| History |
Gerhard was the younger son of Gerhard de Bouzonville, Graf von Metz, and Gisela, who may have been a daughter of Thierry I, duke of Upper Lorraine. He was the count of Metz and Chatenois from 1047, when his older brother Adalbert resigned these counties to him on becoming duke of Lorraine. On Adalbert\'s death the next year, Gerhard became duke and was so until his death. In contemporary documents he is called Gerhard of Alsace (after the familial homeland), Gerhard of Chatenoy (after an ancestral castle near Neufchâteau), or Gerhard of Flanders (after his wife\'s homeland). He and his wife Hadwide, daughter of Albert I, comte de Namur, and Ermengarde/Aleide de Lorraine, had four children of whom two sons, Thierry II and Gerhard, would have progeny.
Emperor Heinrich III invested Adalbert with Lorraine in 1047 after confiscating it from Geoffroy \'with the Beard\'. Geoffroy did not back down, however, and killed Adalbert in battle. Heinrich then bestowed the dukedom on Gerhard, but the deposed duke continued to stir. Geoffroy had the support of a faction of the nobility who did not want a strong hand at the ducal helm, and Gerhard was imprisoned. However he had the support of the most important bishop, Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, bishop of Toul (later Pope Leo IX), who procured his liberation in 1049. The emperor gave him troops to assist him in his fight, for the rebels had the support of some elements in the Church. Gerhard himself remained, as his brother had, faithful to the end to the imperial dynasty, and his descendants would remain so as well, even into the Hohenstaufen years.
Gerhard\'s alliance with the Church was regular but inconstant, though he endowed the abbeys of Mourmoutiers, Saint-Michel and Remiremont. Mourmoutiers was the abbey of Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, who excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius, in 1054, precipitating the Great Schism, and Remiremont was Gerhard\'s own final resting place.
In June 1053 Gerhard and Prince Rudolf of Benevento led papal and Swabian troops into battle on behalf of Leo IX. The Battle of Civitate on 10 June 1053 was a disastrous loss for the pope. His enemies, the Normans under Humphrey de Hauteville and Richard of Aversa, defeated his allies and captured Leo, keeping him in honourable captivity at Benevento, Gerhard, however returned to Lorraine.
Among his construction projects was the castle of Prény in the centre of the duchy, and the beginnings of the capital city Nancy. Gerhard died (possibly poisoned) at Remiremont about 14 April 1070, while trying to end a revolt. He was succeeded by his son Thierry II. Gerhard was the progenitor of the line of dukes who ruled Lorraine until 1755. [1] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
Abt 1030 - 1070 (~ 40 years)
