Miniseries One: The Children of The Conqueror Were Bastards
Transcript:
Miniseries One: The Children of the Conqueror Were Bastards
Intro:
This week’s episode is: The Children of the Conqueror were Bastards.
Hopefully the title is giving a few of you a hint as to who I will be discussing in the coming weeks. In autumn 1066 the Anglo-Saxon world was decisively changed. While at first glance it looks like the normal impacts of loosing a war of conquest, the cultural change, even at the highest levels would take generations to adjust. One of the noticeable changes was the replacement of the Anglo-Saxon nobility or ealdermen with Norman barons. To them this makes sense, those who supported the old regime need to be punished for loosing and those that supported the new king need rewarded, but this change had an unexpected impact that wouldn’t be felt until after the first Norman king died. As many of you will know, the Witenagemot (Wite-en a gu- moht) or Witan, a council of ealdermen, chooses the new king from eligible men, most of the time the oldest son of the previous king, but sometimes his brother or nephew depending on the ages of those eligible and the politics at the time. With the replacement of ealdermen with barons this tradition was wiped out, Norman traditions followed those of their French rulers, the oldest son was the heir unless their was an impediment. This loss sets up our three passed for this min-series: the first Robert Curthose, has been maligned by history for 900 years and only recently has his story been rehabilitated. He’s an older son whose timing and luck could not have been worse. Second is probably the most well known of the group, the Empress Matilda. Her father’s experiment at getting the first female king (I’ll explain my reason for choosing this term in her episode) of England crowned was an abject failure, but her fight to ensure the succession of her son and her life in general is a story worth hearing. Finally, the least known of this group, Matilda’s half-brother, Robert, earl of Gloucester. Her greatest supporters who could have easily been her greatest rival. His story is not regularly told when looking at the Normans, but I believe it should be shared. Not just as his sister’s military arm, but because he shows how self-reflection can really be the key to a great life, a fulfilling life, and one that leads to being a respected man instead of a historical joke. Before I can share their stories I need to share a bit of the first Norman king, William the Conqueror as he’s known to most, but William the Bastard as he started his life. For a lot of students of English history it starts in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, so I’ll start there. Don’t worry, the Anglo-Saxons will have at least one mini-series of their own, I haven’t forgotten them.
The story goes that on October 14th 1066 King Harold of England was killed by an arrow through the eye. No one knows who actually shot this arrow, but the result was simple, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom fell and was replaced by the Normans. Harald likely wasn’t killed by an arrow, if he and his men had broke ranks, it is highly unlikely Norman archers would have risked shooting their own men. More likely he was unhorsed by a spear and then cut down once on the ground. The result was the same though, regardless of the cause. William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, became William the Conqueror, he was crowned on Christmas day in Westminster. It took William a few more years to complete his conquest on England, but he was mostly in charge. He had left his sons, including his oldest son Robert, in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, with his wife Matilda of Flanders.
William hadn’t gone to England because he thought it would be fun to take a throne, he had both a religious reason and a financial reason. Years earlier, while Edward the Confessor was still king Harold had visited William in Rouen. We don’t know the exact reason for his visit, the two stories told both have flaws. His supposed motivation was to ask to marry one of William’s daughters, but there is a small chance he had been sent there to swear fealty to William as Edward’s declared heir. The former is more likely, only because the latter is not how succession occurred in England at this time. As mentioned above, the Witan chooses the new king, the previous king can discuss his choice with his ealdermen, but he has no actual say. While spending time in Normandy, as William’s guest Harold was asked at some point to swear allegiance to William, likely for a land grant in Normandy. This swearing would have a huge impact on history. William used the claim that King Harald had sworn on relics to support his claim to the throne to ecclesiastical authorities. Oaths sworn on relics were sacred, and failure to uphold these oaths was a valid reason under church law to excommunicate a king, meaning his rule was open to be overthrown. Both Harold and William had rather tenuous claims to the English throne in the first place, and money can drive men (and women). /the simple fact is that England was a wealthy country, it was advanced, had trade links throughout Europe both in the North Sea and the continent. It’s minting practices were considered some of the best of its time. England was a prize, and it did not have much in the way of an heir at the start of 1066. Edward the Confessor was in a coma. A decade earlier he had brought his nephew, Edward the Exile to England from Hungry where the latter had spent most of his life. The Exile brought his wife, two daughters, and son with him. Sadly, he died not long after his arrival. His son, Edgar was only five at the time, in 1066 he was 14, far too young to be a ruler in a time when kings needed to literally lead armies. When the Confessor died on the 5th of January 1066 William was hoping he would have a chance at the throne, he was a cousin to the king, unlike Harald, who was the son of the man who killed the Confessor’s brother.
After Edwards death the Witan had a decision to make, for them it looked like Harold or the young Edgar Aethling. Harold was, supposedly, suggested by Edward the Confessor himself and the Witan likely selected him because he was a powerful earl, with many men under his control. He was a formidable warrior, and they would have known that they needed that. Having had stability for the Confessor’s reign having a stable transition was important. The Witan may not have realised how big of an impact their decision would have. They were often educated and influential men, but they didn’t know how much William wanted to be king.
Other than having been promised he’d be king William had little going for his claim. His father’s aunt, Emma of Normandy was Edward the Confessor’s mother. Being the cousin of the king through a non-English line would not normally entitle William to anything. William and Edward would have spent a great deal of time together. Edward had grown up in Normandy during his exile while Cnut was ruling England. Emma had sent her sons to her nephew’s court to protect them from her second husband. There was a more than 20 year age gap between Edward and William, but it’s easy to imagine Edward had a huge influence on his cousin.
The story of 1066 is one that most school children, at least those with an interest in history know well, but the chaos of the Norman kings of England extends through all three generations. There wasn’t a single uncontested ascension from 1066 until 1154 when Henry II ascended on the death of Stephen, and I would argue that ascension was rather contentious while uncontested. William, William Rufus, Henry I, and Stephen, all four lacked stability in many ways, only Henry maintained control of the entire Anglo-Norman empire through most of his reign. While it wasn’t constant war, it all would have hurt England’s economy and made the stability of Edward the Confessor a thing of dreams. William’s descendants would go on to rule England, to this day, but there was a great deal of confusion as to who would be ruling in many cases.
The story of our three passed needed the framing of William of Normandy through this introduction. He is a truly formidable man in history. One of the few to ever win a country through right of conquest and the last to do so in England for more than 400 years. William and Matilda were a devoted couple who had four sons and five daughters who reached adulthood. Despite his birth as a bastard there is no evidence of him having any illegitimate children of his own. With four sons the succession of his line looked as though it was safe, he had three spares for his oldest. Sadly, his second son, Richard, died in the New Forest in 1075, his death was an accident, but the New Forest would be fatal for many Normans. When William died in 1087 none of his three remaining sons were married.
One of the more enjoyable things I found thought out my research, Normans were amazing with their sobriquets (su-bri-kes), often focusing on a feature that one would like to forget, or a style that a child has no control over, I will use these regularly because the Normans also used the same name for multiple people each generation, for example Henry I’s mother, wife, and four daughters were known as Matilda, and of course his father, brother, three sons, and nephew were all William. The oldest of William’s sons, Robert Curthrose, had received his nickname as a tease from his father, his given name was most likely to honour his paternal grand father, maternal uncle, and paternal half-uncle. Curthrose means ‘short boots’. William’s second surviving son, William Rufus, meaning ‘the red’, apparently a tease about the colour his face became when he was angry became king in 1087, his given name of course comes from his father. Rufus was succeeded by William’s youngest surviving son, Henry Beauclerc. Henry received his nickname from his brothers due to his seemingly highbrow education, being able to read was a lot at this time, his given name came through his mother’s uncle, it would become a popular name in the next generation. How these two brothers usurped their older brother will be our first story.
Our second and third stories will look at what happened when the only legitimate son of Henry Beauclerc, William Adelin, died in 1120 in the White Ship disaster. Henry had plenty of other children, One legitimate daughter, The Empress Maud or Matilda, and 24 known illegitimate children, including his oldest son, Robert of Gloucester.
Matilda was announced as Henry’s official heir and all the Norman and English barons declared loyalty to her twice prior to his death. This didn’t stop her cousin, Stephen, from usurping her throne. She is sometimes considered the first queen of England, but due to never being crowned and never having a stable hold on the country she isn’t included in official lists. Her half brother, Robert of Gloucester was one of Henry’s greatest generals and his sister’s greatest supporter. His grandfather, WIlliam the Bastard was a recognised son, born out of wedlock and it did nothing to stop him from becoming both Duke of Normandy and King of England. Sadly, for Gloucester, things had changed greatly since that time. While he could be a great knight, a general for his sister, her literal protector in many occasions he could never be king. His story is one that is not told in many places, and I would like to change that.
Unlike future series this on is unique. All three of the subjects lived full lives, one lived into his eighties, an amazing age for his time. This means these episodes will be a bit meatier. They were all active politically, socially, and military in the areas they controlled, these weren’t young men in their late teens or early twenties just showing who they were. Those young men will be almost more interesting for what they left behind and the wish for things to have been different. But these three, they make what could have been different less speculative, this is part of my reason for choosing this group first. I do enjoy a good what-if, but occasionally being able to see the full story is also nice.
I would like to end this episodes with a few thank yous. First, my wonderful husband, Phillip, thank you for listening to all my random history thoughts, for proof-reading each script, and for listening to each episode first. Your encouragement and support have been amazing. To my friends who have all asked to know when the podcast is starting and have shown an interest, thank you. And to you, my listeners, thank you. I hope you enjoy this and I look forward to hearing from you all.
