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Charles Duke of Lower Lorraine[1]

Male 953 - 992  (39 years)


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  • Name Charles Duke of Lower Lorraine 
    Birth 953  Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 21 May 992  Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Saint Servatius, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I36780  Master
    Last Modified 24 Jun 2019 

    Father Louis IV King of France,   b. 10 Sep 921, Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Sep 954, Abbaye de Saint Rbemy, Reims, Marne, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 33 years) 
    Mother Gerberge Queen Of France,   b. 913, Nordhausen, Saxony, Germany Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 May 984, Reims, Marne, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 71 years) 
    Marriage 25 Apr 954 
    Family ID F8784  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Bonne Adelaide Duchess Of Lorraine,   b. Abt 953, Ardenne, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage Abt 972 
    Children 
     1. Othon Duke Of Lower Lorraine,   b. 973, , , Lorraine, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1005 (Age 32 years)
     2. Ermengarde (Adelaide) Princess Of France,   b. Abt 975, , , Lorraine, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1012 (Age 37 years)
    +3. Gerberge De Lorraine,   b. 977, , , Lorraine, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1018 (Age 41 years)
     4. Eudes Duke Of Lower Lorraine,   b. Abt 979, , , Lorraine, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1012 (Age 33 years)
    Family ID F8799  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 May 2019 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 953 - Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 21 May 992 - Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Saint Servatius, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Charles (953–993) was the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death.

      Born at Laon 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.[1] He was a sixth generation descendant of Charlemagne.[1][2] When his father was captured by the Normans and held, both his sons were demanded as ransom for his release.[3] Queen Gerberga would only send Charles, who was then handed over and his father was released into the custody of Hugh Capet.[3]

      In or before 976, he accused Lothair's wife, Emma, daughter of Lothair II of Italy, of infidelity with Adalberon, Bishop of Laon.[4] 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.[4]

      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.[5] Charles' unexceptional marriage and his lack of wealth are two of the reasons he was denied the throne.[5] Charles made war on Hugh, even taking Rheims and Laon. However, on Maundy Thursday[6] (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.[7] He was succeeded as Duke of Lower Lorraine by his son Otto.[7]

      In 1666, the sepulchre of Charles was discovered in the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht.[need quotation to verify] 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.

      Family
      In 970 Charles married Adelaide of Troyes. Together he and Adelaide had:

      Otto, succeeded as Duke of Lower Lotharingia [1]
      Ermengarde, who married Albert I, Count of Namur[1]
      Gerberga of Lower Lorraine (b. 975–1018), who married Lambert I, Count of Louvain[1]
      Louis (c. 989–aft. 993)[1]
      Charles (b. 989)[1]

      References
      Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 1
      Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band I (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1980), Tafel 2
      The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 919–966, eds. & trans. Stephen Fanning; Bernard S. Bachrach (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004), p. 44
      Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), p. 276
      Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), p. 278
      La cathédrale de Laon by madame Suzanne Martinet, page 80
      Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), p. 279

  • Sources 
    1. [S23] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (R), (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998).