Herbert was the son of
Herbert I of Vermandois. He was apparently well aware of his descent from
Charlemagne. Herbert inherited the titles of his father in 907: count of Soissons, count of Vermandois, including the positions of
Lay abbot of
St. Quentin and
St. Médard 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. He acquired the county of
Beauvais on the death of his relative, Count Bernard. In 922, when Seulf became
Archbishop of Rheims, in an effort to appease Herbert II, Seulf solemnly promised Herbert II that 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 I 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, whom 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. Later Herbert allied with
Hugh the Great and
William Longsword,
duke of Normandy against King
Louis IV, who allocated the County of Laon to Roger II, the son of Roger I, in 941. Herbert and Hugh the Great took back Rheims and captured Artaud. Hugh, the son of Herbert, was restored as archbishop. Again the mediation of the German King
Otto I in
Visé, near
Liège, in 942 allowed for the normalization of the situation. ==Death and legacy==