The history of Flanders - Chapter 7
The origin of the county of Flanders: Boudewijn VI and Arnulf III
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
A count's dilemma
In the previous chapter we saw that Adelheid, the daughter of Robert II, king of France, and wife to Boudewijn V bore him five children, three girls and two boys. When Boudewijn V died in 1067 he had already married off the eldest of the girls, Mathilde, in 1053 to the duke of Normandy, Willem the Bastard, who will become king of England in 1066 after the notorious battle of Hastings and from then on will be called William the Conqueror. The oldest of the boys, named Boudewijn just as his father and grandfather and probably born in 1035 (correct date is unknown), must have been 32 years old when his father died. The second boy, Robrecht, named after his grandfather Robert II and probably born in 1037, is then 30.
Leaving behind two sons is not an exceptional fact, but as far as the Flemish counts is concerned, it was of paramount importance and will have very far-reaching effects. Before Boudewijn V, the Flemish counts had usually had only one male heir and this had certainly contributed to their growing power. In those days royal sons usually had armed conflicts for the succession to the throne.
Boudewijn V was well aware of this possible danger and therefore looked for a way to give each of his sons a realm. This was not simple because Boudewijn, being the eldest son, was predestined to heir the Flemish crown. As far as Robrecht is concerned it was difficult for the old Boudewijn to find a proper balance. A lucky coincidence helped. During one of his many adventurous travels Robrecht had made acquaintance to Geertrui or Geertruide of Saxony, mother of two children and widow to count Floris of Holland who had been murdered by the Norsemen. When Robrecht informed his father about his upcoming marriage with Geertruide, the old Boudewijn realised fortune had given him a possibility to get rid of the dilemma he had. He gave his approval for the marriage on the condition that Robrecht would renounce his claim to the Flemish county. Robrecht agreed and the marriage was celebrated with pump and circumstance in Oudenaarde.
Old Boudewijn was not fully confident in Robert's promise. Shortly after he sent a delegation of nobles to Robrecht with the request to come immediately to Oudenaarde in order to sign a treaty with his brother Boudewijn. The meeting was held with impressive ceremonies. The bishops of Doornik, Noyon and Terwaan were present and witnessed how Robrecht swore on the reliquary of Saint Donatius of Reims, that Boudewijn had brought to Brugge, that he would always recognise the county of Flanders as sole possession of his brother Boudewijn.
For this ambiguous oath Robrecht was generously rewarded by his father. Ambiguous indeed, because the oath did not mention possible offspring of Boudewijn. This means that the oath was only valid as long as Boudewijn lived. Whether the old Boudewijn had thought about this is unknown, but right after the ceremony Robrecht left with new horses and heavily loaded with gold and headed back north where his presence was required due to the unstable political situation. Robrecht, who wielded power during the minority of his wife's children, had made a lot of enemies.
In any case, Boudewijn V achieved that his oldest son could succeed to the throne while his youngest son played a count's role in Holland. Boudewijn therefore died peacefully in 1067.
Boudewijn VI
Boudewijn, son to Boudewijn V, count of Henegouwen by marriage to Richildis, widow of count Herman of Henegouwen, succeeded his father on 1 September 1067 and thus also became count of Flanders. As long as his father lived, Boudewijn VI had played a relatively important role, but due to his weak health and strong religiosity he did not have the strength, nerve or tempestuousness of his father and grandfather.
Not only was he slightly built, he also preferred music to waging war. This is probably the reason why barely anything changed in the few years he was count. We already mentioned that he had been raised at the German court and he was given the rule of the mark Antwerp from the German emperor. In 1051 he married Richildis, countess of Henegouwen, who bore him three children: Arnulf, the later count Arnulf III of Flanders and Henegouwen, Boudewijn, who will later be count of Henegouwen as Boudewijn II, and a daughter, Agnes.
According to his secretay, counselor and panegyrist, the monk Thomelius, his devotion for the church would have originated in an event during his youth. Struck by an unknown disease, he was close to death when the holy Peter and the saint Marcellinus appeared to him in a dream. They spoke to him with the following words: "You will be cured from your disease if you solemnly promise to give the abbey of Hasnon back its ecclesiastical dignity". Even in a coma, the ill Boudewijn realised this was his only chance to get better. So, in his dream, he made his solemn promise.
The thing is that in the castle of Hasnon, a village near Valenciennes, there lived a man with the name Witheric who lead such a wanton life that he besmirched the abbey's good name and that the people in the village asked God every day to free them from this rogue. The saints had not asked Boudewijn to kill Witheric, but to at least drive him away.
As frequently happens, Boudewijn forgot about his promise as soon as he was cured. But our saints had not forgotten and when Boudewijn marched against Antwerp with his father in 1055, they had him get injured severely in a sword fight to remind him of his promise. And it worked indeed. As soon as his wounds were healed, he went to Witheric's castle, conquered it, broke it down to the ground and covered the remains with a thick layer of dirt on which he later built a church. Conquering the castle had not been so hard as Witheric had died in a duel, leaving little or nothing as defense of the castle.
This story has little historic value, but we tell it because it is typical of the era's historiography. In fact, it is nothing more than historic delusions that easily fit in a way of thinking filled with superstition and religiosity. It was a time in which historians were only interested in kings, rulers, battles, marriage politics, and whose literary texts were filled with fantastic stories on divine intervention in combination with flattery to the adulated ruler in whose service they worked and whose bread they ate. At the time, history was holy and historic events were considered to be a manifestation of the divinity. History was reduced to theofany, i.e. the manifestation of God in observable events.
This type of belief in the omnipotence of a God who himself determined the historic flow of time, was the result of the primitive world we can descry in this medieval era. It was a world with an untamed fickle nature in which a small population tragically fought with bare hands or with insignificant tools against the uncomprehended force of the earth, laboured to farm and get a bit of food from the earth, and regularly had to deal with disease, plagues or invasions from plundering and killing armies. It was a time in which five out of seven children died and two crops out of three failed. A time in which the peasants, more slave than peasant, were subjected to a few mighty families, who split in branches but were kept together by their relationships and who were set as a moral example by historians.
This situation changes from the middle of the 11th century. There are still a few Norse raids and the Saracenes will continue to scourge the south of France, but the big turbulences are over and done with. Slowly but surely a social development is taking place which will continue to our present day.
But Boudewijn VI will not live to see much of this, although he will have made a contribution to it. He dies in 1070. He must have been in his early thirties, and left a widow with three children. Not much is left of his short reign. The only royal deed we can attribute to him is the foundation of the fortified city of Geeraardsbergen and the corresponding royal charter.
In the year 1068 Boudewijn buys a castle at the banks of the river Dender from a certain baron Geeraard. He has the castle rebuilt into a fortified fortress in order to improve the defence of the Flemish area east of the river Scheldt. The new castle and the area around it turn into a small city he calls after the former owner: Geeraards Bergen or Gérard-Mont, later corrupted in French into Grammont. A remarkable fact is that he grants the new city and its inhabitants a series of protective laws that are established in a charter and which can be considered to be the oldest civil and criminal law in Flanders. This is the first time a feudal ruler ensures a number of rights for a group of people that at the time could not claim any right.
A second remarkable fact is that these rights were not only established by Boudewijn VI, but also received the approval of the barons of Flanders, Henegouwen and Brabant, who jointly took an oath to respect these rights "for ever". One of the rights stated that: "No matter who, of whatever rank, buys a heredity in the city of Geeraardsbergen, will be free on the condition that he respects the laws and justice of the aldermen".
It is also noteworthy that this charter, which guarantees the principle of freedom of the citizen for the first time in our history, was not the result of war or revolt, but was merely the result of a social development that can no longer be stopped.
When Boudewijn was struck by an incurable disease and felt the end nearing, he convened his followers. After a discussion on his succession, he donated the county of Flanders to Arnulf, his oldest son, and the county of Henegouwen to his second son, also called Boudewijn, later Boudewijn II of Henegouwen. If one of them would pass away, the surviving brother would inherit the county of the deceased.
Arnulf was quite young (probably born in 1055) and in order to protect him from possible candidates to claim the throne under false pretences, he called upon his brother Robrecht, also called the Fries. He invited him to come to Brugge in order to make a vow in the presence of his barons and peers never to undertake any violent action against both Arnulf and Boudewijn, and, for as long as he lives, never to claim their domains. Robrecht took the oath without any objection, just like the previous one, on the shrine of Saint Donatius.
With this oath, the ambiguity of the first oath was undone. Moreover, the second oath implied dat Robrecht would protect Flanders and Henegouwen against third parties. And just as with the first oath, Robrecht was given many gifts by his brother.
Boudewijn had two reasons to ask Robrecht to take the oath. First, he was afraid of an assumption of power by Robrecht in Flanders. Second he feared his sons could lose their rights by a possible third marriage of Richildis, as happened to the two children out of Richildis' first marriage. Boudewijn must have known of Richildis' ambitions of power and the protection of Robrecht was the only solution against a stranger seizing the Flemish throne.
Arnulf III
Boudewijn VI was buried on 17 July 1070 in the Hasnon Abbey, which he set free a few years earlier from the bad influence of Witheric. Arnulf succeeded him as ninth count of Flanders with the name Arnulf III. He must have been fifteen years old then, young to our standards but old enough to hold the title of count because at the age of 15 most successors to rulers and counts were considered to be of age, could be knighted and fitted their first armour.
We know extremely little of him, but we do know that he had a delicate health like his father and that he was strongly influenced by his ambitious mother Richildis. His rule was very short. Barely seven months after succeeding his father, he will be killed in the battle of Kassel.
Richildis
When Boudewijn VI died, his brother Robrecht in Holland was busy trying to safeguard the future of his two stepsons. Richildis thought this to be an excellent opportunity to take control of Henegouwen and Flanders. In addition, she had little or nothing to fear of her eldest son Arnulf III, count of Flanders and too young and unexperienced according to her, and of her second son Boudewijn II of Henegouwen who was barely 10 years old. Richildis was a very ambitious woman with a strong character. She descended from a stubborn family and being the niece of pope Leo IX, cousin to Koenraad II of Germany, she was of the imperial blood.
Long before her husband's death, she succeeded to assemble a group of nobles lead by the barons Mailly and Coucy, who supported her in her ambition. The first decision they took in Richildis' name, was to nullify the will of Boudewijn VI, which stipulated the protection of the Flemish throne by Robrecht.
When Robrecht heard about this in Holland, he called upon Richildis to devolve the rule of Flanders to him. As could be expected, she ignored her brother in law's request completely. She did understand that her refusal would turn him into a fierceless enemy. Se also knew that Robrecht was engaged in a complicated battle against Willem, bisshop of Utrecht, and his ally Godfried III, duke of Lower Lorraine. She did not hesitate one second to seize the opportunity to marsh on Flanders and to take possession of Robrecht's domains.
She took possession of Aalst, the four Shires and the Zeeland islands. When Jan or Raas of Gavere, lord and governor of the seigniory Gavere which was one of the five Members or Regions of the Land of Aalst, opposed Richildis, he was arrested and decapitated. But this was not sufficient for Richildis. She began to expand her power ruthlessly in a large part of Flanders. Official acts were published in her name, making the citizens wonder whether Arnulf III was still alive and if so, why not the count of Flanders but his mother ruled his county.
Richildis needed money to pay her mercenaries and to recruit new ones. She therefore excessively raised the taxes in the whole country. The taxes became absurd. A tax of four deniers had to be paid by anyone owning a bed. The weavers were to pay a levy for each finished sheet and a large part of the tithes (church tax) that farmers paid to the convents, was to be transferred to the countess.
When she comes up with the notorious "balfaert", a tax levied on the maintenance of her castles, affecting mainly the spinners and weavers of leper, sixty-three citizens of Ieper go to Rijsel to ask Richildis to drop the tax which threatens to bring famine to their city. But the unrelenting Richildis felt annoyed by the offending request, ordered her soldiers to surround the group of unarmed citizens and to cut an ear of all of them before releasing them.
Her action was fruitless. When the disfigured men return to Ieper, they go to church and swear that God may send them to hell when they pay as much as one penny for the new tax. When Richildis hears about this, she marches with her soldiers to Ieper, has the sixty-three citizens captured, decapitated en nail their right hands to the doors of their houses as a warning to all those who even consider discussing her right to this "balfaert".
Flanders rises up against Richildis
These course of events made her Flemish subjects very
dissatisfied. The countess, who used to exert countly power in
Henegouwen, a county consisting mainly of large properties of which
management was very strictly set, found herself in a very new and
unknown situation in Flanders. Most properties along the coast were
reclaimed from the sea and were run according to customs that gave much
freedom to the people.
Richildis never took into account this mentality of freedom, unknown to
her in Henegouwen. This proved fatal to her.
In the autumn of 1070, a group of Flemish nobles who were fed up with Richildis' tiranny and her absurd taxes, go and visit Robrecht the Fries in his castle in Vlaardingen to request him to take command of a rebellion against Richildis. Even though Robrecht had taken a double oath, he had never ceased to dream about becoming count of Flanders. So he agreed.
Without hesitation he prepared the rebellion against Richildis. He came to Flanders and met with the nobles of Brugge, Gent, Sint-Omaars and some other Flemish villages. He convinced them of the necessity to chase off Richildis and assured himself of their full cooperation. Afterwards he returned to Holland to assemble an army of all able-bodied men who wanted to marsh against Richildis with him.
Richildis is captured by Robert de Fries' soldiers in the battle of
Kassel in 1071.
(A sketch of De Doncker and E. Vermorckens)
The battle of Kassel
The signal for the rebellion was given by Robrecht's accomplices on 22 February 1071 by burning a shepherd's hut in the Kappele dunes, north of Sluis. At that moment, Robrecht, waiting with some ships in the Western Scheldt, sails to the Flemish coast and disembarks not far from Oudenburg with his army of Dutchmen and Frisians, where they are greeted by an army that consists of people from Gent, Brugge, Yzendijke, Oostburg and Aardenburg.
Robrecht heads the army, marches straight through Flanders while his army grows with groups of armed men that are waiting for him along the roads. He first marches to Gent where he takes possession of the title of count. With his ever growing army he then marches to Rijsel that is conquered without great difficulty and where he can surprise one of Richildis' advisors, the already mentioned baron of Mailly. He is killed without being tried and his body is dragged through the streets of the city, which was consistent with the refined cruelty that people were accustomed to in this age.
From Rijsel Robrecht's army does not head for Bergen, but turns northwest to Kassel where, as his spies informed him, Richildis had gathered her army when she heard about Robrecht's landing on the Flemish coast. Kassel was strategically well-chosen because it allowed her to march eastwards, thus cutting Robrecht's army short between the Flemish coastal area and Henegouwen or attacking him in the back. Richildis was not only ruthless, she also had good military insight.
When Robrecht arrives near Kassel, he takes possession of the old Roman castle, rebuilt by Arnulf I around 950, on the Kasselberg. At about the same time, on 20 February 1071, the army of the French king Filips I arrives in Kassel. The French king had taken side with Richildis. He is joined by the English earl William Fits Osbern or Fitsobern who courted Richildis and wanted to prove his love by helping her with a small army.
Two days later, on 22 February 1071, Robrecht begins to attack, much to the surprise of his enemies as it was very cold and the weather was not favourable to wage war. In complete surprise, the French troops flee, Fitsobern is killed in a duel by Robrecht, and Richildis who as ususal commands her troops personally, is captured and brought outside the city on a carriage.
Arnulf III, later also called the Unfortunate, is killed during the battle by ons of his own treacherous liegemen, a certain Gerbodon. This Gerbodon will later go to Rome to ask the pope for forgiveness. After receiving a pardon, he retreats in the convent of Cluny.
Meanwhile Robrecht is pursuing the fleeing French troops but gets surrounded by a French rearguard. He is captured. This has no further consequences as Richildis and Robrecht will later be exchanged. Filips I had enough of his adventure in Kassel and no longer wishes to have anything to do with Richildis. In order to show his good faith towards Robrecht, he marries his stepdaughter Bertha of Holland. In 1092, however, he will repudiate her.
Robrecht is now the undisputed count of Flanders. Boudewijn, Richildis' remaining son, had to content himself with the county of Henegouwen. In spite of some futile attempts by Richildis to get Boudewijn on Flanders' throne, Boudewijn will later reconcile with his uncle.
For a short time Flanders was united with Henegouwen. Both counties are again separated and will remain so until the end of the 12th century when they will once again be united.
Bibliography:
1. KOCH, G. Dr. "Gravin Richildis in Henegouwen en Vlaanderen", Standaard, Brussel 1951.
2. GANSHOF, F.L. "Vlaanderen onder de eerste graven", Brussel 1944.
3. LE GLAY, Edward. "Histoire de comtes de Flandre", Brussel 1843.
4. PIRENNE, Henri. "Geschiedenis van België", Brussel 1928.
5. VERLINDEN, Charles Dr. "Robert 1er le Frison, comte de Flandre", Parijs 1935.