Adalbert I, Count of Vermandois

Adalbert I of Vermandois (French: Albert I le Pieux, the Pious) (c. 915–c. 987), in 946 he succeeded his father as Count of Vermandois.

Life

Albert was the son of Herbert II of Vermandois and Adela of France.[1] He had his men and those of his brother Count Herbert escort the mother of Louis IV of France, Queen "Ottobega" (Eadgifu of Wessex, ) from Laon to her marriage with his brother Herbert, which in turn enraged King Louis.[2] Louis confiscated his mother's holdings, the abbey of Saint Mary in Laon which he gave to his wife Gerberga of Saxony and the royal fisc of Attigny.[2] In 957 Albert and his brother Robert Count of Meaux and Troyes were adherents of King Lothair of France.[lower-alpha 1][3]

When Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine decided to assert his rights to the throne he was aided by Albert and Albert's two nephews, Herbert III, Count of Meaux and Odo I, Count of Blois.[4] The two aided Charles in his plots and continued to make trouble for the new king even after Charles was captured and imprisoned.[4]

Albert was slow to acknowledge the election of Hugh Capet as King of the Franks. On learning Hugh intended to attack him Albert sent Dudo of Saint-Quentin to Normandy to see if Duke Richard I, Duke of Normandy would use his influence to keep the peace between them, which apparently the duke did.[4] For his part Hugh Capet had been suspicious that Albert was about to rebel against him.[5] Albert, Count of Vermandois, died c. 8 Sep 0987 and was succeeded by his son Herbert III.[1]

Family

In 954 he married Gerberge of Lorraine († 978),[lower-alpha 2] daughter of Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine,[1] and his wife Gerberga of Saxony.[6]

Their children were:

Notes

  1. ↑ Albert, through his marriage to Gerberge of Lorraine became the brother-in-law to both Lothar King of France and Charles Duke of Lower Lorraine. Gerberge, Lothar and Charles were all children of Gerberga of Saxony and all three, like Albert, were Carolingians.
  2. ↑ When they married, Albert and Gerberge were well within the seven degrees of consanguinity decreed by canon law at the time. They were third cousins once removed. However this branch of the Carolingians was following its own marital alliance policy irrespective of church canons. See: Régine Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir dans le monde franc (VII-X siècle) essai d'anthropologie sociale (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2003), pp. 324-25 & 325 table 41. The marriage between Adalbert and Gerberge is an example of what is called affinal "relinkings" (French: renchaînement alliance) a term for a couple descended from common ancestors with multiple marriages between the two families over several generations. These alliances were deliberately maintained outside the control of the church. See: The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis, eds. John Scott; Peter J. Carrington; et al. (London; Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2011), pp. 136-37; Douglas R. White and Michael Houseman, A reticular approach to kinship, l’Homme (2013), p. 1.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 49
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 916–966, eds & trans. Steven Fanning: Bernard S. Bachrach (New York; Ontario, Can: University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. 56
  3. ↑ Heather J Tanner, Families, friends and allies : Boulogne and politics in Northern France and England, c. 879-1160 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004), p. 39 n. 34
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Geoffrey Koziol, Begging Pardon and Favor: Ritual and Political Order in Early Medieval France (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), p. 149
  5. ↑ Lea Shopkow, 'The Man from Vermandois: Dudo of St-Quentin and His Patrons', Religion, Text, and Society in Medieval Spain and Northern Europe: Essays in Honor of J.N. Hillgarth, eds. Thomas E Burman; Jocelyn N Hillgarth; Lea Shopkow (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2002), pp. 303 & n. 2
  6. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band I (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1980), Tafel 3
  7. ↑ George Andrews Moriarty, The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, (Salt Lake City, UT: Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Society, 1985), pp. 137, 267


Preceded by
Herbert II		 Count of Vermandois
943–988 		Succeeded by
Herbert III