Vermandois was a French county composed originally of the two chatellenies of Augusta
Veruomanduorum, after 964 called St Quentin (Aisne),
and Peronne (Somme). Pepin
I, the earliest of its hereditary counts, was descended in direct male line from the emperor Charlemagne, most famous was his grand-son Herbert
II (902–943), a man absolutely devoid of scruples, considerably increased the territorial power of the house of
Vermandois, and kept the lawful king of France, the unlucky Charles the Simple,
prisoner for six years, Herbert II was son of Herbert I, lord of Péronne
and St Quentin de Monte, who was killed in 902 by an assassin in the pay of Baldwin II, Count of Flanders. His successors,
Albert I, Herbert
III, Albert II, Otto and
Herbert IV, were unimportant.
In 1077, the last count male of the first house of Vermandois, Herbert IV, received the county
of Valois in right of his wife. His son Otto the Insane was disinheredited by the
council of the Barons of France and then he was lord of Saint-Simon in right of his wife, and the county was given to his sister
Adela, whose first husband was Hugh the Great, the brother of King Philip I. Hugh was one of the leaders of the First Crusade,
and died in 1102 at Tarsus in Cilicia. The eldest son of Hugh and Adela was count Raoul (Rudolph) I (c. 1120-1152), who married Alix of Guyenne, sister of the queen, Eleanor, and had by her three children: Raoul (Rudolph) II, the Leper (count from 1152-1167); Isabelle, who possessed from 1167 to 1183
the counties of Vermandois, Valois and Amiens conjointly with her husband, Philip of
Alsace, count of Flanders; and Eleanor. By the terms of a treaty concluded in 1185 with the king, Philip Augustus, the count of Flanders kept the
county of Vermandois until his death, in 1191. At this date, a new arrangement gave Eleanor (d.
1213) a life interest in the eastern part of Vermandois, together with the title of countess of St
Quentin, and the king entered immediately into possession of Peronne and its dependencies.
See also
References
- Anselme, "Histoire Genealogique de la Maison royale de France", 1726.
- M.Fouquier-Cholet, "Histoire des Comtes héréditaires du Vermandois", Saint-Quentin, 1832.
- Ioh.Mabillon, "Annales ord. Sancti Benedicti. Ticinense". Lucae, 1739.
- Louis Moreri, "Le Gran Dictionnaire Historique", Paris, 1743-1749.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
