query: place_of_birth altfrid
supports: Ermengarde (or Irmingard) of Hesbaye (c. 778  3 October 818), probably a member of the Robertian dynasty, was Holy Roman Empress from 813 and Queen of the Franks from 814 until her death as the wife of the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious.  Francia or Frankia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks, Frankish Kingdom, Frankish Empire, Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks, a confederation of West Germanic tribes, during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Louis the Pious (778  20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. North Rhine-Westphalia (, commonly shortened to NRW) is the most populous state of Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million, and the fourth largest by area. Its capital is Düsseldorf; the most populous city is Cologne. Four of Germany's ten largest citiesCologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essenare located within the state, as well as the largest metropolitan area on the European continent, Rhine-Ruhr. Latin (Latin: ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets. Charlemagne (2 April 742/747/74828 January 814), also known as Charles the Great or Charles I, was King of the Franks. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern France, Germany and the Low Countries. He took the Frankish throne in 768 and became King of Italy in 774. From 800, he served as the first Holy Roman Emperorthe first recognised emperor in Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with over 11 million inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg (Ruhr Area) in the north, to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf (the state capital), Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Cologne (the region's largest and Germany's fourth largest city), and Bonn in the south. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European blue banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas like the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region. Essen (Latin: "Assindia") is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its population of approximately 589,000 makes it the ninth-largest city in Germany. It is the central city of the northern (Ruhr) part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area and seat to several of the region's authorities. East Francia (Latin: "Francia orientalis") or the Kingdom of the East Franks ("regnum Francorum orientalium") was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire and precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. Until 911 it was ruled by Carolingian dynasty. It was created after the 840-43 civil war between Charlemagne's grandchildren which ended with the Treaty of Verdun which divided the former empire into three kingdoms. By the middle of the 10th century, the kingdom had become usually referred to as Kingdom of Germany or the Holy Roman Empire, therefore making it the earliest stage in the development of the modern German state.  Essen Abbey ("Stift Essen") was a monastery of secular canonesses for women of high nobility in Essen, Germany. It was founded about 845 by the Saxon Altfrid (died 874), later Bishop of Hildesheim and saint, near a royal estate called "Astnidhi", which later gave its name to the religious house and to the town. The first abbess was Altfrid's kinswoman, Gerswit. Sorbs, known also by their former autonyms Lusatians and Wends, are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting their homeland in Lusatia, a region divided between Germany (the states of Saxony and Brandenburg) and Poland (the provinces of Lower Silesia and Lubusz). They traditionally speak the Sorbian languages (also known as "Wendish" and "Lusatian"), closely related to Czech and Polish. Sorbian is an officially recognized minority language of Germany. The Sorbs are linguistically and genetically closest to the Czechs and Poles. Due to a gradual and increasing assimilation between the 17th and 20th centuries, virtually all Sorbs also spoke German by the late 19th century and much of the recent generations no longer speak the languages. The community is divided religiously between Roman Catholicism (the majority) and Lutheranism. Germania was the Roman term for the geographical region in north-central Europe inhabited mainly by Germanic peoples.  Regensburg is a city in south-east Germany, situated at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. With over 140,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. The city is the political, economic and cultural centre of Eastern Bavaria and the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate. Saint Altfrid ( or Altfrid of Hildesheim ) ( died 15 August 874 ) was a leading figure in Germany in the ninth century . A Benedictine monk , he became Bishop of Hildesheim , and founded Essen Abbey . He was also a close royal adviser to the East Frankish King Louis the German . He is a Roman Catholic saint . His feast day is celebrated on 15 August , the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary , but also in Essen and Hildesheim on 16 August . Emma of Altdorf, also known as Hemma ( 31 January 876), a member of the Elder House of Welf, was the wife of King Louis the German, and thereby Queen consort of East Francia from 843 until her death. The Duchy of Bavaria (German: "Herzogtum Bayern") was, from the sixth through the eighth century, a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom and was ruled by dukes ("duces") under Frankish lordship. In the late ninth century a new duchy was created from this area. It was one of the stem duchies of the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Charles the Bald (13 June 823  6 October 877) was the King of West Francia (84377), King of Italy (87577) and Holy Roman Emperor (87577, as Charles II). After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty of Verdun (843) in acquiring the western third of the Carolingian Empire. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith. Louis (also Ludwig or Lewis) "the German" (c. 804-876), also known as Louis II, was the first king of East Francia. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of emperor of Francia, Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye, he received the appellation "Germanicus" shortly after his death in recognition of the fact that the bulk of his kingdom was in the former Germania. 
  Early life.
  His early years were partly spent at the court of his grandfather, Charlemagne, whose special affection he is said to have won. When the emperor Louis the Pious divided his dominions between his sons in 817, Louis was made the ruler of Duchy of Bavaria, following the practice of emperor Charlemagne of bestowing a local kingdom to a close family member who then would serve as his lieutenant and local governor. Louis ruled from Regensburg, the old capital of the Bavarii. In 825 he became involved in wars with the Wends and Sorbs on his eastern frontier. In 827 he married Hemma, sister of his stepmother Judith of Bavaria, both daughters of Welf, whose possessions ranged from Alsace to Bavaria. Louis soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judith's efforts to secure a kingdom for her son Charles the Bald and the consequent struggles of his brothers with their father. Alsace (; Alsatian: "s Elsass" ; German: "Elsass" ) is a cultural and historical region in eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Alsace is located on France's eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. The Ruhr, or the Ruhr district, Ruhr region, Ruhr area or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km² and a population of eight and a half million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany, and third-largest in the European Union. It consists of several large, industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. In the southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 12 million people, which is among the largest in Europe. A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town in general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.
candidates: alsace altdorf aquitaine augsburg bavaria bishop bochum brandenburg central charlemagne cologne dortmund düsseldorf east francia east germany empress essen francia frontier german germany hildesheim ii king legal leverkusen lewis lippe lusatia most mönchengladbach of regensburg roman ruhr saxony silesia union westphalia
answer: cologne