Adalbert, Duke of Lorraine

Adalbert (– 11 November 1048) was the duke of Upper Lorraine from 1047 until his death the next year.

Life Adalbert was the first son of Gerhard IV, count of Metz, and Gisela or Gisella, possibly a daughter of Theodoric I, Duke of Upper Lorraine. His grandfather Adalbert had inherited the county of Metz from his brother Gerhard of the Moselle.

Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine, died in 1044 and was succeeded by his sons. The elder became Godfrey III in Upper Lorraine but was refused Lower Lorraine by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry the Pious, who granted it to his younger brother instead. Irritated, Godfrey rebelled the same year and devastated his overlord's estates in Lower Lorraine. He was soon defeated and Adalbert named in his place in Upper Lorraine. Godfrey continued to fight for all Lorraine and Adalbert died in battle against him at Thuin on 11 November 1048.

Adalbert had no known sons, and Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor immediately nominated his brother Gerhard to succeed him.

Mistaken genealogy In 1960, Szabolcs de Vajay hypothesized that Adalbert was count of Longwy and father-in-law of William VII of Aquitaine and William I, Count of Burgundy. He was followed in this by Frederick Lewis Weis, but De Vajay subsequently published an unqualified retraction of his earlier hypothesis.