Willehalm—Genealogical Dimension of Sponsoring Poetry

Abstract

The medieval respect towards progenitors induced not only sentimental feelings but also practical steps, such as sponsoring works of art. In the present study, the family connections of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia to the Carolingians and to (Saint) Guillaume/Guilhem d’Orange, from the family of the Counts of Autun, have been explored. The possibility of the role of these kinships as a “driving force” behind initiating and sponsoring the epos Willehalm of Wolfram von Eschenbach has been analyzed.

1. Introduction

The present article analyzes a possible motivation for the sponsoring of an outstanding medieval epic (Willehalm) by the ruler of Thuringia, Landgrave Hermann I. The starting hypothesis of this analysis is that the Landgrave chose the events from the public and private life of Guillaume d’Autun, Count of Toulouse, because of family relations to this person and to the Carolingians. The authors studied the ascendent family tree of Hermann I to investigate this possibility. The results of this study are described in the following parts of the present article.

Poetry had a vivacious “Golden Age” in XII/XIII century Europe (Zarnke 1880; Fundenburg 1918; Holmes 1938; Schweikle 1982; Hasenohr and Zink 1992; Oswald 2004; Wenzel 2005). This passion for poetry first emerged in Southern France (Fundenburg 1918; Holmes 1938; Crosland 1951; Adam et al. 1967; Bumke 2000), and spread rapidly throughout the whole continent. One finds within the outstanding products of this new age the epic Willehalm by Wolfram von Eschenbach (Chisholm 1911; Singer 1918; Stearns 1919; Schreiber 1922; Mettke 1989; Hasenohr and Zink 1992; Kiening 1993, 1998; Greenfield and Miklautsch 1998; Tyssens et al. 2000; Young 2000; Jones and McFarland 2002; Bumke 2004; Heinzle 2019).

Willehalm appears to us as a typical example of the courtly epic, for various reasons. First of all, its literary quality is outstanding in contemporaneous European literature (Mohr [1979] 1983; Kiening 1993; Young 2000; Jones and McFarland 2002). Secondly, it is well documented that it was written in the Eastern part of Germany (Mettke 1989; Greenfield and Miklautsch 1998), indicating the pan-European diffusion of the new trends of literature in terms of geography. Thirdly, its content gives some indications of the priorities of its sponsor, Landgrave Hermann I (Holladay 1990), who was an interesting figure in European political and cultural life also in his own right (Patze 1962; Schwarz 1993; Frölich 2007). The origins of this epic can be traced back to Provence (Bacon 1910; Gosse 1911; Mergell 1936; Lofmark 1972), but it was written more than a thousand kilometers to the east, in the court (Eisenach/Wartburg) of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia and Count Palatine of Saxony (* ca. 1155, + 25 April 1217. Eberhardt 1969; Weigelt 1994; Holtz and Huschner 1995; Neumeister 1995; Assing 1997; Schwennicke 1998a. ES.I/1.T.145.), who was the Maecenas and initiator of this epic.

The role of Landgrave Hermann I is broadly accepted (e.g., Bumke 1979; Lintzel 1982), and Wolfram von Eschenbach himself wrote in the prologue of his epic Willehalm that he became acquainted with the story through Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia:

“lantgrave von Duringen Herman/tet mir diz mære von im bekant.” (Wolfram von Eschenbach 1989, V. 3, 8–9.)

(“Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia introduced me to this [Willehalm’s] story.” Transl. by K.B.)

Furthermore, Hermann I is praised by Wolfram at the end of Willehalm for his generosity:

“lantgrave von Duringen Herman/het in ouch lîhte ein ors gegeben.” (Wolfram von Eschenbach 1989, V. 417, 22–23.)

(“Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia would certainly have given them a horse as well.” Transl. by K.B.)

These quotations make probable, but do not prove conclusively, that Hermann I of Thuringia directly assigned to Wolfram von Eschenbach the task of writing an epic on the model of the Battaile d’Aliscans. However, they certainly show that he was “involved” in this process (Frölich 2007; Hahn 2012).

These circumstances prompt the question: what could have been the motivation for Landgrave Hermann to give his court poet just that chanson de geste which then became the central story of Willehalm? It may be that there was no single motivating factor, but rather a mixture of enthusiasm for literature, education received in youth, political considerations, family traditions, and personal feelings. All of these driving forces have been considered in the earlier literature, and therefore, here, we give only a short summary.

There is no doubt that Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia regarded literature as an important element of his life, and an excellent example for this is his activity in founding a “School of poetry“ (Dichterschule) at his court, certainly entailing considerable personal efforts and non-negligible costs (Mendels and Spüler 1959; Mettke 1978; Peters 1981; Holladay 1990; Frölich 2007). As a result of these actions, the court of Hermann I became one of the most active literary centers in Germany at the time (Bumke 1979; Hahn 2012). We can be very confident that he also had good taste for high-quality literature, as proven by the fact that he chose Wolfram von Eschenbach as his “court poet” (Zarnke 1880; Schreiber 1922; Reichel 1975; Mettke 1989; Bumke 2004; Hahn 2012; Hennings 2014; Heinzle 2019).

A much less easily proved but still assumable element of the development of the personality of Landgrave Hermann is that, in his youth, he may have spent a longer or shorter time at the court of the French King Louis VII (1120–1180, King of France: 1137–1180; Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.10; Sassler 1991; Marek 2003b), and this stay could have provided the impulse for his attraction to French literature, which was then flourishing (Fundenburg 1918; Holmes 1938; Crosland 1951; Adam et al. 1967; Hasenohr and Zink 1992; Le Jean 2003; Oswald 2004; Brault 2010; Ganaut and Pratt 2016). This also gave him the opportunity to get to know the Chanson de Geste d‘Aliscans (Gosse 1911; Tyssens et al. 2000; Guidot 2016), which later became the source of Wolfram’s “Willehalm”. Even if the circumstances of such an eventual visit to France would be in excellent agreement with the choice of the history from Provence as the background for the epic written under his patronage, serious doubts have arisen regarding this option (Wackernagel 1879; Brandt 1971), and we do not wish to go into the details of this controversy. It should be noted, however, that Hermann I maintained good relations with the French court during his time as Landgrave (Bumke 1979; Neumeister 1995).

From a literary point of view, Wolfram’s Willehalm is an adaptation of the French chanson de geste, the Bataille d’Alicans, which belongs to the epic cycle around the figure of Guillaume d’Orange (d’Autun) (Hahn 2012; Hennings 2014). For chronological reasons, only one preserved manuscript of the Aliscans can be considered as a model of Wolfram’s epic, which, however, shows important deviations in its content from that of the epic. As a consequence of this uncertainty, the question of the source has become a controversial research question. According to another assumption, Wolfram might have become familiar with the chanson in oral form. In any case, it appears likely that Wolfram knew an unconsolidated text, a “written snapshot” (Hennings 2014, p. 556), which thus does not correspond to any of the preserved versions, but only their parts (Hahn 2012; Hennings 2014).

There are a number of signs of ambitions among medieval monarchs to underline their importance: they gave considerable moral and financial support to artists of various kinds (Bumke 1979, 2000; Lintzel 1982; Schweikle 1982; Behr 1989; Schröder 1989; Jordan 1996; Fried and Oxele 2003; Westermann-Angerhausen 2003; Wenzel 2005; Frölich 2007; Ehlers 2008), including poets. This relation was very clearly pointed out by Joachim Bumke: “The role of the patron was also a form of rulerly representation.” (Bumke 1979, p. 65. Transl. by K.B.). The ambitious style of the politics of Landgrave Hermann supports this possibility (Eberhardt 1969; Frölich 2007). In what ratio considerations of statecraft and his own personal inclination to literature were “mixed” in his personality is, however, difficult to determine at a distance of eight centuries, but it can be reasonably supposed that both elements were present in his personal conduct.

2. Argument

As mentioned above, family tradition (Wolf 1991; Przybilski 2000, 2004) might have been another incentive for Hermann of Thuringia in choosing the history in the Chanson de Geste d’Aliscans as the primary model for the epic to be written at his court. This aspect is the central point we analyze in the present study.

Interest in family background/history and genealogy was a significant feature in the self-consciousness of medieval societies (Bouchard 2001), particularly at the higher levels, as it is excellently shown by Joachim Bumke: “[genealogy is] one of the most important forms in which the self-awareness of noble families found literary expression” (Bumke 1979, Transl. by K. B.). Genealogical directories were compiled almost exclusively for territorial princes and princely families, such as the Genealogia principium Reinhardsbrunnensis from 1340–1400, also covering Thuringia (Genealogia Principum Reinhardsbrunnensis 2021). The central hypothesis of our research is that one of the decisive driving forces behind Landgrave Hermann’s decision to choose the French epic centered around Count Guillaume d’Orange (d’Autun) could have been respect for a family tradition bringing the knowledge of his own descent (on several lines) from the Carolingians and—perhaps—also the knowledge that Count Guillaume was one of his forefathers.

The primary protagonist of the epic Willehalm, Guillaume d’Orange, was closely related to the family of Emperor Charles I, “the Great” (Charlemagne), being the first cousin of the Emperor, and he exerted his military and political activity in the service of this Emperor and of his son (Louis I, the Pious). Therefore, in our analysis, we devoted particular attention to the kinship of Landgrave Hermann I with the dynasty of the Carolingians.

3. Data Acquisition and Methods

The main task of the research presented in this article was the composition of the ascending family tree table of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia. The data used for this genealogy have been taken from the published literature, mainly from the series Europäische Stammtafeln, Neue Folge of Detlev Schwennicke (see Basic Literature complemented by other sources cited under Additional Published Sources).

The results have been collected (Table 1) in Ahnentafel form (Eytzinger 1590; de Sosa 1676; Kekulé von Stradonitz 1904; Gautier 2008). Table 1 is divided into sections containing 31 persons each. These sections are composed of the “Root Person” as number 1, his/her father (2) and mother (3), paternal grandfather (4), paternal grandmother (5), maternal grandfather (6), maternal grandmother (7), and so on, by the same logic.

4. Results

The “Ludowinger” Landgraves of Thuringia (Cramer 1957; Patze 1962; Knochenhauer 1969; Petersohn 1993; Schwarz 1993; Mägdefrau 1996; Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.145) became the rulers of Thuringia in 1131 (Louis I), about 24 years before the birth of Hermann I in 1155. Earlier forefathers came from a branch of the Scarpennois-Pfirt family, as was deduced in an interesting publication by Armin Wolf in 2001 (Wolf 2001). The social ascendence of Hermann’s forefathers was accompanied (and certainly also helped) by marriages with the daughters of influential families in the Holy Roman Empire. The farthest known paternal progenitor (Ricuin, Count in Scarpennois) married Hildegard of Egisheim, who was a sister of Bruno von Egisheim, Pope Leone IX (later Saint Leone) (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.200B, Rendina 2013). Their son Ludwig von (de) Moisson-Scarpennois (Wolf 2001) married a descendant of the Wigerich family, Sophia von Oberlothringen (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.202), and their son Ludwig “cum barba” married a bride from the local nobility (Gisela von Sangerhausen). Their son Ludwig “der Springer” became Count of Schauenberg. This Ludwig, who, according to legend, escaped from captivity by springing (jumping) from the tower of Burg Giebichstein/Halle a. d. Saale (Höhne 2017) into the Saale river, married into the very influential Stade family (Adelheid von Stade, Schwennicke 2013, ES.XXIX.T.146). This couple had several children, and one of them, Ludwig, in 1131, became the Landgrave of Thuringia (as Ludwig I), that is, the sovereign ruler of an important part of the Empire. The new Landgrave married, again from the “local nobility”, Hedwig von Gudensberg (Schwennicke 1998b, ES.XVII.T.77A), and their son, Landgrave Ludwig II, married into the already very mighty (Hohen)Stauf family, taking as his wife Jutta, the daughter of the ruling Prince of Swabia (the daughter of Friedrich II, “the One-Eyed” and his second wife, Agnes von Saarbrücken, Jutta was half-sister of Emperor Friedrich “Barbarossa”, Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.14, Marek 2004). Thus, when Hermann was born in 1155, he was a member of the highest-level aristocracy of the Empire (and also of Europe). His first marriage to Sophie von Sommerschenburg, and a second to Sophie von Wittelsbach, the daughter of the ruling Duke of Bavaria (Otto I, “der Große/the Great” Herzog von Bayern, Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.90), confirmed this position. These personal contacts were important enough to elevate the descendants of the Ludowinger family to the level of the highest elite of the Empire. Additional details of the ascending genealogy of Landgrave Hermann I are collected in Table 1.

It is an interesting overlap in the genealogical facts that the family background of Count Guillaume d’Orange (d’Autun) (Schwennicke 1989, ES.III/4.T.731), the central character in the history described in poetical terms by Wolfram von Eschenbach in his epic Willehalm, shows close links to the family tree of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia. One of these relations is the simple fact that Guillaume d’Orange (d’Autun) is most probably one of the forefathers of Hermann I. The descent from Count Guillaume covers more than 300 years, going back to a date more than a millennium before the present day—and so this could contain some uncertainty. The other element of similarity is much more broadly known: while the mother of Count Guillaume came from the family of the Carolingianians, being the daughter of the paternal grandfather of Charlemagne (Charles Martel), consequently, Guillaume d’Autun was a first cousin of the Emperor, and on the other hand, among the progenitors of Landgrave Hermann, there were a high number of descendants of the Carolingianian dynasty (we shall discuss some details later).

The character of “Willehalm” (essentially corresponding to what we know about the surviving historic information about Guillaume d’Orange/d’Autun) is presented in Wolfram’s epic as an idealized prince with outstanding human, political, martial, and religious qualities (Frölich 2007), certainly pointing to the qualities of the sponsor behind the enterprise resulting in the epic. The figure of Willehalm/Guillaume gains still more importance through his close kinship to Emperor Charles I, “the Great” (Charlemagne), who was the central figure in European events at the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries (Kiening 1998).

At this point, we should mention that the family of Emperor Charles/Karl I, “the Great”, the Carolingians, had enjoyed exceptional prestige since the ninth century (Brandenburg [1935] 1998; Riché 1993; Marek 2003a). [Even if after a few generations of Charlemagne’s descendants, the title of “Emperor” had gone to other families, and the Carolingians had gone extinct after flourishing for approximately three centuries (one male line Eudes I “Fatuus” died in 1085, while his sister Adelaide, who was married to the younger son of the French King Henri I, died on 23 September 1120, Le Jean 2003; Marek 2003a), the prestige of being related to the Carolingians survived for centuries (Rouvroy and Simon [1675–1755] 1879).

Our research sought to test these fairly probable elements by composing the complete family tree of Landgrave Hermann I on the basis of published details that can be found today. We have chosen as the primary basis of our research the outstanding book series of Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln, and complemented Schwennicke’s data with some additional publications, such as, for example, the results of an interesting paper by Armin Wolf on the paternal descent of the first Landgrave dynasty of Thuringia, the “Ludowingers” (Wolf 2001).

5. Discussion

In the following part of the present article we schematically enumerate the contacts of the Carolingians in order of increasing numbers from 16 to 31 of section LTH (in Table 1).

The first (in the sense of going from 16 to 31 in section LTH) ascent to the Carolingians can be traced from the marriage to the Wigerich family (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.202), followed by the Konradiners (Schwennicke 1989, ES.III/4.T.736) to LTH-16 [31], one of the “nearest” Carolingian ancestors (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6) from the branch of the Kings of West Francia. This ascent repeats itself through the Egisheim family (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.200B) and again through the Wigerichs (LTH-16/24, Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.202) by an unknown bride, who was, however, documented as a granddaughter of (Carolingian) Louis II, King of West Francia (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6). Additional ascents from the LTH-16 (paternal) sector are to the Carolingian-Vermandois branch of Charlemagne’s family (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7) through the Capetians (the French royal family) (Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.10) in section LTH-16/25, as well as through the Konradiner dynasty (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.9) in section LTH-16/28. The Welf-Burgund dynasty brings two additional Carolingian ascents, one through the wife of Buvinus Boso (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.Korr.II.T.189), who was the daughter of Emperor Louis II (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4), and another through the wife of King Konrad “Pacificus”, who was the daughter of Carolingian Louis IV, “Transmarinus”, King of West Francia (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6).

In the following steps (as described above), one finds the wife of the paternal great-great-grandfather of Landgrave Hermann I, Gisela von Sangerhausen (LTH [17])—we know only her name, and not even those of her parents. The next position in sector LTH [18] belongs to the prestigious Stade family (Schwennicke 2013, ES.XXIX.T.146). From this family, Heinrich I “the Bald” von Stade married Judith Konradiner von Wetterau (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.8), who was a descendant of the line of the Konradiners (LTH-18/18) that descended from Gebhard, Count in Ufgau, who married the daughter of Carolingian-Vermandois Heribert I (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7).

The Counts of Werl (LTH [19]) were the descendants of the Carolingians in various lines. They were related to the dynasty of the Welf-Burgund kings, which resulted in a direct marriage of this family with the Carolingians, as already mentioned (see also LTH-19 [19]), as well as through the Buvinus family through the wife of Boso (see also LTH-19/18 [11]). An additional marriage to the Egisheim family entailed descent from Carolingian Louis II, “the Stammerer”, King of West Francia, through the Wigerichs, as mentioned above (see also LTH-19/28 [28 or 30]).

Landgrave Hermann’s next progenitor, who was a descendant (by a number of lines) from the Carolingians, was Emperor Heinrich IV, from the Salian dynasty (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.12), occupying position [26] in the LTH section. In the section starting with Emperor Heinrich IV, LTH-26, one finds the Welf-Burgund dynasty, belonging to this prestigious family King Konrad “Pacificus” [22] with his wife [23], who was the daughter of (Carolingian) King Louis IV “Transmarinus” (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6). The Welf-Burgund ascent also brought another Carolingian connection, through the Buvinus family (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.Korr.II.T.189), as already mentioned above. In position [20] of the LTH-26 section, one finds, again, Konradiner Gebhard, Count in Ufgau, who married the daughter of Heribert I, Count of Vermandois, descendant of the Carolingians (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7), as already mentioned in LTH-18/18.

Within the progenitors listed in section LTH-26, one also finds a marriage linking to the Poitou (later, Princes/Ducs of Aquitanie, Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.76) family, with an early forefather, Gerhard, Count of Auvergne (LTH-26/24), who married the daughter of (Carolingian) Emperor Louis I, “the Pious” (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4); that is, a granddaughter of Charlemagne. Within the ascendants of the Salian dynasty, one also finds members of the Burgund-Ivrea family (one of the European families with the longest documented genealogies, Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.59). From this family, Adalbert II (LTH-26/28) had two kinships with the Carolingians: his grandmother was from the Buvinus family (Villa, the daughter of Boso, husband of Ermengard, daughter of Emperor Louis II, Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4). A paternal great-grandmother of his, meanwhile, was from the Unruochinger-Friaul family (Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.188A), the granddaughter of Princess Gisela, who was a daughter of (Carolingian) Emperor Louis I, “the Pious” (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4). Again, on the maternal side of the ascendants of Emperor Heinrich IV, one finds in section LTH-26/31 Alverade von Brabant-Lothringen (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.236), who was the result of a (documented) romantic adventure: the (paternal) great-grandfather of Alverade, Giselbert eloped in 846 with the daughter of Emperor (Carolingian) Lothar I (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4). Regarding the subsequent life of this couple, one finds “dry” references in the published literature: the marriage was recognized in 849.

Continuing to scan sector LTH in Table 1, in position [30], one finds Margrave Dietrich of the Matfried-Lothringen family (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.204). The (paternal) grandmother of Margrave Dietrich was from the branch of the Konradiner family (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.9) who were the progenitors of the Dukes of Swabia (Konradiner-Schwaben). The great-grandfather of this person was that Gebhard, Count in Ufgau, who was already mentioned, and who was the husband of the daughter of (Carolingian) Heribert I, Count of Vermandois (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7).

The family tree of Gertrud von Flandern (Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.5), in position [31] of section LTH (or LTH-31 [1]), is fairly rich in Carolingian contacts. In section LTH-31, one finds in position [4] Arnulf I von Flandern, whose second marriage was to Adele, from the Vermandois branch of the Carolingians, daughter of Heribert II, Count of Vermandois (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7), and in position [16], Balduin I, who was married to Princess Judith daughter of (Carolingian) Emperor Charles II, “the Bald” (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4). In section LTH-31/17, position [1] is occupied by Rozela from the Burgund-Ivrea family (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.Korr.II.T.59), who had Carolingian progenitors through the Unruochinger-Friaul (Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.188A) and the Arles (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.Korr.II.186) families. The next section, LTH-31/18, leads to the family of Count Wigerich and to his wife, who was recorded as a granddaughter of (Carolingian) Louis II, “the Stammerer”, as already mentioned earlier in this paper. The wife of Friedrich, Count in Moselgau (of the Wigerich family), was from the Konradiners (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.9). Her paternal ascent leads to Gebhard, Count in Ufgau, who, as mentioned earlier, married the daughter of Carolingian-Vermandois Heribert I (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7). In the same section, one finds in position [7] Gerberga from the Matfriede family (Schwennicke 1999, ES.I/2.T.204), a descendant of Gottfried (from the Matfriedes), who was the husband of Ermentrude, the daughter of (Carolingian) Charles III, King “in the Western Empire” (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6). The grandfather of Gertrud of Flanders, Balduin V, “Insulanus”, who was also Regent of France, married a daughter of French King Robert II, “the Pious”, of the Capetians (Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.10, Marek 2003b), which again led to a point contact with the Carolingians, through the marriage of King Robert I (II) to Carolingian-Vermandois Beatrix, daughter of Count Heribert I (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7). Through the Capetian kinship, the marriage of French King Hugues I to Alice de Poitou (LTH-31/21 [1], Schwennicke 1984a, ES.II.T.76) led, as already mentioned, to Gerhard, Count of Auvergne, who married the daughter of Emperor Louis I, “the Pious”, from the Carolingians (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4). Section LTH-31/22 twice shows Boso of the Buvinus family with his wife Carolingian Ermengard, the daughter of Emperor Louis II (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.4).

Section LTH-31/22 has an another point of contact, which is highly interesting from the viewpoint of the central hypothesis of the present article: in this section, position [4] is occupied by Rotbald d’Agel, from the family of the Counts of Provence, who was married to the daughter of Guillaume, “the Pious”, from the family of the Counts of Autun (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.T.731), who was a direct descendant (great-grandson) of (St.) Guillaume, Count of Toulouse, the historical person in the legends that form the background of the epic Willehalm. If this ascent is correct and if Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia had knowledge of it, this detail represents an important contribution to the possible genealogical aspect of the genesis of Willehalm. This line is also interesting from the viewpoint of kinship to the Carolingians, since the mother of Count Guillaume was the daughter of Charles Martel, majordomo of the (Merovingian) Empire and paternal grandfather of Charlemagne (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.3).

The progenitors of Gertrud of Flanders were kins of the Carolingians on three additional lines. The first of these was realized through the family of the (first) Counts of Anjou (Schwennicke 1984b, ES.III/1.T.116, LTH-31/23). From this family, Geoffroy I Grisgonelle, Count of Anjou, married Carolingian-Vermandois Adèle, daughter of Robert, Count of Meaux and Troyes (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7). The second of these contacts can be found through the Konradiner family (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.9), again through the marriage of Gebhard, Count in Ufgau, to the daughter of Carolingian-Vermandois Heribert I (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.7). The third contact to the Carolingians was through Imiza of the Matfriede family (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.8, LTH-31/31). The grandfather of this lady, Gottfried, Count in Jülichgau, married Ermentrude, the daughter of (Carolingian) Charles III, “the Simple”, King of West Francia (Schwennicke 1998a, ES.I/1.T.6).

6. Conclusions

In course of the research described in the present article, 35 family contacts of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia to the Carolingian dynasty have been found. These extended from the 9th (4), 10th (2) 11th (8), 12th (9), 13th (10), and 14th (1) generations, as well as one contact in the 16th generation (the line of the Counts of Autun). One could calculate an “average generation”, which results in 11.77 (~12). In the 12th generation, a person has 2¹¹ = 2096 ancestors. On this level, the 35 Carolingian progenitors found in the course of the present study could be regarded as a considerable extent of kinship (1.67%), slightly more than 1 common ancestor in the 7th generation (1.56%). One cannot expect that in the lifetime of Landgrave Hermann I (1155–1217), the documentation/remembrance of all of these contacts would have been known to him, but it seems reasonable that the Landgrave had knowledge of some of them, which—taking into consideration the exceptional prestige of the Carolingians (e.g., Riché 1993)—might have prompted him to act as described earlier in the present article. This is even more the case if the kinship with the Counts of Autun (especially with St. Guillaume) was known to him. As a consequence of the results presented earlier in this article, one can rightfully conclude that family relations could have been an important element motivating Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia to suggest to Wolfram von Eschenbach the choice of events from the life of Guillaume d’Autun, Count of Toulouse, as the leading theme for the epic that Wolfram produced in his court.

Finally, we would like to mention the possibility of performing archaeogenetic analyses complementing and/or checking the above-summarized genealogical studies. This relatively new science (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994; Renfrew and Boyle 2000; Brandt et al. 2014; Richards et al. 2016) can (also) be used to explore kinship relations (e.g., Nyerki et al. 2023). Successful studies have been reported in recent years for highly challenging historical problems, such as the identity of the remains of English King Richard III (King et al. 2014), kinship relations within the dynasty of the Árpáds (Olasz et al. 2019; Varga et al. 2023, the identification of the remains of the family of the last Tsar of Russia (Andreeva et al. 2021), determination of the DNA characteristics of the Hunyadi-Corvinus family (Neparáczki et al. 2022), and the study of the identity of a mysterious mummy in Basel, across a “distance” of 22 generations (Wurst et al. 2022). In the fortunate circumstance that the remains of Hermann I of Thuringia or of one of his close relatives could be found, a sophisticated analysis of his/their DNA sequences could add important details to the medieval history of Europe. It was one of the purposes of our efforts, described above, to call attention to this possibility.

Table 1. Family tree (ancestors) of Ludowinger-Thüringen Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia.

16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
8		9		10		11		12		13		14		15
4				5				6				7
2								3
1

Table 1. Family tree (ancestors) of Ludowinger-Thüringen Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia.

16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
8		9		10		11		12		13		14		15
4				5				6				7
2								3
1

The above Scheme shows the interrelations of the persons numbered in the following lists, that is: the “Root Person” corresponds to number 1, his/her father to number 2, his/her mother to number 3, paternal grandfather to number 4, wife to number 5, maternal grandfather to number 6, maternal grandmother to number 7, and so on, by the same logic.