The Etichonids were an important noble family, probably of Frankish - Burgundian origin, who ruled the Duchy of Alsace in the Early Middle Ages (7th–10th centuries). The dynasty is named for Eticho (also known as Aldarich) , who ruled from 673 to 690.
15-497: The earliest accounts record the family's beginnings in the pagus Attoariensis around Dijon in northern Burgundy . In the mid-7th century a duke of the region named Amalgar and his wife Aquilina are noticed as major founders and patrons of monasteries. King Dagobert I and his father made donations to them to recover their loyalty and compensate them for the losses that they had sustained as supporters of Queen Brunhild and her grandson, Sigebert II . Amalgar and his wife founded
30-469: A convent at Brégille and an abbey at Bèze , installing a son and daughter in the abbacies. They were succeeded by their third child, Adalrich, who was the father of Adalrich , Duke of Alsace . This second Adalrich was the first to secure the ducal title. His name, Eticho, a variation of Adalrich, is used by modern scholars as the name of the family. Under the Etichonids, Alsace was generally divided into
45-477: A northern and a southern county, Nordgau and Sundgau . These counties, as well as the monasteries of the duchy, were brought under tighter control of the dukes with the rise of the Etichonids. There exists scholarly debate concerning whether or not the Etichonids were in conflict or alliance with the Carolingians , but it is possible that they were both: opponents of the extension of Charles Martel 's authority in
60-632: Is no consensus about any connection between the Chattuarii and either the similar-sounding Chatti or, less likely, the Chasuarii , who both lived in a similar region of Germany, and are also mentioned in Roman era texts. The Chattuari appear again in the historical record in the 4th century, living on the Rhine and one of the first tribes to be known as Franks . Ammianus Marcellinus reports that Emperor Julian , crossed
75-656: The pagus attuariorum (French Atuyer , comprising Oscheret at that time) south of Langres in the 3rd century. Under the Franks , the name of the Chattuari was used for what became two early medieval gaus on either side of the Rhine, north of the Ripuarian Franks , whose capital was in Cologne. On the eastern side, they were near the Ruhr river, and across the Rhine they settled near
90-763: The Chatti , the Chattuari and the Cherusci . This means that they probably lived near the Weser . The Gambrivii are also mentioned by Tacitus in Germania . He counted them as among the tribes who traced their origins to the Germanic god Mannus . Along with the names of Marsi , Suevi and Vandilii the name Gambrivii is mentioned by Tacitus as one of the old and genuine names of the Germanic peoples. The Gambrivii are perhaps to be equated with
105-638: The Frisians to fight against a Geatish raiding force from what is now Sweden. The Geats are defeated and their king Hygelac is killed. Beowulf the hero of the story is the only person to escape. According to Widsith , the Hætwera were ruled by Hun. Gambrivii The Gambrivii were a Germanic tribe. They are first mentioned by Strabo in Geographica as the Gamabrivii . He writes that they were connected to
120-813: The Niers river, between the Maas and the Rhine, where the Romans had much earlier settled the Germanic Cugerni . This western gau (Dutch: Hettergouw , German: Hattuarien ) is mentioned in the Treaty of Meerssen , in the year 870 AD. The Chattuarii may also appear in the Old English poem Beowulf as "Hetwaras" where they appear to form a league together with the Hugas (who may be the Chauci ) and
135-582: The Rhine in the area of the modern border between Germany and the Netherlands, but then moved southwards in the 4th century, as a Frankish tribe living on both sides of the Rhine. According to Velleius Paterculus , in 4 AD, the emperor Tiberius crossed the Rhine, first attacking a tribe which commentators interpret variously as the Cananefates or Chamavi , both being in the area of the modern Netherlands , then
150-554: The 720s when he first made war on Alemannia , but allies when the Alemanni, under Duke Theudebald invaded Alsace (which had a large Alemannic element in its population) in the early 740s. The last Etichonid duke, Liutfrid , may have died fighting Theudebald on behalf of Pepin the Short with his son, Hilfrid. Among the descendants of the Etichonids, in the female line were Hugh of Tours and his family, including his daughter Ermengard , who
165-535: The Chattuari, and then the Bructeri between Ems and Lippe , somewhere to the north of the modern Ruhr district in Germany. This implies that the Chattuari lived somewhere in the west of Westphalia . Strabo mentions the Chattuari as one of the non-nomadic northern Germanic tribes in a group along with the Cherusci , the Chatti , and the Gamabrivii . He also contrasted them with other non-nomadic tribes supposedly near
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#1732844904450180-481: The Etichonids, including the Habsburgs . (Note: Here the numbering of the counts is the same for all states, as all were titled Counts of Alsace, despite the different parts of land and its particular numbering of the rulers.) Then Sundgau might have been given to the Habsburgs . Chattuarii The Chattuarii , also spelled Attoarii , were a Germanic tribe of the Franks . They lived originally north of
195-745: The Ocean, the Sugambri, the "Chaubi", the Bructeri, and the Cimbri , "and also the Cauci , the Caülci, the Campsiani". Strabo listed them among the tribes who allied under the Cherusci , and were made poor after being defeated by Germanicus . They apparently appeared at his triumph in 17 AD along with the Caülci, Campsani, Bructeri, Usipi , Cherusci, Chatti, Landi, and Tubattii . There
210-647: The Rhine border from Xanten and... ...entered the district belonging to a Frank tribe, called the Attuarii, men of a turbulent character, who at that very moment were licentiously plundering the districts of Gaul. He attacked them unexpectedly while they were apprehensive of no hostile measures, but were reposing in fancied security, relying on the ruggedness and difficulty of the roads which led into their country, and which no prince within their recollection had ever penetrated. Some of them were also settled in France as laeti in
225-572: Was wife to Lothair I and thus mother to three Carolingian kings. In the 10th century, the Etichonids remained powerful in Alsace as counts, but their power was circumscribed significantly by the Ottonians ; by the 11th century, Pope Leo IX seemed unaware that his ancestors, the lords (or counts) of Dabo and Eguisheim for the previous half century were in fact the direct descendants of the last Etichonids. Many notable European families trace their lineage to
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