Anscarids
Encyclopedia
The Anscarids or Anscarii or the House of Ivrea were a medieval Frankish
dynasty of Burgundian
origin which rose to prominence in Italy
in the tenth century, even briefly holding the Italian throne. They also ruled the County of Burgundy
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and it was one of their member who first declared himself a franc-compte or free count. By a cadet branch of the counts of Burgundy came the House of Burgundy-Spain (Casa de Borgoña-España) which ruled the kingdom of Galicia
from 1111 and the Kingdoms of Castile
and León
from 1126 until 1369.
, who, with the support of his powerful brother, the archbishop of Rheims, Fulk the Venerable, brought Guy III of Spoleto
to Langres
to be crowned king of France in 887
. Their plot failing, Anscar accompanied Guy back to Italy to seek that vacant throne and in gratefulness created the March of Ivrea
to bestow on his Burgundian faithful. Anscar's descendants held the march until 1030. Perhaps the most illustrious scion of the house was his grandson Berengar
, the first of three Anscarids to be crowned king of Italy.
Berengar seized the throne in 950 after the death of Lothair II
. He was opposed, immediately, by Lothair's widow Adelaide
, whom he imprisoned after his attempt to force her marriage to his son, Adalbert II
, failed. Otto I came down the peninsula and forced him to do homage in 952. For the next eleven years, Berengar and his co-crowned son governed Italy until Otto finally formally deposed them in 963.
From 1002 to 1014, Arduin of Italy
held the Italian throne as the national candidate in opposition to the German Henry II
.
. His widow remarried to Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy
and her son by Adalbert, Otto William, inherited the duchy of Burgundy
, but was opposed by Henry I of France
, who confiscated the duchy, leaving only a small portion around Dôle
to Otto. This was the kernel of the later Free County
.
The greatest of the free counts was Renaud III
, who, from 1127, utilised the title franc-compte as a sign of independence of German
or Imperial
authority, but was forced to submit to Conrad III
. His daughter and heiress, Beatrice
, married Frederick Barbarossa and united the Anscarid inheritance with that of the Hohenstaufen
. Burgundy was inherited by her son Otto, who had an Anscarid name.
, son of William I of Burgundy
, travelled to Spain
in the late eleventh century and there married the Infanta Urraca
, who would later become queen. His son, Alfonso VII, succeeded to the throne and subsequent kings of Castile and León were direct descendants of Alfonso, even after 1369, when rule went to an illegitimate cadet branch, the House of Trastámara.
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
dynasty of Burgundian
Kingdom of Burgundy
Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...
origin which rose to prominence in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the tenth century, even briefly holding the Italian throne. They also ruled the County of Burgundy
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy , was a medieval county , within the traditional province and modern French region Franche-Comté, whose very French name is still reminiscent of the unusual title of its count: Freigraf...
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and it was one of their member who first declared himself a franc-compte or free count. By a cadet branch of the counts of Burgundy came the House of Burgundy-Spain (Casa de Borgoña-España) which ruled the kingdom of Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
from 1111 and the Kingdoms of Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
and León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
from 1126 until 1369.
Ivrea
The founder of the family's fortunes was a petty Burgundian count named AnscarAnscar of Ivrea
Anscar I was the margrave of Ivrea from 888 to his death. From 877 or 879, he was the count of Oscheret in Burgundy. He supported Guy III of Spoleto for the throne of France after the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887, but after Guy's failed attempt and the coronation of Odo, Count of Paris, he...
, who, with the support of his powerful brother, the archbishop of Rheims, Fulk the Venerable, brought Guy III of Spoleto
Guy III of Spoleto
Guy of Spoleto , sometimes known by the Italian version of his name, Guido, or by the German version, Wido, was the Margrave of Camerino from 880 and then Duke of Spoleto and Camerino from 883. He was crowned King of Italy in 889 and Holy Roman Emperor in 891...
to Langres
Langres
Langres is a commune in north-eastern France. It is a subprefecture of the Haute-Marne département in the Champagne-Ardenne region.-History:As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then Lingones, and now Langres.The town is built on a limestone...
to be crowned king of France in 887
887
Year 887 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The city of Toledo rises against the Umayyad leader....
. Their plot failing, Anscar accompanied Guy back to Italy to seek that vacant throne and in gratefulness created the March of Ivrea
March of Ivrea
The March of Ivrea was a large frontier county in the northwest of the medieval Italian kingdom from the late 9th to the early 11th century. Its capital was Ivrea in present-day Piedmont, and it was held by a Burgundian family of margraves called the Anscarids...
to bestow on his Burgundian faithful. Anscar's descendants held the march until 1030. Perhaps the most illustrious scion of the house was his grandson Berengar
Berengar II of Italy
Berengar of Ivrea , sometimes also referred to as Berengar II of Italy, was Margrave of Ivrea and usurper King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961, the last before Italy's incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire...
, the first of three Anscarids to be crowned king of Italy.
Berengar seized the throne in 950 after the death of Lothair II
Lothair II of Italy
Lothair II , often Lothair of Arles, was the King of Italy from 948 to his death. He was of the noble Frankish lineage of the Bosonids, descended from Boso the Elder...
. He was opposed, immediately, by Lothair's widow Adelaide
Adelaide of Italy
Saint Adelaide of Italy , also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was the second wife of Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor...
, whom he imprisoned after his attempt to force her marriage to his son, Adalbert II
Adalbert of Italy
Adalbert was the king of Italy from 950 to 963. He was the son of the Margrave Berengar of Ivrea and Willa.On 15 December 950, both he and his father were crowned kings of Italy after the death of Lothair II. His father tried to force Adelaide, widow of Lothair, to marry Adalbert and cement their...
, failed. Otto I came down the peninsula and forced him to do homage in 952. For the next eleven years, Berengar and his co-crowned son governed Italy until Otto finally formally deposed them in 963.
From 1002 to 1014, Arduin of Italy
Arduin of Italy
Arduin of Ivrea was Margrave of Ivrea and King of Italy. He was the son of Dado, Count of Pombia. Arduin succeeded to the northern Italian Margraviate of Ivrea in 990 on dubious grounds. He was excommunicated for the murder of the Bishop of Vercelli in 997.He was made King of Italy after the death...
held the Italian throne as the national candidate in opposition to the German Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
.
Burgundy
Adalbert was eventually forced to flee to Burgundy, where he died at AutunAutun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
. His widow remarried to Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy
Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy
Eudes-Henry , called the Great, was Count of Autun, Avallon, and Beaune and Duke of Burgundy from 965 to his death...
and her son by Adalbert, Otto William, inherited the duchy of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
, but was opposed by Henry I of France
Henry I of France
Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...
, who confiscated the duchy, leaving only a small portion around Dôle
Dole
Dole may refer to:*The Grain supply to the city of Rome in ancient times.* Since the early 20th Century, a colloquial term referring to government public assistance programs; see Unemployment benefits. Originally it referred to any charitable gift of food, clothing or money. The dole has taken on...
to Otto. This was the kernel of the later Free County
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
.
The greatest of the free counts was Renaud III
Renaud III, Count of Burgundy
Renaud III , son of Stephen I and Beatrix of Lorraine, was the count of Burgundy between 1127 and 1148. Previously, he had been the count of Mâcon since his father's death in 1102, with his brother, William of Vienne....
, who, from 1127, utilised the title franc-compte as a sign of independence of German
Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire....
or Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
authority, but was forced to submit to Conrad III
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
. His daughter and heiress, Beatrice
Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy
Beatrice of Burgundy was the only daughter of Renaud III, Count of Burgundy and Agatha of Lorraine. She was the second wife and Empress of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were Simon I, Duke of Lorraine and his wife Adelaide of Leuven. Beatrice was active at the...
, married Frederick Barbarossa and united the Anscarid inheritance with that of the Hohenstaufen
Hohenstaufen
The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...
. Burgundy was inherited by her son Otto, who had an Anscarid name.
Spain
RaymondRaymond of Burgundy
Raymond of Burgundy was the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy, and was Count of Amous. He came to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time during the period 1086–1087 with Odo I, Duke of Burgundy...
, son of William I of Burgundy
William I, Count of Burgundy
William I , called the Great , was Count of Burgundy and Mâcon from 1057 to 1087. He was a son of Renaud I and Alice of Normandy, daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy...
, travelled to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the late eleventh century and there married the Infanta Urraca
Urraca of Castile
Urraca was Queen regnant of León, Castile, and Galicia, and claimed the imperial title as suo jure Empress of All the Spains from 1109 until her death in childbirth, as well as Empress of All Galicia.- Childhood :...
, who would later become queen. His son, Alfonso VII, succeeded to the throne and subsequent kings of Castile and León were direct descendants of Alfonso, even after 1369, when rule went to an illegitimate cadet branch, the House of Trastámara.
See also
- House of Chalon-ArlayHouse of Chalon-ArlayThis page is a list of the lords of Chalon-Arlay and the principality of Orange.The lords of Chalons and Arlay were a cadet branch of the ruling house of the county of Burgundy, the Anscarids or House of Ivrea....
, the second ruling house of the Principality of OrangePrincipality of OrangeThe Principality of Orange was a feudal state in Provence, in the south of modern-day France, on the left bank of the River Rhone north of the city of Avignon....
, also a cadet branch of the Anscarids. - House of BurgundyHouse of BurgundyThe House of Burgundy was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, descending from Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, a younger son of Robert II of France....
, which ruled Portugal contemporaneously with the Spanish House of Burgundy
Sources
- Wickham, ChrisChristopher WickhamChristopher John Wickham, FBA is Chichele Professor of Medieval History in the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College.-Biography:...
. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000. MacMillan Press: 1981.