Liudolf of Brunswick was margrave

Margrave

A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...

 of Frisia

Frisia

Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...

, count of Brunswick

County of Brunswick

The County of Brunswick was a county in the medieval Duchy of Saxony. It existed from about the 9th century until 1235, when it was raised to a duchy, the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg....

, count in the Derlingau

Derlingau

The Derlingau was an early medieval county of the Duchy of Saxony.-Geography:The Derlingau approximately consisted of the area between the river Oker in the west and the Lappwald forest in the east. It was bordered by : Bardengau, Gau Osterwald, Nordthüringgau, Harzgau, Salzgau, Hastfalagau, Gau...

 and the Gudingau. He was a member of the Brunonen

Brunonen

The Brunonen were a Saxon noble family in the 10th and 11th centuries, who owned property in Eastphalia and Frisia....

 family.

Liudolf was a descendant of the Saxon

Duchy of Saxony

The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...

 family of the Brunonen. He was a son of Bruno I, Count of Brunswick, and Gisela of Swabia

Gisela of Swabia

Gisela of Swabia was the daughter of Herman II of Swabia and Gerberga of Burgundy. Both her parents were descendents of Charlemagne.-Life:...

. The later Roman Emperor Henry III

Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...

 was his half brother. He married Gertrude and had four children. The Friesian counties Oostergo, Zuidergo and Westergo were controlled by him. Until the end of his life he administered the Frisian areas, and for two more generations the Brunonen family line inherited the title. How the Brunonen came to their position in the counties is not known. There is a theory that Liudolf took advantage of the reign of violence between Friesland Vlie

Vlie

The Vlie or Vliestroom is the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland, to its southwest, and Terschelling, to its northeast. The Vlie was the estuary of the river IJssel in medieval times...

 and Lauwers

Lauwers

The Lauwers is a river in the Netherlands. It forms part of the border between the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. From the 730's to Widukind's defeat in 785 it was part of the border of the Frankish Empire....

 of the counts of Holland

Count of Holland

The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...

. Not much is known about his life. He died in 1038 and was succeeded by his son, Bruno II

Bruno II

Bruno II was a Frisian count or margrave in the 11th century ruling Middle-Friesland. He belonged to the Brunonen family. In 1038 he succeeded his father Liudolf, Margrave of Frisia. His mother was Gertrude the daughter of Count Hugo and brother of Pope Leo IX...

. His daughter Matilda

Matilda of Frisia

Matilda of Frisia was the second wife and first Queen of Henry I, King of the Franks. She was the daughter of Liudulf, Margrave of Frisia and Gertrude. Her date of birth is unknown....

 married Henry I of France

Henry I of France

Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...

, the widower of her aunt. One popular theory of the origins of Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile

Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile

Agatha was the wife of Edward the Exile and mother of Edgar Ætheling, Saint Margaret of Scotland and Cristina of England...

 makes her another daughter.

Family

Liudolf and his wife Gertrud had the following children:

• Brun II (around 1024 – 26 June 1057)
• Egbert
  Egbert I, Margrave of Meissen
  Egbert I was the Margrave of Meissen from 1067 until his early death the next year. Egbert was the Count of Brunswick from about 1038, when his father, Liudolf, Margrave of Frisia, died. His mother was Gertrude, the sister of Pope Leo IX.Egbert was the scion of the influential Eastphalian family...
  
   (died 1068)
• Matilda
  Matilda of Frisia
  Matilda of Frisia was the second wife and first Queen of Henry I, King of the Franks. She was the daughter of Liudulf, Margrave of Frisia and Gertrude. Her date of birth is unknown....
  
   (died 1044), married King Henry I of France
  Henry I of France
  Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...
  
  
• Ida of Elsdorf