The Scheming of Jean-Marc Galimani and his Successors 928-1000
by Dr. Jerrome D’Arny, Oxford University
Prologue: The Last Years of Duke Oliver Galimani II of Valois
The life of Duke Oliver Galimani II (844-929) is already widely known due to the widespread publication of his journal. Yet it would be good to give an account of Duke Oliver II’s last years after his successful war to install his former brother-in-law Landulf Alachisling II, who was already crowned king of Burgundy and Middle Francia. Oliver II wrote very little in his diary following the 924 Proclamation of France by King Landulf II whereby Landulf made the French crown the first among his three kingly titles.
Through Greek records, Oliver II is remembered as a great battlefield general. He was tasked with leading France’s army in Italy during their war with the Byzantine Empire over Ferrara. The Battle of Ferrara in 925 saw the death of Basilieus Himerios by Oliver II and the men he commanded on his flank. Most accounts differ as to how the Byzantium Emperor was slain and by whom, but most agree Duke Oliver’s voice rang throughout the battle deftly commanding his men.
For his efforts on the Italian Peninsula, King Landulf allowed Oliver to return to Orleans. He also allowed Oliver to marry his daughter Illegardis. One daughter, Jeanne, would be produced from this union before the duke’s passing. King Landulf also granted Oliver II a seat at his Council when he became the Marshal of France in 927.
What little Oliver wrote about during these years, it was mostly based on his dislike of Landulf and the perceived injustice that he, but mostly his family, was due the crown of France as just reward for delivering the throne to Landulf. His acceptance of being part of the Council was noted by the ailing duke as being a turning point with Landulf; where he believed the king was starting to take notice of his abilities.
In 928, Landulf sent word to Oliver that he wanted to revoke the Duchy of Valois.
Oliver quickly declared a revolt against the perceived tyranny of Landulf but was not accompanied in his call to arms by any other French duke or count. Drastically outnumbered, the revolt was put down easily by the French king. During a battle in Poitou, Oliver II lost most of his right arm in combat with a hedge knight. The arm was cauterized and bandaged so there was no immediate threat to the duke’s life.
With the revolt over, Oliver was imprisoned by Landulf. Records of Landulf’s court note many books on theology requested by Oliver during his time in the French dungeons of Melun. His son, Jean-Marc, became Regent of Valois at this time and would soon inherit the Duchy as Oliver’s wound became infected and the dungeons were simply no place for a man in his condition to live for an extended period of time.
The legacy of Oliver Galimani II is one of a warrior duke who traveled Europe either in employ of his liege or leading his own levies in battle. His journal has also made the duke popular in modern culture as a man who stood for French honor and a devout sense of family honor. Yet his efforts to forge a Galimanian France were cut short due to the wealth, size, and power he wielded to the detriment of his peers and lieges.
The Righteous Spider: Jean-Marc Galimani
Jean-Marc Galimani (908-971) became Duke of Valois after first learning war as his father’s squire, then leading levies on the battlefield during the Valoisain Revolt of 929. His father’s failure to obtain his ultimate objective, the French throne, is the likely reason Jean-Marc, although a participant in some wars during his reign, was noted as a proponent of the darker, less savory tactics to achieve political prominence for his family and his own gain.
When Allison Baugulfson, the duke’s first wife succumbed to illness in 937, there is a noted and drastic change that came upon the Duke of Valois. Contemporary sources recall Jean-Marc starting to take a large interest in poisons and alchemy. However, there are records and writings even before his wife’s death that Jean-Marc started a campaign to bring various nobles of the realm together in order to fabricate a claim on the French throne for himself in 934. That he was able to attain six adherents to this cause is surprising in and of itself as Jean-Marc Galimani had only ruled the Duchy of Valois for 5 years.
This support, while interesting, can also be attributed to the rising notoriety of the Galimani family. While not a European power dynasty, if I may so term, the Galimani’s had ruled in the Central Loire Valley for over 200 years and even had branches ruling in Dorset and Orkney in the British Isles. Research has shown that, along with the Nieblungings and Alachisling’s (the latter the ruling family of the major European crowns), the Galimani’s were major players in French and Middle Francian politics.
Shortly after his wife’s death in 937, Council records indicate documents were “discovered” that proved the Galimani’s had a rightful claim to the French crown. Evidence suggests some cajoling and “shadow politics” were at work as both French and, most importantly, Italian dukes and doges were chafing under the increasing exertion of power emanating from Landulf’s court.
As such things occur in the life of the Galimani rulers, Jean-Marc’s success at obtaining a claim upon France was discovered by Landulf’s close advisors and the king revoked the Duchy of Valois from Jean-Marc for his subterfuge. The Duchy was given to Orson Galimani, son of Galimanus Galimani, who was already the Duke of Orleans.
The revocation was accepted by Jean-Marc for possibly two reasons. He already held three county titles: Orleans, Amiens, and Vendome and Jean-Marc had seen his father’s failed attempts in repulsing Landulf’s overwhelming numbers of levies. This left Jean-Marc with only one recourse, more subterfuge. However, his attempts at directly targeting the Alachisling’s became more complicated in 938 when Landulf was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
The increasing insularity of the Alachisling’s sheds an amazing light on what transpired in the next three decades.
Jean-Marc’s writings after 938 were centered around the Emperor. Using an alphabetic code (which was decrypted shortly after the manuscripts came to light in the late 1800’s), Jean-Marc started to make numerous acquaintances within the Imperial Court, all in an effort to undermine Landulf’s reign. Yet still, Jean-Marc only wanted France, and did not want to dismantle the Holy Roman Empire.
Towards the end of the year 938, Jean-Marc was able to blackmail Emperor Landulf regarding an undisclosed issue.
Historians have long speculated it was either an affair with a vassal’s wife or, more plausibly, Landulf’s own attempts to fabricate claims upon certain vassal titles and lands. The second reason carries the most weight as the reason for Jean-Marc to blackmail the Emperor. His Italian vassals were growing concerned about his heavy-handed rule and the French duke’s were starting to become aware that Landulf wanted full control over his Empire.
In 941, Count Jean-Marc was able to successfully abduct Landulf while he was traveling incognito outside one of his country estates.
The news of the emperor’s disappearance was scandalous and it was only after the emperor’s very public execution outside the walls of Orleans that Jean-Marc’s involvement was known. Even with such information, the rest of the Alachisling’s began to both hate and respect the former duke. How could such be the case?
While the feud between the Alachisling’s and Galimani’s was mentioned in writings from this time period among various members of their respective families, the death of Landulf created a disbursement of his titles and dissolution of power. Landulf’s death saw his titles divided thusly among his sons:
- Holy Roman Empire: Roland Alachisling
- Kingdom of France: Thierry Alachisling
- Kingdom of Italy: Landulf Alachisling
- Kingdom of Aquitaine: Amaury Alachisling
- Kingdom of Burgundy: Thierry Alachisling
Roland was on the battlefield warring against the Byzantine Empire at the time of his ascension and was, unfortunately, soon afterwards killed during one of these battles. Since Roland died childless, the Imperial crown was next placed on Thierry’s head along with the Kingdom of Middle Francia, which Roland held before Landulf I’s execution.
With Thierry now the Holy Roman Emperor, he naturally became Jean-Marc primary target for one specific purpose: Thierry was childless when he ascended to the Imperial throne. Jean-Marc’s codified personal journal note that a plot to kill the Empress, a Greek-born courtier named Helene, was widely supported throughout the empire.
The Empress was quickly dispatched at a feast with poisoned wine. The Emperor had no recourse as the cupbearer to Her Imperial Majesty was found the next morning with his throat slit.
After two years, in 943, Emperor Thierry was still childless. Jean-Marc recorded an amazing series of events where he hired castle servants, one being the Emperor’s bodyguard, to assassinate the Emperor. Both attempts on Thierry’s life were thwarted. These failures from Jean-Marc began to affect his personal life. He had remarried to the daughter of the Count of Carcassone, Ansegudis Berthilding. Yet their marriage life was purely for show. She bore him two children but Jean-Marc soon became involved with a Greek woman in his court, Gabriela Rangabes. However, Rangabes was married to a kinsman of Jean-Luc, Savary Galimani. After Gabriela gave birth to a son, Jean-Marc publicly acknowledged the boy as his own blood.
A duel of honor in 945 between the two Galimani was ceded by Savary yet Jean-Marc killed the man anyways. History records that Jean-Marc cursed Savary’s “impetuousness” before stating “No Galimani cedes, we either prevail or we die,” before killing Savary. Such an ironic statement to the man who allowed the Duchy of Valois to be revoked without a fight. His actions after the duel earned Jean-Marc the reputation as a kinslayer though he always maintained he acted within the honorable rules of the duel. After the duel, Ansegudis was killed in a suspicious fire on the grounds of the duchess’s Winter residence in Vendome. Though is probably without saying, Jean-Marc married Gabriela Rangabes almost immediately thereafter.[1] Jean-Marc legitimized his bastard, Jean-Luc, as his court looked on after the nuptials.
What is most interesting throughout this at-home intrigue is that Ansegudis, amidst her husband infidelity, bore him one more child, Mathieu. To say that a woman could still lie with a man who knowingly and publicly committed adultery against her would be against belief. Though no records speak to their personal interactions, is it not out of the distinct realm of possibility that Jean-Marc, probably sexually abused his wife at this time? Could not a man so engrossed by his own and his family’s self-worth and “due respect” force himself upon his wife claiming “a husband’s right?” These individuals did not have our own culture laws and societal mores. While it is almost appalling and troubling for the subaltern, the progeny of this final pregnancy was very fortuitous to the House of Galimani.[2]
The 950’s were filled with the birth of a son and a daughter for the duke and duchess. As well as a somewhat successful plot to kill the former heir to the German throne. Jean-Marc Galimani was also able to claim the County of Auxerre from the weakening Kingdom of Germany making his realm the largest within the Holy Roman Empire after the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Upper Burgundy. Outside of the Galimani holdings, Emperor Thierry was killed under suspicious circumstances which were clearly not from Jean-Marc. His journal records only one word, “Damn.” While humorous, the ascendence of Thierry’s infant son Valeran to the throne proved an irresistible opportunity for Jean-Marc’s plots.
In 962, the four-year-old Valeran was disturbingly smothered to death in his chambers by a servant. Jean-Marc’s codified journal recorded how gold exchanged hands for the plot through an intermediary close to the imperial family.
This infanticide was not done merely out of spite however. Jean-Marc’s son, Mathieu, was already wed to Valeran’s sister and Heir-apparent to the Kingdoms of Middle Francia and Burgundy, Mafalda.
Thus, Jean-Marc was able to place one of his sons, and, unsurprisingly given the laws of Jean-Marc’s realm, he was set to succeed his father as the elected heir, in a position to not only rule a kingdom, but produce a legitimate prince or princess.
That Mafalda wedded Mathieu without a matrilineal contract does speak to the respect given the Galimani’s by her family. For if the Alachisling’s thought of themselves as the one powerful dynasty of Europe at the end of the 10th century, they would have insisted upon a matrilineal arrangement to keep any other family from gaining kingdoms or, more importantly, the Imperial throne.
Jean-Marc soon abducted Landulf Alachisling II, King of France, and summarily had the king murdered during a staged escape of his dungeons. This intrigue we
can view as an attempt to destabilize the realm. The Galimani’s at this time continued to claim and impress upon everyone that they were the most able and fit to rule the Kingdom of France. The crown passed to Josselin, Landulf II’s son.
The following year, Queen Mafalda and King Mathieu christened their newborn daughter Sarrazine.
Towards the end of his life, Jean-Marc Galimani appeared to begin to lose his faculties. Jean-Marc allowed several members of his House to press his claim for the Duchy of Valois against Siegbert Galimani. It was extremely helpful that Jean-Marc has spent the last five years acting as Siegbert’s Regent after the duke was incapacitated in battle. When his supporters successfully installed him as Duke they also forced Jean-Marc to adopt the law of Gavelkind inheritance. The heir to his lands could no longer be considered King Mathieu but reverted to his eldest son, Gilbert. Soon thereafter he and several other French duke’s went to war with King Josselin of France for Jean-Marc’s claim on the kingdom. The loss of his favorable succession laws and immediately entering into a doomed rebellion one can only attributed to a lack of mental awareness.[3]
The revolt for Jean-Marc’s claim on the French crown ended in disaster in 971 and he was thrown into the dungeons of Melun where he quickly passed away at the age of 63. His lands were split between his three eldest sons, Gilbert, Geraud, and Oliver.
The Crusader: Gilbert Galimani
Gilbert Galimani inherited the Duchy of Valois in 971 amidst growing tensions on the European continent. The German kings had started to convert to either Catharism or Fraticellian beliefs and were beginning to draw the ire of the papal throne. Gilbert found himself almost unprepared to take over his father’s lands. Jean-Marc had continually scoffed at the idea of granting landed titles to his children in order to avoid “dissolution of power.”
Very little is known from the early reign of Gilbert Galimani. This “quiet period” was punctuated by the small war with Orson Galimani II, Duke of Orleans, when Gilbert successfully pressed his claim for the Duchy of Orleans. Before the First Crusade in 891, it appears that Gilbert spent his time winning over his various vassals and building up his chateau’s.
The outbreak of the First Crusade was lightly supported by the Catholic kings and lords of Europe. But Vatican archival documents record that Duke Gilbert Galimani was the first to send word back to Pope Marinus that he would help prosecute the war against the Heretical King, Ragenard III. Indeed, with Orleanian levies Gilbert commanded one of the largest armies in the Kingdom of France and was perfectly poised to strike at the German provinces of Hainaut, Maine, and Lusignan. He was also fortuitous enough to bring in both the Knights Hospitalier and the Teutonic Order to fight with him. During the Crusade Gilbert’s forces besieged all of the holdings in both Maine and Lusignan before he died on the march to Hainaut.
Gilbert’s reign was not without its political success as he successfully reinstated Elective Gavelkind succession laws and King Mathieu was nominated as Heir to the Duchies of Orleans and Valois in 981.
Upon Gilbert’s death in 985 the Galimani’s were poised to take over the Kingdom of Burgundy as Queen Mafalda had given birth to a son, Antoine, in 984.
The Unfortunate Dukes: Mathieu Galimani (985-998) and Antoine Galimani (998-1000)
The effects of Jean-Marc’s ongoing intrigue during his lifetime came back to haunt the Galimani’s in 985. Throughout most of Mathieu’s reign as Duke of Orleans and Valois, he constantly influenced almost relentless control of the ducal nomination process. This can best be attributed to his paranoia over plots to kill him, as he was King of Burgundy, or his young son, Antoine. In 992 he caused Bonne Galimani, the Countess of Chartres, to revolt when he sent a Proclamation of Revocation to her since she had a documented interest in seeing her nephew become duke.
Matheiu was constantly worried that no other family member, save his son, shared his view of a the Galimani king’s using the chateau of Orleans as their court. While he crushed his kinswoman’s revolt he became a recluse and withdrawn from the world. He mostly ruled through his advisors. During another revolt on the Empire, Mathieu was incapacitated on the battlefield. He was rushed back to Orleans but died shortly thereafter in 998. Prince Antoine became duke.
Two years later, in 1000, Duke Antoine II, Prince of Burgundy, came of age. Sadly, his only noteworthy mark on history was marrying the powerful Duchess of Vuldretrada. A deft political move that was meant to ensure a strong line of Galimani heirs ruling three duchies in France. Yet old ghosts had a way of showing up at the most unfortunate of times.[4]
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[1] This little side intrigue was actually a lot of fun to play out.
[2] There I go using academic terminology. “Subaltern” are those who cannot speak or those whom are marginalized, i.e., those in history who had no voice that has been recorded for posterity. You and I are subalterns as we are not major players in history.
[3] Or a completely
bone-headed and stupid move on my part.
[4] Because, Paradox Interactive.
