From « WELCOME TO NORMANDY » :
3 – WILLIAM,
called “The Bastard”, Duke of Normandy and King of England.
A - “The
father” of England...
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William "The Bastard" in front of Falaise Castle
gouache from Gerard ROGER |
On a part of the ancient territory of NEUSTRIE,
Rollon, renamed ROBERT 1er , first DUKE OF NORMANDY,
succeeded in a rare « tour de force » in establishing himself
with the King of France, the latter undestanding, that with him in place, his
possessions in the north would be protected from other invasions.
The Duke also knew how to retain the respect of
his followers by entrusting them with important military posts. Equally he
excelled in reaching a compromise with the Church which retained his
organisation and even accepted him for baptism ! Better, still he suceeded in
having his son accepted as his successor !
It is to him that the Normans owe the
declaration of “HARO”, which allows to each person the right to appeal directly
the rule of the Duke !
When he died in 932, his territory, which he
had divided into counties, extended from the BRESLE and the EPTE in the east up
to the VIRE in the west and to the south as far as ALENCON.
His son, WILLIAM called “ LONGUE EPEE ”,
who had succeeded him in 927 enlarged Normandy roughly to today’s limits with
the acquisition of COTENTIN, in fighting the BRETONS and the “Normands of the
west” stayed true to the viking traditions. A fervent Christian, he
reconstructed the ABBEY OF JUMIEGES, built on the SEINE side three centuries
earlier.
But the new Duke was assassinated in 942 at the
instigation of the Count of Flanders... backed by the King of France. He was
succeeded by his son RICHARD 1er “Without Fear” who consolidated the ducal
heritage building or restoring the CATHEDRAL OF ROUEN and the ABBEYS OF
MONT-SAINT-MICHEL and FECAMP.
He died in 996. His son RICHARD 2nd
“the Good or the Intrepid”continued his work. To help confirm his power against
his dangerous neighbourgs he called on the Nordik fleet commanded by “OLAF THE
LARGE” who should be baptised in the cathedral of Rouen and become in this
country SAINT OLAF.
At this time, KNUT THE DANE married Emma sister
of Duke Richard and widow of the anglo-saxon King ETHELRED, King of Denmark,
Norway and England he thus laid the foundations of a Norman Empire which would
take TANCRED DE HAUTEVILLE to SICILY, CALABRIA, APULIA and BOHEMOND to Antioch,
Richard accorded great privileges to the church and backed the bulding of
monasteries.
RICHARD 3nd succeeded him in 1027 but died some
months later on his return to FALAISE... poisoned by his younger brother, the
Count of Hiemes, who thus becam Duke under the name of ROBERT THE MAGINFICENT !
Here the romantic episode of his meeting with
young Arlette of Falaise intervenes...
THE MEETING OF ROBERT AND ARLETTE !
As he returned to his castle in Falaise
after a hunting party, the young Duke
noticed at the spring of the ANTE, the river which runs past the castle, in the
middle of a group of young women “wringing” the landry, a “magnificent
creature”. He fell in love with her there and then and led “in full array” to
the castle and married her “ in the style of the Danes”...
A chronical reported : “ The first night of their
acquaintance, Arlette who was asleep, trembling, gave a loud cry. The Duke
asked the reason, she replied that she had dreamt that there was a large tree
coming from his stomach which extended branches so long and so hight that they
put all the Normandy in the shade... Being huge, she throught his entrails
would extend throughout the whole of Normandy and England.
This young woman which legend calls ARLETTE
FULBERT was in fact named Herlève Fulbert. Her father was a citizen of Falaise,
a furrier of Flemish origin.
At the end of December 1027, a happy event was
celebrated in the castle of Falaise :the woman brought into the world a strong
child who was called WILLIAM.
Seeing the baby pull towards him the straw of
the mattres on which she had placed him, the wise woman, cried out : “by my
faith ! This child starts acquiring and amassing young!”
The child was raised alongside his father up to
the day when the latter, wanting to atone for the crime that he had previously
committed, decided,against the advice of his barons to leave a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem.
Before his departure he had his young bastard
son accepted as his successor. He also made one of his faithful supporters
EUDES DE CONTEVILLE, promise to marry
Arlette if anything happened to him on the journey...
In Constantinople as in Jerusalem,
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT did not go unnoticed with his impressive Norman knights
and his expensive entourage. He showered off the power of the Duchy of
Normandy.
Alas, on his return journey, in Asia Minor, he
contracted the plague.
Before dying, he charged a Norman pilgrim to
announce his demise to his people. His last words being : “Tell them I go
to heaven carried by four black devils !”
Once the new became knowm in Normandy, there
was a period of depression and then shortly afterwards, forgetting their
promises, and their oaths, a group of Norman knights ( at the head of which –
as alwaysn the “Normans of Cotentin” who wanted to return to the scandinavian
traditions) began a rebellion refusing to accept that the young WILLIAM succeed
his father under the pretext that he is a “bastard”.
The child would never
forget this terrible insult. Keeping his promise EUDES DE CONTEVILLE married
Arlette and who gave him two sons : ODON, future bishop of BAYEUX and ROBERT DE
MORTAIN.
William took refuge with his father in law to
forget for a moment... Without ever forgetting.
In 1042, EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, uncle of
Williamn became KING OF ENGLAND.
In 1047, after having already to years earlier
escaped a plot led by Guy of Brionne, who wanted to get rid of him and put in
his place Guy Of Burgundy(*), the young William, powerful with the support of a
large part of Norman Nobility, regained his title. Thus he confronted the rebel
barons.
William, already a strong strategist; souhgt
the help of his overlord, the King of France, Henry 1st (1031-1060).
The meeting took place to the south-east of
Caen at VAL-ES-DUNES, on the 5th of August 1047.
Before the battle, William, who had established
his camp on the banks of the MUANCE, attended Mass in the church of Valmeray.
The rebels charged to the cry of the Viking
ancestors : “THOR AIE !” (THOR HELP US!) whereas William troops, to the
cry of “DEI AIE!” (GOLD HELP US !) won a brilliant victory.
Shortly
afterwards, the young Duke put down the remaining active rebels.
Henceforth, he was indisputably DUKE OF
NORMANDY and he set about reinforcing and organising his domain. He made CAEN
the second capital of his Duchy to keep a closer eye on his barons.
He gave important posts to his closest
acquaintances and cultivated useful relations with the clergy. In 1049, he gave
his half brother ODON the diocèse of Bayeux and a year later he gave the County
of Mortain to his other half brother Robert.
In 1050, in spite of a ban on the marriage to
his cousin by Pope Léon IX at the Council of Reims, he married PRINCESS
MATHILDE – 23 years old - daughter of Beaudoin V, Count of Flanders, and
grand-daughter of the King of France, Robert II “the Pious”. The ceremony took
place at EU in strict privacy.
Being aware of his appetite for power and
conquest, the neighbours of the young Duke, the BRETONS, the ANGEVINS,
kept a close watch on the borders of Normandy.
The King of France, who had helped William to
seize power, was concerned to see such a strong and attractive Duchy close to
Paris.
In 1053, the siege of ARQUES took place and in
1054 William defaited at MORTEMER a Franco/Angevine coalition.
Three years later, at VARAVILLE, near DIVES, he
gained a second victory against the same Franco/Angevines.
The royal troops and
the Angevines, coming from ANGERS, entered Normandy by the HIESMOIS.
The King
of France, who was commading the armies stopped at the Abbey of
SAINT-PIERRE-SUR-DIVES, before reaching the CAEN plain.
Therefor, as they crossed the river “ORNE”,
William left FALAISE and set out the head of his cavalry for the bridge at
VARAVILLE where the Franco/Angevins had to cross the DIVES.
With clever strategy and the help to the
peasants who joined him along the way, William, coming from BAVENT, attacked
the army of HENRY 1st from behind pushing the majority of the troops
towards the bridge which collapsed. Almost all the soldiers died in the river
with a level incraesed by the high tide. But William had a larger view of his
destiny, more global that the norm in the years around 1060 !
He was kept regularly informed of everything
that happened at the Court in LONDON, where “his relative” the King, EDWARD THE
CONFESSOR reigned.
The latter was the son of EMMA, the widow of the King of
England, ETHEREL. William was, therefor, the cousin of EDWARD who in his youth
had seen elevated to the Court of Normandy.
Having returned to reign in England
in 1044, he had around him numerous Norman advisers duch that the Anglo-Saxons
said that Edward had a “ Norman Section” in the Court of London.
Edward was
married to a saxon princess, Edith GODWINSON, but no successor was born to the
marriage. In 1051, he had offered the succession to WILLIAM 2th of NORMANDY.
At the
beginningof the year 1060, William had his eyes firmly fixed on the “Grand Ile”.
He knew that Edward the Confessor would die...
In 1063, he conquered MAINE...
In 1064, the son of the head of the Anglo-Saxon
part of the Court of London, Harold GODWINSON, was charged with a mission to
the Duke of Normandt.
He made a hazardous crossing and landed on the beaches of
PONTHIEU. Taken prisonner, he was “bought back”by William who brought him to
Normandy. Harold was given a warm welcome and joined with the Duke in several
“rides” notably in Brittany.
Harold carried a message from Edward The Confessor,
confirming to William the promise that he had made. A William’s request, Harold
before his return to England, swore on the ancient relics of the CHATEAU DE
BONNEVILLE SUR TOUQUES that he would accept to be his servant....
