Gérard I, Count of Looz

Gérard I is a proposed Count of Loon, in what is now Belgian Limburg, who was mentioned in a 1101 charter of Emperor Henry IV concerning the return of the town of Andenne by Albert III, Count of Namur. He probably did not exist.

The charter, or at least one version of it, mentions a list of people including "Gerardus Comes de Looz, Arnoldus et frater ejus Theodoricus, Gislebertus filius Comitis Ottonis, Comitis de Duras" meaning Gerard is specifically a count of Looz or Loon, whereas Arnold, mentioned next (with his known relatives Theoderic, Gislebert, and Otto) would have been expected from other records.

The Belgian National Biography was concluded in a 1866 article on Arnold I, Count of Looz that he died between 1098 and 1101, succeeded by his eldest son Gérard, followed by his younger son Arnold II. But these conclusions are not generally believed, and current historians agree on 1126 as the correct date of the death of Arnold I, with his some Arnold II taking over after him.

It was pointed out by J Daris in 1867 that there was another copy of the charter of 1101 which called Gérard simply a count, and Arnold was the one described as "Comes de Looz".

The charter involved appears here.

References

J. Daris (1867) "Notes Chronologiques sur les Comtes de Looz", Bulletin de la Société Scientifique et Litteraire du Limbourg, vol. 8., page 97.

J-J. Thonissen, J-J, Arnoul Ier et Arnoul II, Académie royale de Belgique, Biographie nationale, vol. 1, Bruxelles, 1866

Baerten, J. (1965), "Les origines des comtes de Looz et la formation territoriale du comté", Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 43 (2), 1965

Also see

Medieval Lands Project, Comtes de Looz

Medieval Lands Project, Comtes de Duras (Looz)