William I, the Bastard King

This is the second article in a series exploring the life of William I of England. If you have not read the first article, you can find it here. This article follows William's life from the point where King Henry I of France helped him to secure his duchy of Normandy to his marriage.

Geoffrey Martel

While Guy of Burgundy was trapped in Brionne, Henry and William turned their attention to a problem outside the duchy of Normandy. William certainly owed Henry a debt of gratitude for securing his rule of most of Normandy, and he was probably keen to prove to his liege lord that he was a loyal and capable vassal. Added to which, Anjou and Normandy were frequently at odds with each other, since both believed they had the right to rule the border county of Maine. Therefore, in 1048, William joined Henry in a war with Anjou.

Again, the sources for the battles of this campaign are frustratingly scarce. What is known is that William challenged Geoffrey to single combat to decide the matter between themselves. This was a pattern that William maintained throughout his life. He never objected to full battles, but wherever he could he tried to offer negotiations or single combat first - although these offers were very seldom accepted by his enemies. Geoffrey certainly doesn’t seem to have liked his chances, because the Norman sources say that he shrank from the battle and led his host away from the field at night. This left the way to Alençon open.

Alençon lay on the Norman side of the River Sarthe, but it sided with Anjou. It was ruled by William Talvas, Lord of Belleme. There was a story that William Talvas had cursed William the Bastard in his cradle. If that rumour was true, and known to William, it might have added a more personal reason to join Henry in this particular fight. Even if he didn’t, he was soon given exactly that.

The burghers of the town decided to mock William’s low birth. They hung skins over the wall of the town, shouting “Hides for the tanner’s son!” William swore that those who had jeered at him would be dealt with, and he certainly kept that promise. When the castle was taken, he cut the hands and feet off thirty-two of the burghers of the town. Hearing of this, the defenders of the second border town, Domfront, surrendered without a fight or risking giving insult to the young, but increasingly powerful Duke.

William of Mortain

This is a much smaller matter than the conquest of Maine, but it does give some light on the man that William was growing into. William of Mortain was a distant kinsman of William of Normandy, and as the title suggests, he held the county of Mortain. Sometime after the conquest of Maine, William banished this namesake kinsman on the accusation of a poor serving-knight within his retinue, Robert Bigod. The county of Mortain was then granted to William’s half-brother, Robert. He had gifted the bishopric of Bayeux to his other half-brother Odo in 1048, when Odo could not have been older than twelve.

This proves that William considered his half-brothers kin, which isn’t always the case in such complicated families, particularly where power is concerned. It also meant that both of his half-brothers were highly placed amongst the nobles of Normandy. If they returned William’s obvious affection, this could have been a move to help stabilise a duchy that still had several rebellious nobles within it. And, for most of his life, William could indeed rely on his half-brothers for loyal support.

William Visits England?

While William was busy securing Normandy, Norman influence across the channel in the Anglo-Saxon court of Edward the Confessor was reaching its height. In the autumn of 1051, the problems this caused reached their height. Count Eustace of Boulogne had married Edward the Confessor’s widowed sister Godgifu, and he came to England, landing in Dover. The exact details of what happened are unclear, but Eustace’s men and the men of Dover ended up fighting each other. This caused a political nightmare for Edward, who ultimately banished Earl Godwine and his sons as punishment for the fight that had broken out in their lands. This also had the apparent benefit of removing the most powerful lords in England from the realm, ensuring that they could not be a direct threat to Edward.

It was while the Godwine family was in exile that William came to visit, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There are several documents that William wrote after 1052 where he mentions Edward the Confessor as his lord. This certainly suggests that he must have given Edward homage at some point, although clear records of this international visit are not easy to find. Only one of the several versions of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle mentions it, and the Norman sources are equally scarce.

I would put this visit down to William’s need for allies other than King Henry of France, as his childhood had no doubt taught him that putting too much reliance on one ally was a foolish gamble. And at this point, there was no enmity between England and France, as that only came about because of William’s later activities, and his family’s responses to them.

What is important, however, is that William later said that Edward had made him heir, although there is certainly no record of him doing so. Added to which, if Edward had wanted to pass the throne to one of his kinsmen, there were several who were much closer relations to him than William. His nephew Ralph was living in England and held an English earldom. Not to mention that the Kingdom of England at that time was not a hereditary monarchy. On the death of a king, his sons only had a slight edge. The successor was chosen by a vote of the most powerful nobles, a group called the Witan. Therefore, Edward could not have promised William anything more than to put his name forward as a suggestion, and it would have been clear to anyone that such a suggestion would be ignored by the nobles of the Witan.

Matilda of Flanders

Finally, William felt free to turn his attention to love. Or to the approximation of it that noble families throughout history have used - the need to consolidate power. He sent representatives to the court of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, asking for the hand of his daughter, Matilda. This was probably motivated by William’s need for allies other than King Henry, but the fact that Matilda was descended from Alfred the Great in the female line could have been an additional reason for his choice. This would have given William’s children - but not him personally - some small claim to the English throne. It seems unlikely that played too much of a role in William’s decision to ask for Matilda’s hand in marriage, but it is mentioned in some of the sources.

Matilda, however, had other ideas. It is rumoured that she was in love with the English ambassador to Flanders, a man named Brihtric, although he declined her advances. Whatever the truth of that matter, she informed William’s representatives that she was far too high-born to consider marrying a bastard.

William was always touchy about his illegitimate birth, and when he was given that response, he rode to Bruges. There are two alternative, but similar, stories of what happened next. One says that he confronted her while she was on her way to church, pulled her off her horse and threw her down in the mud of the street in front of her startled attendants, then rode off. The other states that he rode to her father’s court in Lille, marched into her room and threw her to the ground and hit her.

It is unclear why either of those stories would persuade Matilda that William would make a good husband, but afterwards, she apparently declared that she would not marry anyone but him. I’m fairly sure that would not be my response to such an assault, but then again, I’m not Matilda.

They were married in 1053 at Notre Dame d’Eu, although the marriage was condemned by the Pope as they were considered to be too closely related since they shared a common ancestor within seven generations. It is typical of William that he ignored this condemnation and the excommunication that went with it, instead sending his friend and long-time councillor, Lanfranc, to Rome to negotiate his forgiveness afterwards.

In spite of all the difficulties around the start of their marriage, it was a highly successful union. The two had several children, with their eldest son, Robert, being born within a year of their marriage, and seem to have at least grown genuinely fond of each other over the years.