Baldwin I, Margrave of Flanders

Count Baldwin rose to prominence when he eloped with Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia.

[1] Around the Christmas of 861, at the instigation of Baldwin and with her brother Louis's consent, Judith escaped the custody into which she had been placed in the city of Senlis, Oise after her return from England.

Charles had given no permission for a marriage and tried to capture Baldwin, sending letters to Rorik of Dorestad and Bishop Hungar, forbidding them to shelter the fugitive.

Charles the Bald refused to attend either the betrothal or the marriage, but he restored Baldwin to all his previous honors.

[3] King Charles appointed Baldwin Margrave of Flanders, responsible for repelling the Viking invasions.

Investiture of Baldwin I by Charles the Bald, as imagined in the 15th century