Constance
ConstanceConstance appears with her husband Boso and sons Guillaume and Roubaud in an act of May 961 at Arles ["... in Arelate civitate ... in mense maii, anno XXIV regnante Conrado rege Alamannorum vel Provinciarum ... Boso comes et uxor sua Constantia firmaverunt. Illorum filii similiter Willelmus comes. Rotbaldus comes" Manteyer (1908), 201, n. 1 (with date May 961), 225 n. 1 (with date May 963), both times citing Chantelou, Hist. de Montmajour, 37-8; Conrad began to reign in 937, suggesting that 961 is correct].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: After May 961.
Place of
death: Unknown.
Father: Unknown.
Mother: Unknown.
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Boso, d. after March 965, count of Arles.
Children:
See the page of Boso
for details.
Guillaume II "le Libératuer", d. aft. 29 August 993, marquis of Provence;
m. (1) Arsinde.
m. (2) Adélaïde
alias Blanche, daughter of Foulques II,
count of Anjou.
Roubaud (I), fl. 961-after 993,
marquis of Provence, 993×4 - ?;
m. Emilde.
Conjectured father (improbable): Charles "Constantine", d.
after January 962, count of Vienne;
Conjectured mother (improbable): Thiberge, living ca. 960, daughter of Garnier, count of Troyes.
Charles "Constantine" was the son of the emperor Louis
III "the Blind" ["... Karolo Constantino
Ludovici Orbi filio, qui eam [Viennam] tenebat, ..."
Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 931 (p. 46); ibid., s.a. 941 (p.
83); "Karlus Constantinus, Viennae princeps"
ibid, s.a. 951 (p. 129)]. The hypothsized parentage is an
onomastic conjecture, based on the fact that the female name
Constance (rare at the time) is similar to the male name
Constantine [Chaume (1922), 298 n. 3, 301 (table); Berge (1952),
37-43 (not seen by me); Vajay (1980), 615; Settipani (1991), 3-6;
Stasser (1997), 21]. However, although the proposed connection is
geographically and chronologically possible, there is no direct
evidence which would tie Constance to the family of Charles
"Constantine", and assuming that a woman was given a
variation of her father's name is a very weak basis for such a
conjecture. Even more important, as has been pointed out by Peter
Stewart in recent postings to soc.genealogy.medieval,
"Constantine" was a nickname give to count Charles of
Vienne by the chronicler Flodoard, who was prone to giving such
nicknames to people with common names, and the name
"Contantine" is not verified by any source independent
of Flodoard.
Conjectured father (very
improbable): Louis
III "the Blind", d. 928, emperor, 901-5.
["Etait-elle, comme le comte de Vienne
Charles Constantin, bâtard de Louis l'Aveugle?" Poly
(1976), 33 n. 18] This conjecture would make Constance a sister
of Charles "Constantine". For chronological reasons, it
is much less likely than the previous conjecture. Also, if
Constance did in fact get her name from the nickname of Charles
"Constantine", she would be more likely to be named
after her father than after a brother.
Berge (1952) = Jean Berge, Les erreurs de l'Histoire. Origines rectifiées des maisons féodales (Menton, 1952). [Not seen by me]
Cart. Cluny = A. Bernard & A. Bruel, Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Cluny, 6 vols., (Paris, 1876-1903).
Chaume (1922) = Maurice Chaume, "Le sentiment national bourguignon de Gondebaud à Charles le Tréméraire", Mémoires de l'Académe de Dijon (1933): 195-308. [Only seen by me in part]
Flodoard, Annales = Ph. Lauer, ed., Les Annales de Flodoard (Paris, 1905).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Poly (1976) = Jean-Pierre Poly, La Provence et la société féodale (879-1166), Contribution à l'étude des structures dite féodales dans le Midi (Paris, 1976).
Settipani (1991) = Christian Settipani, Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité (Paris, 1991).
Stasser (1997) = Thierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou, sa famille, ses unions, sa descendance - Etat de las question", Le Moyen Age 103,1 (1997): 9-52.
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.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 29 May 2012.