Ancestry of W. H. Merklee

28G Grandparents (Continued)

1137257732 William I of Normandy.

Born in 1027 in Falaise, Normandy, France. Died on 9 Sep 1087 in Rouen, Normandy, France. Buried in St. Stephen Abbey, Caen, Normandy, France. Title: Duke of Normandy, King of England (1100-1135).

Also known as William the Conqueror. The illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy, he spent his first six years with his mother in Falaise and received the duchy of Normandy upon his father's death in 1035. A council consisting of noblemen and William's appointed guardians ruled Normandy, but ducal authority waned under the Normans' violent nature and the province was wracked with assassination and revolt for twelve years. In 1047, William reasserted himself in the eastern Norman regions and, with the aid of France's King Henry I, crushed the rebelling barons. He spent the next several years consolidating his strength on the continent through marriage, diplomacy, war and savage intimidation. By 1066, Normandy was in a position of virtual independence from William's feudal lord, Henry I of France, and the disputed succession in England offered William an opportunity for invasion.

Edward the Confessor attempted to gain Norman support while fighting with his father-in-law, Earl Godwin, by purportedly promising the throne to William in 1051. (This was either a false claim by William or a hollow promise from Edward; at that time, the kingship was not necessarily hereditary but was appointed by the witan, a council of clergy and barons.) Before his death in 1066, however, Edward reconciled with Godwin, and the witan agreed to Godwin's son, Harold, as heir to the crown - after the recent Danish kings, the members of the council were anxious to keep the monarchy in Anglo-Saxon hands. William was enraged and immediately prepared to invade, insisting that Harold had sworn allegiance to him in 1064. Prepared for battle in August 1066, ill winds throughout August and most of September prohibited him crossing the English Channel. This turned out to be advantageous for William, however, as Harold Godwinson awaited William's pending arrival on England's south shores, Harold Hardrada, the King of Norway, invaded England from the north. Harold Godwinson's forces marched north to defeat the Norse at Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066. Two days after the battle, William landed unopposed at Pevensey and spent the next two weeks pillaging the area and strengthening his position on the beachhead. The victorious Harold, in an attempt to solidify his kingship, took the fight south to William and the Normans on October 14, 1066 at Hastings. After hours of holding firm against the Normans, the tired English forces finally succumbed to the onslaught. Harold and his brothers died fighting in the Hastings battle, removing any further organized Anglo-Saxon resistance to the Normans. The earls and bishops of the witan hesitated in supporting William, but soon submitted and crowned him William I on Christmas Day 1066. The kingdom was immediately besieged by minor uprisings, each one individually and ruthlessly crushed by the Normans, until the whole of England was conquered and united in 1072. William punished rebels by confiscating their lands and allocating them to the Normans. Uprisings in the northern counties near York were quelled by an artificial famine brought about by Norman destruction of food caches and farming implements.

The arrival and conquest of William and the Normans radically altered the course of English history. Rather than attempt a wholesale replacement of Anglo-Saxon law, William fused continental practices with native custom. By disenfranchising Anglo-Saxon landowners, he instituted a brand of feudalism in England that strengthened the monarchy. Villages and manors were given a large degree of autonomy in local affairs in return for military service and monetary payments. The Anglo-Saxon office of sheriff was greatly enhanced: sheriffs arbitrated legal cases in the shire courts on behalf of the king, extracted tax payments and were generally responsible for keeping the peace. "The Domesday Book" was commissioned in 1085 as a survey of land ownership to assess property and establish a tax base. Within the regions covered by the Domesday survey, the dominance of the Norman king and his nobility are revealed: only two Anglo-Saxon barons that held lands before 1066 retained those lands twenty years later. All landowners were summoned to pay homage to William in 1086. William imported an Italian, Lanfranc, to take the position of Archbishop of Canterbury; Lanfranc reorganized the English Church, establishing separate Church courts to deal with infractions of Canon law. Although he began the invasion with papal support, William refused to let the church dictate policy within English and Norman borders.

He died as he had lived: an inveterate warrior. He died September 9, 1087 from complications of a wound he received in a siege on the town of Mantes.

"The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" gave a favorable review of William's twenty-one year reign, but added, "His anxiety for money is the only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed; . . .he would say and do some things and indeed almost anything . . .where the hope of money allured him." He was certainly cruel by modern standards, and exacted a high toll from his subjects, but he laid the foundation for the economic and political success of England.

He married Maud of Flanders, in 1053.

They had the following children:

	i.	William II (-1100)
	ii.	Robert II (~1054-1134)
568628866	iii.	Henry I (1070-1135)
1137257797	iv.	Adela (~1062-1137)

1137257733 Maud of Flanders.

Born in 1032 in Flanders, France. Died on 2 Nov 1083. Buried in Holy Trinity Abbey, Caen, Calvados, Normandy, France.

Also known as Matilda.

1137257734 Malcolm III Canmore.

Born in 1031. Died on 13 Nov 1093. Title: King of Scots (1058 - 1093).

Malcolm "Canmore" ('ceann' means head or chief and 'mor' means great) was the son of King Duncan I and went into exile in Northumberland when his father was killed by Macbeth (in 1040 in Forres, Morayshire). With the support of the English King, Edward the Confessor, and his uncle Earl Siward of Northumbria, he defeated and killed Macbeth at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire in 1057. Lulach, Macbeth's stepson, took over the throne but Malcolm killed him also in the following year.

Malcolm founded the dynasty of the House of Canmore which lasted 200 years until the House of Stewart. By his first marriage to Ingebjørg he had two sons, Duncan II (who became king after Malcolm) and Donald. Ingebjørg was the daughter of the Norwegian Earl Finn Arnesson at Austrått in Trøndelag. Her mother's father was a brother of the Norwegian Kings St. Olav (Olav Haraldsson) and Harald Hardråde (Harold Hardrada).

Following Ingebjørg's death, around 1069, he married Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling. Edgar would have become King of England if William the Conqueror from Normandy had not over-run the country. By this marriage there were six sons, three of whom (Edgar, Alexander and David) would become king.

The large number of English exiles who had gathered in the court and raids by Malcolm into Northumbria and Cumbria became a concern to the English King William who marched north. Malcolm was forced to submit and sign the Treaty of Abernethy in 1071 and agree to his son Duncan becoming a hostage in England.

Even so, Malcolm made two more raids into England in 1079 and 1091, and again he lost and had to submit to the English king. After the English had driven out the Scots from their hold on Cumbria, Malcolm led a final incursion in 1093. This led to his defeat and death at Alnwick. His son and heir Edward died in the same battle and Queen Margaret died in Edinburgh Castle, four days later. Margaret was later canonised for her patronage of the church.

He married St. Margaret of Scotland, in 1068/9 in Dunfermline.

They had the following children:

	i.	Edgar (-1107)
766519112	ii.	David I (~1080-1153)
568628867	iii.	Matilda (1079-1118)
	iv.	Alexander
1137257839	v.	Mary (-1116)

1137257735 St. Margaret of Scotland.

Born in Hungary. Died on 16 Nov 1093. Buried in Dunfermline Abbey.

Margaret's father, Edward, was exiled during the reign of King Canute and Margaret was born in Hungary. Her brother had a claim to the throne of England but came to terms with William the Conqueror.

The family were headed back to the continent from Northumbria when their ship was blown off course and landed in Fife. The Scottish King, Malcolm III (known as Canmore) gave protection to the family and married Margaret. Malcolm was devoted to her and as a result she exercised considerable influence. She introduced the English language into the court in place of the Gaelic spoken by her husband. She set the agenda for the church in Scotland and as a result the Roman church made inroads into the Celtic Church in the north of the country.

Margaret was very pious, caring for the poor and orphans and damaged her own health by repeated fasting and abstinence. In 1093, as she lay on her deathbed after a long illness, she was told that her husband and eldest son had been ambushed and killed at the Battle of Alnwick, Northumbia. She thanked God for the pain this had brought her as it might cleanse her own sins.

She is buried in Dunfermline Abbey and was canonised by the Pope in 1251. St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle is the oldest surviving building there and was constructed by King David I, Margaret's son.

1137257736 Geoffrey of Poitou.

Born abt 1024. Died on 25 Sep 1086. Title: Count of Poitou.

Called William VI.

He married Hildegarde, abt 1068.

They had one child:

568628868

William VII (~1071-1126)

1137257737 Hildegarde.

Died aft 1104.

Also known as Aldegarde.

1137257738 William IV of Toulouse.

Born abt 1040. Died in 1093. Title: Count of Toulouse; Duke of Narbonne.

He married Emma de MORTAIN.

They had one child:

568628869

Philippa (~1073-1117)

1137257739 Emma de MORTAIN.

Died in 1080.

1137257740 Boso II de CHASTELLERAULT.

Died in 1092. Title: Viscount de Chastellerault.

He married Eleanor de THOUARS, in 1075.

They had one child:

568628870

Aimery I (-1151)

1137257741 Eleanor de THOUARS.

1137257742 Bartholomew de I'Isle Bouchard.

He married Gerberga.

They had one child:

568628871

Dangerose

1137257743 Gerberga.

1137257760 Raymond Beringer III. (Same as ahnentafel number 568629090.)

1137257761 Dulce of Provence. (Same as ahnentafel number 568629091.)

1137257762 Ramiro II the Monk.

Died in 1157. Title: King of Aragon.

He married Agnes of Poitou.

They had one child:

568628881

Petronilla (1135-1173)

1137257763 Agnes of Poitou.

1137257766 Vladislas II of Poland.

Died in 1159. Title: King of Poland.

He married Agnes de BABENBERG, abt 1126.

They had one child:

568628883

Richilde (-<1176)

1137257767 Agnes de BABENBERG.

Died in 1157.

Also known as Agnes of Bamberg.

1137257784 Aimon I of Geneva.

Born abt 1050. Died abt 1127. Title: Count of Geneva (1091).

He married Ida of Glane.

They had one child:

568628892

Amadeus I (1100-1178)

1137257785 Ida of Glane.

1137257796 Stephen of Blois.

Died in 1101. Title: Count of Blois.

He was a leader of the First Crusade in 1096 and the Crusade of 1101, during which he was slain.

He married Adela of Normandy, abt 1080.

They had the following children:

568628898	i.	Theobald IV (-1152)
568628918	ii.	Stephen (~1095-1154)
2274516018	iii.	William

1137257797 Adela of Normandy.

Born abt 1062. Died in 1137.

1137257798 Engelbert. Title: Duke of Carinthia; Marquis of Istria.

He married Uta.

They had one child:

568628899

Matilda (-1161)

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