Reginar Longneck

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Reginar Longneck orReginar I (c. 850–915),Latin:Rainerus orRagenerus Longicollus, was a leading nobleman in the kingdom ofLotharingia, variously described in contemporary sources with the titles ofcount,margrave,missus dominicus andduke. He stands at the head of a Lotharingian dynasty known to modern scholarship as theReginarids, because of their frequent use of the name "Reginar".

Reginar Longneck
Born	c. 850
Died	c. 915
Noble family	House of Reginar
Spouse(s)	Hersinda Alberada
Issue	Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine Reginar II, Count of Hainaut Frederick, Archbishop of Mainz^{[citation needed]}
Father	probablyGiselbertus
Mother	Unknown

This article is about the first Reginar known as "long neck". For his grandson, seeReginar III, Count of Hainaut.

Background

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Reginar was probably the son ofGiselbertus,comes of theMaasgau, and a daughter ofLothair I whose name is not known (Hiltrude, Bertha, Irmgard, and Gisela are candidate names). In an 877 charter in theCapitulary of Quierzy, he possibly already appears as "Rainerus", alongside his probable father as one of the regents of the kingdom duringCharles the Bald's absence on campaign in Italy.^[1]

Career

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Reginar waslay abbot of important abbeys stretching from theMeuse (Dutch:Maas) to theMoselle through theArdennes, Saint-Servais inMaastricht, Echternach,Stavelot-Malmedy, and Saint-Maximin inTrier. All these abbeys lay on or near the boundary negotiated between the Eastern and Western Frankish kingdoms in theTreaty of Meerssen in 870, during a period when the Western Kingdom controlled much of Lotharingia. In Echternach, he was referred to as "Rainerus iunior" because the lay abbot before him, a probable relative, had the same name.

Reginar's secular titles and activities are mainly only known from much later sources which are considered to be of uncertain reliability.Dudo of Saint-Quentin, in describing the great deeds of the earlyNormans, calls Reginar I (who, along with a prince of theFrisians named Radbod, was an opponent ofRollo, the founder of Normandy) a duke of both Hainaut and Hesbaye.^[2] Centuries laterWilliam of Jumièges, and then later still,Alberic de Trois Fontaines followed Dudo using the same titles when describing the same events. He was variously referred to as duke, count, marquis,missus dominicus, but historians doubt that these titles were connected to a particular territory. That he called himself a duke is known from a charter at Stavelot 21 July 905, but this was during a period whenGebhard was duke of Lotharingia.^[3]

Reginar was originally a supporter ofZwentibold (King of Lotharingia) in 895, but he broke with the king in 898. He and some other magnates who had been key to Zwentibold's election three years earlier then took the opportunity provided by the death ofOdo of France to inviteCharles the Simple to become king in Lotharingia. His lands were confiscated, but he refused to give them up and entrenched himself atDurfost, downstream from Maastricht. Representatives of Charles, Zwentibold, and theEmperor Arnulf met atSankt Goar and determined that the succession should go toLouis the Child. Zwentibold was killed by Reginar in battle in August 900.

Louis appointedGebhard as his duke in Lotharingia. In 908, Reginar recuperated Hainaut after the death ofSigard. Then, after the death of Gebhard in 910, in battle with theMagyars, Reginar led the magnates in opposingConrad I of Germany and electing Charles the Simple as their king. He never appears as the duke of Lorraine, but he was probably the military commander of the region under Charles. He was succeeded by his sonGilbert; however, the Reginarids did not succeed in establishing their supremacy in Lotharingia like theLiudolfings orLiutpoldings did in the duchies ofSaxony andBavaria.