Lambert II (died

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

, 19 June 1054) was count of

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

between 1033 and 1054. Lambert was the son of

Lambert I of Louvain Count Lambert "the Bearded" (c. 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 ...

(d. 1015). According to th
Vita Gudilae
(recorded between 1048–1051) he followed his brother Henry I of Louvain. 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 ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Henry III. He was defeated and lost his life at

. During his reign

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

began its growth. Lambert arranged to transfer the remains of

Saint Gudula Saint Gudula was born in the pagus of Brabant (in present-day Belgium). According to her 11th-century biography ( Vita Gudilae), written by a monk of the abbey of Hautmont between 1048 and 1051, she was the daughter of a duke of Lotharingia calle ...

to the St. Michael's church. This church, thereafter known as the Saints Michael and Gudula Church, later became the

St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral nl, Kathedraal van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele , native_name_lang = , image = Saints-Michel-et-Gudule Luc Viatour.jpg , imagesize = 200px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape ...

. Lambert also constructed a fortress on the Coudenberg hill. Since Lambert II died in 1054, an imperial charter of September 1062 connecting a certain Lambert to the county Brussels, is probably referring to another person.

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 of ...

. Their children were: *

Henry II, Count of Louvain Henry II (Dutch: ''Hendrik'', French: ''Henri'') was the Count of Louvain (Leuven) from 1054 through 1071 (?). Henry II was the son of Lambert II, Count of Louvain and Oda of Verdun. His maternal uncles included Pope Stephen IX and Duke Godfrey t ...

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, daughter o ...

. * 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 be ...

in 1077. House of Reginar Counts of Louvain 1054 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Europe-noble-stub