 Abt 1015 -
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| Name |
RETHEL Aelis |
| Birth |
Abt 1015 |
Royaume de France  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Notes |
- Origins
Aelis/Alix was born to unknown parents.[1]
Marriage & Children
Aelis married first to Rainaud de Porcien, son of unknown parents.[2] They had a child:
Roger de Porcien[2]
Aelis possibly married second to an unknown husband.[3], by which she had a child:
Unknown de Porcien, who married Henri de Grandpré, son of Herman/Hezelin de Grandpré and an unknown mother.[3]
Research Notes
Relationship of Aelis to Manasses, Comte de Rethel
Anatole de Barthélemy, in his series Sur la Maison de Grandpré, makes a conclusion that Aelis was the widow of Manasses I, Comte de Rethel:
"These facts make it possible to complete and rectify the Art of verifying the dates which affirms that Herman, the first Comte de Grandpré mentioned, had married the widow of Manasses I, Comte de Rethel. This is the widow of Renaud, Comte de Porcien."[4]
This possibility, however is quite impossible as the death dates for all of the Manassès Comte de Rethel males were: Manassès I died after 989; Manassès II died after 1026; and Manassès III (who married Judith) died after 1081. Cawley concludes that this means "the wife of Herman/Hezelin could not have been the widow of any of these three comtes de Rethel."[1]
However, it is likely that Aelis may have actually been the sister of Manasses III.
Identification of the children of Aelis
The source which identifies the daughter of Aelis as being connected to the Porcien family was the Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines, naming "Ebalum et…episcopum Laudunensem Bartholomeum et eorum sorores" as children of "Aeliz de Sarrata in Burgundia" and specifically says that one of the sisters married "Henrico comiti de Grandi prato, Hescelini filio, peperit illum Henricum, qui sepultus est in Fusneio", and more importantly stating that “Qui Hescelinus comes de Grandiprato” had “fratrem...Rogerum comitem Porcensem, cuius filia fuit Sibilia”.[1]
Barthélemy explains the relationship between her daughter and her son Roger:
"We have just said that Roger, count of Porcien, was brother of Hesselin III, but, according to all appearance, he was only uterine brother. Their mother, Alix, had first married Renaud Comte de Porcien who, around 1045, founded the church of Chaumont-la-Piscine; in 1087, Roger gave Remaucourt to Saint-Thibaut de Chaumont".[4]
Barthélemy also presents sources confirming the inheritance of Henri de Grandpre, grandson of Aelis, from Roger, Comte de Porcien:
"On the death of his uncle, Roger, Comte de Porcien, who had left no male heir, Henri I [de Grandpré] had the portion of his property which formed the fief of Château-Porcien: it was in this capacity that he confirmed, in 1134, at the abbey of Cuissy the alms given by his predecessors, mainly in the territory of Hauteville; in 1148, together with Roger's granddaughter, who had married Clérembaud de Rosoy, he gave Notre Dame de Château-Porcien to the abbey of Saint-Nicaise in Reims."[4]
Cawley notes that this supposition by Barthélemy makes sense if "Roger’s mother had herself been the heiress of Porcien, which she had transmitted to her first husband and which was later split between the descendants of her two sons born from different marriages". He also presents a second possibility in which fratrem meant brother-in-law, making her Roger’s sister, because "Roger’s daughter Sibylle married in 1087, suggesting that Herman/Hezelin’s wife would have belonged to the previous generation".[1]
Sources
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Charles Cawley. Herman/Hezelin de Grandpré, entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 25-Apr-23).
↑ 2.0 2.1 Charles Cawley. Rainaud de Porcien, entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 25-Apr-23).
↑ 3.0 3.1 Charles Cawley. Unknown Daughter de Porcien, entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 25-Apr-23).
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Anatole de Barthélemy. Revue de Champagne et de Brie, "Sur la Maison de Grandpré", Tome 8, (Arcis-sur-Aube: L. Frémont, 1 July 1880), p. 350.
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| Person ID |
I60188 |
Freeman-Smith |
| Last Modified |
27 Jan 2026 |
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