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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_ArlesConstance of Arles was the third wife and queen of King
Robert II of France. She was the daughter of
William I,
count of Provence and
Adelais of Anjou, daughter of
Fulk II of Anjou. She was the sister of Count
William II of Provence.
In 1003, she was married to King Robert, after his
divorce from his second wife,
Bertha of Burgundy. The marriage was stormy; Bertha's family opposed her, and Constance was despised for importing her
Provençal kinfolk. Robert's friend, Hugh of Beauvais, tried to convince the king to repudiate her in 1007. Constance's response was to have Beauvais murdered by the knights of her kinsman,
Fulk Nerra. In 1010 Robert even went to Rome, accompanied by his former wife Bertha, to seek permission to divorce Constance and remarry Bertha. Constance encouraged her sons to revolt against their father, and then favored her younger son, Robert, over her elder son, Henri.
During the famous trial of
Herefast de Crepon , the crowd outside the church in Orleans became so unruly that, according to Moore:
At the king's command, Queen Constance stood before the doors of the Church, to prevent the common people from killing them inside the Church, and they were expelled from the bosom of the Church. As they were being driven out, the queen struck out the eye of Stephen, who had once been her confessor, with the
staff which she carried in her hand.
The symbolism, or reality, of putting an eye out is used often in medieval accounts to show the ultimate sin of breaking of one's oath, whether it be heresy, or treason to ones lordship, or in this case both. Stephen's eye was put out by the hand of a Queen wielding a staff thus symbolically providing justice for the treasoned lord on earth and in heaven.
Constance and Robert had seven children:
1. Advisa, Countess of Auxerre, , married Count
Renaud I of Nevers 2. Hugh Magnus, co-king
3. Henri 4. Adela, Countess of Contenance , married Duke
Richard III of Normandy Count
Baldwin V of Flanders 5. Robert I, Duke of Burgundy 6. Eudes
7. Constance , married
Manasses de DammartinAt Constance's urging, her eldest son Hugh Magnus was crowned co-king alongside his father in 1017. Hugh Magnus demanded his parents share power with him, and rebelled against his father in 1025. He died suddenly later that year, an exile and a fugitive. Robert and Constance quarrelled over which of their surviving sons should inherit the throne; Robert favored their second son
Henri, while Constance favored their third son,
Robert. Despite his mother's protests, Henry was crowned in 1027.
Fulbert, bishop of Chartres wrote a letter claiming that he was "frightened away" from the consecration of Henry "by the savagery of his mother, who is quite trustworthy when she promises evil."
Constance encouraged her sons to rebel, and
Henri and
Robert began attacking and pillaging the towns and castles belonging to their father.
Robert attacked
Burgundy, the duchy he had been promised but had never received, and
Henry seized
Dreux. At last King Robert agreed to their demands and peace was made which lasted until the king's death.
King Robert died in 1031, and soon Constance was at odds with both her elder son
Henri and her younger son
Robert. Constance seized her
dower lands and refused to surrender them. Henri fled to Normandy, where he received aid, weapons and soldiers from his brother Robert. He returned to besiege his mother at
Poissy but Constance escaped to
Pontoise. She only surrendered when Henri began the siege of
Le Puiset and swore to slaughter all the inhabitants.
Constance died in 1034, and was buried beside her husband Robert at
Saint-Denis Basilica.