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Herbert II Count of Vermandois[1]

Male Abt 884 - 943  (59 years)


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  • Name Herbert II Count of Vermandois 
    Birth Abt 884  , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 23 Feb 943  Saint Quentin, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Saint Quentin, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I36658  Master
    Last Modified 24 May 2022 

    Father Herbert I Count of Vermandois,   b. 848, Bohain En Vermandois, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 902, Bohain En Vermandois, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 54 years) 
    Mother Miss Princess Of France,   b. Abt 862, , , , France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F870  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Hildebrante Princess Of France,   b. Abt 897, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 931 (Age 35 years) 
    Marriage Bef 907  , , , France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Herbert De Vermandois,   b. 910, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Dec 993 (Age 83 years)
    +2. Adaele (Alice, Alix) De Vermandois,   b. 910, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Oct 960, Bruges, Aquitaine, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 50 years)
    +3. Adele of Vermandois,   b. 910   d. 960, , , , Belgium Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 50 years)
    +4. Albert I The Pious, Count Of Vermandois,   b. Abt 915, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Sep 978, Saint Quentin, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 63 years)
     5. Eudes Count Of Viennois,   b. Abt 916, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 19 Jun 946 (Age 30 years)
    +6. Robert Count Of Vermandois & Meaux,   b. Abt 918, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 29 Aug 968 (Age 50 years)
     7. Hugues Archbishop Of Reims,   b. 920, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 962 (Age 42 years)
    +8. Ledgarde Duchess Of Normandy,   b. Abt 920, , Vermandois, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 27 May 977 (Age 57 years)
    Family ID F8765  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 24 May 2022 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - Abt 884 - , Vermandois, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Bef 907 - , , , France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 23 Feb 943 - Saint Quentin, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Saint Quentin, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Herbert was the son of Herbert I of Vermandois.[1] He was apparently well aware of his descent from Charlemagne.[2] Herbert inherited the domain of his father and in 907, added to it the Abbey of St. Medard, Soissons. He took the position of Lay abbot entitling him to the income of those estates.[1] His marriage with a daughter of king Robert I of France brought him the County of Meaux.[3]

      In 922, when Seulf became Archbishop of Rheims, in an effort to appease Herbert II Seulf solemnly promised him he could nominate his successor.[4] In 923, Count Herbert took the bold step of imprisoning King Charles III, who died still a captive in 929.[a][3] Then, on the death of Seulf in 925, with the help of King Rudolph, he acquired for his second son Hugh (then five years old) the archbishopric of Rheims.[5] Herbert took the additional step of sending emissaries to Rome to Pope John X to gain his approval, which that pope gave in 926.[4] On his election young Hugh was sent to Auxerre to study.[2]

      In 926, on the death of Count Roger I of Laon. Herbert demanded this countship for Eudes, his eldest son.[6] He took the town in defiance of King Rudolph leading to a clash between the two in 927.[2] Using the threat of releasing King Charles III, whom he held captive, Herbert managed to hold the city for four more years.[2] But after the death of Charles in 929, Rudolph again attacked Laon in 931 successfully defeating Herbert.[2] The same year the king entered Rheims and defeated archbishop Hugh, the son of Herbert.[7] Artaud became the new archbishop of Reims.[7] Herbert II then lost, in three years, Vitry, Laon, Château-Thierry, and Soissons.[8] The intervention of his ally, Henry the Fowler, allowed him to restore his domains (except Rheims and Laon) in exchange for his submission to King Rudolph.

      Later Herbert allied with Hugh the Great and William Longsword, duke of Normandy against King Louis IV, who allocated the County of Laon to Roger II, the son of Roger I, in 941. Herbert and Hugh the Great took back Rheims and captured Artaud.[9] Hugh, the son of Herbert, was restored as archbishop.[9] Again the mediation of the German King Otto I in Visé, near Liège, in 942 allowed for the normalization of the situation.

      Death and legacy
      Herbert II died on 23 February 943 at Saint-Quentin, Aisne (the capital of the county of Vermandois).[1] His vast estates and territories were divided among his sons.[10] Vermandois and Amiens went to the two elder sons while Robert and Herbert, the younger sons, were given the valuable holdings scattered throughout Champagne.[10] On Robert's death his brother's son Herbert III inherited them all. Herbert III's only son Stephen died childless in 1019–20 thus ending the male line of Herbert II.[10]

      Family
      Herbert married Adele, daughter of Robert I of France.[11] Together they had the following children:

      Eudes of Vermandois, Count of Amiens and of Vienne, (c. 910–946)[1]
      Adalbert I, Count of Vermandois (c. 915–987), married Gerberge of Lorraine[1]
      Adela of Vermandois (910–960), married 934 Count Arnulf I of Flanders[1]
      Herbert 'the Old' (c. 910–980), Count of Omois, Meaux and Troyes, and abbot of St. Medard, Soissons, married 951 Eadgifu of Wessex daughter of Edward the Elder King of England and widow of Charles III King of France.[b][1]
      Sprota Adele de Senlis (913–945), captive of William I, Duke of Normandy;[1] and fathered Richard I, Duke of Normandy.
      Robert of Vermandois, Count of Meaux and Châlons († 967)[1]
      Luitgarde of Vermandois (c. 915–978), married 940 William I, Duke of Normandy;[1] married secondly, c. 943–44, Theobald I of Blois[c][12] Their son was Odo I, Count of Blois.[10]
      Hugh of Vermandois (920–962), Archbishop of Reims[1]
      Guy I, Count of Soissons (d. 986).[13]
      Notes
      King Charles was the godfather to one of Herbert II's sons. See: Rodulfus Glaber, The Five Books of the Histories, ed. & trans. John France (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 12–13 n. 1.
      Herbert 'the Old', Count of Meux the son of Herbert II is sometimes confused with his nephew, Herbert III, Count of Meux and Troyes, son of Robert Count of Meux. It was Herbert 'the Old' who married Eadgifu of Wessex in 951, his nephew Herbert III wasn't born until c. 950. See ES III/1, 49; K. Norgate, 'Odo of Champagne', EHR 5, 19 (Jul. 1890), 488.
      It was Hugh the Great who, taking advantage of the youth of Herbert II's successor, gave William Longwsord's widow, Luitgarde to his own vassal Theobald 'the Deceiver', count of Blois. But Glaber mistakenly credited Duke William's murder to Theobald 'the Deceiver' instead of Arnulf of Flanders. See: Rodulfus Glaber, The Five Books of the Histories, ed. & trans. John France (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 164–5, n. 2.

  • 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).