Richilde D'ARDENNES Reine des Francs ¹⁹⁸²

   FamilySearch ID: GS7K-4Q4

  General Notes:

Richilde of the Ardennes (or Richilde of Provence) (ca. 845-2 June 910, Kingdom of Lower Burgundy) was the second consort of Charles the Bald, King and Emperor of the Franks. By her marriage, she became Queen of the West Franks, and then Empress of the Franks. She also served as a regent.

Richilde was the daughter of Bivin of Gorze, Count of the Ardennes, and the sister of Boso of Provence (of the Bosonid dynasty). Her aunt was Theutberga, the wife of Lothar II of Lotharingia. Her marriage to Charles the Bald, in 870 after the death of his first wife, Ermentrude of Orléans, was intended to secure his rule in Lotharingia through her powerful family and her connection to Theutberga, the previous Queen consort. She bore him five children, but only the eldest daughter, Rothilde survived to adulthood.

Whenever Charles went to war, Richilde managed the realm, and acted as head of state after the death of Charles in 877. Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans) died on 10 April 879 while his children were too young to rule on their own. Richilde planned to place her brother Boso, Duke of Burgundy, on the throne. However, she was accused of incest with her brother and the lords of the kingdom refused to subject themselves to her authority. She then helped Boso to become King of Provence.

She attempted to assume a position of authority upon the death of Louis III in 882, and of Carloman II in 884; however, the empire was agitated and under threat by the Normans, and the grandees of the realm forced her to withdraw to Provence, then the realm of her nephew Louis the Blind, where she died on 2 June 910

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Title of Nobility: Dame de Lunéville,,, in Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Grand Est, France. ¹⁹⁸³ Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France.

2. Title of Nobility: Countess of Provence, on an unknown date,. ¹⁹⁸³

3. Title of Nobility: Queen of the West Franks, on an unknown date,. ¹⁹⁸³

4. Title of Nobility: Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, in 875,. ¹⁹⁸³

5. Title of Nobility: Queen of West Francia, in 870,. ¹⁹⁸³

6. Title of Nobility: Countess of Provance, in 863,. ¹⁹⁸³

7. She worked as a Dame de Lunéville. on an unknown date. ¹⁹⁸³

8. Title of Nobility: Queen of the Franks, on an unknown date,. ¹⁹⁸³

Richilde married Charles II "the Bald" Empereur d'Occident, son of Louis I "The Pious" OF THE FRANKS König der Franken und Römischer Kaiser and Judith VON BAYERN Römische Kaiserin, on 25 November 871.¹⁹⁸¹ (Charles II "the Bald" Empereur d'Occident was born on 13 June 823 in Aachen, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany ¹⁹⁸², christened on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany,¹⁹⁸² died on 6 October 877 in Brides-les-Bains, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France ¹⁹⁸² and was buried in October 877 in Nantua, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France ¹⁹⁸².). The cause of his death was Died crossing the Pass of Mont Cenis.