Herbert II, Count of Vermandois

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois
Count of Vermandois Count of Meaux Count of Soissons
Count of Soissons
Reign	907–930
Predecessor	Herbert I
Successor	Guy I
Count of Vermandois
Reign	907–943
Predecessor	Herbert I
Successor	Adalbert I
Count of Meaux
Reign	907–943
Predecessor	Herbert I
Successor	Robert of Vermandois
Died	943
Spouse	Adele
Issue	Eudes Adalbert I Adela Herbert 'the Old' Robert Luitgarde Hugh of Vermandois
Dynasty	Carolingian dynasty
Father	Herbert I of Vermandois
Mother	Bertha

Herbert II (died 23 February 943), Count of Vermandois, Count of Meaux, and Count of Soissons. He was the first to exercise power over the territory that became the province of Champagne.

Herbert was the son of Herbert I of Vermandois. He was apparently well aware of his descent from Charlemagne. Herbert inherited the domain of his father and in 907, added to it the Abbey of St. Medard, Soissons. He took the position of Lay abbot entitling him to the income of those estates. His marriage with a daughter of king Robert I of France brought him the County of Meaux.

In 922, when Seulf became Archbishop of Rheims, in an effort to appease Herbert II Seulf solemnly promised him he could nominate his successor. In 923, Count Herbert took the bold step of imprisoning King Charles III, who died still a captive in 929. Then, on the death of Seulf in 925, with the help of King Rudolph, he acquired for his second son Hugh (then five years old) the archbishopric of Rheims. Herbert took the additional step of sending emissaries to Rome to Pope John X to gain his approval, which that pope gave in 926. On his election young Hugh was sent to Auxerre to study.

In 926, on the death of Count Roger of Laon, Herbert demanded this countship for Eudes, his eldest son. He took the town in defiance of King Rudolph leading to a clash between the two in 927. Using the threat of releasing King Charles III, who he held captive, Herbert managed to hold the city for four more years. But after the death of Charles in 929, Rudolph again attacked Laon in 931 successfully defeating Herbert. The same year the king entered Rheims and defeated archbishop Hugh, the son of Herbert.Artaud became the new archbishop of Reims. Herbert II then lost, in three years, Vitry, Laon, Château-Thierry, and Soissons. The intervention of his ally, Henry the Fowler, allowed him to restore his domains (except Rheims and Laon) in exchange for his submission to King Rudolph.

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