Waldrada: Wife, Not Wife? Queen, Not Queen?

 Waldrada (death of Lothair II, 9 August 869)

In 855, the king of Lotharingia, Lothair II, and a woman named Theutberga, daughter of Boso the Elder, were married. Lothair was a young man, probably about eighteen years old, and had newly come to the throne. His wife's father, Boso, was a Frankish nobleman who played an important role in the divided Carolingian empire: he was count of Arles, count of Valois, count of Italy, and count of Burgundy. 

In 843, Charlemagne's empire was divided among 
his three grandsons, Charles the Bold,
Louis (Ludwig) the German, and Lothair I--
who further divided his kingdom, Middle Francia,
among his three sons, with Lothair II receiving
the northern portion, Lotharingia 

As historian Charles West notes, Lothair's decision to marry Theutberga was a political one: after the death of his father, the king of Middle Francia, Lothair was in a precarious position, his kingdom squeezed by his two powerful uncles, Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, and Louis the German, king of East Francia. Since Lothair's father had subdivided Middle Francia into three kingdoms for each of his three sons, the new king of Lotharingia needed "to secure his fragile position," so he "hastily entered into" the marriage; Theutberga's "kin group," in particular her father and her brother, Hubert, count of Valois, offered Lothair valuable support.

But before Lothair entered into this advantageous marriage with Boso the Eldedr's daughter, he had a long-standing relationship with a woman named Waldrada.

While Theutberga's family was an influential one and Lothair's marriage to Theutberga brought him an imprtant alliance, little is known about Waldrada or about the status of her union with Lothair. In her book Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages, historian Ruth Mazo Karras explores the many forms of "sexual unions" that were practiced in the early Middle Ages. (Many of them challenging modern notions about "traditional" marriage.) Karras notes the work of earlier scholars who identified what they called an épouse de jeunesse--a young man, like Lothair, might be provided with a suitable sexual partner until the time was right for a political alliance. These arrangements were only temporary. Another scholarly view is that such a relationship was a kind of "trial marriage," arranged by a woman's family "in the hopes that the relationship would last and turn into a real, recognized marriage." Another possibility, more simply, is that Waldrada was simply Lothair's "boyhood mistress," that the two had found their way to one another and enjoyed a sexual (or romantic) relationship. Any one of these might be the case--there is just no way to determine which one.

Whatever the nature of their relationship, it would endure even after Lothair married Theutberga. Waldrada gave birth to at least four of Lothair's children--the first of them, a son named Hugh, was born in 855, just before or shortly after Lothair's marriage. 

And as historian Pierre Riché notes, this situation was not a problem, at least at first, for Lothair--who had his "advantageous marriage" even as he "kept his cherished mistress." Riché offers no opinion about how state of affairs this might have affected Theutberga and Waldrada.

But by 857, Lothair decided that he no longer wanted to be married to Theutberga, and he wanted to be rid of her. It may be that he no longer needed the political alliance with Theutberga's family--West speculates that Lothair might have felt frustrated and overwhelmed by his wife's relatives and hoped to "free himself from their influence." 

But Theutberga's family wasn't the only source of political pressure he felt--Lothair needed an heir to stave off the threats posed by his two powerful uncles. And so, despite the brevity of his marriage, Lothair decided Theutberga was incapable of bearing him the heir he needed. He wanted his marriage annulled.*

Whatever the reasons for his decision, Lothair wasn't only focused on getting out of his marriage to Theutberga. He also wanted his relationship with Waldrada to be recognized and to have their children legitimized.

His efforts to set aside Theutberga were to occupy Lothair from 857 until his death in 869. It proved to be no easy task. And no matter how hard the Frankish king tried to bend ecclesiastical authorities to his will, his machinations were unsuccessful. 

This Carolingian family tree
is from a twelfth-century
"universal chronicle"--
on the tree is Lothair II,
who unforunately (for him)
is not depicted with any wife 
at all (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek MS
Lat. fol. 295; the image is on
80v, but you can view the
entire ms. at this link)

I've already relayed at some length Theutberga's situation in this ninth-century marital debacle. Her marriage to Lothair may have been beneficial for her father and brother as well as for Lothair, at least at first, but it brought nothing but unhappiness to Theutberta herself. In his fight to have his marriage annulled (or to be divorced from Theutberga), Lothair accused her of incest and other sexual abominations, subjected her to physical examination, and forced her to defend her name and honor through a trial by ordeal. When Lothair was compelled to take her back as his wife, he imprisoned her, had her tortured to produce a "confession" of her supposed perversions, and confined her in a convent. Theutberga ultimately fled, her confession recognized as invalid because it was coerced. Although ecclesiastical authorities, including the pope, ordered Lothair to recognize Theutberga as his wife and return to her, he refused to do so. Even when Theutberga herself wanted to end her marriage, that was not to be.

While Theutberga's trials as Lothair's rejected wife are lamentable, Waldrada's as his preferred "wife" are no better, though given her anomalous position, her experiences during the long conflict are less well documented. The extended ecclesiastical wrangling over the marriage focused on Lothair and Theutberga. 

One of the complicating factors in the ongoing struggle is not only the nature of Waldrada's relationship with Lothair but but also her uncertain origin--while Theutberga's familial status and support are clear, Waldrada's lack of connections seem to contribute to her predicament. Theutberga's powerful male relatives intervened to insist on the legality of her marriage, even if their motivations were to protect their own power and not her feelings. But no one supported Waldrada. Well, except for Lothair . . . 

Early sources do not have much to say about Waldrada herself, much less her family connections. In the Frankish Annales Bertiniani (The Annals of Saint Bertin), a contemporary (ninth century) history recorded at the Abbey of St. Bertin (Omer, France), the chronicler notes in 853 that Lothair's father, Emperor Lothair, had taken two mistresses, identified as "serving-women," and adds, with a sniff, that the emperor's sons, like their father, "gave themselves up to adulterous affairs." In this source, Waldrada is simply identified as Lothair's "concubine" (Hlotharius Waldradam concubinam), and it is suggested that she used witchcraft to achieve her hold over Lothair.

In his support of Lothair II's desire for recognition of his union with Waldrada, Adventius, bishop of Metz, rejected any suggestion that Waldrada was a concubine. In letters written after a council held at Aachen in 862, Lothair's advocate asserted that the king had been formally married to Waldrada--that the marriage had taken place before Lothair I, nobles, and bishops (though Adventius says he himself was not there to witness the event!), and that Waldrada had received a bridal gift, provided by Lothair I. Adventius also referred to Waldrada not only as a free woman, but as a woman of noble birth. Regardless of his claims about Waldrada's status, He offers no no specifics about her family, and most surviving records documenting Lothair's efforts to get rid of Theutberga continue to refer to Waldrada as his "concubine." 

Here's a detail from the 
Carolingian family tree
showing Lothair II--
unfortunately for him, 
the family tree doesn't
give him a wife (but he
is in a castle tower, so 
I guess it's not all bad 
for him)

Interestingly, a specific family connection for Waldrada emerges in later chronicles. In the tenth-century Vita Sancti Deicoli (Life of Saint Deicolus), Waldrada is said to be a member of the Alsatian Etichonid family, and the chronicle also claims she was also related to Eberhard II, count of Nordgau (Waldrada…Heberardo comitis consanguinitatis). (Lothair II's mother, Ermengarde of Tours, is a descendant of the Etichonid family.) Despite offering these family connections, the author reiterates the claim that Waldrada had used witchcraft to secure the affections of Lothair and refers to her as a "she-wolf." This connection, between Waldrada and the Etichonids, seems to have been based principally on the name of Lothair and Waldrada's son, Hugh--it is a common name in the Etichonid family.

In later sources, more is said about Waldrada's background. According to the Gesta Treverorum (The Deeds of the Trevians), a collection of materials begun by Benedictine monks in the twelfth century (the monks were from the Abbey of St. Mathias in Trier, or Trèves, thus "Trevians"), Waldrada is identified as the sister of Gunther, archbishop of Cologne (Waldradam sororem…Guntheri Coloniensis archiepiscopus).

In the thirteenth century, a Cistercian monk named Caeserius of Heisterbach compiled lists of church leaders in his Cæsarii Heisterbacensis Catalogus. He also writes that Waldrada is the sister of Gunther, archbishop of Cologne (Waldradam, sororem Guntheri archiepiscopi Coloniensis) and, further, claims that Gunther encouraged Lothair to ignore his marriage to Theutberga and return to Waldrada. 

This account of Waldrada, "her brother," and his efforts on her behalf also appears in the Annals of Novesia (Annales Novesienses), compiled by Augustinian canons in the Oberkloster, near Neuss, and founded by members from the cathedral in Cologne. Again, this chronicle notes Gunther's approval of 'his sister's" relationship with Lothair and indicates that Gunther approved Lothair's divorce from Theutberga, who was his "legitimate wife" (legitima uxore Tyberga).

This identification of Waldrada was embraced in the nineteenth century by the historian Alfred-August Ernouf, in his history of Waldrada, Lothar II, and "their descendants" (Histoire de Waldrade, de Lother II, et de leurs descendants). Indeed, the first section of his history is on "the family of Waldrada." According to Ernouf, the archbishop of Cologne was not Waldrada's brother but her uncle, "the most active auxiliary of his niece and Lothar." Further, he claimed that Theutgard, archbishop of Trier, was Waldrada's brother. 

Where did these family connections for Waldrada's come from? Lacking any documentation for Waldrada's background, later chroniclers may have supplied her these family connections as a way of explaining the support of these clergymen for Lothair (and, thus, Waldrada) as the king sought to separate himself from Theutberga. Both Archbishop Gunther of Cologne and Archbishop Theutgaud of Trier aided Lothair II in his efforts to get rid of Theutberga--in 860, they obligingly annulled Lothair's marriage to her, and in 862, they judged that Lothair had been married to Waldrada all along. In 863, they traveled to Rome to present their findings to the pope, who promptly put their findings before a synod, where they were rejected. When the two archbishops refused to submit, the pope excommunicated them and then deposed them. But if Gunther and Theutgaud were indeed closely related to Waldrada, it did not protect them from Lothair's wrath at their failure.

I've spent a fair amount of time here with what is known--and what is speculated--about Waldrada's social status and family connections because her lack of support seems relevant to the widespread opposition by the Church to Lothair's efforts to set aside his marriage to Theutberga. If Waldrada had family as significant as Theutberga, the outcome for her may have been different. Not that Theutberga's life was made easy by her family connections. 

For a brief period of time, between 862, when Gunther and Theutgad had decided matters in Lothair's favor, and 863, when Pope Nicholas I decided against him, Waldrada was "recognized" as queen of Lotharingia and, as Charles West notes, she "participated," at least for a short while, in Lothair's court, "in the full theatre of medieval queenship." In his book on Lothair's divorce, historian Karl Heideker writes that after the king presented Waldrada to his court with a retinue, she was acclaimed queen and crowned. But by 865, Lothair was once more compelled to take Theutberga back as his wife. The couple appeared together, both wearing their crowns, in August of that year. As for Waldrada, she was summoned to Rome. According to an account in the Annales Bertiniani (The Annals of Saint Bertin), Waldrada set off with the papal legate, but at some point she took off, and in 866, she was excommunicated. 

In a letter to Frankish bishops dated 13 June 866, the pope provides a few interesting details about Waldrada. After outlining his summons of Waldrada and her refusal to travel to Rome, Pope Nicholas claims that she returned to Lotharingia so that she "might rule over it." She "dominates the state" and she continues "plotting the destruction of Queen Theutberga." And although she does not seem to have returned to court, Nicholas writes that she has placed herself so that she has "easier access" to Lothair, and "he to her." And then, while noting that some critics say that if Waldrada is so condemned, Lothair should be blamed also, Nicholas seems to dismiss that--Waldrada is the one responsible for leading the king into sin and causing all the problems. (Crucially, West observes, the pope does not mention any supporters or family for Waldrada.)

During his reign, Lothair issued at least one royal charter, from 863, referring to Waldrada as "our beloved wife" and her son, Hugh, as "our son." After the 865 papal decision, Waldrada nevertheless functioned as his queen--even though she did not return publicly to Lothair, those wishing favors from him sought out Waldrada, and she is also said to have counseled the king about ecclesiastical appointments (hmmm). In 867, Lothair made Hugh the duke of Alsace.

In 867, Pope Nicholas died, and--ever hopeful he would achieve his goal--Lothair  put his case before the new pope, Adrian II, who at least removed the excommunication from Waldrada. (His letter to Waldrada on this occasion is available at Epistolae--click here.) Lothair himself took off for Rome, met with Pope Adrian, and presented him with gifts. Unfortunately, the king died on his return journey to Lotharingia. (His death date, 9 August, provides the occasion fot this post.)

As for Waldrada? Like her rival, Theutberga, she retired to a convent--sources indicate she entered the convent of Remiremont after Lothair's death and died there. The year of her death is unknown. 

Waldrada's son with Lothair, Hugh, was declared illegitimate and thus unable to inherit the kingdom of Lotharingia--it was to go to Lothair's brother, Louis, but ultimately it went to Charles the Bald. Hugh spent nearly two decades after his father's death trying to recover Lotharingia, but in 888 he was blinded and sent off to a series of monasteries. He died in 895. 

The Carolingian family tree (above, right)
does include Waldrada's daughter,
Bertha (who gets to keep not only her
second husband, Adalbert of Tuscany,
but also her son, Guy, for whom
she was regent after Adalbert's death)

Waldrada's daughter Bertha (b. 863-68) was married to Theobald of Arles about the year 879. You won't believe this, but Theobald was the son of Theutberga's brother . . . Bertha  gave birth to four children during her marriage, the eldest named Hugh, after her brother, and a daughter named, you guessed it, Theutberga. (She also had a son named Boso.) After the death of Theobald, Bertha married Adalbert II, margrave of Tuscany, with whom she had at least three children. After Adalbert's death, Bertha was regent for their eldest son, Guy.

Gisela (b. 860-865) was married to a Viking, Godfrid Haraldsson, son of the Danish king Harald Klak. Godfrid was baptized in 822, with Lothair I as his godparent, but after remaining part of Lothair's retinue for some time, he ultimately rebelled against him. In 882, after being baptized once again (did he forget?), he married Gisela and was named duke of Frisia. After Godfrid's death, Gisela became abbess of Nivelles. She died in the year 907.

Ermengarde (b. c 861) may have been married to Berlion, vicomte of Vienne, and it has been suggested that she traveled to Provence with her sister when Bertha married Theobald of Arles. This identification is not certain, however--Berlion did marry an Ermengarde, but it may not have been Waldrada's daughter, Ermengarde. Ermengarde of Lotharingia may not have married at all, but she did become a nun at the abbey of Santa Giustina in Lucca--the epitaph recorded at the time of her death identifies her as the daughter of Lothair. 

Lothair's divorce is much discussed, researched and analyzed in work by many great scholars, some of whom I have linked to here. Unfortunately, with the exception of Karras and West (links, above) not much information is provided about Waldrada. The exception is Ernouf's nineteenth-century Histoire de Waldrade, de Lother II et de leurs descendants which is easily accessed via the Internet Archive, but which is not accessible if your don't read French. 

You may be interested in a podcast from History Extra: "Lothar II vs Theutberga: A Marriage Scandal that Shook the Ninth Century" (click here). If you can't listen to it at that link, search wherever you usually find your podcasts--the History Extra series is available on Apple, for instance, and the episode is #1929.

*The details and chronology of events in what follows vary significantly in the sources I've used for what follows, and I have done my best to produce a reasonable summary here. These sources also vary in the word they use to describe the separation Lothair desires, employing both "annulment" and "divorce." In canon law, these are not the same, and I am not always sure which is technically correct at each step of Lothair's process. For an accessible version of Lothair's effort to divorce Theutberga, "The Marriage of Lothair and Theutberga," click here. This essay appears in Encyclopedia.com, usually a reliable resource, but I can't find an author. For a longer read, see Karl Heidecker, The Divorce of Lothair II: Christian Marriage and Political Power in the Carolingian World, trans. Tanis M. Guest.

Bertha of Burgundy, queen of the Franks? Sort of?

Bertha of Burgundy, queen of the Franks? (succession of Conrad I to the kingdom of Burgundy, 11 July 937)

I am back again to profile yet another of the wives of Robert "the Pious," king of the Franks. But, hey! It's not like the guy is Henry VIII or anything--he only had three wives, and he didn't kill any of them . . . (Once you've read about Robert's three marriages, you'll see why I can't call him "the Pious" without the quotation marks.)

It's not that poor Robert's wives kept dying on him either. Rather, poor Robert needed an heir, but he had a terrible time finding a wife whom he found suitable--his first wife was Rozala of Italy, but he repudiated her because she was too old. Then he married Bertha, who wasn't that much younger than Rozala, but he thought she was better. And then, when he was forced to separate from Bertha because his marriage was deemed "incestuous," he married Constance of Arles. She bore Robert the children neither of his previous wives had managed to produce for him, but he tried to get rid of her too . . . You just have to love "traditional marriage"!

A twelfth-century image
of Bertha of Burgundy
(detail from the Genealogy
of the Ottonians) 

So that's the background for today's post: poor "pious" Robert who just needed a wife. And although he had three, one of whom obligingly gave him an heir (and then some--Constance gave birth to seven surviving children), none of the women he married seemed to be just what he was looking for. 

All that said, here is what we know about the second of Robert's three wives, Bertha of Burgundy.

Bertha (or Berthe) of Burgundy was the daughter of Conrad I, king of Burgundy. Conrad was the second king of a united Upper and Lower Burgundy, inheriting the throne from his father, Rudolf II, who died on on 11 July 937 (and thus the date for today's post). Conrad's mother, by the way, was Bertha of Swabia, who has her own interesting marital connections.* 

As for Bertha of Burgundy's mother, she was Matilda of France, who was Conrad I's second wife. (Conrad's first wife, Adelaide of Bellay, had given birth to at least one child, a daughter named Gisela, born c. 955-60. Adela seems to have died about the year 963, since a charter dated 23 March refers to her, suggesting she was still alive.) Matilda, whose marriage to Conrad thus took place around 964, was the daughter of the Carolingian Louis IV, king of the Franks, and Gerberga of Saxony. (Louis was Gerberga's second husband--she had had four children with her first husband, Gilbert, duke of Lorraine) and then, during her marriage to Louis, she bore eight more, including Bertha.

Bertha of Burgundy was first married to Otto (or Odo or Eudes) I, count of Blois, probably between the years 978-80, and during the years of this marriage, she gave birth to at least three sons and a daughter. In 986, a charter refers to the presence of Bertha, the countess, during the signing of the document--also present were two sons, Theobald and Otto, who was "still in the cradle" (adhuc in cunabulo). Another charter, from 989, also refers to her sons, naming Robert, Theobald, and Otto. A donation in 1001 and a charter from 1024 refer to Agnès, Bertha's daughter. Two other sons may have been born, though their existence seems less certain--in 1007 a charter about property is confirmed by "Count Otto and his brother Landry," and in 1024, a record notes that a boy named Thierry was buried "at his brother Theobald's feet."

As you can see from these references, the birth order of Bertha's children isn't clear. The most reliable source I have found for this period is the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, which I've linked to several times, above. The FMG suggests the following about the births and deaths (and possible birth order?) of Bertha's children: Robert (b. date unknown - d. 989-95); Theobald (b. c. 979-81 - d. 11 July 1004); Otto (b. 982-3 - 15 November 1037); Agnès (fl. 1001 - 1024); Thierry (d. c. 1024); and Landry (d. after 27 September 1007).

  

At some point during the decade and a half of her marriage to Otto, Bertha of Burgundy, then countess of Blois, met the man who would become her second "husband," Robert, king of the Franks. In fact, Robert acted as godfather to one of her children. (An online source suggests this was Theobald, but I have not been able to verify that information.)

Bertha's husband, Otto, died on 12 March 996, leaving her a widow. A few months later, on 24 October 996, Robert's father, Hugh Capet, also died. It was after the death of his father that Robert, now king of the Franks, decided to marry Bertha of Burgundy.

Genealogy of the Ottonians,

including Rudolf II and Berthe

(Royal Chronicle of Cologne

[Chronica Regia Coloniensis],

Cod. Guelf. 74.3 Aug. 2°;

Heinemann-Nr. 2710, fol. 114v)

There was only one problem. In 996, Robert was already married--he had been married to Rozala of Italy since 988, although he had separated himself from her within a year or two of their marriage. But after the death of his father, who had arranged his marriage to Rozala, Robert decided to free himself entirely from his first wife, and he formally repudiated her. The two were divorced. (Rozala doesn't seem to have fought this action, and she returned to Flanders, where she was reunited with her son, Baldwin IV, count of Flanders. Rozala, once queen of the Franks, would never remarry. She died in Flanders in 1003. 

Interestingly, one of the principal reasons Robert gave for discarding Rozala was that she was too old to bear him children. She was not infertile or incapable, that much was clear--Rozala had been married before, and she had borne two children, an all-important male heir and a girl. As for her age--there is a great deal of uncertainty about the date of Rozala's birth (and of Robert's, for that matter) as well as a great deal of exaggeration about the difference in age between Rozala and Robert. But the best historical evidence, as opposed to misogynist story-telling, is that Rozala was probably ten (or perhaps fifteen) years older than Robert, that when she was repudiated for being "too old" for Robert, she was likely in her mid-thirties while he was in his mid-twenties.

But here's the thing--Bertha was not much younger than Rozala. In recent analysis, historian Jean Dhondt suggests that Rozala may have been born just before 962. Bertha meanwhile, was born in 964 or 965. 

But the age of his second wife was the least of Robert's problems. Unfortunately, Robert and the woman he now wanted to marry were too closely related--Robert's father, Hugh Capet, had considered Bertha when he was first looking for a marital alliance for his son, but he rejected her as a possible bride because the two were cousins. A marriage between them would be considered incestuous by the Church because they were too closely related by blood.** Moreover, their "spiritual affinity," the bond that had been created with Robert's role in the baptism of Bertha's child, compounded their incestuous (by contemporary standards) union.*** 

The two, Robert and Bertha, knew about the problematic nature of their relationship, but in December 996, despite the union being "in breach of canon law," they married anyway, the ceremony performed by the obliging archbishop of Tours with some additional French bishops witnessing the marriage.

In reaction, Pope Gregory V convened a synod in Pavia in January 977 (where he had gone after he had been forced to leave Rome). Robert and Bertha were condemned and prescribed seven years of penance. (Archambaud of Tours, who had married the pair, was summoned to appear before the synod and if he failed to appear, threatened with "suspension from communion.") If they did not separate, Robert was threatened with excommunication. And, for good measure, the French clerics who had supported Robert were 'rebuked." But this ruling had no effect on Robert, and so a general council in Rome was convened in 998 and "threatened the king with anathema" (menaça le roi d'anathème). 

Still Pope Gregory V didn't live long enough to bother Robert very much--the pope died in early 999, to be succeeded by Pope Sylvester II, a man that Robert hoped would be more amenable to the king of the Franks. After all, as a younger man, then Gerbert of Aurillac had supported Robert's father, Hugh Capet, in particular when the king of the Franks wanted to establish a co-kingship with his son, and Gerbert had also functioned as a kind of teacher for Robert. But perhaps Robert shouldn't have been so hopeful when Gerbert became pope--at some danger to himself, Gerbert had refused Robert and Bertha when he had been asked to perform their marriage.

Jean-Paul Laurens, 1875

The Excommunication of Robert the Pious

L'Excommunication de Robert le Pieux

(Paris, Le Musée d'Orsay)

As it happened, then, the new pope proved less supportive than Robert might have wished--or, maybe not. Because in 999, after three years of marriage, Robert's second "wife" had failed to provide him with an heir. A single pregnancy had resulted in a stillborn son, which perhaps was a sign of God's disapproval of this marriage. 

In any case, after yet another synod addressed the issue, Pope Sylvester II, formerly Gerbert of Aurillac, confirmed Robert's condemnation. Still, Robert and Bertha stayed together. They finally separated in September 1001 after Rome repeated the call for Robert to separate himself from Bertha and put his kingdom under a sentence of excommunication. Still without an heir, Robert decided at last that Bertha had to go. Robert "the pious" repudiated his second wife about the year 1003. 

Jean-Paul Laurens, 1883
The Parting of King Robert and Bertha
(Philadelphia Museum of Art)--
unfortunately, the painting is very dark,
but if you click the link and go to the original,
you can enlarge the image and see
the suffering on Bertha's face

Still in need of an heir, Robert "the Pious" married Constance of Arles in 1004. It was a somewhat peculiar arrangement, at least from a modern point of view. I'll let historian Kathleen Nolan describe it:

Bertha [of Burgundy]'s son, young count Odo II of Blois, married Ermengarde of Auvergne, granddaughter of Adelaide of Anjou and her first husband, Stephen of Brioude, while Robert himself wed Constance, daughter of the same Adelaide of Anjou and her last husband, Count William "the Liberator" of Provence. 

In other words, while Bertha's son married the granddaughter of Adelaide of Anjou, her former husband (right after he divorced her) married the daughter of the same woman. Got that?

As Nolan writes, a royal marriage was difficult in the best of circumstances, since a bride "entered a rather closed community" where there were already long-established connections and loyalties. But poor Constance encountered a rather different set of circumstances--she faced "personal animosity, political intrigue, and clerical hostility." 

None of the whole affair between Bertha and Robert seemed to do much damage Robert's reputation, however. Remember, his sobriquet: "the Pious." In his biography of the king, for example, Robert's chaplain, Helgaud de Fleury, did mention the unfortunate nature of the king's marriage to Bertha, but rather than condemning the sin of incest, Helgaud regarded the whole affair as yet another reason to praise Robert "the Pious"--Helgaud compared the "virtuous" and "humble" King Robert to the biblical King David and then explained that Robert's sin had been "washed away" because he had recognized his fault and prayed for forgiveness.

 A distraught Bertha of Burgundy,
detail from Jean-Paul Laurens,
The Excommunication
of Robert the Pious

Despite Helgaud's claims about the king recognizing his sin and praying for forgiveness, Robert wasn't quite done with Bertha of Burgundy. In the words of medieval historian Constance Bouchard, "Robert repeatedly attempted . . . to rejoin Bertha." There is some evidence that, as late as 1008, when Robert visited Rome, he was trying to get Pope John XIII to grant him a divorce his third wife, Constance of Arles, in order to reunite with Bertha. 

According to historian Penelope Ann Adair, Robert was back in Rome again, in 1010, still trying to get a divorce from Constance. And Bertha "followed Robert to Rome hoping for permission to remarry him." But Pope Sergius IV, who had assumed the papacy in July 1009, was no more interested in granting it than his predecessors had been.

Unfortunately--or fortunately?--for Bertha of Burgundy, Robert "the Pious" was never able to divorce his third wife, Constance of Arles who, despite her own set of difficulties with Robert, managed to produce seven children with him, four sons and three daughters.

I haven't been able to trace Bertha after she was separated from Robert, and the date of her death is based on a reference in the records of the cathedral of Chartres recording the death on "XVII Kal Feb" 1010 of "Bertha, mother of count Odo" (Berta mater Odonis comitis), but some sources suggest (without documentation) that Bertha may have died years later. Writing about Bertha, the nineteenth-century historian Chrétien Pfister notes a "legend" that the repudiated Bertha sought refuge in Montreuil, just outside Paris, and built a number of churches. 

Here and there I've also run across speculation that Bertha of Burgundy may be the Bertha who married Arduin of Ivrea, who became king of Italy in 1002, just a year or so before Bertha was finally repudiated by Robert of France. But, then, you find all sorts of crazy stuff online, and I've found no documentation that supports this identification--nothing that provides any sources. 

Still, I'd like to think Bertha of Burgundy was the Bertha who married Arduin of Ivrea, became his queen, had three sons with him, and lived happily ever after for some number of years. That's probably not the case, but, still, it would be a nice ending for her. (I'm not at all a Hemingway fan, but I'll steal a line from The Sun Also Rises: "Isn't it pretty to think so?")

There were no contemporary chroniclers like Helgaud de Fleury who cared to document Bertha of Burgundy's life, and even today there are no biographies of her--there is just too little known about her, other than that she was married at least once, twice if you count her union with Robert, that she had at least four children, maybe two more, and that she was ensnared in what the Church regarded as an illegal marriage. But I have to think that her story would make a great novel . . . 

*Fun fact: after the death of her first husband, Rudolf II, king of Burgundy, Bertha of Swabia, married Hugh of Provence, king of Italy. With this marriage, the widowed queen of Burgundy became the queen of Italy--Bertha was Hugh's fourth wife. Hugh's marital career was as complicated as that of Robert "the Pious." Hugh's first wife died, who knows what happened to his second, and his third wound up imprisoned and dead (and their marriage seems to have been illegal anyway). And oh, by the way--before her marriage to Hugh, Hugh's first wife, Guilla of Provence, had been married to Rudolf I of Upper Burgundy, the father of--you guessed it--Rudolf II, Bertha of Swabia's first husband! To put this another way, Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, married Rudolf II's mother and then his widow. Hugh also married off his son, Lothair, to Rudolf II and Bertha of Burgundy's daughter, Adelaide. All these marriages were attempts to resolve ongoing conflicts bertween Burgundy and Italy.

**Robert and Bertha were cousins. According to historian Penelope Ann Adair, "Robert and Bertha were both great-grandchildren of the German king, Henry I, and thus second cousins." In their excellent edition of Helgaud de Fleury's life of Robert the Pious, Robert-Henri Bautier and Gillette LaBoury note that the relationship of Robert and Bertha was calculated "at the third degree" (au troisième degré), a claim that is also made by Elizabeth Hallam. (Being related in the third degree is not the same as being second cousins--degrees count "steps" to reach a common ancestor, while "cousins" are about generations--but to be honest, I just can't figure out cousins/degrees myself.) Anyway, the excellent genalogical table provided by Bautier and LaBoury shows their relationship--Robert II's grandmother was Hedwig of Saxony, while Bertha's grandmother was Hedwig's sister, Gerberga of Saxony, both daughters of Henry the Fowler, king of Germany, and his wife, Matilda of Ringelhelm. On cousinship and degrees, click here.

Canon law concerned itself with the blood relationships among those who would marry. For a discussion of consanguinity as an impediment to a valid marriage, and for an explanation of the way these relationships were calculated, click here.

***Among the marriage canons of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) were several relating to godparents, including one that prohibited the marriage of a person to his/her child's godparent. To be a godparent established a spiritual consanguinity (blood relationship)--so the marriage of a godparent to a godchild, of two godparents to one another, or of a spiritual and natural parent, were all considered incestuous. (And the Fourth Lateran council extended consanguinity to the fourth degree, so that marriages of fourth cousins, or any nearer relatives, were prohibited.)

For the problems of finding royal marriage partners during this period, see For the best explanation Constance B. Bouchard's "Consanguinity and Noble Marriage in Tenth and Eleventh Centuries," Speculum 56, no. 2 (1981): 268-87.

Rozala of Italy, Countess and Regent of Flanders, and Queen of the Franks

Rozala of Italy, countess and regent of Flancers, then queen of the Franks (married 1 April 987)

The year of Rozala of Italy's birth is not certain--she seems to have been born near the middle of the tenth century, likely between 950 and 960. She was the daughter of Berengar II of Ivrea, who ruled as king of Italy during this same decade. Her mother was Willa of Tuscany, daughter of Boso, margrave of Tuscany.*

Detail from a late-fifteenth
century manuscript portrait
of the counts of Flanders
and members of theirfamilies
buried in St. Peter's Abbey,
Ghent

According to at least one contemporary chronicle, Rozala and her sister were "brought up in the imperial palace by the empress after being brought to Germany." (Although it seems clear that Berengar and his wife had two daughters, the name of Rozala's sister is unknown.)

Given the dates suggested for Rozala's birth, the Holy Roman Emperor would have been Otto I. As a younger man, Berengar, then margrave of Ivrea, had led a revolt against his uncle, who was king of Italy--the unsuccessful Berengar had been forced to flee, winding up in then King Otto of Germany's court, where he spent several years. Thus Berengar's decision to send his daughters to Otto's imperial court makes political sense.

According to several contemporary chroniclers, it was the emperor who arranged Rozala's marriage to Arnulf II, count of Flanders. Again, however, the dates of this marriage are not clear. According to the Annales Elnonenses Minores (Minor Annals of Elnon, Latin chronicles of the Abbey of Saint-Amand), the marriage took place about 968. By contrast, in his history of medieval Flanders, the historian David Nicholas claims that the marriage took place in 976, when Arnulf reached the age of majority. (Arnulf had been born c. 960, making him sixteen in 976). 

Before Arnulf's death on 30 March 987, Rozala had given birth to two children, a son named Baldwin, born in 980, and a daughter, Mathilde, whose date of birth is unknown. After Arnulf's death, Baldwin succeeded his father as count of Flanders, with Rozala acting as regent for her minor son. 

Early in 988, Rozala was married for a second time, to Robert the Pious, the son and "co-ruler" of Hugh Capet, king of the Franks. (To reinforce his kingship, Hugh Capet advocated for his son's "co-kingship," a way of reinforcing the legitimacy of this new dynasty.) The marriage was evidently a way of rewarding the Flemish for their support when Hugh seized power in 987. As for Rozala--hstorian Jean Dhondt has argued that the widowed Rozala would likely have been "pushed" (poussée) into this marriage by her Flemish advisors, fearing that Flanders, assailed on all sides by more powerful neighbors, would crumble.

Fifteenth-century manuscript
containing portraits of
the counts of Flanders
(Ghent, Ghent City Museum
 [STAM], Inv. 779)

At some point, Rozala's name seems to have been changed, never mind all the variations in the spellings of Rozala (Rozela, Rosala, Rosela, for example). 

According the author of the contemporary Vita Sancti Bertulfi (Life of Saint Bertulf), after her marriage to Robert, Rozala became Suzanne (or Susanna or Susanne): "after the death of Prince Arnulf, she married Robert, king of the Franks, and was called Susanna" (post mortem Arnulfi . . . principis, Roberto Regi Francorum nupsit et Susanna dicta). As research by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy illustrates, however, contemporary records refer to Rozala as "Susanna" before her marriage to Robert.

No matter when Rozala became Suzanne, her second marriage would not turn out well for her. By 991, Robert had separated himself from Rozala/Suzanne. During the brief years of their marriage, Rozala/Suzanne had not borne a child, and according to Robert (and many accounts of Robert's complicated marital disputes), that was because she was too old.

Here's where Rozala's date of birth becomes crucial. The exact birth date of Robert "the Pious" (got to love his soubriquet) is also unknown--if you look at the entry in Wikipedia, for example, the date is given as "c. 972." This date reflects the conclusions of many historians, including the nineteenth-century Chrétien Pfister, in his Études sur le règne de Robert le Pieux (996-1031): while Robert's exact date of birth is not clear, he was known to be "about sixty" when he died on 20 July 1031, suggesting he was born about 970. Pfister also claims that, when Robert separated from Rozala/Suzanne (Pfister says this occurs in 989), the young man was "in his nineteenth year." 

But how old was Rozala when Robert decided he had to get rid of her? She had married Arnulf of Flanders (born c. 960) in 976, when he was about sixteen. Would Rozala have been similarly aged (born c. 960), or a decade older (born c. 950)? In other words, would Rozala have been about sixteen years old, like her husband, when she was first married, or would she have been twenty-six?

More critically for Rozala/Suzanne, how old would she have been when Robert claimed that she was too old to bear children? In his Histories, the monk Richerus of Reims says that poor Robert is "in the prime of his youth" when he marries, while his wife was "too old" (and also Italian . . . ). For his part, Pfister sniffs at the marriage between Rozala, "the old widow" (la vieille veuve), and Robert. The young king hasdbeen tied to an aged crone, a woman who was much older than he (beaucoup plus âgée que lui) while he is a man "in the springtime of youth" (dans le printemps de sa jeunesse). By the mid-twentieth century, historian Alexander Vasiliev would casually refer to Rozala as an "elderly widow" at the time of her marriage. 

What can we say about the characterizations of Rozala/Suzanne and her marriage? If we use the earliest suggested date for Rozala's birth, 950, she would be some twenty years older than Robert, who was born in 970. If she was born around the year 960, she would have been about ten years older than he was. If Robert was eighteen or so when he married, Rozala could have been anywhere between twenty-eight and thirty-eight. 

More recently, Dhondt has suggested a likely date of around 962 for Rozala's birth: "She was at least ten years older than Robert, perhaps fifteen" (Elle avait aux moins dix ans de plus que Robert, peut-être quinze). In Dhondt's view, the age difference was not a relevant consideration for Robert's father, Hugh Capet, who had arranged his son's marriage solely for its political advantage, the alliance giving the Franks a level of influence and authority in Flanders. Interestingly, Dhondt suggests that the union may never have been consummated. 

But whatever Rozala's age at the time of her second marriage (and whether it was ever consummated), once Robert's father, the "senior" king, Hugh Capet, died in 996, Robert formally repudiated Rozala and divorced her. Even though he had ended their marriage, Robert kept a significant part of her dowry, including the castle of Montreuil in Ponthieu.** 

According to Richerus of Rheims, when Robert wouldn't return the castle to her, Rozala built another one nearby. (I really hope Richerus is right about this.) After her separation from Robert, she returned to Flanders, where she was reunited with her son, Baldwin IV, who had by now reached his age of majority. Although Robert managed tp lee[ Montreuil-sur-Mer, Baldwin managed to recover several of the territories that had been given to his mother on the occasion of her marriage, including Artois and Ostrevant. Rozala also became one of Baldwin's "principal advisors." A charter dated 26 June 995 notes that, along with her son Baldwin, "Queen Susanna" (Susanna regina) made donations to St. Peter's Abbey (Ghent), for the soul of her daughter, Matilda. On June 1003, she made several grants of land to St. Peter's. 

In the Annales Elnonenses, Rozala's death is recorded in 1003. A Latin poem in memory of her death says that she died on 7 February, but if the date of the charter granting land to St. Peter’s Abbey is correct, then Rozala cannot have died in February. A date of 13 December 1003, recorded in another contemporary annal, is also possible. As with her birthdate, then, the exact date of Rozala’s death is uncertain. 

Rozala of Italy, countess of Flanders (and briefly queen of the Franks) is buried in St. Peter's Abbey, Ghent, next to her first husband. 

By the way, after repudiating Rozala, Robert "the Pious" had a long and sordid marital career. He entered into an incestuous marriage with Bertha of Burgundy, then repudiated her, then married Constance of Arles--who was eighteen when he was thirty-two. Hmmm. Although she did give him children, he wanted to get rid of her too . . .  

You may also be interested in reading a bit about Rozala's father, Berengar II, who had his own adventures in marriage, attempting to force the widowed Adelaide of Burgundy whom he was holding captive, into marrying his son, Rozala's brother Adalbert. 

All I can say is: traditional marriage! Yikes!

*One of the most reliable sources I've found is the genealogical information made available by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, which I've linked to several times throughout this post. 

**In "Sept femmes et un trio de rois," Dhondt examines why this marriage would have been politically advantageous for Hugh Capet. He also provides documentary evidence for why Rozala was likely born before 962 (when her father was dethroned), and he suggests that it would have been highly unlikely, even given his political considerations, that Hugh would have forced his son into a marriage with a woman who was too old to bear an heir.  

Susannah Arne Cibber, "the Priestess of Sensibility"

Susannah Marie Arne, "the Celebrated Mrs. Cibber" (born 14 February 1714)

Susannah Marie Arne, born in Covent Garden, was the daughter and granddaughter of members of the Worshipful Company of Upholsterers. Her father and grandfather both held numerous offices in the guild and in their parish, St. Paul's. But, while members of the Arne family were at times quite successful tradesmen, they also gambled, suffered from bankruptcy, and found themselves in debtors' prison.

Susannah's father was Thomas Arne, described as "a wily naive man with a taste for the exotic." Although he had followed in his father's profession, there does not seem to have been much family feeling--in her biography of Susannah Cibber, Mary Nash notes that, while Thomas Arne "kept a rich Christmas" with his wife and small son (named Thomas Arne) in 1713, Arne's own father--another Thomas Arne--was "dying of cold and hunger nearby, a debtor in Marshalsea prison."

An ivory medallion (c. 1729)
with a portrait of Susannah Arne,
about age fifteen 
(National Portrait Gallery, London)

Susannah's mother, born Anne Wheeler, was a midwife. Less than two months after the death of the elder Thomas Arne in debtors' prison, Anne gave birth to his granddaughter. Susannah was born on 14 February 1714. (Anne Wheeler Arne had eight children between 1710 and 1718--or, at least, eight babies were baptised during these years. Only three survived: Susannah, her elder brother, Thomas, and a younger brother, Richard.)

Despite Thomas Arne's status as a man of trade, he had "audacious and visionary" plans for his children--for his son, another Thomas Arne, he planned a university education and a career in law, for his daughter, education as a gentlewoman and a "brilliant marriage" that would be made possible by the "huge dowry" he would be able to provide.

While her older brother went to Eton, Susannah was educated at home, where she was instructed in French, drawing, penmanship, and music. More surprisingly, she was also instructed in Latin. And Susannah was reared by her mother in the Catholic faith. 

By 1729, her father's finances were faltering. The younger Thomas Arne had to leave Eton, and instead of the university education his father had planned, he was apprenticed to a lawyer. But the younger man did not see a future in law for himself--he preferred music and set about cobbling together a musical education that would lead to a different life. 

With a rich dowry no longer a possibility for Susannah--and seeing his son's successes as he pursued a career in music--Thomas Arne seemed to regard his daughter's musical talents as the best means not necessarily to a successful career but to a successful marriage. 

With the musical and theatrical contacts the younger Thomas Arne had developed--and some funding from his father--Susannah's brother and his new associates, John Frederick Lampe and Henry Carey, rented the New Theatre in Haymarket in 1732 and set about presenting their own "New English opera," Amelia, featuring Lampe's music and Carey's libretto. Thomas Arne arranged for his sister's professional debut, with the eighteen-year-old Susannah playing the title role in the production--set in a Turkish harem, the opera tells the story of a faithful Christian woman who saves her husband, somehow, by pretending to sacrifice her virtue to the sultan who has captured and enslaved him. 

Detail from the playbill for Amelia

Although a critical notice described Amelia as a production "by a set of Performers that never appeared before upon any Stage," it was a success. In Nash's words, Amelia "exceeded anything its composers or even old Arne could have foreseen." 

Most important to Amelia's success was Susannah Arne's voice. Her technique as a singer would later be much criticized, but the noted composer and musician Charles Burney was able to articulate her particular effectiveness as a performer. Her voice was, he said, a "mere thread," and her "knowledge of Musick" was "inconsiderable," but "by a natural pathos, and perfect conception of the words, she often penetrated the heart, when others, with infinitely greater voice and skill, could only reach the ear." And she was also, in his estimation, "the most enchanting actress of her day": 

he considered [Susannah] as a pattern of perfection in the tragic art, from her magnetizing powers of harrowing and winning at once every feeling of the mind, by the eloquent sensibility with which she portrayed, or, rather, personified, Tenderness, Grief, Horror, or Distraction.

Such success and recognition were still to come. After Amelia, Susannah Arne appeared in her brother's "pirated version" of Handel's Acis and Galatea.* This seemed to be taken as something of a betrayal by Lampe and Carey. They continued presenting works in the Haymarket theater, while the younger Thomas Arne, with his father's support and his sister on stage, moved to Lincoln's Inn Fields. He staged two English operas; the first, Teraminta, closed after three nights, the second, Britannia, after four. Undaunted, Thomas Arne proclaimed himself "Proprietor of English Opera" and began staging his own work, beginning with Rosamond, a setting of Joseph Addison's 1707 libretto, and then his own works, the Opera of Operas and Dido and Aeneas.

By 1733, Susannah Arne had met George Frederick Handel, and she performed the role of Jael in his English oratorio, Deborah. She had also met the actor and theater manager Theophilus Cibber, son of the actor-manager, playwright, and poet laureate, Colley Cibber. Handel and the Cibbers would play significant roles in Susannah's life and career.

A long friendship and musical relationship developed between Susannah and Handel, who took great pains with the young woman. Susannah did not read music, so he instructed her in every note. Their partnership would continue for many years--she performed in his Acis and Galatea, Esther, and Alexander's Feast. She also sang solos at the premiere Messiah on 13 April 1742. She would perform the role of Jael in Deborah, the role of Micah in Samson, and various roles in Hercules, Saul, and L'Allegro. 

Susannah would marry Theophilus Cibber, but their partnership was much less successful. As manager of the Drury Lane theater, he would seem to have been an attractive match for Susannah Arne--it was certainly one her father promoted. But the younger Cibber's physical presence--in Nash's words, his "pitted cheeks, skewed nose, cabriole legs, squints, grimaces, eye-poppings, and sour ambiance of last night's debauchery"--all "horrified her."

By all accounts, Theophilus Cibber was as horrible a man as his unfortunate physical appearance suggests. He was cruel and debauched, but he pursued Susannah Arne, and her father pressured her to become Cibber's (second) wife. In an extraordinary act of foresight, Susannah's mother, Anne, and her brother, Charles Wheeler, had pre-nuptial articles drawn up that would protect Susannah and her earnings. Her uncle would act as Susannah's executor, her salary paid into a trust in her name that he would invest for her. If she predeceased her husband, the trust would pass to her children and be administered for them; if she had no children, it would go to her family. And Cibber signed them. The two were married when Susannah Arne was just twenty years old. (Theophilus Cibber had been born in 1703, so he was only a decade older than Susannah, as objectionable as their pairing might have been otherwise.)

John Faber the Younger's drawing
of Susannah Cibber, c. 1736?
(British Museum)

Now performing under the name of "Mrs. Cibber," Susannah found in her husband's father another mentor. Colley Cibber saw in her "the makings of a great tragic actress" (Donnelly); with his training and support, she had "one of the most famous careers as a tragedienne in the 18th century." She made her debut as a tragic heroine at the Theater Royal, Drury Lane in 1736, under her father-in-law's tutelage. (And, happily for her brother, he became the house composer there.)

A scandalous disruption in her personal life soon overshadowed Susannah Cibber's success and popularity on stage. There are various accounts of her relationship with a wealthy (and married) man named William Sloper. Did her husband, Theophilus, "pimp his wife" to Sloper? (Cibber was known to encourage his wife to be "more friendly" to "gentlemen-admirers" like Sloper who helped support his household.) Were the three engaged in some sort of ménage à trois? (At some point, they seemed to have lived in the same house, though William may have taken rooms there as a kind of border, since Theophilus Cibber needed the money--during this period he was in and out of debtors' prison.) Or did Sloper, "a friend of the family and a man of good position," sympathise with a desperate Susannah Cibber, and things just happen? (Sloper had asked Cibber's permission to teach Susannah backgammon, and Susannah was supposedly his wife Catherine's favorite actress.) 

Whatever brought the pair together initially, Theophilus Cibber sued William Sloper in 1738, accusing him of "Assaulting, Ravishing and carnally knowing Susannah Maria Cibber, the plaintiff's Wife." Because of Sloper, Cibber had "lost the Company, Comfort, Society, Assistance, & etc. of his Wife." In her biography of Susannah Cibber, Mary Nash offers an extended account of the relationship between Susannah, Sloper, and Theophilus Cibber as well as a thorough analysis of the court case (click here). You can also read the documents in the case for yourself, The Tryal of a Cause for Criminal Conversation between Theophilus Cibber, Gent., Plaintiff, and William Sloper, Esq., Defendant (this account was published soon after the verdict was delivered, but it continued to be republished for decades; click here for an edition from 1749). 

Cibber was "successful" in his case--but awarded only the paltry sum of £10 instead of the £5000 he had sought. Because Susannah Cibber would neither leave Sloper nor return to the stage, Theophilus sued again, nine months later, this time seeking £10,000--again, he "won" his case, but was awarded only £500. 

In the mean time, Susannah Cibber had given birth to Sloper's child. Susannah and Sloper eloped with their daughter, Susannah Maria, withdrawing from society. In Nash's words, "Susannah, Sloper, and their child had disappeared for two years." 

Susannah Cibber, 1749
portrait by Thomas Hudson
(National Portrait Gallery, London)

Susannah Cibber made a triumphant return in November 1741--in Dublin. There, at his invitation, she joined Handel. In December, she appeared on stage in a production of The Conscious Lovers--and over the course of the next few months, appeared in fifteen productions. 

More important, though, she began rehearsals with Handel. His Messiah would premiere in Dublin--and Susannah Cibber's performance of "He Was Despised" seemed to have been so powerful as to begin the restorationn of her reputation. One listener, a clergyman, is said to have exclaimed, "Woman, for this thy sins be forgiven thee." As Nash notes, the "soloists" in the Messiah "are not given identities," but "everyone" who heard Cibber sing identified her with Mary Magdalene. Handel had "put the account of Christ's degradation and physical suffering into the mouth of a fallen woman."

By 1742, Susannah Cibber was back in London and once more on stage. Theater historian Elaine McGirr claims that Cibber carefully crafted her return, by the roles she chose to perform, playing characters "designed to strengthen public opinion in her favour," roles that would "reinforce her reputation as a woman more sinned against than sinning." 

She marked her return to the stage on 22 September playing Desdemona. Her career from that point on was a success, and she made something of a specialty in playing wronged wives. From 1744 through 1765, Susannah Cibber was, after actor-producer-writer David Garrick, the highest paid actor in London (Donnolly). And on 17 March 1752, she presented her own work, an adaptation of Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix's one-act comedy, L'Oracle, on a benefit night at Covent Garden. (During the two years that she was "out of sight," Susannah and Sloper may have been in Paris--Saint-Foix's play debuted there in 1740-41.)

After the season that ended in 1763, Garrick left the Drury Lane theater for a respite, and Susannah Cibber retired with William Sloper and their daughter to West Woodhay, Sloper's estate. Garrick returned to England and the Theatre Royal in 1765. He endeavored to get Cibber to return the stage, even visiting her and Sloper at West Woodhay. Despite her failing health, she promised Garrick she would. She left West Woodhay on 29 November and reached her London home the next day. 

On 5 December, Susannah Cibber played opposite Garrick in John van Bruh's The Provoked Wife. An old friend saw her performance that night: "it was the last, and I am sorry to say, the worst performance in her life." 

After the end of the play, she returned to her home. She died there on 30 January 1766 and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster, not far from Aphra Behn. 

After Susannah's death, William Sloper returned to West Woodhay with their daughter. Although many sources have nothing to say about Susannah's daughter, Susannah Maria, called Molly, Nash notes that the young woman inherited her mother's fortune and, at age twenty-eight, married a clergyman. She died in 1765.

As for William Sloper. He was elected to parliament in 1747 and again in 1754. He resigned in 1756 when he was appointed Lord of Trade, a position he held until 1761. He died three years after his daughter, in July 1768. 

By the way, William Sloper's wife, Catherine, was still alive when he died. After her husband's death, as his widow, she moved back to West Woodhay. Along with her daughter-in-law (married to William and Catherine's's son, Robert), Catherine "destroyed every letter, picture, every momento, every piece of evidence of the thirty-year incumbency of Susannah Cibber." She lived until she was ninety years old, dying in 1792. Can't say I blame her for this . . . But then she had William Sloper's grave opened and buried herself at his side. That's creepy.

There are many sources, printed and electronic, for Susannah Cibber's life and work. I've linked to some of them here, including Mary Nash's biography, The Provoked Wife: The Life and Times of Susannah Cibber. Published in 1977, it is available through the Internet Archive. 

*Through my university, I have access to Molly Donnelly's biographical essay on Susannah Cibber in Grove Music Online, quoted here.