Widukind Ancestors and Family

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Frauds Widukind Germany

Contents 1 Ancestors 2 Family 3 Genealogy according to Hubner 4 Sources

Ancestors

Widukind (also Wittekind and Wittekund) was a Saxon leader who rebelled against Charlemagne in the late 8th century and was eventually defeated in 785 and he, along with many Saxons were forcibly baptised.^[1]

Although he is documented in contemporary sources, at some point he was given a long list of ancestors, stretching back to the BCE (Before Common Era) period in some sources. Most of them would appear to be fabricated, though some are documented leaders of German tribes from different periods, though there are no primary sources that would place them all in the same genealogy.

It's also not clear when this ancestry developed but it may have been over a period of time. Hengest, the semi-legendary first Anglo-Saxon King of Kent is listed as one of Widukind's ancestors and the genealogy of his ancestors first appears in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum completed about 731.^[2]

Elias Reusner's book Genealogia Imperatorum, Regum, Principum, Comitum, Baronum Et Dynastarum Germanorum totius Orbis Christiani published in 1612 extends the genealogy, particularly from Hengest to Widukind^[3]

About 100 years later Johann Hübner repeats the genealogy from Reusner, but extends it back to 90 BCE.^[4] However it is not clear whether Reusner or Hübner were copying the genealogy from earlier sources or developed some of the genealogy themselves.

James Anderson who copied much of Hübner's work (before copyright was invented) in his Royal Genealogies, published in 1732, was perhaps the first to present this genealogy in English.^[5]

Family

There is documentation that gives Widukind a son, grandson and great grandson, and Mathilde who married Heinrich I, King of Germany is mentioned as a descendant of Widukind, though some of the intervening generations are not named. However given his importance as a figure in German independence he is also claimed as the ancestor of a number of German dynasties, including the Wettin, Liudolfing and the Counts of Oldenburg, as well as some Italian families. However none of these are proven with reliable sources, and many of Widukind's immediate family would appear to be fabrications.

Genealogy according to Hubner

Hubner has 3 generations before Svarticke I (Harderich, Anserich and Wilcke I) but as they would all be born BCE, their profiles would have been deleted.

1. Svarticke I son of Wilcke I, Prince of the Saxons in AD 76
2. Svarticke II son of Svarticke I, Prince of the Saxons 76, died 80.
3. Sigward son of Svarticke II, Prince of the Saxons, 100
4. Witekind son of Sigward, King of the Saxons, 106
5. Wilcke II son of Witekind, Prince of the Saxons, died 190
6. Marbod son of Wilcke II, King of the Saxons, died 256
7. Bodo son of Marbod, King of the Saxons, died 300
8. Witte I, son of Bodo, King of the Saxons 300, died 350.
9. Witte II, son of Witte I, King of the Saxons 350, died 400.
10. Witigislus or Witigail, King of the Saxons 400, died 434
11. Hengist, King of the Saxons 434, then in England 449. died 474 or 488
12. Hartwacker, son of Hengist, Prince of the Saxons 449, died 480.
13. Hattwigate son of Hartwacker,Prince of the Saxons, died 524
14. Hulderic son of Hattwigate, King of the Saxons, died 540
15. Bodicus son of Hulderic, Prince of the Saxons, died 586
16. Berthold son of Bodicus, King of the Saxons, died 630.
17. Sighard son of Bodicus, King of the Saxons, died 691, married Julanda
18. Dieteric son of Sighard, King of the Saxons, died 740, married Dobrogera, daughter of Billung, King of the Wenden
19. Wernicke son of Dieteric, King of the Saxons 757, died 768, married Gunilda of Rugen. Wernich had a brother Ethelbard, also son of Dieteric, also King of the Saxons. Ethelbard had two sons; Albion, was baptized by his cousin Witikund the Great, son of Ethelbard, 785, and Herman was slain by Charlemagne 798,
20. Witikind the Great, born 755, the last King of the Saxons, conquered by Charlemagne, 785. Consentng to be baptized, the conqueror made him the first Duke of the old Upper Saxony, or on the Weser. He died 807 and was the patriarch of many great families in Europe, amongst whom may be reckoned the present Royal Family of England.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Widukind," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Widukind&oldid=1180866901 (accessed November 21, 2023).
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anglo-Saxon_royal_genealogies&oldid=1178900157 (accessed November 21, 2023).
3. ↑ Elias Reusner, Genealogia Imperatorum, Regum, Principum, Comitum, Baronum Et Dynastarum Germanorum totius Orbis Christiani (Frankfurt: Treutelius, 1612). pp. 248, 251-2. Digital image, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen (http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?PPN832871516 : accessed 21 November 2023).
4. ↑ Johann Hübner, Drey hundert und drey und dreyßig Genealogische Tabellen (Leipzig: Gleditsch, 1708). Table 146 (image 160 of 359). Digital image, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00052866?page=160,161 : accessed 21 November 2023).
5. ↑ James Anderson, Royal Genealogies: Or the genealogical tables of Emperors, Kings and Princes from Adam to these times (London: James Bettenham, 1732). Table CCXV, p. 447. Digital image, Google Play books https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yrqeY839bMwC&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PA447 : accessed 25 April 2020.