Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders -1128

Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders was born to Rainier Aleramici Marquis of Monferrat and Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy.

In 1090 Humbert "Fat" Savoy II Count Savoy [aged 25] and [her mother] Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy [aged 20] were married. She by marriage Countess Savoy. She the daughter of [her grandfather] William I Count Burgundy and [her grandmother] Ettiennette Countess Burgundy. He the son of Amadeus Savoy II Count Savoy.

On 19th October 1103 Humbert "Fat" Savoy II Count Savoy [aged 38] died. His son [her half-brother] Amadeus [aged 8] succeeded III Count Savoy.

After 19th October 1103, the date of her first husband's death, [her father] Rainier Aleramici Marquis of Monferrat [aged 19] and [her mother] Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy [aged 33] were married. She the daughter of [her grandfather] William I Count Burgundy and [her grandmother] Ettiennette Countess Burgundy.

Chronicle of William Nangis. Then Baldwin, count of Flanders, nephew of [her uncle] Pope Calixtus through his sister [her aunt] 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 [her half-brother] Amadeus Savoy III Count Savoy [aged 28] and [her sister-in-law] Mahaut Albon Countess Savoy were married. She by marriage Countess Savoy. He the son of Humbert "Fat" Savoy II Count Savoy and [her mother] Gisela Ivrea Countess Savoy [aged 53].

In 1123 [her future husband] 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 [her future father-in-law] 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 [her future husband] William Clito Count Flanders [aged 21] and Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex [aged 12] were divorced.

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 [her husband] William [aged 24], the son of the [her father-in-law] 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 [her husband] William [aged 24] succeeded Count Flanders. Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders by marriage Countess Flanders.

In 1128 Joanna Monferrat Countess Essex and Flanders died.