Frederick (Frédéric) (c. 970/976 – January 1022),

Count of Verdun The County of Verdun was a sovereign medieval county in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine. County The rulers of the sovereign County of Verdun styled themselves as Counts by the grace of God. The small country was located near Lower Lotharingia within ...

(988–1022),

Count of Castres Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

(1000–1022), and Provost of Saint-Vaast. Frederick was part of the Ardennes-Verdun dynasty, and the eldest son of Godfrey I the Prisoner, Count of Verdun, and

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...

, daughter of

Herman, Duke of Saxony Hermann Billung (900 or 912 – 27 March 973) was the margrave of the Billung March from 936 until his death. The first of the Saxon House of Billung, Hermann was a trusted lieutenant of Emperor Otto I. Though never Duke of Saxony himself, ...

of the Billung family, and a widow of Baldwin III of Flanders. Frederick was among those captured along with his father in 985 when

Lothair of France Lothair (; ; 941 – 2 March 986), sometimes called Lothair II,After the emperor Lothair I. IIICounting Lothair II of Lotharingia, who ruled over modern Lorraine and Belgium. or IV,Counting Lothair II of Italy. was the penultimate Carol ...

attacked Verdun in 985. He was released in 987 by family ally

Hugh Capet Hugh Capet (; ; 941 – 24 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as t ...

, then

Duke of the Franks Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ...

(''dux et princeps Francorum''). In 988, Frederick worked to bring the body of his brother Adalberon, Bishop of Verdun, who died in Italy, to be buried in the Verdun Cathedral. It is uncertain how long Frederic remained as Count in Verdun as the charter dated 17 Aug 1156 of

Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

indicates that the County of Verdun was transferred to the

Bishop of Verdun The Diocese of Verdun (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon. The Diocese of Verdun co ...

during the reign of

Emperor Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was cr ...

. However, a charter dated 1020, under which Haimont,

, confirmed an exchange of property, names ''domni Frederici…comes nostre civitatis'', which suggests that Frederic continued as count at least in part of the county. A 1020 charter of Abbot Richard demonstrates that Frederick must have resigned the countship soon after, as it refers to ''temporis dominus Fredericus qui comes Virdunensis civitatis fuerat''. Frederick was also Count of Castres, as shown by the charter dated 5 May 1005 under which

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

, then King of Germany, granted market rights at ''Doncheria…in comitatu…Frederici comitis…Castricensis'' to the Abbey Saint-Médard de Soissons. It is not known who his wife or wives were. He apparently had a daughter Sophie (born c. 1010) who married Louis II, Count of Chiny. Louis' father, a successor of Frederick's as count, was murdered by Frederick's brother Gothelo. In 1020, near the end of his life, Frederick gave up his title and became a monk at Saint-Vanne Abbey. He was succeeded as Count of Verdun by his brother Herman. It is unclear who, if anyone, succeeded him as Count of Castres.

Sources

* ''Germany and the Western Empire'', Volume III of the Cambridge Medieval History, University of Cambridge, 1922 * Abbé Charles Nicolas Gabriel, ''Verdun, Notice historique'', 1888, réédition 1993 * Poull, Georges, ''La maison souveraine et ducale de Bar'', Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1994 * Crowe, Eyre Evans, ''The History of France'', London: Longman, Brown, 1858 970s births 1022 deaths Year of birth uncertain House of Ardenne–Verdun Counts of Verdun Counts of Castres