TheAlaholfings (occasionallyAhalolfings) were anoble family ofAlemannia in theEarly Middle Ages. They were related to theprevious rulers of Alemannia, to the BavarianAgilolfings and to theGeroldings.[1][2] Their original power base was around the upperNeckar andDanube rivers.[1] They came to possess lands in not only Alemannia, but also inBavaria,Franconia andItaly.
The Ahalolfings are divided into two groups, the older and the younger. It is not certain how the two groups are related. The older group descends from a Berthold who was the joint founder, withHnabi, ofReichenau Abbey in 724. His most famous descendant wasCadolah,Duke of Friuli, who defended thePannonian plains into Italy from theAvars.
A certain Halaholf foundedMarchtal Abbey as aproprietary monastery in the mid-8th century. His descendants gave it to theAbbey of Saint Gall in 776. In modern scholarship, the family is named after Halaholf, although in later generations the family'sleading name was Berthold.[2]
The younger branch of the family itself comprises two branches. EmpressRichardis descends from Erchanger. Her sister marriedBerthold I and was the mother of the other branch of the family, which included the famousErchanger, Duke of Swabia, and his brotherBerthold II. The Ahalolfings died out whenBerthold III died in 973, though theZähringen may be descended from them.