Hugues 'le Grand' de Vermandois comte de Vermandois and Adelaide de Vermandois
Husband Hugues 'le Grand' de Vermandois comte de Vermandois [19017] 1
Born: 1057 - France 1 Christened: Died: 18 Oct 1101 - Nicaea (Iznik), Byzantine Empire (Turkey) 1 Buried: 20 Oct 1101 - Church of Saint Paul, Tarsus, Cilicia, Byzantine Empire (Turkey) 1 FamilySearch ID: LDW5-FB6
Father: Henri I Roi des Francs [19019] (1008-1060) 2 Mother: Anna Yaroslavna [19020] (1036-1076) 2
Marriage:Events
• Arrival: Return from the First Crusade: After being wounded at Antioch, Hugh returned to France via Constantinople in 1099, failing to reach Jerusalem. His premature return drew papal criticism., 1099, France.
• MilitaryService: First Crusade in the Holy Land -mHugh I “The Great” of Vermandois joined the First Crusade in 1096 as the brother of King Philip I of France, commanding a small Capetian contingent. He traveled by sea via Bari and Constantinople and participated in early, Between 1096 and 1099, Holy Land, Levant, Crusader States (Israel / Türkiye / Syria).
• MilitaryService: Crusade (1101 Campaign) - Hugh joined the Crusade of 1101 to atone for leaving the First Crusade early. He was wounded at Heraclea in Cappadocia, within the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, and died shortly after in Tarsus., Sep 1101, Heraclea (Eregli), Cappadocia (Konya), Sultanate of Rum (Turkey).
• Biography: Hugh I "The Great" of Vermandois was born in 1057 in France, the younger son of King Henry I of France and Queen Anne of Kiev. Through his father, he was a member of the Capetian royal house that ruled France from the tenth century onward, and through his mother he was connected to the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus'. His older brother, Philip I "the Amorous," succeeded their father as King of France in 1060. From birth, Hugh bore the distinction of a Prince of France (fils de France), and his royal lineage placed him among the most prominent members of the Capetian realm in the later eleventh century.
Although Hugh's exact birthplace is unrecorded, he was raised within the Capetian royal domain centered in northern France. The political structure of the era limited the king's direct authority largely to the Île-de-France, and younger royal sons were often endowed with regional titles to strengthen dynastic influence. Hugh accordingly entered the ranks of the high nobility at an early age, holding comital and feudal responsibilities within the Capetian sphere.
By 1080, Hugh had married Adelaide (Adela) de Vermandois, daughter and heiress of Count Herbert IV of Vermandois and Adele of Valois. Through this marriage he acquired control, jure uxoris, of the Counties of Vermandois and Valois, whose chief town was Saint-Quentin. His combined rank as count and royal prince made him one of the highest secular magnates in northern France. In contemporary Latin charters and chronicles he was styled Hugo Magnus, "Hugh the Great," and often identified as Hugo de Cripis or Hugh of Crépy, from the family's ancestral seat at Crépy-en-Valois. Medieval writers occasionally called him Dux Francorum ("Duke of the Franks"), an honorific title recalling his Capetian forebears, but it did not represent a distinct territorial duchy.
During the later eleventh century, European society was deeply affected by the Gregorian Reform movement and the call to crusade. In 1095 Pope Urban II, preaching at Clermont, urged Western Christendom to aid the Byzantine Empire and reclaim the Holy Land. Hugh responded promptly to this appeal. In 1096 he set out on the First Crusade, commanding a Capetian contingent that traveled by sea to Bari and Durazzo (Durrës), then overland to Constantinople. The Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, received Hugh honorably and requested his oath of vassalage before allowing his troops to cross into Asia Minor. Hugh participated in the early stages of the campaign, including the siege of Nicaea and operations in Anatolia. He was wounded at Antioch in 1098 and sent as envoy back to Constantinople, after which he returned to France in 1099 without completing the expedition to Jerusalem. Pope Paschal II later reproached him for abandoning the crusade prematurely, reflecting the tension between ecclesiastical authority and aristocratic independence typical of the period.
Having returned to France in 1099, Hugh sought to atone for his withdrawal from the First Crusade. In 1101 he joined the so-called Crusade of 1101, an expedition organized by several European nobles including William IX of Aquitaine and Stephen of Blois. This force marched through Asia Minor but encountered disaster when attacked by the Seljuk Turks near Heraclea (Eregli), Cappadocia, within the Sultanate of Rum. Hugh was severely wounded in this engagement and withdrew to Tarsus in Cilicia, then a Byzantine-controlled city. He died there on 18 October 1101, at the age of forty-four. According to later tradition, his body was buried at the Church of Saint Paul in Tarsus, a Byzantine sanctuary associated with the Apostle Paul. Contemporary sources, including Orderic Vitalis and Albert of Aachen, confirm his death in Cilicia though not the precise site of interment.
Hugh's death ended his short but prominent career as a Capetian prince and crusader. His widow, Adelaide of Vermandois, survived until about 1120 and continued to exercise comital authority. Their known children included Elizabeth (Isabel) of Vermandois (c.1085\endash 1131), who married first Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, and later William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, thus transmitting Capetian blood into several leading Anglo-Norman families.
Hugh's life unfolded within the context of a rapidly consolidating Capetian monarchy. Although his brother King Philip I was often challenged by powerful vassals, the royal house's network of marital alliances\emdash exemplified by Hugh's union with the Vermandois heiress\emdash gradually strengthened its position. The Capetian involvement in the crusading movement further enhanced royal prestige, linking the dynasty to the broader religious and military currents of Latin Christendom. Hugh's leadership on the First Crusade and his fatal participation in the Crusade of 1101 illustrate both the religious zeal and the personal ambition characteristic of the French aristocracy in this era.
Hugh was remembered in contemporary chronicles as Hugh the Great of Crépy, Count of Vermandois and Valois, brother of the King of France, and one of the earliest Capetian crusaders. He founded no lasting territorial dynasty\emdash the male line of Vermandois ended in the twelfth century\emdash but his descendants through his daughter Elizabeth became intertwined with the English nobility and the later Plantagenet lineage. Through his royal birth and his participation in the crusades, Hugh of Vermandois represents an early phase of the Capetian family's growing influence in both French and international affairs during the High Middle Ages.
Principal sources:
Orderic Vitalis, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book IX;
Albert of Aachen, Historia Hierosolymitanae Expeditionis, Book VIII;
Guibert de Nogent, Gesta Dei per Francos;
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG), "Northern France \endash Valois & Vermandois";
Europäische Stammtafeln, Neue Folge, vol. II, table 49;
Kenneth Setton (ed.), A History of the Crusades, vol. I.
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Wife Adelaide de Vermandois [19018] 1
Born: 1058 - Lot-Et-Garonne, Aquitaine, France 1 Christened: Died: 23 Sep 1120 - Vermand, Aisne, Picardie, France 1 Buried: After 23 Sep 1120 - Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Gand in Bruges, Flemish Region, Belgium. 1 FamilySearch ID: LDW5-N39
Father: Herbert de Vermandois IV [19029] (1028-1080) 3 Mother: Alix de Valois [19030] (1045-1093) 3
Events
• TitleOfNobility: Countess of Clermont,
. • TitleOfNobility: Countess of Beauvaisis,
. • Biography: Translation:
Adelaide of Valois, also known as Adelaide of Vexin, was an 11th-century French noblewoman from an influential lineage in northern France.
Origins and Family
Daughter of Raoul IV, Count of Valois, Vexin, and Amiens, and Adèle of Bar-sur-Aube
She belonged to the House of Vexin, a powerful family that held several strategic counties.
Marriage and Descendants
Around 1060, she married Herbert IV of Vermandois, Count of Vermandois.
Together, they had several children, including:
Odo, nicknamed "the Foolish," who was disinherited.
Adelaide of Vermandois, who married Hugh I of Vermandois, son of King Henry I.
Inheritance and Influence
In 1077, her brother Simon of Vexin renounced his titles to enter religious life.
The lands of Vexin were then divided, and Adelaide inherited Valois and Amiens, strengthening her husband's position.
Historical Confusion
She should not be confused with her sister Adele (or Alix) of Valois, who married Theobald III of Blois. This confusion is common in ancient sources.
Original:
Adelaide of Vermandois (died 23 Sep 1120) was suo jure Countess of Vermandois and Valois from 1080 to 1102.
Adelaide was the daughter of Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois and Adele of Valois.[1]
By 1080,[2] Adelaide married Hugh, son of the Capetian King Henry I of France and younger brother of Philip I of France.[3] Hugh became Count of Vermandois, following Adelaide's father's death.[4]
In 1104, Adelaide married Renaud II, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis.[5] By this marriage, Adelaide had a daughter, Margaret of Clermont.
In 1102, Adelaide was succeeded by her son, Ralph I. Adelaide died in 1120, being the last Carolingian to hold the County of Vermandois.
Adelaide and Hugh had:
Matilda (fl. 1110), married Ralph I of Beaugency
Beatrice (fl. 1144), married Hugh IV of Gournay
Elizabeth of Vermandois, Countess of Leicester (died 1131)
Ralph I, Count of Vermandois
Constance, married Godfrey de la Ferté-Gaucher
Agnes (fl. 1125), married Boniface of Savone
Henry (died 1130), Lord of Chaumont en Vexin
Simon (died 1148)
William, possibly married to Isabella, daughter of Louis VI of France.
Adelaide and Renaud had:
Margaret of Clermont
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide,_Countess_of_Vermandois
Adélaïde de Vermandois et de Valois, (° v. 1065 - † 1120/1124), fille d'Herbert IV, comte de Vermandois et d'Adélaïde de Valois. Son père ayant déshérité son frère Eudes, dit l'Insensé parce que faible d'esprit, il la déclare héritière de ses possessions. Elle réserve ainsi le Vermandois à son fils Raoul, mais donne l'Amiénois en dot à sa fille Marguerite, mariée au comte de Flandre Charles Ier. Descendante en ligne masculine illégitime de Charlemagne, elle est le dernier membre connu de la dynastie carolingienne. De son mariage avec Hugues Ier le Grand, (1057 † 1102), elle eut : Mahaut, ou Maud ou Mathilde, mariée en 1090 avec Raoul Ier de Beaugency (v. 1069 † 1130) Béatrice († après 1144), mariée à Hugues III (IV) de Gournay Raoul Ier ( v. 1094 - † 13 octobre 1152) dit Le Vaillant. Isabelle de Vermandois ou Elisabeth (av. 1088 - † 17 février 1131), mariée à Robert de Beaumont, comte de Meulan, puis à Guillaume II de Warenne, comte de Surrey Constance, († ap. 1118), mariée à Godefroy de la Ferté-Gaucher. Agnès (v. 1085 - † ap. 1130), marié à Boniface de Savone Henri († 1130), seigneur de Chaumont-en-Vexin, tué par Thomas de Marle. Simon († 10 février 1148), évêque de Noyon Guillaume, († ap. 1096). Veuve, elle épousa en 1103 Renaud, comte de Clermont, fils de Hugues et de Marguerite de Roucy..
geni.com
Adèle de Vermandois, comtesse de Vermandois et Valois
Also Known As:"Adela", "Adelaide", "Adele", "Adelheid", "Adelle", "Alice", "Alix"
Birthdate:circa 1057
Birthplace:Tréjouls, Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France
Death:September 28, 1120 (58-67)
Meulan-en-Yvelines, Ile-de-France, France
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Heribert IV (VI), comte de Vermandois and Adelais de Valois et du Vexin, Countess of Valois
Wife of
Hugues I 'Magnus', Comte de Vermandois and
Renaud II (III), comte de Clermont en Beauvaisis
Mother of
Henri de Vermandois, Seigneur de Chaumont-En-Vexin;
Emma Avice de Vermandois;
Mathilde Maud/Matilda de Vermandois;
Beatrice de Vermandois;
Raoul I Dit Le Vaillant Ou Le Borgne, Comte de Vermandois;
Constance de Vermandois; Agnès de Vermandois;
Elisabeth de Vermandois, dame de Crépy;
William de Vermandois;
Frederick van Oosterzele-Scheldewindeke;
Simon de Vermandois, Bishop of Noyon and
Marguerite "the elder sister" de Clermont, dame de Luzarches<
Sister of Gerardus de Vermandois;
Eudes II, comte de Vermandois and
Béatrice de Vermandois
Half sister of Wauthier "côtes de fer" Georgery
Occupation:Comtesse de Vermandois et de Valois et de Crepy, Countess of Vermandois and Valois and Crepy (1080-1120/4), [ Vermandois ], Comtesse de Vermandois et de Valois, Comtesse de Vermandois, suo jure Countess of Vermandois and Valois
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Children
1 F Elizabeth Isabel de Vermandois Countess de Leicester [19014] 4
Born: 13 Feb 1085 - Valois, Diocese of Soissons, France 4 Christened: Abt 1085 - Île-de-France, France 4 Died: 17 Feb 1131 - Meulan, Diocese of Chartres, France 4 Buried: 19 Feb 1131 - Abbey of St. Pancras (Lewes Priory), Lewes, Sussex, England 4 FamilySearch ID: MXWH-HJ8Spouse: Earl Robert Beaumont of Leicester 4 [19013] (Abt 1049-1118)
1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "FamilySearch Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 Nov 2025), entry for Elizabeth Isabel de Vermandois, person ID MXWH-HJ8.
2 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "FamilySearch Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 Nov 2025), entry for Hugues 'le Grand' de Vermandois, person ID LDW5-FB6.
3 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "FamilySearch Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 Nov 2025), entry for Adelaide de Vermandois, person ID LDW5-N39.
4
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "FamilySearch Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 Nov 2025), entry for Adeline de Beaumont, person ID L133-Z45.
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