Ansfried (bishop of Utrecht)

Saint Ansfried (Ansfrid, Ansfridus) of Utrecht (died 3 May 1010 near Leusden) was Count of Huy and the sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. He became Bishop of Utrecht in 995. He is believed to be the son of Lambert, Count of Louvain, and Herwesindis, daughter of Ricfried, Count of Betuwe.

The principal source of information regarding Ansfried is the De diversitatem temporum by the Benedictine Albert of Metz, written around 1022.

Ansfried was apparently from Leuven and his paternal uncle (patruus) was Ansfried the elder, a count who held 15 counties. The young Ansfried studied secular and clerical subjects under another uncle, Robert, Archbishop of Trier, before attending the cathedral school at Cologne. In 961, Otto I took Ansfried into his personal service and made him his swordbearer. When Otto was in Rome the following year to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, he directed Ansfried to keep close at hand with the sword as a precaution against any unforeseen eventualities. Karl Leyser describes this as a valuable lesson in practicality.

Because of his Christian commitment, he was highly respected and an important knight of the emperor's circle, holding rich possessions along the Meuse, in Brabant and Gelderland. As Count, he had considerable success in suppressing piracy and armed robbery. In 985, Otto III granted Ansfried the right to mint coins at Medemblik, on the north-south shipping route through the Vlie, as well as, the income from tolls and tax collecting.

He was married to Heresuint or Hilsondis. They had one child, Benedicta. He founded a Romanesque abbey church on his wife's estate at Thorn under the patronage of St. Michael. The abbey itself had a double cloister that housed both man and women. Ansfried planned it as a place of retirement for him and his family after he left public service. Under his control, the abbey and lands, of about 1.5 kilometers square, was reichsunmittel, making it subject only to the Emperor. Hereswitha was to be the first abbess but died on her way there; and Benedicta took her place.

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