Gauzfrid, Count of Maine

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Gauzfrid of Maine (died 878) was both Count of Maine and Margrave of the Norman March from 865 until his death. He was a son of Rorgon of Maine by his wife Bichilde.

In 861, Charles the Bald, king of West Francia created the March of Neustria, combining the Norman March and the Breton March. They were invested to Adalard the Seneschal and Robert the Strong respectively. Gauzfrid and his brother Rorgon II, who was Count of Maine at the time, revolted against Robert. The two brothers allied with Salomon of Brittany in opposition to Robert the Strong.

Charles the Bald Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia

Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty of Verdun (843) in acquiring the western third of the Carolingian Empire. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith.

West Francia former country (843-987)

In medieval historiography, West Francia or the Kingdom of the West Franks was the western part of Charlemagne's Empire, ruled by the Germanic Franks that forms the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about 840 until 987. West Francia was formed out of the division of the Carolingian Empire in 843 under the Treaty of Verdun after the death of Emperor Louis the Pious and the east–west division which "gradually hardened into the establishment of separate kingdoms (...) of what we can begin to call Germany and France."

Adalard, also known as Adalhard or Alard, and called the Seneschal, was a Frankish nobleman of the 9th century. He served as warden of the Norman march from 861 to 865, and was Lord Chancellor of France under Louis the Pious.

In 865, Rorgon II died and Gauzfrid became the new Count of Maine. The same year, Charles the Bald deprived Adalard's family of their land in Neustria, and awarded it to Gauzfrid.

He had several children.

Floruit, abbreviated fl., Latin for "he/she flourished", denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the word may also be used as a noun indicating the time when someone flourished.

Upon his death in 878, Gauzfrid's lands passed to his cousin Ragenold, because Gauzfrid's children were too young to succeed.

Ragenold was the Count of Herbauges from 852 and Count of Maine and Margrave of Neustria from 878. His family is unidentified, but he may have been a son of Reginald of Herbauges.

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The Rorgonids were a powerful Frankish family dating from the eighth century. They are sometimes referred to as the first Mayennaise dynasty, referring to the city of Mayenne, and are the original counts of Maine. The Rorgonids were named after Rorgon I, Count of Maine, who was the progenitor of the dynasty. His son, Gauzfrid, Count of Maine, was the first to hold power in the Norman March of Neustria. The Rorgonids controlled the County of Maine throughout the ninth century. The Rorgonids and the Widonids competed for control of the Breton March through much of that time.

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