Judith of Brittany

Lead sarcophagus of Judith of Brittany. The sarcophagus was made in the 11th century and found in the foundations of the church of Notre-Dame Abbey in Bernay in the 19th century. The skeleton in the sarcophagus was that of an important, short woman with a congenital deformity of the buttocks. Deformations of this type were common in Breton women, which sometimes, but not always, made it impossible for them to have children.

Judith von Bretagne , also called Judith von Rennes (* 982 in Brittany ; † June 16, 1017 in Normandy ), was through her marriage Duchess of Normandy from about 1000 until her death.

Life

Judith was a daughter of Duke Conan I of Brittany and Ermengarde-Gerberga of Anjou. She was the wife of Duke Richard II of Normandy and mother of Duke Robert I of Normandy , and thus the paternal grandmother of William the Conqueror .

Judith was part of an important alliance between Normandy and Brittany, which was reinforced by a double wedding and which Wilhelm von Jumièges reported for the first time . In 996 her brother, Duke Geoffrey I of Brittany, married Hawise of Normandy , daughter of Duke Richard I, about four years later Judith married Duke Richard II of Normandy, Hawise's brother. The marriage took place in the church of the Mont Saint-Michel abbey . Duchess Judith died on June 16, 1017 and was buried in Bernay Abbey , which she founded in 1013. Her sarcophagus has been in the Notre-Dame-de-la-Couture de Bernay basilica since the revolution .

family

Judith of Brittany and Richard of Normandy had six children:

• Richard (* around 1002/04), Duke of Normandy.
• Alice (* around 1003/05), married Rainald I, Count of Burgundy .
• Robert (* around 1005/07), Duke of Normandy.
• Guillaume (* around 1007/09), monk in Fécamp , † 1025.
• Eleanor (* around 1011/13), married Balduin IV, Count of Flanders .
• Matilda (* around 1013/15), nun in Fecamp, † 1033

literature

• David C. Douglas , William the Conqueror , University of California Press, 1964
• KSB Keats-Rohan , Poppa of Bayeux And Her Family , in: The American Genealogist , Volume 72 No. 4 (July / October 1997)
• Detlev Schwennicke , European Family Tables: Family Tables for the History of the European States , New Series, Volume 2, Marburg 1984

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Schwennicke, plate 75
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Schwennicke, Plate 79
3. ↑ Keats-Rohan, p. 192, No. 12
4. ^ Douglas, p. 29
5. ↑ Joëlle Quaghebeur, Bernard Merdrignac (ed.), Bretons et Normands au Moyen Âge. Rivalités, malentendus convergences , Presses universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2008, ISBN 9782753505636 , p. 182.
6. ^ Edward Bell, The Abbey Church of Bernay , in: The Archaeological Review , Volume 4 (August 1899 – January 1890), p. 57
7. ↑ Keats-Rohan, p. 192 (here she is called Judith von Rennes)
8. ^ Douglas, p. 31