Lambert II (died

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

, 19 June 1054) was count of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

between 1033 and 1054. Lambert was the son of

Lambert I of Louvain Count Lambert "the Bearded" ( 950 – 12 September 1015) was the first person to be described as a count of Leuven (French ''Louvain'') in a surviving contemporary record, being described this way relatively late in life, in 1003. He is also the ...

and Gerberga, daughter of

Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine Charles (c. 953 – 22 June 992/995?) was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death. Life Born at Reims in the summer of 953, Charles was the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony and the younger brother of King Lothair ...

. According to th
Vita Gudilae
(recorded between 1048–1051) he followed his brother Henry I of Louvain as Count of Leuven. Lambert scorned both temporal and spiritual authorities and in 1054 even took up arms against

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Henry III. He was defeated and lost his life at

. During his reign,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

began its growth. Lambert arranged to transfer the remains of Saint

Gudula Gudula of Brabant, also known as Saint Gudula (ca. 646–712), was a Christian saint who is venerated in Catholic and Orthodox churches. In Brabant, she is usually called ''Goedele'' or ''Goule''; (, later '; ; ). Her name is connected to s ...

to the Church of St. Michael. This church, thereafter known as the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula, later became the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. Lambert also constructed a fortress on the

Coudenberg The Palace of Coudenberg (; ) was a royal residence situated on the Coudenberg or Koudenberg (; Dutch for "Cold Hill"), a hill in what is today the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. For nearly 700 years, the Castle and then Palace of Couden ...

hill. Lambert II died in 1054.

Family

Lambert of Louvain married Uda of Lorraine (also called Oda of Verdun), daughter of

Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine Gothelo (or Gozelo) ( 967 – 19 April 1044), called the Great, was the duke of Lower Lorraine from 1023 and of Upper Lorraine from 1033. He was also the margrave of Antwerp from 1005 (or 1008) and count of Verdun. Gothelo was the youngest son ...

. Their children were: * Henry II, Count of Louvain, who married Adela of Orthen, a daughter of Count Everard of Orthen (or Betuwe). * Adela of Louvain, married

Otto I, Margrave of Meissen Otto I was the Margrave of Meissen from 1062 until his death in 1067, and the second Margrave of the family of the counts of Weimar and Orlamünde. He was a younger son of William III of Weimar and Oda, daughter of Thietmar, Margrave of the Saxon O ...

, Count of Weimar. Later married

Dedi I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark Dedi (or Dedo) (1004 – October 1075) was the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (also called Lower Lusatia) from 1046 and a claimant for the title of Margrave of Meissen from 1069. He was the second son of Dietrich II of Wettin and Matilda, daughte ...

. * Reginar (Rainier) of Louvain. Killed in the battle of

Hesbaye The Hesbaye ( French, ), or Haspengouw ( Dutch and Limburgish, ), is a traditional cultural and geophysical region in eastern Belgium. It is a loamy plateau region which forms a watershed between the Meuse and Scheldt drainage basins. It has b ...

in 1077.

References

Sources

* * * House of Reginar Counts of Louvain 11th-century counts in Europe 1054 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Europe-noble-stub