Arnulf I, Count of Flanders

Arnulf I, Count of Flanders
Spouse(s)	Adele of Vermandois
Noble family	House of Flanders
Father	Baldwin II of Flanders
Mother	Ælfthryth of Wessex
Born	c. 890
Died	28 March 965(965-03-28)

Arnulf of Flanders (c. 890 – March 28, 965), called the Great, was the third Count of Flanders, who ruled the County of Flanders, an area that is now northwestern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands.

Life

Arnulf was the son of count Baldwin II of Flanders and Ælfthryth of Wessex, daughter of Alfred the Great.^[1] Through his mother he was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and through his father, a descendant of Charlemagne.^[2] Presumably Arnulf was named after Saint Arnulf of Metz, a progenitor of the Carolingian dynasty.^[3]

At the death of their father in 918, Arnulf became Count of Flanders while his brother Adeloft or Adelolf succeeded to the County of Boulogne.^[1] However, in 933 Adeloft died, and Arnulf took the countship of Boulogne for himself, but later conveyed it to his nephew, Arnulf II.^[4]

Arnulf I greatly expanded Flemish rule to the south, taking all or part of Artois, Ponthieu, Amiens, and Ostrevent. He exploited the conflicts between Charles the Simple and Robert I of France, and later those between Louis IV and his barons.

In his southern expansion Arnulf inevitably had conflict with the Normans, who were trying to secure their northern frontier. This led to the 942 murder of the Duke of Normandy, William Longsword, at the hands of Arnulf's men.^[5] The Viking threat was receding during the later years of Arnulf's life, and he turned his attentions to the reform of the Flemish government.

Family

The name of Arnulf's first wife is unknown but he had at least one daughter by her:^[6]

• Name unknown; married Isaac of Cambrai. Their son Arnulf succeeded his father as Count of Cambrai.^[6]

In 934 he married Adele of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois.^[1] Their children were:

• Hildegarde, born c. 934, died 990; she married Dirk II, Count of Holland. It is uncertain whether she is his daughter by his first or second wife.^[6]
• Liutgard, born in 935, died in 962; married Wichmann IV, Count of Hamaland.^[1]
• Egbert, died 953.^[1]
• Baldwin III of Flanders (c. 940 – 962), married Mathilde of Saxony († 1008), daughter of Hermann Billung.^[1]
• Elftrude; married Siegfried, Count of Guînes.^[1]

Succession

Arnulf made his eldest son and heir Baldwin III of Flanders co-ruler in 958, but Baldwin died untimely in 962, so Arnulf was succeeded by Baldwin's infant son, Arnulf II of Flanders.^[1]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders

count Lidricus ?                       Baldwin I (d. 879) First count of Flanders                             Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (c. 865 – 918)                                   Louis the Pious (778–840) King of Aquitaine, King of the Franks, co-Emperor               King Charles the Bald (823–877)                       Judith of Bavaria (805–843)               Princess Judith of France (c. 843 – c. 870)                             Odo I, Count of Orléans (d. 834)               Ermentrude of Orléans (c. 823 – 869)                       Engeltrude of Paris (Fézensac ?)               Arnulf I Count of Flanders, Count of Boulogne                                         Egbert, King of Wessex (c. 770 – 839)               Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (d. 858)                       King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849–899)                             Oslac               Osburh (d. 856)                       Ælfthryth of Wessex (877–929)                                   Æthelred Mucil                       Ealhswith (d. 902)                             Eadburh

See also

• Counts of Flanders family tree

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arnulf I of Flanders.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 5
2. ↑ The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 919–966, ed. Steven Fanning & Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, CA, 2011), p. xx
3. ↑ Philip Grierson, 'The Relations between England and Flanders before the Norman Conquest', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 23 (1941), p. 86 n. 1
4. ↑ Renée Nip, 'The Political Relations between England and Flanders (1066–1128)', Anglo-Norman Studies 21: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1998, ed. Christopher Harper-Bill (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 1999), p. 150
5. ↑ David Nicholas, Medieval Flanders (Longman Group UK Limited, London, 1992), p. 40
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Heather J. Tanner, Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England, C.879–1160 (Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 2004) p. 55 n. 143

Additional references

• Folcwine
• Lambert of Ardres
• Platts, Beryl. The Scottish Hazard: Flemish Nobility and their Impact on Scotland, 1985

Preceded by Baldwin II	Count of Flanders 918–965 with Baldwin III (958–962)	Succeeded by Arnulf II (Flanders)
Preceded by Adalolphe	Count of Boulogne 933–964	Succeeded by Arnulf II (Boulogne)