Godfrey III (c. 997–1069), called
the Bearded, was the eldest son of
Gothelo IGothelo or Gozelo , called the Great, was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 1023 and of Upper Lorraine from 1033. He was also the margrave of Antwerp from 1005 and count of Verdun. Gothelo was the youngest son of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun, and Matilda Billung, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony...
, duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine. By inheritance, he was
count of VerdunThe counts of Verdun, now in eastern France, were often during the Middle Ages rulers of Lorraine; the descendants of the early counts were also margraves in Tuscany and rulers in the Latin East after the First Crusade....
and he became margrave of Antwerp as a vassal of the duke of Lower Lorraine. The
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Henry IIIHenry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. He was the eldest son of Conrad II of Germany and Gisela of Swabia and his father made him duke of Bavaria in 1026, after the death of Duke Henry V...
authorised him to succeed his father as duke of Upper Lorraine in 1044, but refused him the ducal title in Lower Lorraine, for he feared the power of a united duchy.
Godfrey III (c. 997–1069), called
the Bearded, was the eldest son of
Gothelo IGothelo or Gozelo , called the Great, was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 1023 and of Upper Lorraine from 1033. He was also the margrave of Antwerp from 1005 and count of Verdun. Gothelo was the youngest son of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun, and Matilda Billung, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony...
, duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine. By inheritance, he was
count of VerdunThe counts of Verdun, now in eastern France, were often during the Middle Ages rulers of Lorraine; the descendants of the early counts were also margraves in Tuscany and rulers in the Latin East after the First Crusade....
and he became margrave of Antwerp as a vassal of the duke of Lower Lorraine. The
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Henry IIIHenry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. He was the eldest son of Conrad II of Germany and Gisela of Swabia and his father made him duke of Bavaria in 1026, after the death of Duke Henry V...
authorised him to succeed his father as duke of Upper Lorraine in 1044, but refused him the ducal title in Lower Lorraine, for he feared the power of a united duchy. Instead Henry threatened to appoint a younger son,
GotheloGothelo II, also Gozelo , variously called the Coward, the Sluggard, the Indolent, or the Lazy , has been often said to be duke of Lower Lorraine after the death of his father Gothelo I, duke of both Lower and Upper Lorraine until his own death in 1046.After the elder Gothelo's death, Godfrey, the...
, as duke in Lower Lorraine. At a much later date, Godfrey became duke of Lower Lorraine, but he had lost the upper duchy by then.
Godfrey rebelled against his king and devastated land in Lower Lorraine, as well as the city of
VerdunVerdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
, which, though his by inheritance, Henry had not given him. He was soon defeated by an imperial army and was deposed imprisoned together with his son (Gibichenstein, 1045). When his son died in prison, the war recommenced. Baldwin V of Flanders joined Godfrey and Henry gave Thierry, Bishop of Verdun, the eponymous county. Godfrey surprised the bishop (who escaped) and sacked Verdun, burning the cathedral. On 11 November 1048 at
ThuinThuin is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. The Thuin municipality includes the old communes of Leers-et-Fosteau, Biesme-sous-Thuin, Ragnies, Biercée, Gozée, Donstiennes, and Thuillies.-Origins:...
, Godfrey fell on
AdalbertAdalbert was the Duke of Upper Lorraine from 1047 to his death. He was the son of Gerard de Bouzonville , Count of Metz, and Gisela ....
, his replacement in Upper Lorraine, and defeated him, killing him in battle. Henry immediately nominated the young
Gerard of ChatenoyGerard IV, Duke of Alsace was the count of Metz and Chatenois from 1047/1048, when his brother Duke Adalbert resigned them to him on becoming the Duke of Upper Lorraine. On Adalbert's death the next year, Gerard became duke and was so until his death...
to replace Adalbert at the Diet of
WormsWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"...
. In his subsequent campaigns to take the
MoselleMoselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
region, Godfrey met with stiff resistance from Gerard and was forced to renounce his claims and reconcile with the bishop. He even assisted in rebuilding the cathedral he had destroyed.
In 1053, his first wife Doda having died, Godfrey remarried
Beatrice of BarBeatrice of Bar was the marchioness of Tuscany from 1053 to her death. She was the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine, who was also count of Bar, and Matilda of Swabia....
, the widow of
Boniface III of TuscanyBoniface III , the father of Matilda of Canossa, was the most powerful north Italian prince of his age...
and mother of
MatildaMatilda of Canossa , called la Gran Contessa or the Great Countess, was an Italian noblewoman, the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. She is one of the few medieval women to be remembered for her military accomplishments...
, Boniface' heir. Henry arrested Beatrice and her young son
FrederickBoniface IV Frederick was the only son of Boniface III of Tuscany and Beatrice of Bar. He was young when his father died on 6 May 1052 and he inherited the great north Italian margraviate....
and imprisoned her in Germany, separate from either husband or son, who died within days. The emperor claimed the marriage had been contracted without his consent and was invalid. Young Frederick died a short while later. Nevertheless, Godfrey took over the government of the
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
in right of Beatrice and Matilda.
Baldwin V then rebelled, carrying the war to
TrierTrier is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC. Trier is not the only city claiming to be Germany's oldest, but it is the only one that bases this assertion on having the longest history as a city, as opposed to a mere...
and
NijmegenNijmegen is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is considered to be the oldest city in the Netherlands and celebrated its 2000th year of existence in 2005.- History :...
. Henry responded by devastating
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
and ravaging
LilleLille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
and
TournaiTournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
(1054). In this war, Godfrey captured
Frederick of LuxembourgFrederick of Luxembourg was the count of Malmedy from 1035 and duke of Lower Lorraine from 1046. He was a younger son of Frederick, lord of Gleiberg, and Ermentrude, and grandson of Siegfried, Count of Luxembourg, hence his name....
, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who had received that duchy, including Antwerp, from Henry III.
In 1055, Godfrey besieged Antwerp, but Frederick was delivered by the Lorrainers, no longer loyal to Godfrey. Henry died in 1056 and his successor,
Henry IVHenry IV was King of Germany from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
, was only six years old. In that year, Baldwin made peace and did homage to the new king. In 1056 and 1059, by the treaties of
AndernachAndernach is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany of currently about 30,000 inhabitants which are named der/die Andernacher , and the lady/-ies are die Andernacherin/-nen...
, Baldwin received the march of Ename in the Landgraviate of Brabant, probably in exchange for giving up the march of
ValenciennesValenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
, which was confiscated by emperor Henry III in 1045.
In 1057, Godfrey was exiled to Tuscany, where he joined Beatrice and co-governed with her. He was enfeoffed with the
Duchy of SpoletoThe independent Duchy of Spoleto was a Lombard territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the Lombard dux Faroald.- Lombards :The Lombards, a Germanic people, had invaded Italy in 568 and conquered much of it, establishing a Kingdom divided between several dukes dependent on the King, who had...
(1057) by
Pope Stephen IXPope Stephen IX was Pope from August 3, 1057 to March 1058.His baptismal name was Frederick of Lorraine , and he was a younger brother of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who, as Marquis of Tuscany , played a prominent part in the politics of the period.Frederick, who had...
, his brother. In January 1058,
Leo de Benedicto ChristianoLeo de Benedicto Christiano, or just Benedictus Christianus, was a Jew of Trastevere in the late eleventh century. He converted to Christianity and was baptised by Pope Leo IX, whence he took his Christian name. He related himself to the ancient patrician families of Rome by marrying of his...
threw open the city gates to him and Beatrice after the election of
Pope Nicholas IINicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...
. Possessing the
TiberThe Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...
and assaulting the
LateranLateran and Laterano are the shared names of several architectural projects throughout Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the former Roman Empire...
, Godfrey succeeded in expelling the
antipopeAn antipope is a person who, in opposition to a sitting Bishop of Rome, makes a widely accepted claim to be the Pope. In the past, antipopes were typically those supported by a fairly significant faction of cardinals and kingdoms...
Benedict X on 24 January. During the papal reign of his brother and his brothers reforming successors, he played an important rôle in the politics of central and northern Italy, including
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
, where he interfered on behalf of
Barisone I of LogudoroBarison I or Barisone I was the giudice of Arborea from around 1038 until about 1060 and then of Logudoro until his death sometime around 1073. He is the first ruler of Logudoro of whom we have any real knowledge. His whole policy was opposition to Pisa and support of monastic immigration from...
against the
Republic of PisaThe Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
, indicating his authority over both.
In 1065, he was recalled to become duke of Lower Lorraine after the death of Frederick. He was also given Antwerp again. He installed his court at
BouillonBouillon is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Luxembourg Province.The municipality, which covers 149.09 km², had 5,477 inhabitants, giving a population density of 36.7 inhabitants per km².- History :...
and died on
Christmas EveChristmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.-Western Churches:Many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally celebrate a midnight Mass which begins sometime before midnight on Christmas Day; this ceremony, which is held in churches...
1069.
Family
By Doda, he had:
- Godfrey
Godfrey IV , known as the Hunchback, was a son of Godfrey the Bearded, whom he succeeded as duke of Lower Lorraine in 1069. His mother was Doda....
, succeeded him in Lower Lorraine
- Ida of Lorraine
Ida of Lorraine was a saint and noblewoman.She was born in Bouillon, Ardenne, South Belgium, the daughter of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine and his wife, Doda..- Family :...
, married Eustace II, Count of BoulogneEustace II, was count of Boulogne from 1049-1087, fought on the Norman side at the Battle of Hastings, and afterwards received a large honour in England....
- Wiltrude, married Adalbert of Calw
External links
Footnotes
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