Bertrade (de Gometz?) Bertrade (de Gometz?)fl. 1052×3, wife of Amaury de Montfort.
Bertrade is mentioned as the wife of Amaury [de Montfort] in his foundation charter for the priory of Saint-Thomas d'Épernon (11 April 1052 × July 1053) ["... ego Amalricus miles sollicitatus, ..., voluntate et assensu auctoritatis mee conjugis nomine Bertredis, nec non et filiorum meorum Simonis videlicet atque Mainerii, ... S. Ainrici regis. S. Amalrici. S. Simonis, filii ejus. S. Mainerii, filii ejus. ..." Cart. S.-Thomas d'Épernon, 1-4 (#1)].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: After 11 April 1052.
Place of
death: Unknown.
Father: Unknown.
See the Commentary section.
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: Amaury I de Montfort, fl. 1022-1060.
Presumed children:
When Amaury de Montfort mentions
his wife and sons in the foundation charter of Saint-Thomas
d'Épernon, he calls Simon and Mainer "my sons", so
that direct evidence that Bertrade was the mother of these sons
is lacking. However, she was the only known wife of Amaury.
Simon I de Montfort, d. in or shortly after 1087, lord of Montfort;
m. (1) Isabel, daughter of
Hugues Bardoul, lord of Broyes, Beaumont,
Pithiviers, and Nogent-le-Roi.
m. (2) NN;
m. (3) Agnès, daughter of Richard, count of Évreux.
Mainer, fl. 1052×3-1074×5.
Probable brother: Geoffroy de Gometz, fl. 1074×5(?), m.
Ermengarde.
Bertrade's son Simon appears as a nepos
of Geoffroy de Gometz in a donation by Geoffroy of the villa and
church of Bazainville to the abbey of Marmoutier, possibly
1074×5 ["... ego Gauffredus, saeculari miliciae
mancipatus, ...cum assensu et auctoritate mee conjugis, nomine
Ermengardis, necnon et filiorum meorum, Simonis videlicet atque
Amalrici simulque Gauffredi, et fratris mei Ursi, Milonis quoque
et Guidonis, meorum seniorum, de Caprosis, de quorum beneficio
haec sunt, ... S. Gauffredi de Gomet. S. Simonis, filii ejus. S.
Amalrici, filii ejus. S. Gauffredi, filii ejus. Milonis, filii
ejus. S. Guidonis vicecomitis, filii ejus. S. Ursi, fratris
Gauffredi. S. Ernaldi Osalis Bastardi, filii ejus. S. Simonis,
nepotis ejusdem Gauffredi. S. Mainerii, fratris ejus. S. Rorici,
generi ejusdem Gauffredi. ..." Rec. actes Philippe I,
178-181 (#70) (reference courtesy of Peter Stewart); the charter
is dated in the fifth year of Philippe I (1064×5), but Prou
argues with good reason that the correct date is the fifteenth
year (1074×5), see ibid., 178 n. 1; the witness list is at least
partly corrupt, for the text of the charter shows that Milo and
Guy were not sons of Geoffroy]. Rhein states that Simon de
Montfort calls Geoffroy de Gometz his uncle, but this is an error
[Rhein (1910), 31, citing one of the manuscripts of the same
act]. The appearance of Mainerius, fratris ejus
immediately after Simon nepos Gauffredi shows that this
Simon was Simon I de Montfort, whose brother Mainer is confirmed
in other records. Although other interpretations of nepos
cannot be completely ruled out, the word probably means nephew in
this case, and Simon was probably a maternal nephew of Geoffroy,
much less likely a paternal nephew [evidently the interpretation
of Fourmont (1867), 3: 267]. Thus, the most natural
interpretation of this document would make Bertrade a sister of
Geoffroy de Gometz, although strictly speaking, we also cannot
rule out the possibility that Amaury de Montfort was married
twice, first to a sister of Geoffroy de Gometz, and later to
Bertrade. As noted below, the parentage of Geoffroy de Gometz
remains unknown.
Probable brother: Ursus, fl. 1074×5.
As noted above, Ursus consented to the
1074×5 charter of his brother Geoffroy de Gometz.
Supposed father (improbable): Guillaume de Gometz, fl. 1043-1071, m.
Alberade.
[RFC2, 68 (line 90)] An otherwise
unidentified Guillaume de Gometz appears frequently on websites
as the supposed father of Bertrade, but without any clear
documentation in primary sources. The earliest known Guillaume de
Gometz would appear to be the Guillaume de Gometz who appears for
the first time on 20 May 1043 witnessing a charter of king Henri
I of France ["Signum Guilelmi Comitis de Goms"
RHF 11: 578 (#12)]. He also appears as a witness for Philippe I
on 29 May 1067 ["Willelmus de Gomethiaco" Rec.
actes Philippe I, 94 (#30)], again in 1067 ["Guillelmus
Giometensis castri" Rec. actes Philippe I, 98 (#32)],
and on 2 November 1071 ["Willelmi de Gumetho"
Rec. actes Philippe I, 160 (#60)]. He had a son of the same name,
who had only recently attained majority on 16 May 1081 ["...
quoniam junior Willelmus, predecessoris sui, eodem vocabulo
nuncupati, heres legitime ut filius, eo anno quo de potestate et
custodia Hervei de Montemorentiaco, sub cujus bajulatione
parvulus fuerat, exiit, ... ipse supramemoratus Willelmus pro
patris ac matris suique anima libentissime concessit, suasque
culturas dominicas, sicut mater sua, nomine Albereda, pro anima
patris sui Willelmi ... MLXXXI, xvij kal. junii ..."
Charte Gometz, 356-7]. Thus, it seems clear that the elder
Guillaume de Gometz was not in a generation early enough to be
the father of Geoffroy and Bertrade. Nor does Geoffroy de Gometz
appear to have been the father of Guillaume de Gometz, who does
not appear among Geoffroy's sons in the above charter. Most
likely they were collateral relatives, as suggested by Moutie
[Moutie (1876), 2: 25-6]. While it is impossible to rule out the
possibility that Geoffroy and Bertrade were indeed children of
some different Guillaume de Gometz, the name does not appear to
have any good basis, and cannot be accepted in the absence of
evidence. The elder Guillaume de Gometz has also often been
stated to have been the father of Hodierne, wife of Guy de
Montlhéry, but Moutie has argued that she was more likely to be
a sister [Moutie (1876), 2: 12 n. 2, 25].
Cart. S.-Thomas d'Épernon = Auguste Moutié & Adolphe de Dion, Cartulaires de Saint-Thomas d'Épernon et de Notre-Dame de Maintenon (Rambouillet, 1878).
Charte Gometz = "Charte de la donation de l'église de Gometz-le-Château à l'abbaye de Saint-Florent de Saumur", Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes 18 (1857): 354-7.
Fourmont (1867) = H. de Fourmont, L'Ouest aux Croisades (Paris, 1867).
Moutie (1876) = Auguste Moutie, Chevreuse - Recherches historiques, archéologiques et généalogiques, 2 vols. (Rambouillet, 1876).
Rec. actes Philippe I = Maurice Prou, ed., Recueil des Actes de Philippe Ier roi de France (Chartes et diplômes relatifs à l'histoire de France, Paris, 1908).
RFC2 = Roderick Stuart, Royalty for Commoners (2nd ed., Baltimore, 1992).
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Rhein (1910) = André Rhein, "La Seigneurie de Montfort en Iveline", Mémoires de la Société Archéologique de Rambouillet 21 (1910): 1-363.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin, with thanks to Peter Stewart for supplying much information.
First uploaded 29 May 2012.