Biography of William Clito Count Flanders 1102-1128

Before 25th October 1102 [his father] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy [aged 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 25th October 1102 William Clito Count Flanders was born to Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy [aged 51] and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy. He a grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

History of the Dukes of Normandy by William of Jumieges. When he was returning from the journey to Jerusalem, he took [his mother] Sibylla as his wife, the sister of William, Count of Conversano, and from her he begot one son, named William. The aforesaid countess was beautiful in face, modest in her conduct, endowed with wisdom, and when the duke was sometimes absent, she herself arranged the affairs of the province, both private and public, better on her own than he would have done had he been present. She lived only a short time in Normandy, having been deceived by the envy and intrigue of certain noblewomen¹. The aforesaid William, son of Duke Robert, later became Count of Flanders. How this came about we shall explain briefly.

Cum autem rediret de via Hierusalem accepit Sibyllam in uxorem, sororem Willelmi comitis Conversanæ, de qua genuit unum filium, nomine Willelmum. Fuit autem prædicta comitissa pulchra facie, honesta moribus, sapientia prædita et aliquando absente duce ipsa melius per se negotia provinciæ tam privata quam publica disponebat, quam ipse faceret si adesset. Vixit autem in Northmannia parvo tempore, invidia et factione quarumdam nobilium feminarum decepta. Prædictus vero Willelmus filius Roberti ducis procedenti tempore comes fuit Flandrensis. Quod quomodo acciderit, paucis aperiamus.

Note 1. Sybilla de Conversano died, or was murdered, on 18th March 1103.

Chronicle of William Nangis. Then Baldwin, count of Flanders, nephew of Pope Calixtus through his sister Clementia¹, wishing to establish William, son of Robert, duke of Normandy, who had been held captive by Henry, king of England, in the inheritance of his father, after occupying a large part of Normandy, was struck on the head and died from the wound². His cousin Charles, son of King Cnut³ of the Danes, succeeded him in the county. William⁴, however, son of Robert, duke of Normandy, married the sister of the wife of Louis, king of France, and after the death of Count Charles⁵ the county of Flanders was granted to him.

Note 1. Clementia, daughter of William the Great, count of Burgundy, and sister of Pope Calixtus, had by her first husband, Robert II, count of Flanders, who died in 1111, three sons, two of whom William and Philip died in childhood before their father. The third, Baldwin of the Axe, or Hapkin, took the county of Flanders in 1111.

Note 2. Baldwin, Count of Flanders was killed at the Battle of Bures-en-Bray on 17th July 1119.

Note 3. King Cnut IV of Denmark, around 1042-1096.

Note 4. William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, married in the year 1127 Joan, daughter of Rainier, marquis of Montferrat, maternal half-sister of Adelaide, wife of Louis the Fat, and, through the intervention of this monarch, was elected count of Flanders after the death of Charles the Good, which occurred on 2 March of the same year. See below under the year 1127.

Note 5. Charles, Count of Flanders, 1084-1127, was murdered whilst at church in Bruges.

In 1123 William Clito Count Flanders [aged 20] and Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex [aged 11] were married. She the daughter of Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem [aged 34] and Ermengarde of Maine Countess of Anjou. He the son of Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy [aged 72] and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy. They were fourth cousin once removed. He a grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

In 1124 William Clito Count Flanders [aged 21] and Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex [aged 12] were divorced.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. After 26th March 1124. After this went the [his uncle] king [aged 56], and won all the castles of the Earl Waleram [aged 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 [aged 73] of Normandy, named William [aged 21]. This same William had taken to wife the younger daughter [aged 12] of Fulke, Earl of Anjou [aged 35]: and for this reason the King of France [aged 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.

In 1127 William Clito Count Flanders [aged 24] and Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders were married. She by marriage Countess Essex. She the daughter of Rainier Aleramici Marquis of Monferrat [aged 43] and Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy [aged 57]. He the son of Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy [aged 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 [aged 45] brought William [aged 24], the son of the [his father] Earl of Normandy [aged 76], and gave him the earldom; and the people of that land accepted him. This same William had before taken to wife the daughter [aged 15] of the Earl of Anjou; but they were afterwards divorced on the plea of consanguinity. This was all through the King Henry [aged 59] of England. Afterwards took he to wife the sister¹ of the king's wife of France; and for this reason the king gave him the earldom of Flanders.

Note. Maternal half-sister; their mother Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy [aged 57].

On 2nd March 1127 Charles I Count Flanders [aged 43] was murdered at Church of St Donatian. His second cousin William [aged 24] succeeded Count Flanders. [his wife] Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders by marriage Countess Flanders.

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

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

In 1165 [his former wife] Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex [aged 53] died.