Whatever the exact meaning of this, it would seem
inappropriate to designate this Giso as either the progenitor of the
Gisones of Hesse or to associate him in any way with Burg Hollende
at the beginning of the eleventh century.
A further indication of proven imperial estates is
the fact that, since the time of the Carolingians, the Burgwald and
Wollenberg were documented as being royal and imperial forests and at
this time they remained so (Boucsein 47 ff; Henseling, Me, 13).
A third argument arises from the aforementioned
monastery that was founded in Wetter and the necessity to provide
military protection for it, which required the presence of a count
and which leads to [the suggestion of] the Gisones as counts and
bailiffs.
Giso I - a Hessian after all?
That's all Kai-Hubert Weiss has to say about Giso
I, but more can be gained from Johann Ernst Christian Schmidt's
work, Geschichte des Grossherzogtums Hessen (History of the Grand
Duchy of Hesse), Volume I, pp300-308. It all starts with a certain
Graf Thankmar (Temmo) - not the eldest son of Heinrich, who suffered an
unfortunate mishap similar to King Harold's at Hastings - first mentioned
in 994 whose grafschaft (earldom) was in Viermünden (Fiormenni) and
perhaps stretched to Ebsdorf.
Following up on this Thankmar, there is an extract
concerning him in the Regista Imperii dated 27 September 994,
Sohlingen. The Latin text is as follows, written by Hildigardus, deputy
chancellor to Archbishop Wiligus of Mainz, at the behest of Otto III.
...qualiter nos ob interventum sororis nostrae
Sophiae cuidam clerico Burghart nominato quandam nostrae proprietatis
partem, mansum unum quem Hermanus comes antea in beneficium habuit in
villa Fiermenne in comitatu Thancmari comitis et in pago Hassiae situm
(et insuper mancipi Nannonem videlicet cum filiis et filiabus cunctamque
posteritatem eius utriusque sexus, et Aengilbertum nostri iuris
servum una cum uxore nomine Ruozza et filiis - illa mancipia et
mansum illum praedicto Burgharto in proprium concedimus)...
The German translation of this text reads as
follows:
Otto schenkt auf Wunsch seiner Schwester Sophie
dem Kleriker Burchard eine Hufe, die vorher Graf Hermann als Lehen
innegehabt hat, in Viermünden bei Frankenberg in der Grafschaft
Thankmars und im Hessengau gelegen, sowie zwei Hörige mit ihren
Familien...
The word 'mansum' in the Latin text comes from
'mansus' which translates as 'Die Hufe'. A 'hufe' was a piece of
arable land (in German this is 'ackerland', meaning that which
can be ploughed), which was normally around thirty hectares,
although it could be larger.
The English translation of the German is as
follows:
At the request of our sister Sophia we grant
to the cleric named Burchard part of our property a hufe which
formerly was held by (Count) Hermann as a fief located in
Viermünden in the county of Thankmar and situated in Hessengau
as well as two slaves (serfs?) with their families.
So what has Giso I to do with Thankmar? Here is what
Johann Ernst Christian Schmidt (JECS) has to say.
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