Reginar, Duke of Lorraine

Who was Reginar, Duke of Lorraine?

Reginar I Longneck was the Duke of Lorraine from 910 until his death. He stands at the head of the clan of Reginarids, an important Lotharingian noble family.

He was the son of Gilbert, Count of the Maasgau, and a daughter of Lothair I of whom the name is not known.

He succeeded his father in the Maasgau and was the lay abbot of Echternach between 897 and 915, of Maastricht from before May 898, and of Stablo and Malmedy between 900 and 902.

He was the Count of Mons when in 870 he and Franco, Bishop of Liège, led an army against the Vikings in Walacria. He, as Duke of Hesbaye and Hainault, and Radbold led a Frisian army with against the forces of Rollo a little later, but were forced back to his fortresses.

In an 877 capitulary from Quierzy, he appears alongside his father as one of the regents of the kingdom during Charles the Bald's absence on campaign in Italy. A Reginar appears at the Siege of Paris in 886, but this may be an uncle or nephew. The name "Reginar" or "Reginhar" was commonplace in his family.

Reginar was originally a supporter of Zwentibold in 895, but he broke with the king in 898. He and some other magnates who had been key to Zwentibold's election three years earlier then took the opportunity provided by the death of Odo of West Francia to invite Charles the Simple to become king in Lotharingia. His lands were confiscated, but he refused to give them up and entrenched himself at Durfost, downstream from Maastricht. Representatives of Charles, Zwentibold, and the Emperor Arnulf met at Sankt Goar and determined that the succession should go to Louis the Child. Zwentibold was killed by the rebels in battle in August 900.