Judith of Flanders

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Judith of Flanders (c. 843 – 870 or later) was a Carolingian princess who became Queen of Wessex by two successive marriages and later Countess of Flanders. Judith was the eldest child of the Carolingian emperor Charles the Bald and his first wife, Ermentrude of Orléans. In 856, she married Æthelwulf, King of Wessex. After her husband's death in 858, Judith married his son and successor, Æthelbald. King Ætheldbald died in 860. Both of Judith's first two marriages were childless. Her third marriage was to Baldwin I, Margrave of Flanders, with whom she had several children.

Ancestry and early lifeEdit

Judith was born around 843 or in early 844 as the eldest child of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, and his first wife Ermentrude of Orléans (823–869) and was named after her paternal grandmother, Judith of Bavaria.Template:Sfn She was a great-granddaughter of Charlemagne.

Queen of WessexEdit

First marriage and coronationEdit

In 855, the widower Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (died 858) made a pilgrimage to Rome with his youngest son Alfred (848/849–899). On the way there, he visited the court of Charles the Bald and negotiated for a marriage with 12-year-old Judith, despite probably being in his mid-fifties and having six children, three or five of them older than Judith. He may have been looking for an ally against the Vikings, as both he and Charles had suffered from their attacks, though it has also been suggested he was seeking a strategic coalition against his own sons.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Marrying into the prestigious Carolingian dynasty was an additional advantage for Æthelwulf.Template:Sfn

File:Æthelwulf - MS Royal 14 B VI.jpg

A depiction of King Æthelwulf from the 14th century

On the way back, in 856, he stayed at Charles' court again, and married Judith on 1 October 856 at the royal palace of Verberie-sur-Oise. This was an extraordinary event as Carolingian princesses rarely married and were usually sent to convents. It was practically unprecedented for them to marry foreigners.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn During the ceremony, which was celebrated by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, the bride put on a wedding ring and was presented with magnificent gifts. As a part of the ritual, Judith was crowned and anointed with myrrh. Æthelwulf honoured his bride by calling her queen after the ceremony.<ref name="AB">Annales Bertiniani</ref>Template:Sfn According to the customs of Wessex, the wife of a king could not be called queen or sit on the throne with her husband.Template:Sfnm However, all chroniclers pay attention to the fact that Charles the Bald insisted on the coronation of his daughter,<ref name="DNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>Template:Sfnm probably wishing to secure her position in her new home:Template:Sfn

When the Bishop of Rheims, Hincmar, blessed the marriage and placed the crown on her head, he declared her queen, which neither he nor his people had in the past in the custom.{{#if:Annales Bertiniani|{{#if:|}}
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Judith, daughter of King Charles, was recently married to Æthelwulf, King of England, accepting the title of queen and royal consecration.{{#if:FlodoardAnnals|{{#if:|}}
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After the celebrations, Æthelwulf, his new wife and his son returned to Wessex. Judith, a well-educated lady like most Frankish princesses of the time, probably brought the "aura of the Carolingian monarchy" to the court of Wessex.Template:Sfn Back in his kingdom, Æthelwulf faced difficulties: his eldest surviving son, Æthelbald, supported by Eahlstan, Bishop of Sherborne and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, were conspiring to dethrone him.Template:Sfn The marriage with Judith may have played a role in this as Æthelbald probably feared that his father's young wife, the great-granddaughter of Charlemagne, would give birth to a higher-born heir than himself.Template:Sfn In addition, some of the nobles were outraged that Judith was crowned and called queen, contrary to local custom.

According to other explanations, Æthelbald had already been rebelling before his father's new marriage, and this was why Æthelwulf stayed at the court of Charles the Bald and married his daughter, demonstrating to his subjects that he had strong supporters abroad.Template:Sfn In the end, father and son negotiated a compromise under which Æthelwulf kept the eastern districts of the kingdom and Æthelbald received the western. It is not known whether this meant that Æthelwulf took Kent and Æthelbald Wessex, or Wessex itself was divided.<ref name="DNB" />

Judith had no children from Æthelwulf, who died on 13 January 858.<ref name=DNB/>

Controversial second marriageEdit

Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, has passed away. His widow, Queen Judith, was married by his son Æthelbald.{{#if:Annales Bertiniani|{{#if:|}}
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File:Æthelbald - MS Royal 14 B VI.jpg

A depiction of King Æthelbald from the 14th century

Upon the death of Æthelwulf, Æthelbald succeeded him on the throne of Wessex and married his stepmother. By agreeing to this marriage, Judith may have tried to avoid the usual fate of widows, being sent to a convent.Template:Sfn To Æthelbald, this marriage was advantageous both because Judith belonged to the Carolingian dynasty and because she had already been consecrated as a queen, the marriage thus enhancing his status and placing him above his brothers.Template:Sfn Judith's name appears in several charters during the reign of Æthelbald, including in S1274 as regina, which confirms her continued exceptional status.Template:Sfn Asser, Bishop of Sherborne condemned the marriage in his Life of Alfred the Great:

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Asser's additional comment on the "great disgrace" was not reflected in contemporary Frankish records. His assertion that marriage is contrary to even pagan practice is refuted by the marriage of Eadbald, King of Kent (died 640) to his father's widow Emma of Austrasia in 616.<ref name="DNB" /> Judith was still childless when Æthelbald died on 20 December 860, after a reign and marriage of two and a half years.<ref name="Asser" />

Third marriageEdit

Kidnapping or elopementEdit

File:Balduin and Judith.png

An 1849 depiction of the elopement of Baldwin and Judith by Félix de Vigne

Æthelbald's death left Judith with no future in Wessex. She was still no more than seventeen years old and childless. According to the Annales Bertiniani and Flodoard, she

File:Baldwin I of Flanders and Judith of France.jpg

Baldwin I of Flanders and his wife Judith of France, by Jan van der Asselt, ca. 1372/73. Currently displayed at the Gravenkapel, Kortrijk, Belgium.

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According to the most likely account, a certain Baldwin (born probably in the 830s – 879), traditionally regarded as the son of a forester called Odoacre<ref>Jacques Paul Migne, Nouvelle encyclopédie théologique, 1854, p. 919.</ref> visited the monastery in 861, and according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he fell in love with Judith.<ref>Baldwin I, Count of Flanders: Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref> There are claims that he had already been interested in her before her first marriage.Template:Sfn Around the Christmas of 861,Template:Sfn or in early 862,<ref name="DNB" /> Judith either fled with Baldwin or was kidnapped by him. According to one contemporary source, Judith was not abducted but eloped with the consent of her brother Louis:Template:Sfn

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Flodoard's description is similar:

Judith followed Count Baldwin with the assistance and consent of her brother Louis.{{#if:FlodoardAnnals|{{#if:|}}
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The couple probably married in the monastery of Senlis before eloping.<ref name="DNB" />

ExcommunicationEdit

Judith's father was furious because of the kidnapping/elopement.<ref name=DNB/> He immediately organised search parties to bring her home and capture Baldwin. Flodoard mentioned a letter from Archbishop Hincmar of Reims to Bishop Hunger of Utrecht in which he informed Hunger of Baldwin's excommunication for kidnapping Judith and marrying her without royal consent.Template:Sfn Contemporary chronicles state that in 862 Charles the Bald held a council with the bishops and nobles of his kingdom. According to Hincmar, the king ordered (or, by Flodoard's account, asked) the bishops to pass a canonical verdict on Baldwin and Judith, as commanded by the decrees of Pope Gregory II: “if anyone marries, having kidnapped a widow, let him be anathematized himself, as well as those who contributed to this”.<ref name="AB" /> Judith's brother Louis was also punished by imprisonment in the Abbey of Saint Martin.<ref name="AB" />

Meanwhile, Judith and Baldwin sought refuge with the Viking Rorik of Dorestad, King of Friesland (circa 810 – circa 880)<ref name="DNB" /> and later fled to the court of Judith's paternal cousin Lothair II, King of Lotharingia. Eventually, they travelled to Rome in order to plead their case to Pope Nicholas I.<ref name="DNB" />

Reconciliation with her fatherEdit

In Rome, Judith and Baldwin negotiated with the pope. He listened to their arguments and sent his legates Radoald, Bishop of Porto and John, Bishop of Cervia to her father.<ref name=AB/> They asked Charles to recognize the marriage as legally binding and welcome the young couple, but Charles and Archbishop Hincmar were not easy to convince. In a letter dated to 23 November 862, the Pope expressed his fear that Baldwin might have already joined forces with the "Jute prince Rorik". Rorik had already fought against King Charles on the side of his brother Lothair I, then-Emperor of the Romans (795–855). According to Flodoard, in 863

Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, reminded Hunger [Bishop of Utrecht] that the Norman Rorik could help Baldwin, who had kidnapped the beautiful Judith.{{#if:FlodoardAnnals|{{#if:|}}
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According to the later chronicler Albert of Stade, Bishop Hunger turned to Rorik urging him not to provide any support to Baldwin.Template:Sfn

File:Institution of Baldwin I Bras de Fer, the first count of Flanders by Charles the Bald.jpg

A depiction of the institution of Baldwin as Margrave of Flanders from circa 1450-1460 by Ægidius of Roya

Eventually, King Charles the Bald reluctantly forgave the couple and allowed them to marry.<ref name="DNB" /> They returned to West Francia and were officially married at Auxerre on 13 December 862 or in 863.<ref name="AB" /> The king was not present, but gave Baldwin the March of Flanders, making him a peer of the kingdom. Not much later, he also gave him Ternois, Waas and the lay abbacy of Saint Peter in Ghent.

Margravine of FlandersEdit

Some scholars have suggested that the king hoped for Baldwin's early death by giving him land just south of the Scheldt river, a region frequently attacked by the Vikings. Baldwin, however, managed the situation well, successfully quelling the Viking threat, earning the nickname of "Iron" from his contemporaries, which later generations replaced with the nickname "Iron Hand". He expanded both his army and his territory quickly and became a faithful supporter of his father-in-law. His possessions would become known as the County of Flanders, one of the most powerful domains in France.Template:Sfn

Baldwin chose a small island in Flanders as his residence, formed at the confluence of the Boterbeke and Roya rivers. There stood a fortress, possibly built by Vikings, surrounded by a small number of huts, named Bruggia. As it was in ruins, Baldwin built a new fortress with a personal residence, a chapel, houses for the servants and a cathedral where the relics of Saint Donatian of Reims were placed. The home of Judith and Baldwin stood where now the Palace of Justice and the Town Hall are, and the cathedral was located on the north side of the current Palace of Justice. It included a mint Template:Sfn and was surrounded by a high wall with four gates, fortified with rising lattices and drawbridges. Ruins of buildings still remain, including what probably used to be the baptismal chapel behind the crypt of Saint Basil. Judith had children from her third marriage, at least three sons and maybe two daughters. The exact date of her death is unknown, but it is believed to have happened no earlier than 870.<ref name="DNB" /> Between 893 and 899, her eldest surviving son Baldwin II married Ælfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons (previously King of Wessex), son of Judith's first husband and brother of the second.<ref name="DNB" /> If Judith was alive at this time, she probably played an instrumental role in the marriage negotiations due to her knowledge of the Wessex court.<ref name="DNB" /> Judith's husband Baldwin died in 879 in Arras and was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Bertin near Saint-Omer.

LegacyEdit

In the middle of the 10th century, Judith was described by the compilers of the genealogy of the counts of Flanders as "the wisest and most beautiful", the woman who brought Carolingian blood to the comital dynasty.<ref name=DNB/> The anointing and coronation of Judith as Queen of Wessex allowed the restoration of the status of wives of kings and improved their position.Template:Sfn

IssueEdit

From her marriage with Baldwin I of Flanders, Judith had at least three sons:Template:Sfnm

Charles (c. 864/865 – died young), named after his maternal grandfather. He was recorded as "Karolus brevis vite" in the list of counts of Flanders in the Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin.<ref name=Saint-Bertin>Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin, p. 11</ref> It is usually assumed that Charles died young, as no other reference to him has been found.
Baldwin (c. 865/867 – c. 10 September 918), named after his father and succeeded him in 879 as Baldwin II, Margrave of Flanders. He married Ælfthryth of Wessex between 893 and 899.<ref name="Saint-Bertin" />
Ralph (c. 867/870 – murdered 17 June 896), recorded as "Rodolphus Cameracensis comes" in the Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin.<ref name=Saint-Bertin/> He was installed as Count of Cambrai around 888 and killed by Herbert I of Vermandois.

In addition, two daughters are sometimes attributed to Judith and Baldwin, although both of these accounts should be treated with caution as they are based on unreliable sources:

The mother of Walter. The History of Waulsort Monastery speaks of a "Walterus...Rodulfi sororis filius" (Walter, son of Ralph's sister), recording that he attempted to avenge the death of his maternal uncle, Ralph of Cambrai. No other reference to this person has been found.<ref>Historia Walciodorensis Monasterii 8, Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS XIV, p. 509.</ref>
Guinidilde or Gunhild (died before 19 February 904), who married Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona before 27 June 875. According to Allison Weir, this parentage is confirmed in the Gestis Comitum Barcinonensium, which records that Charles the Bald gave an unnamed daughter of the count of Flanders in marriage to a certain Pilosi at the same time as granting him the County of Barcelona.Template:Sfn