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Ermengarde de Beaumont

Queen of Scotland from 1186 to 1214

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ2569718 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ermengarde de Beaumont (c. 1170 – 12 February 1233/1234) was Queen of Alba as the consort of William the Lion. She is reported to have exerted influence over the affairs of state as queen, though the information on her is lacking in detail. Her paternal grandmother was Constance FitzRoy, illegitimate daughter of Henry I of England.

Life

Ermengarde was born c. 1170 to a minor French noble, Richard I, Viscount of Beaumont-le-Vicomte, Fresnay and Ste-Suzanne, and Lucie de l'Aigle (died aft. 1217).

Ermengarde married King William I of Scotland at the royal chapel at Woodstock Palace, near Oxford, in England on 5 September 1186, performed by Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury. The marriage was arranged under terms of the Treaty of Falaise by King Henry II of England, who was at the time the acknowledged overlord of Scotland. William considered her status beneath him, but agreed after Henry offered to pay for the entire wedding, land valued at 100 merks and 40 knight's fees, and to return the castles that he had forfeited as her dowry, one of them being Edinburgh.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ermengarde de Beaumont” as queen of Scotland from 1186 to 1214. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ermengarde, Beaumont and Queen.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1170, 1233, 1234, 1217—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1170. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ermengarde, Beaumont and Queen providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ermengarde de Beaumont”, the useful work is to connect “queen of Scotland from 1186 to 1214” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2569718. VIAF identifies the subject as 282151246607844132893. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1170, 1233, 1234 and 1217.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ermengarde de Beaumont”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ermengarde de Beaumont primary sources, Ermengarde de Beaumont archive and Ermengarde research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ermengarde de Beaumont”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ermengarde de Beaumont” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.