St. Umberto

Abt 1136 - 1189  (~ 52 years)

• Name	Umberto
  Prefix	St.
  Birth	Abt 4 Aug 1136  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	4 Mar 1189  [1]
  Siblings	3 siblings
  1. Agnes of Savoy   d. Bef 1172 ▻ William I of Geneva + 2. Alix of Savoy ▻ Humbert III de Beaujeu ,  m. Abt 1140 + 3. Mafalda of Savoy ,   b. Abt 1125, Savoy, Italy d. 4 Nov 1157, Coimbra, Portugal  (Age ~ 32 years) ▻ Affonso I Henriques, King of Portugal ,  m. 1146 + 4. St. Umberto ,   b. Abt 4 Aug 1136   d. 4 Mar 1189  (Age ~ 52 years) ▻ Beatrice de Mâcon ,  m. Abt 1175
  Person ID	I10726	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of DGH, Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of EK, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of LDN, Ancestor of LMW, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of UKL, Ancestor of WPF
  Last Modified	16 Jan 2023

  
  

  Father	Amadeo III,   b. Abt 1095   d. 30 Aug 1148, Cyprus (Age ~ 53 years)
  Mother	Mahaut of Albon   d. Aft 1145
  Marriage	1123  [1]
  Family ID	F4824	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Beatrice de Mâcon   d. Bef 8 Apr 1230, Champagne-et-Fontaine, Aquitaine, France
  Marriage	Abt 1175  [1, 2]
  Children	+ 1. Tomaso I,   b. 20 Mar 1177, Charbonnieres Castle, Savoy d. 20 Jan 1233, Aosta, Savoy (Age 55 years)
  Family ID	F2331	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jun 2019

  
  

• Notes

  Also called Humbert. Count of Savoy, Maurienne, and Turin. From Tom Major's "Saint of the Day" site: March 4 -- Feast of Blessed Umberto III of Savoy Humbert Humbert is the creepy stepfather narrating Nabokov's Lolita. He has a thing for young girls--nymphets, he calls them. Humbert III had an opposite problem. He had a monastic vocation. Christopher Cope's The Lost Kingdom of Burgundy says that he "was disconsolate at being a prince and preferred the seclusion of the monastery." Unfortunately for him, he was the only son of Amadeus, Duke of Savoy. When Amadeus died, the thirteen-year-old Umberto was plunked on the throne, like it or not, shut up and put your crown back on, Your Grace. The primary responsibility of any landed nobleman in the feudal age was to have a son, of course. This would mean that inheritance was clear and no wars for succession would be fought. There's nothing wrong with young Faidiva of Toulouse, Your Grace. Now do your duty and get into bed. Sadly, poor Faidiva died young. Eighteen-year-old Umberto, having done his best, entered a Carthusian monastery. Not so fast, your Grace. Blood will run through the streets of Cambrai if you don't come back and get married again. Here's lovely Gertrude of Flanders. I know you two will hit it off. Oh my, it's getting late. Off to bed with the two of you. They didn't 'hit it off.' In fact, Umberto divorced her and locked her up. Bishop Robert kindly let her out and sent her back to her brother, the Count of Flanders, but still there was no heir. Your Grace, we know you haven't had much joy in marriage. No, we're not suggesting anything. We just think it is worth trying again. Third times a charm, they say. And take a look at Clementia of Zahringen! She's the divorced wife of Henry the Lion of Saxony. Now, now. You're divorced yourself, you know. And besides, she's got a track record. A son and two daughters by Henry. Not another word about it, Your Grace. Now get busy. Clementia made a valiant effort, bearing two daughters before her death. Despondent over the loss of another wife, Henry thought about withdrawing to a monastery in grief but wiser heads prevailed. The way of all flesh, Your Grace. Speaking of which, you yourself are not getting any younger, you know. You turned forty this year, sir, and we still don't have an heir. Have you met Beatrice of Viennois? Yes, she's thirty-eight, but there's plenty of child-bearing time left. Well, not plenty, but enough. If Your Grace gets the lead out. Tommaso of Savoy was born in 1178. Saint Anthelm himself had blessed Umberto three times to help bring young Thomas (named for Thomas á Becket) into the world. Tommaso was about ten when Umberto, having founded the Monastery of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso, died. When I read about Humbert's divorce and imprisonment of his ex-wife, I wondered how this guy got beatified. But on reflection, he plainly had a divine vocation, and he sacrificed that for the sake of temporal responsibilities. It might seem to be the opposite of Jesus' advice to the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-27, but perhaps it is not. Maybe the act of sacrifice, whether one is giving up the riches of the palace or the austerity of the monastery, is what stores up treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven. ***** Note that Umberto and his fourth wife Beatrice were second cousins once removed, as William "The Great" of Burgundy (d. 1087) was his great-grandfather and her great-great grandfather. Presumably a papal dispensation was obtained.

  
  

• Sources

  [S145] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. 8th edition, William R. Beall & Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, 2006, 2008. [S49] Genealogics by Leo Van de Pas, continued by Ian Fettes and Leslie Mahler.