Mathilde of Flanders ( Mathilda van Vlaanderen in Flemish) (v. 1031 - Caen, November 2nd 1083), was the wife of William the Conqueror, and thus duchess of Normandy and queen consort of England.

It was the girl of Baudouin V (v. 1012-1067), known as Baudouin of Lille , count de Flandre, and of Adèle of France (1009-1079), countess of Corbie, and thus by its mother, grand-daughter of the King de France Robert II.

It was the sister of the counts de Flandre Baudouin VI (v. 1030-1070), known as Baudouin of Mons , and Robert Ier (v. 1031-1093), known as Robert the Clippings .

Towards 1052, it married the Duc of Normandy Guillaume Ier known as Guillaume Bastard the then William the Conqueror , wire illegitimate of Robert Ier (v. 1010-1035), known as Robert the Devil , duke of Normandy, and Arlette of Cliff. They had ten children (see low)

It rests in the church Holy Trinity (Abbaye with the Ladies of Caen)

Family and descent

In 1050, it marries William the Conqueror with Have. They will have as children  :

1. Robert Courteheuse (1054 - 1134), duke of Normandy, it marries Sybille de Conversano  ;
2. Adélise of Saint-Leger (1055 - before 1066)  ;
3. Cecile (1056 - July 30th 1125), between with the abbey of Caen on June 18th, 1066, abbess in 1112  ;
4. Richard (1058 - 1081), enters the Orders to Caen in 1066  ;
5. Guillaume II the Russet-red (1060 - 1100), king d' Angleterre of 1087 to 1100  ;
6. Constancy (1061 - August 13rd 1094), wife Alain IV Fergent of Cornouailles, duke of Brittany and count de Rennes. She dies poisoned;
7. Mathilde (1062 - 1112)  ;
8. Adele (1062 - 1137), wife Etienne-Henri, Count de Blois, of Chartres and Meaux in 1084  ;
9. Agathe (1064 - 1080), promised in marriage to (1) Harold of Wessex, (2) Alphonse VI of Castille  ;
10. Henri Ier Beauclerc (towards 1068 - 1135), king d' Angleterre then duke of Normandy. He had several wives or concubines  ;

• Gundrade (towards 1063 - 1085) was wrongfully identified like a girl of the Conqueror. At the time of its death to the castle of Acre (Norfolk), it is known as wife of Guillaume Ier de Warenne, future 1st Count de Surrey, and in an act raised with the Sarum Old man, Mathilde of Flanders speaks about Gundrade under the term “my daughter”. Vital Ordéric, at the time of its marriage, specifies that it is the sister of Gerbod the Fleming, semi-official Count de Chester.

For certain authors, Agathe and Mathilde would be the same person…

SOURCES

On the queen Mathilde de Flandres, few things are known. The primary sources relating to it is the historians of Normandy Ducale, it is to say:

• Vital Orderic, Historia Ecclesiastica (a French edition of Guizot and an English edition of Marjorie Chibnall)
• Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum ducum
• Guillaume of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi Ducis Normannorum and governed Anglorum .

These authors lived with the Middle Ages and are thus contemporaries of the Dukes of Normandy. (They write in Latin but these works were translated into English or French). For recent works relating to it, one can find:

• Fettu Annie, the Queen Mathilde , Cully, OREP editions 2005
• De Bouard Michel, " The Mathilde" Queen; conference given on May 14th, 1985 to Bernay, friends of Bernay , July 1989
• Musset Lucien, " the Mathilde queen and the foundation of the Trinity of Caen" , memory of the national academy of sciences , arts and Beautiful letters of Caen, volume XII
• Turgis Suzanne, the very veracious history of Good Mathilde de Flandres .

The studies are for more the share old. It is also necessary to think of looking at the works concerning her William the Conqueror husband.

Simple: Matilda off Flanders

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