Arnulf II, Count of Flanders

Count of Flanders (965–987)

Arnulf II of Flanders (c. 961–987), called Arnulf the Young was a French nobleman and the Count of Flanders. He ruled from 965 until his death. He ruled a much smaller County of Flanders than his father.

Arnulf II the Young Count of Flanders.

Career change

Arnulf II, born about 961, was the son of Baldwin III, Count of Flanders and Mathilde.[1] She was the daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony.[1] His father Baldwin III died in 962 when Arnulf was just an infant.[2] His grandfather, Arnulf I, was still alive and ruling Flanders.[1] When Arnulf I died three years later (965), the regency was held by his kinsman Baldwin Balso.[3] The regent Balso died in 973.[3]

By the time Arnulf reached his age of majority in 976, Flanders had lost some of the southern territory acquired by Arnulf I.[3] His grandfather had given some parts of Picardy to King Lothar of France to help make sure his grandson, Arnulf II would succeed him. Arnulf I also Boulogne as a fief to his nephew, Arnulf II, Count of Boulogne.[a][2] Then early in Arnulf's minority King Lothar had taken Ponthieu and given it to Hugh Capet, and the first counts of Guînes had established themselves there.[3] Arnulf died on 30 March, 987, just 26 years old.[1] Shortly after Arnulf's death his widow married Robert II, King of France as his first wife.[5]

Family change

In 968 he married Rozala of Lombardy, daughter of Berengar II of Italy,[6] and had two children:

  • Baldwin IV (980–1035), who succeeded his father.[1]
  • Mathilde, who died before 995.[1]

Notes change

  1. The names Arnold and Baldwin are confusingly used repeatedly in both branches of this family. Both the counts of Flanders and the counts of Boulogne are descended from Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald (Carolingian dynasty) and her husband Baldwin I, Count of Flanders.[4]

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 5
  2. 2.0 2.1 Karine Ugé, Creating the Monastic Past in Medieval Flanders (York: York Medieval Press, 2005), p. 3
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making, 843–1180, Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 73
  4. Emanuel J Mickel; Peter R Grillo; Jan A Nelson, Les Enfances Godefroi and Le Retour de Cornumarant, Vol 3 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1999), p. 63
  5. Constance Brittain Bouchard, Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia ( Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), p. 21
  6. George Andrews Moriarty, The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa (Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Society, Salt Lake City, UT, 1985). p. 14