Baldwin V (c. 19 August 1012– 1 September 1067) was Count of Flanders from 1035 until his death. He secured the personal union between the counties of Flanders and Hainaut and maintained close links to the English monarchy, which was overthrown by his son-in-law, William the Conqueror, near the end of his life.
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Family
Baldwin was the son of Baldwin IV of Flanders and Ogive of Luxembourg. In 1028 Baldwin married Adela of France, daughter of King Robert II of France, in Paris, in the presence of all the peers of the kingdom and five bishops. From her father she received as a dower all the income normally destined for the Corbie Abbey, which was one of the richest at the time. With Adela of France he had three children: Robert I, Baldwin VI and Matilda, who was married to William the Conqueror.
Career
In 1030, two years after his marriage, Baldwin V rebelled against his father for unknown reasons. He received the support of the nobleman in Flanders and his father fled to the court of Robert I of Normandy. Robert intervened on behalf of the elder Baldwin and invaded Flanders with his army. He restored Baldwin IV to power and reconciled him with his son.
During a long war (1046–1056) as an ally of Duke Godfrey III of Lower Lorraine against Emperor Henry III, Baldwin initially lost Valenciennes to Count Herman of Mons. However, when the latter died in 1049, Baldwin had his son, Baldwin VI, marry Herman's widow Richilde, and arranged that the children of her first marriage were disinherited, thus de facto uniting the County of Hainaut with Flanders. Upon the death of Henry III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty by Agnes of Poitou, mother and regent of Henry IV.
Baldwin V played host to a grateful Emma of Normandy, the exiled queen dowager of England, at Bruges. He supplied armed security guards, entertainment, comprising a band of minstrels. Bruges was a bustling commercial centre, and Emma fittingly grateful to the citizens. She dispensed generously to the poor, making contact with the monastery of Saint Bertin at St Omer, and received her son King Harthacnut of England at Bruges in 1039.
From 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the co-regent with Anne of Kiev for his nephew Philip I of France, indicating the importance he had acquired in international politics. As count of Flanders, Baldwin supported the king of France in most affairs, but he was also father-in-law to Duke William II of Normandy, who had married his daughter Matilda. Flanders played a pivotal role in Edward the Confessor's foreign policy when the king of England was struggling to find an heir. Historians have argued that he may have sent Harold Godwinson to negotiate the return of Edward the Exile from Hungary, and passed through Flanders, on his way to Germany. Baldwin's half-sister had married Earl Godwin's third son, Tostig. The half-Danish Godwinsons had spent their exile in Dublin, at a time William II of Normandy was fiercely defending his duchy. It is unlikely, however, that Baldwin intervened to prevent the duke's invasion plans of England, after the count had lost the conquered province of Ponthieu. Baldwin died 1 September 1067.