Ranulf I was a Duke of Aquitaine. Little is known about him except that he died from battle wounds fighting the Vikings.

He is my 30 x great-grandfather.

Ranulf, or Ramnulf, or Rainulf, or Rainulph¹, was born in Aquitaine, France in 815², son of Gerard, Count of Auvergne and Hildegarde^{3 4}.

Ranulf was a popular Viking name and brought to France and England during the Norman conquest⁵. It comes from the Norse ‘wolf counselor’ and is pronounced RA-nulf⁵. It’s an interesting choice of name because Ranulf’s immediate ancestry is Carolingian French, not Norman.

Titles

He was a Count of Poitiers.

Charles the Bald, Ranulf’s uncle, granted him this title¹.

Charles’ father is Louis the Pious, who is Ranulf’s maternal grandfather. This means Ranulf’s mother’s half-brother granted him the title of Count of Poitiers¹.

In 852, he became a Duke of Aquitaine².

Family

His first wife was Rotrude, daughter of Charlemagne³. It’s not clear when this happened but given Rotrude’s likely age, the marriage may have been a marriage of convenience, perhaps to preserve family property or inheritance. After all, Rotrude was Ranulf’s great-aunt!

In 845 he married Bilihilde, or Bilichildis, the daughter of Rorico I (or Rorrick), Count of Maine^{3 6}. Together they had one son:

• Ranulf II of Aquitaine².

Death

He died in Brissarthe, France on 2 October 866 due to wounds received in the Battle of Brissarthe² against the Vikings.

We don’t know where they buried him, if at all. Since he died in battle, and was on the losing side, it’s probable his body was left on the battlefield.

Lineage

He is my 30 x great-grandfather.

References

1. Sir Francis Palgrave (1878). The History of Normandy and of England[↩][↩][↩]
2. Aquitaine, Dukes; Charles Crawley; Medieval Lands; (Retrieved 2018-04-27) [↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Royalty for Commoners (4th edition); Roderick W Stuart; Genealogical Publishing Ltd; 2002[↩][↩][↩]
4. Aquitaine, Dukes; Charles Crawley; Medieval Lands; (Retrieved 2018-04-27) [↩]
5. Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Ranulf; GBTimes.com; (Retrieved 2023-05-25) [↩][↩]
6. Maine; Charles Crawley; Medieval Lands (Retrieved 2018-09-25) [↩]