Welf (father of Judith)

Welf I
Depiction in the Historia Welforum, about 1170
Spouse(s)	Hedwig of Saxony
Issue Judith of Bavaria Conrad I the Elder Hemma
Noble family	Elder House of Welf
Died	c. 825

Welf I (or Hwelf; died about 825) is the first documented ancestor of the Elder House of Welf. He is mentioned as a count (comes) in the Frankish lands of Bavaria.

Welf originated from a distinguished dynasty of Franconian nobles. He is mentioned only once: on the occasion of the wedding of his daughter Judith with Emperor Louis the Pious in 819 at Aachen. His son Conrad later appeared as a dux (duke) in Alamannia and achieved a powerful position in the Upper Swabian estates he possibly had inherited from his mother Hedwig (Heilwig).

His family became politically powerful when Louis the Pious chose his oldest daughter as his 2nd wife upon the death of his consort Ermengarde of Hesbaye. Though Welf himself never became publicly prominent, his family became interwoven with the Carolingian dynasty.

Welf married Hedwig (Heilwig), daughter of the Saxon count Isambart; Hedwig later became abbess of Chelles. The couple had the following children:

Pierre Riche, The Carolingians, A family who Forged Europe (translated by Michael Idomir Allen; University of Philadelphia Press, 1993), pp. 52, 149, T5