Egilmar I (c. 1060–1112) was the first
Count of Oldenburg
image:BlasonChristian Ier (1143-1167), comte d'Oldenbourg.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg
image:Blason Gérard VI (1430-1500), comte d'Oldenbourg et de Delmenhorst.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst
This is a ...
and thus founder of the
House of Oldenburg
The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...
. He reigned from c. 1091 to 1108.
History
Count Egilmar I is mentioned for the first time as a witness in a document from Archbishop
Liemar of Hamburg-Bremen, which is dated 1091. The document refers to a court hearing that had probably taken place a few years earlier and in which Egilmar is mentioned as "still growing up at the time". According to another document from 1108, Count Egilmar I was accepted into the prayer society of the
Iburg monastery in exchange for a membership fee of 90 bunch eels to be picked up at Aldenburg (lat. ''"apud Aldenburch"''). This is the first mention of
Schloss Oldenburg ("the old castle"), the ancestral seat of the family. In this document, which was probably written by his own brother, Egilmar I is titled as ''"comes in confinio Saxonie et Frisie potens et manens"'', i.e. as a powerful count living on the border between
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
and
Friesland
Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
.
Numerous family members of Count Egilmar I emerge from the document from 1108. Present were his wife Riche(n)za, his sons Christian and
Egilmar II, his daughter Gertrud and his brother, the cleric Giselbert.
Elimar's wife Richenza (also called Rikissa or Rixa) was the daughter of Dedi or Adalger, according to the ''
Annals of Stade'', 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"). According to Albert of Stade, Ida of Elthorp was the "niece of an emperor and a pope". It was argued that Ida's father was the brother of
Emperor Henry III
Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.
Henry was rais ...
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 historica ...
(whose secular name was Bruno). However, the exact assignment is a puzzle that has occupied genealogists for more than 100 years. The same applies to Richenza's father, since her mother was married three times. Her father Dedi or Dedo was probably not a contemporaneous count of
Dithmarschen
Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...
of that name, but the Saxon ''
Count Palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...
'' Dedi of
Goseck, who was murdered in 1056. Richenza would then have been a niece of his brother Archbishop
Adalbert
Adalbert is a German given name which means "noble bright" or "noble shining", derived from the words ''adal'' (meaning noble) and ''berht'' (shining or bright). Alternative spellings include Adelbart, Adelbert and Adalberto. Derivative names incl ...
of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
(1043–1072), the archdiocese to which Oldenburg belonged, which would have favored the rise of her husband and descendants.
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 ...
dating from 1108. His wife claimed that he was descended from
Wittekind, a notable defender of the
Saxons
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
and the chief opponent of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
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 fou ...
of 777 to 785, but there is no further evidence for this.
[''The Athenæum'' (1894), p. 494]
Elimar and Rixa had three children, including
Elimar II, who succeeded him as Count of Oldenburg.
References
Sources
*
* Hans Friedl et al. (editors): ''Biographisches Handbuch zur Geschichte des Landes Oldenburg.'' (Biographical handbook on the history of the state of Oldenburg), publisher: Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg 1992, p. 166, 338, ISBN 3-89442-135-5.
* Bernd Ulrich Hucker: ''Brudermord im Hause Oldenburg – Kampf um Herrschaft und Macht im 12. Jahrhundert'', in: ''Die frühen Oldenburger Grafen'' (''Fratricide in the house of Oldenburg - struggle for rule and power in the 12th century'', in: ''The early Oldenburg counts''), p. 47–64, with comprehensive references to older literature, pp. 64–68. Publisher: Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89995-534-7.
* Dieter Riemer: ''Graf Huno auf der Spur.'' In: ''Die frühen Oldenburger Grafen.'' (''On the Trail of Count Huno'', in: ''The Early Oldenburg Counts.''), p. 6–46. Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89995-534-7.
* Dieter Riemer: ''Grafen und Herren im Erzstift Bremen im Spiegel der Geschichte Lehes.'' (''Counts and lords in the archbishopric of Bremen reflected in the history of Lehe.''), dissertation phil. Oldenburg, publisher: W. Mauke Söhne, Hamburg-Bremerhaven 1995, ISBN 3-923-725-89-2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elimar 01, Count of Oldenburg
Counts of Oldenburg
House of Oldenburg
12th-century German nobility
1060s births
Year of birth uncertain
1112 deaths