The Emichones (german: Emichonen) were an early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

family in the southwestern German region. Its members were counts (''Gaugrafen'') in the

Nahegau The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Worms ...

, perhaps as undercounts of the

Salian dynasty The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the la ...

. The conventional name Emichones is due to the prevailing first name "Emich". Several later families may trace their origins to the Emichones.

History

The Nahegau was next to the

Wormsgau The Wormsgau ( la, pagus wormatiensis) was a medieval Gau (territory), county in the East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) stem duchy of Duchy of Franconia, Franconia, comprising the surroundings of the city of Worms, Germany, Wo ...

and

Speyergau Speyergau was a medieval county in the East Frankish ( German) stem duchy of Franconia. It was centred around the administrative centre of Speyer and roughly covered the former Roman administrative area of Civitas Nemetum, which is today the south- ...

, a possession of the

. In 940 Emich, a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

of Count Conrad der Rote, received goods from Hadamar of

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

in the Wormsgau. This Emich is probably related to the Counts of Leiningen, although it is dubious, whether he belongs to the Emichones family because of a lack of primary source documents. Secure evidence for the Emichones appears in 961. A count and knight Emich received through a sentence according to

Frankish law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...

the possessions which until then had belonged to the Lords Lantbert, Megingoz and Reginzo, including

Kirn Kirn is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a middle centre serving an area on the Nahe and in the Hunsrück. Geography Location Kirn lies in a la ...

and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. These lords were supposedly sons of Nortbold, one of the first proprietors of a castle mentioned in 926, possibly the

Schmidtburg The Schmidtburg is a ruined hill castle next to Schneppenbach ( Hunsrück) in Germany. The castle was built up in 926, and was destroyed during the War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Gran ...

. Counts with the name Emich are documented without interval between 960 and 1065. Even so, a precise genealogy has hitherto not been organized. The Count of Nahegau Emich IV supposedly married before 1072 Kunigunde, the sister of the Count of

Trechirgau The Trechirgau was a mediaeval administrative district, a gau. It belonged to the Duchy of Lorraine. Its exact extent is only roughly known and it lay in the triangle formed by Enkirch, Koblenz and Oberwesel. History The Trechirgau was clos ...

Berthold, the latter the founder of the Abbey of Ravengiersburg. The family of the Bertholds (or a branch of this family) died out with him. Emich V left around 1091 the title of ''Gaugraf'' behind and named himself Count of Flonheim in 1098 and Count of Schmidtburg in 1107, therefore ending the history of the Emichones, with the family dividing itself into the Wildgraves,

Raugraves The Raugraves were a German noble family, which had its center of influence in the former Nahegau. They descended from the Emichones (Counts of Nahegau). History First family in the 12th until 15th centuries The family of the Raugraves (the ...

and

Counts of Veldenz The County Palatine of Veldenz was a principality in the contemporary Land Rhineland-Palatinate with full voting rights to the Reichstag. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern, Sponheim and Zweibrücken, partially on the Mose ...

. A Berthold of Stromberg was apparently the brother of Emich V, a member of a collateral branch of the Emichones residing at the castle Stromburg and

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

of Ravengiersburg.

Structure

# Wildgraves #

# (supposedly) Counts of Leiningen (first line ''Alt-Leiningen'') According to various theories the Counts of Sponheim also descended from the Emichones on the male side.

Literature

* Crollius, Georg Christian
Vorlesung: Von dem ersten geschlecht der alten graven von Veldenz und dessen gemeinschaftlichen abstammung mit den ältern Wildgraven von den graven im Nohgau.
Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1770 (complete at Google Books) * Dotzauer, Winfried: ''Geschichte des Nahe-Hunsrück-Raumes von den Anfängen bis zur Französischen Revolution'', Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001

External links

* {{cite web , last=Marek , first=Miroslav , url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/veldenz/veldenz1.html , title= Stem list , publisher= Genealogy.EU German noble families Noble families of the Holy Roman Empire