In 1054 the duke married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V., count of Flanders. The king of France before long became alarmed at William's ambitions, and encouraged William Busac, count of Eu and Montreuil, in his claim to the ducal crown. In 1054 he invaded Normandy with his brother Odo and this count, hut Odo was beaten at Mortemer. In 1058 the king of France, joined by Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou, tried to revenge himself, but was beaten at the ford of Varaville.
Towards the same time occurred the temporary annexation of Maine to Normandy. Herbert II., the young count of Maine, who was a vassal of the count of Anjou, did homage to William between 1055 and 106o, perhaps after the defeat of Geoffrey Martel; he promised to marry one of William's daughters, and betrothed his sister Margaret to the duke's son, Robert Curthose, on the .understanding that, if he died leaving no children, the countship was to fall to William. After his death, the people of Maine revolted (1063), choosing as their lord Walter of Mantes, count of Vexin; but William, after one campaign, succeeded in imposing Norman authority. Three years later, he took possession of England, of which he was crowned king in 1066. Normandy now became the scene of William's quarrels with his son, Robert Curthose, who laid claim to Normandy and Maine, and with the aid of King Philip I. of France succeeded in defeating his father at Gerberoi in 1079.
After the death of William (Sept. 7, 1087), his eldest son, Robert Curthose, kept Normandy and Maine, and his second son, William Rufus, became king of England. In 1096 Robert departed on a crusade and pledged the duchy to his brother for io,000 livres. When Robert returned, William Rufus had just died, and his youngest brother, Henry, had already taken possession of the crown. Henry was ambitious of uniting Normandy to England; in 1105, with the aid of Helias, count of Maine, and the son of Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou, he took and burnt Bayeux, but failed to take Falaise. On Sept. 28, 1106, he defeated his brother at Tinchebrai, took him prisoner, and seized Normandy. Thus the centre of gravity was changed ; England had at first been dependent on Normandy, Normandy was now subordinate to England.
Union with England.—From 1106 to 1204 Normandy re mained united to England. Henry I. carried on hostilities against the king of France and William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, whose claim to the duchy of Normandy was upheld by Louis VI., and won an important victory over his opponents at Bremule (I119). After the disaster of the White Ship (1121), in which the Atheling William lost his life, Henry's only surviving child was a daughter, Matilda, widow of the emperor Henry V. In 1127 Matilda married Geoffrey the Fair, eldest son of Fulk V., count of Anjou. After the death of Henry I. in 1135, a struggle arose between Matilda, who claimed the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy in the name of her son Henry, and Theobald, count of Champagne, grandson of William the Conqueror on the side of his mother Adela, the candidate of the Normans of Nor mandy, while the Norman party in England supported Stephen, brother of Theobald. In 1144 Theobald, whose position had been
much weakened since the taking of the castle of Rouen, gave up his rights in Normandy to Matilda's husband Geoffrey, count of Anjou, in favour of Henry Plantagenet. Between 1139 and 1145 Geoffrey, with French and Flemish help, gradually subdued Nor mandy, and on his death, in ii5i, his son Henry Plantagenet was master of Normandy as well as count of Anjou. In 1152, by his marriage, Aquitaine also was secured to himself and his descend ants, and in 1153 he was recognized as heir to the throne of Eng land. The duchy of Normandy, though nominally in feudal de pendence on the king of France, thus became part of the great Angevin empire. of which the power and resources were more than equal to that of the French kings (see FRANCE : History, and ENG LISH HISTORY).
From the first the French kings were fully conscious of the menace of the Angevin power. The reign of Louis VII. was oc cupied by the struggle against Henry II. Philip Augustus (II80– 1223) pursued the same policy with greater tenacity and success. He began by taking part against Henry II. with his son and succes sor, Richard, who obtained the throne on the death of Henry II. in 1189. From the point of view of Normandy, the most important events of Richard's reign were : the truce of Issoudun, by which Philip Augustus kept the Norman Vexin which he had just con quered (1195), the building by Richard of Château-Gaillard (1196), and finally the defeat of Philip Augustus by Richard at Courcelles, near Gisors (1198). On the death of Richard at Chalus in 1199 the position of Philip Augustus was critical. The situation was modified under the reign of John Lackland, Richard's brother, who had himself crowned duke of Normandy at Rouen (April 25, 1199). Philip Augustus set up in opposition to him Arthur of Brittany, son of Geoffrey and grandson of Henry II., and the first phase of the struggle between the kings of France and England continued until the treaty of Goulet (I200). But in 1202 Philip made a fresh attempt to seize the Continental possessions of the kings of England. An excuse for reopening hostilities offered it self in the abduction, by John, of Isabel of Angouleme, the be trothed of Hugh le Brun, son of the count of La Marche. The barons appealed to Philip Augustus, who summoned John to ap pear before the royal judges; he failed to appear, and was conse quently condemned by default, as a disloyal vassal, to have all the fiefs which he held in France confiscated (April 1202). The con fiscation, a purely formal operation, was followed by the actual conquest.