Plantagenet Dynasty
PLANTAGENET 1. GEOFFREY PLANTAGENET (nicknamed le Bel), Count of Anjou and Maine, Knt., son and heir of Foulques V le Jeune, Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem, by his 1st wife, Eremburge, Countess of Maine, daughter and heiress of Hélie, Count of Maine, born 24 Nov. 1113. He married at Le Mans, Maine 17 June 1128 MAUD OF ENGLAND, Empress of Almain, sometimes styled “Lady of the English” (rarely “Queen of the English”), widow of Henry V, Emperor of Almain (died 23 May 1125), and daughter and heiress of Henry I, King of England, Duke of Normandy, by his 1st wife, Maud, daughter of Malcolm III (Canmore), King of Scotland. She was born at London 7 Feb. 1102. They had three sons (see below). By an unknown mistress (or mistresses), Geoffrey also had one son, Hamelin [5th Earl of Surrey], and two daughters, Emme and Mary (nun) [Abbess of Shaftesbury]. Maud was declared heir presumptive to her father in 1126. On her father, King Henry I’s death in 1135, she at once entered Normandy to claim her inheritance. The border districts submitted to her, but England chose her cousin, Stephen, for its king, and Normandy soon followed suit. The following year, Geoffrey gave Ambrières, Gorron, and Châtilon-sur-Colmont to Juhel de Mayenne, on condition that he help obtain the inheritance of Geoffrey’s wife, Maud. In 1139 Maud landed in England with 140 knights, where she was besieged at Arundel Castle by King Stephen. In the civil war which ensued, Stephen was captured at Lincoln in Feb. 1141 and imprisoned at Bristol.
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