Brief lives of women who reigned or ruled in their own right or by marriage by providing their a) personal and family background; b) proprietary titles; c) parents/pedigree; d) patrimony and properties; e) persona or personality; f) powers exercised, g) patronages and h) partner(s) and progeny.
MARY FITZRANULPH
" . . . Another Ranulph, in the time of King John, translated the canons of Swainby to Coverham, an abbey he had founded near his castle of Middleham; thus lodging them close to his own gates, for the extraordinary reason (assigned by Dugdale) that he had "had much contest with them." The line ended with his son, Ralph Fitz Ranulph, whose eldest daughter Mary was his heiress, and brought the whole of the great Yorkshire fief in marriage to Robert Lord Nevill. Her husband was killed, early in life, in a disgraceful private quarrel, and the "fair and gentle Mary of Middleham" mourned for him till the day of her death. She would never consent to marry again, and lived a widow for forty-nine years. For some reason that has remained unexplained, she passed over her eldest son in her will, and bequeathed all her possessions to her grandson Ralph, the arrogant 'Peacock of the North'. . . ." (The Duchess of Cleveland)
"In 1270, Robert de Nevill received Middleham through his wife, Mary, daughter and heiress of Ralph Fitzranulph. Mary is said to have established the church of St. Helen and St. Alkelda. Mary held the power in Middleham as her son Ralph proved to be a poor land manager. Their son, Robert Neville, referred to as the "Peacock of the North" for his colorful reputation, was killed in a border struggle. . . ." (Middleham Castle)
MATHILDE DE BOURBON (1160's-1218)
[Ref1:217]
Proprietary Title: Dame de Bourbon, 1169-1218
Parents/Pedigree: Only daughter of Archambaud de Bourbon (d..1169) and of Alix de Bourgogne.
Partner/Progeny: Married (1) in 1183 (div. 1195), Gaucher IV de Vienne, Sire de Salins, with whom she had a daughter, Marguerite; (2) in 1195, Gui II de Dampierre (1140-1216), Constable of Champagne, who was in his 50's, with whom she had 7 children.
"The new head of the house of Bourbon was now for the first but not the last time to be a woman: Mahaut or Mathilde, Dame de Bourbon (1165-1227) was only six when she took over and was clearly a very eligible match. She luckily still had her grandmother Agnes of Savoy to act as her guardian. Her first marriage to Gaucher de Vienne took place when she was eighteen and lasted ten childless years during which he was away fighting, either the routiers in Chateaumeillant or the Saracens in the Holy Land, for he joined King Philip II Augustus (f. 1180-1223) on the Third Crusade in 1189. When he returned after three years away in the east he suspected, perhaps, with justification, that his wife had been unfaithful (this was one of the hazards of crusading) for he beat her, flung her in one of their dungeons and arranged for the Church to excommunicate her. She had too many important allies however -- one of them the king -- so the churchmen were persuaded to change their attitude. She was released and allowed to divorce him in 1195 on grounds of consanguinity -- he was related to her mother's family. Gaucher took this reverse very badly and proceeded to burn and pillage the Bourbonnais in revenge. The solution was to find her a husband strong enough to defend her and thus King Philip Augustus recommended one of his trusted knights, Guy II de Dampierre (1155-1216) who was ten years her senior, and had good properties on his own. He became the new Seigneur de Bourbon as well as Seigneur de Dampierre, which was southwest of Paris. So not only were the Bourbon estates substantially increased overall but some of them were closer to the capital and to the notice of King Philip II Augustus." (The Impossible Bourbons: Europe's Most Ambitious Dynasty)
MAUD OF GLOUCESTER, Countess of Chester (d.1190)
a.k.a. Maud FitzRobert
[Bio1]
[Bio1]
Proprietary Titles:
Parents/Pedigree: Maud was the daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and of Mabel FitzHamon of Gloucester.
Patrimony/Properties
Persona/Personality
Powers Exercised
Patronages
Partner/Progeny
MAUD OF HUNTINGDON (1074-1130)
a.k.a. Maud of Northumbria
[Bio1]
Proprietary Titles: Countess of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton
Parents/Pedigree: Daughter of Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria, and of Judith of Lens.
Partners/Progeny: Married about 1090 (1) Simon I de Senlis (d.1109), Earl of Hungtingdon, in right of his wife, c1090, with whom she had 3 children; married in 1113 (2) David I of Scotland, with whom she had 4 children.
Notes: " . . . Most historians have Maud as an Englishwoman, the richest heiress of England and the heiress of Northumbria. That she was those things is quite correct. But she was not so much English as she was Flemish. She was Godefroid of Bouillon's full cousin. . . With her marriage to David, then prince of Strathclyde, later to succeed his brother as king of Scots, trades with Flanders, and particularly with Bruges, became opened to Scotland. . . ." (Albany: 122)
REFERENCES
Evergates, Theodore (2007). The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100-1300.
Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/
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