Adalard, also known as Adalhard or Alard, and called the Seneschal, was a Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 nobleman of the ninth century. He served as warden of the Norman march

March of Neustria

The marches of Neustria were creations of the Carolingian king of West Francia covering the ancient Merovingian kingdom of Neustria. Originally, there were two marches, one against the Bretons and one against the Norsemen created by Charles the Bald in 861. These two marches are often called the...

 from 861 to 865.

He was a son of Leuthard I of Paris and brother of Gerard II of Paris

Girart de Roussillon

Girart de Roussillon, also called Girard, Gérard II, Gyrart de Vienne, and Girart de Fraite, was a Burgundian chief who became Count of Paris in 837, and embraced the cause of Lothair I against Charles the Bald...

. Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

 made him seneschal

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

 of the Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

. On Louis' death, he joined Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

 and arranged a marriage between the king and Ermentrude of Orléans

Ermentrude of Orléans

Ermentrude of Orléans was Queen of the Franks by her marriage to Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia. She was the daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans and his wife Engeltrude....

, his niece by Ingeltrude of Fézansac and Odo, Count of Orléans. After the Treaty of Verdun

Treaty of Verdun

The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...

 (in 843), Adalard went to serve Louis the German

Louis the German

Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...

 in East Francia.

In 861, after the revolt of Carloman

Carloman of Bavaria

Carloman was the eldest son of Louis the German, king of East Francia , and Hemma, daughter of the count Welf...

, Louis' eldest son, Adalard and his relatives Udo

Udo of Neustria

Udo was a 9th-century nobleman of East Francia, a son of Gebhard, Count of Lahngau, and older brother of Berengar I of Neustria. He and his brother were afforded their position in the March of Neustria both by kinship to Adalard the Seneschal and the favour of Charles the Bald.With his brothers,...

, Berengar

Berengar I of Neustria

Berengar I was a 9th-century nobleman of East Francia, a son of Gebhard, Count of Lahngau, and younger brother of Udo. He and his brother were created Margraves of Neustria by Charles the Bald in 861....

, and Waldo took refuge at the court of Charles in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Charles granted him the March of Neustria, to defend it against the Vikings. However, he soon incited the jealousy of the Rorgonids

Rorgonids

The Rorgonids were the first Mayennaise dynasty. Gosfrid of Maine was the first to hold power in the Norman March of Neustria....

, then the most powerful clan in Maine. Allied with Saloman of Brittany, they revolted against him and made war. After peace was settled, Charles transferred the March to Gosfrid, the representative of the Rorgonids.

Sources

• Riché, Pierre. Les Carolingiens, une famille qui fit l'Europe. 1983.
• Guillotel, Hubert. "Une autre marche de Neustrie." in Christian Settipani
  Christian Settipani
  Christian Settipani is the Technical Director of an IT company in Paris and a genealogist and historian.He has a Master of Advanced Studies degree from the Paris-Sorbonne University and is currently preparing his doctoral thesis, while he often gives lectures to students undergraduates at the...
  
  and Katharine S. B. Keats-Rohan, Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval. 2000.