Oda
OdaOda was said to be from a distinguished Frankish family, but her parents are little more than names ["Cui coniux ergo fuerat praenobilis Oda, / Edita Francorum clara de stirpe potentum, / Filia Billungi, cuiusdam principis almi, / Atque bonae famae generosae scilicet Aedae / ..." Hrotsvitha, Carmen de primordiis coenobii Gandersheimensis, 21-4, MGH SS 4: 306; "... mater ex nobilissima aeque Francorum prosapia descendens, in prole nobilior effulsit." Agius, Vita Hathumodae, c. 2, MGH SS 4: 167].
Date of birth: About 806.
Place of birth: Unknown.
The date is based on calculating
107 years back from 913, and its reliability depends on how
accurate the age at death is [see under date of death].
Date of death: [17 May?] 913, aged 107 (it is said).
Place of
death: Unknown.
Place of
burial: Gandersheim.
Oda is said to have lived to the
remarkable age of 107 years, dying six months after the death of
her son Otto and the birth of her great-grandson the later
emperor Otto I, and she was buried at Gandersheim with her
daughters ["Mensibus hinc senis cursu volitante
peractis, / Dum decus hoc tanti clarum generis fuit ortum, / ...
/ Oda nimis felix, nostri spes et dominatrix, / Quum decies denos
septem quoque vixerat annos, / Vitam fine bono consummans transit
ad astra, / ... / Iuxta natarum requiescit busta suarum."
Hrotsvitha, Primordia, 568-9, 574-6, 580, MGH SS 4: 316;
"Domna quoque Oda centesimo septimo aetatis anno,
omnibus filiis praemissis, decessit, Cristina tantum superstite,
positaque est iuxta filias suas." Vita Bernwardi
ep., c. 12, MGH SS 4: 763; "Domina Oda, mater
scilicet ipsius, obiit anno 107. vitae suae." Ann.
Quedlinb., s.a. 913, MGH SS 3: 52]. The necrology of
Gandersheim mentions Oda, but does not give her date of death
["Memoria venerabilis Domini [sic] Ode
fundatoris et peragetur sicut memoria Ludolphi fundatoris"
Althoff (1976), 402 (#31)]. Althoff gives 17 May 913 as her date
of death, but without giving a clear source [Althoff (1976), 375,
402 (#31); Althoff (1984), 159]. Sometime around May 913 seems
probable from the fact that she is said to have died six months
after her son Otto, but the absence of a good citation for the
exact date invites concern that her death date has been confused
with that of Ida, wife of another duke Liudolf (of Swabia,
great-great-grandson of Oda, see the page of Otto I), who herself died on a 17 May (985×6) [Althoff
(1984), 378 (H13)]. As for the claimed age of 107 years, the
reliability of that information is difficult to judge. Unusual as
it is, it is certainly not impossible. The only child with a
known birthdate is Hathumod (ca. 840), and the suggestion that
Oda's age was exaggerated by a decade or so would not conflict
with any other known information.
Father: Billung.
Mother: Aeda.
["Filia Billungi, cuiusdam principis almi, / Atque bonae famae generosae scilicet Aedae / ..." Hrotsvitha, Carmen de primordiis coenobii Gandersheimensis, 23-4, MGH SS 4: 306]
Spouse: Liudolf, d.
12 March 865×6, duke of eastern Saxony.
[Hrotsvitha, Carmen de primordiis
coenobii Gandersheimensis, 21-4, MGH SS 4: 306 (see above);
"... Liudolfus dux cum religiosa contectali sua Oda, ..."
Vita Bernwardi ep., c. 12, MGH SS 4: 762; "anno
dominicae incarnationis 852 ..., quidam dux Saxonicus nomine
Liudulfus et sua contectalis Ouda, ..." Wolfhere, Vita
Godehardi episcopi, c. 19, MGH SS 11: 180]
Children:
See the page of Liudolf for details.
Bruno, d. 2 February 880, duke of
Sachsen (Saxony).
Otto (Oddo)
"der Erlauchten", d.
30 November 912, duke of Sachsen (Saxony);
m. Hedwig, d. 24 December, probably 903.
Hathumod, b. ca. 840, d. 29 November
874, aged 34, abbess of Gandersheim.
Liutgard, d. 885;
m. Ludwig III, d. 20 January 882, king of
Sachsen.
Enda;
m. NN.
Gerberga, d. 5 September 896×7,
abbess of Gandersheim, 874-896-7.
Christina, d. 1 April 919, abbess of
Gandersheim, 896×7-919.
NN, a monk.
Thankmar, apparently d. young.
NN, d. young.
NN, d. young.
NN, d. young.
NN?, in religion?
NN?, in religion?
Althoff (1976) = Gerd Althoff, "Unerkannte Zeugnisse vom Totengedenken der Liudolfinger", Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 32 (1976): 370-404.
Althoff (1984) = Gerd Althoff, Adels- und Königsfamilien im Spiegel ihrer Memorialüberlieferung (Munich, 1984).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 3 April 2011.