Godfrey of Namur (attested in 1080; died 19 August 1139) was a
Lotharingian
Lotharingia ( la, regnum Lotharii regnum Lothariense Lotharingia; french: Lotharingie; german: Reich des Lothar Lotharingien Mittelreich; nl, Lotharingen) was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable ...
nobleman. He was Count ''
jure uxoris
''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title ''suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could becom ...
'' of Porcéan from 1097 until his death. From 1102, he was also Count of Namur. He was the oldest son of Count Albert III and his wife Ida of Saxony, the heiress of Laroche.
In 1121, he founded
Floreffe Abbey
Floreffe Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, the second of the order to be founded, situated in Wallonia on the Sambre at Floreffe, about 11 km southwest of Namur, Belgium.
History
When Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstra ...
, where he also was buried.
Marriages and issue
Godfrey married twice.
He first married in 1087 Sibylle, a daughter of Count Roger of
Château-Porcien
Château-Porcien () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Ardennes department
The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France.
The communes ...
and his wife Ermengarde. Together, they had two daughters:
* Elisabeth (fl. 1141), married
Gervais, Count of Rethel
Gervais, Count of Rethel ( fl. 11th century) was a French archbishop and nobleman. He was the son of Count Hugh I and his wife Melisende of Crécy. He succeeded his father as Count of Rethel.
Biography
Gervais served as an archdeacon of Rheims ...
and later Clarembaud de Roscy;
* Flandrine, married Hugh of
Épinoy
Épinoy (; pcd, Spineu) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
A farming village situated southeast of Arras at the junction of the N43 and D21 roads.
Population
Places of interest
...
.
Sibylle and Godfrey divorced in 1105 because of her pregnancy by her lover
Enguerrand I, Lord of Coucy
Enguerrand I ( 1042 – 1116) was the Lord of Coucy from 1086 until his death in 1116.
Bishop Rorico of Amiens established canons at Saint-Acheul in 1085.
The foundation charter records donations to Saint-Acheul by Count Enguerran of Boves and h ...
.
In 1109, Godfrey married
Ermesinde
Ermesinde is a civil parish in the municipality (''concelho'') of Valongo, in continental Portugal, northeast of Porto. The population in 2011 was 38940,Conrad I of Luxembourg and his wife
Clementia
In Roman mythology, Clementia was the goddess of clemency, leniency, mercy, forgiveness, penance, redemption, absolution, acquittal and salvation.
She was defined as a celebrated virtue of Julius Caesar, who was famed for his forbearance, ...
. She was the widow of Count Albert I of Egisheim-Dagsburg and Moha. Together, they had the following children:
* Albert who died young (died about 1127)
* Henry the Blind (d. 14 August 1196). He was Count of Luxembourg from 1136 until his death, and Count of Namur, Laroche, Durbuy and Longwy from 1139 to 1189. He was also
advocatus
During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
and St. Willibrord Abbey in
Echternach
Echternach ( lb, Iechternach or (locally) ) is a commune with town status in the canton of Echternach, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the border with Germany, and is the oldest town in ...
. He married:
*# Lauretta of Flanders (married ; divorced 1163, died ). She was a daughter of
Thierry of Alsace
Theoderic ( nl, Diederik, french: Thierry, german: Dietrich; – 17 January 1168), commonly known as Thierry of Alsace, was the fifteenth count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. With a record of four campaigns in the Levant and Africa (including pa ...
,
Count of Flanders
The count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders, beginning in the 9th century. Later, the title would be held for a time, by the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. During the French Revolution, in 1790, the co ...
and Margaret of Clermont. She was the widow of Count Ivan of Aalst and of
Ralph I, Count of Vermandois
Ralph I of Vermandois (French: ''Raoul Ier'') (d. 14 October 1152) was Count of Vermandois. He was a son of Hugh, Count of Vermandois and his wife, Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois. Ralph was a grandson of Henry I of France, while Ralph‘s mother ...
; she had divorced Henry II.
*# in 1168 to Agnes, a daughter of
Henry I, Count of Guelders
Henry I, Count of Guelders (1117–1182) was Count of Guelders from 1131 until 1182. He was a son of Gerard II of Guelders and Ermgard of Zutphen.
In 1138 Hendrik inherited the County of Zutphen from his mother.
Hendrik was under tremendous pre ...
* Clementia (d. 28 December 1158), married in 1130 to Duke Conrad I of Zähringen
* Alice, married to Baldwin IV
* Beatrix (d. 1160), married
Ithier, Count of Rethel Guitier (Ithier) of Rethel (died 1171), son of Odo of Vitry and Matilda, Countess of Rethel, nephew of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, was Count of Rethel, succeeding his mother. (His father is named as count, but it is not clear that he ever served.) C ...
Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
decided that Ermesinde was the heir to the County of
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. The county was transferred to her son, who became count of Luxembourg as Henry IV.