In the year 856 King Aethelwulf of Wessex was returning from a year long pilgrimage to Rome. He had with him his youngest son, Aflred, who would one day be known as ‘the Great’. Aethelwulf was old by the standards of the day - probably in his mid-50s and possibly over 60 - and had been seeking spiritual peace at the end of his life by going to Rome. Whilst he was away, he had left another son, Aethelbald, in charge of Wessex.
King Aethelwulf of Wessex
On his way home he stopped at the court of Charles the Bald, King of West Frankia (in modern day France). Charles the Bald was a descendant of Charlemagne and, as such, a member of the prestigious Carolingian dynasty and one of the most powerful men in Europe. However, he was deeply unpopular, ruling over a kingdom that was being ravaged by Vikings and beset on all sides by rivals and enemies.
Charles the bald
Charles had a 12 year old daughter called Judith whose destiny, as for all princesses at the time, was to be used as a pawn in the chess game of international diplomacy. Despite this inevitable fate, she may have hoped for better than to be married off to a man more than 4 decades her senior to secure an alliance for her father. But this is what happened amidst great pomp and ceremony. Aethelwulf then took his child bride back to Wessex, away from everything and everybody she had ever known.
When she arrived in England, Aethelbald was horrified to find that his father had married Judith, not because of the hideous age difference, but because she might bear Aethelwulf an heir of more prestigious heritage than his own. So Aethelbald rose up in revolt and Judith now found herself at the centre of a civil war in a foreign country. Aethelbald was only pacified when Aethelwulf gave him land to rule over as a King.
Thankfully, the marriage to Aethelwulf didn’t last long and we can only hope that speculation that the marriage was never consummated is true. Things didn’t pick up for Judith at this point however, because Aethelbald then decided it would be a shrewd move to marry his own father’s teenage widow. I doubt very much that Judith was asked her opinion on the matter.
You might imagine that things were different then and that a man marrying his own teenage stepmother was perfectly acceptable, but this is not so. Bishop Asser, the biographer of Alfred the Great, put it like this:
Aethelbald … against God’s prohibition and Christian dignity, and also contrary to the practice of all pagans, took over his father’s marriage-bed and married Judith, ……. incurring great disgrace from all who heard of it.
Wessex under Aethelbald was assailed by Vikings and his reign was turbulent and short lived. About 18 months later Aethelbald was dead. Judith, now 16 or 17, was twice widowed and alone in a country riven by violence, in a patriarchal society where it was all but unacceptable for a woman - if she may yet be called a woman - to hold a position of power. It is at this point that we see a sign of her strength. Her time as Queen had made her very wealthy and she held huge tracts of land. This should have made her vulnerable to the circling sharks of Wessex noble society but somehow Judith stood her ground and managed to orchestrate the sale of all her lands, apparently without the help of anybody else, and preserve her own wealth.
Judith returned home, having done her duty for her family and having suffered as a result. As thanks, Charles the Bald immediately threw her into a nunnery where she was to await his next diplomatic move. But Judith had twice been Queen of Wessex, she had stood up to the patriarchy of that country when everything was against her and she was a wealthy woman in her own right. She was not going to be held captive to await the next whim of her father. And then a handsome young Count visited the nunnery, their eyes met, and they fell in love. Baldwin, for that was his name, and Judith hatched a plan, and on Christmas Day 861 Baldwin helped her escape and the pair eloped.
Judith and baldwin
They couldn’t marry without the consent of a male relative and, presumably realising that Charles would never agree, they got consent from Judith’s brother, Louis the Stammerer. Charles was predictably furious. He imprisoned Louis and sent men out in pursuit of the couple.
For a year they evaded capture and eventually found sanctuary at the court of King Lothair II of Lorraine. Charles demanded that Lothair give the pair up but Lothair refused and I think this shows how compelling a couple they must have been as people were consistently willing to stand up to King Charles on their behalf.
Charles’ next move was to have them ex-communicated. To the medieval mind this was to imperil their immortal souls and potentially bar them from heaven. Charles did this to his own daughter for marrying a man she loved.
Judith and Baldwin travelled to Rome to throw themselves on the mercy of the Pope. Here, Baldwin told the Pope that he would join the Vikings and return as an enemy if the Pope wouldn’t bless his marriage to the woman he loved. So the Pope duly complied but, not only did he recognise the marriage and overturn the ex-communication, he also ordered Charles to accord them the status they were due.
But Charles was not finished with being an arsehole. He wouldn’t defy the Pope so he did give Baldwin a prestigious title but he gave Baldwin the poisoned chalice of becoming the Count of Flanders. At the time Flanders was teeming with Viking war bands and Charles presumably expected that Baldwin would not survive long there. But Charles was not to know that Baldwin would prove himself a powerful warrior and brilliant military commander. He was one day to be known as ‘Iron Arm’ and he and Judith turned Flanders into one of the most powerful territories in Europe.
Their descendants were to flourish. One of Judith’s descendants was Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror and so an ancestor of our own royal family. But, alas, it was not to be happily ever after. Judith died when she was till about 26 years old. Baldwin never remarried.