Giselbert von Maasgau

Giselbert (* around 825; † after June 14, 877, perhaps also after September 6, 885) is attested in 841 as Count in Maasgau and in 866 as Count in Lommegau . Its origin is unknown. In research, another Giselbert, descendant of Franconian dukes, is named as his father, but it is also assumed that he is of Norman origin: the name Reginhar of his son is reminiscent of the Nordic name Ragnar , and the time of his appearance coincides with the 825/830 increasing Viking raids and the ceding of territories in northwestern Europe to their leaders.

Life

Giselbert is referred to as Count in Maasgau in 841, but also as a follower of Charles the Bald in the time of the Carolingian fratricidal wars after the death of Louis the Pious (840). The Treaty of Verdun (843) and the division of the empire therefore forced him to leave the domain of Lothar I and thus the Maasgau.

Three years later, in early 846, he succeeded in kidnapping one of Lothar's daughters. He brought her to Aquitaine , where he married her. In order to appease the angry Lothar, Karl and Ludwig the German held a farm day together, on which they assured that the kidnapping had not been initiated by them. Another three years later there was a reconciliation between the emperor and Giselbert, which recognized the marriage and included that Giselbert could return to his domain. The name of the kidnapped daughter is not known, it is given in later sources as Ermengard, although there was probably a mix-up.

866 Giselbert is named as Count in Lommegau. In June 877 he was among the nobles whom Charles the Bald named in the Quierzy chapter to accompany his son Ludwig the Stammler during Karl's Italian campaign, from which he was not to return. Another document from the year 885 mentions the name Giselbert, but it is not clear whether it is still the same person, even if no one else seems to be eligible.

Giselbert's son is Count Reginar I. Langhals . Giselbert himself became the founder of the House of Reginare , from which, among other things, the House of Hesse emerged .

Open questions

The vita described is widely recognized in research. However, there are also open questions and points that allow other interpretations.

• There is no evidence that the kidnapper Giselbert and the Graf im Maasgau are the same person.
• There is no evidence that Reginar is Giselbert's son.
• Even on the basis that the kidnapper and the Count in Maasgau are identical, it is not certain that Lothar's daughter is Reginar's mother: some historians see the possibility of a second marriage to Giselbert, others point out that the later rise of the Reginare would hardly have been possible without a descent from the Carolingians.

literature

• Annales Fuldenses : MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi, [7] Annales Fuldenses sive Annales regni Francorum orientalis, Annales Fuldenses II
• Carl Knetsch, The House of Brabant. Genealogy of the Dukes of Brabant and the Landgraves of Hesse, Darmstadt, vol. 1 , 1917, p. 11
• Erich Brandenburg , The Descendants of Charlemagne. 1935, reprinted 1998
• Karl Ferdinand Werner , The descendants of Charlemagne up to around the year 1000. In: Charlemagne, Volume IV: The afterlife. Edited by Wolfgang Braunfels and Percy Ernst Schramm , 1967
• Rosamond McKitterick , Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians 751-987, 1983
• Christian Settipani and Patrick van Kerrebrouck, La préhistoire des Capétiens 481–987, 1ère partie, Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens (1993)
• Andreas Thiele: Narrative genealogical family tables on European history Volume II, Part 1 European Imperial, Royal and Princely Houses I Western Europe, RG Fischer Verlag 1993
• Detlev Schwennicke , European Family Tables Volume I.2 (1999) Plate 236
• Bernhard Walter Scholz, Barbara R. Rogers Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories (2000)
• Eduard Hlawitschka : The ancestors of the high medieval German kings, emperors and their wives. An annotated table work. Volume I: 911–1137, 2 parts, 2006 (MGH Aid 25, 1–2)

Web links

• Giselbert at genealogie-medieval
• Giselbert at Medieval Lands

supporting documents

1. ↑ Schwennicke
2. ↑ Thiele, plate 16
3. ↑ McKittrick, p. 327.
4. ↑ Scholzer / Rogers, p. 158
5. ^ Settipani, S: 264
6. ↑ Annales Fuldenses on the year 846: "DCCCXLVI. Gisalbertus vassallus Karli filiam Hlutharii imperatoris rapuit et in Aquitaniam profectus in coniugem accepit. Hludowicus occidentem profectus 5 mense Martio cum Karlo placitum habatis, in quo uter quoduis filiae Hlutharii iungeretur, ut his auditis Hlutharius facilius placari potuisset. " - "846. Giselbert, a vassal of Charles [the Bald], robbed a daughter of Emperor Lothar and went to Aquitaine, where he married her. Ludwig [the German] moved west and held a court day with Karl in March, where both testified publicly that it was not their will that Giselbert associate herself with Lothar's daughter so that Lothar could be appeased more easily if this became known. "
7. ↑ Schwennicke
8. ^ Brandenburg, plate 1, page 2 and notes on p. 112
9. ^ "Arnulfus comes, Gislebertus, Letardus, Matfridus, Widricus, Gotbertus, Adalbertus, Ingelgerus, Rainerus" (Karoli II Imp. Conventus Carisiacensis, MGH LL 1, p. 537.)
10. ↑ Emperor Karl III. awards land in pago Condruscio ( Condroz between Meuse and Ardennes) to Gislebertus… comes… fidelis suis Teodone (D Karl 130, 6 September 885)
11. ↑ "At least it should be remembered that the identity of the son-in-law of Emperor Lothar and the Count of the same name in Maasgau is not completely established."
12. ↑ The basis for the filiation is: "... Reginar's successor in office in those areas in which Giselbert was previously identified, and on the return of the Giselbert name to Reginar I's eldest son." (Hlawitschka, p. 236)
13. ↑ "... and that, even if this identity is taken for granted, Reginar could come from another marriage of Giselbert. What is striking is the lack of all Carolingian names in his descent." (Brandenburg, notes p. 112, in the same sense Hlawitschka, p . 233)
14. ↑ "The position that the house [of the Reginare] occupies in the same room and then throughout Lorraine in the following corresponds to the prestige of Carolingian descent, the assumption of which is based on a contemporary event, not on the invention of later genealogists." (Werner, p. 449f)

predecessor	Office	successor
	Graf im Maasgau 841–?	Reginar I.
	Graf im Lommegau 866–?