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From: Systems Strategies and Solutions <>
Subject: Re: Children of Henry I
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 1995 03:10:32 GMT


Azazella () wrote:
: Does anyone have a full list of the illegitimate children of Henry I and
: the names of their mothers (when known)?

There is a branch of history that goes by the horrible-
mouthful-of-a-name: prosopography; the _Medieval Proso-
pography_ publication might be found at a college library
[I found mine at the Univesity of Santa Clara, a fine,
local, Jesuit college.] The proponents of that form of
historical analysis began a raft of publisizing of papers
about mid '85, and generated some attempts to identify
Henry's legititmate and illegitimate children.
_The Royal Bastards of Medieval England_ by Chris Given-
Wilson and Alice Curtees, London, 1984, is one; chapter 4
of _The Anglo-Norman Nobility in the Reign of Henry I_
is another.
Upon research, you will find each of them primarily depend-
dendent upon Appendix D of Vol XI in _The Complete Peerage_.
That article was submitted by a very highly-respected student
of those matters, Geoffrey White.
As you will see when you get the references, and when you
get to the end of this meesage, with my signature, I have
a pretty strong reason for attempting to discern what possible
vaslidity there could be in the attributions of motherhood
found therein. So, I'll give you another clue: Since, obviously
none of the persons noted were living anywhere near the times
in question, we need a contemporary authority. You will find
that all such researchers 'hang their hats on the peg' provided
by one, Robert Torigny [also Robert of the Mount], writing
interpolations in a more famous work by an important historian
working at the time that Henry [in a manner of speaking] was
working on the production of that progeny, i.e. between about
1090 and [most shockingly, if you follow it closely] even into
the early 1100s--after his marriage!
I leave the rest to you for the fun of the chase. If it turns
out that you want to know who you think that Sibyl Corbet was,
and what sort of social circumstance might have supported her
participation in the production of some of those bastards,
feel free to send e-mail so we won't overcome the newsgroup as
a whole.
Best regards.
Terry Corbet

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