Matthew I of Montmorency

Matthew I (French: Mathieu de Montmorency; died 1160) was lord of Montmorency, Marly, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and Attichy. He was also Constable of France from 1138 to 1160 under Louis VII.[1]

He was the eldest son of Bouchard IV de Montmorency and Agnes de Beaumont-sur-Oise.

In 1126 he married Alice FitzRoy (Alix), illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England,[2] and had the following issue:

  1. Henri, died young before 1160
  2. Bouchard V de Montmorency, (d. 1189 in Jerusalem), who married in 1173 Laurette of Hainaut (d. 9 August 1181), daughter of Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut.[2] They had a son Matthieu II de Montmorency, nicknamed the Great.
  3. Theobald de Montmorency, seigneur de Marly, he went on crusade in 1173. He died as a Cistercian monk sometime after 1189.
  4. Herve de Montmorency, abbot of Saint-Martin de Montmorency, then deacon of the Church and dean of Paris before his death in 1192.
  5. Matthieu de Montmorency (d. Constantinople 1204),[3] he inherited the lordship from his brother Theobald; father of Bouchard de Marly.

Alix died before 1141. Matthew then married Adelaide of Maurienne, the widow of Louis VI of France.[4]

  1. ^ Crouch 1986, p. 64.
  2. ^ a b Zerner 1992, p. 449.
  3. ^ Lippiatt 2017, p. xvii.
  4. ^ Henneman 1995, p. 7.