Herbert II (died 9 March 1062) was Count of Maine from 1051 to 1062. He was a Hugonide, son of Hugh IV of Maine [1] and Bertha of Blois.
On the death of Hugh IV, Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou occupied Maine, expelling Berthe de Blois and Gervais de Château du Loir, Bishop of Le Mans, who fled to the court of Normandy.
In 1056, Herbert escaped from Le Mans, and himself went to the court of William, duke of Normandy. There his sister Marguerite was betrothed to Robert Curthose, but died before the marriage could take place. [2] Herbert paid homage to William for the county of Maine, was to marry, Adelida, a daughter of William, [3] but died in 1062. [4]
Robert II of Normandy, or Robert Curthose, was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. Robert was also an unsuccessful claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of England. The epithet "Curthose" had its origins in the Norman French word courtheuse 'short stockings' and was apparently derived from a nickname given to Robert by his father; the chroniclers William of Malmesbury and Orderic Vitalis reported that William the Conqueror had derisively called Robert brevis-ocrea.
Eustace III was the count of Boulogne from 1087 succeeding his father, Eustace II. He joined the First Crusade, being present at Nicaea, Dorylaeum, Antioch, and Jerusalem. After fighting in the battle of Ascalon, he returned home. Initially offered the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Eustace was at Apulia when he received news of Baldwin of Bourcq's election to the throne. On his return to Boulogne, he founded a Cluniac monastery in Rumilly, retired as a monk, and died in 1125.
Robert I of Normandy, also known as Robert the Magnificent and by other names, was a Norman noble of the House of Normandy who ruled as duke of Normandy from 1027 until his death in 1035. He was the son of Duke Richard II; the brother of Duke Richard III, against whom he unsuccessfully revolted; and the father of Duke William who became the first Norman king of England after winning the Battle of Hastings in 1066. During his reign, Robert quarrelled with the church—including his uncle Robert, archbishop of Rouen—and meddled in the disorder in Flanders. He finally reconciled with his uncle and the church, restoring some property and undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, during which he died.
William Clito was a member of the House of Normandy who ruled the County of Flanders from 1127 until his death and unsuccessfully claimed the Duchy of Normandy. As the son of Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, William Clito was seen as a candidate to succeed his uncle King Henry I of England. Henry viewed him as a rival, however, and William allied himself with King Louis VI of France. Louis installed him as the new count of Flanders upon the assassination of Charles the Good, but the Flemings soon revolted and William died in the struggle against another claimant to Flanders, Thierry of Alsace.
Fulk IV, better known as Fulk le Réchin, was the count of Anjou from around 1068 until his death. He was noted to be "a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderic Vitalis, who particularly objected to his many women and his influential footwear, claiming he popularized the pigaches that eventually became the poulaine, the medieval long-toed shoe.
Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France. It corresponds to the former County of Maine, whose capital was also the city of Le Mans. The area, now divided into the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, has about 857,000 inhabitants.
Alan III of Rennes was Count of Rennes and duke of Brittany, by right of succession from 1008 to his death.
Richard I, also known as Richard the Fearless, was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum", called him a dux. However, this use of the word may have been in the context of Richard's renowned leadership in war, and not as a reference to a title of nobility. Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy or he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign, the most important Norman landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.
Geoffrey II, called Martel, son of Fulk the Black, was Count of Anjou from 1040 to 1060 and Count of Vendôme from 1032 to 1056. He fought battles against William VII, Duke of Aquitaine, Theobald I, Count of Blois, and William, Duke of Normandy. During his twenty-year reign Geoffrey II faced the ambitions of the Bishop of Le Mans, Gervais de Château-du-Loir, but was able to maintain his authority over the County of Maine. Martel founded the Abbey aux Dames in Saintonge and also -in collaboration with his wife Agnes- founded the Abbaye de la Trinité at Vendôme. The first mention of Geoffrey II in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum reads: "Geoffrey, count of the Angevins, nicknamed Martel, a treacherous man in every respect, frequently inflicted assaults and intolerable pressure on his neighbors."
Theobald I, called the Trickster, was Count of Blois, Tours, Chartres and Châteaudun, as well as Lord of Vierzon and Provins. He was a loyal and potent vassal of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks.
Elias I, called de la Flèche or de Baugency, was the Count of Maine, succeeding his cousin Hugh V, Count of Maine.
Hugh IV was Count of Maine from 1036 to 1051.
Richard de Courcy was a Norman nobleman and landholder in England.
The County of Anjou was a French county that was the predecessor to the Duchy of Anjou. Its capital was Angers, and its area was roughly co-extensive with the diocese of Angers. Anjou was bordered by Brittany to the west, Maine to the north, Touraine to the east and Poitou to the south. Its 12th century Count Geoffrey created the nucleus of what became the Angevin Empire. The adjectival form is Angevin, and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. In 1360, the county was raised into the Duchy of Anjou within the Kingdom of France. This duchy was later absorbed into the French royal domain in 1482 and remained a province of the kingdom until 1790.
Bertha of Blois, was a Duchess consort of Brittany and a countess consort of Maine.
Hugh III became Count of Maine on his father Hugh II's death, c. 991.
Ralph of Gacé, also known as Ralph the Ass-Headed, was a member of the House of Normandy who played an influential role during the minority of William the Bastard, prior to his conquest of England. Ralph was the lord of Gacé and other estates in Normandy.
William of Évreux or William d'Évreux was a member of the House of Normandy who played an influential role during the Norman conquest of England, one of the few Norman aristocrats documented to have been with William I at Hastings. He was the count of Évreux in Normandy as well as additional lands and expanded his holdings by consenting to the marriage of his young ward and niece Bertrade to Fulk the Rude of Anjou, whose support against the Manceaux rebels was important for William's liege Robert Curthose. A feud between William's wife Helvise or Heloise of Nevers and Isabel of Conches, the wife of Raoul II of Tosny, led to open war between the two men. Helvise also governed Évreux in William's infirm old age until her own death. Having no children of his own, William was succeeded at Évreux by his sister's son Amaury of Montfort.
Robert, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings, son of William I, Count of Eu, and his wife Lesceline. Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings.
Ralph IV was a northern French nobleman who amassed an extensive array of lordships lying in a crescent around the Île-de-France from the border of the Duchy of Normandy in the northwest to Champagne in the southeast.