The Emichones family is a precursor to several noble families in the southwestern German region. Its members were -- perhaps as undercounts of the Salian dynasty

Salian dynasty

The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...

 -- gau counts (Gaugrafen) in the Nahegau

Nahegau

The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wormsgau...

. The name is due to the prevailing first name "Emich."

History

The Nahegau

Nahegau

The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wormsgau...

 was next to the Wormsgau

Wormsgau

The Wormsgau or pago wormatiensi was in the Middle Ages a county, which extended itself not only in the surroundings of the city of Worms, Germany, but concurrently along the Rhine widely in northern direction until short of reaching Coblenz. The city of Mainz belonged likewise to it as to the...

 and Speyergau

Speyergau

Speyergau was a medieval county in the stem duchy of Franconia around the administrative centre of Speyer, Germany. It roughly covered the former Roman administrative area of Civitas Nemetum which is now the south-eastern portion of the Palatinate between Rhine and Palatinate Forest and some parts...

, a possession of the Salian dynasty

Salian dynasty

The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...

. In 940 Emich, a vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

 of Count Conrad der Rote

Conrad, Duke of Lorraine

Conrad the Red was a Duke of Lorraine from the Salian dynasty.He was the son of Werner V, Count of the Nahegau, Speyergau, and Wormsgau. His mother was a sister of Conrad I of Germany. In 941, he succeeded his father in his counties and obtained an additional territory, the Niddagau...

, received goods from Hadamar of Fulda in the Wormsgau. This Emich is probably related to the Counts of Leiningen, although it is dubious, whether he belongs to the Emichones family.

Secure evidence for the Emichones appears in 961. A count and knight Emich received through sentence (law)

Sentence (law)

In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...

 according to Frankish law the possessions which until then had belonged to the Lords Lantbert, Megingoz and Reginzo, including Kirn

Kirn

Kirn is a town in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Nahe, roughly 10 km north-east of Idar-Oberstein and 30 km west of Bad Kreuznach....

 and Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. These lords were supposedly sons of Nortbold, one of the first proprietors of a castle mentioned in 926, possibly the Schmidtburg

Schmidtburg

Schmidtburg is a ruin of a former castle next to Schneppenbach in Germany. The castle was built up in 926, and was destroyed during the War of the Grand Alliance by French troops in 1688.-External links:**...

.

Counts with the name Emich are documented without interval between 960 and 1065. Even so, a precise genealogy has hitherto not been organized.

The Count of Nahegau Emich IV supposedly married before 1072 Kunigunde, the sister of the Count of Trechirgau

Trechirgau

The Trechirgau was a mediaeval administrative district, a gau. It belonged to the Duchy of Lorraine. Its exact extent is only roughly known and it lay in the triangle formed by Enkirch, Koblenz and Oberwesel.- History :...

 Berthold, the latter the founder of the Abbey of Ravengiersburg

Ravengiersburg

Ravengiersburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Simmern, whose seat is in the like-named town...

. The family of the Bertholds (or a branch of this family) died out with him. Emich V left around 1091 the title of Gaugraf behind and named himself 1098 Count of Flonheim

Flonheim

Flonheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

 and 1107 Count of Schmidtburg, therefore ending the history of the Emichones with the family dividing itself in the Wildgraves, Raugraves

Raugraves

The Raugraves were a German noble family, which had its center of influence in the former Nahegau. They descended from the Emichones .- First family in the 12th until 15th centuries :...

 and Counts of Veldenz. A Berthold of Stromberg

Stromberg

-People:*Lyndon Stromberg, American sculptor and designer*Karl Stromberg, the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me*Joseph R. Stromberg, historian with the Ludwig von Mises Institute*Glenn Strömberg, Swedish soccer player...

 was apparently the brother of Emich V, a member of a collateral branch of the Emichones residing at the castle Stromburg and Vogt

Vogt

A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

 of Ravengiersburg.

Structure

1. Counts of Veldenz
2. Wildgraves
3. Raugraves
   Raugraves
   The Raugraves were a German noble family, which had its center of influence in the former Nahegau. They descended from the Emichones .- First family in the 12th until 15th centuries :...
   
   
4. (supposedly) Counts of Leiningen (first line Alt-Leiningen)

According to various theories the Counts of Sponheim also descended from the Emichones on the male side.

Literature

Crollius, Georg Christian

Georg Christian Crollius

Georg Christian Crollius was a German historian and librarian.The son of the gymnasial headmaster Johann Philipp Crollius and of Margaretha Gabriela Joannis, Crollius studied in Halle and Göttingen and occupied, as had his father, to whom he succeeded in the management of the Zweibrücker...

: Vorlesung: Von dem ersten geschlecht der alten graven von Veldenz und dessen gemeinschaftlichen abstammung mit den ältern Wildgraven von den graven im Nohgau. Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1770 (complete at Google Books) Dotzauer, Winfried: Geschichte des Nahe-Hunsrück-Raumes von den Anfängen bis zur Französischen Revolution, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001

External links

• Stem list at genealogy.euweb.cz