Genealogy
AD 770?-965
(Under construction)
"Liudolfing" Dukes of Saxony, Kings of Germany
Historical notes on Saxony (Sachsen), Genealogical data
For younger generations of ancestors who are descended from this family:
| see page on | Kleve |
|---|---|
| see page on | Metz |
| see page on | Brabant |
| see page on | "Capets" of France |
The name Saxony is derived from "saxos", a type of short sword which was used by the ancient Saxon tribe who were living in the north-west of Europe. They conquered England about 400 AD, and from that moment we speak of Anglo-Saxons. Their contemporaries described the Saxons as lawless, wild, and untamed. In 772 Charlemagne set out to subjugate the Saxons at his eastern border and replace their pagan beliefs with the Christian faith. The Saxons under their leader "Duke" Widukind (like Charlemagne, also our ancestor) were however very difficult to deal with. In spite of having pledged allegiance to Charlemagne, hostilities were continuing. In 782, a large Frankish occupying army was annihilated, but after a battle near Verdun, Charlemagne was victoriuous again. Duke Widukind was able to flee to Denmark, but Charlemagne took about 5000 Saxon warriors prisoner, and this time they were not given another chance to improve their behaviour, but were all killed without mercy. This shocking act finally broke their resistance, and it earned Charlemagne the nickname "Butcher of the Saxons". In 785 Widukind and all his followers were christened, the first occasion where a whole people became Christians by force. Resistance flared up again in 792, and this time Charlemagne ended it by deporting parts of the Saxon people. Charlemagne's Empire began crumbling after the death of his son and successor Louis the Pious. Saxony became a Duchy within the Kingdom of East-Francia ("Germany"), together with the other German "stem-duchies" of Bavaria (Bayern), Swabia (Schwaben), and Franconia (Frankenland). After the death of the last Karolingian, Ludwig "the Child" in 911, Duke Conrad I of Franconia became King of Germany , but he was unable to establish his Royal authority over the other Dukes, his former colleagues. From around 900 AD, invasions of plundering Hungarians had become ever more frequent and larger in scale, and penetrated ever deeper into Germany. King Konrad was also unable to put up much of a resistance against this threat. On his deathbed in 919, in agreement with the Dukes of Swabia and Bavaria, Konrad named Duke Heinrich I of Saxony as his successor, instead of his own son, starting the Saxon dynasty which lasted until the death of Heinrich II in 1024.
Child of
Unknown
and Unknown
(See 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34 generations back)
Berno ?
(202 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000014 %)
* ? x Hazela of Saxony + ?
Berno apparently became the new leader of the Saxon tribe through his wife Hazela, who was a daughter of "Duke" Widukind.
Child of
Berno ? (?-?)
and Hazela of Saxony (?-?)
(See 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33 generations back)
Liudolf, Margrave in East-Saxony
(202 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000029 %)
* 806 x Oda Billung + 874
Children of
Liudolf, Margrave in East-Saxony (806-874)
and Oda Billung (796-913)
(See 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32 generations back)
Bruno, Margrave in East-Saxony
* ? + 880
Otto I "The Illustrious", Count of Thuringia, Duke of Saxony
(202 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000057 %)
* 845? x Edwige de la Marche (875?) + 13-11-912
Liutgarde of Saxony
* ? x Louis II of Karolingians (876) + 885
For her descendants see the page on .....(Under construction)
Children of
Otto I "The Illustrious", Count of Thuringia, Duke of Saxony (845?-912)
and Edwige de la Marche (856?-903)
(See 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 generations back)
Heinrich I "The Fowler", Duke of Saxony, King of Germany
(63 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000041 %)
* 876 x (Saint) Mathilde of Ringelheim (of Westphalia) (909) + 2-7-936 (Memleben)
In 919, Duke Heinrich I of Saxony, while hunting birds, was told that he was chosen by King Konrad and the other German
Dukes to become the new King and organise a defence against the Hungarians. This was a very good choice indeed, because
Heinrich greatly increased Germany's power. In 925, Heinrich added the Duchy of Lorraine
to Germany at the expense of King Charles III "The Simple" of West-Francia who had been deposed in a coup a few years
earlier. (Lorraine formally remained part of the German Empire until 1648.) In 932, after steadily having improved Germany's
defensive capabilities, Heinrich felt that time had come to take the initiative against the Hungarians. He deliberately sent
an extreme insult to the enemy leader. The Hungarians thereupon sent their largest army ever which was however decisively
beaten in Thuringia in 933. The following year, Heinrich moved the German army north to Denmark and established a clear
border, at the same time marking the beginning of the introduction of the Christian faith in the Viking lands, about 150
years after Saxony itself had been forced to become part of Christianity.
Mechtild of Saxony
(14 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000000050 %)
* 890 x Boudewijn II of Kleve (Cleves) (905) + ?
For her descendants see the page on Kleve
Oda of Saxony
(125 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000068 %)
* 902 x I. Zwentibold of Lorraine (897) II. Gérard of Metz (902) + ?
For her descendants by Gérard of Metz see the page on Metz
Children of
Heinrich I "The Fowler", Duke of Saxony, King of Germany (875?-936)
and (Saint) Mathilde of Ringelheim (of Westphalia) (890?-968)
(See 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 generations back)
Otto I "The Great", Duke of Saxony, King of Germany and of Italy, Emperor
(20 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000021 %)
* 22-11-912 x I. Edith of England (930) II. Adelaide of Bourgogne (951) + 7-5-973 (Memleben)
King Otto defeated the Hungarians in 955. He supported Pope John XII against Berengarius II of Ivrea, King of Italy, who
threatened to take over the Papal State. Otto defeated and killed Berengarius in 961 and took over the Royal crown of Italy.
(Nine hundred years later the next King of an independent Italy was crowned: Victor Emanuel II of Sardinia, in 1861). Otto "the Great" was crowned Emperor by a grateful Pope on 2-2-962. But eventually, John XII was also deposed by Otto because he had led a revolt against the Emperor which failed. Otto appointed many bishops as local rulers who would answer to him rather than the Pope. Otto preferred these well-educated administrators who could be appointed and dismissed more easily, over
hereditary rulers, who would usually prefer to work for their own family's interests instead of the Emperor's; see next.
For his descendants see below;
Gerberga of Saxony
(11 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000011 %)
* 914? x I. Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine (929) II. Louis IV "Transmarinus", King of West-Francia (939) + 984
King Heinrich "The Fowler" married his daughter Gerberga off to Giselbert, whom he also made Duke of Lorraine in order to
ensure his support for Germany. In 919 Giselbert had led the revolt against King Charles III "The Simple" of West-Francia.
King Heinrich added Lorraine to his kingdom in 925, and from then on it formally remained part of the German Empire until 1648. In 936 Gerberga's brother Otto I "The Great" succeeded his father and started to curb the political influence of Giselbert and other important local rulers, who then turned to the new King of West-Francia for support. Things were decided in 939 at the battle of Andernach which King Otto won. Duke Giselbert himself drowned in the Rhine while fleeing from his enemy. Lorraine was given to Otto's brother, Archbishop Bruno (Brun) of Cologne, see below. Giselbert's widow Gerberga (and sister of King Otto and Archbishop Bruno) quickly remarried Louis IV "Transmarinus" ("Outremer"), King of West-Francia, clearly demonstrating her loyalty to France (and her determination to save her own future and that of her children).
For her descendants by Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine, see the page on the Dukes of Brabant;
for her descendants by Louis IV, King of West-Francia see the page on .....(Under construction)
Heinrich I, Duke of Bavaria
(4 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000000076 %)
* 920? x Judith of Bavaria (938) + 1-11-955
Heinrich first joined his brother-in-law Giselbert and other leaders in the uprising against King Otto, Heinrich's own brother. After having been defeated at Andernach, Heinrich quickly made peace with Otto again, and became Giselbert's successor as Duke in 940. He was however replaced the same year by yet another of our ancestors, Othon of Verdun, an old enemy of Duke Giselbert's family.
For his descendants see below;
Hedwig of Saxony
(28 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000043 %)
* 920? x Hugues "The Great", Count of Paris, Duke of "France" (14-9-937) + 10-5-965
For her descendants see the page on the "Capet" Kings of France
Bruno (Brun) of Saxony, Archbishop of Cologne, Duke of Lorraine
* 925? + 965
Bruno was made Duke of Lorraine in 954. He robbed our ancestor Reinier III, Count of Hainaut, of all his possessions in 958 after a failed attempt by Reinier to get Lorraine back for his family, which had been taken away after his uncle Duke Giselbert's defeat and death at Andernach in 939, see above. For the further developments see the page on Lorraine.
Child of
Otto I "The Great", Duke of Saxony, King of Germany and of Italy, Emperor (912-973)
and Adelaide of Bourgogne (931-999)
(See .. generations back)
Otto II, Duke of Saxony
(20 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000041 %)
* 954 x Theophane of Byzantium (Rome 14-4-972) + 7-12-993 (Rome)
Child of
Otto II, Duke of Saxony (954-993)
and Theophane of Byzantium (956/960-991)
(See .. generations back)
Mathilde of Saxony (of Germany)
(20 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000082 %)
* 981 x Ehrenfried (Ezzo) of the Bonngau, of Lorraine (991) + 4-11-1025 (Esch)
For her descendants see the page on Brabant.
Child of
Heinrich I, Duke of Bavaria (920-955)
and Judith of Bavaria (925-987)
(See .. generations back)
Heinrich II "The Quarrelsome", Duke of Bavaria
(4 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000015 %)
* 946 x Gisèle of Bourgogne (972) + 28-8-995
Children of
Heinrich II "The Quarrelsome", Duke of Bavaria (946-995)
and Gisèle of Bourgogne (955-1006)
(See .. generations back)
Gisela of Bavaria
(.. times our ancestor, blood-relationship .. %)
* 977 x (Saint) Stephan I "The Great", King of Hungary (995) + 1033
For her descendants see the page on ... (under construction)
Bruno of Bavaria
(4 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000030 %)
* ? x Christina of Austria + 24-4-1029
Child of
Bruno of Bavaria (?-1029)
and Christina of Austria (?-1047)
(See .. generations back)
Agatha of Bavaria
(4 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000006054 %)
* ? x Edward III Aetheling, King of England (1035) + ?
For her descendants see the page on ... (under construction)
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