Adalberon, or Ascelin (died July 19, 1030/1031), was a French bishop and poet. He was a son of Reginar of Bastogne, and a nephew of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims.
When Laon was taken by Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, in 988, Adalberon was put into prison, whence he escaped and sought the protection of Hugh Capet, king of France. Winning the confidence of Charles of Lorraine and of Arnulf, archbishop of Reims, he was restored to his see;[1] but in 991 he gave Laon, together with Charles and Arnulf, into the hands of Hugh Capet.[5]
Subsequently, he took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs, and died on July 19, 1030/1031.[1]
Works
Adalberon wrote a satirical poem, Carmen ad Rotbertum regem, in the form of a dialogue dedicated to Robert II of France, in which he argued against contemporary episcopal and monastic reform (such as the Cluniac Reforms).[6] He showed his dislike of Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, and his followers, and his objection to persons of humble birth being made bishops.[1] Versions include:
Carozzi, Claude (ed. and trans.). Adalberon de Laon. Poème au roi Robert. Les classiques de l'histoire de France au moyen âge 32. Paris, 1979.
Valois, H. (ed.). Carmen panegyricum in laudem Berengarii. Paris, 1663. First (modern) publication of the poem.
Diagram of the three orders
He seems to be famous in French history because of a poem in which he made mention of (the) three orders in society: "oratores, bellatores, laboratores": the clergy ("praying Church"), nobles and chivalry ("the fighting church"), and, third, the labouring people ("church of toiling"), the last one supporting the others, and all supporting the whole edifice of mankind. This idea was incorporated into the "three social orders" of the Ancien Régime in France.
Secondary sources
Histoire de la France, ed. George Duby, Larousse 1988, vol I, p.301;
Franco Gardini, in The Medieval World, ed. Jacques le Goff, 1987, Eng. transl. 1990, Collins & Brown, p.75. Not in the more pragmatic (?) English literature. -
Year 991 (CMXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Year 988 (CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Year 977 (CMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Hugh Capet was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was descended from Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy through his mother and paternal grandmother, respectively, and was also a nephew of Otto the Great.
Robert II, called the Pious or the Wise, was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters. His solid education, provided by Gerbert of Aurillac in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious questions of which he quickly became the guarantor. Continuing the political work of his father, after becoming sole ruler in 996, he managed to maintain the alliance with the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou and thus was able to contain the ambitions of Count Odo II of Blois.
Laon is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Hugh the Great was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. He was the most powerful magnate in France.
Louis V, also known as Louis the Do-Nothing, was a king of West Francia from 979 to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last Carolingian monarch in West Francia.
Pope John XV was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from August 985 until his death. A Roman by birth, he was the first pope who canonized a saint. The origins of the investiture controversy stem from John XV's pontificate, when the dispute about the deposition of Archbishop Arnulf of Reims soured the relationship between the Capetian kings of France and the Holy See.
Lothair, sometimes called Lothair II, III or IV, was the penultimate Carolingian king of West Francia, reigning from 10 September 954 until his death in 986.
Charles was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death.
The Archdiocese of Reims is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by St. Sixtus of Reims, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese around 750. The archbishop received the title "primate of Gallia Belgica" in 1089.
Arnulf was the illegitimate son of King Lothair of France. He became archbishop of Reims.
Godfrey I, called the Prisoner or the Captive, sometimes the Old, was the count of Bidgau and Methingau from 959 and the sovereign count of Verdun 963 to his death. In 969, he obtained the Margraviate of Antwerp and Ename. Between 974 and 998, he was also the sovereign count of Hainault and Mons.
Wigeric or Wideric was a Frankish nobleman and the count of the Bidgau and held the rights of a count within the city of Trier. He received also the advocacy of the Abbey of Saint Rumbold at Mechelen from King Charles the Simple of West Francia. From 915 or 916, he was the count palatine of Lotharingia. He was the founder of the House of Ardennes.
Theobald I, called the Trickster, was Count of Blois, Tours, Chartres and Châteaudun, as well as Lord of Vierzon and Provins. He was a loyal and potent vassal of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks.
Sigfried was count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Luxembourg. He was also an advocate of the abbeys of St. Maximin in Trier and Saint Willibrord in Echternach.
Emma of Italy was Queen of Western Francia as the wife of King Lothair, whom she married in 965. Their son, Louis V, was the last Carolingian king.
Reims, located in the north-east of modern France, hosted several councils or synods in the Roman Catholic Church. These councils did not universally represent the church and are not counted among the official ecumenical councils.
Louis IV, called d'Outremer or Transmarinus, reigned as King of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his second wife Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of King Edward the Elder of Wessex. His reign is mostly known thanks to the Annals of Flodoard and the later Historiae of Richerus.
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