Ermengard of Italy (died 896/897) was the queen of Provence as the spouse of King Boso. She was the second and only surviving child of

Emperor Louis II Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was ''impera ...

. In her early life, she was betrothed to

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

, the junior

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

, but whether the marriage actually occurred or not is still debated among historians. In 871, Ermengard and her family were taken hostage by

Adelchis of Benevento {{Commons category Adelchis (died May 878) was the son of Radelchis I, Prince of Benevento, and successor of his brother Radelgar in 854. It was given to Adelchis to preserve the ancient principality and its independence in the face of repeate ...

but were later freed. In 876, Ermengard married Boso, a nobleman with connections to the

Carolingian dynasty The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Franks, Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Pippinids, Arnulfi ...

, and became queen upon his accession to the throne of Provence in 879. After her husband's death in 887, she ruled the kingdom as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

during the minority of their son

Louis the Blind Louis the Blind ( – 5 June 928) was king in Provence and Lower Burgundy from 890 to 928, and also king of Italy from 900 to 905, and also the emperor between 901 and 905, styled as Louis III. His father was king Boso, from the Bosonid family ...

Early life and engagement to Constantine

Ermengard was the daughter of

, who ruled over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and his wife,

Engelberga Engelberga (or Angilberga, died between 896 and 901) was the wife of Emperor Louis II and thus Carolingian empress to his death on 12 August 875.Bougard, François (1993)"ENGELBERGA (Enghelberga, Angelberga), imperatrice"‘’Treccani’’. As ...

,. Ermengard's granduncle was Emperor

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, 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 series of civil wars during t ...

. In her youth, she was instructed in the scriptures by

Anastasius Bibliothecarius Anastasius Bibliothecarius (c. 810 – c. 878) was the chief archivist and librarian () of the Holy See and also briefly a claimant to the papacy. Early life He was a nephew of Bishop Arsenius of Orte, who executed important commissions a ...

, the chief archivist of the papal

Lateran Palace The Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (; ), informally the Lateran Palace (), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main pope, papal residence in Rome. Located on Saint John's Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the palace is ...

. In 869, the courts of the

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

and

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

s entered into discussions to arrange an alliance against the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

s in southern Italy. During the negotiations, in addition to a military alliance, a marriage between Ermengard and

, the eldest son of Emperor

Basil I Basil I, nicknamed "the Macedonian" (; 811 – 29 August 886), was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 867 to 886. Born to a peasant family in Macedonia (theme), Macedonia, he rose to prominence in the imperial court after gainin ...

, was proposed. Ermengard and Constantine were betrothed in 870 or 871. To this end, an ambassador was sent by Louis to the Byzantine Empire. The Carolingian and Frankish

annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

Annales Bertiniani ''Annales Bertiniani'' (''Annals of Saint Bertin'') are late Carolingian, Frankish annals that were found in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, France, after which they are named. Their account is taken to cover the period 830-82, thus con ...

'' referred to Ermengard in 879 as "'" ('). However, the annals erroneously refer to Ermengard's betrothed as Basil, not Constantine. Whether the marriage actually occurred is still debated among historians. The historians

Charles Previté-Orton Charles William Previté-Orton (16 January 1877 – 11 March 1947) was a British medieval historian and the first Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge on the establishment of the position in 1937. Previté-Orton wa ...

and Werner Ohnsorge take the position that they married, but Shaun Tougher argues that there is no evidence of this, considering the arrangement more of a child's engagement than a true marriage, given that Constantine would have been either 13 or 14 at the time and many Byzantine men married at age 15. Louis refused to hand over Ermengard to the

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

sent by the Byzantines to bring her to the Byzantine Empire. The alliance between the empires failed to come into fruition, and in the ('), its authors, including the

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination ...

Ralph-Johannes Lilie Ralph-Johannes Lilie (30 December 1947, Hamburg) is a German Byzantinist. Life He graduated from Munich University in 1975 with a dissertation entitled 'The Byzantine Reaction to the Arab Invasions – Studies on the Transformation of Government ...

, argue that the marriage of Ermengard and Constantine did not either. Instead, the correspondence between Louis and Basil reveal a feud over the right to the imperial Roman title, Basil refusing to yield the status of Roman emperor to Louis. In August 871, Ermengard and her family were held hostage by

. They remained in captivity until September; during that time, rumors circulated that the imperial family were dead. The bishop of Benevento managed to have them freed, and Ermengard is not mentioned by chronicles until her marriage in 876.

Queen of Provence

In 876, sometime between February and June, with the approval of Charles, Ermengard was married to

Boso of Provence Boso of Provence (; 841 – 11 January 887) was the first non-Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian pretender to the royal throne of West Francia in 879, who failed to achieve wider recognition, being accepted only in Lower Burgundy and Provence, ...

, who was a nobleman with close relations to the

. Based on her betrothal to Constantine, the medievalist

René Poupardin René Poupardin (27 February 1874 – 23 August 1927) was a French medievalist and paleographer whose most important works were on Burgundy, Provence and the south Italian principalities. He was an alumnus of the École nationale des chartes and a ...

placed Ermengard somewhere between 17 and 25 years old at the time of her marriage to Boso. In 879, the West Frankish king

Louis the Stammerer Louis the Stammerer (; 1 November 846 – 10 April 879) was the king of Aquitaine and later the king of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Emperor Charles the Bald and Ermentrud ...

died. Boso intended to have himself elected as the new monarch of West Francia, but ended up as ruler of Provence. His rise to the throne of Provence was aided by Ermengard and her mother Engelberga. The historian Constance Bouchard states that "Ermengard was indeed quoted at the time as saying that she, daughter of the Roman emperor, who had once been affianced to the Greek emperor, would not want to live if she could not make her own husband king". The couple had three surviving children: a son,

, and two daughters,

and an unnamed child. In 878, Ermengard and her husband welcomed

Pope John VIII Pope John VIII (; died 16 December 882) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the most able popes of the 9th century. John devoted much of his papacy to attempting ...

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

after the pontiff fled

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The couple made a good impression on John, revealed by his correspondence with Ermengard's mother Engelberga. Boso died in 887, leaving his children under the protection of Ermengard. In May, Ermengard travelled with her son to the court of her cousin Emperor

Charles the Fat Charles the Fat (839 – 13 January 888) was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 887. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was t ...

, and according to the

East Frankish East Francia (Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire created in 843 and ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was established through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the for ...

Annales Fuldenses The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Francia, East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Fran ...

'', she managed to convince Charles to, as Bouchard puts it, "'quasi-adopt' Boso's young son Louis as his own son". In 890, Louis was elected to succeed to his father's kingdom of Provence. During the minority of her son, Queen Ermengard ruled Provence as

. Ermengard died in 896/897. In June 897, Ermengard's son Louis requested prayers for the repose of the souls of both his parents.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{Carolingians footer Carolingian dynasty Queens consort of Burgundy Queens consort of Lower Burgundy 9th-century women regents 9th-century Italian nobility Women in medieval European warfare Women in war in France 850s births 890s deaths 9th-century Italian women Women from the Carolingian Empire Daughters of emperors Daughters of kings Queen mothers 9th-century queens consort 9th-century regents Mothers of Holy Roman Emperors Mothers of Italian monarchs