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He married Oda de Basse-Lorraine, daughter of Gozelo I der Große Herzog von Niederlothringen and Urraca d'Ivrea.

Lambert II (died Tournai, June 19, 1054) was count of Louvain between 1033 and 1054. Lambert was the son of Lambert I of Louvain (d. 1015).

According the Vita Gudilae (recorded between 1048-1051) he followed his brother Henry I of Louvain. Lambert scorned both temporal and spiritual authorities and in 1054 even took up arms against Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. He was defeated and lost his life at Tournai.

During his reign Brussels began its growth. Lambert arranged to transfer the remains of Saint Gudule to the St. Michael church. This church, thereafter known as Saints-Michel-et-Gudule, developed to become St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral. Lambert also constructed a fortress on the Coudenberg hill.

Since Lambert II died in 1054, an imperial charter of September 1062 connecting a certain Lambert to the county Brussels, is probably referring to another person.

Family

Lambert of Louvain married Uda of Lorraine (also called Oda of Verdun), daughter of Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine. Their children were:

Henry II, Count of Louvain who married Adela of Orthen, a daughter of Count Everard of Orthen (or Betuwe).
Adela of Louvain, married Otto I, Margrave of Meissen, Count of Weimar. Later married Dedi I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark.
Reginar (Rainier) of Louvain. Killed in the battle of Hesbaye in 1077.

Lambert — Oda of Verdun. Oda (daughter of Gothelo, I Duke of Lorraine and Urraca d'Ivrea) was born Abt 990; died 1062. [Group Sheet]

1. Adelheid de Louvain died Abt 1083.
2. Henry, II Count of Louvain was born 1021, Brabant Wallon, Belgium; died Aft 1075.

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He died on 12 September 1015, killed.

Lambert I of Leuven nicknamed "The Bearded" (born in Leuven, Belgium c. 950, died in Florennes, Belgium on September 12, 1015) was the first Count of Leuven in 1003. He was killed by Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine in battle for Godfrey's claim of Count of Verdun.

He was the son of Regnier III, Count of Hainaut and Adela, brother of Reginar IV, Count of Mons, husband of Gerberga of Lower Lorraine, and father of:

Henry I of Leuven
Lambert II, Count of Leuven, married Oda of Verdun.
Reinier
Matilda of Leuven (Maud)

Lambert — Gerberga of Lower Lorraine. Gerberga (daughter of Charles, Duc de Basse-Lorraine and Adelheid) was born 975; died 1018. [Group Sheet]

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Gerberge de Basse-Lorraine was born in 975. She was the daughter of Charles, Duc de Basse-Lorraine and Adelheid.

Gerberga of Lower Lorraine, Countess of Louvain, was the daughter of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, himself the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony. She married Lambert I, Count of Louvain and had three children with him:

Henry I
Lambdert II
Matilda (also called Maud), who married Eustace I, Count of Boulogne.

Notes:

Reginar III (c. 920 - 973) was Count of Hainaut from 940 to 958.

He was born in Brabant as the son of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut.

Together with his brother Rodolphe, he took part in the rebellion of his uncle Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. When Gilbert was killed in 939, Regnier had to pledge fealty to King Otto the Great.

He then allied himself with King Louis IV of France, but King Otto sent duke Hermann of Swabia to quell the rebels in 944.

Otto appointed Conrad the Red as duke of Lotharingia, who tried to diminish the power of Reginar. However, when Conrad rose against Otto, Reginar supported him. In an anarchic situation, Reginar appropriated the dowry of Queen Gerberge, Otto's sister and mother of the French king, and also church property.

In 953, Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, who had also been appointed duke of Lotharingia, restored order and defeated Reginar.

As Reginar refused to submit, he was exiled to Bohemia, where he died.

Family

He fathered two sons:

Reginar IV, Count of Mons
Lambert I of Leuven

Reginar — Adela. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Charles of Lorraine (Laon, 953-993 in Orléans) was the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony and younger brother of King Lothair. He was a sixth generation descendant of Charlemagne. Charles was excluded from the throne of France, and the German Emperor Otto II, made him Duke of Lower Lorraine in 977.

His father probably gave him royal powers in Burgundy, but Lothair took them back upon reaching his majority. In 977, he accused Lothair's wife, Emma, daughter of Lothair II of Italy, of infideility with Adalberon, Bishop of Laon. The council of Sainte-Macre at Fismes (near Reims) exonerated the queen and the bishop, but Charles maintained his claim and was driven from the kingdom, finding refuge at the court of his cousin, Otto II. Otto promised to crown Charles as soon as Lothair was out of the way and Charles paid him homage, receiving back Lower Lorraine.

In August 978, Lothair invaded Germany and captured the imperial capital of Aachen, but failed to capture either Otto or Charles. In October, Otto and Charles in turn invaded France, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon. In the latter city, the chief seat of the kings of France, Charles was crowned by Theodoric I, Bishop of Metz. Lothair fled to Paris and was there besieged. But a relief army of Hugh Capet's forced Otto and Charles to lift the siege on 30 November. Lothair and Capet, the tables turned once more, chased the German king and his liege back to Aachen and retook Laon.

As he had been a vassal also of Lothair, Charles' acts on behalf of Otto were considered treason and he was thereafter excluded from the throne. On Lothair's death (986), the magnates elected his son Louis V and on the latter's death (987), Hugh Capet. Thus, the House of Capet came to the throne over the disgraced and ignored Charles. Charles' marriage to the lowborn daughter of a vassal of Hugh was championed by his opponents as a cardinal reason to deny him the throne. In order to have free hand towards France, he resigned his duchy to regency of his eldest son Otto. Charles made war on Hugh, even taking Rheims and Laon. However, on Maundy Thursday 991 26 March, he was captured, through the perfidy of the Bishop Adalberon, and with his young second son Louis imprisoned by Hugh in Orléans, where he died a short while later, in or before 993.

In 1666, the sepulchre of Charles was discovered in the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht. His skin appears to have been interred there only in 1001, but that is not the date of his death, as some scholars assumed. Though Charles ruled Lower Lorraine, the Dukes of Lorraine (Upper Lotharingia) counted him as Charles I of Lorraine.

Family

Charles married firstly (970) a daughter of Robert of Vermandois, count of Meaux and Troyes. He married secondly Adelais, the daughter of low-ranking vassal of Hugh Capet. He may have married thirdly Bonne, daughter of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun. His children with his second and first wives were:

Otto, succeeded him as Duke of Lower Lotharingia
Adelaide
Gerberga of Lower Lorraine, countess of Brussels, who married Lambert I, Count of Leuven
Louis, followed his father to France and died in prison
Charles (b. 989)
Ermengarde, married Albert I, Count of Namur (various sources assign paternity of Ermengarde alternatively to Charles, or to his son Otto)

Charles — Adelheid. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Reginar II (890-932) was Count of Hainaut (also written Rainier II, Count of Hainault) from 915 until 932.

History

He was the son of Reginar, Duke of Lorraine and Hersent of France. His mother possibly was a daughter of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude.

Family

Reginar II married Adelaide of Burgundy, daughter of Richard, Duke of Burgundy and Adelaide of Auxerre, with whom he fathered Reginar III, Count of Hainaut.

Reginar — Adelaide of Burgundy. [Group Sheet]

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Louis IV d'Outre-Mer, Roi de France was born circa 920. He was the son of Charles III, Roi de France and Eadgifu.2 He married Gerberge von Sachsen, daughter of Heinrich I von Sachsen, Holy Roman Emperor and Mathilda von Ringelheim, in 939. He gained the title of Roi Louis IV de France in 936.

Louis IV (10 September 920 - 30 September 954), called d'Outremer or Transmarinus (both meaning "from overseas"), reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954. He was a member of the Carolingian dynasty, the son of Charles III and Eadgifu of England, a daughter of King Edward the Elder.

Early years across the sea

He was only two years old when his father was deposed by the nobles, who set up Robert I in his place. When he was only three years old, Robert died and was replaced by Rudolph, duke of Burgundy. Rudolph's ally, a Carolingian himself, Count Herbert II of Vermandois, took Charles captive by treachery and the young Louis's mother took the boy "over the sea" to the safety of England, hence his nickname.

Return to France

Charles died in 929, but Rudolph ruled on until 936, when Louis was summoned back to France unanimously by the nobles, especially Hugh the Great, who had probably organised his return to prevent Herbert II, or Rudolph's brother Hugh the Black, taking the throne. He was crowned king at Laon by Artald, archbishop of Rheims, on Sunday 19 June 936. The chronicler Flodoard records the events as follows:

Brittones a transmarinis regionibus, Alstani regis praesidio, revertentes terram suam repetunt. Hugo comes trans mare mittit pro accersiendo ad apicem regni suscipiendum Ludowico, Karoli filio, quem rex Alstanus avunculus ipsius, accepto prius jurejurando a Francorum legatis, in Franciam cum quibusdam episcopis et aliis fidelibus suis dirigit, cui Hugo et cetero Francorum proceres obviam profecti, mox navim egresso, in ipsis littoreis harenis apud Bononiam, sese committunt, ut erant utrinque depactum. Indeque ab ipsis Laudunum deductus ac regali benedictione didatus ungitur atque coronatur a domno Artoldo archiepiscopo, praesentibus regni principibus cum episcopis xx et amplius.

"The Bretons, returning from the lands across the sea with the support of King Athelstan, came back to their country. Duke Hugh sent across the sea to summon Louis, son of Charles, to be received as king, and King Athelstan, his uncle, first taking oaths from the legates of the Franks, sent him to the Frankish kingdom with some of his bishops, and other followers. Hugh and the other nobles of the Franks went to meet him and committed themselves to him[;] immediately he disembarked on the sands of Boulogne, as had been agreed on both sides. From there he was conducted by them to Laon, and, endowed with the royal benediction, he was anointed and crowned by the lord Archbishop Artold, in the presence of the chief men of his kingdom, with 20 bishops."

Effectively, his sovereignty was limited to the town of Laon and to some places in the north of France, Louis displayed a keenness beyond his years in obtaining the recognition of his authority by his feuding nobles. Nonetheless, his reign was filled with conflict; in particular with Hugh the Great, count of Paris.

Louis IV fell from his horse and died 10 September 954, at Rheims, in the Marne, and is interred there at Saint Rémi Basilica.

Marriage and children

In 939, Louis became involved in a struggle with the Emperor Otto the Great on the question of Lorraine, but then married Otto's sister Gerberga of Saxony (914 - 5 May 984). They were parents to eight children:

Lothair of France (941-986)
Matilda, b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy
Hildegarde b. about 944
Carloman b. about 945
Louis b. about 948
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953-993)
Alberade b. before 953
Henri b. about 953

Louis married Gerberga of Saxony 939. Gerberga (daughter of Henry, I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim) was born Abt 913; died 05 May 984, Rheims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet]

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• Birth: Abt 919
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Gerberga of Saxony (c. 913-5 May 984) was a daughter of Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, and Matilda of Ringelheim.

Marriages

She married first Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. They had four children:

Alberade of Lorraine b. about 929. Married Renaud (originally as Ragenold), a Viking chieftain who became the Count of Roucy [1]
Henry, Duke of Lorraine b. about 932
Gerberge of Lorraine b. about 935. Married Adalbert I of Vermandois.
Wiltrude, b. about 937.

She married secondly Louis IV of France in 939. They were parents to eight children:

Lothair of France (941-986)
Matilda b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy
Hildegarde b. about 944
Carloman b. about 945
Louis b. about 948
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953-993)
Alberade b. before 953
Henry b. about 953

Education and later life

Contemporary sources describe her as a highly educated, intelligent and forceful player in the political game of the time.

Louis IV died on 10 September 954. As a widow, Gerberga became a nun and served as the abbess of Notre Dame in Laon. She died in Reims, Champagne.