Constance de Arles DE TOULOUSE

Notes:

Constance de Arles (also known as Constance of Provence) (986 - July 25, 1034) was the third wife and queen of King Robert II of France. She was the daughter of William I, count of Provence and great-grandson of Charles-Constantine; and Adelais of Anjou, daughter of Fulk II of Anjou. She was the sister of Count William II of Provence. In 1003, she was married to King Robert, after his divorce from his second wife, Bertha of Burgundy. The marriage was stormy; Bertha's family opposed her, and Constance was despised for importing her Proven

Constance married Robert II 'the Pious' KING OF FRANCE on 25 Aug 1002 in France. Robert (son of Hugh 'the White' CAPET, of France and Adelaide of Poitou OF AQUITAINE) was born on 27 Mar 970 in Orleans, Loiret, Orleanais Centre, France; died on 20 Jul 1031 in Melun, France; was buried in St. Denis Basilica, Paris, France. [Group Sheet]

1. Hugh Magnus 'the Great' DE VERMANDOIS
2. Countess Advisa OF AUXEME was born in 1003; died after 1063.
3. Henry I Capet KING OF FRANCE was born on 4 May 1008 in Reims, Champagne, France; died on 4 Aug 1060 in Vitry-en-Perthois, Marne, France; was buried in Saint Denis Basilica, France.
4. Countess Adela of Flanders OF FRANCE was born in 1009; died in 1063.
5. Duke Robert I "the Old" OF BURGANDY was born about 1011 in Burgundy, France; died on 21 Mar 1076.
6. Eudes OF FRANCE was born in 1013; died in 1056.
7. Constance OF FRANCE was born in 1014; and died.

William married Adelais D'ANJOU. Adelais (daughter of Count Fulk II 'the Good' D'ANJOU and Gerberga d'Gatinais DU MAINE) was born about 942 in Anjou, Pays-de-la-Loire, France; died about 1026 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence, France. [Group Sheet]

Raimond married Gersende OF GASCONY. Gersende (daughter of Count Garcia Sanchez OF GASCONY) died in 975. [Group Sheet]

Fulk married Gerberga d'Gatinais DU MAINE. Gerberga (daughter of Count Geoffrey DE GATINAIS and Ava DE AUVERGNE) was born in 915 in Gatinais, Loiret, Orleanais, France; died in 952. [Group Sheet]

Raimond married Guidenilde DE TOULOUSE. Guidenilde was born in 897; died in 923. [Group Sheet]

Fulk married Rosalie DE LOCHES. Rosalie (daughter of Garnier DE LOCHES and Toscanda) was born in 882 in Louches, Touraine, France; and died. [Group Sheet]

Geoffrey married Ava DE AUVERGNE. Ava was born about 893; died after 942. [Group Sheet]

Eudes married Garsinde DE ALBI. Garsinde (daughter of Count Hermengild OF ALBI) was born in 871; and died. [Group Sheet]

Ingelger married Countess Aelinde DE AMBOISE. Aelinde (daughter of Geoffrey D'ORLEANS) was born about 844 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France; and died. [Group Sheet]

Garnier married Toscanda. Toscanda was born in 858; and died. [Group Sheet]

Raimond married Bertha DE REMY. Bertha (daughter of Arsinde DE REMY) was born about 830; and died. [Group Sheet]

Terulle married Petronilla DE AUXERRE. Petronilla (daughter of Abbot Hugues OF ST. QUENTIN and Regina DE FRANCE) was born about 825 in Anjou, Pays-de-la-Loire, France; and died. [Group Sheet]

Foucoald married Senegonde. Senegonde (daughter of Fredelon and Bertha D'AUTUN) was born in 785; and died. [Group Sheet]

Hugues married Regina DE FRANCE. Regina was born about 800; and died. [Group Sheet]

Fredelon married Bertha D'AUTUN. Bertha (daughter of Duke Makir d'Autun OF TOULOUSE and Aude OF AUSTRASIA) was born about 750; and died. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Charlemagne, in Latin is Carlous Magnus (Charles the Great), King of the Franks (768-814), and Emperor of the Romans (800-814), who led his Frankish armies to victory over numerous other people and established his rule in most of western and central Europe. He was the best-known and most influential king in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Charlemagne, Charles the Great. With the consent of the great nobles, Charlemagne, Charles the Great, became King of France and Holy Roman Emperor of the West from 771 to 814, following the death of his brother. He was born April 2, 742, probably at Aix-La-Chapelle. When only twelve years old we find him commissioned to receive and welcome the pontiff who came to implore his father's aid against the barbarians that threatened Rome. He probably accompanied his father in his campaigns at an early age, but the first time that we really see him in the field, is on the renewal of the war with the rebellious Duke of Aquitaine.

Upon the death of Pepin, in 768, Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman succeeded to equal portions of one of the most powerful of European kingdoms, bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, Mediterranean, and the ocean. But this would hardly enabled the monarchs, even had they been united, to resist successfully the incursions of the barbarous tribes on the German frontiers of France, which had commenced with the first establishment of the Frankish dominion in Gaul; and which were kept alive by the constant pouring forth of fresh hordes from the overpopulated north. The situation of Charlemagne was rendered yet more perilous by the massive enmity of his brother, and the rebellion of Hunald, the turbulent Duke of Aquitaine. But fortunately Charlemagne had a genius equal to the difficulties of his situation; though his brother refused to aid him, he defeated Huald; and no less illustrious by his clemency than by his valor and military skill, he forgave the vanquished rebel.

Desiderius, the King of Lombardy, had made large encroachments upon the states of the Roman Pontiff, whose cause was taken up by Charlemagne. This led to feuds, which Bertha, his mother, endeavored to appease by arranging a marriage between her son and the daughter of the Lombard. But Charlemagne soon took a disgust to the wife thus imposed upon him, and repudiated her, that he might marry Hildegarde, the daughter of a noble family in Swabia. Thus he married Hildegarde of Swabia (Linzgau), Countess, born in 757/758, died April 30, 782/3.

In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne was elected to the vacant throne, to the exclusion of his nephews, whose extreme youth made then incapable of wearing the crown in such troubled times. Gilberge, the widow of Carloman, immediately fled, and sought refuse with Desiderius, the common retreat for all who were hostile to the Frankish monarch.

From that time, sole ruler during a reign of forty-three years, he waged incessant wars on all his borders, subduing rebellions, extending his domains and at the same time advancing Christianity. In 772 he began a thirty-year war with the determined Saxons, after the successful opening of Charlemagne was called to the assistance of Pope Hadrian I. against Desiderius, King of the Lombards. Charlemagne marched two armies over the Alps and conquered Lombardy in 774; returned and beat the Saxons again and hastened into Spain, in 778, to help the Arabian rulers of that country against the Osman Caliph of Cordova. It was in this war that Roland, the hero of romance, fell in the pass of Roncesvalles.

In 799 the Romans revolted against Pope Leo III., and were again brought into subjection by Charlemagne. In return, while he was praying on the steps of St. Peter's Church, he was crowned by Leo with the iron crown of the Western Empire, successor of the Roman Caesars, unexpectedly to him, as he pretended, on Christmas Day, 800, amidst the popular acclamations, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific Emperor of the Romans!"

The extensive domain of Charlemagne was rendered secure only by ceaseless vigilance and warfare. The short intervals of peace which ere allowed him, he employed in endeavoring to educate and civilize his people. He made a tour through his dominions, causing local and general improvement, reforming laws, advancing knowledge, and building churches and monasteries. Christianity being one of the chief means to which he trusted for the attainment of his grand objects. In this he was no less successful than he had before been in war. With exception of the Eastern empire, France was now the most cultivated nation in Europe, even Rome herself sending thither for skillful workmen, while commerce, roads, and mechanics must have been much advanced, as we may infer from the facility with which marble columns and immense stone crosses were often carried through the whole extent of France upon carriages of native construction. Luxury, too, with its attendant arts had made considerable strides. Vases of gold and silver richly carved, silver tables highly wrought, bracelets, rings, and table cloths of fine linen, might be seen in the houses of the nobles. The people must have been dexterous in working iron, for their superiority in this respect is shown by the severe laws forbidding the exportation of arms.

Charlemagne drove back the Arabs, reduced the Huns, and effectually protected his long line of coast from the attempted invasion of the Northmen. It is said, that upon one occasion he arrived at a certain port just as the pirates were preparing to land; but the moment they learned of the presence of the monarch, they immediately fled in great terror at the mere mention of his name.

It was always an object of first importance with Charlemagne to support the papal authority, as holding out the only means of spreading Christianity, which he justly considered the most effectual instrument he could employ to enlighten and civilize the world.

Charlemagne securely laid the foundations of his empire. He was vigilant, judicious, and energetic, both as a ruler and commander. He fostered agriculture, trade, arts, and letters with untiring zeal, clearing forests, draining swamps, founding monasteries and schools, building cities, constructing splendid palaces, as at Aix, Worms, and Ingelheim, and drawing to his court scholars and poets from all nations, being himself proficient in science, as well as all hardy accomplishments.

Charlemagne was tall and a commanding presence, and could speak and write Latin as well as his native German. He fostered all learning and the fine arts, studying rhetoric and astronomy. He reigned over France, half of Germany, and four-fifths of Italy. The Caliph Haroun-al-Rashid sent an embassy to the court of Charlemagne with gifts in token of good will. Attacked with pleurisy he died after a short illness, in the seventy-second year of age, and the forty-seventh of his reign, on January 28, 814. Some years later Charlemagne was canonized by the church.

Charles married Regina. [Group Sheet]