Queenship and Sanctity: The Lives of Mathilda and the Epitaph of Adelheid (Medieval Texts in Translation)

Appendix 2: Mathilda and the Stirps Widukindi

.Widukind ∞ Geva, d of Siegfried of Denmark .Wigbert ∞ Odrada .Waltbert ∞ Altburg ? NN . BpWigbert of Verden (+ ) . Mathilda ∞ NN . Immed . Reginbern . Dietrich .Widukind ∞ Reinhild . Pia . Perehtheid . MATHILDA . Friderun . Amalrada ∞ ∞ (∞ NN?) ∞ CtWichmann Dk Henry of Saxony Ct Eberhard the Elder (table ) ? of Hamaland ? ? .Wichmann the . Ekkehard . Bp Brun of Verden . Hadwig . Bp (. Eberhard?) Younger ∞ Dietrich of Ct Siegfried Metz  APPENDIX 2 Mathilda and the StirpsWidukindi Y Commentary The stirps Widukindi: Mathilda’s descent from Widukind through her father Dietrich is documented by the Lives as well as Widukind of Corvey (see Appendix ). In addition to stirpsWidukindi (“branch of Widukind”), the term used in the VMA, Widukind’s descendants are often referred to collectively as the “Immedings” by historians—a term derived from Adam of Bremen, who in his History of the Archbishops of Hamburg and Bremen described Archbishop Unwan’s descent from the clarissimo genere Immedingorum.1 While a number of scholars have attempted to identify this Immed as the Spitzenahn, or “leading ancestor,” of a descent group linked to but distinct fromWidukind’s, however, it appears that each of the individuals described as “Immedings” by Adam and later writers (including Ekkehard of Aura) can equally well be included within the stirps Widukindi of the VMA. Indeed, Gerd Althoff has argued that the notion of the genus Immedingorum represents an early example of the “genealogical fictions” characteristic of the twelfth century, an attempt to re-fashion an individual’s or group’s identity by redefining its ancestry. In this case, suggests Althoff, Adam (or the clerical community to which he belonged) replaced Widukind, whom the Life of St. Willehad (Hamburg-Bremen’s first bishop) castigates as a persecutor of the local Christian community, with Count Emmigo, whose martyrdom at Widukind’s hands is recorded by the Life and whose name could be construed as an alternative form of the name “Immed/Immad,” one of the “leading names” in Widukind’s descent group (see, e.g., Mathilda’s paternal uncle).2 Thus, in Althoff’s words, “in the eleventh century, this famous Saxon noble clan [Sippe] would no longer be named after Widukind, besmirched by his pagan misdeeds, but instead after a Christian martyr”3 —an effort to “Christianize” Unwan’s genealogical identity which successfully transformed historical discourse as well. No. : The relatively sparse historical record concerning Widukind of Saxony becomes even more exiguous for the years following his baptism; the historical debate is summarized by Althoff and Freise (see introduction, – and note ). Nos. –: We know of Widukind’s son Wigbert and grandson Waltbert from the Translatio Sancti Alexandri, begun by Rudolf of Fulda and finished by Meginhard of Fulda c. . According to the Translatio, Wigbert was a fidelis of    King Lothar, to whose palace Waltbert was sent for training as a youth. Waltbert later travelled to Rome with Lothar’s support, returned with the relics of St. Alexander, and housed them in a chapel on his estate at Wildeshausen (soon to become the canonry of St. Alexander).4 The names of Waltbert’s mother and wife are recorded in a charter of donation to the canonry (likely a later redaction of its foundation charter) dated .5 No. :Waltbert’s sonWigbert († ) was a deacon in King Louis the German ’s chapel before being named bishop of Verden in ; in Louis’s grant of immunity and royal protection toWildeshausen, requested byWaltbert in , Wigbert is recognized as the canonry’s rector.6 Waltbert’s foundation charter and a later grant of immunity to Wildeshausen by Pope Steven VI mention Wigbert’s (unnamed) brother.7 No. : Queen Mathilda’s eponymous paternal grandmother oversaw her upbringing at the convent of Herford, where she was abbess; see VMA, chapter  and VMP, chapter .The name of Mathilda’s husband is not known, and it is unclear whether he or Mathilda was a descendant of Widukind. A number of scholars, including Sabine Kruger, have concluded that Mathilda was married to an (unnamed) brother of Bishop Wigbert.8 This thesis has been rejected outright by Karl Schmid, who correctly points out that it is merely hypothetical , and not explicitly supported by any of our sources.9 Schmid’s argument that neither Mathilda nor her unnamed husband could have been descended from Waltbert, however, is far from airtight. The primary basis for his claim is Waltbert’s foundation charter forWildeshausen, in particular its provisions for succession to the canonry’s rectorship: After Wigbert’s death, then let his brother’s son...