Count Heligaud

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: birth to death

Notes:

History:
Count Heligaud was living in 831.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Herlouin died about 878.

Angilbert married Bertha of France. Bertha (daughter of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor and Hildegarde, Countess in Linzgau) was born in 776; died in 826. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth: Sewell gives her birth year as 779.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 767 to 814; King of the Franks (Carolingian dynasty)
• Land/House: 768
• Reign: From 800 to 814; Holy Roman Emperor

Notes:

Death: Weis (1982) gives his death place as Aix la Chapelle.

Name:


More is known about Charlemagne than most medieval rulers because of a biography written by Einhard, a friend of his son Louis the Pious. This biography describes Charlemagne as more than six feet tall, with piercing eyes, fair hair, a thick neck, and a potbelly. He was strong, fond of exercise, and had an alert mind and a forceful personality. Charlemagne could read and speak Latin, the language of educated people of the time. However, he never learned to write it.

Land/House:
When Pépin the Short died in 768, the Frankish lands were divided according to ancient Frankinsh law and tradition between Pépin's sons Carloman and Charles. During the next three years until Carloman's death in 771, relations between the two brothers were sometimes strained. In 774, Charles "the Great" or Karolus Magnus, more widely known as Charlemagne, conquered Lombardy and confirmed his father's donation of the Papal States. Charlemagne added Bavaria to his realm, and eventually defeated the Saxons and forced them to convert to Christianity. Charlemagne also waged war in Spain. He was returning from an expedition there in 778 when a mountain people called the Basques ambushed and wiped out his rear guard. This incident became the subject of the famous epic poem The Song of Roland, however, the ambushers were the Moors.

Reign:
On 25 December 800, he was crowed Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome.

Charlemagne married Hildegarde, Countess in Linzgau in 771 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hildegarde (daughter of Gerold, Count in the Vinzgau and Emma of Allemania) was born in 758; died on 30 Apr 783. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
She was also known as Hildegarde of Vinzgau.