Misc. Notes
Baldwin V of Flanders (19 August 1012 – 1 September 1067) was
Count of Flanders from 1035 until his death.
History
In 1028 Baldwin married
Adèle of France in Amiens, daughter of King
Robert II of France; at her instigation he rebelled against his father but in 1030 peace was sworn and the old count continued to rule until his death.
During a long war (1046–1056) as an ally of
Godfrey the Bearded,
Duke of Lorraine, against the
Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, he initially lost
Valenciennes to
Hermann of Hainaut. However, when the latter died in 1051 Baldwin married his son
Baldwin VI to Herman's widow
Richildis and arranged that the sons of her first marriage were disinherited, thus de facto uniting the
County of Hainaut with Flanders. Upon the death of Henry III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty by
Agnes de Poitou, mother and regent of
Henry IV. Baldwin V played host to a grateful dowager queen
Emma of England, during her enforced exile, at Bruges. He supplied armed security guards, entertainment, comprising a band of minstrels.
Bruges was a bustling commercial centre, and Emma fittingly grateful to the citizens. She dispensed generously to the poor, making contact with the
monastery of Saint Bertin at
St Omer, and received her son,
King Harthacnut of England at Bruges in 1039.
From 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the co-
Regent with
Anne of Kiev for his nephew-by-marriage
Philip I of France, indicating the importance he had acquired in international politics. As Count of Maine, Baldwin supported the King of France in most affairs. But he was also father-in-law to
William of Normandy, who had married his daughter
Matilda. Flanders played a pivotal role in
Edward the Confessor's foreign policy. As the King of England was struggling to find an heir: historians have argued that he may have sent Harold Godwinsson to negotiate the return of
Edward the Atheling from
Hungary, and passed through Flanders, on his way to Germany.
Baldwin's half-sister had married scheming
Earl Godwin's third son,
Tostig. The half-Viking Godwinsons had spent their exile in Dublin, at a time William of Normandy was fiercely defending his duchy. It is unlikely however that Baldwin intervened to prevent the duke's invasion plans of England, after the Count had lost the conquered province of Ponthieu.
By 1066, Baldwin was an old man, and died the following year.
Spouses
Birth Date1009
Birth PlaceFrance
Death Date8 Jan 1079 Age: 70
Death PlaceMessines Monastre, France
FlagsRoyalty
Misc. Notes
Adèle was the second daughter of
Robert II (the Pious), and
Constance of Arles. In January 1027 she married
Richard III, Duke of Normandy. The marriage was short-lived for on 6 August of that same year Richard III suddenly died. Adela then married
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders in 1028.
Adèle's influence lay mainly through her family connections. On the death of her brother, Henry I of France, the guardianship of his seven-year-old son
Philip I fell jointly on his widow,
Ann of Kiev, and on his brother-in-law, Adela's husband, so that from 1060 to 1067, they were Regents of France.
In 1071, Adela's third son, Robert the Frisian, planned to invade Flanders even though at that time the Count of Flanders was Adela's grandson,
Arnulf III. When she heard about Robert's plans, she asked
Philip I to stop him. Philip sent soldiers to support Arnulf including a contingent of ten Norman knights led by
William FitzOsborn. Robert's forces attacked Arnulf's numerically superior army at Cassel before it could organize, and Arnulf was killed along with William FitzOsborn. Robert's overwhelming victory led to Philip making peace with Robert and investing him as Count of Flanders. A year later, Philip married Robert's stepdaughter,
Bertha of Holland, and in 1074, Philip restored the seigneurie of Corbie to the crown.
Adèle had a strong interest in Baldwin V’s church reforms and was behind her husband’s founding of several
collegiate churches.
Directly or indirectly, she was responsible for establishing the Colleges of Aire (1049), Lille (1050) and Harelbeke (1064) as well as the abbeys of Messines (1057) and Ename (1063). After Baldwin’s death in 1067, she went to Rome, took the nun’s veil from the hands of
Pope Alexander II and retired to the
Benedictine convent of Messines, near
Ypres. There she later died and was buried at the convent. Honoured as a
saint in the
Roman Catholic Church, her commemoration day is 8 September.