Gozelo I, Count of Montaigu


Gozelon, was Count of Behogne and then Count of Montaigu, and is of unknown parentage. He was also avoué of Saint-Barthélémy, Liège, beginning in 1043. Onomastics would suggest that the name Gozelon implies a family connection with the House of Verdun, who had several men with this name and a strong presence in the same Ardennes region. Gozlin, Count of the Ardennes, for example, had a grandson Gozelon, Count of Bastogne, the successor to his father Reginar. Another one of Gozlin's grandsons, was also known as Gozelo, but there is no direct evidence for a relationship.
In 1038, in an act witnessed by Gozelon, Gothelo the Great, Duke of Lorraine, Arnold I, Count of Looz, and an unknown count named Sigebold, the Archbishop of Trier Poppo von Babenberg restored the monastery of St. Matheus of Trier. Gozelon apparently destroyed the church at Marly and was subsequently buried at the church of Saint Hubert, the Apostle of the Ardennes.
Gozelon married Ermentrude de Grandpré, daughter of Widrich I, Count of Clermont, and his wife Hersende. Gozelon and Ermentrude had five children:
After the death of Gozelon, his widow Ermentrude married Fredelon of Esch and had at least one child, Giselbert, Count of Esch. Members of the House of Esch could be seen in historical documents until the 13th century but then vanished.
Gozelon was the patriarch of the family of Counts of Montaigu that eventually became Counts of Duras, by marriage to an heiress. Gozelon was succeeded as Count of Montaigu by his son Conon, a knight in service of his brother-in-law Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. For further details on the transition from Gozelon to his son, see Conon.