Biography of Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders 1084-1127

Maternal Family Tree: Eilika Schweinfurt Duchess Saxony

1127 Murder of Charles Count of Flanders

In 1080 [his father] King Canute "The Holy" IV of Denmark (age 38) and [his mother] 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 grandfather] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 47) and [his grandmother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 50). He the son of [his grandfather] King Sweyn II of Denmark.

In 1084 Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders was born to [his father] King Canute "The Holy" IV of Denmark (age 42) and [his mother] Adela Flanders Queen Consort Denmark (age 20).

On 10th July 1086 [his father] King Canute "The Holy" IV of Denmark (age 44) was killed at St Alban's Priory Odense.

In 1092 [his step-father] Roger Borsa (age 31) and [his mother] Adela Flanders Queen Consort Denmark (age 28) were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 59) and [his grandmother] Gertrude Billung Countess Holland (age 62).

In April 1115 [his mother] Adela Flanders Queen Consort Denmark (age 51) died.

In 1118 Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders (age 34) and Marguerite Clermont Countess Flanders (age 13) were married. The difference in their ages was 21 years. She the daughter of Renaud II Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis (age 43) and Adelaide I Countess Vermandois. He the son of King Canute "The Holy" IV of Denmark and Adela Flanders Queen Consort Denmark. They were fifth cousin once removed.

Before 1119 William Warenne 2nd Earl of Surrey and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Capet Countess Leicester, Meulan and Surrey (age 33) were married. She by marriage Countess Surrey. She the daughter of Hugh "Great" Capet and [his mother-in-law] Adelaide I Countess Vermandois. He the son of William Warenne 1st Earl of Surrey and Gundred Countess of Surrey.

Battle of Bures-en-Bray

On or before 17th July 1119 at the Battle of Bures-en-Bray King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) fought against the army of Louis VI King of the Franks (age 37).

Baldwin VII Count Flanders (age 26) who was killed. His first cousin Charles (age 35) succeeded I Count Flanders. [his wife] Marguerite Clermont Countess Flanders (age 14) by marriage Countess Flanders.

Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans

Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.

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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1119. In this same year died the Pope Gelasius, on this side of the Alps, and was buried at Clugny. And after him the Archbishop of Vienna was chosen pope, whose name was Calixtus. He afterwards, on the festival of St. Luke the Evangelist, came into France to Rheims, and there held a council. And the Archbishop Turstin of York went thither; and, because that he against right, and against the archiepiscopal stall in Canterbury, and against the king's (age 51) will, received his hood at the hands of the pope, the king interdicted him from all return to England. And thus he lost his archbishopric, and with the pope went towards Rome. In this year also died the Earl Baldwin of Flanders (age 26) of the wounds that he received in Normandy. And after him succeeded to the earldom Charles (age 35), the son of his [his father] uncle by the father's side, who was son of Cnute, the holy King of Denmark.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1120. This year were reconciled the King of England (age 52) and the King of France (age 38); and after their reconciliation all the King Henry's own men accorded with him in Normandy, as well as the Earl of Flanders (age 36) and the Earl of Ponthieu (age 27). From this time forward the King Henry settled his castles and his land in Normandy [Map] after his will; and so before Advent came to this land.

In 1125 [his brother-in-law] Ralph I Capet I Count Vermandois and Eleanor Blois were married. She the daughter of Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres (age 80) and Adela Normandy Countess Blois (age 58). He the son of Hugh "Great" Capet and [his mother-in-law] Adelaide I Countess Vermandois. They were second cousin once removed. She a granddaughter of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

On 2nd March 1127 Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders (age 43) was murdered at Church of St Donatian. His second cousin William (age 24) succeeded Count Flanders. Sibylla Anjou Countess Essex (age 15) by marriage Countess Flanders.

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. 1127. Charles (age 43), Count of Flanders, was killed¹.

MCXXVII. Occisus est Carolus comes Flandrensis.

Note 1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. "In the Lent-tide of this same year was the Earl Charles of Flanders slain in a church, as he lay there and prayed to God, before the altar, in the midst of the mass, by his own men."

Orderic Vitalis: "On the calends [1st of March - a mistake for the 2nd] Charles, duke of Flanders, son of Canute, king of Denmark, attended by Tesnard, castellan of Bourbourg, and twenty men-at-arms went to the church at Bruges to hear mass. There, while praying to God prostrate on the floor, he was slain by Burchard de Lille, and thirty-two other men-at-arms, and almost all his attendants were cruelly massacred on the spot. William d'Ypres, having heard of this monstrous outrage, immediately blockaded the castle of Bruges, and beset the cruel murderers on all sides, until the king of France arrived with William the Norman, and after closely besieging the bloody butchers for the period of a month, took them, and cast them headlong from the highest tower."

1127 Murder of Charles Count of Flanders

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 2nd March 1127. In the Lent-tide of this same year was the Earl Charles of Flanders (age 43) slain in a church, as he lay there and prayed to God, before the altar, in the midst of the mass, by his own men.

In 1145 [his former wife] Marguerite Clermont Countess Flanders (age 40) died.