Bertrade de Montfort

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Bertrade de Montfort (c. 1070-February 14, 1117) was the daughter of Simon I de Montfort and Agnes, Countess of Evreux. Her brother was Amauri de Montfort.

The oft-married Count Fulk IV of Anjou was married to the mother of his son in 1089, when the lovely Bertrade caught his eye. According to the chronicler John of Marmoutier:

The lecherous Fulk then fell passionately in love with the sister of Amaury of Montfort, whom no good man ever praised save for her beauty. For her sake, he divorced the mother of Geoffrey II Martel…

Bertrade and Fulk were married, and they became the parents of a son, Fulk, but in 1092 Bertrade left her husband and took up with King Philip I of France. Philip married her on May 15, 1092, despite the fact that they both had spouses living. He was so enamoured of Bertrade that he refused to leave her even when threatened with excommunication. Pope Urban II did excommunicate him in 1095, and Philip was prevented from taking part in the First Crusade. Astonishingly, Bertrade persuaded Philip and Fulk to be friends.

Bertrade and Philipe had three children together:

Philippe de France, Count of Mantes (living in 1123)
Fleury de France, seigneur of Nangis (living in 1118)
Cecile of France (died 1145), married (1) Tancred, Prince of Galilee; married (2) Pons of Tripoli

According to Orderic Vitalis, Bertrade was anxious that one of her sons succeed Philip, and sent a letter to King Henry I of England asking him to arrest her stepson Louis. Orderic also claims she sought to kill Louis first through the arts of sorcery, and then through poison. Whatever the truth of these allegations, Louis succeeded Philippe in 1108. Bertrade lived on until 1117; William of Malmesbury says: "Bertrade, still young and beautiful, took the veil at Fontevraud Abbey, always charming to men, pleasing to God, and like an angel." Her son from her first marriage was Fulk V of Anjou who later became King of Jerusalem. The dynasties founded by Fulk's sons ruled for centuries, one of them in England (Plantagenet), the other in Jerusalem.

[edit] Sources

Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 By Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines 50-25, 118-23.
Orderic Vitalis
William of Malmesbury