CHAPTER XXIV.

"Count Witikind came of a regal strain."

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The Descent of FREDERICK the Grave of SAXEGOTHA, from WITIKIND the Great, and from ALFRED the GREAT.

SEVE

EVERAL accounts have been published of the ancestors of PRINCE ALBERT, and, amongst them, one by Mr. Frederick Shoberl, to which the reader is referred; but in none, is His Royal Highness traced to the Anglo-Saxon progenitors of Her Majesty ; it will be the object of this chapter to endeavour to make out a clear and uninterrupted pedigree from ALFRED the GREAT to her Majesty's consort, as well as from WITIKIND. In Chapter XXI., QUEEN VICTORIA's descent is shown from Witikind's eldest son, WIGBERT; the House of Saxe-Gotha derives from a son by a second marriage (viz. with Suatania, daughter of Zechius, a prince in Bohemia), WITIKIND II., who became Count of Wettin, and who died in 825,

leaving two sons, the eldest, Witikind III., is supposed by some writers (Collins among the number), to be the ancestor of the Capetian Kings of France; the second son, DIETGREMMUS, succeeded as Count of Wettin, and by his wife BOSSENA, daughter and heir of the Count of PLEISSEN, left a son, DITMARUS, who died in 933, father of THEODORIC I., who married JUDITH of Nursberg, by whom he had DEDO II., whose wife was TITBURGA of BRANDENBURG, their son, THEODORIC II., succeeded to Wettin in 1019, and married MATHILDIS, daughter and heir of ECHARD I., third MARGRAVE of MISNIA, descended from Dietgremmus. On the death of Theodoric II., in 1034, his son THIMO became Margrave of Misnia; his wife was ITHA of BAVARIA, daughter of Duke OTTO, son of SIGFRID II., Count of Northeim, descended from the eldest son of Witikind the Great." Thimo died

in 1091, leaving a son, CONRAD, called the Pious, who was Margrave of MISNIA, and of LOWER LUSATIA; he lived to the year 1156, having married LUITGARDE, daughter of FREDERICK of HOHENSTAUFEN, Duke of Swabia, whose wife was AGNES of FRANCONIA, daughter of the EMPEROR HENRY IV.12 Conrad had several sons, of whom the eldest, OTTO, called the Rich, succeeded to Misnia; he

11 See Table XXII.

12 The Emperor HENRY IV. was sixth in descent from the Emperor OTHO and EDITHA, granddaughter of ALFRED the GREAT.

married HEDWIGE, daughter of ALBERT the Bear, Margrave of BRANDENBURG, whose wife was SOPHIA, of the HOUSE of HOHENSTAUFEN. Otto died in 1189, leaving two sons, Albert, who died in 1195, and DIETRICH, or Theodoric, who became Margrave of Misnia, and who married his cousin JUDITH, daughter and heiress of LEWIS II., Landgrave of THURINGIA, by JUDITH, daughter of Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, who was son of FREDERICK of HOHENSTAUFEN. Dietrich died in 1220, according to Jacob, or poisoned in 1222, according to Shoberl, and his youngest son, HENRY the Illustrious, became in right of his mother, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Margrave of Misnia, from his father. He was a very powerful prince, and successful in his undertakings. His wife was CONSTANCE, daughter of LEOPOLD VI., Duke of AUSTRIA, who was a descendant of the Emperor Otho and Editha of England. Henry died in 1287-8, having previously divided his dominions with his three sons. The eldest, ALBERT, called the Froward, obtained Thuringia, and married MARGARET, daughter of the EMPEROR FREDERICK II., and, as observed in a former chapter, she was daughter, according to the historian Speed, of

He was son of HENRY III., called the Black, whose father was CONRAD II., surnamed the Salic, son of Henry, Duke of Franconia, whose father, Otho, also Duke, was son of Ludolph, the son of Otho and Editha of England.

the Emperor's sixth wife, ISABEL, the daughter of JOHN, King of ENGLAND; this statement, if correct, strengthens the descent of PRINCE ALBERT from the Anglo-Saxon rulers of England. Speed's statement is confirmed by Sandford. Albert the Froward, who died in 1314, left children by Margaret (who died in 1270), of whom, FREDERICK I. carried on the line by his wife AGNES, daughter of MAINHARD, Duke of CARINTHIA; he had a son, FREDERICK, called the Grave, who succeeded his father in 1324.

Having traced Frederick the Grave by the father's side from Witikind the Great, it now becomes necessary to trace him by the mother's side from Alfred the GREAT. FREDERICK'S grandmother was the daughter of HERMAN VI., Margrave of BAden, whose wife was GERTRUDE, daughter of HENRY of AUSTRIA, who died in the life-time of his father LEOPOLD VI., Duke of AUSTRIA, son of LEOPOLd V., whose father, HENRY II., first bore the title of Duke of Austria; he was son of LEOPOLD III. and ITHA, daughter of the Emperor HENRY III., the son of CONRAD the Salic, whose father HENRY, was son of OTHO, Duke of Franconia, the son of CONRAD, Duke of Lorraine and LUITGARDE, the daughter of the Emperor OTHO I., by Editha of England, daughter of EDWARD the Elder, son of ALFRED the GREAT.13

13 46 Edgith, the sixth daughter of King Edward, and the fifth of Queene Elfleda, was the first wife of Otho the first, surnamed

By the foregoing brief description it will be seen, therefore, that FREDERICK the Grave is descended from EDWARD the Elder by several channels: I. by his grandfather's marriage with the granddaughter of King JOHN; II. it is admitted on all hands that the wife of Frederick's grandfather Albert, was the daughter of the Emperor FREDERICK II., who was a lineal descendant of the Emperor Отно, by Edward the Elder's daughter Editha; III. the mother of Frederick the Grave was equally derived from them; IV. the mother of his great grandfather was also a lineal descendant; V. the wife of HENRY the ILLUSTRIOUS, CONSTANCE, was likewise through the Dukes of Austria, another lineal descendant. If, therefore, the derivation of Frederick the Grave can be established from Alfred the Great, that of His Royal Highness Prince Albert must be granted, since his descent from Frederick admits of no dispute. This will be given in the next chapter.

the Great, Emperor of the West, son to the Emperor Henry, surnamed the Falconer. By him she had issue Ludolfe, Duke of Swabe, William, Arch-bishop of Mentz, Ludgard married to Conrad, Duke of Lorrayn, and Metchild, Abbesse of Quedlingburg in Saxonie." SPEED, Book VII. Chap. xxxvii.