The first result of this unprecedented step was that the king of France set himself to thwart it by again taking up the cause of William the Clito, offering him, as compensation for the loss of Sibyl and Maine, a grant of the French Vexin and a bride whom not even Rome could make out to be his cousin--Jane of Montferrat, half-sister to Louis’s own queen.[610] Two months later the count of Flanders was murdered at Bruges. He was childless; the king of France adjudged his fief to William the Clito as great-grandson of Count Baldwin V., and speedily put him in possession of the greater part of the county.[611] Henry’s daring scheme now seemed all but hopeless. His only chance was to make peace with some one at least of his adversaries; and the one whom he chose was not the king of France, but the count of Anjou. He saw--and Fulk saw it too--that until the question about Maine was settled there could be no lasting security, and that it could only be settled effectually by the union of all conflicting claims in a single hand. For such an union the way was now clear. The heir of Anjou was growing up to manhood; the chosen successor of Henry was a childless widow. Regardless of his promise not to give his daughter in marriage to any one out of the realm[612]--regardless of the scorn of both Normans and English,[613] of the Empress’s own reluctance,[614] and also of the kindred between the houses of Normandy and Anjou--Henry sent Matilda over sea shortly after Pentecost 1127 under the care of her half-brother Earl Robert of Gloucester and Count Brian of Britanny, who were charged with instructions to the archbishop of Rouen to make arrangements for her marriage with Geoffrey Plantagenet, eldest son of the count of Anjou. In the last week of August the king himself followed them;[615] at the following Whitsuntide he knighted Geoffrey at Rouen with his own hand;[616] and eight days later Geoffrey and Matilda were wedded by the bishop of Avranches in the cathedral church of S. Julian at Le Mans.[617] [610] Eng. Chron. a. 1127. Ord. Vit. (Duchesne, _Hist. Norm. Scriptt._), p. 884. _Gesta Cons._ (Marchegay, _Comtes_), p. 151. [611] Eng. Chron. a. 1127. Ord. Vit. (as above), pp. 884, 885. See the Flemish Chronicles in _Rer. Gall. Scriptt._, vol. xiii. [612] Will. Malm. _Hist. Nov._, l. i. c. 3 (Hardy, p. 693). [613] Eng. Chron. a. 1127. “Hit ofthute nathema ealle Frencisc and Englisc.” [614] Will. Jumièges Contin. as above. [615] Eng. Chron. a. 1127. Will. Malm. _Hist. Nov._, l. i. c. 3 (Hardy, p. 692). Hen. Hunt., l. vii. c. 37 (Arnold, p. 247). [616] _Hist. Gaufr. Ducis_ (Marchegay, _Comtes_), pp. 234–236. [617] _Ib._ p. 236. Ord. Vit. (Duchesne, _Hist. Franc. Scriptt._), p. 889. _Acta Pontif. Cenoman._, c. 36 (Mabillon, _Vet. Anal._, p. 321). On the date see note F at end of chapter.