The House of Ardenne (or Ardennes, French Maison d'Ardenne) was an important medieval noble family from Lotharingia, known from at least the tenth century. They had several important branches, descended from several brothers: [1]
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.
Wigeric of Lotharingia HOUSE OF ARDENNE | Cunigunda of France | Ricwin, Count of Verdun | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adalbero I of Metz | Gozlin, Count of Bidgau HOUSE OF ARDENNE-VERDUN | Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine HOUSE OF ARDENNE-BAR | Sigfried of Luxembourg HOUSE OF ARDENNE-LUXEMBOURG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Godfrey I, Count of Verdun | Theodoric I, Duke of Upper Lorraine | Frederick of Luxembourg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Duchy of Lorraine, originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.
Theodoric II, called the Valiant, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1070 to his death. He was the son and successor of Gerhard and Hedwige of Namur. He is sometimes numbered Theodoric I if the Dukes of the House of Ardennes, who ruled in Upper Lorraine from 959 to 1033, are ignored in favour of the dukes of Lower Lorraine as predecessors of the later Dukes of Lorraine.
The House of Lorraine originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Francis of Lorraine to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736, and with the success in the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the House of Lorraine was joined to the House of Habsburg and became known as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Francis, his sons Joseph II and Leopold II, and his grandson Francis II were the last four Holy Roman emperors from 1745 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine inherited the Habsburg Empire, ruling the Austrian Empire and then Austria-Hungary until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1918.
The House of Luxembourg or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Their rule was twice interrupted by the rival House of Wittelsbach. The family takes it name from its ancestral county of Luxembourg which they continued to hold.
Godfrey II (965–1023), called the Childless, son of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun was the first of several members of his family to become duke of Lower Lorraine which roughly corresponded to modern Belgium and the Netherlands.
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.
Sigfried was count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Luxembourg. He was also an advocate of the abbeys of St. Maximin in Trier and Saint Willibrord in Echternach.
Henry the Blind, sometimes called Henry IV of Luxembourg, was his father's heir as count of Namur from 1136 until his death, and heir of his mother's family as count of Luxembourg from 1139 until his abdication in 1189. He also inherited the smaller lordships of Longwy, La Roche-en-Ardenne and Durbuy.
The Duchy of Luxemburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg, now Duke of Limburg, became one of the most important political forces in the 14th century, competing against the House of Habsburg for supremacy in Central Europe. They would be the heirs to the Přemyslid dynasty in the Kingdom of Bohemia, succeeding the Kingdom of Hungary and contributing four Holy Roman Emperors until their own line of male heirs came to an end and the House of Habsburg got the pieces that the two Houses had originally agreed upon in the Treaty of Brünn in 1364.
The County of Luxemburg was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It arose from medieval Lucilinburhuc Castle in the present-day City of Luxembourg, purchased by Siegfried, Count of the Ardennes in 963. His descendants of the Ardennes–Luxembourg dynasty began to call themselves Counts of Luxembourg from the 11th century onwards. The House of Luxembourg, a cadet branch of the Dukes of Limburg, became one of the most important political forces of the 14th century, contending with the House of Habsburg for supremacy in Central Europe.
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.
Henry III of Louvain, was Count of Louvain (Leuven) and Landgrave of Brabant, son of Henry II, Count of Louvain and Brussels, and Adela of Orthen, a daughter of Count Everard of Orthen.
The House of Salm was an ancient Lotharingian noble family originating from Salmchâteau in the Ardennes and ruling Salm. The dynasty is above all known for the experiences of the Upper Salm branch which came to be located at Château de Salm in the Vosges mountain range and over time came to rule over a principality whose capital was Badonviller then Senones.
Henry II was the Count of Louvain (Leuven) from 1054 through 1071 (?). Henry II was the son of Lambert II, Count of Louvain and Oda of Verdun. His maternal uncles included Pope Stephen IX and Duke Godfrey the Bearded of Lorraine.
Gozlin, was count of the Ardennes and the Bidgau, and army commander for his brother, Adalbero I of Metz.
Cunigunda of Sulichgau (893-924) was the daughter of Ermentrude of France, daughter in turn of Louis the Stammerer. Her father was Eberhard of Sulichgau, son of Unruoch III. In 898 her uncle Charles III gained control as king of the Franks, changing Cunigunda's life for the better.
Otto I(Eudes) (died 987), Count of Chiny, perhaps son of Adalbert I the Pious, Count of Vermandois, and Gerberge of Lorraine. Although he probably did not use the title, Otto is regarded as the first Count of Chiny.
Herman of Ename, was a count in what is now Belgium, who was responsible to the emperor for holding the frontier fort at Ename in the Pagus of Brabant, which faced the County of Flanders in the Kingdom of France.
The house of Namur is a family of the Lotharingian nobility, coming from Berenger count of Lommegau. He later became count of Namur, when the county of Lammegau was renamed to county of Namur. He married a sister of Giselbert duke of Lotharingia, from the House of Reginar.
The House of Luxembourg (or 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.