Judith Of Flanders, Countess Of Northumbria
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Judith of Flanders (1030-1035 to 5 March 1095) was, by her successive marriages to Tostig Godwinson and
Welf I Welf I or Welfo (died before 876) was a Swabian nobleman. He was a member of the Elder House of Welf. Welf was probably a son of Conrad I of Auxerre, and seems to have taken over his father's offices in Swabia, namely: count of Alpgau, count ...
, Countess of Northumbria and Duchess of Bavaria. She was the owner of many books and
illuminated manuscripts An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
, which she bequeathed to Weingarten Abbey (two of which are now held at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York).


Family

Judith was born between 1030 and 1035 in
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
, the only child of
Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders Baldwin IV (980 – 30 May 1035), called the Bearded, was the count of Flanders from 987 until his death. Baldwin IV was the son of Count Arnulf II of Flanders (c. 961 — 987) and Rozala of Italy (950/60 – 1003), of the House of Ivrea.Detlev ...
by his second wife, Eleanor of Normandy, who was herself, the daughter of Richard II of Normandy and Judith of Brittany. Judith had an older half-brother,
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders Baldwin V ( 1012 – 1 September 1067) was Count of Flanders from 1035 until his death. He secured the personal union between the counties of Flanders and Hainaut and maintained close links to the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, which was overthrown by ...
, who succeeded their father upon his death which had occurred when Judith was about two years old. (Some scholars argue that Judith's father was Baldwin V, not Baldwin IV.) Judith's niece was Matilda of Flanders who married
William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
, the first Norman king of England, known to history as "William the Conqueror". King William was Judith's first cousin, being the son of her maternal uncle, Robert of Normandy.


First marriage

On an unknown date before September 1051, she married her first husband, Tostig Godwinson, brother of King
Harold II of England Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...
. In September 1051, Judith was forced to flee England for
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
, along with her husband and in-laws, after Tostig's father
Godwin, Earl of Wessex Godwin of Wessex (; died 15 April 1053) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great (King of England from 1016 to 1035) and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the first ...
was exiled by King
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
; however, they returned home the following year. He was created Earl of Northumbria in 1055, making Judith the Countess of Northumbria, from that date. His distinguished marriage to Judith had helped Tostig secure the earldom. Together they had children whose names and numbers are not recorded. They were described in the '' Vita Ædwardi Regis'' as "unweaned" at the time of their father's death. Tostig had at least three illegitimate sons by unknown mistresses. Judith was described as having been a "pious and inquisitive woman"; her piety was expressed in the many gifts and donations she made to the Church of St Cuthbert in Durham, which included landed estates and an ornate crucifix. The latter allegedly was a present to appease the saint after she challenged
St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...
's ruling that forbade women to enter the cathedral which housed his relics. Judith, angered that women were not permitted to set foot inside the church and wishing to worship at his tomb, had decided to put Cuthbert's prohibition to the test by ordering her serving woman to go inside to see what repercussions would follow for breaking the holy decree (Judith had planned to go herself upon the latter's safe return); when the woman was about to enter the churchyard, she was stricken by a sudden, violent force of wind that left her infirm and eventually killed her. Judith, as a result of superstitious fear, had the crucifix especially made for St Cuthbert's shrine. Throughout her life, she collected and commissioned many books and illuminated manuscripts, some of which are extant, including the ''Gospels of Countess Judith'', which are currently housed in Morgan Library & Museum in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. These were written and illuminated by English scribes and artists to record for posterity, Judith's generosity to the Church. In October 1065, Northumbria rose in rebellion against the rule of Tostig. After his brother Harold persuaded King Edward to accept the demands made by the rebels, there was an acrimonious confrontation between the two brothers, with Tostig accusing Harold of fomenting the rebellion. In November, Tostig was outlawed by King Edward, and Judith, along with Tostig and her children, was compelled to seek refuge with her half-brother in Flanders the following month. Count Baldwin appointed Tostig as
castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...
of Saint-Omer. In May 1066 following the succession of Harold to the English throne in January, he returned to England with a fleet provided by Baldwin to seek revenge on his brother. He formed an alliance with King Harold III of Norway, but they were both killed on 25 September 1066 at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge The Battle of Stamford Bridge () took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England, on 25 September 1066, between an English army under Harold Godwinson, King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force l ...
by the forces of King Harold. After her husband's death at Stamford Bridge, Judith moved to
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
. It is presumed that she brought her "unweaned" children with her to Denmark; however, nothing certain is known of their subsequent fates. A pair of Norwegian king-sagas, ''
Fagrskinna ''Fagrskinna'' ( ; ; trans. "Fair Leather" from the type of parchment) is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It is assumed to be a source for what is known as the '' Heimskringla'', containing histories of Norwegian kings from the 9th ...
'' and ''
Morkinskinna ''Morkinskinna'' is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275. The name ''Morkinskinn ...
'', identify Skuli Konungsfóstri, male-line ancestor of King
Inge II of Norway Inge is a given name in various Germanic language-speaking cultures. In Swedish and Norwegian, it is mostly used as a masculine, but less often also as a feminine name, sometimes as a short form of Ingeborg, while in Danish, Estonian, Frisian, G ...
, as son of Tostig, but ''
Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...
'' gives him different parentage. Neither names Judith as his mother. Less than a month after Tostig's death, Judith's brother-in-law was killed at the
Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place appr ...
by the Norman army led by her cousin, Duke William, who then became king of England.


Second marriage

In 1071, when she was 38 years of age, she married her second husband,
Welf I, Duke of Bavaria Welf I ( 1035/10406 November 1101) was Duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the genealogy of the Elder House of Welf, he is counted as Welf IV. Bio ...
, who had divorced his first wife, Ethelinde of Northeim in 1070. Upon her marriage, she became Duchess of Bavaria; however in 1077, her husband was deprived of his title, and did not regain it until 1096, a year after her death. They made their principal home at the castle of
Ravensburg Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...
and together they had: *
Welf II, Duke of Bavaria Welf II (1072 – 24 September 1120, Kaufering), or Welfhard, called Welf the Fat (''pinguis''), was Duke of Bavaria from 1101 until his death. In the Welf genealogy, he is counted as Welf V. Life Welf was the oldest son of Welf I, Duke o ...
(1072 – 24 September 1120), married Matilda of Tuscany, but the marriage did not produce issue. * Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria (1074 – 13 December 1126), married Wulfhild of Saxony, by whom he had seven children. * Kunizza of Bavaria (died 6 March 1120), married Frederich Rocho, Count of Diesen


Death

On 12 March 1094 Judith and her husband listed donations to the family monastery at Weingarten Abbey, where she was buried after her death on 5 March 1095, and where she was (wrongly) remembered as a widowed queen of England. The abbey which had been built by Duke Welf on the Martinsberg in Weingarten, and had received Judith's patronage. She also had bequeathed her magnificent library and a
relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
of Christ's Blood to the abbey.Michael Heinlen, ''An Early Image of a Mass of St Gregory and Devotion to the Holy Blood at Weingarten Abbey'', University of North Texas, retrieved 5 March 2010 Her husband Duke Welf died in 1101 in
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
while returning home from the
First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...
.


References


Sources

* *B. Schneidmüller: ''Die Welfen. Herrschaft und Erinnerung (819–1252).'' (Stuttgart, 2000), pp. 119–123 *I.S. Robinson, ''Henry IV of Germany, 1056-1106'' (Cambridge, 2003). *M. Dockray-Miller, ''The Books and the Life of Judith of Flanders'' (Farnham, 2015).


External links


Judith von Flandern, Herzogin von Bayern
(in German)
Gospels of Judith of Flanders, MS. M. 709, Morgan Library & MuseumGospels of Judith of Flanders, MS. M. 708, Morgan Library & Museum
{{Authority control 1030s births 1095 deaths House of Flanders House of Godwin House of Welf Duchesses of Bavaria Burials at Weingarten Abbey 11th-century English women 11th-century German women 11th-century English nobility 11th-century German nobility Daughters of counts Mothers of Bavarian monarchs