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The Anglo-Norman Card of Adela of Blois

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Kimberly A. LoPrete
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Extract

Down through the twelfth century, politics were as much, if not more, the affairs of personalities and families as the affairs of state. One corollary of this premise is that certain women, as creators of family ties and managers of households, can be shown to have exercised more effective real power than traditional legal and institutional approaches to the medieval period have brought to light. As an instrument of long-term policy, marriage politics were fraught with uncertainties, but when dominant and powerful personages were able to capitalize on opportunities, the resultant alliances could prove effective in the realization of precise political aims. A re-examination of the available evidence for the career of Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror and countess of Blois, Chartres, and Meaux, from the perspective of family politics reveals that the Anglo-Norman – Thibaudian alliance, confirmed in her marriage to the eldest son of count Thibaud of Blois-Chartres, was actualized by Adela as an effective determinant of political action in the nearly twenty years she acted as the acknowledged head of the Thibaudian family.

Type
The 1989 Denis Bethell Prize Essay of the Charles Homer Haskins Society
Information
Albion , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , Winter 1990 , pp. 569 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1990

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References

1 For an introduction to the growing literature in this field see McNamara, Jo Ann and Wemple, Suzanne, “The Power of Women Through the Family in Medieval Europe, 500–1100,” Feminist Studies 1 (1973): 126–41Google Scholar (revised and reprinted in Women and Power in the Middle Ages, ed. Erler, M. and Kowaleski, M. [Athens, Ga., 1988], pp. 83–101)Google Scholar; Wemple, Suzanne, Women in Frankish Society (Philadelphia, 1981)Google Scholar; and Stafford, Pauline, Queens, Concubines, and Dowagers (Athens, Ga., 1983), pp. 199–210Google Scholar. For examination of its application in Anglo-Norman affairs see Searle, Eleanor, “Women and the Legitimisation of Succession at the Norman Conquest,” Anglo-Norman Studies 3 (1980): 159–170Google Scholar, and Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840–1066 (Berkeley, 1988)Google Scholar; and Newman, Charlotte A., The Anglo-Norman Nobility in the Reign of Henry I: The Second Generation (Philadelphia, 1988), pp. 35–90.Google Scholar

2 On Adela and the Thibaudians, the older works by Jubainville, Henri d'Arbois de, Histoire des ducs et des comtes de Champagne, vols. 1–3 (Paris, 1859-1961)Google Scholar; Green, Mary Anne Everett, Lives of the Princesses of England from the Norman Conquest, vol. 1 (London, 1849)Google Scholar; and Dupré, Alexandre, Les comtesses de Chartres et de Blois (Chartres, 1870), pp. 11–29Google Scholar, must be supplemented by Bur, Michel, La Formation du comté de Champagne, v.950–v.1150 (Nancy, 1979)Google Scholar; Chédeville, André, Chartres et ses campagnes (XIe-XIIIe s.) (Paris, 1973)Google Scholar; Devailly, Guy, Le Berry du Xe siècle au milieu du XIIIe (Paris, 1973)Google Scholar; and Sassier, Yves, Recherches sur le pouvoir comtal en Auxerrois du Xe au début du XHIe siècle (Auxerre, 1980)Google Scholar. Dunbabin, Jean, France in the Making, 843–1180 (Oxford, 1985), pp. 67–68, 190–96, 310–318Google Scholar, provides the best summary available. Issues touched upon in this article are discussed fully in my doctoral dissertation, “A Female Ruler in Feudal Society: Adela of Blois (ca. 1067–ca. 1137),” (University of Chicago, in preparation).

3 Mabille, Emile, ed., Cartulaire de Marmoutier pour le Dunois (Châteaudun, 1874), pp. 71–72, no. 78.Google Scholar

4 Desjardins, Gustave, éd., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Conques en Rouergue (Paris, 1879), pp. 353–54, nos. 486–87 [post August 1108]Google Scholar; Bigot, V., ed., Histoire abrégée de l'abbaye de Saint-Florentin de Bonneval des RR. PP. Dont Jean Thiroux et Dont Lambert continuée par l'abbé Beaupère et M. Lejeune (Châteaudun, 1875), pp. 58–60Google Scholar; cf. abridged edition of the act in question in Gallia Christiana 8: instr. 313 [14 Sept. 1110]; Merlet, Lucien, ed., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de la Sainte-Trinité de Tiron, 2 vols. (Chartres, 1883) 1: 40–41, no. 24 [February 1114-April 1120]Google Scholar; Garrigues, Martine, ed., Le Premier cartulaire de l'abbaye cistercienne de Pontigny (XIIe-XIIIe siècles) (Paris, 1981), p.180, no. 112 [13 May 1114-April 1120]Google Scholar; Morel, Émile-Eugene, ed., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Corneille de Compiègne, 2 vols. (Montdidier, 1904), 1: 80–81, no. 39 [1117]Google Scholar; Catel, Albert and Lecomte, Maurice, eds., Chartes et documents de l'abbaye cistercienne de Preuilly (Montereau, 1927), pp. 3–5, no. 1 & pp. 15–17, no. 15 [1118–1119]Google Scholar; Laurent, Jacques, ed., Cartulaires de l'abbaye de Molesme, 2 vols. (Paris, 1907-1911), 2: 440, no. 524 [1119]Google Scholar; Paris, BN, MS Collection Picardie, vol. 234, ff. 166r–167v [1119]. For Adela's intervention in worldly affaire after her retirement see Metais, Charles, ed., Marmoutier cartulaire Blésois (Blois, 1889-18891), pp. 138–39, no. 146Google Scholar; de Lépinois, E. and Merlet, Lucien, eds., Cartulaire de Notre-Dame de Chartres, 2 vols. (Chartres, 1862-1865), 1: 131–34, no. 43Google Scholar; and Peter the Venerable, “De Miraculis,” 1.26, ed. PL 189.899b.Google Scholar

5 E.g., Mabille, , Marmoutier Dunois, pp. 60–62, no. 67 & pp. 78–82, no. 92Google Scholar; Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 26, no. 18 & 2: 32, no. 21Google Scholar; Desjardins, , Cart. Conques, pp. 340–42, no. 470Google Scholar; Paris, BN, MS lat. 12776, pp. 247–48; Nogent, Guibert of, “Gesta Dei per Francos” bk. 2.15Google Scholar, ed. Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Occidentaux, 4: 148Google Scholar; and Hautvillers, Notcher of, ed. Mabillon, Jean, Acta sanctorum ordinis sancti Benedicti, 4 2: 156.Google Scholar

6 Godfrey of Rheims, “Epistle to archdeacon Ingelrannus,” 11. 127–137,Google Scholar ed. Boutemy, André, “Trois oeuvres inedites de Godefroid de Reims,” Revue du moyen dge latin 3 (1974): 335–66 at p. 343Google Scholar.

7 On Godfrey see also, Boutemy, André, “Autour de Godefroid de Reims,” Latomus 6 (1947): 231–255Google Scholar, and Williams, John R., “Godfrey of Rheims, a Humanist of the Eleventh Century,” Speculum 22 (1947): 29–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Godfrey had connections with the Anglo-Norman court and his associates at Rheims had contacts with the Thibaudians; the addressee of his epistle, Ingelrannus, archdeacon of Soissons, had contacts with the Thibaudians from the 1070s, was at their court within a year of Adela's marriage, and continued to have dealings with Adela and her husband. The most recent author to discuss Godfrey's epistle, van Houts, Elisabeth M. C. (“Latin Poetry and the Anglo-Norman Court 1066–1135,” Journal of Medieval History 15 [1989]: 39–62 at pp. 47–49)CrossRefGoogle Scholar also accepts the reliability of Godfrey's epistle as a source for the date of Adela's conception. She is mistaken, however, in following Bur (Champagne, p. 224, n. 100) on the identification of the archdeacon Ingelrannus who was the addressee of Godfrey's poem. That Ingelrannus, archdeacon of Soissons and later bishop of Laon, is distinct from Ingelrannus, archdeacon of Chartres and perhaps bishop of Soissons in 1084, is established on the basis of Lisiard of Soissons and Hariulf of St. Riquier, “Vita Arnulfi,” 2.11, ed. PL 174.1411b; “Cantatorium sive Chronicon sancti Huberti,” c. 77, ed. Hanquet, Karl (Brussels, 1906), p. 190Google Scholar; and de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 1: 497–99, no. 59Google Scholar (rpt. of 1681 Mabillon edition of 1083 original).

8 Ep. 5, Yves de Chartres, Correspondance, ed. Leclercq, J. (Paris, 1949), p. 14Google Scholar (to supersede PL, 162.15). Adela's (Capetian) royal blood from her mother, Mathilda, granddaughter of Robert the Pious, is well-documented.

9 Vitalis, Orderic, Historia Ecclesiastica bk. 4, ed. Chibnall, Marjorie, 6 vols., (Oxford, 1969–1980), 2: 214Google Scholar; and van Houts, “Latin Poetry,” n. 29.

10 For the Breteuil betrothal and Chartres marriage see Orderic 5.11, ed. Chibnall, 3: 116. The first known act in which Adela appears as wife of Stephen is dated to 1085 (de Lespinasse, René, ed., Cartulaire du prieuré de la Charité-sur-Loire [Paris, 1887], pp. 201–03, no. 94Google Scholar, and de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 1: 499–500, no. 60Google Scholar.) The act records the ceremonial confirmation of the deathbed donation of the church of St. Julian, Sézanne to La-Charité-sur-Loire made orally in 1081; it includes dates for both events, which is why ca. 1080 is sometimes given as the date for Adela's marriage. Stephen was born sometime after 1045 and before October 1049, based on the dates of his mother's marriage to Thibaud as given by Bur, , Champagne, p. 199 & n. 22Google Scholar; hence, he was in his mid-thirties at the time of his marriage to Adela.

11 Orderic 5.11, ed. Chibnall, 3: 116. “Gesta Ambaziensium Dominorum,” ed. Halphen, Louis and Poupardin, René, in Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise (Paris, 1913), pp. 97–98Google Scholar; the editors (p. lvii) date the composition of the text to ca. 1155. Written after the accession of Henry II in England, one of the purposes of the text is to stress the commonality of interests of the lords of Amboise and Chaumont that, if other sources are considered, was not in evidence in the 11th and early-12th centuries when the lords of Amboise were vassals of the Angevins while the lords of Chaumont were vassals of the Thibaudians.

12 A non-systematic search of printed document collections indicates Bertha was with her brother at Blois or Chartres in 1061, 1063, 1069, 1078, 1078/79–1085 (the year of her death). In ca. 1062 and 1075 she was in Brittany. Orderic (6.10, ed. Chibnall, 3: 336) notes her presence near Rebais (in the Thibaudian's domains) sometime during 1066–1078 where she received a messenger from King William sent “pro privatis causis.” Hildebert of LeMans wrote an epitaph for her (ed. Scott, A. Brian, Carmina Minora [Leipzig, 1969], p. 45, no. 53).Google Scholar

13 Latouche, Robert, Histoire du comté du Maine pendant le Xe et le XI siècles (Paris, 1910), pp. 28–30Google Scholar; Bur, , Champagne, pp. 199, 203.Google Scholar

14 Bur, , Champagne, pp. 199–201, 203Google Scholar; in 1055 the exiled bishop of LeMans became archbishop of Rheims where Godfrey of Rheims was a master in the cathedral school by the end of the decade (see above, n. 7).

15 According to her agreement, Bertha's young son, Herbert, became a vassal of William in exchange for the promise of a future marriage to one of William's daughters, with William designated heir if Herbert died childless, while her pre-pubescent daughter, Margaret, was betrothed to Robert Curthose. Neither marriage was realized and Herbert died childless in 1062. See Latouche, , Maine, pp. 32–35Google Scholar; Lemarignier, Jean-François, Recherches sur l'hommage en marche et les frontières féodales (Lille, 1945), p. 114Google Scholar; and Bates, DavidNormandy before 1066, (London, 1982), pp. 78–79; 81–83.Google Scholar

16 Latouche, , Maine, pp. 36–38.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., p. 39; Lemarignier, , Hommage, p. 111Google Scholar; Halphen, Louis, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906), pp. 183–84Google Scholar; Guillot, Olivier, Le comte d'Anjou et son entourage au XIe siècle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1972), 1: 120Google Scholar, Douglas, David C., William the Conqueror (London, 1964), pp. 401–07Google Scholar (essential for chronology), 234–44, 356–58.

18 As a result of Simon's monastic conversion in 1077, Thibaud was able to claim, through his wife (Simon's sister), Bar-sur-Aube, Vitry, and wardship over Hugh [II] Bardoul (Bur, , Champagne, pp. 214–17Google Scholar), while Philip I was able to reassert direct Capetian control over the French Vexin; Simon died in Rome in 1080–81. See the life of Simon, ch. 11, in PL 156.1219; and Prou, Maurice, Recueil des actes de Philippe Ier (Paris, 1908), pp. 318–21, no. 126Google Scholar [= Morel, , Carr. St. Corneille, pp. 52–54, no. 22Google Scholar]; for dating see Barlow, Frank, “William I's Relations with Cluny,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 32 (1981): 131–41 at p. 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Latouche, , Maine, pp. 40–45Google Scholar; Barlow, Frank, William Rufus (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 268–70Google Scholar; and Orderic 10.8, ed. Chibnall, 5: 228–40.

20 The best introduction to Geoffrey's family is in Boussard, Jacques, “l'Origine des familles seigneuriales dans la région de la Loire moyenne,” Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 5 (1962): 311–314CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Metais, , Marmoutier Blésois, pp. 35–36Google Scholar, no. 29 [“1050–1060,”]; pp. 38–43, nos. 32–33 [January 1064]; and at pp. 70–71 [perhaps pre-1066, surely pre-1087]; and Mabille, , Marmoutier Dunois, pp. 113–114Google Scholar`, no. 121 [“1060–64”]. For Geoffrey in the entourage of William see, in addition to the documents cited by van Houts, “Latin Poetry,” nn. 30–31, Faroux, M., ed. Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie de 911 à 1066 (Caen, 1961), pp. 334–35Google Scholar, no. 150 [1062, La Houge]. Geoffrey's nephew Savaric was the uterine half-brother of the heir to Chaumont and youngest son, by his second wife (Geoffrey's niece), of the viscount of Maine, Raoul IV. He would be the progenitor of the Bohuns of Midhurst (Loyd, Lewis C., The Origins of some Anglo-Norman Families [Leeds, 1951], pp. 13–16Google Scholar), and was rewarded by Henry for his support in quashing Robert of Bellême's 1102 revolt (Orderic 11.3, ed. Chibnall, 6: 32). For Geoffrey's return trips to “France” see Guérard, M., ed., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres, 2 vols. (Paris, 1840), 1: 210–11, no. 86Google Scholar [12 May 1069]; Prou, , Philippe I, pp. 186–91, no. 75Google Scholar [January-May 1075 at Paris for royal confirmation of family grants to Pontlevoy (Geoffrey's family necropolis and a house under Thibaudian protection)]; Guérard, , St. Père, 1: 158Google Scholar, ch. 31 [“1077–79”]; Prou, , Philippe I, pp. 242–45, no. 94 [January 1979].Google Scholar

21 See above, n. 11. William crossed from England to Normandy at least once in 1081, 1082, 1083, and 1084 (Douglas, , William the Conqueror, pp. 243–44Google Scholar; 453); the revolt in Chaumont broke out on the death of Sulpice of Amboise, which can be dated only approximately to sometime ca. 1080–81. The “Gesta Ambaziensium,” pp. 98 & 109, concludes its account of Geoffrey's life by saying that after the death of William the Conqueror (1087), Geoffrey bestowed his English possessions on his nephew Savaric and returned to the continent where he stayed principally at the court of Stephen and Adela until his death at about 100 in 1109; for his presence at Adela's court in 1097/98, when he appears to have been acting as lord of Chaumont during his great-nephew's absence on the first crusade, see Métais, , Marmoutier Blésois, pp. 85–86, no. 74.Google Scholar

22 0rderic 13.44, ed. Chibnall, 6:548.

23 See Mabille, , Marmoutier Dunois, pp. 78–92Google Scholar, no. 92 & pp. 60–62, nos. 67–68 (where land donated by Adela is referred to as “dos ejus”); Métais, , Marmoutier Blésois, pp. 110–11, no. 109 & p. 126, no. 132Google Scholar. Bur (Champagne) makes no reference to this component of Adela's dower. For Adela's concerted efforts to have these and other forest lands assarted and rendered economically profitable, see Martin-Demézil, Jean, “Les forêts du comté de Blois jusqu'à la fin XVe siècle,” Mémoires de la Société des Sciences et Lettres de Loir-et-Cher 34 (1963): 212–14, 227–33.Google Scholar

24 For Thibaudian relations with their sovereigns see Bur, , Champagne, p. 223 n. 96Google Scholar; Philip's oldest son, the future Louis VI, was christened Louis-Thibaud in 1081–82, in part out of respect for Thibaud of Blois-Chartres (see “Vita Arnulfi,” ed. PL 174.1406 and Orderic 1.23, ed. Chibnall, 1: 160); Mabillon, , AASS,OSB, 42Google Scholar: 156 (Notcher of Hautvillers' account of the translation of the relics of the empress Helen on 28 October 1095 in which Stephen, Adela, and their royal in-laws played an active role); Poupardin, René, ed., Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Près (Paris, 1909), 1: 114–15Google Scholar, no. 70 [“1095–96,” Stephen, Adela, and King Philip intervene on behalf of St. Germain]; Ivo of Chartres, ep. 70, ed. PL 162.90b, and Prou, , Philippe I, pp. 345–46, no. 137Google Scholar [1098–1100, Adela and Philip work together to reform Faremoutiers]; Orderic 11.15, ed. Chibnall, 6: 156/58 [1101, Adela sends contingent of knights to Louis in his fighting against Bouchard of Montmorency and Matthew of Beaumont]; Prou, , Philippe I, pp. 383–85Google Scholar, no. 152 [late 1105, Philip confirms earlier Thibaudian renunciation of episcopal spolia at Chartres]; Orderic 11.12, ed. Chibnall, 6: 68/74 [spring 1106, Adela puts on the wedding of Philip's oldest daughter to Bohemond of Antioch at Chartres]. Spots of trouble appeared in 1088–89 when Stephen was imprisoned by Philip for unknown reasons (see Bur, , Champagne, p. 231Google Scholar, and a contemporary history from Fleury, , ed. Bouquet, D., Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, 12: 1–2)Google Scholar; in 1107 when Adela's son Thibaud took the field against Louis VI (Suger, Vie de Louis VI, ch. 11, ed. Henri Wacquet (Paris, 1929), pp. 74/76 [cf. Orderic 11.36, ed. Chibnall, 6: 160]).

25 Hugh married Constance of France sometime after the death of his brother Odo in 1093 and before the first known appearance of the couple in October 1095. The couple's marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity at the intervention of Ivo of Chartres (ep. 58, ed. PL 162.16364) shortly after 25 December 1104. After the annulment, it was Adela who hosted Constance's second wedding; Suger, ch. 9, ed. Wacquet, pp. 46/48, is the only author who suggests Constance harbored negative feelings towards Hugh while concomitantly suppressing all reference to Adela's role in the wedding.

26 Stephen first appeared with the title of count in 1074 (see Bur, , Champagne, p. 200 n. 27Google Scholar and Prou, , Philippe I, p. 173, no. 67Google Scholar).

27 See, e.g., the comment by Notcher of Hautvillers (ed. Mabillon, , AASS,OSB, 42Google Scholar: 156) that Stephen consulted with his sister-in-law (his brother being absent) and brother, Philip, bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, when he established a market for Notcher's monastery, because they “jure patrimonii participes erant in comitatu”; such participation was implemented in a way that acknowledged Stephen's ascendant role in the decision-making process.

28 Bur, , Champagne, pp. 233, 474 and n. 18, above.Google Scholar

29 Evidence for this assertion is presented in my forthcoming dissertation.

30 See Bernier, Jean, Histoire de Blois (Paris, 1682)Google Scholar, preuves, xiii–xiv [= de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 1: 504–05, no. 65]Google Scholar [Blois, November 1089, major donation to Blois priory of Pontlevoy] and Paris, BN, MS fr. 12021, pp. 8–10 [Coincy, 25 December 1089, privilege and confirmation for Cluniac priory at Coincy, in the eastern reaches of Stephen's Meaux holdings, between the comital castles of Oulchy and Château-Thierry].

31 Documentary evidence for Stephen's rule is sparse; the only extant documents, or fragments of documents, in which Adela does not appear with Stephen as initiator, co-dispositor, or giving consent are two incomplete cartulary copies of acts. When Odo of Verdelot and his wife founded a priory outside of Meaux for Molesme in 1102 the dating clause of their charter was expanded to read “Philippo rege Frantie regnum protegente Stephano comité et Adhela eius uxor regnantibus” (Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 141Google Scholar).

32 No evidence remains to identify specifically what dowry Adela brought to her husband, but she paid for Stephen's crusading venture (see below, n. 34) and her personal wealth was considered prodigious by contemporaries, both of which points suggest that her dowry was Anglo-Norman cash.

33 Ivo of Chartres, ep. 17, ed. Leclercq, p. 74 (to supersede PL 162.30b), datable to 1092–95; see discussion in Sprandel, Rolf, Ivo von Chartres und seine Stellung in der Kirchengeschichte (Stuttgart, 1962), pp. 184–86.Google Scholar

34 See Stephen's comment in his letter to Adela written during the siege of Antioch (ed. Hagenmeyer, Heinrich, Die Kreuzzugsbriefe aus den Jahren 1088–1100 [Innsbruck, 1901], pp. 149–52, no. 10)Google Scholar: “scias pro certo, mi dilecta, quod aurum et argentum aliasque diuitias multas duplo nun habeo quam tunc, quando a te discessi, mihi dilectio tua attribuisset”. For praise of Adela's abilities as regent see Orderic 11.5, ed. Chibnall, 6: 42; Hildebert of LeMans, ep. I3, ed. PL 171.144–145 (rev. ed. von Moos, Peter, Hildebert von Lavardin [Stuttgart, 1965], pp. 341–43Google Scholar) and ep. 38, ed. PL 171.288c–289a; and the anonymous poem in Bib. Mun. Douai, MS 749, ff.l05vb–106ra, ed. Boutemy, André, “Deux pièces inédites du manuscrit 749 de Douai,” Latomus 2 (1938): 123–27.Google Scholar

35 The speech Orderic puts into Adela's mouth on this occasion (Orderic 10.20, ed. Chibnall, 5: 324) is well-known but should not be taken as literal truth, as Orderic himself virtually admits elsewhere (10.12 & 10.20) when he says that popes Urban and Paschal excommunicated all who failed to fulfill their vows and then relates Stephen's preparations for return; for further discussion of sanctions, see Brundage, James, Medieval Canon Law and the Crusader (Madison, Wise, 1969), pp. 132–38.Google Scholar

36 The most significant of these acts is the creation of a vicomté of Provins, known only from an 18th-century discussion of a charter no longer extant. Bur, , Champagne, pp. 445, 451–52Google Scholar, relates the resultant bundle of rights to the Norman vicomte' and sees Adela's role as critical in the adaptation of such an administrative unit by the Thibaudians in their Champagne holdings; his comments could be amplified with a discussion of the role played by Champenois viscounts in Adela's entourage.

37 “Rotgerius, clericus regis Anglorum, scripsit cartam istam” (Desjardins, , Cart. Conques, pp. 340–42, no. 470Google Scholar). In July 1107 the same Roger witnessed (as a chaplain) and sealed another document of Adela: “Ro[t]gerius, cancellarius qui sigillavit cartulam” (Desjardins, , Cart. Conques, pp. 352–53, no. 485Google Scholar). He witnessed, as Adela's chaplain, a 1119 donation to Molesme (Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 440, no. 524.Google Scholar

38 Adela reconfirmed the renunciation of episcopal spolia at Chartres granted by Stephen and herself prior to his second departure in the presence of John, bishop of Tusculum and “Tiberius Romanus legatus pape” (de Lipinois, and Merlet, , Cart. N.-D. Chartres, 1: 108, no. 24Google Scholar [after a 12th-century pancarte in the Eure-et-Loir archives, G.709 (seen); although the status of subsequent reconfirmations is clearer in Gaigniire's 17th-century copy of the now lost original in Paris, BN, MS lat. 17033, pp. 64–66]. According to Tillmann, Helene, Die päpstlichen Legaten in England (Bonn, 1926), pp. 22–23Google Scholar, this pair was sent from Italy to England sometime between February and April 1101, but their exact itinerary is unknown except for John's appearance in Autun on 28 July (see Schieffer, Theodor, Die päpstlichen Legaten in Frankreich [Berlin, 1935], p. 168)Google Scholar, and their appearance at Henry's court (with Curthose) on 3 September (Johnson, Charles and Cronne, H. A., Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, vol.2 [Oxford, 1956], nos. 544 & 547Google Scholar). When they would have stopped by Chartres is uncertain, but Chartres would clearly be on their way; see also Brett, M., The English Church under Henry I (London, 1975), pp. 48–49Google Scholar (although given John's late July appearance in Autun, Brett's suggestion (p. 49, n. 3) that the legates might have arrived in England with Curthose's army seems untenable).

39 See Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 25–28, 31–32, nos. 18, 19, 21Google Scholar; and Bur, , Champagne, pp. 275 & 400Google Scholar. According to Orderic (11.15, ed. Chibnall, 6: 156/58), William and Thibaud were still boys in 1101.

40 See Paris, Louis, Histoire de l'abbaye d'Avenay 2 vols. (Reims, 1879), 2: 72–73, no. 4Google Scholar [Avenay, March 1103]; Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 28, no. 19Google Scholar (end) [Molesme, after 2 April 1104]; and 2: 321–23, no. 173 [Châtillon-sur-Seine, 1108]; de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 2: 98–100.Google Scholar

41 de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 2: 105–110; 118–122; 135–140Google Scholar. Two variant versions of Hugh's repudiation of his wife and son exist, one from the last quarter of the 12th century claims that Elisabeth was merely pregnant at the time of the repudiation, the other from the mid-13th century claims her son was a toddler; neither is trustworthy in matters of detail.

42 Ivo of Chartres, ep. 245, ed. PL 162.251d–253a.

43 Lépinois, De and Merlet, , Cart. N.-D. Chartres, 1: 104–08Google Scholar, no. 24; and Morel, , Cart. St. Corneille, 1: 54, no. 23.Google Scholar

44 Marchegay, Paul, ed., Cartulaire du prieuré bénédictin de Saint-Gondon sur Loire (866–1172) tiré des archives de l'abbaye de Saint-Florent près Saumur (Les Roches Baritaud [Vendée], 1879), pp. 25–26, no. 8Google Scholar; pp. 28–30, no. 10; and M. Gemahling, , Monographie de l'abbaye de Saint-Satur près Sancerre (Cher) (Paris, 1867), pp. 137–38, no. 2Google Scholar [= Raynal, Louis, Histoire du Berry, vol. 1 (Bourges, 184[4]), pp. 480–81, no. 14].Google Scholar

45 Mabille, , Marmoutier Dunois, p. 71, no. 77Google Scholar; Depoin, J., ed., Recueil de chartes et documents de Saint-Martin-des-Champs, monastère parisien, vol. 1, (Paris, 1912), pp. 156–59, nos. 96–97Google Scholar; and Martin-Demézil, , “Les forêts,” pp. 197–203Google Scholar. The traditional view that William was fully disinherited on the grounds of mental incapacity by Adela in 1104 is a simplification of events derived from undue reliance on late-12th and 13th-century narrative sources.

46 For Anselm's visits to Chartres, once after Pentecost (17 May) and again after 15 August, see Anselm epp. 286–87, 299, ed. Schmitt, F. S., S. Anselmi…Opera Omnia, 6 vols. (Rome & Edinburgh, 1938–1961), 4: 205–207, 220Google Scholar; and Eadmer, , Hisioria novorum in Anglia, bk. 3, ed. Rule, M. (London, 1884), pp. 151–52Google Scholar. For his intervention in Adela's dispute with the Chartres chapter, see Ivo of Chartres, ep. 134 (passage supplied from Paris, BN, MS lat. 2887a, ff. 66v–67r; on which see Leclercq, , Correspondance, p. xxxvi, n, 1Google Scholar and Sprandel, , Ivo, p. 108 & n. 44Google Scholar); and Anselm, ep. 340, Opera Omnia, 5: 278.Google Scholar

47 Eadmer, , Hist, nov., bk. 3, pp. 164–65Google Scholar; and Anselm, ep. 388, Opera Omnia, 5: 331–32Google Scholar. This well-known episode is discussed by Southern, Richard W., ed. & trans., The Life of St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury by Eadmer (London, 1962), pp. 134 & notesGoogle Scholar; and his Saint Anselm and his Biographer (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 176–77Google Scholar; Vaughn, Sally N., Anselm of Bee and Robert of Meulan: The Innocence of the Dove and the Wisdom of the Serpent (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 289–91Google Scholar; and Hollister, C. Warren, “War and Diplomacy in the Anglo-Norman World: The Reign of Henry I,” Anglo-Norman Studies 6 (1983): 72–88 at pp. 76–77Google Scholar. Norman Cantor's attempt (in Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England, 1089–1135 [Princeton, N,J., 1958], pp. 221–26Google Scholar) to denigrate Adela's role as intermediary between Henry and Anselm does not take all the available evidence into account. While stopping off at Chartres with Adela on his way from Blois to Laigle, Anselm also witnessed the bishop of Chartres' confirmation of Adela's restoration of the libertas of the canons at Bourgmoyen (Blois) [24 June 1105; ed. PL 162.289–90].

48 See Orderic 11.4 & 13.3, ed. Chibnall, 6: 40 & 396/98; and Ivo of Chartres, epp. 168, 169, 170, 173, ed. PL 162.170–77 (Ivo backed the decisions of Adela's court and refused, in the face of rebuke from ecclesiastical superiors, to apply ecclesiastical sanctions against Rotrou). Rotrou fought alongside Stephen on the first crusade and appeared in the entourage of Stephen and Adela in 1099 (de Lépinois, and Merlet, , Cart. N.-D. Chartres, pp. 104–08, no. 24Google Scholar). In 1107 Rotrou attended the Council of Troyes and probably played a role in assuring papal security in Adela's domains during Hugh of Troyes' absence (see [Simon, P.], ed. Bullarium…Cluniacensis [Lyon, 1680], p. 35Google Scholar). The blood ties of the three branches of Rotrou's family were frequently acknowledged in the family's diplomata. See Cuissard, Charles, “Chronologie des vicomtes de Châteaudun (960–1395),” Bulletins de la Société Dunoise (1894): 23–48Google Scholar; Boussard, Jacques, “Les évêques en Neustrie avant la réforme Grégorienne,” Journal des savants (1970): 161–194 at pp. 174–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Siguret, Philippe, “Recherches sur la formation du comté du Perche,” Bulletin de la Société Historique et Archéologique du l'Orne 79 (1961): 17–39 & 80, (1962): 3–42Google Scholar; and Nelson, Lynn H., “Rotrou of Perche and the Aragonese Reconquest,” Traditio 26 (1970): 113–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49 0rderic 8.24, ed. Chibnall, 4: 300; dating determined by dates of Robert's rebellions and traditional date of 1105 assigned to Agnes' death (or at least her disappearance from Bellême charters).

50 At the dedication of St. Satur-sous-Sancerre; see Gemähling, , Saint-Satur, pp. 137–38, no. 2.Google Scholar

51 See my forthcoming dissertation.

52 “Gesta Ambaziensium,” pp. 109–110; the editors' dating of this episode to pre-1107 is based on their mistaken assumption that Adela stopped governing immediately upon the knighting of Thibaud. Hugh of Chaumont was the great-nephew of Geoffrey of Chaumont; he had been on the first crusade with Stephen, appeared at Adela's court in 1104 (Mabille, , Marmoutier Dunois, pp. 150–51, no. 161Google Scholar [= Mêlais, , Marmoutier Blésois, pp. 114–16Google Scholar, no. 118]) and had a house in Blois (ibid., p. 123, no. 127). Although Hugh had married an illegitimate daughter of Fulk of Anjou, his relations with his Angevin overlord (for Amboise) remained stormy (“Gesta Ambaziensium,” pp. 101–04).

53 For Helias of LeMans see Orderic 11.17, 20 & 22, ed. Chibnall, 6: 78, 90, 94/98; and Latouche, , Maine, pp. 46–51Google Scholar; Hildebert of LeMans composed his epitaph (ed. Scott, Carmina, p. 19, no. 29).

54 Raoul's father, Lancelin of Beaugency, was a vassal of both the Angevins and Thibaudians and brother of Helias' father, John of LaFlèche; Raoul had extensive holdings in the Vendmois and around Châteaudun, much of which he held in fief from the Thibaudians. He had sisters who married Fulk Rechin of Anjou and the Thibaudian vassal, the viscount of Blois. Raoul married a daughter of King Philip I's brother, Hugh of Vermandois, and married one of his daughters to a son of Adela's oldest son William. Raoul can be seen acting with Adela or her son Thibaud in various capacities in 1099, 1104, 1106, 1108–1110, 1111–1113, and is designated in one document as an “optimes” of Thibaud (Mabille, Marmoutier Dunois, no. 94).

55 Suger, ch. 16, ed. Wacquet, p. 104; Suger's account and other sources for this incident are discussed by Hollister, C. Warren, “Normandy, France and the Anglo-Norman Regnum,” Speculum 51 (1978): 202–42 at p. 224Google Scholar; for a conflicting interpretation see Green, Judith A., “King Henry I and the Aristocracy of Normandy,” in Actes du I lie congrès national des sociétés savantes (Poitiers, 1986)Google Scholar, Section d'histoire médiévale et de philologie, 2 vols. (Paris, 1986), 1: 161–73 at pp. 162 & 167.

56 Guérard, , St. Père, 2: 460–61, no. 66Google Scholar; for date see Luchaire, Achille, Louis VI le Gros: Annales de sa vie et de son règne (Paris, 1890), pp. 46–47, no. 86.Google Scholar

57 For St. Florentin, Bonneval, acted at Blois on 14 September 1110, see Bigot, , Saint-Florentin de Bonneval, pp. 58–60Google Scholar, and Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 55–56, no. 102Google Scholar; for the dispute between Adela and the monks over their murder of one of her vassals that broke out in 1109, see Bigot, , Saint Florentin de Bonneval, pp. 57–58Google Scholar, and Ivo of Chartres, ep. 187, ed. PL 162.190. Named as co-defender with Thibaud was his vassal, Hugh, viscount of Châteaudun and uncle of Rotrou of Nogent. Adela's son Stephen appeared with his mother and brother in these acts as well as in the one cited in the previous note.

58 Suger, ch. 19, ed. Wacquet, pp. 130/32, and Luchaire, , Louis VI, p. 58, no. 108 & p. 61, no. 114Google Scholar. See also the early 1111 donation of Louis to St. Jean en Vallée, Chartres, for an anniversary for his father, acted at Etampes, witnessed by Thibaud and dated to include mention of Adela (Merlet, René, ed., Cartulaire de Saint-Jean-en-Vallée de Chartres [Chartres, 1906], p. 9, no. 13Google Scholar; Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 57–58, no. 107Google Scholar).

59 See Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 62–63, no. 117 & p. 68, no. 128.Google Scholar

60 Henry returned in August 1111, see Orderic 11.44, ed. Chibnall, 6: 176/78. Amaury of Montfort was the maternal uncle of Fulk V of Anjou who exercised lordship rights in Maine in his wife's name after the death of her father Helias in July 1110 (Latouche, , Maine, p. 53Google Scholar).

61 Hugh appeared with Adela at Chartres and swore, at her behest, an oath to respect the possessions of St. Jean en Vallée in 1112 (Merlet, , Cart. St. Jean, p. 9, no. 14Google Scholar) Hugh's wife Agnes is held to be a daughter of Stephen (and perhaps of Adela as well) because her son Hugh (bp. of Durham from 1153, but in England by 1139) is referred to as a nephew of King Stephen by Roger of Hovedon and in at least one Durham chapter document (see de Dion, Adolphe, “Le Puiset aux XIe et XIIe siècles,” Mémoires de la société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir 9 [1889]: 29Google Scholar; Scammell, G. V., Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham [Cambridge, 1956], p. 310, no. 11Google Scholar; and LaMonte, John, “The Lords of LePuiset on the Crusades,” Speculum 17 [1942]: 100–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

62 Amaury was the sister of Louis' step-mother Bertrada. After his accession in 1108, Louis seized Mantes from his half-brother, Bertrada's son Philip, and moved on Montlhéry by supporting the claims of Milo of Bray, who promised to receive it in fief from Louis (to the detriment of claims of Philip through his recently deceased wife, the daughter of Milo of Bray's older brother). Bertrada and Amaury countered by marrying a daughter of Amaury to Hugh of Crécy, Milo's cousin and hence also a claimant in his own right, who took possession of Montlhéry. Louis was able to rout Hugh and invest Milo (see Suger, ch. 18, ed. Wacquet, pp. 122/28; and Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 41 & 47, nos. 76 & 87Google Scholar). These events took place in 1108–1110. Adela's diplomatic undertaking to Amaury is known from the report of its successful completion sent by Adela's emissary, Guy of Gallardon (Merlet, Lucien, ed., “Lettres d'Ives de Chartres et d'autres personnages de son temps, 1087–1130,” Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes 16 [1855]: 443–70 at pp. 469–70)Google Scholar; it can be dated by Guy's reference to the resistance of Gervase of Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais near Nonancourt that, on the basis of Orderic (11.44, ed. Chibnall, 6:176 & 177, n.6), can be dated to late-1111-early-1112.

63 See Bur, , Champagne, pp. 242 & 245Google Scholar for Bray-sur-Seine (about 16 km. south of Provins) which had been in Thibaudian hands since the late-10th century. Milo's father, Milo the Great, had accompanied Stephen to the Holy Land in 1101 and died alongside him at Ramla (Aachen, Albert of, “Historia Hierosolymitana expeditions,” 8.6, ed. RHC, hist, occ, 4: 562–63Google Scholar); he married the viscountess of Troyes, vassal of the Thibaudians. He appeared in the entourage of the Thibaudians at Troyes from the time of Odo (1082–1093) (Bur, , Champagne, p. 331Google Scholar and Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 74, no. 65Google Scholar) and in 1099–1100 (Archives d'Eure-et-Loir, G. 709). Milo's mother was still alive in 1111–1112 although Milo [II] had acted as viscount during his father's absence on crusade (Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 1: 24–25, no. 17Google Scholar); his older brother (d. 1108) had inherited the family's patrimonial holdings (including Montlhéry). Milo's sister was married to the Thibaudian ward and vassal Hugh II Bardou! of Broyes (Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 24, noteGoogle Scholar; see also n. 18, above). For Milo's marriage to the sister of Thibaud and daughter of Stephen see Suger, ch. 19, ed. Wacquet, pp. 146/48, and Ivo of Chartres, ep. 238, ed. PL 162.246, who reports that Milo had not legally divorced his first wife at the time of his marriage to Thibaud's sister. Hugh of Crécy's and Milo's military support of the Thibaudians is attested to by Suger, ch. 19, ed. Wacquet, p. 148.

64 See Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 198–200, no. 217bGoogle Scholar, an act datable to 14 April 1112 and acted at Molesme; Suger, ch. 19, ed. Wacquet, pp. 146/48, and Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 70–71, no. 134Google Scholar; Lancelin of Bulles, count of Danmartin, Payen (or Alberic) of Montjay-la-Tour and Guy II of Rochefort also fought for the Thibaudians, according to Suger. Guy of Rochefort was Hugh of Crécy's brother; his father, Guy the Red, had known Stephen on crusade and had relations with the Thibaudians from 1077–79 (Guérard, , St. Père, 1: 158, no. 31Google Scholar). Payen of Montjay appeared with Stephen and Adela in 1099–1100 (Archives d'Eure-et-Loir, G. 709). On Raoul, see above, n. 54.

65 See above, n. 60; and Busson, G. & Ledru, A., eds., Actus pontificum Cenomannis (LeMans, 1901), pp. 405–07Google Scholar; Hildebert, epp. 217–18, ed. PL 171.225–228; Geoffrey Grossus, “Vita Bernardi,” chs. 79–80, ed. PL 172.1414–15; Orderic 11.45, ed. Chibnall, 6: 180/182.

66 0rderic 11.45, ed. Chibnall, 6: 180.

67 0rderic 11.45, ed. Chibnall, 6: 180/82; Suger ch. 22, ed. Wacquet, p. 170; see also n. 63, above.

68 Stephen was granted the county of Mortain by his maternal uncle, probably sometime after 1113 (Orderic 11.5, ed. Chibnall, 6: 42); he received further honors in Normandy from Henry in 1118, which Orderic claims were in lieu of any share in his paternal inheritance (Orderic 12.4, ed. Chibnall, 6: 196). GEC 3: 164–66 dates Mathilda's marriage to 1115 without offering evidence; Richard, born in 1094 and orphaned in 1101, would have been 21 in 1115. According to Newman, , The Anglo-Norman Nobility, p. 185Google Scholar, Richard attested more acts of Henry in 1113 than in any other year before his premature death (with Mathilda) in the White Ship. Richard's great-grandmother was a half-sister of William the Conqueror.

69 Henry was made abbot of Glastonbury in 1126, bishop of Winchester in 1129 (Voss, L., Heinrich von Blois [Berlin, 1932])Google Scholar. Three of five children of Adela's son William also made their careers in the Anglo-Norman realm (Orderic 7.9 & 13.42, ed. Chibnall 4: 46 & 6: 536; Robert of Torigni's interpolations in William of Jumiiges 8.34, ed. Marx, Jean, Guillaume de Jumieges, Gesta Normannorum Ducem [Paris, 1914], p. 318Google Scholar), as did the son of her (step-) daughter, Agnes (see above, n. 61).

70 The source for Thibaud's trip to England is a 13th-14th-century continuation of an earlier chronicle, all of which was re-worked in the 15th century; despite the notorious unreliability of details in this work, that Thibaud travelled to England in 1114 is both plausible and not contradicted by other evidence. See [Fulman, William, ed.], “Continuatio ad Historiam Ingulphi,” in Rerum An-glicarum Scriptorum Velerum, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1684), p. 121Google Scholar; Searle, William G., Ingulf and the ‘Historia Croylandensis’: An Investigation Attempted (Cambridge, 1894)Google Scholar; de Jubainville, Arbois, Histoire, 2: 268–70Google Scholar; and pp. xxv-xxix of vol. 2 of Chibnall's edition of Orderic. On the capture of William of Nevers, see Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 101–02, no. 203Google Scholar; the anonymous chronicle from Hyde, Edwards, Edward, ed., Liber monasterii de Hyda (London, 1866), pp. 309–10Google Scholar; and the discussion by Hollister, , “Normandy, France and the Anglo-Norman Regnum,” p. 225.Google Scholar

71 Merlet, , Cart. Tiron, 1: 104–06, no. 85Google Scholar; the act was drawn up after 1116 when the grant to Tiron respected in this agreement was originally made and before Adela's final trip to the county of Meaux in late-1118–1119 (see acts cited in n. 73, below; Adela's journey may have been undertaken in 1117: see Morel, , Cart. St. Corneille, 1: 80–81, no. 39Google Scholar; Merlet, , Cart. Tiron, 1: 28–29, no. 14Google Scholar; Catel, and Lecomte, , Preuilly, pp. 3–6 & 15–17, nos. 1 & 15Google Scholar). The knight in question, Yves of Courville, was a vassal of the viscounts of Chartres, the LePuisets; in the 1117–1119 fighting, Hugh III of LePuiset again fought with the Thibaudians against Louis (see Luchaire, , Louis VI, pp. 114–15, no. 236Google Scholar).

72 Thurstan was with Henry in Normandy in the fall of 1118; when Henry allowed him to leave, he made first for Chartres and then joined the papal party at Tours. The papal party proceeded to Blois and was approaching Chartres when they received word of Louis' post-battle of Breteuil attack on that town; they consequently detoured through Étampes in order to fall back on Orleans (see Hugh the Chantor, History of the Church of York, bk. 3, ed. Johnson, Charles [London, 1961], p. 70Google Scholar; and Mirot, Léon, ed., La Chronique de Morigny [Paris, 1912], p. 31Google Scholar).

73 See Paris, BN, MS Collection Picardie, vol. 234, ff. 166r-167v, for Adela at Château-Thierry in 1119; she and Thibaud were also at Sézanne, Rebais or La Ferté-Gaucher in the same year (Laurent, , Cart. Molesme, 2: 440, no. 524Google Scholar). For Hugh as papal escort see the account of the council of Rheims by Hesso, , ed. Wattenbach, W., MGH,SS, 12: 426Google Scholar; Bur, , Champagne, pp. 216 n. 74 & 271Google Scholar, indentifies the Thibaudian castle visited by the pope as Stonne (Ardennes) and notes that pope Calixtus II was the maternal uncle of Hugh's second wife.

74 0rderic 12.21, ed. Chibnall, 6: 256/60.

75 Thurstan's visits to Adela are datable to between 1 March and Easter (18 April) 1120, and were doubtless somewhere in her county of Meaux holdings; see Hugh the Chantor, bk 3, ed. Johnson, pp. 91–92: “[Thurstan] sororem domini sui regis [Adela] et nepotem [Thibaud], quasi dominam et dominum habebat, et ipsi eum valde diligebant, et de eius exilio fratri et avunculo suo minime favebant. Que fecerat, quod deferebat, non omnia eos celavit”; and the discussion of Thurstan's “shuttle diplomacy” in Hollister, , “War and Diplomacy,” pp. 74–76.Google Scholar

76 Adela retired sometime between 20 April and 30 May 1120 (Hugh the Chantor, bk 3, ed. Johnson, p. 92). Marcigny was the sister house of Cluny; despite its reputation for strict observance, it recruited mainly from families of the upper aristocracy (see Wischermann, Else M., Marcigny-sur-Loire: Gründungs- und Frühgeschichte des ersten Cluniacenserinnenpriorates (1055–1150) [Munich, 1986]). In 1126–1129Google Scholar, out of respect for Adela's choice, her brother Henry granted immunity to Marcigny's possessions in England in the presence of Adela's son Henry, then abbot of Glastonbury, and her son Thibaud's seneschal (Johnson, and Cronne, , Regesta, 2: 366, no. 220Google Scholar).

77 Peter the Venerable, ep. 15, ed. Constable, Giles, The Letters of Peter the Venerable, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), 2: 103–05.Google Scholar

78 According to Robert of Torigni (8.39, ed. Marx, p. 331), Adela died in the second year after the death of King Henry (d. 1 December 1135); she died on 8 March.