Bernard, son of Charles Martel

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Bernard or Bernhard de Saint Quentin (d'Herstal), Abby of von St. Quentin, Abbot of St. Quentin (c.720-787) was a son of Charles Martel by his mistress Ruodhaid.

Contents

Life

Bernard was a half-brother of the Frankish King Pepin the Short, and uncle to Charlemagne. He was brother to Hieronymus and Remigius of Rouen. Although they were all denied any claim in the legacy of their father, they were raised at court and accorded various honors. Medievalist Donald C. Jackman suggests that Bernhard's and Charlemagne's mothers may have been closely related. [1]

In 760, he and his two brothers (Hieronymus and Remigius) went to Italy on behalf of their half-brother Pepin to mediate between Pope Paul I and Desiderius. They convinced Desiderius to return some of the cities he captured back to the papacy, but the Lombard king did not follow through on his promises. [2]

In 773 Bernhard led half of the Frankish army in his nephew Charlemagne's Lombard campaign. While Charlemagne led his contingent through the pass of Moncenisio, Bernard led his through the Great St. Bernard Pass. [3] [4] He then participated in the Siege of Pavia. Bernard was prominent in the reign of Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious.

Family

According to Paschasius Radbertus, Bernard married first a Frankish woman who bore him:

He later married Gundlindis, daughter of Adalbert, Duke of the Alemanni. [6] They had two sons and two daughters.

Louis the Pious grew concerned regarding the power and influence bestowed on his cousins by his father, and shortly after being crowned Adalard was exiled to St. Philibert on Noirmoutier, (but later reinstated at court); Count Wala was forced to separate from his wife and take his brother's place at Corbie (also later reinstated); Bernhard was exiled to Lérins; and Gundrada was sent from court. Only Theodrada, the widow of Theodoric, Duke of the Riparuarii was left undisturbed. [7]

Sabine Baring-Gould says Bernard was the grandfather of saint Ida of Herzfeld through his daughter Theodrada. [6]

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Hieronymus (Jerome), was the son of Charles Martel and his mistress, and so was the half-brother of Bernard, Abbot of St. Quentin, a key confidant of Louis the Pious, and Remigius, the third Archbishop of Rouen.

Autchar was a Frankish nobleman. He served Pippin III as a diplomat in 753 and followed Carloman I after the division of the kingdom in 768. In 772, refusing to accept Carloman's brother Charlemagne as king, he went into exile in the Lombard kingdom with Carloman's widow and sons. He was captured when Charlemagne invaded the kingdom in 773. His role in the fall of the Lombard kingdom was the subject of legendary embellishment a century later and in the chansons de geste he evolved into the figure of Ogier the Dane.

References

  1. Jackman, Donald C.. Three Bernards Sent South to Govern United States, Editions Enlaplage, 2015. p. 8 ISBN   9781936466115
  2. Frassetto, Michael (2003). Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p.142 ISBN   978-1-57607-263-9
  3. Mombert, Jacob Isidor. A History of Charles the Great, D. Appleton, 1888, p.90
  4. Becher, Matthias. Charlemagne United Kingdom, Yale University Press, 2003. p. 55 ISBN   9780300107586
  5. Confronting Crisis in the Carolingian Empire: Paschasius Radbertus' Funeral Oration for Wala of Corbie (Justin Lake, Mayke de Jong, eds.) United Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2020. p.17 ISBN   9781526134837
  6. 1 2 Bring-Gould, Sabine. "S. Ida, W.", The Lives of the Saints, J. Hodges, 1882, p.50
  7. Sismondi, Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde. The French Under the Merovingians United Kingdom, W. & T. Piper, 1850. p. 285 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .