kinswoman, Agnes of Laval, to become the third abbess of the convent.^5
Blanche proved to be an assertive and acquisitive leader. We know,
for instance, that she acquired estates and possessions in places like
Aulnay and Gonesse, just to the north-east of Paris, and along the banks
of the river Oise.^6 Naturally, of course, the meteoric rise of the new
house prompted jealousy and hostility from others who were not quite
so fortunate. For example, the abbey of Saint-Sauveur in Evreux
complained that Maubuisson was not paying various customary dues.
For her part, Blanche replied imperiously, refusing to back down. In
the end, the abbot of Cîteaux intervened and arranged a compromise.
Maubuisson agreed to give 100sols tournoisa year to Saint-Sauveur.^7
Although the favour of the French crown always helped her through,
Blanche was obliged, in return, to support and assist the king, especially
when he was infinancial difficulties during the late 1290s and early
1300s.^8 The abbess died in July 1308, ‘in the odour of sanctity’.^9
Although a great deal is known about her tomb (which, unfortunately,
is now destroyed), perhaps the most interesting of the memorials to her
was a reliquary, decorated with images of her newly canonized kinsman,
Louis IX, and his sons. At the base was the following inscription, which
was admirably short and to the point:‘CE VESSEL / DONA BLA /
NCHE DE EU / PRIES POUR / LI–’.^10
Naturally enough, Alfonso also identified with his wife’s forebears,
through whom he had acquired his new toponym, land and comital
status. We can see something of this in the patient work that he did to
establish himself and his dynasty in their new heartland, north-eastern
Normandy.^11 It may be at its clearest, however, in his efforts to recover
the lost English estates of the house of Eu: namely, the important
honours of Tickhill in Yorkshire and Hastings in Sussex. These lordships
are often lazily described as part of the‘terra Normannorum’, even
though the vast majority of the latter had been confiscated, somefifty
years earlier, at the height of the early thirteenth-century conflict between
the kings of England and France. It is worth noting that the honours of
Tickhill and Hastings were different. They had drifted into royal hands at
(^5) A. Dutilleux and J. Depoin,L’Abbaye de Maubuisson: histoire et cartulaire(Pontoise,
1882 – 5), 15 n. 1.
(^6) Vergé de Taillis,Chroniques de l’abbaye royale de Maubuisson, 39 – 40.
(^7) For this and other similar examples, seeibid.,40–3.
(^8) Dutilleux and Depoin,L’Abbaye de Maubuisson,15–16.
(^9) Vergé de Taillis,Chroniques de l’abbaye royale de Maubuisson,43.
(^10) There are various slightly differing versions of this text. See Dutilleux and Depoin,
11 L’Abbaye de Maubuisson, 16 n. 3, 117–18, 150.
See the various charters issued by Alfonso and his wife which can be found in the
Cartulaire des comtes d’Eu(BnF, MS Latin 13904).
The House of Eu and Guînes 105