. Such stories serve to demonstrate that life was did not always give royal women a ‘happily ever after’.
There were also royal daughters who were not born as princesses, but achieved that style through their father’s claiming of the English throne. Of William the Conqueror’s daughters, only the youngest, Adela, Countess of Blois, was born ‘in the purple’. We know this as Godfrey of Reims wrote a poem saying just that:
The duke’s child would rise to become an excellent woman, The goddess did not think it sufficient for her to be of ducal status. The royal virgin obtained by fate that her father would be king. In order for Adela to be the daughter of a king, the Fates allowed the father to establish himself as king. Because the virgin was not allowed to leave the womb Her father owed the kingdom of England to her
Philippa, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Later, Henry of Bolingbroke’s seizure of the throne in 1399 created two new princesses of England, Blanche and Philippa. Their mother, Mary de Bohun, had died giving birth to Philippa in 1394 and in 1398, their father had been sent into exile; only to return the following year and force Richard II’s abdication. Their father’s accession as Henry IV saw the two girls’ marriage prospects improve dramatically. As the daughters of a duke, they would have expected to marry a rich heir to English lands. As the daughters of a king, they were now bargaining chips in international relations. Marriage would see Philippa become queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while Blanche would travel to Germany to become Countess Palatine, taking with her a magnificent, jewel-encrusted crown that has survived to this day. Blanche fulfilled her duties by producing a son and heir, in what appears to have been a happy and loving marriage. Philippa never realised the joy of motherhood but ably attended to her duties as queen in other ways, as a protector and patron of her people, even leading the defence of Copenhagen, and a trusted consort and regent for her husband, King Eric.
Though not technically princesses, even illegitimate daughters could prove useful to kings. Henry I, in particular, would use his 10 illegitimate daughters to strengthen and cement alliances just as legitimate princesses could have been, with one Sybilla of Normandy becoming Queen of Scots, on her marriage to King Alexander I. The advantage to a king was that such marriages brought kings and rivals into the family, without passing on any claim to the English throne, thus being no threat to the king’s legitimate heirs.
As a usurpation can make princesses, as in the case of Henry IV’s daughters, it can also unmake them. With Richard III’s seizure of the throne in 1483, the daughters of Edward IV went from being the pampered darlings of England, with glittering futures ahead of them, to the bastardised daughters of a bigamous dead king.
What a change in fortunes!
The York sisters from the window in Canterbury Cathedral
As events unfolded in the summer of 1483, and the two princes were held in the Tower of London, gradually seen less and less within the precincts of the fortress, until they were no longer seen at all, Elizabeth of York and her sisters remained in sanctuary with their mother. A focus for political disaffection and an embarrassment to the new regime, it was a situation that Richard III could not allow to continue. Rumours abounded that plans were afoot to sneak the old king’s daughters out of Sanctuary and away to the Continent, safely beyond the reach of Richard and at the disposal of loyal Yorkists wanting to reinstate the line of Edward IV. To thwart such plans, Richard decided to open negotiations with Elizabeth Woodville, to persuade her to allow her daughters to leave sanctuary. Agreement was reached in March 1484, whereby Elizabeth of York and her sisters would be treated as befitted the king’s kinswomen.
After almost a year within the confines of Westminster Abbey, the daughters of Edward IV emerged from their sanctuary and were given lodgings at court. They had lost the prospect of dazzling futures as queens and duchesses and their status was now forever tainted by the questions over their legitimacy.
Richard III himself did have at least two illegitimate children and one of those was a daughter, Katherine. She would not be a princess, but as the natural daughter of a king, she has her place in history. Unfortunately, the information on Katherine Plantagenet is scant. Her date and year of birth are unknown. Given Richard’s reputation for piety and loyalty, it is assumed that she was born before Richard’s marriage to Anne Neville in 1472, as she herself was married in 1484. The minimum age for girls to marry was 12, but most parents waited until their daughters were 14 or 15, at least, before finding them husbands. Richard chose his friend William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, as his daughter’s husband. Herbert agreed to provide Katherine with a jointure worth £200 a year. For his part, the king agreed to bear the costs of the marriage and to endow that couple with lands and lordships that they could pass on to their male heirs. Katherine died before the coronation of Elizabeth of York in 1486 and was buried in the church of St James Garlickhithe, London.
Crown of Blanche of England
The experiences of the royal daughters throughout the the medieval era are disparate, not just in their futures but even in their family lives as they were growing up. Not all princesses were made in the same mould and each one found her own way to deal with her life and the cards that she was dealt. In my research I frequently discovered instances of happy medieval marriages – and even if a marriage was not based on love, it did not mean that it would not be successful. Indeed, in many such cases the young woman concerned found her own way of succeeding, whether it was through her children or the management of estates – or the fact that a lasting peace was achieved between her two countries.
Events in England would surely have taught them to weather the storms of married life – and international relations.
One thing is certain, these women were not mere pawns, or ornaments on the arm of a king, prince, duke or lord. They were not simply baby-making machines. Yes, in the masculine world they inhabited, a boy was always a prime requirement. A son was needed to continue the family line, to rule and command armies. But daughters were also necessary. They had a purpose – to seal alliances and to act as diplomats to protect English interests in the countries into which they married.
Their stories are quite remarkable.
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Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets tell the stories of England’s royal daughters from 1066 to the rise of the Tudors, from the last Anglo-Saxon princesses to the fall of the House of York.
Were they really pampered pawns sent off to marriages on the Continent, out of sight and out of mind?
Perhaps, there was different story, where a foreign marriage does not mean eternal exile, but a purpose in life, where a princess is a diplomat, an ambassador for England in her new country.
Where she is the bond between allies – most of the time.
Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking...
Praise for Princesses of the Early Middle Ages:
Heidi Malagisi: ‘This is another excellent book by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Extremely well researched and relatively easy to follow along, which is a great thing because there are so many Matildas and Eleanors in this book.‘
Tony Riches: “I challenge anyone with an interest in medieval Britain to not find something they will learn from this book.”
Anna Belfrage: “I just love how [Sharon] presents this huge cast of real life people in a casual, chatty tone that has me expecting the various female protagonists to suddenly pop their head up and add their own commentary.“
Praise for Princesses of the Later Middle Ages:
Elizabeth Chadwick:‘Really interesting and informative and gives a great handle on the goings on surrounding these ladies!’
Kathryn Warner: ‘A deeply researched, richly detailed and fascinating account of late medieval England’s forgotten princesses. I loved it!’
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshopor the Contact Me page.
New in Paperback:
The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play during the Norman Conquest – wives, lovers, sisters, mothers, leaders. These are lives full of drama, pathos and sometimes mystery: Edith and Gytha searching the battlefield of Hastings for the body of Harold, his lover and mother united in their grief for the fallen king. Who was Ælfgyva, the lady of the Bayeux Tapestry, portrayed with a naked man at her feet?
Janina Ramirez said it’s ‘Excellent’!
Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the threats and challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation.
Derek Birks: ‘An excellent account of the changing roles of women in Tudor society.’
Annie Whitehead: ‘What a treat this book was to read. Bennett Connolly has an easy, conversation style of writing which welcomes you from the opening pages and draws you into her story.‘
Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:
Heroines of the Medieval World; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest; Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England; Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey; King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye; Women of the Anarchy; Heroines of the Tudor World; Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark; Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest (March 2026); Princesses of the Later Middle Ages; Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets (August 2026)
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Ian Mortimer, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Chadwick and Scott Mariani, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Matilda of Flanders was the consummate duchess and queen. Born in the early to mid-1030s, possibly around 1032, Matilda was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and his wife Adela of France, a daughter of Robert the Pious, King of France. Matilda had two brothers and each of them became Count of Flanders in his turn; Baldwin of Mons and Robert the Frisian. As is often the case with medieval women, we know very little of Matilda’s early life, though it is likely she was raised alongside her aunt, Judith, her father’s sister who was of a similar age to Matilda, and who would go on to marry Tostig, Earl of Northumberland and brother of king Harold II.
The first time Matilda appears on the world stage is when her marriage is being discussed. There is a popular story of how Matilda refused to marry William, Duke of Normandy, stating that she was too highly born to marry a bastard. As the legend goes; on hearing this, William was so infuriated that he rode to Flanders and confronted Matilda. He is said to have thrown her to the ground, before pulling her braids and cutting her with his spurs. Matilda, unlikely as it seems, then accepted his proposal and they were married. Despite the story most likely being a later invention, William was the one to propose the marriage and, although he was a duke, his illegitimacy would have meant making a proposal to a niece of the King of France was audacious, to say the least.
The arrangements for the marriage of Matilda and William probably started in 1048, but it was a long, drawn out matter, marred by papal and political machinations. The Synod of Reims, of 3 and 4 October 1049, issued a decree instructing Count Baldwin not to allow the marriage of his daughter to Duke William. However, despite these papal objections, Matilda and William were married by 1053, at the latest. A penance was later imposed on the couple for their disobedience in marrying against papal prohibition. Each was to found an abbey; William founded the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, or St Stephen’s Abbey, in his Norman capital of Caen, while Matilda founded the Abbaye-aux-Dames, or Holy Trinity Abbey, in the same city. The two abbeys still stand to this day.
William the Conqueror from the Bayeux Tapestry
The marriage between Matilda and William proved to be a strong and trusting relationship; William is one of very few medieval kings believed to have been completely faithful to his wife, no known lovers or illegitimate children have ever been uncovered, although that did not stop the rumours. William of Malmesbury related one such story, of William having a mistress, the daughter of a priest, who Matilda ordered to be hamstrung and disinherited; in punishment, Matilda is said to have been beaten to death by a horse bridle. Malmesbury himself was sceptical of the story and, given that Matilda’s death came after a short illness in 1083, it does seem rather far-fetched.
William trusted Matilda to act as regent in Normandy during his many absences on campaign or in England. Their relationship appears to have been more of a partnership than most marriages of the time; she was witness to thirty-nine pre-conquest and sixty-one post-conquest charters. Matilda supported her husband’s proposed invasion of England; she promised a great ship for William’s personal use, called the Mora. Just before leaving for England in 1066, William accompanied Matilda to the consecration of her foundation, Holy Trinity Abbey – the Abbaye-aux-Dames – in Caen, arranging for his duchess to act as regent in his absence. The Conquest was a close-run thing and it was not until 1068 that William felt secure enough to bring his wife to England for her coronation. Matilda, six months pregnant with her son Henry, who would be born at Selby in September, was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, by Archbishop Ealdred of Canterbury, at Whitsuntide 1068.
Matilda and William had a large family, with four boys and at least four daughters. Of their sons; the eldest, Robert Curthose, would inherit Normandy, Richard was killed in a hunting accident as a youth, William, known as Rufus, became King William II, and the youngest was the future King Henry I. Of the four or five daughters; Adeliza became a nun following a series of failed marriage plans, Cecilia was given to the convent of Ste Trinité as a child, Constance married Alain Fergant, Duke of Brittany, and Adela married Stephen of Blois and was the mother of King Stephen of England. There are suggestions of two further daughters, Matilda and Agatha, though evidence for their existence is limited. And for nearly 800 years it was believed that Gundrada de Warenne, wife of William de Warenne, the first Earl of Warenne and Surrey, was also a daughter of William and Matilda, but this seems increasingly unlikely and most historians argue against the theory.
Queen Matilda was very close to her family, especially her eldest son, Robert. William and Robert, father and son, however, were often at loggerheads, with Robert rebelling against his father as a young man. Matilda was constantly trying to play the peacemaker. During a period of exile imposed on Robert, Matilda still supported her son as best she could; she would send him vast amounts of silver and gold through a Breton messenger, Samson.
Although the problems with Robert, their eldest son, caused considerable tensions within the marriage, Matilda and William’s relationship is one of the most successful of the medieval period. Their partnership as rulers, and as husband and wife, was strong and appeared to be one built on mutual respect. One contemporary remarked that ‘The Queen adored the King and the King the Queen.’1
Matilda’s youngest son Henry I, King of England
Matilda’s piety was renowned. Although founding the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen was a penance for her irregular marriage to William, her constant and repeated donations to religious houses demonstrated her dedication to her faith. The nuns of her abbey at Ste Trinité, Caen, received a substantial bequest from Matilda’s will, written the year before her death; as well as her crown and sceptre, they were given a chalice, a chasuble, a mantle of brocade, two golden chains with a cross, a chain decorated with emblems for hanging a lamp in front of the altar, several large candelabras, the draperies for her horse and all the vases ‘which she had not yet handed out during her life’. 2
Having drawn up her will in 1082, it is possible that Matilda was aware of her illness long before her last summer. The continuing worry over the rift between her husband and beloved son cannot have helped her health, and the arrival of winter saw her gravely ill. Matilda died on 2 November 1083, having ‘confessed her sins with bitter tears and, after fully accomplishing all that Christian custom requires and being fortified by the saving sacrament’.3 Her husband was with her throughout the final moments of her illness, and he ‘… showed many days of the deepest mourning how much he missed the love of her whom he had lost’.4 She was buried at Ste Trinité, Caen, following a funeral that lasted two days and that was attended by a host of monks, abbots, bishops and nuns and a host of people came to pay homage. There is no record of which of her children attended the funeral, although her daughter Cecilia was most likely in attendance, being a nun of the abbey. The original tombstone still survives; it has an inscription carved around the edge, emphasising her royal descent on her mother’s side.
Queen Matilda’s Grave, Ste Trinité, Caen
Matilda’s height has been discussed frequently by historians, with some claiming that she was a dwarf. The casket, containing her bones, was opened in 1961 and misreported as revealing a woman of about 4ft 2in tall. However, Professor Dastague, from the Institut D’Anthropologie at Caen, who was present at the original dig confirmed that it had been calculated that Matilda was in fact 152cm, about 5ft, in height.5 Matilda’s actual height cannot be said with certainty, however, as the skeleton which was examined was incomplete. The queen’s grave had been destroyed in the sixteenth century, during the French Wars of Religion, and much of her remains never recovered.
William the Conqueror followed his wife to the grave four years later, in 1087. In many aspects of her life, Matilda is clearly seen as the ideal medieval wife and mother. Ever supportive of her husband, he relied heavily on her to administer Normandy in his frequent absences. Even when disobeying William, in her support of their eldest son Robert, she was still trying to be the embodiment of the good medieval woman, playing the peacemaker between warring members of her family. Her piety and steadfast support of her husband provided an example for future queens, and noble ladies, to follow.
This article, first appeared in March 2019, as Matilda of Flanders: The Ideal Medieval Queen, on Mary Anne Yarde’s wonderful blog Myths, Legends, Book and Coffee Pots.
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Footnotes:
[1] Les Oeuvres Poétiques de Baudri de Bourgueil edited by P. Abrahams; [2] Musset, La Reine Mathilde, quoted by Elizabeth van Houts in oxforddnb.com. [3] Matilda by Tracy Borman, [4] Chronicles of the Kings of England, From the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen by William of Malmesbury; [5] A Historical Obstetric Enigma: How Tall was Matilda? (article) by J Dewhurst Journal of Obstetriccs and Gynaecology.
Pictures:
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Sources:
England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; Heroines of the Medieval World by Sharon Bennett Connolly; Chronicles of the Kings of England, From the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen by William of Malmesbury; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest by Sharon Bennett Connolly; Brewer’s British Royalty by David Williamson; Britain’s Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; Matilda by Tracy Borman; The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by Michael Swanton; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by James Ingram; The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley; oxforddnb.com; Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, was NOT a Dwarf (article) by Marc Morris, marcmorris.org.uk; womenshistory.about.com; epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; Les Oeuvres Poétiques de Baudri de Bourgueil edited by P. Abrahams
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop or the Contact Me page.
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New Hardbacks
‘My daughter wanted me to treat her more like a princess. So, I married her to a stranger to strengthen the alliance with Poland!’
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets tell the stories of England’s royal daughters from 1066 to the rise of the Tudors, from the last Anglo-Saxon princesses to the fall of the House of York.
Were they really pampered pawns sent off to marriages on the Continent, out of sight and out of mind?
Perhaps, there was different story, where a foreign marriage does not mean eternal exile, but a purpose in life, where a princess is a diplomat, an ambassador for England in her new country.
Where she is the bond between allies – most of the time.
Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking...
Heidi Malagisi: ‘This is another excellent book by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Extremely well researched and relatively easy to follow along, which is a great thing because there are so many Matildas and Eleanors in this book.‘
Tony Riches: “I challenge anyone with an interest in medieval Britain to not find something they will learn from this book.”
Anna Belfrage: “I just love how [Sharon] presents this huge cast of real life people in a casual, chatty tone that has me expecting the various female protagonists to suddenly pop their head up and add their own commentary.“
Elizabeth Chadwick: “Every history buff should have this excellent work on their shelves. Sharon Bennett Connolly brings these often forgotten ladies of the Middle Ages out of the shadows and stands them in the spotlight. Triumphs, tragedies, elopements, stormy marriages, love stories, formidable personalities, it’s all here on the pages of history, brought to life by the meticulous research of Sharon Bennett Connolly. I loved it!“
Kathryn Warner: ‘A deeply researched, richly detailed and fascinating account of late medieval England’s forgotten princesses. I loved it!‘
The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play during the Norman Conquest – wives, lovers, sisters, mothers, leaders. These are lives full of drama, pathos and sometimes mystery: Edith and Gytha searching the battlefield of Hastings for the body of Harold, his lover and mother united in their grief for the fallen king. Who was Ælfgyva, the lady of the Bayeux Tapestry, portrayed with a naked man at her feet?
Janina Ramirez said it’s ‘Excellent’!
Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the threats and challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation.
Derek Birks: ‘An excellent account of the changing roles of women in Tudor society.’
Annie Whitehead: ‘What a treat this book was to read. Bennett Connolly has an easy, conversation style of writing which welcomes you from the opening pages and draws you into her story.‘
Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:
Heroines of the Medieval World; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest; Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England; Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey; King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye; Women of the Anarchy; Heroines of the Tudor World; Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark; Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest (March 2026); Princesses of the Later Middle Ages; Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets (August 2026)
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Ian Mortimer, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Chadwick and Scott Mariani, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Adela of Normandy was the daughter of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, and his wife, Matilda of Flanders.
Although most sources give her date of birth around 1061/2, the Oxford Database of National Biography argues that her birth was after the Norman Conquest, as contemporary poetry suggests she was born the daughter of a king, rather than a duke.
Adela was one of nine or ten children born to William and Matilda, with at least four sisters and four brothers, although only three of her brothers survived to adulthood. Given her high level of literacy, and her patronage of poets in adulthood, it is likely that Adela was very well-educated as a child; either through tutors or possibly through residence in a convent, as happened with many daughters of the nobility at that time.
As a child, it seems, a marriage was arranged between Adela and Simon Crispin, count of Amiens; however, the groom chose to take monastic vows and an alternative marriage had to be found. As part of an alliance directed against the aggressive counts of Anjou, Adela was then betrothed to Stephen of Blois, son of Count Theobald III, count of Blois and Champagne. Stephen was about 20 years older than his bride. The formal betrothal took place at Bourgueil and was later followed by a lavish wedding ceremony in Chartres Cathedral in about 1081.
Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres
Adela and Stephen would have up to eleven children in all, with at least two sons born before Stephen succeeded his father as Count of Blois and Champagne in 1090.
Of their five daughters, Matilda married Richard d’Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Tragically, he couple drowned in the White Ship disaster which deprived Henry I of his son and heir, William. Another daughter, Eleanor, married Raoul, Count of Vermandois. He was the brother of Isabelle de Vermandois, Countess of Leicester and Surrey.
Adela’s eldest surviving son seems to have been disinherited at an early age. However, while he is described as an ‘idiot’ by some, William was married to Agnes, the daughter of Giles, Lord of Sulli, and was given the titles Count of Chartres and Lord of Sulli, but was not allowed to inherit the richer county of Blois; which went to his younger brother, Theobald.
Poetry from the time of her wedding describes Adela as valorous, learned and generous. Indeed, she seems to have been a great asset to her husband, who included her in charitable donations and even in his early judicial rulings. Adela developed a cordial relationship with Bishop Ivo of Chartres, which worked well to maintain the peace between the laity and the clergy in the county.
In 1095 Stephen of Blois joined the First Crusade, leaving Adela as head of the family and regent of his domains. Letters that the count sent to his wife indicate a great level of affection and trust; Adela was given charge of the family’s finances. However, Stephen’s return from crusade appears of have been less than happy. Adela believed that he had not fulfilled his crusader’s vow and her criticism may have been a contributing factor in his return to the Holy Land in 1101 – she certainly approved of it.
Theobald IV, Count of Blois and Champagne
Stephen was killed in combat in the Holy Land, during the siege of Ramallah in May 1102. He was succeeded as Count of Blois by his 2nd surviving son, Theobald. Theobald was knighted in 1107, by which point his older brother, William, had already been removed from the succession to Blois. William inherited the lesser title of Count of Chartres.
Following Stephen’s death Adela continued to act as regent until Theobald attained his majority. Even after Theobald came of age, mother and son ruled jointly until Adela retired from public life in 1120.
Adela was particularly close to her younger brother, Henry, who would later become King Henry I of England. She even supported him against their oldest brother, Robert, when Henry claimed the English crown.
An able administrator and negotiator, Adela settled many disputes among monasteries, and even between monasteries and laymen, in her own domains and beyond. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of William II and Henry I, praised her skills as negotiator and peacemaker following her success at achieving a temporary truce between Anselm and her brother in 1105.
Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester
Anselm described her as an ardent supporter of papal reform, and enjoyed her hospitality during his exile from England. Adela hosted many other church dignitaries, including archbishop Thurstan of York and Pope Paschal II. Her family’s prestige and power was bolstered by her friendships with the leading ecclesiastic figures in both France and England.
An avid patroness of the arts, Adela corresponded with such dignitaries as Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans and Abbot Baudri of Bourgeuil – later bishop of Dol – who both wrote poems dedicated to the countess. The book Ecclesiastical History Together with the Deeds of the Romans and the Franks, written by Hugh of Fleury, was dedicated to Adela.
One of Adela’s youngest sons, Henry of Winchester, was dedicated to the church at an early age, and was raised at the Priory of Cluny in France. He was nominated as Bishop of Winchester in 1129 and was a great support to his older brother, Stephen, when he claimed the throne of England on his uncle Henry’s death in 1135, at the expense of Henry’s daughter, Matilda
An active ruler Adela regularly toured the family’s domains, both as regent and mother of the reigning count. She also maintained links with the Anglo-Norman and Capetian kings. In 1101 Adela sent knights to help Philip I of France’s son, Louis, battling against rebels north of Paris.
King Stephen
However, by 1107 her son Theobald had joined the revolt and relations with France were to deteriorate further in 1113 when the allied forces of Theobald, Henry I and Adela defeated a Capetian-Angevin army. After further conflict in 1118 Adela used her wealth and diplomatic skills to benefit her family.
In 1120 Adela stopped using the title of countess and retired to the Clunaic Priory of Marcigny; the same year that her daughter Matilda died in the White Ship disaster off Barfleur in Normandy. She continued to be active in political affairs and lived to see her son, Stephen, claim the throne of England, though not the 20 years of conflict that ensued.
Aged almost 70, and having been a widow for half of her life, this most remarkable woman, Adela of Normandy, former Countess of Blois and Chartres, died in 1137, possibly on 8th March. Although later tradition has her buried with her mother at Holy Trinity in Caen, contemporary sources say she was buried at Marcigny.
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Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia
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Sources: England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; Heroines of the Medieval World by Sharon Bennett Connolly; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest by Sharon Bennett Connolly; Brewer’s British Royalty by David Williamson; Britain’s Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley; oxforddnb.com; epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; womenshistory.about.com.
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