The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England

Béatrix

Wife of Robert I, king of France.

Beatrix is mentioned in an act of Hugues le Grand dated 26 March 931 ["Hugo rector abbatiæ sancti Martini, ... et genitoris nostri Rotberti quondam regis ac genitricis nostræ domnæ Beatricis, ..." RHF 9: 719], and her name appears in abbreviated form ("Be.") in another act ["... et Rotbertus prefatus sancti Aniani pro remedio anime suæ et anime uxoris suæ Be. atque pro incolumitate filii sui Hugonis concessit fratribus." Vidier (1907), 317].

Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.

Date of death: Unknown (but probably before 21 May 907).
The act of 26 March 931 has often been taken to indicate that Béatrix was still alive on that date, since the word quondam is applied only to Robert. However, as was pointed out by Peter Stewart in the soc.genealogy.medieval newsgroup, if Béatrix were still alive in 931, then she would have been married to Robert during the time that he was king of France (922-3), and she should therefore in that case appear as regina in the 931 act, and not merely as domna. The two interpretations are obviously mutually inconsistent, and the scenario in which Béatrix died before Robert became king seems more likely. If the countess Adèle who appears next to Robert in a document of 21 May 907 was his wife at the time, as seems likely (see the page of Robert I), then Béatrix would have died before that date.
Place of death: Unknown.

Father: Unknown.
Mother: Unknown.
See the Commentary section.

Spouse: Robert I, d. 923, marquis of Neustria; later king of France, 922-3.

Children:

Hugues "le Grand", d. 16×17 June 956, duke of the Franks;
m. (1) NN, daughter of Roger, count of Maine, by his wife Rothilde;
m. (2) 926, Eadhild, daughter of Eadweard (Edward) "the Elder", king of the West Saxons;
m. (3) 937, Hadwig, d. 9 January after 958, daughter of Heinrich I, king of Germany.

See the page of Robert I for other children of Robert whose mother is not directly documented.

Commentary

Supposed father (very doubtful): Heribert I, count of Vermandois.

This link was commonly assumed to be correct in the nineteenth and early twentienth centuries. However, this claim was questioned by Erich Brandenburg, who objected to the apparent uncle-niece marriage and expressed doubt as to Béatrix's name ["angeblich Beatrix genannt" Brandenburg (1964), 88, n. 3]. Karl Ferdinand Werner dealt with both of these objections, by giving the evidence that the mother of Hugues le Grand was indeed named Béatrix (see above), and by pointing out that Heribert's wife could have been a daughter of Robert I by another marriage [Werner (1967), 458, n. 4]. In addition, Christian Settipani gave an onomastic argument for making Heribert I the father of Béatrix, pointing out that Béatrix's son Hugues le Grand had an illegitimate son named Heribert [Settipani (1993), 222, n. 220]. Unfortunately, neither Werner nor Settipani mentioned any of the primary evidence for the parentage of Béatrix. Other recent accounts have included Helmut Schwager arguing against the affiliation [Schwager (1994), Excurs 4, 406-9] and Constance Bouchard arguing for it [Bouchard (1981), 282, n. 34; Bouchard (2001), 215, n. 1]. Most recently, in a number of postings to the internet newsgroup/mailing list soc.genealogy.medieval/GEN-MEDIEVAL, Peter Stewart has argued persuasively against placing Béatrix as a daughter of Heribert I.

The claim that Hugues le Grand was born to Robert I by a sister of Heribert II of Vermandois appears once in the eleventh century and then several times in the twelfth century:

• Historia Francorum Senonensis (composed 1015×1034): "Habebat enim idem Robertus sororem istius Herberti in conjugio; de qua ortus est Hugo Magnus." [Historia Francorum Senonensis, MGH SS 9: 366; for the date of composition, see Lot (1891), 338-345]
• Clarius de Sens: "Habebat enim ipse Rotbertus sororem istius Herberti in conjugio, de qua ortus est Hugo-Magnus." [Clarius de Sens, Chronicon Sancti-Petri-Vivi Senonensis, Bib. Hist. Yonne, 2: 481]
• Orderic Vitalis, in an addition to Gesta Normannorum Ducum: "Rodbertus enim dux sororem Herberti in coniugio habuit, ex qua Hugonem Magnum genuit." [GND (Orderic) ii, 14(21) (vol. 1, pp. 72-3)]. Also, similarly in Book 7 of his ecclesiastical history: "Habebat enim idem Rodbertus sororem istius Herberti in conjugio, de quo ortus est Hugo Magnus." [PL 188: 509 (the relevant volume of Chibnall's edition of OV is not easily available to me)].
• Richard de Poitou: "Hic Hugo fuit filius Roberti tyranni, qui interfectus est a Carolo, quem habuerat a sorore Herberti comitis Veromandensis" Chron. Richard Pictavensis [RHF 9: 22] "Habebat autem idem Rotbertus supradictus sororem hujus Herberti in conjugio, de qua natus jam fuerat Hugo Magnus ejusdem Rotberti filius." [ibid., 23]
• Historia regum Francorum: "Habebat namque praedictus Robertus sororem istius Herberti in conjugio, de qua natas est Hugo Magnus." [RHF 9: 43]
• Chronicon Sithiensi: "Heribertus Viromandiae comes proditorum nequissimus dolens de morte Roberte regni usurpatoris nunc proxime in bello Suessionico peremti, qui sororem ejus uxorem habebat, ..." [RHF 9: 77]
• Étienne de Rouen: "..., a Herberto comite, cuius sororem predictus Robertus habebat in uxorem, ..." [Ex Stephanni Normannico Dracone, i, 24, MGH SS 26: 157]
• Robert de Torigny, in his additions to Gesta Normannorum Ducum, had the following variation: "Factus est tamen post ipsius princeps Francorum filius eius Hugo Magnus, natus ex filia Herberti comitis Parrone" [GND (Rob. Tor.) viii 26 (vol. 2, pp. 242-3)]. The next sentence mentions the capture of Charles the Simple by the same Heribert, showing that Robert de Torigny was making Hugues le Grand the son of a daughter of Heribert II.

There are several reasons to doubt this parentage of Béatrix:

• Not only are the sources which make Hugues le Grand a nephew of Heribert II generally late, but the apparent number of such sources is an illusion. It is clear from the wording that the accounts of Clarius de Sens, Orderic Vitalis, Richard de Poitou, and Historia regum Francorum all depend, either directly or indirectly, on the account of Historia Francorum Senonensis, and it is likely that the others do also. Thus, the only one of these accounts that is certainly independent of the others is Historia Francorum Senonensis.
• Historia Francorum Senonensis is not a reliable source for the early tenth century [see Lot (1891), 338-345]. To give one example that is even closer to the time of writing, the Historia falsely states that Hugues Capet and his brothers were sons of Hugues le Grand by a daughter of king Eudes ["... obiit Hugo Magnus dux Francorum ... Cui successerunt filii eius, Hugo videlicet, Otto et Heinricus, nati ex filia Odonis regis." Historia Francorum Senonensis, MGH SS 9: 366]. Even if we make the assumption that Odonis was a scribal slip for Ottonis, Hugues Capet's mother was a sister, and not a daughter, of Otto the Great.
• It is well established that Heribert II was married to a sister of Hugues le Grand [see the page of the unnamed wife of Heribert II for more details]. Thus, the assumption that Hugues was also the son of a sister of Herbert is awkward. Although an uncle-niece marriage can be prevented by the assumption that Heribert's wife was the daughter of Robert by a wife other than Béatrix, the marriage of a man to his nephew's half-sister would usually have been avoided.
• The marriage of Heribert II to a sister of Hugues le Grand also gives us a reasonable explanation of how the statement that Hugues was a nephew of Heribert might have arisen as a mistake. A carelessly worded (or excessively ambiguous) statement about the relationship might have been misinterpreted by the author of Historia Francorum Senonensis.
• No contemporary record mentions Hugues le Grand as being a nephew of Heribert II. The silence of Flodoard on this matter is especially striking, since he mentions the fact that the sons of Heribert were nepotes of Hugues le Grand (or that Hugues was an avunculus of Heribert's sons) on several occasions ["... Hugo dux cum nepotibus suis, Heriberti filiis, ..." Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 943, 88; "... inter filios Heriberti comitis ..., Hugone principe avunculo ipsorum ..." ibid. s.a. 946, 100; "Nepotes Hugonis, Heribertus et Rotbertus, ..." ibid., s.a. 952, 134], and we would therefore expect him to also mention Hugues as a nephew of Heribert if that were a valid relationship. However, Flodoard never refers to Hugues and Heribert as blood relatives, despite several opportunities to do so when they are named together.

Thus, the only arguments in favor of the affiliation of Béatrix to Heribert I are Historia Francorum Senonensis, a dubious source, and the onomastics involving an illegitimate son of Hugues le Grand. Onomastic arguments involving illegitimate children are generally weak (because of the usual lack of knowledge about the child's maternal ancestry), and the evidence for the relationship does not seem to be strong enough to counter the negative evidence.

Falsely attributed father: Hugues, "duke of Burgundy".
This is due to Aubry de Troisfontaines (who is referring to Hugues le Grand as Hugues "Capet") ["At Roberto regi non in regnum, sed in ducatum successit filius eius Hugo, qui Magnus est et Cappatus a cappa Domini, quam de terra promissionis transvexisse fertur in Franciam, appellatus. Huius mater filia fuit ducis Hugonis Burgundie, unde et heredes eius adhuc ducatum retinent." Aubry de Troisfontaines, s.a. 922, MGH SS 23: 757; "Avia autem huius regis Hugonis, mater videlicet Hugonis Cappet fuit per consequentiam filia illius Hugonis Capito, qui erat dux Burgundie inferioris, et fuit frater regis Rodulphi et comitis Vitriaci Bosonis." ibid., s.a. 988, p. 774]. This Hugues, supposedly "duke of Burgundy", is apparently a reference to Hugues "the Abbot", uncle (not brother) of king Rudolf I of Burgundy.

Vajay:
Falsely attributed second husband: Udo, d. 949, count in Wetterau.
Falsely attributed children:
Gebhard, d. 938.
Konrad, d. 20 August 997, duke of Swabia.
Heribert, d. 992, count in Kinziggau.
Judith, m. Heinrich, count.
[Vajay (1980), 770-1] Szabolcs de Vajay's claim was that after the death of Robert I, Béatrix married the "Konradiner" count Udo, and was mother by him of four children. (The controversies regarding the parentage of some of these children do not involve Béatrix, and need not be discussed here.) No good evidence was offered for identifying the two alleged sisters as the same individual.

Bibliography

Bib. Hist. Yonne = Louis-Maximilien Duru, ed., Bibliothèque historique de l'Yonne, 2 vols., (Auxerre & Paris, 1850-63).

Bouchard (1981) = Constance Brittain Bouchard, "Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries", Speculum 56 (1981): 268-287.

Bouchard (2001) = Constance Brittain Bouchard, "Those of my Blood" Constructing Noble Families in Medieval Francia (Philadelphia, 2001).

Brandenburg (1964) = Erich Brandenburg, Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (Frankfurt, 1964).

Flodoard, Annales = Ph. Lauer, ed., Les Annales de Flodoard (Paris, 1905).

GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1992). Citation is by book and chapter, with the volume and page number of the edition by van Houts in parentheses.

GND (Orderic) = Additions to GND by Orderic Vitalis.

GND (Rob. Tor.) = Additions to GND by Robert de Torigny.

Lot (1891) = Ferdinand Lot, Les derniers Carolingiens (Paris, 1891).

MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.

OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).

RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.

Schwager (1994) = Helmut Schwager, Graf Heribert II. von Soissons, Omois, Meaux, Madrie sowie Vermandois (900/06-943) und die Francia (Nord-Frankreich) in der 1. Hälfte des 10. Jahrhunderts (Münchener historische Studien Abteilung mittelalterliche Geschichte, 6, 1994).

Settipani (1993) = Christian Settipani, La préhistoire des Capétiens 481-987 (Première partie - Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens) (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 1993).

Vajay (1980) = Szabolcs de Vajay, "Comtesses d'origine occitane dans la Marche d'Espagne aux 10e et 11e siècles", Hidalguia 28 (1980): 585-616, 755-788.

Vidier (1907) = A. Vidier, "Notices sur des actes d'affranchissement & de précaire concernant Saint-Aignan d'Orléans", Le Moyen Age 20 (1907), 289-317.

Werner (1967) = Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen bis um das Jahr 1000 (1.-8. Generation)", Karl der Große 4 (1967): 403-483.

Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
This page owes much to several postings made by Peter Stewart on the topic of Béatrix on the internet newsgroup/mailing list soc.genealogy.medieval/GEN-MEDIEVAL.

First uploaded 26 July 2008.

Minor revision uploaded 23 February 2009: added note on Vajay's theory that Udo was her second husband.

Project Home Page

Henry II Ancestor Table

Alphabetical Index of Ancestor Pages