Bertha of Burgundy

964 - 1010  (46 years)

• Name	Bertha of Burgundy
  Birth	964
  Gender	Female
  Death	16 Jan 1010
  Person ID	I3707	A Tree Called Smith
  Last Modified	21 Jul 2025

  
  

  Family	King of the Franks Robert Capet, II,   b. 27 Mar 972, Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France d. 20 Jul 1031, Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France (Age 59 years)
  Marriage	Aft Oct 996  [1]
  	The closeness of Robert and Bertha by blood was such tha authorities considered the marriage illegal since they had not received a dispensation, nor had they requested one. Accordingly, Pope Gregory V declared the pair excommunicated.
  Marriage End	1000  [1]
  	Robert agreed with Pope Silvester II to have the marriage with Bertha annulled
  Family ID	F3232	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	21 Jul 2025

  
  

• Sources

  [S328] Wikipedia: Robert II of France, Robert Capet II. Robert II (c. 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious (French: le Pieux) or the Wise (French: le Sage), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters (notably during the two sieges of Laon, in 988 and 991). His solid education, provided by Gerbert of Aurillac (the future Pope Sylvester II) in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious questions of which he quickly became the guarantor (he headed the Council of Saint-Basle de Verzy in 991 and that of Chelles in 994). Continuing the political work of his father, after becoming sole ruler in 996, he managed to maintain the alliance with the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou and thus was able to contain the ambitions of Count Odo II of Blois. Robert II distinguished himself with an extraordinarily long reign for the time. His 35-year-long reign was marked by his attempts to expand the royal domain by any means, especially by his long struggle to gain the Duchy of Burgundy (which ended in 1014 with his victory) after the death in 1002 without male descendants of his paternal uncle Duke Henry I, after a war against Otto-William of Ivrea, Henry I's stepson and adopted by him as his heir. His policies earned him many enemies, including three of his sons. The marital setbacks of Robert II (he married three times, having two of these annulled and attempting to have the third annulled, prevented only by the Pope's refusal to agree to a third annulment), strangely contrasted with the pious aura, bordering on holiness, which his biographer Helgaud of Fleury was willing to lend him in his work "Life of King Robert the Pious" (Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii). His life was then presented as a model to follow, made of innumerable pious donations to various religious establishments, of charity towards the poor and, above all, of gestures considered sacred, such as the healing of certain lepers. Robert II was the first sovereign considered to be a "miracle worker". The end of his reign revealed the relative weakness of the sovereign, who had to face the revolt of his third wife Constance and then of his own sons (Henri and Robert) between 1025 and 1031. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_II_of_France