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WILLIAM THE CLITO (1 rot–1128)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 675 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM THE CLITO (1 rot–1128)  was the son of See also:Robert, See also:duke of See also:Normandy, by his See also:marriage with Sibylla of See also:Conversano . After his See also:father's defeat and See also:capture by See also:Henry I. of See also:England at the See also:battle of Tinchebrai (11(36) the See also:young See also:William See also:fell into the hands of the conqueror . Henry magnanimously placed his See also:nephew in the custody of Helias of See also:Saint Saens, who had married a natural daughter of Duke Robert . Fearing for the safetyof the boy, Helias carried him, in to the See also:court of See also:Louis VI. of See also:France . That See also:sovereign joined with the discontented See also:Norman barons and others of Henry's enemies in recognizing William as the rightful claimant to the duchy; Robert, a prisoner whom there was no See also:hope of releasing, they appear to have regarded as dead in the See also:eye of the See also:law . William's claims furnished the pretext for two Norman rebellions . The first which lasted from 1112 to 1120 was abetted by Louis, by See also:Fulk V. of See also:Anjou and by See also:Baldwin VII. of See also:Flanders . In the second, which See also:broke out during 1123, Henry I. had merely to encounter the forces of his own Norman subjects; his See also:diplomatic skill had been successfully employed to paralyse the See also:ill-will of other enemies . In 1122 or 1123 William married Sibylle, daughter of Fulk of Anjou, and with her received the See also:county of See also:Maine; but Henry I. prevailed upon the See also:Curia to annul this See also:union, as being within the forbidden degrees . In 1127, however, the pretender obtained from Louis the See also:hand of Johanna of See also:Montferrat, See also:half-See also:sister of the See also:French See also:queen, and the vacant See also:fief of Flanders . His own rigorous See also:government or the intrigues of Henry I. raised up against William a See also:host of rebels; a See also:rival claimant to Flanders appeared in the See also:person of See also:Thierry or See also:Dirk of See also:Alsace . In besieging See also:Alost, one of the strongholds of the rival party, William received a See also:wound which mortified and proved fatal (See also:July 28, 1128) .

He See also:

left no issue; although Duke Robert survived him and only died in 1134, the See also:power of Henry I. was thenceforth undisputed by the See also:Normans . See Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. ecclesiastica, and See also:Sir See also:James See also:Ramsay's See also:Foundations of England, vol. ii . (1898) .

End of Article: WILLIAM THE CLITO (1 rot–1128)
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