The history of Flanders - Chapter 16
Filips Van Den Elzas, 16th Count of Flanders
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
Recognition of Filips, son to Diederik van den Elzas, as acting count of Flanders
Diederik van den Elzas, count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168, dies in Gravelines on 17 January 1168 and is buried a few days later in the convent of Watten, where he had retired a few years earlier after a forty year rule of the county. He was then 68 years old, which was exceptional in a time when most people did not become older than forty.
His wife Sibylla, daughter to Fulco V of Anjou, the later king of Jerusalem who dies there in 1165, had given him four sons and three daughters. The oldest son, Boudewijn, probably born in 1135 or 1136 (the correct date is not known) and destined to succeed Diederik as count of Flanders, already dies in 1150 at the age of 15 years, so the hereditary title goes to Filips, the second son, born in 1142.
In 1156 Filips married Elisabeth, oldest daughter of Radulf I, count of Vermandois, in Beauvais. Filips was then 14 years old and his bride 13. These marriages at a very young age were run-of-the-mill in that era. They almost always served to execute certain political plans.
Radulf I died in 1152 and was succeeded by his son Radulf
II, also called "the Leper" (In France known as Raoulle-Lépreux)
who will die childless in 1163. This meant that Elisabeth, as sole
heiress of the county Vermandois, which also included Valois and
Amiénois, ruled this area as she was the wife of Filips and therefore
became Countess of Vermandois. It is noteworthy that Filips did not
wait for Radulf II to die to call himself count of one of the inherited
areas of his wife. Already in 1161, so two years before Radulf II's
death, he called himself count of Amiens and also acted accordingly.
This title of count 'was not really new to
Filips, because as a result of a solemn meeting at the count's court on
31 March 1157, with a view to the upcoming leave of his father Diederik
to Palestine, the latter had all states of Flanders acknowledge the
takeover of the count's throne by his son Filips. So Filips officially
became comes constitutus (literally: the one
appointed as count).
Diederik must not have been very sure that his son would be generally recognized as "comes" because on Whitsun 12 May of the same year, he convened a new meeting in Atrecht. The reason was a problem with Kamerijk, as the local bishop Nicolaas and his viscount Simon van Oisy had refused to attend the 31 March meeting. They did not appear either on this second meeting, notwithstanding Diederik's explicit request. Eventually this turned out to be no problem for Filips' recognition as "comes" because all attendees, without any exception, solemnly promised to assist the young count during his father's absence and in all circumstances. Thereupon Diederik and Sibylla left more or less reassured for Palestine the day after, i.e. on 13 May.
The reason for the nobles from Kamerijk to refuse the acknowledgment of Filips as count during his father's absence, was the fact that Diederik had reinstated a levy on the corn harvest of the churches in the Kamerijk episcopacy in 1153, while it had fallen into disuse after the murder of Karel de Goede.
Young Filips considered this to be a denial of his authority,
which it really was, and without hesitation, already on 26 May, barely
two weeks after the Atrecht meeting, he marches with a small army
against Simon. This mini campaign ended in failure and Filips had to
return home. Not for long, as barely two months later he again marched
against Simon. This time he was equipped with the necessary siege
weapons and he succeeded in seizing the castle of Oisy and forcing
Simon to submission, at least for now.
A Flemish-Dutch conflict
The newly appointed count Filips did not have any rest after his parent's departure for Palestine. Barely had he more or less put Simon of Oisy in his place or another antagonist appeared.
This time it was Floris III, who had succeeded his father Dirk VI in 1157 as count of Holland and thought to make use of Diederik's absence by raking up an old feud. The case was that the islands of Zeeland "west of the river Scheldt" had been in possession of the counts of Flanders since 1012 as fief for the German emperor, and were therefore part of Flanders. In 1076, so under the rule of Robrecht de Fries, this area had come into the possession of the counts of Holland as second fief (i.e. a fief in the second degree).
Floris III was irritated by this situation and wanted to end the fief relation with Flanders. In order to make this clear to Filips, he started hindering Flemish trade by protecting piracy in the Zeeland waters. In addition he created a new toll in Geervliet, at the Maas estuary, exactly the spot where the Flemish ships enter the Rhine in the direction of Köln (Cologne). Floris even succeeded in having this toll ratified by German emperor Frederik I. But it was still not sufficient. He concluded a pact with the lord of Beveren and claimed the Land of Waas, an area that was ruled by the Flemish count.
As usual Filips immediately responded to this challenge. On Easter 1158 he sailed with a fleet of soldiers on the river Scheldt, took the castle of Beveren without much resistance, and defeated Floris' small army which apparently had not anticipated Filips' reaction. Floris had to submit and renounce his claim to annul the second fief as well as his claim to the Land of Waas and all tolls in Geervliet. This armistice is only temporary as the hostilities will resume and last until 1167, when both parties finally reached an agreement, ratified by the Treaty of Brugge which stipulated that the disputed area would be ruled jointly by Flanders and Holland.
Seal of Filips van den Elzas
New problems with Simon of Oisy
While Filips was busy engaging Floris in Zeeland, Simon of Oisy rebelled again. He made use of Filips' absence to invade Flanders. The invasion did not last long. Filips launched a counterattack and could easily force Floris to return empty-handed to Kamerijk.
Again peace was short as in the Summer of 1159 Simon could not refrain from reopening hostilities, again without much success because this time Filips reacted fiercely. Already in July he succeeded in taking the tree castles of Kamerijk. He did not go any further because when he heard that his father Diederik was returning from Palestine, he returned to Flanders himself.
This was a sensible decision because when Diederik heard the news from his son about Simon's aggressive behaviour, he immediately contacted him and after a few meetings convinced both Simon and bishop Nicolaas of the fact that it was waisted effort to undertake anything against the Flemish county. Simon gave in and after restoring the former relations and establishing them in the Treaty of Bapaume, signed by both parties on 19 January 1160, he submitted for good and disappeared from the scene of action.
Secret agreement between England and the County
When Diederik had returned from Palestine in August 1159 and looked how his son Filips had ruled over the county, he could only determine that Filips had done well despite his young age.
In the next four and a half years father and son will rule the county together. It was in this period that the relations with England received a more political character. This was the result of the money fief that William the Conqueror, when he was crowned king of England, had granted to his father in law Boudewijn V. It was about 300 silver marks that William paid Boudewijn V each year for his neutrality in his war of conquest of England. This money fief was interrupted after William's death, but was resumed in 1103 in accordance with the Treaty of Dover. This treaty between Robrecht II and Henry I, king of England, concerned a yearly interest of 400 silver marks. But also this money fief came to an end, in 1154, after the death of Steven of Blois (in France: Etienne de Blois), who had succeeded Henry I as king of England.
In 1163, probably under pressure of the English king, the money fief was reintroduced but in a changed form, after a secret agreement between Henry II, who had succeeded Steven of Blois in 1154 as king of England, on the one hand and both Diederik and Filips van den Elzas on the other hand. The interest amount is unknown.
The agreement was clearly directed against France because it implied that, in case of war between England and France, both Flemish counts would assist England with a larger army than the army they would supply their supreme liege lord, the king of France, according to their feudal obligations.
We need to add that Filips did not take that obligation very
seriously, which can be seen in his apparent contradictory attitude
towards the king of England with respect to the marriage of his brother
Mattheus.
A marriage, a king, two counts and an archbishop
The reason for Filips' attitude was the county Boulogne, which has been kept as fief by the counts of Flanders until 1154, i.e. until the death of Steven of Blois. The sole heir of Steven was his daughter, who had retired to a convent a few years earlier and who was known as the Abbess of Ramsey. Should the Abbess die childlessly, Boulogne could fall to France.
Henry II considered this to be a danger for his lines of communication with the mainland and the best way to prevent this from happening would be to get the Abbess out of the convent and to have her marry Mattheus, brother of Filips.
That solution, however, was incompatible with the ecclesiastic laws while Thomas Becket, Henry's chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury, opposed it. In view of the secret agreement Filips and Diederik had made with the English king, one would expect them to chose the English king's side without hesitation. A marriage of Mattheus with the daughter of the previous king of England could only increase the power of the House of van den Elzas. But they did not chose his side, at least not in public.
It is not clear what were the motives of those who urged them to have the marriage between Mattheus and the Abbess anulled. Was it to propitiate chancellor Becket? Perhaps. You should know that at the time Becket was one of the most powerful men in England and that he was, probably because of this, constantly in conflict with Henry II. It was even so that in 1164 Becket, fearing for his life, had sought refuge with Filips, who had welcomed him hospitably and who had refused Henry II's request for extradition. Becket will return to England in 1170 but will be murdered shortly after his return.
In any case, the marriage of Matthus and the Abbess lasted.
Both Alsatians even succeeded in getting the county of Lens, that had
always been united with Boulogne, from Henry II as a personal gift.
Filips besieges the castle of Oisy and forces viscount Simon
to surrender.
(After an etching from "De Middeleeuwen" (The Middle Ages) of H. W.
Koch., Publ. Helmond BV. Helmond 1988)
Flanders had never been so big
As we saw, Diederik left for Jerusalem in 1164 for the fourth time at request of his wife Sibylla. Filips was now 21 years old and Diederik, who had not been involved much with the rule of the county in the past few years, devolved his power completely and for good to his son before his departure. This proved from the fact that Diederik never ever concerned himself with the rule, not even after his return in 1166 and until his death in 1168.
We also saw that Filips in 1163 had assumed this title after
the death of his brother-in-law, the count of Vermandois, according to
the rights of his wife Elisabeth, sole heiress of this seigniory. From
then onwards Filips held the title of 'count of Flanders and
Vermandois'. He ruled an area that stretched out from the
Scheldt estuary to 25 km from Paris. He was still liegeman to Lodewijk
VII, king of France, but the realm he ruled was larger than the royal
domains.
He also ruled another part of Flanders, known as "Rijksvlaanderen",
in name of the German emperor. It included the land of Aalst, the Vier
Ambachten (the four shires: Boechoute, Assenede, Hulst and Axel), and
Zeeland west of the river Scheldt. This territorial position of power
allowed him, if he deemed it necessary, to appeal to the German emperor
to compensate too strong pressure from France on the one hand, and to
make use of his French possessions against the German emperor on the
other hand.
Finally, Filips strengthened his grip on Kamerijk and succeeded, after the death of his former arch-enemy, bishop Nicolaas, in having his brother Peter, who was chaplain of the Saint Donaas church in Brugge and also chancellor of Flanders, appointed as elect bishop by the canons of Kamerijk and by the archbishop of Reims.
All this made that the county of Flanders under Filips van den
Elzas was one of the most powerful states of Western Europe, next to
the Anglo-Angevins empire.
Hope, despair and bitter resignation
Filips' power in Western Europe was considerable and was even made stronger by the marriage between his sister Margareta and the hereditary prince of Henegouwen, the later Boudewijn V, in 1169. On the occasion of his marriage the two counts, Filips and Boudewijn, made an alliance by which they promised to support one another against possible enemies, with the exception of their respective liege lords, the king of France and the bishop of Luik.
But Filips' main problem remained the fact that his marriage was still childless after 17 years (we are in 1173). He did have a natural son, a bastard son, also called Diederik, but he was not eligible for hereditary succession. Filips urgently needed to find a legal male heir from the house van den Elzas in order to save the county for his dynasty. He hoped for a male descendant from his brother Mattheus who was married to the Abbess of Ramsay. But also this hope will vanish into thin air.
The very same year a new war broke out between England and France. Filips chose the side of French king Lodewijk VIl and, together with his brother Mattheus, invaded Normandy and seizes some castles. But it was a bitter and paltry victory because got badly wounded during the siege of Driencourt Mattheus and died a few days later. Filips was very upset and more than ever concerned about the future of his realm. He ceased battle and returned to Flanders.
Mattheus left behind two daughters but no sons, so there was no real prospect for the future from that side. Filips now thought about his brother Peter, the bishop elect of Kamerijk. At the time Peter had not yet been confirmed in his position by the pope, so he could still renounce his ecclesiastical career, which is what he did under pressure of his brother. Shortly after he married the widow of count Guido of Nevers, and was thus enfeoffed with Nevers by Lodewijk VII. The political purpose of this marriage is not clear because Nevers is more than 200 km southeast of Paris and could therefore not signify a strengthening of the hous of van den Elzas.
The marriage itself was a good thing, as it was a new opportunity to get a male successor. But there was no luck this time either as Peter died in 1176 in quite mysterious circumstances, probably poisoned. It was never clear who could have benefitted from his death. In any case, as there only was a daughter born in the marriage and no son, all chances for a male heir for the house van den Elzas seemed lost. There was talk of another brother, a bastard of Diederik, but he was not eligible either.
Filips must have been extremely discouraged and it is probably this discouragement that prompted him to seek his fortune elsewhere. His brother Peter had been his last chance to get a male heir. So now he considered personal glory to be more important than offspring.
He seemed no longer interested in who would get his seigniories. He started dreaming of other horizons and surely thought of his father who had been to Palestine four times. He thought of young king Boudewijn IV, king of Jerusalem, who had been affected by leprosy and would probably not rule much longer. He may have thought of succeeding the leprous king.
He will embark for Palestine around Whitsun 1177, after having his liegemen in Rijsel pay tribute to his sister Margareta and her husband Boudewijn V of Henegouwen to whom the kingdom of Flanders will go to after his death.
And then the third crusade comes into sight.
Bibliography:
1. LE GLAY, Edward. "Histoire de comtes de Flandre", Brussel
1843
2. VAN WERVEKE, H. "Filips van den Elzas", in het Nationaal Biografisch
Woordenboek (4), Brussel 1970.
3. VAN WERVEKE, H. "Een Vlaamse graaf van Europees formaat: Filips van
den Elzas", Unieboek BV, Bussem 1976.