Walter III. (Vexin)

Walter III. von Vexin (French: Gautier ; * around 1031 ; † August 1063 ) was Count of Vexin , Amiens and Mantes since 1035 and Count of Maine since 1062 . He was the son of Count Drogo and his wife Goda (Godjifu), a sister of the English King Edward the Confessor . Walter's younger brother was Ralph the Timid .

Walter's possessions were on the border between Normandy and the royal domain . Since he by the Norman Duke William II. The bastard was afflicted, Walter leaned close to King Philip I of. In 1062, with Count Herbert II, the count's house of Maine died out in the male line. Before his death, he had recognized Duke Wilhelm as the feudal lord over his county, which is why it now threatened to fall under his rule.

The lords of the Maine were not willing to submit to the Normans, and therefore appointed, with the support of Count Gottfried III. from Anjou , Walter to their count. As a result of his marriage to Biota, a daughter of Count Herbert I , he had a claim to Maine. Duke Wilhelm of Normandy, however, campaigned for the rights of his son Robert Kurzhose , who in turn was engaged to a sister of Count Herbert II. Walter and his followers were not up to the onslaught of Wilhelm, who conquered one castle after another. When the Normans finally took Le Mans , Walter and his wife were taken prisoner.

They were taken to Falaise , where both died in August 1063. The Anglo-Norman chronicler Ordericus Vitalis reported the immediate rumor that Walter and his wife had been poisoned after a diabolical intrigue by their enemies. Duke Wilhelm was able to take Maine and eliminate a potential competitor for the English royal throne.

In Vexin and Amiens, Walter was inherited by his cousin Count Rudolf von Valois , Mantes fell to the crown.

annotation

1. ↑ Ordericus Vitalis, Vol. II, Book III, p. 119

predecessor	Office	successor
Drogo	Count of Vexin and Amiens 1035-1063	Rudolf IV.
Drogo	Count of Mantes 1035-1063	French crown domain
Herbert II.	Earl of Maine 1062-1063	Robert shorts