Constance (Arles) d'Arles (abt. 986 - 1034)

Born about 0986 in France

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 22 Jul 1034 at about age 48 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France

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Disambiguation: there is a great deal of confusion in public trees about her parentage, caused by the similarity of her parents' names and titles to those of William III Taillefer de Toulouse and his wife Arsinde d'Anjou. Constance's parents were William II Liberator d'Arles, son of Boson, and Adelais d'Anjou, son of Fulk II.

Biography

Constance was the daughter of Guillaume, known as the "libérateur" and Adelais d'Anjou. Her birth year is uncertain but may have been in the second half of the 980s.^[1][2]

Between September 1001 and late August 1003 Constance became the third wife of Robert II of France.^[3] They had least six children:

• Hedwige,^[3] called by the Latin name Advisa in the Henry Project, which regards her parentage as not entirely certain^[1]
• Hugues^[1][3]
• Henri, who became Henry I of France^[1][3]
• Robert^[1][3]
• Eudes^[1][3]
• Adèle^[1][3]

There is no good source for the suggestion that Constance and Robert II were parents of Constance de Dammartin^[3]

In about 1008 Robert II attempted to separate from Constance and take back his second wife Berthe, and visited Rome to try and secure papal agreement.^[3]

In 1022 there was trial for heresy of some clergy, including a former confessor of Constance called Stephen. Robert II asked Constance to stand at the door to help prevent violence from a crowd that had gathered. As Stephen left, with other priests who had been condemned, Constance is said to have struck out his eye with a staff.^[1][4]

In 1027 Constance unsuccessfully tried to persuade her husband to nominate their third son Robert as associate king, rather than their second son Henri, who was in the event chosen.^[3] Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, wrote in a letter that Constance wished him evil because of his support for making Robert associate king^[5] and that this led to him staying away from Henri's coronation.^[1]

In the late 1020s, Robert's surviving sons rebelled against their father, and it is said in some accounts that Constance encouraged them.^[6]

Robert II died in 1031.^[3] His and Constance's son Henri succeeded him, but opposition from Constance forced Henri to go to Normandy, where he gained the support of Duke Robert II of Normandy, who helped him establish himself as king.^[7]

Constance died in late July 1034 at Melun^[1] and was buried beside her husband in the Basilica of St Denis, Paris.^[1][2]

Research Notes

Death Date

Douglas Richardson^[8] and Medlands,^[2] following other sources, have Constance's death date as 25 July 1032. According to a discussion in Constance's entry in the Henry Project, this is a misreading of a statement in the Histories of Robert Glaber, and the true year is 1034, and the date is 22 July, with 25 July being the day she was buried.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11} The Henry Project, entry for Constance d'Arles
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Charles Cawley. Constance d'Arles, entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 7 September 2021)
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} Charles Cawley, "Medieval Lands", entry for Robert de France
4. ↑ Wikipedia: Constance of Arles, citing Penelope Ann Adair, 'Constance of Arles: A study in Duty and Frustration', in Capetian Women, ed. Kathleen Nolan (New York;, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 15
5. ↑ Anselme de Sainte-Marie. Histoire Genéalogique et Chronologique des Rois de France, 1726-1733, Vol. 1, p. 72, Gallica website
6. ↑ Genealogics: entry for Robert II 'le Pieux', King of France 996-1031
7. ↑ Charles Cawley, "Medieval Lands", entry for Henri de France
8. ↑ Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. III, pp. 20-21, FRANCE 2

• The Henry Project, entry for Constance d'Arles
• Frederick Lewis Weis. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, pp. 62 (line 53.21), 105 (line 101.21), 109 (lines 107.20 and 108.21), 125 (line 128.21), 134 (line 141.21) and 135 (line 141A.21)
• Wikipedia: Constance of Arles