Search | Advanced Search | Search Families | Search Site

First Name:   Last Name:   ID:  

Family: Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Emperor Charles Charlemagne, I / Queen of the Franks Desiderata of the Lombards (F5681)

• Male Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Emperor Charles Charlemagne, I

  
  

  Birth	2 Apr 742	Herstal, Liege, Belgium
  Death	28 Jan 814	Germany
  Burial		Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  Marriage	770  [1, 2]	France  [1, 2]
  Other Spouse	Queen of the Franks Hildegarde de Vinzgau Swabia | F5679
  Marriage	771	Germany
  Other Spouse	Gerswinda de Saxony | F5680
  Marriage
  Other Spouse	Himiltrude | F5682
  Marriage
  Other Spouse	Fastrada | F5683
  Marriage	784	Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
  Other Spouse	Regina | F5684
  Marriage
  Other Spouse	Ethelind | F5685
  Marriage
  Other Spouse	Madelgard | F5686
  Marriage
  Other Spouse	Luitgard | F5687
  Marriage	794
  Father	Holy Roman Emperor Pepin Martel, III | F3006 Group Sheet
  Mother	Bertrade de Laon, II | F3006 Group Sheet

  
  

  Female Queen of the Franks Desiderata of the Lombards

  
  

  Birth		Germany
  Death		North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  Burial
  Father
  Mother

  
  

• Sources

  [S320] Wikipedia: Desiderata of the Lombards, Desiderata of the Lombards. Desiderata, or Ermengarda[1], was one of four daughters of Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and his queen, Ansa. She was married to Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in 770, probably to form a bond between the otherwise enemy states of Francia and The Kingdom of the Lombards. The marriage was annulled in 771 and this hurt relations with the Lombards, presaging the war of 774. She had no known children and after the marriage was annulled she retired to the Monastery of Santa Giulia in Brescia. Although she is commonly referred to by the name Desiderata, it is now theorised that the name derives from an editorial error in a 19th-century copy of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica which capitalised the d in desideratam filiam (Latin for desired daughter). Even this error was sometimes compounded by a back formation to Desideria, a more probable first name (the feminine form of Desiderius, her father's name), or translated (as into French, Désirée). The noted Carolingian historian Janet Nelson hypothesised in the 1998 work After Rome's Fall that Desiderius' daughter was in fact named Gerperga. The reasoning used by Nelson hinges on the confusion that many contemporaries apparently had between her and Gerberga, the Frankish wife of Carloman, who was brother of Charlemagne and his co-ruler from 768 to 771. Even Pope Stephen III seems to confuse the two and the chroniclers and annalists seem to believe that Gerberga fled, when her husband died, to the court of her father (she fled to Desiderius, who was definitely not her father). What is definite is that Desiderius and Ansa had three other daughters named Anselperga, Adelperga, and Liutperga. The commonality in the names of their daughters is the ending "-perga". Based on this, the author believes the confusion was caused because the two queens (wives of the two brothers Charles and Carloman) had the same name, namely Gerberga or Gerperga, which are, respectively, the Frankish and Lombard versions of the modern French name Gerberge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata_of_the_Lombards [S278] Wikipedia: Charlemagne, Emperor Charlemagne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne