Judith
of Flanders,
Countess of Northumberland
By Sharon
Bennett Connolly
Judith of Flanders was born sometime in
the early 1030s. Her father was Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders; he died in 1035,
when Judith was, at most, five years old and possibly still only a baby.
 |
| Judith of Flanders |
Baldwin had been count since the age of
seven, from 987, his first wife was Orgive of Luxembourg, the mother of
Baldwin’s son and heir, Baldwin V, who was born in 1012. She died in 1030; her
son, Baldwin V, married Adele of France, the second daughter of Robert II (the
Pious), King of France, and they had at least three children together,
including Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders, and Matilda of Flanders, Duchess of
Normandy and Queen of England as the wife of William the Conqueror. After
Orgive’s death, Baldwin IV married again. In about 1031 he wed Eleanor of
Normandy, the daughter of Baldwin’s neighbour, Richard II, Duke of Normandy,
and his wife, Judith of Brittany. Eleanor’s brother was Robert I, Duke of
Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror, who became Duke of Normandy and
King of England. Eleanor’s daughter and only child Judith, therefore, was a
first cousin of the future King of England.
When her father died in 1035, Judith’s
older brother, who was about twenty years her senior, succeeded as Count
Baldwin V; it would be he who decided on Judith’s future when the time came for
her to marry. We know nothing of Judith’s childhood or level of education. As
the daughter of a count, expected to make a good marriage into another ruling
or noble family, she would have been taught how to run a large household, dancing,
embroidery and possibly some languages, such as Latin. It is unlikely, however,
that she was taught to read and write, skills usually reserved for members of
the Church. It is possible she was raised alongside her niece, Matilda, who was
of a similar age to Judith and would later marry William of Normandy.
In the late summer or autumn of 1051,
Judith was married to Tostig, a son of the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex and
his wife, Gytha. And when the family fell foul of King Edward the Confessor,
Judith accompanied them into exile; back to her homeland of Flanders. Tostig
was probably the third eldest son of Godwin and Gytha of Wessex, one of his
older brothers being the future King Harold II of England. He would have been
in his early twenties at the time of his marriage and the family’s subsequent
exile; Judith was no more than six years younger than him, which would suggest
she was at least fifteen years old at the time of her marriage.
Judith would have returned to her new
homeland of England when Tostig and his family forced their return from exile
in 1052. After some vigorous negotiations in London, an uneasy peace was
restored between Earl Godwin and the king. Judith and Tostig would have finally
been able to settle down to married life, following months of uncertainty and
upheaval. Although it is impossible to say for certain, they were probably
given one of Godwin’s many comital estates, somewhere in Wessex, in which to
set up their household. Their marriage appears to have been a successful one,
with no rumours of infidelity recorded by the various chroniclers of the time.
They are thought to have had two sons together, Skuli Tostisson Kongsfostre and
Ketil Tostisson, born in 1052 and 1054, respectively.
Tostig was created earl of Northumbria in 1055
and spent the next few years sparring with sparring with Malcolm III, King of
Scots. However, with peace restored Tostig left on pilgrimage to Rome in 1061,
taking Judith with him. They were accompanied by several English bishops,
including several English bishops Ealdred, bishop of Worcester, who had just
then been made archbishop of York by King Edward, and was travelling to Rome to
receive his pallium.
Their party reached Rome in the spring of
1061, where they were received honourably by Pope Nicholas; Tostig given the
honour of attending a synod, possibly that held on 15 April at Easter
1061, at which Tostig is said to have sat next to the pope. Shortly after
departing Rome for their homeward journey, Tostig’s party were caught up in a
local dispute between the papacy and the Tuscan nobility; they were ambushed
while travelling along the Via Cassia, by the Count of Galeria. Tostig was able
to escape by the ruse of one of his own thegns pretended to be the earl. Judith
and a large portion of the party had gone on ahead and were unaware for some
time of what had befallen Tostig. She must have been relieved to hear of the
failure of the attack when Tostig eventually caught up with her.
Judith appears to have been a very pious
individual, although some stories have come down to us of disagreements between
the Earl and his countess, and the Church. One story from Symeon of Durham tells
of Judith’s attempts to circumvent the rules of the community of
St Cuthbert. Despite there being a specific injunction forbidding women to
enter the precincts of the church in which lay the shrine of St Cuthbert,
Judith was determined to get around this. She sent one of her own maidservants
to attempt entry, but the poor girl fell ill as soon as she crossed the
boundary and died shortly afterwards, clearly demonstrating the power of
St Cuthbert’s will. We can assume that Judith gave up trying to enter the
shrine after that! Judith sent gifts to the cathedral - including a crucifix,
church ornaments and images of the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist,
decorated in gold and silver – to make amends for her disastrous attempt to
break the rules.
Despite this, the relationship between
them and the Church at Durham was generally cordial and mutually appreciated.
The earl and countess were notable for almsgiving in Northumbria, and for
having close links to the community of St Cuthbert in Durham, to which
they gave several relics. And Æthelwine,
Bishop of Durham, was generous enough to give Judith a relic containing some of
St Oswine’s hair. Tostig and Judith are both commemorated in the Durham
Liber Vitae.
In 1065, rebellion in Northumbria saw Tostig
and his family banished from England; he and Judith, their children and their
entire household, crossed the English Channel on 1 November 1065. They
made their way to Flanders, to seek refuge with Judith’s brother, Count Baldwin,
where they were warmly welcomed just a few days before Christmas. However,
everything changed in January 1066, with the death of Edward the Confessor and
the accession of Tostig’s brother, Harold, to the English throne. Not one to miss
an opportunity, Tostig started raiding English shores, before invading from
Scotland with his ally Harald Hardrada, King of Norway. They defeated the
Northumbrians at the Battle of Fulford, near York, before facing Tostig’s
brother, Harold II, across the battlefield of Stamford Bridge a few days later.
King Harold proved victorious and Tostig and his ally, Harald Hardrada, were
both killed in the fighting.
Judith’s whereabouts during Tostig’s
invasion are not mentioned. It is possible that she stayed safe in Flanders
with her family and two young sons, the oldest of whom was about fourteen by
1066, but she may have travelled with her husband; there is a suggestion that
at least one of her sons fought at Stamford Bridge and travelled to Norway with
the survivors. Following Tostig’s defeat at Stamford Bridge, and Harold’s
subsequent death at the Battle of Hastings, Judith’s two sons by Tostig
eventually sought refuge with King Olaf ‘the Peaceable’ of Norway, Harald
Hardrada’s son who had been allowed to return home following his father’s
defeat and death at Stamford Bridge. Little is known of their movements after
that, other than that the oldest, Skuli Tostisson Kongsfostre, must have
married and had children as he was the ancestor of King Inge II of Norway.
For a time, Judith remained in Flanders
from where her older, half-brother, Count Baldwin V, arranged a second marriage
for her in about 1070, to Welf IV, the newly created Duke of Bavaria. The
couple were to have two sons and a daughter; Welf, who succeeded his father as
Duke of Bavaria and died in 1119, Henry and Kunizza, who married Count
Frederick of Diessen and died in 1120. Henry succeeded his brother as Duke of
Bavaria and died in 1126; he had at least seven children by his wife, Wulfhilde
of Saxony.
 |
| Judith marrying Welf of Bavaria. |
A patron of the arts, Judith is
renowned for the commissioning of four gospel books, luxurious creations
produced in England, probably at Winchester. When Judith left England, she took
these gospels, with other manuscripts and relics in her private collection,
with her to Flanders. After she remarried, they accompanied her to southern
Germany. On 12 March 1094, with the approval of her husband and sons,
Judith drew up a list of bequests. She bequeathed the four gospels and other
treasures, to the monastery at Weingarten, a foundation of her husband’s
family, thus helping to disseminate Anglo-Saxon art throughout southern Europe.
Among the bequests was also a relic of Christ’s blood, given to her by her
father. She died a year later, on 5 March 1095, and was buried at the
Abbey of Weingarten. Judith is remembered at Weingarten as a widowed queen of
England, perhaps a testimony to how close her first husband got to the English
throne.
 |
| One of the 4 gospel books of Judith of Flanders (courtesy British Library). |
Silk
and the Sword:
The
Women of the Norman Conquest
By Sharon
Bennett Connolly
Everyone knows about the events of 1066; the story of
invasion and conquest. But what of the women? Harold II of England had been
with Edith Swan-neck for twenty years but in 1066, in order to strengthen his
hold on the throne, he married Ealdgyth, sister of two earls. William of
Normandy's duchess, Matilda of Flanders had, supposedly, only agreed to marry
the Duke after he'd pulled her pigtails and thrown her in the mud. Harald
Hardrada had two wives - apparently at the same time. So, who were these women?
What was their real story? And what happened to them after 1066? From Emma of
Normandy, wife of both King Cnut and Aethelred II to Saint Margaret, a
descendant of Alfred the Great himself, 'Silk and the Sword' traces the
fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous
events of 1066.
Pick up
your copy of
Silk and
the Sword:
The Women
of the Norman Conquest
Heroines
of the Medieval World
By Sharon
Bennett Connolly
These are the stories of
women, famous, infamous and unknown, who shaped the course of medieval history.
The lives and actions of medieval women were restricted by the men who ruled
the homes, countries and world they lived in. It was men who fought wars, made
laws and dictated religious doctrine. It was men who were taught to read,
trained to rule and expected to fight. Today, it is easy to think that all
women from this era were downtrodden, retiring and obedient housewives, whose
sole purpose was to give birth to children (preferably boys) and serve their
husbands. Heroines of the Medieval World looks at the lives of the women who
broke the mould: those who defied social norms and made their own future,
consequently changing lives, society and even the course of history.
Some of the women are famous, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not only a duchess in her own right but also Queen Consort of France through her first marriage and Queen Consort of England through her second, in addition to being a crusader and a rebel. Then there are the more obscure but no less remarkable figures such as Nicholaa de la Haye, who defended Lincoln Castle in the name of King John, and Maud de Braose, who spoke out against the same king’s excesses and whose death (or murder) was the inspiration for a clause in Magna Carta.
Women had to walk a fine line in the Middle Ages, but many learned to survive – even flourish – in this male-dominated world. Some led armies, while others made their influence felt in more subtle ways, but all made a contribution to their era and should be remembered for daring to defy and lead in a world that demanded they obey and follow.
Some of the women are famous, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was not only a duchess in her own right but also Queen Consort of France through her first marriage and Queen Consort of England through her second, in addition to being a crusader and a rebel. Then there are the more obscure but no less remarkable figures such as Nicholaa de la Haye, who defended Lincoln Castle in the name of King John, and Maud de Braose, who spoke out against the same king’s excesses and whose death (or murder) was the inspiration for a clause in Magna Carta.
Women had to walk a fine line in the Middle Ages, but many learned to survive – even flourish – in this male-dominated world. Some led armies, while others made their influence felt in more subtle ways, but all made a contribution to their era and should be remembered for daring to defy and lead in a world that demanded they obey and follow.
Pick up your copy of
Heroines of the Medieval
World
Sharon Bennett Connolly
Sharon Bennett Connolly has been
fascinated by history for over 30 years now. She has studied history
academically and just for fun – and even worked as a tour guide at historical
sites, including Conisbrough Castle. Born in Yorkshire, she studied at
University in Northampton before working in Customer Service roles at
Disneyland in Paris and Eurostar in London. For Christmas 2014, her husband
gave her a blog as a gift – History ... the Interesting Bits (www.historytheinterestingbits.com),
allowing her to indulge in that love of history. In 2016 she was given the
opportunity to write her first non-fiction book, Heroines of the Medieval
World, which will be published by Amberley in September 2017. She has just
published her second non-fiction book, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the
Norman Conquest, and is now working on Ladies of Magna Carta, which will be
published by Pen & Sword in May 2020.
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx