Hildeburge de Bellême
Hildeburge de BellêmeDate of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 27 October 1024.
["1024. Obiit Hildeburgis mater Gervasii
archiepiscopi" Annales Remenses et Colonienses,
MGH SS 16: 731; "... avunculi mei domini Avesgaudi,
episcopi, ..., VI kalendas novembris, obiit in pace, ... sic et
qui eadem die accidit, sororis ejus, matris quippe mee Hyldeburge"
Act. Pont. Cenom., c. 31, 370-1; 27 Oct.: "obiit
Hildeburgis" Nec. Mans, 285]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
Yves I, living 1005, lord of Bellême.
Mother:
Godehilde, living 1005.
Actus Pontificum Cenomannis states
that Hildeburge was the eldest sister of bishop Avesgaud ["...
emit a canonicis suis ecclesaim de Prorigniaco et ecclesiam de
Loiaco, et dedit unam Hildeburgi, sorori suae primogenitae, et
alteram Godehildae, germanae suae secundae." Act.
Pont. Cenom. 357].
Spouse:
m. 1006 or earlier, Hamon de Château-du-Loir, d. 15 January 1031.
In his testament, bishop Gervaise mentions
his avuculus bishop Avesgaud and his parents Hamon and
Hildeburge, sister of Avesgaud ["Ego Gervasius, sancte
Cenomannensis ecclesie, non merito, presul ... et avunculi mei
Avesgaudi ... necnon et genotoris cum genetrice mea, Haimonis
scilicet et Hildeburga, ... avunculi mei domini Avesgaudi,
episcopi, ... sororis ejus, matris quippe mee Hyldeburge: nec
pretermittatur ille patris mei Haimonis ..." ibid.,
367-371]. White erroneously makes Hildeburge's sister Godehilde
the wife of Hamon [White (1940): 75-6, 98].
Children:
See the page of Hamon for documentation on the children.
Gervaise I, b. Chateau-du-Loir, 2 Feb.
1007, d. Reims, 4 July 1067, lord of Château-du-Loir, after
1028×1036-1067, bishop of Mans, 1036-1055, archbishop of Reims,
1055-1067.
Avesgaud, fl. 1028×1036.
Guillaume, fl. 1028×1036, living 31
May 1040.
Robert, fl. 1028×1036-1065, prob. d. bef. 1067; m. Elizabeth.
Rotrude, m. (1) NN;
(2) Gui I de Laval.
Supposed daughter (uncertain):
Hildeburge,
m. Gaudin I de Malincorne.
See the page on Hamon.
Falsely attributed
earlier husband: Albert le
Riche.
Falsely attributed son by Albert le Riche:
Albert, living 1044,
abbot of Saint-Mesmin de Micy;
m. NN, probably sister of Hugues,
viscount of Châteaudun and archbiship of Tours, and daughter of Hildegarde.
It has been claimed that before she married Hamon, Hildeburge was
married to a certain Albert/Aubert le Riche, by whom she had
Albert, abbot of Micy, and father of Arnoul, archbishop of Tours.
A charter of 1030×1 makes Albert the son of another Albert and a
Hildeburge, and gives him two uncles (patrui) Anno,
abbot of Jumièges (and of Saint-Mesmin de Micy) and Azenar
["... quidam fidelis noster nomine Albertus, ...
Tradidit autem quasdem res sui beneficii sancto Petro Gimegiensi,
faventibus nobis, videlicet pro redemptione anime sue et patrui
sui illius loci abbatis, nomine Annae, et patris sui Alberti, et
patrui sui Azerini, et matris sue Hildeburgis, et uxoris sue, et
sobolis feminini generis." Cart. Jumièges, 52 (#15)].
This is confirmed by a charter of 1014×28 ["...
Albertus Dives, senioris Alberti filius et Annonis nepos ..."
Cart S.-Martin de Pontoise, Appendix 3, 345 n. 440b]. A poorly
worded charter of 1031×3 appears to say the same ["...
vir Albertus nomine, ..., pro animæ suæ parentumque suorum,
avunculo videlicet patrui sui ejusdem loci abbatis Annæ nomine
et patris sui Alberti, ..." ibid., 345]. Depoin
suggests that "avunculo videlicet patrui"
should instead read "avunculi videlicet patris"
[ibid., 345 n. 440], but in comparison with the other charters it
would appear that "avunculi videlicet patrui"
is the correct reading. Settipani would make abbot Albert the son
of Azenar brother of abbot Anno, based on an extract from the
cartulary of Jumièges quoted by Depoin ["Anna abbas
(Sancti Maximini Miciacensis) dicitur patruus Alberti, quem
Robertus rex suum fidelem dicit, confirmans eidem donationem
Gemeticensi monasterio factam 'pro redemptione animae suae,
inquit, et patris sui Azermi, et matris suae Hildeburgis' ..."
Depoin (1909), 157, citing an extract from the cartulary of
Jumièges, ms. latin 13817, fol. 389; Settipani (1997), 261 n.
248]. However, this appears to be a careless quote from the
charter of 1030×1 cited above (perhaps caused by the similarity
of the words patris and patruus). Albert of Micy would
appear to be the abbot Albert whose death date of 14 January was
given by the necrology of Jumièges [14 Jan. "Albertus,
abbas et levita" Ex Obituario Gemmeticensi,
RHF 23: 417]. Joseph Depoin gives 14 January 1036 as the date,
without citing any authority [Cart S.-Martin de Pontoise,
Appendix 12, 469; Depoin (1909), 157]. However, Thomas Head cites
a charter indicating that Albert was still alive in 1044 [Head
(1990), 227 n. 126, citing Chartes de Micy 142-7 (#27),
the latter not seen by me].
Thus, Albert was the son of an Albert and a Hildeburge. But was this the same Hildeburge who married Hamon de Château-du-Loir? In a charter of 1023×7, in which he donates property in Bellême from his maternal inheritance, Albert calls archbishop Arnoul of Tours his son ["Ego Albertus, abbas abbatiae sanctorum Stephani prothomartyris et Christi confessoris Maximini, ..., erat michi quidam alodus ex materna hereditate, ..., dedi pro remedio anime meae filiique mei Arnulfi, Turonensis archiepiscopi, et parentum meorum, ... Est autem ipse alodus in pago Bethlemensi, quem vocant Domna Maria, ..." Cart. Jumièges, 24 (39); also in Bry (1620), 51]. Since this confirms the Bellême origin of Albert's mother Hildeburge, it would at first glance seem to support her identification with the woman of the same name who is later found married to Hamon. However, chronological arguments pointed out by Seppipani would appear to rule out this possibility [Settipani (1997), 261 n. 248]. Arnoul became archbishop in 1023 ["MXXIII. Obiit Hugo archiepiscopus Turonensium IV idus junii. Cui successit Arnulfus nepos VII kalendas decembris." Annals of Vendôme, s.a. 1023, Halphen (1903), 60]. Since the canonical age for archbishops was thirty, Arnoul was probably born in or before 993. This makes it difficult to place the birth of his father Albert after ca. 975. However, Hamon's wife Hildeburge had a son (Gervaise) born in 1007 [Ex chronico Remensi, RHF 10: 271], and therefore almost certainly she was not the mother of Albert more than thirty years earlier. Nevertheless, given the Bellême origin, a close relationship between the two Hildeburges would seem to be a good possibility.
Act. Pont. Cenom. = Busson & Ledru, eds., Actus Pontificum Cenomannis in urbe Degentium (Archives Historiques du Maine 2, Le Mans, 1902).
Boussard (1951) = Jacques Boussard, "La seigneurie de Bellême aux Xe et XIe siècles", in Mélanges d'Histoire du Moyen Âge dédiés à la mémoire de Louis Halphen (Paris, 1951).
Bry (1620) = Gilles Bry, Histoire des pays et comté dv Perche et dvché d'Alençon (Paris, 1620).
Cart. Jumièges = J.-J. Vernier, ed., Chartes de l'abbaye de Jumièges (v. 825 à 1204), 2 vols. (Rouen & Paris, 1916).
Cart. S.-Martin de Pontoise = Joseph Depoin, ed., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Martin de Pontoise (Pontoise, 1895).
Depoin (1909) = Joseph Depoin, "Les premiers anneaux de la maison de Bellême - Contribution à la chronologie des évèques du Mans", Bulletin Historique et Philologique du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, 1909: 147-167.
Halphen (1903) = Louis Halphen, ed., Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Head (1990) = Thomas Head, Hagiography and the Cult of Saints: The Diocese of Orléans 800-1200 (Cambridge University Press, 1990).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Nec. Mans = Busson & Ledru, Nécrologe-obituaire de la Cathédrale du Mans (Archives Historiques du Maine 7, Le Mans, 1906).
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Settipani (1997) = Christian Settipani, "Les comtes d'Anjou et leur alliances aux Xe et XIe siècles", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 211-267.
White (1940) = Geoffrey H. White, "The First House of Bellême", Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. ser. 4, 22 (1940): 67-99.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 7 July 2005.
Revision uploaded 24 January 2011 (added death date and details on abbot Albert).