Richard the Justiciar
Duke of Burgundy (858-921)
Richard the Justiciar (858–921), also known as Richard of Autun, was count of Autun from 880 and the first margrave and duke of Burgundy. He attained suzerainty over all the counties of Burgundy save Mâcon, and by 890, he was referred to as dux (duke) and by 900 as marchio (margrave). By 918, he was being called dux Burgundionem or dux Burgundiae, which probably signified less the existence of a unified Burgundian duchy than feudal suzerainty over a multiplicity of counties in a specific region.
Life
Richard was a Bosonid, the son of Bivin of Gorze and Richildis. His elder brother was Boso of Provence and his younger sister was Richildis, second wife of Charles the Bald.
In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Richard and Boso accompanied Charles to Italy for his imperial coronation. In February 876, in Pavia, while preparing for his return journey, Charles nominated Boso "Duke and Viceroy of Italy and Duke of Provence". In 877, on Charles's death, Boso returned to France and confided the realm of Italy and the Duchy of Provence to Richard and Hugh the Abbot as missi dominici.
In 879, Boso declared himself "King of Provence" following the death of Louis the Stammerer, but Richard defected from Boso and took Boso's county of Autun, which Carloman II confirmed to him in 880. The two joined battle on the Saône and Richard captured Mâcon and garrisoned it in the name of Carloman and Louis III under the command of Bernard Plantapilosa, a relative of the hereditary counts of Mâcon.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q559316. VIAF identifies the subject as 86134226. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard the Justiciar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.