Charles de Courcy, de Carolus

He had two marriages/partners. His first wife was Frederuna, who he married in ABT APR 907. The place has not been found. Their only known child was Ermentrude (c0908-?).

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Charles de Courcy, de Carolus (0879-0929)	Louis de Carolus (0846-0879)	Charles de Carolus (0823-0877)	Louis de Carolus (c0778-0840)	+
		Charles de Carolus (0823-0877)	Judith de Baveria (0800-0843)
		Ermentrude d’Orleans (0830-0869)	Odo “Eudes” d’Orleans (c0805-?)
		Ermentrude d’Orleans (0830-0869)	Engeltrude 'Ingeltrude' de Paris
	Adelaide de Paris (c0848-c0901)

Events

Notes

Note 1

!StyleName: de Courcy, de Carolus, Charles III, King of France, “the Simple” [879 - 929]

!Note: From below Eurepedia article, the Franks were also from Denmark, so this would not be impossible.

!Source: Some Descendants of Charles III 'the Simple' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE, King of France [893-922]

1. Charles III 'the Simple' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE King of France [893- [893-922],26 2067 son of Louis II 'the Stammerer' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE King of France [877-879] and Adelaide DE PARIS, was born 17 Sep 0879 in France,26 2067 died 7 Oct 0929 in Murdered in Tower of Peronne, Somme, France,26 2067 and was buried in St. Fursi, Peronne, Somme, France. Charles married Frederuna Of HAMALANT Abt Apr 0907. Frederuna was born Cir 0886 in Hamaland, Netherlands and died 10 Feb 0916-0017 in Paris, Seine, Ile-de-France, France.

2. i. Ermentrude 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE Princess of France was born Cir 0908 in France.

Charles next married Eadgifu 'Gewissa' Of WESSEX Princess of England ,416 2045 daughter of Edward 'the Elder' 'Gewissa' Of WESSEX King of England [899-924] and Aelflaed 'Gewissa' Of WESSEX, Cir 0917.2068 Eadgifu was born Abt 0904 in Wessex , England and died Cir 0951.2068

3. i. Louis IV 'Transmarinus' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE King of France [936-954] 26 416 was born 10 Sep 0921 in Laon, Aisne, Picardy, France,26 416 died 10 Sep 0954 in Fell from horse in Reims, Champagne, France,26 416 and was buried in St. Remy Abbey, Reims, Champagne, France.26

4. ii. Charles 'de Courcy' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE was born Abt 0925 in Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France.

3. Louis IV 'Transmarinus' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE King of France [936-954] 26 416 was born 10 Sep 0921 in Laon, Aisne, Picardy, France,26 416 died 10 Sep 0954 in Fell from horse in Reims, Champagne, France,26 416 and was buried in St. Remy Abbey, Reims, Champagne, France.26 Louis married Gerberga Von SACHSEN ,2 68 1692 2070 daughter of Henry I 'the Fowler' Von SACHSEN Holy Roman Emperor [919-936] and Mathilda Von RINGLEHEIM, Abt 0939.2069 2070 Gerberga was born Abt 0913 in Nordhausen, Saxony, Prussia 2 68 2069 and died 5 May 0984 in Reims, Marne, Champagne, France.2 68 2071

5. i. Lothair 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE King of France [954-986] 26 68 2072 2073 was born Abt 0941 in Laon, Aisne, Picardy, France 26 68 2072 and died 2 Mar 0986.26 68 2072

6. ii. Matilda 'Maud' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE Princess of France 2074 2075 was born Cir 0943 in Laon, Aisne, Picardy, France 2074 and died 26 Nov 0991.2074

7. iii. Charles 'de Lorraine' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE Duke of Lower Loraine 2045 2076 was born Cir 0960 in Laon, Aisne, Picardy, France 2077 and died 21 May 0994 in Kerker, Orleans, France.2077

4. Charles 'de Courcy' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE was born Abt 0925 in Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France. Another name for Charles was Charles DE COURCY. Charles married Wife of Charles DE UNKNOWN Cir 0945. Wife was born Cir 0925 and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France.

8. i. Wigelius 'de Courcy' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE was born Cir 0950 in Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France.

8. Wigelius 'de Courcy' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE was born Cir 0950 in Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France. Another name for Wigelius was Wigelius DE COURCY. Wigelius married Wife of Wigelius DE UNKNOWN Cir 0970. Wife was born Cir 0950 and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France.

16. i. Baldric 'the Teuton' 'de Courcy' 'de Carolus' DE FRANCE Seigneur de Courcy 2031 was born Cir 0970 in Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France and died of Courcy, Ardennes, Champagne, France.

!Source: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=franks+and+normans

The Franks were a Germanic-speaking tribe that ruled France, while the Normans were Viking descendants who settled in Normandy, France. The Normans adopted many aspects of Frankish culture, including language, religion, and political organization.

In 911, the Frankish king Charles the Simple signed a treaty with Rollo, a Viking leader, to stop raids on France.

In exchange, the Franks gave Rollo land around the Seine River, which became Normandy.

The Normans adopted the Frankish language, religion, laws, customs, and political organization.

Normandy became one of the most powerful states in Christendom by the middle of the 11th century.

The Franks, like other West Germanic tribes, is thought to have descended >>> from Denmark <<< or Schleswig-Holstein in the Early Iron Age through Lower Saxony. The Franks would have settled in the northeastern Netherlands, as far as the Rhine, circa 200 BCE. Around the 2nd and 3rd century C.E. they crossed the Rhine moved into Toxandria, the Southern Netherlands and the German Rhineland. By the 6th century, the Franks had expanded to Lorraine, the Palatinate and Hesse. The Franks were divided in several tribes, such as the Salian Franks in Flanders and Zealand, the Mosan Franks in Wallonia, Luxembourg and Lorraine, or the Ripuarian Franks in the Rhineland region.

The Rhine and Moselle valleys in Germany are still known as "Franconia", and German dialects in this region are varieties of Franconian, direct descendants of the Old Ripuarian Frankish. Old Salian Frankish evolved into Dutch and Flemish dialects.

Based on the results from the Benelux Y-DNA Project it can be inferred that the Franks's main paternal lineage was haplogroup R1b-U106, and that they belonged overwhemingly the Z381 subclade. They also possessed other typical Germanic lineages like I1, I2a2a and R1a , although their ratio to R1b-U106 would have been 1:2, 1:6 and 1:7 respectively. Like modern Scandinavians, the Franks also probably carried a substantial amount of R1b-P312 lineages, including the L21, U152 and DF27 subclades, as well as a minority of E-V13, G2a3b1 and J2. Since all these lineages are also typical of population of Celtic or Italic descent, is not clear at present what proportion of these lineages in the Benelux can be attributed to the Gauls and the Romans, as opposed to the Franks.

In 287/288 C.E. Roman Emperor Maximian launched a military campaign in Germania against the Franks. The Salian Franks surrendered and became subjects of the Roman Empire. Maximian moved them to Germania Inferior , making them the first Germanic tribe to settle permanently within the Roman Empire.

They became a powerful ally of Rome, providing many imperial generals . In 324, Bonitus becomes the first Frank in charge of a Roman militia. In 351, Gaiso becomes the first Roman consul of Frankish blood, followed by Silvanus in 355, Nevitta in 362, Merobaudes in 377, Richomeres in 384, Bauto in 385. The Franks integrated remarkably well into Roman society, speaking Latin fluently, obtainning Roman citizenship, and being often promoted by the emperors to consular ranks for their competence. Some of them were even granted the clan name Flavius of the Imperial family.

Frankish kingdoms were established within the Empire, around Le Mans , Cambrai , Tournai , Trier , and Deutz .

Chlodio the Long-Haired is considered to be the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, named after his son Merowig/Meroveus . The Roman army having left the north of Gallia Belgica to fight the Visigoths, Chlodio took control of the region, extending his realm between the Rhine, the Meuse, the Somme and the English Channel. He established his capital in Tournai, which the Romans had founded around 50 C.E. His grandson, Childeric I , helped the Romans defeat the Visigoths.

Childeric's son, Clovis I , also born and raised in Tournai, conquered the neighbouring Frankish tribes in the Low Countries and Rhineland and established himself as their sole king. He defeated Syagrius, the last Roman official in northern Gaul, then the Visigoths in southwestern Gaul, thus becoming the ruler of most of the old Roman Gaul.

Clovis converted to Catholicism at the instigation of his wife Clotide, a Burgundian princess, thus spreading Christianity among the pagan Franks. The Romans had been predominantly Christian since the 4th century, after Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity , and Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity as the official state religion of the Roman Empire . Converting to Christianity was therefore a way of showing the continuity between the Roman and Frankish rules. Most importantly, it was a way of earning the acceptance of the Christian Gallo-Roman population, which greatly outnumbered the Frankish rulers. It took many generations before the Franks truly adopted Christianity. Even at the time of Charlemagne, 300 years after Clovis, a part of the Frankish population was still pagan.

Clovis I is considered by many French people to be the first King of France, although he was really the King of the Franks. The name 'France' does come from 'Frank', but it only appeared in the 10th century, after the split of Charlemagne's Empire . Under the Merovingians, most of what is now France was called 'Neustria', while the Benelux together with western and southern Germany were known as 'Austrasia'.

After two centuries of rule, the waning power of the Merovingian dynasty prompted Charles Martel , a native from Liège, to proclaime himself Duke of the Franks and was in all but name de facto ruler of the Frankish Realms.

In 732, he routed the invading Islamic Moorish armies of the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Poitiers , thus saving Europe from Islamisation. This is one of the most important achievements of the Franks in the history of Europe up to this day. Without Charles Martel, Europe, or at least Western Continental Europe, would have become part of the Muslim world, an event that would almost certainly have prevented the Renaissance from happening, and would consequently also have precluded the Great Voyages, the Colonisation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and everything that follows. Without Charles Martel, Europe might well have stagnated to the medieval period to this day. As a result, modern technologies wouldn't exist anywhere on Earth.

Upon Charles Martel's death, the power passed to his two sons Pippin the Younger and Carloman , who ruled conjointly over Francia until 747, when Carloman withdrew to monastic life. In 751, the last Merovingian puppet king, Childeric III, was deposed, and Pippin was elected King of the Franks with the blessing of the Pope, and anointed in Soissons.

Pippin's son, Charles would extend the Frankish empire to Saxony , Northern Italy, Croatia, and Catalonia, and become known as Charlemagne . In 800, he was crowned emperor by the Pope in Rome, declaring himself heir of the Roman Empire, with his capital in Aachen, 40 km away from his native Liège. His empire was to last over 1000 years . From 962 it became known under the name of Holy Roman Empire and Holy Roman Emperors were crowned in Rome, stressing the continuity with the original Roman Empire.

The Frankish influence over Europe was so important from the Merovingian period onwards that the term for 'European' or 'non-Muslim' became Faranji in Arabic and Farangi in Persian, a derivative of the word "Frank". The term became used in the Indian subcontinent as well after the Muslim conquest. Firang or Farang are also used in South Asia to refer to Westerners.

Since Charlemagne, Emperor of the Occident, became the symbol of the unified Christian Europe in the Muslim world, the Franks have become associated with the image of Westerners in most of southern Asia for over 1000 years. It could be said in a way that the Franks laid the foundations of Western society and culture.

On a side note, understanding history makes it only natural for the modern capital of Europe, Brussels, to be located at the very heatr of the old Frankish homeland. In fact, Brussels was the historic capital of the Duchy of Brabant, which was the official heir of Lotharingia, the Kingdom of Charlemagne's eldest grandson, who was supposed to rule over his undivided empire . Therefore, symbolically, Lotharingia remained for centuries the "senior" principality within the empire, and Brussels has inherited the rightful claim of being the symbolic capital of Europe's sole historical empire from 800 to 1804. In the year 1804, the French Empire and Austrian Empire were both founded, conferring for the first time simultaneously the title of emperor to French-speaking and German-speaking monarch. The Holy Roman Empire was officially abolished in 1806 by Napoleon to prevent the Habsburgs from claiming themselves sovereign of Germany. Note that the British Empire was not properly speaking an empire until Queen Victoria was granted the title of Empress of India in 1876).

In 840, Charlemagne's only surviving son, Louis the Pious, passed away. His eldest son, Lothair, was to inherit the empire. However, the Frankish tradition was to divide the land between the male heirs, and Lothair's brothers Charles and Louis, claimed their part. After 3 years of internecine conflict, Lothair was forced to cede two thirds of the empire. Charles the Bald inherited Western Francia, which would become known simply as France. Louis the German received East Francia, making up most of present-day Germany. Lothair kept the title of emperor , but his domain was now restricted to Middle Francia, a strip of land covering the present-day Benelux, Rhineland, Alsace, Lorraine, Burgundy, Switzerland, Provence, and the northern half of Italy as far as Rome.

Middle Francia, also known as Lotharingia, encompassed the old Frankish homeland, Clovis' original kingdom, where the Imperial capital of Aachen was located. It is due to this symbolic value of Old Francia and Rome that Lothair kept this oddly shaped territory for himself.

After Lothair's death in 855, his realm was split again between his three sons. The eldest, Lothair II, inherited the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which was now geographically limited to Alsace, Lorraine and the Low Countries, his brothers inheriting everything from Burgundy to Italy. In 870, a year after Lothair II's death, Charles the Bald and Louis the German obtained the leftovers of Lotharingia, most of which actually acquired by Louis. Owing to the fact that the original Frankish homeland was now being held by the rulers of East Francia, the Imperial crown was allowed to return to Germany, under the rule of Otto I .

Whoever ruled over the Low Countries could claim the Imperial crown. It is by the same logic that the Habsburgs of Austria later monopolised the title of emperor. Between the rule of Charlemagne until the Habsburg emperor, 16 out of the 28 Holy Roman Emperors were of Frankish descent .

The first Habsburg to be elected as Holy Roman Emperor was Frederick III in 1440, who married the only daughter and heiress of Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg, although originating from a tiny duchy, had the prestige of ruling over a section of the original Frankish Kingdom, and had three of their members elected as emperors. By marrying into the House of Luxembourg, the Habsburgs increased their own prestige and could be seen as having inherited the title of emperor. To consoladiate this prestige, the second Habsburg emperor, Maximilian I, married Mary of Burgundy, sole heiress of the Duchy of Burgundy and most of the Low Countries . Now ruling directly over practically all the original Frankish homeland, and marrying the descendants of Charlemagne himself, the Habsburgs became seen as the legimiate heirs of Charlemagne and were allowed to remain Holy Roman Emperor until the dissolution of the empire in 1806.

The Low Countries and the German Rhineland were annexed by France in 1792. With France now in possession of the Frankish homeland for the first time in its history, there only needed a new monarch to claim the title of emperor. When Napoleon did it by proclaiming himself emperor and heir of Charlemagne in 1804, the Habsburgs, who saw themselves as the sole legitimate heirs of the Franks, created the title of Emperor of Austria the same year.

Charles de Courcy, de Carolus

Personal and Family Information

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Notes

Note 1