Herbert I
"Éveille-Chien" ("Wake-Dog")(Herbertus Evigilans Canem)
Herbert I
"Éveille-Chien" ("Wake-Dog")Having evidently succeeded his father a year or two earlier, Herbert "Wake-Dog" first appears in action at the Battle of Pontlevoy on 6 July 1016, in alliance with Foulques III Nerra of Anjou against Eudes II of Blois [Gesta consulum Andegavorum, Marchegay & Salmon (1856), 107-8; Hist. Saint-Florent de Saumur, Marchegay & Mabille (1869), 274; Halphen (1906), 33-5]. On the night of 7×8 March 1025, Herbert (Arbertus Cenomannis comitis) was treacherously captured by Foulques III Nerra, who had promised him the city of Saintes, only being released two years later, after he had sworn homage to Foulques [Adémar Chab., iii, 64 (p. 189); Annales de Vendôme, s.a. 1027, Halphen (1903), 61; Halphen (1906), 68-9]. Herbert was still living in 1032×5, when he ratified a donation of Yves de Bellême, bishop of Sées [Latouche (1910), 143 (#22)]. On his death, he was succeeded by his young son Hugues IV under the tutelage of Herbert's uncle Herbert Bacon, who was the de facto count during the early years of Hugues IV.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 15 February 1032×5.
The date of 15 February comes from the
martyrology of Couture ["15 kalendas marcii obierunt
Herbertus, comes Cenom[anensis]..." Latouche (1910),
26, n. 4, who notes that this cannot be a reference to Herbert
II, who died on a 6 March]. Herbert was still alive at the time
of a charter which can be dated 1032×5 (see above), and he was
deceased before Gervais de Château-du-Loir became bishop of Le
Mans (which occurred by 17 December 1035) [Latouche (1910), 26,
n. 4].
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
Hugues III, d. 1014×5, count of Maine.
The relationship between Hugues III and
Herbert I is stated by an early interpolation to Adémar de
Chabannes ["... Arbertum Cenomannis comitem [filium
Ugonis]" Adémar Chab., iii, 64 (p. 189); the addition
"filium Ugonis" appears in a twelfth century
manuscript] and Orderic Vitalis ["Herbertus
Cenomannorum comes ... Hugonis patris sui ..." OV iv (vol. 2, pp. 304-5)]. It is
further confirmed by the statement of the Actus that Herbert
Bacon (a brother of Hugues III, as confirmed by charters - see
the page of Hugues
II) was an avunculus of
Herbert I ["... Herbertus, comes, cognomine Baco,
avunculus Herberti, qui fuit temporibus Avesgaudi episcopi, ..."
Act. Pont. Cenom., 363].
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse(s): Unknown.
Children:
See the page of Paula for more
details.
Hugues
IV, d. 26 March, probably
1051, count of Maine.
["... ab Hugone Cenomanorum comite
filio Herberti illius qui Evigilans-Canes dictus est, ..."
ca. 1046, Cart. Trinité de Vendôme, 123
(#66)]
Biote, m. Gautier,
count of Mantes.
Gersende, m. (1) Thibaud III,
count of Blois; (2) Alberto Azzo II of Este.
Possible daughter:
(perhaps one, but not both, of the following)
Paula, m. Jean, living 13 February 1087, lord of La Flèche.
NN, m. Landry alias
Lancelin, fl 1027×8-1050,
lord of Baugency.
The exact manner of inheritance of the
county of Maine by the lords of La Flèche is uncertain. Two of
these possibilities are either that Jean's wife Paula was a
daughter of Herbert, or that Jean (son of Landry alias
Lancelin) was a maternal grandson of Herbert. These two scenarios
obviously cannot both be true (and it is possible that neither of
them are). The possibilities are discussed in detail on Paula's page.
Act. Pont. Cenom. = Busson & Ledru, eds., Actus Pontificum Cenomannis in urbe Degentium (Archives Historiques du Maine 2, Le Mans, 1902).
Adémar Chab. = Jules Chavanon, ed., Adémar de Chabannes - Chronique (Paris, 1897).
Cart. Trinité de Vendôme = Charles Métais, Cartulaire de l'abbaye cardinale de la Trinité de Vendôme, 2 vols. (Paris, 1893).
Halphen (1903) = Louis Halphen, ed., Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire de comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Marchegay & Mabille (1869) = Paul Marchegay & Émile Mabille, eds., Chroniques des églises d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, Paris, 1869).
Marchegay & Salmon (1856) = Paul Marchegay & André Salmon, Chroniques d'Anjou (Paris, 1856).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
Uploaded 10 January 2008.