• Married:
• Died: 22 February

  Research Notes:

The De Fundatoribus Monasterii Diessenses names "Gisila cometissa" immediately after "Arnoldus comes" in a long list of names linked with this family, which suggests that she was Arnold's wife although no relationship is specified. The relationship is confirmed by the necrology of Diessen recording the death "Mar VIII Kal" of "Gisila com uxor comitis Arnoldi". Wegener suggests that Gisela was the wife of Graf Berthold, presumably Graf Berthold [II]... and that the couple were the parents of Graf Berthold [III]. He explains the reference to Arnold in the necrology as an error on the part of the 13th century compiler. This explanation appears to be rather a desperate attempt to make the facts fit the author's theory, which in any case apparently ignores the evidence from other sources which points to Gisela being Arnold's wife and Arnold, not Berthold [II], being Berthold [III]'s father. According to Europäische Stammtafeln, Arnold's wife Gisela was Gisela von Schweinfurt, daughter of Otto Markgraf von Schweinfurt Duke of Swabia & his wife Irmgard [Aemilia/Immula] di Susa, who married secondly as his first wife, Wichmann Graf von Seeburg. Wegener also identifies Gisela as the daughter of Markgraf Otto, citing in support the Kastler Reimchronik of [1323/24] according to which Sophie, daughter of "Graf Otto", married a Graf von Andechs. As this is the only reference to Otto Markgraf von Schweinfurt having a daughter named Sophie, Wegener identifies her with Gisela, in another apparent attempt to make the facts fit his theory. Presumably the compiler of Europäische Stammtafeln adopted the same solution without too much enquiry into the background. The Annalista Saxo, however, names Gisela as one of the five daughters of Otto von Schweinfurt and assigns "Wigmanno comiti de Seburch" as her only husband. Gisela's being described as "uxor comitis Arnoldi" in the Diessen necrology suggests that she predeceased Arnold, or at least that Arnold had been her only husband. In addition, if she had left Bavaria for Saxony to marry a second time it is less likely that her death would have been recorded at Diessen. There is also a strong chronological argument against any supposed first marriage of Gisela von Schweinfurt. Arnold Graf von Diessen died after 1091. This raised the unlikely prospect that Wichmann Graf von Seeberg married, as his first wife, a widow probably in her late 30s/early 40s with limited prospects of further child-bearing. The case against Graf Berthold [II] as her first husband is conclusive as Graf Berthold was still alive in [1100]... whereas Graf Wichmann married his second wife (presumably after the death of Gisela) in [1096]. In conclusion, therefore, it appears appropriate to dismiss definitively the supposed Schweinfurt origin of the wife of Graf Arnold. There is, on the other hand, another possibility which deserves consideration. This is that Graf Arnold was in fact Gisela's second husband. Europäische Stammtafeln shows five children Gebhard, Friedrich Rocho, Otto, Dietrich and Adelheid as possible children of Graf Arnold. The necrology of Diessen reveals that at least three of them, Gebhard, Otto and Dietrich, were brothers of "Berhtoldi comitis fundatoris nostri". The same source explicitly states that Berthold was the son of Graf Arnold. The difficulty lies with the chronology. ...[It] is likely that Berthold was born towards the end of his father's life, assuming that there was not a large difference of age between Berthold and his first wife, and who is therefore unlikely to have been born much before [1095/98]. On the other hand, the dates of death of three of the other possible children indicate that they are unlikely to have been born after the early 1070s. If all were full brothers, it is puzzling why Berthold, a younger brother, should have inherited the most important of their father's counties. One possible explanation is that the other children were Graf Berthold's uterine brothers, born from an earlier marriage of their mother. This could also explain the sudden appearance of the name "Gebhard" into the family, unused before this time. It would also explain why the necrology of Diessen names Graf Berthold's father while recording that Gebhard and Dietrich were "brothers of Berthold" without naming their father. ¹