Berengar II of Neustria

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Berengar II (died 896) was the Count of Bayeux and Rennes and Margrave of the Breton March from 886 until his death a decade later.

Roland and his successors under Guy of Nantes were aristocrats from Maine. Berengar's kin became the first bilingual Breton and Gallo speaking lords holding residence within Brittany (Rennes and Penthièvre, rather than the Loire Valley-predominant Nantes or Vannes, which nevertheless had at least one Franco-Saxon conflict in Angers), as a consequence of the Breton nobility being more or less broken under the Norman invasions of the 880s and as a reward for holding his ground against their attacks.

Berengar may have been son of Henry of Franconia, himself perhaps a member of the Senior Capets through the Babenberg lineage. This has been suggested because (1) Berengar named his supposed daughter with the feminine form of Poppo, a name common among the Babenbergs, and (2) the main Capetian branch had traditionally held the Breton March. There have been alternatives suggested, making him Saxon.

Berengar is speculated to have married the daughter of Gurvand, Duke of Brittany, by which relationship he attained the countship of Rennes. This would make him brother-in-law of Judicael, Duke of Brittany. He is thought to be the Berengar of Bayeux whose daughter Poppa was captured in a raid and married to Rollo of Normandy. Various reconstructions make him father, grandfather, or great-grandfather of Judicael Berengar, later Count of Rennes.

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