Elder House of Welf

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(Elder) House of Welf
Rudolphins
Kingdom of Burgundy
  • Kingdom of East Francia
    • Founded8th century
    FounderRuthard, Count of Argengau
    Current headNone; extinct
    Final rulerRudolph III (Burgundy)
    Welf of Carinthia (Swabia)
    Titles
    List
    Estate(s)Orbe Castle
    Dissolution1032 (1032) (Burgundy)
    1055 (1055) (Swabia)

    The Elder House of Welf (known as Rudolphins in

    Burgundian and a Swabian group. It has not been definitively clarified, however, whether the two groups formed one dynasty or whether they shared the same name by coincidence only. While the Elder House became extinct in the male line with the death of Duke Welf of Carinthia in 1055, his sister Kunigunde married into the Italian House of Este and became the ancestor of the (Younger) House of Welf
    .

    Origins

    Family tree of the Welfs from the Historia Welforum.

    According to a family tradition, the ancestry of the Welfs can be traced back to the

    Attila the Hun, and to his son Odoacer, King of Italy from 476.[3] Nevertheless, an early ancestor may have been the Frankish nobleman Ruthard (d. before 790), a count in the Argengau and administrator of the Carolingian king Pepin the Younger in Alamannia
    .

    The origin of the name Welf (also

    Guelders, his mother secretly informed him of the circumstances of his birth. The shocked young man waived both the duchess' hand and rule in Swabia. Retired, he spent the rest of his life at the Altdorf
    monastery. Only on his deathbed did he reveal the truth about his descendance and become known thenceforth as Herzog Wolf (Duke Wolf). Another popular version refers to the eleven (elf) sons of one Count Isenbart of Altdorf, whose mother wanted them to be drowned and years later was faced with those among them who escaped death.

    Burgundian group

    The older of the two groups was the Burgundian group. When the name first appeared in surviving documents, the family was already at the top of

    Conrad and Rudolf accompanied their sister to the court of her husband, Louis the Pious, where their ambitious spirit maintained their hereditary rank, and where they shared the happy, as well as the adverse fortunes of that sister. When Judith was surprised and confined by her stepsons, her brothers were shaven as monks but claimed and obtained permission to stand beside the throne. Judith's sister Hemma (* 808 † 876) later married Judith's stepson Louis the German
    and became Queen of the Franks.

    Conrad had two sons:

    Conrad II, who succeeded him; and Hugh, from his church preferment, styled the Abbot. He is traditionally given a third son, Welf I
    of the Swabian group.

    Conrad II succeeded his father as Count of Paris, and recovered the Burgundian estates of his grand-uncle Otkarius. He left an only son Rudolph who assumed the royal crown at the abbey of St Maurice en Valais in 888, who confirmed his independence with two victories over Arnulf, and was then acknowledged emperor in a general diet of the empire. His son, Rudolph II succeeded to this new-formed state, which included the French or western part of Switzerland, Franche-Comté, Savoy, Dauphiné, Provence, and the country between the Rhine and the Alps, and was known as the kingdom of Burgundy. He twice attempted the conquest of Italy, and for a period of three years governed that kingdom.

    His son and successor,

    Otto III. Conrad was succeeded by his son Rudolph III, surnamed the Lossy. When Rudolph III died childless in 1032 without issue the sovereignty of the kingdom of Burgundy devolved as a fief or legacy to his nephew Conrad of Swabia
    , who was elected emperor in 1024. With Rudolph, this branch became extinct in the male line.

    The last member of the Burgundian group was King Rudolph III of Burgundy, who died childless in 1032.

    Notable members of the Burgundian group

    Swabian group

    The oldest known member of the Swabian group was

    Altdorf
    ) is, again, known only through legend.

    The Elder House of Welf became extinct when Welf, Duke of Carinthia, died childless in 1055. The property of the House of Welf was inherited by the elder branch of the House of Este that came to be known as the younger House of Welf, or House of Welf-Este.

    Notable members of the Swabian group

    Rulers

    For a complete table of rulers, see House of Welf § Rulers of the House of Welf.

    References

    1. ^ a b Haedicke, Hugo (1865). Études sur le royaume de Bourgogne et de Provence (in French). J. F. Starke. p. 32.
    2. ^
      ISBN 9782905637994
      .
    3. ^ Gleditsch, Johann Friedrich (1751). Zuverlaessige nachrichten von dem gegenwaertigen zustande: veraenderung und wachsthum der wissenschaften, Band 12 (in German). Germany: Johann Friedrich Gleditsch. pp. 453–54.
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