Herbert II, Count of Vermandois

Template:Short description Template:Infobox royalty Herbert II (died 23 February 943), Count of Vermandois, Count of Meaux, and Count of Soissons. He was the first to exercise power over the territory that became the province of Champagne.

Life

Herbert was the son of Herbert I of Vermandois.Template:Sfn He was apparently well aware of his descent from Charlemagne.Template:Sfn Herbert inherited the titles of his father in 907: count of Soissons, count of Vermandois, including the positions of Lay abbot of St. Quentin and St. Médard entitling him to the income of those estates. His marriage with a daughter of king Robert I of France brought him the County of Meaux.Template:Sfn He acquired the county of Beauvais on the death of his relative, Count Bernard.

In 922, when Seulf became Archbishop of Rheims, in an effort to appease Herbert II, Seulf solemnly promised Herbert II that he could nominate his successor.Template:Sfn In 923, Count Herbert took the bold step of imprisoning King Charles III, who died still a captive in 929.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn Then, on the death of Seulf in 925, with the help of King Rudolph, he acquired for his second son Hugh (then five years old) the archbishopric of Rheims.Template:Sfn Herbert took the additional step of sending emissaries to Rome to Pope John X to gain his approval, which that pope gave in 926.Template:Sfn On his election young Hugh was sent to Auxerre to study.Template:Sfn

In 926, on the death of Count Roger I of Laon. Herbert demanded this countship for Eudes, his eldest son.Template:Sfn He took the town in defiance of King Rudolph leading to a clash between the two in 927.Template:Sfn Using the threat of releasing King Charles III, whom he held captive, Herbert managed to hold the city for four more years.Template:Sfn

But after the death of Charles in 929, Rudolph again attacked Laon in 931 successfully defeating Herbert.Template:Sfn The same year the king entered Rheims and defeated archbishop Hugh, the son of Herbert.Template:Sfn Artaud became the new archbishop of Reims.Template:Sfn Herbert II then lost, in three years, Vitry, Laon, Château-Thierry, and Soissons.Template:Sfn The intervention of his ally, Henry the Fowler, allowed him to restore his domains (except Rheims and Laon) in exchange for his submission to King Rudolph.

Later Herbert allied with Hugh the Great and William Longsword, duke of Normandy against King Louis IV, who allocated the County of Laon to Roger II, the son of Roger I, in 941. Herbert and Hugh the Great took back Rheims and captured Artaud.Template:Sfn Hugh, the son of Herbert, was restored as archbishop.Template:Sfn Again the mediation of the German King Otto I in Visé, near Liège, in 942 allowed for the normalization of the situation.

Death and legacy

Herbert II died on 23 February 943 at Saint-Quentin, Aisne (the capital of the county of Vermandois) from natural causes.Template:Sfn The story of him being hanged by king Louis IV (see fig. above) during a hunt is fictitious.Template:Efn His vast estates and territories were divided among his sons.Template:Sfn Vermandois and Amiens went to the two elder sons while Robert and Herbert, the younger sons, were given the valuable holdings scattered throughout Champagne.Template:Sfn On Robert's death his brother's son Herbert III inherited them all. Herbert III's only son Stephen died childless in 1019–20 thus ending the male line of Herbert II.Template:Sfn

Family

Herbert married Adele, daughter of Robert I of France.Template:Sfn Together they had the following children:

Herbert and Adele's Children

Name	Birth Date	Death Date
Eudes of Vermandois	c. Template:TrimTemplate:Sfn	946Template:Sfn	Count of Amiens and of Vienne
Adalbert I, Count of Vermandois	c. Template:Trim	987	Married [[Gerberge of Lorraine|Gerberge of LorraineTemplate:Sfn]]
Adela of Vermandois	910	960	Married 934 Count Arnulf I of FlandersTemplate:Sfn
Herbert 'the Old'	c. Template:Trim	980	Count of Omois, married 951 Eadgifu of Wessex daughter of Edward the Elder King of England and widow of Charles III King of France.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn
Robert of Vermandois		967	Count of Meaux and Troyes
Luitgarde of Vermandois	c. Template:Trim	978	married 940 William I, Duke of Normandy;Template:Sfn married secondly, c. Template:Trim, Theobald I of BloisTemplate:Efn Their son was Odo I, Count of Blois.Template:Sfn
Hugh of Vermandois	920	962	Archbishop of ReimsTemplate:Sfn