Ermengard of Italy

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ermengard of Italy
Queen consort of Provence
Tenure879 – 887
Died896/897
SpouseBoso of Provence
Issue
DynastyCarolingian
FatherLouis II of Italy
MotherEngelberga

Ermengard of Italy (died 896/897) was

Byzantine emperor, but whether the marriage actually occurred or not is still debated among historians. In 871, Ermengard and her family were taken hostage by Adelchis of Benevento but were later freed. In 876, Ermengard married Boso, a nobleman with connections to the Carolingian dynasty, and became queen upon his accession to the throne of Provence in 879. After her husband's death in 887, she served as regent of the kingdom during the minority of her son Louis the Blind
.

Early life and engagement to Constantine

A golden coin showing Constantine with Emperor Basil
Golden coin showing Constantine (right) with Emperor Basil I (left)

Ermengard was the daughter of

Emperor Basil I,[a] was proposed.[1]

Ermengard and Constantine were betrothed in 870 or 871.

Byzantinist Ralph-Johannes Lilie, argue that the marriage of Ermengard and Constantine did not either. Instead, the correspondence between Louis II and Basil I reveal a feud over the right to the imperial Roman title,[1] Basil refusing to yield the status of Roman emperor to Louis.[10]

In August 871, Ermengard, along with the rest of her family, were held hostage by Adelchis of Benevento.[3] They remained in captivity until September; during that time, rumors circulated that the imperial family were dead. The bishop of Benevento managed to have them freed, and Ermengard is not mentioned by chronicles until her marriage in 876.[3]

Queen of Provence

In 876, sometime between February and June,

West Frankish king Louis the Stammerer died. Boso intended to have himself elected as the new monarch of West Francia, but ended up as ruler of Provence. His rise to the throne of Provence was aided by Ermengard and her mother Engelberga.[13] The historian Constance Bouchard states that "Ermengard was indeed quoted at the time as saying that she, daughter of the Roman emperor, who had once been affianced to the Greek emperor, would not want to live if she could not make her own husband king".[14] The couple had three surviving children: a son, Louis the Blind, and two daughters, Engelberga and an unnamed child.[15][16]

In 878, Ermengard and her husband welcomed

East Frankish Annales Fuldenses, she managed to convince her cousin to, as Bouchard puts it, "'quasi-adopt' Boso's young son Louis as his own son".[15][18] In 890, Louis was elected to succeed to his father's kingdom of Provence.[15] During the minority of her son, Queen Ermengard served as regent of Provence.[19]

Ermengard died in 896/897.[20][21] In June 897, Ermengard's son Louis requested prayers for the repose of the souls of both his parents.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ While nominally the son of Basil I, some historians speculate that Constantine was actually the son of the future Michael III.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d PmbZ, Irmengard (#23548).
  2. ^ a b Bouchard 1988, p. 410.
  3. ^ a b c d Poupardin 1901, p. 78.
  4. ^ Herrin 2001, p. 225.
  5. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 22–23.
  6. ^ a b Tougher 1997, p. 44.
  7. ^ Tougher 1994, p. 118.
  8. ^ a b Adontz 1956, p. 20.
  9. ^ Tougher 1994, p. 23 & 118.
  10. ^ Ostrogorsky 1956, p. 237.
  11. ^ a b Poupardin 1901, p. 163.
  12. ^ Bouchard 1988, p. 78.
  13. ^ Bouchard 1988, p. 411.
  14. ^ Bouchard 1988, p. 77.
  15. ^ a b c Bouchard 1988, p. 413.
  16. ^ a b Poupardin 1901, p. 142.
  17. ^ Poupardin 1901, pp. 86–87.
  18. ^ Poupardin 1901, p. 144.
  19. ^ Poupardin 1901, pp. 160–161.
  20. ^ Poupardin 1901, p. 162.
  21. ^ Poupardin 1901, p. 167.

Sources

  • Adontz, Nicholas (1956). "Basil I, the Armenian (Emperor of Byzantium 867–886)". Armenian Review. 9.
  • Bouchard, Constance Brittain (1988). "The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age". French Historical Studies. 15 (3) (3 ed.). Society for French Historical Studies]: 407–431.
    JSTOR 286367
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-691-11780-5
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-813-51198-6
    .
  • OL 14019078M
    .
  • Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit
    (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
  • Tougher, Shaun (1994). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Personal Relationships and Political Ideologies (PhD thesis). St. Andrews: University of St. Andrews.
    hdl:10023/14582
    .
  • Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People. Leiden:
    ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ermengard_of_Italy&oldid=1218948256"