When the Emperor Lothar I died in 855, his "middle kingdom" (Francia Media)
was divided, in the Treaty of Prüm, between his three sons: (1) Louis II received Italy and the Imperial crown, (2) Charles, Burgundy, and (3) Lothar II what was left, the area from Burgundy down to the North Sea. There was no traditional name for such an area, so it came to be called after Lothar II himself: Lotharingia.
This has become Lothringen in German and Lorraine in French and English. The lack of male heirs for all these meant that Italy, Burgundy, and Lorraine all were subsequently divided and passed around among the Carolingian heirs of East and West. Lorraine soon lost independent status and became a dependency, a Stem Duchy, of the East Frankish Kingdom, except briefly when it adhered to the West (911-925). The Duchy itself then became divided between the south, or Upper Lorraine, and the north, or Lower Lorraine (959). "Upper" and "Lower" were in the relation to the river systems in the area, especially the Rhine and its tributaries, which flow north.
The heart of Upper Lorraine was Nancy (Nanzig in German, Nanciacum in Latin, although this was not a Roman city; it dates from 1050, founded by the Duke Gerard), in a bend of the Moselle (Mosel in German, Mosella in Latin) River. Upper Lorraine originally extended all the way down to the Rhine on the Moselle and included Trier,
Upper Lorraine bordered, to the east, on Alsace, part of the Duchy of Swabia, to the south, on the Free County of Burgundy, and to the west, on Champagne. The western border was originally between the Marne and the Meuse (Maas in Dutch and German, Mosa in Latin). Significant cities on the Meuse are Verdun (Wirten in German, Verodunum in Latin), Sedan (where the Germans defeated France in 1870 and crossed the Meuse with Panzers in 1940), Namur, Liège (Luik in Dutch or Flemish, Lüttich in German, & Leodium in Latin), and Maastricht (Mosae Trajectum in Latin, i.e. "crossing of the Meuse"). Near Sedan is Rocroi, where the Spanish Army was destroyed (or at least heavily defeated) by France in 1643. Near Liège and Maastricht is Aachen, Aix-la-Chappelle in French (either Aquis Granum or Aquis Villa in Latin, Aken in Dutch, Oche in the local Rhenish Franconian dialect of German), which was the capital of Charlemangne. From there the river continues down through the Netherlands into the North Sea.
We now have a new book all about the history of Lorraine -- Lotharingia, A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country, by Simon Winder [Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2019]. However, Winder gets off to a start with something I found confusing. I find at Wikipedia a map that shows Upper Burgundy as part of Lothar's domain [whose author should be acknowledged, except that I cannot figure out who the author is]; but it includes a boundary that separates Burgundy from what would become the realm of Lotharingia. Winder's statement that everything north of "Provence" was "a region which was called after him [i.e. Lothar] Lotharingia, 'the lands of Lothar'," seems to be false. "Lotharingia" would be applied to lands with no previous collective identity, which did not include any part of Burgundy -- hence the boundary on the map at left. Winder does acknowledge that his treatment of Lotharingia does not include "Geneva," but there was a lot more to Burgundy than that, and Winder does seem to include western Switzerland, with Basle and Bern, as proper parts of Lotharingia, which it certainly had nothing to do with after 888 -- only 33 years since 855 -- with no remaining memory of Lothar, which is not surprising with only a 33 year interlude.
Even worse, Winder refers to Lenin's time in Zürich, before the Germans shipped him off to Russia, as how the "strange Lotharingian exceptionalism first protected Lenin..." [p.423]. But Zürich is east of the River Reuss and so was always part of Swabia, and East Francia, and neither Burgundy nor Lorraine nor Francia Media. Winder has taken his excuse of considering some of Switzerland as "Lotharingia" and then carelessly generalizing it, apparently, to all of Switzerland. The origin of Switzerland is unrelated to events in Lorraine or Lotharingia.
But Burgundy does eventually enter the story, since the Dukes of Burgundy end up with most of Lower Lorraine, which by then (ironically) While devoting considerable attention to Switzerland, Flanders, and Alsace, which were not part of Lotharingia, Winder neglects some areas that were. Thus, he says:
The problem here is that Bar, all of it, was most definitely part of Lotharingia, which makes me wonder why Winder doesn't want to get "too involved" with something that his book is supposed to be about. That is especially important when "Barrois mouvant" was not originally part of France, according to Winder's own map showing the boundaries of "The Treaty of Verdun 843" [p.xiv]. In 1301 Philip IV of France forced his sovereignty on Bar west of the Meuse. Even then, according to Winder's own map again [p.xvii], parts of Imperial Loraine remained west of the Meuse, and parts of French Bar were east of it (clarifed by the Historischer Weltatlas by Dr. Walter Leisering, Marixverlag, Verlagshaus Römerweg GmbH, Wiesbaden, 1997, 2016, pp.70,74, with glosses of "z[u].Barr.mouv.").
Thus, we can see that the original western boundary of Lotharingia was at least midway between the Meuse and the Marne, and then moves east. This is an important part of the story of Lorraine, where the long story is of France eventually seizing all of what had become the Duchy of Lorraine, with all the territories, like the independent Bishoprics, around it. The attack on Bar, where Bar-le-Duc was originally founded precisely to be a frontier defense against West Francia (or perhaps, in particular, against the Counts of Champagne), was the first, ominous move against Lorraine. I would say this neglect is a grave oversight for Winder in what is supposed to be a dedicated history of Lotharingia.
Indeed, in Winder's entire book, there seems to be a lot more about Flanders, Switzerland, and Alsace than about what eventually became the Duchy of Lorraine, simpliciter, or any other proper part of Lotharingia, itself -- and quite a bit about Basle (Basel, Bâle), which was part of Swabia, like Alsace.
Indeed, there's the rub. Winder seems to devote more attention to areas that were not part of Lothar's domain long enough to acquire the identity of "Lotharingia" or "Lorraine" than to those that did. Thus, despite a lot of attention devoted, appropriatedly, to the Netherlands, we are missing an account of how Lower Lorraine lost its identity, which was absorbed and dispersed to Brabant, Utrecht, Limburg, Liège, Holland and other domains. When did the Duchy of Upper Lorraine just become "Lorraine"? I don't know (the guess below is c.1304), and Winder, whose book might have told us something about it, doesn't. The dismissal of the story of Bar as getting us "too involved" seems to mean that we are not going to get "too involved" in the story of Lorraine itself, while devoting time to an account of Lenin's exile in Zürich, which by no reckoning, even Winder's, was ever part of Lotharingia.
While the lapses in Simon Winder's book are annoying, perhaps we should keep in mind that it is "A Personal History" and not a strict scholarly, historical account. There certainly is no strict chronology in the narrative. Winder likes walking around, and his peripatetic visits here in Flanders, Alsace, Basle, or Switzerland reflect what interests him and what didn't fit into his previous books (Germania, 2010, and Danubia, 2013). In those terms, perhaps he can be forgiven for confusing, in effect, Zürich with Nancy. I Part of my problem with the origin of Lotharingia has been the incompleteness of my sources. In 1764 miners near Maastricht found the skull of what would prove to be a Mosasaur. This was the first genuinely prehistoric and extinct animal that would be recognized as such -- although that took a little while. It is often casually said to be a dinosaur; but, no, it is no more than a huge, ocean going lizard. The original discovery did not excite much attention, but another skull, apparently turned up between 1770 and 1774, did the trick. Johann Leonard Hoffmann, a local surgeon and fossil collector, spread the word, with inquiries, and generated, not just considerable interest, but fame.
When France invaded the Netherlands in 1794, the fossil was stolen -- an extraordinary part of the loot of Empire -- and sent to Paris. There its nature was debated, and its character as a lizard was identified by Adriaan Gilles Camper, ironically a Dutchman, in 1799. Georges Cuvier, who was said to be able to reconstruct an entire animal from one bone, and who first demonstrated that there were extinct animals (a thesis that originally was thought to offend the wisdom of God), agreed with the identification in 1808. It turned out that fragments of Mosasaurs had previously been unearthed, without their character being recognized. And, after 1815, the stolen Mosasaur fossils were returned to Maastricht.
The name "Mosasaur," which is the key matter of interest here, was bestowed by William Conybeare in 1822. This was the Mosa, "Meuse," saurus, "lizard." Since the Mosasaur actually was a lizard, this was more appropriate than names like "dinosaur," "terrible lizard," where dinosaurs actually aren't lizards. I first encountered a Mosasaur in the Texas Memorial Museum at the University of Texas at Austin. This was the rather full skeleton of the "Onion Creek Mosasaur," which we see at right, with one of its discovers, W. Clyde Ikins. Ikins and John P. Smith discovered the fossil in 1935, not far from Austin itself, Onion Creek being a tributary of the Colorado River, which flows through Austin. Texas and North-Western Europe share in large deposits of Cretacious limestone, laid down by the seas within which Mosasaurs swam.
In the movie Jurassic World [2015], we see a marine stadium, like at Sea World, that features, not performing dolphins or the like, but a Mosasaur that jumps up and does tricks like the dolphins otherwise would have. In the original Jurassic Park [1990], the denouement of the movie is when a Tyrannosaurus, which had been terrorizing and killing everyone, appears and rescues the surviving cast members from Velociraptors. In Jurassic World, a genetically engineered hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus rex, which has been rampaging and fending off (friendly?) Velociraptors and the original Tyrannosaurus, is eaten by the suddenly appearing Mosasaur. In the sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom [2018] the Mosasaur is released into the ocean; and at the end of the film it appears swimming within a large wave, right below surfers on the surface, a shot featured in many previews of the movie. We don't see the kind of mayhem it might cause. The movies don't tell us that the creature is named after the Meuse River.
Thus is the Meuse immortalized in Paleontology, at the very beginning of the discoveries and revelations that would characterize the understanding of the history of life in the 19th Century. But then we also get the phenomenon that many people think that all ancient animals were dinosaurs, when often they were not.
Philosophy of Science, Geology and Astronomy
By 1301, France obtained suzerainty over Bar west of the Meuse, which brought the border of the Kingdom of France to the Meuse itself (more or less). In 1648, France obtained key bridgeheads over the Meuse at Verdun and over the Moselle at Toul and Metz, both deep in Lorraine itself -- all with the justification that the area was French speaking. The Duchy was clearly the target of French ambitions, and the whole of it was occupied several times and finally annexed in 1766. After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany retrieved the part of Lorraine around Metz, Meanwhile, it was gradually forgotten that Lower Lorraine had been Lorraine at all. The Duchy proper came to be the equivalent of the Duchy of Brabant, and the Low Countries developed their own identity, especially as possessions of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Most of what was originally Lower Lorraine is now independent as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (though Luxembourg may originally have been part of Upper Lorraine). Nevertheless, the Cross of Lorraine, used by Charles de Gaulle for the Free French forces of World War II, and associated with Joan (Jeanne) of Arc (from Domremy on the Meuse) -- both in relation to Upper Lorraine -- goes back, apparently, to a Duke of Lower Lorraine, Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade who became the first Crusader ruler of Jerusalem. Today, the Low Countries are the most densely populated of Europe, and among the most prosperous. Luxembourg has the highest per capita income in the world, both absolutely and in relation to purchasing power. Belgium, although troubled with high unemployment, is the administrative center of the European Union.
Although it began as a Kingdom on equal footing with Burgundy and Italy, or, for that matter, with West Francia (France) and East Francia (Germany), Lorraine eventually lost this status and became a dependency of the Eastern Kingdom (900), albeit with the new elevated status of a Duchy, one of the Stem Duchies of Germany. The Duchy then soon divided, into Upper Lorraine and Lower Lorraine (959). Lotharingia, A Personal History
He says that "Lothar II received everything north of Provence," which includes "the northern part of the Swiss Confederation," where "The arc of Lake Geneva is the clear southern point..." [pp.4-5]. But this description includes most of what would be the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, including the Free County of Burgundy, which Winder does not identify as such. Also what remains of Burgundy, which went to Charles, was not just what would become Provence, but also the historic domains of the Dauphiné and Savoy. Either way, Charles seems a bit shortchanged.
There are statements in the article on Upper Burgundy that acknowledge Lothar's possession, but nothing that this part of historic Burgundy had ever been called "Lotharingia." Winder leaves this unclarified, and Burgundy unnamed. On my schematic map at right I have drawn a line in blue to show the apparent divison of Burgundy between Lothar and Charles.
So Simon Winder, who has a book subtitled A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country, appears to suffer from ignorance or neglect of another "Lost Country," namely Burgundia, which has a longer history, with deeper roots (back to the actual Burgundians), than Lotharingia. Winder should consult Phoenix Frustrated, the Lost Kingdom of Burgundy, by Christopher Cope [Constable, London, 1986; Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1987]. Yet Winder does seem to cite the Burgundy chapter, "Burgundia: Five, Six or Seven Kingdoms (c.411-1795)" in Vanished Kingdoms, The Rise and Fall of States and Nations, by Norman Davies [Viking, 2011]. Writing about one "lost kingdom," Winder needed to absorb more about this other one, which does not seem to have fully registered with him. We also shouldn't forget the "lost country" of Navarre, whose history straddles Spain and France.
has lost its own name and takes on the Burgundian identity. Perhaps that is the "revenge of Burgundy" because Winder, after the fact, ignored its existence. So, not only do we never get any background about the Kingdom(s) of Burgundy, or the Duchy, or the Free County, but I can't tell that the unified Kingdom ever gets mentioned, except for one reference to its capital, Arles, and a mention that the Dukes of Burgundy wanted to reconstitute the Kingdom. The actual early history is missing, which, perhaps, we might expect if parts of Burgundia are to be confused with Lotharingia and their identity ignored. When we get some details about the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the central figure is Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and we seem to be only incidentally informed that the leader of the victorious army was René II of Guise, Duke of Lorraine, the rest of whose life and history is missing, with many more details nevertheless given about Charles, even though we might expect the main story to be about René's domain, and perhaps even the House of Anjou (the basis of the claim of Charles VIII to Naples), not that of Charles.
This is not the place to get too involved in the Lotharingian vagaries of the Duchy of Bar, but it was split in two parts by the River Meuse -- one owning allegiance to France (the enjoyably named 'Barrois mouvant') and the other in the Empire (the 'Barrois non mouvant'). [p.119]
For which I should pause a moment, because, where many of the historical maps are ambiguous, another map at Wikipedia explicitly shows Alsace as part of Lothar's original domain, but ceded to Swabia in 925 -- with the dotted red line as the lingusitic boundary between French and German. That would have been under the Duke Gilbert of Mons (916-939), at the very time when he shifted the suzerainty of Lorraine from West to East Francia. This, of course, whould be enough to motivate Simon Winder to make Alsace, with Basle, a permanent part of his Lotharingia -- while this map, incidentally, also properly shows the area south of historical Lorraine as part of Burgundy.
must confess, however, that I had missed that Lothar II was given part of Burgundy, or Alsace.
Thus, I have thought I could rely on the Historischer Weltatlas. If the Germans haven't got it right, I don't know who will. But the Weltatlas skips the division of Francia between the sons of Lothar I [p.39]. We get a nice map of Verdun in 843, but then it jumps to the division of Mersen in 870, which sorted out the Empire after the deaths of Lothar II (d.869) and Charles of Burgundy (d.863),
and finally to the division of Ribemont in 880, when Charles III the Fat (876-888) has taken over from the Emperor Louis II (d.875). Since Louis II the German takes Lothar II's land down to Lake Geneva, we already have the alienation of Upper Burgundy from Lotharingia -- 15 years rather than the 33 years mentioned above. Charles the Fat then ends up with all of Upper Burgundy, which is thus permanently returned to the Burgundian heritage. Dr. Leisering already shows Upper Burgundy as a distinct domain within the possession of Charles the Fat. Only Boso in Lower Bungundy remains outside the brief unification of Francia by Charles the Fat. From this, I think there is little ground to regard any part of Upper Burgundy, like Switzerland or the Franche Comté, as intrinsic to Lotharingia, as Simon Winder does.
until after World War I.
Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2021, 2022 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
Dukes of Lorraine,
Dukes of Upper & Lower LorraineThese went their separate ways, with Lower Lorraine eventually losing its identity into Brabant and Upper Lorraine becoming simply "Lorraine" proper. The whole area fragmented in typical feudal fashion. France began to encroach in the south, and in 1648 began the encirclement and consumption of the Duchy of Lorraine with gains in Alsace. By the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Alsace was completely French (although German speaking and disaffected, and with a Jewish population that had earlier been expelled from France) and Lorraine had been occupied several times. Louis XV would finish the job in 1766. The French also had designs on the Lower domains, with the goal of restoring the Rhine frontier of Roman Gaul. The goal was achieved during the era of the French Revolution, but in the end that was reversed, thanks to the defeat of Napoleon; and the French assault on the Low Countries was finally less successful than to the south, despite considerably more open war over the centuries. The Dutch, who had rebelled against Hapsburg Spain, ended up as allies of Spain and Austria in holding the line against France. Flanders (detached from France itself), Hainault, Brabant, and more -- the Spanish Netherlands -- passed to Austria (1713), then to the Netherlands (1815), and finally became independent as Belgium (1830). Even then, it was twice an avenue of invasion for Germany into France (1914 & 1940). Engulfed by France, (Upper) Lorraine fades from memory, now usually only remembered in relation to the part that was held by Germany from 1871 to 1918. That was the part that, like Alsace, may still have been least partly German speaking. But no plebiscite was ever held in Lorraine (or in Alsace), either when it was taken by Germany or when returned to France. Today, the Low Countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, are the most populous part of Europe and major centers of industry. Luxembourg actually has the highest per capita income in the world. In economic freedom, the Netherlands and Luxembourg rate even with the United States, though Belgium is burdened with socialist inhibitions about as much as Germany. Belgium is also the seat of the Parliament for the whole European Union.
| Dukes of Lotharingia, Lothringen, or Lorraine | |
|---|---|
| Zwentibold | King, 895-900 |
| Gebhard of Franconia | Duke, 900-910 |
| Reginar Longneck of Mons | 911-915 |
| adheres to West Francia, 911 | |
| Gilbert (Giselbert) of Mons | 916-939 |
| returned to East Francia, 925; son-in-law of Emperor Henry I, 928; defeated by Otto I, Battle of Andernach, drowned fleeing across the Rhine, 939. | |
| Henry | 940, d.955 |
| Otto of Verdun | 940-944 |
| Conrad I the Red | 944-953, d.955 |
| son-in-law of Emperor Otto I great-grandfather of Emperor Conrad II | |
| St. Bruno the Great | 953-959, d.965 |
Although Hainault (Hennegau) continued for some time in the family of Rainier, the Duchy of Lorraine itself fell to the disposal of the East Frankish Kings, who preferred to have in-laws or relatives in control, though this did not always guarantee loyalty, as the revolt of Conrad the Red demonstrated. The brother of Otto I, Archbishop Bruno (or Brun) was loyal and kept the peace. In 959 he also divided the Duchy, into Upper Lorraine (Oberlothringen) and Lower Lorraine (Niederlothringen), a division that had become permanent by 1044.
| Oberlothringen, Upper Lorraine | Niederlothringen, Lower Lorraine | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick I of the Ardennes | Upper Lorraine 959-978; Margrave until 965 | Godfrey I of Metz & Hainault | Lower Lorraine 959-964, Margrave |
| Richard/Richar | Lower Lorraine 964-972, Margrave | ||
| Thierry/ Dietrich I | Upper Lorraine 978-1026, Duke | Charles the Carolingian | Lower Lorraine 977-991, Duke |
| Frederick II | Upper Lorraine 1026/27 | Otto the Carolingian | Lower Lorraine 991-1012 |
| Frederick III | Upper Lorraine 1026/27-1033 | Godfrey I (II) of Verdun | Lower Lorraine 1012-1023 |
| Upper Lorraine 1033-1044 | Gozelo (Gothelo) I of Verdun | Lower Lorraine 1023-1044 | |
| Upper Lorraine 1044-1047 | Godfrey II (III) the Bearded | Gozelo II the Sluggard | Lower Lorraine 1044-1046 |
| Adalbert of Metz | Frederick of Luxemburg | Lower Lorraine 1046-1065 | |
| Lower Lorraine 1065-1069 | |||
| Upper Lorraine 1047-1048 | Godfrey III (IV) the Hunchback | Lower Lorraine 1069-1076 | |
| Gerard of Metz | Upper Lorraine 1048-1070 | ||
| Thierry/ Dietrich II | Upper Lorraine 1070-1115 | Conrad, VII of Franconia | Lower Lorraine 1076-1087, d.1101 |
| son of Emperor Henry IV | |||
| Godfrey IV (V) of Bouillon | Lower Lorraine 1087-1100 | ||
| Protector of Jerusalem, 1099-1100 | |||
| Henry I of Limburg | Lower Lorraine 1101-1106, d.1119 | ||
| Simon I | Upper Lorraine 1115-1139 | Godfrey V (VI) the Bearded, Count of Louvain/Löwen & Brabant | Lower Lorraine 1106-1128, d.1139 |
| brother of Thierry, Count of Flanders | Walram of Limburg | Lower Lorraine 1128-1139 | |
| Matthew I | Upper Lorraine 1139-1176 | Godfrey VII, Count of Louvain & Brabant | Lower Lorraine 1139-1142 |
| Godfrey VIII | Lower Lorraine 1142-1183, d.1190 | ||
| Simon II | Upper Lorraine 1176-1205, d.1207 | Henry II | Duke of Lower Lorraine & Brabant 1183-1235 |
| Frederick I (Ferry) (IV) | Upper Lorraine 1205-1206, d.1207 | ||
| Frederick II (Ferry) (V) of Bitsch | Upper Lorraine 1206-1213 | ||
| Thiébaut Theobald I | Upper Lorraine 1213-1220 | ||
| Matthew II | Upper Lorraine 1220-1251 | Henry III | Lower Lorraine & Brabant 1235-1248 |
| Frederick III (Ferry) (VI) | Upper Lorraine 1251-1303 | Henry IV | Lower Lorraine & Brabant 1248-1261 |
| Henry V | Lower Lorraine & Brabant 1261-1267, d.1272 | ||
| John/Johann/ Jan I the Victorious | Brabant 1267-1294; Duchy of Lower Lorraine lapses; Duke of Limburg, 1283 | ||
| Thiébaut Theobald II | Upper Lorraine 1304-1312, continued as Lorraine | John II the Peaceful | Brabant & Limburg 1294-1312 |
| Frederick IV (Ferry) (VII) | Lorraine 1312-1328 | John III the Triumphant | Brabant & Limburg 1312-1355 |
| Rudolf | 1328-1346 | Joan/Johanna | Duchess of Brabant & Limburg 1355-1404, d.1406 |
| John I | 1346-1390 | ||
| Charles I the Bold | 1390-1431 | Wenceslas of Luxemburg | Duke of Luxemburg 1353-1383, & Brabant 1355-1383 |
| Margaret | Brabant & Limburg 1404-1405 | ||
| Anthony of Burgundy | Brabant & Limburg 1405-1415 | ||
| William/John IV | Brabant & Limburg 1415-1427 | ||
| Philip of St.Pol | Brabant & Limburg 1427-1430 | ||
| Isabel/ Isabella | 1431-1453 | Philip the Good of Burgundy | Duke of Burgundy 1419-1467 |
| Brabant & Limburg 1430-1467 | |||
| Marries René the Good of Anjou | Union of Brabant, Limburg, & Burgundy, 1430 | ||
There seems to be some confusion about the earliest years of Lower Lorraine -- or at least it has not always been easy getting the picture from my sources. Both of the Stammtafeln cited below, Adreas Thiele and Michael F. Feldkamp, do not give any Dukes before Charles the Carolingian. This bumps around the subsequent numbering of the Godfreys, of whom there are many. In those terms, one is left with the impression that St. Bruno retained Lower Lorraine until this death, which would leave a considerable hiatus, 965-977. Nothing wrong with that; but Bruce R. Gordon does give the intermediate Dukes listed above. Now I also find them at Wikipedia with a bit more explanation. Bruno did not formally abdicate from either Upper or Lower Lorraine, but he did appoint vice-Dukes or Margraves, Frederick of the Ardennes and Godfrey of Metz. Godfrey was also the Count of Hainault, and I originally had him confused with a cousin of Frederick, Godfrey "the Prisoner" of Verdun. Now they seem different, although Thiele says that Godfrey was also Count of Hainault, 959-978. Perhaps I am not the only one confused here. Godfrey's successor, Richar, seems to be of obscure origin, and it is after him that we do get a short interregnum, 972-977, before Charles the Carolingian.
The "Cross of Lorraine" is supposed to have been used by Godfrey of Bouillon on the First Crusade. The upper bar may render the plaque (the Titulus) that announced Jesus "King of the Jews." Later the cross was adopted by Charles de Gaulle as the symbol of the Free French in World War II. The association here may be with the "Maid of Lorraine," who was supposed to have been foretold by Merlin to deliver France from her enemies -- and was then identified as Joan of Arc (d.1431).
In classic feudal fashion, the holdings of the actual Dukes of Upper and Lower Lorraine shrank to a mere core of the Duchies, as peripheral fiefs became alienated. Upper Lorraine retreated from the Rhine and acquired local rivals in the form of the Dukes of Luxemburg. When Lower Lorraine fell to the Counts of Brabant, they promoted Brabant to a Duchy. In time the identity of Lower Lorraine lapsed and the Dukes were simply the Dukes of Brabant.
Brabant eventually fell to the Dukes of Burgundy, along with Flanders, a fief of France, and other former fiefs of Lower Lorraine, Hainault, Holland, Limburg, Namur, and Luxemburg. Ironically, this has conferred an identity on the Low Countries as "Burgundian" even though previously they had nothing to do with Burgundy, which was merely adjacent to Lorraine to the south. The attempt of Charles the Bold of Burgundy to bring Upper Lorraine into his domain (1475), and so to reunite the whole original Duchy, resulted in his death in battle at Nancy in 1477 -- an event that brought the Hapsburgs into the Low Countries. Eventually this meant that the Spanish Army in the Netherlands worse the red "Cross of Burgundy" as its insignia.
In the same era, Upper Lorraine itself, henceforth Lorraine proper, passed by marriage to the French Dukes of Anjou and Bar. This made Lorraine, which was largely French speaking itself, increasingly a part of French history and a target for acquisition by the French Crown. Nevertheless, the heiress of Anjou, Yolande, married her own cousin, who was a descendant in the male line from John I of Lorraine. The subsequent house of Anjou-Lorraine thus was still the patrilineal House of Metz. Even later, the House of Lorraine-Hapsburg was still actually the House of Metz.
Upper Lorraine begins with the House of the Ardennes, which accounts for all the Dukes down to Adelbert of Metz, and many of the Dukes of Lower Lorraine. It should be noted that Count Siegfried founds the line of Luxemburg. The Ardennes genealogy ends here with Godfrey of Bouillon, who leads the First Crusade. He becomes "Protector" of Jerusalem, but his brother Baldwin founds the line of Kings of Jerusalem. The Counts of Metz lead to all the later Dukes of Upper Lorraine and of Lorraine. An earlier "Godfrey of Metz" is given by some sources as Duke of Lower Lorraine, 959-964, but I have been unable to confirm this. The House of Metz also becomes, for a while, the rulers of Flanders.
of Liège, 972-1794 | |
|---|---|
| Notger | 972-1008 |
| Baldrick II | 1008-1018 |
| Wolbodo | 1018-1021 |
| Durandus | 1021-1025 |
| Reginard | 1025-1037 |
| Nithard | 1037-1042 |
| Wazo | 1042-1048 |
| Theodwin | 1048-1075 |
| Henry of Verdun | 1075-1091 |
| Otbert | 1091-1119 |
| Frederick of Namur | 1119-1121 |
| Albero I of Leuven | 1122-1128 |
| Alexander I | 1128-1135 |
| Albero II of Chiny-Namur | 1135-1145 |
| Henry II of Leez | 1145-1164 |
| Alexander II | 1164-1167 |
| Rudolf of Zähringen | 1167-1191 |
| Saint Albert of Leuven | 1191-1192 |
| Lothaire of Hochstaden | 1192-1193 |
| Simon of Limbourg | 1193-1195 |
| Albert of Cuyck | 1195-1200 |
| Hugh of Pierrepont | 1200-1229 |
| John of Eppes | 1229-1238 |
| William of Savoy | 1238-1239 |
| Robert of Thourotte | 1240-1246 |
| Henry of Guelders | 1247-1274 |
| John of Enghien | 1274-1281 |
| John of Flanders | 1282-1291 |
| Hugh of Chalon | 1295-1301 |
| Adolph of Waldeck | 1301-1302 |
| Thibaut of Bar | 1302-1312 |
| Adolph of La Marck | 1313-1344 |
| Englebert of La Marck | 1345-1364 |
| John of Arckel | 1364-1378 |
| Arnold of Hornes | 1378-1389 |
| John of Bavaria | 1389-1418 |
| John of Walenrode | 1418-1419 |
| John of Heinsberg | 1419-1455 |
| Louis of Bourbon | 1456-1482 |
| John of Hornes | 1484-1505 |
| Erard of La Marck | 1505-1538 |
| Corneille of Berghes | 1538-1544 |
| George of Austria | 1544-1557 |
| Robert of Berghes | 1557-1564 |
| Gerard of Grsbeek | 1564-1580 |
| Ernest of Bavaria | 1581-1612 |
| Ferdinand of Bavaria | 1612-1650 |
| Maximilian Henry of Bavaria | 1650-1688 |
| John Louis of Elderen | 1688-1694 |
| Joseph Clemens of Bavaria | 1694-1723 |
| Georges-Louis de Berghes | 1724-1743 |
| Jean-Théodore of Bavaria | 1744-1763 |
| Charles- Nicolas d'Oultremont | 1763-1771 |
| François- Charles de Velbruck | 1772-1784 |
| César- Constantin- François de Hœnsbrœck | 1784-1792 |
| François- Antoine-Marie de Méan | 1792-1794 |
| occupied by France, 1974; annexed to France, 1795; the Netherlands, 1815; Belgium, 1830 | |
In all of history, however, never did Liège have a more important moment than in August 1914, long after the days of the Prince-Bishops. The Right Wing of the German Army, intending to invade France through Belgium, planned to cross the Meuse at Liège.
The Belgians had built twelve forts ringing the city. The forts were not entirely up to date, but it was expected that they were good enough to seriously slow the German advance -- the Germans were hoping that the Belgians would not fight and were rather indignant when they did.
It had taken the Japanese nine months to take the Russian forts at Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). However, there would be significant differences in the siege of Liège. One reason the Japanese siege took so long was that their siege guns had been sunk at sea. It took six months just to reassemble batteries and get them to Port Arthur. Even so, it was still relatively slow work. But the Germans knew that and were prepared. The Austrians had designed a 305mm (12-inch) mortar and built it at their Skoda works. As the war began, Krupp had just finished manufacturing a larger gun, 420mm (16.5-inch), for Germany. Guns this size were nothing extraordinary on battleships, but moving them around on land was a challenge. It was like moving an obelisk.
Initially, like the Japanese, the Germans hoped that they could take the forts by infantry assault. Like the Japanese, again, the Germans found that they were repulsed with heavy casualties from the forts. This heartened the Belgians and the Allies. The Germans then threatened to bomb Liège with Zepplins unless the city surrendered. It didn't, and the Germans were as good as their word, beginning the 20th Century indiscriminate bombing of a civilian target on August 6, 1914. Nine citizens were killed. This was the beginning of German war crimes in Belgium that became excellent Allied propaganda. While this was often exaggerated, the basic facts were genuine.
Soon, the Germans got through between the forts, and took the city of Liège. Then the siege guns came up. By August 16th, all the forts but three (out of twelve) had been beaten into submission and had either surrendered or were taken by assault. On that day, the headquarters fort, Loncin, whose magazine contained 12 tons of explosives, blew up, almost killing the Belgian commander at Liège, General Gerard Mathieu Leman (1851-1920), who, buried in rubble, was then captured by the Germans. The remaining two forts then surrendered. The Germans went on with their invasion of France. This actually only delayed the German timetable by a couple of days, but even that might have made a difference in the subsequent Battle of the Marne which defeated the German war plan.
The ruins of the forts of Liège survive today, especially that of Loncin, whose catastrophic end is evident in the twisted and even volcanic remains. Loncin fought to the death, and 350 men of its 550 man garrison remain entombed under the wreckage. The shattered fort, like the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, now stands as a monument and burial ground to the Belgian resistance; and when the clearance of old ordinance and explosives results in the discovery of human remains, these are reburied at the monument. An inscription recalls Simonides: Passant... va dire à la Belgique et à la France qu'ici 550 belges se sont sacrificés pour la défense de la liberté et le salut du monde, "Passer by... go say to Belgium and France that here 550 Belgians sacrificed themselves for the defense of freedom and the salvation of the world." As at Thermopylae, little was gained by this effort, apart from a moral example. But it is enough that we should remember.
After the death of Godfrey of Bouillon, Lower Lorraine passes from the House of the Ardennes. There is briefly a tug-of-war between the Counts of Limburg and those of Louvain (Löwen) and Brabant, calling on different sides in the dynastic struggles going on in Germany, before the Brabant line establishes itself. Eventually, in 1283, Limburg itself falls to the Dukes of Brabant. That is also about the time that Lower Lorraine loses its own identity in that of Brabant.
The chart here begins with the derivation of the house of Hainault (Hennegau) and Louvain, which begins at Mons (Maasgau), includes a couple Dukes of Lorraine, and then divides into Louvain and Hainault. The genealogy of the Counts of Hainault continues with the genealogy of Flanders and then on the page for Hainault itself.
When the male line of Brabant fails, one heiress, Johanna, marries Wenceslas of Luxemburg but has no children, and then her sister, Margaret, marries the Count of Flanders, Louis II of Mâle. Their daughter Margaret, the heiress of Flanders and Brabant then marries the first Valois Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold. This adds much of the old Lower Lorraine to the Burgundian inheritance, which ends up in the hands of the Hapsburgs.
Today, Louvain (Leuven in Flemish, Löwen in German), Hainault, Limburg, and Brabant are all in Belgium. The major city of Brabant is now Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
The genealogy of Mons, Louvain, Hainault, Limburg, and Brabant is drawn from the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II Part 1, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs, und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 2001, pp.14, 16-18, & 20-25].
I have found it infuriatingly difficult to piece together the early history of Lorraine, which tends to fall between the stools in histories of France or Germany. The list of Dukes was originally constructed simply using Brian Tompsett's Royal and Noble genealogy. I was able to add some details and alternative names from Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies. For a while the only real history of the early Duchies that I was able to find was part of the Geschichte des Herzogtums Lothringen, by Walter Mohr [Verlag "die Mitte", Saarbrücken], Teil I. Geschichte des Herzogtums Groß-Lothringen (900-1048) [1974] and Teil II. Niederlothringen bis zu seinem Aufgehen im Herzogtum Brabant (11-13.Jahrhundert) [1976]. Two further volumes carry the history down to 1670, but Mohr does not provide much in the way of helpful supplements. Only Volume II has a map (without boundaries) and a list of rulers, and there are no genealogical charts. The list, however, is especially useful, since the Dukes of Lower Lorraine from 1046 to 1139 were a mixture of different families, most of whom are difficult to find, if they are there, in Thompsett's database. An English narrative of the early history of Lorraine is now available in The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III, c.900-c.1024 [Timothy Reuter, editor, Cambridge, 1999, pp.310-327]. At least one detail on the genealogical chart [p.697, on Dukes Godfrey I and Gozelo I], however, contradicts the plain statement of the text [p.322]. The obscurity of the history of Lower Lorraine seems especially unfortunate considering that today its territories are largely independent in the form of the modern Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Low Countries are what remain of an independent Lorraine, though they are really never referred to that way. Burgundy, if anything, is what is remembered. After all this trouble piecing things together, now I have been able to obtain the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume I Part 1, Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser I [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 1997], which covers Lorraine from pages 63 to 76. With this detailed source I have produced the genealogical diagrams for Lorraine (and Bar) before the house of Anjou-Lorraine (which I had constructed from the earlier sources).
The history of the County and Duchy of Bar is an important part of the history of Lorraine and so is included here, before passing on to the house of Anjou-Lorraine below. The Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine (959-978) builds a fortress at Bar, now the modern city of Bar-le-Duc, because this lay on the border with the West Frankish Kingdom (i.e. France), although at the time there was no threat from that direction,
| Counts & Dukes of Bar | |
|---|---|
| Rainald I | Count, 1102-1149 |
| Rainald II | 1149-1170 |
| Henry I | 1170-1190 |
| Theobald I | 1190-1214 |
| Count of Luxemburg, 1197-1214 | |
| Henry II | 1214-1239 |
| Theobald II | 1239-1291 |
| Henry III | 1291-1302 |
| Vassal of France, 1301 | |
| Edward I | 1302-1336 |
| Henry IV | 1336-1344 |
| Edward II | 1344-1352 |
| Robert | 1352-1411, Duke, 1354 |
| Edward III | 1411-1415 |
| Louis | 1415-1431 |
| René of Anjou | 1431-1480 |
As time passes, French royal power waxes. Count Henry III of Bar is defeated and captured by King Philip IV in 1301. Philip forced Henry into accepting that he would be a vassal of France for all of Bar west of the Meuse (Maas in German) River. This became the "royal Bar" or Barrois mouvant, "dependant Bar." Bar east of the Meuse, still in the Duchy of Lorraine, was then "ducal Bar" or Barrois non mouvant, "non-dependant Bar" (St-Mihiel, Pont-à-Mousson, & Longwy) This alteration was both the symbolic and real beginning of the French move to the East, into the lands of historic Lotharingia. The boundary between the two was originally about midway between the Marne and the Meuse. As Bar to the Meuse becomes a French fief, the French domain also presses towards in the Meuse around the often detached pieces of Bar. I see no account of the details of this.
It is of some interest because Joan (Jeanne) of Arc, who was identified as the foretold "Maid of Lorraine," was from the village of Domrémy, which is on the west bank of the Meuse. In 1429 Joan travels north to Vaucouleurs, also on the west bank of the Meuse, in order to get an escort to see King Charles VII. This city was in between northern (Ligny-en-Barrois) and southern (Gondrecourt) fragments of Bar. I would like to know when (if it did) it came under French royal control. I have some maps that show both Vaucouleurs and Domrémy in Bar itself. However, we have the testimony of Joan in her own words about the status of Domrémy, for she testified, "This voice... told me it was necessary for me to come into France... it said to me two or three times a week: 'You must go into France'." So, if she must leave Domrémy to "go into France," Domrémy cannot yet have been in France already.
The next significant events are the inheritance of Bar by the Anjou Duke of Lorraine, René I, and then the reversion of the Lands of Anjou to the French Throne in 1481. Some sources say that this includes Bar. However, maps with other sources show the royal Barrois still an independent fief at the end of the 16th century. Nevertheless, subsequent maps in most sources show it under Royal control, without any indication of when the transition occurred. Ducal Bar remained, of course, a possession of the Dukes of Lorraine.
| René (Renatus) I the Good of Anjou | 1431-1453, d.1480 |
| John I | 1453-1470 |
| Nicholas I | 1470-1473 |
| Yolanda | 1473-1483 |
| marries Frederick VI of Lorraine (Ferri II of Guise) | |
|---|---|
| René II of Guise | 1473-1508 |
| defeated and killed Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Battle of Nancy, 1477 | |
| Anthony "il Buono" | 1508-1544 |
| Francis I | 1544-1545 |
| Nicholas II | 1545-1552, d.1577 |
| Charles II | 1552-1608 |
| Henry | 1608-1624 |
| Nicola | 1624-1656 |
| married to Charles III, Duke of Lorraine | |
| Francis II | 1624-1525, d.1632 |
| Charles III (IV) | 1625-1634, 1659-1675 |
| married to Nicola, Dutchess of Lorraine; Duchy of Bar lost to France, 1634; Lorraine occupied by France, 1634-1641, 1644-1661, & 1670-1697 | |
| Nicholas Francis | 1634-1659, d.1670 |
| Charles IV (V) Leopold | 1675-1690 |
| Commands Left Wing of Christian Relief Army at Siege of Vienna, 1683; Commands Imperial Army, defeats Turks, takes Budapest, 1686; War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697 | |
| Leopold Joseph | 1690-1729 |
| Lorraine recovered from France, 1697, occupied by France again, 1702-1714 | |
| Francis III Stephen | 1729-1736 |
| Duke of Tuscany, 1738-1745 | |
| Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 1745-1765 | |
| married to Maria Theresa Hapsburg, heiress of Austria; War of the Polish Succession, 1733-1735; Lorraine to Stanislaw Lesczinski, 1736 | |
| Stanislaw Lesczinski | 1736-1766 |
| Marie Lesczinska | heiress of Lorraine |
| married to Louis XV of France; Lorraine Passes to France, 1766 | |
The main line of Dukes of Lorraine ends with Francis III, who married Maria Theresa of Hapsburg and thus stands at the head of the entire subsequent House of Hapsburg-Lorraine. As part of the negotiations by the Emperor Charles VI to secure Maria Theresa's inheritance (the "Pragmatic Sanction" to set aside the Salic Law against female succession), following the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735), Francis agreed to cede Lorraine to Stanislaw Lesczinski, the unsuccessful French candidate for the Polish Throne. Since Lesczinski's daughter was the Queen of France, his death meant the acquisition of Lorraine by King Louis XV, fulfilling the longstanding French design on the Duchy. Thus, ironically, France acquires Lorraine from the French House of Anjou by way of this House becoming heirs of the Hapsburgs. The French acquisition of Lorraine alarmed Europe at the time, but nothing much could be, or was, done about it. Germans remained more incensed about the French acquisition of Alsace.
When France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and the German Empire was created, Alsace and part of Lorraine were annexed by Germany. The heart of Lorraine, around Nancy, was left with France, but the north, around Metz, was taken. I am curious why the Germans didn't take all of it. Since most of the area was French speaking, they may have restrained themselves for that reason. Indeed, that is what it looks like. Even today, there is a population of speakers of Franconian German in the part of Lorraine east of Metz that was taken by Germany. How many there are is a matter of some dispute. In 1999 the French Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE) counted 78,000 adult speakers of Lorraine Franconian (francique mosellan, platt lorrain, or platt mosellan in French). In Alsace, about 39% of the adult population (548,000 people) still speaks Alsatian. In our time, when being ruled by someone who doesn't speak your language is generally regarded as "oppression," there is no doubt that the acquisition of Alsace by Louis XIV qualifies. What the situation was when the Germans returned is less clear, although there seems to have been little disaffection with French rule by 1870 and many French fled the areas annexed to Germany -- and Otto von Bismark personally did not want to provoke France by annexing the region. Certainly, the Franconian and Alsatian dialects of German are dying out in France among the young.
The French vowed to retrieve Alsace and Lorraine. Their prospects looked poor, as Germany grew into the most powerful state on the Continent. Confident in its power, Germany seems to have entered World War I with little in the way of war aims against France except just repeating the triumph of 1871 -- the War had actually started between Austria, Serbia, and Russia. This poorly conceived conflict would cost Germany dear. Lorraine contained a line of forts with which France hoped to hold off Germany: at Belfort, Épinal, Toul, and Verdun. Belfort was actually in Alsace, but, as I see at Wikipedia, it was not annexed by Germany in 1871 (after withstanding a siege during the war) because it was French speaking -- more evidence that the Germans (unlike the French in 1918) were trying to follow the linguistic boundaries. Be that as it may, one of the largest battles of World War I was fought around Verdun, during most of 1916 (February 21st to December 15th). The Germans hoped that the French would exhaust themselves trying to hold the city. Well, both sides rather exhausted themselves, with more than a quarter of a million dead; but the Germans gained nothing of strategic significance. One of the most famous statements of the War is associated with Verdun. Sometimes attributed to Marshal Pétain, it was actually General Robert Nivelle who said Ils ne passeront pas ("They shall not pass"). They didn't; and after the Americans joined the War, Germany was defeated and France's borders of 1870 were restored. Reannexed by Hitler, 1940-1945, the conflict over Alsace and Lorraine now seems likely to be only of historical interest.
The list had some additional corrections from the Regentenlisten und Stammtafeln zur Geschichte Europas by Michael F. Feldkamp [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 2002, pp.286-291].
Lorraine Index
Counts of Hainault
(Hainaut, Hennegau, Henegouwen)
908-1433 AD
| Counts of Hainault | |
|---|---|
| Sigehard | 908-920 |
| Hagenon | 920-923 |
| Rainier of Mons (Rainald/Reginar) II | 923-932 |
| Rainier III | 932-958, 973? |
| Godfrey I of Metz | Mons, 958-964 |
| Richerus | Mons, 965-973 |
| Godfrey II of Verdun | Mons, c.976-998 |
| Rainier IV | 998-1013 |
| Rainier V | 1013-1040 |
| Hernan | 1040-1049 |
| Richildis | 1040-1070 d.1076/86 |
| Baldwin I, VI of Flanders | 1051-1070 |
| Arnulf, III of Flanders | 1070-1071 |
| Baldwin II of Jerusalem | 1071-1098 |
| Baldwin III | 1098-1120 |
| Baldwin IV | 1120-1171 |
| Baldwin V, VIII of Flanders | 1171-1194 |
| Baldwin VI, IX of Flanders | 1194-1202 |
| Johanna of Flanders | 1202-1244 |
| Margaret I, of Flanders | 1244-1280 |
| John of Avesnes | 1244-1257 |
| John I of Avesnes, II of Holland | 1280-1304 |
| William I the Good, III of Holland | 1304-1337 |
| William II, IV of Holland | 1337-1345 |
| Margaret II | 1345-1356 |
| Louis of Bavaria, IV of the Empire | 1345-1347 |
| William III, V of Holland | 1347-1389 |
| Albert | 1389-1404 |
| William IV, VI of Holland | 1404-1417 |
| Jacqueline of Holland | 1417-1433, d.1436 |
| Succession War, 1425-1428 | |
| Annexed to Burgundy | |
My information on these early Counts has been sketchy. Rainier I's grandfather was the Emperor Lothar I, through his mother, who is either unidentified or given as Irmengard (Ermengarde), which may or may not be a confusion with her mother, Irmengard of Tours, or grandmother (Lother's wife), Irmengard of Hesbain. (My thanks to Dr. Catherine Judd of the University of Miami for drawing this to my attention.) His father was Giselbert of Mons. The early genealogy of this line is given with Lorraine.
Following the succession, eventually we arrive at Herman/Hernan. His wife, Richildis, becomes the heiress of Hainault when their son, Roger, becomes Bishop of Châlons. She then marries Baldwin VI of Flanders, from whom the subsequent Counts are derived. At this point the genealogy can be examined for Flanders. As Flanders passes to Robert I, Hainault is detached by the brother of Arnulf III, Baldwin II. Baldwin's descendants continued until Flanders itself is left with an heiress, Margaret, who then marries her cousin, Baldwin V of Hainault. This reunites the houses for some time, encompassing the episode of the Latin Emperors of Romania.
The union of Flanders and Hainault comes to an end when the Countess Margaret of Flanders leaves Hainault to the son of her first husband, Burchard of Avesnes, and Flanders to the son of her second husband, William of Dampierre. This divides the two counties until later reunion in the domain of Burgundy.
Margaret's first son, John of Avesnes, as it happens, predeceases her, so Hainault falls to her grandson, also John, at her death. This ends up effecting another union, since John's mother, Aleidis, was the daughter of Count Floris IV of Holland. The line of Holland dies out and, in 1399, John, through Aleidis, falls heir. Hainault is henceforth united to Holland, and the full genealogy can be examined at Holland.
Besides the heiresses, some of the other marriages are noteworthy, as shown in the table here. Count William I marries a sister of Philip VI of France. Even more interesting, one of his other daughters (besides Margaret II) marries King Edward III of England and is the mother of all of his children, all the predecessors of the later English houses of Lancaster and York.
The genealogy for Hainault can be found in the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II Part 1, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs, und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 2001]. In different sources, there are uncertainties and conflicting dates, and the dates in different charts and tables here sometimes reflect those conflicts.
Counts & Dukes of Luxemburg
(Luxembourg, Lëtzebuerg)
| Counts & Dukes of Luxemburg | |
|---|---|
| Sigfried | 963-998 |
| Henry I, V of Bavaria | 998-1026 |
| Duke of Bavaria, 1005-1009, 1017-1026 | |
| Henry II, VII of Bavaria | 1026-1047 |
| Duke of Bavaria, 1042-1047 | |
| Giselbert | 1047-1059 |
| Conrad I | Count, 1059-1086 |
| Henry III | 1086-1096 |
| William | 1096-1129 |
| Conrad II | 1129-1136 |
| Henry IV the Blind of Namur | 1136-1196 |
| Ermesinde II | 1196-1247 |
| Theobald | Duke of Bar, 1190-1214 |
| 1197-1214 | |
| Walram, IV of Limburg | 1214-1226 |
| Duke of Limburg, 1221-1226 | |
| Henry V of Limburg | 1247-1281 |
| Henry VI | 1281-1288 |
| Henry VII | 1288-1310 |
| Emperor, 1313 | |
| John I the Blind | 1310-1346 |
| Charles I, IV of Empire | 1346-1353 |
| Emperor, 1378 | |
| Wenceslas I | Duke, 1353-1383 |
| Wenceslas II, IV of Bohemia | 1383-1388, 1411-1412 |
| Emperor, 1400, d.1419 | |
| Jobst of Moravia | 1388-1411 |
| Anthony of Burgundy | 1412-1415 |
| Elizabeth of Görlitz | 1415-1419, 1425-1443, d.1451 |
| John II of Burgundy | 1419-1425, d.1427 |
| Passes to Burgundy, 1443 | |
| [William III of Saxony] | Claimant, 1439-1482 |
| Passes to Hapsburgs, 1482 | |
The Emperor Henry VII came in for praise by Dante for, unlike the Hapsburgs, entering Italy and trying to assert Imperial authority. However, this was a hopeless project and a waste of time. More realistic was the regularization of Imperial Elections in the Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV in 1356. This prepared the way for the subsequent history of the Empire as a loose confederation with a largely titular sovereign.
As the Hapsburg Emperor Albert II married the Luxemburg heiress Elizabeth of Bohemia and Hungary, Luxemburg and other former parts of Lower Lorraine became targets of the Dukes of Burgundy. Wenceslas II lost Luxemburg in default of a loan. It ended up passing to his niece Elizabeth of Görlitz. Elizabeth sold the Duchy to Philip the Good of Burgundy, who paid her off in 1444. I am not aware he had any real claim on Luxemburg, except that he wanted it. He had obtained Holland by treating his cousin Jacqueline rather worse in 1433, with, as far as I can tell, a slightly better claim as himself a maternal Wittelsbach. The nature of William of Saxony's claim to the Duchy is detailed at Saxony. In 1477, with the death of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, the Burgundian claims also became Hapsburg claims, as the Heiress Mary of Burgundy married Maximilian of Hapsburg. Luxemburg would then remain in Hapsburg hands until the French Revolution, then following all of the Austrian Netherlands in union with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Unlike other such territories, Luxemburg was considered part of the German Confederation of 1815, and a Prussian garrison was stationed there. When Belgium became independent in 1830, it took with it a large piece of Luxemburg, which was left territorially detached from the Netherlands. In 1890, it then became independent, now usually with a French spelling of its name, "Luxembourg," as detailed below.
I have seen Elizabeth of Görlitz listed on the Internet as the daughter of Wenceslas II. Her genealogy, however, as given here, is shown on page 84 of the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume I Part 1, Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser I [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 1997].
| Counts of Holland | |
|---|---|
| Gerulf | c.885-889, d.c.895/96? |
| interregnum | |
| Dirk I | c.916-928, or c.936-949? d.939? |
| Dirk II | c.951/3-963? or c.970-988 |
| Arnold/Arnulf | 988-993 |
| Dirk III | 993-1039 |
| Liutgard of Luxemburg | Regent, 993-1005 |
| Dirk IV | 1039-1049 |
| Floris I | 1049-1061 |
| Dirk V | 1061-1071, 1076-1091 |
| Gertrude of Saxony | Regent, 1061-1063 |
| Robert I of Flanders | Regent, 1063-1071 |
| Bishop of Utrecht | 1071-1076 |
| Floris II the Fat | Count, 1091-1121 |
| Dirk VI | 1121-1157 |
| Gertrud of Upper Lorraine | Regent, 1121-1132 |
| Floris the Black | Rival, 1129-1132, d.1132 |
| Floris III | 1157-1190 |
| Dirk VII | 1190-1203 |
| Loon War, 1203-1206 | |
| William I | 1203-1222 |
| Ada | Regent, 1203, d.1223? |
| Louis (II) of Loon, Looz | Count of Loon, 1194-1218 |
| 1203-c.1208, d.1218 | |
| Floris IV | 1222-1234 |
| Baldwin of Bentheim | Regent, 1222 |
| William II | 1234-1256 | rival Emperor, 1247-1256 |
| Floris V | 1256-1296 |
| John I | 1296-1299 |
| Union of Holland & Hainault, 1299 | |
| John II | Count of Hainault, 1280-1304 |
| 1299-1304 | |
| William III the Good | 1304-1337 |
| William IV | 1337-1345 |
| Disputed succession, interregnum, 1345-1346 | |
| Margaret | 1346-1356 |
| Louis (IV) of Bavaria | 1314-1347 |
| 1345-1347 | |
| William V | 1347-1389 |
| Flooding, 1375 | |
| Albert | 1389-1404 |
| William VI | 1404-1417 |
| St. Elizabeth's Day Flooding, 19 November 1404 | |
| Jacqueline of Holland | 1417-1433, d.1436 |
| St. Elizabeth's Day Flooding, 1421 | |
| William/John IV of Brabant | Duke of Brabant, 1415-1427 |
| 1417-1424 | |
| Succession War, 1425-1428 | |
| Union of Holland, Brabant, & Burgundy, 1433 | |
With larger issues, a nasty period of religious intolerance -- with the tragic Iconoclast destruction of vast amounts of religious art (religious anaesthesia) -- and a knock-down war, was followed by a history of extraordinary tolerance, welcoming Jews from Spain and Portugal to a status unequalled elsewhere in Europe -- which unfortunately did not translate into full protection for Jews during World War II, when many Dutch joined the SS. Poor Anne Frank was betrayed to the Gestapo. Bad conscience about this may explain why Dutch film maker Paul Verhoeven keeps trying to pin Nazi-equivalence on the World War II Allies, or on contemporary America. He has plenty of accomplices, of course, in American academia.
After a long line of native Counts, we find rule passing to Hainault, itself recently separated from Flanders. This leads to marriage to the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria, whose inexhaustible heirs, however, are not enough to keep Holland and Hainault in their line.
The unfortunate Jacqueline, abandoning a marriage to the worthless, minor Duke of Brabant, lives to see both her realm and Brabant scooped up in the growing Burgundian empire, whence, of course, it soon passes to the Hapsburgs, later to emerge on the center stage of Europe in the great Revolt against Spain. Jacqueline's cause involved some years of fighting with Philip the Good (1419-1467) of Burgundy, after a dramatic escape from captivity in Ghent. This could count as one of the first Succession Wars, but it does not seem to be cited as one. With no heirs, despite four marriages, Jacqueline conceded the succession to Burgundy and retired.
The original list here has been corrected and expanded based on extensive research by my invaluable informant in the Netherlands, Jan van den Burg. However, I have simplified some of his information, leaving out extensive details about regencies, and have not expanded the detail beginning with Margaret of Avesnes and Hainault.
The genealogical table is now updated from the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II, Part 1, Europäiche Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Third Edition, 2001, p.13]. A lively narrative of the life of Jacqueline is in Lotharingia, A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country, by Simon Winder [Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019, pp.117-118].
Stadholders and Kings of the Netherlands
Stadholders & Kings of the Netherlands
| Stadholders and Kings of the Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| William I, the Silent, Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau | Stadholder of Holland, etc., 1559-1567, 1572-1584 |
| Dutch Revolt, 1568; Eighty Years War, 1568-1648; seizure of Brill, 1572; mutiny of Spanish Army, 1576; Union of Utrecht, 1579; Act of Abjuration, Dutch Independence, 1581 | |
| Maurice (Maurits) | 1585-1625 |
| Spanish Army defeated, Battle of Nieuwpoort, 1600; Spanish fleet sunk at Gibraltar, 1607; Twelve Years Truce, 1609-1621: Thirty Years War, 1618-1648 | |
| Frederik Hendrik | 1625-1647 |
| New Amsterdam founded, 1625 | |
| William II | 1647-1650 |
|
Peace of Westphalia, Dutch Independence recognized by Spain, 1648; Republic, 1650-1672; First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652-1654; Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1664-1667; New Amsterdam lost to England, becomes New York, 1664 | |
| William III | 1672-1702 |
| King of England, 1689-1702 | |
| Dutch War of France, 1672-1678; Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674; War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697; War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1713; Republic, 1702-1747 | |
| William IV Friso | 1747-1751 |
| William V | 1751-1795, d. 1806 |
| Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, 1780-1784 | |
| Batavian Republic, 1795-1806 | |
| Louis Bonaparte | King, 1806-1810 |
| annexed by France, 1810-1813 | |
| William I (VI) | King of the Netherlands, 1813-1840 |
| William II | 1840-1849 |
| William III | 1849-1890 |
| Wilhelmina | 1890-1948, exile, 1940-1945 |
| Occupation by Germany, 1940-1945 | |
| Juliana | 1948-1980, abdicated |
| Beatrix | 1980-2013, abdicated |
| Willem-Alexander | 2013 |
The declaration of Dutch independence was nearly simultaneous with the loss of Portuguese independence. The Dutch were then barely free of Spanish power before they were overseas taking Portuguese possessions away from them in India and the East Indies. For some time the Netherlands was then the predominant power in the Indian Ocean. Nagasaki is marked on the map even though this was not an actual Dutch possession; but for three centuries this was the only port, and the Dutch the only traders, through which Japan maintained contact with Europeans. Substantial Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope (1652) created a colonial population, the Boers, who dominated the history of South Africa until quite recently. When the Cape Colony was kept by Britain at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, the Boers soon decided to leave, heading inland on the Great Trek (1836), and founding the Boer Republics of the Transvaal (1852) and Orange Free State (1854). As at the Cape, Dutch power soon retreated before British and French. Nevertheless, the Dutch retained hold of Indonesia, which became one of the largest and most populous European colonial possessions anywhere. Nor did the Indonesians submit peacefully. Dutch rule was often harsh, and as late as 1908 the famous island of Bali was subjugated amid scenes of slaughter. The bitterness of the Indonesians translated into much collaboration with the occupying Japanese in World War II and resistance to the return of the Allies. Indonesian independence in 1949 was not the kind of often amiable parting that the British enjoyed in India. Unfortunately, the Dutch later (1963) allowed Indonesia to annex the western part of New Guinea, Irian, which otherwise had no historical, cultural, linguistic, or religious connection to it.
In the New World, the Dutch most famously founded New Amsterdam in 1625, later to become New York City -- all Dutch possessions were the "New Netherlands." Dutch names are still to be found, of places and persons, from New York City up the Hudson Valley and in New Jersey. One of these names, Roosevelt (from Claes Martenzen van Rosenvelt/Roosevelt, who settled in New Amsterdam in 1644), became the name of two American Presidents. Another name, Vanderbilt (from Jan Aertszoon van der Bilt, 1620-1705, who arrived as an indentured servant in 1650), became the name of one of the wealthiest families in American history.
In 1667 the British compensated the Dutch for the loss of all of the New Netherlands by the cession of Dutch Guiana, or Surinam, which became independent only in 1975. Otherwise, the Netherlands Antilles or the Netherlands West Indies -- Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Martin -- remain Dutch until today.
As the Netherlands became the first modern state in terms of commerce and tolerance, Amsterdam became the center of European banking and finance. In this, it succeeded the cities of northern Italy. Amsterdam has had only two successors since the 17th century, London and New York. (In the 1980's it briefly looked like Tokyo might succeed New York, but then the Japanese bubble burst.) The original Italian center of banking is remembered in the name of Lombard Street in the banking district of London. New York certainly took over financial supremacy as the result of World War I. When London itself took over is a little less clear, but the task was certainly accomplished by the time of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Bank of England itself, founded in 1694, was a large part of that process. The supremacy of Amsterdam in its day contains a valuable lesson. Spain enjoyed a flood of silver from Mexico and Peru (which are still the world's largest producers of silver). Then, as for many people now, this would have been expected to give Spain irresistible economic power. The Spanish economy, however, could not absorb the money, and even while inflation raged, the Spanish government still hovered on the edge of bankruptcy. When Spain suspended payments on its debt in 1576, and the army in the Netherlands didn't get paid, a mutiny handed the Dutch some sorely needed breathing room. Meanwhile, the Dutch, who had no such sources of precious metals, nevertheless had the economy to absorb the money. The Spanish silver, despite a state of war, ended up in Dutch hands. This refutes the crude but common Cargo Cult view of economics, that "natural resources" themselves constitute wealth. The lesson is not only applicable now, but even to the ancient world: e.g. some historians seem to think that Athens was prosperous and powerful, not because of a brilliant commercial culture, but just because of the Laurion silver mines. All of these are of a piece with ancient prejudices against trade and money and modern follies along the same lines. The modern Netherlands has fallen for many of the same devices of welfare socialism as the rest of Europe, but it nevertheless ranks as one of the freest economies on Earth, tied for fourth place [according to The Economist] with the United States, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Estonia (the top three are Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand). Consequently, the Netherlands avoids the stagnant growth and high unemployment of nearby France, Germany, and Belgium.
Much of the genealogy below is from The Dutch Republic, Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806, by Jonathan I. Israel [The Oxford History of Early Modern Europe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995, 1998, p.470]. Some details have been added from the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume I, Part 2, Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs-, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser II [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 1997] and Volume II, Part 1, Europäiche Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Part 1, Third Edition, 2001]. The Volume I was needed for the connection to the Houses of Mecklenburg and Lippe. The Dutch Royal House continues to be regarded as the House of Orange despite the failure of the male line in no less than three successive generations.
Ceylon, Dutch Governors (1640-1796)
Commanders & Governors of the Dutch Cape Colony (1652-1806)
The Boer Republics (1854-1902)
The House of Orange and Nassau
| Kings of Belgium | |
|---|---|
| Revolt against the Netherlands, 1830 | |
| Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg | 1831-1865 |
| Leopold II | 1865-1909 |
| Albert I | 1909-1934 |
| Occupation by Germany, 1914-1918 | |
| Leopold III | 1934-1951; exile, 1945-1950; d. 1983 |
| Occupation by Germany, 1940-1944 | |
| Charles | Regent, 1944-1951 |
| Baudouin | 1951-1993 |
| Albert II | 1993-2013, abdicated |
| Philippe | 2013 |
The most interesting thing, indeed, about Belgian history in the era was the personal slave state that Leopold II created in the Congo (1884). This grew into such a scandal that anti-slavery societies finally forced Leopold to cede the colony to the Belgian government (1908). Even so, Belgian rule did little to prepare the Congo for independence, which came in 1960. Since then, the country has gone through sad cycles of civil war, dictators, massacres, and economic decline. Leopold is also supposed to have had a bad moment when Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany casually asked him at a banquet once if he would mind if the German Army passed through Belgium on its way to France. It was soon common knowledge that German war plans involved the violation of Belgian neutrality. The Germans, as it happened, were as good as the rumors. The Belgian Army, led by King Albert, was driven right out of the country, and German atrocities against the Belgians became the stuff of years of Allied War propaganda. The Belgian forts were expected to at least slow the Germans, after the Russians in Port Arthur had held out for months against the Japanese in 1905. Unfortunately, observers failed to realize that the siege guns of the Japanese had been sunk at sea. When new guns finally arrived at Port Arthur, the Japanese quickly pulverized Russian defenses. The Germans, with even larger guns, made short work of the Belgian forts. Twenty years later, the Germans did it again. This time King Leopold III decided to stay in the Occupied country, but he was then perceived as being so pro-German that he had to go into exile when the War was over.
One consequence of World War I had been a share of German Tanganyika: Rwanda and Burundi or, formerly, Ruanda-Urundi. The history of these countries since their independence (1962) has been a horrifying lesson in ethnic conflict, as the pastoral, tall, and aristocratic Tutsis (or Watutsi) have more than once been slaughtered by the agrarian (and shorter) Hutus.
Curiously, it is now common to claim that the Tutsis and Hutus are not ethnically different and that the distinction was introduced by the Belgians. If Tutsis were any taller, it was because the Belgians picked out taller people to be "Tutsis." On the other hand, this claim is not consistently maintained, since one otherwise hears that Tutsis and Hutus are indistinguishable. Now, not far north of Rwanda, in the southern Sudan, there actually are very tall pastoral people, so it never seemed strange to me that groups of such people might appear in the highlands or impose themselves on the locals. Or perhaps the claims about the Belgians are true. Nevertheless, it was common in European empires to obtain the cooperation of local minorities in imperial administration, but I have never heard of some ethnic division being created out of whole cloth. My suspicion is that the thesis about the Tutsis and Hutus, whether true or not, sounds too much of a piece with the urge to blame all post-colonial ethnic conflicts on the effects of colonialism. I think that the real story is more like that ethnic conflicts were stopped by the Europeans and simply started up again afterwards -- or that a minority, already disliked, became the target of revenge for imperial cooperation.
Recently, the epic massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda (1994), recounted by the fine movie Hotel Rwanda [2004], ended with the Tutsis, despite their minority (and depleted) status, actually taking over the country, with many Hutus fleeing into exile (into miserable and anarchic camps in the Congo). If anything, this would seem to bespeak the kind of discipline and military prowess that an aristocratic minority might be expected to possess, regardless of what the Belgians thought or did about them.
Now, for Belgium itself, after 55 years of peace and prosperity again, although burdened with the high unemployment of Euro-socialism (over 12%), the worst problem that the country seems to have is linguistic. The Romance/Germanic language boundary runs right through the place, with Germanic speakers on the north side and the Walloons (French speakers) on the south side. This involves many minor irritations and occasional conflicts that threaten to become more serious. Originally, Belgian authorities wanted only French as the written and cultural language of the country. Only in 1928 was French replaced as the language of education in Flanders itself. What replaced it has occasioned some confusion. In the past, the Germanic languages of Belgium have in general been called "Flemish." This serves to distinguish the language of Belgium from that of the Netherlands, but it obscures the truth that the official language of Belgium is actually no less than standard Dutch. There are spoken dialects of Dutch in Belgium, which are West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantic, and Limburgian. So while "Flemish" may have a political meaning as all the forms of Dutch spoken in Belgium, the linguistic meaning applies only to certain spoken dialects of Dutch, which are found not only in Belgium, but also in places in France and the Netherlands.
| Grand Dukes of Luxembourg | |
|---|---|
| William I of the Netherlands | 1815-1840 |
| half of Duchy ceded to Belgium, 1830 | |
| William II of the Netherlands | 1840-1849 |
| William III of the Netherlands | 1849-1890 |
| Adolph of Nassau | 1890-1905 |
| William Alexis | 1905-1912 |
| Marie Adélaïde | 1912-1919, d. 1924 |
| Occupation by Germany, 1914-1918 | |
| Charlotte | 1919-1964, exile, 1940-1945 |
| Occupation by Germany, 1940-1945 | |
| Jean of Bourbon-Parma | 1964-2000, abdicated |
| Henri | 2000-present |
By 1912 the Salic Law somehow was set aside and the succession has been twice to Grand Duchesses. Charlotte succeeded her sister Marie Adélaïde, who abdicated after gaining a pro-German reputation in World War I, and married the heir, Felix, of the Bourbons of Parma. The subsequent genealogy can be examined there and below.
Despite its small size, Luxembourg is one of the richest countries in the world (along with Monaco, Hong Kong, and oil Sheikdoms). In terms of per capita income, Luxembourg is actually the richest country in the world -- with 133% of the per capita income of the United States, as adjusted for "purchasing power parity," according to The Economist [2003]. The "Benelux" area (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) is the most heavily industrialized part of Europe and the heart of the new European Union, whose headquarters is in Brussels.
Although Luxembourg was traditionally part of Germany, even still in the German Confederation of 1815, the names of recent Grand Dukes and Duchesses usually seem to be given in French, and the name of the country is now really always seen in its French form (rather than German Luxemburg). However, the official language of Luxembourg is Letzeburgish or Luxembourgeois, alternative names that make it difficult to know whether it is a dialect of German or of French. It is actually a dialect of German, as we see in a local saying, Mir wölle bleiwe wat mir sin ("We want to remain what we are"). In standard (High) German that would be Wir wollen bleiben was wir sind -- wat rather than was reveals the affinity with Dutch wat and English "what." We also see this in the Letzeburgish name of the country, the Grousherzogdem Lezebuurg, which we can contrast with German Großherzogtum Luxemburg and French Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. These characteristics make it look like Letzeburgish is a dialect of Low German. However, it is actually High German. Its differences with standard modern High German is due to its belonging to the "Central" or "Middle" dialectic area of High German, where we have a transition between the sounds of High German and the sounds of Low German.
| Free County of Burgundy | |
|---|---|
| Hugo/Hugh the Black | Count of Besançon 914-952 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 936-952 | |
| Lenthold I | Mâcon, 945-965 |
| Besançon, 952-965 | |
| Alberic II | Mâcon & Besançon, 965-982 |
| Otto William | Besançon, 982-c.995 | Count of Burgundy, c.995-1026 |
| Mâcon, 995-1006 | |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1002-1004/5 | |
| Renald/Renault I | Count of Burgundy, 1027-1056 |
| Kingdom of Burgundy passes to Empire, 1032 | |
| William I the Great | 1057-1087 |
| Renald II | 1087-1105 |
| William II | 1105-1125 |
| William III | 1125-1127 |
| Renald III | 1127-1148 |
| William IV | 1148-1157 |
| Beatrice I | 1157-1184 |
| Frederick Barbarossa | 1184-1189 |
| Emperor 1190 | |
| Otto I | 1189-1200 |
| Beatrice II | 1200-1231 |
| Otto II | 1231-1234 |
| Otto III | 1234-1248 |
| Adelaide | 1248-1279 |
| Otto IV | 1279-1302 |
| Robert | 1302-1315 |
| Jeanne I | 1315-1329 |
Assembling the story of the Free County has not been easy. The chronology was originally derived mainly from Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, and the genealogy initially from Brian Tompsett's Royal and Noble genealogy. Tompsett did not include all the Counts, or Countesses, listed by Gordon. This was very frustrating, especially when ordinary histories pay no attention whatsoever to the County. What Tompsett did have, however, was the descent of Count Otto William from Berengar II of Ivrea, the last King of Italy before the Germans (Otto I) arrived. And he did enable me to construct, through the Counts of Auxonne, the line of descent all the way from Berengar's father to Charles II of Spain, the last Count of Burgundy before it became a permanent part of France. (But Tompsett did have a major confusion, listing Otto William as his own great-grandson! Tompsett also lists John I and Hugh of Auxonne as Counts of Burgundy, which Gordon does not -- Hugh would have been, by marriage, but not John.)
The gap in Tompsett's genealogy, from Beatrice I to Otto IV, was then helpfully supplied by a correspondent, Anthony Pick, on the basis of a 1957 Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on the history of Burgundy by J.B. Richard of the University of Dijon. I have been now able to confirm this in the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume I Part 1, Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser I [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 1997], where Otto I of Burgundy is shown (p.22) as a son of Frederick Barbarossa -- something I have really not seen elsewhere. Otto's daughter Beatrice is shown there married to Otto (II) of Meran, who is also given later (p.156) with their children Otto (III) and Adelaide (Adelheid) and Adelaide's marriage to Hugh of Auxonne. In the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II Part 1, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R. G. Fischer Verlag, 2001], Thiele also supplies information on the line of Renald II, which Tompsett left unaccounted for.
I had nothing on the genealogy of the Counts before Otto William. However, a correspondent in Finland, Jouni Pöyliö, then pointed out that with the early Counts listed, the names and dates appeared to correspond to the first four Dukes of Burgundy. I didn't notice any mention of the County in Thiele's entries for the Dukes, and this still left other Counts unaccounted for. Mr. Pöyliö has now happily brought to my attention a French site, the Portail Histoire de la Bourgogne et de la Franche-Comté, that gives a complete list, with genealogical information, of the Counts of Burgundy, the Counts of Mâcon, and of other domains in the area (including the Dukes of Burgundy). This is a great reference for all this material, and much of the treatment here is now revised on the basis of its information.
Of great interest in this genealogy are the marriages with the Emperor Frederick I and with Urraca, the Queen of León and Castile. These mean that the subsequent Hohenstaufen are descendants of Burgundy, while the House of León and Castile actually becomes that of Burgundy, or of Ivrea, if one does back far enough.
In the descent shown, the turning point is the marriage of Jeanne I to King Philip V of France. This is at the end of the House of Capet, but Jeanne and Philip actually have a number of daughters, through whom the County of Burgundy passes; and since they marry Dukes of Burgundy and Counts of Flanders, the fateful combination of the Duchy of Burgundy with the Counties of Flanders and Burgundy arises. In the following genealogy, we see the whole lot pass to the Dukes of Burgundy and then to the Hapsburg Kings of Spain. France tried to snatch the Free County at the death of Charles the Bold (1477), but it was not a fief of France. In 1482 the occupation was given legality as part of the dowry of Margaret of Austria in her engagement to the future Charles VIII of France. When Charles broke the engagement, however, in 1493, the territory was returned to the Hapsburgs -- something Charles VIII perhaps could have avoided doing and for which he is sometimes condemned (prudentially, if not morally). Note how the line of John I de Châlon, Lord of Arlay, becomes Princes of Orange, 1393-1530, before the succession of the much more famous Counts of Nassau.
| Jeanne II | 1329-1347 |
| Philip I | 1347-1361 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1349-1361 | |
| Margaret I | 1361-1382 |
| Louis, II of Flanders | 1382-1384 |
| Count of Flanders, 1346-1361 | |
| Margaret II | 1384-1405 |
| Countess of Flanders, 1384-1405 | |
| Philip II the Bold | 1384-1404 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1364-1504 | |
| John the Fearless | 1404-1419 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1404-1419 | |
| Philip III the Good | 1419-1467 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1419-1467 | |
| Charles I the Bold | 1467-1477 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1467-1477 | |
| Mary | 1477-1482 |
| occupied by France, 1477-1493 | |
|---|---|
| Philip II the Handsome I of Spain | 1482-1506 |
| King of Spain, 1504-1506 | |
| Charles II, I of Spain, V of Empire | 1506-1556, d.1558 |
| King of Spain, 1516-1556 | |
| Emperor, 1556 | |
| Philip V, II of Spain | 1556-1598 |
| King of Spain, 1556-1598 | |
| Philip VI, III of Spain | 1598-1621 |
| King of Spain, 1598-1521 | |
| Philip VII, IV of Spain | 1621-1665 |
| King of Spain, 1621-1665 | |
| Charles III, II of Spain | 1665-1678, d.1700 |
| King of Spain, 1665-1700 | |
| to France, 1678 | |
It is noteworthy that Margaret of Mâle stood to become Countess of Burgundy through the prospective marriage with her cousin, Philip of Rouvre, the last Capetian Duke of Burgundy. Philip, however, died of the plague, and the County actually passed to Margaret's grandmother. The deaths of her grandmother and father then brought her the County anyway, which then passed to the Dukes of Burgundy after all, since Margaret married the new Valois Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold.
The Free County of Burgundy was an important stepping stone for Spain from the Mediterranean to the Spanish Netherlands, as for the infamous March of the Duke of Alba to put down unrest in the Netherlands in 1567. Eventually, however, Spanish power was broken, and the Wars of Louis XIV targeted all the lands to the east of France. His Dutch War (1672-1678), which failed in the conquest of the Netherlands, nevertheless netted the Free County. The union with France of a French speaking region seemed so complete and natural that, unlike Alsace or Lorraine, it has really never been challenged. Most residents and travellers are probably unaware that it was never a historic or legal part of France until 1678.
| Vinelz, Fenis | |
|---|---|
| Ulrich I de Fenis | 1034-1070 |
| Mangold I | 1070-1097 |
| Mangold II | ?-1144 |
| Rudolph I | 1125-1148 |
| Ulrich II | 1148-1191 |
| Division of the Realm, 1191-1343 | |
| Louis/Ludwig I of Welsch-Neuenburg | 1343-1373 |
| Elisabeth/Verena | 1373-1384, d.1395 | Freiburg |
| Conrad IV de Fribourg | 1384-1424 |
| Johann, Jean de Fribourg | 1424-1457 |
| Zähringen | |
| Rudolph IV of Hachberg-Sausenberg | 1457-1487 |
| Philippe de Hochberg | 1487-1503 |
| Jeanne de Rothelin | 1504-1512, 1529-1543 |
| To Swiss Confederacy, 1512-1529 | |
| Orléans-Longueville | |
| François d'Orléans-Longueville | 1543-1551 |
| Léonor d'Orléans-Longueville | 1551-1573 |
| Henri I | 1573-1595 |
| Henri II | 1595-1663, Prince 1643 |
| Independent of Empire, 1648 | |
| Jean Louis Charles | 1663-1668, 1672-1694 |
| Charles Paris | 1668-1672 |
| Marie de Nemours | 1672-1707 |
| Hohenzollern | |
| Frederick William I of Prussia | 1708-1740 |
| by Election, 1708 | |
| Frederick II | 1740-1786 |
| Frederick William II | 1786-1797 |
| Frederick William III | 1797-1798, 1814-1840 |
| French Occupation, 1798-1814 | |
| Louis Alexandre Berthier | 1806-1813, d.1815 |
| Frederick William IV | 1840-1848/57, d.1861 |
| Republican Revolution, 1848; Sovereignty conceded, 1857 | |
| Deutsch-Neuenburg | |
|---|---|
| Ulrich III | 1191-1225 |
| Deutsch-Neuenburg-Aarberg | |
| Ulrich IV | 1225-1276 |
| Wilhelm | 1276-1323/4 |
| Deutsch-Neuenburg-Nidau | |
| Rudolf I | 1225-1258 |
| Rudolf II | 1258-1308/9 |
| Rudolf III | 1308/9-1339 |
| Rudolf IV | 1339-1375 |
| Deutsch-Neuenburg- Strassberg | |
| Berthold I | 1225-1270, d.1273 |
| Berthold II | 1270-1282/93 |
| Otto I | 1270-1275 |
| Otto II | 1282/92-1318 |
| Berthold III | 1282/92-1320 |
| Imer | 1318-1364 |
| Welsch-Neuenburg | |
| Rudolf II | 1191-1196 |
| Berthold | 1196-1260 |
| Rudolf III | 1203-1263/4 |
| Rudolph IV? | 1259-1263 |
| Ulrich IV | 1263/4-1277 |
| Amadeus | 1270-1287/8 |
| Rudolf (Rollin) | 1282-1343 |
| Louis/Ludwig I of Welsch-Neuenburg | 1343-1373 |
| Domain Reunited, 1343 | |
Neuchâtel straddles the Jura Mountains, bounded on the east by Lake Neuchâtel and on the west by the Franche Comté, now France. It is entirely French speaking, but in the dialect now recognized as Franco-Provençal -- where the name is Nôchâtél. A previous desire to identify with Parisian French now seems to have given way to a desire to preserve the local linguistic heritage. This being Switzerland, Neuchâtel in Italian would be Neocastello, and in Rhomansch Neuchâtel or Neufchâtel. As we see, the "â" in French (etc.) often indicates the loss of an "s," obviously from Latin castellum. The English equivalent of the name here would just be the familiar "Newcastle."
The division of the domain in 1191 resulted in two lines interestingly identified as Welsch- Neuenburg and Deutsch- Neuenburg, i.e. "French Neuchâtel" and "German Neuchâtel." Since Neuchâtel is now entirely French speaking, one wonders where the "German" domain was located, or if the linguistic boundary has shifted. The German speaking Bern Canton does border on Lake Neuchâtel and on the eastern end of Neuchâtel. For the use of "Welsch" for "French," see the discussion of this interesting word here.
With the failure of male heirs, the line of princes experienced shifts to different houses. For everything that was going on, especially in the divisions beginning in 1191, genealogies are needed, which I find difficult to assemble. Neuchâtel does not loom large as a part of either German or French history and thus, like Burgundy as a whole, tends to fall between the stools of national histories. In Swiss history, there is of course the anomaly that the domain was not republican from the first. Thus, so far I have been able to trace the genealogy for the Freiburg and Zähringen Princes and for the interesting illegitimate line of the French House of Orléans.
The period of the Zähringen Princes derives from the marriage of the Freiburg heiress, Anna, to Rudolf III of Hachburg (etc.). We also see Anna's father, Egino IV, marrying the Fenis heiress of Neuchâtel, by which the house of Freiburg came into the succesion. Anna's brother, Conrad IV (1384-1424), and nephew, John (1424-1457), then succeed to Neuchâtel. The numbering of some of these people varies between the sources. When John dies, the succession jumps down two generations to Rudolf IV. The same thing happens with the heiress Jeanne de Rothelin (1504-1512, 1529-1543), whose tenure was interrupted by the Swiss Confederation mediating the succession dispute. With Jeanne's death, the succession jumped to her nephew-in-law, Francis of Orléans.
| Louis d'Orléans devoilant une maitresse, "Louis of Orléans reveals a mistress," 1826, Eugène Delacroix |
|---|
When the line of Longueville failed, with Marie of Nemours, in 1707, it left 15 claimants. Marie's marriage had been to Henry of Savoy, the Duke of Nemours (1652-1659), whose own descent in the House of Savoy is of interest. While the line of Longueville failed from childlessness, the line of Nemours continued when the heiress, Marie Jeanne, married her cousin, Duke Charles Emanuel II of Savoy. But it seems a shame that Lougueville, with so scandalous and marvelous an inception, should have died out.
To have both a Protestant and a strong ruler, the people of Neuchâtel voted to select as a ruler Frederick I of Prussia, who had recently become a King. And perhaps he was also safely at a great distance.
When the French occupied Switzerland, a French prince, Napoleon's Chief of Staff, was installed in Neuchâtel, apparently as a reward. The Prussians were restored, of course, with the overthrow of Napoleon.
Neuchâtel, with Royal consent, joined the Swiss Confederation, the only monarchy to become a Swiss Canton. 1848 shooks things up. Neuchâtel voted to end the monarchy, without Royal consent. There were attempts at royalist coups, but these were defeated. Finally, the situation came to be called the "Neuchâtel Crisis" in 1856-57, which end with Frederick William IV renouncing his claims. Neuchâtel joined all the other republican Cantons of Switzerland.
Between the treatment at Wikipedia and Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, which sometimes contradict each other, it has been very hard to get the succession here in reasonable order. The genealogy of Freiburg, Zähringen, Longueville has been assembled from the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II, Part 1, Europäiche Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Part 1, Third Edition, pp.64,67,72-73] and Volume I, Part 2, Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs-, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser II [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Third Edition, pp.356-357,360-361].
Orange was a small principality, and still today a city, on the Rhône River in the South of France. The Roman city was called Arausio. In the Middle Ages, this name curiously became assimilated to the name of an imported fruit. In Arabic that was the , naranj, which was ultimately from Sanskirt
or
, nâraṅga.
The word, as it happens, was borrowed into the local language of the South of Burgundy, Provençal, as auranja. Today it is "orange" in both French and English. How the city of Arausio got precisely this pronunciation also is a good question -- there is no /nj/ in the Latin word. Spanish preserves the Arabic word without much change, as naranja, though, of course, the pronunciation of the j has changed.
The first Princes of Orange, when this was a fief of the Kingdom of Burgundy, were of the House of Baux. I have been able to find very little information about the succession or genealogy of Baux, or about the origin of the Principality. What is shown first here (and below for Orange-Nassau) is derived from the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II, Part 1, Europäiche Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Part 1, Third Edition, 2001]. The only member of the house of Baux shown is Raimund I, who married the sister Stephanie of Dulcia I, Countess of Provence.
For what comes next, I have had to rely on a correspondent in the Netherlands, who has provided information for the table at left from the Europäiche Stammtafeln, Stammtafeln der Europäichen Staaten, Neue Folge, Volume III, Part 4, Das feudale Frankreich und sein Einfluß auf die Welt des Mittelalters (Detlev Schwennicke, Verlag J.A. Stargardt, Marburg 1989, pp.745, 748, 751, & 752). Supplementing and confirming this is a website, "Genealogie delle Dinastie Italiane," which has a nice page for the house of Baux (del Balzo). However, while Thiele gives Maria of Montpellier as the mother of Barrale of Marseille, this and other sources have her as the daughter of Barral's first wife.
Here we have Bertrand of Baux, son of Raimund and Stephanie, who marries the heiress Tiburge of Orange, whose father seems to have been merely Count of Orange. Orange is then said (according to a Dutch historical encyclopaedia) to have been elevated to a Principality, perhaps more common in Germany than elsewhere, in 1163 by the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. This seems to have been before the death of William of Omelaz. After Bertrand and Tiberge, things are clear enough, with several cases of simultaneous succession and division between brothers. By 1340, however, primogeniture seems to have taken hold, and the descendants of Bertrand III and Raimund III are no longer counted as Princes of Orange -- their descendants continue as the del Balzo family in Italy. Raimund V's daughter and heiress, Marie, is then the end of the Baux succession to Orange. A collateral line of Baux, descended from Bertrand II, led to a single Prince of Achaea.
Marie marries into the House of the Free County of Burgundy, on a side also derived from the Dauphins, as shown. Subsequent Burgundian Princes lead to the marriage of the heiress Claudia into the House of Nassau. It is as the inheritance of Nassau that Orange comes to European attention. The Principality remained small, surrounded on three sides by the Papal enclave of Avignon. But the House of Orange-Nassau contributed leadership and then royalty to the Netherlands.
Because of the coincidence of the name of the city and the name of the fruit, Orange bestowed the color orange on the histories of the Netherlands, Ireland, and many other places where the Dutch or those conscious of the Protestant cause set foot. Although the Principality was conquered and annexed to France in 1713 after the War of the Spanish Succession, the name lived on. Subsequent members of the two Dutch lines of Orange are covered under the genealogy for the Netherlands.
Speaking of orange, one is liable to discover that the word for the fruit in Arabic today is not , naranj, but
, burtuqâl. This is similar to the Persian word for orange, which is
, portoqal, which is obviously from the word "Portugal." Since medial Persian q is pronounced like Arabic gh, one might not be surprised to discover that "Portugal" in Arabic is
, Burtughâl. The Arabic word for "orange" thus is closer to the Persian spelling, even though this changes the pronunciation somewhat. (There is no p in Arabic.) We see a similar word in Turkish, as portakal, and even in Modern Greek, as πορτοκάλι, portokáli -- explained in the 2002 movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the name of the Greek family is Πορτοκάλος, "Portokalos."
So what is the story? Well, apparently, the naranj is the original bitter orange from India (Citrus aurantium). Today, bitter orange is used as rootstock for citrus grafts and to make things like Curaçao liqueurs and perfume. The portoqal is the sweet orange that was brought by, wouldn't you know, the Portuguese from China (Citrus sinensis) after they created Indian Ocean trade in the 16th century. The Arabic words thus preserve a historical and varietal difference that is not remembered in other languages. We might wonder why the Chinese had not exported their own oranges, but China had abruptly ended its foreign trade in 1433. Meanwhile, in Dutch, where oranje means the House and the color, the fruit is a sinaasappel (appelsien in Flemish), i.e. the "Chinese apple." The Dutch, as involved in the China trade as the Portuguese, must have known where the sweet oranges came from.
| Counts of Vienne, Viennois | |
|---|---|
| Constantine | d.962 |
| Poltou or Richard | uncertain dates and identities |
| Amadeus or Hubert | |
| Wigo/Guigues I | 1029/30-1063 |
| Guigues II | 1063-1075 |
| Guigues III | 1075-1080/1125 |
| Guigues IV | Dauphin, 1133-1142 |
| Guigues V | 1142/1155-1162 |
| Beatrice | 1162-1228 |
| Albrerich Taillefer de Toulouse | d.1180 |
| Hugh I, III of Burgundy | 1183-1192 |
| Duke of Burgundy, 1162-1192 | |
| Hugh II de Coligny-le-Neuf | 1202-1228 |
| Andrew Guigues VI | 1228-1237 |
| Guigues VII | 1237-1269 |
| John I | 1269-1281 |
| Anne | 1281-1296 |
| Humbert I de la Tour du Pin | 1281-1307 |
| John II | 1307-1319 |
| Guigues VIII | 1319-1333 |
| Humbert II | 1333-1349, d.1355 |
| sold to the future Charles V of France, 1349 | |
The sources that were originally helpful in piecing this information together were Brian Tompsett's Royal and Noble Genealogy and WW-Person, A WWW Data base of European nobility (now off line). European history after European history hardly gives the time of day to this area. Although all of it is later part of France, even good historical atlas maps of France give no details here, since it was outside of France until the 14th century. Only WW-Person gives chronological lists of Counts of Viennois and Lyonnais, but they are incomplete. His genealogical information, and that of Tompsett, adds some detail, but the information is often obscure, with major gaps, and is sometimes contradictory. One obscurity is the relationship of the County of Viennois to the Dauphiné. The first Count of Vienne (the Viennois) I have found was Charles Constantine, the son of Louis the Blind of Burgundy. I have never seen any list of subsequent Counts, and even who Constantine's (2) sons were seems a matter of uncertainty. Thus, the story picks up with Wigo/Guigues I, Count of Albon, who is supposed to have been enfeoffed with the southern part of the County. At some point the descendants of Guigues take over the Countship of Vienne itself. WW-Person's list of the Counts of Viennois simply begins with Guigues V, the second Count to bear the title "Dauphin" -- whence Viennois essentially becomes the Dauphiné. The importance of the city of Vienne declines, and the central city of the Dauphiné eventually becomes Grenoble. As the Count now is the Dauphin, the Countess is the Dauphine. The addition of the accent, Dauphiné, gives us the domain.
Another factor in the story is the other major city of the Dauphiné, Lyon (which turns up as "Lyons" occasionally). WW-Person's list of the Counts of Lyonnais ends with Artaud III, but then his genealogical pages continue the line. What is not clear is what happens with the descendants of Ida Raimunde, sister of William III of Lyon, who married the brother of Guigues III of Albon, Guido I Raimond. One would expect that Ida and Guido's descendants become Counts of Lyon. The genealogical pages continue their descendants until 1275, who are all now cousins of the House of Albon, continuing beyond the point where the Dauphiné itself passes to the Capetian House of Burgundy. I have no information whatsoever on this line, almost all of whom are listed with the name "Guido" (the Italian version of French "Guy/Gui" or old Germanic "Wido"), with some inconsistent numbering. Even why the Italian version is used is unremarked.
Hugh III of Burgundy, by his first marriage provides the Heir to Burgundy, but then he divorced his first wife and married the Dauphine Beatrice, who then produced an Heir for the Dauphiné. The dates and relationships here all seem rather better known than the earlier ones. After three generations we get another Heiress, Anne, who marries local nobility. The modern La Tour du Pin is about halfway between Grenoble and Lyon. Tompsett and WW-Person left the relationships of John II, Guigues VIII, and Humbert II unexplained. Now, however, I have found these in the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II Part 1, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs, und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa, by Andreas Thiele [R.G. Fischer Verlag, 2001, p.150]. The information for the earlier line in the Stammtafeln is consistent with that shown, except for several dates, which will be indicated in a future revision, and the use of "Guido" instead of "Wigo" or "Guigues."
Humbert II, of course, is the one who in 1349 sells (an extraordinary transaction to be sure) the realm to Charles, the grandson of Philip VI of France. Charles then became the first French Dauphin, and as he was the Crown Prince from 1350-1364, this now became the traditional title of the Heir Apparent of France. For some time, however, the Dauphiné was still legally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy rather than France and was held as a personal possession by the Dauphin. The Emperor Charles IV was still formally crowned as King of Burgundy at Arles in 1365. When the future Louis XI acted somewhat too independently, however, Charles VII (1422-1461) formally annexed the Dauphiné to the Royal domain of France (1457).
Counts and Dukes of Savoy, 1000-1730 AD
| Counts of Savoy | |
|---|---|
| Humbert I White Hands | 1000-1048 |
| Amadeus I | 1048-1051 |
| Odo/Otto | 1051-1059 |
| marries Adelheid, Heiress of Piedmont, 1046 | |
| Peter I | 1059-1078 |
| Amadeus II | 1078-1080 |
| Humbert II | 1080-1103 |
| Amadeus III | 1103-1149 |
| Humbert III the Saint | 1149-1189 |
| Thomas | 1189-1233 |
| Amadeus IV | 1233-1253 |
| Boniface | 1258-1263 |
| Peter II, "little Charlemagne" | 1263-1268 |
| granted the Palace of Savoy, London, 1246 | |
| Philip I | 1268-1285 |
| Amadeus V | 1285-1323 |
| Edward | 1323-1329 |
| Aimon | 1329-1343 |
| Amadeus VI the Green | 1343-1383 |
| Crusade to Constantinople, retrieves Gallipoli from the Turks, 1366 | |
| Amadeus VII the Red | 1383-1391 |
| Dukes of Savoy | |
| Amadeus VIII (Anti-Pope Felix V) | Count of Savoy, 1391-1416 |
| Duke of Savoy, 1416-1434 | |
| Anti-Pope, 1439-1449 | |
| Louis | 1434-1465 |
| Amadeus IX | 1465-1472 |
| Philibert I | 1472-1482 |
| Charles I | 1482-1490 |
| Charles II | 1490-1496 |
| Philip | 1496-1497 |
| Philibert II | 1497-1504 |
| Charles III | 1504-1553 |
| Geneva breaks from Savoy, allies with Switzerland, 1526; occupied by France, 1536-1559 | |
| Emanuel Philibert | 1553-1580 |
| leads Spanish Army, defeats France, St. Quentin, 1557; capital of Savoy moved to Turin/Torino, 1563 | |
| Charles Emanuel I | 1580-1630 |
| Victor Amadeus I | 1630-1637 |
| Charles Emanuel II | 1637-1675 |
| Victor Amadeus II | Duke of Savoy, 1675-1730 |
| King of Sicily, 1713-1720 | |
| King of Sardinia, 1720-1730 | |
Savoy, with its capital of Chambéry, goes back to the Roman province of Sapaudia, which was granted to the Burgundians in the year 443. Subsequently, in its native Franco-Provençal language, it would become Savouè. This, in turn, became Savoie in French, Savoia in Italian, Savoyen in German, and, of course, Savoy, in English.
The Piedmont derives its name from Latin ad pedem montium, "at the foot of the mountains." In Italian this is Piemonte, in Franco-Provençal Piemont, and in French Piémont. The capital there, Turin, will become the principal city, and then the capital, of the Duchy of Savoy in 1563. The name of Turin is from the Roman Augusta Taurinorum, named after the Celtic Taurini. Without thinking or knowing much about it, I had vaguely thought that "Piedmont," which I originally saw applied to lands in Virginia and on down South, had something to with peat, which could have resulted from the rainy climate. But that had nothing to do with it.
The name of Turin in Italian, Torino, is something people sometimes find confusing, since for some reason there is now widespread ignorance that the same places may have different names in different languages, especially where history and geography have mixed the use of languages together -- see the interesting case of Liège. The (nationalistic) fiction is now promoted that there is only one local language in each place, whose name is the only legitimate one -- with the use of anything else a political crime. This is bitterly ironic with Savoy, where the local language, Franco-Provençal, enjoys no national status and is under assault by metropolitan French. Even better, the name of Turin in Piemontese, the local dialect of Italian, is, of all things, Turin.
The map below shows Savoy at about the time of Charles Emanuel I (1580-1630). The Duchy has already acquired the Piedmont in Italy, by Prince Odo marrying the heiress, Adelheid, in 1046. This began to shift the center of gravity of the domain toward Italy, with far reaching consequences.
In 1424, Amadeus VIII gave his eldest son (who would predecease him), also Amadeus, the title "Prince of Piedmont," for which a device was added to the flag of Savoy, with a blue border, to signify the land and title.
"Savoy" is a name familiar from, of all places, London. This began in 1246 when King Henry III of England granted a palace (built in 1245 by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester), henceforth the "Savoy Palace," to the future Count Peter II of Savoy. Peter, who was also made Earl of Richmond, was the uncle of the Queen, Eleanor of Provence, and had accompanied her bridal party to England. Hence his presence there. See the genealogy below. Peter did not reign long and was succeeded by his brother and then nephew in the County.
This Palace of Savoy was donated as a hospital, probably when Peter returned to Savoy, but was purchased by the Queen and passed to her son, Edmund, the Earl of Lancaster. Edmund's grandson, Henry II, was made Duke of Lancaster in 1351. This put the area of the Savoy Palace, henceforth the "Liberty of the Savoy," with all or part of four parishes, under the jurisdiction of the Duke of Lancaster, which exempted it from direct Royal authority. Thus, we see Captain Jack Aubrey of Patrick O'Brian's naval stories seeks refuge from debts in the "Duchy" of the Savoy. These extemptions lingered for many years.
The conspicuous result of this today is the now venerable Savoy Hotel, founded in 1889 by the theater impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, with profits from the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado, which D'Oyly Carte had produced for his own (adjacent) Savoy Theatre. The Savoy Hotel had electric lights, private bathrooms, running hot water, and other innovations that we now take for granted. It also accepted Jewish customers and allowed women to dine unaccompanied in the dining rooms.
My first experience with a Savoy Hotel was actually at the one in Luxor, Egypt (in 1969), which I assume, without being able to find a reference, was also built by D'Oyly Carte's company. It appeared to be at least as old as the nearby Winter Palace, but now no longer seems to be in existence. My speculation at the time was that the significance of the "Savoy" name was to evoke the scenic, Alpine tourist destination of the County and Duchy itself. I had no knowledge then of the Savoy in London, or of the long, interesting history of the Liberty of the Savoy.
By 1580 France had already acquired nearly all of Burgundy south of Savoy. All that was wanting was the Papal enclave at Avignon, which would have to wait until the French Revolution, and the Principality of Orange, obtained from the House of Orange in 1713. The first French acquisition in the area may be the one labeled "1229," which was the year of the treaty of Paris, ending the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229). Count Raymond VII of Toulouse (d. 1249), who was accused of having tolerated (or something) heresy, ceded large parts of his domain to the French Crown, including this piece. (His heiress daughter Joanna married a brother, Alphonse, of St. Louis IX; and when he died in 1271, the rest of Toulouse passed to the Crown.)
The greatest and most fateful French acquisition, however, was of the Dauphiné. In 1349 Count Humbert II (d.1355), the "Dauphin," simply sold the territory to the grandson of King Philip VI of France, the prince who would later become King Charles V. Thus, Charles became the first "Dauphin" of France, and as he was the Crown Prince from 1350-1364, this now became the traditional title of the Heir Apparent of France. For some time, however, the Dauphiné was still legally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy rather than France and was held as a personal possession by the Dauphin. Although the Kingdom was otherwise non-functioning, the Emperor Charles IV was still formally crowned as King of Burgundy at Arles in 1365. When the future Louis XI acted somewhat too independently, however, Charles VII (1422-1461) formally annexed the Dauphiné to the Royal domain of France (1457).
The Dauphiné was the heart of Lower Burgundy, and soon enough most of the rest followed, as Louis XI acquired Provence (1481) after the death of René the Good of Anjou (1480) in default of male heirs. Soon part of Savoy itself would fall, as Henry IV (1589-1610) took everything west of the Rhône in 1601. For a long time afterwards, French attention was elsewhere, expanding towards the Rhine, though a large part of Burgundy, the Free County (Franche Comté) fell to Louis XIV, as one fruit of his Dutch War, in 1678.
The genealogical charts at the beginning of this section and to the right show the House of Savoy down to 1650. The beginning is clouded in some mystery. The first Count of Savoy, Humbert White Hands, is sometimes said to be the grandson of Charles Constantine, Count of Vienne, who is said to be the son of the Emperor and King of Lower Burgundy Louis III, who is sometimes said to have married the daughter Anna of the Emperor Leo VI of Romania. On the other hand, Louis III is also said to have had no children, whether his wife was supposed to be Anna or Ediga of England. The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III, c.900-c.1024 [Timothy Reuter, editor, Cambridge, 1999] now says that Louis did marry Anna, and that Charles Constantine was their son, while Louis had another son, Rudolf, by a second wife, Adelaide [p.335]. However, Charles Constantine's sons are said to be "Richard and Hubert" and their connection to the Counts of Savoy, or Arles, or Vienne, to be unknown.
Until the end of the Kingdom of Italy in 1946, the House of Savoy was the oldest ruling dynasty in Europe, but if the connections shown are true, it would also be descended both from the Carolingians and from the Macedonian dynasty of Romania.
After Louis XIV's wars,
fairly stable years were to pass in the Savoyard relationship with France. Savoy expanded in Italy and acquired the Kingdom of Sicily after the War of the Spanish Succession (1713). This was traded for Sardinia in 1720, and henceforth the whole domain was the Kingdom of Sardinia. The ultimate goal was all of Italy, and in 1859 France was brought in to help defeat Austria and drive the Hapsburgs out of Milan. Napoleon III was successful but had his price: Savoy itself, and Nice, which were ceded to France in 1860. This may have been worth it, as the Kings of Sardinia then became the Kings of Italy in 1861, but it did leave only two small areas, around Aosta and Susa, that remained to Savoy/Sardinia/Italy from the original Kingdom of Burgundy. Today only Switzerland remains as a significant non-French piece of the original Kingdom.
The genealogy of the Dukes of Savoy is continued in the section on the Kings of Sardinia.
At 370 acres, or 0.59 square miles, Monaco is one of the smallest countries in the world. By comparison, Liechtenstein covers 61 square miles, Vatican City 108.7 acres, and Luxembourg, a giant, 998 square miles. Monaco possesses a special charm, apart from the sunny, Riviera location, for a couple of reasons. The casino at Monte Carlo is just about the most
Grimaldi Princes of Monaco, 1297-present
| Grimaldis | |
|---|---|
| Francesco | 1297-? |
| Ranier I | ?-1301, d.1314 |
| Charles/Carlo I | 1317-1324 |
| Charles II | 1341-1436, d.1357 |
| John/Giovanni I | 1395, 1422-1454 |
| Ambrose | 1419-1422 |
| Catalan | 1454-1457 |
| Claudine | 1457-1458 |
| Lambert de Antibes | Lord, 1457-1494 |
| John II | 1494-1505 |
| Lucien | 1505-1523 |
| Augustine | 1523-1532 |
| Honoré I | 1532-1581 |
| Charles II | 1581-1589 |
| Hercules | 1589-1604 |
| Honoré II | 1604-1659, Prince, 1659-1662 |
| Louis I | 1662-1701 |
| Anthony | 1701-1731 |
| Louise Hippolyte | 1731-1733 |
| James d'Estouteville | 1731-1733, d.1751 |
| Honoré III | 1733-1793, d.1795 |
| French Occupation, 1793-1814 | |
| Honoré IV | 1814-1819 |
| Honoré V | 1819-1841 |
| Florestan | 1841-1856 |
| Charles III | 1856-1889 |
| Albert I | 1889-1922 |
| Louis II | 1922-1949 |
| Rainier III | 1949-2005 |
| Albert II | 2005- |
Monaco is an excellent example of cultural and political overlap between Burgundy, Italy, and France. Acquired from Provence by Genoa in 1215, the site already seems to have been associated with the Grimaldi family -- or at least we know of a Grimaldus I of Monaco from 920 and of the death of his son, Guido I, in 980. The Grimaldis went on to prominence in Genoa but ran into trouble, as Guelfs, when the Ghibellines took over the city. Expelled from Genoa, Francesco Grimaldi seized Monaco in 1297. This time, the Grimaldis only held it until 1301, as they threw their fleet into various struggles in the area. By 1395 the brothers Giovanni and Luigi were back, and they secured, as it turned out, permanent possession by 1419.
Tossed out by the French in 1793, the Grimaldis returned after the fall of Napoleon in 1814, but now surrounding them was no longer the Republic of Genoa, but the Kingdom of Sardinia, of which they became a protectorate. This relationship lapsed when Sardinia ceded the area of Nice to France in 1860, in payment for French help in taking Milan away from Austria.
Names like "Grimaldi," "Monaco," and "Monte Carlo" all look Italian, but the area now seems to be French speaking, which is precisely why France claimed it, and the names of the Princes are often rendered in French. If the Princely family should die out, a treaty with France stipulates that sovereignty will fall to the Republic. The family, however, has twice continued through female heirs, and with three adult children, the prospects for continued independence should be reasonably good. However, Grace Kelly's children have not been very keen on suitable marriages. Princess Caroline is on her third marriage, but for the first time to royalty. She has three children from a previous marriage to Stefano Casiraghi (d.1990). Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover is in fact a descendant of King George III of England, through George's grandson, King George V of Hanover, who was deposed from Hanover by Prussia in 1866. This makes little Princess Alexandra, only a year old, a distant member of the British Royal Family.
In 2005, Prince Rainier has now died, and Albert has succeeded. He has still not married and has no children. Stephanie as well as Caroline does have children, however, and the succession will pass through Caroline.
For the genealogy here, Brian Tompsett's Royal and Noble genealogy unfortunately only goes back to 1458. At least the chronology can, however, be completed and compared using Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies. Unfortunately, the historical page at Monaco itself does not seem to have such material at all. A remaining question is who "Ranier II" would have been.
| County of Barcelona | |
|---|---|
| Bera | 801-820 |
| Bernard of Aquitaine | 827-829, 835-844 |
| Berenguer | c.830-835 |
| Sunifred I of Carcassone | 844-848 |
| William of Aquitaine | 848-849/50 |
| Aleran | 848-852 |
| Odalric | 852-c.858 |
| Humfrid | c.858-864 |
| Bernard of Gothia (or Toulouse) | 865-878 (d.884?) | Wifred I of Carcassone | 878-897 |
| Wilfred II Borel I | 897-911 |
Of the early Counts, it takes a little while for the House of Carcassone, for which the genealogy is given below, to establish itself. Beginning the Wilfred I, however, all the Counts are derived from this family.
It is suitable that Barcelona and Provence should be considered together because Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona married the heiress of Provence, Dulcia I
Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia. The language of Catalonia is Catalan. This is distinct from Castilian Spanish, and there is some fierce local nationalism involved. Thus "Catalonia" is Catalunya in Catalan, Cataluña in Castilian, and Catalonha in the adjacent and closely related Languedoc or Occitan language in France. The flag of Catalonia is the vertical red and yellow stripes; but both the arms of Catalonia and the flag and arms of Barcelona use horizonal stripes. We also see the vertical stripes for the flag and arms of Provence.
| County of Arles & Provence | County of Barcelona | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Boso I | 926-935 | Suñer, Sunyer | 897-947 |
| Boso II | 949-967 | Miron/Miró | 947-965 |
| William I | 968-992 | Borel II | 947-992 |
| Rotbold II | Count, 961-1008 | Raymond Borel | 992-1018 |
| William II | Count & Margrave, 994-1018 | Berengar Raymond I the Hunchback | 1018-1035 |
| William III | Margrave, 1018-1030 | ||
| William IV | Count, 1014-1037 | Raymond Berengar I the Old | 1035-1076 |
| Godfrey | Count, 1032-1062; Margrave, 1057-1062 | ||
| Fulk Bertram I | 1018-1051 | Raymond Berengar II the Towhead | 1076-1082 |
| Bertram II | 1051-1094 | Berengar Raymond II the Fratricide | 1076-1097 |
| Gerberga | 1094-1118 | Raymond Berengar III the Great | 1086-1131 |
| Dolca/Dulcia I | 1112-1131 | ||
| Berengar Raymond I | 1131-1144 | Raymond Berengar IV the Saint, II of Provence | 1131-1162 |
| Raymond Berengar III | 1144-1166 | ||
| Dulcia II | 1166-1167, d.1172 | ||
| Raymond Berengar IV | 1167-1181 | Alfonso I, II of Aragón | King of Aragón, 1162-1196 |
| 1181-1185 | 1162-1196 | ||
| Alfonso II | 1185-1209 | Peter II | 1196-1213 |
| King of Aragón, 1196-1213 | |||
| Raymond Berenger V | 1209-1245 | James I | 1213-1276 |
| Beatrice | 1245-1267 | King of Aragón, 1213-1276 | |
| marries Charles I of Anjou, continues with Anjevian Line | continues with Kings of Aragón | ||
Provence remains with Charles' descendants until the death, in fact the murder, of Queen Joanna I of Naples. Charles VI of France then succeeds in transferring Provence to the new Duke of Anjou, Louis I. With the later failure of male heirs, King Louis XI made sure that Provence reverted to the French Throne in 1481.
A nice irony that emerges in this genealogy is that Charles of Anjou ends up being deprived of Sicily, after the great revolt of the Sicilian Vespers (1282), by his own wife's second cousin, Peter III of Aragón.
If the distinctive language of Barcelona and Catalonia is Catalan, that of Provence is Provençal. It is used to be common to say that Provençal is the same thing as Languedoc, the French language that extends right across the South of France and is closely related to Catalan -- Langue d'Oc, Lenga d'Òc -- or, as is becoming common, Occitan -- which joins Arpitan, or Franco-Provençal, as one of the widespread, but non-Parisian Standard, languages of France.
Now, however, Provençal as such is classified as a dialect of Languedoc/Occitan. The language extends from Provence to the Gascon dialect of Gascony. The city and the area of Nice has its own dialect, Niçard. North of Provence, the Vivaro-Alpine dialect shares the area of the Dauphiné with Franco-Provençal. The major cities of the Dauphiné -- Genoble, Vienne, and Lyon -- all speak Arpitan dialects.
Particularly noteworthy is the Languedocien dialect, which obviously seems to be named after the Languedoc language itself. However, the dialect is historically and particuarly associated with the actual region of "Languedoc," which means the city of Toulouse and the region that had belonged to the County of Toulouse. The Counts of Toulouse had become associated with the language and the culture of the Troubadours. Unfortunately, it also became the target of infamous Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229), which delt a body-blow to the culture, the language, and the autonomy of the South of France. Meanwhile, through all of that, Gascony, which began as a Basque duchy, was under the rule of England. The Counts of Provence (or Arles) seem to begin with a tangle of marriages between the Kings of Burgundy, the Counts of Arles, and the Dukes of Burgundy. There sometimes seems to be some confusion between Boso the Margrave of Tuscany and Count of Arles, the brother of Hugh, King of Lower Burgundy and Italy, and Boso I, his son-in-law, who seems to usually be considered the first Count of Provence. After him, however, the County falls to Boso (II) of Agel, from whom subsequent Counts of descended.
The County grew in responsibility and power with the defense of the area against the Arab raids of the "Second Dark Age" -- the hard times of Conrad "the Peaceful" of Burgundy. One consequence of this may be that the title of "margrave" gets added to the office, since a Margrave is particularly concerned with border defense. The Margrave title does not supersede the title of Count but does tend to fall on one holder at a time, while the title of Count is shared in traditional Germanic fashion by several brothers and cousins. One line of cousins dies out. Another line of cousins, sons of the Count and Margrave Godfrey, who are not shown here, end up as Counts of Forcalquier. The title of Margrave itself seems to pass through Godfrey's daughter, whose name is not known, to the Counts of Toulouse. The County soon passes through female heirs to the Counts of Barcelona.
In one list of Counts of Provence sent to me, there was an "Étiennette" given as ruling 1093-1100. She fit in between Bertram II and Gerberga. The only person I can find who this seems likely to be is Stefanie of Gevaudan, daughter of Gerberga and sister of Dulcia I. However, it looks like Stefanie would be a little young, and it is hard to imagine how she would precede her mother in the succession. So this may not be the right person, but there aren't any other Stefanies at that point in the Stammtafeln.
The list of the Counts of Barcelona leads to the fateful moment when Raymond Berengar married Petronilla, the Heiress of Aragón. Meanwhile, his brother, Berengar Raymond, had divided off Provence from their inheritance. After a brief reversion of Provence to Aragón, the two domains are again separated. In our own day, As with the County of Burgundy, assembling this section has not been easy. The chronology was originally largely derived from Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies and the genealogy from Brian Tompsett's Royal and Noble genealogy, with modifications from The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume II, c.700-c.900 [Rosamond McKitterick, editor, Cambridge, 1995], The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III, c.900-c.1024 [Timothy Reuter, editor, Cambridge, 1999], and WW-Person, A WWW Data base of European nobility (now off line). Where differences in names and dates, as we have come to expect, occur in comparison to Gordon and Tompsett, the Cambridge versions are given, with preference for Volume III over Volume II. The numbering in Tompsett often doesn't make any sense. Gordon has rationalized things for Provence, but Tompsett's numbers seem to be those that are used by the historians (e.g. Raymond Berengar V, not III, for the father of Beatrice of Provence), so the rationalization doesn't help much, and it looks like Gordon has left out a couple of Counts (Sancho and Raymond Berengar IV, though Sancho now appears not to have been a Count of Provence) that Tompsett includes. On the other hand, Tompsett does not have anyone who would correspond to Gordon's Dulcia II, who was a daughter of Raymond Berengar III ("Raymond Berengar II" to Gordon), as WW-Person actually shows (listing him as "II" on the index page -- where Dulcia is "III" rather than "II" -- but "V" on the genealogical page). The minor differences in dates are also a headache. It is very frustrating. General histories in print I've seen don't bother listing the Counts (except now for the Cambridge History), and the other pages on the Internet I've examined are unsystematic or simply disorganized.
Much of this I now considered superseded by the information in the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume II, Part 1, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser I Westeuropa [Andreas Thiele, Third Edition, R.G. Fischer Verlag, 2001], and Volume III, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser Ergänzungsband [Andreas Thiele, Second Edition, R.G. Fischer Verlag, 2001]. Volume III contains the earliest Counts of Barcelona [p.138]. Volume II, Part 1, contains the Counts of Provence [pp.174-175] and further Counts of Barcelona [p.176]. Related lines in Burgundy and Italy are contained there and in Volume II, Part 2, Europäische Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser II Nord-, Ost- und Südeuropa [Andreas Thiele, Second Edition, R.G. Fischer Verlag, 1997]. The early genealogy of Provence is entirely from the Stammtafeln sources, with some advice from a correspondent in the Netherlands who uses older Stammtafeln editions.
The Counties of Urgel (or Urgell) and Pallars began as divisions of Catalonia under the Counts of Barcelona. They thus originate with the Reconquest of Spain by the Counts of Toulouse and the Dukes of Aquitaine. Ribagorza (Ribagorça in Catalan), a bit further west, was a division of the County of Aragón, but still part of the same process. Under Gonzalo (Gonçalvo), son of Sancho the Great of Navarra, Ribagorza was briefly a separate Kingdom. All of these territories, however, ended up as fiefs of the Kingdom of Aragón.
Separate lines of the Counts of Urgel survived until 1413, of Pallars until 1481, and of Ribagorza until 1622, after reverting to the Crowns of Navarra and Aragón more than once (1017 & 1425). The Kings of Spain and Portugal, 718 AD-Present
North of Languedocien are the dialect areas of Auvergnat and Limousin. But, despite the survival of Occitan from the Albigensian crusade, all its dialects are under cultural and political pressure from Parisian French, a very different situation from what we find with Catalan in Barcelona. Of course, even Franco-Provençal, which is largely spoken in Switzerland, feels the cultural pressure of the Parisian standard.
Henceforth, the history of the two will be separate.
The identities of Barcelona and Aragón will in many ways merge, such as what we see in the adoption by Aragón of the arms and flag of Barcelona. However, the marriage would become troubled in the future. Catalonia rebelled against the united Spain, 1640-1652. The simultaneous, and successful, revolt of Portugal, and the defeat by France at Rocroi in 1643, signaled the long decline of Hapsburg Spain.
Catalonia again is subject to an independence movement, with flashes of violence. Catalonians now dispute the right of Aragón to use the traditional flag. Indeed, Aragón should revert to its original "Moor's Head" flag, which is already part of its arms. Since the arms are included on the flag, there is not much room for confusion.
Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2020 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
Counts of Urgel, Pallars, and Ribagorza, 844-1622 AD
The genealogy here for the Counties of Urgel, Pallars, Ribagorza is entirely the work of Derek R. Whaley. The sources he used were R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, for the sucession, with Leo van der Pas's Genealogics.org and the Society for Medieval Genealogy for the genealogy. I have slightly rearranged the tables to narrow them, but Mr. Whaley himself created the basic images in the format used in these pages.
Copyright (c) 2010 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. and Derek Whaley All Rights Reserved