The Plantagenet Family
A House of Devils

 
Dark and sticky, the Plantagenet web of intrigue often ensnared its diabolical spawn in a chiasma of dread and horror. The Angevins were believed to be descended from the devil, for according to legend, Melusine, the daughter of Satan, had married a Count of Anjou and borne him children. Her true identity was finally revealed when she was forced to stay throughout the Mass whereas previously she had slipped out before Holy Communion was taken. At the sight of the holy relics Melusine immediately flew through a stained glass window of the church and was seen no more. Her two eldest sons came along for the flight; the two younger ones stayed behind with 'Dad.' Oddly enough, among those who believed the story were the Angevins themselves. But, could there be a more rational explanation for what happened that day? -Something free of superstition and hokus pokus? Irrespective of the 'supernatural' nonsense, there were some very real reasons that people referred to this collection of troublesome monarchs as 'A House of Devils'.

 

The Devil's Brood...

Gustave Dore's Rendition of Satan Himself

But, the Plantagenet were not the only royals to claim a familial tie with the Devil himself. Prince Vlad Dracula was also believed to be the devil's own and often made use of the assertion to scare the 'devil' out of his enemies. Essentially, allying one's blood with the Devil was simply the medieval way of claiming to be 'bad to the bone,' and warning those who would presume to take their place, 'don't tread on us.' Of course, it is doubtful that Vlad believed his own press clippings, as the Plantagenet did.

But, what of the story that started the legend? Was Mesuline a real person? And, if she was, who was she, if not truly the daughter of the Devil? The truth is that there are no real answers to these questions. However, as has been said many times of legends, there is usually a truth of sorts upon which all legends are originally based.

One Possibility...

Of course, the Plantagenet name was not used by this notorious family until it was given as a nickname to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou in the 1120s, and the legend goes back several years before that time.

Count Fulk Rechin de Anjou (1068-1109), admitted that he knew nothing of the first three of his line: Ingelgar, (the first Count of Anjou), Fulk the Red, and Fulk the Good (941-960).

Nevertheless, the 12th century seems to have been a great time of mythmaking when many noble houses invented legends in order to give themselves legendary ancestors. However, claiming the Devil as an ancestor seems to be going a bit too far.

Melusine, The Dark Princess of the Forest

Popular gossip told of the Plantagenet's descent from the daughter of the Devil himself. It was a convenient explanation for their demonic energy, their ferocious ruthlessness, and their sometimes wicked deeds. The violent temper of the Angivins, their vicious reaction to being thwarted or crossed, was almost pathological in its intensity, so there were many who agreed with this assessment.

In the days of long ago, when tales of elves, goblins, witches, and fairies were believed to be true, a count of Anjou, men said, returned from a distant journey with a strange woman whom he married. His people referred to her as "the dark princess of the forest." It is, however, doubtful that she came from the forests surrounding the Angevin territories, as the people who lived there were as pasty white as those who didn't live in the forest. But, to the people, who had never been anywhere beyond a few miles in any direction of where they were born, anyone or anything that came into their midst from 'beyond,' as it were, came from the forest -they simply didn't know that a whole world lay beyond the Angevin forests, or that there was more than just forests out there.

Her name was Mesuline. She was evidently a princess, and very beautiful. Her skin very dark, making her most likely of middle eastern origin. They were married several years and she bore him four sons.

She was quiet and dutiful, but there was much that was odd about her: she had no relatives or friends, she refused to be seen by her husband on Saturdays, she never went to church, and when asked to go she always made some excuse why she couldn't attend.

The reasoning behind her behavior had less to do with possessing demonic powers and more to do with the idea that she was most probably Jewish or Islamic with regard to her religion.

But, to narrow it down even further, although she could have been Jewish, she was more probably Islamic rather than Jewish, in that the people already understood what the Jews were like and, while they would have been critical of her, they would not have found her ways particularly strange.It was Islam that was new and completely foreign to them. The Christians believed that Islam came from the Devil, and the Muslims in turn believed that Christianity was of the Devil -everbody had everybody else pegged as coming straight from Hell. So, rumors began to circulate about Mesuline, that she might be a witch.

However plausible and harmless it was that she simply practiced a different religion, her behavior alienated not only the Count, but also his people who grew increasingly suspicious of her, whispering that she was a sorceress and claiming she had bewitched the Count. The real reason she did not attend Mass was probably because she was not a Christian. Although he loved her, the Count had to do something about her. No king would allow his throne to be threatened over the likes of a woman, even his own wife. He tried telling her she must attend Mass, even if only to show the people that she was not a witch, but she refused. The Count's advisors urged him to do something and in the end persuaded him that she must go, one way or the other. Reluctently, he finally agreed.

Something Wicked this Way Comes...

One Sunday the Count instructed four of his knights to stay close by him when he literally forced her and her sons in the royal chapel and locked the door to prevent them from slipping out. Why the chapel? Because there were stained glass windows that no one could see through. It was important that people see them go in, but necessary that no one see what was to happen inside. There were only the knights, himself, Mesuline, his sons, and the priest who said Mass in attendance. When they emerged after Mass, there were only the knights, the Count, the priest, and the two youngest sons -Mesuline and the two older boys had vanished.

 

Of course, the Count had to come up with an explanation as to what happened to the three of them, as they were never to be seen on Earth ever again. So, his advisers concocted the following:

Just as the Mass began she attempted to leave, but the knights trod on the hem of her robe to detain her. As the priest raised the Host above his head she uttered a scream, wrenched apart the fastening of her cloak to escape from it, and still shrieking flew out of the window. She was Melusine, daughter of Satan, and no evil spirit, as it is well known, can look upon the Body of Christ. In her flight she dragged the two elder children with her; but the two younger ones remained.

We Cannot Help Acting Like Devils...

The people -still full of superstition at that time- bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Never mind that there was no external evidence that someone had broken a stained glass window to exit the chapel. The truth, of course, was far more down to Earth, if not sinister and evil. Once locked in the chapel, the Count and his knights likely strangled Mesuline and two older boys to death. Their bodies were then spirited away through a secret passage beneath the alter or in the walls that led to a honeycombed maze of tunnels beneath the structure (old castles generally had underground tunnel systems to enable the royals to escape when under seige).

The older boys had to die along with their mother because she was already schooling them in the ways of Islam. The Count allowed the two younger boys to survive because they were young enough to be retrained as Christians -besides, he needed to have heirs to his throne. From these two boys were descended all the the Angevin kings of England. Henry II's sons, with characteristically profane humor, were prone to joke about the story, and to people who protested against their often wicked behavior they replied: ‘Do not deprive us of our heritage; we cannot help acting like devils.’