Helyas (The Swan Knight)

• General Notes
  • Helyas `the Swan-Knight'hero of 1st Crusade
    
    Ancestral File Number: GS56-5B
    
    Notes from David Hughes http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/grail_kings.wps.htm
    
    The fact that Helyas "The Swan-Knight" had the Holy Grail in his possession would indicate that his father Warin of Lorraine was the son of Otto "of Lillefort", a descendant of the Grail-Kings. Warin of Lorraine was one of "The Conqueror's Companions" (d1068/71). He [Warin of Lorraine], by his wife, Biautris, was the father of 36. Helyas "The Swan-Knight", epic-hero of the First Crusade 1096-99, the last Grail-King, who, upon entering Jerusalem [accompanying his son, Geoffrey of Bouillon] following the First Crusade (1099) he returned The Holy Grail to The Church of The Holy Sepulchre and placed it himself on the high-altar. Helyas "The Swan-Knight" (d1101) was the son of Warin of Lorraine ["Loherenc Garin", a.k.a. Lohengrin] (d1071/3), one of the "Conqueror's Companions" (1066). The legend of Helyas "The Swan-Knight" takes place during the last half of the eleventh century. He arrives on the scene when the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1056-1106) held court at Neumagen to decide a claim by the Count of Frankfort for the duchy of Bouillon, then held by Ida of Louvain, the widow of the Duke of Bouillon, its duchess. The matter was decided by hand-to-hand combat between the Count of Frankfort and Helyas of Lorraine, who championed the duchess, who legend says sailed up the Meuse on a boat drawn by a swan by means of a silver chain, whence his epithet. He won the battle, married her, and became the Duke of Bouillon in right of his wife, by whom he begot Geoffrey of Bouillon, Leader of the First Crusade 1096-99; Protector of The Holy Sepulchre 1099-1100. The legend was embellished by medieval romance that says before their marriage Helyas warned the duchess that if she ever asked his identity he would have to leave her. As the story goes she later tempted disregarding her husband?s warning asked him his identity. [The wife's desire to know her husband's "true self" appears here to parallel the myth of Cupid and Psyche.] He rebuked her sorrowfully, and, instantly the boat drawn by the swan re-appeared on the river next to where they were, Helyas stepped into the boat, and the swan swam off with him in the boat out of sight of his sorrowing wife. That is medieval romance, but the fact is Helyas divorced Ida of Louvain, soon after the birth of their son, Geoffrey, and she [his ex-wife] married thirdly Eustace II, Count of Boulogne. Helyas, meanwhile, had come to the aid of Elsa of Brabant, divorced wife of Regnier, Count of Hainault, against a suitor, Frederic de Telramund, who claimed she had promised to marry him. Instead, Elsa of Brabant married Helyas of Lorraine. It was his second marriage, as well as hers. The marriage produced a son, Elimar [Egilmar], who married Rixa [Rikissa], the heiress of Oldenburg, and became the Count of Oldenburg [?Oldcastle?]. Helyas divorced Elsa of Brabant soon after the birth of their son, Elimar, and, she married thirdly Hajo, Count of Uprustringen. Helyas, meanwhile, married thirdly Beatrix of Cleves [identified with Belayne of Lizaborye in medieval romance], daughter of Rutger II, Count of Cleves, and, widow of the Count of Lizaborye. The marriage produced a son, Dietrich [II]. Soon after, Helyas divorced Beatrix of Cleves, who married thirdly Dietrich I, Count of Cleves. Hence, Helyas ?The Swan-Knight?, the last in the long-line of ?Grail-Kings?, was the ancestor of three great noble European houses, those of Oldenburg [Oldcastle], Bouillon, and Cleves. Legend says that Helyas was murdered by armed men sent by his ex-wife [not by her parents as one romance says, who had already passed away by that time], circa 1101.
    
    the three sons of Helyas, all born out of wedlock & were reared by their mothers, who were
    37A Geoffrey of Bouillon, Leader of the First Crusade 1096-99, &, ?Protector of The Holy Sepulchre? 1099, whose mother, Ida of Louvain, widow of the Duke of Bouillon, married 3rdly Eustace II, Count of Boulogne
    37B Egilmar I, Count of Oldenburg (Oldcastle), 1091, [by virtue of his marriage to Rixa, the heiress of Oldenburg] (d1108), whose mother, Elsa of Brabant, divorced wife of Regnier, Count of Hainault, married 3rdly Hajo, Count of Uprustringen
    38C Dietrich II, Count of Cleves 1085/92 (d1114/19?), whose mother, Beatrix (Belayne) of Cleves, daughter of Rutger II, Count of Cleves, widow of the Count of Lizaborye, married 3rdly Dietrich I, Count of Cleves (d1056)

Click here for details of The Swan Knight's family with Beatrix of Cleves

¹ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=bevangenealogy&id=I33192&style=TABLE
Source/Citation http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bevangenealogy&id=I59265

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