Count Richar or Richer (died 16 October 972) was a 10th-century

Lotharingian Lotharingia was a historical region and an early medieval polity that existed during the late Carolingian and early Ottonian era, from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 10th century. It was established in 855 by the Treaty of Prüm, as a ...

count 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: ...

. He had a well-attested county in the Luihgau, a territory between

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

and

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, and he is generally considered to have held comital status in the

County of Hainaut The County of Hainaut ( ; ; ; ), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled the present-day border of Belgium and France. Its most important towns included Mons, Belgium, Mons (), n ...

, possibly in the area of

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

Life

After the death of Duke Godfrey,

count of Hainaut The Count of Hainaut (; ; ) was the ruler of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries (including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany). In English-la ...

and

Duke of Lower Lotharingia The kings and dukes of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were ...

in 964 in Italy, it has been proposed that the

Emperor Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

gave Count Richar at least part of the county of Hainault. Count Richar appears in a charter of 2 June 965 making a grant of land at St Villers St Ghislain in memory of Duke Godfrey. In 966 Count Richar was described in a royal charter, as the count holding a county in Liuhgow which included

Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flanders, Flemish Dutch language, Dutch-speaking Municipalities of Belgium, municipality with Municipalities with language facilities, facilities for the Walloons, French-speaking minority, located in the Belgium, Belgian provi ...

(''Furon''), and ''Cortils'' in

Blegny Blegny (, before 2001: Blégny; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Blegny had a total population of 12,799. The total area is 26.07 km2 which gives a population density of 491 i ...

(''Curcella''). They were described as being ''in pago Liuhgouui in comitatu Richarii''. In 972 Richer was killed in an attack upon his apparent uncle, Wigfried, Bishop of Verdun, by a certain Count Sigebert in "Wandersalis". This was described in the chronicle of the bishops of Verdun. Scholars note the following evidence for the relationships: *In a grant of 973 to St Pauls in Verdun, Bishop Wigfried, granted land at Lockweiler arranged between him and his two relatives (''sobrini''), Count Luithard and his brother Count Richwin, for the soul of his nephew (''nepos'') Count Richer. *15 March 973, the emperor Otto I granted Eckfeld in the Eifel to the

Abbey of Echternach The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The abbey was founded in the 7th century by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg. For three hundred years, it benefited from the pat ...

, which Count Richar had previously held.. MGH DD Otto I, nr. 428
p.581
*Richer was memorialized in both St Paul in Verdun and St Gereon in Cologne on 16 October. In 973, after the death of Richer, a Count "Richizo", appears in a Hainaut grant concerning

Crespin Abbey Crespin Abbey () was a Rule of St Benedict, Benedictine monastery in the commune of Crespin, Nord, Crespin in the Nord (French department), department of Nord, France, founded around 648 by the reformed brigand Landelin, Landelin of Crespin, also ...

. Richizo is a name form which could be short for a name beginning with Rich-. Although this Richizo has sometimes been equated to Richer himself, Hlawitschka argued in 1969 that this must be the above-mentioned apparent brother of Richer, Count Richwin. After Richer died there was a battle near Mons where Reginar IV and Lambert I attempted to take it over. It was defended by two brothers, Count Werner and

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (; born 11 May 1952 in Paris), known as Renaud, is a French singer-songwriter. With twenty-six albums to his credit, selling nearly twenty million copies, he is one of France's most popular singers. Several of h ...

, who were both killed. Hlawitschka believes they may have been brothers of Richer, or in any case close relatives.

Legacy

It has been proposed, for example by

Leon Vanderkindere Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

, that he had at least one child, mentioned by Alpertus of Metz as a son of a "Richizo": * Godizo of Aspel

Heimbach Heimbach is a town in the district of Düren of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south of Düren. Heimbach has the smallest population of any town in North Rhin ...

(d. 1011–1015) However, it is argued by Hlawitschka that Richizo is a short form name for Richwin, and that Richwin was a different count, probably closely related to Richer. This Richizo, thought to be Richwin, appears in a Hainaut record in 973, after the death of Richar.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richer, Count in Luihgau and Hainaut 972 deaths 10th-century counts of Hainaut Year of birth unknown Dukes of Lower Lorraine Counts of Mons