Bertrade de Montfort

Countess of Anjou

His/her mother dies before her father, which dies in 1087. She is then entrusted to the guard of her uncle Guillaume, count d' Évreux. Of a great beauty, its hand is required by Foulque IV Réchin (1042 † 1109) count d' Anjou, which obtains it only following one bargaining and after having repudiated his preceding wife with the reason for a consanguinity. Indeed, the noble ones of the Maine had revolted against their suzerain, Robert Courteheuse, duke of Normandy. Robert asked of the assistance the count d' Anjou, who required in return the hand of Bertrade. Guillaume d' Évreux, requested to give his agreement to the marriage, accepted only in exchange of a compensation, which took the shape of the grounds having belonged to Raoul de Gacé. The marriage took place in 1089, and the count of Anjou repressed the revolt of Manceaux.

Bertrade gave rise to:

Foulque V the Young person (v. 1090 † 1144), future count d' Anjou and of Maine (1109-1129), and king de Jérusalem (1131-1144).

Queen of France

But Bertrade is not satisfied a husband thirty years older than it, and dreams of a more prestigious situation. At that time, Philippe {{Ier}} (1052 † 1108), king de France, wearied Berthe of Holland, his first wife, formed the project to repudiate it for remarier. Having obtained guarantees of several bishops, it made lock up Berthe of Holland in a monastery of Montreuil-sur-Mer and considered of wife Emma, girl of the count Roger Ier of Sicily. At this point in time Bertrade forwarded to him a message saying to him that its marriage with Foulque was null, since the preceding wife was still alive, and that it was laid out to marry Philippe. This last, allured by its beauty, accepted and sent a detachment of officer devoted for the ammener to Paris.

Yves, bishop of Chartres, put at the current of the project of marriage, protested vigorously against this double adultery, engaged the bishops of France with not assiter with the weddings and will réferra of them with the pope Urbain II. Only three flattering bishops, those of Senlis, Troyes and Meaux prétèrent themselves with this marriage, and the archbishop of Rheims assisted to with it passively. Philippe Ier ordered with Hugues Ier of Puiset, Viscount of Chartres, to throw the bishop of Chartres in prison. Hugues, archbishop of Lyon, legate of the Holy See as a Gaulle, addresses a report/ratio, while Robert the Clippings, count de Flandre and father-in-law of Berthe of Holland, and Foulque Réchin, first husband of Bertrade, took the weapons.

Extremely papal support, Raynald, archbishop of Rheims, threatened Hugues de Puiset who slackened the Yves bishop, but addressed themselves to the king mollement to encourage it to give up Bertrade. At this point in time Berthe of Holland died in Montreuil. Philippe benefitted from it to announce that if God had thus released it from the bonds of the marriage, the bishops could do it for Bertrade and asked them to cancel its first marriage with Foulque and to recognize the royal marriage. The pope refused, required initially the tender and the penitence of the king and his legate, the Hugues archbishop of Lyon, joins together a council with Autun which pronounced the Excommunication of Philippe and Bertrade. To save time, Philippe invited some with the pope, who convened a council with Plaisance in March 1095. Pretexting prevention unforeseen, the king asked for a time, and a new council was joins together the November 18th 1095 with Clermont. This council decided crusade, but Urbain II, indicator which the king had not presented there, confirmed excommunication. This excommunication, badly accepted by the people, addition with the Prohibited that the pope threw on France, ends up making yield Philippe who separated from Bertrade in 1096.

But Philippe did not acknowledge himself not overcome and then tried to scramble the two partisans of the pope, Yves of Chartres and Hugues of Lyon. He benefitted from it to take again Bertrade, but the pope reconciled Yves and Hugues. He excommunicated Philippe again, but died a little later on July 29th, 1099. The new pope, Pascal II, although occupied by the fight against the Holy roman Empire, maintained excommunication and convened a consile with Valence, then at Poitiers, in November 1100. This second council missed being dispersed by Guillaume IX of Poitiers, but confirms the excommunication of the royal couple. In spite of opposition of Bertrade, which would have liked that one of its sons goes up on the throne, the prince Louis, wire of Philippe and Berthe of Holland, is crowned and associated with the Crown. The situation became intolerable for Philippe and Bertrade: each time they went in a city of the kingdom, the offices were suspended, the churches were closed, and the royal couple considered as the pestiferous ones. Nothing evolved/moved until 1104, when the king and the queen agreed to present themselves to a new council, convened with Beaugency. Philippe still sought to save time while agreeing to subject and make penitence in exchange of the exemptions allowing the marriage with Bertrade. One of the participants of the council, Robert d' Arbrissel, then made a speech which, against any waiting, upset Bertrade. She asked to discuss with him, and then decided to give up her marriage and her privileges.

Of its second union with Philippe, Bertrade had given rise to:

Philippe (v. 1093 † apr. 1133), count de Mantes, married with the girl of GUI II of Montlhéry.
Fleury (v. 1095 † apr. 1119), lord of Nangy, by marriage
Cecile (v. 1097 † apr. 1145), married to Tancrède de Hauteville, prince de Galilée and regent of Antioche, then with Pons of Toulouse, count de Tripoli.
Eustachie († 1143), married to Jean, count d' Étampes.

Moniale with Fontevrault

Returned in Paris, it meant in Philippe that it was subjected to the church, left the court and went to Anjou, in a village of huts around a named source the fountain of Evrault. This village, rested by Robert d' Arbrissel to accommodate the penitent ones, gained its popularity with the assistance of his/her son and a girl of its first husband, Ermengarde of Anjou, and became thereafter the Abbaye of Fontevraud. The sentence of excommunication was raised on February 1st 1104. It dies out towards 1117 after having based the priory of High-Heather, on grounds that his/her brother Amaury III had yielded to him to Saint-Rémy-the Honore.

Sources

Random links: