EFL - Enciclopedia delle Famiglie Lombarde

http://fmg.ac/projects/medlands/lotharingian%20(lower)%20nobility.ht m SOPHIE (before [1044/46]-[1065]). The ''Vita Arnulfi'' names "Arnul fum comitem de Lo et Sophiam ducissam de Hungaria… et ducissam de Hu i" as the children of Emmo Comte de Looz, adding that Sophie was the m other of "regem de Hungaria" [1]. This manuscript, written at Oudenbou rg abbey, is dated to 1220 [2]. This is late to be reliable. In additi on, the document represents the ancestors of Comte Emmo in a way whic h is inconsistent with earlier primary sources. "Ducissam de Huy" ha s not yet been identified. Sophie is identified as the first wife of K ing Géza in ''Europäische Stammtafeln'' [3]. Kerbl, in his analysi s concerning Géza I's [second] Byzantine marriage, does not mention t his supposed first marriage [4]. If it is correct, the marriage presum ably took place while Géza was a hostage at the imperial court, whic h Kerbl dates to [1062/63] [5]. This is consistent with Sophie havin g been born in [1044/46], which is somewhat earlier than the expecte d birth dates of Emmo´s other children. As the county of Looz was amo ng the temporal possessions of the Bishop of Liège and, as such, par t of the duchy of Lower Lotharingia under the suzerainty of the Germa n emperor, it would not be improbable for a daughter of the comte de L ooz to have been staying at the imperial court and for her marriage t o have been arranged with another noble visitor. The ''Vita Andreæ'' , first abbot of Averboden, in the Chronicle written by Nicolas Hogela nd Abbot of Middelburg, records that "Sophia de Los, Hungariæ regina , comitis Arnoldi Lossensis soror" sent letters to her brother after h earing that he intended to found Averboden abbey [6]. This report is c learly anachronistic as the abbey in question was founded in 1135, whe n Sophie de Looz could not possibly have been queen of Hungary. The qu estion remains whether Sophie´s supposed marriage to King Géza I i s based on speculation, suggested by an as yet unidentified secondar y source which was trying to make some sense of the passages in the '' Vita Arnulfi'' and the ''Vita Andreæ'' by identifying the most likel y Hungarian king who could have been Sophie´s husband. Until furthe r sources come to light, it has been decided to show Sophie de Looz i n square brackets. Whatever the truth of the matter, the chronology o f the births of King Géza´s older children suggests that their mothe r could not have been the Byzantine wife whom he married in [1066/75] . [1] ''Vita Arnulfi Episcopi Suessioniensis'' I.3, MGH SS XV.2, p. 8 79. [2] Butkens (1724), Vol. I, Preuves, p. 6. [3] ES II 154. [4] K erbl, R. (1979) ''Byzantinische Prinzessinnen in Ungarn zwischen 1050- 1200 und ihr Einfluß auf das Arpadenkönigreich'' (VWGÖ, Vienna), pp . 1-57. [5] Kerbl (1979), p. 8. [6] Wouters, M. J. (1849) ''Notice h istorique sur l´ancienne abbaye d´Averboden'' (Gand), Annexes, ''Vit a B. Andreæ primi abbatis Averbodiensis monasterii'', XIII, p. 147.