| In 57
BC, Julius Caesar extended the power of Rome into the region of Europe
that is now Belgium. The people he encountered there were the Belgae,
one of the various Celtic tribes of early Gaul. The Romans
designated their new province as Gallia Belgica. In the fourth century
AD, with Rome deteriorating, control of Gaul was ceded to the Franks, a
Germanic tribe.
By
431, they had established an independent dynasty, the Merovingian, with
its
capital at Tournai. Under Clovis I circa 466-511, the
Merovingians succeeded in defeating the remaining Romans in
Gaul. Thus they held vast sections of present day Belgium and
France as well as southwestern Germany. Clovis also adopted
Christianity,
gaining the support of the Catholic Church A result. When Clovis'
died the
Merovingian kingdom began to fracture and the Frankish territories did
not come together under single rule again until the reign of Pepin
III "the Younger" in 751. Pepin deposed the last of the
Merovingians and founded
the Carolingian dynasty, named after his son Charlemagne.
Charlemagne succeeded his father
in 768 and ruled for almost a half century, creating during that time
an empire that covered the majority of continental Europe, with the
exception of Spain and Scandinavia. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned him
Emperor of the West. On Charlemagne's death,
his empire was divided, and familial feuding led ultimately to the
Treaty
of Verdun in 843. Under the terms of the treaty, three of Charlemagne's
grandsons split the empire between them. West Francia, under Charles
the Bald, formed the basis of France. The Middle Kingdom was given to
Lothair, though it would soon fragment. East Francia, under Louis the
German, became the basis of Germany. West Francia included the narrow
strip of land north and west of the Scheldt river in today's Belgium.
The remainder of present-day Belgium was included first in the Middle
Kingdom, under Lothair, but it gradually came under the sway of the
German kings.
This
division was soon to have great consequences for the development of
Belgium's nascent cities. In the northwestern part of Belgium, which
nominally belonged to the young kingdom of France, there arose the
powerful Counts of Flanders.
The first of these was Baldwin Iron Arm, who amply
demonstrated his independence from the French by carrying off and
marrying one of the daughters of Charles the Bold.
Baldwin also began the process of creating fortified towns in Flanders
in order to curtail the depredations of the Norsemen. The first of
these was Ghent
(c.867), and the process was continued by Baldwin's heir (Baldwin II)
with the fortification of Bruges
and Ypres.
House
of Flanders
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Institution of Baldwin I
by Charles the Bald
Picture is in the Public
Domain ( from Wikipedia)
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Baldwin I
Count of Flanders was born circa 830 and
died 879. Father, Odoscer
(Odacre)
of Flanders, mother not known. He was also
referred to as Baldwin Iron
Arm.
He was the first count of Flanders, and also Lay-abbot of
Saint-Pierre de Gand (St. Peter's, Ghent), 870. In the middle of the
ninth century, the country around Bruges was governed by a marquess or
"forester" named Baldwin, whose bravery in fighting the Northmen had
won him the surname of Iron Arm. Baldwin married
Judith
of France, daughter of the Emperor Charles
the Bald, and received from his
father-in-law, with the title of count, the
country bounded by the
North Sea, the Scheldt, and the Canche. Thus was
founded, in 864, the
County of Flanders.
Fame came to
him for actions connected with his marriage, possibly
about 861, when
he first eloped with the princess Judith, daughter of Charles the
Bald. Prior to this occurrence, Judith had been
married to Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, died
in 858 and then to his son, Æthelbald,
King of Wessex ( the
English), died in 860.
After Æthlbald's demise the widow had returned to
France. Apparently at Baldwin's instigation and her brother's approval,
Judith joined "the Iron Arm". Charles the Bald had not looked
favorably upon the marriage.
Baldwin had to gain approval of Pope Nicholas I, before
matters
calmed down. Baldwin and Judith were married 13 December 863
in
Auxerre. |
Children: Baudouin II
(Baldwin) "the Bald" Count of Flanders born about 0864 Flanders,
Nord, France died 10 September 0918; Widnille
Countess of Flanders born about 0865 Flanders, Belgium; Rudolph (Raoul)
Count of Cambrai born 0867 Flanders died 17 June 0896.
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Baldwin II "The
Bald" De Flanders Count of Flanders was
born about 864/865 in Flanders (now Belgium) and died 10 Sept.
0918,
and was buried in Saint-Pierre de Gand, Ghent, Belgium. He was
the second Count of Flanders and also hereditary abbot of St. Bertin from 892 until his
death. Other
titles were: Count of Artois, Lay about of Saint Vast from 892-899,
Count of Boulogne from about 898-918, and Count of Ternois from
892 to about 918. Through his mother, Baldwin was a
descendant of Charlemagne.
He married Ælfthryth
of
Wessex a daughter of Alfred the
Great, King of England, and sister of King Edward the
Elder of Wessex. Baldwin II
and
Ælfthryth, now Countess of
Flanders, had the following children:
Arnulf I of Flanders born circa 890
and died 965, Adalolf Count of
Boulogne, born about 890 and died about 933, Ealswid
and Ermentrud.
Baldwin II was succeeded by his eldest son Arnulf I, in
Flanders, and by his younger son Adalolf in Boulogne,
Ternois, and St. Bertin. Baldwin II continued his father's
defense against major Viking incursions in his early
years as Count. Information
about Charlemagne soon.
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Arnulf I, "The
Great" Count of Flanders was
born circa 890 and died 28 March 965 and was the third Count of
Flanders. He is also sometimes referred to as, "the old". Arnulf
was the son of Count Baldwin II
of Flanders and Ælfthryth
of Wessex, daughter of King Alfred the
Great of Wessex.
Arnulf I expanded Flemish rule to the south possessing all, or
part of Artois, Ponthieu, Amiends, and Ostravent. Arnulf's
southern expansion efforts caused conflict with the Normans,
leading to the murder by his men of the Duke of Normandy, William Longsword.
The Vikings threat was fading during his tenure, so he turned
his attention to reforming the Flemish government. Arnulf I
married Adele
of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert II of
Vermandois. Their children were: Luitgard,
Egbert,
Baldwin
III of Flanders, Elftrude,
Hildegarde and a previous daughter, Hildegarde. Arnulf
made his son, Baldwin III of
Flanders
co-ruler in 958, but he died. Arnulf was succeeded by an infant
son, Arnulf
II of Flanders.
Baldwin
III of Flanders was
co-ruler
beginning in 958, with is father. He died in 962.
Baldwin III and Mathulde Billung of Saxony daughter of Heman,
Duke of Saxony had a son, Arnulf II, born in 960-961. Arnulf I died in
965. A member of the family held the regency for his grandson, Arnulf
II.
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Arnulf II, Count of Flanders
was
born in 960-961 and died 30 March 987. He was the Count of
Flanders from 965 until his death. He was at first under the
guardianship of Baldwin alias Balzo (died
973), who was an illegitimate son of brother of Adalolf I, or
brother of Raoul,
Baldwin II.
By the time Arnulf was of age, Flanders territory in the
south had shrunk in size, due to gifts by his grandfather to Lothar,
King of France, and political divisions. Arnulf married Princess Susanna
Rozala of
Lombardy, daughter of Berengar II King
of Italy. They had three children: Baldwin IV of Flanders (980–1035); Eudes of Cambrai; and Mathilda (d. 995). On her husband's death, she acted as regent for her young son. He was succeeded by
his son, Baldwin
IV.
He greatly expanded the Flemish dominions. He fought successfully
both against the Capetian king of France, Robert II, and the Holy Roman
emperor Henry II. Henry found himself obliged to grant to Baldwin IV in
fief Valenciennes, the burgraveship of Ghent, the land of Waes, and
Zeeland. The count of Flanders thus became a feudatory of the empire as
well as of the French crown. More
information forthcoming on Berengar and his family soon.
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Baldwin IV, "the
Bearded"Count of Flanders was
born in of Arnulf II and Rozela in
988 and died 30 May 1035. Baldwin IV first married Ogive of
Luxembourg, daughter of Frederick of
Luxembourg, by whom he had a son and heir, Baldwin V.
He also married Eleanor of
Normandy, daughter of Richard II of
Normandy, by who he had a daughter Judith,
who married Tostig
Godwinson and Welf I, Duke of
Baveria. To the north of Flanders Baldwin was given Zeeland as a
fief by the Holy
Roman Emperor Henry II,
and on the right bank of the Scheldt river he received Valiennes in
1013
and parts of Cambresis and Hainaut. In the French territories of
the Count of Flanders, the supremacy of Baldwin's
people went unchallenged. They organized a great deal of
colonization of the marshland along the coast of Flanders and enlarged
the city of Brugge.
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Baldwin V, Count
of Flanders was the son of Baldwin IV
and Orgive
of Luxembourg. He was the Count of Flanders from 1035
until his death on 1 September 1067. In 1028 Baldwin
married Adèle
of France, daughter of King Robert II
of France. At Adèle's
instigation Baldwin rebelled against his father, but in 1030 peace was
sworn and the old count continued to rule until his death.
During a long war (1046-1056) as an ally of Godfrey the
Bearded, Duke of Lorraine, fought against the Holy Roman
Emperor Henry III Baldwin lost Valenciennes to Herman of Hainaut.
When Herman died in 1051 Baldwin married his son, Baldwin V
to then man's widow, Richildis
and arranged that the sons of her first marriage were disinherited,
thus uniting the County of Hainaut with Flanders. Upon the death
of Henry
III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty, by Agnes de Poitou,
mother and regent of Henry IV.
Baldwin was the co Regent with Anne of Kiev for his nephew
by marriage, Phillip I of
France.
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and Princess
Adèle of France had five children:
- Baldwin VI, his
heir 1030-1070
- Matilda,
who married William the Conqueror circa
1031-1083
- Robert
I of Flanders circa 1033-1093
- Henry
of Flanders circa 1035
- Sir Richard of
Flanders circa 1050-1105
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Matilda
De Flanders was the daughter of Baldwin
V, Count of Flanders and Princess
Adèle of France, born circa 1031 and died 1083
She married William the
Conqueror.
To continue this line please follow the link to Normandy
Soon,
we will have information about connections with Alfred the Great King
of England, King Robert of France and Berengar II King of Italy, and Charlemagne. |
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