The Counts of Hesbaye were Counts named as having lordships in the important Frankish "country" called Hesbaye in the early Middle Ages. Ewig (1969), for example, proposed that this area together with the neighbouring Maas river valley, formed one of the old "duchies" in the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, possibly named Mansuaria, based on the core (Kernraum) of the large Roman civitas of Tongeren. Counts associated with the area had numerous relations with the major family dynasties of the medieval Franks.
Childebrand I was a Frankish duke (dux), son of Pepin of Heristal and Alpaida, brother of Charles Martel. He married Emma of Austrasia and was given Burgundy by his father. He distinguished himself in the expulsion of the Saracens from France.
In 834, Louis was imprisoned by his son Lothair, and Ekkehard attempted to procure the release of the emperor. Louis turned the loyal barons of Austrasia and Saxony against Lothair, who fled to Burgundy. Louis was restored the next year, on 1 March 834. Ekkehard and two of his two sons were killed supporting Charles the Bald in the Battle of Toulouse in 844, fighting Pepin II of Aquitaine.
Lothair I or Lothar I was the Holy Roman Emperor, and the governor of Bavaria (815–817), King of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (840–855).
The Battle of Toulouse in 844 was part of the campaign by Charles the Bald in Aquitaine to force the submission of Pepin II of Aquitaine, the rebellious son of Pepin, the half-brother of Charles. The historical context of this battle is the three-year Carolingian civil war, culminating in the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye. Here Charles and Louis the German defeated their brother Lothair I, who retreated to the south with his army.
Pepin II, called the Younger, was King of Aquitaine from 838 as the successor upon the death of his father, Pepin I. Pepin II was eldest son of Pepin I and Ingeltrude, daughter of Theodobert, count of Madrie. He was a grandson of the Emperor Louis the Pious.
Sources
Reuter, Timothy (Translator and Editor), The Annals of Fulda, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1992
Lewis, Archibald R., The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751, Speculum 51.3, July 1976
Louis the Pious, also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, he became the sole ruler of the Franks after his father's death in 814, a position which he held until his death, save for the period 833–34, during which he was deposed.
Pope Gregory IV was Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from October 827 to his death in 844. His pontificate was notable for the papacy’s attempts to intervene in the quarrels between the emperor Louis the Pious and his sons. It also saw the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in 843.
Year 844 (DCCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
Ludwig "the German", also known as Ludwig II, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843–876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of emperor of Francia, Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye, he received the appellation Germanicus shortly after his death in recognition of Magna Germania of the Roman Empire, reflecting the Carolingian's assertions that they were the rightful descendants of the Roman Empire
Nominoe or Nomenoe was the first Duke of Brittany from 846 to his death. He is the Breton pater patriae and to Breton nationalists he is known as Tad ar Vro.
Bernardof Septimania (795–844), son of William of Gellone, was the Frankish Duke of Septimania and Count of Barcelona from 826 to 832 and again from 835 to his execution. He was also count of Carcassonne from 837. He was appointed to succeed his fellow Frank Rampon. During his career, he was one of the closest counsellors of the Emperor Louis the Pious, a leading proponent of the war against the Moors, and opponent of the interests of the local Visigothic nobility.
Ermengarde of Hesbaye, probably a member of the Robertian dynasty, was Carolingian empress from 813 and Queen of the Franks from 814 until her death as the wife of the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious.
Sunifred was the Count of Barcelona as well as many other Catalan and Septimanian counties; including Ausona, Besalú, Girona, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Lodève, Melgueil, Cerdanya, Urgell, Conflent, and Nîmes; from 834 to 848 and from 844 to 848 (others).
Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine.
Ebbo or Ebo was archbishop of Rheims from 816 until 835 and again from 840 to 841. He was born a German serf on the royal demesne of Charlemagne. He was educated at his court and became the librarian and councillor of Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, son of Charlemagne. When Louis became emperor, he appointed Ebbo to the see of Rheims, then vacant after the death of Wulfaire.
Hugh (802–844) was the illegitimate son of Charlemagne and his concubine Regina, with whom he had one other son: Bishop Drogo of Metz (801–855). Along with Drogo and his illegitimate half-brother Theodoric, Hugh was tonsured and sent from the palace of Aachen to a monastery in 818 by his father's successor, Louis the Pious, following the revolt of King Bernard of Italy. Hugh rose to become abbot of several abbacies: Saint-Quentin (822/23), Lobbes (836), and Saint-Bertin (836). In 834, he was made imperial archchancellor by his half-brother.
Lambert I was the Count of Nantes and Prefect of the Breton March between 818 and 831 and Duke of Spoleto between 834 and 836. Lambert succeeded his father Guy.
Guerin, Garin, Warin, or Werner was the Count of Auvergne, Chalon, Mâcon, Autun, Arles and Duke of Provence, Burgundy, and Toulouse. Guerin established the region against the Saracens from a base of Marseille and fortified Chalon-sur-Saône (834). He took part in many campaigns during the civil wars that marked the reign of Louis the Pious and after his death until the Treaty of Verdun (843). The primary sources for his life are charters and chronicles like the Vita Hludovici.
The Robertians, or Robertines, was the Frankish predecessor family of origin to the ruling houses of France; it emerged to prominence in the ancient Frankish kingdom of Austrasia as early as the eighth century—in roughly the same region as present-day Belgium—and later emigrated to West Francia, between the Seine and the Loire rivers. The members were ‘forefathers’ of the Capetian dynasty. With fealty to the Carolingians, they held the power of West Francia through the whole period of the Carolingian Empire; and from 888 to 987 theirs was the last extant kingdom of that house until they were succeeded by their own (Robertian) lineage, the house of Capet.
Robert III (800–834), also called Rutpert, was the Count of Worms and Rheingau of a noble Frankish family called the Robertians. He was the son of Robert of Hesbaye.
Gilbert (Giselbert), Count of Maasgau, was a vassal of Charles the Bald. He is generally described as count of Maasgau on the lower Meuse. This is because the primary document that refers to him calls him "comes Mansuariorum". Mansuaria has however been proposed to be an early Frankish gau in the same general region, probably part of the later Hesbaye.
Ragenar was the bishop of Amiens from 830 to 833 and again from 834 until his death in 849. His predecessor, Jesse, was initially deposed by the Emperor Louis the Pious in 830 for conspiring with his rebellious son Lothair. In 833 he was restored when Lothair forced his father to make public obeisance at an assembly in Soissons. When Louis regained his position in 834, Jesse was again deposed and this time exiled to Italy, where he died in 836.
This is a partial list of male descendants from Charles Martel (686–741) for fifteen generations.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
