Alaholfings

The Ahalolfings or Alaholfings were a noble family of Alemannia in the Early Middle Ages. The family rose in the Carolingian Empire to possess lands in not only Alemannia, but Bavaria, Franconia, and Italy. Their original power base was around the upper Neckar and Danube rivers.

The Ahalolfings are divided into two groups, the older and the younger. It is not certain how the two groups are related. The older group descends from a Berthold who was the joint founder, with Hnabi, of Reichenau Abbey in 724. His most famous descendant was Cadolah, Duke of Friuli, who defended the Pannonian plains into Italy from the Avars.

The younger branch of the family itself comprises two branches. Richardis, the empress of Charles the Fat, descends from Erchanger. Her sister married Berthold I and was the mother of the other branch of the family, which included the famous Erchanger, Duke of Swabia, and his brother Berthold II. The Ahalolfings died out when Berthold III died in 973, though the Zähringen may be descended from them.

Sources

• Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991.