Salvert of Dijon (Fictitious)

According to a very popular legend, in the year 620, the prince of Dijon, Salvaert, made his way to the Kingdom of England with his pregnant wife, Ermengaert. While traveling through Flanders, they fell into a trap laid by the local lord, the giant Phinaert. Phinaert had the prince and his men killed. Ermengaert fled and found refuge in the forest, at a hermit's home,where she gave birth to a son. She then died, leaving the baby with the hermit, who gave him the name Lydéric.

Lydéric soon learnt the truth about his origins, and, as a youth, went in search of Phinaert. He found him at the court of Dagobert I at Soissons. Lydéric then killed Phinaert in a duel, thus avenging his parents' deaths. Phinaert's lands were then given to Lydéric, and the young man founded the city of Lille in the year 640.

Sources

• Pierre d'Oudegherst, Annales de Flandre (1789)
• Wikipedia: Legend of Lydéric and Phinaert