Siegfried (or Sigfried) (c. 922 – 28 October 998) was count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Luxembourg. He was also an advocate of the abbeys of St. Maximin in Trier and Saint Willibrord in Echternach.
His male-line descendants are known as the House of Luxembourg, or House of Ardenne–Luxembourg.
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Ancestry
Through his mother Cunigunde, who was a granddaughter of King Louis the Stammerer of West Francia, Siegfried was a sixth-generation descendant of Charlemagne.
His father is most likely Count Palatine Wigeric of Lotharingia, the ruler of Lotharingia, which was a successor state of Middle Francia. Wigeric is also considered the founder of the House of Ardennes, and his sons, including Siegfried, would all create their own respective branches and become important rulers in Upper and Lower Lotharingia. Thus, while Siegfried became founder of the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg and his descendants would become the Counts of Luxembourg, his brothers Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine and Gozlin, Count of Bidgau and Methingau became founders of their own branches known as House of Ardennes-Bar and House of Ardennes-Verdun respectively. Their descendants would become the rulers of the Duchy of Lorraine and Upper Lorraine, the Duchy of Bar, as well as become counts or bishops of many surrounding cities like Arlon, Bastogne, Metz, Trier, Verdun, and Laon among others.
