Charles I, Count of Flanders

Charles the Good
Statue in the Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges
Born	1083 Odense, Denmark
Died	March 2, 1127(1127-03-02) Bruges, County of Flanders (now Belgium)
Beatified	1884
Feast	March 2

Blessed Charles the Good (1083 – March 2, 1127) was Count of Flanders from 1119 to 1127. He is most remembered for his murder and its aftermath.

History

Charles was born in Denmark, only son of King Canute IV (Saint Canute) and Adela of Flanders. His father was assassinated in Odense Cathedral in 1086, and Adela fled back to Flanders, taking the very young Charles with her. Charles grew up at the comital court of his grandfather Robert I and uncle Robert II. In 1092 Adela went to southern Italy to marry Roger Borsa, duke of Apulia, leaving Charles in Flanders.

In 1111 Robert II died, and Charles' cousin Baldwin VII became count. Charles was a close advisor to the new count (who was several years younger), who around 1118 arranged Charles' marriage to the heiress of the count of Amiens, Margaret of Clermont. The childless count Baldwin was wounded fighting for the king of France in September 1118, and he designated Charles as his successor before he died on the 19th of July 1119.

Charles was noted for his kindness and generosity towards the poor, and during a time of famine he distributed bread to them. He also took action to prevent grain from being hoarded and sold at excessively high prices. Prodded by his advisors, he also began proceedings to reduce the influential Erembald family, which was heavily engaged in this activity, to the status of serfs. As a result, Fr. Bertulf FitzErembald, provost of the church of St. Donatian,^[1] the most important church in Bruges, masterminded a conspiracy to assassinate Charles and his advisors.

On the morning of March 2, 1127, as Charles knelt in prayer in the church of St. Donatian, a group of knights answering to the Erembald family entered the church and hacked him to death with broadswords. The brutal and sacrilegious murder of the popular count provoked a massive public outrage, and he was almost immediately regarded popularly as a martyr and saint, although not formally beatified until 1882.^[2]

The Erembalds, who had planned and carried out the murder of Charles, were arrested and tortured to death by the enraged nobles and commoners of Bruges and Ghent. King Louis VI of France, who had supported the revolt against the Erembalds, used his influence to select his own candidate, William Clito, as the next Count of Flanders.

Ancestry

Notes

1. ^ later the cathedral of the bishop of Bruges, but not until 1562
2. ^ At the Petit Palais Museum in Paris there is a remarkable painting of his funeral by the Belgian artist Jan van Beers (1852–1927).

References

• Galbert of Bruges, The Murder of Charles the Good, translated, with an introduction and notes by James Bruce Ross ISBN 0-8020-6479-5

External links

• Blessed Charles the Good (Patron Saint Index)
• Bl. Charles the Good (Catholic Online)

Preceded by Baldwin VII

Count of Flanders 1119–1127

Succeeded by William

Persondata
Name	Charles I, Count Of Flanders
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Odense, Denmark
Date of death	March 2, 1127
Place of death	Bruges, County of Flanders (now Belgium)