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volume cxxvi

Publications du CLUDEM, t. 26

luxembourg2018

La publication des rapports, monographies et mémoires, élaborés par les membres de la Section, se fait sous la responsabilité des auteurs. – Art. 31 du règlement

Publications de la Section Historique de l’Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg, t. CXXVIPublications du CLUDEM, t. 26

Tous droits de reproduction et d’adaptation réservésCopyright 2018 by Section Historique de l’Institut Grand-Ducal

ISBN : 978-2-919979-21-3

Imprimerie Printing OSSA Niederanven

En couverture : détail de la « Bannière de Gerberge » (Kriegsfahne der Gerberga), Cologne, Trésor de la Cathédrale. © Dombauarchiv Köln, Matz und Schenk

La Lotharingie en questionIdentités, oppositions, intégration

Lotharingische Identitäten im Spannungsfeldzwischen integrativen

und partikularen Kräften

Actes des 14es JOURNÉES LOTHARINGIENNES

10-13 octobre 2006Université du Luxembourg

édités par Michel MARGUE et Hérold PETTIAU

9

Table des matières

Préface 11

Jean-Marie Moeglin

Les identités au Moyen Âge 13

Éléments fédérateursRois et ducs

Jens Schneider

Spacing Lotharingia. Zum Problem des lotharingischen Raumes 33

Michel Margue

Zwentibold, roi (895-900) et Gislebert, duc (928-939) du royaume de Lothaire. Pouvoir et légitimation, histoire et mémoire 55

Hérold Pettiau

Présences de souverains dans l’espace du regnum Lotharii : Itinéraires, lieux de pouvoir et fidélités « lotharingiennes » (869-936) 153

Interférences extérieures

Charles West

Lotharingia viewed from West Frankia 201

Sophie Glansdorff

La Lotharingie vue de la Francie orientale, de Louis le Germanique à Henri Ier 219

Dissensions internes et identités régionales

Jean-Louis Kupper

Duché de Lotharingie et diocèse de Liège 247

Michel de Waha

Identités, oppositions, intégration. Le cas du Brabant et du Hainaut 265

10

Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld

Aristocratic Identities and Power Strategies in Lower Lotharingia: The Case of the Rode Lineage (Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries) 315

Vecteurs identitaires

Michel Parisse

Quelques observations sur les frontières entre le Royaume et l’Empire 365

Michèle Gaillard

L’héritage austrasien 375

Elizabeth Den Hartog

On the Lotharingian copies of the Aachen palatine chapel of circa 1000 391

Thomas Bauer

Gibt es lotharingische Heilige – Y a-t-il des saints lotharingiens? 421

Anne Wagner

Le rôle des reliques dans le diocèse de Metz 457

La persistance de l’idée lotharingienne

David Guilardian

Les ducs de Brabant, héritiers des ducs de Lotharingie 475

Robert Stein

Lotharingia in Burgundian times: an identity? 489

Philippe Walter

Le souvenir lotharingien dans plusieurs cycles épiques français des xiie et xiiie siècles 523

François Pernot

L’Europe « lotharingienne », sa place et sa représentation dans la construction des États européens et dans les projets de construction européenne du xve au xxe siècle 539

Liste des contributeurs 551

315

Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld

Aristocratic Identities and Power Strategies in Lower Lotharingia: The Case of the Rode Lineage (Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries)1

Introduction

In his magisterial book Liège et l’église impériale, Jean-Louis Kupper ana-lysed the entourage of the bishop of Liège in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He distinguished three categories: ecclesiastics, the ‘free’ and ‘noble’, and the ministerials that were part of the bishop’s familia2. According to Kupper, ‘les nobiles formaient une classe sociale et juridique caracterisée par la naissance illustre, la jouissance de la “liberté”, la richesse foncière […], l’habitation d’une maison forte et l’activité guerrière’3. These aristocrats, mostly designated with the word liber rather than nobilis in the episcopal charters4, constituted the bishop’s noble entourage. They gathered around the bishop twice a year for the general episcopal synod or curia, once in spring (or the end of winter), and once in autumn5. From the episcopal charters, Kupper gathered the names of the nobiles-liberi attending the mixed synod at any moment in the eleventh and twelfth centuries6. The vast majority of these (93%) were members of noble lineages from within the extensive diocese of Liège7, but not equally from all parts. Kupper observed that the bishop recruited his entourage from almost all regions of his bishopric, but that ‘l’immense Toxandrie, seule, échappe á son

1 I wish to thank Sem Peters and Ronald van Genabeek for their generously provided information regarding the recent excavations in Sint-Oedenrode, Rikkert Stuve (The Text Consultant, Nijmegen) for copy-editing this article, and Bas Aarts, Nico Arts, Martien van Asseldonk, Hans L. Janssen, Hein H. Jongbloed, Karel A. H. W. Leenders, and the late Henk Verdonk for their comments. I dedicate this article to my father and mother for their 75th and 70th birthdays, respectively.

2 Kupper, Jean-Louis, Liège et l’église impériale, xie-xiie siècles (Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, 228), Paris 1981, p. 212.

3 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 214.4 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 219 and footnote 35: The word liber is used in 57%,

the word nobilis in 43% of the cases.5 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 255-263.6 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 275-289.7 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 275.

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emprise. Entre le Démer et la courbe de la Meuse, la carte le montre de manière frappante, c’est le vide absolu’8. Indeed, Kupper’s map showing the noblemen’s origins shows that the majority of the noblemen regularly attending the bish-op’s court originated from the Hesbaye region, the Hageland (east of Leuven), from the regions between Vesdre and Meuse, and between Sambre and Meuse, and from the Condroz9. That is, the bishop’s social and political network was concentrated along the Middle Meuse. The northern part of the diocese – called Texandria in those days – seems to be empty.

Yet, there is one exception proving the rule, one lineage from the northern part of the diocese overseen by Kupper that did belong to the bishop of Liège’s network – as, indeed, it was part of other Lower Lotharingian networks as well. For good reasons, Kupper did not indicate on the map the lineages that were hard to identify, among which ‘les de Rode’10. It is exactly this somewhat peripheral and exceptional lineage I want to elaborate on in this article as it makes a good example of how noble families in eleventh- and early twelfth-century Lower Lotharingia manifested themselves and managed to enlarge their position of power – until some known or unknown dynastic or political incident put an end to their expansion. This article explores what the Rode family’s position of power amounted to and in what ways they sought to establish and enhance it.

I. Texandria No ‘No-Man’s-Land’

In all probability it was only from the last decades of the tenth century onwards that the northern part of the diocese of Liège became an integrated part of the bishop’s sphere of both ecclesiastical authority and temporal power11. Two examples, one related to the bishop’s secular power and the other to his epis-copal authority, may elucidate this. Before 969, no bishop of Liège or any Liège chapter or abbey is ever mentioned in direct connection with this region. From the times of Bishop Notger (972-1008), however, we observe the secular chapters and abbeys in Liège acquiring landed property and appurtenant rights in what was then called Texandria and along the Lower Meuse. Around 1100, Texandria corresponded roughly to what is now the province of North Brabant

8 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 276.9 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), opposite p. 276.10 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 275 footnote 371.11 For this and the following, see Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan, De la Texandrie à la Camp-

ine : le nord du diocèse de Liège aux xe-xiie siècles, in: Liège. Autour de l’an mil, la naissance d’une principauté (xe-xiie siècle), ed. by Jean-Louis Kupper / Philippe George, Liège 2000, p. 45-48; Id., Van Texandrië naar de Kempen: het noorden van het bisdom Luik in de volle Middeleeuwen (tiendetwaalfde eeuw), in: Brabants Heem 54 (2002), p. 67-77.

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with some adjoining regions, that is from Hildernisse in the northwest (near Bergen op Zoom; the settlement disappeared as a result of flooding in the six-teenth century), mentioned as being situated in Texandria in 1095, to Bree in the southeast, now in the Belgian province of Limburg and mentioned as lying in Texandria in 1078.

After circa 980, the Liège ecclesiastical institutions acquired extensive prop-erties along the river Meuse and in the basin of the river Dommel, as shown on a provisional map drawn on the basis of sources dating between the end of the tenth and the fourteenth centuries (illustration 1)12. Here we find possessions and rights of the bishop, the cathedral chapter of Saint-Lambert, the chapters of Saint-Jean l’Évangéliste, Sainte-Croix, and Saint-Barthélemy, the abbey of Saint-Jacques and – sporadically – of the chapters of Saint-Paul and of Saint-Denis. The biggest proprietors were the cathedral chapter and the chapter of Saint-Jean, the latter having been founded by Bishop Notger himself. The core of the Liège patrimony consisted of estates (villae) with farmers paying dues (census), strongholds (castra), ecclesiastical rights, and advocacies over other ecclesiastical institutions13. A striking feature is the acquisition of the strate-gic places Heerewaarden and Pannerden, situated in the border zone with the bishoprics of Utrecht and Cologne – in fact just across the borders with these bishoprics – at the confluence of the rivers Meuse and Waal, and at the bifur-cation of the rivers Rhine and Waal, respectively. This helps to make clear that, during the eleventh century, the bishop and the church of Liège built up a network of economically and strategically important positions of power in the northern part of his diocese.

With regard to the bishop’s ecclesiastical power, we can point to the institution of the seven territorially bounded archdeaconries within the diocese of Liège in the third quarter of the eleventh century14. The first archdeacon to be mentioned

12 Bijsterveld, De la Texandrie à la Campine (footnote 11), p. 46; Id., Van Texandrië naar de Kempen (footnote 11), p. 71; Id., ‘De Notger à Henri de Leez: la formation du patrimoine liégeois en Texandrie, fin du xe – moitié du xiie siècle’, in: Evêque et prince. Notger et la Basse-Lotharingie aux alentours de l’an Mil, ed. by Alexis Wilkin / Jean-Louis Kupper, Liège 2013, p. 65-92.

13 See Kupper, Jean-Louis, Episcopus-advocatus. Sur l’exercice du pouvoir épiscopal dans l’ancien évêché de Liège, in: Centre de Recherches en Histoire du Droit et des Institutions. Cahier, t. 7. La souveraineté, Bruxelles 1997, p. 13-25.

14 Deblon, André, Les origines des doyennés ruraux dans le diocèse de Liège, in: Le Moyen Âge 105 (1999), p. 703-716. In 1066, a charters mentions the existence of seven archdeacons within the diocese: Schoolmeesters, Emile, Tableau des archi-diacres du diocèse de Liége pendant le xiie siècle, in: Leodium 3 (1904), p. 140-143; Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A., Overqualified for Their Jobs? Rural Deans in the Dio-cese of Liège (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century), in: Education and Learning in the Netherlands, 1400-1600. Essays in Honour of Hilde de Ridder-Symoens, ed. by Koen

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with a territorial jurisdiction is precisely the archdeacon of Texandria, mentioned as such on the funerary cross of Humbert alias Hugo, provost of St Servatius in Maastricht and of Saint-Lambert in Liège, dating from 108615. This means that the northern part of the diocese must have become an integrated part of the diocesan structures of archdeaconries and, subsequently, deaneries, after about 1050. We may deduce from all this that, from the viewpoint of the bishop of Liège, ‘la Toxandrie’ was not a no-man’s-land at all in the second half of the eleventh century and that the ecclesiastical and socio-political networks of the bishop and his entourage must somehow have encompassed the northern periphery. Unfortunately, the sources hardly give us a clue about the nature of these networks. The information we have gathered about the Rode family, however, may give us some insight into the possible range and significance of these networks.

II. A Heuristic Model: The Sources of Social Power (Michael Mann)

To investigate the nature and composition of the power base of the Rode lineage, I will use the scheme designed by the sociologist Michael Mann to analyse ‘social power’. In his book The Sources of Social Power, Mann defines ‘power’ as ‘the ability to pursue and attain goals through mastery of one’s environment’. Subsequently, he limits the concept of ‘social power’ ‘to mastery exercised over other people’16. As an answer to the question how power arises or, more precisely, what a potential lord derives his power from, Mann distin-guishes four ‘sources of social power’: ideological, economic, military, and

Goudriaan / Jaap van Moolenbroek / Ad Tervoort (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, 123), Leiden / Boston 2004, p. 87-111, here p. 88-89. In the neighbouring archdiocese of Cologne, of which the bishopric of Liège was a suffragan, the division into deaneries was established in the eleventh century as well, particularly under Arbishop Anno II (1056-1075): Janssen, Wilhelm, Spätmittelalterliche Kirchen-verwaltung und Pfarrseelsorge im Kölner Archidiakonat Xanten, in: Köln und die Niederrheinlande in ihren historischen Raumbeziehungen (15.-20. Jahrhundert), ed. by Dieter Geuenich (Veröffentlichungen des Historische Vereins für den Niederrhein insbesondere das alte Erzbistum Köln, 17), Pulheim 2000, p. 117-135, here p. 119.

15 Panhuysen, Titus A. S. M., Humbertus, bouwheer van de Sint-Servaaskerk te Maas-tricht, overleden 2 mei 1086, in: De Maasgouw 107 (1988), p. 159-163; Bayer, Clemens M. M., 558. Grabkreuz des Propstes Humbert († 1086), in: Canossa 1077. Erschütterung der Welt. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik, ed. by Christoph Stiegemann / Matthias Wemhoff, Band II Katalog, München 2006, p. 475-476.

16 Mann, Michael, The Sources of Social Power. 1. The History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760, Cambridge 1986, p. 6.

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political power17. ‘Ideological power’ is defined as the capability to monopolize meanings, norms, and aesthetic and/or ritual practices, which, in the medieval context, means, above all, the close association of secular and religious power in order to safeguard and legitimize property, power, and prestige for all eternity18. Economic power can be described as the capability to monopolize circuits of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. Military power is the capa-bility to monopolize physical force or violence and, thus, to exercise coercion and control over people. Finally, political power is the capability to monopolize ‘institutionalized regulations and coercion which are centrally administered and territorially bounded’.

What makes this model attractive to use as a heuristic model is that is takes into account not only straightforward sources of power, such as military and economic resources, but also intangible aspects, such as ideology. Still, this model is not completely satisfactory as it does not include social power in the narrow sense, which I would like to add to these four sources of social power and which I define as ‘the ability to establish and control social networks of mutually obliging relations through social mechanisms’. By the latter I mean the exchange of gifts, as well as other ways of creating bonds through exchange, such as marriage and the establishment of ‘feudal’ ties or vassalage, and the rules of the game (Spielregeln) of conflict management19. Through the historical investigation of power strategies and of the material and immaterial positions of power serving as sources of ideological, economic, military, political, and

17 Mann, The Sources of Social Power (footnote 16), p. 2, 6. See also Berkhofer, Robert F. / Cooper, Alan / Kosto, Adam J., Introduction, in: The Experience of Power in Medieval Europe, 950-1350, ed. by Robert F. Berkhofer et al., Aldershot / Burlington 2005, p. 1-7, here p. 1; Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A., Do ut des. Gift Giving, Memoria, and Conflict Management in the Medieval Low Countries (Mid-deleeuwse Studies en Bronnen, 104), Hilversum 2007, p. 48-49..

18 For the following definitions, see Mann, The Sources of Social Power (footnote 16), p. 22-28. See also Negotiating Secular and Ecclesiastical Power: Western Europe in the Central Middle Ages, ed. by Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld / Henk Teunis / Andrew Wareham (International Medieval Research, 6), Turnhout 1999.

19 See also de Miramon, Charles, Embrasser l’état monastique à l’âge adulte (1050-1200). Étude sur la conversion tardive, in: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 54 (1999), p. 825-849, here p. 838, who underscores the prime importance of gifts cre-ating a ‘bond of friendship’ (lien d’amitié) between benefactors and monasteries and states that ‘ces pactes dont les formes et les rituels sont variés aux 10e et 11e siècles – hommage vassalique, convenientia, compagnonnage, parrainage, échanges matri-moniaux – présentent des mécanismes relativement semblables à ceux établis entre le monastère et ses bienfaiteurs. Il s’agit de mécanismes qui, par la circulation de biens et de services réciproques, créent un lien égalitaire instable entre deux individus socialement inégaux’.

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social power, we might get a better grasp of the social mechanisms at work in the expansion of power in the Central Middle Ages.

In the following, I propose to apply these concepts to a historic case, namely the various power bases of the Rode family, as an exemplary case of how Lotharingian aristocratic lineages might have built up their noble identities and what strategies they deployed to acquire power in all aforementioned fields.

Each of the five sources of power as defined above implies both a material aspect and a strategy20. With the ‘material aspect’ I mean that every source of power can be linked to concrete power bases or positions of power, defined as specific places, sites, or regions which, for a potential ruler or lord, served as sources of ideological, economic, military, strategic, or social power. Examples are monasteries, churches, and sites of pilgrimage; bridges, markets, and tolls; strongholds and castles; and manors, palaces, and courts. In short, a position of power is the physical embedment of power. For both secular and ecclesiastical lords, the possession or the control of such a position constituted the physical basis on which they founded their exertion of authority over people and means of production. These geographical and physical positions of power or power centres made up the most important material foothold to build up, develop, and consolidate power.

There were certainly also immaterial positions of power, such as prestige, consanguinity, honour, titles (honores), and institutions. Titles and institutions served to circumscribe, to name, and to legitimate a particular power. Such a title goes beyond the person of the ruler, in the sense made famous by Kan-torowicz’s The King’s Two Bodies. Of course, this is most clearly manifested in relation to political power, in that titles such as ‘count’ or ‘duke’ served not only as designations for a count’s or a duke’s actual power, but also as power sources in themselves.

When speaking of strategies related to power sources, I refer to the mechanisms and ways in which a potential lord could master and retain sources of power. On the one hand, the process of power formation involved building and developing ideological (mostly religious), economic, military, political, and social power sources. On the other hand, potential rulers – lay aristocrats but also ecclesias-tical institutions and church lords – appropriated existing positions of power.

20 For this, see also Wickham, Chris, Topographies of Power: Introduction, in: Topog-raphies of Power in the Early Middle Ages, ed. by Mayke de Jong / Frans Theuws / Carine van Rhijn (The Transformation of the Roman World, 6), Leiden / Boston / Köln 2001, p. 1-8.

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III. The Rode Lineage

What, then, do we have at our disposal to establish the identity and strategies of the Rode lineage as a Lower Lotharingian aristocratic family in the eleventh and twelfth centuries? First of all, I have identified seventeen charters in which at least two, and possibly three, generations of the Rode lineage are mentioned, with a father and a son (both called Arnulf or Arnold of Rode) as its main figures, the former mentioned between 1094/1095 and 1108/1116, and the latter between (1106?)1112/1116 and 112521. Arnulf of Rode is also mentioned in the Gesta of the abbots of Sint-Truiden (Saint-Trond) as homo nobilis sed tyrannus crudelis, Arnulfus de castello Rode, ‘the noble man and cruel tyrant Arnulf of the castle of Rode’, in a conflict over tithes in Baardwijk, on the river Meuse, which must have taken place between 1108 and 112522. A second narrative source mentioning this lord and his family are the Annals of the abbey of Egmond, which recount how a struggle over Arnold of Rode’s heiress, Heilwiva, whom the brother of the count of Holland sought as his bride, resulted in this brother getting killed by her maternal uncles in 113323. A third, hagiographic source is the Life of St Oda of Sint-Oedenrode, the oldest parts of which must have been written in the last quarter of the twelfth century24. This Life contains the credible report

21 For the underlying sources, see the appendix. We assume that the first names Arnoldus and Arnul(ph)(f)us, although etymologically different, were used indiscriminately. For a provisional genealogical reconstruction, see Vogels, Hans, Het graafschap, het geslacht en het kapittel van Rode (deel 1), in: Heemschild 39 no 4 (2005), p. 113-139; 40 no 1 (2006), p. 43-45. He identified Arnold I of Rode (born c. 1065, d. after 1116) and his son Arnold II of Rode (born c. 1091/1092, d. shortly after 1125), who had a daughter Heilwiva (born c. 1121).

22 Rodulf of Sint-Truiden, Gesta abbatum Trudonensium. Libri I-VII, IX, ed. by Rudolf Koepke (MGH SS, 10), Hannover 1852, p. 213-272 and 280-291, here p. 285; Chronique de l’abbaye de Saint-Trond, ed. by Camille de Borman, 2 vols., Liége 1877, I p. 1-119 and 141-170, here p. 155-156; translation Lavigne, Emile, Kroniek van de abdij van Sint-Truiden. 1ste deel: 628-1138. Vertaling van de Gesta Abbatum Trudonensium (Maaslandse monografieën 43), Assen / Maastricht 19861, Leeuwarden / Maastricht 19882, p. 9-88 and 105-124, here p. 114.

23 Annalen van Egmond. De Annales Egmundenses tezamen met de Annales Xantenses en het Egmondse Leven van Thomas Becket. Het Chronicon Egmundanum, ed. and transl. by Marijke Gumbert-Hepp, Johann Peter Gumbert and Jan W. J. Burgers (Middeleeuwse Studies en Bronnen, 107), Hilversum 2007, p. 178-180.

24 Van der Straeten, Joseph, Sainte Ode, patronne de Sint Oedenrode, in: Analecta Bol-landiana 76 (1958), p. 65-117, here p. 107-108. Although Steurs, Willy, L’utilisation d’une source hagiographique discréditée: la Vita s. Ode virginis de Sint-Oedenrode, in: Acta Historica Bruxellensia (Travaux de l’Institut d’Histoire de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles) IV Histoire et Méthode, Bruxelles 1981, p. 129-145; and Id., Naissance d’une région. Aux origines de la Mairie de Bois-le-Duc. Recherches sur le Brabant

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of Oda’s translation at the request of Arnold, illi videlicet nobili et magnifico principi domino Rodensium, ‘that noble and grand prince and lord of the people of Rode’. This event, according to the mentioning of bishop Otbert of Liège, who performed the translation, can be dated between 1091 and 1119 (or possi-bly before 1105). To be sure, it is only the Vita of St Oda, and in particular the description of her translation, that links the Arnold or Anulf of Rode mentioned in all the other sources to Sint-Oedenrode.

After 1133, the Rode lineage disappears from the sources. Some cadet branches, as well as the counts of Guelders, are mentioned as having taken over parts of the previous Rode positions of power from about 1180 onwards25. We do not know what happened to the Rode family or to its heiress Heilwiva. It is most likely that the Rode power complex got divided after her death. Still, some nobles bearing the name ‘de Rode’ appear in the charters connected with older Rode possessions. For instance, the Heeze and Mierlo families, mentioned in the last decade of the twelfth and in the thirteenth centuries, seem to have taken over parts of this property26.

Sint-Oedenrode is situated some 17 kms southeast from ’s-Hertogenbosch on a sharp bend in the river Dommel, at the point where this river starts running west instead of north (illustration 1). In the Central Middle Ages, this river must have functioned as a trade route, as shown by the presence of a toll and mint at Vught, some 13 kms downstream from Sint-Oedenrode, as attested in the eleventh century27. This place, called the ‘rode’ or reclamation of St Oda, must

septentrional aux 12e et 13e siècles (Académie royale de Belgique. Mémoire de la Classe des lettres. Collection in 8º, 3e série 3), Bruxelles 1993, p. 212, 219-223, dated this vita between 1244/1247 and 1250, I am convinced that the oldest parts of this vita were written in the last quarter of the twelfth century. Our analysis will be pub-lished in: Rondom Rode en Sint-Oda. Macht, religie en cultuur in het middeleeuwse Peelland, ed. by Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld / Lauran Toorians (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland), Tilburg, in preparation.

25 van Asseldonk, Matthias P. M., De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch. De evolutie van plaatselijk bestuur, bestuurlijke indeling en dorpsgrenzen, circa 1200-1832, Tilburg 2002, p. 384-386, 392-393; van Asseldonk, Martien, De Meierij ontrafeld. Plaatselijk bestuur, dorpsgrenzen en bestuurlijke indeling in de Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch, circa 1200-1832, Tilburg 2003, p. 238-240, 244.

26 van Asseldonk, De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (footnote 25), p. 401 (Mierlo); see also Vogels, Hans, De oudste heren van Heeze, Leende en Zesgehuchten, Sterksel, Mierlo en Geldrop (1100-1300). Een genealogische reconstructie, in: Heemkronyk 37 (1998), p. 3-26, 61-76, 113-135; Id., De heren van Mierlo, in: D’n Myerlese Koerier 12 no 1 (1998), p. 15-39; Id., Mierlo, zijn oudste heren en hun familie (c. 1100-1335). Een genealogische en historische reconstructie, Mierlo 1999 (= D’n Myerlese Koerier, 3 no 2, [1999], p. 1-120); Id., Het graafschap (footnote 21).

27 Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant tot 1312. I De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (met de heerlijkheid Gemert) (Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën), ed. by Henricus

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have been the centre of the Rode family’s sphere of influence and power. They called themselves after the stronghold they built here – with a church – just as other late eleventh-century aristocratic families started calling themselves after their newly built or rebuilt castles28.

An analysis of the aforementioned diplomatic, narrative, and hagiographic sources as well as the results of recent art historical study and archaeological investigation at their former castle site enabled me to start to reconstruct the elements of their position of power. For the sake of my analysis, I will start with their social power, and then deal with their political, economic, and military power base, to end with their development of ideological power.

1. The Base of Social PowerAs I have said before, we can identify seventeen charters in which at least

two generations of the Rode lineage are mentioned, with a father and a son (both called Arnulf or Arnold of Rode) as main figures, the former mentioned between 1094/1095 and 1108/1116, and the latter between (1106?)1112/1116 and 1125. The latter’s heiress, Heilwiva, is mentioned in 1133 in the Annals of Egmond, as the daughter of Arnold of Rode, who had been murdered, and of the late Adelaide of Cuijk, the sister of the lords of Cuijk.

First we will explore the social status of these two lords called Arnulf of Rode and, second, in what political contexts they operated. In two charters, Arnulf is counted among the testifying laici liberi, in one charter among the liberi homines

Petrus Hubertus Camps, ’s-Gravenhage 1979, p. 42-44, no 27, d.d. <1006 November 18>; p. 44-46, no 28, d.d. 1028 February 3; p. 46-48, no 29, d.d. 1050 June 26. See Kappelhof, Ton, Vught in de middeleeuwen (900-1300). Het raadsel van de twee kerken, in: Vught vanouds, ed. by Jeroen van den Eijnde (Vughtse Historische Reeks, 3), Vught 1995, p. 7-32; Aarts, Bas, Maurick en de Vughtse middeleeuwen, in: Vught onvoltooid verleden, ed. by Ottie Thiers (Vughtse Historische Reeks, 8), Vught 2003, p. 7-24.

28 Bouchard, Constance B., Family Structure and Family Consciousness among the Aristocracy in the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries, in: Francia 14 (1986), p. 639-658, here p. 650; Arnold, Benjamin, Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany, Cambridge 1991, p. 145-151; Zotz, Thomas, Die Situation des Adels im 11. und frühen 12. Jahrhundert, in: Vom Umbruch zur Erneuerung? Das 11. und beginnende 12. Jahrhundert – Positionen der Forschung (Mittelalter-Studien, 13), ed. by Jörg Jarnut / Matthias Wemhoff, München 2006, p. 341-355, here p. 342 and footnote 8, p. 350-353; Moeglin, Jean-Marie, « Performative turn », « communication politique » et rituels au Moyen Âge. À propos de deux ouvrages récents, in: Le Moyen Age 112 (2007), p. 393-406, who on p. 394 refers to ‘les thèses célèbres de K. Schmid sur le passage de structures cognatiques horizontales de large groupes de parenté aux struc-tures agnatiques verticales de lignages resserrés sur la possession d’un patrimoine et de quelques châteaux dont l’un est éponyme pour le lignage’.

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and in another charter among the liberi. A further charter mentions him among the laici nobiles, and in a charter of 1101 he is mentioned among the Leodien-sis militia and the fideles ecclesię sancti Lamberti29. This means that Arnulf of Rode is consistently designated as belonging to the liberi, the men of free birth. Therefore, he was not a ministerialis, a member of some familia dependent on a bishop, prince, or abbot, which is important to distinguish this family from other families called de Rode who were of ministerial descent.

His relative position among the witnesses in two imperial charters issued for the bishop of Utrecht shows that both father and son Arnulf of Rode did indeed belong to the nobiles, ‘nobles without comital power’. This accounts for the fact that he is always mentioned in the charters after men who did have the comital office or title30. This corresponds to what we know about the marriages of these men. The younger Arnulf or Arnold of Rode was married to Adelaide of Cuijk, of the noble lineage of this name, who counted among the most important nobles in the diocese of Utrecht and the neighbouring Central Dutch river area. Their daughter Heilwiva of Rode in 1133 was regarded as being an acceptable bride by Florent ‘the Black’, brother of the count of Holland. Thus, the Rode lineage can be ranked among the high nobility of the time.

Next we will see in what political contexts they operated. Arnulf of Rode appears seven times as witness in charters related to Liège and/or the bishop of Liège dated between 1094/1095 and 1125, including twice in imperial charters issued in Liège. Besides these two, Arnulf of Rode is mentioned in another eight royal or imperial charters, issued in Aachen (in 1101 and 1103), Maas-tricht (1122), and Utrecht (between 1122 and 1125). In 1108 and 1121, Arnulf of Rode is mentioned in charters of the bishop of Utrecht. In particular I want to mention the charter of 1096, according to which Arnulfus de Rode, together with his relative Henry I of Cuijk, among others, witnessed in Maastricht the transfer of property to the Benedictine abbey of Affligem by Ida, countess of Boulogne, together with her son Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lotharingia.

Arnulf of Rode’s connections with the episcopal see of Liège are beyond any doubt as, in 1101, he is mentioned among the Leodiensis militia and the fideles ecclesię sancti Lamberti, that is, the bishop’s noble retinue31. As I said before, it

29 See the charters in the appendix.30 Buitelaar, Ary Leo Peter, De Stichtse ministerialiteit en de ontginningen in de

Utrechtse Vechtstreek (Middeleeuwse studies en bronnen 37), Hilversum 1993, p. 48-49; Kuys, Jan, De middeleeuwse heren van Ooij. Lotgevallen van een adellijk geslacht in een grensgebied (11de-16de eeuw), in: De Ooij, ed. by Monique Bullinga and Piet Offermans, Nijmegen 1993, p. 96-115, here p. 97.

31 Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), p. 217 and 219 footnote 32 renders the notion milites as mentioned in eleventh-century charters as the ‘grands vassaux de l’église’. See also ibidem, p. 232.

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is only the Vita of St Oda, and in particular the description of her translation, that links the Arnulf or Arnold of Rode mentioned in the aforementioned charters to Sint-Oedenrode. However, both the accurate dating and the reference to Bishop Otbert of Liège, in whose charters Arnulf appears as a witness once with certainty but maybe even three times, attest to the veracity of this identification. Arnulf of Rode also held a prominent position in the diocese of Utrecht, the bishopric in which parts of his landed properties were situated. Once he acted as a witness in a charter issued by the bishop of Utrecht, as well as in four imperial charters for the bishop’s town and diocese.

In addition, he frequented the imperial courts of Henry IV and Henry V. In 1101 and 1103, he was present in the imperial palace in Aachen, where he witnessed in three charters. In the spring of 1122, he must have spent several weeks at Emperor Henry V’s court, which sojourned in Maastricht in the first week of May and in Utrecht from Pentecost (May 14) until the beginning of June. In August 1123 and March 1125, Arnulf found himself again at court in Utrecht and Liège, respectively32. To corroborate this, the Gesta of the abbots of Sint-Truiden relate how the conflict over a tithe (in Baardwijk) between Abbot Rodulf of Sint-Truiden and Arnulf of Rode was finally settled at the court of Emperor Henry V in Aachen, sometime between 1108 and 1125, probably in the presence of both of them33.

Another striking feature is the fact that, in eight of the aforementioned seven-teen charters, Arnulf of Rode is mentioned alongside the count of Guelders-Was-senberg, that is, between 1096 and 112534. At the time, this was Count Gerard I ‘the Long’ of Guelders, who is mentioned as count of Wassenberg from 1085 and as count of Guelders since 1096, and who in all probability died in 112935. In one charter, Arnulf junior is mentioned with Gerard’s son Gerard, who died

32 Stüllein, Hans Jochen, Das Itinerar Heinrichs V. in Deutschland, München 1971, p. 93-94, 101, 107-108; van Vliet, Kaj, Utrecht, Muiden en omgeving. Oude priv-ileges opnieuw bezien, in: Jaarboek Oud Utrecht (1995), p. 5-52, here p. 10-12.

33 See footnote 22.34 See appendix nos 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17. For this passage, I received important

suggestions from the late Henk Verdonk and Martien van Asseldonk.35 Jahn, Ralf G. / van Winter, Johanna Maria, De genealogie van de graven en hertogen

van Gelre, in: Het hertogdom Gelre. Geschiedenis, kunst en cultuur tussen Maas, Rijn en IJssel, ed. by Ingrid D. Jacobs, Utrecht 2003, p. 33-47, here p. 34; Verdonk, Henk, Graf Gerhard der Lange von Geldern, Genealogie, in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Familienkunde 27 (2004), p. 338-348, here p. 345 (for Count Gerard’s year of death, sometimes also given as 1137). See also Jongbloed, Hein H., Tussen ‘paltsverhaal’ en ‘IJssellinie’. Averarda ‘van Zutphen’ († 11 augustus [961]) en de geboorte van de graafschappen Zutphen en Gelre (1026-1046), in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen Gelre. Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland 97 (2006), p. 57-130, here p. 124-125 footnote 189; Jongbloed, Hein H., De Flamenses in de 11e eeuw. Oorsprong en

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between 1131 and 113336. Moreover, Sint-Oedenrode and the surrounding district were in the hands of the counts of Guelders after circa 1180 at the latest37. This suggests that family and/or feudal ties may have existed between the counts of Guelders and the Rode lineage as early as the beginning of the twelfth cen-tury, but we are not certain about the nature of this alliance38. Recent research, however, assumes that the counts of Guelders held their oldest comital rights and possessions in Tielerwaard (the holme near Tiel) and Bommelwaard (the holme of Zaltbommel), also called Teisterbant39. This is the same region in which Arnulf of Rode is mentioned in 1108 as sharing an estate with the Cuijk lineage and fought over tithes with the abbot of Sint-Truiden between 1108 and 1125. What is more, in 1096 Count Gerard I is called lantgrave and in 1108, in the aforementioned conflict between the abbot of Sint-Truiden and Arnulf of Rode, he was involved as patriæ comes, which leads some authors to assume he held the position of landgrave in Teisterbant, which was superior to ordinary counts40. In this capacity, Count Gerard I of Guelders-Wassenberg presumably was Arnulf of Rode’s direct overlord.

ontplooiing van het Gelderse gravenhuis’, in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen Gelre. Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland 99 (2008), p. 27-90.

36 Verdonk, Graf Gerhard (footnote 35), p. 347. See now also Lieven, Jens, Adel, Herrschaft und Memoria. Studien zur Erinnerungskultur der Grafen von Kleve und Geldern in Hochmittelalter (1020 bis 1250) (Schriften der Heresbach-Stiftung Kalkar 15), Bielefeld / Kalkar 2008, p. 36-40, 55-56, 58-65; Noordzij, Aart, Gelre. Dynas-tie, land en identiteit in de late middeleeuwen (Werken Gelre, 59), Hilversum 2009, p. 41-45.

37 Van Asseldonk, De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (footnote 25), p. 385 suggests that the Rode family died out without male heirs, after which their properties returned to the archbishop of Cologne, who subsequently enfeoffed them to the count of Guelders.

38 According to Henk Verdonk (in an e-mail of 11 June 2006), familial as well as feudal ties between Arnold of Rode and Count Henry of Guelders are unlikely in the light of the available sources.

39 Verdonk, Henk, Graaf Gerard ‘de Lange’ van Gelre. Een prosopografische benade-ring, in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen Gelre. Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland 86 (2005), p. 46-70, here p. 47-49 and 69.

40 MGH DD Heinrici IV., ed. by Dietrich von Gladiss / Alfred Gawlik, 3 vol., Ber-lin [e.a.] 1941-1978, p. 619-620, no 459, d.d. 1098 February (confirmation of an agreement reached in 1096); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. Paul Tombeur / Walter Prevenier / Philippe Demonty / Marie-Paul Laviolette, CD ROM, Turnhout 1997 (hereafter: Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al.), W6287/D5496, d.d. 1096-99-99-0, inserted in W6286/D5495, d.d. 1098-02-99-0; Rodulf of Sint-Tru-iden, Gesta abbatum Trudonensium, as in footnote 22. Likewise, in 1133, his son Gerard junior is called principalis comes: Oorkondenboek van Gelre en Zutphen, ed. by Ed. Harenberg, 8 vol., ’s-Gravenhage 1980-2003, vol. 8, no 1133.12.31 (after 1129.10.16). See Verdonk, Graf Gerhard (footnote 35), p. 340-341, 345; Id., Graaf Gerard (footnote 39), p. 52-53, 57-58; Jongbloed, Tussen ‘paltsverhaal’ en

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Around 1100, the count of Guelders, acting from the north (i.e. Teisterbant), clearly counterbalanced the position of power of the bishop of Liège in the adjoining region of Texandria, as outlined above. Later in the twelfth century, the count extended his position of power in the eastern part of Texandria, which, according to some, amounted to a claim to superiority possibly derived from older claims by the episcopal see of Utrecht41. In short, the count of Guelders was an important power player in this region. Arnulf of Rode appears to have been part of his network and, as such, to have acted as a middleman between the aforementioned lay and ecclesiastical princes.

We may conclude that Arnulf of Rode belonged to the Lower Lotharingian nobility and that his social and political network extended from the diocese of Utrecht to Liège, and from the bishops of Utrecht and Liège to the German emperor. Being present to witness transactions and agreements taking place in Utrecht, Maastricht, Aachen, and Liège makes perfect sense within the context of his own possessions, which were situated in the northern part of the diocese of Liège, centred around Sint-Oedenrode in what was later called the region of Peelland (in Texandria), and in the Central Dutch river area between the rivers Lek and Linge (in Teisterbant) in the bishopric of Utrecht. We do not find his name in any charters issued by the archbishop of Cologne, which is a bit sur-prising, given the strong economic, political, and social ties the eastern part of Texandria maintained with Cologne and the Rhineland42.

The geographical scope of the Rode lineage is very much comparable to that of contemporary nobles in the region. In other families, we also find marriage bonds, the fulfilment of a comital office, or the witnessing of transactions going

‘IJssellinie’ (footnote 35), p. 96-99; Lieven, Adel, Herrschaft und Memoria (foot-note 36), p. 56. According to Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 130, ‘[m]any of the twelfth-century references place landgraves in some kind of connexion with crown lands or jurisdictions, and […] it is widely held that landgraviates implied some official function under the crown. What is was remains a mystery’ (with refer-ral to Mayer, Theodor, Über die Entstehung und Bedeutung der älteren deutschen Landgrafschaften, in: Id., Mittelalterliche Studien. Gesammelte Aufsätze, Lindau [e.a.] 1959, p. 187-201). Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 132 suggests, however, that ‘‘landgrave’ was intended to convey distinction rather than function’.

41 Aarts, Bas, Texandrië, van omstreden gouwbegrip naar integratie in het hertogdom. Hoofdlijn en vraagtekens, in: Geworteld in Taxandria. Historische aspecten van de relatie Tilburg-Turnhout (= Taxandria 64 (1992) = Tilburgse Historische Reeks 1), Tilburg / Turnhout 1992, p. 6-42; Van Asseldonk, Martien, Texandrië in de 11de en 12de eeuw, in: Taxandria 74 (2002), p. 7-15.

42 Theuws, Frans / Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan, Der Maas-Demer-Schelde-Raum in otto-nischer und salischer Kaiserzeit, in: Siedlungen und Landesausbau zur Salierzeit, ed. by Horst Wolfgang Böhme (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Forschungs-Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Monographien Band 27), 2 vol., Sigmaringen 19911, 19922, vol. I, p. 109-146, here p. 129-130.

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beyond regional boundaries. A good example is the Cuijk family, earlier called ‘of Malsen’, who had their main material power base in the Central Dutch river area around Malsen (now Buurmalsen, situated west of Tiel, between the Lower Rhine and the river Waal) and around Cuijk on the river Meuse. By way of shared property and a marriage, they were closely connected to the Rode family. Their familial and political bonds extended from the river area into Holland (Leiden), Utrecht, Saxony (Arnsberg), and the Aachen-Maastricht region43. These aris-tocratic families must have been very mobile: they possessed very scattered strongholds and landed properties, and the administration of these demanded their travelling to them. Marriages with daughters and sons from faraway lineages were arranged to spread their interests and to gain a foothold in other regions44.

2. The Political Power BaseNeither in contemporary charters nor in the narrative and hagiographic sources

are the two Arnulfs of Rode ever called counts (comes). The author of the Vita of St Oda, a canon of Sint-Oedenrode, writing after 1173, must have been aware of any such office, but instead of calling Arnulf ‘count’ he calls him ‘that noble and grand prince and lord of the people of Rode’. Nevertheless, when the count of Guelders sold the old Rode power complex to the duke of Brabant in 1229/1231, this was called comitatus de Roda45. A fourteenth-century feudal register of the duke of Brabant mentions one fief as being situated in comitatu Sancte Ode Rodensi46. And, finally, Gramaye, writing at the beginning of the

43 van Bavel, Bas J.P., Goederenverwerving en goederenbeheer van de abdij Mariën-weerd (1129-1592), Hilversum 1993, p. 112-117. Compare the unreliable genealogy in Coldeweij, J.A., De Heren van Kuyc 1096-1400 (Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland 50), Tilburg 1981, p. 7-8, 10, 226, who assumes a marriage bond between the Cuijk family and Ida of Boulogne (also accepted by Van Bavel, Goederenverwerving, p. 116-117) which, however, remains unproven and even unlikely.

44 For this and the following, see Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 139, 282.

45 Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant tot 1312, I, ed. by Camps (footnote 27), p. 228-229, no 153, d.d. 1231 November 11; see also ibidem, p. 220-221, no 148, d.d. 1229 February. See Van Asseldonk, De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (footnote 25), p. 384-385; Van Asseldonk, De Meierij ontrafeld (footnote 25), p. 238.

46 Le livre des feudataires de Jean III, duc de Brabant, ed. by Louis Galesloot, Bruxelles 1865, p. 92. The fourteenth-century Brabant feudal court also distinguished between fiefs in Sint-Oedenrode held according to Brabant feudal law and fiefs held according to the feudal law of Sint-Oedenrode (‘ten Rooisen rechte’), which seems to refer to feudal relations preceding the duke of Brabant’s acquisition of Sint-Oedenrode (Van Asseldonk, De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (footnote 25), p. 385-386; Van Asseldonk, De Meierij ontrafeld (footnote 25), p. 238-239.

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seventeenth century, recounted how the canons of Sint-Oedenrode showed him the grave of A. Rodae comitis, ‘A(rnulf or Arnold), count of Rode’47.

For the twelfth century, it is important to distinguish between the personal, dynastic, and hereditary title of a count, the comital office, and the exercise of comital powers48. The expression comitatus referred above all to noblemen’s exercise of certain powers over people and property within a particular, often not precisely circumscribed region. Comital jurisdiction was of a personal char-acter: it meant administering justice over freemen within a certain region as well as over one’s own vassals and ministerials, and assisting as an advocate in the jurisdiction on the estates of ecclesiastical institutions. According to contemporary sources, Arnulf of Rode and his family certainly did not have the personal title of count and in all probability did not hold the office of count. However, it is not unlikely that he administered comital tasks anyway, or tasks closely connected with those of a count. Thirteenth-century sources mention advocacy rights as being connected to the comitatus de Roda and, in later times, Sint-Oedenrode continued to function as a principal town for a number of judicial and feudal transactions.

Arnulf of Rode’s position in the Sint-Oedenrode region was possibly com-parable to that of the contemporary nobilis vir Folkold of Berne, who held a castrum or stronghold in the Central Dutch river area. In 1134, he founded the Premonstratensian abbey of Berne in his castle. In the abbey’s foundation chronicle from the beginning of the thirteenth century, he is described as having been ‘a count between the rivers Meuse and Waal, because his were all juris-dictions from Mook to Heerewaarden, except for the villages of Wijchen and Niftrik’49. Just as in the case of Arnulf of Rode, Folkold is never designated as count in any contemporary charter or narrative source in which he is mentioned (a donation charter for the abbey of Sint-Truiden of 1108/1121, the foundation charter of the abbey of Berne of 1134, and the Annales Rodenses from the years

47 Gramaye, Jean-Baptiste, Taxandria, in qua Antiquitates & decora Regionum 5. Colo-niarum 6. Ducatuum 3. Comitatuum 7. Baronatuum 5. Episcopatuum 4. (etc.), Brux-ellae 1610; Lovanii / Bruxellis 1708, p. 72: Ostenduntque canonici in sua ecclesia tumulum A. Rodae comitis, sed de quo nihil ultra, licet serio investigans, potui intel-legere. See Documenten betreffende de kapittels van Hilvarenbeek, Sint Oedenrode en Oirschot, ed. by A.M. Frenken, ’s-Hertogenbosch 1956, p. 157 footnote 1, p. 160 footnote 24; Steurs, Naissance (footnote 24), p. 223 footnote 9.

48 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 112-121, 128, 187-191, 216-218.49 Het stichtingskroniekje van de Abdij van Berne, in: Egmond en Berne. Twee verha-

lende historische bronnen uit de middeleeuwen, ed. by Hans van Rij (Nederlandse Historische Bronnen 7), ’s-Gravenhage 1987, p. 87-143, here p. 122: (...) Folcoldus (...) comes inter Mosam et Walum – nam omnes iusticie a Moldeke usque Herwerde eius fuerunt exceptis villulis Wichen et Niftrich (...). See also ibidem, p. 96-97.

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11551160)50. On the other hand, the unexpected precision of the description of his comital task in the foundation chronicle looks authentic and, therefore, credible. Apparently, the castle lord Folkold presided over law-courts and administered justice over the inhabitants and properties within a certain region. I presume that Arnulf of Rode held a similar function in the direct surroundings of his stronghold in Sint-Oedenrode. It is this complex of jurisdiction, allodial prop-erty, and possibly advocacy rights, that was called a comitatus in the thirteenth century, without implying any judicial or geographical precision51. However, it is unlikely that he was ever count of Rode. A neatly circumscribed county of Rode is never mentioned and in all likelihood never existed52. What was called the comitatus de Roda in 1231 was the conglomerate of claims, prerogatives, and possessions which had been the personal and hereditary apanage of Arnulf of Rode and his dynasty, and which later passed into the hands of their successor, the count of Guelders.

3. The Economic Power BaseWhat constituted the economic power base of the Rode lineage? We know

they held widespread possessions, both in the Central Dutch river area and in the sandy region of Texandria, over an area of at least 50 to 60 kms (illustra-tion 1). From contemporary sources, we only learn that, in 1133, Heilwiva of Rode owned urbes […] et possessiones latissimas, ‘strongholds and widespread possessions’, and predia, ‘estates’53. We already encountered the possession of tithes in Baardwijk, in the region called Teisterbant, over which Arnulf of Rode fought a battle with the abbot of Sint-Truiden, who claimed to be his liege

50 Respectively: Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland tot 1299. I. Eind van de 7e eeuw tot 1222, ed. by Anton Carl Frederik Koch, ’s-Gravenhage 1970, p. 212, no 103, d.d. [1108 February-1121 March 2]; Het stichtingskroniekje, ed. by Van Rij (footnote 49), p. 128-131; Annales Rodenses. Kroniek van Kloosterrade. Tekst en vertaling, ed. by Louis Augustus / J.T.J. Jamar (Publikaties Rijksarchief Limburg 3), Maastricht 1995, p. 154-158.

51 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 190-191, observed that, after 1100, these kinds of regional jurisdictions were more often designated as ‘counties’ and were named after the castles that were their centre.

52 See Jongbloed, Hein H., Immed “von Kleve” (im 950). Das erste Klevische Grafen-haus (ca. 885-ca. 1015) als Vorstufe des geldrischen Fürstentums, in: Annalen des Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein 209 (2006), p. 13-44, here p. 37, who rightly said that during the eleventh century, toponymic cognomina increasingly indicate the place in which the person mentioned had his residence: NN of X. The indication ‘Count NN of X’ or ‘NN Count of X’, however, does not necessarily mean that NN exercised comital rights in X, because the personal title of ‘count’ should always be distinguished from the indication of the comital office or honor.

53 See footnote 23.

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lord for these revenues, between 1108 and 112554. In 1108, Arnulf of Rode is mentioned as holding an estate between Lek and Linge, the rights to which he shared with the Cuijk lineage55. It was also in this region that, in 1129, the Cuijk family founded the Premonstratensian abbey of Mariënweerd, to which Arnulf of Rode’s presumed granddaughter contributed ecclesiastical rights56. Later sources reveal that the count of Guelders succeeded to these Rode possessions, which he also did with regard to Sint-Oedenrode itself, which the count of Guelders sold to the duke of Brabant in 1229/1231. In those years, the count of Guelders transferred to the duke the so-called county of Rode (comitatus de Roda) ‘with the appurtenant rights south of the river Meuse’, which implies that some of the Rode possessions must have been situated north of the river57.

In Texandria, the possessions of the Rode lineage were situated at several places in the eastern part of what is now North Brabant, sometimes shared with the Cuijk lineage, as was the case with the possessions situated in the north. Most of the Texandrian property, including Rode, must have passed into the hands of the count of Guelders by circa 1180 at the latest. Indeed, when the duke of Brabant started to build up his power in this region, it was mostly from the count of Guelders that he acquired important properties, such as the Kempen region in 1203 and the county of Rode in 1229/123158. As I said earlier, the judicial and proprietary rights appurtenant to these regions, such as advocacy rights and the position of Sint-Oedenrode as the central law-court or judicial capital of the Peelland region, may be relics of an earlier comital position of the Rode lords, but not much is known about this with certainty.

A third complex of possessions must have been situated in the westernmost part of North Brabant, and in what is now the province of Zeeland. A charter of 1230 speaks of property of the church of Sint-Oedenrode on the island of Tholen, in a place called Schakerlo. According to a curious note, this property had been donated to the church by a certain Rontrudis in 94659. According to a

54 See footnote 22.55 See appendix, no 7.56 Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht tot 1301, ed. by Samuel Muller / Arie Cornelis

Bouman, Utrecht 1920, t. I, p. 300-301, no 327, d.d. 1129 [before September 13]; Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland tot 1299, ed. by Koch (footnote 50), t. I, p. 222-223, no 111, d.d. 1129 (fragment); Van Bavel, Goederenverwerving (foot-note 43), 607-609 Bijlage A, d.d. 1129 [before September 13]. See also ibidem, p. 112-131 and 163-167.

57 See footnote 45.58 For this process, see Van Asseldonk, De Meierij van ’s-Hertogenbosch (footnote 25),

p. 56-57, 384-385, 392-393, 418-419, 435-436; Van Asseldonk, De Meierij ontrafeld (footnote 25), p. 43, 238, 259, 270-273.

59 See Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland tot 1299, ed. by Jaap G. Kruisheer, II, p. 82-83, no 482, d.d. 1229 March 22, and now Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant

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recent analysis, this note may be dated to 1146, and Rontrudis may have been a member of the Rode family. In addition, one of the charters in which Arnulf of Rode is possibly mentioned, pertains to the donation of ‘the allod of Hildernisse in Texandria’, at some 10 kms from Schakerlo, to the Liège chapter of Sainte-Croix in 1094/109560.

In sum: although the Rode lineage must have possessed considerable landed property in the river area, in Teisterbant, in Texandria, and possibly in Zeeland as well, nothing is known about the level or nature of the taxes, tithes, and other revenues gathered from these properties.

Through recent archaeological research, we have gained some insight into the profit the Rode family must have taken from agrarian production in the vicinity of their castle and of craftsmanship on their castle site or Herrenhof in Sint-Oed-enrode, where metal objects must have been made. The rich finds at this place may soon reveal similar sources of economic power as well. Another element of their riches must have consisted of mobile wealth: precious objects in gold and silver, precious glass, coins, textiles, et cetera. Most of it has disappeared, of course, but they may have donated some objects to adorn the seigneurial church and the relics of the saint – St Oda – venerated there. The saint’s wooden shrine was probably burnt in 1583, when protestant soldiers burnt down the place and the church61. A silver statue of the saint is said to have been sold by 1770. The oldest object in the church’s treasure now is an ivory liturgical comb, dating from the third quarter of the twelfth century and probably made in a Cologne workshop, which was venerated as a relic of St Oda62. Its veneration is also the

tot 1312. II De heerlijkheden Breda en Bergen op Zoom, ed. by Martien Dillo / G.A.M. Van Synghel / Edward T. van der Vlist (Rijks Geschiedkundige Publi-catiën), Den Haag 2000, p. 57-62, no 901, d.d. (1146?; c. 1100 - 1230 May 2); Dillo, Martien, De schenking van Ro(n)trudis aan de kerk van Sint Oda. Een diplomatisch onderzoek van een vermelding, in: Datum et actum. Opstellen aangeboden aan Jaap Kruisheer ter gelegenheid van zijn vijfenzestigste verjaardag, ed. by Dirk Peter Blok et al. (Publicaties van het Meertens Instituut, 29), Amsterdam 1998, p. 167-178. Schakerlo now consists of a small number of farms and an old churchyard and is called Oudeland (information kindly communicated by Karel A. H. W. Leenders; see Leenders, Karel A. H. W., Van Turnhoutervoorde tot Strienemonde. Ontginnings- en neder-zettingsgeschiedenis van het noordwesten van het Maas-Schelde-Demergebied, 400-1350. Een poging tot synthese, Zutphen 1996, p. 634).

60 See appendix, no 1. Hildernisse drowned in 1570: Leenders, Karel A. H. W., Hildernisse, in: Geografisch Tijdschrift 18 (1984), p. 146-149.

61 Heesters / Rademaker, Geschiedenis van Sint-Oedenrode, in: Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland 24, Tilburg 1972, p. 117.

62 Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan, De kam van Sint Oda. Een bijzondere liturgische kam uit de kerkschat van Sint-Oedenrode, in: Brabants Heem 48 (1996), p. 81-89; Id., Les peignes liturgiques au diocèse de Liège, histoire d’un objet cultuel. Le peigne de sainte Ode, in: Liège. Autour de l’an mil, la naissance d’une principauté (xe-xiie siècle), ed. by

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likely reason of the comb’s present state, its teeth having been broken off to provide additional relics.

In 2006, another precious object was brought to light from a twelfth-century layer on the site: an exceptional pendant consisting of an oval amethyst in a gold setting with a beaded edge. The stone dates from the late third or first half of the second century BC and the incised head with a laurel wreath in his hair depicts Hercules. After the stone had been damaged, it was re-cut and set in a Byzantine gold setting in the sixth or seventh century CE63. One archaeologist suggests a Cologne origin for the beaded setting64. Although a stray find, this pendant attests to the high prestige and wealth of the people living on the Rode moated site in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

4. The Military Power BaseAs for the sources of military power, we are best informed about the main

stronghold of Arnulf of Rode, as mentioned in several sources. The Gesta of the abbots of Sint-Truiden refer to Arnulf as being de castello Rode, ‘of the castle of Rode’65. The report of the translation of St Oda describes the scene of the act as ‘the small stronghold of the church of Rode’ (Rodensis ecclesie oppidu-lum)66. The Annals of Egmond mention the fact that Heilwiva had the disposal of her own ministerials (ministeriales), who probably had a mainly military task protecting the seigneurial castle, as described in the foundation chronicle of the abbey of Berne67. This chronicle recounts how a contemporary lord, the nobilis vir Folkold of Berne, who also possessed a castrum or castle and lived in the first decades of the twelfth century, founded the Premonstratensian abbey of Berne in 1134. The chronicle describes his conflicts with neighbouring castle lords, during which Folkold’s famuli and clientes defended his castle68.

Jean-Louis Kupper / Philippe George, Liège 2000, p. 29-30. See also Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A. / Munier, Willem, Sint-Oedenrode, in: Bedevaartplaatsen in Neder-land, ed. by Peter Jan Margry / Charles Caspers, 3 vol., Amsterdam / Hilversum 1997-2000, t. 2, p. 770-785. The object is given on loan to Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, inv. no BMB v 7.

63 van Genabeek, Ronald / Peters, Sem, Een gouden hanger uit de burcht van Sint-Oed-enrode, in: Archeobrief 10, no 2 (June 2006), p. 2-5; see also van Genabeek, Ronald and Peters, Sem, Een middeleeuwse burcht in Sint-Oedenrode, in: Heemschild 39, no 4 (2005), p. 140-144. See now: Platz-Horster, Gertrud, Herakles in Brabant. Die Amethyst-Gemme aus Sint-Oedenrode, in: BABESCH 88 (2013), p. 191-213.

64 As suggested by Hans L. Janssen on 13 September 2006.65 See footnote 22.66 Van der Straeten, Sainte Ode (footnote 24), p. 107-108.67 See footnote 23.68 Het stichtingskroniekje, ed. by Van Rij (footnote 49), p. 120-122. According to

Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 120, 180-181, 183, ministerials in

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In 2003 and in 2005-2007, part of the presumed castle area of the Rode family was excavated. West of the river Dommel and south of the site of the present and the medieval church, remains of a clearly aristocratic site were found. The medieval finds and features date from the eighth century to the late Middle Ages69. Illustration 2 shows the main features of the archaeological site excavated in 2003 and 2005-2007, drawn onto the oldest known cadastral map of 1832, combined with the moat system shaped like an eight as depicted on a 1782 topographical map, before some of the moats were filled in70. This map also provides the outline of the medieval church, which consisted of a presumably eleventh-century tower and nave built in tuff, and a choir dating from 1494. This church was demolished, except for the choir, in 1807. Of the circa 4,500 features found, only the most prominent eleventh- and twelfth-century features have been highlighted on the map.

At the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century, an agrarian settlement of Carolingian origin was surrounded by heavy palisades. In the second half of the eleventh century, this site, an almost rectangular plot of circa 65 by 140 metres, was redeveloped into a fortified site surrounded by several defensive palisades and ditches only 5.5 metres wide, the course of which roughly coincides with the moat system on the map of 1782. The palisades, running parallel to the ditches, possibly had defensive and/or representative towers. Through an entrance, situated to the south, one entered the central courtyard with a well, dated to the year 1105. To the north, palisades also surrounded the stone church. Most outstanding, on the east side, was an enormous timber hall, more than 31 metres in length, which was built in or shortly after 1085 and must have served representative purposes. On the west side, a similar, somewhat smaller hall was built, probably serving as living quarters, with loam floors and hearths,

the German empire often had the task of defending their lords’ property and were meant to do ‘the work of garrisoning the princes’ castles’ (p. 183).

69 The following information is based on the official report of the excavations: Peters, S.A.L., Sint-Oedenrode Kerkstraat. Archeologisch Onderzoek (BAAC-rapport 05.339), Deventer 2010. See also Peters, Sem / van Genabeek, Ronald, De burcht van de heren van Rode (St.-Oedenrode). De eerste resultaten van het archeologisch onder-zoek, in: Het Brabants Kasteel. Neerslag van een symposium ‘De vroege burchten’ gehouden te Boxmeer op 26 maart 2006, Tilburg 2007 (= Het brabants kasteel 28 [2005]), p. 102-116. Peters, Sem, St. Oedenrode: the Castle - The Development of an Aristocratic Site between the Tenth and Fifteenth Centuries, in: Château Gaillard 25. Études de castellogie médiévale. L’Origine du château médiéval. Actes du colloque international de Rindern (Allemagne) 28 août-3 september 2010, ed. by P. Ettel / A.-M. Flambard Héricher / K. O’Conor (Publications du CRAHM), Caen 2012, p. 299-306.

70 Drawn by Sem Peters of the archaeological service BAAC in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

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probably dating from the last decades of the eleventh century71. Between these two timber buildings, centrally located on the terrain, there was an exceptional feature: an isolated double grave, which, so far, has not been dated. Several metal workshops have also been excavated.

Sint-Oedenrode represents the best known eleventh-century aristocratic site in the southern part of today’s Netherlands, only comparable to the stronghold of Cuijk on the river Maas, whose layout, however, unfortunately remains almost completely unknown as little of the archaeological data have been published.

The Sint-Oedenrode stronghold with representative buildings surrounded by moats was in full use from the times of Arnulf of Rode around 1100 until circa 1175. Then, both aforementioned halls were dismantled and replaced by defensive structures consisting of ramparts and moats. Near the end of the twelfth century, acts of war, visible from traces of fire, put a temporary end to the terrain’s use. From about 1230, in a next phase, the site was rearranged. In 1232, a bridge was built across the moat leading to the small hill (the wood of four posts for the bridge was felled in the summer or autumn of 1232). This date coincides with the appropriation of Sint-Oedenrode and its appurtenances by the duke of Brabant, who bought the place and the region in 1229/1231 and provided it with an urban franchise in 123272. The hill in question is known from several pictures, including a late eighteenth-century painting of St Oda73. It consisted of a grassy knoll planted with trees, on which a little chapel dedicated to St Oda is said to have stood until the seventeenth century. In 1926, when the thirteenth centenary of St Oda’s death was celebrated, it was still a small, steep hill. In 1934, it was somewhat flattened to accommodate a new chapel. An archaeological survey has revealed an artificial hill that, as we assume now, may once have been a motte, especially now we know that a bridge led to it74.

71 Böhme, Horst Wolfgang, Burgen der Salierzeit. Von den Anfängen adligen Burgebaus bis ins 11./12. Jahrhundert, in: Vom Umbruch zur Erneuerung? Das 11. und beginnende 12. Jahrhundert – Positionen der Forschung, ed. by Jörg Jarnut / Matthias Wem-hoff (MittelalterStudien 13), München 2006, p. 379-401, here p. 392-394 mentions a number of stone halls dating from the end of the tenth and the eleventh century, sometimes preceded by timber halls.

72 See footnote 45 for the charter of 1231 and for the franchise charter Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant tot 1312, ed. by Camps, p. 241-242, I, no 166, d.d. 1232 [April 9 – 1233 April 2].

73 See Bedevaartplaatsen in Nederland, ed. by Peter Jan Margry / Charles Caspers, 3 vol., Amsterdam / Hilversum 1997-2000, 2, p. 38.

74 For the results of two successive soil drillings, see Arts, Nico, De archeologie van het Sint Odabergje, in: Heemschild 32, no 1 (1998), p. 1-7; Peters, Sem, De Odaberg en de burcht in Sint-Oedenrode. Een archeologisch onderzoek naar een verdwenen versterking, in: Brabants Heem 61 (2009), p. 37-46.

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The location of the motte on the other side of the moat suggests that the two big eleventh-century timber halls would have been situated on the bailey. Let us be careful, however, as, in a recent evaluation, Horst Wolfgang Böhme assigned the hall (aula, ‘Saalbau’) to an earlier phase of castle building than the building of defensive towers and the raising of conical hills or motte cas-tles with baileys75. Although motte-and-bailey castles dating back to the year 1000 AD can be found in several regions in northwest Europe76, they were not built on a more general scale until the middle of the eleventh century77. For the Netherlands, Hans L. Janssen assumes that they were mostly erected from the beginning of the twelfth until the middle of the thirteenth century78. In Woensel, some 12 kms south of Sint-Oedenrode (now part of the town of Eindhoven), a first, rather low motte must have been erected between circa 1075 and 1125, on which there was a wooden building with loam walls. Soon after this first castle of ‘Ten Hage’ had been built, a fire must have destroyed it, after which the motte was heightened by some metres79. However, until further investigation is being done, we do not know in what period the motte in Sint-Oedenrode was

75 Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (footnote 71), p. 392, 394, 397.76 Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (footnote 71), p. 397: ‘Etwa zur gleichen Zeit wie die

neuartigen Turmbauten, d. h. erstmals um die Jahrtausendwende, lassen sich in und bei Adelssitzen mehr oder weniger mächtige, künstlich aufgeschüttete Erdhügel (frz. Motte oder Chateau à Motte) nachweisen, die oft eine oder mehrere ebenderdige Vorburgen besitzen.’

77 Aarts, Bas, Early Castles of the Meuse-Rhine Border Region and Some Parallels in Western Europe c 1000: a Comparative Approach, in: Château Gaillard. Actes du Colloque international tenu à Abergavenny, Wales (Royaume-Uni) 29 août-3 sep-tembre 1994, Caen 1996, p. 11-23, here p. 21. As for those earlier motte-castles, Aarts makes a case for some early examples, all being ‘a-typical’, built on behalf of Count Balderic around the year 1000. See also Aarts, Bas, Motte-and-bailey castles of Europe. Some aspects concerning their origin and evolution, in: Virtus. Jaarboek voor Adelsgeschiedenis 14 (2007), p. 37-56, and the catalogue of motte-castles in Gelderland in P.A.C. Schut, ‘De Monferlandsche berg, het sieraad der tusschen IJssel en Rijn gelegene landen.’ De motte Montferland (gemeente Bergh) en een overzicht van motteversterkingen in Gelderland, in: Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 24, Amersfoort 2003, p. 63-76, and the preliminary discussion of the type and its characteristics. Besides a few early examples dating from about 1000 AD, a second group dates from the late eleventh century at the earliest.

78 Janssen, Hans L., Zwischen Befestigung und Residenz. Zur Burgenforschung in den Niederlanden, in: Burgen und Schlösser in den Niederlanden und in Nordwest-deutschland, ed. by Guido von Büren / Hans-Heinrich Häffner / Georg Ulrich Großmann (Forschungen zu Burgen und Schlössern 8), München / Berlin 2004, p. 9-34, here p. 17.

79 Arts, Nico, Het mottekasteel Ten Hage en het klooster Mariënhage te Woensel-Eind-hoven, in: Jaarboek Eindhoven 2000, ed. by Ad Dams et al., Eindhoven 2000, p. 69-94, here p. 86-87, 91; Arts, Nico / Rooijakkers, Gerard, Het Florarium temporum.

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erected, how high it was or how large80, and whether a wooden tower was built on it, perhaps surrounded by a palisade and small timber buildings with wattle and daub walls, as most often seems to have been the case.

Remains of wooden strongholds or castles in this region have been brought to light earlier in Blaarthem, Woensel-Eindhoven, Gemert, and Helmond, but the one at Sint-Oedenrode is the best preserved and most extensively researched site so far81. In Gemert, two moated islands have been found, with the oldest occupation phase dating between circa 1050 and 115082. An almost square (11.5 x 12 metres wide), two-aisled timber building dates back to the second half of the eleventh century. Archaeologists are still unsure how to interpret this build-ing: as a castle hall, a church, or a big horreum or barn. In Blaarthem (west of Eindhoven), a right-angled, one-aisled hall measuring 8 by at least 11 metres was excavated, which can be dated to the period between 1075 and 115083. The timber castle called the ‘Oude Huys’ (‘Old House’) in Helmond is from a later date: on the basis of dendrochronological datings of some posts from parts of this large complex of buildings (5,000 square metres!), the ‘Oude Huys’ is dated in the last quarter of the twelfth century84.

Historische en archeologische achtergronden van een middeleeuwse wereldkroniek uit Eindhoven, Alphen aan de Maas 2008, p. 15, 34-35.

80 For the eleventh- and twelfth-century Netherlands, Janssen, Zwischen Befestigung und Residenz (footnote 78), p. 17 refers to ‘eine beschränkte Anzahl sehr großer Motten’, namely ‘um 20-45 m große (Durchmesser des Högenplateaus) und etwa 6-10 m. hohe Motten’.

81 See also Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (footnote 71), p. 381: ‘bei zahlreichen aus-gegrabenen Burgplätzen (ist es gelungen) frühe Holzbauphasen zu erkennen, die dem oft erst später sukzessive erfolgten Ausbau in Stein deutlich vorausgingen’.

82 Janssen, Hans L., Gemert Castle. The first Occupation Phase 1050-1150, in: Châ-teau Gaillard. Études de castellologie médiévale. Actes du colloque international de Maynooth (Irlande) 2002, Turnhout 2004, p. 119-126. See also Het Hooghuis te Gemert. Archeologisch en historisch onderzoek betreffende het middeleeuws kasteel van de heren Van Gemert, ed. by A. Thelen (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Gemert), Gemert 2001. In August 2006, a third moated island was found at Gemert (information kindly sent to me by Nico Arts on 26 October 2006).

83 Arts, Nico et al., De kastelen Blaarthem en Gagelbosch bij Eindhoven., Archeologisch en historisch onderzoek in Eindhoven 1, Eindhoven 1996, p. 46 and 50-51; see also Arts, Het ‘Oude Huys’ (as in the following footnote), p. 42 and Janssen, Gemert Castle (footnote 82), p. 121 and footnote 5.

84 Arts, Nico, Het ‘Oude Huys’. De archeologie van het eerste kasteel van Helmond, circa 1175-1375, in: De kastelen van Helmond. Een machtscentrum aan de rand van de Peel, ed. by Nico Arts / Henk Roosenboom / Lia van Zalinge-Spooren, Utrecht 2001, p. 22-75, here p. 40: the dating of five posts gave the following dates: after 1110, in 1188, circa 1188, again circa 1188, and after 1210. See also p. 42.

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It is important to keep in mind that we should not beforehand envisage the Rode moated site as consisting of only two moated islands. As Hans L. Janssen states in a recent article, ‘in North-western Europe a large number of castle sites dating from the 11th-12th centuries are known consisting of three or even four moated islands, few of them archaeologically investigated’85. First of all, the recent excavations in Sint-Oedenrode have shown that many alterations, sometimes within a short period of time, were made to the moat system during the occupation phase between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, which may have led to rearrangements of the site’s layout. Secondly, the 1782 topographical map shows a number of islands surrounded by moats connected with the river Dommel. Nevertheless, until further investigations prove otherwise, I would pro-pose to consider the recently excavated 31 metre long timber hall on the moated island as probably being the lord’s main residence in the late eleventh century, especially because of its proximity to the church. The close connection between a lord’s residence and his proprietary church is a common feature in Western Europe and is also presumed to be the case in places close to Sint-Oedenrode that were recently excavated or otherwise investigated86. Sint-Oedenrode is now the first site in this region where ‘an allodially owned church within a small moat, in combination with an allodial residence’ has actually been brought to light.

All in all we are dealing here with one of the earliest aristocratic strongholds in this part of the Netherlands, as attested by the expansion of castle building by aristocratic families in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in Texandria as well as in Lower Lotharingia as a whole. As far as I know, no up-to-date overview of the archaeological data available for Lower Lotharingia to document this major development is at our disposal at this time87.

85 Janssen, Gemert Castle (footnote 82), p. 123. He mentions the examples of Dudzele, Eine, Brustem, and Borgloon in Belgium and of Lürken, Dreieichenhain, and Elmen-dorf in Germany.

86 Janssen, Gemert Castle (footnote 82), p. 123 gives the examples of Oerle, Bergeijk, and Boxtel.

87 Except from some information regarding Belgium and Luxembourg, the Low Countries are absent from the recent overviews given by Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (foot-note 71); Schmitt, Bernhard / Heine, Hans-Wilhelm / Hensch, Mathias / Weber, Andreas Otto, Burgenbau in der zweiten Hälfte des 11. Jahrhunderts und im frühen 12. Jahrhundert in ausgewählten Landschaften des Reiches, in: Canossa 1077. Erschütter-ung der Welt. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik. Band I. Essays, ed. by Christoph Stiegemann and Matthias Wemhoff, München 2006, p. 219-234; and Peine, Hans-Werner, Burgen als Zentren von Macht und Herrschaft – Aspekte der Bautätigkeit des westfälischen Adels im Hochmittelalter, in: Canossa 1077. Erschütter-ung der Welt. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik. Bd. I. Essays, ed. by Christoph Stiegemann / Matthias Wemhoff, München 2006, p. 235-242. See, however, Aarts, Bas, Motteburchten in Noord-Brabant. Algemene problematiek en voorlopige inventarisatie (NL), in: Middeleeuwse Archeologie in de Zuidelijke

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5. The Ideological Power BaseIn developing ideological power, rulers tried to safeguard their possessions,

power, and prestige for all eternity. In the Low Countries, as elsewhere during the Central Middle Ages, this happened above all through the close alliance of secular and religious power and the development of ritual practices and symbols communicating this close association88. In medieval practice, this was done by founding churches and monasteries; by establishing aristocratic burial places and the liturgical commemoration connected with these; by designating ecclesiastical authorities from within the family and by having relatives enter monasteries; by religious gift-giving; the appropriation of holy places and of saints (as well as the creation of new ones); and the appropriation of prestig-ious, that is older, traditions, burial places, and religious and military sites. In the case of Sint-Oedenrode, we have evidence for the development of a saint’s cult under the custody of the Rode family, the building of a prestigious church emulating Ottonian and Salian architecture, the participation in the foundation of monasteries, and the acquisition of ecclesiastical offices.

a. A Saint’s CultIn 1981, the Brussels historian Willy Steurs tried to prove that both the Life

and the cult of the virgin St Oda of Sint-Oedenrode are mid-thirteenth-century falsifications: he claimed that there had been no previous cult and that the Vita had only been written after the appropriation of Sint-Oedenrode and its chapter church by the duke of Brabant to promote a profitable cult for a fake virgin St Oda, who was a pastiche of the widow St Oda of Amay and of St Dimphna of Geel89. As for my part, I am convinced of the historicity of an earlier cult of St Oda, which, along with an embryonic chapter of canons attending to her veneration, must have been in place around 1100 at the latest. To support this view, there are, first of all, the reliable historical elements in the Life of St Oda, namely the report of her translation performed by Bishop Otbert of Liège at the request of Arnulf of Rode, and the historical information on the cult of St Oda and on the building and endowment of her church that the writer of the Vita gathered from Bishop Philip of Osnabrück (1141-1173)90.

Nederlanden en aangrenzende gebieden, ed. by Johnny De Meulemeester et al., in: Archaeologia Mediaevalis 17 (1994), p. 20-21; Id., Early Castles of the Meuse-Rhine Border Region (footnote 77); Id., De vroege burchten. Een historisch-archeologische verkenning, in: Het Brabants Kasteel 22 (1999), p. 21-35; Janssen, Zwischen Befes-tigung und Residenz (footnote 78); Janssen, Gemert Castle (footnote 82).

88 As further explored in Bijsterveld, Do ut des (footnote 17).89 Steurs, L’utilisation d’une source hagiographique discréditée (footnote 24); Id.,

Naissance (footnote 24).90 See footnote 24 and Van der Straeten, Sainte Ode (footnote 24), p. 89-90.

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The reference to this bishop gives us a clue for dating the oldest parts of the Vita, as he died in 117391. Godfrey, the canon of Sint-Oedenrode who wrote the Vita, must have spoken to him before that time. This would date the Vita sometime between 1173 and 1225 at the latest. The text consists of two pro-logues, the actual vita, and the report of the translation, and concludes with a long and odd apologetic letter, in which the Vita’s author wriggles to defend himself against all the criticism that his writing had apparently raised. According to the first prologue and the apologetic letter, Godfrey had this ‘booklet on the blessed Oda’ (libellus beate Ode) composed at the request of his fellow-canon Wetzelo, because an appropriate liturgical text about the life of St Oda had not been available in the Sint-Oedenrode chapter, which venerated St Oda as its patron saint. Therefore, he wrote an office for a mass (missale officium) in her honour in the shape of her vita.

With the Bollandist Joseph Van der Straeten, we distinguish several tempo-ral layers in the text, which is a compilation of older and younger elements92. Besides nine lectures that were to be used during mass, the text also contains a chapter defending the property rights of the chapter of St Oda (chapter 17) as well as the already mentioned translation account. The Vita as we know it must have been finished before 1251/1253. The datum post quem is provided by the Life of the widow St Oda of Amay, traditionally taken to have been written after 1153. According to Philippe George and Alain Dierkens, the latter Vita was presumably written between 1153 and 1164, which makes a date ‘shortly after 1173’ even more likely for the Sint-Oedenrode Vita93. The Amay Vita was virtually plundered to write the Sint-Oedenrode Vita, which indeed makes this latter Vita a pastiche, as Alain Dierkens clearly points out in his recent ‘bilan’ on St Oda of Amay.

However, does that mean that the Sint-Oedenrode St Oda virgin is ‘une sainte fictive, née du dédoublement de la vraie patronne du lieu, Ode d’Amay’, as

91 SpickerWendt, Angelika / Kluger, Helmut, Osnabrugensis eccl. (Osnabrück), in: Series episcoporum ecclesiae occidentalis ab initio usque ad annum MCXCVIII. Series V. Germania. Tomus I. Archiepiscopatus Coloniensis, ed. by Stefan Wein-furter / Odilo Engels, Stuttgart 1982, p. 136-166, here p. 162-163.

92 Van der Straeten, Sainte Ode (footnote 24), p. 78 footnote 3, 84 and footnote 2, 104, footnote 1.

93 George, Philippe, De sancta Chrodoara à sainte Ode. Réflexions sur le dossier hagi-ographique amaytois, in: Le sarcophage de Sancta Chrodoara. 20 ans après sa décou-verte exceptionelle. Actes du colloque international d’Amay, 30 août 1997, ed. by Alain Dierkens (Bulletin du Cercle archéologique Hesbaye-Condroz 25 [2000-2001] [2006]), p. 51-58; Dierkens, Alain, Questions historiques et archéologiques sur le sarcophage de Chrodoara: un bilan provisoire, in: Le sarcophage de Sancta Chrodoara, ed. by Id., p. 83-96, here p. 91 and 96 (with reference to Philippe George). I thank Philippe George for providing me with the proceedings of the 1997 Amay conference.

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Dierkens asks rhetorically? I would like to propose another scenario. With Anneke Mulder-Bakker, I presume the existence of early cults of saintly ‘found-ing mothers’ who later developed into more or less canonical saints in several places in what is now northern Belgium and the southern Netherlands94. Indeed, the number of more or less legendary virgin saints in this region is amazing: St Berlendis of Meerbeke, as recently analysed by Dirk Van de Perre95, St Ermelin-dis of Meldert96, St Verona of Leefdaal, St Dimphna of Geel, St Odrada of Balen97 and Alem…, and St Oda of Sint-Oedenrode, to mention just a few98. Most of these obscure cults have two things in common: the relatively late date at which vitae of these alleged early medieval virgins were written and the earlier or later presence of an embryonic secular chapter attending to the cult of these saints. I will deal with these two aspects one after another.

With regard to these vitae, they all contain a fair deal of legendary and/or borrowed stories, but this does not contradict the historicity of these saints’ cults themselves, which, in most cases, can be proven to have existed through other sources. In composing these vitae and cults, the obvious use of borrowings and analogies made to homonymic saints is more likely than these vitae being completely original. In some cases, this has led to the complete obfuscation of the original saint and/or her identification with a better-known canonical saint.

94 Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B., Woudvrouwen. Ierse prinsessen als kluizenaressen in de Nederlanden, in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 20 (1994), p. 123.

95 Van den Perre, Dirk, De Vitae Sanctae Berlendis en de Miracula Sanctae Ber-lendis. Tekstraditie, datering, auteurschap en historische kritiek, in: Jaarboek voor Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis 8 (2005), p. 7-46; Id., De eerste Sint-Pieterskerk en de middeleeuwse Sint-Berlendiskapittelkerk van Meerbeke, in: Het Land van Aalst 58 (2006), p. 81-113; Id., De middeleeuwse Berlendisverering te Meerbeke, in: Het Land van Aalst 58 (2006), p. 114-138.

96 Ermelindis van Meldert. Ter Donk, Bevekom, Meldert. Huldeboek naar aanleiding van de zesde erkenning van de relieken van de H. Ermelindis te Meldert op 3 september 2000, ed. by Jan Degeest and Jos Dewinter, Meldert 2000; Van Strydonck, Mark et al., Relieken: echt of vals?, Leuven 2006, p. 121-128.

97 For St Dimphna of Geel and St Odrada of Balen, see Van Strydonck et al., Relieken: echt of vals? (footnote 96), p. 101-119.

98 Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A., Odrada, Oda, Odulfus: de drie middeleeuwse heiligen van Noord-Brabant in: Heiligen in de Kempen, ed. by Id. and Jan.-M. Goris (Centrum voor de Studie van Land en Volk van de Kempen 14), Turnhout 2001, p. 9-31; Id., De oorsprong van de oudste kapittels in het noorden van het bisdom Luik: een voorlopige synthese, in: In de voetsporen van Jacob van Maerlant. Liber amicorum Raf De Keyser. Verzameling opstellen over middeleeuwse geschiedenis en geschiedenisdidactiek, ed. by Raoul Bauer et al. (Symbolae Facultatis Litterarum Lovaniensis Series A vol. 30), Leuven 2002, p. 206-221; Id. / David Guilardian, [Chapitre] 2. La formation du duché (843-1106), in: Histoire du Brabant du duché à nos jours, ed. by Raymond van Uytven et al., Zwolle [and ’s-Hertogenbosch] 2004, p. 41-63, here p. 55-56.

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Recently, Elizabeth den Hartog analysed the archaeological and historical dossier of the church of Geertruidenberg, in northwest North Brabant. Archaeological investigations in the church have brought to light a north annex built in tuff, which Den Hartog dates to about 1000 AD99. She identified this annex as a cell and linked it to the presence of an anchoress called Gertrud in Geertruidenberg around the same year, reminiscences of whom persisted into the late Middle Ages. It was after this Gertrud, who was venerated as a saint, that the place was named. Nevertheless, she later got to be identified with St Gertrud of Nivelles, entailing property claims by this abbey, and finally, in 1310, a secular chapter was founded in her name100.

Thus, in their efforts to write a vita for their age-old but obscure saint, in safeguarding her acceptance as a canonical saint, and even in acquiring relics, which became ever more important in the course of the twelfth century, the promoters of these cults more often than not constructed saints with blurred identities on purpose. In the case of St Oda of Sint-Oedenrode, a presumably older cult was dressed up by using all kinds of elements ‘borrowed’ from the Vita and cult of St Oda of Amay – the prologue, the sarcophagus, the baton, the libellus, as described by Alain Dierkens101 – but also from the Life of Bishop Lambert of Liège, as the virgin Oda was identified with the blind girl Oda cured on his account, as mentioned in St Lambert’s Vita. At some point, the canons must even have come up with a full corpus of their saint. Although the Life of Oda mentions the year 713 as the year of her death, a carbon-14-analysis of the remaining relics set a dating in the second half of the third or in the fourth century AD102. Perhaps these relics were acquired in Cologne, as inhumation was virtually unknown in this region in late Roman times. So I would argue for the existence of a St Oda virgin at Sint-Oedenrode venerated of old, who, from the last quarter of the twelfth century, took the shape of St Oda widow of Amay, and not for a development the other way round: a veneration of St Oda of Amay having developed into an independent cult of St Oda virgin.

99 den Hartog, Elizabeth, Geertruid op de berg. De oudste stenen kerk van Geertru-idenberg, in: Brabants Heem 55 (2003), p. 69-77.

100 For the foundation charter issued by the abbess of Thorn: De Archieven van het Kapittel der Hoogadellijke Rijksabdij Thorn, ed. by Joseph Habets and Auguste Jean Antoine Flament, 2 vols., [’s-Gravenhage] 1889-1899, I, p. 107-111, no 114, d.d. 1310 August 9. See Margry, Peter Jan, Geertruidenberg, in: Bedevaartplaatsen in Nederland, ed. by Id. / Charles Caspers, 3 vol., Amsterdam / Hilversum 1997-2000, 2, p. 324-326.

101 Dierkens, Questions historiques et archéologiques (footnote 93), p. 88-89.102 Bijsterveld / Munier, Sint Oedenrode (footnote 62), p. 777-778.

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b. A Secular ChapterNow I come to the second part of my argument, which is the possible pres-

ence of an embryonic secular chapter in close connection with this cult around the year 1100. As I said, many of the aforementioned cults of obscure ‘found-ing mothers’ were attended to by special clerics. At Meerbeke, the local lords founded a secular chapter dedicated to St Berlendis between 1112 and 1166 (probably before 1137), but a monastery at Meerbeke is already mentioned in the Treaty of Meerssen of 870103. At Alem, on the river Meuse some 25 kms north of Sint-Oedenrode, clerici probably taking care of the local cult of St Odrada are mentioned in 1107104. This means that these obscure cults often led to the foundation of a college of secular canons, sometimes at an early date, some relatively late (as in the case of Geel, where a chapter was only founded in 1532), and sometimes never at all (as in the case of St Verona, venerated in the chapel of the Holy Cross in Leefdaal, and of St Ermelindis of Meldert, whose burial chapel is still situated next to the church of St Bartholomew).

Research in other regions, such as in England by John Blair, in Flanders by Brigitte Meijns, and in the bishopric of Utrecht by Kaj van Vliet, has shown that the existence of an early secular chapter or so-called minster church pre-supposed the presence of relics of a particular saint, and vice versa105. Church councils from the early Middle Ages prescribed that relics could only be housed in a church provided that clerici were at hand to perform the liturgical choir service106. In nine out of ten of the oldest chapter churches I investigated in the northern part of the diocese of Liège, I could establish the presence of a cult of a particular saint or saints, often distinct from the saint acting as the church’s

103 Van de Perre, De Vitae Sanctae Berlendis (footnote 95), p. 8.104 Bijsterveld, Odrada, Oda, Odulfus (footnote 98), p. 13; Id., De oorsprong van

de oudste kapittels (footnote 98), p. 213. This refutes the arguments of Steurs, Willy, Alem et SaintTrond. Hagiographie et histoire rurale: la Vita Odradae, in: Le Moyen Âge 99 (1993), p. 449-470. See also Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A. , Alem, in: Bedevaartplaatsen in Nederland, ed. by Peter Jan Margry / Charles Caspers, 3 vol., Amsterdam / Hilversum 1997-2000, 2, p. 99-109.

105 Blair, John, A Saint for Every Minster? Local Cults in Anglo-Saxon England, in: Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West, ed. by Alan Thacker / Richard Sharpe, Oxford 2002, 455-494, here p. 456; Meijns, Brigitte, Aken of Jeruzalem? Het ontstaan en de hervorming van de kanonikale instellingen in Vlaan-deren tot circa 1155, Leuven 2000, p. 969-971; Ead., Veelheid en verscheidenheid. De kanonikale instellingen in het graafschap Vlaanderen tot circa 1155, in: Trajecta 9 (2000), p. 233-251, here p. 238, 240, 247-248; van Vliet, Kaj, In kringen van kanunniken. Munsters en kapittels in het bisdom Utrecht 695-1227, Zutphen 2002, p. 206-207.

106 Meijns, Veelheid en verscheidenheid (footnote 105), p. 238.

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patron saint107. In short: both in theory and practice, the presence of relics pre-supposed the presence of canons, and vice versa.

The first proof of the existence of a secular chapter in Sint-Oedenrode is the mentioning of the two aforementioned canons in the late twelfth-century Vita of St Oda. A charter dated 1207-1225 mentions seven canons of the church of Sint-Oedenrode (Rodensis ecclesie canonici) as witnesses108. Material proof that both the chapter and the cult of St Oda were in existence by the late twelfth cen-tury may be the sigillum Beate Oude virginis, ‘the seal of the holy virgin Oda’, of the secular chapter in Sint-Oedenrode as affixed to the aforementioned charter as well as to a charter of 1230. Stylistic study of this seal dates it to the third quarter of the twelfth century109. Finally, there is the note I already mentioned, dated ‘946’ but perhaps in fact dating from 1146, mentioning the ecclesia beate Oeden. In sum: all evidence points to the existence of a chapter of canons taking care of the cult of St Oda in the second half of the twelfth century.

I would like to push this date even a little further: as the translation of St Oda’s relics is recorded as having taken place between 1091 and 1105/1119, some provision for a college of clerics must have been made around the same time. Around this time, all major noble families in Lower Lotharingia were having their own secular chapter connected to their dynastic castle, founded in the castle chapel or in the church next to the castle, as in the case of the counts of Wassen-berg-Guelders, who, in 1118, founded the chapter dedicated to Our Lady and St George next to their castle in Wassenberg, and the counts of Heinsberg, who, in 1128/1129, founded their family chapter dedicated to St Gangulph in the castle chapel at Heinsberg110. Earlier, in the eleventh century, many other Lotharingian aristocratic families had founded their own communities of canons, as studied by Alain Dierkens for the diocese of Liège111. Before 1027, the counts of Looz had

107 Bijsterveld, De oorsprong van de oudste kapittels (footnote 98), p. 214-216.108 Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant, I, ed. by Camps (footnote 26), p. 208-209,

no 136, d.d. [first quarter of the thirteenth century, after 1207]. See Bijsterveld / Munier, Sint-Oedenrode (footnote 62), p. 770-785; Lijten, J., Het ontstaan en de taak van kapittels, Campinia 29 (1999), p. 56-62, here p. 57-58.

109 Information of W.A. van Ham (Bergen op Zoom), who dates the seal to ‘somewhat before 1175’.

110 Bijsterveld, De oorsprong van de oudste kapittels (footnote 98), p. 212, 216-218. See also Heinrichs, Heribert, Wassenberg. Geschichte eines Lebensraumes, Möncheng-ladbach 1987, p. 70-78.

111 Dierkens, Alain, Le culte de sainte Ragenulphe et le(s) chapitre(s) d’Incourt (xie-xiie siècles), in: La Belgique rurale du moyen-âge à nos jours. Mélanges offerts à Jean-Jacques Hoebanx, Bruxelles 1985, p. 47-65; Id., Abbayes et Chapitres entre Sambre et Meuse (viie-xie siècles). Contribution à l’histoire religieuse des campagnes du Haut Moyen Âge (Beihefte der Francia, 14), Sigmaringen 1985, about the chapters of Fosses, Florennes, and Walcourt; Id., Le culte de saint Monon et le chapitre de

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established their own collegiate chapter dedicated to St Odulf in Borgloon112. As Brigitte Meijns has shown for Flanders, in founding these collegiate chapters, the aristocrats emulated the example set by the Carolingian rulers in the ninth and by the major counts, such as the count of Flanders, in the tenth centuries113. These chapter churches served at once as familial burial places and as the places where the commemoration of the living and deceased kinsmen was taken care of by the canons, through the intercession of their own, particular saint114. As such, these chapters were an indispensable part of aristocratic strategies to promote their prestige and eternalize their honour. Additional evidence to support my view of an early chapter in Sint-Oedenrode may come from the analysis of the architecture of the long-demolished church of Sint-Oedenrode.

c. A Stone ChurchIn her research of Lotharingian churches emulating the characteristics of impe-

rial Ottonian and Salian architecture, such as blind niches in churches, Elizabeth den Hartog has identified several waves115. First, she observed this imperial motive, referring to some late-Roman North-Italian churches (in Ravenna, in particular), at the church of Sankt Pantaleon, built by Bruno, archbishop of Cologne and duke of Lotharingia. In a second wave, several chapter or abbey churches adopted the same scheme, such as the churches of Saint-Denis in Liège (around 1000 AD), Celles, and Hastière. In a third wave, she saw this motive recur in churches which were closely connected with the German emperor’s

Nassogne avant 1100 in Ville et campagnes au moyen âge. Mélanges Georges Despy, ed. by Jean-Marie Duvosquel / Alain Dierkens, Liège 1991, p. 297-321.

112 Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A., Les sépultures des comtes de la Meuse inférieure: les cas des Régniers et des Baldéric (xe siècle), des comtes de Looz (xie[-xive] siècle[s]) et des comtes de Gueldre (xiie-xive siècles), in: Sépulture, mort et symbolique du pou-voir au moyen âge. Tod, Grabmal und Herrschaftsrepräsentation in Mittelalter. Actes des 11es Journées Lotharingiennes. 26-29 septembre 2000, ed. by Michel Margue, Luxembourg 2006 (= Publications de la Section Historique de l’Institut G.-D. de Lux-embourg, 118; Publications du CLUDEM, 18), p. 373-404, 745-751, here p. 386-387; den Hartog, Elizabeth / Bleus, Jos, Over de Romaanse en de neo-Romaanse kerk van St.-Odulphus te Borgloon, in: Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg 143 (2007), p. 141-184, here p. 144-150.

113 Meijns, Veelheid en verscheidenheid (footnote 105), p. 241-242.114 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 145; Zotz, Die Situation des Adels

(footnote 28), p. 350.115 For this and the following, see den Hartog / Bleus, Over de Romaanse en de

neo-Romaanse kerk (footnote 112), p. 150-153; den Hartog, Elizabeth, ‘Van duijf oft trassteen geboudt zijnde oudt’. De middeleeuwse kerk van Sint-Oda, in: Rondom Rode en Sint-Oda. Macht, religie en cultuur in het middeleeuwse Peelland, ed. by Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld / Lauran Toorians (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland), Tilburg, in preparation.

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power and prestige, such as St Lawrence’s church in Ename (first decades of the eleventh century) and the church of St Servatius in Maastricht (before 1039). Lastly, she identified some seigneurial churches that were built in the same vein, that is, with blind niches. The medieval church of St Oda in Sint-Oedenrode may have been one of these. The present church in Sint-Oedenrode was built in 1913-1915, but integrated the old Gothic choir of 1494. The medieval church and nave, built in tuff from the Eifel region, had already been demolished in 1807, after the tower had collapsed in 1801. Pictures of the medieval church survive, as well as a survey of 1782. From a drawing of 1787 we get a good idea of what the church looked like.

Because of its proportions, layout, and decoration, Den Hartog links the church of St Oda to the churches of Saint-Denis in Liège and St Lawrence’s church in Ename. Just like these churches, fairly steep proportions, with a total width of about 20 metres, characterized the church in Sint-Oedenrode. And just like these churches, this church had five bays, no transept, and a richly articulated but relatively heavy tower (which later was heightened with a third floor). The main difference between the Ename and the Sint-Oedenrode church is the latter’s west tower, whereas the church at Ename has an east tower. So for a clear idea of what the Sint-Oedenrode church must have looked like, we can look at the reconstructions made of the Ename church116. Den Hartog concludes that the distinct parallels with the churches of Saint-Denis and the church of St Law-rence in Ename clearly point to an early dating of St Oda’s church, in the first quarter of the eleventh century. This would make it the oldest stone church of the region and the most prestigious by far.

According to a written tradition, traceable to the thirteenth century, this church, as well as the chapter church of Hilvarenbeek, was founded by a lady (matrona) Hildewaris, ‘seventy years after the translation of St Oda’117. If this refers to the translation as reported in St Oda’s Vita, which took place between 1091 and 1105/1119, this message cannot be veracious, because this would mean these churches were only founded between 1161 and 1189 and we know for certain that these churches as well as the chapters clearly existed before those years:

116 Callebaut, Dirk / Buyle, Marjan, De Sint-Laurentiuskerk van Ename (stad Oude-naarde, prov. Oost-Vlaanderen): een vroeg-11de-eeuws symbool van stabilitas regni et fidelitas imperatoris, in: Archeologie in Vlaanderen II (1992), p. 435-470.

117 Documenten, ed. by Frenken (footnote 47), p. 45-46; Aarts, Bas, ’Hildewaris’, wie van de twee?, in: Tussen Paradijs en Toekomst. Nieuwsbrief van heemkundige kring Ioannes Goropius Becanus en museum De Dorpsdokter 27, no 76 (2008), p. 28-33; Id., ‘Hildewaris van Beek en Rode’. Nog een legende met een historische kern?, in: Rondom Rode en Sint-Oda. Macht, religie en cultuur in het middeleeuwse Peelland, ed. by Arnoud-Jan A. Bijsterveld / Lauran Toorians (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland), Tilburg, in preparation.

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the first mention of the abbatia of Hilvarenbeek dates from 1155118. Either we are dealing here with a corrupted reading or with an earlier translation we know nothing about. Hildewaris is also said to have founded a portable altar for the church. Thysius, an eighteenth-century Bollandist from the abbey of Tongerlo, stated in 1794, on the grounds ‘of a certain deed communicated to my prede-cessors’ that the church of St Oda used to have a portable altar dedicated to a multitude of saints and bearing the inscription De sanctis fragmentis † Hildewara me fieri fecit119. As the Vita of St Oda recounts, an unnamed nobilis domina, having observed the miracles on St Oda’s grave, donated her landed property in Sint-Oedenrode to St Oda (that is, to the church). A wooden chapel (oratorium) was also built and, after some time, replaced by a stone minster (monasterium), ‘in which a daily service of divine worship was established with the part-singing of clerics’120. This clearly refers to the building of a stone church and the estab-lishment of a community of canons entrusted with the cult of St Oda.

I propose to identify this unnamed domina with the later mentioned matrona Hildewaris, who, according to a historical analysis of all the sources, must have lived in the first half of the eleventh century. As I said before, the mem-ory of Hildewaris as founder of the church was kept in both Sint-Oedenrode and Hilvarenbeek, which takes its name from her121. In 1494, the dean of the chapter of Hilvarenbeek had her tomb in Sint-Oedenrode opened, presumably

118 Cartulaire de l’Église de Saint Lambert de Liége, ed. by Stanislas Bormans / Emile Schoolmeesters / Edouard Poncelet, 6 vols., Bruxelles 1893-1933, I, p. 76-80, no 46, d.d. 1155 September 7 = MGH DD Friedrich I, t. 1, ed. by Heinrich Appelt, Hannover 1975, p. 206-208, no 123 = Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W1152/D1403, d.d. 1155-09-07-0.

119 Acta Sanctorum Belgii selecta, ed. by Josephus Ghesquierus and Isfridus Thysius, Tomus VI, Tongerloæ 1794, p. 615; Vermeulen, H., Weten we iets van S. Oda? Het positieve gedeelte, in: Ons Geestelijk Erf 9 (1935), p. 61-88, here p. 66-67. The full text of the inscription, which was chiseled or incised into a silver mounting around the altar, read: Hoc altare dedicatum est in honorem Apostolorum Philippi, Jacobi, Barnabæ, & Martyrum Laurentii, Gengulfi, Pancratii, Mauritii, Cornelii, Cypriani, Ypolyti, Georgii, Dionisii, Fabiani, Sebastiani, Tiburtii, Valeriani, Timothei, Sim-phoriani, Xtofori, Urbani, Mennæ, Joannis, episcoporum & confessorum Nicolai, Jeronymi, Augustini, & Virginum Margaretæ, Barbaræ, Mariæ Magdalenæ. De sanctis fragmentis † Hildewara me fieri fecit.

120 Van der Straeten, Sainte Ode (footnote 24), p. 105-106: Unde in hoc etiam loco ad titulum nominis eius factum est ligneum et humile oratorium, sed succedenti tem-pore, priori oratorio ligneo dissoluti ac demolito, constructum est lapideum et maius monasterium et institutum est divini cultus ministerium quotidianum cum concentu clericorum ad honorem Dei viventis nunc et in perpetuum.

121 On August 20, the Liber Anniversariorum of the church of Sint-Oedenrode men-tioned the anniversary of Hildewaris, ‘founder of this church’: Wichmans, Augusti-nus, Brabantia Mariana Tripartita, Antverpiae 1632, p. 433: Vigesimo die Augusti

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to take relics from her grave. In 2004, we were able to open the alleged grave of Hildewaris, who, since 1913, had rested in front of the late medieval choir, now an annexe of the neo-Gothic church built one hundred years ago. Under a very thick tombstone, placed over her grave in 1507 after the first opening of the grave in 1494, and in a vault made of tuff, we found an oak box containing – among other things – the fairly complete skeleton of a woman aged between 34 and 40 years, who, according to the carbon-14-analysis of her bones, had lived between 970 and 1040 AD122. Surprisingly enough, this corresponds with the independent dating of the medieval church by Elizabeth den Hartog in the first quarter of the eleventh century. So we indeed might have found the skeletal remains of Hildewaris…

This means that we can suppose an earlier phase of Rode lordship: next to the age of the two Arnulfs of Rode, between circa 1090 and 1130, there must have been an earlier age, in the first decades of the eleventh century, with the noble lady Hildewaris as its protagonist. That she was responsible for the building of the stone church is not unlikely; whether she also established a community of clerics entrusted with St Oda’s veneration is not certain, however.

d. Participation in the Foundation of MonasteriesA particular saint, a community of clerics attending to her veneration and to

the familial commemoration, in a prestigious stone church probably all dating back to the eleventh century: such was the ideological power base of the Rode family around 1100. This, of course, could be expanded. Indeed, members of the Rode lineage appear to have been involved in the foundation of at least two more religious communities. In 1129, Heilewiga of Rode, who is perhaps identical to the Heilwiva mentioned earlier, participated with her maternal fam-ily in the foundation of the Premonstratensian abbey of Mariënweerd by the Cuijk lineage, to which her mother belonged123. She contributed ecclesiastical rights (tithes) to the abbey’s endowment from the goods both her father’s and her mother’s families had held here, in the Central Dutch river area, at least two decades earlier.

anniversarium Hildevvaris felicis memoriae, fundatricis praesentis Ecclesiae. See also Acta Sanctorum Belgii, ed. by Ghesquierus / Thysius, p. 602 (footnote 119).

122 E-mail from J. van der Plicht, Center for Isotope Research (CIO) of the University of Groningen, of 17 June 2004 and official report of 21 June 2004. The analysis, after calibration, yields a range between 970 and 1040 AD with 95.4% confidence level, and between 996 and 1024 AD with 68.3% confidence level. For this information, I thank Ellen Vreenegoor of the Dutch National Service for Cultural Heritage (RCE). The skeletal remains were analysed by the physical anthropologist Steffen Baetsen.

123 See footnote 56 and Van Bavel, Goederenverwerving (footnote 43), p. 163-167.

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A second monastery was founded in Hooidonk, near Sint-Oedenrode, some 8 kms upstream along the river Dommel, in 1146. According to the Annales of the abbey of Kloosterrade (Rolduc), that was the year in which a priest called Leo, a canon of Kloosterrade, built a monastery on a piece of land at Hooidonk, which he had received from his own brothers, who may have been related to the Rode lineage. A wooden chapel was dedicated there in 1148 by bishop Philip of Osnabrück. Nevertheless, Leo had to return to his motherhouse because his little monastery could not support itself. Hooidonk subsequently became a priory dependent on Kloosterrade124. However, in the foundation and endowment of the Premonstratensian priory of Postel, in which almost all of the aristocrats from the region participated, the Rode family was conspicuously absent125. The foundation of this priory took place between 1128 and 1138, its endowment between 1138/1140 and 1173/1179, which leads me to presume that the Rode family had already disappeared from the political forefront around 1140.

e. A Bishop in the Family By mentioning bishop Philip of Osnabrück, we have arrived at the last way

in which the Rode lineage may have underlined its prestige: by acquiring eccle-siastical offices. Philip is mentioned between 1129 and 1134 as provost of the secular chapter of St Lebuinus in Deventer, and between 1141 and 1173 as bishop of Osnabrück126. The writer of the Life of St Oda went to see the bishop in his old age to get information about the saint. He called the bishop ex nobilissimo Rodensium dominio progenitus, ‘originated from the most noble seigniory of the people of Rode’127. Born around 1100, he may have been the protégé of Bishop Andrew of Utrecht (11281139), who is traditionally regarded as having been a member of the Cuijk family, to which the Rode family was closely related128. Nota bene: the independent recording of Bishop Philip’s activity dedicating the monastery chapel at Hooidonk and of his origin from Sint-Oedenrode, attests to

124 Annales Rodenses, ed. and transl. by Augustus / Jamar (footnote 50), p. 192.125 Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan A., Gift Exchange, Landed Property, and Eternity: the

Priory of Postel, in: Id., Do ut des (footnote 17), p. 83-123.126 Spicker-Wendt / Kluger, Osnabrugensis eccl. (Osnabrück) (footnote 91), p. 162-163.127 Van der Straeten, Sainte Ode (footnote 24), 89-90. Vogels, Het graafschap (foot-

note 21), p. 126 identifies him as a younger son of Arnold I of Rode.128 The catalogue of Utrecht bishops dating from 1342 or shortly after is the oldest source

to call this bishop ‘Andreas de Kuyck’ (Catalogus episcoporum Ultrajectinorum. Lijst van de Utrechtse bisschoppen 695-1378. Uitgave en vertaling, ed. by J.T.J. Jamar / Cornelis A. van Kalveen, Utrecht 2005, p. 70); see Alberts, W.J. / Weinfurter, Stefan, Traiectum (Utrecht), in: Series episcoporum ecclesiae occidentalis ab initio usque ad annum MCXCVIII, Series V, Germania, Tomus I, Archiepiscopatus Colo-niensis, ed. by Stefan Weinfurter / Odilo Engels, Stuttgart 1982, p. 167-205, here p. 196-197.

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the veracity of the passage about him in the Life of St Oda, and this provides an important clue for assigning a possible date for the Vita, the first parts of which were apparently written around or shortly after 1173.

IV. Conclusion

In his book Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany, Benjamin Arnold deals with the development of territorial lordship and principalities in the Ger-man empire. Following earlier historians, he observes ‘the break-up of widely defined aristocratic kindreds into narrower patrilinear dynasties with a much greater sense of localized power and identity’ from the late eleventh century129. This development ‘from consanguinity to dynasty’ is visible in the adoption of family names derived from newly built castles and strongholds serving as the effective new centres of aristocratic landed property and appurtenant rights and prerogatives.

The Rode lineage is a clear example of this. Breaking away from a larger, cognatic whole of aristocratic families, a separate de Rode lineage developed, naming itself after its castellum, probably held as an allod, situated on the banks of the river Dommel. Formerly, all lines of consanguinity, also the maternal line, were equally important, and the family name as inherited from the father did not play such an important role130. However, from the last decades of the eleventh century, patrilinearity or the agnatic bloodline would hold prime importance, and hence also passing on the family name and the ancestral property in the male line. It is in this context that aristocratic families sought strategies to enhance their prestige and wealth. To this end, the lineages started to focus on their main positions of power, in which the family castle (Stammsitz) was enlarged and a family burial place was established131. The foundation and endowment of a monastery or secular chapter added to the enhancement of their prestige. In

129 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 61-62. See also ibidem, p. 120, 135, 140-141, 143-144, 150-151, 283; and Zotz, Die Situation des Adels (footnote 28), p. 350-353; Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (footnote 71), p. 379; Lauwers, Michel, Memoria. À propos d’un objet d’histoire en Allemagne, in: Les tendances actuelles de l’histoire du Moyen Âge en France et en Allemagne. Actes des colloques de Sèvres (1997) et Göttingen (1998), ed. by Jean-Claude Schmitt / Otto Gerhard Oexle (Publications de la Sorbonne, série Histoire ancienne et médiévale, 66), Paris 2002, p. 105-126, here p. 112-113, referring to the work by Bouchard, Family Structure and Family Consciousness (footnote 28), and of Le Jan, Régine, Famille et pouvoir dans le monde franc (viie-xe siècle), Paris 1999, among others.

130 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 149.131 See Zotz, Die Situation des Adels (footnote 28), p. 351-352, who calls this the ‘örtli-

che Fokussiering adliger Herrschaft’.

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addition, advocacy over these ecclesiastical institutions could yield a lucrative expansion of the aristocrats’ jurisdiction132.

In our case, we see the Rode family developing their stronghold in Sint-Oed-enrode, from which they took their family name, and founding a community of canons taking care of the local saint’s veneration. It is during these decades around 1100 that we see all Lower Lotharingian aristocratic families engaging in the foundation of monasteries, preferably of the reformed orders such as regular canons, or of secular chapters. A few decades later, we see the collective foundation of Premonstratensian monasteries, likewise expressing a growing aristocratic self-consciousness133. As Arnold states in his book, ‘new toponymics, new castles, and new monasteries’ in the twelfth century resulted in internal dynastic cohesion and in a clear-cut external aristocratic identity.

In the context of a conference on Lotharingian identity, the final question we should ask is the following: can we speak of a specifically Lotharingian identity of aristocratic lineages like the Rode family? To answer this question, we first need to look at the geographical scope of this dynasty. The two Arnulfs of Rode and their family do indeed seem to have been part of a supra-regional aristocratic network whose geographical range largely surpassed the region of Texandria, in which their main power base was situated. If we would map out all the places and regions in which the nobles from Rode had economic interests or social ties of some kind or another, we would need a map stretching from Osnabrück in Westphalia to the abbey of Affligem west of Brussels, from the island of Tholen in Zeeland to Aachen, and from the county of Holland and the bishopric of Utrecht to Liège and Maastricht. This map would show the interwovenness of their social, economic, political, and ideological networks, all having the Lower Lotharingian space as their geographical scope. On the other hand, we do not have any indication that they ever envisaged this space as such or ever intentionally limited their economic and social sway to Lower Lotharingia.

Instead, we may picture aristocrats as operating in concentric social and geo-graphical circles: firstly, that of the cognatic family, with a strong patrilinear basis from the late eleventh century onward, as epitomized in the choice of a dynastic name; secondly, that of the agnatic family, which, in the case of the Rode family, would include the Cuijk lineage; thirdly, a wider aristocratic circle, which, in the case of the Rode lineage, included the counts of Guelders (who wielded power in the region between Rhine and Meuse) and the counts of Hol-land; and, lastly, the circle of the rulers, in this case including the neighbouring

132 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 84, 141, 167-168, 195-199.133 Arnold, Princes and Territories (footnote 28), p. 135, 145-146; Bijsterveld, Arnoud-

Jan, La vie religieuse, in: Histoire du Brabant du duché à nos jours, ed. by Raymond van Uytven et al., Zwolle [ / ’s-Hertogenbosch] 2004, p. 80-88, here p. 81-82; Bijsterveld, Gift exchange (footnote 125).

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bishops of Liège and Utrecht, the emperors Henry IV and Henry V, and the duke of Lower Lotharingia, Godfrey of Bouillon. As a matter of fact, it was the dwindling of both imperial and ducal power in Lower Lotharingia from the end of the eleventh century and, even more, in the first decades of the twelfth century that allowed the regional aristocracy to develop their power, prestige, and self-confidence, allowing them to play a more prominent role in regional politics, as epitomized by their building ever more powerful motte-and-bailey castles and founding new monasteries and secular chapters134.

Although we observe similar strategies and physical means being used by the Lower Lotharingian noble lineages to enhance their power and prestige, these strategies are in no way limited to this region. All over Western Europe, a shared aristocratic ideology seems to have existed, as a result of which, for instance, all noble families could turn to the same religious order at the same time to populate the monasteries they founded or endowed135. Intricately inter-twined through social ties based on marriage bonds and feudal arrangements, they operated with fairly similar cultural repertoires and ethics, which made it possible to settle their disputes according to unwritten rules of conduct136. Their saints, their churches, their mobile wealth, and their castles corresponded to certain schemes that were exchanged within geographical settings that can be identified137. The Lotharingian space clearly is such a setting but never an exclusive or limitative one. Indeed, rather than a region with clear boundaries, Lotharingia was a zone of exchange, with discernible influences from all sides: from Germany, France, the British Isles, and even from Italy. Still, certain geo-graphical patterns of exchange and engagement may become visible once we begin to analyse the power bases and social networks from which and in which the Lotharingian aristocracy operated. By elaborating one specific, possibly exemplary, case, I mapped out the space and the networks in which one noble lineage wielded its power for a brief time.

In fact, to expand this investigation, we need a complete prosopography of the Lower Lotharingian aristocracy, similar to the reference work compiled by

134 See Böhme, Burgen der Salierzeit (footnote 71), p. 379.135 Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan, In mei memoriam: Hollow Phrase or Intentional Formula?,

in: Id., Do ut des (footnote 17), p. 158-187, here p. 184.136 See, for instance, Brown, Warren C. / Górecki, Piotr, What Conflict Means: The

Making of Medieval Conflict Studies in the United States, 1970-2000, in: Conflict in Medieval Europe: Changing Perspectives on Society and Culture, ed. by Warren C. Brown and Piotr Górecki, Aldershot 2003, p. 1-35; Bijsterveld, In Honour Bound: Give and Take, in: Id., Do ut des (footnote 17), p. 215-246, here p. 218-219; Moeglin, « Performative turn », « communication politique » et rituels (footnote 28).

137 See, for example, Guerriers et moines. Conversion et sainteté aristocratiques dans l’Occident médiéval (ixe-xiie siècle), ed. by Michel Lauwers (Collection d’études médiévales, 4), Antibes 2002.

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Ernest Warlop for the county of Flanders138, and the overview of the Upper-Lo-tharingian aristocracy created by Michel Parisse139. Indeed, a full inventory of all aristocratic lineages of Lower Lotharingia up to 1200 based on diplomatic, liturgical, and narrative sources (such as the many elusive genealogical chronicles of the Central and Later Middle Ages) may be the only way to get a full grasp of both the interwovenness and the power strategies of this social class. It would be more than useful to add to this inventory all the available archaeological infor-mation about aristocratic sites. I refer to the work done by Godfried Croenen, who analysed the entourage of the dukes of Brabant in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries140, to underline the wealth of information this kind of research may yield. However, this work cannot do without the necessary preliminary work, that is, the editing of the relevant charters, first of all the charters issued by the counts of Guelders, Leuven, and Looz, and the bishops of Liège. When will the time be right for an international project to prepare these editions? When will it be possible to expand the very helpful but hopelessly incomplete Thesaurus Diplomaticus to encompass all charters from all principalities and bishoprics in Lower Lotharingia? Until then, historians will have a hard time making the network analyses that are necessary to really get a full understanding of the power strategies of the aristocracy and the possible role played by a presumed Lotharingian identity.

Massa e Cozzile, September-October 2006; Tilburg, January-June 2008

138 Warlop, Ernest, The Flemish nobility before 1300, 4 vol., Kortrijk 1975-1976.139 Parisse, Michel, Noblesse et chevalerie en Lorraine médiévale. Les familles nobles

du xie au xiiie siècle, Nancy 1982.140 Croenen, Godfried, Governing Brabant in the Twelfth Century: The Duke, his House-

hold and the Nobility, in: Secretum Scriptorum. Liber alumnorum Walter Prevenier, ed. by Wim Blockmans / Marc Boone / Thérèse de Hemptinne, Leuven / Apeldoorn 1999, p. 39-76; Id., L’entourage des ducs de Brabant au xiiie siècle. Nobles, chevaliers et clercs dans les chartes ducales (1235-1267), in: À l’ombre du pouvoir. Les entou-rages princiers au Moyen Âge, ed. by Alain Marchandisse / Jean-Louis Kupper, Genève 2003, p. 277-293; see also Id., Regions, Principalities and Regional Identity in the Low Countries: The Case of the Nobility, in: Regions and Landscapes. Reality and Imagination in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. by Peter Ainsworth / Tom Scott, Oxford 2000, p. 139-153.

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Illustration 1. Provisional map of the properties acquired in Texandria after c. 980 by the Liège ecclesiastical institutions, drawn on the basis of sources dating between the end of the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. Indicated are the situation of Sint-Oedenrode and that of Vught (in blue) as well as the possessions of the Rode lineage (in red), drawn on the basis of sources dating between c. 1100 and c. 1300 (basic map: Frans Theuws; design: Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld).

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Illustration 2. Map showing the main features of the archaeological site in Sint-Oedenrode excavated in 2003 and 2005-2007, drawn onto the oldest known cadastral map of 1832, combined with the moat system shaped like an eight as depicted on a 1782 topographical map (design: Sem Peters, BAAC).

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Appendix: Charters probably mentioning Arnulf/Arnold of Rode

(1) (1094 December 25-)1095 (September 23): Arnulfus de Rouon is men-tioned among the laici liberi witnessing a donation by Bishop Otbert of Liège (10911119) to the chapter of Sainte-Croix in Liège141.

(2) 1096 June 14: Arnulphus de Rone is mentioned among the laici nobiles witnessing a charter issued in Liège by Bishop Otbert of Liège regarding the purchase of the castle of Couvin142.

(3) 1096: Arnulfus de Rode with, among others, Henry I of Cuijk, witnesses a charter issued in Maastricht by Ida, countess of Boulogne, in which she and her son Godfrey of Bouillon make donations to the Benedictine abbey of Affligem143.

141 Original lost; copy Liège, Archives de l’État, Archives ecclésiastiques, Collégiale Sainte-Croix, no 5 (cartulary on parchment, fifteenth century), f. 146v. Editions: Oorkondenboek van Noord-Brabant tot 1312, II, ed. by Dillo / Van Synghel (foot-note 59), p. 29-31, no 893, d.d. (1094 December 25-)1095 (September 23); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W10279 d.d. 1095-99-99-0. See Kupper, Liège (footnote 2), 219 footnote 32 (identification with Roanne). The witness list mentions after the ecclesiastici the following laici liberi: comites Cono, Arnuldus de Loz, Reinerus, advocatus, Arnulfus de Rouon, Walterus de Baccunweiz, followed by the laici ecclesiastici.

142 Edition (after copy lost since): Cartulaire de l’Église de Saint Lambert de Liége, ed. by Bormans / Schoolmeesters / Poncelet (footnote 118), I, p. 46-48, no 29, d.d. 1096 June 14; Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W1135/D1386 d.d. 1096-06-14-0 (1093-99-99-1). Witnesses are the following laici nobiles: Rainerus advocatus qui recepit ipsius allodii traditionem, comes Warnerus de Greis, Wedericus de Walecorth, Wigerus de Tudin, Ioannes de Louierval, Godefridus de Ham, Walterus de Bacunweis et filius eius Mainerus, Walterus de Trueneis, Reinbaldus filius Reinbaldi de Gesselin, Lambertus de Calmont, Arnulphus de Rone, followed by the members of the familia ecclesie.

143 Original lost. Editions: Cartulaire de l’abbaye d’Afflighem et des monastères qui en dépendaient, ed. by Edgar de Marneffe (Analectes pour servir à l’histoire ecclé-siastique de la Belgique, 2e section, Série des cartulaires et des documents étendus, 1), 3 vol. , 5 fasc., Louvain 1894-1901, p. 13-24, no 6, d.d. 1096; Thesaurus Diplo-maticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W1397/D1653 d.d. 1096-99-99-0. The following persons were present at the transaction as testes idoneos: S. Lamberti nostri Capellani. S. Rotberti Capellani. S. Gerardi Comitis de Gelre et Fratris eius Henrici. S. Godescalci de Iace. S. Heinrici de Cuc. S. Arnulfi de Rode. S. Cononis de Montaut. S. Theoderici de Bemele. S. Heinrici de Birbaica. S. Balduini de Ostruic. S. Walteri de Grimberges. S. Reineri Aduocati Leodicensis.

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(4) 1101 June 1: Arnulfus de Roden and several other members of the Leo-diensis militia appear as witnesses in a charter issued in Aachen by Emperor Henry IV on behalf of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Jacques in Liège144.

(5) 1101 June 1: Arnulfus de Roden appears as witness in a charter issued in Aachen by Emperor Henry IV on behalf of the abbey of St Begga in Andenne145.

(6) 1103 August 13: Arnulfus de Rode is one of the liberi homines witness-ing a charter issued in Aachen by King Henry V on behalf of the chapter of St Adalbert in Aachen146.

(7) 1108 August 9: Bishop Burchard of Utrecht settles a conflict between the Utrecht chapter of St Martin and St Boniface on the one hand, and Arnoldus de

144 Editions: MGH DD Heinrici IV., ed. by Von Gladiss / Gawlik (footnote 40), p. 635-639, no 470a, d.d. 1101 June 1 (there brandished as a forged charter); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W3589/D3885 d.d. 1101-06-01-0. According to Stiennon, Jacques, Étude sur le Chartrier et le Domaine de l’Abbaye de Saint Jacques de Liège (1015-1209) (Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, 124), Paris 1951, p. 2, 84-85, 88-93, 169, 222, 293-297, the charter is authentic. The following persons iudicaverunt inprimis de Leodiensi militia: Wilelmus de Dolehen, Reinerus advocatus, Mainerus de Cortere-ces, Arnulfus de Roden, Wigerus de Tundinio, Boso de Barz, Walterus de Bacunguez, comes Gerardus de Wassenberge, Tiebaldus de Falkenberge et alii fideles ecclesię sancti Lamberti ....

145 Editions: Despy, Georges, Étude critique sur un diplôme de l’empereur Henri IV pour l’abbaye d’Andenne (1er juin 1101), in: Le Moyen Age 56 (1950), p. 221-245, here p. 241-244 (with facsimile, p. 245); MGH DD Heinrici IV., ed. by Von Gladiss / Gawlik (footnote 40), p. 635-639, no 470b, d.d. 1101 June 1 (there brandished as a forged charter); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W2751/D3024 d.d. 1101-06-01-0. According to Despy, Étude critique, this charter is authentic. The following laymen appear as witnesses: (after Despy, Étude critique): ... comes palatinus Seifridus, dux Fredericus, marchio Burchardus, Heinricus filius ducis Welponis, comes Bertoldus, et filius eius Bertoldus, comes Wilelmus, comes Gerardus, comes de Los Arnulfus, et frater eius Teodericus, Gislebertus filius comitis Ottonis, Heinricus de Chui, Reinerus aduocatus, Wilelmus de Dolehen, Arnulfus de Roden, Wigerus de Tudino, Mainerus de Cortereces, Adelo de Namuco, Walterus de Bacunguez ....

146 Editions: [F.A.F.T] Baron De Reiffenberg, Diverses chartes inédites, in: Compte rendu des séances de la Commission royale d’Histoire, ou Recueil de ses bulletins, 1re série, t. 8 (1844), p. 292-304, here p. 301-302, no VI, ad datum 1103; Ernst, Simon Pierre, Codex diplomaticus Limburgensis, in: Histoire du Limbourg, vol. VI, Liége 1847, p. 75-494, here p. 115-116, no 30, d.d. 1103 August 13; Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins etc., ed. by Theodor Joseph Lacomblet, 4 vol., Düsseldorf 1840-1858 = Aalen 1966, I, p. 169, no 261. See Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W5404 d.d. 1103-08-13-0. After the comites the following liberi homines are mentioned as witnesses: Giselbertus de Duraz. Arnulfus de Rode. Giselbertus de Grules. qui erat legitimus eorum advocatus.

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Rothe and Henry I of Cuijk and their co-heirs on the other. He divides an estate between the rivers Lek and Linge among the chapters and Arnoldus de Rothe and Alvaradis of Hochstaden, widow of Henry of Cuijk, who had passed away in the meantime147.

(8) 1112: Arnulfus de Roden is mentioned as the first among the laici who appear as witnesses in a charter issued by Bishop Otbert of Liège on behalf of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Jacques in Liège148.

(9) 1116: Arnulphus de Rode is one of the liberi who appear as witnesses in a charter issued by the provost and the chapter of SaintLambert in Liège regarding an agreement on the advocacy on behalf of their own chapter149.

(10) 1121 [after March 2]: Arnulphus de Rodhe et frater eius Gisilbertus are mentioned among the laici liberi who appear as witnesses in a charter issued in Utrecht by Bishop Godebold of Utrecht on behalf of the chapter of St Peter in Utrecht150.

147 Original lost; copy second half twelfth century. Edition: Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), I, p. 257-258, no 280, d.d. 1108 August 9.

148 Editions: Niermeyer, Jan Frederik, Onderzoekingen over Luikse en Maastrichtse oorkonden en over de Vita Baldrici episcopi Leodiensis, Een bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van burgerij en geestelijkheid in het Maasgebied tot het begin van de dertiende eeuw (Bijdragen van het Instituut voor Middeleeuwsche Geschiedenis der Rijks Universiteit Utrecht), Groningen / Batavia 1935, p. 205-206, annex 5, d.d. 1112 (and partial facsimile V; here brandished as forged); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W5690/D5310 d.d. 1112-99-99-0 (here brandished as ‘document douteux’ and ‘falsification’). According to Stiennon, Étude (footnote 144), p. 39, 45-47, 83, 85-93, 169, this charter is authentic. Witnesses are the following laici: Arnulfus de Roden, Lambertus dapifer et filius eius, Wedericus, Mazelinus iudex, Odo uillicus, Wenelo, Robertus, Anelinus, Engelbertus de Vileir, Wezelinus de Claro Monte et alii quamplures.

149 Original lost. Edition (after copy lost since): Cartulaire de l’Église de Saint Lambert de Liége, ed. by Bormans / Schoolmeesters / Poncelet (footnote 118), I, p. 52-53, no 32, d.d. 1116; Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W1138/D1389 d.d. 1116-99-99-0. Witnesses are the following liberi: Lambertus comes, Arnulphus de Rode, Walterus de Bulon, Arnulphus de Strata, Gerardus de Orbais, Reinerus de Helencienes, Boso de Braz, Arnulfus de Erslo.

150 Original lost. Editions (after thirteenth-century copy): Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), p. 274, no 298, d.d. 1121; Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland tot 1299, ed. by Koch (footnote 50), I, p. 213-214, no 104, d.d. 1121 [after March 2] (fragment). The following laici liberi are witnesses: Theodericus comes Hollandie, Wilhelmus comes et Theodericus filius eius, Godefridus de Malsen et frater eius Herimannus, Arnoldus de Rodhe et frater eius Gisilbertus.

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(11) 1122 [May 18]: Arnulphus et frater eius Giselbertus de Rode are witnesses in a charter issued in Maastricht by Emperor Henry V on behalf of the chapters of St Servatius and of Our Lady in Maastricht151.

(12) 1122 June 2: Arnoldus de Rod et frater eius Rucherus are witnesses in a charter issued in Utrecht by Emperor Henry V, who confirms the granting of privileges by Bishop Godebold of Utrecht to the inhabitants of Utrecht and Muiden and their surroundings152.

(13) 1122 June 2: Arnoldus de Rod et frater eius Rucherus are witnesses in a charter issued in Utrecht by Emperor Henry V, who confirms the granting of privileges by Bishop Godebold of Utrecht to the inhabitants of Utrecht and its surroundings and determines the Utrecht toll rates153.

(14) 1123 August 2: Arnulfus de Rotha is witness in a charter issued in Utrecht by Emperor Henry V on behalf of the inhabitants of Deventer154.

151 Editions: de Borman, C., Notice sur un Cartulaire du chapitre de Saint Servais, à Maestricht, in: Compte rendu des séances de la Commission royale d’Histoire, ou Recueil des ses bulletins, 3e série, t. 9 (1867), p. 7-118, here p. 16-17; Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), p. 276, no 300, d.d. 1122 (fragment). See Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W5421 d.d. 1122-05-99-1. The charters must be dated in the first week of May 1122: Stüllein, Das Itinerar Heinrichs V. (footnote 32), p. 93 and footnote 8; Van Vliet, Utrecht, Muiden en omgeving (footnote 32), p. 47 footnote 12. The following lay witnesses are mentioned: Gerardus comes de Gelre, Arnulphus comes de Los, Gisel-bertus comes de Duras, Wigerus advocatus sancti Lamberti, Arnulphus et Giselbertus frater eius de Rode.

152 Edition (after orginal): Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), p. 282-283, no 308, d.d. 1122 June 2; Van Vliet, Utrecht, Muiden en omgeving (footnote 32), p. 34-36. The following lay witnesses are men-tioned: Fridericum comitem de Arensberch, Arnoldum comitem de Cleve, Arnoldum de Rod et fratrem eius Rucherum, Giselbertum, Galonem scultetum (after which follow five inhabitants of Muiden and seven Ierosolimitani).

153 Edition (after orginal): Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), p. 283-284, no 309, d.d. 1122 June 2; Van Vliet, Utrecht, Muiden en omgeving (footnote 32), p. 37-38, who defends the charter’s authenticity (ibidem, p. 40-44). The following lay witnesses are mentioned: Fridericum comitem de Arnesberch, Arnoldvm comitem de Cleve, Arnoldum de Rod et fratrem eius Rucherum, Giselbertum, Galonem scultetum, Waldonem, Sigebaldum, Hermannum, Wiltetum, Godescalcum, Uscherum, Algerum, Petrum, Tanconem.

154 Editions: Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (foot-note 56), p. 286, no 312, d.d. 1123 August 2. Although often brandished as a forged charter, there are no conclusive arguments against its authenticity. Stüllein, Das Itinerar Heinrichs V. (footnote 32), p. 101 footnote 14, regards this as a charter ‘die nach einer echten Vorlage verfälscht wurde’. Lay witnesses were: comes Gerardus de Gelra, comes Arnulfus de Cliva, Arnulfus de Rotha, Stephanus Oyensis.

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(15) 1125 March 31: Arnulfus de Rode is witness in a charter issued in Liège by Emperor Henry V, who confirms a donation by the noble lady and widow Guda to the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Jacques in Liège155. This donation must be distinguished from the donation in the next charter; this charters deals with the donation of property in Eira and Wittem.

(16) <1125 March 31>: In this possibly forged charter, issued in Liège on behalf of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Jacques on 31 March 1125, Emperor Henry V confirms two donations156. The first concerns a donation to the abbey by the noble lord Tiebaldus of Voeren (Fourons), which took place in the pres-ence of bishop Otbert of Liège (1091-1119). As Tiebaldus died shortly before 30 April 1106, this donation must have taken place almost twenty years before the confirmation charter was issued157. The second donation was made by Tie-baldus’ widow Guda († 1125) and concerned properties other than those in the donation confirmed in charter (15), namely in Strohn on the river Moselle. This second donation took place before witnesses, among whom Arnulphus de Roden et duo filii eius Arnulphus et Gilebertus158. Therefore, this second donation must have taken place between 1106 and 1125, but some argue that this must have

155 Original: Liège, Archives de l’État, Abbaye SaintJacques, Chartes, no 15, charter d.d. 1125 March 31. Faulty edition: Ernst, Codex diplomaticus (footnote 146), p. 124-125, no 37, ad datum 1125; Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W2918/D3194 d.d. 1125-03-31-0. Partial edition: Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), p. 289, no 315, d.d. 1125 March 31 (after original). According to Stiennon, Étude (footnote 144), p. 2, 121-123, 169, 318-324, this charter is authentic. Lay witnesses are: ... Tiebaldus marchio, Godefridus comes Namucensis, Berengerus comes de Sozbach, Arnulfus comes de Los, Gerardus comes de Wassenbergh, Wilelmus comes, Lambertus comes, Gerardus frater Gozuini, Wigerus advocatus Sancti Lamberti, Arnulfus de Rode, Wenrio de Calvo Monte, Otto filius Gileberti de Duraco, Arnulfus de Erscloh, Lambertus frater Wenrici. De familia imperatoris Henricus Houvth, Folmarus, Ricardus, Ludovicus et alii multi (after my own transcript of the original).

156 Copy: Liège, Bibliothèque de l’Université, ms. 2927, Copies de chartes (eight-eenth-nineteenth century), f. 9r-9v (missing upon inspection on 16 October 1995 and replaced by photocopies). Editions (among others): Ernst, Codex diplomati-cus (footnote 146), p. 125-127, no 38 d.d. 1125 March 31; Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, ed. by Muller / Bouman (footnote 56), I, p. 288, no 314 (fragment); Thesaurus Diplomaticus, ed. by Tombeur et al. (footnote 40), W2919/D3195 d.d. 1125-03-31-0. According to Stiennon, Étude (footnote 144), p. 5, 124-125, 169, 318-319, this charter is authentic.

157 For Tiebaldus, who is mentioned as lord of Valkenburg in 1101, and his wife Guda, see Gussone, Monika, Die Propstei Meerssen bis zum Ende des 12. Jahrhundert, in: Historische en Heemkundige Studies in en rond het Geuldal, Jaarboek [8] (1998), p. 145-186, here p. 157.

158 The lay witnesses are: Willelmus advocatus Leodii, Wilelmus de Herencenes, Wilel-mus de Daveles, Arnulfus de Lentres, Cuno de Herdinez, Arnulphus de Roden et duo

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been in or shortly after 1106 and that, as a result, Arnulf of Rode appears for the first time together with his sons Arnulf and Giselbert as early as 1106-1107159. In the imperial confirmation of both donations of 1125, Arnulphus de Rode is mentioned among the witnesses160.

(17) [1122 September 1125 May 23]: Arnoldus de Rothe is mentioned as a wit-ness in a charter issued by Emperor Henry V on behalf of the church of Utrecht161.

filii eius Arnulphus et Gilebertus, Franco de Castren et plures alii (after my own transcript).

159 According to the information communicated to me by Bas Aarts on 22 November 2002, following Verdonk, Henk, Alverade van Kuyc (1108-1131) en haar verwantschap (Brochure 12), Lelystad 1999, p. 14.

160 As lay witnesses appear: ... Tiebaldus marchio, Berengerus comes de Sozbach, Arnul-phus comes de Los, Gerardus comes de Wassenberch, Willelmus comes, Lambertus comes, Wigerus advocatus Sancti Lamberti, Arnulphus de Rode, Werricus de Calvo Monte, Otto filius Gileberti de Duraco, Arnulphus de Erscloch, Lambertus frater Wenrici. De familia imperatoris Henricus Houvech, Folmarus, Richardus, Ludovi-cus et alii multi (after my own transcript). In comparison with the first charter of 31 March 1125 (no 15), only Count Godfrey of Namur and Gerardus frater Gozuini are missing.

161 Edition: Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, I, ed. by Muller / Bouman (foot-note 56), p. 285, no 310, d.d. [1122 September - 1125 May 23]. As lay witnesses appear: comes Gerardus, filius eius Gerardus, Godefridus de Malsne, Heremannus frater eius, Stephanus de Oie, Heremannus Piscis, Arnoldus de Rothe et alii quamplures testes idonei. The first two probably are the Count of Guelders and his son with the same first name.