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the youthful widow of two English kings,
married her, and fled with his bride to
I orraine. The kin^. then harassed b) the
Danes, was unable to avenge what he regarded
as an insult. He applied to the
Pope, v. h< i exo
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF P.K KiKAPIIY
immunicated Baldwin. The
latter in turn pleaded his "cause of true
love" so eloquently that the Pope withdrew
his censures and induced Diaries
to pardon his children. Charles was at
last conciliated, and made his son-in-law
margrave (Marchio Flandriae) of Flan-
ders, which he held as an hereditary fief.
The Northmen were at this time continually
devastating the coast lands, and
Baldwin was entrusted with the posses-
sion of this outlying borderland of the
west Prankish dominion in order to de-
fend it against the invaders. lie was the
first of a line of strong rulers, who at
some date early in the tenth century exchanged
the title of margrave for that of
count. His son, Baldwin II., "the Paid,"
from his stronghold at Bruges main-
tained, as did his father before him, a
vigorous defence of his lands against the
incursions of the Northmen. On his
mother's side a descendant of Charlemagne,
he strengthened the dynastic
importance of his family by marrying
Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great.
On his death in 918, his possessions were
divided between his sons Arnulf the
Elder and Adolphus. Direct descendants
of Baldwin I. ruled the Dukedom of
Flanders for several centuries.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries the
Crusades convulsed all Europe. Every
family of note was constrained to send its
representatives to the East. The Counts
of Flanders and the English branches of
the family were numerously represented
as leaders in the successive armies that
went forth to deliver Palestine from the
infidels. Baldwin. Count of Flanders and
Hainaut, known in history as Baldwin I.,
171
was one of the most prominent leader
the Fourth crusade, which resulted in
the capture of
' nstantinoplc, the con-
quest of the greater part of the East
Roman Empire, and the foundation of the
Latin empire of Romania. Baldwin,
Prim.' of Edessa, and first King of Jer-
usalem, was one of the "adventurer
princes" of the first crusade, and as such
he stands alongside of I'.ohemund. Tancred
and Raymund. Tasso in his poem
"Jerusalem Delivered" speaks often of
the Baldwins:
Baldwin he docs ambitiously aspire
The height of human grandeur to attain.
At Patti, Sicily, repose the ashes of
Queen Adelaide, mother of the great King
Roger, who became the wife of Baldwin,
King of Jerusalem. After two years'
residence there, discovering that he had
another wife living, she returned to Sicily
and taking the veil, buried her grief and
mortification in a convent founded by her
brother, and died in 1178.
Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury,
with a train of two hundred horse, three
hundred foot, his banner inscribed with
the name of Thomas A' Becket, accom-
panied Richard Coeur de Lion on a cru-
sade in 1 120. Matilda, daughter of the
Duke of Flanders, married William of
Normandy, the Conqueror, and went to
England with him. History and tradi-
tion preserve an interesting story of the
romance of William and Matilda. Ma-
tilda, it is said, showed an inclination to
play the coquette, and refused to give a
positive consent to marriage. William
was not to be trifled with and adopted
heroic measures. One day, accompanied
by some of his boon companions, he met
her at Tours, and contrived to have her
hustled and crowded through the street
and even tumbled in the dust. The ladv