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Welf I (died 6 November 1101, Paphos) was duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the Welf genealogy he is counted as Welf IV. Welf was the son of Azzo II of Este and his wife Chuniza of Altdorf. When Welf's maternal uncle, Welf, Duke of Carinthia (also known as Welf III), died childless, Welf inherited his property. Welf married Ethelinde, daughter of Otto II, Duke of Bavaria. Although the Marquis of Este, guided by his cousin Matilda, continued firm in the Pope's interests, his son Welf, who had succeeded to the Bavarian states, and whose views were more immediately directed to Germany, supported the emperor. For his fidelity he was rewarded with the duchy of Bavaria, which had been forfeited by Otto, his father-in-law. When Duke Otto had become an enemy of King Henry IV, Welf divorced Ethelinde, and soon thereafter (in 1070) was appointed duke of Bavaria in Otto's stead. This event took place at Goslar in 1070, when the states of Bavaria submitted quietly to the new made duke, who was the representative of one of the most ancient families in the province; and although, in compliance with the commands of the emperor, he afterwards repudiated his duchess, the daughter of Otho, we do toot find that his influence was at all affected by such an act, which savored somewhat of injustice. During the Investiture Controversy, Welf sided with Pope Gregory VII, and in March 1077 supported the election of Rudolf of Rheinfelden as anti-king. They were reconciled in 1076, but the following year saw them again engaged in active hostilities. Henry, in consequence of these repeated acts of rebellion, deprived him of his newly-acquired sovereignty; but, supported by his faithful Bavarians, and aided by his father in Italy, he was able to maintain his place, and to set the ban of the empire at defiance in May 1077. Welf joined the discontented princes who supported the standard of Rudolph, when all were put without the pale of the church who refused to obey the mandate of that Pope; and in that age of ignorance and superstition, many were obliged to comply with a Pope's mandate, who otherwise would have supported the sovereign of their own choice. Fortunately for the peace of Germany, Gregory died in 1085, and Welf , though he still adhered to the party of the church, began to relax in his exertions to maintain the usurper. In 1089, Welf's son Welf married Matilda of Tuscany, thus strengthening relationships with the pope. After the younger Welf divorced Matilda in 1095, Welf made amends with King Henry IV and was reappointed as duke of Bavaria. On the divorce of his first wife, Welf married Judith of Flanders, daughter of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, and the widow of Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria. After the death of his father Azzo in 1097, Welf tried to acquire his father's property south of the Alps, but did not succeed against his younger half-brother Fulco. In 1099, Welf joined the Crusade of 1101. He died while returning from the crusade in Cyprus in 1101 and was buried in Weingarten Abbey. He was succeeded as duke of Bavaria by his son Welf. Family links: Spouse: Judith of Flanders (1033 - 1094)* *Calculated relationship Burial: Weingarten Abbey Weingarten Karlsruher Landkreis Baden-Württemberg, Germany Created by: Jerry Ferren Record added: Dec 01, 2010 Find A Grave Memorial# 62396919 More information on House of Welf: Welf, English Guelf , or Guelph , Italian Guelpho dynasty of German nobles and rulers who were the chief rivals of the Hohenstaufens in Italy and central Europe in the Middle Ages and who later included the Hanoverian Welfs, who, with the accession of George I to the British throne, became rulers of Great Britain. The origin of the “Elder House” of Welf is a matter of controversy, since Welf in the Carolingian period seems to have been rather widespread as a baptismal name. The first clearly discernible ancestor of the dynasty is the Count Welf who had possessions in Bavaria in the first quarter of the 9th century and whose daughters Judith and Emma married, respectively, the Frankish emperor Louis I the Pious and the East Frankish king Louis the German. The best analyses of the evidence trace the Burgundian and the Swabian Welfs to two nephews of Judith and Emma, namely Conrad (d. c. 876) and the so-numbered Welf I (d. before 876). Conrad's son Rudolf (d. 911 or 912) became king of Burgundy in 888, and this kingdom remained with his descendants until 1032. Welf II (d. 1030), who was probably of the fifth generation from Welf I, had so strong a position in southern Germany that he and his son Welf III could occasionally defy the German kings. Welf III was enfeoffed as duke of Carinthia in 1047, but died in 1055. His German possessions then passed to his nephew Welf IV (d. 1107), whose father was Alberto Azzo II of the House of Este (q.v.). Welf IV began the “Younger House” of Welf. Welf IV became duke of Bavaria as Welf I, in 1070. He abandoned his alliance with the Holy Roman emperor Henry IV to become an important supporter of the papal party in Italy. His 17-year-old son, Welf V (later Welf II of Bavaria), married the 43-year-old countess Matilda of Tuscany in 1089; the marriage ended in separation. The elder Welf thereupon appealed to Henry IV for help against Matilda. Henry attacked Matilda's castle in Nogara, south of Verona, but abandoned the siege when Matilda's army counterattacked. The Este family tried, in Welf V's name, to claim Matilda's lands after her death but were unsuccessful. The Duchy of Bavaria passed, in 1156, to Henry the Lion, who held it until his downfall in 1180. Bavaria and Saxony, with great inheritances by marriages, made the Welfs the most potent rivals of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperors. The German king and Holy Roman emperor Otto IV was a son of Henry the Lion. The Welf kingship collapsed with him; but the tradition of Welf hostility to the Hohenstaufen emperors led to the Italian use of a form of the name for a supporter of the papacy against the emperor (see Guelf and Ghibelline). Reconciliation between Welfs and Hohenstaufens was achieved in 1235, when the emperor Frederick II enfeoffed Otto IV's grandson, Otto the Child (d. 1252) with the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a shrunken remnant of what his ancestors had held in Saxony. More on origin: The original house of Welf descended from Count (Graf) Welf I, and ended in 1055, whereupon the heiress of the house married Azzo II d'Este, an Italian lord. From their marriage descended Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, and the later Dukes of Braunschweig (Brunswick) and Kings of Hanover and Great Britain. It also included one short-term tsar of Russia: Ivan VI. From Azzo's second marriage descended the family known as d'Este, which ruled Modena and Ferrara in Italy. Interestingly, when Pr Augustus, Duke of Sussex, had morganatic children in the 19th century, they took the surname of d'Este. The finaly name took on political significance during the battles between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Those who generally opposed the Hohenstaufen emperors were known as Guelphs, since that family usually led them, and the Hohenstaufen supporters were known as Ghibellines, from the Italian name of the Hohenstaufen castle, Waibling. http://en.wikipedia.org
William B.
