Herbauges

The county of Herbauges emerged in the 9th century and included the Bas-Poitou with today's Pays de Retz , the north of today's Vendée , the coastal islands ( Noirmoutier , Bouin ) down to Tiffauges , as well as the valley of Clisson and Les Mauges . It was created by the barons of Bas-Poitou after an attack by the Normans in 820 in order to be able to effectively counter the threat in the future.

Renaud (Rainaldus, Ragenold), who was able to recapture the island of Noirmoutier when it was occupied and devastated by the Normans in 830, became Count of Herbauges. Renaud was only able to repel a second raid in 835, but then had to admit that the Normans again occupied Noirmoutier (now abandoned) and set up their headquarters here.

In 841, Richwin, Count of Nantes fell at the Battle of Fontenoy and Charles the Bald named Renaud as his successor, passing over the Guidonen Lambert II , who claimed the county as heir to his father Lambert I. Lambert broke with Karl, allied himself with the Breton Duke Nominoë and appointed his own Count of Herbauges with his nephew Gunfer.

Lambert and Nominoe were defeated in 843 against Renaud in the Battle of Messac , but this fell on May 24, 843 in the Battle of Blain against the Normans under Hasting. While his son Hervé was able to claim the area south of the Loire, Lambert II managed to seize the city of Nantes after the Normans had withdrawn. The following year (844), Hervé and Bernhard von Poitiers then fell in the fight against Lambert.

Recent research has shown that Renaud had a second son, Ragenold von Neustrien , who succeeded Herbauges and later became Count of Maine and Margrave of Neustria .

In 851, in the Treaty of Nantes, Charles the Bald ceded the northern part of the county of Herbauges, the "vicaria Retense", today Pays de Retz , to Erispoe, the new Duke of the Bretons. In the 10th century, the county of Nantes and the country south of the Loire came under the influence of the Counts of Anjou .