General Notes

[jweber.ged]

Maud/Matilda definitely married Geoffrey of Semur, but the well-respected German source ES, in one of its conflicting pedigrees, has her also marrying Henry, Duke of Burgundy, and having a daughter Aremburga, who was wife of Dalmas I of Semur.  This is probably not true, and ES has been shown to be inconsistent and erroneous in giving the spouse(s) of Henry.  The spouse of Henry was a widow of Adalbert I King of Italy, and there is still a lot of debate concerning who her father (and mother) were.

The following is excerpted from a post to SGM, 16 May 1997, by Jim Stevens, referring to an earlier post by Mat on 29 Apr 1997:

Matman <mat_man@HOTMAIL.COM> posted to
soc.genealogy.medieval on 29 Apr 1997:
Subject:      Re: Untangling the Burgundy web

  "For English readers, the Bouchard article (p261ff) is essential to understanding this confusion in ES. French historians etc have peddled various theories: the ES has noted all of them, hence the internal disagreement.

  Some have favoured Leotald of Macon as the father of Gerberga, but Bouchard follows the  more reliable ones (F.Lot, R.Poupardin etc) in seeing her as the daughter of Lambert. She lists 3 children of Lambert: Gerberga (m. 1) Adalbert (2) Henry; Matilda (m. Geoffrey), Hugo of Chalon. The sources clearly state that Matilda and Hugo were children of Lambert, but they don't mention the father of Gerberga.

  The main argument for Gerberga being the daughter of Leotald is, I think, the fact that her great grandson Otto of Macon (not Otto-William) calls Leotald his _atavus_. The strict classical meaning of this is great-great-great-grandad, which would imply, that Gerberga was Leotald's grandaughter. However most who favour Leotald's parentage, have overlooked this inconvenient detail, and suggested that the term here just means distant ancestor.

  The other evidence is the Life of Hugo of Chalon (d.1039) who says that his sister married the duke of Burgundy. This has been seen as Gerberga wife of Henry (d.1002). Those who favour Leotald as her father, say this sister was Matilda, who they say married Henry before she married Geoffrey of Semur. Thus if one rejects Lambert as the father of Gerberga, you have to invent a new wife for Duke Henry. I think ES III, 433-34 has these two marriages. Somewhere else in ES, it even gives this supposed marriage of Matilda and Henry a daughter, Aremburga, the wife of Dalmas I of Semur.

  I havn't gone into all the various arguments, or evidence: its best to read Bouchard yourself, and decide whether you agree with her. Personally I prefer her no-nonsense approach, and the works of other notable historians (eg W.Kienast Die Herzogtitel in Frankreich & Deutschland, 1968) agree with her on the father of Gerberga being Lambert."