Emma married Richard, I Duke of Normandy 960. Richard (son of William, I Duke of Normandy and Sprota) was born 28 Aug 933, Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died 20 Nov 996, Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet]

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Hugues of Neustria, Comte de Paris was born circa 895. He was the son of Robert I, Roi de France. He married, firstly, Eadhilda, daughter of Eadweard I, King of Wessex and Ælflæd, between 926 and 927. He married, thirdly, Hedwig von Sachsen, daughter of Heinrich I von Sachsen, Holy Roman Emperor and Mathilda von Ringelheim, before 14 September 938. He died on 9 June 956.

Hugues of Neustria, Comte de Paris also went by the nick-name of Hugues 'the Great'. He gained the title of Comte de Paris. He gained the title of Duc de France.

Hugh the Great or Hugues le Grand (898 - 16 June 956) was duke of the Franks and count of Paris, son of King Robert I of France and nephew of King Odo. He was born in Paris, ÃŽle-de-France, France. His eldest son was Hugh Capet who became King of France in 987. His family is known as the Robertians.

Hugh's first wife was Judith, daughter of Roger Comte du Maine & his wife Rothilde

Hugh's second wife was Eadhild, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England, and sister of King Athelstan. At the death of Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, in 936, Hugh was in possession of nearly all of the region between the Loire and the Seine, corresponding to the ancient Neustria, with the exception of the territory ceded to the Normans in 911. He took a very active part in bringing Louis IV (d'Outremer) from the Kingdom of England in 936, but in the same year Hugh married Hedwige of Saxony, a daughter of Henry the Fowler of Germany and Matilda of Ringelheim, and soon quarrelled with Louis.

Hugh even paid homage to the Emperor Otto the Great, and supported him in his struggle against Louis. When Louis fell into the hands of the Normans in 945, he was handed over to Hugh, who released him in 946 only on condition that he should surrender the fortress of Laon. At the council of Ingelheim (948) Hugh was condemned, under pain of excommunication, to make reparation to Louis. It was not, however, until 950 that the powerful vassal became reconciled with his suzerain and restored Laon. But new difficulties arose, and peace was not finally concluded until 953.

On the death of Louis IV, Hugh was one of the first to recognize Lothair as his successor, and, at the intervention of Queen Gerberga, was instrumental in having him crowned. In recognition of this service Hugh was invested by the new king with the duchies of Burgundy (his suzerainty over which had already been nominally recognized by Louis IV) and Aquitaine. But his expedition in 955 to take possession of Aquitaine was unsuccessful. In the same year, however, Giselbert, duke of Burgundy, acknowledged himself his vassal and betrothed his daughter to Hugh's son Otto. At Giselbert's death (8 April 956) Hugh became effective master of the duchy, but died soon afterwards, on the 16 or 17 June 956, in Dourdan.

Hugh's daughter Beatrice married Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine, thus making Hugh an ancestor of the Habsburg family. From their son Hugh Capet sprung forth the Capetian dynasty, one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe.

Hugh married Hedwig of Saxony Bef 14 Sep 938. Hedwig (daughter of Henry, I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim) was born Abt 910; died 10 May 965. [Group Sheet]

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She was also known as Hatwide.

Hedwige of Saxony (c. 910 - May 10, 965) was a daughter of Henry I the Fowler, and his wife Matilda of Ringelheim.

She was a sister of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor; Henry I, Duke of Bavaria; Gerberga of Saxony; and Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne.

After her brother Otto I came to power, an alliance and marriage was arranged with Hugh the Great in 936. Her son, Hugh Capet, was crowned King of France in 987.

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Robert I, Roi de France was the son of Robert of Neustria, Duke of Neustria. He died circa 15 June 923, killed in action. He gained the title of Roi Robert I de France circa 29 June 922.

Robert I (15 August 866 - 15 June 923), King of Western Francia (922-923), was the younger son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, and the brother of Odo, who became king of the Western Franks in 888. West Francia evolved over time into France; under Odo, the capital was fixed on Paris, a large step in that direction. His family is known as the Robertians.

He was present at the Siege of Paris in 885. Appointed by Odo ruler of several counties, including the county of Paris, and abbot in commendam of many abbeys, Robert also secured the office of Dux Francorum, a military dignity of high importance. He did not claim the crown of West Francia when his brother died in 898; but recognising the supremacy of the Carolingian king, Charles the Simple, he was confirmed in his offices and possessions, after which he continued to defend northern Francia from the attacks of the Norsemen.

The peace between the king and his powerful vassal was not seriously disturbed until about 921. The rule of Charles, and especially his partiality for a certain Hagano, had aroused some irritation; and, supported by many of the clergy and by some of the most powerful of the Frankish nobles, Robert took up arms, drove Charles into Lorraine, and was himself crowned king of the Franks (rex Francorum) at Rheims on 29 June 922. Collecting an army, Charles marched against the usurper and, on 15 June 923, in a stubborn and sanguinary battle near Soissons, Robert was killed, according to one tradition in single combat with his rival. His army nonetheless won the battle, and Charles was captured.

Robert was married twice. Through his first wife, Aelis, he had two daughters. Each married powerful lay vassals of their father: Emma of France (894-935) to Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy, and Hildebranda (895-931) to Herbert II of Vermandois. Through his second wife, Béatrice of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois, he had his only son, Hugh the Great, who was later dux Francorum and father of King Hugh Capet, and a daughter Richilda. He may have had other daughters.

Robert married Béatrice of Vermandois 895. Béatrice was born 880; died Aft 26 Mar 931. [Group Sheet]

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Béatrice of Vermandois (c. 880 - after March 26, 931) was the wife of Robert I, King of France . She is sometimes stated to be the sister of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois. No contemporary source explicitly states that Heribert II and Beatrix were the children of Herbert I, and researchers are divided on the probablity of this relationship.

Marriage and issue

She married in 895 Robert (d. 923), Marquis of Neustria, who became the King of France in 922. They had the following:

Richilda of France
Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, who was the father of Hugh Capet.

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He married, secondly, Mathilda von Ringelheim, daughter of Dietrich Graf von Ringelheim, circa 911. Heinrich I von Sachsen, Holy Roman Emperor also went by the nick-name of Henry 'the Fowler'. He gained the title of Herzog von Sachsen. He succeeded to the title of Emperor Heinrich I of the Holy Roman Empire in 919.

Henry I the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Finkler or Heinrich der Vogler; Latin: Henricius Auceps) (876 - 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and German king from 919 until his death. First of the Ottonian Dynasty of German kings and emperors, he is generally considered to be the founder and first king of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet "the Fowler" because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king.

Family

Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Henry was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Henry of Franconia and Ingeltrude and a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. In 906 he married Hatheburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin, but divorced her in 909, after she had given birth to his son Thankmar. Later that year he married St Matilda of Ringelheim, daughter of Dietrich, Count of Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwig and Gerberga and founded many religious institutions, including the abbey of Quedlinburg where Henry is buried, and was later canonized.

Succession

Henry became Duke of Saxony upon his father's death in 912. An able ruler, he continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the developing Kingdom of Germany, frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South, the dukes of Franconia.

On 23 December 918 Conrad I, King of East Francia and Franconian duke, died. Although they had been at odds with each other from 912-15 over the title to lands in Thuringia, before he died Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Conrad's choice was conveyed by Duke Eberhard of Franconia, Conrad's brother and heir, at the Reichstag of Fritzlar in 919. The assembled Franconian and Saxon nobles duly elected Henry to be king. Archbishop Heriger of Mainz offered to anoint Henry according to the usual ceremony, but he refused to be anointed by a high church official - the only King of his time not to undergo that rite - allegedly because he wished to be king not by the church's but by the people's acclaim. Duke Burchard II of Swabia soon swore fealty to the new King, but Duke Arnulf of Bavaria did not submit until Henry defeated him in two campaigns in 921. Last, Henry besieged his residence at Ratisbon (Regensburg) and forced Arnulf into submission.

In 920, the West Frankish king Charles the Simple invaded Germany and marched as far as Pfeddersheim near Worms, but retired on hearing that Henry was arming against him.

On 7 November 921 Henry and Charles met each other and concluded a treaty of friendship between them. However, with the beginning of civil war in France upon the coronation of King Robert I, Henry sought to wrest the Duchy of Lorraine from the Western Kingdom. In the year of 923 Henry crossed the Rhine twice. Later in the year he entered Lorraine with an army, capturing a large part of the country. Until October 924 the eastern part of Lorraine was left in Henry's possession.

Policy

Henry regarded the German kingdom as a confederation of stem duchies rather than as a feudal monarchy and saw himself as primus inter pares. Instead of seeking to administer the empire through counts, as Charlemagne had done and as his successors had attempted, Henry allowed the dukes of Franconia, Swabia and Bavaria to maintain complete internal control of their holdings. In 925, Duke Gilbert of Lorraine again rebelled. Henry invaded the duchy and besieged Gilbert at Zülpich (Tolbiac), captured the town, and became master of a large portion of his lands. Thus he brought that realm, which had been lost in 910, back into the German kingdom as the fifth stem duchy. Allowing Gilbert to remain in power as duke, Henry arranged the marriage of his daughter Gerberga to his new vassal in 928.

Henry was an able military leader. In 921 Hungarians (Magyars) invaded Germany and Italy. Although a sizable force was routed near Bleiburg in the Bavarian March of Carinthia by Eberhard and the Count of Meran and another group was routed by Liutfried, count of Elsace, the Magyars repeatedly raided Germany. Nevertheless Henry, having captured a Hungarian prince, managed to arrange a ten-year-truce in 926, though he was forced to pay tributes. By doing so he and the German dukes gained time to fortify towns and train a new elite cavalry force.

During the truce with the Magyars, Henry subdued the Polabian Slavs, settling on the eastern border of his realm. In the winter of 928, he marched against the Slavic Hevelli tribes and seized their capital, Brandenburg. He then invaded the Glomacze lands on the middle Elbe river, conquered Gana (Jahna), the capital after a siege, and had a fortress (the later Albrechtsburg) built at Meissen. In 929, with the help of Arnulf of Bavaria, Henry entered Bohemia and forced Duke Wenceslaus I to resume the yearly payment of the tribute to the king. Meanwhile, the Slavic Redarii had driven away their chief, captured the town of Walsleben and massacred the inhabitants. Counts Bernard and Thietmar marched against the fortress of Lenzen beyond the Elbe, and, after fierce fighting, completely routed the enemy on 4 September 929. The Lusatians and the Ukrani on the lower Oder were subdued and made tributary in 932 and 934, respectively. However, Henry left no consistent march administration, which was implemented by his successor Otto I.

In 932 Henry finally refused to pay the regular tribute to the Magyars. When they began raiding again, he led a unified army of all German tribes to victory at the Battle of Riade in 933 near the river Unstrut, thus stopping the Magyar advance into Germany. He also pacified territories to the north, where the Danes had been harrying the Frisians by sea. The monk and chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae Saxonicae reports that the Danes were subjects of Henry the Fowler. Henry incorporated into his kingdom territories held by the Wends, who together with the Danes had attacked Germany, and also conquered Schleswig in 934.

Death and aftermath

Henry died of a cerebral stroke on 2 July 936 in his palatium in Memleben, one of his favourite places. By then all German tribes were united in a single kingdom. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor.

His son Otto succeeded him as Emperor. His second son, Henry, became Duke of Bavaria. A third son, Brun (or Bruno), became archbishop of Cologne. His son from his first marriage, Thankmar, rebelled against his half-brother Otto and was killed in battle in 936. After the death of her husband Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia, Henry's daughter Gerberga of Saxony married King Louis IV of France. His youngest daughter, Hedwige of Saxony, married Duke Hugh the Great of France and was the mother of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian king of France.

Henry returned to public attention as a character in Richard Wagner's opera, Lohengrin (1850), trying to gain the support of the Brabantian nobles against the Magyars. After the attempts to achieve German national unity failed with the Revolutions of 1848, Wagner strongly relied on the picture of Henry as a the actual ruler of all German tribes as advocated by pan-Germanist activists like Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.

There are indications that Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of the first king of Germany. The Nazism ideology referred to Henry as a founding father of the German nation, fighting both the Latin Western Franks and the Slavic tribes of the East, thereby a precursor of the German Drang nach Osten.
Henry I the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Finkler or Heinrich der Vogler; Latin: Henricius Auceps) (876 - 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and German king from 919 until his death. First of the Ottonian Dynasty of German kings and emperors, he is generally considered to be the founder and first king of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet "the Fowler" because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king.

Family

Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Henry was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Henry of Franconia and Ingeltrude and a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. In 906 he married Hatheburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin, but divorced her in 909, after she had given birth to his son Thankmar. Later that year he married St Matilda of Ringelheim, daughter of Dietrich, Count of Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwig and Gerberga and founded many religious institutions, including the abbey of Quedlinburg where Henry is buried, and was later canonized.

Succession

Henry became Duke of Saxony upon his father's death in 912. An able ruler, he continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the developing Kingdom of Germany, frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South, the dukes of Franconia.

On 23 December 918 Conrad I, King of East Francia and Franconian duke, died. Although they had been at odds with each other from 912-15 over the title to lands in Thuringia, before he died Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Conrad's choice was conveyed by Duke Eberhard of Franconia, Conrad's brother and heir, at the Reichstag of Fritzlar in 919. The assembled Franconian and Saxon nobles duly elected Henry to be king. Archbishop Heriger of Mainz offered to anoint Henry according to the usual ceremony, but he refused to be anointed by a high church official - the only King of his time not to undergo that rite - allegedly because he wished to be king not by the church's but by the people's acclaim. Duke Burchard II of Swabia soon swore fealty to the new King, but Duke Arnulf of Bavaria did not submit until Henry defeated him in two campaigns in 921. Last, Henry besieged his residence at Ratisbon (Regensburg) and forced Arnulf into submission.

In 920, the West Frankish king Charles the Simple invaded Germany and marched as far as Pfeddersheim near Worms, but retired on hearing that Henry was arming against him.

On 7 November 921 Henry and Charles met each other and concluded a treaty of friendship between them. However, with the beginning of civil war in France upon the coronation of King Robert I, Henry sought to wrest the Duchy of Lorraine from the Western Kingdom. In the year of 923 Henry crossed the Rhine twice. Later in the year he entered Lorraine with an army, capturing a large part of the country. Until October 924 the eastern part of Lorraine was left in Henry's possession.

Policy

Henry regarded the German kingdom as a confederation of stem duchies rather than as a feudal monarchy and saw himself as primus inter pares. Instead of seeking to administer the empire through counts, as Charlemagne had done and as his successors had attempted, Henry allowed the dukes of Franconia, Swabia and Bavaria to maintain complete internal control of their holdings. In 925, Duke Gilbert of Lorraine again rebelled. Henry invaded the duchy and besieged Gilbert at Zülpich (Tolbiac), captured the town, and became master of a large portion of his lands. Thus he brought that realm, which had been lost in 910, back into the German kingdom as the fifth stem duchy. Allowing Gilbert to remain in power as duke, Henry arranged the marriage of his daughter Gerberga to his new vassal in 928.

Henry was an able military leader. In 921 Hungarians (Magyars) invaded Germany and Italy. Although a sizable force was routed near Bleiburg in the Bavarian March of Carinthia by Eberhard and the Count of Meran and another group was routed by Liutfried, count of Elsace, the Magyars repeatedly raided Germany. Nevertheless Henry, having captured a Hungarian prince, managed to arrange a ten-year-truce in 926, though he was forced to pay tributes. By doing so he and the German dukes gained time to fortify towns and train a new elite cavalry force.

During the truce with the Magyars, Henry subdued the Polabian Slavs, settling on the eastern border of his realm. In the winter of 928, he marched against the Slavic Hevelli tribes and seized their capital, Brandenburg. He then invaded the Glomacze lands on the middle Elbe river, conquered Gana (Jahna), the capital after a siege, and had a fortress (the later Albrechtsburg) built at Meissen. In 929, with the help of Arnulf of Bavaria, Henry entered Bohemia and forced Duke Wenceslaus I to resume the yearly payment of the tribute to the king. Meanwhile, the Slavic Redarii had driven away their chief, captured the town of Walsleben and massacred the inhabitants. Counts Bernard and Thietmar marched against the fortress of Lenzen beyond the Elbe, and, after fierce fighting, completely routed the enemy on 4 September 929. The Lusatians and the Ukrani on the lower Oder were subdued and made tributary in 932 and 934, respectively. However, Henry left no consistent march administration, which was implemented by his successor Otto I.

In 932 Henry finally refused to pay the regular tribute to the Magyars. When they began raiding again, he led a unified army of all German tribes to victory at the Battle of Riade in 933 near the river Unstrut, thus stopping the Magyar advance into Germany. He also pacified territories to the north, where the Danes had been harrying the Frisians by sea. The monk and chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae Saxonicae reports that the Danes were subjects of Henry the Fowler. Henry incorporated into his kingdom territories held by the Wends, who together with the Danes had attacked Germany, and also conquered Schleswig in 934.

Death and aftermath

Henry died of a cerebral stroke on 2 July 936 in his palatium in Memleben, one of his favourite places. By then all German tribes were united in a single kingdom. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor.

His son Otto succeeded him as Emperor. His second son, Henry, became Duke of Bavaria. A third son, Brun (or Bruno), became archbishop of Cologne. His son from his first marriage, Thankmar, rebelled against his half-brother Otto and was killed in battle in 936. After the death of her husband Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia, Henry's daughter Gerberga of Saxony married King Louis IV of France. His youngest daughter, Hedwige of Saxony, married Duke Hugh the Great of France and was the mother of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian king of France.

Henry returned to public attention as a character in Richard Wagner's opera, Lohengrin (1850), trying to gain the support of the Brabantian nobles against the Magyars. After the attempts to achieve German national unity failed with the Revolutions of 1848, Wagner strongly relied on the picture of Henry as the actual ruler of all German tribes as advocated by pan-Germanist activists like Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.
Himmler at Henry's grave, 1938

There are indications that Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of the first king of Germany. The Nazism ideology referred to Henry as a founding father of the German nation, fighting both the Latin Western Franks and the Slavic tribes of the East, thereby a precursor of the German Drang nach Osten.

Henry married Matilda of Ringelheim 909, Wallhausen, Germany. Matilda (daughter of Dietrich, Graf von Ringelheim and Reinhild) was born 877; died 14 Mar 967/68, Quedlinburg; was buried St. Servatius' Abbey church. [Group Sheet]

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Saint Mathilda (or Matilda) (877 - 14 March 968) was the wife of King Henry I of Germany, the first ruler of the Saxon Ottonian (or Liudolfing) dynasty, thereby Duchess consort of Saxony from 912 and German Queen from 919 until 936. Their eldest son Otto succeeded his father as German King and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962. Matilda's surname refers to Ringelheim, where her comital Immedinger relatives established a convent about 940.

Biography

The details of Saint Matilda's life come largely from brief mentions in the Res gestae saxonicae of the monastic historian Widukind of Corvey (c. 925 - 973), and from two sacred biographies (the vita antiquior and vita posterior) written, respectively, circa 974 and circa 1003.

St. Mathilda was the daughter of the Westphalian count Dietrich and his wife Reinhild, and her biographers traced her ancestry back to the legendary Saxon leader Widukind (c. 730 - 807). One of her sisters married Count Wichmann the Elder, a member of the House of Billung.

As a young girl, she was sent to the convent of Herford, where her grandmother Matilda was abbess and where her reputation for beauty and virtue (probably also her Westphalian dowry) is said to have attracted the attention of Duke Otto I of Saxony, who betrothed her to his recently divorced son and heir, Henry the Fowler. They were married at Wallhausen in 909. As the eldest surviving son, Henry succeeded his father as Saxon duke in 912 and upon the death of King Conrad I of Germany was elected King of Germany (East Francia) in 919. He and Matilda had three sons and two daughters:

Hedwig (910 - 965), wife of the West Frankish duke Hugh the Great, mother of King Hugh Capet of France
Otto (912 - 973), Duke of Saxony, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor
Gerberga (913 - 984), wife of (1) Duke Giselbert of Lorraine and (2) King Louis IV of France
Henry (919/921 - 955) was Duke of Bavaria
Bruno (925 - 965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine

After her husband had died in 936, Matilda and her son Otto established Quedlinburg Abbey in his memory, a convent of noble canonesses, where in 966 her granddaughter Matilda became the first abbess. At first she remained at the court of her son Otto, however in the quarrels between the young king and his rivaling brother Henry a cabal of royal advisors is reported to have accused her of weakening the royal treasury in order to pay for her charitable activities. After a brief exile at her Westphalian manors at Enger, where she established a college of canons in 947, Matilda was brought back to court at the urging of King Otto's first wife, the Anglo-Saxon princess Edith of Wessex.

Matilda died at Quedlinburg, she outlived her husband by 32 years. Her and Henry's mortal remains are buried at the crypt of the St. Servatius' abbey church.

Veneration

Saint Matilda was celebrated for her devotion to prayer and almsgiving; her first biographer depicted her (in a passage indebted to the sixth-century vita of the Frankish queen (Radegund by Venantius Fortunatus) leaving her husband's side in the middle of the night and sneaking off to church to pray. St. Mathilda founded many religious institutions, including the canonry of Quedlinburg, which became a center of ecclesiastical and secular life in Germany under the rule of the Ottonian dynasty, as well as the convents of St. Wigbert in Quedlinburg, in Pöhlde, Enger and Nordhausen in Thuringia, likely the source of at least one of her vitae.

She was later canonized, with her cult largely confined to Saxony and Bavaria. St. Mathilda's feast day according to the German calendar of saints is on March 14.

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Robert of Neustria, Duke of Neustria died circa 866, killed. Robert of Neustria, Duke of Neustria also went by the nick-name of Robert 'the Strong'.

Robert IV the Strong (820 - July 2, 866), also known as Rutpert, was Margrave in Neustria. His family is named after him and called Robertians. He was first nominated by Charles the Bald missus dominicus in 853. Robert was the father of the kings Odo and Robert I of France. Robert was the great-grandfather of Hugh Capet and thus the ancestor of all the Capetians. His father was Robert III of Worms.

Origins and rise to power

While very little is known about the beginnings of the Robertian family, historians have been able to adduce that the family of nobles had its origins in Hesbaye or perhaps from the family of Chrodegang of Metz. During the reign of Louis the German, the Robertian family moved from East Francia to West Francia. After his arrival in West Francia, Charles the Bald showed his favour of the family defecting from his enemy Louis by assigning Robert to the lay abbacy of Marmoutier in 852. In 853 the position of missus dominicus in the provinces of Maine, Anjou, and Touraine was given him and he had de facto control of the ancient ducatus Cenomannicus, a vast duchy centred on Le Mans and corresponding to the regnum Neustriae. Robert's rise came at the expense of the established family of the Rorigonids and was designed to curb their regional power and to defend Neustria from Viking and Breton raids.

Revolt

Despite the fact that he was a favoured noble of Charles, Robert joined a rebellion against the king in 858. He led the Frankish nobles of Neustria with the Bretons under Salomon in inviting Louis the German to invade West Francia and receive their homage. The revolt had been sparked by the marriage alliance between Charles and Erispoe, Duke of Brittany, and by the investment of Louis the Stammerer with the regnum Neustriae (856). These actions significantly curtailed the influence both of Salomon and Robert. Charles compensated Robert for the losses suffered in this civil war by giving him the counties of Autun and Nevers in Burgundy, which greatly enlarged his landholdings. In 856 he had to defend Autun from Louis the German following the death of Lothair I. But following Erispoe's assassination in November 857, both he and Salomon rebelled.

Louis the German reached Orléans in September 858 and received delegations from the Breton and Neustrian leaders, as well as from Pepin II. The Neustrian rebels had chased Louis the Stammerer from Le Mans, his capital, earlier that year. In 861, Charles made peace with Robert and appointed him Count of Anjou, even though he had been involved in the revolt.

War with Bretons and Vikings

While count of Anjou, Robert was able to successfully defend the northern coast against the threat of a Viking invasion. In 862 Charles granted Louis the Stammerer, his son, the lay abbacy of Saint Martin of Tours, a small benefice in comparison with the kingdom he had received in 856 (and lost in 858). The young Louis rebelled and was quickly joined by Salomon, who supplied him with troops for a war against Robert.

In 862 two groups of Vikings-one the larger of two fleets recently forced out of the Seine by Charles the Bald, the other a fleet returning from a Mediterranean expedition-converged on Brittany, where one (the Mediterranean) was hired by the Breton duke Salomon to ravage the Loire valley. Robert captured twelve of their ships, killing all on board save a few who fled. He then opened negotiations with the former Seine Vikings, and hired them against Salomon for 6,000 pounds of silver. The purpose of this was doubtless to prevent them from entering the service of Salomon. Probably Robert had to collect a large amount in taxes to finance what was effectively a non-tributary Danegeld designed to keep the Vikings out of Neustria. The treaty between the Franks and the Vikings did not last more than a year: in 863 Salomon made peace and the Vikings, deprived of an enemy, ravaged Neustria.

He was made Lay abbot of the influential abbey St. Martin at Tours.

Robert made war on Pepin II in his later years. In 863 he had to defend Autun again from Louis the German, this time after the death of Charles of Provence. Robert was in Neustria during 865 and 866, with Bretons and Vikings ravaging the environs of Le Mans.

Death and legacy

In 866, Robert was killed at the Battle of Brissarthe while, unsurprisingly, defending Francia against a joint Breton-Viking raiding party, led by Salomon, Duke of Brittany, and the Viking chieftain Hastein. During the battle, Robert had entrapped the Viking commander in a nearby church. Thinking he was not endangered, Robert took off his armour and began to besiege the church. Once Robert was unarmoured, the trapped Vikings launched a surprise attack and killed him before he had time to re-arm. His success against the Vikings led to his heroic characterisation as "a second Maccabaeus" in the Annales Fuldenses.

The name of Robert's wife is not attested in primary sources. According to some modern scholars she was Adelaide of Tours or Adalais, a daughter of Hugh of Tours (and thus an Etichonid) and the widow of Conrad I of Auxerre (died 862), a Welf. Since Robert already had children by 862, Adelaide would have to have been his second wife. French genealogist Christian Settipani has identified the source of this identification as the unreliable twelfth-century Chronicle of Saint-Bénigne de Dijon, which was interpolated into the chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines. The Europäische Stammtafeln has identified Robert's first wife as a certain Agane. Whatever the facts, two of Robert's sons became kings of France: Odo and Robert.

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Notes:

He married Hedwige, daughter of Arnulf of Carinthia, Holy Roman Emperor and Oda von Bayern. He gained the title of Herzog von Sachsen. Otto Herzog von Sachsen also went by the nick-name of Otho 'the Illustrious'.

Otto (or Oddo) (c. 851 - 30 November 912), called the Illustrious (der Erlauchte) by later authors, was the Duke of Saxony from 880 to his death. He was the younger son of Duke Liudolf of Saxony and his wife Oda of Billung, and succeeded his brother Bruno as duke after the latter's death in battle in 880. His family, named after his father, is called the Liudolfing, after the accession of his grandson Emperor Otto I also the Ottonian dynasty.

By a charter of King Louis the Younger to Gandersheim Abbey dated 26 January 877, the pago Suththuringa (region of South Thuringia) is described as in comitatu Ottonis (in Otto's county). In a charter of 28 January 897, Otto is described as marchio and the pago Eichesfelden (Eichsfeld) is now found to be within his county (march). He was also the lay abbot of Hersfeld Abbey in 908. He was described as magni ducis Oddonis (great duke Otto) by Widukind of Corvey when describing the marriage of his sister, Liutgard, to King Louis.

Otto rarely left Saxony. He was a regional prince and his overlords, Louis the Younger and Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia, with both of whom he was on good terms, rarely interfered in Saxony. In Saxony, Otto was king in practice and he established himself as tributary ruler over the neighbouring Slav tribes, such as the Daleminzi.

According to Widukind of Corvey, Otto was offered the kingship of East Francia after the death of Louis the Child in 911, but did not accept it on account of his advanced age, instead suggesting Conrad of Franconia. The truthfulness of this report is considered doubtful.

Otto was and is buried in the church of Gandersheim Abbey. He had two sons, Thankmar and Liudolf, who predeceased him, but his third son Henry succeeded him as duke of Saxony and was later elected king. His daughter Oda married the Carolingian King Zwentibold of Lotharingia.

Otto — Hedwige. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

She was also known as Edith. Hedwiga (also known as Hathui) was the daughter of Henry of Franconia (died ~886) and his wife Ingeltrude. She married Otto I, Duke of Saxony (851-912). They had three sons, Henry (who succeeded his father as Duke of Saxony), Thankmar and Liudolf (who both died young), as well as a daughter, Oda. Oda married Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia.

Dietrich — Reinhild. [Group Sheet]