Hélie (Helias)
de la Flèche Hélie (Helias)
de la FlècheHélie (Helias) purchased the county of Maine from his cousin count Hughes V in 1092 [OV viii, 11 (vol. 4, pp. 192-9)]. His assumption of the title of count can be dated between 29 June 1092, when Hugues V was still count [Latouche (1910), 148 (#42)], and 27 July of the same year, when he subscribed a charter of Foulques IV le Réchin, count of Anjou [ibid., 149 (#43)]. Hélie obtained the lordship of Château-du-Loir on the death of his father-in-law Gervaise II, lord of Château-du-Loir. On his death in 1110, both possessions passed to his daughter Éremburge and her husband Fulk of Anjou, becoming a part of the growing Angevin holdings. For a lengthy account of Hélie, see Montzey (1877), 47-96.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 11 July 1110.
["Obiit Helias comes v idus julii"
Annales de Saint-Aubin, s.a. 1110, Halphen (1903), 7; "...
mortuus est Helias Cenomannensis comes ..." Annales de
Saint-Serge, s.a. 1110, Halphen (1903), 95; the necrology of the
cathedral at Le Mans confirms 11 July as the date (V idus
julii) "Sic obiit venerabilis Cenomannorum comes
Helias, ..." Nec. Mans, 163-4]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
Jean de Baugency, living 13 February 1087, lord of La Flèche.
[OV iv (vol. 2, pp. 304-5); OV x, 8
(v. 5, pp. 228-9)] In addition to the statements
of Orderic Vitalis, Helias is called a son of Jean in a charter
of Foulques IV of Anjou between 1084 and 26 June 1086 ["Helias
filius Johannis de Fissa" Cart. Angers, 207], and in a
donation of Jean de La Flèche to Saint-Aubin [Montzey
(1877), 41-2 (see Jean's page)].
Mother: Paula.
[OV iv (vol. 2, pp. 304-5: name not given);
OV, x, 8 (vol. 5, pp. 228-9)]
Spouses:
(1) Mathilde, heiress of Château-du-Loir, daughter of Gervaise,
lord of Château-du-Loir.
[OV viii, 11 (vol. 4, pp. 198-9)]
(2) m. ca. 1109, Agnès, daughter of Guillaume VI/VIII (Guy-Geoffroy),
count of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine.
(one of two daughters of that name)
["Defuncta coniuge sua celibem uitam actitare renuit,
sed Agnetem filiam Guillelmi Pictauorum ducis relictam Hildefonsi
senioris Galiciæ regis uxorem duxit." OV, x, 18 (vol.
5, pp. 306-7)] The approximate date of the marriage comes from
Orderic's statement that Hélie died the following year ["...,
sed sequenti anno multis lugentibus obiit, ...",
ibid.]. Guy-Geoffroy had two daughters named Agnès, one (by his
second wife) married to Alfonso VI, king of Castile and León,
who repudiated her ca. 1077, and another (by his third wife)
married to Pedro I (d. 1104), king of Aragon, and there is
disagreement as to which one was Hélie's second wife. Alfonso's
wife would satisfy Orderic's statement regarding the name of the
first husband, but she is not otherwise documented after 1077.
Pedro's wife was recently widowed.
A passage in Robert de Torigny's additions to GND suggests that Hélie was once betrothed to a daughter of his cousin Hugues V (son of Azzo of Este and Gersende of Maine), count of Maine ["Interea Cinomannenses ... consilium ineunt cum Helia, filio Iohannis de Fleca, uiro forti et industrio et in illa prouincia potentissimo, ut filiam cuiusdam comitis Langobardie, neptem uidelicet Herberti, quondam Cinomannensis comitis, ex primogenita filia in matrimoniam ducat, ..." GND (Rob. Tor.), viii, 5 (vol. 2, pp. 208-9)]. If so, it is unlikely that such a marriage ever took place.
Child:
(by Mathilde)
Éremburge de la
Flèche, d. 1126, countess of
Maine, m. 1110, Foulques
(Fulk) V, d. 1143, count of
Anjou, later king of Jerusalem.
[OV viii, 11 (vol. 4, pp. 198-9); Act.
Pont. Cenom. 416; Cart. Château-du-Loir 44; Annales de Saint-Serge, s.a. 1110, Halphen (1903),
95]
Act. Pont. Cenom. = Busson & Ledru, eds., Actus Pontificum Cenomannis in urbe Degentium (Archives Historiques du Maine 2, Le Mans, 1902).
Cart. Angers = C. Urseau, Cartulaire Noir de la Cathédrale d'Angers (Paris & Angers, 1908).
Cart. Château-du-Loir = Eugène Vallée, Cartulaire de Château-du-Loir (Archives Historiques du Maine 6, Le Mans, 1905).
GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1992). Citation is by book and chapter of Guillaume's work, with the volume and page number of the edition by van Houts in parentheses.
GND (Rob. Tor.) = Additions to GND by Robert de Torigny.
Halphen (1903) = Louis Halphen, ed., Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire de comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Montzey (1877) = Charles de Montzey, Histoire de La Flèche et de ses seigneurs (Le Mans, Paris, 1877).
Nec. Mans = Busson & Ledru, Nécrologe-obituaire de la Cathédrale du Mans (Archives Historiques du Maine 7, Le Mans, 1906).
OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
Uploaded 7 July 2005.
Revision uploaded 10 January 2008, with thanks to Roger LeBlanc for noticing that I had neglected to include the second wife of Hélie in my original version of this page.