Alberic, Count of Hainaut

Alberic of the Ardennes, Alberick, or Albéric l'Orphelin de Hainaut d'Ardenne (died 694 AD), also called the Orphan, was a Frankish nobleman and Merovingian Count of Hainaut .

Biography Early life Alberic was born in the pagus Arduensis in 630 AD in the Kingdom of Austrasia, in Francia.

The Orphan In 636 AD, King Dagobert confiscated Brunulphe's property in Blaton, leaving his son, Alberic the Orphan, along with his brothers, Brunulphe the Younger, Hydulphe, and Glomeric, stripped of their inheritance. Following his father's execution at the castle of Blaton and his mother's exile during the reign of King Dagobert I, Alberic was left orphaned at a young age. He received the nickname Alberic the Orphan . The pagus of Hainoensis (and city of Cambrai ) was granted to the young Alberic, ceded by the Count of Hainaut Vincent Madelgarius, husband of Saint Waltrude. Waltrude's father, Walbert IV, had inherited it from Walbert III but left no male heir. Having no children, Saint Aye bequeathed her inheritance to Alberic the Orphan, her nephew through her sister, Clotilde, married to Brunulphe. Alberic thus became the rightful heir to the title and properties of Hainaut as the closest male relative per the Salic Law. The Austrasian king also orchestrated grand marriages, such as Alberic's with Sybille d'Alsace, daughter of the Duke of Alsace. and King Sigebert was building the church of Sainte Marie, consecrating his two sisters. On the hill of present-day Mons in the pagus of Hainoensis, an old tower stood near the church of Sainte Marie. In the 7th century, Alberic repaired the remains of the site, surrounded it with walls, and thus formed a castle capable of resisting the enemy.

Death Alberic of the Ardennes died in Mons, in the pagus Hainoensis, Austrasia, Francia (now Hainaut Province, Belgium) in 694 AD. He was buried in the Church of Saint Pierre de Mons .