old Earl, then returning homeward; who asked her what she had in her apron. She made answer, " Whelps!" He desired to see them. She denied him. Angry at this refusal, he opened her apron; and there found eleven of his own sons, pretty sweet babes, and of most promising countenances. Examining the matter, he found out the truth, and enjoining the old trot to be secret in it, he put the children out to nurse. Six years expired, the Earl invited to a feast most of his own and his wife's kindred; and attiring the young boys all alike, presented them unto their mother, who, suspecting by the number of them what the matter was, confessed the offence, was pardoned by the good old Earl; and carefully educated her children, whom the Earl commanded to be called by the name of Guelps, alluding to the whelps or puppies, which the nurse told him she had in her apron."* Guelph I. was cotemporary with Charlemaine. He was called sometimes Count, and at other times Duke of Bavaria. He died A. D. 820. His wife was Hedwig, daughter of a noble Saxon family; by whom he had, first, Ethico; second, Rudolph, Count of Altorf, third, Conrad, Count of Altorf; fourth, Jutta, or Lutgarda, second wife of the Emperor Arnolph; fifth, Judith, second wife of the Emperor Lewis the Pious; sixth, Suana, or Susanna, wife of Bruno, the brother of Witekind the Great. His son, Ethico, inherited the counties of Altorf and Ravenburg as a sovereign. He died A. D. 870. His wife Judith is supposed to have been daughter of Ethelwolf, King of England;† by whom he had Henry I. and Bardo, slain by the Normans at Ebsdorf A. D. 880; and Engelberga, or Luitgardis, wife of Lewis II. King of Italy. Henry I. surnamed with the Golden Chariot, succeeded his father. He got from his brother-in-law, the Emperor Lewis II. a great part of Bavaria, as a fief of the empire, and was by him created the first Duke of Lower Bavaria 860; whereby he broke the heart of his father Ethico, who hated subjection to the Emperor; for much of that land belonged to him, though Henry took not possession, till after his father's death. He married Orina, a princess of Flanders, by whom he had Henry II. Duke of Lower Bavaria, and Count of Altorf, living 910, who married Hatta, or Beata, a Countess of Hohenwart, by whom he had, first, Rudolph; second, Conrad, (some Heylin's Cosmography, b. xi. p. 96, called him Burchard) bishop of Constance 935, slain 976; third, Ethico the second, the patriarch of a noble race in Switzerland, yet died a monk. Rudolph I. Duke of Lower Bavaria, and Count of Altorf and Ravensburg, died 940. By Seburgis, or Seborchis of Swabia, he had an only daughter and heir, Gerbergis. Gerbergis, daughter and heir, married Arnolph, Duke of Upper Bavaria, son of Arnolph Malus, who called himself King of Bavaria, and died 938; * by whom she had, first, Guelpho II. second, Conrad, slain in battle 944; third, Ethico, Bishop of Augsburg 981, died 988; fourth, Otto or Udo, a Count of Bavaria, slain also in battle. Guelpho II. succeeded as Count of Altorf and Ravensburg; and was the first Duke of Lower Bavaria of that name. He died 980. His children were, Rudolph II. Richilda, Cunigunda, Barthold, Henry; and Richuaria, wife of Cuno of Rheinfeld. Rudolph II. succeeded as Duke of Lower Bavaria, Count of Altorf and Ravensburg. He died 1020. By Itha, daughter of Cuno, Count of Oeningen in Boden, by Richildis, daughter of the Emperor Otto I., he had, first, Guelpho III.; second, Henry, slain in hunting; third, Barthold, a Count, from whom historians say are descended the Counts of Zollern, the Burgraves of Nurnberg, and the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg; fourth, Richilda, or Richildis, wife of Albert, Count of Sempt and Ebersberg; fifth, Cunigundis, wife of Frideric, Count of Sindeburg she died 1085, Guelpho III. succeeded as Duke of Lower Bavaria; he made war upon the Emperor Conrad Salicus, 1026, and lived to 1047. He married Juditha, or Irmingardis, sister of Gilbert, or Gislebert, Count of Luxemburgh; the neice of St. Cunigunda, Empress of Henry II. By her he had, first, Guelpho IV.; second, Cunissa, or Cunigunda, his sister and heir. Guelpho IV. succeeded as Duke of Lower Bavaria, &c. He forced the Emperor Henry III. to restore the money extorted from Verona, 1050. He died 1055. Cunissa, or Cunigunda, his sister and heir, married in 1040 Azo II. Marquis of Este, as before-mentioned. * Anderson, p, 501, 514. House of Este continued. By this great heiress of the Guelphs, Azo II. had issue Guelpho V. first Duke of Upper and Lower Bavaria; who began his reign upon the death of his uncle in 1055. He engaged in the first Crusade, 1096, and died in his return from the Holy Land at Paphos in Cyprus, in 1101. He had three wives, first, Ethelinda, daughter of Otto, Duke of Saxony, on the Weser; second, Judith, daughter of Baldwin V. Count of Flanders, and sister to Maud, wife of William the Conqueror; third, Agnes, widow of the Emperor Henry II. By the second he had, first, Guelpho VI.; second, Henry; third, Adelheid, married first to Sighard, Burgrave of Regensburg; secondly, to Conrad, Margrave of Landsberg; fourth, Zegebard, who died 1070. Guelpho VI. succeeded as Duke of Bavaria and died 1119, without issue. His wife was Mathildis, daughter and heiress of Boniface of the house of Este, whom she married in 1090; and was divorced from him in 1095. She ruled Mantua, Lombardy, Ferrara, Parina, Placentia, Lucca, Tuscia, Spoleto, Sardinia, nay, the half of Italy; she had two husbands before Guelpho, and died without issue 1115. Henry III. surnamed Niger, succeeded his brother. He married Wulphildis, daughter and heiress of Magnus, the last Duke of Saxony of the line of Billung. The Line of Billung. These Dukes of Saxony were descended from Billung, of Stubeckesborn, an eminent man of the land of Luneburg. He was father of Hermannus Billung, or Billinger, who was created Duke of that part of Saxony, which is now called Luneburg, by the Emperor Otto I. A. D. 960. He died 973. By his wife Hildegardis of Westerburg, he left issue, first, Benno or Berno; second, Mechildis, wife of Baldwin III. Count of Flanders; third, Luderus, or Lothary, Count of Holstein and Burgrave of Magdeburg, who died 973; fourth, Swanhildis, wife of, first, Ditmarus, Margrave of Lausnitz, secondly, of Eckardust, Margrave of Meissen ; fifth, Ditmarus, a Count. Benno, or Berno, or Bernhard, succeeded as second Duke of Saxony: he died 1011. By Geila, daughter of Wratislaus, Prince of Pomerania, he had Bernhard, third Duke of Saxony, who died 1062, leaving by Bertrada, daughter of Harold II. King of Norway, Ordulph, fourth Duke of Saxony, who died 1074, leaving by Gisela, daughter of Olaus II. King of Norway, Magnus the last Duke of Saxony of this family, who died 1106, leaving by Sophia, daughter of Geysa II. King of Hungary, Wulfildis, his heiress already mentioned. * House of Este continued. In right of this Wulfildis, Henry, Niger, had the title of Duke of Saxony though the Emperor Henry V. seized upon the Duchy, and gave it to another family. He had however the Duchy of Spoleto, and the Margraviate of Tuscia, with the principality of Sardinia. He died 1125, or 1127, leaving a numerous issue; viz. first, Henry, Superbus; second, Conrad, Bishop of Cologn, died 1125; third, Judith, wife of Frideric, Duke of Swabia; she died 1147, and was mother of the Emperor Frideric Barbarossa; fourth, Mechtild, wife of Dietbold, Count of Vohburg; and of Gebhard, Count of Sultzbach; fifth, Sophia, married, first, to Berthold, Duke of Zaringin; secondly, to Leopold, Margrave of Steyermark; sixth, Wulfhild, wife of Rudolph, Count of Bregentz; seventh, Helen, wife of Wratislaus, Duke of Pomerania; eighth, Bertha, wife of Otto, Count of Buchorn ; ninth, Guelpho, made governor of Bavaria, by his brother Henry : he died 1191. He had a nephew Guelpho, Stadtholder of Italy; who died before him, 1168. Henry IV. called Superbus, succeeded his father in the Duchy of Bavaria. He married Gertrudis, daughter and heiress of the Emperor Lotharius, by Richensa, daughter and at length heir of Henry the Fat, Duke of Saxony, by whom he had the Duchy of Saxony restored to him. He afterwards acquired the Duchy of Brawnsweig, (now Brunswic) and the county of Northeim; and was invested with the Margraviate of Tuscia, with all the dominions of his aunt-in-law, Mathildis, wife of Guelpho VI.; and so he reigned between sea and sea; viz. between Denmark and Sicily, the Baltic and Mediterranean. He was also designed by his father-in-law, Lotharius, his successor to the empire; but in this he was supplanted by Conrad, who took from him his Italian dominions, and Bavaria; but could not wrest from him Saxony, on which account he put him under the ban of the empire. Going to recover Bavaria, he was poisoned by the Emperor's agents, 1138, * Anderson, p. 477. or 1139. By his marriage, his issue united the line of Witekind, with that of Billung. The Line of Witekind the Great. The Saxons, says Heylin, were doubtless a stout and valiant nation, the conquerors of the Isle of Britain; and the last people of the Germans, which yielded up their country to Charlemaine, by whose means they were gained unto the Gospel, A. D. 785. Their last king was called Wittikindus, from whom descend the Kings of France, since the times of Hugh Capet, the Kings of Denmark of the house of Oldenburg, the Dukes of Burgundy and Savoy, the Marquises of Montferrat, &c. This Wittikindus, Charlemaine degraded from a King to be first Duke of Saxony. He died 807. He had two wives, first, Geva, daughter of Goderic, King of Denmark; second, Suatana,* daughter of a Prince of Bohemia. By the first he had, first, Wigebert, his successor. By the second he had, second, Witekind II. Count of Wettin, who died 825; whose son, Witekind III. went to France, and was ancestor of the Capetian Kings; third, Eberhardus, first Count of Lippe. Wigbert succeeded as second Duke of Saxony: he died 825. By Sindacilla, his wife, daughter of Ratbodus, King of Friesland, he left issue, first, Bruno; second, Wolpert, Count of Ringelheim. Bruno I. Duke of Saxony, died. 843. By Suana, Countess of Montfort, he had Ludolph, the Grand, who died 859. He married Oda, a Princess of East France, born 791, who died 898, aged 107 years. By her he had, first, Bruno II.; second, Eckbert, Margrave of Hartzburg, lived to A. D. 881; third, Taneward, built the castle of Brunswic, and died 880; fourth, Otto, the Great; fifth, Ludgarda, wife of Lewis, junior, King of Franconia; sixth, Hadmodis, died 874; seventh, Gerberga, died 896; eighth, Christina, died 904. These three were all put into the abbey of Gandersheim.. Bruno II. was Grand Duke of Saxony 859. He built the city of Brunswic, so called from him, 861, and died 880. His brother, Otto the Great, succeeded him. He had the offer of the imperial crown from the Princes of Germany, upon the death of the Emperor Lewis IV. but declined it because of his * Anderson, p. 447· |