This page was set up by Robert Sewell in July 2006 to show the descent of Mathilda of Flanders (wife of William the Conqueror) from Charlemagne and his ancestors. Robert Sewell graduated from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) in 1967 with a B.Sc. degree in chemistry.  After a year of studies at the University of Toronto's College of Education, he taught high school science in Collingwood, Ontario for a year and then taught chemistry, physics and general science in Hamilton, Ontario for twenty-nine years.  Robert Sewell retired from teaching in June 1998.

Click for  PDF index

The information presented here has been taken from the following sources:
Sewell Vincent Sample: Letters
World Book Millenium 2000 Deluxe Edition, © 1999 World Book Inc., © IBM Corp.
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopædia 99, © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation
Norman F. Cantor (ed.) The Encyclopædia of the Middle Ages, New York, 1999
Weis and Sheppard, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, Baltimore, 1999
Berhard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York, 1991
George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa,

Generation One
Louis I "the Pious", Emperor of the West
Born in August 778
Died on June 20, 840

Louis “the Pious” succeeded Charlemagne as Emperor of the West. (See Charlemagne, Generation Thirteen) Under Frankish law, Charlemagne’s empire was to be divided among his three sons. However, the death of Pépin, King of Italy in 810 and Charles the younger, Duke of Ingelheim, in died 811 left Louis, King of Aquitaine as Charlemagne’s sole surviving son and successor.
Louis was a friend of St. Benedict, and he set out to establish his empire according to Christian principles. He ordered bishops to stop wearing military attire and expelled women of loose morals from the court. He tried to centralize the legal system, but his vision of one empire with one ruler, one people and one law failed to succeed. On his death, his empire was divided among his three surviving sons: Lothaire, Louis “the German” and Charles “the Bald.”

Louis married in 798 to Irmengard of Hesbain, and they had the following children:

• Lothair I, Holy Roman Emperor, born in 795 and died on September 29, 855. Lothaire married Ermengarde, a daughter of Hugh II Count of Tours; and they had the following children:
• Ermengarde (or Helletrude) who married Giselbert, Count of Darnau.
• Louis II (circa 823 - 855) married Engleberge. Their daughter:
• Emrengarde (circa 855 - 897) married Count Boso, King of Provence. Their son:
• Louis "the Blind", King of Provence and Italy, married Anna of Byzantium, a duaghter of Leo VI "the Wise", Emperor of Byzantium. Please click HERE for this line.
• Pepin I, King of Aquitaine, born in 797, died before his father in 838
• Louis II the German, King East Franks, born about 805 and died in 876

• Charles II the Bald, King of the West Franks
• Gisèle, who married Eberhard, Marquis of Friuli. Their great great granddaughter Rosela married Arnulf II “the Young”, Count of Flanders, shown below on this page.

 

The Carolingian Empire
divided into three parts by the Treaty of Verdun, 843

Charles the Bald received the  West Frankish Kingdom Lothair Holy Roman Emperor and eldest son of Louis "the Pious" received the Kingdom of Lothair Louis the German recieved the East Frankish Kingdom

Generation Two
Charles II "the Bald", King of the West Franks

Born on June 13, 823
Died on October 6, 877

Charles married in 842 to Ermentrude, a daughter of Odo, Count of Orléans and they had the following children:

• Louis II "the Stammerer", King of France, born in 846; his son:
• Charles III "the Simple", King of France, who negotiated the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, giving Rolf the Ganger the part of Neustria that came to be called Normandy.
• Princess Judith
• Hersent who married Régnier I, Count of Hainaut

• Rothaut, born circa 870 who married Hugh, Count of Bourges

Generation Three
Princess Judith
Born circa 844

Princess Judith married on October 856 at Verberie sur Oise, France to Æthelwulf, King of England who abdicated on October 1, 856 and died in 858.  Judith was only about 12 years old at the time, and the marriage was really nothing more than a demonstration of alliance between her father Charles “the Bald” and Æthelwulf. Judith then married to Æthelwulf's son and hier, Æthelbald, King of England in 860. This marriage was considered to be “against God’s prohibition and Christian dignity” and they had an annulment the same year.

Princess Judith married third in 862 to Baldwin I "Bras der Fer", Count of Flanders who died in 879.
Judith and Baldwin had a son:

• Baldwin II "the Bald" of Flanders

Generation Four
Baldwin II "the Bald", Count of Flanders
Born circa 865
Died on September 10, 918

The coat of arms of the Counts of Flanders is described as "or, a lion rampant sable" which means "a gold shield with a black lion raising his fore paws in the air as if attacking ."

Baldwin’s early years were marked by a series of Viking raids. However, he built new fortifications and took over abandoned land, thereby increasing his holdings.  Baldwin "the Bald" married after 893 to Æfthryth (died June 7, 929), a daughter of Ælfred the Great, King of England.  Please click on Kings of Wessex and England for Æfthryth's descent. Baldwin and Æfthryth had a son:

• Arnolph I "the Old", Count of Flanders

Generation Five
Arnolph I "the Old", Count of Flanders
Died: 965

Arnolph (also Arnulf and Arnold)  waged a war in the late 930's against William Longsword, 2nd Duke of Normandy.  A peace conference was held in December 942,  and Arnolph arranged for the murder of William Longsword at that time.  Please click on the Dukes of Normandy for more about William Longsword.

Arnolph "the Old" was associated with Alice of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert II de Vermandois.  Please click on Alice of Vermandois for this line.
Arnolph and Alice had a son:

• Baldwin III, Count of Flanders

Generation Six
Baldwin III, Count of Flanders & Artoi
Born about 940
Died on November 1, 962

Baldwin reigned along with his father as Count of Flanders. However, Baldwin died before his father Arnulf “the Old” who was succeeded by Baldwin’s son Arnulf “the Young.” Baldwin married in 961 to Matilda, a daughter of Hermann Billung, Duke of Saxony and his wife Hildegarde of Westerbourg. Baldwin and Matilda had a son:

• Arnolph II "the Young", Count of Flanders

Generation Seven
Arnolph II "the Young", Count of Flanders
Born about 961
Died in 988

Arnolph married in 968 to Rosela (or Susanna), a daughter of Berengarius II, King of Italy and his wife Willa. Rosela was a great great granddaughter of Gisèle, a daughter of Louis I “the Pious”, Emperor of the West and his second wife Judith of Bavaria. Arnolph and Rosela had a son:

• Baldwin IV "the Bearded", Earl or Count of Flanders

Generation Eight
Baldwin IV "the Bearded", Earl or Count of Flanders
Born about 980
Died on May 30, 1035

Baldwin married first in 1012 to Ogive (also Otgiva), a daughter of Frederick I, Count of Luxembourg and they had a son:

• Baldwin V, Count of Flanders

• Judith who married in 1051 to Tostig Godwineson, a son of Earl Godwine of Wessex and brother of Harold Godwineson. Tostig allied himself with King Harold Hardraada of Norway against Harold and was slain at Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066. For further details and links, click on Conquest, 1066.

Generation Nine
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders
Born about 1012
Died on September 1, 1067 at Lille, France

Baldwin married in 1028 to Princess Adela (or Alix) Capet of France, daughter of Robert II "the Pious" Capet, King of France.  Please click on Princess Adela for her descent from the Robertian and Capetian Kings of France
Baldwin and Adela had the following children:

• Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders and Hainault, born about 1030, died on July 10, 1070. He married about 1055 to Richilda, widow of Hermann, Count of Hainault.
• Mathilda of Flanders
• Robert the Friesian, Count of Flanders and Holland, born about 1035, died on October 3, 1093. He married about 1063 to Gertrude, a daughter of Bernard II, Duke of Saxony and widow of Florent I, Count of Holland. After the death of his brother Baldwin VI, he displaced his nephews (sons of Baldwin VI) and became Count of Flanders.

Generation Ten
Mathilda of Flanders
Born in 1032 at Flanders, France
Died on November 2, 1083 at Caen, Normandy
Interred at Holy Trinity Abbey,Caen, Normandy

Mathilda married in 1053, at the Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Eu, Normandy to William "the Conqueror", 7th Duke of Normandy and later King of England.
Mathilda and William had the following children:

• Robert II Curthose, Duke of Normandy, (1054 - 1134)
• Richard, Duke of Bernay, (1055 - 1075, died without issue)
• Cecilia of Holy Trinity, Abbess of Caen, (1056 - 1127)
• Adeliza, who became a nun, born in 1055
• William II Rufus, King of England from 1087 to 1100  born 1056/60
• Constance, (1066 - 1090) married Alan IV, Count of Brittany
• Adela, (1067 - 1137) married Stephen, Count of Blois, their son:
• Stephen, King of England 1135 - 1154
• Agatha, born about 1064
• Matilda
• Henry I Beauclerc, King of England, born in September 1068