Soissons

Alaid

Father: Gilbert

Married (1st): Guy de Vermandois

Guy was the count of Soissons. He was likely the son of Heribert II, count of Vermandois and probably count of Soissons as well. Guy's name appears in a 974 charter in which Lothair of France confirmed the privileges of monastery of Saint-Thierry near Reims. Lothair also confirmed the monastery of Saint-Eloy de Noyon in memory of Guy's brother Liudolf of Vermandois, bishop of Noyon and Tournai. Guy founded the abbey at Saint-Quentin near Péronne, and visited Rome in the mid-980s. He died after 989 and before Alaid's second marriage in 992.

Children:
Married (2nd): Nocher I in 992

Children:
Occupation: Countess of Soissons
Alaid became countess of Soissons on her marriage to Guy, count of Soissons.

Notes:
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p720 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
  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.
This roughly translates as:
  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.

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:

Gilbert

Children:
Occupation: Count
Gilbert is referred to as a count in De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p720 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851), but it is not known of which region.

Notes:
De S. Simone Comite et Monachio in Acta Sanctorum Septembris vol 8 p720 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
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
This roughly translates as:
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

Sources:
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