Guelf, properly Welf c.825-1866
German dynasty

The first known Welf was a Frankish noble with lands in Bavaria and Swabia (c.825). The family was most powerful under Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, but Frederick I, Barbarossa took both duchies, only allowing him the area of Braunschweig-L�neburg, which became a duchy in 1235 for Henry's grandson Otto. They became electors (1692) and later kings (1814) of Hanover, and in 1714 the Elector George Ludwig became George I of England. The death of William IV (1837) separated the British and Hanoverian crowns, when Salic Law prevented Victoria from ruling Hanover. Her cousin, George V of Hanover, lost his throne to Prussia in 1866. In medieval Italy, the term Guelfs represented political factions supporting the papacy and the Angevin rulers of Naples. Their opponents were the imperialist Ghibellines, who were originally supporters of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.