Rozala of Italy

Rozala of Italy
Countess consort of Flanders
Reign	968–987
Countess regent of Flanders
Reign	987 – c.995 on behalf of Baldwin IV of Flanders
Queen consort to co-king of France
Reign	988–996
Queen consort of France
Reign	996
Born	c.  950–60
Died	1003 Ghent
Spouse	Arnulf II of Flanders Robert II of France
Issue	Baldwin IV of Flanders Mathilda
House	House of Ivrea House of Flanders by marriage House of Capet by marriage
Father	Berengar II of Italy
Mother	Willa of Tuscany

Rozala of Italy (also known as Rozala of Lombardy, Rozala of Ivrea or Susanna of Ivrea; c. 950–960 –1003) was a Countess of Flanders and Queen consort of the Franks. She was regent of Flanders in 987-988 during the minority of her son.

Biography

Rozala (Susanna), born sometime between 950–960, was the daughter of King Berengar of Ivrea, King of Italy (c. 900 – 966).^[1] Her mother was Willa of Tuscany, the daughter of Boso, Margrave of Tuscany and his wife Willa.^[2] In 968 she married Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (d. 987).^[1][3] On her husband's death, she acted as regent for her young son.

On c. 1 April 988 she married secondly the much younger Robert the Pious (972–1031), the Rex Filius of France; the marriage had been arranged by his father Hugh Capet.^[4][3] According to disputed account she brought her husband Montreuil^[3] and Ponthieu as a dowry, other assert that she was berieved her right to that territory. Upon her marriage, she took the name of Susannah, and was the queen consort of the co-ruling king Robert, under senior King Hugh. From 991/992 the couple lived basically separated as Rozala had become too old^[3] (c. 38) to have more children and they lacked marital happiness.

When her father-in-law died in 996, however, Robert repudiated her completely, desiring to marry Bertha of Burgundy in her place.^[5] That marriage was not lawful because of too close kinship so Robert married a third time 1003 with Constance of Arles who bore him seven children.

Rozala retired back to Flanders, where she died and was buried. Robert retained control of her "dowry",^[3] or the rights to the mentioned territory.

Marriages

Rosala was firstly (968–987) married to Arnulf II, Count of Flanders. They had the following children:

• Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders (980–1035)^[1]
• Mathilda (d. 995).^[1]

The second marriage (988–996) with Robert II of France did not produce any children.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Rozala of Italy

Anscar I of Ivrea (d. 902) Count of Oscheret                       Adalbert I (d.c. 924) Margrave of Ivrea                             King Berengar II of Italy (c. 900 – 966)                                   Eberhard, Duke of Friuli (c. 808 – 866)               King Berengar I of Italy (c. 845 – 924)                       Gisela, daughter of Louis the Pious (c. 821 – a. 874)               Gisela of Friuli (d.c. 910)                             Suppo II (c. 835 – c. 885) Count of Parma, Asti, and Turin               Bertila of Spoleto (c. 860 – 915)                       Rozala of Italy Countess of Flanders                                         Hucbert (c. 820 – c. 864) (Bosonid)               Theobald, Count of Arles (c. 854 – c. 895)                       Boso, Margrave of Tuscany (885–936)                             Lothair II (835 – 869) King of Lotharingia               Bertha, daughter of Lothair II (863–925)                       concubine Waldrada               Willa of Tuscany (c. 911 – 970)                                   Willa of Burgundy

References

1. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 5
2. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 59
3. Vasiliev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1951). Hugh Capet of France and Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 6. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University. pp. 233–4. JSTOR 1291087. ...compiled at the beginning of 988, certainly before April 8. We know that in the same year the young Robert, at the age of eighteen (he was born in 970), married Rosala-Suzanne, the elderly widow of the Count of Flanders, Arnulf II, who died at the outset of the same year (988). The union was brief and lasted barely a year. Robert repudiated the "old Italian" widow in the following year, 989, but reserved for himself her dowry, the Chateau de Montreuil.^{13 13}Richeri Historiarum liber IV, c. 87: Rotbertus rex cum in 19. aetatis anno iuventutis flore vernaret, Susannam uxorem, genere Italicam, eo quod anus esset, facto divortio repudiavit. Ed. G. Waitz (Hannover, 1877), pp. 168-169. See Pfister, op. cit., p. 1, n. 1; 44; 218. Cf. F. Lot, Les derniers Carolingiens, p. 219: Robert's marriage in March 988. But see F. Lot, Études sur le règne de Hugues Capet, p. 4, n. 2: he rejects his own previous dating, March, 988.
4. Andrzej Poppe, 'The Political Background to the Baptism of Rus': Byzantine-Russian Relations between 986-89', Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 30, (1976), p. 232
5. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 11