Alys, Countess of the Vexin

Alys of France, Countess of the Vexin (4 October 1160 – c. 1220) was the daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife Constance of Castile.^[1]

Life

Alys was the half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France, Louis's children by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the younger sister of Marguerite of France. Just five weeks after Constance died giving birth to Alys, Louis married Adèle of Champagne, by whom he had two further children, including the future Philip II of France.

In January 1169, Louis and Henry II of England signed a contract for the marriage between Alys and Henry's son Richard.^[2] The 8 year-old Alys was then sent to England as Henry's ward.

In 1177, Cardinal Peter of Saint Chrysogonus, on behalf of Pope Alexander III, threatened to place England's continental possessions under an interdict if Henry did not proceed with the marriage.^[3] There were widespread rumors that Henry had not only made Alys his mistress, but that she had borne him a child. Henry died in 1189. Richard married Berengaria of Navarre on 12 May 1191, while still officially engaged to Alys.

Philip had offered Alys to Prince John, but Eleanor prevented the match.^[4] Alys married William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, on 20 August 1195, and had three daughters: Jean (stillborn), Marie, Countess of Ponthieu, and Isabelle. Marie was the grandmother of Eleanor of Castile, queen of Edward I of England and so ultimately Alys became ancestor of the English royal family.

Portrayals in fiction

As "Alasia of France", she appears in Eleanor Anne Porden's 1822 epic poem Cœur de Lion. In it, Alys joins the army of Saladin during the Third Crusade to avenge herself on Richard for rejecting her.

Alys has a minor role in Sharon Kay Penman's novels, Time and Chance and Devil's Brood. In Judith Koll Healey's novel The Canterbury Papers, Alys is sent on a mission to England to retrieve some letters from Canterbury Cathedral for Eleanor of Aquitaine. In Healey’s second novel, “The Rebel Princess,” Princess Alys confronts corrupt court officials and religious fanatics in the pursuit of her disappeared illegitimate son Francis, whose very existence could unsettle the thrones of England and France. In Christy English's novel "The Queen's Pawn," Alais comes to England to marry Prince Richard only to become the mistress of King Henry II.

Alys (spelt "Alais" in the play) is Henry's lover in James Goldman's play The Lion in Winter. She was played by Jane Merrow in the 1968 film adaptation, by Yuliya Vysotskaya in the 2003 TV adaptation and by Sonya Cassidy in the 2011 London theatre production.

She was played by Katherine DeMille in The Crusades; by Susan Shaw in the 1963 British children's TV series Richard the Lionheart; and by Lorna Charles and Lucy Gutteridge in The Devil's Crown.

References

Sources

• Churchill, Winston. A History of the English Speaking People.
• Poole, A.L. Domesday Book to Magna Carta.
• Ralph of Diceto
• Roger of Hovedon
• Benedict of Peterborough
• Gerald of Wales