Arnoul Ier of Flanders

The count Arnoul Ier of Flanders known as Arnoul Large the , Arnoul the Rich person or Arnoul the Old man (°v. 873 - † March 27th 965) is the son of Baudouin II the Bald person and of Elftrude de Wessex. It succeeds his father in 918. One spells also Arnould . His/her father makes him marry Alix de Vermandois, sealing his reconciliation with Herbert II, count de Vermandois.

The course of its life

At the beginning of sound principat, it lines up Carolingian side and supports Charles Simple the at the time of the Bataille of Soissons (923). It supports then Raoul of Burgundy against the Norman duke Rollon. When Sigfrid the Dane and his Normands come to seize, in 928, of the place where then the town of Guînes will rise, Arnoul gives up the counter-attack and delivers his/her daughter Elstrude in marriage to the Norman pirate, whom it invests Count de Guînes, vassal of the Count de Flandre.

Seeking to increase its field, it seizes inter alia castle Mortagne (in the Tournaisis) in 931. In 933, with died of his brother Adolphe, it takes possession of the rich person abbey of St-Bertin, which it will allot in 943 to Gerard, already abbot of St-Pierre of Ghent, by reserving however for itself Calais.

Initially combined Hugues Large the and future emperor and king de Germanie Otton I {{er}} against the Carolingian Louis IV of Overseas, it takes Montreuil with its count legitimates Herluin, which begins again to him with the assistance of the duke Guillaume of Normandy, said Guillaume Long Sword ; he then inspires at the time of an interview with Pecquigny (942) the assassination by trick of this duke, then a coalition against his heir Richard, whom Otton Ier and Louis IV enter, of which he becomes faithful allied. Otton, on the opinion of Arnould, puts the seat in front of Rouen: it is a heavy failure, badly felt by the Germanie king; Arnoul raises the camp and, of spite, Otton invades the states of its old ally. Ghent is destroyed. Otton made there build the “ Novum Castrum ” whose guard is given to Wichmann, and makes dig the “ pit ottonienne ”, delimiting the imperial possessions in Flanders. Finally reconciled, Otton leaves the suzerainty of the castrum in Arnould, which Marie her Lutgarde daughter with Wichmann. Montreuil is definitively acquired in 948. Meanwhile, Arras was also taken (932). Then it is Douai (the Castrum Duacum ) in 950, where the count makes set up the collegial Saint-Heart.

In 958, the count of Flanders convenes an assembly of the States in Ghent, during which it gives the government of the county to his son Baudouin III. After the untimely death of this last, its grandson Arnould II being old only twelve years (961), it takes again the load comtale. He dies three years later, at 92 years the worthy age, having further increased the county of the field connected with the church of Lambres, promised by the bishop of Cambrai in exchange of his assistance against the revolted Cambric ghilde.

He had founded the church of Torhout, had drawn up a chapter with St-Donat of Bruges, had built the St-Jean vault in Ghent, and had endeavoured to restore the abbey of St-Amand.

Marriage and children

He had married in 934 Alix de Vermandois (v.915 † 960), girl of Herbert II, count de Vermandois, and of Adele of France, and had had:

Egbert (937 † 953)
Baudouin III (940 † 962), count de Flandre
Hildegarde (934 † 990), married towards 943 with Thierry II (930 † 988), count de Western Frise, Count de Gand.
Liutgarde (938 † 964), married into 950 in Wichmann II count d' Hamaland and of Ghent.
Elftrude, born towards 932, married into 964 with Siegfried († 965), lord of Guines

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