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Birth:          ABT 1032 France
Death:          13 Oct 1100 

Notes
captor of Harold
Crusader on 1st Crusade
companion of William the Conqueror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_I,_Count_of_Ponthieu
Guy I of Ponthieu (also known in the Bayeux Tapestry as Wido) was born sometime in 
the mid to late 1020s and died 13 October 1100. He succeeded his brother 
Enguerrand as Count of Ponthieu.
Life[edit]

Guy was a younger son of Hugh II, Count of Ponthieu and about 1053 succeeded his 
brother Enguerrand II, as Count of Ponthieu.[1] The Ponthievin alliance with Duke 
William of Normandy had earlier been secured by the marriage of Enguerrand to 
Adelaide of Normandy, Duke William's sister.[2] But the marriage was apparently 
annulled due to consanguinity c.1149/50.[3] Enguerrand's and Guy's sister was 
married to William of Talou, son of Richard II, Duke of Normandy.[4] William of Talou 
had built a strong castle at Arques, and from it (in 1053) he defied his nephew the 
youthful Duke of Normandy.[5] As "family", the comital house of Ponthieu supported 
the rebellion.

Duke William put Arques under siege, and then remained mobile with another force in 
the countryside nearby. He was aware that Normandy was being threatened by the 
armies of King Henry of France, who wanted to bring his young, former vassal to heel; 
and that Normandy's erstwhile allies from Ponthieu would also be coming to break the 
siege of Arques. Young Count Enguerrand led a Ponthievin army into the Talou to 
relieve Arques, and arrived first, but Duke William successfully ambushed them and 
Enguerrand was killed (legend says, within sight and sound of the walls of Arques, 
from which his sister witnessed the demise of her brother). Upon learning of this 
serious reverse, the vacillating Henry withdrew his forces at once back across the 
Norman border. William of Talou was compelled to surrender Arques and was banished 
for life. (Alternatively, the story goes that Henry reinforced Arques, and Duke William 
lured part of the French army, including Enguerrand and the Ponthievins, away by a 
feigned flight, then turned on them and won a battle: Henry then withdrew, forcing the 
surrender of Arques not long after.)

With the death of his older brother (who was without male issue or heirs), Guy 
assumed the comital duties: this is the first mention of Guy in the historical record.

In February 1054, Henry was again ready to chastise Duke William: he reentered the 
duchy with a large army of his own liegemen and an Angevin army led by Count 
Geoffrey of Anjou. This combined force moved down the Seine toward Rouen, while 
Henry's brother Eudes "led" a second army, along with Guy and Count Rainald of 
Clairmont. The Franco-Ponthievin army was undisciplined, and fragmented out of 
control to plunder and pillage the countryside around Mortemer. They were attacked 
suddenly by Normans from Eu and other districts of northeastern Normandy. In the 
Battle of Mortemer, Guy's younger brother Waleran was mortally wounded, and Guy 
himself was captured. He spent two years as a prisoner in Normandy, while his uncle, 
Bishop Guy of Amiens, ruled Ponthieu as regent.

Evidently, from this point on, Count Guy was a vassal of Duke William of Normandy.

Harold Godwinson and the Battle of Hastings[edit]

In 1064, Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, was shipwrecked on the shores of 
Ponthieu and captured by Count Guy who took him to his castle of Beaurain on the 
River Canche, as the Bayeux Tapestry relates: hic apprehendit wido Haroldum et duxit 
em ad Belrem et ibi eum tenuit ("Here Guy seized Harold and led him to Beaurain and 
held him there"). Duke William demanded the release of the earl, and Count Guy 
delivered Harold Godwinson up after being paid a ransom for him. Harold was not 
released from Normandy until he too had sworn on the Holy Relics to be Duke 
William's vassal, and to aid him to the throne of England. (This story is pictured 
prominently in the Bayeux Tapestry where he is called Wido.)

In 1066, Harold accepted the crown of England upon the death of Edward the 
Confessor, thus precipitating the war that resulted in the Norman Conquest.

According to a very convincing interpretation of The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, 
Hugh, another of Guy's brothers, was a participant in the Battle of Hastings, and had 
a hand in the slaying of Harold. Guy I had a son, Enguerrand, who must have died 
before the Carmen was composed (no later than 1068): when the Carmen refers to 
Hugh, Guy's brother, as "the noble heir of Ponthieu", we must assume Enguerrand's 
death as a fact, either at the time of the Conquest, or shortly before.

Issue[edit]

His daughter, Agnes, married Robert of Bellême. Their son, William III of Ponthieu, 
assumed the comital title upon the death of his mother, sometime before 1111.

In popular culture[edit]

Guy was portrayed by Bernard Hepton in the two-part BBC TV play Conquest (1966), 
part of the series Theatre 625.

Parents
DE MONTREUIL Hugh II (ABT 1015 - 20 Nov 1052)
D'AUMALE Bertha (ABT 1010 - )

Siblings
____ Guy I (ABT 1032 - 13 Oct 1100)
DE MONTREUIL Enguerrand (ABT 1033 - 25 Oct 1053)

Marriage To OF AMIENS Ada (ABT 1036 - Mar 1066)
    m.  

Notes


Children by OF AMIENS Ada ABT 1036 - Mar 1066
DE PONTHIEU Agnes (ABT 1060 - 1103)

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