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– SOLMS –
It may be doubted whether a continuous genealogy can be constructed for early generations of the Solms dynasty. The first to make use of the Solms cognomen was a Markward documented in 1129. His name is sufficiently rare that we can place him among the descendants of Margrave Siegfried of the Austrian Neumark († 1065) and his wife Richgard of the Carinthian ducal family. This Siegfried belonged to a middle Rhenish family that soon took the cognomen of Sponheim, and it appears that his grandsons founded the houses of Sponheim, Ham and Vianden. The name Markward must surely arrive from the family of the Carinthian dukes, and the counts of Sponheim were well connected in the more northerly Frankish regions of Hessen and Ripuaria. In particular, Stephen I of Sponheim († 1070) married (as we infer) a sister and heiress of Berthold IV of Stromburg, who as count in the pagi of Wetterau and Niddagau was powerful in Hessen. Markward of Solms should be Stephen’s grandson, but it is impossible to discern his parents, since Stephen’s family appears to have been quite large. Nor may we speculate over the background of Markward’s wife. Henry I of Solms (fl. 1156) bore a name that was becoming increasingly common in Frankish regions of the empire, and it is clear neither that he was Markward’s son nor that he fits exactly into the generation following. At least the names persevere. It is already the thirteenth century when we meet new members of the family. Henry II of Solms and Hartung of Solms appear to be brothers. Hartung, who was a Teutonic Knight, bears a diminutive form of a Hart- name, which can easily be Hartwig, a common name in his ancestry on the side of the Carinthian dukes. In the next generation the name Markward recurs. The outstanding fact is the comital title borne by this dynasty. It must arrive, together with a share in Gleiberg castle, from the Hessian counts of Gleiberg, who became extinct in the second half of the twelfth century. The title presumably represents jurisdiction in the pagus of Upper Lahngau. We know that Count William of Gleiberg had daughters with children, so it is appropriate to posit another daughter, who carries the title to Solms. Chronologically it is conceivable that she marries Henry I of Solms (fl. 1156), and Count Henry II (fl. 1212-23) and Hartung (fl. 1215-23) could be their sons. The county probably does not arrive via Henry II’s wife, who appears to be an Isenburg. No sooner does the county arrive, however, than the title undergoes mitosis. The brothers Henry III (fl. 1226-60) and Markward II (fl. 1226-55) found separate comital lines, and further mitosis takes place in subsequent generations. This development clearly is not based on separate jurisdictions deriving from the old pagi. It attests to the acceptance of a principle of dynastic division among certain of the comital families of Hessen around this time.
SHIELD The Solms arms eventually became a lion in azur on field of or often strewn with billets, but this shield was not adopted until the mid-thirteenth century. It was preceded by a shield-within-a-shield design, which one assumes was similar in tincture. The adoption of a lion shield must have a justification, especially since the Solms shield became the reverse of the Nassau shield. A compelling justification can be found in the Solms descent from Gleiberg, which family had actually rejoiced in the Rhenish palatine dignity during the reign of Lothar of Supplinburg, in the person of Otto of Rheineck.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Sources: – Mainzer UB I-II.
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