After the death of
Duke Godfrey,
count of Hainaut and
Duke of Lower Lotharingia in 964 in Italy, it has been proposed that the
Emperor Otto I gave Count Richar at least part of the county of Hainault. Count Richar appears in a charter of 2 June 965 making a grant of land at St Villers St Ghislain in memory of Duke Godfrey. In 966 Count Richar was described in a royal charter, as the count holding a county in Liuhgow which included
Voeren (
Furon), and
Cortils in
Blegny (
Curcella). They were described as being
in pago Liuhgouui in comitatu Richarii. In 972 Richer was killed in an attack upon his apparent uncle, Wigfried, Bishop of Verdun, by a certain Count Sigebert in "Wandersalis". This was described in the chronicle of the bishops of Verdun. Scholars note the following evidence for the relationships: • In a grant of 973 to St Pauls in Verdun, Bishop Wigfried, granted land at Lockweiler arranged between him and his two relatives (
sobrini), Count Luithard and his brother Count Richwin, for the soul of his nephew (
nepos) Count Richer. • 15 March 973, the emperor Otto I granted Eckfeld in the Eifel to the
Abbey of Echternach, which Count Richar had previously held. • Richer was memorialized in both St Paul in Verdun and
St Gereon in Cologne on 16 October. In 973, after the death of Richer, a Count "Richizo", appears in a Hainaut grant concerning
Crespin Abbey. Richizo is a name form which could be short for a name beginning with Rich-. Although this Richizo has sometimes been equated to Richer himself, Hlawitschka argued in 1969 that this must be the above-mentioned apparent brother of Richer, Count Richwin. After Richer died there was a battle near Mons where
Reginar IV and
Lambert I attempted to take it over. It was defended by two brothers,
Count Werner and
Renaud, who were both killed. Hlawitschka believes they may have been brothers of Richer, or in any case close relatives. ==Legacy==