Background
In fact, Sophia, the daughter of Duke Frederick II of the House of Ardennes, who had inherited the counties of Bar and Montbéliard, had a husband named Louis, who contested the succession.
In fact, Sophia, the daughter of Duke Frederick II of the House of Ardennes, who had inherited the counties of Bar and Montbéliard, had a husband named Louis, who contested the succession.
He was the son and successor of Gerhard and Hedwige of Namur. He is sometimes numbered Theodoric I if the dukes of the House of Ardennes, who ruled in Upper Lorraine from 959 to 1033, are ignored in favour of the dukes of Lower Lorraine as predecessors of the later dukes of Lorraine. However, Emperor Henry IV confirmed Theodoric the Valiant in the duchy.
Probably for this reason, Theodoric remained faithful to the emperors throughout his rule.
He fought the Saxons while they were at war with the Emperor between 1070 and 1078 and he opposed the popes Gregory VII and Urban II when they were in conflict with the Emperor. In 1095, he planned to take up the Cross (ie, go on Crusade, specifically the First), but his ill health provoked him to drop out, nevertheless convincing his barons to go east.
