Liudolf (c. 805/820 – 11/12 March 866) was a Carolingian office bearer and count in the Duchy of Saxony from about 844 until his death in 866. The ruling Liudolfing house, also known as the Ottonian dynasty, is named after him; he is its oldest verified member.
Life
Liudolf was the son of a margrave (German: Markgraf) Bruno and his wife, Gisla. or Oda de Billung. Liudolf had extended possessions in the western Harz foothills and on the Leine river, he also served as a military leader (dux) in the wars of the East Frankish king Louis the German against Viking invasions, and the Polabian Slavs. Later authors called Liudolf a duke of the Eastern Saxons (dux Orientalis Saxonum, probably since 850) and count of Eastphalia.
About 830 Liudolf married Oda, daughter of a Frankish princeps named Billung and his wife Aeda. By marrying a Frankish nobleman's daughter, Liudolf followed suggestions set forth by Charlemagne about ensuring the integrity of the Carolingian Empire in the aftermath of the Saxon Wars through marriage. Oda died on 17 May 913, supposedly at the age of 107. They had at least seven children:
Bruno (c. 830/840 – 880), succeeded his father as a Saxon leader, supposed progenitor of the Brunonids
Oda of Saxony (c. 845 – 874), married to Lothar I, Count of Stade
Otto the Illustrious (c. 851 – 912), succeeded his brother in 880, father of King Henry the Fowler
Liutgard (c. 840 – 885), married the East Frankish ruler Louis the Younger in 874
Hathumoda (c. 840 – 874), first Abbess of Brunshausen from 852
Gerberga (d. 896/897), Abbess of Brunshausen from 874 and later of Gandersheim