Baldwin I of Flanders - part 3 of 4
Stewart Baldwin
Although the above comments are sufficient to reject the appearance of
Lideric and Ingelramn in Baldwin's genealogy, it is interesting to
indicate some of the later embellishments to the story. In the twelfth
century, Lambert of Saint-Omer made some additions to the previous
version [Lamberti genealogia comitum Flandriae, Gen. Com. Fland. V,
pp. 308-313], which set the year 792 as the beginning date of
Lideric's rule, and stated that in that year, Lideric saw that
Flanders was vacant, uncultivated, and well-wooded, and occupied it
["Anno ab incarnatione Domini 792. Karolo Magno regnante in Francia,
Lidricus Harlebeccensis comes, videns Flandriam vacuam et incultam ac
nemorosam, occupavit eam. Hic genuit Ingelramnum comitem ..." MGH SS
9: 309; and similarly in Flandria Generosa (Gen. Com. Fland. VI, pp.
313-334)].
The story that Baldwin's predecessors were "foresters" of Flanders
comes from the chronicler John of Thielrode, writing in 1294 [Iohannis
de Thielrode genealogis comitum Flandriae (Gen. Com. Fland. VIII), MGH
SS 9: 334-5; see also Iohannis de Thilrode Chronicon, MGH SS 25:
566-7, 574]:
"Tempore Balduini Flandria fit comitatus, et Balduinus primus comes.
Antecessores sui fuerunt forestarii Flandriae sub rege Francie, sicuti
legimus in cronicis Francorum. Lidricus et Audacer impetraverunt ab
abbate Heinardo monasterii Sancti Bavonis licentiam venandi in silva
que Heinarstriist nuncupatur, modo Loe dicitur, sub tali conditione,
quod de decimia bestia unam darent abbati et suis successoribus."
(Translation: Flanders became a county in the time of Balduinus, and
Balduinus was the first count. His predecessors were foresters under
the king of France, just as we read in chronicles of the Franks.
Lidricus and Audacer obtained license from Heinardus, abbot of the
monastery of St. Bavo, to hunt in the woods called Heinarstriist, now
called Loe, subject to the condition that they give one-tenth of the
beasts to the abbot and to his successors.)
Here, Heinardus is the famous Einhard, biographer of Charlemagne, who
was abbot from 826 until his death in 844 ["Anno 792 Lydricus comes
Arlebeccensis comitatum Flandrie suscepit. ... Anno 826 Eynardus,
capellanus Ludovici piisimi imperatoris, factus est abbas Gandensis
cenobii. ... Anno 844 Eynardus abbas Gandensis obiit, successit
Einkericus." Annales S. Bavonis Gandensis, MGH SS 2: 187 (14th
century)]. Note that if the license from Einhard is based on reliable
information, it would place Odoacer's activity in 844 or earlier,
further undermining the claim that he was a son of Ingelramn.
In the work of John of Ypres, writing in the fourteenth century, we
find an exotic origin for Lideric, whose activities are extended back
to the time of Charles Martel, and who is provided with a wife who is
the daughter of Gerard de Roussillon, another figure of legend [MGH SS
25: 764]:
"Dum Sarraceni sic ab Hispania venirent ad Eudonis mandatum, miles
quidam iuvenis christianus de partibus Ulixbone seu Portugallie, regia
stirpe progenitus, Liedricus nomine, despectis parentibus, qui cum
illis de patria ad legem perfidi transierant Machometi, ad Karolum
Tuditem et Gerardum de Rossilione se contulit, ut sacri baptismatis
christianque fidei Deo pacta servaret, et sub Karolo militans, multa
probitatis opera gessit. Et Karolo predicto carus effectus est, sibi
toto vite sue tempore servivit et filio suo Pupino post eum regi. Cui
postea Karolus Magnus terram Flandrie dedit. Ipse est a quo Flandrie
comites descenderunt. Ipse uxorem habuit filiam Gerardi de Rossilione
predicti, de qua genuit filium Ingelramnum, militem probum et
prudentem, suum Flandrie successorem." (Translation [with comments in
brackets]: Thus, when the Saracens came from Spain to the command of
Eudes [of Aquitaine], a certain young Christian knight from the region
of Lisbon, or Portugal, of royal descent, named Lideric, despising his
parents, who with those of their country had converted to the
faithless law of Mohammed, went to Charles Tudites [i.e., Martel] and
Gerard de Roussillon, in order to receive the rite of baptism and to
serve the Christian faith by agreement with God, and serving as a
soldier under Charles, performed much honest service. And he became
dear to the said Charles, and served him during his entire career, and
also his son Pepin, king after him. Afterward, Charlemagne gave him
the land of Flanders. He is the one from whom the counts of Flanders
descend. He [Lideric] married a daughter of the aforesaid Gerard de
Roussillon, by whom he had a son Ingelramn, an honest and prudent
knight, his successor in Flanders.)
Later embellishments expanded the genealogy to include additional
fictional generations before Lideric of Harlebeck, including a seventh
century count Salvardus of Dijon. The story also gained a giant named
Rinardus, an earlier Lidricus le Buc, the first forester, his
successor Antonius, and so forth [see, e.g., MGH SS 9: 316]. Some of
these more elaborate later inventions have been accepted by some of
the less critical genealogists of the Forester family, who have used
the office of "forester" supposedly held by Lideric to trace members
of the Forester family back through the counts of Flanders. Such
claims have no historical basis.
Thus, the existence of Lideric and Odoacer/Audacer remains uncertain,
but there is still the chance that the entries in Annales Blandinensis
are based on genuine information. If the name of Odoacer/Audacer for
the father of Baldwin I is correct, he is little more than a name, and
the alleged genealogical connections Baldwin I to Lideric and
Ingelramn can be clearly rejected.
End part 3 of 4
Stewart Baldwin