Ermengarde (or Irmingard) of

Hesbaye The Hesbaye ( French, ), or Haspengouw ( Dutch and Limburgish, ) is a traditional cultural and geophysical region in eastern Belgium. It is a loamy plateau region which forms a watershed between the Meuse and Scheldt drainage basins. It ha ...

(c. 778 – 3 October 818), probably a member of the

Robertian The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries. The Capetians appear first ...

dynasty, was Carolingian empress from 813 and Queen of the Franks from 814 until her death as the wife of the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

emperor

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqu ...

Life

Ermengarde was the daughter of Count

Ingerman of Hesbaye Ingerman (Ingram, Enguerrand) (c. 750-818), was a Frankish noble and Count of Hesbaye, son of Sigram of Hesbaye and grandson of Sigramnus of Hesbaye. Ingerman married Rotrude, of unknown parentage. Ingerman and Rotrude had one daughter: * Ermen ...

and Rotrude. About 794 Ermengarde married

, son of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

, who since 781 ruled as a King of

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

. He had already fathered two children, and Ermengarde may have been his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

. Ermengarde gave birth to six children: *

Lothair I Lothair I or Lothar I ( Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German: ''Lothar''; French: ''Lothaire''; Italian: ''Lotario'') (795 – 29 September 855) was emperor (817–855, co-ruling with his father until 840), and the governor of Bava ...

(795–855), born in Altdorf, Bavaria *

Pepin I of Aquitaine Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine (French: ''Pépin''; 797 – 13 December 838) was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine. Pepin was the second son of Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye. When his father assigne ...

(797–838) * Adelaide, born c. 799 * Rotrude, born about 800, married

Gerard, Count of Auvergne Gerard was Count of Auvergne from 839 until his death on 25 June 841. Marriage and issue Gerard married either Rotrud or Hildegard, daughters of Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 � ...

(c. 800 – d. 25 June 841) and they had

Ranulf I of Poitiers Ranulf I (also ''Ramnulf'', ''Rannulf'', and ''Ranulph'') (820–866) was a Count of Poitiers (from 835) and Duke of Aquitaine (from 852). He is the son of Gerard, Count of Auvergne. Few details are known about Ranulf I, except that he died in 866 ...

. * Hildegard/Matilda, born c. 802, abbess of Notre-Dame in

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...

(c. 805–876), King of East Francia Charlemagne initially intended to divide his

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the L ...

between Louis and his brothers Pepin and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, who nevertheless died in quick succession in 810/11. On 10 September 813, Charlemagne designated Louis his successor and had him proclaimed co-emperor. Ermengarde's husband became sole emperor and

king of the Franks The Franks, Germanic-speaking peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dukes and reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Merovingians, who c ...

upon his father's death on 28 January 814. The couple was anointed and crowned emperor and empress by Pope Stephen IV on 5 October 816 in

Reims Cathedral , image = Reims Kathedrale.jpg , imagealt = Facade, looking northeast , caption = Façade of the cathedral, looking northeast , pushpin map = France , pushpin map alt = Location within France , ...

. She died at

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. It late ...

(in present-day

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) on 3 October 818. A few years after her death, her husband remarried to Judith of Bavaria, who bore him

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a se ...

References

Sources

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ermengarde of Hesbaye 770s births 818 deaths Year of birth uncertain Frankish queens consort Holy Roman Empresses Women from the Carolingian Empire 8th-century Frankish nobility 8th-century Frankish women 9th-century French women