Elimar I or Egilmar I (c. 1040-1112) was the first Count of Oldenburg and reigned from c. 1091 to 1108. Elimar married Rixa (also called Rikissa and Richenza), who according to the '' Annals of Stade'' was the daughter of Dedi or Adalger, and according to the same source, her mother was Ida of Elthorp (the ''Annales Stadenses'' also record that "Rikencen, filie Ide de Elthrope" was the wife of "comes Eilmari de Aldenburg"). The ''Annales Stadenses'' further state that Ida was a noblewoman of

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

n birth and that Ida's father was the brother of Emperor Henry III and Ida's mother was the sister of

Pope Leo IX Pope Leo IX (21 June 1002 – 19 April 1054), born Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historically ...

(whose secular name was Bruno). The name of Elimar is found in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...

dating from 1108. His wife claimed that he was descended from

Wittekind Widukind, also known as Wittekind, was a leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of the Frankish king Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 777 to 785. Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish province, massacred th ...

, a notable defender of the

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and the chief opponent of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

during the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought ...

of 777 to 785, but there is no further evidence for this.''The Athenæum'' (1894), p. 494 Elimar and Rixa had 3 children, including Elimar II, who succeded him as Count of Oldenburg.

References

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* Counts of Oldenburg House of Oldenburg 12th-century German people 1040 births 1112 deaths Year of birth uncertain {{Noble-stub