Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Encyclopedia
Godfrey III called the Bearded, was the eldest son of Gothelo I
, duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine. By inheritance, he was count of Verdun
and he became margrave of Antwerp as a vassal of the duke of Lower Lorraine. The Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III
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, Gothelo
, 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 Verdun
, 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 Thuin
, Godfrey fell on Adalbert
, his replacement in Upper Lorraine, and defeated him, killing him in battle. Henry immediately nominated the young Gerard of Chatenoy
to replace Adalbert at the Diet of Worms
. In his subsequent campaigns to take the Moselle
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 Bar
, the widow of Boniface III of Tuscany
and mother of Matilda
, Boniface' heir. Henry arrested Beatrice and her young son Frederick
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 Tuscany
in right of Beatrice and Matilda.
Baldwin V then rebelled, carrying the war to Trier
and Nijmegen. Henry responded by devastating Flanders
and ravaging Lille
and Tournai
(1054). In this war, Godfrey captured Frederick of Luxembourg
, 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 IV
, 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 Andernach
, Baldwin received the march of Ename in the Landgraviate of Brabant, probably in exchange for giving up the march of Valenciennes
, 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 Spoleto
(1057) by Pope Stephen IX
, his brother. In January 1058, Leo de Benedicto Christiano
threw open the city gates to him and Beatrice after the election of Pope Nicholas II
. Possessing the Tiber
and assaulting the Lateran
, Godfrey succeeded in expelling the antipope
Benedict X on 24 January. During the papal reign of his brother and his brother's reforming successors, he played an important rôle in the politics of central and northern Italy, including Sardinia
, where he interfered on behalf of Barisone I of Logudoro
against the Republic of Pisa
, 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 Bouillon
and died on Christmas Eve
1069.
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Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine
Gothelo , 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 Verdun
Count of Verdun
The 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 Latin 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 Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
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, Gothelo
Gothelo II, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Gothelo II , 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.When Gothelo I died in 1044, Godfrey III, his eldest son,...
, 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 Verdun
Verdun
Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...
, 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 Thuin
Thuin
Thuin 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 Adalbert
Adalbert, Duke of Lorraine
Adalbert was the Duke of Upper Lorraine from 1047 until his death. He was the first 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 Chatenoy
Gerard, Duke of Lorraine
Gerard 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 Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms 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 the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
. In his subsequent campaigns to take the Moselle
Moselle
Moselle 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 Bar
Beatrice of Bar
Beatrice of Bar was the marchioness of Tuscany from 1053 to her death as the wife of Boniface III of Tuscany...
, the widow of Boniface III of Tuscany
Boniface III of Tuscany
Boniface III , son of Tedald of Canossa and the father of Matilda of Canossa, was the most powerful north Italian prince of his age...
and mother of Matilda
Matilda of Tuscany
Matilda of Tuscany 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 Frederick
Frederick of Tuscany
Boniface 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 Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
in right of Beatrice and Matilda.
Baldwin V then rebelled, carrying the war to Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
and Nijmegen. Henry responded by devastating Flanders
Flanders
Flanders 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. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and ravaging Lille
Lille
Lille 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 Tournai
Tournai
Tournai 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 Luxembourg
Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Frederick 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 IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans 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 Andernach
Andernach
Andernach is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of currently about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the Neuwied basin on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing village of Fornich in the north and the mouth of the...
, Baldwin received the march of Ename in the Landgraviate of Brabant, probably in exchange for giving up the march of Valenciennes
Valenciennes
Valenciennes 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 Spoleto
Duchy of Spoleto
The 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 IX
Pope Stephen IX
Pope 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 Christiano
Leo de Benedicto Christiano
Leo 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 II
Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas 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 Tiber
Tiber
The 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 Lateran
Lateran
Lateran 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 antipope
Antipope
An antipope is a person who opposes a legitimately elected or sitting Pope and makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At times between the 3rd and mid-15th century, antipopes were typically those supported by a...
Benedict X on 24 January. During the papal reign of his brother and his brother's reforming successors, he played an important rôle in the politics of central and northern Italy, including Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, where he interfered on behalf of Barisone I of Logudoro
Barisone I of Torres
Barison 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 Pisa
Republic of Pisa
The 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 Bouillon
Bouillon
Bouillon is a municipality in 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 Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
1069.
Family
By Doda, he had:- GodfreyGodfrey IV, Duke of Lower LorraineGodfrey 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 and his sister was Ida....
, succeeded him in Lower Lorraine - Ida of LorraineIda of LorraineIda of Lorraine was a saint and noblewoman.She was the daughter of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine and his wife, Doda. Ida's grandfather was Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine and Ida's brother was Godfrey IV, Duke of Lower Lorraine.-Family:In 1057, she married Eustace II of Boulogne...
, married Eustace II, Count of BoulogneEustace II of BoulogneEustace II, , also known as Eustace aux Gernons 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. He is one of the few proven Companions of William the Conqueror.He was the son of Eustace I... - Wiltrude, married Adalbert of Calw
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Footnotes
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