Ermengarde of Tours

Ermengarde of Tours (German: Irmingard von Tours) (d. 20 March 851) was the daughter of Hugh of Tours, a member of the Etichonen family,^[1] which claimed descent from the Merovingian kings. In October 821 in Diedenhofen (Thionville), she married the Carolingian Emperor Lothair I of the Franks (795–855).^[1]

In 849, two years before her death, she made a donation to the abbey Erstein in the Elsass, in which she is buried.

Lothair and Ermengarde had nine children:

• Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor (c. 825–875).
• Helletrud (Hiltrud) (c. 826–after 865/866) m. Count Berengar (d. before 865/866)
• Bertha (c. 830–after 7 May 852, probably 877), became before 847 Abbess of Avenay, perhaps Äbtissin of Faremoutiers
• A daughter of unknown name (b. probably 826/830), called Ermengarde in later sources, kidnapped 846 by Gilbert, Count of the Maasgau, who then married her
• Gisla (c. 830–860) 851–860 Abbess of San Salvatore in Brescia
• Lothair II of Lotharingia (c. 835–869) king of Lorraine m. 855 Teutberga, daughter of Count Boso of Arles
• Rotrud (baptized 835/840 in Pavia) m. around 850/851 Lambert, Margrave of Brittany, Count of Nantes (Widonen), who died 1 May 852
• Charles of Provence (c. 845–25 January 863 in the monastery St-Pierre-les-Nonnains, modern Lyon), King in Burgundy

Appearance

"Her voice is as pure as gold and clear as the note of zither. Her skin is as roses mixed in snow. Her blonde hair circles her head like a chrysolith. Her eyes are lively, her white neck like milk, lillies, ivory. Her graceful hands are like the snow."^[2]

References

1. Pierre Riche, The Carolingians:A Family who forged Europe, transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 149.
2. From Sedulius

External links