He was the son of Otho, the son of Ludolph, in whose favor the Duchy of Saxony had been instituted, A.D. 858. Ruotgerus, the biographer of a St. Bruno (Bibliot. Bunavianae Catalog. tom. iii. vol. ii. p. 679), gives a splendid character of his family.
Atavorum atavi usque ad hominum memoriam omnes nobilissimi; nullus in eorum stirpe ignotus, nullus degener facile reperitur, (apud Struvium, Corp. Hist. German. p. 216.)
Yet Gundling (in Henrico Aucupe) is not satisfied of his descent from Witikind.