Liudolf ( – 11/12 March 866) was a
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...
office bearer and
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
in the
Duchy of Saxony
The Duchy of Saxony () was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 CE and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 84 ...
from about 844 until his death in 866. The ruling
Liudolfing house, also known as the
Ottonian dynasty
The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxons, Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German ...
, is named after him; he is its oldest verified member.
Life
Liudolf was the son of a
margrave
Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...
() Bruno and his wife, Gisla. or Oda de Billung. Liudolf had extended possessions in the western
Harz
The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...
foothills and on the
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver ...
river, he also served as a military leader ''(dux)'' in the wars of the
East Frankish king
Louis the German
Louis the German (German language, German: ''Ludwig der Deutsche''; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German language, German: ''Ludwig II. von Deutschland''), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 8 ...
against
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
invasions, and the
Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs
and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites, Lechitic (West Slavs, West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The ...
. Later authors called Liudolf a duke of the Eastern Saxons (''dux Orientalis Saxonum'', probably since 850) and count of
Eastphalia.
About 830 Liudolf married
Oda, daughter of a Frankish ''princeps'' named
Billung and his wife Aeda. By marrying a Frankish nobleman's daughter, Liudolf followed suggestions set forth by
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 ...
about ensuring the integrity of the Carolingian Empire in the aftermath of 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 ...
through marriage. Oda died on 17 May 913, supposedly at the age of 107. They had at least seven children:
*
Bruno
Bruno may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname
* Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880)
* Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...
( – 880), succeeded his father as a Saxon leader, supposed progenitor of the
Brunonids
* Oda of Saxony (c. 845 – 874), married to
Lothar I, Count of Stade
*
Otto the Illustrious ( – 912), succeeded his brother in 880, father of King
Henry the Fowler
Henry the Fowler ( or '; ; – 2 July 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the king of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emper ...
*
Liutgard ( – 885), married the East Frankish ruler
Louis the Younger
Louis the Younger (830/835 – 20 January 882), sometimes called Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second eldest of the three sons of Louis the German and Hemma. He succeeded his father as the King of Eastern Francia on 28 August 876 and his ...
in 874
*
Hathumoda ( – 874), first Abbess of Brunshausen from 852
*
Gerberga (d. 896/897), Abbess of Brunshausen from 874 and later of Gandersheim
* Christina (d. 919/920), Abbess of Gandersheim from 896/97
In 845/846, Liudolf and his wife went on a pilgrimage to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, and upon approval by
Pope Sergius II
Pope Sergius II (; died 27 January 847) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from January 844 to his death in 847. Sergius II's pontificate saw the Arab raid against Rome as well as the city's redevelopment.
Rise
Born to a noble ...
they founded a house of holy canonesses dedicated to Popes
Anastasius I and
Innocent I around 852. The monastery, duly established at their
proprietary church
During the Middle Ages, a proprietary church (Latin ''ecclesia propria'', German ''Eigenkirche'') was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what ...
in Brunshausen, was consecrated by the
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...
bishop
Altfrid and Liudolf's minor daughter Hathumoda became its first
abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...
. The convent was relocated in 881 to form
Gandersheim Abbey, elevated to an
Imperial monastery by Liudolf's grandson Henry the Fowler in 919.
While King Louis the German was preoccupied with Imperial politics, Liudolf, relying on the rank as well as the
allod
Allod, deriving from Frankish language, Frankish ''alōd'' meaning "full ownership" (from ''al'' "full, whole" and ''ōd'' "property, possession"; Medieval Latin ''allod'' or ''allodium''), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was ...
ial lands he had inherited from his ancestors, rose to a leading position among the Saxon nobles – made evident by the marriage of his daughter Liutgard with King Louis the Younger. He is buried in his proprietary monastery of Brunshausen. His successions by his sons Bruno and Otto met with no resistance.
References
Sources
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{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017
Dukes of Saxony
Ottonian dynasty
9th-century births
866 deaths
9th-century dukes in Europe
9th-century Saxon people
Saxon warriors
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
German Roman Catholics
Nobility of the Carolingian Empire