Liudolfinger
The Liudolfinger , also called Ottonen after the imperial coronation , were a Saxon noble family and a German ruling dynasty. The Liudolfinger ruled in the East Frankish-German Empire from 919 to 1024. The oldest family member that could be identified with certainty was Count Liudolf († 866). The name Ottonen goes back to the three Liudolfing emperors : Otto I. , Otto II. And Otto III.
The beginnings
The rise of the sex coincides with the rise of the East Frankish Empire and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire . Due to the decision of the powerful tribal duke and king Konrad I to appoint Heinrich von Sachsen from Liudolfingen as his successor, the family, which had previously only been important in the Duchy of Saxony , received the royal dignity.
Kings and emperors
The rulers of the East Frankish-German Empire from the Liudolfinger family were:
- Henry I (King 919-936)
- Otto I, the Great (936–973, from 962 as emperor)
- Otto II (co-king 963, co-emperor 967, sole ruler 973-983)
- Otto III. (983–1002, from 996 as emperor)
- Heinrich II. (1002-1024, from 1014 as emperor)
Heinrich I.
Heinrich I was the son of Duke Otto the Illustrious of Saxony and a grandson of Liudolf. He was elected King of East Franconia in Fritzlar by the Franconian and Saxon greats in 919 . One of his most important tasks was the defense of the empire against the repeatedly attacking Magyars ( Hungarians ). He defeated them in 933 in the battle of Riyade on the Unstrut . In the same year he subjugated the Elbe Slavs and Bohemia . This enabled him to stabilize the empire inward. One of his political goals was the creation of imperial unity. He wanted to achieve this by means of the Quedlinburg house rules adopted in 929 , which designated his second son Otto as his direct successor. The other sons were resigned to the ducal office.
Otto I.
With King Otto I, one of the most important personalities of the Holy Roman Empire ascended the throne in 936. It was Otto's army that finally defeated the Hungarians and put an end to the threat from the southeast when he defeated them in the battle of the Lechfeld in 955. In order to complete the stabilization of the empire, Otto had Pope John XII. crowned emperor in 962 . At the same time he renewed the Roman empire of Charlemagne , confirmed the Pippin donation through the Privilegium Ottonianum and married his son and heir to the throne Otto to Theophanu , a Byzantine princess.
Otto II.
As early as 973, Otto II became the new king and then also emperor. He continued his father's policies and was like him a successful ruler. When Otto II died in 983, he left behind a three-year-old son.
Otto III.
This was called Otto III. elected German king in 983. His mother took over the reign for him until 991. Five years later he was crowned emperor. Emperor Otto III. died very early (1002) and left no heir.
Henry II
But with Heinrich, a cousin of Otto, it became another German king from Liudolfingen. Heinrich was the great-grandson of King Heinrich I and ascended the throne as Heinrich II in 1002 (the king was elected in 1002 ). Despite all opposition, he was crowned emperor in 1014. He was later canonized in 1146 because of his many foundations (establishment of the Bamberg diocese ). He died in 1024 without a male heir, so that the Otton dynasty died out in the male line. With Heinrich the era of the Ottonians came to an end and the royal dignity passed to the Salians ( Konrad II ).
Other important Liudolfinger
- Altfrid (Bishop of Hildesheim until 874) (the assignment is very questionable. According to more recent findings, more of a Liudgeride )
- Liudolf (Duke of Saxony until 866)
- Brun (Duke of Saxony 866-880)
- Otto the Illustrious (Duke of Saxony 880-912)
- Thankmar
- Gerberga (Queen of France until 954)
- Hadwig (Duchess of France until 956)
- Heinrich (Duke of Bavaria 947–955)
- Hathwig , Abbess of Essen
- Brun (Archbishop of Cologne 953-965, Duke of Lorraine until 965)
- Wilhelm (Archbishop of Mainz 954–968)
- Liudolf of Swabia (Duke of Swabia 949–953)
- Mathilde (Abbess in Essen from 973-1011)
- Mathilde (Abbess in Quedlinburg from 966–999)
- Heinrich der Zänker (Duke of Bavaria 955–976, 985–995)
- Otto I. (Duke of Swabia 973–982, Duke of Bavaria 975–982)
- Brun von Augsburg (Bishop 1006-1029)
See also
- Lineage list of the Liudolfinger
- Ottonian Renaissance
- Ottonian book illumination
- Ottonian-Salian imperial church system
literature
- Gerd Althoff : The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state. 3rd, revised edition, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-022443-8 .
- Gerd Althoff, Hagen Keller : The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and consolidations 888-1024 (= Gebhardt. Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte. Vol. 3). 10th, completely revised edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-608-60003-2 .
- Matthias Becher : Rex, Dux and Gens. Investigations into the development of the Saxon duchy in the 9th and 10th centuries (= historical studies. Vol. 444). Matthiesen, Husum 1996, ISBN 3-7868-1444-9 .
- Helmut Beumann : The Ottonians. 5th edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2000, ISBN 3-17-016473-2 .
- Klaus G. Beuckers, Johannes Cramer , Michael Imhof (eds.): The Ottonen. Art, architecture and history. Imhof, Petersberg 2002, ISBN 3-932526-91-0
- Patrick Corbet: Les saints ottoniens. Sainteté dynastique, sainteté royale et sainteté féminine autour de l'an Mil . (= Supplement to Francia . Vol. 15). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1986, ISBN 3-7995-7315-1 ( online )
- Wolfgang Giese : Liudolfinger. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , pp. 718-721 ( digitized version ).
- Winfried Glocker: The relatives of the Ottonians and their importance in politics. Studies on family policy and the genealogy of the Saxon imperial family (= dissertations on medieval history. Vol. 5). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-412-12788-4 .
- Hagen Keller : The Ottonians. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-44746-5 .
- Ludger Körntgen : Ottonen and Salier. 3rd, reviewed and bibliographically updated edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-23776-0 .
- Simon MacLean: Ottonian Queenship. Oxford University, Oxford 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-880010-1 .
- Bernd Schneidmüller , Stefan Weinfurter : Ottonian new beginnings. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2701-3