Welf, Elder, House of
Substate | Defunct
819 CE to 1055 CE
The Elder House of Welf is a dynasty of European rulers in the 9th through 11th centuries to 1055.
It consists of two groups, a Burgundian group and a Swabian group.
It is disputed whether the two groups formed one dynasty or whether they shared the same name by coincidence only.
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Agobard, archbishop of Lyon from 816, writes against the Adoptionist heresy—i.e., that Jesus was not the son of God by nature but by adoption—of Felix of Urge, who had been confined at Lyon from 800 to 818, and against the Jews.
In 820, he “proves” that Jews are born slaves and accursed.
He forcibly converts Jewish children, offering them and their parents no choice in the matter; the “choice” of expulsion is, for the first time in Carolingian domains, not an option.
Agobard's anti-Jewish essays, a few of which survive, are systematically aimed at humiliating and eradicating Francia’s Jewish community, referring to Jews as "sons of darkness".
In his writings against popular superstitions, he denounces the trial by ordeal of fire and water, the belief in witchcraft, and the ascription of tempests to magic, maintains the Carolingian opposition to image-worship, but carries his logic farther and opposes the adoration of the saints.
In his purely theological works, Agobard is strictly orthodox, denying the verbal inspiration of Scripture.
As many clerics, Agobard is a proponent of the unity of the Frankish Empire.
Hence, he opposes the Empress Judith's initiatives on behalf of her son Charles the Bald and supports the rebellion of Charles' half-brothers Lothair and Pepin against their father, Emperor Louis “the Pious”, the son and successor of Charlemagne and the fourth monarch of the Carolingian dynasty.
Emperor Louis, returning in 818 from a campaign to Brittany, had been greeted by news of the death of his wife, Ermengarde, the daughter of Ingerman, the duke of Hesbaye.
Louis had been close to his wife, who had been involved in policymaking.
It is rumored that she had played a part in the death of her nephew Bernard and Louis himself believes her own death is divine retribution for that event.
It had taken many months for his courtiers and advisors to persuade him to remarry, but eventually he did, in 820, to Judith of Bavaria, daughter of Welf, count of Altdorf.
Judith in 823 gives birth to a son, who is named Charles.
The birth of this son damages the Partition of Aachen, as Louis's attempts to provide for his fourth son will eventually met with stiff resistance from his older sons, and the last two decades of his reign will be marked by civil war.
The Failed Invasion of West Francia and the Treaty of Coblenz (860)
In 860, Louis the German launches another attempt to seize the throne of West Francia from his younger brother, Charles the Bald. However, the invasion fails due to a combination of political resistance, treachery, and strategic miscalculations, forcing Louis to abandon his claim and negotiate a peace settlement at Coblenz on June 7, 860.
The Invasion and the Resistance of Charles the Bald
- Encouraged by Frankish nobles disillusioned with Charles' rule, Louis the German once again marches into West Francia, hoping to claim the throne with local support.
- However, Charles’ most loyal supporters—particularly the Aquitanian bishops—refuse to recognize Louis as king.
- This resistance ensures that Louis fails to gain legitimacy among the clergy, who wield significant political influence in the Carolingian Empire.
- The Welf family, Charles’ maternal relatives, also remain steadfast in their loyalty, preventing the defection of key Frankish nobles to Louis.
Louis’s Campaign Falters
- Discontent and desertion spread within Louis’s army, further weakening his position.
- Some of his allies betray him, possibly swayed by Charles’ political maneuvering.
- Lacking both clerical legitimacy and noble support, Louis abandons his conquest of West Francia.
The Treaty of Coblenz (June 7, 860)
- With his campaign collapsing, Louis the German meets Charles the Bald at Coblenz to negotiate peace.
- The treaty stipulates:
- Louis renounces his claim to West Francia, effectively ending his immediate ambitions for the throne.
- In return, Charles agrees to grant Alsace to Louis, strengthening his position in East Francia.
Aftermath and Significance
- The treaty temporarily restores peace between the two brothers, but it does not resolve the underlying rivalry between East and West Francia.
- Charles remains secure on the West Frankish throne, but his kingdom remains weak and vulnerable, particularly to further Viking incursions and noble unrest.
- Louis consolidates his rule over East Francia, ensuring that the region remains independent from West Francia.
The failed invasion of 860 underscores the shifting balance of power within the Carolingian world, where dynastic disputes, noble factions, and the influence of the clergy play decisive roles in shaping the fate of the empire.
Louis of Provence had begun waging war on the Saracens from 886.
Throughout his reign, he will fight with these Muslim warriors, who establish a base at Fraxinet in 889, and been raid the coast of Provence, alarming the local nobility.
Rudolph, who belongs to the elder Welf family, is the son of Conrad, Count of Auxerre and Waldrada of Worms.
From his father he has inherited the lay abbacy of St. Maurice en Valais, making him the most powerful magnate in Upper Burgundy—present-day western Switzerland and the Franche-Comté.
After the deposition and death of Charles the Fat, the nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy meet at St. Maurice and elect Rudolph as king.
Apparently on the basis of this election, Rudolph claims the whole of Lotharingia, taking much of modern Lorraine and Alsace—but his claim is contested by Arnulf of Carinthia, the new king of East Francia or Germany, who rapidly forces Rudolph to abandon Lotharingia in return for recognition as king of Burgundy.
However, hostilities between Rudolph and Arnulf seem to have continued intermittently until 894.
Richard had supported the claim of Duke Rudolph to be King of Upper Burgundy after the death of Charles the Fat in 888, and has married his sister Adelaide, daughter of Conrad II of Auxerre.
Richard also supports the coronation of his nephew Louis as King of Provence in 890.
A council of bishops and feudatories of the realm at the Diet of Valence in August 890, after hearing the recommendation of the pope, and receiving notification of Charles the Fat’s previous agreement to the proposition, proclaim Louis as King of Arles, Provence, and Cisjurane Burgundy.
Louis of Provence, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II, is in 900 invited into Italy by various lords, including Adalbert II of Tuscany, who are suffering under the ravages of the Magyars and the incompetent rule of Berengar I. Louis thus marches his army across the Alps and defeats Berengar, chasing him from Pavia, the old Lombard capital, where, in the church of San Michele, he is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy on October 12, 900.
Louis has traveled onward from Pavia to Rome, where, in 901, he is crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict IV, who has upheld the ordinances of Pope Formosus.
However, Louis’s inability to stem the Magyar incursions and impose any meaningful control over northern Italy sees the Italian nobles quickly abandon his cause and once again align themselves with Berengar.
Benedict also excommunicates Baldwin II of Flanders for murdering Fulk, Archbishop of Reims.
Berengar defeats Louis's armies in 902, forcing him to flee to Provence and promise never to return to Italy.