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Birth:          ABT  942 Lorraine, France
Death:          AFT 3 Sep 1005 

Notes
Stuart says b 930/935
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_I,_Count_of_Verdun
Godfrey I (died 1002), called the Prisoner or the Captive (le Captif), sometimes the Old 
(le Vieux), was the count of Bidgau and Methingau from 959 and the count of Verdun 
from 963 to his death. In 969, he obtained the Margraviate of Antwerp and Ename. 
Between 974 and 998, he was also the count of Hainault and Mons.

He was the son of Gozlin, Count of Bidgau and Methingau, and Oda of Metz. He was 
the brother of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, who crowned Hugh Capet the king of 
France.

He was the founder of the House of Limburg or House of Ardennes-Verdun, a cadet 
branch of the House of Ardennes. He was always loyal to the Ottonians, whom he was 
related through his maternal grandmother.

He appears as the new count of Verdun in 963, though already count of Bidgau and 
Methingau through inheritance since 959. In 974, he became count of Mons, and 
Hainault jointly with Arnold, Count of Valenciennes, after the fall of Reginar IV. 
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was a supporter of Reginar and defeated Godfrey 
and Arnold at Mons in 976, where the former was captured.

After his release, he was at the side of the Emperor Otto II fighting Lothair of France 
at Verdun in 985, but he was again taken captive and held several years. He was 
released in 987 by Hugh Capet, whose political ally Godfrey's family was: Adalberon, 
Godfrey's brother, having crowned Hugh and Godfrey being an enemy of Charles of 
Lower Lorraine, Hugh's Carolingian rival.

In 989, he was made prisoner a third time by Herbert III of Vermandois. He was 
liberated before 995, when he appears at the synod of Mousson. In 998, he lost his 
Hainault portion (the county of Mons) to Reginar.

Family[edit]

In 963, he married Matilda, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony, of the Billung family, 
a widow of Baldwin III of Flanders. He had the following issue:
Frederick (d. 1022), count of Verdun
Godfrey (d. 1023), count of Verdun and duke of Lower Lorraine (1012–1023)
Adalberon (d. 988), bishop of Verdun (984–988)
Herman of Ename (d. 1024), count of Brabant (retired as a monk in the abbey of 
Verdun abt. 1022)
Gothelo (d. 1044), margrave of Antwerp, duke of Lower (1023–1044) and later also 
Upper (1033–1044) Lorraine
Bertram de Verdun, grand-uncle of the Bertram I who went to England where he held 
the manor of Farnham Royal in Buckinghamshire.
Ermengarde (d. 1042), married Otto of Hammerstein, count in the Wettergau
Ermentrude, married Arnold de Rumigny (d. 1010), lord of Florennes
Adela, married Count Godizo of Aspelt. Their daughter Irmgard married Berthold von 
Walbeck, son of Lothair I, Margrave of the Nordmark.

Parents
VON ARDENNES Gozelin (Gonzelo) (ABT  911 - ABT  943)
OF METZ Oda (ABT  908 - 10 Apr  963)

Siblings
____ Henry (ABT  930 - 6 Sep 1000)
____ Godfrey (Gottfried) "the Captive" (ABT  942 - AFT 3 Sep 1005)

Marriage To OF SAXONY Maud (Mathilde) (ABT  943 - 25 May 1008)
    m.  963 

Notes

Parents
BILLUNG OF SAXONY Hermann (ABT  902 - 27 Mar  973)
OF WESTERBOURG Hildegarde (Hildegardis) (ABT  907 - )

Children by OF SAXONY Maud (Mathilde) ABT  943 - 25 May 1008
____ Gerberge (ABT  965 - )
____ Gothelo (Gonzelon) (Gozelo) I (ABT  967 - 19 Apr 1044)
____ Frederick (ABT  970 - 6 Jan 1022)

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