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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1997-04 > 0860111753


From: Gordon Fisher < >
Subject: Re: ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 18:55:53 -0500


At 02:08 PM 4/3/97 -0500, you (Todd Farmerie) wrote:
[snip, snip]

>
>
>> 38 Foulques III "Nerra" of Anjou Count. Born circa
>> 970/971. Died 21 Jun 1040 in Metz, France. Count of Anjou
>> {986-}.
>> 39 Hildegarde of Lotharingia. Born circa 964/974 in
>> France. Died 1 Apr 1046 in Jerusalem, Holy Land.
>
>
>I have seen several sources identify her as "of Lorraine" or "of Metz"
>but none provide a parentage. Do you have anything for this? If not,
>then how solid is the toponym?
>
>taf
>
>

Bernard Bachrach, in his book *Fulk Nerra*, 1993, has on p 100:

"Fulk's vigorous activities following his return from the Holy Land were
highlighted by his marriage to Hildegarde, an *illusta puella* from Lorraine
who was descended from royalty."

To this, he has a footnote on p 318: "*Cartul. du Ronceray*, no. 173,
provides the documentary evidence for Hildegarde's royal birth. The
veracity of this text is unchallenged: e.g., Halphen, *Le comte' d'Anjou*,
11, n. 1. Thus far, however, no one has been able to trace her immediate
family with any certitude. See the literature cited by Bachrach, "Origins of
Countess Gerberga," 14-15, n. 11."

The last part is evidently a reference to his article cited in his
bibliography, "Some Observations on the Origins of Countess Gerberga of the
Angevins: An Essay in the Application of the Tellenbach-Werner
Prosopographyical Method.", *Medieval Prosopography 7*, no. 2 (1986): 1-23.

Bachrach says on p 100: "King Robert's diplomatic exchanges with the
Germans, of which the Meuse meeting is the best documented, are likely to
have prompted his interest in Hildegarde. More to the point, Fulk needed a
wife who could provide a male heir and his choice of a woman from a
prominent family in Lorraine might perhaps be seen to have had a diplomatic
and strategic purpose as well, which could be threatened by Fulk's in-laws
if the count of Blois chose to mount military operation against the Angevin
count in the west."

In the previous paragraph, Bachrach seems to be assuming without question
that Hildegarde is from Lorraine, although as he says in the footnote, her
"immediate family" hasn't been determined (as of 1993, to the best of
Bachrach's knowledge).

Gordon Fisher

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