Landrada LandradaPaul the Deacon states that Landrada was the mother of bishop Chrodegang of Metz ["Iam hinc vir egregius et omnibus praeconiis efferendur, Chrodegangus antistes eilgitur, ex pago Hasbaniensi oriundus, patre Sigramno, matre Landrada, Francorum ex genere primae nobilitatis progenitus." Paul the Deacon, Gesta Episc. Mettensium, MGH SS 2: 267].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: Unknown.
Place of
death: Unknown.
Father: Unknown.
See the Commentary section.
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: Sigram.
Children:
See the page of Sigram for details.
Chrodegang, d. 6 March 766, archbishop of
Metz, 742-766.
Gundeland, d. 778×9, abbot of Lorsch.
Chrodegang's relationship to count Cancor
The account of the foundation of the monastery of Lorsch in the Chronicle of Lorsch states that bishop Chrodegang was a cousin of count Cancor, son of count Robert and his wife Williswinde ["Cancor illustris Rhenensis pagi comes cum matre sua religiosa et Deo acceptabili Williswinda, vidua Ruoperti comitis, monasterium Lauresham in insula, quae nunc appellatur Aldenmunster, iniciantes, venerabili Ruotgango Metensis ecclesiae archiepiscopo ad instituendam inibi monasticae professionis militiam tradiderunt, nullius quidem episcopi seu cuiuslibet ecclesiae iuri aut domino subicientes, set quia minus id per se poterant, tamquam consanguineo et tum in Dei rebus viro spectatissimo, perfeciendum gubernandumque sub traditionis titulo commendantes." Chron. Laureshamense, MGH SS 21: 341]. In the absence of more detailed information, such a statement leads to further questions. Did the said relationship come through Sigram or Landrada on Chrodegang's side? Did it come through Robert or Williswinde on Cancor's side? Thus, even if we knew that Chrodegang and Cancor were first cousins (which we don't), there would be four possibilities. Fortunately, the onomastic evidence singles out one of these possibilities as more probable than the others. Robert is the modern form of a name that would have been typically written as Chrodebert in Merovingian times. Also, during that period it was common to give relatives names that had one or more elements from the names of earlier relatives, so the presence of the element Chrod- in the names of both Chrodegang and Robert suggests that the relationship was on Robert's side. Furthermore, Robert appears to have been the son of a Lambert, or Lantbert. The presence of the element Land-/Lant- in both of the names Landrada and Lambert suggests that the relationship was on Landrada's side. Since the pairs Lantbert-Chrodbert and Landrada-Chrodegang occur together, these two possibilities are mutually reinforcing, there is a strong likelihood that Landrada and Robert were either siblings or other very close relatives [see Glöckner (1936) 311-2; Zöllner (1949), 21 & n. 151].
Conjectured father: Robert, fl. 653-678, mayor of the
palace.
As noted on the page of Sigram, his son by Landrada, bishop Chrodegang of Metz, was a
cousin of count Cancor, son of Robert. Pinoteau conjectures that
Cancor's father Robert was a son of a certain Lambert, and that
the latter was a brother of Landrada and son of the earlier
Robert, mayor of the palace [Pinoteau (1958), table]. Note that
the Robert conjectured by Pinoteau to be Landrada's father is
different from the Robert conjectured by Chaume to be Sigram's
father [see the page of Sigram].
Falsely attributed
father: Charles Martel,
d. 22 October 741, duke of the Franks.
[e.g., Wertner (1884), 55] The tenth
century life of St. Chrodegang states that his mother Landrada
was a sister of king Pépin ["Sigiramnus pater eius est
dictus, in tantum nobilitatis et divitarum gloria pollens, ut eui
Pippini regis soror congruentius daretur in terra Francorum nullo
modo inveniretur. Illius utique Pippini sororem, Landradam
dictam, iste in matrimonio dignitate et gloria praepotens est
sortitus, ..." Vita Chrodegangi Episcopi Mettensis,
c. 6, MGH SS 10: 555-6]. As noted by Glöckner, Chrodegang was
more likely older than Pépin, so the chronology does not fit
well enough to trsut this late source [Glöckner (1936), 311-2].
Glöckner (1936) = K. Glöckner, "Lorsch und Lothringen, Robertinger und Capetinger", Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 50 (1936), 301-354.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Pinoteau (1958) = Hervé Pinoteau, "Les origines de la maison capétienne", Recueil du IVe congrčs international des sciences généalogique et héraldique (Bruxelles, 1958), 240-276 + gen. table.
Wertner (1884) = Moriz Wertner, "Zur Genealogie der Karolinger", Jahrbuch der k.k.heraldischen Gesellschaft Adler zu Wien 14/11 (1884): 53-60.
Zöllner (1949) = Erich Zöllner, "Woher stammte der heilige Rupert?", Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 57 (1949): 1-22.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 16 August 2012.