Bar-sur-Aube

Achard

Married: Achardia

Children:
Notes:
The undated early charter reprinted here names Achard's wife, similarly named Achardia, notes that they were Normans, and states that Achard founded the town of Ferté-sur-Aube.
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 pp720-721 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ V. Præclara stirps matris S. Simonis; nuptiæ ipsius cum Rodulfo Crispeiensi comite; repudii a nonnullis asserti evidens refutatio.
Expositis xpositis titulis ac dignitatibus generis paterni, ad qualemcumque maternæ stirpis notitiam genealogicam cum Chiffletio procedimus. Verbis num. 33 recitatis mox addit Chiffletius: Rodulpho (Simonis genitori) tres fuere ex ordine uxores. Prima Adela, Nocheri Barrensis ad Albam comitis filia, Nocheri comitis Suessionum neptis, Achardi proneptis, quem genere Normannum et Firmitatis ad Albam conditorem facit Charta vetus ἀνεπίγραφα, quam ex contentis Dominorum Firmitatis, sive Cellæ Firmitatis Advocatorum notitiam inscribere licet.
… 44 Nihil præter ista de matris familia, ejusdemve quatuor seu sponsis seu maritis, tradit Chiffletius; haud dubie, quia sicut pauca, quæ dederat de paterna Simonis stirpe plenius intellecta voluit ex Gallica Boucheti Dissertatione, ita quæ hic de materna perstrinxit, distincte satis cognoscenda putavit tum ex eodem Boucheto, tum ex ea, quam laudat, Charta, similiter ad probationes suas destinata. Et sane utrobique prolixius de iis agitur; at etiam hic repetitionis evitandæ causa, solam Chartam, quæ latine exarata est, et, ni fallor, Boucheto præluxit transcribam. Titulus is illi præfixus est: Genealogia materna S. Simonis comitis, et adscripta hæc Chiffletii admonitio: Ex Charta de Advocatis Cellæ Firmitatis ad Albam, seu Notitia ejus loci dominorum, quam descripsimus ex veteri codice ms. S Eugendi Jurensis. Tum sequitur ipsa Charta seu Notitia: Conditor Firmitatis vocatus est Achardus, et uxor ejus Achardia: fueruntque Normanni. Ex his Nocherius comes Suessionem egressus traditur: de quo alius Nocherius, Wido quoque clericus frater ejus sunt orti.
… 48 Barum autem, seu Barium triplex est in Galliæ provinciis; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc) civitas præcipua Barensis ducatus in confinio Lotharingiæ et Campaniæ; Barum ad Sequanum (Bar-sur-Seine) oppidum et comitatus in Burgundiæ ducati; et Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube) oppidum cum comitatu in Campania provincia, sic dictum, inquit Baudrandus, quia ad Albulam, (al. Albam) fluvium sedet ad radices collis in tractu peramœno et in Bassiniaco tractu, sed quod olim juxta mox allatam Chartam castrum erat in monte situm. Quarto inde circiter milliario distat Firmitas, etiam ut distinguatur a pluribus ejusdem appellationis seu oppidis seu castris, ad Albam cognominata (la Ferté sur Aube) oppidum ab Achardo constructum in Campania ad fluvium.
This roughly translates as:
§ V. The illustrious lineage of the mother of St. Simon; her marriage to Rudolf, count of Crispien; a clear refutation of the divorce alleged by some.
Having set out the titles and dignities of the paternal line, we proceed with Chiffletius to some genealogical knowledge of the maternal line. After reciting words no. 33, Chiffletius soon adds: Rodolfo (Simon's father) had three wives in order. The first, Adela, daughter of count Nocher of Barrens ad Alba, granddaughter of count Nocher of Soissons, great-granddaughter of Achard, whom an old anonymous Charter makes Norman by lineage and founder of Firmitatis ad Alba, which it is possible to inscribe from the contents of the Lords of Firmitatis, or the Cell of Firmitatis Advocates.
… 44 Chiffletius gives nothing beyond this about his mother's family, or her four spouses or husbands; no doubt, because just as he wished the few things he had given about Simon's paternal lineage to be more fully understood from Bouchet's French Dissertation, so he thought that what he has here summarized about his maternal lineage could be clearly understood both from Bouchet himself and from that Charter which he praises, similarly intended for his proofs. And indeed, in both places they are discussed at length; but here also, for the sake of avoiding repetition, I will transcribe only the Charter, which was written in Latin and, if I am not mistaken, preceded Bouchet. The title is prefixed to it: The maternal genealogy of the count St. Simon, and this admonition of Chiffletius is attached: From the Charter of the Advocates of Firmitatis at Alba, or the Notice of the lords of the place, which we have described from the old codex of the manuscript of St. Eugenius of Jurensis. Then follows the Charter or Notice itself: The founder of Firmitatis was called Achardus, and his wife Achardia: and they were Normans. From these, count Nocher is said to have left Soissons: from whom another Nocher, and Wido, also a cleric, his brother, were born.
… 48 Barum, or Barium, is a triple city in the provinces of Gaul; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc), the principal city of the duchy of Bar on the border of Lorraine and Campania; BarumSequanum (Bar-sur-Seine), a town and county in the duchy of Burgundy; and Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube), a town and county in the province of Campania, so called, says Baudrand, because it sits on the Alba (Aube) river at the foot of a hill in the most beautiful tract and in the Bassinian tract, but which was once, according to the Charter just cited, a castle situated on a mountain. About a quarter of a mile distant from there is Firmitas, also to distinguish it from several towns or camps of the same name, called at the Alba (la Ferté sur Aube), a town built by Achard in Campania on the river.

Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube page xiii (Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, 1859)
  Les comtes héréditaires de Bar-sur-Aube (1) descendent d’un normand appelé Achard (Achardus), qui fonda, au Xe siècle, la petite ville de la Ferté-sur-Aube. De sa femme Achardie (Achardia) il eut un fils, Nocher Ier, qui épousa, en 992, Alaïs ou Adélaïde, comtesse de Soissons.
  (1) Le principal travail à consulter est le Commentaire sur la vie de saint Simon, ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, page 711 et suivantes.
This roughly translates as:
  The hereditary counts of Bar-sur-Aube (1) descended from a Norman named Achard (Achardus), who founded the small town of Ferté-sur-Aube in the 10th century. By his wife Achardie (Achardia), he had a son, Nocher I, who married Alaïs, or Adelaide, countess of Soissons, in 992.
  (1) The primary work to consult is the Commentary on the Life of Saint Simon (in BOLLAND, September, VIII, page 711 et seq.).

Sources:

Achardia

Married: Achard

Children:
Notes:
The undated early charter reprinted here names Achardia as the wife of Achard and notes that they were Normans.
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p720 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
44 Nihil præter ista de matris familia, ejusdemve quatuor seu sponsis seu maritis, tradit Chiffletius; haud dubie, quia sicut pauca, quæ dederat de paterna Simonis stirpe plenius intellecta voluit ex Gallica Boucheti Dissertatione, ita quæ hic de materna perstrinxit, distincte satis cognoscenda putavit tum ex eodem Boucheto, tum ex ea, quam laudat, Charta, similiter ad probationes suas destinata. Et sane utrobique prolixius de iis agitur; at etiam hic repetitionis evitandæ causa, solam Chartam, quæ latine exarata est, et, ni fallor, Boucheto præluxit transcribam. Titulus is illi præfixus est: Genealogia materna S. Simonis comitis, et adscripta hæc Chiffletii admonitio: Ex Charta de Advocatis Cellæ Firmitatis ad Albam, seu Notitia ejus loci dominorum, quam descripsimus ex veteri codice ms. S Eugendi Jurensis. Tum sequitur ipsa Charta seu Notitia: Conditor Firmitatis vocatus est Achardus, et uxor ejus Achardia: fueruntque Normanni. Ex his Nocherius comes Suessionem egressus traditur: de quo alius Nocherius, Wido quoque clericus frater ejus sunt orti.
This roughly translates as:
44 Chiffletius gives nothing beyond this about his mother's family, or her four spouses or husbands; no doubt, because just as he wished the few things he had given about Simon's paternal lineage to be more fully understood from Bouchet's French Dissertation, so he thought that what he has here summarized about his maternal lineage could be clearly understood both from Bouchet himself and from that Charter which he praises, similarly intended for his proofs. And indeed, in both places they are discussed at length; but here also, for the sake of avoiding repetition, I will transcribe only the Charter, which was written in Latin and, if I am not mistaken, preceded Bouchet. The title is prefixed to it: The maternal genealogy of the count St. Simon, and this admonition of Chiffletius is attached: From the Charter of the Advocates of Firmitatis at Alba, or the Notice of the lords of the place, which we have described from the old codex of the manuscript of St. Eugenius of Jurensis. Then follows the Charter or Notice itself: The founder of Firmitatis was called Achardus, and his wife Achardia: and they were Normans. From these, count Nocher is said to have left Soissons: from whom another Nocher, and Wido, also a cleric, his brother, were born.

Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube page xiii (Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, 1859)
  Les comtes héréditaires de Bar-sur-Aube (1) descendent d’un normand appelé Achard (Achardus), qui fonda, au Xe siècle, la petite ville de la Ferté-sur-Aube. De sa femme Achardie (Achardia) il eut un fils, Nocher Ier, qui épousa, en 992, Alaïs ou Adélaïde, comtesse de Soissons.
  (1) Le principal travail à consulter est le Commentaire sur la vie de saint Simon, ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, page 711 et suivantes.
This roughly translates as:
  The hereditary counts of Bar-sur-Aube (1) descended from a Norman named Achard (Achardus), who founded the small town of Ferté-sur-Aube in the 10th century. By his wife Achardie (Achardia), he had a son, Nocher I, who married Alaïs, or Adelaide, countess of Soissons, in 992.
  (1) The primary work to consult is the Commentary on the Life of Saint Simon (in BOLLAND, September, VIII, page 711 et seq.).

Sources:

Aelis de Bar-sur-Aube

Father: Nocher II

De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p720 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
Adela, daughter of count Nocher of Barrens ad Alba, granddaughter of count Nocher of Soissons, great-granddaughter of Achard, whom an old anonymous Charter makes Norman by lineage and founder of Firmitatis ad Alba

Married (1st): Rainald of Semur

Rainald died shortly after the marriage, without issue.

Married (2nd): Rainard, count of Joigny

Rainard was count of Joigny and Sens from 1012 to 1055, and a widower following the death of his wife Juville, whom he married at some point between 1023 and 1027.

Married (3rd): Roger de Vignory

Married (4th): Raoul II of Valois

Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube pages xiv-xvi (Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, 1859)
  Nocher II eut deux filles, Adélaïde et Isabelle. Isabelle, la plus jeune, fut dame de la Ferté, épousa Gautier de Clamecy et en eut un fils nommé Raoul, qui était déjà un jeune homme quand il périt étranglé. Adélaïde, fille aînée de Nocher II, reçut, pour sa part de l’hérédité paternelle, le comté de Bar-surAube, et par suite de la mort de sa sœur et de son neveu, la seigneurie de la Ferté lui échut.
  Elle épousa d’abord Rainaud de Semur, qui mourut peu après sans enfants. Veuve, elle habitait le château de Bar-sur-Aube, alors bâti sur la montagne qui s’élève aujourd’hui au-dessus de la ville: c’était vers l’année 1040 ou environ. Raoul III, comte de Valois, futur héritier du Vexin et d’Amiens (2) vint à passer. Il se rendait en pélerinage à Rome. Il demanda à qui appartenait le château de Bar. On lui parla d’Adélaïde, de la jeunesse de cette femme et des domaines qui lui appartenaient: il alla lui faire visite, elle lui plut, dit le chroniqueur monastique. Une promesse mutuelle de mariage fut la conséquence immédiate de cette entrevue. Mais le comte de Valois était fort pressé de terminer son pélerinage, il remit la célébration de cette union à son retour de Rome et partit. Les vassaux du comté de Bar-sur-Aube eurent connaissance des projets de leur dame, et, craignant la puissance et la tyrannie du maître qu’elle leur destinait, ils décidèrent qu’Adélaïde épouserait, au lieu de Raoul, Rainard autrement Renaud II, comte de Joigny et de Sens, de 1012 à 1055 (1), alors veuf de sa femme Juville (2). Adélaïde céda, et ce mariage était accompli quand le comte de Valois revint de Rome. Ayant appris cette injure, il fit des préparatifs de vengeance. Bientôt on le vit arriver avec une troupe considérable de gens de guerre, il prit le château de Joigny et le détruisit, fit sa fiancée prisonnière et la conduisit à la Ferté, où il la laissa sous bonne garde, voulant avant de l’épouser savoir si elle était grosse; puis il partit. Les vassaux du comté de Bar-sur-Aube firent leur profit de cette nouvelle absence et se hâtèrent de marier leur dame à Roger de Vignory (3). Quand Raoul reçut cette nouvelle, il revint avec ses gens, ravagea complètement la terre de Roger, mit le feu partout, porta partout le pillage et la mort, jusqu’à ce qu’on lui rendît sa fiancée. Ce fut alors qu’il l’épousa (1). Il fut à cause d’elle comte de Bar-sur-Aube; il signala son administration par des donations aux abbayes de Saint-Claude et de Montier-en-Der, notamment il déchargea cette dernière de tout droit de péage pour ses charriots sur le territoire de Bar-sur-Aube; il fonda dans l’église de Montier-en-Der une messe par semaine, et, en retour de ses bienfaits, cette abbaye s’engagea à nourrir un pauvre (2).
  Adélaïde était morte en 1053 (3). Elle avait eu de Raoul deux fils, Gauthier et Simon, et deux filles. On doit penser qu’elle eut pour successeur immédiat, à Bar-sur-Aube, son fils Gauthier. Ce dernier est qualifié de comte dans un des cartulaires de Molesme (4).
  (2) Il en hérita en 1063. Une charte de lui, comme comte d’Amiens, se trouve dans le Rec. des Monuments de l’Histoire du Tiers-État, I, 19-20.
  (1) Art de vérifier les dates, II, 594.
  (2) Voir une charte publiée dans MARTÈNE, Anecd. I, 1417. Elle établit que Rainaud était marié à une nommée Juville, à une date qui se place de 1023 à 1027.
  (3) Il est question de ce Roger, en 1026, dans la Chronique de Saint-Bénigne, et en 1038 dans Albéric, ap. D. BOUQUET, XI, 15 C. 352 A. Voir aussi PÉRARD, p. 187.
  (1) Ce récit est emprunté à la Notice des avoués du prieuré de la Fertésur-Aube, publiée d’après un manuscrit de l’abbaye de Saint-Claude dans BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 720 C. D. E. On peut consulter encore sur Adélaïde, comtesse de Soissons, l’Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727; sur Renaud II, comte de Joigny, le même ouvrage, même tome, p. 594. La tradition attribue à Raoul une fille nommée Elisabeth, fondatrice de l’Abbaye de Ville-Chasson, au diocèse de Sens, Ann. Bened., V, 467; Gallia Christ., XII, 188; TOUSSAINT DUPLESSIS, Hist. de l’église de Meaux, I, 711. Peu nous importe ici que cette tradition soit exacte ou non.
  (2) 1er cart. de Montier-en-Der, fo 76 et 78, aux archives de la Haute-Marne, et BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 733.
  (3) Cette date est celle d’une charte de son mari donnée à Soissons, l’an de l’incarnation 1053. C’est une faute d’impression qui a fait écrire 1043 dans l’Art de vérifier les dates, II, 701. Voir BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 721 E.
  (4) VIIIo idus septembris obiit Walterius comes, 1er Cart. de Molesme, p. 12, 13, aux archives de la Côte-d’Or, cf. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 733 В.
This roughly translates as:
  Nocher II had two daughters, Adélaïde and Isabelle. Isabelle, the younger, was lady of La Ferté; she married Gautier de Clamecy and bore him a son named Raoul, who was already a young man when he met his death by strangulation. Adélaïde, Nocher II’s eldest daughter, received the county of Bar-sur-Aube as her share of the paternal inheritance; following the deaths of her sister and nephew, the lordship of La Ferté also fell to her.
  She first married Rainaud de Semur, who died shortly thereafter without issue. As a widow, she resided at the castle of Bar-sur-Aube, then situated on the hill that rises above the town today, around the year 1040. Raoul III, count of Valois and future heir to the Vexin and Amiens (2), happened to pass by while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He inquired as to the ownership of the castle of Bar. He was told about Adélaïde, her youth, and the estates she held; he went to visit her and, according to the monastic chronicler, was captivated by her. A mutual promise of marriage was the immediate result of this meeting. However, the count of Valois was in great haste to complete his pilgrimage; he postponed the wedding until his return from Rome and departed. The vassals of the county of Bar-sur-Aube learned of their lady’s plans and, fearing the power and tyranny of the master she intended for them, decided that Adélaïde should marry Rainard, also known as Renaud II, count of Joigny and Sens from 1012 to 1055 (1), and then a widower following the death of his wife Juville (2), rather than Raoul. Adélaïde yielded, and the marriage had already taken place by the time the count of Valois returned from Rome. Upon learning of this insult, he made preparations for revenge. Soon he was seen arriving with a substantial force of fighting men; he captured and destroyed the castle of Joigny, took his fiancée prisoner, and brought her to La Ferté, where he left her under close guard, wishing to know if she was pregnant before marrying her, and then departed. The vassals of the county of Bar-sur-Aube took advantage of this renewed absence and hastened to marry their lady to Roger de Vignory (3).  When Raoul received this news, he returned with his men, completely ravaged Roger’s lands, set fires everywhere, and spread pillage and death until his fiancée was returned to him. It was then that he married her (1). Through her, he became count of Bar-sur-Aube; he distinguished his administration by making donations to the abbeys of Saint-Claude and Montier-en-Der, notably exempting the latter from all tolls on its wagons within the territory of Bar-sur-Aube, and by establishing a weekly mass at the church of Montier-en-Der; in return for his benefactions, the abbey pledged to provide food for a poor person (2).
  Adelaide died in 1053 (3). She had borne Raoul two sons, Gauthier and Simon, and two daughters. It is to be assumed that her immediate successor at Bar-sur-Aube was her son Gauthier. The latter is styled "count" in one of the cartularies of Molesme (4).
  (2) He inherited it in 1063. A charter issued by him as count of Amiens can be found in the Recueil des monuments de l'histoire du Tiers-État, I, 19–20.
  (1) L'Art de vérifier les dates, II, 594.
  (2) See a charter published in MARTÈNE, Anecdota. I, 1417. It establishes that Rainaud was married to a woman named Juville, at some point between 1023 and 1027.
  (3) This Roger is mentioned in 1026 in the Chronicle of Saint-Bénigne, and in 1038 in the work of Albéric (see D. BOUQUET, XI, 15 C. 352 A). See also PÉRARD, p. 187.
(1) This account is drawn from the Notice des avoués du prieuré de la Ferté-sur-Aube [Account of the advocates of the priory of La Ferté-sur-Aube], published from a manuscript of the abbey of Saint-Claude in BOLLAND, September, VIII, 720 C, D, E. For further information on Adelaide, countess of Soissons, one may consult L’Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727; and for Renaud II, count of Joigny, the same work, same volume, p. 594. Tradition attributes to Raoul a daughter named Elisabeth, founder of the Abbey of Ville-Chasson in the diocese of Sens; see Ann. Bened., V, 467; Gallia Christ., XII, 188; TOUSSAINT DUPLESSIS, Hist. de l’église de Meaux, I, 711. Whether or not this tradition is accurate is of little importance here.
  (2) 1st cartulary of Montier-en-Der, fols. 76 and 78, in the Haute-Marne archives, and BOLLAND, September, VIII, 733.
  (3) This date corresponds to a charter issued by her husband at Soissons in the year of the incarnation 1053. A misprint led to the date 1043 appearing in L’Art de vérifier les dates, II, 701. See BOLLAND, September, VIII, 721 E.
  (4) VIIIo idus septembris obiit Walterius comes [count Walter died on the eighth day before the Ides of September], 1st Cartulary of Molesme, pp. 12–13, in the Côte-d’Or archives; cf. BOLLAND, September, VIII, 733 B.
 
Children:
Notes:
The hagiography of Raoul and Aelis's son, Simon, contains information about Aelis and her family. It describes how Aelis had three husbands before Raoul, the second and third ones after he was engaged to her.
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p717 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ IV. S. Simonis parentes, frater et sorores; patris illustre genus, potentia, majorum series, ditiones et dignitates.
De parentibus Simonis ista notavit biographus: Pater ejus Rodulfus, divitiis et viribus potentissimus, mater Adela vocabatur. … Albericus Trium Fontium monachus in Chronico ad annum 1061 utrumque parentem nominat et sororem unam: Reliquerat autem comes Rodulphus ex uxore sua, quæ dicta est Adela, filium bonæ indolis, nomine Simonem, et filiam nomine Alaidam.
… 32 Plenius Simonis parentes atque horum prolem edocemur ex Chartis, quas Chiffletius Observationibus suis, ut dictorum suorum argumenta et testimonia, subjunxit. Eas inter ex autographo S. Remigii Remensis producit Scriptum Rodulfi comitis de rebus, quas dedit sancto Remigio pro anima Walteri filii sui, in quo sic loquitur: Notum sit universis Catholicæ matris Ecclesiæ filiis tam præsentis temporis quam futuri, quod ego Rodulfus comes de Crispeio filium habui Walterum nomine, quem maximo semper amore dilexi etc. Dein relata dicti filii cæde, et sepultura in S. Remigii abbatia, bona ac privilegia recenset, quæ eidem abbatiæ attribuit pro ipsius animæ salute additque: Hoc autem totum, sicut supra dictum est, ita statuo et confirmo et laudare facio Symonem filium meum, duos quoque gneros meos, quos de filiabus meis habeo; id est Heribertum comitem, et juvenem nobilissimum Bartholomeum. Alteram chartam profert Chiffletius ex tabulario Molismensi, in qua Simon instituit anniversarium diem parentum suorum, Rodulfi videlicet comitis et Walterii fratris sui et matris suæ Adelæ, nec non et ipsius domni postquam obitus ejus evenerit. Uberiori usui nobis erunt laudatæ chartæ, dum ad tempus, quo scriptæ sunt, pervenerimus.
This roughly translates as:
§ IV. Saint Simon's parents, brother and sisters; his father's illustrious family, power, line of ancestors, domains and dignities.
The biographer noted the following about Simon's parents: His father Rodolfus, most powerful in wealth and strength, his mother was called Adela. … Alberic the monk of Trifontium in his Chronicle for the year 1061 names both parents and one sister: But count Rodolfus had left by his wife, who was called Adela, a son of good character, named Simon, and a daughter named Alaida.
… 32 We learn more about Simon's parents and their offspring from the Charters, which Chiffletius has added to his Observations as arguments and testimonies for his words. Among them, from the autograph of St. Remigius of Reims, he produces the Writing of count Rudolf concerning the things which he gave to St. Remigius for the soul of his son Walter, in which he speaks thus: Let it be known to all the sons of the Catholic Mother Church, both of the present time and of the future, that I, count Rudolf of Crispi, had a son named Walter, whom I have always loved with the greatest love, etc. Then he recounts the murder of the said son and his burial in the abbey of St. Remigius, and lists the goods and privileges which he attributes to the same abbey for the salvation of his soul, and adds: All this, as has been said above, I establish and confirm and cause my son Simon to praise, as well as my two sons-in-law, whom I have by my daughters; that is, count Herbert, and the most noble young man Bartholomew. Chiffletius brings forth another charter from the Molise archives, in which Simon establishes the anniversary of his parents, namely count Rodolfo and his brother Walter and his mother Adela, and also of the lord himself after his death. The praised charters will be of greater use to us, until we reach the time when they were written.
pp720-721 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ V. Præclara stirps matris S. Simonis; nuptiæ ipsius cum Rodulfo Crispeiensi comite; repudii a nonnullis asserti evidens refutatio.
Expositis xpositis titulis ac dignitatibus generis paterni, ad qualemcumque maternæ stirpis notitiam genealogicam cum Chiffletio procedimus. Verbis num. 33 recitatis mox addit Chiffletius: Rodulpho (Simonis genitori) tres fuere ex ordine uxores. Prima Adela, Nocheri Barrensis ad Albam comitis filia, Nocheri comitis Suessionum neptis, Achardi proneptis, quem genere Normannum et Firmitatis ad Albam conditorem facit Charta vetus ἀνεπίγραφα, quam ex contentis Dominorum Firmitatis, sive Cellæ Firmitatis Advocatorum notitiam inscribere licet. Ea Charta quatuor Adelæ seu sponsos, seu viros commemorat; Rainaldum de Sinemuro; Rainardum comitem de Jooniaco; Rotgerium de Wangionis ripa, et Rodulfum, quem Calvimontis Vallis Cassini comitem appellat. Huic tantum postremo Adela liberos genuit, Walterium et Simonem filios, totidemque filias, Adalam Veromandensem comitissam, et Alaydem sive Adelaidem, Bartholomæo Brecarum domino matrimonio junctam, de quibus cap, 4 et 5 pluribus.
  44 Nihil præter ista de matris familia, ejusdemve quatuor seu sponsis seu maritis, tradit Chiffletius; haud dubie, quia sicut pauca, quæ dederat de paterna Simonis stirpe plenius intellecta voluit ex Gallica Boucheti Dissertatione, ita quæ hic de materna perstrinxit, distincte satis cognoscenda putavit tum ex eodem Boucheto, tum ex ea, quam laudat, Charta, similiter ad probationes suas destinata. Et sane utrobique prolixius de iis agitur; at etiam hic repetitionis evitandæ causa, solam Chartam, quæ latine exarata est, et, ni fallor, Boucheto præluxit transcribam. Titulus is illi præfixus est: Genealogia materna S. Simonis comitis, et adscripta hæc Chiffletii admonitio: Ex Charta de Advocatis Cellæ Firmitatis ad Albam, seu Notitia ejus loci dominorum, quam descripsimus ex veteri codice ms. S Eugendi Jurensis. Tum sequitur ipsa Charta seu Notitia: Conditor Firmitatis vocatus est Achardus, et uxor ejus Achardia: fueruntque Normanni. Ex his Nocherius comes Suessionem egressus traditur: de quo alius Nocherius, Wido quoque clericus frater ejus sunt orti. Hic secundus Nocherius duas filias habuit, Comitissam scilicet (quæ et Adelhida) et Isabel. Sed Isabel Galterius de Clamice uxorem duxit et medietatem totius honoris possedit: habuitque ex ea filium, Rodulfum nomine, qui apud Firmitatem jam juvenis strangulatus fuisse traditur.
  45 Comitissa vero, quæ major natu erat, quatuor viros habuit; Rainaldum de Sinemuro, qui mortuus nullos ex ea liberos tulit. Post hæc Rodulfus, comes Calvimontis Vallis Cassini, dum Romam pergeret, secus castellum Barri, quod tunc in monte situm erat, transitum faciens, dum, cujus esset castrum illud, sciscitaretur, dictum est ei, et hoc et alia quædam regionis ejusdem castella cujusdam puellæ esse, quæ utroque parente jam dudum orbata, virum etiam in adolescentia amisisset. Quod audiens comes, statim ad eam divertit: quæ cum ei placuisset, fide data vel accepta, uxorem eam se ducere in reditu promisit. Quod cum primoribus terræ illius displicuisset; timentes videlicet potentiam et tyrannidem ipsius, consilio inito, Rainardo comiti de Jooniaco tradere eam decreverunt: sicque factum est. Quod cum Rodulphus comes Roma rediens, didicisset, armis ultum iri injuriam parat.
  46 Nam cum valida pugnatorum manu a Francia veniens, Jooniacum castellum cepit et diruit; inventamque ibi puellam, sponsam videlicet suam, secum reduxit. Et cum eam interim in castello Firmitatis custodiendam dimisisset, volens scilicet cognoscere, utrum a Rainardo comite imprægnata fuisset; iterum illi, qui prius, homines videlicet sui, Rotgerio de Wangionis ripa puellam tradiderunt. Quod cum comiti denuo nunciatum fuisset, reversus cum suis, terram illius omnino depopulatus est, incendio cuncta tradens, rapinisque et cædibus universa consumens, donec sua sibi puella redderetur. At tunc demum celebratis nuptiis, eam sibi in matrimonio copulavit: et ex ea duos filios Galterium et Symоnem, et unam filiam, id est, Aaliz genuit, quam Bartolomeus, juvenis de Breias uxorem duxit, et ex ea Hugonem Bardul genuit. Pauca, quæ restant non describo quia nihil ad rem nostram continent.
  47 Ex ista Charta satis intelligimus, quomodo Barrensis comitatus, exstincta majorum suorum stirpe masculina, dominium adepta sit mater Simonis et post illius ac patris Rodulfi obitum ipsemet Simon: at quæri potest, qua de causa Nocherius seu Nocherus, Achardi filius et Simonis proavus, vocitetur ibidem comes Suessionum, non item Nocherius II, illius filius et heres, vel alius ex posteris. Rationem colligendam præbet Bouchetus in Dissertatione his verbis ex gallico latine redditis: Nocherius I hujus nominis (Achardi nempe filius) comes Barensis ab Albam anno 992 uxorem duxit Alaidem (Alix) comitissam Suessionensem, filiam comitis Gilberti, viduam Guidonis Viromanduensem, et matrem Rainaudi comitis Suessionensis, anno 1057 defuncti.... Ex conjugio Nocherii et Alaidis nati sunt Nocherius II, comes Barensis, et Wido seu Guido clericus. De comitibus Suessionensibus agunt Chesnius in Historia familiæ Castellionææ pag. 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani tom. I Historiæ genealogicæ domus Franciæ pag. 376 et fuse Claudius Dormay lib. 5 Historiæ Suessionensis, statuuntque omnes Guidonem Suessionum comitem sub regibus Lothario et Hugone Capeto, id est, senescente sæculo 10, ac Guidoni filium et successorem assignant Rainaudum, anno 1057 vita functum: sed de uxore Guidonis et Rainaudi matre aut de hujus secundis nuptiis cum Nocherio Barensi, nil nos docent. An ea ex vetustis monumentis eruerit Bouchetus incompertum mihi est. Sed ex modo, quo rem disponit, omnino sequitur, non alio ex capite Nocherium I dictum fuisse Suessionum comitem, quam quia comitis Suessionensis viduam duxerat, et comitatum istum, forte quod privignus Rainaudus minorennis esset, aliquamdiu gubernarit: atque sic declaratur, cur Nocherii successores tantum Barrenses, non autem Suessionenses comites appellari potuerint.
  48 Barum autem, seu Barium triplex est in Galliæ provinciis; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc) civitas præcipua Barensis ducatus in confinio Lotharingiæ et Campaniæ; Barum ad Sequanum (Bar-sur-Seine) oppidum et comitatus in Burgundiæ ducati; et Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube) oppidum cum comitatu in Campania provincia, sic dictum, inquit Baudrandus, quia ad Albulam, (al. Albam) fluvium sedet ad radices collis in tractu peramœno et in Bassiniaco tractu, sed quod olim juxta mox allatam Chartam castrum erat in monte situm. Quarto inde circiter milliario distat Firmitas, etiam ut distinguatur a pluribus ejusdem appellationis seu oppidis seu castris, ad Albam cognominata (la Ferté sur Aube) oppidum ab Achardo constructum in Campania ad fluvium. Barensem itaque comitatum tertio loco nominatum, Rodulfo Crispeiensi, (qui cur in Charta Calvimontis comes vocetur, jam præmonuimus) dotem attulit Nocherii Barrensis filia, quam Charta eadem Comitissam appellat et Adelhidam: Comitissam verosimillime, quia, cum defectu prolis masculinæ ad ipsam devolvi deberet comitatus, ita a suis communius nominabatur, quamvis in Baptismo ei inditum esset nomen Adelhidæ seu Adelæ, quod idem est, quodque ea ætate in familiis præsertim illustrioribus erat frequentissimum, sed diversimode efferebatur ac scribebatur.
  49 Secundum Valesium in Notitia Galliarum ad vocem Firmitas unum idemque nomen sunt Adela, Adala, Adelhaidis, Adelais. In Dictionario Trevoltiano ad nomen Adelaide, adduntur Adelheis et Adelis; ad nomen autem Alizon ex scriptoribus Latino-barbaris Aleydis, Alays, Aelis, Aleta; plura dat Simon de Peyronet in Notis ad Catalogum Sanctorum pag. 454 et seq., observatque, nomina ista Latina, quocumque modo scripta, gallice exprimi passim per vocem Alix. Ista annotavi, ne hæreat lector, sicubi Adelæ S, Simonis nomen aliter expressum reperiat, sicut mox contigit in Charta. Annum initi Adelam inter et Rodulfum matrimonii, a nemine quem novi hacte nus definitum, nec facile, opinor, definiendum, late statuit Bouchetus in Dissertatione Gallica, inquiens: Rodulfus II ejus nominis comes Crispeiensis, Vilcassinus, Ambianensis, Bari ad Albam et Montis-Desiderii, S. Dionysii signifer, vir fuit inter regni potentia et opibus illustrissimos: ante annum 1040 uxorem duxit Adelam, Bari ad Albam comitissam. Argumentum non profert. Serius tamen figi non posse conjugium, suadet ætas Hugonis Bardul seu Bardol, eorum ex filia nepotis, qui, teste Alberico, Rodulfi avi, juxta Bouchetum anno 1074, juxta Chiffletium bienno citius defuncti, bona aliquot invasit, cum injuria Simonis avunculi, heredis legitimi, ut loco suo referemus.
… 51 De loco natali ista notat Chiffletius: Natus autem creditur S. Simon in comitum Crespeiensium castro veteri, cujus in fundo nostris temporibus domus exstructa est Ursulinis monialibus, uti certis illarum ad me datis litteris mihi compertum est. Crispeium fuisse castrum, sede suorum comitum insigne, scribit etiam Valesius in Notitia Galliarum, ex quo unico fundamento, opinor, creditum est, ibidem natum esse S. Simonem; aliud equidem nusquam deprehendi. Porro secundum ea, quæ de tempore et ordine nativitatis ejus protulimus, quæque nunc explorata sunt de obitu matris, hanc amisit valde juvenis, verisimilius adhuc puer aut infans. Nam vivere jam desierat Adela (Chiffletium describo) cum an. 1053 Rodulfus maritus ei superstes altare de Bonol ecclesiæ S. Arnulfi Crespeiacensis concessit, annuente Heddone episcopo Suessionensi anno primo sui episcopatus: notaturque Adelæ obitus in Necrologio S. Eugendi Jurensis 4 Idus Septembris, sive 3, ut habet aliud exemplar, et sic etiam legitur in tabulis Molismensibus.
  52 Asserta de obitu Adelæ probantur ex veteribus Chartis, quas allegat Acherius in Notis ad Opera Guiberti, et quarum Summarium exhibet, ut sequitur: Rodulfus comes Crespeiacensis plurima quondam in beneficio tenebat altaria ab episcopo Suessionensi: sed post mortem Adelæ, uxoris suæ, ab Heddone Suessionensi episcopo obtinet, ut altare de Bonol (Bonoeil) quod in beneficio tenebat ad personam, perpetualiter et cum integritate teneat ecclesia S. Arnulphi etc.
  Dein alio charactere, forte quia ipsemet sunt instrumenti verba, subjicitur: Actum Suessioni ann. Incarnat. 1053, Henrici regis 19 et primo Heddonis episcopi. Verisimillime altare illud, per quod hic ecclesia memorati loci seu potius ecclesiæ obventiones aut reditus designantur, concesserit Rodulfus S. Arnulfi monasterio, ut monachi Deum exorarent pro animæ requie uxoris, in eadem S. Arnulfi ecclesia sepultæ.
This roughly translates as:
§ V. The illustrious lineage of the mother of St. Simon; her marriage to Rudolf, count of Crispien; a clear refutation of the divorce alleged by some.
Having set out the titles and dignities of the paternal line, we proceed with Chiffletius to some genealogical knowledge of the maternal line. After reciting words no. 33, Chiffletius soon adds: Rodolfo (Simon's father) had three wives in order. The first, Adela, daughter of count Nocher of Barrens ad Alba, granddaughter of count Nocher of Soissons, great-granddaughter of Achard, whom an old anonymous Charter makes Norman by lineage and founder of Firmitatis ad Alba, which it is possible to inscribe from the contents of the Lords of Firmitatis, or the Cell of Firmitatis Advocates. That Charter mentions four of Adela's husbands; Rainald of Sinemure; Rainard, count of Jooniac; Roger from the shore of Vangiones, and Rodolfo, whom he calls count of Calvimonte, the Valley of Cassini. To him only Adela finally bore children, sons Walter and Simon, and as many daughters, Adalam, countess of Vermond, and Alayde or Adelaide, married to Bartholomew, lord of Brecar, of whom chapters 4 and 5 contain more.
  44 Chiffletius gives nothing beyond this about his mother's family, or her four spouses or husbands; no doubt, because just as he wished the few things he had given about Simon's paternal lineage to be more fully understood from Bouchet's French Dissertation, so he thought that what he has here summarized about his maternal lineage could be clearly understood both from Bouchet himself and from that Charter which he praises, similarly intended for his proofs. And indeed, in both places they are discussed at length; but here also, for the sake of avoiding repetition, I will transcribe only the Charter, which was written in Latin and, if I am not mistaken, preceded Bouchet. The title is prefixed to it: The maternal genealogy of the count St. Simon, and this admonition of Chiffletius is attached: From the Charter of the Advocates of Firmitatis at Alba, or the Notice of the lords of the place, which we have described from the old codex of the manuscript of St. Eugenius of Jurensis. Then follows the Charter or Notice itself: The founder of Firmitatis was called Achardus, and his wife Achardia: and they were Normans. From these, count Nocher is said to have left Soissons: from whom another Nocher, and Wido, also a cleric, his brother, were born. This second Nocher had two daughters, namely the Countess (who was Adelhida) and Isabel. But Isabel married Galterius de Clamice and possessed half of the whole honour: and by her he had a son, named Rodulf, who is said to have been strangled at Firmitatis when he was still a young man.
  45 The Countess, who was the eldest, had four husbands; Rainald de Sinemuro, who died leaving no children by her. After this, while on his way to Rome, Rodolphe, count of Calvimonte in the Cassini Valley, was passing by the castle of Barri, which was then situated on a mountain, and while he was inquiring as to whose castle it was, he was told that this and some other castles of the same region belonged to a certain girl who had long since been bereaved of both parents and had also lost her husband in her youth. Hearing this, the count immediately turned to her: when she pleased him, he promised, on promise or acceptance, to take her as his wife on his return. This displeased the chiefs of that land; fearing, in fact, his power and tyranny, they took counsel and decided to hand her over to count Rainard of Joigny: and so it was done. When count Rodolphe, returning to Rome, learned that the injury would be avenged by arms.
  46 For, coming from France with a strong band of fighters, he captured and destroyed the castle of Joigny; and finding the girl there, he brought her back with him. And when he had left her in the meantime to be kept in the castle of Firmitatis, wanting to know whether she had been impregnated by count Rainard; again those who had been before, namely his men, handed the girl over to Roger from the shore of Vangiones. When this had been reported to the count again, he returned with his men and completely ravaged his land, burning everything and consuming everything with plunder and murder, until his own girl was returned to him. But then at last, having celebrated the wedding, he took her to himself in marriage: and by her he had two sons, Galter and Simon, and one daughter, that is, Aaliz, whom Bartholomew, the young man of Breias, married, and by her he begot Hugh Bardul. I will not describe the few that remain because they contain nothing relevant to our subject.
  47 From this Charter we understand sufficiently how the county of Bar, the male line of his ancestors having become extinct, was acquired by Simon's mother and after the death of her and her father Rodulf, Simon himself: but it may be asked why Nocherius or Nocher, son of Achard and great-grandfather of Simon, is there called count of Soissons, and not Nocher II, his son and heir, or another of his descendants. Bouchet provides a reason for collecting it in his Dissertation in these words rendered from French into Latin: Nocher I of this name (son of Achard, that is to say) count of Bar-sur-Aube in the year 992 married Alaid (Alix), countess of Soissons, daughter of count Gilbert, widow of Guy of Vermandois, and mother of Rainaud, count of Soissons, deceased in the year 1057.... From the marriage of Nocher and Alaid were born Nocher II, count of Bar, and Wido or Guy the cleric. Du Chesne deals with the counts of Soissons in his History of the Castellian Family, page 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani, volume I, Historia genealogicae domus Franciae, page 376, and Claudius Dormay, book 5, Historia Suessonne, and they all establish Guy as count of Soissons under kings Lothair and Hugh Capet, that is, in the 10th century, and assign Guy as his son and successor, Raynaud, who died in 1057: but they tell us nothing about the wife of Guy and the mother of Raynaud, or about her second marriage with Nocher of Bar. Whether Bouchet has extracted it from the old monuments is unknown to me. But from the way in which he arranges the matter, it follows that Nocher I was called count of Soissons for no other reason than because he had married the widow of the count of Soissons, and had governed that county for some time, perhaps because his stepson Raynaud was younger: and thus it is explained why Nocher's successors could only be called counts of Bar, but not of Soissons.
  48 Barum, or Barium, is a triple city in the provinces of Gaul; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc), the principal city of the duchy of Bar on the border of Lorraine and Campania; BarumSequanum (Bar-sur-Seine), a town and county in the duchy of Burgundy; and Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube), a town and county in the province of Campania, so called, says Baudrand, because it sits on the Alba (Aube) river at the foot of a hill in the most beautiful tract and in the Bassinian tract, but which was once, according to the Charter just cited, a castle situated on a mountain. About a quarter of a mile distant from there is Firmitas, also to distinguish it from several towns or camps of the same name, called at the Alba (la Ferté sur Aube), a town built by Achard in Campania on the river. Therefore, the county of Bar-sur-Aube, named in third place, was brought as a dowry to Rodulf Crispiens (who is called count of Calvimont, as we have already mentioned) by the daughter of Nocher of Bar, whom the same Charter calls Countess and Adelhide: Countess most likely, because, since the county should have devolved to her in the absence of male offspring, she was more commonly called that by her relatives, although at baptism she was given the name Adelhide or Adela, which is the same, and which at that time was most common in especially illustrious families, but it was pronounced and written in different ways.
  49 According to Valesius in Notitia Galliarum, to the word Firmitas there are one and the same name Adela, Adala, Adelhaidis, Adelais. In the Trevoltian Dictionary to the name Adelaide, Adelheis and Adelis are added; but to the name Alizon from the Latin-barbarian writers Aleydis, Alays, Aelis, Aleta; Simon de Peyronet gives more in Notis ad Catalogum Sanctorum pag. 454 et seq., and observes that these Latin names, however written, are everywhere expressed in French by the word Alix. I have noted these, lest the reader should be confused if he finds the name Adelæ mother of S. Simonis expressed differently, as will soon happen in the Charta. The year of the marriage between Adela and Rodolfo, which no one knows of, nor is it easy, I think, to define, was widely established by Bouchet in his Dissertatione Gallica, saying: Rodolfo II, count of Crépy, Vexin, Amiens, Bar-sur-Aube, and Montdidier, standard-bearer of St. Denis, was a man of the most illustrious power and wealth of the kingdom: before the year 1040 he married Adela, countess of Bar-sur-Aube. He does not present an argument. However, the age of Hugh Bardul or Bardol, their grandson through his daughter, who, according to the witness of Alberic, Rodolfo's grandfather, who died according to Bouchet in 1074, according to Chifflet two years earlier, seized some property, with injury to his uncle Simon, the legitimate heir, as we will relate in its place.
… 51 Chiffletius notes this about his birthplace: It is believed that Saint Simon was born in the old castle of the counts of Crépy, on the bottom of which in our times a house was built for the Ursuline nuns, as I have learned from certain letters given to me by them. That Crépy was a castle, the famous seat of his counts, is also written by Valesius in his Notitia Galliarum, from which sole foundation, I believe, it is believed that Saint Simon was born there; indeed, I have nowhere discovered anything else. Furthermore, according to what we have brought forward about the time and order of his birth, which have now been explored about the death of his mother, he lost her very young, more likely still a boy or infant. For Adela (I describe Chiffletius) had already ceased to live when in 1053 her husband Rodulf, surviving her, granted the altar of Bonol to the church of St. Arnulf of Crépy, with the consent of Heddon, bishop of Soissons, in the first year of his episcopate. Adela's death is noted in the Necrology of St. Eugenius of Juran on the 4th of September, or 3rd, as another copy has it, and so it is also read in the tables of Molise.
  52 The claims about Adela's death are proven from old charters, which Acherius alleges in his Notes on Guibert's Works, and of which he presents a summary, as follows: Rodolphe, count of Crépy, formerly held many altars in benefice from the bishop of Soissons: but after the death of Adela, his wife, he obtained from Heddon, bishop of Soissons, that the altar of Bonol (Bonoeil), which he held in benefice to the person, should be held perpetually and with integrity by the church of St. Arnulf, etc.
  Then, in another character, perhaps because they are the words of an instrument, it is added: Act of Soissons in the year of Incarnation 1053, in the 19th year of King Henry and the first of bishop Heddon. It is most likely that the altar, by which the church of the place mentioned here, or rather the proceeds or revenues of the church, is designated, was granted by Rodolphe to the monastery of St. Arnulf, so that the monks might pray to God for the repose of the soul of his wife, buried in the same church of St. Arnulf.

Anne de Russie, reine de France p55 (Le Vicomte de Caiz de Saint Aymour, 1896)
Raoul avait eu déjà deux femmes: Adèle ou Alix, fille de Nautcher, comte de Bar-sur-Aube, qui lui avait laissé en mourant, en 1053, avec deux fils et deux filles, cette seigneurie et celle de Vitry, et Aliénor (1) qui vivait encore, mais qu’il soupçonnait d’adultère et qu’il songeait à répudier.
This roughly translates as:
Raoul had already had two wives: Adèle or Alix, daughter of Nautcher, count of Bar-sur-Aube, who had left him, upon her death in 1053, along with two sons and two daughters, this lordship and that of Vitry; and Eleanor (1), who was still alive, but whom he suspected of adultery and whom he was considering divorcing.

Death: 10 or 11 September 1053
This is the year that arrangements were made by her husband for monks at St Arnulf to pray for her soul.

De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p721 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ V. Præclara stirps matris S. Simonis; nuptiæ ipsius cum Rodulfo Crispeiensi comite; repudii a nonnullis asserti evidens refutatio.
… 51 … Porro secundum ea, quæ de tempore et ordine nativitatis ejus protulimus, quæque nunc explorata sunt de obitu matris, hanc amisit valde juvenis, verisimilius adhuc puer aut infans. Nam vivere jam desierat Adela (Chiffletium describo) cum an. 1053 Rodulfus maritus ei superstes altare de Bonol ecclesiæ S. Arnulfi Crespeiacensis concessit, annuente Heddone episcopo Suessionensi anno primo sui episcopatus: notaturque Adelæ obitus in Necrologio S. Eugendi Jurensis 4 Idus Septembris, sive 3, ut habet aliud exemplar, et sic etiam legitur in tabulis Molismensibus.
  52 Asserta de obitu Adelæ probantur ex veteribus Chartis, quas allegat Acherius in Notis ad Opera Guiberti, et quarum Summarium exhibet, ut sequitur: Rodulfus comes Crespeiacensis plurima quondam in beneficio tenebat altaria ab episcopo Suessionensi: sed post mortem Adelæ, uxoris suæ, ab Heddone Suessionensi episcopo obtinet, ut altare de Bonol (Bonoeil) quod in beneficio tenebat ad personam, perpetualiter et cum integritate teneat ecclesia S. Arnulphi etc.
  Dein alio charactere, forte quia ipsemet sunt instrumenti verba, subjicitur: Actum Suessioni ann. Incarnat. 1053, Henrici regis 19 et primo Heddonis episcopi. Verisimillime altare illud, per quod hic ecclesia memorati loci seu potius ecclesiæ obventiones aut reditus designantur, concesserit Rodulfus S. Arnulfi monasterio, ut monachi Deum exorarent pro animæ requie uxoris, in eadem S. Arnulfi ecclesia sepultæ.
This roughly translates as:
§ V. The illustrious lineage of the mother of St. Simon; her marriage to Rudolf, count of Crispien; a clear refutation of the divorce alleged by some.
… 51 … Furthermore, according to what we have brought forward about the time and order of his birth, which have now been explored about the death of his mother, he lost her very young, more likely still a boy or infant. For Adela (I describe Chiffletius) had already ceased to live when in 1053 her husband Rodulf, surviving her, granted the altar of Bonol to the church of St. Arnulf of Crépy, with the consent of Heddon, bishop of Soissons, in the first year of his episcopate. Adela's death is noted in the Necrology of St. Eugenius of Juran on the 4th day of the Ides of September [10 September], or 3rd [11 September], as another copy has it, and so it is also read in the tables of Molise.
  52 The claims about Adela's death are proven from old charters, which Acherius alleges in his Notes on Guibert's Works, and of which he presents a summary, as follows: Rodolphe, count of Crépy, formerly held many altars in benefice from the bishop of Soissons: but after the death of Adela, his wife, he obtained from Heddon, bishop of Soissons, that the altar of Bonol (Bonoeil), which he held in benefice to the person, should be held perpetually and with integrity by the church of St. Arnulf, etc.
  Then, in another character, perhaps because they are the words of an instrument, it is added: Act of Soissons in the year of Incarnation 1053, in the 19th year of King Henry and the first of bishop Heddon. It is most likely that the altar, by which the church of the place mentioned here, or rather the proceeds or revenues of the church, is designated, was granted by Rodolphe to the monastery of St. Arnulf, so that the monks might pray to God for the repose of the soul of his wife, buried in the same church of St. Arnulf.

Burial: church of St. Arnulf at the castle of  Crépy.
When their son Simon translated the body of his father to St Arnulf, he "caused him to be placed in a double grotto, with psalms and prayers, near the tomb of my mother, his wife, and also of our predecessors".

De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p727 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, Patris, et Filii et Spiritus sancti. Amen. Omnis, qui semetipsum intelligit, hominem duabus naturis, anima videlicet rationali et corpore constare cognoscit. Qua in re saluberrimum esse videtur, parti utrique digne, quæ sua sunt, providere. Et quia justum est de resurrectione cogitare, valde necessarium est pro peccatis offerre: unde beatus Augustinus, animas, inquit, defunctorum posse relevari pietate suorum viventium. Quapropter ego SIMON, Dei gratia comes, de salute animæ meæ, immo et patris mei, venerabilis comitis Radulphi, præcavens in futurum, præsentis vitæ dies nihil esse conspiciens, atque mentem pro posse in consideratione æternitatis figens, supradictum Radulphum patrem meum de Montedesiderio, jam per tres annos post sui dissolutionem corporis ibi jacentem, apportari * feci et ecclesiæ sancti Arnulphi, quæ ab eodem et ab antecessoribus suis in castello Crespeiaci honorifico schemate fundata est, in qua etiam ex aqua et Spiritu sancto renatus fuerat, reddidi: ibique more antiquorum, juxta sepulchrum matris meæ, uxoris suæ, nec non et prædecessorum nostrorum cum psalmis et orationibus in spelunca duplici collocare feci.
This roughly translates as:
In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Everyone who understands himself knows that man consists of two natures, namely the rational soul and the body. In this matter it seems most salutary to provide for each part worthily, which is its own. And because it is just to think of the resurrection, it is very necessary to offer for sins: whence blessed Augustine says, the souls of the dead can be relieved by the piety of their living. Wherefore I, SIMON, count by the grace of God, for the salvation of my soul, and indeed of my father, the venerable count Ralph, taking precautions for the future, seeing that the days of this present life are nothing, and fixing my mind as much as possible on the consideration of eternity, caused the aforesaid Ralph, my father, from Montedesiderio, who had been lying there for three years after the dissolution of his body, to be brought and returned to the church of Saint Arnulf, which was founded by him and his predecessors in the castle of Crépy according to an honorable plan, in which he had also been reborn from water and the Holy Spirit: and there, in the manner of the ancients, I caused him to be placed in a double grotto, with psalms and prayers, near the tomb of my mother, his wife, and also of our predecessors.

Sources:

Nocher I

Father: Achard

Mother: Achardia

Married: Alaid in 992

Children:
Occupation: Count of Bar-sur-Aube and count of Soissons
Nocher became count of Soissons after he married Alaid, who was the daughter of Gilbert, the count of Soissons. After Nocher I's death, Soissons passed to Alaid's son from her first marriage, while Bar-sur-Aube passed to Nocher II.

Notes:
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 pp720-721 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ V. Præclara stirps matris S. Simonis; nuptiæ ipsius cum Rodulfo Crispeiensi comite; repudii a nonnullis asserti evidens refutatio.
Expositis xpositis titulis ac dignitatibus generis paterni, ad qualemcumque maternæ stirpis notitiam genealogicam cum Chiffletio procedimus. Verbis num. 33 recitatis mox addit Chiffletius: Rodulpho (Simonis genitori) tres fuere ex ordine uxores. Prima Adela, Nocheri Barrensis ad Albam comitis filia, Nocheri comitis Suessionum neptis, Achardi proneptis, quem genere Normannum et Firmitatis ad Albam conditorem facit Charta vetus ἀνεπίγραφα, quam ex contentis Dominorum Firmitatis, sive Cellæ Firmitatis Advocatorum notitiam inscribere licet.
… 44 Nihil præter ista de matris familia, ejusdemve quatuor seu sponsis seu maritis, tradit Chiffletius; haud dubie, quia sicut pauca, quæ dederat de paterna Simonis stirpe plenius intellecta voluit ex Gallica Boucheti Dissertatione, ita quæ hic de materna perstrinxit, distincte satis cognoscenda putavit tum ex eodem Boucheto, tum ex ea, quam laudat, Charta, similiter ad probationes suas destinata. Et sane utrobique prolixius de iis agitur; at etiam hic repetitionis evitandæ causa, solam Chartam, quæ latine exarata est, et, ni fallor, Boucheto præluxit transcribam. Titulus is illi præfixus est: Genealogia materna S. Simonis comitis, et adscripta hæc Chiffletii admonitio: Ex Charta de Advocatis Cellæ Firmitatis ad Albam, seu Notitia ejus loci dominorum, quam descripsimus ex veteri codice ms. S Eugendi Jurensis. Tum sequitur ipsa Charta seu Notitia: Conditor Firmitatis vocatus est Achardus, et uxor ejus Achardia: fueruntque Normanni. Ex his Nocherius comes Suessionem egressus traditur: de quo alius Nocherius, Wido quoque clericus frater ejus sunt orti.
… 47 Ex ista Charta satis intelligimus, quomodo Barrensis comitatus, exstincta majorum suorum stirpe masculina, dominium adepta sit mater Simonis et post illius ac patris Rodulfi obitum ipsemet Simon: at quæri potest, qua de causa Nocherius seu Nocherus, Achardi filius et Simonis proavus, vocitetur ibidem comes Suessionum, non item Nocherius II, illius filius et heres, vel alius ex posteris. Rationem colligendam præbet Bouchetus in Dissertatione his verbis ex gallico latine redditis: Nocherius I hujus nominis (Achardi nempe filius) comes Barensis ab Albam anno 992 uxorem duxit Alaidem (Alix) comitissam Suessionensem, filiam comitis Gilberti, viduam Guidonis Viromanduensem, et matrem Rainaudi comitis Suessionensis, anno 1057 defuncti.... Ex conjugio Nocherii et Alaidis nati sunt Nocherius II, comes Barensis, et Wido seu Guido clericus. De comitibus Suessionensibus agunt Chesnius in Historia familiæ Castellionææ pag. 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani tom. I Historiæ genealogicæ domus Franciæ pag. 376 et fuse Claudius Dormay lib. 5 Historiæ Suessionensis, statuuntque omnes Guidonem Suessionum comitem sub regibus Lothario et Hugone Capeto, id est, senescente sæculo 10, ac Guidoni filium et successorem assignant Rainaudum, anno 1057 vita functum: sed de uxore Guidonis et Rainaudi matre aut de hujus secundis nuptiis cum Nocherio Barensi, nil nos docent. An ea ex vetustis monumentis eruerit Bouchetus incompertum mihi est. Sed ex modo, quo rem disponit, omnino sequitur, non alio ex capite Nocherium I dictum fuisse Suessionum comitem, quam quia comitis Suessionensis viduam duxerat, et comitatum istum, forte quod privignus Rainaudus minorennis esset, aliquamdiu gubernarit: atque sic declaratur, cur Nocherii successores tantum Barrenses, non autem Suessionenses comites appellari potuerint.
  48 Barum autem, seu Barium triplex est in Galliæ provinciis; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc) civitas præcipua Barensis ducatus in confinio Lotharingiæ et Campaniæ; Barum ad Sequanum (Bar-sur-Seine) oppidum et comitatus in Burgundiæ ducati; et Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube) oppidum cum comitatu in Campania provincia, sic dictum, inquit Baudrandus, quia ad Albulam, (al. Albam) fluvium sedet ad radices collis in tractu peramœno et in Bassiniaco tractu, sed quod olim juxta mox allatam Chartam castrum erat in monte situm. Quarto inde circiter milliario distat Firmitas, etiam ut distinguatur a pluribus ejusdem appellationis seu oppidis seu castris, ad Albam cognominata (la Ferté sur Aube) oppidum ab Achardo constructum in Campania ad fluvium.
This roughly translates as:
§ V. The illustrious lineage of the mother of St. Simon; her marriage to Rudolf, count of Crispien; a clear refutation of the divorce alleged by some.
Having set out the titles and dignities of the paternal line, we proceed with Chiffletius to some genealogical knowledge of the maternal line. After reciting words no. 33, Chiffletius soon adds: Rodolfo (Simon's father) had three wives in order. The first, Adela, daughter of count Nocher of Barrens ad Alba, granddaughter of count Nocher of Soissons, great-granddaughter of Achard, whom an old anonymous Charter makes Norman by lineage and founder of Firmitatis ad Alba, which it is possible to inscribe from the contents of the Lords of Firmitatis, or the Cell of Firmitatis Advocates.
… 44 Chiffletius gives nothing beyond this about his mother's family, or her four spouses or husbands; no doubt, because just as he wished the few things he had given about Simon's paternal lineage to be more fully understood from Bouchet's French Dissertation, so he thought that what he has here summarized about his maternal lineage could be clearly understood both from Bouchet himself and from that Charter which he praises, similarly intended for his proofs. And indeed, in both places they are discussed at length; but here also, for the sake of avoiding repetition, I will transcribe only the Charter, which was written in Latin and, if I am not mistaken, preceded Bouchet. The title is prefixed to it: The maternal genealogy of the count St. Simon, and this admonition of Chiffletius is attached: From the Charter of the Advocates of Firmitatis at Alba, or the Notice of the lords of the place, which we have described from the old codex of the manuscript of St. Eugenius of Jurensis. Then follows the Charter or Notice itself: The founder of Firmitatis was called Achardus, and his wife Achardia: and they were Normans. From these, count Nocher is said to have left Soissons: from whom another Nocher, and Wido, also a cleric, his brother, were born.
… 47 From this Charter we understand sufficiently how the county of Bar, the male line of his ancestors having become extinct, was acquired by Simon's mother and after the death of her and her father Rodulf, Simon himself: but it may be asked why Nocherius or Nocher, son of Achard and great-grandfather of Simon, is there called count of Soissons, and not Nocher II, his son and heir, or another of his descendants. Bouchet provides a reason for collecting it in his Dissertation in these words rendered from French into Latin: Nocher I of this name (son of Achard, that is to say) count of Bar-sur-Aube in the year 992 married Alaid (Alix), countess of Soissons, daughter of count Gilbert, widow of Guy of Vermandois, and mother of Rainaud, count of Soissons, deceased in the year 1057.... From the marriage of Nocher and Alaid were born Nocher II, count of Bar, and Wido or Guy the cleric. Du Chesne deals with the counts of Soissons in his History of the Castellian Family, page 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani, volume I, Historia genealogicae domus Franciae, page 376, and Claudius Dormay, book 5, Historia Suessonne, and they all establish Guy as count of Soissons under kings Lothair and Hugh Capet, that is, in the 10th century, and assign Guy as his son and successor, Raynaud, who died in 1057: but they tell us nothing about the wife of Guy and the mother of Raynaud, or about her second marriage with Nocher of Bar. Whether Bouchet has extracted it from the old monuments is unknown to me. But from the way in which he arranges the matter, it follows that Nocher I was called count of Soissons for no other reason than because he had married the widow of the count of Soissons, and had governed that county for some time, perhaps because his stepson Raynaud was younger: and thus it is explained why Nocher's successors could only be called counts of Bar, but not of Soissons.
  48 Barum, or Barium, is a triple city in the provinces of Gaul; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc), the principal city of the duchy of Bar on the border of Lorraine and Campania; BarumSequanum (Bar-sur-Seine), a town and county in the duchy of Burgundy; and Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube), a town and county in the province of Campania, so called, says Baudrand, because it sits on the Alba (Aube) river at the foot of a hill in the most beautiful tract and in the Bassinian tract, but which was once, according to the Charter just cited, a castle situated on a mountain. About a quarter of a mile distant from there is Firmitas, also to distinguish it from several towns or camps of the same name, called at the Alba (la Ferté sur Aube), a town built by Achard in Campania on the river.

Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube pages xiii-xiv (Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, 1859)
  Les comtes héréditaires de Bar-sur-Aube (1) descendent d’un normand appelé Achard (Achardus), qui fonda, au Xe siècle, la petite ville de la Ferté-sur-Aube. De sa femme Achardie (Achardia) il eut un fils, Nocher Ier, qui épousa, en 992, Alaïs ou Adélaïde, comtesse de Soissons. Adélaïde avait eu d’un premier mariage avec Guy de Vermandois, mort après l’année 989, un fils nommé Rainaud, qui succéda au comté de Soissons après le décès de sa mère, en 1047 au plus tard (2). De Nocher Ier elle eut un second fils qui porta le même nom que son père qui après le décès de ce dernier devint comte de Bar-sur-Aube, au commencement du XIe siècle, et qui se signala par des libéralités envers l’abbaye de Saint-Claude (1).
  (1) Le principal travail à consulter est le Commentaire sur la vie de saint Simon, ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, page 711 et suivantes.
  (2) Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727.
  (1) Il est le premier pour qui la qualité de comte de Bar-sur-Aube soit rigoureusement prouvée (Charte de 1076 ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 733 E.F.). M. CHEVALĪER, Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube, page 126, lui donne pour prédécesseur un certain Hérard, parent d’Herbert II, comte de Vermandois; mais nous doutons que ce soit sur des autorités suffisantes.
This roughly translates as:
  The hereditary counts of Bar-sur-Aube (1) descended from a Norman named Achard (Achardus), who founded the small town of Ferté-sur-Aube in the 10th century. By his wife Achardie (Achardia), he had a son, Nocher I, who married Alaïs, or Adelaide, countess of Soissons, in 992. From a first marriage to Guy de Vermandois, who died after 989, Adelaide had a son named Rainaud, who succeeded to the county of Soissons following his mother's death, no later than 1047 (2). By Nocher I, she had a second son who bore the same name as his father; following the latter's death in the early 11th century, he became count of Bar-sur-Aube and distinguished himself through his acts of generosity toward the abbey of Saint-Claude (1).
  (1) The primary work to consult is the Commentary on the Life of Saint Simon (in BOLLAND, September, VIII, page 711 et seq.).
  (2) Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727.
  (1) He is the first for whom the title of count of Bar-sur-Aube is conclusively proven (Charter of 1076; cf. BOLLAND, September, VIII, 733 E.F.). M. CHEVALĪER, in Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube, page 126, identifies a certain Hérard, a relative of Herbert II, count of Vermandois, as his predecessor; however, we question whether this claim rests on sufficient authority. 

Sources:

Nocher II

Father: Nocher I

Mother: Alaid

Children:
Occupation: Count of Bar-sur-Aube

Notes:
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 pp720-721 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
§ V. Præclara stirps matris S. Simonis; nuptiæ ipsius cum Rodulfo Crispeiensi comite; repudii a nonnullis asserti evidens refutatio.
Expositis xpositis titulis ac dignitatibus generis paterni, ad qualemcumque maternæ stirpis notitiam genealogicam cum Chiffletio procedimus. Verbis num. 33 recitatis mox addit Chiffletius: Rodulpho (Simonis genitori) tres fuere ex ordine uxores. Prima Adela, Nocheri Barrensis ad Albam comitis filia, Nocheri comitis Suessionum neptis, Achardi proneptis, quem genere Normannum et Firmitatis ad Albam conditorem facit Charta vetus ἀνεπίγραφα, quam ex contentis Dominorum Firmitatis, sive Cellæ Firmitatis Advocatorum notitiam inscribere licet.
… 44 Nihil præter ista de matris familia, ejusdemve quatuor seu sponsis seu maritis, tradit Chiffletius; haud dubie, quia sicut pauca, quæ dederat de paterna Simonis stirpe plenius intellecta voluit ex Gallica Boucheti Dissertatione, ita quæ hic de materna perstrinxit, distincte satis cognoscenda putavit tum ex eodem Boucheto, tum ex ea, quam laudat, Charta, similiter ad probationes suas destinata. Et sane utrobique prolixius de iis agitur; at etiam hic repetitionis evitandæ causa, solam Chartam, quæ latine exarata est, et, ni fallor, Boucheto præluxit transcribam. Titulus is illi præfixus est: Genealogia materna S. Simonis comitis, et adscripta hæc Chiffletii admonitio: Ex Charta de Advocatis Cellæ Firmitatis ad Albam, seu Notitia ejus loci dominorum, quam descripsimus ex veteri codice ms. S Eugendi Jurensis. Tum sequitur ipsa Charta seu Notitia: Conditor Firmitatis vocatus est Achardus, et uxor ejus Achardia: fueruntque Normanni. Ex his Nocherius comes Suessionem egressus traditur: de quo alius Nocherius, Wido quoque clericus frater ejus sunt orti. Hic secundus Nocherius duas filias habuit, Comitissam scilicet (quæ et Adelhida) et Isabel. Sed Isabel Galterius de Clamice uxorem duxit et medietatem totius honoris possedit: habuitque ex ea filium, Rodulfum nomine, qui apud Firmitatem jam juvenis strangulatus fuisse traditur.
… 47 Ex ista Charta satis intelligimus, quomodo Barrensis comitatus, exstincta majorum suorum stirpe masculina, dominium adepta sit mater Simonis et post illius ac patris Rodulfi obitum ipsemet Simon: at quæri potest, qua de causa Nocherius seu Nocherus, Achardi filius et Simonis proavus, vocitetur ibidem comes Suessionum, non item Nocherius II, illius filius et heres, vel alius ex posteris. Rationem colligendam præbet Bouchetus in Dissertatione his verbis ex gallico latine redditis: Nocherius I hujus nominis (Achardi nempe filius) comes Barensis ab Albam anno 992 uxorem duxit Alaidem (Alix) comitissam Suessionensem, filiam comitis Gilberti, viduam Guidonis Viromanduensem, et matrem Rainaudi comitis Suessionensis, anno 1057 defuncti.... Ex conjugio Nocherii et Alaidis nati sunt Nocherius II, comes Barensis, et Wido seu Guido clericus. De comitibus Suessionensibus agunt Chesnius in Historia familiæ Castellionææ pag. 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani tom. I Historiæ genealogicæ domus Franciæ pag. 376 et fuse Claudius Dormay lib. 5 Historiæ Suessionensis, statuuntque omnes Guidonem Suessionum comitem sub regibus Lothario et Hugone Capeto, id est, senescente sæculo 10, ac Guidoni filium et successorem assignant Rainaudum, anno 1057 vita functum: sed de uxore Guidonis et Rainaudi matre aut de hujus secundis nuptiis cum Nocherio Barensi, nil nos docent. An ea ex vetustis monumentis eruerit Bouchetus incompertum mihi est. Sed ex modo, quo rem disponit, omnino sequitur, non alio ex capite Nocherium I dictum fuisse Suessionum comitem, quam quia comitis Suessionensis viduam duxerat, et comitatum istum, forte quod privignus Rainaudus minorennis esset, aliquamdiu gubernarit: atque sic declaratur, cur Nocherii successores tantum Barrenses, non autem Suessionenses comites appellari potuerint.
  48 Barum autem, seu Barium triplex est in Galliæ provinciis; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc) civitas præcipua Barensis ducatus in confinio Lotharingiæ et Campaniæ; Barum ad Sequanum (Bar-sur-Seine) oppidum et comitatus in Burgundiæ ducati; et Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube) oppidum cum comitatu in Campania provincia, sic dictum, inquit Baudrandus, quia ad Albulam, (al. Albam) fluvium sedet ad radices collis in tractu peramœno et in Bassiniaco tractu, sed quod olim juxta mox allatam Chartam castrum erat in monte situm. Quarto inde circiter milliario distat Firmitas, etiam ut distinguatur a pluribus ejusdem appellationis seu oppidis seu castris, ad Albam cognominata (la Ferté sur Aube) oppidum ab Achardo constructum in Campania ad fluvium. Barensem itaque comitatum tertio loco nominatum, Rodulfo Crispeiensi, (qui cur in Charta Calvimontis comes vocetur, jam præmonuimus) dotem attulit Nocherii Barrensis filia, quam Charta eadem Comitissam appellat et Adelhidam: Comitissam verosimillime, quia, cum defectu prolis masculinæ ad ipsam devolvi deberet comitatus, ita a suis communius nominabatur, quamvis in Baptismo ei inditum esset nomen Adelhidæ seu Adelæ, quod idem est, quodque ea ætate in familiis præsertim illustrioribus erat frequentissimum, sed diversimode efferebatur ac scribebatur.
This roughly translates as:
§ V. The illustrious lineage of the mother of St. Simon; her marriage to Rudolf, count of Crispien; a clear refutation of the divorce alleged by some.
Having set out the titles and dignities of the paternal line, we proceed with Chiffletius to some genealogical knowledge of the maternal line. After reciting words no. 33, Chiffletius soon adds: Rodolfo (Simon's father) had three wives in order. The first, Adela, daughter of count Nocher of Barrens ad Alba, granddaughter of count Nocher of Soissons, great-granddaughter of Achard, whom an old anonymous Charter makes Norman by lineage and founder of Firmitatis ad Alba, which it is possible to inscribe from the contents of the Lords of Firmitatis, or the Cell of Firmitatis Advocates.
… 44 Chiffletius gives nothing beyond this about his mother's family, or her four spouses or husbands; no doubt, because just as he wished the few things he had given about Simon's paternal lineage to be more fully understood from Bouchet's French Dissertation, so he thought that what he has here summarized about his maternal lineage could be clearly understood both from Bouchet himself and from that Charter which he praises, similarly intended for his proofs. And indeed, in both places they are discussed at length; but here also, for the sake of avoiding repetition, I will transcribe only the Charter, which was written in Latin and, if I am not mistaken, preceded Bouchet. The title is prefixed to it: The maternal genealogy of the count St. Simon, and this admonition of Chiffletius is attached: From the Charter of the Advocates of Firmitatis at Alba, or the Notice of the lords of the place, which we have described from the old codex of the manuscript of St. Eugenius of Jurensis. Then follows the Charter or Notice itself: The founder of Firmitatis was called Achardus, and his wife Achardia: and they were Normans. From these, count Nocher is said to have left Soissons: from whom another Nocher, and Wido, also a cleric, his brother, were born. This second Nocher had two daughters, namely the Countess (who was Adelhida) and Isabel. But Isabel married Galterius de Clamice and possessed half of the whole honour: and by her he had a son, named Rodulf, who is said to have been strangled at Firmitatis when he was still a young man.
… 47 From this Charter we understand sufficiently how the county of Bar, the male line of his ancestors having become extinct, was acquired by Simon's mother and after the death of her and her father Rodulf, Simon himself: but it may be asked why Nocherius or Nocher, son of Achard and great-grandfather of Simon, is there called count of Soissons, and not Nocher II, his son and heir, or another of his descendants. Bouchet provides a reason for collecting it in his Dissertation in these words rendered from French into Latin: Nocher I of this name (son of Achard, that is to say) count of Bar-sur-Aube in the year 992 married Alaid (Alix), countess of Soissons, daughter of count Gilbert, widow of Guy of Vermandois, and mother of Rainaud, count of Soissons, deceased in the year 1057.... From the marriage of Nocher and Alaid were born Nocher II, count of Bar, and Wido or Guy the cleric. Du Chesne deals with the counts of Soissons in his History of the Castellian Family, page 150 et seqq.; Sammarthani, volume I, Historia genealogicae domus Franciae, page 376, and Claudius Dormay, book 5, Historia Suessonne, and they all establish Guy as count of Soissons under kings Lothair and Hugh Capet, that is, in the 10th century, and assign Guy as his son and successor, Raynaud, who died in 1057: but they tell us nothing about the wife of Guy and the mother of Raynaud, or about her second marriage with Nocher of Bar. Whether Bouchet has extracted it from the old monuments is unknown to me. But from the way in which he arranges the matter, it follows that Nocher I was called count of Soissons for no other reason than because he had married the widow of the count of Soissons, and had governed that county for some time, perhaps because his stepson Raynaud was younger: and thus it is explained why Nocher's successors could only be called counts of Bar, but not of Soissons.
  48 Barum, or Barium, is a triple city in the provinces of Gaul; Barum Ducis (Bar-le-Duc), the principal city of the duchy of Bar on the border of Lorraine and Campania; BarumSequanum (Bar-sur-Seine), a town and county in the duchy of Burgundy; and Barum ad Albam (Bar-sur-Aube), a town and county in the province of Campania, so called, says Baudrand, because it sits on the Alba (Aube) river at the foot of a hill in the most beautiful tract and in the Bassinian tract, but which was once, according to the Charter just cited, a castle situated on a mountain. About a quarter of a mile distant from there is Firmitas, also to distinguish it from several towns or camps of the same name, called at the Alba (la Ferté sur Aube), a town built by Achard in Campania on the river. Therefore, the county of Bar-sur-Aube, named in third place, was brought as a dowry to Rodulf Crispiens (who is called count of Calvimont, as we have already mentioned) by the daughter of Nocher of Bar, whom the same Charter calls Countess and Adelhide: Countess most likely, because, since the county should have devolved to her in the absence of male offspring, she was more commonly called that by her relatives, although at baptism she was given the name Adelhide or Adela, which is the same, and which at that time was most common in especially illustrious families, but it was pronounced and written in different ways.

Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube pages xiii-xiv (Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, 1859)
  Les comtes héréditaires de Bar-sur-Aube (1) descendent d’un normand appelé Achard (Achardus), qui fonda, au Xe siècle, la petite ville de la Ferté-sur-Aube. De sa femme Achardie (Achardia) il eut un fils, Nocher Ier, qui épousa, en 992, Alaïs ou Adélaïde, comtesse de Soissons. Adélaïde avait eu d’un premier mariage avec Guy de Vermandois, mort après l’année 989, un fils nommé Rainaud, qui succéda au comté de Soissons après le décès de sa mère, en 1047 au plus tard (2). De Nocher Ier elle eut un second fils qui porta le même nom que son père qui après le décès de ce dernier devint comte de Bar-sur-Aube, au commencement du XIe siècle, et qui se signala par des libéralités envers l’abbaye de Saint-Claude (1).
  Nocher II eut deux filles, Adélaïde et Isabelle. Isabelle, la plus jeune, fut dame de la Ferté, épousa Gautier de Clamecy et en eut un fils nommé Raoul, qui était déjà un jeune homme quand il périt étranglé. Adélaïde, fille aînée de Nocher II, reçut, pour sa part de l’hérédité paternelle, le comté de Bar-surAube, et par suite de la mort de sa sœur et de son neveu, la seigneurie de la Ferté lui échut.
  (1) Le principal travail à consulter est le Commentaire sur la vie de saint Simon, ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, page 711 et suivantes.
  (2) Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727.
  (1) Il est le premier pour qui la qualité de comte de Bar-sur-Aube soit rigoureusement prouvée (Charte de 1076 ap. BOLLAND, septembre, VIII, 733 E.F.). M. CHEVALĪER, Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube, page 126, lui donne pour prédécesseur un certain Hérard, parent d’Herbert II, comte de Vermandois; mais nous doutons que ce soit sur des autorités suffisantes.
This roughly translates as:
  The hereditary counts of Bar-sur-Aube (1) descended from a Norman named Achard (Achardus), who founded the small town of Ferté-sur-Aube in the 10th century. By his wife Achardie (Achardia), he had a son, Nocher I, who married Alaïs, or Adelaide, countess of Soissons, in 992. From a first marriage to Guy de Vermandois, who died after 989, Adelaide had a son named Rainaud, who succeeded to the county of Soissons following his mother's death, no later than 1047 (2). By Nocher I, she had a second son who bore the same name as his father; following the latter's death in the early 11th century, he became count of Bar-sur-Aube and distinguished himself through his acts of generosity toward the abbey of Saint-Claude (1).
  Nocher II had two daughters, Adélaïde and Isabelle. Isabelle, the younger, was lady of La Ferté; she married Gautier de Clamecy and bore him a son named Raoul, who was already a young man when he met his death by strangulation. Adélaïde, Nocher II’s eldest daughter, received the county of Bar-sur-Aube as her share of the paternal inheritance; following the deaths of her sister and nephew, the lordship of La Ferté also fell to her.
  (1) The primary work to consult is the Commentary on the Life of Saint Simon (in BOLLAND, September, VIII, page 711 et seq.).
  (2) Art de vérifier les dates, II, 727.
  (1) He is the first for whom the title of count of Bar-sur-Aube is conclusively proven (Charter of 1076; cf. BOLLAND, September, VIII, 733 E.F.). M. CHEVALĪER, in Histoire de Bar-sur-Aube, page 126, identifies a certain Hérard, a relative of Herbert II, count of Vermandois, as his predecessor; however, we question whether this claim rests on sufficient authority. 

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