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Margraves & Counts of Flanders
AD 862 - 1405
The County of Flanders began with Judith (844-870), daughter of the
Carolingian king of the West
Franks and Frankish Roman
Emperor,
Charles the Bald. She married twice to English
kings of
Wessex (Aethulwulf and then his son), but returned and eloped with Baldwin Iron Arm. Charles disapproved, but Judith
could not be induced to return, so Charles relented and granted Flanders to the two of
them.
At first a "march county" (margraviate), with
West-Frisia
on its northern border, Flanders soon reverted to a simple
county. Finally, it passed by marriage first to the dukes of
Burgundy and then to the
Habsburgs.
Because of the inheritance of the Habsburgs, Flanders ended up, uniquely, as the only
territory that began Middle Ages as part of France but ended them, as it still is,
alienated from France. Today, most of historical Flanders, except for Picardy, is part of
Belgium. |
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1067 - 1128 |
The succession
becomes confused after the death of Baldwin V. Baldwin's grandson Arnulf III
seems to have been murdered by his uncle, Robert I; but then the main line of succession
from Robert I dies out, and the county passes to Charles the Good, grandson of Robert
through his daughter Adele, who had married Canute IV the Holy of
Denmark and went on to marry Roger Borsa,
Duke of
Apulia, and become of the mother of William, Duke of Apulia.
Charles the Good, in turn, is murdered himself, and the county passes to a second cousin, William Clito of
Normandy, the great grandson of Baldwin V through his
daughter Matilda, who had married William the Bastard of Normandy (later William the Conqueror).
The Norman doesn't last long (killed at the battle of Axspoele in 1128), and the
succession passes to another grandson of Robert I, through his daughter Gertrude, who had
married Dietrich / Theodoric II, Duke of
Upper Lorraine.
Gertrude's son is also named Dietrich (in German), but his name turns up in various other languages, as Thierry
(French), Dirk or Didrik (Dutch or Flemish). The House of Alsace flourishes in Flanders
under Dietrich and his son and daughter, Philip of Alsace and Margareta. |
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