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Members Only 111 – William: Part Four – Chaos


William’s guardianship situation was…complicated to say the least. And it only got worse from there.





To the south of Normandy… just beyond Maine… was Anjou, ruled over by Count Fulk the Black. At this point, Fulk had been in power for about 50 years, had constructed about 100 castles, had been in a fight with almost every neighbor at one time or another, kept himself holy with regular pilgrimages, and had a passion for extending the borders of his county.





If this guy existed today, he’d be a CEO in Silicon Valley and spend his time pounding wheatgrass smoothies, biking 13 miles a day, and insisting his overworked employees were “family.”





He was relentless.





When William became Duke, Count Fulk was pushing 70 but he was still going strong and (as Frank Stenton puts it) Fulk had “an entire absence of moral scruple.” A man so ruthlessly effective he’s credited as being the founder of the Angevin state.





And thanks to the Norman chroniclers, we know Fulk’s strategy. He would spot a bit of land he wanted, he’d capture the person who owned that land, and then he’d set the ransom price to …exactly that bit of land he wanted.





Simple and highly effective. And Fulk had been using this trick for years. Even worse, Fulk’s son, Geoffrey Martel, was a chip off the old block and more than ready to take on the family business as soon as Fulk died. And this terrifying family sat perilously close to young WIlliam’s border… and if they found a way to get their hands on Maine, they’d be even closer.





Cool.





And sure enough, soon after William’s ascension, Count Fulk began advancing into Maine. Bringing them ever closer to the borders of Normandy.





That was a problem right there, but adding to the troubles was the fact that, thanks to a complex web of political marriages and alliances, Duke Alan of Brittany was honor bound to take an interest in this conflict.





And you’ll recall that Duke Alan was William’s highest ranked guardian. So having him distracted isn’t great…. And the fact that Duke Alan might drag Normandy into a war with frigging Fulk the Black probably made the Norman Court even more nervous.





This threat of chaos and instability might be why we have a Charter from at some point within the first 2 years of William’s child reign… and it records little Duke William in his Court, surrounded by his nobles. Two of his Guardians were present (Gilbert and Osbern) and so were the Count of Ponthieu and the Archbishop of Dol. This indicates that, despite the chaos of this period, the House of Normandy was working to maintain at least some of its political ties with other influential French leaders.) So it’s possible that, despite the issues of William’s succession and Fulk’s aggressive expansionism, the Norman Court was doing what it could to promote as much stability within their Duchy as possible.





Though, stable doesn’t mean peaceful. In addition to Fulk, and much closer to home, was the issue of William’s English cousins… Alfred and Edward. Right about this point, in 1036, Queen Emma was talking her sons into the ill advised return to England to unseat King Harold Harefoot. In the end, her younger son, Alfred, was captured by Godwin, blinded, and then died shortly after.





Edward managed to survive and return to Normandy… and, presumably, word of this catastrophe reached Norman Court. We know that Edward carried his hate for Godwin well into his eventual reign in England.





So I have to imagine that Edward’s rage was overwhelming now,


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 July 23, 2021  28m