Ancestry of House Zähringen

Question

There are two competing histories of the House Zähringen, both depending on who the husband of Bertha von Büren was. Theory 1 has Landolt/Lanzelin, Graf im Thurgau's son with the same name married to her and all the Bertholds/Bezzelins/Birchtilos von Breisgau/Zähringen descend from this couple. This is found in Europäische Stammtafeln I.1 p. 38, Eduard Heyck, Geschichte der Herzöge von Zähringen, 1881, p. 566, Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Grafen im Breisgau. Theory 2 has Landolt/Lanzelin have an unnamed daughter who married Bezzelin, Graf im Breisgau and had a son Berthold, somewhat unreasonably called Habsburg in WikiTree, who in turn married Bertha. This is a newer theory mostly developed by historians researching the early Staufer family: Decker-Hauff Hansmartin, Die Zeit der Staufer, vol. III, p. 342, Alfons Zettler, Wer war Graf Bertold, der im Jahre 999 von Kaiser Otto III. das Marktrecht für Villingen erhielt? The ultimate source for Bertha, Wibald von Stablo's Tabula consanguinitatis does not name her husband and I am not aware of any other document naming him.

Answer 1

Not an answer, but.... Helmut, I am bewildered by your knowledge of German royalty and nobility! How long have you been studying this? Amazing.

Comments

I just grew up a few miles from Castle Hohenstaufen, origin of the Staufer emperors, and I studied and lived for a while in Freiburg, the home of the Zähringer. When you stumble across them every day it gets easier to take an interest and learn about them.

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We in the USA have no idea what that’s like. Well, at least country boys from the South like me don’t.

Just so you know, I always enjoy the depth of your queries and answers. I am glad you’re on board.

Answer 2

Normally I would discount Decker-Hauff's theories; they are usually not accepted in some of the profiles in The Henry Project, and apparently he has been found to have falsified some of his sources - see his German Wikipedia page.

However Theory 2 actually predates Decker-Hauff, and is in Genealogisches Handbuch zur Schweizer Geschichte Tafel I (unfortunately the first page is badly scanned and difficult to read but Bertha von Buren is married to the Berthold labelled as no. 3) and then in Tafel III is the Grafen von Habsburg, which has the Lantold/Lancellin, father and son, with a daughter of the second Lantold named Luitgard (with a ?) married to Berchtold (Bezelin von Villingen).  Interestingly the wife of Lantold II is named Berchta, but presumably not the same person as Bertha von Buren.

However the mother of Berthold I (mit dem Barte) or Bertolf cum Barba in the Tabula consanguinitatis is thought to be a member of the Nellenburg family, I think based on Berhold I's connection to that family, which would preclude the daughter of Lantold being his mother?

I'll try to do some more research over the next few days.

Comments

Admittedly Decker-Hauff is not the best source, I listed him only because he was handy and his falsifications concern Friedrich I and Agnes' children and Konrad III's marriage(s) and not the very early beginnings of the families concerned. The key question, I think, is whether Bezelin was the son of Landolt or the husband of Landolt's daughter.