Biography of Robert II Count Flanders 1065-1111

Paternal Family Tree: Flanders

Maternal Family Tree: Eilika Schweinfurt Duchess Saxony

Robert II Count Flanders and Clementia Ivrea Countess Louvain and Flanders were married. She the daughter of William Ivrea I Count Burgundy and Ettiennette Countess Burgundy. He the son of Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders and Gertrude Billung Countess Holland. They were fourth cousins.

Around 1050 Floris Gerulfing I Count Holland (age 24) and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 20) were married. She by marriage Countess Holland. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Bernard II Duke of Saxony (age 55) and [his grandmother] Eilika Schweinfurt Duchess Saxony. He the son of Dirk Gerulfing III Count Holland and Othelindis d Bernard Margrave Nordmark Count Holland.

Before 1065 [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 31) and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 34) were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Bernard II Duke of Saxony and [his grandmother] Eilika Schweinfurt Duchess Saxony. He the son of [his grandfather] Baldwin "The Good" V Count Flanders (age 52) and [his grandmother] Adela Capet Duchess Normandy (age 55). They were second cousin twice removed.

Around 1065 Robert II Count Flanders was born to [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 32) and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 35).

Battle of Cassel

                    On 22nd February 1071 Battle of Cassel was fought between uncle [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 38) and nephew Arnulf III Count Flanders (age 16), supported by his mother Richilde Countess Flanders and Hainault and [his future brother-in-law] King Philip I of France (age 18), over the succession of Flanders.
                
                    Arnulf III Count Flanders was killed. His brother Baldwin (age 15) succeeded II Count Hainault. Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders was appointed I Count Flanders.
                
                    William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 51) was killed. His son Roger succeeded 2nd Earl Hereford.
                
                    Eustace Flanders II Count Boulogne (age 56) and his son Eustace Flanders III Count Boulogne fought for Robert. During the battle Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders and Richilde Countess Flanders and Hainault were captured, and subsequently exchanged for each other.

In 1072 [his brother-in-law] King Philip I of France (age 19) and [his half-sister] Bertha Gerulfing Queen Consort France (age 17) were married. She by marriage Queen Consort of France. She the daughter of Floris Gerulfing I Count Holland and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 42). He the son of King Henry I of France and Anne Rurik Queen Consort France (age 42). They were half fourth cousin twice removed.

In 1080 [his brother-in-law] King Canute "The Holy" IV of Denmark (age 38) and [his sister] Adela Flanders Queen Consort Denmark (age 16) were married. She by marriage Queen Consort Denmark. The difference in their ages was 22 years. She the daughter of [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 47) and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 50). He the son of King Sweyn II of Denmark.

In 1090 [his brother-in-law] Henry Reginar III Count Louvain and [his sister] Gertrude Flanders Duchess Lorraine (age 10) were married. She by marriage Countess Louvain. She the daughter of [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 57) and [his mother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 60). He the son of Henry Reginar II Count Louvain and Adela Thuringa Countess Louvain. They were half fourth cousins.

On 17th June 1091 [his half-brother] Dirk Gerulfing V Count Holland (age 39) died. His son [his nephew] Floris (age 6) succeeded II Count Holland.

On 15th May 1092 [his brother-in-law] King Philip I of France (age 39) and Bertrade Montfort Queen Consort France (age 22) were married. She by marriage Queen Consort of France. They were married despite their both having living spouses: [his half-sister] Bertha Gerulfing Queen Consort France (age 37) and Fulk "Réchin" Anjou 4th Count Anjou (age 49) respectively. He the son of King Henry I of France and Anne Rurik Queen Consort France. They were fourth cousin once removed.

In 1093 [his son] Baldwin VII Count Flanders was born to Robert II Count Flanders (age 28) and Clementia Ivrea Countess Louvain and Flanders (age 15). He married his fourth cousin Hawise Canhiart Countess Flanders, daughter of Alan Canhiart IV Duke Brittany and Ermengarde Anjou Duchess Brittany and Aquitaine.

In 1093 [his father] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 60) died.

In 1093 Robert II Count Flanders (age 28) succeeded II Count Flanders. Clementia Ivrea Countess Louvain and Flanders (age 15) by marriage Countess Flanders.

In 1094 [his half-sister] Bertha Gerulfing Queen Consort France (age 39) died.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1096. In this year held the King William (age 40) his court at Christmas in Windsor; and William Bishop of Durham died there on new-year's day; and on the octave of the Epiphany was the king and all his councillors at Salisbury. There Geoffry Bainard challenged William of Ou, the king's relative, maintaining that he had been in the conspiracy against the king. And he fought with him, and overcame him in single combat; and after he was overcome, the king gave orders to put out his eyes, and afterwards to emasculate him; and his steward, William by name, who was the son of his stepmother, the king commanded to be hanged on a gibbet. Then was also Eoda, Earl of Champagne, the king's son-in-law, and many others, deprived of their lands; whilst some were led to London, and there killed. This year also, at Easter, there was a very great stir through all this nation and many others, on account of Urban, who was declared Pope, though he had nothing of a see at Rome. And an immense multitude went forth with their wives and children, that they might make war upon the heathens. Through this expedition were the king and his brother, Earl Robert, reconciled; so that the king went over sea, and purchased all Normandy of him, on condition that they should be united. And the earl afterwards departed; and with him the Earl of Flanders (age 31), and the Earl of Boulogne, and also many other men of rank¹²³. And the Earl Robert, and they that went with him, passed the winter in Apulia; but of the people that went by Hungary many thousands miserably perished there and by the way. And many dragged themselves home rueful and hunger-bitten on the approach of winter. This was a very heavy-timed year through all England, both through the manifold tributes, and also through the very heavy-timed hunger that severely oppressed this earth in the course of the year. In this year also the principal men who held this land, frequently sent forces into Wales, and many men thereby grievously afflicted, producing no results but destruction of men and waste of money.

Note 123. Literally "head-men, or chiefs". The term is still retained with a slight variation in the north of Europe, as the "hetman" Platoff of celebrated memory.

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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1100. During the harvest of this same year also came the Earl Robert (age 49) home into Normandy, and the Earl Robert of Flanders (age 35), Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, from Jerusalem. And as soon as the Earl Robert came into Normandy, he was joyfully received by all his people; except those of the castles that were garrisoned with the King Henry's (age 32) men. Against them he had many contests and struggles.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1111. This year the King Henry (age 43) bare not his crown at Christmas, nor at Easter, nor at Pentecost. And in August he went over sea into Normandy, on account of the broils that some had with him by the confines of France, and chiefly on account of the Earl of Anjou (age 22), who held Maine against him. And after he came over thither, many conspiracies, and burnings, and harrowings, did they between them. In this year died the Earl Robert of Flanders (age 46), and his son [his son] Baldwin (age 18) succeeded thereto.¹⁴¹ This year was the winter very long, and the season heavy and severe; and through that were the fruits of the earth sorely marred, and there was the greatest murrain of cattle that any man could remember.