Liudolf was the son of a
margrave () 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 ( – 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 ( – 912), succeeded his brother in 880, father of King
Henry the Fowler •
Liutgard ( – 885), married the East Frankish ruler
Louis the Younger in 874 •
Hathumoda ( – 874), first Abbess of Brunshausen from 852 •
Gerberga (d. 896/897), Abbess of Brunshausen from 874 and later of Gandersheim • Christina (d. 919/920), Abbess of Gandersheim from 896/97 In 845/846, Liudolf and his wife went on a pilgrimage to
Rome, and upon approval by
Pope Sergius II they founded a house of holy canonesses dedicated to Popes
Anastasius I and
Innocent I around 852. The monastery, duly established at their
proprietary church in Brunshausen, was consecrated by the
Hildesheim bishop
Altfrid and Liudolf's minor daughter Hathumoda became its first
abbess. The convent was relocated in 881 to form
Gandersheim Abbey, elevated to an
Imperial monastery by Liudolf's grandson Henry the Fowler in 919. While King Louis the German was preoccupied with Imperial politics, Liudolf, relying on the rank as well as the
allodial lands he had inherited from his ancestors, rose to a leading position among the Saxon nobles – made evident by the marriage of his daughter Liutgard with King Louis the Younger. He is buried in his proprietary monastery of Brunshausen. His successions by his sons Bruno and Otto met with no resistance. ==References==