Giselbert van Loon (probably died about 1045) is the first definitely known count of the County of Loon, a territory which, at least in later times, roughly corresponded to the modern Belgian province of Limburg, and generations later became a lordship directly under the Prince-bishopric of Liège. Very little is known about him except that he had two brothers, one of whom, Bishop Balderic II of Liège, is much better attested in historical records.
Giselbert's parents are not known for sure. A 14th century writer of the Gesta (chronicle) of the Abbey of St Truiden states that the parents of Giselbert and Balderic were Count Otto of Loon (otherwise unknown) and his wife Liutgarde, daughter of Countess Ermengarde of Namur, who was a daughter of Duke Otto of Lower Lotharingia. [1] However, there are doubts about the reliability of this much later source. (For example, other records confirm that Countess Ermengarde was a sister of Duke Otto, not a daughter.)
In contrast to the chronicle continuation, it was proposed by Joseph Daris (in 1896), and Léon Vanderkindere (in 1900), that Giselbert is likely to be son of Rudolf, whose mother was a daughter of Count Reginar II, and father was Count Nevelong. [2] This Rudolf, known from a 943 record, when he was still a boy, was the younger brother and nephew of two bishops named Balderic: Balderic I of Liège and Balderic of Utrecht. Because of the very big gap in generations, two proposals have been made in which Otto, Count of Looz is accepted as father of Gilbert, but in a way which makes him Nevelong's grandson, adding a generation:
In medieval records, Bishop Balderic II of Liège, about which more was written than his brothers, was said to be a kinsman of both Lambert I, Count of Louvain and Arnoul of Valenciennes. [3] According to Kupper, he may have also had common ancestry with Bishop Gerard of Florennes. [4]
Balderic II, Giselbert's brother, donated his personal possessions at Pannerden in Batavia (Betuwe), near areas associated with the family of Nevelong, to the church in Liège. Just before the Battle of Vlaardingen, where Balderic died of sickness on campaign, he was accused of wanting to spare a blood-relative, which implies a close relationship to Count Dirk III of Holland. [5]
It has been proposed that Giselbert's brother Arnulf (or Arnoul, or Arnold) was the count Arnold described in a royal charter of 1040 as count of a county named Haspinga, in the pagus of Haspingouw, a reference which has caused many different interpretations. [6] According to Baerten, when a county called Haspinga was donated to the Prince-bishopric of Liège, it is probable that Loon was a fief of Haspinga, and thus became a fief of Liege. In any case when the male line of the Counts died out, the Bishop claimed the county successfully.
It is not certain when Giselbert started his rule, but his brother Balderic became bishop by 1008. The third continuation of the medieval chronicle kept at the nearby abbey of St Truiden (Gestorum Abbatem Trudonensium Continuatio Tertia) states that Giselbert did not become count of Loon (Borgloon) until about 1021, after his brother Bishop Balderic II had already died in 1018, and it says there were some years between his father Otto's death and him taking up the position. Records from Liège on the other hand seem to indicate that Giselbert was already an adult and count during his brother's reign. [1]
Giselbert apparently died around 1045, because in 1044 a charter of St. Barthélémy of Liége mentions a count Giselbert, probably (but not certainly) him, and in May 1046 the next generation of counts, the brothers Emmo and Otto, appear as counts of Loon. [7]
As pointed out for example by Verhelst (1984), it is not certain that Giselbert of Loon was the father of the next counts of Loon, Emmo and Otto. There is no medieval source which confirms that relationship.
Giselbert's county was based in Borgloon, originally simply called Loon. The castle, probably built (or rebuilt) by his grandson, was a motte-and-bailey, with a hall and a chapel in the front court. [8] The area nearby forms the core of the modern town. The castle itself was destroyed some generations later and the hill on which it stood was excavated in the 19th century.
Giselbert was the first known advocate (voogd, advocatus ) of Saint-James Abbey in Liege, founded by his brother Balderic.
Giselbert was succeeded as Count of Loon by two brothers, who may have been sons, or in any case close relatives:
No wife is named for Giselbert in medieval records. A noblewoman named Erlende is sometimes mentioned in genealogies, including the Europaische Stammtafeln . As explained by Baerten (1965 part I) this is no longer accepted. The Vita Arnulfi describes Lutgarde of Namur as mother of both Emmo Count of Loon, who was father of Count Arnulf of Loon and his sister Sophia, and also Otto, who was father of Count Gislebert of Duras. This Lutgarde is described as a sister of Count Albert of Namur. Her husband is not named there. [9] But the Gesta of St Truiden appears to say that the same Lutgarde was the mother of Bishop Balderic II, the brother of Emmo's supposed father Gilbert. [10] In short, these sources are in conflict with each other, and at least one of them seems to be misinterpreting the facts.
Albert I the son of Robert I, was a count who held the castle of Namur and a county in the Lommegau. His county came to be referred to as the County of Namur in records during his lifetime.
The County of Loon was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the modern Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle ages the counts moved their court to a more central position in Kuringen, which today forms part of Hasselt, capital of the province.
Iremfrid was a 10th-century noble born to a family which had its power base in the Rhine–Meuse delta region, near the modern border of the Netherlands and Germany. He was the eldest son of Ricfrid Count of Batavia, and his wife Herensinda. The memorial of Ricfried, which now only exists in several transcriptions, referred to him as either "Rector Yrimfredus" or "Victor Yrimfredus".
Count Nibelung or Nevelung, son of Count Ricfried and his wife Herensinda. He was probably his father's heir, and like his father he was probably a count in Betuwe (Batavia), and more generally in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta region, now in the Netherlands, and the neighbouring northern Rhineland in Germany. His better-known brother was Bishop Balderic of Utrecht.
Rudolf or Rodolphe was a Lower Lotharingian noble born into a family with connections to Utrecht. He is thought by some modern interpreters to have later had lordships in the Hesbaye region, which is now in Belgium, in a part that mostly came to be incorporated into the later County of Loon. He was a son of Nevelung, Count of Betuwe, and a daughter of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut, whose name is not known. He had two uncles, one paternal and one maternal, who were both named Rudolf, and various proposals have been made about how the three Rudolfs correspond to various references to "Count Rudolf" in the 10th century "low countries." Although his paternal uncle Rudolf is sometimes considered to have become a cleric, Jongbloed (2006) argued that he must have been a count, and that he certainly had a wife and offspring. There is no contemporary record of young Rudolf, the nephew, as a count, nor indeed as an adult.
Otto is a purported Count of Loon and father of Count Giselbert, who would have been adult roughly around the years 980–1000. He appears in only one much later document that is considered unreliable, so his existence is doubted. The list of the counts of Loon is normally started with Giselbert.
Count Emmo, Immo or Emmon is one of the first known counts of Loon in the region of modern Belgian Limburg. Before him one more count is known with confidence, Count Giselbert, but it is not certain that Giselbert was Emmo's father. Verhelst for example has proposed that he was his uncle, and that Giselbert's brother Count Arnulf was father of Emmo and also a count of Loon.
Arnold I, Count of Loon (Looz) from about 1079, son of Emmo, Count of Loon, and Suanhildis, daughter of Dirk III, Count of Holland, and his wife Othelandis.
Arnold II, Count of Loon, son of Arnold I, Count of Loon, and Agnes von Mainz, daughter of Gerhard I, Count of Rieneck, and Helwig von Bliescastel. He is distinguished from his father of the same name by historians who note records for counts named Arnold or Arnulf between 1179 and 1141. The first Arnold must have died between 1125 when Count Arnold appears in a record with his son also named Arnold, and 1135, when a new Count Arnold appears with his own son and successor Louis.
Count Gerard of Loon, was son and successor of Louis I, Count of Loon, and Agnes of Metz. He was count of Loon and of Rieneck. Because of a widespread misunderstanding concerning a document from 1101, some generations earlier, he is sometimes wrongly referred to as the second Gerard in this dynasty, "Gerard II".
The pagus or gau of Hasbania was a large early medieval territory in what is now eastern Belgium. It is now approximated by the modern French- and Dutch-speaking region called Hesbaye in French, or Haspengouw in Dutch — both being terms derived from the medieval one. Unlike many smaller pagi of the period, Hasbania apparently never corresponded to a single county. It already contained several in the 9th century. It is therefore described as a "Großgau", like the Pagus of Brabant, by modern German historians such as Ulrich Nonn.
Count Rudolf, was a count in Lower Lotharingia, who apparently held possessions in the Hesbaye region and in the area of Meuse river north of Maastricht. It has been proposed that he was a son of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut, and thus a member of the so-called Regnarid dynasty.
Count Emmo, Immo or Immon, was the name of at least one important Lotharingian nobleman in the 10th century, described by medieval annalists as a cunning strategist. Various life events of a nobleman of this name were recorded, although historians differ about exactly which records refer to the same person or people. The first record claimed for him shows him as a young noble granting land to a new vassal in the Condroz region in 934, a member of the entourage of Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia. During the revolt of Gilbert which ended at the Battle of Andernach in 939, he switched sides. After the revolt he was personally associated with the fort at Chèvremont, near Liège. It becomes difficult later in Immo's life to be sure that all records mentioning a count of this name are referring to the same person.
Werner, Count in Hesbaye was a Lower Lotharingian count in what is now Belgium and neighbouring parts of Germany. During this period the once independent Kingdom of Lotharingia, was coming under the control of the new Kingdom of Germany, but it was also still contested by the Kingdom of France.
The County of Duras was a medieval county with its seat at the castle of Duras. The 18th century version of this castle still stands and is a part of modern Sint-Truiden in the province of Belgian Limburg. The county was one of several counties in the Hesbaye region which covers parts of several Flemish and Wallonian Provinces of Belgium. As a distinct entity under the name Duras the county only existed within the 12th century. After the first male line of counts died out, the county of Duras came by marriage to the Counts of Montaigu, whose other holdings were further south. Duras itself became part of the neighbouring County of Loon, which was at that time ruled by cousins of the original counts of Duras.
Count Otto of Loon as he was known during his own lifetime, was founder of the family of Counts of Duras, and brother of Emmo, Count of Loon, one of the first known counts of Loon. In contemporary and later medieval records he is mainly known for his role as advocate of Sint-Truiden Abbey, which is today in Belgian Limburg.
Count Giselbert of Loon or (later) Duras, was the deputy advocate (subadvocatus) of Saint Trudo’s Abbey. He was son of Count Otto, the younger brother of Count Emmo of Loon. Giselbert was the first person to be named in contemporary documents as a count of Duras.
Count Otto of Duras was a count of Duras, and advocatus of the nearby abbey of St Truiden. Duras and St Truiden are in the modern province of Belgian Limburg. His parents were Count Giselbert of Duras and his wife Gertrud.
Baldrick II was bishop of Liège from 1008 to his death at Heerewaarden in what is now the Netherlands.
Arnulfof Valenciennes, was a 10th and 11th century count and perhaps sometimes a margrave, who was lord of the fort of Valenciennes, which was at that time on the frontier with France, on the river Scheldt. It was part of the pagus of Hainaut, in Lower Lotharingia, within the Holy Roman Empire.