William the Conqueror/St. Clair

[Laurel Fechner <laurel@spiritone.com>]

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Sherm,
	It is scarry quoting some of these old sourcs knowing that there probably is newer evidence to the contrary.
	Pg. 23 of "History of the Sinclir Family in Europe and America" by L.A. Morrison, 1896 might be, indeed, one of these books that has some errors.  I know that when it comes to our page, there are several errors.  Anyway, he says, "Eleanora (this is a child of Richard 4gh duke of Normandy and Judith d/o Earl of Brittany) married Baldwin, Earl of Flanders.  Her daughter Matilda married William the Conqueror, and became Queen of England."  It is possible that the Earl had two or more wives and we will never know which mother went with which kids.
	Right about Matilda being St. Margaret's daughter but maybe there is more to this.  My St. Margaret book says that Margaret's daughter Edith b. 1080 , who, because the Normans were unable to pronounce her nane is more frequently referred to as Maud or Matilda.  It was as 'good Queen Maud' that the eldest daughter of the king and queen of Scots finally united the Norman and Saxon royal houses....."  I have a huge chart of the kings and queens of Europe.  On it her name is spelled Eadgth which I would guess is the Celtic spelling of Edith.   In "The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England" by Antonia Fraser pg.,  "Henry I.....by marrying (in Nov. 1100) Edith sister of King Edgar of Scotland, he was ensuring that he would not be attacked in the north while he had his hands full in the south."  So it appears to me that Eadgth (Edith) was the same person as Maude and Matilda. Sort of like keeping in mind as we research our Sarahs that they could also be Sallys or be using their middle name.

This book on St. Margaret agrees that Agatha's origins are unknown.  I hope that I didn't give the impression other wise.  But I think I got mixed up at one point and said that Agatha was Margaret's brother Edgar Atheling's wife.  I found the name of Margaret's sister.  It was Christina.  Their mother was still alive when they got to Scotland.

Here is the part that really brought me to my feet.  I was recently rereading the book, "Crusades" by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira.  It went with a 3 video set that I think was on PBS.  Pg. 59-speaking of the 1st Crusaders in, 1098ish.  "Spirits somewhat rallied in the spring, when a fleet arrived carrying much needed supplies and building materials from Constantinople, shipped in by an exiled claimant to the English throne, Edgar Atheling.  Edgar had commandeered an English fleet that was carrying Italian pilgrims to the Holy Land; it was quite clear to anyone who thought about it that the pilgrimage was proceeding quite normally by sea and Jerusalem was perfectly accessible the whole time.  (in other words, the hordes of thousands of Crusaders never needed to go by land where they pillaged and killed 10's of thousands  of Christians along the way and thousands of Crusaders, themselves, starved to death or were ambushed. They could have gone the easy way by sea.)  The first time I had read the book,  the mention of Edgar, had meant nothing but now I've read so many that sometimes, I discover a real gem overlooked before.

	I found out in 2 other books that many of the conquered English in 1066 went to Constantinople where they were hired as soldiers by the Emperor.  They were more reliable than his own countrymen  who became rich on lands captured in battles and then began developing their own armies from the people living on the lands thus challenging the Emperor Alexis Comnenus.  But foreign soldiers remained loyal to the Emperor as he and other Emperors went out of their way to treat them better than even their own citizens but the way things were set up, the foreigners couldn't gain land and develop their own army.  So then, this was a logical place for Edgar Atheling to end up, out of the clutches of William the Conqueror and protected by the Emperor, who really detested the Normans.

By the way some of these Italian pilgrims, could have been Normans that were living in southern Italy.  Another interesting story.  But they definitely had their eye on conquering Constantinople and not the Holy Land and Alexis knew it.
Laurel
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