Diemazz

The Bosonids were a dynasty of Franks that have been named in modern times by their descent from Boso the Elder. "Bosonids" produced counts, dukes, bishops during the Carolingian age. Eventually they married into the royal Carolingian family and even produced kings and an emperor of the Frankish Empire.

The first great scion of the dynasty was Boso V, Count of Arles and of other Burgundian counties in the mid-ninth century. Boso rose in favour as a courtier of Charles the Bald. He was even appointed viceroy in Italy in 875. After the death of Charles' son Louis II, Boso refused to recognise both Charles' sons, Carloman and Louis III as kings of France and proclaimed himself King of Provence in 879 at Vienne, with the support of the nobility. Boso strove throughout the rest of his life to maintain his title in the face of the Emperor Charles III. He died in 887 and was succeeded by his son Louis under the regency of his wife Ermengard, a daughter of the Emperor Louis II.

Louis was adopted by Charles III and legitimised in his royal title. With this legal basis, he sought to take the place of his Carolingian relatives on the imperial and Italian thrones in 900. He was crowned in Pavia and then in Rome, but could not actually hold onto power there.

Branches of the Bosonids

Boso the Elder's branch

• Boso the Elder
  • daughter, possibly named Richildis, married to Bivin of Gorze; for offspring see his branch
  • Boso, count in Italy
  • Teutberga, married to Lothar II
  • Hucbert, lay abbot of St-Maurice-in-Valais
    • Theobald of Arles, married to Bertha, daughter of Lothar II and Waldrada
      • Hugh of Arles, king of Italy
        • Lothair, king of Italy

Bivin of Gorze's branch

• Richard, count of Amiens
  • Richard
  • Bivin of Gorze, married to a daughter of Boso the Elder, possibly named Richildis
    • Richard the Justiciar, Duke of Burgundy, first married to Adelaida of Paris
      • Rudolf, Duke Burgundy, King of France, married Emma
        • Louis
        • Judith
      • Hugh the Black, Duke of Burgundy
        • daughter or sister of Hugh the Black? Married to Gilbert of Burgundy
          • Adelaida, surnamed Werra, married to Robert of Meaux
          • Liegardis, married Odo, son of Hugh the Great
      • Boso, count, married Bertha
      • Gibuin, count of Dijon; from a second marriage
        • Hugo, count of Dijon
          • Richard, count of Dijon
          • Hugo, count
          • Gibuin, bishop of Chalon
          • Odo
    • Richildis, married to Charles the Bald
    • ? possibly Bivin, count of Metz?
    • Boso, count of Vienne, king of the Provence, married secondly to Ermengard, daughter of Louis II
      • Louis the Blind
        • Carolus Constantinus, count of Vienne, married Theoberga of Sens
          • Hugobert
          • Richard
          • Constantia, married Boso II of Arles
      • Engelberga, married to William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine

Further reading

• Constance B. Bouchard, "The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age" French Historical Studies 15.3 (Spring 1988), pp. 407-431.

Sources

• Christian Settipani, La Préhistoire des Capétiens, Premiere Partie: Mérovigiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens.
• Pierre Riché, The Carolingians, a family who forged Europe.

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