Sibylla (Normandie) Scotland (abt. 1100 - 1122)

Born about 1100 in England

Ancestors

Died 12 Jul 1122 at about age 22 in Loch Tay, Perthshire, Scotland

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Biography

Birth and Parents

Sybilla (d. 1122), queen of Scots and consort of Alexander I, was probably the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I (1068/9–1135) and his mistress Sybilla, the daughter of Robert Corbet, a Shropshire landholder, and the sister of Reginald, earl of Cornwall, and the William who appears to have accompanied Sybilla to Scotland.

Sybilla of Normandy was born about 1092 in Domfront, Normandy. ^[1]

Sybilla was the first child of Henry I of England and his mistress, Lady Sybilla Corbet of Alcester (b. 1077 in Alcester, Warwickshire, d. after 1157). ^[1] Her maternal grandfather was Robert Corbet of Alcester, part of the Corbet family. ^[1]

Uncertainty regarding mother

Cawley agrees that Sibyl was an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I but states that it is not clear whether her mother was Sibyl Corbet or an earlier mistress. ^[2]

The Complete Peerage suggests that she was the daughter of Sibyl Corbet, both because of her name and also because of the possible co-identity between "…Willelmo fratre reginæ…", who witnessed the charter dated 1124 under which "Alexander…Rex Scottorum" granted jurisdiction to the prior of Scone, and "…Willielmo fratre meo…" who witnessed the charter dated to [1163/75] under which "Reginaldus, Henrici Regis filius, comes Cornubiæ" granted property to "Willielmo de Boterell, filio Aliziæ Corbet, materteræ meæ". ^[2]

However, this co-identity is not ideal from a chronological point of view. William, brother of Renaud Earl of Cornwall, died after 1187. If he was the same person as the brother of Sibyl Queen of Scotland, he could only have been a child when he subscribed the Scottish charters in which he is named. In addition, as noted below, it is possible that William, brother of Earl Renaud, may have been his uterine brother, in which case it is unlikely that he would have been chosen to accompany the queen to Scotland. ^[2]

Another factor is that the birth of Herbert FitzHerbert, son of Sibyl Corbet by her marriage, is estimated to 1125/35, which means that he could only have been Sibyl´s half-brother if she had been a child when she married the king. ^[2]

On the other hand, "Robert Corbet" witnessed charters in Scotland which are dated to the reign of King Alexander and the early years of the reign of his brother King David. If that Robert Corbet had been Queen Sibyl´s maternal grandfather or her maternal uncle, this could account for his presence at the Scottish court at the time. ^[2]

Historian Kathleen Thompson wrote as follows:^[3]

The possibilities that Queen Sibyl’s brother was not the son of her father, King Henry, or that the attestation is that of her half-brother, William de Tracy, should not be overlooked.

1114 Marriage to King Alexander

Around 1107, Sybilla married Alexander I, King of Scots. The marriage was childless. The marriage ceremony may have occurred as early as 1107, or as at late as 1114. ^[4]

Sybilla was Queen consort of Scotland from about 1107 to 1122. ^[1]

William of Malmesbury's account attacks Sybilla, but the evidence argues that Alexander and Sybilla were a devoted but childless couple and Sybilla was of noteworthy piety. ^[5]

Sibyl of England married Alexander I, King of Scots, the younger son of Malcolm III (Ceannmor), King of Scots, by his second wife, (Saint) Margaret, daughter of Edward Aetheling. ^[6]

William of Malmesbury records the marriage of Alexander to the unnamed illegitimate daughter of King Henry, but adds "there was…some defect about the lady either in correctness of manners or elegance of person", which appears to imply mental retardation. ^[2]

She married before 1114 King Alexander I (d. 1124) when she was in her mid teens and he was over 30. They had no issue and she died suddenly at Loch Tay on 12 or 13 July 1122. ^[7]

1114 Married and Reformed Scone Abbey

"Alexander…rex Scottorum filius regis Malcolmi et regine Margerete et…Sibilla regina Scottorum filia Henrici regis Anglie" reformed Scone Abbey by charter dated to [1114/15]. The Extracta ex Cronicis Scocie records the death in 1122 "apud Lochtay cellam canonicorum de Scona" of "Sibilla…regine Scocie uxor regis Alexandri, filia Henrici Beuclerk regis Anglie". ^[2]

She married before 1114/1115 Alexander I, “the Fierce” King of Scotland, son of Malcolm III "Caennmor/Bighead" King of Scotland & his second wife Margaret of England ([1077/78]-Stirling Castle 23, 25 or 27 Apr 1124, bur Dunfermline Abbey, Fife). ^[2]

Alexander was born about 1077. They had no issue. ^[6]

He was also a benefactor to Durham and Dumfernline ^[6]

He invaded Wales in 1114 in cooperation with King Henry I of England ^[6]

Alexander I, King of Scots, died at Stirling 23 April 1124 and was buried before the great altar at Dumfernline, Fife, near his father. ^[6]

1120 Named in Charters

Her name is confirmed by various charters, including the charter dated to 1120 under which "Alexander…Rex Scottorum filius Regis Malcolmi et Reginæ Margaretæ et…Sibilla regina Scottorum filia Henrici regis Angliæ" made grants. ^[2]

1122 Death

Sibyl died suddenly at Loch Tay 12 July 1122. ^[6]

Sibyl died at the Island of the Women, Loch Tay, Perthshire 12/13 Jul 1122 and was buried at the Island of the Women, Loch Tay). ^[2]

Sybilla died 12 or 13 July 1122 in Kenmore, Scotland and was buried in the Dunfermline Abbey, Scotland^[1]

Sybilla died in unrecorded circumstances at Eilean nam Ban (Kenmore on Loch Tay) in July 1122 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. ^[1]

Alexander did not remarry and Walter Bower wrote that he planned an Augustinian Priory at the Eilean nam Ban dedicated to Sybilla's memory, and he may have taken steps to have her venerated. ^[8]

Issue (None)

Sybil and her husband Alexander had no children. ^[6]

Sybilla and Alexander might have been the parents of Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair ^[1]

However, Alexander, by an unknown mistress, he had an illegitimate son, Malcolm. He becaome King of Scotland in 1107 on the death of his older brother, Edgar, King of Scots. He and his wife, Sibyl, founded the monastery of Scone in Perthshire in 1113-14. ^[6]

Research Notes

1. “Bower has rightly corrected Wyntown in the parentage of Sybille. {Sc. Chr., vol. L p. 291.) That she was the daughter of Henry, not of William, is evident from her own authority as a witness to a charter by her husband; ‘Ego Sibilla regina Scotorum, filia Henrici regis Anglie.' (Sir J. Dalr.j p. 371.) Alexander could not marry a daughter of his own sister, who was Henry's first wife; and there was no issue by his second marriage. Therefore Sybille was one of the many natural children of that King.” Andrew of Wyntoun, The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1879), 243-244.

I can't find has no source for her birth 12 Jul 1092 at Domfront, Orne, Basse-Normandie, France, but the DNB guesses her birth date was closer to 1100.

Lawrie, 1905, pp. 28, 30, 42, 44, 61, 168, 262, 291, 294, 325

• p. 28-30 signs a charter that is possibly spurious, to Scone Priory and dated circa 1120 as Sibilla Regina Scottorum, filia Henrici Regis Angliae
• p. 42 - her husband Alexander granted the island of Loch Tay to the Canons of Scone circa 1123 perhaps in the memory of this wife (pro anima reginae Sibillae)

Gift of Beeth

She gave Beeth to the Abbey of Dunfermline, confirmed by charters of King David circa 1128 (p. 61) & circa 1150 (p. 168)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Wikipedia: Sybilla of Normandy Accessed 2/12/2019 jhd
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9} Charles Cawley. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Medieval Lands Database. Sibyl of England Accessed 2/12/2019 jhd
3. ↑ Kathleen Thompson, "Affairs of State: the illegitimate children of Henry I", Journal of Medieval History Volume 29, Issue 2, June 2003, Pages 129-151
4. ↑ Oram, p. 65; a date around 1114 would place the marriage at about the same time as that of David and Maud of Huntingdon. Cited by Wikipedia.
5. ↑ Duncan, p. 65; Oram, p. 71. Cited by Wikipedia.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry. By the author: Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013. Volume I, pages 17-18
7. ↑ Jessica Nelson, ‘Sybilla (d. 1122)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 2008
8. ↑ Oram, p. 71. Cited by Wikipedia.