 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(November 2017) |
The County of Verdun was a sovereign medieval county in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine.
| | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(November 2017) |
The County of Verdun was a sovereign medieval county in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine.
The rulers of the sovereign County of Verdun styled themselves as Counts by the grace of God. [1] [2] The small country was located near Lower Lotharingia within the Holy Roman Empire. [3] The Prince-Bishopric of Verdun bordered on it from the east. [3] The Forest of Argonne formed the western border of the county, but it also included the fortresses at Montfaucon-d'Argonne and Vienne-le-Château. [3] According to an imperial diploma issued in 1156, Bishop Haimo of Verdun received the right to appoint counts, but the counts from the Ardennes-Bouillon dynasty made the office hereditary by the end of the 10th century. [4]
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In 1134, the bishop deposed Reginald and reattached the county to the episcopal demesne.
Reginar IV, Count of Mons, in Hainaut, was the son of Reginar III and Adela. His father died in exile in Bohemia in 973.
Frederick II, son of Thierry I of the House of Ardennes and Richilde von Blieskastel, daughter of Folmar III, Count in Bliesgau, was the Count of Bar and Duke of Lorraine, co-reigning with his father from 1019.
Godfrey III, called the Bearded, was the eldest son of Gothelo I, Duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine.
Gothelo, called the Great, was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 1023 and of Upper Lorraine from 1033. He was also the margrave of Antwerp from 1005 and count of Verdun. Gothelo was the youngest son of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun, and Matilda, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony. On his father's death, he received the march of Antwerp and became a vassal of his brother, Godfrey II, who became duke of Lower Lorraine in 1012. Gothelo succeeded his brother in 1023 with the support of the Emperor Henry II, but was opposed until Conrad II forced the rebels to submit in 1025. When the House of Bar, which ruled in Upper Lorraine, became extinct in 1033, with the death of his cousin Frederick II, Conrad made Gothelo duke of both duchies, so that he could assist in the defence of the territory against Odo II, count of Blois, Meaux, Chartres and Troyes. It was during this time 1033-1034, that Gothelo clashed with Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, concerning the march of Ename.
Theodoric I was the count of Bar and duke of Upper Lorraine from 978 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick I and Beatrice, daughter of Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and sister to the French king Hugh Capet.
Frederick I was the count of Bar and duke of Upper Lorraine. He was a son of Wigeric, count of Bidgau, also count palatine of Lorraine, and Cunigunda, and thus a sixth-generation descendant of Charlemagne.
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.
Beggo was the son of Gerard I of Paris and Rotrude. He was appointed Count of Toulouse, Duke of Septimania, Duke of Aquitaine, and Margrave of the Hispanic March in 806 and followed his brother as Count of Paris in 813.
The House of Ardenne–Verdun was a branch of the House of Ardenne, one of the first documented medieval European noble families, centered on Verdun. The family dominated in the Duchy of Lotharingia (Lorraine) in the 10th and 11th centuries. All members descended from Cunigunda of France, a granddaughter of the West Frankish king Louis the Stammerer. She married twice but all or most of her children were children of her first husband, Count Palatine Wigeric of Lotharingia. The other main branches of the House of Ardennes were the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg, and the House of Ardenne–Bar.
The Margraviate of Antwerp consisted since the eleventh century of the area around the cities of Antwerp and Breda.
Gerard I of Paris was a count of Paris. He was the founder of the House of Girardids.
Gozlin was count of the Ardennes and the Bidgau. He was also army commander for his brother, Adalbero I of Metz.
Cunigunda of Sulichgau (893-924) was the daughter of Ermentrude of France, and granddaughter in turn of Louis the Stammerer. In 898 her uncle Charles III gained control as king of the Franks, changing Cunigunda's life for the better.
Ricwin , was a Count of Verdun.
Matilda of Saxony was a Saxon aristocrat who became countess of Flanders by marriage to Baldwin III, Count of Flanders.
The House of Luxembourg, also known as the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg in order to distinguish it from later families, were a Lotharingian noble family known from the tenth and eleventh centuries. They are one of the three main branches of the House of Ardenne, along with the House of Ardenne–Verdun, and the House of Ardenne–Bar.
Counts who reigned over the county of Meaux include: