Palatine Immo

Pfalzgraf Immo (* around 910; † after 977) was a noble and reigning count of Betuwe , Hespengau , Lüttichgau and Maasgau . He had extensive possessions in the Auel-, Betuwe, Bonn, Darnau, Haspen, Lüttich, Maas and Mühlgau. Between 928 and the end of 938 he was the adviser to Duke Giselbert of Lorraine . Between 939 and 966 he changed sides several times in the battle for Lorraine. He supported during this time his relatives, Bill Unger Count Ekbert from Ambergau and Wichmann II. In their struggle against King Otto I. 953-959 he was counselor to Archbishop Brun . During this time he opposed his Lorraine relatives, the Reginare . After 966 until at least the end of 977, Immo acted as Count Palatine of the Duchy of Lorraine. He was the founder of County Loon . The Saxon annalist Widukind von Corvey reports on him in his Saxony story. In addition, Graf Immo is mentioned in several regests and yearbooks of Otto I between 939 and 966 , as well as in French royal registers as well as in Metzer and Gorzer document books . He is one of the most prominent representatives of his family - the Immonen - whose Saxon sidelines are known as Immedinger .

Live and act

Widukind von Corvey mentions Graf Immo in 938/39 as “cunning adviser to Duke Giselbert”. Count Immo was married to either a daughter or niece of Duke Giselbert's, because after Duke Giselbert's death in early 939, Count Immo took over his mighty, impregnable fortress near Liège, the Chevremont, after he had given Duke Giselbert's nephews who had holed up there List defeated and handed over to Otto I. In addition, his descendants carried the lead name “Giselbert”.

Graf Immo was closely related to the Ezzonen , as evidenced by his extensive property in Auelgau , Bonngau and Mühlgau , the districts of the Ezzonen. In 942 Count Immo led an uprising by Lorraine nobles against the policies of King Otto I. The king's brother, Archbishop Brun, was able to mediate. Subsequently, Count Immo was mostly loyal to the king. Even when the monks of Maastricht complained at the Reichstag in Duisburg in 945 about Count Immo, who was then officiating in Maasgau , the king let him go. As a relative of Reginars III. Langhals , Count of Hainaut, Count Immo apparently stayed out of the fighting with him in 956/57, because while Count Reginar and his family were exiled to Bohemia and removed from his county and his property, the King of Count Immo only moved that Property in Chastre , in the Gau Dernau (later County of Namur ) and gave it to his vassal Tietbold.

With the exchange of Gelmen Sint-Truiden in 966, Graf Immo prepared the later basis for the County of Loon . The document deals with an extensive barter. He hands the Marienstift to Aachen next to his allod Curcella Lüttichgau , Erkelenz, Oestrich, Mountain, Richolferod, Waßalar in Mühlgau , Linberge, Ramersdorf, top and Niederdollendorf, Breitenbach, Zissendorf in Auelgau , and the church in Düren. In return, he received the place Gelmen (now Groot-Gelmen), part of St. Truiden, from the monastery. After his death, Gelmen and St. Truiden were the central places of County Loon and were owned by his descendants, the Counts of Loon, von Heinsberg, and Rumigny. Léon Vanderkindere cites a document from 1078 in which “Ermengardis comitissa” donated her property “allodium… apud Gelminen” to the church of Saint-Barthélemy in Liège. So the same place that her grandfather, Count Immo, had exchanged in 966.

Property and family

Graf Immo had Herclinze (Erkelenz), Hostrich (Oestrich), Berge (Berg), Richolferod and Uuazzalar (Waßarlar) in the county of Ehrenfried = Ezzo , which corresponds to almost a fifth of the Mühlgau. In Auelgau, the county of Eberhards II, also an Ezzone and son of Hermann I, owned Graf Immo Linberge, Rameresdorf (Ramersdorf), Dullendorf (Ober- and Niederdollendorf), Breitenbach and Zeizendorf (Zissendorf). In this official district of the Ezzonen , Graf Immo also had around a quarter of the places that made up the district. This fact suggests a close relationship. This fits in with the information recorded by Widukind von Corvey in his history of Saxony that Count “Immo” Ansfried (meaning Ehrenfried II. ) Offered one of his daughters, “unicam filiam”, as a wife. That daughter was named Richwara.

The relationship between Graf Immo and Graf Ehrenfried / Ezzo is confirmed by two documents from the years 968 and 977. In 968, Graf Immo, together with Ansfried = Ehrenfried II., Is the main witness of a donation from the French Queen Gerberga , sister of Otto I. The main estate that goes with this Was given to the monastery in Reims , Meerssen on the Maas, Gerberga had received from her first husband, Duke Giselbert of Lorraine , as a wedding property. In the course of inheritance disputes between the Ottonians and Reginars, these Gerbergas had conquered property. As a result, the Ottonians, together with the French King Ludwig IV, Gerberga's second husband, overran Hainaut in 957 and recaptured the queen's property. Count Reginar and his family were taken prisoner, and the booty and all of their property were confiscated. Parts of it went to Graf Immo, as the document from 966 shows. In 968 Gerberga donated her marriage property to Reims. Count Immo was the main witness of this royal document, Count Ansfried = Ehrenfried acted as the second witness.

The second document was issued by Gorze Abbey . Immo notarized a real estate deal on September 14, 977 through “Flammereshem in Wormatie”. The first witness was Count Immo, “Immonis comitis palatii ” = Count Palatine of Lorraine. The witness referred to as Count Azzonis is the later Count Palatine Ezzo, son of Count Palatine Hermann I of Lorraine, who owed his office to Count Immo, his relative.

Pfalzgraf Immo does not appear in any later documents, which is why it can be assumed that he died before 985. In 985 he was succeeded by his relatives, the Ezzonen, in whose family the dignity of the Palatine was preserved until 1085. With Count Palatine Otto I. von Salm , 1125 to 1137, another distant descendant Palatine Immos came into office. The Counts of Loon, through whom the guiding name Otto came to the Salm-Luxemburg house, brought forth another real estate, great-grandson Count Immos. With this, the family name IMMO died out in 1078, which the Immons had used continuously since 757.

literature

• Widukindi monachi Corbeiensis rerum gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres (MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi. Volume 60), 1935
• MGH (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata) DD KI / DD HI / DD OI, 1879-84
• Yearbooks of the German Empire - Rudolf Köpke – Ernst Dümmler: Emperor Otto der Grosse [936–973], 1876 (on Count Immo: pp.87,106,107,126,143,300,309,404)
• August von Wersebe: About the peoples and peoples alliances of old Germany, 1826
• Auberti Miraei: Opera diplomatica et historica, 1723
• Mettensia. Memoires et documents publ. par la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France. 1897-1927
• Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Gorze, 1852-1910
• Announcements of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, Volume 8, 1887
• Oscar Doering: Contributions to the oldest history of the diocese of Metz, 1886
• Heinrich Volbert Sauerland: The Immunity of Metz from its Beginnings to the End of the 11th Century, 1877

Individual evidence

1. ↑ RegestaImperii Online: n RI II 261st
2. ↑ Regesta ImperiiOnline: RI II n 418 Kaiser Otto I. confirmed the canons at the d of Karl.. Grand Palatine Chapel in Aachen, built in honor of the Salvator and St. Mary, the named properties in the Lüttichgau (Liuhgowi) in the County of Richars, in the Mühlgau in the County of Eremfreds and in the Auelgau in the County of Eberhards, which they had exchanged from Count Immo, against Gelmen in Haspengau, in the county of Werenhars.
3. ↑ Widukindi Liber II, 28, MGH SS III, p. 444
4. ↑ Miraei Codex, No. 37, Gerberga Francorum Regina alodium Marsanense, prope Trajecium Mosae, donat Monasterio S. Remensis anno 968 - Witnesses: Gerardo Tullensi Episcopo, Comitibus Emmone & Ansfrido
5. ↑ Mettensia: Mémoires et documents, Volume 2, No. 114, p. 209 - “Signum Immonis, comitis palatii; Signum Birardi comitis; Signum Alardi comitis; S. Azzonis comitis; S. Bozelonis comitis; S. Folmari comitis; S. Hardonis comitis; Signum Hamedei, advocati loci. "
6. ↑ Sauerland considers Immo to be the Episcopal Count Palatine due to a misinterpretation of the Gorzer deed of 977. He writes on p. 48: “After the signatures of the clergy, those of the laity follow: Signum Adelberti advocati. Signum Immonis, comitis Palatii - then from several counts, finally - Signum Hamedei advocati loci ”In fact, the advocate is listed among the clergy, Count Immo correctly as a top witness among the laity:“ Signum domni Odelberti abbatis, qui hanc cartam fieri jussit; Signum Theuteri prepositi; S. Angelranni decani; S. Salechonis; S. Beraldi; S. Herchengeri; S. Willebaldi cellerarii; S. Adelgeri; S. Adelberti; S. Angelramni; S. Bcrnacri, qui hanc cartam scripsit; Signum Adelberti advocati; S. Wahini; S. Wargisi; S. Birardi clerici; S. Adelberti. Ista sunt nomina hominum quorumdam supramemoratam terram tenentium: Biraldus, Wachodinus, Muozo, Dancho, Azo presbiter, Willicho, Sicchilinus, Regilo, Azzilinus, Haimo, Brimilo, Woppo. Nomina scabiniorum: item Woppo, Willichinus, Waachlinus, Azomannus, item Regilo, item Brimilo. (Laypersons) Signum Immonis, comitis palatii; Signum Birardi comitis; Signum Alardi comitis; S. Azzonis comitis; S. Bozelonis comitis; S. Folmari comitis; S. Hardonis comitis; Signum Hamedei, advocati loci. " In fact, Count Immo is Count Palatine of Lorraine, which is also borne out by the fact that Gelmen / St. Truiden belonged to the diocese of Metz, but was politically in Lower Lorraine. Metz was in Upper Lorraine, an independent duchy since 959. As an episcopal dignitary, he would never have come first in front of the other important Counts of Lorraine, hardly among the lay people, but, like the advocate of the diocese, among ecclesiastical dignitaries.
7. ↑ Victor Krause: History of the Institute of Missi Dominici, Appendix II; - Wilhelm Martens: The Roman Question under Pippin and Charlemagne, p. 86