BALDWIN V, Count of Flanders b 1012 and Adele de France b 1003

 Baldwin V Count of Flanders , born 1012 in Flanders, Belgium; died 1 Sep 1067 in Lille, Antwerpen, Belgium; buried  Sep 1067 in Lille, Nord, France, son of 187. Baldwin IV “Fair Beard” Count of Valenciennes Flanders and 188. Ogive of Luxemburg (—) .  He married 175. Adele de France , born 1003 in France; died 8 Jan 1079 in Monastere De L’Ordre, De St, daughter of 189. Robert II King of France  and 190. Constance de Touleouse Talliefer of Provence . At Adele’s, instigation Baldwin rebelled against his father but in 1030 peace was sworn and the old count continued to rule until his death.

During a long war (1046 – 1056) as an ally of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lorraine, against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, he initially lost Valenciennes to Hermann of Hainaut. However, when the latter died in 1051 Baldwin married his son Baldwin VI to Herman’s widow Richildis and arranged that the sons of her first marriage were disinherited, thus de facto uniting the County of Hainaut with Flanders. Upon the death of Henry III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty by Agnes de Poitou, mother and regent of Henry IV. Baldwin V played host to a grateful dowager queen Emma of England, during her enforced exile, at Bruges. He supplied armed security guards, entertainment, comprising a band of minstrels. Bruges was a bustling commercial centre, and Emma fittingly grateful to the citizens. She dispensed generously to the poor, making contact with the monastery of Saint Bertin at St Omer, and received her son, King Harthacnut of England at Bruges in 1039.

From 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the co-Regent with Anne of Kiev for his nephew-by-marriage Philip I of France, indicating the importance he had acquired in international politics. As Count of Maine, Baldwin supported the King of France in most affairs. But he was also father-in-law to William of Normandy, who had married his daughter Matilda. Flanders played a pivotal role in Edward the Confessor‘s foreign policy. As the King of England was struggling to find an heir: historians have argued that he may have sent Harold Godwinsson to negotiate the return of Edward the Atheling from Hungary, and passed through Flanders, on his way to Germany. Baldwin’s half-sister had married scheming Earl Godwin‘s third son, Tostig. The half-Viking Godwinsons had spent their exile in Dublin, at a time William of Normandy was fiercely defending his duchy. It is unlikely however that Baldwin intervened to prevent the duke’s invasion plans of England, after the Count had lost the conquered province of Ponthieu. By 1066, Baldwin was an old man, and died the following year.

Baldwin and Adele had five children:

• Baldwin VI, 1030-1070
• Matilda, c.1031-1083 who married William the Conqueror
• Robert I of Flanders, c.1033 – 1093
• Henry of Flanders c.1035
• poss. Sir Richard of Flanders c. 1050-1105

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_V,_Count_of_Flanders