Baldwin I of Flanders - part 1 of 4
Stewart Baldwin
Baldwin I "Iron-arm" (Baudouin I "Bras de Fer", Balduinus
Ferreorum-brachiorum)
Count, before 862-879.
[presumably count of Flanders, 870×5?-879].
Count Baldwin I, ancestor of the counts of Flanders, first appears in
history in the year 862, when Judith, daughter of king Charles the
Bald, and successively widow of the two Anglo-Saxon kings Æthelwulf
and Æthelbald, eloped with him, with the assistance of Judith's
brother Louis (later king Louis II) [Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 862, MGH
SS 1: 456]. Charles asked his bishops to anathemize Baldwin and
Judith, but he reconciled with them the next year at the pope's
request, when Baldwin and Judith were married [Annales Bertiniani,
s.a. 863, MGH SS 1: 462 (see below)]. The region over which Baldwin
was then count is not identified in any ninth century source, but it
would seem that Ingelramn was still count of Flanders at that time,
having not yet been dispossessed (see below under Ingelramn in the
Commentary section). According to Flodoard, writing in the next
century, bishop Hungarius of Utrecht, during the time of Baldwin's
excommunication, had warned the Norman Roric, then ruling at Dorestadt
in Frisia, not to receive Baldwin [see Flodoard, Historia Remensis
Ecclesiae iii, 23, 26, MGH SS 13: 529, 541], which would presumably
place Baldwin's area of influence in the same neighborhood. It seems
likely that Baldwin became count of Flanders when count Ingelramn was
dispossessed between 870 and 875 (see below). In 871, he was sent by
Charles along with abbot Gauzlin to negotiate with Charles's
rebellious son Carolman [Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 871, MGH SS 1: 491].
Dying in 879, he was followed by his son Baldwin II. The epithet of
"Iron-arm" usually attributed to him appears in the work of Wimann (d.
1192), who attributed the nickname to his strength and audacity ["...
Balduinus comes Flandrie, filius Odocri, vir audax et fortis, ita ut
Ferreorum-brachiorum vocaretur, ..." Wimann, Liber de possessionibus
sancti Vedasti, MGH SS 13: 711]. Two different manuscripts of the
contemporary Annals of Saint-Vaast (Annales Vedastini) give him the
epithets of Ferreus (Iron) and Bonus (the Good) ["Balduinus, Ferreus
cognomine, comes moritur, sepeliturque in Sithiu monasterio." MGH SS
1: 517; "Balduinus comes, cognomine Bonus, moritur, sepeliturque in
Sithiu monasterio." [Annales Vedastini, s.a. 879, MGH SS 2: 197].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 879.
[Annales Vedastini (see above); Chronicon Vedastinum (see below);
Annales Blandinensis (see below); the Annales Elnonenses minores (see
below) give 878]
Place of Death: Saint-Bertin?
A marginal addition to chapter 88 of Folcwine's history states that
Baldwin died after having spent some time as a monk at Saint-Bertin
and that his body was buried at St. Bertin (Sithiu), but that his
heart and intestines were removed to St. Peter's in Ghent [MGH SS 13:
623]. This would explain the disagreement between Annales Vedastini
and Annales Blandinensis regarding his place of burial.
Father: Uncertain.
See the Commentary section below for a discussion of the possibility
that his father was named Odoacer/Audacer.
Mother: Unknown.
Spouses: m. at Auxerre, 863 (eloped 862), Judith, daughter of Charles
the Bald, king of the West Franks, emperor.
["..., et ad Autisiodorum civitatem usque pervenit; ibi filiam suam
Iudith, sicut domnus apostolicus eum petierat, consilio fidelium
suorum Balduino, quem sequuta fuerat, legaliter coniugio sociari
permisit." (Translation: ... and he [Charles] arrived in the city of
Auxerre; there, just as the pope had requested, by the advice of his
loyal men, he allowed his daughter Judith to be legally joined in
matrimony with Baldwin, with whom she had run off.) Annales
Bertiniani, s.a. 863, MGH SS 1: 462]
Children:
The contemporary Annals of Saint-Vaast state that Baldwin and Raoul
were brothers ["Balduinus vero comes et Rodulfus frater eius, ..."
Annales Vedastini, s.a. 895, MGH SS 1: 529]. Regino, writing in the
first decade of the tenth century, states that Raoul (Rodulfus) was a
son of Baldwin [I], and that Raoul's brother Baldwin [II] held
Flanders. Writing between 951 and 959, Witger also states that Baldwin
II was a son of Baldwin II [Witgeri genealogia Arnulfi comitis, MGH SS
1: 303].
Baldwin II, d. 918, "count" of Flanders, 879-918; m. Ælftrude,
daughter of Ælfred ("the Great"), king of Wessex.
Raoul, d. 17 June 896, count [of Cambrai?].
Raoul was killed in 896 in battle with count Heribert I (of
Vermandois) ["Rodulfus vero in ira commotus propter castella perdita,
dum depraedari non cessit abbatiam sancti Quintini, ab Heriberto
occiditur in bello" Annales Vedastini, s.a. 896, MGH SS 1: 530; 2:
208; "Rodulfus comes interficitur 4. Kal. Iulii." Annales
Blandinensis, s.a. 896, MGH SS 5: 24; "... qui Heribertus Rodulfum
comitem, filium Balduini interfecit nostris temporibus, et non multum
post occisus est a Balduino, satellite Balduini, fratris Rodulfi, qui
Balduinus hucusque in Flandris ducatum tenet." Regino, s.a. 818 (in a
retrospective annal written ca. 906, describing the family of Bernard,
son of Pepin of Italy), MGH SS 1: 567]. The region over which Raoul
was count does not appear in sources until the twelfth century
[Vanderkindere (1902), 287].
End part 1 of 4
Stewart Baldwin
Todd A. Farmerie
>
> Writing between 951 and 959, Witger also states that Baldwin
> II was a son of Baldwin II
Obviously, here is a typo that need fixing.
taf