(A) As early as the 14th century the Habsburg genealogists attempted to trace their origins as descendants of Italy's Colonna Family, the Counts of Tuscany, who traced their descent in the male-line from the Roman gens "Forum Iulii", which descended in the male-line from Julius Caesar's cousin, Sextus Caesar.

(B) In the 15th century attempts were made to trace the Habsburgs from the Merovingians, whose ancestor, Quintus Tarus, the Roman Prefect of Province [who appears as a sea-monster in medieval romance], was a "desposynic" prince, descended from Christianity's Holy Family, and, ultimately, from Israel's Davidic Dynasty.

(C) In the 17th century the theory was proposed that the Habsburgs descended from the Etichoni, the Dukes of Alsace, who descended from Wago, Count of Montreuil 512-?, whose origins are open to debate. It has been proposed that Wago was a scion of the Teutonic Istvaeones, which was divided into three major descent-lines, which were: (1) early Frankish kings; (2) dukes of Franconia [ancestors of the Lotharingians of Upper Lorraine]; and (3) the Salian Kings of Germany. This theory was particularly popular at the time of the marriage of the Empress Maria-Theresa, the heiress of the Habsburg Dynasty [which became extinct in the male-line upon her father's death], to Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, who represented a male-line branch of the Etichoni, hence, it was like the union of two collateral-lines.

(D) In the 15th century the Habsburg genealogists attempted to trace their origins as descendants of Italy's Pierleoni, the Counts of Aventine, who traced their descent in the male-line from the medieval Jewish exilarchs, and, ultimately, from Israel's Davidic Dynasty.

(E) In the 20th century the theory was proposed that the Habsburgs descended from a "desposynic" descent-line, that is, a male-line branch of Christianity's Holy Family. This theory is based on the supposition that a "desposynic" descent-line settled in the Swiss canton of Aargau, near present day Zurich, sometime in the fourth century during the persecution of the "Desposyni" [= descendants of Jesus' so-called "brothers" referred to by St. Matthew 13:55], and was prestigious enough to marry female members of the imperial Roman nobility, and later female members of the Merovingians of France and Germany, and, during the period of the Holy Roman Empire married female members of the Etichoni of Alsace, the Colonna of Tuscany, and the Pierleoni of Aventine. This theory was popularized in 1982 by the occultic book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" in which the author to sensationalize his work purposely misidentified Jesus of Nazareth with His cousin Jesus "of Gamala", for the author surely would have known better from his research. The author by this misidentification could make the claim that Jesus of Nazareth married Mary Magdalene and sired children and had descendants who eventually became the ruling houses of medieval and modern Europe, which the author refers to as the "Jesus Dynasty" or "Jesus Bloodline", however, these are the wife and children of Jesus "of Gamala", the cousin of Jesus of Nazareth, who by all accounts was celibate. It is true that descendants of Jesus' so-called "brothers" and "cousins", the "Desposyni", gave Europe some of its noble and royal houses, however, none descend from Jesus of Nazareth Himself but only from His relatives "according of the flesh", and, ultimately descend from Israel's Davidic Dynasty, which according to the Bible has a "divine right" to rule. It was the "Desposyni" who introduced the doctrine of the "Divine Right" in Europe.

An important document on the early history of the Habsburgs is the "Annals of the Muri Monastery", which manuscript was written in the twelfth century but was lost in the monastery library until its discovery in the sixteenth century. The annals give an account of the lives of the early Habsburgs. The founder of the dynasty was Guntram "The Rich". The name is a name common to the Merovingians and must have entered into the proto-Habsburgs through intermarriage. His epithet "The Rich" testifies to his great wealth, which the family may have accumulated from the donations of the churches to the "desposynic families", which practice was known to have existed from the late fourth century, through the fifth century, to the early sixth century, after which desposynic families seem to disappear.

The "Annals" tell us that the Holy Roman Emperor Otto gave Guntram "The Rich" the Swiss canton of Aargau and its surrounding terrorities. The heirs of Guntram flourished yet none possessed an official dynastic title for about a century. Lanzelin, the son of Guntram "The Rich", was sometimes referred to as the "Count of Altenberg", which is the basis of the theory of the Habsburgs' descent from the Merovingians; for a secondary-line of the Merovingians were the Counts of Altemberg [the ancestors of the Counts of Sundgau], which branch has been proposed to have produced the Habsburgs. The three sons of Lanzelin succeeded one another as the head of the house and were referred to as the "counts of the northern territories". Radbot, Lanzelin's son, married the daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. It was Radbot who built Habsburg Castle in 1020. He chose the most central part of his territorial holdings in the Aargau, which afforded a strategic advantage in case of attack. Castle Habsburg [="Habichtsburg", i.e., "Hawk's Castle"] was built on a steep hill, called "Wulpelsberg", in the Swiss canton of Aargau, and was considered impregnable. The Habsburgs came into European prominence upon the election of Rudolf, Count of Habsburg, as Holy Roman Emperor in 1273. He took advantage of his position to increase his family's territorial holdings, and in 1282 he acquired the Duchy of Austria, which the Habsburgs [and later House of Habsburg-Lorraine] held almost continually with few interruptions until 1918. The Habsburgs monopolized the imperial throne of the Holy Roman Empire of Europe from the election of Frederick V, Duke of Austria, as Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, in 1440, until the deposition of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II in 1804 by Napoleon, who abolished Europe's imperial-system. Later that year, like the Holy Roman Emperors, Napoleon was crowned "emperor" by the Roman Catholic Pope as the "successor to Charlemagne", whom an earlier pope had crowned "Roman Emperor". The Bonapartes in the nineteenth century may be comparable to the ninth century Carolingians. The male-line of the Habsburgs became extinct on the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740, who was succeeded on "Charlemagne's Throne" by the Holy Roman Empress Maria-Theresa, the heiress of House of Habsburg. Her marriage to Duke Francis of Lorraine in 1736 created the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Here, the House of Lorraine inherited all the Habsburg territories as well as its legacy. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine held Austria until 1918, when the dynasty was overthrown following World-War-One, and forced to go into exile the following year. It was not until 1961 that the Habsburgs [Habsburg-Lorraine] were allowed to return to Austria as private citizens.

The Habsburg heir is among the claimants to Europe's imperial throne. Since the Roman/Byzantine Empire never developed a system of succession all of the claimants are equally eligible to the "Throne of Europe", that is, "Charlemagne's Throne", which still may be seen in Aachen, Germany, which was Charlemagne's main residence and capital-city. The imperial claims of the Habsburg heir along with the other claimants may very well come into play in the future. For, the present "European Union", which is a confederation of independent nation-states, can only be converted into a federation of united-states by the revival of the imperial system in Europe which people tend to forget is a part of the heritage of "western civilization".

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Theory "A": descent from the Colonna

01. Zottone of the "Forum Iulii", 1st Duke of Benevento 571-594

02. Grasulfo I, Duke of Friuli 581-589, bro of Gisulfo I, Duke of Friuli 569-581

03. Gisulfo II, Duke of Friuli 589-610, bro of Grasulfo II

04. Grimoaldo I, Duke of Friuli 647-662; Lombard-King 661-671, bro of Rodoaldo, Duke of Benevento

05. Romoaldo I, Duke of Benevento, bro of Garibaldo, Lombard-King 671-674

06. Gregorio, Count Comis, bro of Grimoaldo II, Duke of Benevento, and Gisulfo III, Duke of Fruili

07. Tolomeo I, Count Comis

08. Tolemeo II, Count Comis

09. Theodatus

10. Alberic, bro of Hadrian I, Pope 772-795

11. Leudfrido, bro of Alberic I, Count of Camerino, and Benedict [father of Agapitus, aka Hadrian III, Pope 884-5]

12. Hunroch

13? Guntram "The Rich", founder of the House of Habsburg (d973)

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Theory "B": descent from the Merovingians

01. Quintus Tarus, a Roman prefect (d438), descended from the "Fisher-Kings"

= Argotta, the Frankish heiress [also called Siegse in early Teutonic literature]

02. Merovech, King of France 447-457

03. Chilperic, a prince [not to be confused with his half-uncle the Frankish King Chilperic I, that is, the issue of Argotta, the Frankish heiress, by her 2nd husband, Chlodio "Le Chevalu", King of France 428-447]

04. Clovis "The Great", King of France 481-511

=1 Dochilt, widow of Prince Clovis, the son of the Frankish King Chilperic I, who predeceased his father; =2 Evochilde, an Ostro-Goth princess; =3 Clotilda of Burgundy, who was the mother of

05. Clothaire I, King of East Franks 555-561/2; King of West Franks 558-561/2

06. Sigebert I, King of France 561/2-575

07. Childebert II, King of France 575-596

08. Thibert II, King of France 596-612

09. Ligibert, Duke of Austrasia

10. Othobert, Count of Altemberg

11. Amprinteus, Count of Altemberg

12. Hectobert, Count of Altemberg

13. Rampert, Count of Altemberg

14. Guntram, a count

15. Liutfrid I, Count of Sundgau

16. Liutfrid II, Count of Sundgau

17. Liutfrid III, Count of Sundgau

18. Liutfrid IV, Count of Sundgau, d912

19. Liutfrid V, Count of Sundgau, d925

20. Hundifrid, a count

21? Guntram "The Rich"

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Theory "C": descended from the Etichoni

01. Aymes (490)

02. Wago, Count of Montreuil 512-XXX

03. Leuthaire, Duke of Allemania (d533/4), one of his bros was Theobald (below)

= sister of Butilin, Duke of Allemania

04. Erchenaud (Erkembald)

= Gertrude, dau of Richimer of Burgundy

05. Leuthaire [II] (Laetharus)

= Gerberge

06. Erchinold, Major Domo of France (d657/661)

= Leudefindis

07. Leuthaire [III], aka Leudisius of Peronne, Major Domo of France (d673)

= Hilde, dau of Boniface, Duke of Alsace 656-662, son of Gundo, 1st Duke of Alsace 640-656

08. Eticho [I], Duke of Alsace 662-690, ancestor of the Etichoni

09. Adalbert, Duke of Alsace 690-722, bro of Eticho II [Hetto], Count of Nordgau, and Adalric, a count (d735)

10. Liutfrid I, Duke of Alsace 722-731, bro of Eberhard I, Duke of Franconia (d747) [father of Warin, Count of Altdorf], and Haichon, a count (d749)

11. Liutfrid II, Duke of Alsace 731-767

12. Liutfrid III, Duke of Alsace 767-802, bro of Erchambald, Chancellor of France 797-812, and Augilbert (Englibert), 1st Count of Ponthieu (d814)

13. Hugh II "Le Mefiant", Duke of Alsace 802-837

14. Liutfrid IV, Duke of Alsace 837-864, bro of Hugh III, Count of Auxerre, Bourges, & Nevers (d853) [father of (a) Liutfrid V, Duke of Alsace 884-903; (b) Tertulle, Seneschal of Gatinais; and (c) Stephen, Count of Bourges], and, bro of Adalbert (d876) [father of Eberhard, father of Erenfred, father of Eberhard (913), father of Erenfred [Ehrenfried] (d963), father of Egon "von Ehrenfried", 1st Count-Palatine 959-969]

15. Hugh IV, Duke of Alsace 864-884

16. Liutfrid VI, Duke of Alsace 903-912

17. Hunfrid, bro of Hugh V, Duke 925, and Liutfrid VIII, Duke

18? Guntrum "The Rich"

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Perhaps the confusion of the Habsburg ancestry by medieval clerics came about by the genealogical sequence in all three genealogies, which are basically the same names:

11. Leudfrido, bro of the Count of Camerino

12. Hunroch

13. Guntram "The Rich"

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19. Liutfrid V, Count of Sundgau

20. Hundifrid

21. Guntram "The Rich"

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16. Liutfrid VI, Duke of Alsace

17. Hunfrid

18. Guntrum "The Rich"

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The theory that the Habsburgs descended from one of the eight desposynic princes, who visited the Pope in Rome, Year 318, to persuade the Pope to restore the dispossessed Desposyni to the papacy. The eight desposynic princes were among the at least fourteen well-known and authentic descent-lines of the Desposyni in Year 318 which were represented by:

(X) Ionans, Prefect of Viennensis, descended from Saint James, called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in AD 318

(1) Papa, Bp of Seleucia, descended through another descent-line from Saint James, called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in AD 318

(2) Jose[ph], descendant of Josue El-Harami", son of Joseph "Ha-Rama-Theo", called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in AD 318

(3) Zachery, descended from Zakhaes, son of Simon, called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in AD 318

(4) Simon, descendant of the James who [and his brother, Zoker] stood before Emperor Domitian in Year 96, grandson[s] of Jude "of Galilee", called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in Year 318

(5) Joses, descendant of the Zoker, the brother of James, who, and his brother, stood before Emperor Domitian in Year 96, grandson[s] of Jude "of Galilee", called "The Lord's [Jesus'] Brother", was alive in Year 318

(6) John, descended from Jude "Thaddeus"/or "Lebbaeus", Jesus' cousin, the son of Clopas, the younger brother of St. Joseph, Jesus' foster-father, was alive in AD 318

(7) Matthias, descended from Theudas, Pelatiahite Line Davidic Prince, and Miriam, the older half-sister of St. Joseph & The Twins, Ptolas & Clopas

(8) Urban[us], descended from Hizkiah "The Zealot", the uncle of St. Joseph, Jesus' foster-father

(X) Valentine, a Roman senator, descended from Judas "of Gamala", the [other] uncle of St. Joseph, Jesus' foster-father

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