Saint Ansfried of Utrecht

Saint Ansfried (also Ansfrid, Ansfridus) of Utrecht sometimes called Ansfried the younger (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 appears to have been the son or grandson of Lambert, a nobleman of the Maasgau, the area where he later founded the Abbey of Thorn. He also appears to have been related to various important contemporaries including the royal family. The principal source of information regarding Ansfried is the De diversitatem temporum by the Benedictine Albert of Metz, written around 1022. Ansfried had the same name as a paternal uncle (patruus), Ansfried the elder, a count who supposedly held 15 counties. The young Ansfried studied secular and clerical subjects under another paternal 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. Possibly all or some of his counties were inherited from his paternal uncle of the same name. 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.