Gertrude von Sulzbach
Encyclopedia
Gertrude of Sulzbach (c. 1114 – 14 April 1146 in Hersfeld) was German Queen (Queen of the Romans). She was the second wife of Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...

.

Family

She was a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December, 1125) and his second wife Adelheid of Wolfratshausen
Adelheid of Wolfratshausen
Adelheid of Wolfratshausen was the second wife of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach. Slightly different dates for her death are given in the necrologies of Tegernsee and the Salzburg Cathedral. -Family:...

. In 1111, Berengar was among the nobles attending the coronation of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

. He is mentioned among the sureties
Surety
A surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...

 of documents related to the coronation. In 1120, Berengar is recorded granting a donation to the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg
Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg
The Bishopric of Bamberg was established in 1007, to further expand the spread of Christianity in Germany. The ecclesiastical state was a member of the Holy Roman Empire from about 1245 until it was subsumed to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1802...

. He is mentioned as the founder of Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...

 and Baumburg
Traunstein (district)
Traunstein is a Kreis in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mühldorf, Altötting, the Austrian states Upper Austria and Salzburg, the district Berchtesgadener Land, the Austrian states of Salzburg and Tyrol, and the district Rosenheim.-Geography:The district is...

. He was also a co-founder of Kastl Abbey
Kastl Abbey
Kastl Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Kastl in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria.-History:The monastery, dedicated to Saint Peter, was founded in 1103, or shortly before, by Count Berengar I of Sulzbach together with Frederick and Otto, Counts of Kastl-Habsberg.It was dissolved in 1563 in...

. He was one of the rulers who signed the Concordat of Worms
Concordat of Worms
The Concordat of Worms, sometimes called the Pactum Calixtinum by papal historians, was an agreement between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V on September 23, 1122 near the city of Worms...

 (23 September 1122). In August, 1125, Berengar is mentioned in documents of Lothair III
Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor
Lothair III of Supplinburg , was Duke of Saxony , King of Germany , and Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 to 1137. The son of Count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia...

, King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...

. The death of Berengar is mentioned four months later.

The identity of her mother is mentioned in the "Kastler Reimchronik", Vers 525. Adelheid is mentioned in various other documents of the 12th century as "Countess of Sulzbach", without mentioning her husband. "De Fundatoribus Monasterii Diessenses" contains a rather confused genealogy concerning her two most prominent daughters. Otto II, Count of Wolfratshausen
Wolfratshausen
Wolfratshausen is a town of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, located in Bavaria, Germany. The town had a population of 17,118 as of 31 December 2003.-History:...

, father of Adelheid, is given as father to Richenza
Richenza of Northeim
Richenza of Northeim was a member of the dynasty of the Counts of Northeim, and a German Empress.She was the daughter of Henry the Fat of Northeim and Gertrud of Brunswick of the Brunonen dynasty....

, "Empress" and "Maria, Empress of the Greeks". Richenza was the empress of Lothair III. The author of the text had apparently confused her with Gertrude von Sulzbach, wife of Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...

. Maria is probably a confusion for "Irene" the baptismal name of Bertha of Sulzbach
Bertha of Sulzbach
Bertha of Sulzbach was the first wife and Empress of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus.-Family:...

, wife of Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....

. Both were actually granddaughters of Otto, children of Berengar and Adelheid. Bertha was a sister of Gertrude.

The known siblings of Gertrude include (1)Gebhard III, Count of Sulzbach, (2)Adelheid, Abbess of Niedernburg at Passau (3)Bertha of Sulzbach, Byzantine Empress (4)Luitgarde, wife first of Godfrey II of Leuven
Godfrey II of Leuven
Godfrey II was the count of Leuven, landgrave of Brabant by inheritance from 23 January 1139. He was the son of Godfrey I and Ida of Chiny...

 and secondly of Hugo XII, Count of Dagsburg and Metz., (5)Matilda of Sulzbach
Matilda of Sulzbach
Matilda of Sulzbach was the wife of Engelbert III of Istria. Different dates of death are given in the necrologies of Baumburg Abbey and two monasteries of Salzburg. -Family:...

, wife of Engelbert III of Istria
Engelbert III of Istria
Engelbert III was the Margrave of Istria. from 1124 until his death. He was a Sponheimer, the eldest son of Engelbert II and Uta of Passau. He succeeded his father in Istria when his father was raised to the Duchy of Carinthia. He is sometimes numbered Engelbert II of Istria.From 1135 to 1137...

.

Berengar II was a son of Gebhard II, Count of Sulzbach and Irmgard of Rott. Irmgard was a daughter of Kuno I of Rott, founder of Rott Abbey
Rott Abbey
Rott Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Rott am Inn in Bavaria, Germany.-History:The monastery, dedicated to Saints Marinus and Anianus, was founded by Count Kuno of Rott ....

, and his wife Uta. There is a theory identifying her mother as a daughter of Frederick III, Count of Diessen. However this is not confirmed by primary sources. Irmgard is mentioned as the founder of Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...

 monastery. There is mention of her marrying twice but the identity of her second husband is disputed. The most likely candidate is Kuno, Count of Horburg.
Gebhard II is considered a namesake son of Gebhard I, Count of Sulzbach. Gebhard I is the first person known to have used this title. On 28 November 1043, Gebhard was granted property by charter of Henry III, King of Germany
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...

. There his mother is mentioned as "Adalheit". The "Genealogischen Tafeln zur mitteleuropäischen Geschichte" (1965–1967) by W. Wegener identifies her as Adelaide of Susa
Adelaide of Susa
Adelaide of Susa was the Marchioness of Turin from 1034 to her death. She moved the seat of the march from Turin to Susa and settled the itinerant court there...

. The father therefore being Herman IV, Duke of Swabia
Herman IV, Duke of Swabia
Herman IV was the Duke of Swabia . He was the second son of Ernest I and Gisela of Swabia. He was one of the Babenberg dukes of Swabia.Herman became duke in 1030 following the death of his older brother Ernest II...

. This theory has gained some acceptance. However Charles Cawley notes that this would place his birth c. 1037–1038. In order for Gebhard to have grandchildren by the 1080s, "this would require a succession of teenage bridegrooms which seems improbable." Wegener theorises the wife of Gebhard I to have been a daughter of Berengar, Count of Nordgau. He suggests that Sulzbach was part of her dowry. Cawley considers the theory to stand only on "the transmission of the name Berengar into her husband's family." Otherwise no connection between the families is known to exist.

Marriage

Gertrude married Conrad in 1136. The marriage between the Hohenstaufens and the Sulzbach's led to close relations between the two families; in 1167, Gebhard III left Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...

 (Gertrude's nephew by marriage) as his sole heir.

Gertrude became ill after the birth of her son Friedrich, and died at the age of thirty-six years in Bad Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....

. She is buried in the church of the former Cistercian Ebrach Abbey
Ebrach Abbey
Ebrach Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Ebrach in Oberfranken, Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Bishopric of Würzburg....

.

Issue

From her marriage with Conrad III, Gertrude had two sons:
  • Henry Berengar
    Henry Berengar
    Henry Berengar was the eldest legitimate son of Conrad III of Germany and his second wife Gertrude von Sulzbach.He is sometimes numbered as Henry VI, the numeral he would have had had he succeeded to the kingship in full...

     (Heinrich Berengar) (d. 1150), who in March 1147 was proclaimed co-King by his father, being crowned on 30 March 1147 in Aachen
  • Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia
    Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia
    Frederick IV of Hohenstaufen was duke of Swabia, succeeding his cousin, Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1152.He was the son of Conrad III of Germany and his second wife Gertrude von Sulzbach and thus the direct heir of the crown, had there been true heredity...

     m. 1166 Gertrude of Saxony (d. 1196), daughter of Henry the Lion
    Henry the Lion
    Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....

    , Duke of Bavaria and Saxony.

Ancestry


External links

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