Marriage Alliances between the Dynasties of Europe, Carolingian, Robertian, House of Wessex.

(Jody Gray) Marriage Alliances between Carolingian Empire, Robertian Dynasty, (House of Wessex) Kings of Anglo-Saxon England, rulers of Normandy and Flanders… the result of which makes me related to almost all of the “rulers” of Europe… not that this makes me “proud” to be related to Kings -they appear to be ruthless, power-mongers who don’t hesitate to kill their own kin if they pose a threat… what I appreciate is that I am able to include them in my family tree and learn history through them. And, as I have mentioned many times, I’m always interested in finding the “origins” of things, for example, prejudice, customs and laws and “human nature”, both good and bad… I really believe that the old beliefs continue to influence us to the present day…

* The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons minor kings in the various regions of the Empire, which they would inherit on the death of their father. As Carolingian power failed, the great nobles of West Francia began to assert that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and twice chose Robertians (Odo I (888-898) and Robert I (922-923)) as kings, instead of Carolingians. No matter the 'laws' marriage was a “Business Deal”; wives and children were considered "Property" of men and the men arranged all marriages. When a noble woman became a widow, if her father was deceased, someone was appointed her guardian and given the right and duty to arrange her next marriage (and he had control over her property until she remarried). Men even arranged the marriages of their illegitimate children.

  This Post shows the traditions of marriages: the king arranged the marriages of both his sons and daughters (for political reasons, such as, expanding their territory, sealing a treaty and guaranteeing loyalty and/or protection). Sons were made co-rulers at a young age to insure succession. Sometimes sons were sent far away from their parents at a very young age to sub-kingdoms to be raised by regents. When a daughter was betrothed she was often sent to the court of her future husband to be raised. Children were often demanded as hostages to guarantee “good behavior”. Battles were fought between fathers and son; between brothers. Sons were often punished by imprisonment, even blinded (with a hot poker), when they rebelled against their father. Because of arranged marriages, relatives fought and killed each other.

  It also shows how kingdoms were expanded and then dissolved over the years due to being split between sons and sons dying without legitimate heirs.

*Salic Law: compiled around 500 AD by the first Frankish King, Clovis. Best known tenet of the old law is the principle of exclusion of women from inheritance of thrones, fiefs and other property. The law provided statutes governing inheritance… abt 570, the law was actually amended to permit inheritance of land by a daughter if a man had no surviving sons… The wording of the law, as well as common usages in those days and centuries afterwards, seems to support an interpretation that inheritance is divided between brothers. And, if it is intended to govern succession, it can be interpreted to mandate agnatic seniority (a patrilineal principle where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch’s younger brother over his own son), not a direct primogeniture (father to son). (Jody Gray): more details are provided in this Blog Post: Carolingian Dynasty 714-1124 -refer to related Blog Posts; I’m only covering the ones that apply to the Carolingians. The Carolingian kings divided their realm equally among all living sons, leading to much conflict and fratricide among the rival heirs. They also possessed the imperial dignity, which was indivisible and passed to only one person at a time -for instance, the eldest son was overlord of his younger siblings.

  38th ggf Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, died while on campaign; he had two heirs, (Charles) 37th ggf Charlemagne b. 742 and Carloman b. 751; his Frankish realm was divided according to the Salic law between them.

  In 754, Pepin anointed his sons co-rulers of the Franks (Charlemagne was 12, Carloman was 3). When Carloman died in 771 (age 20), his widow fled with her sons and Charlemagne took all of Francia. Note: Although he was a christian (Roman Catholic), Charlemagne had 18 children with 8 of his 10 known wives or concubines. He refused to let his daughters contract sacramental marriages, possibly to prevent the creation of cadet branches of the family to challenge the main line; yet he tolerated their extramarital relationships, even rewarding their common-law husbands and treasured the illegitimate grandchildren… In 781, Charlemagne made his youngest sons kings: 36th ggf Carloman, King of the Lombards (age 8, renamed Pepin); 37th ggf Louis, King of Aquitaine (age 3) -he sent them, with their regents, to be raised in their sub-kingdoms. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor; his eldest son, Charles, was crowned King of the Franks -he died in 811 (age 39) without heir. His second son, Carloman, died in 810; he had only one heir, Bernard, although he was illegitimate Charlemagne allowed him to succeed his father as King of the Lombards (he died in 818 without heir, the Lombard Kingdom was absorbed into the Frankish empire).

In 813, Charlemagne crowned his son Louis as co-emperor so that upon his death, Louis succeeded him. When Charlemagne died in 814, Louis was his only living legitimate heir; 10/5/816, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Note: Louis was 16 when he married his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye (age 14); daughter of Count Ingerman (probably a member of the Robertian Dynasty). They had three sons: Lothair b. 795; Pepin b. 797; Louis b. 802. In 815, after the death of his father (Charlemagne) he sent Lothair (age 20) to govern Bavaria and Pepin (age 18) to govern Aquitaine (both without title). In 817 Louis crowned Lothair co-Emperor; and proclaimed Pepin sub-King of Aquitaine and Louis II sub-King of Bavaria. In 818, after the death of his first wife, Louis (age 41) married Judith (age 19) of Bavaria; their son, 36th ggf Charles ‘the Bald’ was born in 823. In 830, Louis’s sons by his first wife began rebelling when he made attempts to assign Charles a subkingdom. Pepin died in 838 (age 41). When Louis died in 840, civil war broke out between his surviving sons: Lothair, Louis II and Charles.

Sons of Louis the Pious -Note, (except for Charles the Bald, who married after the death of his father) they all married late in life for that time-period.

Lothair (age 26) m (821): Ermengarde; daughter of Hugh of Tours

Pepin (age 25) m (822): Ingeltrude; daughter of Theodobert, count of Madrie. His sons were minors when he died, so his father Louis the Pious awarded Aquitaine to his youngest son, Charles the Bald. The Aquitaine nobles, however, elected Pepin’s son as Pepin II.

Louis II (age 25) married (827): Emma (age 19), sister of his stepmother Judith of Bavaria, both daughters of Welf, whose possessions ranged from Alsace to Bavaria -he soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judith’s efforts to secure a kingdom for her son Charles the Bald and the consequent struggles of his brothers with their father.

Charles the Bald (age 19) m (842): Ermentrude (age 19); daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans.

843, Pink, West Francia -Charles. Green, Middle Francia -Lothair. Yellow, East Francia -Louis.

  In 842, the sons of Louis the Pious met on an Island in the river Saone to negotiate peace; each appointed 40 representatives to arrange the boundaries of their respective kingdoms. 843, Treaty of Verdun, divided the territories of the Carolingian Empire: Lothair, King of Middle Francia (with only nominal overlordship over his brother’s lands). Louis, King of East Francia. Charles, King of West Francia.

Rebellious children of Charles the Bald:

  In 856, Charles the Bald arranged the marriage of his daughter Judith (age 12) to Ethelwulf (age 50), King of Wessex. Ethelwulf died 2 years later, Charles married Judith (age 14) to her stepson, Ethelbald (age 24), King of Wessex. He died 2 years later, Charles sent Judith to a convent where she would remain chaste until he could find a suitable husband for her. In 862, Judith (age 18) eloped with Baldwin of Flanders (age 32). Charles did not approve and had them both excommunicated; they went to Rome and pleaded their case with Pope Nicholas I; they were successful and Charles had to accept the marriage. Charles appointed his son-in-law Margrave of Flanders.

  In 862, Charles II married against the will of his father and in 863 he was forced to put her away and be loyal to his father. He died (age19) childless.

  In 863, the eldest son of Charles, Louis the Stammerer, secretly married Ansgarde of Burgundy (they had two children, Louis and Carloman). Because Charles wanted his son to marry Adelaide of Paris he had Louis’s marriage to Ansgarde dissolved by Pope John VIII and Louis married Adelaide in 875.

  Charles had his youngest son, Carloman tonsured at the age of six, by 860 he was ordained a deacon. In 870, Carloman rebelled against his father and tried to claim a part of the Kingdom. He was arrested, tried and imprisoned; he escaped to Flanders, where he gathered a small army. In 873, Carloman was caught, re-tried and blinded, he escaped to East Francia where his uncle King Louis the German gave him protection -he died there about 877.

  In 866, Ermentrude separated from Charles after he executed her rebellious brother William; she retreated to life in a nunnery. 875, after the death of his half-brother Lothair, Charles received the royal crown and imperial insignia, becoming Holy Roman Emperor. Charles died in 877, he was succeeded by his son Louis the Stammerer. He died 2 years later (879) and was succeeded by his sons Louis and Carloman as co-rulers of West Francia. Louis died in 882 (age abt 18) after a fall from his horse; Carloman died 2 years later (age 18) while hunting; he was succeeded by his cousin, Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat. Louis’s wife was pregnant at the time of his death.  

  36th g-uncle Louis the Stammerer b. 846, was 30 when his father died in 877 and he succeeded him as King of West Francia. About 863 (age 16) Louis married Ansgarde of Burgundy, they had two sons: Louis and Carloman, they co-ruled as King of West Francia until Louis died in 882; Carloman died in 884 with no known children; he was succeeded by his cousin, Carolingian Emperor, Charles the Fat. Louis’s second wife, Adelaide of Paris was pregnant when Louis died (age 32) in 879. Charles the Fat was the son of 37th g-uncle Louis the German and the last Carolingian to rule over the briefly re-united empire. He was deposed in many of his territories and forced into retirement. After his death in 888, the Empire splintered into five separate successor kingdoms; he had no legitimate heirs. For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of Vikings at the Siege of Paris (885-86) Odo aka Eudes, son of Robertian 33rd ggf Robert the Strong was chosen by the western Frankish nobles to be their king following the overthrow of Charles the Fat. However, there were powerful nobles who supported the claim of Charles the Simple to the throne; after a three year struggle he conceded. In 907, Charles the Simple married a Lotharingian women named Frederuna to gain the support of the nobles of Lotharingia. She died in 917 leaving no sons. In 919, Charles married Eadgifu, daughter of 35th g-uncle Edward the Elder, King of England -House of Wessex, who bore him a son, the future King Louis IV of France. The nobles seized Charles in 920; after negotiations, they released him. In 922, the Frankish nobles revolted again led by 32nd ggf Robert of Neustria; who was elected king by the rebels (became the first Robertian King of the Franks); Charles fled to Lotharingia. In 923, Charles returned with a Norman army but was defeated near Soissons by Robert, who died in battle. Charles was captured and imprisoned under the guard of 32nd ggf Herbert II of Vermandois -House of Vermandois (son-in-law of King Robert -their marriage was arranged by their fathers). Robert’s son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy was then elected to succeed him as king. Charles died in prison in 929. His son by Eadgifu would eventually be crowned in 936 as Louis IV of France. In the initial aftermath of Charles’s defeat she fled to England with their children. Rudolph died in 936, without a surviving male heir; the nobles unanimously summoned back Louis, thanks to the decisive support of Robertian 31st ggf Hugh the Great (son of King Robert), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris -the second most powerful man after the King. Louis was 16, Hugh was appointed his guardian. In 945, following the death of 31st ggf William I, Duke of Normandy -House of Normandy (who was ambushed and killed by followers of 34th g-uncle Arnulf I, Count of Flanders -House of Flanders), Louis tried to conquer his lands, but was kidnapped by the men of 31st ggf Hugh the Great. Hugh was excommunicated in 948 and Louis was released from his tutelage. In 951, Louis’s mother, Eadgifu (who had retired to the Abbey of Notre Dame in Laon) was abducted by 32nd g-uncle Herbert III, Count of Omois -House of Vermandois, who married her shortly after (she was 49, he was 41). Louis died in 954, after a fall from his horse while hunting; he was succeeded by his eldest son, Lothair. Note: 35th g-uncle Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons -House of Wessex, married 3 of his daughters to Continental kings: Eadgifu to Charles III, King of West Francia; Eadgyth to 32nd g-uncle Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor; Eadhild to 31st ggf Hugh the Great.

  31st ggf Hugh the Great (brother-in-law of Lothair's mother, 32nd g-aunt Gerberga) was appointed guardian of Lothair, who was only 13 when he became King of West Francia; when Hugh died in 956, Louis’s maternal uncle Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, became his guardian. In 965, to maintain ties with Emperor Otto I, Lothair married Otto's step-daughter, Princess Emma of Italy. In 982, to counter the power of Hugh Capet, following the advice of his wife Emma and Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou, Lothair decided to marry his son and heir Louis V to Geoffrey’s sister the twice widowed, Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, to restore the royal Carolingian presence in the semi-independent south of West Francia. They were married in 982, he was 15 and she was 40; they were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine by her brother Bishop Guy of le Puy -it appears they were not compatible and lived separately, their marriage ended in 984.

  Lothair died in 986 (age 45); he was succeeded by his son, Louis V. Louis died in 987 after a fall from his horse while hunting; he left no legitimate heir; his uncle Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was nominated as the hereditary successor but 30th ggf Hugh Capet was elected to the throne (who was not only of royal blood but had proven himself through his actions and military might); ending the rule of the Carolingian Dynasty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet#Rise_of_the_Robertians Rise of the Robertians: After the end of the 9th century, the descendants of 33rd ggf Robert the Strong became indispensable in carrying out royal policies. As Carolingian power failed, the great nobles of West Francia began to assert that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and twice chose Robertians (Odo I (888-898) and Robert I (922-923)) as kings, instead of Carolingians.

  32 ggf Robert I, Hugh the Great’s father, (died in battle of Soissons) was succeeded as King of the Franks by his son-in-law, Rudolph of Burgundy. When Rudolph died in 936, 31st ggf Hugh the Great had to decide whether he ought to claim the throne for himself. To claim the throne would require him to risk and election, which he would have to contest with the powerful Herbert II, Count of Vermandois… Hugh brought Louis, the dispossessed son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England to become king as Louis IV. This maneuver allowed Hugh to become the most powerful person in France in the first half of the 10th century. Hugh also gained power when 32nd ggf Herbert II of Vermandois died in 943, because Herbert’s powerful principality was then divided among his four sons.

French monarchy in the 10th century. Hugh’s predecessors did not call themselves kings of France (that title was not used until, Philip II). Kings ruled as “King of the Franks”. The lands they ruled comprised only a small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire, were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty (32nd g-uncle, Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor), represented by Hugh’s first cousin Otto II and then by Otto’s son, Otto III. (Hugh married Hedwige of Saxony, sister of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor and sister of Gerberga who married Louis IV, King of West Francia). The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Francia kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. Both the Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so -although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh’s brothers Otto and Henry.

France under Ottonian influence. In 956, when his father Hugh the Great died, 30th ggf Hugh [Capet], the eldest son, was then about 15 yrs old and had two younger brothers. 32nd g-uncle Otto I, King of Germany, intended to bring western Francia under his control, which was possible since he was the maternal uncle of Hugh Capet and Lothair of France, the new king of the Franks, who succeeded Louis IV in 954, at the age of 13.

  In 954, Otto I appointed his brother Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine, as guardian of Lothair and regent of the kingdom of France. In 956, Otto gave him the same role over Hugh and the Robertian principality. With these young princes under his control, Otto aimed to maintain the balance between Robertians, Carolingians, and Ottonians. In 960, Lothair agreed to grant to Hugh the legacy of his father, the margraviate of Neustria and the title of Duke of the Franks. But in return, Hugh had to accept the new independence gained by the counts of Neustria during Hugh’s minority. Hugh’s brother, Otto received only the duchy of Burgundy (by marriage).

Duke of the Franks. In 956, 30th ggf Hugh [Capet] inherited his father’s estates, in theory making him one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced kingdom of West Francia. As he was not yet an adult (age 15), his mother acted as his guardian, and young Hugh’s neighbors took advantage. Theobald I of Blois (husband of 31st ggm Luitgarde de Vermandois), a former vassal of Hugh’s father, took the counties of Chartres and Chateaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh’s expense and that of the Bretons.

  In Aug. 978, accompanied by the nobles of the kingdom, Lothair surprised and plundered Aachen, residence of Otto II, forcing the imperial family to flee. After occupying Aachen for five days, Lothair returned to France after symbolically disgracing the city. In Sept. 978, Otto retaliated by invading France, he met with little resistance, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon. Otto II then had Charles crowned as King of France by Theodoric I, Bishop of Metz; Lothair fled to the Paris where he was besieged… a French relief army under Hugh Capet forced Otto II and Charles to lift the siege on Nov. 30, and return to Germany. On the journey back Otto’s rearguard was wiped out by flood at Soissons; this victory allowed Hugh Capet to regain his position as the first noble of the Frankish kingdom.

The Archbishop of Reims. The Archbishop of Reims traditionally had supported the ruling family and had long been central to the royal policy. King Lothair, 13 years old, was under the tutelage of his uncle Otto I. But upon reaching his majority, he became independent, which defeated their plans to bring the whole of Europe under a single crown. Therefore, they turned their support from Lothair to Hugh Capet. Indeed, for the Ottonian to make France a vassal state of the empire, it was imperative that the Frankish king was not of the Carolingian race, and not powerful enough to break the Ottonian tutelage. Hugh Capet was for them the ideal candidate, especially since he actively supported the monastic reform in the abbeys while other contenders continued to distribute church revenues to their own partisans.

Failure of Lothair. With the support of Adalberon of Reims, Hugh became the new leader of the kingdom. In 979, Lothair sought to ensure his succession by associating his eldest son with the throne; Hugh Capet supported him and summoned the great nobles of the kingdom and the congregation acclaimed Louis V and the archbishop anointed the new king of the Franks. The following year, Lothair, seeing the growing power of Hugh, decided to reconcile with the Emperor Otto II by agreeing to renounce Lorraine; Hugh quickly took the fortress of Montreuil, and then went to Rome where he met the emperor and the pope… On the death of Otto II in 983, Lothair took advantage of the minority of Otto III (age 3) and, after making an alliance with the Duke of Bavaria, decided to attack Lorraine -Hugh did not join this expedition. Lothair died in Mar. 986. His successor, Louis V, died while hunting in 987 without legitimate heir. Carolingian Charles, Duke of Lorraine, brother of Lothair, uncle of Louis V, first cousin of Hugh Capet through their mothers was a likely successor. He was denounced by the archbishop of Reims for not maintaining his dignity, having made himself a vassal of the emperor Otto II and marrying a woman from a lower class of nobility (he married the daughter of one of Hugh Capet’s vassals) about 976, he had also accused his brother Lothair’s wife Emma of infidelity -she was exonerated and he was driven from the kingdom; the archbishop promoted the candidacy of Hugh Capet: “Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul.” Hugh was elected and crowned, 7/3/987; his reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire. Hugh died 10/24/996 in Paris; his son Robert continued to reign.

Legacy. Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet because as Count of Paris, he made the city his power center. He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian Dynasty, the direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royals since then, have belonged to the dynasty. All monarchs of the Kingdom of France from Hugh Capet to Philip II of France were titled King of the Franks. Philip II of France was the first to use the title of King of France.

  In 969, 30th ggf Hugh Capet married 30th ggm Adelaide of Aquitaine, daughter of 31st ggf William III, Duke of Aquitaine and 31st ggm Adela of Normandy, daughter of 32nd ggf Rollo, Count of Normandy -it is said that her father used her as security for a truce with Hugh Capet.
House of Vermandois: Vermandois was a French county, 34th ggf Pipin 1 of Vermandois, the earliest of its hereditary counts, was the great-grandson of emperor Charlemagne -Carolingian Dynasty. His son, 33rd ggf Herbert I was Count of Vermandois, Count of Soissons, and lay abbot of Saint Quentin. Herbert arranged a marriage alliance to 32nd ggf Robert of Neustria by giving in marriage his daughter Beatrice as Robert’s second wife (they married in 890 when Beatrice was 10 and Robert was 24). As part of this pact Herbert also agreed to his son Herbert II of Vermandois marrying Adela, Robert’s daughter by his first wife (they married in 910 when Herbert was 25 and Adela was 22). In 896, Herbert captured and murdered (rather than ransom) Raoul, the brother of Baldwin, Margrave of Flanders; in 907, to revenge the murder of his brother, Baldwin assassinated Herbert.

  32nd ggf Herbert II succeeded his father as Count of Vermandois. In 921, (cousin) Charles the Simple, King of West Francia was driven into exile by 32nd ggf Robert of Neustria; the nobles chose Robert to replace him -he was killed at the battle of Soissons in 922; the nobles elected his son-in-law, Rudolph (Raoul) of Burgundy as their new king. In 923 Charles was captured by 32nd ggf Herbert II, Count of Vermandois. In 926, on the death of Count Roger of Laon, Herbert demanded this countship for Eudes, his eldest son. He took the town in defiance of King Rudolph leading to a clash between the two in 927. Using the threat of releasing Charles the Simple, Herbert managed to hold the city for four more years. But after the death of Charles in 929, Rudolph again attacked Laon in 931 successfully defeating Herbert. The same year the king entered Rheims and defeated archbishop Hugh, the son of Herbert. Herbert II then lost, in three years, Vitry, Château-Thierry, and Soissons. The intervention of his ally, 32nd ggf Henry the Fowler, King of East Francia -Ottonian Dynasty, allowed him to restore his domains (except for Rheims and Laon) in exchange for his submission to King Rudolph. Later 32nd ggf Herbert (Carolingian) allied with 31st ggf Hugh the Great (Robertian) and 31st ggf William Longsword, duke of Normandy (House of Normandy) against (cousin) King Louis IV (Carolingian), who allocated the County of Laon to Roger II, the son of Roger I, in 941. Herbert and Hugh the Great took back Rheims and captured archbishop Artaud -Hugh, the son of Herbert, was restored as archbishop. Again the mediation of the German (32nd g-uncle) King Otto I (Ottonian Dynasty) in Vise, near Liege, in 942 allowed for the normalization of the situation. When Herbert II died in 943 his vast estates and territories were divided among his sons.

Son of Herbert II, 32nd g-uncle Herbert ‘the Old’, Count of Omois, married in 951 Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of 35th g-uncle Edward the Elder King of England (House of Wessex) and widow of Charles the Simple, King of West Francia -Herbert was said to have abducted her from a convent in Laon and married her -this had to have been a marriage for political reasons as Eadgifu was 49 so he didn't marry her to provide him with male heirs (Herbert was 41) -certainly, her son, Louis IV, King of West Francia was not pleased...

(Jody Gray): it is through the House of Vermandois that we are descendants of the Carolingian Dynasty from its founder, Charles Martel by direct male lineage to Beatrice de Vermandois (daughter of Herbert I, Count of Vermandois). Descendants of the Robertian Dynasty from its founder, Robert I, King of the Franks by direct male lineage to Elizabeth de Vermandois (daughter of Hugh Magnus, Count of Vermandois by right of marriage to Adelaide de Vermandois).

House of Flanders: 35th ggf Baldwin I of Flanders eloped with 35th ggm Judith the widow of Ethelbald, King of Wessex, her father had them excommunicated but they received the blessing of the Pope and her father 36th ggf Charles the Bald, King of West Francia, was forced to accept the marriage. Charles appointed his son-in-law Margrave of Flanders, Baldwin founded the House of Flanders which expanded to include cadet branches: House of Boulogne and House of Hainaut. 34th ggf Baldwin II married 34th ggm Elfthryth, daughter of 35th ggf Alfred the Great, King of Wessex -the immediate goal of that Anglo-Flemish alliance was to help Baldwin control the lower Canche River valley. When the Abbey of St. Vast came under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Fulk of Reims in 900, Baldwin had him assassinated. When his attempts to expand further into the upper Somme River valley were opposed by 33rd ggf Herbert I, Count of Vermandois, Baldwin had the count assassinated as well. Our 27th ggf Walter aka Seier is a direct male descendant from Baldwin I, founder of the House of Flanders.

(Jody Gray): we are descendants of the House of Normandy from its founder, Rollo, 1st Count of Normandy by direct male lineage to Adelaide of Normandy (daughter of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy).

Noteworthy: the reason we end up having so many great-grandfathers is procreation… Charlemagne was no one's great-grandfather until one of his grandson’s produced a son. Direct male lineage is the most socially respected as a “pure” blood line. One of my favorite tools provided by Ancestry.com is that I can “click-on” the link under the ancestor's name e.g. Baldwin I ‘Iron Arm’ Margrave of Flanders (link) 35th great-grandfather and follow the direct male lineage down to 9th ggf Richard Woodhull our immigrant ancestor. Our other noble lineage is both paternal and maternal.

*Media / Blog Post: Timeline, earliest Dynasties in Europe (687-ca. 987) end of Carolingian Dynasty.

http://gray-adamsfamily.blogspot.com/2017/02/timeline-earliest-dynasties-in-europe.html  *Quick Links to all Related Blog Posts

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