Gérard, Duke of Lorraine

Gérard I, Duke of Lorraine
Gérard of Lorraine, and his wife Hedwige
Spouse(s)	Hedwige of Namur
Noble family	House of Metz
Father	Gerard de Bouzonville
Mother	Gisela
Born	c. 1030
Died	14 April 1070(1070-04-14) Remiremont

Gerard (c. 1030 – April 14, 1070) was a Lotharingian nobleman. He was the count of Metz and Châtenois from 1047 to 1048, when his brother Duke Adalbert resigned them to him upon his becoming the Duke of Upper Lorraine. On Adalbert's death the next year, Gérard became duke, a position that he held until his death. In contemporary documents, he is called Gérard of Alsace (after his familial homeland), Gérard of Chatenoy (after an ancestral castle near Neufchâteau), or Gérard of Flanders (after his wife's homeland).

He was the second son of Gérard de Bouzonville, count of Metz, and Gisela who was possibly a daughter of Thierry I, Duke of Upper Lorraine. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, invested Adalbert with Lorraine in 1047 after confiscating it from Godfrey III. Godfrey did not back down, however, and killed Adalbert in battle. Henry subsequently bestowed it on Gérard, but the deposed duke continued to stir. Godfrey had the support of a faction of the noblesse who did not want a strong hand at the ducal helm and Gérard was imprisoned. Gérard, however, had the support of the chiefest of his bishops, that of Toul, Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg (later the sainted Pope Leo IX), who procured his liberation in 1049. The emperor gave him troops to assist him in his fight, for the rebels had the support of some elements in the church. Gérard himself remained, as his brother had, faithful to the end to the imperial dynasty and his descendants would remain so as well even into the Hohenstaufen years.

His alliance with the church was regular but inconstant and he afforded his protection to Moyenmoutier Abbey, Saint-Mihiel Abbey, and Remiremont Abbey. The former was the abbey of Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, who excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius, in 1054, thus precipitating the Great Schism, and the latter was his own final resting place.