Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg

Elimar I (1040-1112) was the first Count of Oldenburg and reigned from c.1091 to 1108.

Elimar married Rixa (also called Rikissa and Richenza), who according to the Annals of Stade was the daughter of Dedi or Adalger, and according to Annales Stadenses, her mother was Ida of Elthorp (Annales Stadenses record that "Rikencen, filie Ide de Elthrope" is wife of "comes Eilmari de Aldenburg". Annales Stadenses describe that Ida is a noblewoman of Swabian birth and that Ida's father is brother of Emperor Henry III and Ida's mother is sister of Pope Leo IX (whose secular name is Bruno).

The name of Elimar is found in a charter dating from 1108. His wife claimed that he was descended from Wittekind, a notable defender of the Saxons and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars of 777 to 785, but there is no further evidence for this.

Elimar was succeeded by his son Elimar II.

Legacy

Elimar is the patrilineal ancestor of the House of Oldenburg, which has ruled as monarchs of Denmark continuously since 1448, and also as counts, dukes, kings, or emperors of Norway, Sweden, Russia, Oldenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lauenburg, and Greece.

Present-day patrilineal descendants of Elimar include:

• Margrethe II of Denmark,
• Harald V of Norway,
• Constantine II of Greece,
• Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia,
• Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms, and
• Christopher, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, who is Elimar's current senior male-line descendant.

Sources

• Ǿstergård, Uffe (2015). "Nation-Building and Nationalism in the Oldenburg Empire". In Berger, Stefan; Miller, Alexei (eds.). Nationalizing Empires. Central European University Press. p. 461-510.

Annales Stadenses

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