#conan iii of brittany

[ardenrosegarden]

Certain couples offer an image of perfect harmony, at least under the pen of chroniclers who underline the pain felt at the death of a spouse. For example, Pierre Le Baud speaks of the ardent love the count Hoël felt for Hawise. After her death in 1072, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. Widows feel the same emotions and maintain the memory of their deceased spouse by their gifts and wish to be buried at his side. In this way, Alan III’s sudden death at the age of 43, perhaps poisoned by the Normans, dismayed his wife, Bertha of Blois, who was “struck in the heart,” according to Arthur de La Borderie. She donates riches to churches, among others to the Benedictine nuns of Saint-Georges de Rennes, in a charter whose beginning resembles a sob: “The end of the word is approaching,” said the duchess, “the warning signs announced by God mount up: nations rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, and the earth is restless with great tremors. I, Bertha, countess of Brittany, and my son, Conan, frightened by these omens, distressed above all by the the death of my very sweet lord, the very illustrious Count Alan, father of my son Conan, here present, the news of whose death came yesterday and pierces our hearts, conforming to the evangelical instruction, ‘make friends with the mammon of iniquity,’ we give to Saint-Georges and to its daughters the parish of Plougasnou.”

-Laurence Moal, Duchesses: Histoire d’un pouvoir au féminin en Bretagne

[venicepearl]

Hawise of Rennes (c. 1024-1037 – 19 August 1072) was Duchess of Brittany from 1066 until her death.

Hawise was daughter and heiress of Alan III, Duke of Brittany, by his wife, Bertha of Blois, and as such, a member of the House of Rennes. She had two siblings: Conan II and Emma of Brittany. Hawise succeeded her older brother Conan, who was assassinated by poisoning on 11 December 1066.

Little is known of the life of Hawise of Rennes. She was married to Hoel of Cornwall some time before 1058. Hoel exercised authority jure uxoris and continued to control the government after her death in 1072 acting as regent for their son, Alan IV.

[stonelord1]

THE OTHER RICHARD III

Very few people realise there was once another medieval Richard III who was, in fact, a distant relative of the more famous one. The ‘other Richard III’ was born in around 997 and for a very brief time was Duke of Normandy, ruling the Duchy for a single year. His father was Richard II of Normandy and his mother Judith, daughter of Conan I of Brittany. Richard II was noted for helping the Vikings…

[histoireettralala]

Medieval Brittany

Brittany was a region with strong traditions of independance, with an ethnic identity, a language and culture of its own. Formal integration into and continued interaction with the Carolingian empire, and with adjacent regions, nevertheless ensured that the political and social institutions of Brittany were similar to those prevailing elsewhere in western Francia. This was especially true of the eastern portion of the medieval duchy (the counties of Rennes and Nantes) which were within the Carolingian Breton march.

Brittany was severely affected by Viking attacks, and when ducal authority was re-established in the 930s (with the first ducal charters surviving from the 940s), it remained fragile. Dynastic disputes caused the political fragmentation of the duchy into counties. Comital authority was in turn diminished by the appearance of adulterine castellanies, which by the mid-twelth century constituted independant baronies. Comital authority further suffered from the pressures of resisting claims to overlordship pursued by both the dukes of Normandy and the counts of Anjou in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The process of fragmentation was halted and reversed from the mid-eleventh century, when intermarriage among the comital houses resulted in the ducal title vesting in one individual, Duke Alan IV (1084-1112). It remained for the ducal dynasty to revive central authority. The long and stable reigns of Alan IV and his son Conan III (1112-1148), ably assisted by the dowager-duchess Ermengard, daughter of Count Fulk IV of Anjou, saw progress in this direction.

A succession dispute following Conan's death not only undid the dukes' achievement, but also created the circumstances in which the claims to overlordship by neighboring princes could be fulfilled in the person of Henry II, king of England, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou. Between 1158 and 1166, Henry II annexed Brittany to his continental possessions, marrying his younger son Geoffrey to Constance, heiress of the duchy. The Plantagenet regime in Brittany further consolidated important links with the Anglo-Norman kingdom, which began with grants of lands in England to Bretons who had supported William the Conqueror in 1066 and later his son Henry I. The largest bloc of English lands, the honour of Richmond, pertained to the dukes of Brittany by hereditary right after 1146, but other Bretons held English lands in chief of the crown independantly of Richmond.

The Plantagenet regime came to an end in 1203, in consequence of King John's murder of his nephew Arthur, the son of Duke Geoffrey and Constance. From that point, Brittany was indisputably subject to Capetian authority, which could now be exercised directly. Brittany had at all times acknowledged Capetian sovereignty- even the Plantagenet rulers had rendered homage for the duchy to the kings of France- but typically of the principalities, this sovereignty was purely nominal until the early thirteenth century. Nevertheless, after the marriage of infant heiress, Alix, to Pierre de Dreux, a Capetian cadet, in 1213, Brittany was allowed a large measure of autonomy, subject to the continued acknowledgement of Capetian sovereignty, and the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries would see the golden age of ducal Brittany.

Elizabeth M. Hallam & Charles West- Capetian France, 987-1328

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 357

Non-Marvel/DC September 2022 Solicits

Comic Reviews:

DC:

Aquaman and Flash: Voidsong 1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Vasco Georgiev, Rain Beredo

Black Adam 1 by Christopher Priest, Rafa Sandoval, Matt Herms

Dark Crisis: Young Justice 1 by Meghan Fitzmartin, Laura Braga, Luis Guerrero

Flash 783 by Jeremy Adams, Amancay Nahuelpan, Jeromy Cox

Earth Prime 6: Hero's Twilight

Milestones in History by Reginald Hudlin, Steven Barnes, Amy Chu, Melody Cooper, Leon Chills, Alice Randall, Toure, Tananarive Due, Pat Charles, Kathryn Parsons, Francesco Francavilla, Jamal Igle, Ray-Anthony Height, Denys Cowan, Eric Battle, Don Hudson, Ron Wilson, Arvell Jones, Maria Laura Sanapo, Domo Stanton, Jahnoy Lindsay, John Stanisci, Jose Marzan Jr, Mike Gustovich, Chris Sotomayor, Michael Atiyeh, Emilio Lopez, Hi-Fi, Dan Brown, Eva De La Cruz, Andrew Dolhouse

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen's Boss Perry White by Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber, et al

Marvel:

Marvel's Voices Pride 2022 by Mike O’Sullivan, Stuart Vandal, Rob London, Andrew Wheeler, Daron Jensen, Alyssa Wong, Patrick Duke, Chris McCarver, Christopher Cantwell, Danny Lore, Luc Kersten, Grace Freud, Ira Madison III, Alex Philips, Charle Jane Anders, Ted Brandt, Kei Zama, Lucas Werneck, Brittney Williams, Ro Stein, Scott Henderson, Lorenzo Susi, Stephen Byrne, Lee Townsend, Rachelle Rosenberg, Rico Renzi, Jose Villarrubia, Michael Wiggam, Tamra Bonvillain, Brittany Peer

Miles Morales and Moon Girl 1 by Mohale Mashigo, Ig Guara, Rachelle Rosenberg

New Fantastic Four 1 by Peter David, Alan Robinson, Mike Spicer

Punisher War Journal: Blitz by Torunn Gronbekk, Lan Medina, Antonio Fabela

Who is Jane Foster Thor Infinity Comic by Torunn Gronbekk, Leonard Kirk, Matt Milla

Marvel Meow 9 by Nao Fuji

Image:

Beware the Eye of Odin 1 by Doug Wagner, Tim Odland

Clementine GN by Tillie Walden, Cliff Rathburn 

Silver Coin 11 by James Tynion IV, Michael Walsh

Dark Horse:

Lonesome Hunters 1 by Tyler Crook

Ahoy:

Wrong Earth: Confidence Men 1 by Mark Waid, Leonard Kirk

Dynamite:

Samurai Sonja 1 by Jordan Clark, Pasquale Qualano

OGNs:

Runaways Diary by Emily Raymond, Valeria Wicker, James Patterson

Creepy Cat vol 3 by Cotton Valent

Additional Reviews: Obi-Wan ep6, Ms. Marvel ep3, Kevin Can F*** Himself s1, Star Trek: Prodigy s1, Spiderhead, Absolute Fourth World vol 1, Trevor: The Musical, Bone Orchard Mythos Passageway, Centaurworld

  A new feature announced!

  News: Kraven movie plot, Conan license to Titan, Omninews, Miracleman Silver Age, Riverdale spinoff featuring Jake Chang, Scout kickstarts Stabbity Bunny, new OGN series from Molly Knox Ostertag

  Trailers: Stranger Things s4.2

  Comics Countdown:

Batman: The Knight 6 by Chip Zdarsky, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia

Deadly Class 53 by Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge

Newburn 8 by Chip Zdarsky, Jacob Phillips , Casey Gilly, Soo Lee

Nocterra 11 by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Marcelo Maiolo

Nightwing 93 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Wade Von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas

Lonesome Hunters 1 by Tyler Crook

Something is Killing the Children 24 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, Miquel Muerto

I Hate This Place 2 by Kyle Starks, Artyom Topilin, Lee Loughridge

Beware the Eye of Odin 1 by Doug Wagner, Tim Odland

Flash 783 by Jeremy Adams, Amancay Nahuelpan, Jeromy Cox

Check out this episode!

[everydayshalloween]

Matilda Fitzroy, Duchess of Brittany: My siblings are super nice. And so warm!

Maybe half of her siblings damn near insulting someone for talking shit in the background:

Matilda Fitzroy: And they're so friendly! I'm quite lucky to have them.

Conan III watching his wife's siblings: What the fu-

[schoolcalidity]

Henri II un anglo franco normardo que comienza una saga que explica las capas tectónicas de la historia de la dominación anglo-germana católica romana en Hispania/ Al- Andalus/ Sefarad. Se ve cómo entre ellos se casan, se matan, se reproducen y se pasan los territorios como pelotas. Guerras y competencias pero siempre entre las familias. 

House of Plantagenet

Henry II

(1154–1189) is considered by some to be the first Plantagenet king of England.

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, adopted Plantagenet as his family name in the 15th century. Plantegenest (or Plante Genest) had been a 12th-century nickname for his ancestor Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. One of many popular theories suggests the common broom, planta genista in medieval Latin, as the source of the nickname.[1]

Los Angenvins 

Angevin kings of England //// Angevin Empire

Angevin is French for "from Anjou". The three Angevin kings were Henry II, Richard I and John. "Angevin" can also refer to the period of history in which they reigned. Many historians identify the Angevins as a distinct English royal house. "Angevin" is also used in reference to any sovereign or government derived from Anjou. As a noun, it refers to any native of Anjou or an Angevin ruler, and specifically to other counts and dukes of Anjou, including the ancestors of the three kings who formed the English royal house; their cousins, who held the crown of Jerusalem; and to unrelated members of the French royal family who were later granted the titles and formed different dynasties, such as the Capetian House of Anjou and the Valois House of Anjou.[4] Consequently, there is disagreement between those who consider Henry III to be the first Plantagenet monarch, and those who do not distinguish between Angevins and Plantagenets and therefore consider the first Plantagenet to be Henry II.[5][6][7][8]

Angevin zenith

Of Henry's siblings, William and Geoffrey died unmarried and childless, but the tempestuous marriage of Henry and Eleanor, who already had two daughters (Marie and Alix) through her first marriage to King Louis, produced eight children in thirteen years:[22]

William IX, Count of Poitiers (1153–1156)

Henry the Young King (1155–1183)

Matilda, Duchess of Saxony (1156–1189)—married Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria. The eldest amongst the couple's children, Richenza, is probably the daughter English chroniclers call Matilda, who was left in Normandy with her grandparents in 1185 and married firstly to Geoffrey, count of Perche, and secondly to Enguerrand de Coucy. The eldest son, Henry, became duke of Saxony and count palatine of the Rhine. His brother Otto was nominated by his uncle Richard I as earl of York and count of Poitiers before being elected emperor in opposition to the Hohenstaufen candidate. Otto was crowned in Rome but he was later excommunicated and declared deposed. Childless, Otto lost power following the defeat of the Welf and Angevin forces at the Battle of Bouvines. The youngest child, William of Winchester married Helena daughter of Valdemar I of Denmark. Their only son, also called Otto, was the sole male heir of his uncle Henry. The ducal house of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the British royal house of Windsor both descend from him.[23]

Richard I, King of England (1157–1199). He had no legitimate offspring, but is thought to have had two illegitimate sons, of whom little is known, called Fulk and Phillip, Lord of Cognac.[24]

Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158–1186)—married Constance daughter of Duke Conan of Brittany and became duke of Brittany by right of his wife. The couple's son Arthur was a competitor to John for the Angevin succession.[25]

Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1161–1214)—married King Alfonso VIII of Castile. The couple's children included King Henry of Castile and four queen consorts, Berengaria, Queen of Leon, Urraca, Queen of Portugal, Blanche, Queen of France and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon.[26]

Joan, Queen of Sicily (1165–1199)—married firstly King William II of Sicily and secondly Count Raymond VI of Toulouse. Her children included Raymond VII of Toulouse.[27]

John, King of England (1166–1216)  

La historia se perpetua en varias generaciones y matrimonios que dejan claro que el norte de la peninsula lógicamente por mar se corresponde con Inglaterra y Francia por igual. 

Henry III had nine children:[59]

Edward I (1239–1307)

Margaret of England (1240–1275). Her three children predeceased her husband, Alexander III of Scotland; consequently, the crown of Scotland became vacant on the death of their only grandchild, Margaret, Maid of Norway in 1290.[60]

Beatrice, Countess of Richmond (1242–1275). She initially married John de Montfort of Dreux, and later married John II, Duke of Brittany.

Edmund Crouchback (1245–1296), who was granted the titles and estates of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and the earldom of Leicester after Henry defeated Montfort in the Second Barons' War. Henry later granted Edmund the earldoms of Lancaster and Ferrers. From 1276, through his wife, Edmund was Count of Champagne and Brie.[61] Later Lancastrians would attempt to use Henry IV's maternal descent from Edmund to legitimise his claim to the throne, spuriously claiming that Edmund was the eldest son of Henry III but had not become king due to deformity.[62] Through his second marriage to Blanche, the widow of Henry I of Navarre, Edmund was at the centre of European aristocracy. Blanche's daughter, Joan, was queen regnant of Navarre and queen consort of France through her marriage to Philip IV. Edmund's son Thomas became the most powerful nobleman in England, adding to his inheritance the earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury through his marriage to the heiress of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln.[63]

Four others who died as children: Richard (1247–1256), John (1250–1256), William (c. 1251/1252–1256), Katherine (c. 1252/3–1257) and Henry (no recorded dates).

Henry was bankrupted by his military expenditure and general extravagance. The pope offered Henry's brother Richard the Kingdom of Sicily, but the military cost of displacing the incumbent Emperor Frederick was prohibitive. Matthew Paris wrote that Richard stated: "You might as well say, 'I make you a present of the moon – step up to the sky and take it down'." Instead, Henry purchased the kingdom for his son Edmund, which angered many powerful barons. The barons led by Henry's brother-in-law Simon de Montfort forced him to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, under which his debts were paid in exchange for substantial reforms. In France, with the Treaty of Paris, Henry formally surrendered the territory of his Angevin ancestors to Louis IX of France, receiving in return the title duke of Aquitaine and the territory of Gascony as a vassal of the French king.[43]

Death of Simon de Montfort at the

Battle of Evesham

Disagreements between the barons and the king intensified. The barons, under Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, captured most of southeast England in the Second Barons' War. At the Battle of Lewesin 1264, Henry and Prince Edward were defeated and taken prisoner. De Montfort assembled the Great Parliament, recognized as the first Parliament because it was the first time the cities and boroughs had sent representatives.[64] Edward escaped, raised an army and defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.[65] Savage retribution was inflicted upon the rebels, and authority restored to Henry. With the realm now peaceful, Edward left England to join Louis IX on the Ninth Crusade; he was one of the last crusaders. Louis died before Edward's arrival, but Edward decided to continue. The result was disappointing; Edward's small force only enabled him to capture Acre and launch a handful of raids. After surviving an assassination attempt, Edward left for Sicily later in the year, never to participate in a crusade again. When Henry III died, Edward acceded to the throne; the barons swore allegiance to him even though he did not return for two years.[65]

Constitutional change and the reform of feudalism

Edward I married Eleanor of Castile, daughter of King Ferdinand of Castile, a great grandson of Henry II through his second daughter Eleanor in 1254. Edward and Eleanor had sixteen children; five daughters survived to adulthood, but only one son survived Edward:[66]

Eleanor, Countess of Bar (1264/69−1298)

Three daughters (Joan, Alice, and Juliana/Katherine) and two sons (John and Henry) born between 1265 and 1271. They died between 1265 and 1274 with little historical trace.

Joan, Countess of Gloucester (1272–1307)

Alphonso, Earl of Chester (1273–1284)

Margaret, Duchess of Brabant (1275–1333)

Mary of Woodstock (1278–1332), who became a nun

Isabella (1279–1279)

Elizabeth, firstly Countess of Holland and on widowhood, secondly Countess of Hereford (1282–1316). Among her eleven children were the earls of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, and the countesses of Ormond and Devon.

Edward II

Two other daughters (Beatrice and Blanche), who died as children.

Following Eleanor's death in 1290, Edward married Margaret of France, daughter of Philip III of France, in 1299. Edward and Margaret had two sons, who both lived to adulthood, and a daughter who died as a child:[67]

Thomas (1300–1338), whose daughter Margaret inherited his estates. Margaret's grandson, Thomas Mowbray, was the first duke of Norfolk, but Richard II exiled him and stripped him of his titles.

Edmund, Earl of Kent (1301 to 1330). Edmund's loyalty to his half-brother, Edward II, resulted in his execution by order of the rebel Mortimer and his lover, Edward's queen, Isabella. His daughter, Joan, inherited his estates and married her own cousin, Edward the Black Prince; together, they had Richard, who later became the English king.

Eleanor (1306–1311).

Más adelante ....  Fighting in the Hundred Years' War spilled from the French and Plantagenet lands into surrounding realms, including the dynastic conflict in Castile between Peter of Castile and Henry II of Castile. The Black Prince allied himself with Peter, defeating Henry at the Battle of Nájera. Edward and Peter fell out when Peter was unable to reimburse Edward's military expenses leaving him bankrupt.[75] The Plantagenets continued to interfere, and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the Black Prince's brother, married Peter's daughter Constance, claiming the Crown of Castile in her name. He invaded with an army of 5000 men. Fighting was inconclusive before Gaunt agreed a treaty with King Juan of Castile.[76] Terms of the treaty included the marriage of John of Gaunt's daughter Katherine to Juan's son, Enrique.[77]

entonces... John of Gaunt (1340–1399), after Blanche's death in 1369, John married Constance of Castile, trying unsuccessfully to obtain the throne of Castile. The marriage produced two children:Catherine of Lancaster (1372–1418)—married Henry III of Castile, with whom she was a great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England.John (1374–1375)Constance died in 1394, after which John married Katherine Swynford on 13 January 1396. Their four children were born before they married. The pope legitimised them in 1396, as did Richard II by charter, on the condition that their children could not ascend the throne:John (c. 1371/1372–1410)—grandfather of Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother.Henry (1375–1447)Thomas (1377–1427)Joan (1379–1440)—Joan's son, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and her grandson, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, were leading supporters of the House of York.Edmund (1341–1402)—founder of the House of York. He had three children with Isabella of Castile:Edward (1373–1415)—killed at the Battle of Agincourt.Constance (1374–1416)Richard—(1375–1415)Blanche (1342)—died as a child.Mary of Waltham (1344–1362)—married John V, Duke of Brittany. No issue.Margaret (1346–1361)—married John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. No issue.Joan (b. 1351)Thomas (1355–1397)—murdered or executed for treason by order of Richard II; his daughter, Anne, married Edmund Stafford.Edward's long reign had forged a new national identity, reinforced by Middle English beginning to establish itself as the spoken and written language of government. As a result, he is considered by many historians in cultural respects the first 'English' post-conquest ruler.[74]

No paraban jamás! sigue la tradición:

House of York

Edward III made his fourth son Edmund the first duke of York in 1362. Edmund was married to Isabella, a daughter of King Peter of Castile and María de Padilla and the sister of Constance of Castile, who was the second wife of Edmund's brother John of Gaunt. Both of Edmund's sons were killed in 1415.

María de Padilla (c. 1334 [1]–Seville, July 1361) was the mistress of King Peter of Castile.

María Díaz de Padilla

Arms of María de Padilla

Born1334

Died August 1361 (aged 26–27)

Juan García de Padilla  1st Lord of Villagera and María González de Henestrosa

Religion

Roman Catholicism

She was a Castilian noblewoman, daughter of Juan García de Padilla (died between 1348 and 1351) and his wife María González de Henestrosa[2] (died after September 1356). Her maternal uncle was Juan Fernández de Henestrosa, the King's favorite between 1354 and 1359[3] after Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque fell out of favor, and the mediator in an apparent pardon for Fadrique Alfonso, King Peter's half-brother. She was also the sister of Diego García de Padilla, Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava.[3]María’s family, members of the regional nobility,[4] originally came from the area of Padilla de Abajo, near Castrojeriz in the province of Burgos.

She is described in the chronicles of her time as very beautiful, intelligent, and small of body.[5]

Real Monasterio de Santa Clara en Astudillo (Palencia) founded by María de Padilla

Relationship with King Peter of Castile

King Peter met María in the summer of 1352 during an expedition to Asturias to battle his rebellious half-brother Henry. It was probably her maternal uncle, Juan Fernández de Henestrosa, who introduced them, as mentioned in the chronicle of King Peter’s reign written by Pero López de Ayala.[6] At that time, María was being raised at the house of Isabel de Meneses, wife of Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque, a powerful nobleman. They became lovers and their relationship lasted until her death despite the King’s other marriages and affairs. The Padillas were raised to various offices and dignities. Her uncle, Henestrosa, became Alcalde de los fidalgos.[7]

In the summer of 1353, under coercion from family and the main court favorite, Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque, Peter wed Blanche of Bourbon, the first cousin of King John II of France. Peter abandoned Blanche within three days when he learned that she had an affair with his bastard brother Fadrique Alfonso en route to Spain, and that the dowry was not coming.

Children

María and Peter had three daughters: Beatrice (born 1354), Constance (1354–1394), and Isabella (1355–1392), and a son, Alfonso, crown-prince of Castile (1359 - October 19, 1362).

Two of their daughters were married to sons of Edward III, King of England. Isabella married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, while the elder, Constance, married John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, leading him to claim the crown of Castile on behalf of his wife. Constance's daughter, Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III of Castile in order to reunify any claim to succession that may have passed via Constance.

El Horror que nos somete: 

The Order of Calatrava (Spanish: Orden de Calatrava Portuguese: Ordem de Calatrava) was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164. Most of the political and military power of the order dissipated by the end of the 15th century, but the last dissolution of the order's property did not occur until 1838.

Origins and foundation

It was founded at Calatrava la Vieja in Castile, in the twelfth century by St. Raymond of Fitero, as a military branch of the Cistercian family.[1][2] The etymology of the name of this military order, Calatrava, conveys the meaning: "fortress of Rabah".

Rodrigo of Toledo describes the origins of the order:

Castle of Calatrava la Nueva, former parent headquarters of the order

"Calatrava is the Arabic name of a castle recovered from the Moslems, in 1147, by the King of Castile, Alfonso VII, called el Emperador. Located in what was then the southernmost border of Castile, this conquest was more difficult to keep than to make, especially at a time with neither standing armies nor garrisons were known. In part to correct this deficiency, the military orders such as Knights Templars were founded, where men could fulfill a vow of perpetual war against the Muslim. The Templars, however, were unable to hold Calatrava, and the king found further volunteer warriors when Raymond, Abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Fitero offered himself.

Los sueños de Re-conquista.. pero cual de ellas? sino la Romana por alusión y conexiones subterráneas?

Battles during the Reconquista

The first military services of the Knights of Calatrava were highly successful, and in return for the exceptional services they had rendered they received from the King of Castile new grants of land, which formed their first commanderies. They had already been called into the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon, and been rewarded by a new encomienda (landed estate), that of Alcañiz (1179). But these successes were followed by a series of misfortunes, due in the first instance to the unfortunate partition which Alfonso had made of his possessions, and the consequent rivalry which ensued between the Castilian and Leonese branches of his dynasty. On the other hand, the first successes of the Reconquista in the 12th century, soon met up with a new wave of Islamic warriors, the invasion of the Almohads from Morocco. The first encounter resulted in a defeat for Castile. 

Battle of Alarcos

After the disastrous Battle of Alarcos, the knights abandoned their bulwark of Calatrava to the Almohads (1195). Velasquez lived long enough to witness the failure of his daring scheme. He died the next year in the monastery of Gumiel (1196).[3] The order in Castile appeared to be finished, and the branch of Aragon sought primacy. The Knights of Alcañiz actually proceeded to elect a new grand master, but the grand master still living in Castile claimed his right. Finally, by a compromise, the master of Alcañiz was recognized as second in dignity, with the title of Grand Commander for Aragon.

The scattered remains of Castilian knights sheltered in the Cistercian monastery of Cirvelos, and there began to regroup and expand. They soon erected a new bulwark, Salvatierra Castle, where they took the name, which they kept for fourteen years, of Knights of Salvatierra (1198). But Salvatierra itself fell to the Almohad Caliphate in 1209.

Summoned by Pope Innocent III, foreign crusaders joined Iberian Christians. An early battle was the reconquest of Calatrava (1212), which was returned to its former masters. In the same year the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa turned the tide of Muslim domination in Spain. Having recovered its stronghold, and resumed the title of Calatrava (1216), the order nevertheless removed to more secure quarters of Calatrava la Nueva, eight miles from old Calatrava (1218). In 1221 the Order of Monfragüe was merged into that of Calatrava.

With the decline of Muslim power, new orders sprang up, including the Alcántara in the Kingdom of León and Avis in Portugal. Both began under Calatrava's protection and the visitation of its grand master. This age marks the climax of Iberian chivalry: it was then that King Ferdinand the Saint, after the definitive coalition of Castile and León (1229), in (1235) captured the capital of the old caliphate, Cordova, soon afterwards Murcia, Jaén, and Seville. The European crusade seemed at an end. Encouraged by these victories, Ferdinand's successor, Alfonso X, the Wise, planned a crusade in the East and contemplated marching, with his Castilian chivalry, to restore the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1272).

Calatrava had developed abundant resources of men and wealth, with lands and castles scattered along the borders of Castile. It exercised feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. Thus, more than once, we see the order bringing to the field, as its individual contributions, 1200 to 2000 knights, a considerable force in the Middle Ages. Moreover, it enjoyed autonomy, being by its constitutions independent in temporal matters and acknowledging only spiritual superiors—the Abbot of Morimond and, in appeal, the pope. These authorities interfered, in consequence of a schism which first broke out in 1296 through the simultaneous election of two grand masters, García Lopez and Gautier Perez.

Lopez, dispossessed a first time by a delegate of Morimond, appealed to Pope Boniface VIII, who quashed the sentence and referred the case to the general chapter at Cîteaux, where Lopez was re-established in his dignity (1302). Dispossessed a second time, in consequence of a quarrel with his lieutenant, Juan Nuñez, Lopez voluntarily resigned in favour of Nuñez, who had taken his place (1328), on condition that he should keep the commandery of Zurita; as this condition was violated, Lopez again, for the third time, took the title of Grand Master in Aragon, where he died in 1336. These facts sufficiently prove that after the fourteenth century the rigorous discipline and fervent observance of the order's earlier times had, under the relaxing influence of prosperity, given place to a spirit of intrigue and ambition.

Peter of Castile entered into a conflict with the order. That prince had three grand masters in succession sentenced to death, as having incurred his suspicion: the first of these was beheaded (1355) on a charge of having entered into a league with the King of Aragon; the second, Estevañez, having competed for the grand mastership with the king's candidate, García de Padilla, was murdered in the royal palace, by the king's own treacherous hand; lastly García de Padilla himself, a brother of the royal mistress, fell into disgrace, upon deserting the king's party for that of his half brother, Henry the Bastard, and died in prison (1369).

The following is an incomplete list of former Grand Masters of the Order of Calatrava, the current grand master of the order is King Felipe VI of Spain

Don García (1164–1169)

Fernando Icaza (1169–1170)

Martín Pérez de Siones (1170–1182)

Nuño Pérez de Quiñones (1182–1199)

Martín Martínez (1199–1207)

Ruy Díaz de Yanguas (1207–1212)

Rodrigo Garcés (1212–1216)

Martín Fernández de Quintana (1216–1218)

Gonzalo Yáñez de Novoa (1218–1238)

Martín Ruiz de Cevallos (1238–1240)

Gómez Manrique (1240–1243)

Fernando Ordóñez (1243–1254)

Pedro Yáñez (1254–1267)

Juan González (1267–1284)

Ruy Pérez Ponce de León (1284–1295)

Diego López de Santsoles (1295–1296)

Garci López de Padilla (1296–1322)

Juan Núñez de Prado (1322–1355)

Diego García de Padilla (1355–1365)

Martín López de Córdoba (1365–1371)

Pedro Muñiz de Godoy y Sandoval (1371–1384)

Pedro Álvarez de Pereira (1384–1385)

Gonzalo Núñez de Guzmán (1385–1404)

Enrique de Villena (1404–1407)

Luis González de Guzmán (1407–1443)

Fernando de Padilla (a few months in 1443)

Alfonso de Aragón y de Escobar (end of 1443–1445)

Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco (1445–1466)

Rodrigo Téllez Girón (1466–1482)

García López de Padilla (1482–1487)

Catholic Monarchs (from 1487 onwards)

King Juan Carlos I of Spain

King Felipe VI of Spain (Incumbent)

sigue con Isabella de Castilla una saga de la que pocos hablan para descifrar los poderes que llevamos soportando años y siglos: 

Isabella was the youngest of the three daughters of King Peter of Castile by his favourite mistress, María de Padilla (d.1361).[1]

On 21 September 1371 Edward III's fourth son, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, married Isabella's elder sister, Constance (d. 1394), who after the death of their father in 1369 claimed the throne of Castile. Isabella accompanied her sister to England, and on 11 July 1372, at about the age of 17, married John of Gaunt's younger brother, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, fifth son of King Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, at Wallingford, Oxfordshire, as part of a dynastic alliance in furtherance of the Plantagenet claim to the crown of Castile.[2] According to Pugh, Isabella and Edmund of Langley were 'an ill-matched pair'.[3]

As a result of her indiscretions, including an affair with King Richard II's half-brother, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (d. 1400), whom Pugh terms 'violent and lawless', Isabella left behind a tarnished reputation, her loose morals being noted by the chronicler Thomas Walsingham. According to Pugh, the possibility that Holland was the father of Isabella's favourite son, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, 'cannot be ignored'.[4]

In her will Isabel named King Richard as her heir, requesting him to grant her younger son, Richard, an annuity of 500 marks. The King complied. However, further largesse which might have been expected when Richard came of age was not to be, as King Richard II was deposed in 1399, and according to Harriss, Isabella's younger son, Richard, 'received no favours from the new King, Henry IV'.[5]

Isabella died 23 December 1392, aged about 37, and was buried 14 January 1393 at the church of the Dominicans at Kings Langley.[6] After Isabella's death, Edmund of Langley married Joan Holland, sister and co-heir of Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (9 January 1382 – 15 September 1408), with whom his daughter, Constance, had lived as his mistress (see above).[7]

Isabella was appointed a Lady of the Garter in 1379.[8]

Prodecencia: The Castilian House of Burgundy[1] is a cadet brach of the House of Ivrea descended from Raymond of Burgundy. Raymond married Urraca of the House of Himénez. Two years after his death, Urraca succeeded her father and became queen of Castille and Leon; Urraca's and Raymond's offspring ruled the kingdom from 1126 up to Peter of Castile, 1369. 

Origins

Raymond was the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy (from the House of Ivrea) and arrived in the Iberian peninsula probably in 1086 with the army of Odo I, Duke of Burgundy, who siege the city Tudela, Navarre. In April 1087 the army abandoned the siege and returned home, but Odo, Raymond and Henry (Raymond's cousin) went west at the court of Alfonso VI king of Castile and León. There, Odo arranged the marriage of king's first daughter Urraca to Raymond on 1087; the couple received the county of Galicia as dowry.[2]In 1093 Alfonso VI married his second daughter Teresa to Henry and gave them the county of Portugal, which evolved to a kingdom.[3] In 1107 Raymond died; the next year died Sancho, king's only son and in 1109 the king himself. Urraca succeeded him up to her death and then next ruler was her son Alfonso VII, first king of Castile and León from the Castilian House of Ivrea: 

The founder of the family's fortunes was a petty Burgundian count named Anscar, who, with the support of his powerful brother, the archbishop of Rheims Fulk the Venerable, brought Guy III of Spoleto to Langres to be crowned King of France in 887. Their plot failing, Anscar accompanied Guy back to Italy to seek that vacant throne and, in gratefulness to Anscar, Guy created the March of Ivrea to bestow on his Burgundian faithful. Anscar's descendants held the march until 1030. Perhaps the most illustrious scion of the house was his grandson Berengar, the first of three Anscarids to be crowned king of Italy.Berengar seized the throne in 950 after the death of Lothair II. He was opposed, immediately, by Lothair's widow Adelaide, whom he imprisoned after his attempt to force her marriage to his son, Adalbert II, failed. Emperor Otto I came down the peninsula and forced him to do homage in 952. For the next eleven years, Berengar and his co-crowned son governed Italy until Otto finally formally deposed them in 963.From 1002 to 1014 Arduin of Italy held the Italian throne in opposition to the German Henry II

 Castilian branch of Ivrea

Raymond, fourth son of Count William I of Burgundy, travelled to Castile-León in the late eleventh century and there married Urraca, the future monarch. She was succeeded by their son, Alfonso VII. Subsequent monarchs of Castile and León were their agnatic descendants until the 16th century, although the crown had passed to an illegitimate cadet branch, the House of Trastámara, in the late 14th century.

Country

Holy Roman Empire

Kingdom of Italy

Frankish Empire

Papal States

County of Burgundy

Galicia

Castile

and

León

Ethnicity

Frankish

–

Burgundian

Founded9th century

Founder

Anscar I

Final rulerItaly:

Arduin

Burgundy:

Joan II

Castile, Galicia and León:

Peter

Orange:

Philibert

Titles

Pope (Elective)

King of Italy

King of Galicia

King of Castile

King of León

Margrave of Ivrea

Count of Burgundy

Count of Mâcon

Holy Roman Empress

Queen of France(Regent)

La hermana Constance of Castile (1354 – 24 March 1394) was claimant of the Castilian throne after the death of her father Peter, King of Castile and León, also known as Peter the Cruel. Her mother was María de Padilla, whom Peter had secretly married, but was then forced to repudiate; however he kept her as his mistress.Constance of CastileDuchess of LancasterBorn1354Castrojeriz, CastileDied24 March 1394 (aged 39–40)Leicester Castle, LeicestershireBurialChurch of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, LeicesterSpouseJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of LancasterIssueCatherine, Queen of CastileHouseCastilian House of IvreaFatherPeter of CastileMotherMaría de PadillaReligionRoman CatholicismConstance was married, at Roquefort, near Bordeaux, Guienne, on 21 September 1371, to John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, who was the third son of Edward III of Englandand Philippa of Hainault, as his second wife. Constance's younger sister, Infanta Isabella, married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth son of King Edward III and Queen Philippa.On 9 February 1372 Constance made a ceremonial entry into London as Queen of Castile, accompanied by Edward, the Black Prince, and an escort of English and Castilian retainers and London dignitaries. Crowds lined the streets to see her as she processed to the Savoy Palace in the Strand where she was ceremonially received by her husband, who had proclaimed himself King of Castile and León on 29 January.[1]The surrender of Santiago de Compostela to John of Gaunt. Constance is the lady on horseback.This was the way for Gaunt to obtain a kingdom of his own (he had been offered Scotland as a youth by the childless David II but nothing came of this), as his nephew Richard II and the descendants of his brother Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, stood between him and the Crown of England. John of Gaunt claimed the title of King of Castile jure uxoris, and insisted that English nobles address him as "my lord of Spain", but was unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain the crown. Their daughter Catherine of Lancaster was married to the king of the Trastámara line, Henry III of Castile, thus uniting these two rival claims.Constance died at Leicester Castle and was buried at the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, Leicester.[2][3]

y le sigue Berengaria (Castilian: Berenguela; nicknamed the Great (Castilian: la Grande); 1179 or 1180 – 8 November 1246) was queen regnant of Castile[1] in 1217 and queen consort of León from 1197 to 1204. As the eldest child and heir presumptive of Alfonso VIII of Castile, she was a sought after bride, and was engaged to Conrad, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. After his death, she married her cousin, Alfonso IX of León, to secure the peace between him and her father. She had five children with him before their marriage was voided by Pope Innocent III.Berengaria1753 statue in MadridQueen of Castile and ToledoReign6 June – 31 August 1217PredecessorHenry ISuccessorFerdinand IIIQueen consort of LeónTenure1197–1204Born1179 or 1180BurgosDied8 November 1246 (aged 66)Las Huelgas near BurgosBurialLas Huelgas near BurgosConsortConrad II, Duke of Swabia(m. 1187; died 1196)Alfonso IX of León(m. 1197; annulled 1204)Issuemore...Ferdinand III of CastileAlfonso, Lord of MolinaBerengaria, Latin EmpressHouseCastilian House of IvreaFatherAlfonso VIII of CastileMotherEleanor of EnglandReligionRoman CatholicismWhen her father died, she served as regent for her younger brother Henry I in Castile until she succeeded him on his untimely death. Within months, she turned Castile over to her son, Ferdinand III, concerned that as a woman she would not be able to lead Castile's forces. However, she remained one of his closest advisors, guiding policy, negotiating, and ruling on his behalf for the rest of her life. She was responsible for the re-unification of Castile and León under her son's authority, and supported his efforts in the Reconquista. She was a patron of religious institutions and supported the writing of a history of the two countries.

[derstheviking]

France in the Middle Ages

Of the dozens of languages spoken by the Celtic peoples, the most prominent of these was the Gaulish or Gallic language spoken by the Gauls. The Gauls populated the region that now makes up modern day south-eastern France but the region of Gaul refers to most of modern day France. In the south-west existed a population known the Aquitani whose Aquitanian language would evolve into the romance language Gascon. The Belgae, another Celtic ethno-linguistic group, also existed modern day Belgium.

During the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians would establish colonies along the coast of mediterranean. The Romans would first take over the southern region and found the province of Gallia Narbonensis in 121 BC and then conquered the rest of the territory of Gaul under Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC. Rome would divide Gaul into several different provinces taking political control, displacing or enslaving some of the Celtic peoples, and forcing the transition of language to Vulgar Latin. Throughout the early 1st century AD, a few generals and emperors were born in the region of Gaul showing prominence for the region. After Roman emperor Valerian was captured by the Persians in 260, his son Gallienus would take power but would lose the allegiance of his military commander Postumus who would assume control over a short-lived Gallic Empire in Gaul, Germainia, Britannia and Hispania, a period which included the migration of two Germanic tribes the Franks and the Alamanni to the region of Gaul. In 274, after the thirteen years of separation, Roman emperor Aurelian would be victorious in the Battle of Châlons and reunite the Roman Empire.

By the 4th century, the north-western region known as Armorica would become inhabited by celtic peoples immigrating from Britain led by King Conan Meriadoc speaking the now extinct British language which would evolve into the Breton, Cornish and Welsh languages. In 418, Aquitaina would be given by the Romans over to the Goths in exchange for their support in fighting the Vandals. Facing pressure from barbarian raids, the Romans would at first use the Huns against the Burgundians, pushing them west, but then by 451 the Romans and the allied Goths would defeat the army of Attila the Hun. On the verge of the empire collapsing, Aquitania was abandoned to the Visigoths, who would conquer most of southern Gaul. The Burgundians would claim their own kingdom in central eastern Gaul, and northern Gaul would be also abandoned to the Franks. Three kingdoms would also form in Armorica under the control of groups of Bretons.

486 would mark the unification of northern and central Gaul under the rule of the Clovis I of the Salian Franks. Clovis I would adopt Catholicism, make Paris his capital, and the continue the expansion of his Frankish Kingdom. After his death, the land of his kingdom would be split in four ways among his sons, forming four separate kingdoms centered around Paris, New Orleans, Soissons and Rheims, though after his brothers died Chlothar I would reunify the kingdom and many Frankish kings would follow to rule over it including Pepin the Short and his son Charlemagne.

In 771, Charlemagne reunited the Frankish lands after a period of division, defeated the Avars and expanded the Frankish Kingdom to include Islamic Spain as far south as Barcelona by 801 as well as annexing Lower Saxony by 804. With the political support of the Papacy, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800. During this time, Vikings would make advances along the perimeter of the kingdom near the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Charlemagne transferred power to his son Louis the Pious who would break the kingdom away from the Roman Empire, and after his death the kingdom would split again, and his two sons would ally against their other brother, though a few years later the kingdoms would again be reunified. The Viking raiders were given Normandy to settle on as counts then as dukes to protect the land from other raiders. The final Carolingian King of the Franks Louis V left no heirs, and after his death, the Kingdom would choose to elect its new King.

Former duke Hugh Capet of the House of Capet would win the election in 940. He became recognized by the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Aquitanians, Goths, Spanish and Gascons. His son Robert II would meet with emperor Henry II of the the Holy Roman Empire in 1023 to settle border disputes. Robert II would crown his son Hugh Magnus co-King as a 10 year old to secure his succession, but he would rebel against his father and die fighting him as an 18 year old in 1025. So then instead, Robert II would give co-kingship to his next son Henry I who would rule for over 30 years though he would be a weak king and the kingdom would shrink to its smallest size. He would crown his son Philip I king who would oversee a moderate recovery and his reign would also mark the first Crusade, which he personally did not support but his family did.

By Louis VI (1108-1137), royal authority had become accepted but unpopular, frequently summoning his vassals in court, seizing their lands and attacking them. After his death, Louis VII ruled based more on Catholic “moral authority”. Horrified by the burning of a thousand people during a conflict with against the Count of Champagne supported by his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, he traveled to the Holy Land and later got involved in the Second Crusade, though his relationship with his powerful wife would not improve and she would mount a revolt against his regime along with their sons, being defeated, and he would imprison his wife.

In 1172, the Angevin Empire extended to include Aquitainia as well as England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Philip II spent most of his reign fighting battles against the Empire. Pitting Henry II son of Richard Lionheart against him, they launched an attack on his castle and removed him from power. Richard Lionheart would then replace his father as King of England and the two embarked together on the Third Crusade. The Kings of France and England would attempt to install their respective allies in the Holy Roman Empire. When his son John Lockland assumed power, Philip II would confiscate his assets in France. The French monarchy would transfer from Philip II to Louis VIII and then to Louis IX the Saint (1226-1270) when the kingdom would become truly centralized, embarking on crusades, expanded his administration and to the Pope’s urging destroyed Jewish books. Without recognition of French control over Aquitaine, English King Henry III would be defeated in this region yet left to control his lands. Saint Louis would participate in the Seventh and Eighth Crusades. Philip IX would die of the bubonic plague while crusading in Tunisia.

After his death, Philip III (1270-1285) and the brief reign of Philip IV followed. After Philip IV died in a hunting accident, Louis X assumed the throne and unsuccessfully continued to try to control Flanders. Philip V made peace with the Duke of Flanders though it saw a rebellion and he sent troops to break it up. The Shepherd’s Crusade emerged in Normandy in 1320 as an uncontrollable movement of violent anti-semitism, attacks on royal castles, wealthy clergy, and Paris itself. The movement was condemned by Pope John. The following year as a result, the “leper scare” surfaced as a conspiracy theory that Jews employed by Muslims had poisoned the wells with leprosy.

Philip V was succeeded by his brother Charles IV (1322-1328) who was eager to begin a crusade in the Levant, even setting his sights on becoming Byzantine Emperor. However, failing to receive funding from the Pope, a French ambassador discovered Constantinople in civil war. His death the next year, ended the Capetian dynasty.

The new House of Valois dynasty, was founded in 1328 by Philip VI, related to the Capets as his father Count Charles was the son of King Philip III. The next phase of history from 1337 to 1453 would be known as the Hundred Years War and also during this time many would become infected with the bubonic plague or the Black Death. This included a series of conflicts between the Kingdom of England (Plantagenet) and the Kingdom of France, over the succession of the French throne, and included peasant revolts across France. France began to lose in the first phase of conflict with the English attempting to establish the House of Lancaster, but France became more victorious in the second part with the appearance of a restorationist movement headed by a peasant maid Joan of Arc who claimed to hear voices from divine forces leading campaign of Charles VII the Victorious to end the English siege of Orléans. Over time, the French monarchy would win back territories like Paris, Normandy and Guienne, reducing English territory to a small foothold around Calais, and later incorporating Burgundy and Brittany. The House of Valois would rule until 1589. The era from 1475 to 1630 would be known as the “beautiful 16th century” and it would be a return to “peace, prosperity, and optimism”.

Brittany, the peninsula at the top of the Bay of Bengal, had semi-autonomous status as a Duchy from 846 until the reign of Louis XI who united the region through marriage in 1491. The Italian Wars were fought from 1494 to 1559 between the French House of Valois and the Holy Roman Empire’s House of Habsburg in Italy, although the Halsburgs were deemed victorious when Francis I was captured at Pavia. The French received military aid from the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent, and the Holy Roman Empire was aided by the English.

[ardenrosegarden]

In England, English and Norman barons kill each other to seize the throne and in France, the Carolingian unity having been shattered, the little Capetian king managed his meager possessions under the vigilant and hostile eye of the great feudal lords who watched over over their strongholds and control his every move. Brittany, if it wished, could finally spread its wings. Conan III is careful not to do this and is content to govern peacefully, only too happy that the English and French ropes which hold him by the neck are suddenly so weak. A good duke, good husband, good Breton, he has everything going his way, but was unfortunately a bad father; on his deathbed he disowns Hoël, his son, and chooses as his heir Conan IV, a little boy of 9 years old, the son of his daughter Bertha.

Gilles Martin-Chauffier, Le Roman de la Bretagne

[ardenrosegarden]

After the death of Alan III, Bertha remarried almost immediately to Hugh II, Count of Maine. Widowed again, she returned to Brittany to the side of her son Conan, who then ruled that province; but she had not forgotten her native country, and she retained a particular cult for the church of Notre-Dame de Chartres. So, when Conan died (December 11, 1066), she wanted to make this church a special foundation for her beloved son: we have proof of this in the Obituary of the Cathedral of Chartres: “IIII id. Dec., obiit Conanus, Britannorum comes, pro cujus anima Berta, comitissa, mater ejus, altare hujus ecclesie decoro exornavit cyborio'.”

-Lucien Merlet, Une Colonie de Bretons a Chartres

[ardenrosegarden]

What was Bertha de Cornouaille's second marriage like? From what I can tell her first marriage doesn't seem to have been very good (although she outlived him, slay!) but im a bit confused about her second

Lmao yeah, slay indeed, get that Honour of Richmond 💪💯 At the end of the day I have to respect the grind even if it sounds like her time in England was a bit rough :')

As for Bertha's second marriage, that also seems to be quite murky, she was rarely (from what I can tell) acting very independently (the only known charter we have of hers is from her time in England), so it's hard to get a clear picture from the little information we have how she may have felt about Eudon.

On one hand, it could have been a pretty politically advantageous marriage- Porhoët was pretty expansive, which is kind of important if you're concerned about a potential power vacuum destabilizing your family. Unfortunately that call kind of came from inside the house.

I've seen some writers claim that when Eudon and Conan IV fell out, she took Eudon's side and others claim the opposite, so it's hard to get an idea of where she would have been in all of this. I tend to lean more to the latter opinion, given the commentary from Judith Everard and Sara McDougall which suggest that Conan III's decision to make Bertha his heir instead of her brother was a cooperative family effort to increase their family's influence, which to me colors how she may have seen Eudon's grab for power.

On the other hand, Eudon was claiming Brittany in the name of the daughter he had with Bertha (Alix), so I can also understand on there being some messiness for Bertha on a personal level if she felt she had to choose between her daughter and son's livelihood.

[ardenrosegarden]

The exact date of Conan IV’s donation isn’t known. The duke died in 1171, the presence of Bishop Geoffrey, who ascended the episcopate in 1167, makes it possible to propose that the act studied was drawn up in the years 1167-1171. These were difficult years for Conan IV. Since 1166, the year when the promise of marriage of his daughter, Constance, to the heir of Henry Il Plantegenet was sealed, he had, in a way, abdicated in favor of the King of England. He had nevertheless reserved the county of Guingamp for himself. But it is significant that he intended to continue to exercise his authority over the whole of the duchy, since this act was orchestrated in Cornouaille, a long way from the northern county, the prerogative of his house. It is true that it was a hereditary region, based on the ducal lineage from which his mother, Bertha, descended. However, it should be emphasized that, in this act, Conan still called himself dux Britanniae and comes Richemondiae. How do we understand this abdication made before the Plantegenet, since, until his death, the Breton wanted to take pride in, it seems, the title which gave him political primacy over the Duchy of Brittany? Also, behind the spiritual concern of a prince wishing to attach his name to the birth of a monastic establishment, should we not also glimpse the desire for a policy that saw, while his life was ending, Breton power soon in the hands of a foreigner? The goods donated by Conan were located near the south coast of Cornouaille, about five kilometers from the sea and about fifteen kilometers from Quimperlé. The deed uses the term foresta to describe the conceded area. More than the description of the plant cover (which is also probably intended to cover the sense of the word by the writer of the act), we must see in the abandoned domain the trace of the foresta known in the High Middle Ages, territory directly under control of the holder of public power. Count Alain Canhiart had granted the monks one of his residences; his wife, Judith, had ceded, a little later, the portus of Doelan and various domains around Clohars. It was a region where the house of Cornouaille was largely possessed, not in assets of hereditary origin, but in territories under the tax department and therefore its comital honor. Conan acted in a region controlled by his family, on property that came under his legitimate power, as the heir, as territorial prince of Brittany. Alain Canhiart's heir could no longer find the political dimension that was to be his except in this region which had probably remained faithful to him. Langonnet, born under the principate of his grandfather, Conan III, was a friendly abbey; what role did they want to give it by entrusting it with the creation of a daughter abbey? Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé had been a frontier abbey; Carnoët benefited from an identical geographical situation on the borders of Vannetais, then in the hands of Eudes de Porhoët, the second husband of Conan's mother, Berthe. The chosen place for the new Cistercian establishment, entrusted to a friend who was perhaps Maurice, just a coincidence or a symbol designed to mark the presence of a Breton Duke in this region?

-Joëlle Quaghebeur, La Cornouaille du IXe au XIIe siècle: Mémoire, pouvoirs, noblesse

[ardenrosegarden]

The sudden, tragic, mysterious death of Duke Alain III dismayed the Bretons. His wife, the sweet Bertha, daughter of Eude de Chartres, who owned all his affections, was struck to the heart. To bend the wrath of heaven, she made rich donations to churches, among others to the pious Benedictine nuns of Saint-Georges de Rennes, in a charter whose beginning is a heartbreaking sob: “The end of the world is approaching,” says the duchess, “the warning signs announced by God are accumulating: Nations rise up against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, and the earth is restless with great tremors. I, Bertha countess of Brittany and my son Conan, frightened by these omens, appalled by the death of my very sweet lord, the very illustrious count Alan, father of my son Conan here present - of whose death news came to us yesterday and pierces our hearts- conforming to the evangelical precept which says: ‘Make friends with the mammon of iniquity,’ we give to St. George and his daughters the parish of Ploicathnu, etc.” The poor widow in her distress pressed her son, her three-month-old infant, to her heart in vain. She could not defend him against the implacable ambition of the uncle of the young duke, Eudon de Penthièvre, who thought he saw before him the way open to avenge his defeat in 1035 and to seize the supreme rank by him so ardently coveted, claimed without any right- for while it is true that the privilege of the eldest was still very poorly established among the Bretons, sovereignty could not be shared. Eudon did violently seize the person and of the custody of his nephew Conan, that is, of his guardianship and forced the young duke's mother to leave the duchy, who to find asylum and protection against him, remarried some time later to Hugh Count of Maine, son of Herbert Eveille-Chiens.

-Arthur Le Moyne de la Borderie, Histoire de Bretagne, Vol. 3

[ardenrosegarden]

The early years of Duke Geoffrey's reign, especially, are characterised by a revival of ducal government as it was in the days of Dukes Conan III and Conan IV.  Partly, this was an inevitable consequence of the return of a resident duke and ducal household. In other respects, though, it was a conscious and deliberate policy.  Throughout his reign, Geoffrey strove to appease the Breton magnates, and restoring the institutions of the "good old days" of native rule was one aspect of this. The reason for this policy may be consciousness that he owed his position to his marriage to Duchess Constance. This is apparent from Geoffrey's first known charter, cited above. Several of Geoffrey's charters disposing of property in Brittany record Constance's assent.  Constance in fact exercised ducal authority in her own name and under her own seal during Geoffrey's lifetime.  It is possible that many Bretons, laymen and clerics, owed their personal loyalty to Constance as heiress of the native ducal dynasty, and merely tolerated Duke Geoffrey. According to the "Chronicle of Saint-Brieuc”, Geoffrey “ratione illius matrimonii, populum Britannicum, quamdiu vitam duxit, dulciter tractavit”.

- Judith Everard, Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire 1158-1203

[ardenrosegarden]

His dearest child needed a protector; [Conan III] chooses Alain de Penthièvre, Count of Richmond, nicknamed Alain le Noir. The man was a renowned warrior and of high birth, since the Penthièvres formed a cadet branch of the Dukes of Brittany. In the previous century, they had fought in England with William the Conqueror and became, after the victory, lords of a vast territory taken from the Saxons. This is where Alain le Noir lived before his marriage, in his formidable castle of Richmond.

Choosing a Breton prince for his daughter Berthe was, on the part of Conan le Gros, a wise precaution, because he was certainly already thinking of making her his heiress and it seemed more than probable that the barons of Brittany would not accept her for Duchess if, because of her, a foreign prince would wear the cloak of ermine.

-Jacques Choffel, La Bretagne Sous l’Orage Plantagenêt

[ardenrosegarden]

Such an ambitious policy required sacrifices. Hoël was obliged to sacrifice his claim to the ducal title in favour of his sister. He is not known to have married, and his only known child became a nun at Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt. In view of the significance of the name Hoël outlined above, and the Namur precedent, it may be that Conan intended to compensate his son with the county of Nantes for his life. Indeed, the subsequent conflict between Hoël and Bertha may have been limited to a dispute about the degree of Hoël's independence as count of Nantes.

Similarly, for Alan to succeed to the lordship of Penthièvre meant that one or both of Alan's brothers would have to designate him as their heir. In the 1120s, Stephen of Penthièvre had divided his lands between his three sons; the eldest, Geoffrey Boterel II, received the eastern portion (henceforth known as Penthiévre or Lamballe), the youngest, Henry, received the western portion (Tréguier or Guingamp), and Alan, the middle son, received the English lands, the honour of Richmond. On this basis, Alan had no hereditary right to any of the Penthièvre lands in Brittany. Geoffrey Boterel evidently was not compliant, as is indicated by his active support for the Empress Matilda in the English civil war, while Alan fought on the side of King Stephen. The youngest brother, Henry, on the other hand, seems to have been persuaded to sacrifice his independent and potentially hereditary possession of Tréguier in favour of Alan, and to remain unmarried. In 1145, both Alan and Henry were at Conan III's court at Quimper, when Alan confirmed their father's grants to a priory in Guingamp, indicating Alan's lordship of Tréguier.

Judith Everard, Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158-1203