Baldwin I of Flanders - part 2 of 4
Stewart Baldwin
Commentary
The Legendary Ancestors of Baldwin of Flanders
No source earlier than the eleventh century gives the parentage of
Baldwin I of Flanders. However, by the the late thirteenth century, a
more elaborate story had developed which provided Baldwin with three
generations of ancestry back to a certain Lideric, who was then said
to be the first "forester" of Flanders, followed in the same position
by his son Ingelramn, grandson Odoacer/Audacer, and great-grandson
Baldwin, who then became the first count of Flanders. Fortunately, the
surviving rescensions of the genealogies of the counts of Flanders
allow us to see some of the stages by which this legendary scenario
developed, and a careful examination of these shows us that even if
Lideric existed (and this is not certain), the alleged descent of
Baldwin I from him can be rejected.
Much of the early development of the legend appears in the various
works edited under the collective title of Genealogiae Comitum
Flandriae [MGH SS 9: 302-336, here abbreviated Gen. Com. Fland.], a
collection of nine items (identified here by Roman numerals I-IX)
written by various authors over a period of several hundred years,
having in common that they involve the genealogy or succession of the
counts of Flanders. The two earliest parts, dating from the tenth
century, say nothing about the parentage of Baldwin I [I. Witgeri
genealogia Arnulfi comitis (pp. 302-4, also an important source for
later Carolingian genealogy); II. De Arnulfo comite (pp. 304)].
The claimed parentage of Baldwin I as a son of a certain
Odacer/Audacer first appears in certain annals compiled in the middle
of the eleventh century. The Annales Elnonenses Minores have two
entries giving this parentage, while the Annales Blandinenses not only
have two similar entries for Baldwin's parentage, but also mention
Lideric and Ingelramn, but without any genealogical affiliation for
the latter two.
Annales Elnonenses Minores [MGH SS 5: 19]
862. Balduinus, Odacri filius, Caroli regis filiam, uxorem duxit, illa
illum sequente.
878. Balduinus, Odacri filius, obit.
Annales Blandinensis [MGH SS 5: 23-4]
836. Lidricus comes obiit et Arlabeka sepelitur.
856. Herebertus tradidit sancto Petro res suas in Berenga, sub
Inghelramno abbate vel comite.
862. Iudith secuta est Baldwinum Ferreum, filium Audacri.
875. Hludowicus, suadente Ingelramno abbate, regnum Karoli vastat.
879. Balduvinus, filius Audacri, obiit; Blandinio sepelitur.
The Annales Formoselenses [MGH SS 5: 35] also have an (earlier)
obituary for Lideric ["817. Lidricus comes obiit, et Harlabecce
sepelitur."] and another for Baldwin with his parentage ["877.
Balduvinus, filius Audacri, obiit. Carolus Calvus obiit, Blandinio
sepelitur." Note the obituary of Charles the Bald which has been
carelessly inserted in the middle of the entry, otherwise copied from
Annales Blandinenses], but these two entries, evidently copied
carelessly from Annales Blandinenses, have no independent authority.
The Chronicon Vedastinum, an eleventh century compilation, also gives
this parentage of Baldwin ["Balduinus, Audacri filius, moritur et
Sithiu sepelitur." Chronicon Vedastinum, s.a. 879, MGH SS 13: 709],
adding the parentage to the information taken from its evident source,
the Annales Vedastini (see above). Also, from the same source, we have
an entry apparently making Baldwin the son of an eighth century man
named Odacer ["... ubi Karolus rex Gramannum atque Odacrum, patrem
Balduini comitis Flandrensium, misit." Chronicon Vedastinum, s.a. 788,
MGH SS 13: 705], who does in fact appear in a similar contemporary
annal, but without Baldwin as his son ["..., et fuerunt ibi missi
domni Caroli regis Grahamannus et Audacrus cum aliquibus Francis."
Annales Laurissenses, s.a. 788, MGH SS 1: 174]. It seems clear from
the chronology that this Odoacer from 788 was not Baldwin's father.
Thus, it appears that the compiler of this chronicle at least thought
that he knew the name of Baldwin's father, not only adding the
parentage to Baldwin's obituary, but also identifying a specific
Odoacer as Baldwin's father in another addition, evidently without
noticing the chronological problem.
In Genealogia comitum Flandriae Bertiniana [Gen. Com. Fland. III, pp.
305-8], apparently composed under count Robert II (1093-1111), the
genealogy adds the names of Lideric and Ingelramn, who had arleady
appeared in Annales Blandinensis without genealogical affiliation
["Lidricus Harlebeccensis comes genuit Ingelrannum. Ingelrannus genuit
Audacrum. Audacer genuit Balduinum Ferreum, qui duxit filiam Karoli
Calvi nomine Iudith." MGH SS 9: 305]. While Lideric and Odoacer are
not known to appear in the records prior to those mentioned above,
Ingleramn appears as count of several regions, including Flanders, in
November 853 [MGH Leg. 1: 426; see below]. The 875 entry in Annales
Blandinensis corresponds to (and was perhaps derived from) an entry in
the same year in Annales Bertiniani, in which the Ingleramn in
question was a camerarius et domesticus of Charles the Bald, but it is
not clear that all of these references to a count or abbot Ingelramn
all refer to the same individual (see below for more about Ingelramn).
Indeed, the apparent overlap between Ingelramn and Baldwin in these
sources led some early scholars to assume that Odoacer did not exist
as a separate individual, and that Odoacer was a cognomen of Baldwin,
who was then made to be a son of Ingelramn [see the comments of
Bethmann, MGH SS 9: 305, n. 6].
However, such an explanation does not fit the evidence. It is apparent
that certain eleventh century authors thought that the father of
Baldwin I was named Odoacer, about whom they provide no other
information (not counting the unlikely identification in the year 788
mentioned above), and that even Annales Blandinensis, which shows
knowledge of both Lideric and Ingelramn, did not show any awareness of
a relationship between them and Baldwin I, even providing a chronology
which weighs against such a link. Thus, the best explanation is that
the connection of Lideric and Ingelramn to the genealogy is an
eleventh century invention (perhaps involving some jumping to
conclusions from the entries in Annales Blandinensis). As for the
parentage of Baldwin I, it seems clear that by the eleventh century it
was believed that his father's name was Odoacer/Audacer, about whom
they had little or no information.
End part 2 of 4
Stewart Baldwin