Baldwin+I,+Count+of+Flanders

=Baldwin I, Count of Flanders= Baldwin's date of birth is unknown to historians, but is assumed to be in the 830s. He died in 879. Baldwin was born in France, and his first appearance in historical records show that he was already a count, however it is still unknown if this is to be true. He is most famous for being the first Margrave of Flanders. He fell in love with and married the daughter of Charles the Bald, Judith, but not after a lot of escaping and pleading.

Baldwin I was known as Baldwin Iron Arm. He achieved his nickname by fighting off the Vikings, and treating those who dared to attack Flanders harshly. Baldwin became the Margrave of Flanders after he married Judith, but that took some time. Charles the Bald had not given his daughter permission to marry anybody, and made many attempts to break the two up. At first, he tried to capture Baldwin. He sent letters to his guards that if they saw him to capture him. He also said that if a guard were to shelter the fugitive, that they would be punished. After that attempt failed, Charles tried to excommunicate the two. Baldwin and Judith responded by heading to Rome to explain their problem to Pope Nicolas I. Their pleading worked, and Charles was force to accept the marriage proposal. The couple got married on December 13, 862. They had three sons: Baldwin II, who succeeded his father, Charles (named after his maternal grandfather) who died at a young age, and Raoul, who became Count of Cambrai, but was captured by Count Herbert and murdered. They also had a daughter Guinidilda, who married Wilfred the Hairy.

Baldwin affected the area of Flanders by being the first to make Flanders a little more known to the world at the time as a place to not mess with He also showed that even the toughest forces, like the Vikings, could be taken down with a bit of quick thinking and lots of brute force. The city of Ghent also exists because of Baldwin I; it sprung up around a castle he built to protect the area from the Vikings. He also built a castle at Bruges for the same purpose.