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Central Europe

Giso Counts and Castle Hollende at Treisbach (Hesse)

translated and expanded from the original German text by Trish Wilson, 31 May 2015

The Gissones of Hessen
A SIX PART FEATURE:
Introduction
Part 1: The Gisones
Part 2: Giso I
Part 3: Giso II
Part 4: Giso III
Part 5: Giso IV
Part 6: Giso V

Author's Note: This feature is a direct translation of the German-language document entitled Grafengeschlect der Gisonen and die Burg Hollende bei Treisbach, by Kai-Hubert Weiss (KHW). While the translation is accurate, efforts have been made to correct any mistakes by the original author. Reasoning for such corrections has been provided, and extra information has been added where possible.

In the matter of his succession there was yet more controversy.

According to KHW, he succeeded his brother and the Latin text does not mention a brother being killed.

The only clue to this assumption lies in an extract from the Annales Rodenses, (Monum. Germ. Hist. XVI 698), a Rhenish chronicle. It refers to the widow of Count Adalbert von Saffenberg an der Ahr after the count had died on 16 December 1109 [roughly forty years after the battle between Heinrich IV and Otto von Nordheim]. [16]

Mathildis vero conjunx illius obiit II nonas Decembris aput Hollendin ultra Rhenum, ubi sedes propria eius erat priority videlicet marito, et ibi est sepulta juxta aput Wettreh in monasterio sanctimonialum.

His wife Mathildis, however, died on 4 December 1110 in/at Hollende beyond the Rhine where she possessed her own first residence, that of her first husband. She was buried in Wettreh (Wetter) in the Sanctimonialen monastery.

[16] Again the German Wiki came up with information regarding Saffenberg (Saffenburg) and Adalbert. Saffenburg was a massive castle (fortress) which was first documented in 1074.

But was Mathilde the wife of the Giso II who was slain in 1073 or the widow of Giso III? It would seem that this question does not have a definitive answer. It has been noted that in 1104 when she founded the monastery of Rath in Herzogenrath with her second husband she was already somewhat aged, but that is not substantial evidence.

That she used Burg Hollende as a widow's seat or dower possession suggests that the castle could have been family property but it does not rule out the possibility of it still being a feudal property which was being used for another purpose. As it is, the relocation of Mathilde to the village of Hollende suggests that there was insufficient room at the castle (Reuling 419f). [17]

[17] According to local historian Helfrich Bernhard Wencks, the wife of Giso III was the daughter of Count Udo and her name was Mechtildis (ie. Mathilde).

 

Main Sources

Meiborg, Christa - Die Hollende bei Wetter (Hessen)-Warzenbach. Führungsblatt zu der Burg der Grafen Giso im Kreis Marburg-Biedenkopf, Archäologische Denkmäler in Hessen, Heft 157, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen, Wiesbaden, 2003

Weiss, Kai-Hubert - Grafengeschlect der Gisonen and die Burg Hollende bei Treisbach

Dietrich, Christoph von Rommel - Geschichte von Hessen, Volume 1

Weller, Tobias - Die Heiratspolitik des deutschen Hochadels im 12. Jarhundert

Wencks, Helfrich Bernhard - Hessische Landesgescichte, Volume 3

Schmidt, Johannes Ernst Chistroph - Geschichte des Grossherzogthums Hessen

Verlag, Vittorio Klostermann - Hessen und das Stammesherzogtum Sachsen

Internet Sources

Dt.wiki - Die Gisonen

www.hoeckmann.de - Geschichte der Landgraftschaft Hessen, Kassel Teil 1

www.myheritage.com - Giso von Gudensberg

 

 

     
This new translation and expansion of Grafengeschlect der Gisonen and die Burg Hollende bei Treisbach by Kai-Hubert Weiss copyright © Trish Wilson. An original feature for the History Files.