Guelph

Meanings

1. In the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Pope in a long struggle against the Ghibellines and the Holy Roman Emperor.
2. Any member of the German-Hanoverian Party (1867–1933), a conservative federalist political party in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic founded in protest of the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia.

1. Synonym of Welf, a dynasty, a cadet branch of the Italian House of Este, founded in the 11th century by Welf I, Duke of Bavaria.
2. A city, the county seat of Wellington County, Ontario, Canada.

Etymology

From Italian guelfo, from Middle High German Welf, a Bavarian dynasty. Welf II, Duke of Bavaria, inherited from his Italian wife, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, possessions including Tuscany, Ferrara, Modena, Mantua and Reggio, which played a role in the Investiture Controversy. The Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, so partisans of the Pope became known in Italy as Guelfi.