The Welf family, the Welfen of the Welf dynasty, is called the Guelfo family in Italy. The traditional aristocratic family in Germany.
The Welf family, the Welfen of the Welf dynasty, is called the Guelfo family in Italy. The traditional aristocratic family in Germany. In different periods of history, the members of the family were the ruling dynasties of Swaben, Burgundy, Italy, Bavaria (Byrne), Saxony, and the Principality of Brunswick Luneburg (Hanover); Otto of Brunswick, a family member, was the Holy Roman Emperor (crowned in 1209). From 1714, a branch of the family became the British royal family (the Hanover Dynasty).
Family history
The Welf family originated in Germany. From the 8th century to the 9th century, it had a vast territory in Swaben and Burgundy. Rudolph I (died in 912) was a loner in Upper Burgundy; His son Rudolph II (died in 937) briefly ruled Italy between 923 and 926. Connegenda, younger sister of Welf III, the Duke of Bavaria, married Alberto Azo II, the ancestor of the Italian aristocratic Durst family. Since then, the Welf family can actually be regarded as a branch of the Durst family. The eldest son of Azor II, Wilf IV, was granted the title of Duke of Bavaria by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1070; His son Hei Henri (died in 1126) incorporated part of Saxony's land, including Luneburg, the most important territory of his family in the future, into the Principality of Bavaria. The proud Henry (who died in 1139), the son of Black Henry, married the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Lotaire II, and inherited the Principality of Saxony after the death of Lotaire II. Proud Henry ran for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire as the son-in-law of the former emperor, but the princes with strong doubts about him chose Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen family as the emperor (1138). Since then, the two families have forged a deep hatred. Henry the lion, the proud son of Henry, lost Bavaria and Saxony in the struggle with Frederick I, the emperor of Hohenstaufen family. Otto IV, the son of Henry the Lion, was a member of the Welf family who won the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. Otto Deka (died in 1152), his son, was granted the Brunswick Luneburg Principality (also known as Luneburg Kalenburg Principality; more famous as Hanover Principality) as a hereditary fief in 1235, and from then on the Brunswick dynasty began to rule (to 1918).
