Notes
Note N1460
Index
Sprota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sprota was the name of a Breton captive who William I, Duke of Normandy took as a wife in the Viking fashion (more danico)[1][2] and by her had a son, Richard I, Duke of Normandy. After the death of her husband William, she became the wife of Esperleng and mother of Rodulf of Ivry.[3][4][5]
Life
The first mention of her is by Flodoard of Reims and although he doesn't name her he identifies her under the year [943] as the mother of "William’s son [Richard] born of a Breton concubine".[6] Her Breton origns could mean she was of Celtic, Scandinavian, or Frankish origin, the latter being the most likely based on her name spelling.[7] Elisabeth van Houts wrote "on this reference rests the identification of Sprota, William Longsword’s wife 'according to the Danish custom', as of Breton origin".[8]. The first to provide her name was William of Jumièges.[9][10] The irregular nature (as per the Church) of her relationship with William served as the basis for her son by him being the subject of ridicule, the French King Louis "abused the boy with bitter insults", calling him "the son of a whore who had seduced another woman's husband."[11][12]
At the time of the birth of her first son Richard, she was living in her own household at Bayeux, under William's protection.[4] William, having just quashed a rebellion at Pré-de Bataille (c.936),[a] received the news by a messenger that Sprota had just given birth to a son; delighted at the news William ordered his son to be baptized and given the personal name of Richard.[10] William's steward Boto became the boy's godfather.[13]
After the death of William Longsword and the captivity of her son Richard, she had been 'collected' from her dangerous situation by the 'immensely wealthy' Esperleng.[3]. Robert of Torigni identified Sprota's second husband[b] as Esperleng, a wealthy landowner who operated mills at Pîtres.[4][14]
Family
By William I ‘Longsword’ she was the mother of:
Richard I, Duke of Normandy[15]
By Esperling of Vaudreuil she was the mother of:
Rodulf, Count of Ivry[16]
several daughters who married Norman magnates
References
1.^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), p. xxxviii
2.^ Philip Lyndon Reynolds, Marriage in the Western Church (Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 111
3.^ a b Delphine Lemaître Philippe, La Normandie an xe siècle, suivie des Recherches sur les droits des rois de France au patronage d'Illeville (A. Perone, Rouen, 1845) p. 6
4.^ a b c David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty, (Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 26
5.^ The Normans in Europe, ed. & trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 4
6.^ The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 916-966, ed. & trans. Steven Fanning and Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. 37
7.^ The Normans in Europe, ed. & trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 182
8.^ The Normans in Europe, ed. & trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 47 n. 77
9.^ K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, 'Poppa of Bayeux and Her Family', The American Genealogist, vol. 72 (July-October 1997), p. 192
10.^ a b The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 78-9
11.^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 102-3 n. 5
12.^ Emily Albu, The Normans in their histories: propaganda, myth and subversion, (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2001), p. 69.
13.^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 78-9 n. 3
14.^ Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 108
15.^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas(Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 79
16.^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue folge, Band III Teilband 4, Das Feudale Frankreich und Sien Einfluss auf des Mittelalters (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1989) Tafel 694A
Notes
^ The date of the battle and as such Richard's birth is commonly given as c.936 but according to the Annals of Jumièges (ed. Laporte, p. 53) Richard was baptized in 938. See The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elizabeth M.C. Van Houts, Vol. I (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 78-9 n. 5.
^ Probably also in the Viking or Danish fashion of marriage. See: Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988), p. 291 n. 2
By Sprota,[c] a Breton captive and his concubine,[31] he had a son:
Richard the Fearless, who succeeded him.[30]
Notes
Note N1461
Index
Girart de Roussillon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Girart de Roussillon, also called Girard, Gérard II, Gyrart de Vienne, and Girart de Fraite, (c. 810-877/879?) was a Burgundian chief who became Count of Paris in 837, and embraced the cause of Lothair I against Charles the Bald. He was a son of Leuthard I, Count of Fézensac and of Paris, and his wife Grimildis.
Girart is not described as being from Roussillon in authentic historical sources. The placename in his title is derived from a castle he built on Mont Lassois, near Vix and Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d'Or).
Girart de Roussillon also is an epic figure in the cycle of Carolingian romances, collectively known as the Matter of France. In the genealogy of the cycle’s legendary heroes, Girart is a son of Doon de Mayence and appears in the various irreconcilable events.
Biography
Girart fought at the Battle of Fontenay in 841, and doubtlessly followed Lothair I, his future brother-in-law, to Aix-en-Provence. In 843, he married Bertha, daughter of Hugh of Tours and sister of Ermengarde of Tours, Lothair's wife.
In 855, Girart became governor of Provence for Lothair's son Charles, nominal king of Provence. His wife Bertha defended Vienne unsuccessfully against Charles the Bald in 870. Girart, who had perhaps aspired to be the titular ruler of the northern part of Provence, continued to administer it under Lothair II until that prince's death in 869. He retired with his wife to Avignon where he died probably in 877, certainly before 879.
Romance
The legend of Girart’s piety, the heroism of his wife Bertha, and of his wars with Charles passed into the genre of literary romance; however, the historical facts are so distorted that, in the epic Girart de Roussillon, he became an opponent of Charles Martel to whom he was related as brother-in-law. The legendary narrative Girart de Roussillon was long held to be a Provençal work, but its Burgundian origin has been proven.
Accounts of Girart are found in several early manuscripts. The earliest chanson de geste, called Le Chanson de Girart de Roussillon, dates from the second half of the 12th century. The original text, written in octosyllables, is preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). It was translated the first time by Paul Meyer in 1884, (Paris: Champion). A recent translation into modern French with notes by Micheline Combarieu du Grès and Gérard Gouiran was published in 1993 (Paris: Librairie générale française).
A romance written in rhymed alexandrines was written between 1330 and 1349 by monks in the abbey of Pothières, which was founded in about 860 by Girart. It was dedicated to Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (ca. 1295-1350), and Jeanne de Bourgogne (called "Joan the Lame"), queen of France (1293-1349). The text is composed in a dialect midway between French and Old Occitan. Five manuscript copies of this version survive; two in Montpellier, France at the Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire (section médecine), one in Troyes (now held at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris), one in Paris at the BnF, and one in Brussels at the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique. This version was translated by Yale University in 1939 (New Haven: Yale University Press, Yale Romanic Studies, 16).
It also inspired a romance in prose by Jehan Wauquelin in 1447 (Paris: éd. L. de Montille, 1880).
Southern French traditions concerning Girart, in which he is called the son of Garin de Monglane, are embodied in the 13th century narrative in rhymed decasyllable verses about the siege of Vienne by Charlemagne in Girart de Vienne by Bertrand de Bar-sur-l'Aube. The same traditions also are embraced in Aspramonte by Andrea da Barberino, based on the French chanson Aspremont, where he is called Girart de Frete or de Fraite and he leads an army of infidels against Charlemagne.
References
# Bloch, R. Howard (1977). Medieval French Literature and Law. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press.
# Meyer, Paul (1878). La légende de Girart de Roussillon, Romania, no. 7, 1878. p. 161-235
# Meyer, Paul (1884). Girart de Roussillon. A translation in modern French with a comprehensive introduction.
# Michel, F. (1856) Gerard de Rossillon ... publié en francais et en provençal d'après les MSS. de Paris et de Londres. Paris.
# Tarb, P. (Ed.) (1850). Girart de Viane, in: L. Gautier, Epopées francaises, vol. iv. Reims.
# Wulif, F. A. (1874). Notice sur les sagas de Magus et de Geirard. Ed.: Lund.
# This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
* ARLIMA: Girart de Roussillon - Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge; original sources of various texts.
* The Getty: The Armies of France and Burgundy with Martel in Prayer - Illuminated manuscript (c. 1467-1472) showing Charles Martel and Girart de Roussillon preparing for battle.
* Web Art Gallery: Girart de Roussillon - Illuminated manuscript (c. 1460) from Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna showing Girart and Bertha.
* Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Carolingian Nobility: Descendents of Gerard Comte, Gerard (II)