Mathilde von Sachsen
Mathilde von SachsenDate of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 25 May 1009 (not 1008).
["Obiit Mathildis comitissa. Et contigit eclipsis solis
IV kal. Aprilis, luna existente XXVIII." Annales
Blandinienses, s.a. 1009, p. 23; similarly in Annales
Elmarenses, s.a. 1009, p. 88] Ludwig Bethmann's edition of Annales
Blandinienses places both events in 1008 [MGH SS 5: 25].
Grierson does not comment on this difference (other than a
general comment that Bethmann has misplaced some annals), but the
lunar data in the following entry is consistent with 1009 and not
with 1008, showing that Grierson's placement of 1009 is correct
[for the lunar data, see the table in Latrie (1889), 129-130]. The necrologies of Saint-Vanne and St. Michel's at
Lüneburg show the death of a countess Mathilde on 25 May ["VIII
kal. [Iunii] Domna Matildis comitissa digne
memoralibus que locellum nostrum honestavit auri et argentii
donariis et prediis." Nek. S. Vanne 140; 25 May: "Matthild
com", Necrology of St. Michael's, Lüneburg, Althoff
(1984), 398-9 (G 52)]. Grierson suggests that it is more likely
that this Mathilde was the woman who was wife of count Hermann of
Eename [Grierson (1937), 23, n. 6]. However, the necrology at
Lüneburg includes many members of the family of Hermann of
Saxony, Mathilde's father, and that of Saint-Vanne includes
Mathilde's second husband and all but one of her sons, so it
likely that Vanderkindere was correct in assigning the 25 May
obituary to the present Mathilde [Vanderkindere (1902), 1: 293].
A supposed epitaph giving a death date of 24 July would, if
genuine, apply not to this Mathilde, but to her granddaughter, a
daughter of Arnulf II [Adrien de Budt, Chronicon Flandriae,
Corpus Chron. Fland., 272; see the
page of Arnulf II].
Place of Death: Unknown.
Her epitaph reads as follows: "Si quis scire culpit, hoc
cuius membra sepulchro / Claudantur, claro colligat hoc titulo. /
Machtildis quarta Flandrina est haec comitissa / Hermannique
ducis filia Saxoniae. / Coniux Balduini iuvenis, sed post
Godofredi / Ardennae comitis atque Denhain domini. / Legitimo
sociata thoro fuit et generavit / Tres illi natos, pernitidos
iuvenes, / Gofridum et Gotelonem Eteloneque iuncto, / Fortes,
magnifici quique fuere viri." [MGH Poetae Latini 5:
299]
Father:
Hermann, d. 27 or 28 March 973, duke of Sachsen (Saxony).
["Qui [Baldwin III] ad legitimam perveniens
etatem, Deo concedente ac patris voluntate accepit coniugem
nobilitati suae condignam nomine Mathildim, filiam nobilissimi
principis vocabulo Herimanni." Witger, Genealogia
Arnulfi comitis, MGH SS 9: 304; see also Annalista Saxo,
s.a. 1002, 1037, MGH SS 6: 648, 681; Althoff (1984), 376 (H 6)]
Possible mother:
Oda, d. 15 March, year uncertain.
Althoff cites the necrology of St.
Xanten for 15 March as giving the obituary of Hermann's wife
("obitus Ode uxoris Hermanni duci"), and the
necrology of St. Michael's at Lüneburg gives the same date
[Althoff (1984), 392 (G 27)]. Countess Oda ("Ode comes.")
heads the list of women in Tabula gentis Billingorum
[MGH SS 13: 344], followed by "Hildesuith comes."
and "Hildegard com.", the latter of whom can
be identified with the wife of Hermann's son duke Bernhard I. The
often repeated claim that Hermann's wife was named Hildegarde is
based on a late source which is evidently confusing the wives of
Hermann and Bernhard ["Iste Hermannus primus castrum
Luneburg construxit et cenobium in honore sancti Michaelis, quod
ipse multis prediis et ornamentis ditavit, in quo etiam cum uxore
sua Hildegarda honorifice sepultus est." Chronicon
sancti Michaelis Luneburgensis, MGH SS23: 394]. As for
Hildesuith, the natural explanations for her presence in the list
would be that she was either an otherwise unknown second wife of
Hermann or an otherwise unknown first wife of Bernhard [Althoff
(1984), 49]. Given the similarity between the names Hildesuith
and Hildegard, the former possibility would give us an alternate
explanation for the error of Chronicon sancti Michaelis
Luneburgensis. As a confirmed wife of Hermann, Oda would
seem to make a more likely mother for Mathilde, but it would be
difficult to rule out Hildesuith.
Spouses:
See the pages of her two husbands Baldwin III and Godefroid for further details..
(1) m. not long before 961.
Baldwin
III, d. 1 January 962, (joint)
count of Flanders.
(2) m. 962 or later.
Godefroid/Gottfried
(Godefridus), d. 3 September, 997 or later, count of Verdun, count
in Bidgau and Methingau, marquis of Eename.
Children:
by Baldwin III of Flanders:
Arnulf II, d. March 988, count of Flanders, 965-988.
["Qui Balduinus ex Mathilde filium genuit Arnolfum
minorem, et immatura morte praeventus morbo variolorum periit."
De Arnulfo Comite, MGH SS 9: 304]
[See the page of Arnulf
II for more details.]
by Godefroid of Verdun:
[See the page of Godefroid of Verdun for details.]
Frédéric/Friedrich (Fridericus),
d. 6 January 1022, count of Verdun, provost of Saint-Vaast.
Adalbero, d. 18 April 991, bishop of
Verdun, 984-991.
Hermann (Hezelo),
d. 28 May 1029, count of Eename; count of Brabant, m. Mathilde.
Godefroid/Gottfried (Godefridus),
d. 27 September 1023, duke of Lower Lorraine, 1005-1023.
Gozelo I, d. 19 April 1044, duke of
Lower Lorraine, 1023-1044; and of Upper Lorraine, 1033-1044.
Ermengarde, d. before 5 January 1043
(10 March 1042?), m. Otto von Hammerstein, d.
1036, count in Wetterau.
A conjectured additional daughter is discussed on Godefroid's page.
Falsely attributed
father: Conrad,
king of Burgundy.
Conrad of Burgundy did have a daughter named Mathilde by his wife
Mathilde, daughter of king Louis IV of France (see below under
Bertha), but Conrad's daughter Mathilde was born after Baldwin's
death [Conrad and Mathilde of France were married 963×6; see
Poupardin (1907), 384-5]. The reason that one source has
identified Conrad's daughter with Baldwin's wife of the same name
is unclear ["Mathildis, soror Lotharii regis Francie et
Karoli ducis, genuit Rodulphum regem Burgundie, Bertham, Guepam
et Mathildam. Horum Bertha genuit Othonem comitem Campanensium.
Hic Otto genuit Theobaldum comitem. Theobaldus genuit Stephanum,
Othonem, Hugonem, fratres, comites. Guepa, soror Berthe et
Mathildis, genuit Giselam, uxorem regis Conrardi [sic]. Hec
habuit ex Conrardo Henric imperatorem tertium. Hic Henricus
genuit Henricum quartum imperatorem cesarem augustum ex Agnete.
Mathildis, soror Guepe et Berthe, genuit Arnulphum comitem
Flandrensem, Godefridum ducem, Gozelonem ducem, fratres. Horum
Arnulphus genuit Balduinum. Hic genuit Balduinum ex Chunegonde.
Hic genuit Balduinum et Robertum ex Adela. ..."
Genealogia ex stirpe sancti Arnulfi descendentium Mettensis, MGH
SS 25: 383-4]. The marriage of Conrad's daughter Mathilde (mother
of Berthe, below) has apparently not yet been adequately
explained, but it is obvious that she was not married to Baldwin
III of Flanders.
Falsely attributed
daughter: Berthe, mother of Gerald, count of Genève.
[Anselme 2: 715]
The basis of this false claim is that
Mathilde, daughter of Conrad of Burgundy, was in fact the mother
of the above Berthe, so this mistake would be a natural
"deduction" from the previous one ["Eodem
tempore directae sunt litterae a quodam duci Aquitanorum, haec
continentes: Duci Aquitanorum G. Raynaldus comes Portinensis,
quicquid quilibet bonus aestimat primum. De collocutione nostra
et de profectione, de qua me monuisti, contradico omnino. Nam
aetas et alia impedimenta officiunt itineri nostro. Sed de
genealogia, seu de parentela, qua me praesente narrare volebas,
quod inde novi, litteris tibi mea cura mandat. Mathilde et
Alberada filiae fuerunt Gerbergae. De Mathilde processit Rodulfus
rex, et Mathildis soror eius. De Alberada Ermentrudis. De
Mathilde filia Mathildae Berta. De Ermentrude Agnes. De Berta
Geraldus Genevensis. De Agnete Wido." Addition to one
manuscript of Flodoard's annals, MGH SS 3: 407].
As a variant of the above mistake, we also have the following error:
Falsely attributed
husband: Conrad,
king of Burgundy; Falsely
attributed father: Louis
IV, king of France.
After giving the correct parentage of Mathilde, Aubri de
Troisfontaines states that another document makes her a sister of
king Lothaire of France. This link is then given again without
qualification when Mathilde's marriage to Conrad is given.
["Qui Balduinus iuvenis duxit uxorem Mathildem, filiam
Hermanni ducis Saxonum, genuitque ex ea Arnulfum iuniorem. Alia
littera habet, quod ista Mathildis soror fuit Lotharii regis
Francorum." Chronicle of Aubri de Troisfontaines, MGH
SS 23: 770; "Soror autem ultimi Lotharii Francorum regis
et ducis Karoli nomine Mathildis post mortem primi mariti, tertii
Balduini Flandrensis comitis, regi Burgundie cuidam Conrado
peperit regem Rodulfum et sororem eius Gepam, que fuit mater
huius Gisile." ibid., 782.]
Possible mother: Hildesuith.
Falsely
attributed mother:
Hildegard.
The two women have already been
discussed above. Hildesuith may have been a second wife of
Hermann, but since this is not confirmed, she makes a less likely
candidate than Oda, known to be a wife of Hermann.
Althoff (1984) = Gerd Althoff, Adels- und Königsfamilien im Spiegel ihrer Memorialüberlieferung (Munich, 1984).
Annales Blandinenses = Grierson (1937), 1-73.
Annales Elmarenses = Grierson (1937), 74-115.
Anselme = Père Anselme, Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, 9 vols. (Paris, 1726-33).
Bloch (1898-1902) = Hermann Bloch, "Die älteren Urkunden des Klosters S. Vanne zu Verdun", Jahr-Buch der Gesellschaft für lothringische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 10 (1898): 338-449; 14 (1902): 48-150.
Brandenburg (1964) = Erich Brandenburg, Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (Frankfurt, 1964).
Corpus Chron. Fland. = J.-J. de Smet, Corpus Chronicorum Flandriae, 4 vols. (Brussels, 1837-1865).
Evrard (1981) = Jean-Pol Evrard, "Les comtes de Verdun aux Xe et XIe siècles", Publications de la Section historique de l'Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg 95 (1981): 153-182.
Grierson (1937) = Philip Grierson, ed., Les Annales de Saint-Pierre de Gand et de Saint-Amand (Brussels, 1937). [Annales Blandinenses, Annales Elmarenses, Annales Formoselenses, Annales Elnonenses]
Hlawitschka (1969) = Eduard Hlawitschka, Die Anfang des Hauses Habsburg-Lothringen (Saarbrücken, 1969).
Latrie (1889) = L. de Mas Latrie, Trésor de Chronologie d'Histoire et de Geographie (Paris, 1889).
MGH Poet. Lat. = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae latini aevi carolini.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Nec. S.-Vedast. = M. le Chanoine Van Drival, Nécrologe de l'abbaye de St.-Vaast d'Arras (Arras, 1878).
Nec. Verdun = Ch. Aimond, "Le Nécrologe de la Cathédrale de Verdun", Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für lothringisches Geschichte und Altertumskunde/Annuaire de la Société d'Histoire et Archéologie Lorraine 21.2 (1909), 132-314.
Nek. S. Vanne = "Das Nekrolog des Klosters S. Vanne", in Bloch (1898-1902), 14: 131-150.
Parisse (1981) = Michel Parisse, "Généalogie de la Maison d'Ardenne", Publications de la Section historique de l'Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg 95 (1981): 9-41.
Poupardin (1907) = René Poupardin, Le royaume de Bourgogne (888-1038) - Étude sur les origines du royaume d'Arles (Paris, 1907).
Vanderkindere (1902) = Léon Vanderkindere, La Formation Territoriale des Principautes Belge au Moyen Age (2 vols., 2nd ed., Brussels, 1902, reprinted 1981).
Wampach (1935) = C. Wampach, Urkunden- und Quellenbuch zur Geschichte der altluxemburgischen Territorien bis zur burgundischen Zeit, I (Luxemburg, 1935).
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
Uploaded 27 May 2002.
Revised 28 May 2002 (added comment about Mathilde's mother).
Major revision uploaded 12 October 2006.