Suanehildis of Holland

http://www.ancientfaces.com/research/person/831862/ermengarde-van-h...

m ---. The identity of the wife of Comte Emmo has not been established beyond doubt. The Annalista Saxo names "Bertrada, soror Suanehildis comitisse de castro quod dicitur Lon in Hasbania, cuius filius fuit Arnoldus comes Mogotiensis prefectus" as wife of Graf Dietrich (identified as Dietrich I Graf von Katlenburg)[642]. As noted in the document HOLLAND, no primary source has been identified which indicates that Bertrada was the daughter of Dirk III Count of Holland. Nevertheless, from a chronological point of view Count Dirk is the most likely father, assuming that Bertrada was a member of that family. "Arnoldus comes Mogotiensis prefectus" in this passage must be identified as Arnaud [I] Comte de Looz, who is recorded as the son of Emmo Comte de Looz. If that is correct, the wife of Emmo was Suanehildis of Holland, daughter of Dirk III "Hierosolymita" Count of Holland & his wife Othelindis [von Haldensleben] (-31 Mar [1100]). From a chronological point of view, the suggestion is feasible: the birth of the children of Count Dirk III must be dated to [1010/35], while Comte Emmo´s children were probably born in [1040/60]. The necrology of Liège Saint-Jacques points to this being the correct solution when it records the death 31 Mar of “Spannehildis comitissima de Los” and her donation[643]. Verdonk indicates that she died in 1100 on a pilgrimage to Rome[644]. [The Vita Andreæ, first abbot of Averboden, in the Chronicle written by Nicolas Hogeland Abbot of Middelburg, records that "comitis Arnoldi Lossensis" descended "ex parte matris" from "Cliviæ comitibus"[645], which would be inconsistent with this hypothesis but, as pointed out below, Klaversma notes that this source is a 17th century forgery and is therefore unreliable[646].] [The dubious late-18th century Recueil généalogique de familles originaires des Pays-Bas indicates that Comte Emmo married “Ermingarde, fille héritière de Conrard sire de Hornes et de Machtilde de Juliers, laquelle fit de belles donations à St. Barthelemi de Liège et à notre Dame de Hui”[647]. No primary source is cited to confirm this statement and no reliable reference has been found to any such early family of Heren van Horne (see the document DUTCH NOBILITY). Possibly the statement is linked to the 17th century forgery which suggests that Horne was inherited by Emmo’s son Thierry, as noted below. The reference to the “donations à St. Barthelemi de Liège” suggests that this person was identified as "Ermengardis comitissa" whose donation is dated 1078[648], and presumably also as "Ermengardis" who made similar donations to the churches of Sainte-Marie et Saint-Lambert de Liège by charter dated 5 Feb 1078[649]. No primary source has been found which links Ermengarde to Looz while Daris, in his mid-19th century Histoire de Looz, indicated that the idea had no foundation[650]. It is suggested elsewhere in the present document that the donor in question was the widow of Gozelon Comte de Montaigu.]