Sibylla of Anjou

Female Between 1112 and 1116 - 1165  (~ 53 years)


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  • Name Sibylla of Anjou  [1
    Born Between 1112 and 1116  [1, 2
    Gender Female 
    Died 1165  Bethany, Al-Eizariya, Palestine Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Buried Bethlehem, Israel Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Notes 
    • She married, firstly, William III 'Clito', Comte de Flandre, son of Robert III 'Curthose', 8th Duc de Normandie and Sybilla de Conversano, in 1123. She married, secondly, Thierry d'Alsace, Comte de Flandre, son of Thierry II, Comte de Lorraine and Gertrude de Flandre, in 1134. Her marriage to William III 'Clito', Comte de Flandre was annulled in 1124. She was a nun at Abbey of St. Lazarus, Bethlehem, Israel.

      Sibylla of Anjou (c. 1112-1165) was a countess consort of Flanders. She was the daughter of Fulk V of Anjou and Ermengarde of Maine, and wife of William Clito and Thierry, Count of Flanders.

      In 1123 Sibylla married William Clito, son of the Norman Robert Curthose and future Count of Flanders. Sibylla brought the County of Maine to this marriage, which was annulled in 1124 on grounds of consanguinity. The annulment was made by Pope Honorius II upon request from Henry I of England, William's uncle; Fulk opposed it and did not consent until Honorius excommunicated him and placed an interdict over Anjou. Sibylla then accompanied her widower father to the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, where he married Melisende, the heiress of the kingdom, and became king himself in 1131. In 1139 she married Thierry, Count of Flanders, who had arrived on his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

      She returned to Flanders with her new husband, and during his absence on the Second Crusade the pregnant Sibylla acted as regent of the county. Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut took the opportunity to attack Flanders, but Sibylla led a counter-attack and pillaged Hainaut. In response Baldwin ravaged Artois. The archbishop of Reims intervened and a truce was signed, but Thierry took vengeance on Baldwin when he returned in 1149.

      In 1157 she travelled with Thierry on his third pilgrimage, but after arriving in Jerusalem she separated from her husband and refused to return home with him. She became a nun at the Convent of Sts. Mary and Martha in Bethany, where her step-aunt, Ioveta of Bethany, was abbess. Ioveta and Sibylla supported Queen Melisende and held some influence over the church, and supported the election of Amalric of Nesle as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem over a number of other candidates. Sibylla died in Bethany in 1165.

      Descendants

      Sibylla had six children with Thierry:

      Philip, Count of Flanders
      Matthew, Count of Boulogne, married Marie of Boulogne
      Margaret, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, married Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
      Gertrude, married Humbert III, Count of Savoy
      Matilda
      Peter
    Person ID I2139  Bosdet Genealogy
    Last Modified 16 May 2013 

    Father Fulk, V Count of Anjou,   b. Abt 1092, Angers, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 13 Nov 1144, Acre, Israel Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 52 years) 
    Relationship Natural 
    Mother Ermengarde, Countess of Maine,   d. Abt 1126 
    Relationship Natural 
    Married 1109  [2, 3
    Family ID F12  Group Sheet

    Family Thierry, Count of Flanders,   b. 1099,   d. 17 Jan 1167/68  (Age 69 years) 
    Children 
     1. Margaret, I Countess of Flanders,   d. 15 Nov 1194
     2. Matthew, Count of Boulogne,   b. Abt 1137,   d. 1173  (Age ~ 36 years)
    Family ID F2084  Group Sheet

  • Sources 
    1. [S174] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylla_of_Anjou.

    2. [S180] Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy, Alison Weir, (Name: The Bodley Head; Location: London, U.K.; Date: 1999;).

    3. [S174] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermengarde_of_Maine.