Baldrick II (died 29 June 1018) was

bishop of Liège A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

from 1008 to his death at

Heerewaarden Heerewaarden is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of Maasdriel, and lies about 8 km south of Tiel. Heerewaarden was a separate municipality until 1999, except for a short period between 1818 and ...

in what is now the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He was the nineteenth holder of that office and as Notker's successor can be considered the second "prince-bishop" of Liège. In 1015-1018 he founded St James's Church in the city.

Family

Balderic is believed to be a relative of his namesake Bishop

Balderic of Utrecht Balderic of Cleves (Oldenzaal, 897 – Utrecht, 27 December 975) was a long-reigning and influential Bishop of Utrecht from 918 to 975. Although his father is only known from one document associating him with Betuwe, and his grave in his son' ...

, whose nephew

Balderic I of Liège Baldrick I was bishop of Liège and abbot of Lobbes from 955 until his death on 29 July 959. Balderic appears in a 943 charter made in his favour by his paternal uncle Balderic, which was studied by Joseph Daris in 1896 and Léon Vanderkindere in ...

, shared not only the name but had also been a previous Bishop in Liège. Daris, Vanderkindere and Baerten all argued that he is likely to be son of Balderic I's younger brother Rudolf. Medieval sources describe Balderic as brother of the

Giselbert of Loon Giselbert van Loon (probably died about 1045) is the first definitely known count of the County of Loon, a territory which, at least in later times, roughly corresponded to the modern Belgian province of Belgian Limburg, Limburg, and generations la ...

, the first certain

Count of Loon The County of Loon ( , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the modern Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloo ...

, which was within the spiritual jurisdiction of Liège, and not far from Liege itself. As pointed out by Hubert Van der Weerd, the counts also established a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

at their first seat in

Borgloon Borgloon (; , ; ) is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Borgloon had a total population of 10,697. The tota ...

, dedicated to Saint Odulphus, who was associated with

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. As mentioned by Kupper, Balderic II is also described in medieval sources as a kinsman of

Arnulf of Valenciennes Arnulf (or Arnoul, or Arnold) of Valenciennes (d. 22 October 1011), was a 10th and 11th century count and perhaps sometimes a margrave, who was lord of the fort of Valenciennes, which was at that time on the frontier with France (West Francia), on ...

Dirk III, Count of Holland Dirk III (also called ''Dirik'' or ''Theodoric'') was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his ...

, and Lambert I, Count of Louvain.

Career

The ''Annals of Hildesheim'' say that before being bishop he held the office of a "''vicedomnus''". He served as chaplain to emperors Otto III and Henry II. According to Kupper he is probably the cleric and chaplain of the emperor mentioned in a royal charter of 1001. He died at

of illness; just before the

battle of Vlaardingen The (First) Battle of Vlaardingen was fought on 29 July 1018 between troops of the Holy Roman Empire and West Frisia (which would later become known as the County of Holland). As a result of a trade dispute, Emperor Henry II sent an army towar ...

References

Bibliography

*Baerten, Jean (1969) Het graafschap Loon (11e - 14e eeuw), Maaslandse monografieën 9 (Assen Van Gorcum) *Kupper, Jean-Louis. (1981) Liège et l’Église impériale aux XIe-XIIe siècles n línea Liége: Presses universitaires de Liège . . http://books.openedition.org/pulg/1472 *Jacques Stiennon. (1951) Étude sur le chartrier et le domaine de V abbaye de Saint- Jacques de Liège (1015-1209) http://www.chokier.com/FILES/STJACQUES/SJStiennon4.html *Vanderkindere, L. (1902) La formation territoriale des princippautés belges au moyen âge I (Brussel)

Primary sources

Prince-bishops of Liège Date of birth unknown 1018 deaths {{Belgium-bio-stub