Louis of Lower Lorraine
Louis of Lower Lorraine (975×9801023), Frankish royalty and a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was a younger son of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, through his second wife, Adelaide.
Louis was born between 975 and 980, during the reign of his uncle, King Lothair of France.
His mother was the daughter of a vassal of Hugh Capet.
After the death of Louis's cousin, King Louis V, in 987 the nobility elected Hugh Capet king.
Charles opposed Hugh, but was defeated in battle and captured in 991.
Hugh had Louis placed in the custody of Bishop Adalbero of Laon.
By 993 Charles had died and Hugh had imprisoned Louis in Orléans.
Louis's older brother, Otto, who had remained behind in Germany, inherited their father's duchy.
In the spring of 993, Odo I, Count of Blois, plotted with Adalbero of Laon to arrest Hugh while the latter was in Metz to meet with Otto III of Germany, and place Louis on the throne.
The count of Blois was angered by Hugh's refusal to appoint him to Hugh's old office, Duke of the Franks.
The plot, however, was leaked to the king and had to be abandoned.
At some point Louis was released.
He still retained land in Lower Lorraine and the "Chronicle of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif" calls him "comes Alemanorumcount of the Germans", suggesting that he had been granted a county in Lower Lorraine.
Sometime between 1005 and 1012, Louis was in Aquitaine when Duke William V of Aquitaine made a donation to the Abbey of Bourgueil.
Louis subscribed the duke's charter as "Louis, son of King CharlesLodoici filii Karoli regis").
William is known to have been on good terms with Hugh and accepted his election, but Carolingian legitimism was not unknown in southern France, where royal power was weak.
In 1023, Louis made a pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel.
During his return journey, he fell ill and became a monk "in extremis" at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens.
While he lay dying, he gave his villa at Ariscurt (an unidentified location probably in Lorraine) and a pallium (a sign of his royalty) to the abbey.
His epitaph at Saint-Pierre-le-Vif has been published.
Gerberga of Lower Lorraine
Gerberga of Lower Lorraine, Countess of Louvain, was the daughter of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, himself the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony.
Louis of Brienne
Louis of Brienne, also known as Louis of Acre( died in 1297), was viscount of Beaumont- sur- Sarthe in Maine.
Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Godfrey III (–1069), called the Bearded, was the eldest son of Gothelo I, Duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine.
By inheritance, he was Count of Verdun and he became Margrave of Antwerp as a vassal of the Duke of Lower Lorraine.
The Holy Roman Emperor Henry III authorized him to succeed his father as Duke of Upper Lorraine in 1044, but refused him the ducal title in Lower Lorraine, for he feared the power of a united duchy.
Instead Henry threatened to appoint a younger son, Gothelo, as Duke in Lower Lorraine.
At a much later date, Godfrey became Duke of Lower Lorraine, but he had lost the upper duchy by that point in time.
Godfrey rebelled against his King and devastated land in Lower Lorraine, as well as the City of Verdun; which, though his by inheritance, Henry had not given him.
He was soon defeated by an imperial army, deposed and imprisoned together with his son (Gibichenstein, 1045).
When his son died in prison, the war recommenced.
Baldwin V of Flanders joined Godfrey and Henry gave Thierry, Bishop of Verdun, the eponymous county.
Godfrey surprised the Bishop (who escaped) and sacked Verdun, burning the cathedral.
On 11 November 1048 at Thuin, Godfrey fell on Adalbert, his replacement in Upper Lorraine, and defeated him, killing him in battle.
Henry immediately nominated the young Gerard of Chatenoy to replace Adalbert at the Diet of Worms.
In his subsequent campaigns to take the Moselle region, Godfrey met with stiff resistance from Gerard and was forced to renounce his claims and reconcile with the Bishop.
He even assisted in rebuilding the cathedral he had destroyed.
In 1053, his first wife Doda having died, Godfrey remarried Beatrice of Bar, the widow of Boniface III of Tuscany and mother of Matilda, Boniface's heir.
Henry arrested Beatrice and her young son Frederick and imprisoned her in Germany, separate from either husband or son, who died within days.
The emperor claimed the marriage had been contracted without his consent and was invalid.
Young Frederick died a short while later.
Nevertheless, Godfrey took over the government of the Tuscany in right of Beatrice and Matilda.
Baldwin V then rebelled, carrying the war to Trier and Nijmegen.
Henry responded by devastating Flanders and ravaging Lille and Tournai (1054).
In this war, Godfrey captured Frederick of Luxembourg, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who had received that duchy, including Antwerp, from Henry III.
In 1055, Godfrey besieged Antwerp, but Frederick was delivered by the Lorrainers, no longer loyal to Godfrey.
Henry died in 1056 and his successor, Henry IV, was only six years old.
In that year, Baldwin made peace and did homage to the new King.
In 1056 and 1059, by the treaties of Andernach, Baldwin received the March of Ename in the Landgraviate of Brabant, probably in exchange for giving up the March of Valenciennes, which was confiscated by Emperor Henry III in 1045.
In 1057, Godfrey was exiled to Tuscany, where he joined Beatrice and co-governed with her.
He was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Spoleto (1057) by Pope Stephen IX, his brother.
In January 1058, Leo de Benedicto Christiano threw open the city gates to him and Beatrice after the election of Pope Nicholas II.
Possessing the Tiber and assaulting the Lateran, Godfrey succeeded in expelling the antipope Benedict X on 24 January.
During the papal reign of his brother and his brother's reforming successors, he played an important role in the politics of central and northern Italy, including Sardinia, where he interfered on behalf of Barisone I of Logudoro against the Republic of Pisa, indicating his authority over both.
In 1065, he was recalled to become Duke of Lower Lorraine after the death of Frederick.
He was also given Antwerp again.
He installed his court at Bouillon and died on Christmas Eve 1069.
Richar, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Richar( or Richer)( died 973) was the count of Mons from 963 or 964 and vice- duke of Lower Lorraine from 968.
He was also Count of Liege.
After the death of Godfrey I, count of Hainault and vice- duke of Lower Lorraine, the Emperor Otto I gave Richar half of the county of Hainault( Mons) with the title of count of Hainault.
The regions of Valenciennes was given to Amaury.
He was also given the county of Liège.
He appears in a charter of 2 June 965 donating money in memory of Godfrey.
He was a relation of both the emperor and his brother, Bruno of Cologne, the duke of Lorraine.
He last appears in charters in 972.
The name of Richar's wife is unknown.
They had at least one child: Upon his death, Richar, was succeeded as Count of Mons by Renaud.
The next recorded Duke of Lower Lorraine is Charles, who began his rule in 977.
The position of Duke of Lower Lorraine remained vacant between Richar's death and Charles' ascent.
Gothelo II of Lower Lorraine
Gothelo II( also Gozelo)( 1008 – 1046), variously called" the Cowardthe Sluggardthe Indolent", or" the Lazy"( Latin" ignavus"), has been often said to be Duke of Lower Lorraine after the death of his father Gothelo I, Duke of both Lower and Upper Lorraine( 1044) until his own death in 1046.
When Gothelo I died in 1044, Godfrey III, his eldest son, who had been co-ruling in Lower Lorraine for several years, was not given Lower Lorraine by the Emperor Henry III.
Henry first threatened to give Lower Lorraine to the second son Gothelo( not known for his courage or competency and who was perhaps mentally deficient).
Godfrey rebelled and was imprisoned.
Henry appointed Frederick of Luxembourg to succeed in Lower Lorraine.
The date of Gothelo II's death has been disputed.
The homonymy between father and son and the imprecision of the documents( including the fact that not all mention him) have made his role in the duchy of Lower Lorraine debatable.
Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France
Margaret of Burgundy( 1290 – 30 April 1315) was Queen of France and Navarre as the first wife of Louis X of France( and Louis I of Navarre).
Lambert I, Count of Louvain
Lambert I of Louvain nicknamed" The Bearded"( born in Louvain, Duchy of Lotharingia, East Francia c. 950, died in Florennes, County of Namur, Duchy of Lower Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire on 12 September 1015) was the first Count of Louvain in 1003.
He was killed by Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine in battle for Godfrey's claim of Count of Verdun.
He was the son of Reginar III, Count of Hainaut and Adela d' Eguisheim, daughter of Hugh V, Count of Eguisheim.
His brother was Reginar IV, Count of Mons.
He was the husband of Gerberga of Lower Lorraine, and father of:
Ida of Lorraine
Ida of Lorraine( also referred to as Blessed Ida of Boulogne)( c. 1040 – 13 April 1113) was a saint and noblewoman.
She was the daughter of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine and his wife Doda.
Ida's grandfather was Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine and Ida's brother was Godfrey IV, Duke of Lower Lorraine.
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Charles (953–993) was the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death.
Born at Reims in the summer of 953, Charles was the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony and the younger brother of King Lothair.
He was a sixth generation descendant of Charlemagne.
When his father was captured by the Normans and held, both his sons were demanded as ransom for his release.
Queen Gerberga would only send Charles, who was then handed over and his father was released into the custody of Hugh Capet.
In or before 976, he accused Lothair's wife, Emma, daughter of Lothair II of Italy, of infidelity with Adalberon, Bishop of Laon.
The council of Sainte-Macre at Fismes (near Reims) exonerated the queen and the bishop, but Charles maintained his claim and was driven from the kingdom, finding refuge at the court of his cousin, Otto II.
Otto promised to crown Charles as soon as Lothair was out of the way and Charles paid him homage, receiving back Lower Lorraine.
In August 978, Lothair invaded Germany and captured the imperial capital of Aachen, but failed to capture either Otto or Charles.
In October, Otto and Charles in turn invaded France, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon.
In the latter city, the chief seat of the kings of France, Charles was crowned by Theodoric I, Bishop of Metz.
Lothair fled to Paris and was there besieged.
But a relief army of Hugh Capet's forced Otto and Charles to lift the siege on 30 November.
Lothair and Capet, the tables turned once more, chased the German king and his liege back to Aachen and retook Laon.
Around 979, Charles transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel in Brussels.
This is generally accepted as the time when the city was founded.
Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island.
As he had been a vassal also of Lothair, Charles' acts on behalf of Otto were considered treason and he was thereafter excluded from the throne.
On Lothair's death (986), the magnates elected his son Louis V and on the latter's death (987), Hugh Capet.
Thus, the House of Capet came to the throne over the disgraced and ignored Charles.
Charles' unexceptional marriage and his lack of wealth are two of the reasons he was denied the throne.
Charles made war on Hugh, even taking Rheims and Laon.
However, on Maundy Thursday (26 March) 991, he was captured, through the perfidy of the Bishop Adalberon, and was imprisoned by Hugh in Orléans, where he died a short while later, in or before 993.
He was succeeded as Duke of Lower Lorraine by his son Otto.
The "Historia Francorum Senonensis", written between 1015 and 1034, propagated the view that Charles was the rightful king in 987 and Hugh a usurper.
In 1666, the sepulchre of Charles was discovered in the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht.
His body appears to have been interred there only in 1001, but that is not the date of his death, as some scholars assumed.
Though Charles ruled Lower Lorraine, the Dukes of Lorraine (Upper Lotharingia) counted him as "Charles I of Lorraine".

Question: Who is the paternal grandfather of Louis Of Lower Lorraine?