Adalrich, Duke of Alsace
Adalrich | |
---|---|
Duke | |
Died | 20 November 690 |
Honored in | Catholic Church |
Feast | 20 November |
Adalrich (
Adalrich's family originated in the pagus Attoariensis who was the father of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace.
Civil war of 675–679
Adalrich first enters history as a member of the faction of nobles which invited
Adalrich abandoned Leodegar and went over to Ebroin, the mayor of the palace of Neustria, sometime before 677, when he appears as an ally of Theuderic, who granted him the monastery of Bèze.[6] Taking advantage of the assassination of Hector of Provence in 679 to bid for power in Provence, he marched on Lyon but failed to take it and, returning to Alsace, switched his support to the Austrasians once more. After the assassination of Dagobert II, Adalrich was dispossessed of his lands in Alsace by the now undisputed king Theuderic III, who was controlled by Ebroin. Adalrich's possessions fell to the Abbey of Bèze that year.
Power in Alsace
Adalrich maintained his power in a restricted dukedom which did not encompass land west of the Vosges as it had under Boniface and his predecessors. This land was a part of the kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy, and only the land between the Vosges and the Rhine south to the Sornegau, later Alsace proper, remained with Austrasia under Adalrich. The west of Vosges was under duke Theotchar.
In Alsace, however, the civil war had resulted in a curtailed royal power and Adalrich's influence and authority, though restricted in territory, was augmented in practical scope. After the war, parts of the Frankish kingdom saw a more powerful viceregal hand under the exercise of the mayors of the palaces, while other regions were even less directly affected by the royal prerogative. The
Adalrich had initially made his allies counts, but in 683 he granted the comital office to his son and eventual successor Adalbert. By controlling monasteries and counties in the family, Adalrich built up a powerful regional duchy to pass on to his Etichonid heirs.
Relationship with monasteries
Adalrich had a rocky relationship with the monasteries of his realm, upon which he relied for his power. He is infamous for the suppression of that of
Perhaps as penance for his relationship to the deaths of two future saints, Leodegar and Germanus of Grandval, or perhaps out of a secret desire—disclosed it is said to his intimate friends—to found a place to the service of God and take up the religious life, Adalrich founded two monasteries in north central Alsace between 680 and 700:
Veneration as a saint
His daughter Odilia was reputedly born blind, which Adalrich took as a punishment for some offence done to God. In order to save face with his retainers, he tried to persuade his wife Bereswinda to kill the infant child in secret. She instead sent the child into hiding with a maid at the monastery of Palma. According to the Life of Odilia, a bishop named Erhard baptised the adolescent girl and smeared a chrism on her eyes, which miraculously restored her sight.
The bishop tried to restore the duke's relationship with his daughter, but Adalrich, fearing the effect of admitting to having a daughter hiding in poverty in a monastery would have on his subjects, refused. A son of his, ignoring Adalrich's orders, brought his sister back to Hohenburg, where Adalrich was holding court. When Odilia arrived, Adalrich, in a rage, struck a blow with his sceptre to his son's head, accidentally killing him. Disgraced, he reluctantly allowed Odilia to live in the monastery, which had no abbess, with a minimal wage under a British nun.
Towards the end of his life he was reconciled to her and made her the first abbess of his foundation, handing the abbey over as if it were private property.[8] Through his daughter Adalrich was reconciled to God and as early as the twelfth century was regarded as a saint with a local cult. His burial garments were displayed to pilgrims in his foundation at Hohenburg and a feast day was celebrated annually by the nuns. The portrayal of Adalrich as a nobleman who became holy while retaining his noble status and rank was very popular in the Rhineland and as far away as Bavaria in the Middle Ages. The Life probably sought to show how by simply maltreating a blind daughter in order to save face, Adalrich ended up far more dishonoured than he otherwise would have.
Notes
- ^ His name is also given as Adalricus, Chadelricho, Hetticho, Etichon, Cathicus, Cathic, or Athich.
References
- ^ "Karl von Habsburg: Die Anfänge". www.karlvonhabsburg.at. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
- ^ The placename survived in the ninth-century title of Isembard, comte d'Attuyer/Atuyer son of Adalard, comte de Chalon. ("Les comtes de Chalon-sur-Saône")
- Gallo-Roman ancestry through Flavia, were noted in Christian Settipani, "La transition entre mythe et réalité", Archivum 37 (1992:27-67); Settipani speculates on Flavia's connections with Felix Ennodius and Syagria.
- ^ He is referred to as Liutheric, a mayor of the palace, in the Life of Odilia.
- Marmoutiers Abbey, Alsace.
- ^ According to its chronicler Johannes of Bèze, the monastery of Fons Besua had been founded on a royal grant of land from Dagobert I (628) by Amalgar: see Waldalenus
- ^ "Vadium"
- ^ Hans Hummer, "Reform and lordship in Alsace at the turn of the millennium," in Warren Brown and Piotr Górecki, eds. Conflict in Medieval Europe: Changing Perspectives on Society and Culture (Ashgate) 2003:76.
Sources
- Hummer, Hans J. Politics and Power in Early Medieval Europe: Alsace and the Frankish Realm 600 – 1000. Cambridge University Press: 2005. See mainly pp 46–55.
- Lewis, Archibald Ross. "The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751." Speculum, Vol. LI, No. 3. July, 1976. pp 381–410.