The Good, the Bad and the Unready (3 page)

Philip the
Amorous

Philip I, king of France, 1052–1108

Philip was ‘amorous’ in the same way that Nero was ‘naughty’. Contemporary chroniclers unanimously condemn this obese and indolent monarch who was above all a man of conspicuous immorality. His hostility towards the reforming elements of his Church, demonstrated by his plundering of monasteries, caused much ecclesiastical alarm. His political duplicity, meanwhile, was renowned. According to William of Malmesbury, Philip came ‘hiccoughing’ and ‘belching from daily excess’ to the side of Robert CURTHOSE in support of his claim to the English throne, but was swiftly bought off by William RUFUS and merrily ‘returned to his feasting’. But his moral nadir came when he
abandoned his wife Bertha of Holland to live openly with, and then marry, Bertrada of Montfort, wife of Fulk the SURLY. In 1095 the Council of Clermont, comprising 200 bishops and headed by Pope Urban II, demanded that Philip leave Bertrada. The amorous Philip refused, and the Council excommunicated the king. Curiously, almost all the bishops in France supported his liaison with Bertrada, hoping, perhaps, that even though he already had one male heir in the shape of Louis the FAT, a second marriage might doubly safeguard the royal succession.

Frederick the
Antichrist
see
Frederick the
WONDER OF THE WORLD

Albert the
Astrologer

Albert III, duke of Austria, 1349–95

As well as a scholar of theology and mathematics, Albert was an expert on the meaning of the movement of the stars, and much preferred the quiet of his study and the solitude of his garden to the noise and splendour of the court. However, appearing at court was an essential part of his duties, and there he was better known as Albert with the Tress’ or Albert the Braided’ because he wore a lock of his wife’s hair (scurrilous rumours held that it belonged to another woman) entwined with his own. Stemming from this symbolic act of devotion, the Society of the Tress, not unlike the Order of the Garter, was established.

Alfonso the
Astronomer

Alfonso X, king of Castile and León, 1221–84

Medieval Spain’s most culturally significant contribution to the history books was the worldwide dissemination of classical knowledge and Muslim learning. At a host of monastic centres and seminaries, most notably the School of Translators in Toledo, ancient Jewish and Muslim works of astronomy, botany, law and medicine were assembled and translated for the first time. The
Toledo centre was at its peak of creativity during the reign of Alfonso, who was known as ‘the Astronomer’ because he sought to improve the planetary tables created by the ancient astronomer Ptolemy. The results of this massive undertaking were in part published as the Alfonsine Tables’. Unfortunately, they proved to be no more accurate than the original versions.

Chroniclers also dub Alfonso ‘the Learned’, ‘the Philosopher’ and ‘the Wise’ because he was the only true philosopher-king to grace the throne of Castile. During his reign, serious study of history and the arts was encouraged for perhaps the first time in Western Europe, and his personal scholarly interests were considerable and diverse: as well as works on astronomy, he compiled a history of Spain, a sweeping history of the entire world prior to the birth of Christ, and a book on board games including chess, draughts and backgammon.

Edgar the
Atheling
see
Edgar the
OUTLAW

Philip
Augustus
see
Philip the
MAGNANIMOUS

Auld Blearie
see
Robert the
STEWARD
(under
NOBLE PROFESSIONS
)

The
Austrian Wench
see
the
BAKER AND THE BAKER’S WIFE

Ivan the
Awesome
see
Ivan the
TERRIBLE

William the
Bad