Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

WELF

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 504 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

WELF or See also:

GUELPH, a princely See also:family of See also:Germany, descended from See also:Count Warin of Altorf (8th See also:century), whose son Isenbrand is said to have named his family Welfen, i.e. whelps. From his son Well I. (d. 824) were descended the See also:kings of Upper See also:Burgundy and the See also:elder See also:German See also:line of Welf. Well III. (d. 1055) obtained the duchy of See also:Carinthia and the See also:March of See also:Verona. With him the elder line became See also:extinct, but his See also:grandson in the See also:female line, Welf IV. (as See also:duke, Well I.), founded the younger line, and became duke of See also:Bavaria in 1070. See also:Henry the See also:Black (d. 1126), by his See also:marriage with a daughter of See also:Magnus, duke of See also:Saxony, obtained See also:half of the latter's hereditary possessions, including See also:Luneburg, and his son Henry the Proud (q.v.) inherited by marriage the See also:emperor See also:Lothair's lands in See also:Brunswick, &c., and received the duchy of Saxony. The See also:power which the family thus acquired, and the consequent rivalry with the See also:house of See also:Hohenstaufen, occasioned the strife of Guelphs and Ghibellines (q.v.) in See also:Italy.

Henry the See also:

Lion lost the duchies of Bavaria and Saxony by his See also:rebellion in 118o, and Well VI. (d. 1191) See also:left his hereditary lands in See also:Swabia and his See also:Italian possessions to the emperor Henry VI. Thus, although one of the Welfs reigned as the emperor See also:Otto IV., there remained to the family nothing but the lands inherited from the emperor Lothair, which were made into the duchy of Brunswick in 1235. Of the many branches of the house of Brunswick that of See also:Wolfenbuttel became extinct in 1884, and that of Luneburg received the electoral dignity of See also:Hanover in 1692, and founded the Hanoverian See also:dynasty of See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:Ireland in 1714. For its further See also:history see HANOVER. The Hanoverian See also:legitimists in the German Reichstag are known as Welfen. See See also:Sir A. See also:Halliday, History of the House of Guelph (1821) ; R. D. See also:Lloyd, Origin of the Guelphs; F. See also:Schmidt, See also:Die Anfange See also:des welfischen Geschlechts (Hanover, 1900).

End of Article: WELF

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
WELDON, WALTER (1832-1885) 		[next]
WELHAVEN, JOHANN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER (1807-1873)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries