Called Theobald the Cheat.
Count of Chartres, Rennes, Chateaudun; Vicomte de Tours; Herr zu Chinon, Samur, Beaugency
The first count of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun from 960, and Tours from 945.
Theobald was initially a vassal of Hugh the Great, Duke of France. Around 945, he catpured King Louis IV to the benefit of Hugh. In return for freedom, the king granted him the city of Laon. He took the title of "count" in Tours. He seized Chartres and Châteaudun and remarried his sister to Fulk II of Anjou. In 958, he met Fulk in Verron and the two described themselves as "governor and administrator [of the] kingdom [of Neustria]" and comites Dei gratia ("counts by the grace of God").
Theobald's sister married Alan II of Brittany and Theobald governed the duchy during the minority of her son Drogo. Thus, Theobald extended his influence all the way to Rennes. (Have not researched.)
In 960, he began opposing Richard I of Normandy and entered into a long war with the Normans. In 961, he attacked Évreux. The Normans responded by attacking Dunois. In 962, he launched an assault on Rouen which failed. The Normans burned Chartres in response. He took control of the fortresses of Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, Vierzon, and Anguillon in Berry.
During the minority of Hugh Capet, he reinforced Chartres and Châteaudun. Around 960, he built Saumur. By his death, he had built a vast power on the Loire, dominating central France. By his wife Luitgarde of Vermandois, widow of William I of Normandy, married between 942 and 945, he had four children. His daughter, Emma, brought him the county of Provins, nucleus of the later county of Champagne.
Dates are screwy here, maybe he did have a child at 175 years of age. Not.
Theophano was a Byzantine princess who at the age of seventeen was given to the young Saxon emperor Otto II. Though elegant and a delicate beauty, she was high-spirited and a superb politician who brought with her an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of court life. When her husband died, leaving her with a three year old son, she took the title "Imperator Augustus" and defended the child's title for seven years from those who challenged him. She was called by a contemporary "a woman of discreet and firm character...with truly masculine strength." At her death in her early thirties, her mother-in-law Adelaide took over her duties
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/notables.html
Theobald conspired against the king of France Henry I, was beaten in 1044 and had to give up the county of Tours to regain his freedom. From then on the centre of power for the House of Blois moved to Champagne. Theobald found ways to become close to the royal court again and gain infuence. He got the title of Count Palatine, which his father had used before. He used this influence to get control over his brother's possessions in Champagne that were inherited by his minor nephew Odo III. Odo later joined the army of William the Conqueror, participated in the battle of Hastings, married a sister of William and became count of Aumale and Holderness.
Theobald had a position of considerable power, that increased when he married the daughter of Raoul de Valois. From 1074 onward, he left his son Henry in control of Blois, Chateaudun and Chartres.
Princess Teresa of León (1080–November 11, 1130), was an illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso VI of Castile and León and Jimena Muñoz, daughter of the Count of Asturias. In 1094, she married Henry of Burgundy while on crusade in Iberia against the Moors. The County of Portugal was part of her dowry, establishing Henry as Count of Portugal.
At first, Henry was a vassal of his father-in-law, but when Alfonso VI died in 1109, leaving everything to his daughter Urraca of Castile, Henry invaded León, hoping to add it to his lands. When he died in 1112, Teresa was left to deal with the mess. Although their son Afonso I of Portugal (a.k.a. Afonso Henriques) succeeded to the countship, he was young and was therefore placed under his mother's tutelage. She took on the responsibility as regent and governed her land that had only recently been reconquered from the Moors and only as far as the Mondego River.
In 1116, in an effort to expand the land that would descend to her son (who later became the first King of Portugal), Teresa fought her half-sister and queen, Urraca. They fought again in 1120. In 1121, she was besieged and captured at Lanhoso. A negotiated peace was coordinated with aid from the Archbishops of Santiago de Compostela and Braga. The terms included that Teresa would go free and hold the county of Portugal as a fief of León.
Teresa tried to retain the rule of the county even after her son's majority. Over the course of five years, she lavished wealth and titles on her lover, Fernando Peres, Count of Trava. These actions estranged her other son (who was the Archbishop of Braga) and the nobles, who were mostly foreign crusaders. By 1128, her sons and the nobles were fed up. Afonso was named sole ruler. He defeated Teresa's troops near Guimarães and took her prisoner. She was deposed and exiled (some sources say to a convent, other say with Fernando Peres). Teresa died in 1130.
Ulf Jarl (Jarl is a title, corresponding to English Earl) belonged to a prominent Swedish family since he was the son of Thorgils Sprakalägg who is considered to have been the son of Styrbjörn the Strong and Tyra, the daughter of Harald Bluetooth. He was consequently closely related to both the Swedish and Danish royal houses.
Ulf joined Canute the Great's expedition to England. In c. 1015, he married Canute's sister Estrid and was appointed the Jarl of Denmark which he ruled when Canute was absent. He was also the foster-father of Canute's son Harthacanute.
When the Swedish king Anund Jakob and the Norwegian king Saint Olaf took advantage of Canute's absence and attacked Denmark, Ulf convinced the freemen to elect Harthacanute king, since they were miscontent with Canute's absenteeism. This was a ruse from Ulf since his role as the caretaker of Harthacanute would make him the ruler of Denmark.
When Canute learnt of what had happened in 1026, he returned to Denmark and with Ulf Jarl's help, he defeated the Swedes and the Norwegians at the Battle of the Helgeå. This service, did not, however, make Canute forgive Ulf for his coup. At a banquet in Roskilde, the two brothers-in-law were playing chess and started arguing with each other. The next day, the Christmas of 1026, Canute had one of his Housecarls kill Ulf Jarl in the church of Trinity. The accounts of the two brothers and Ulf's death are contradictory.
Ulf was the father of Sweyn Estridson, and thus the ancestor of Danish royal house which would rule Denmark 1047-1375.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Jarl
Theophano was a Byzantine empress. She was the wife of Romanos II; wife and murderer of Nikephoros II Phokas; lover of John I Tzimiskes; the mother of Basil II, Constantine VIII and the princess Anna Porphyrogenita, who later married the Russian prince Vladimir.
This beautiful but considerably amoral woman played an important role in 10th century Byzantine history. An innkeeper's daughter by the name of Anastaso, the emperor Romanos II fell in love with her around the year 956 and married her. After their marriage, she was given the name of Romanos' grandfather's first saintly wife Theophano (whom she resembled not at all).
On March 15, 963, Emperor Romanos II unexpectedly died at the age of twenty-six. His sons Basil II and Constantine VIII were heirs and Theophano was named regent. However she realized that to secure power she needed to align her interest with the strongest general at the time, Nikephoros Phokas. As the army had already proclaimed him as an Emperor in Caesarea, Nikephoros entered Constantinople on August 15, broke the resistance of Joseph Bringas (a eunuch palace official who had become Romanos' chief council) in bloody street fights, and on 16 August he was crowned in Hagia Sophia. After that he married Theophano, thereby legitimizing his reign by marrying into the Macedonian dynasty.
The marriage proved controversial as Nikephoros had been god-father to one or more of Theophano's children, which placed them within a prohibited spiritual relationship. Nicephorus (who no doubt sincerely loved his beautiful wife) organised a council at which it was denied that he had ever been god-father to his wife's children.
However, not too long after, she became lover to a young and brilliant general, John Tzimiskes. They soon began to conspire against Nikephoros. She prepared the assassination and John and his friends implemented it on the night between 10 and 11 December 969. The emperor was now John I Tzimiskes (969-976).
However, Theophano badly miscalculated in the hope of becoming the wife of the new ruler. Slain Nikephoros found his avenger in the Patriarch Polyeuktos, who was determined to punish the crime. He demanded John to repent, to punish the murderers (his helpers and friends), and to remove Theophano from the court. John was forced to submit to the Patriarch’s requests. Only then was he allowed to enter the church and be crowned emperor.
Theophano was first sent into exile to the island of Prinkipo (sometimes known as Prote). However, shortly afterwards, she made a reappearance in the capital, seeking asylum in the Hagia Sophia, where, however, she was forcibly removed on the orders of the Chamberlain Basil, who condemned her to exile in distant Armenia. Before this, he granted her request of an audience with the Emperor John, who surprisingly agreed to attend. Once there however, he was subjected to the former empress, who then physically attacked the chamberlain, landing several telling blows.
It is possible that after the succession of her sons to the throne that she was able to return to Constantinople
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophano_%28Byzantine_Empress%29
An enthusiastic admirer of the martial appearance of the Conqueror previous to the battle states, "Never have I seen a man so fairly armed nor one who rode so gallantly, or bore his arms, or became his hauberk so well; neither any one who carried his lance so gracefully, or sat his horse and manoeuvred him so nobly. There is no other such knight under Heaven! A fair Count he is, and a fair King he will be. Let him fight and be shall overcome; shame be to him who shall fail him!"
And assuredly no shame could be cast on "li bon Visquenz de Toarz" on that occasion, who, appointed by William to lead with Alain of Brittany the left wing of the army, principally composed of Poitevins, Bretons, Manceaux, and of course his own following, which was a numerous one, proved himself "no coward that day."
Guided by this curious exposition of manners and customs, as interesting to the jurist as to the genealogist, I find that our Aimeri IV, Vicomte de Thouars, was the eldest son of Geoffrey II, Viscount de Thouars, by a lady named Ainor or Aldearde, but in consequence of the strange perplexing rules alluded to does not appear to have directly succeeded to him, though bearing in accordance with them the title of Viscount. He was present when Agnes, Duchess of Guyenne, gave the town of St. Angely to the abbey of that name in 1048. At the time of the invasion he was probably between twenty and thirty, and the husband of Aserengarde, sister of Raoul de Mauleon, living in 1069, by whom he had two sons, Herbert and Geoffrey, and a daughter, lldegarde, who became the wife of Hugues VI, Sire de Lezingen.
Aimeri married, secondly, a lady named Ameline, for the health of whose soul, the souls of his father and mother, of his own soul, and those of his sons Herbert and Geoffrey, he gave, in December 1088, the Church of St. John the Evangelist, in the Castle of La Cheze, to the Abbey of St. Florent de Saumur. He also commenced the erection of another church in that castle, in honour of St. Nicholas, and confirmed to it all the gifts he had made to it, with the consent of his wife and children, Thursday, 15th of January, 1092.
He died the following year, and was buried in his new Church of St. Nicholas de la Cheze, leaving by his second wife, according to Père Anselm, four sons, — Savary, Raoul, Hugues, and another Geoffrey, whom he makes the successor to his grandfather Geoffrey; but as Savary and Raoul were both witnesses to charters in favour of St. Florent in 1054 and 1068, and as he makes Geoffrey out to be eighty years of ago in 1120, and consequently born in 1040, they could not be the sons of Ameline, married between 1069 and 1088.
more at http://genealogy.patp.us/conq/thouars.shtml