Eremburga of Maine explained

Ermengarde or Erembourg of Maine, also known as Erembourg de la Flèche (died 1126), was the countess of Maine and lady of Château-du-Loir from 1110 to 1126..

Erembourg was the daughter of Elias I, Count of Maine, and Mathilda of Château-du-Loire, daughter of Gervais II, Lord of Château-du-Loir. In 1109 she married the Angevin heir, Fulk V, called "Fulk the Younger". The marriage brought Maine under Angevin control, since she inherited the county from her father the following year and Fulk claimed it jure uxoris.^[1] Their son inherited both Maine and Anjou, uniting the two counties.

She gave birth to:^[2]

• Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (d. 1151), married in 1128 to Empress Matilda of England, daughter of Henry I of England.^[3] Their son became King Henry II of England.
• Elias II, Count of Maine (d. 1151), married Philippa, daughter of Count Rotrou III of Perche.^[4]
• Matilda of Anjou (d. 1154),^[5] married in 1119 to William Adelin, the son and heir to Henry I of England. After his death in the White Ship disaster of 1120 when she was 10 years old, she remained in England. She later became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault in France.^[6]
• Sibylla of Anjou (d. 1165), married in 1121 to William Clito, and then (after an annulment in 1124) to Thierry, Count of Flanders in 1134. She had issue by her second marriage.

She died in 1126, on either 15 January or 12 October. Shortly after her death, Fulk the Younger left his lands to their son Geoffrey. He set out for the Holy Land as a crusader, where he married Melisende, the heir of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and became King of Jerusalem.^[7]

External links

• Eremburge de la Flèche (in French)

Notes and References

1. Book: Hollister, C. Warren . Henry I . 2008 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-14372-0 . 224 . en.
2. LoPrete, Kimberly A. (2007). Adela of Blois: Countess and Lord (c.1067-1137). Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-1-85182-563-9. Chart 1.
3. Book: Chibnall, Marjorie . The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English . 1993 . Wiley . 978-0-631-19028-8 . 51–52 . en.
4. Dutton . Kathryn Ann . Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, 1129-51 . 2011 . PhD . University of Glasgow . en. p. 27.
5. Book: Hanley, Catherine . Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A History of France and England, 1100-1300 . 2022 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-25358-0 . 21 . en.
6. [Orderic Vitalis|Ordericus Vitalis]
7. Book: Murray, Alan V. . The Franks in Outremer: Studies in the Latin Principalities of Palestine and Syria, 1099-1187 . 2023 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-000-94761-8 . en.