Bernard BernardBernard was named to his father's position as king of Italy in 812 or 813 ["Bernardus filius Pippini, fratris Hludoici filii Karli magni imperatoris, constituitur pro parte suo in regnum Italiae." Annales Laurissenses Minores (Codex Remensis), s.a. 812, MGH SS 1: 121; "Pernhardus rex factus est." Annales Iuvavenses Maiores, s.a. 812, MGH SS 1: 88; "... Bernhardumque nepotem suum, filium Pippini filii sui, Italiae praefecit et regem appellari iussit." ARF, s.a. 813, 138]. Bernard was blinded for disloyalty by the emperor, and died three days later [Thegan, Vita Hludowici, c. 23, MGH SS 2: 596].
Date of Birth: say 797.
This is a reasonable estimate,
since he left a son, and his father was born in 777.
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 17 April 818.
[Enhardi Fuldensis Annales, s.a.
818, MGH SS 1: 356; Regino, s.a. 818, MGH SS 1: 567 (see below
for quote); Thegan, Vita Hludowici, c. 22-23, MGH SS 2:
596; Vita Hludowici, MGH SS 2: 623]. [For the date of 17 April, see Brandenburg (1964), 1;
Werner (1967), table; Settipani (1993), 212; the original source
is not clear]
Place of Death: Aachen.
Father: Pépin/Pippin, d. 8 July 810, king of Italy.
Mother: Chrothais.
Spouse: m. ca. 815, Kunigund, d. after 15 June
835.
Kunigund mentions her deceased husband
Bernard and her son Pépin in a charter dated 15 June 835 ["Ideo
ego in Dei nomine Cunicunda relicta quondam Bernardi inclite
regis, cogitans pro mercedem & remedium anime seniori meo
Bernardi vel mea, seu filio meo Pippino, ... Sign. + m. Cunicunde
qui hanc cartola tradiconis fieri rogavit, ..." Affò
(1792-5), 283-5 (#8)]
Child:
"Anno dominicae incarnationis 818. Bernhardus filius
Pippini, rex Italiae, Aquis evocatus ad imperatorem dolo capitur,
et primo oculis, post vita privatur. Habuit autem iste Bernhardus
filium nomine Pippinum, qui tres liberos genuit, Bernhardum,
Pippinum et Heribertum; qui Heribertus Rodulfum comitem, filium
Balduini interfecit nostris temporibus, et non multum post
occisus est a Balduino, satellite Balduini, gratris Rodulfi, qui
Balduinus hucusque in Flandris ducatum tenet." [Regino,
s.a. 818, MGH SS 1: 567]
Pépin/Pippin, b. say 815, d. after 840, count (near Paris).
Affò (1792-5) = Ireneo Affò, Storia della città di Parma, 4 vols. (Parma, 1792-5).
ARF = Georg Pertz & Friedrich Kurze, Annales Regni Francorum (Annals of the kingdom of the Franks), (MGH SRG 6, Hannover, 1895), a collective name commonly given to two closely related sets of annals, Annales Laurissenses Maiores and the so-called Einhardi Annales (Annals of Einhard), in parallel on alternate pages until the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 (s.a. 801).
Brandenburg (1964) = Erich Brandenburg, Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (Frankfurt, 1964).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Settipani (1993) = Christian Settipani, La préhistoire des Capétiens 481-987 (Première partie - Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens) (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 1993).
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
First uploaded 23 May 2007.