Rothilde
RothildeRothilde appears in a document of king Charles the Simple dated 31 October 900, in which she is called the mother of count Hughes (evidently of of Maine), consanguineus of Charles ["... adeuntes nostrae dignitatis excellentiam dulcissima genitrix nostra Adeleidis et dilectus comes Hugo consanguineus ... in comitatu quoque Coenomannico Nunniagum villam, quam dedit Hugo comes et mater sua Rodhildis sancto Ebrulfo, in vicaria Gaviacense cum omnibus apendiciis." Werner (1958), 281-2, n. 128, citing Lauer, Recueil des actes de Charles le Simple, 75ff. (#35), which is not easily available to me; see also Werner (1967), 423]. In 922, the abbey of Chelles was taken from her and given to Hagano, favorite of her nephew Charles the Simple ["... Quo cum eisdem super Axonam in pagum Laudunensem profecto propter praedictum Haganonem, cui rex abbatiam Rothildis, amitae suae, socrus autem Hugonis, dederat, nomine Calam, Karolus cum Heriberto et Haganone clam Laudunum egressus, ob Haganonis amorem, hujus causa timoris trans Mosam profectus est." Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 922, 8 (see below)]. The standard outline of her family depends on the identification of the Rodhildis of 900, mother of a consanguineus of Charles the Simple, with the Rothildis of 922, amita of Charles. Although this identity is not directly documented, it is highly probable. See Werner's detailed discussion of Rothilde [Werner (1967), 422-8 (Excurs I)].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: Not long before 929.
Flodoard refers to her as recently deceased
in the first entry of his annals for 929 ["Heribertus et
Hugo comites contra Bosonem, Rodulfi regis fratrem, profiscuntur,
propter quisdam Rothildis alodes nuper defunctae, quos a Bosone
pervasos repetebat Hugo, gener ipsius Rothildis."
Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 929, 44]. Some sources [e.g.,
the original version of this page; Auguste Longnon, in the
preface to Obit. Sens, 1 (pt. 1): xx-xxi; Werner (1967), 428]
have erroneously assigned her a death date of 22 March based on
several necrologies, but those entries refer to another Rothilde,
daughter of Charlemagne, and not to the present Rothilde. [This error was
pointed out by Peter Stewart.]
Place of death: Unknown.
Father:
Charles the Bald, d. 877, king of the Western Franks, Emperor.
As indicated above, Rothilde is called an amita
of Charles the Simple by Flodoard. Since the name Rothilde is
known among the Carolingians, the usual interpretation of the
word amita as "paternal aunt" is probably
correct.
Mother: Richilde, living 910, daughter of count Bivin.
Her mother is not explicitly identified, but chronology
would seem to make her more likely as a daughter of Richilde.
[see Werner (1967), 422-8 (Excurs I)]
Spouse: Roger, d.
before 31 October 900, count of Maine.
For the documentation of Rothilde's son
Hugues as a son of count Roger of Maine, see the page of Hugues I.
Children:
Hugues I, d. after 26 March 931, count of Maine.
[Latouche (1910), 16, n. 1; Werner (1967),
422-8 (Excurs I)]
NN, m. Hugues le Grand,
duke of France.
As indicated above, Flodoard refers to
Rothilde as socrus of Hugues, and to Hugues as gener
of Rothilde.
Falsely attributed
husband: Hugues,
count of Bourges.
Conjectured
daughter (unproven): Richilde, m. Thibaud,
viscount of Tours (parents of Thibaud
le Tricheur, count of Blois).
Based on the fact that Thibaud le Tricheur,
count of Blois, had a mother named Richilde and a brother named
Richard, Depoin assumed that Richilde was of the same family as
Charles the Bald's second wife, the empress Richilde, who had a
brother named Richard [Depoin (1908), 587-592]. He conjectured
that the younger Richilde was a granddaughter of the empress
Richilde, and that the intervening generation was the present
Rothilde. At that time, Depoin was unaware that the Hugues of the
900 document was a count of Maine, son of Roger, and he
conjectured that Hugues was son of another Hugues, count of
Bourges. Although this conjectured husband of Rothilde can now be
dismissed, it does not affect the onomastic argument which would
make the younger Richilde a possible relative of the empress
Richilde, so it remains possible (but still unproven) that the
younger Richilde was a daughter of Roger and Rothilde. This
connection has recently been accepted by Keats-Rohan [Keats-Rohan
(1997), 194 (with a vague citation to Depoin); Keats-Rohan
(2000), 65].
Depoin (1908) = Joseph Depoin, "Études préparatoires à l'histoire des familles palatines. III Thibaud le Tricheur - fut-il bâtard et mourut-il presque centenaire?" Revue des études historiques 74 (1908), 553-602.
Flodoard, Annales = Ph. Lauer, ed., Les Annales de Flodoard (Paris, 1905).
Keats-Rohan (1997) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "'Un vassal sans histoire'?: Count Hugh II (c.940/955-992) and the origins of Angevin overlordship in Maine", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 189-210.
Keats-Rohan (2000) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, " 'Bilichildis' Problèmes et possibilités d'une étude de l'onomastique et de la parenté de la France du nord-ouest", in Keats-Rohan & Settipani, eds., Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval (Oxford, 2000), 57-68.
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire du comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Obit. Sens = Obituaires de la Province de Sens (2 vols. in 3, Paris, 1902-6).
Werner (1958) = Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Untersuchungen zur Frühzeit des französischen Fürstentums (9.-10. Jahrhundert)", Die Welt als Geschichte 18 (1958): 256-289.
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 10 January 2008.
Minor revision uploaded 12 January 2008 (correcting an error on Rothilde's death date pointed out by Peter Stewart).