Engelbert II (died 13 April 1141), a member of the

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were immediate Counts of Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269. Its cadet branches ruled in the Imperial ...

, was

Margrave of Istria The March of Istria (or Margraviate of Istria ) was originally a Carolingian frontier march covering the Istrian peninsula and surrounding territory conquered by Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy in 789. After 1364, it was the name of the Istria ...

and Carniola from about 1103/07 until 1124. In 1123, he succeeded his elder brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

Duke of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State ...

and Margrave of Verona which he held until his retirement in 1135.

Life

Engelbert II was the son of Count Engelbert I of Sponheim (d. 1096) and his wife Hedwig of uncertain descent, maybe a daughter of the

Billung The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries. The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811. Oda, the wife of Count Liudolf, oldest known member of the Liudol ...

duke Bernard II of Saxony. His grandfather Count Siegfried I of Sponheim (d. 1065) came to Carinthia about 1035 as an attendant of Emperor Conrad II. In 1099 Pope Urban II appointed Engelbert II ''

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'' protector of Saint Paul's Abbey, founded by his father. About 1100 he established the County of Kraiburg on the inherited estates of his wife Uta, daughter of

Burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

Ulric of Passau. He also acquired two castles in the Trixen valley near

Völkermarkt Völkermarkt (; sl, Velikovec) is a town of about 11,000 inhabitants in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative capital of Völkermarkt District. It is located within the Drava valley east of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt, north ...

from the

Bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially performing the functions of a mere archiep ...

and the market town of

Friesach Friesach ( sl, Breže) is a historic town in the Sankt Veit an der Glan (district), Sankt Veit an der Glan district of Carinthia (state), Carinthia, Austria. First mentioned in an 860 deed, it is known as the oldest town in Carinthia. Geography ...

in 1106. About 1107 he was elevated to a margrave in Istria and Carniola, succeeding Count Ulric II of Weimar. Unlike his father, Engelbert II was a loyal supporter of the ruling

Salian dynasty The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the l ...

and also a fierce opponent of Archbishop

Conrad I of Salzburg Conrad I f Abenberg(german: Konrad von Abenberg, c. 1075 – 9 April 1147) was Archbishop of Salzburg, Austria, in the first half of the 12th century. Born into the Abenberg- Frensdorf nobility, Conrad was raised for a clerical career at the cou ...

in the yet unresolved

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest ( German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...

. He stood as guarantor of German king

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...

at his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in February 1111 and witnessed the Concordat of Worms with Pope Callixtus II in September 1122. In the same year his elder brother Henry IV was created Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona, and upon his death in 1123 Engelbert II succeeded him. The next year he ceded Istria to his son Engelbert III. In 1135 Engelbert II renounced Carinthia and Verona, whereafter Emperor Lothair II enfeoffed his son Ulrich I. Engelbert retired to

Seeon Abbey Seeon Abbey (german: Kloster Seeon) is a former Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Seeon-Seebruck in the rural district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. History Seeon Abbey was founded in 994 by the Bavarian ''Pfalzgraf'' Aribo I, a ...

in the Bavarian Chiemgau, where he died on 13 April 1141.

Marriage and issue

About 1103 he married Uta, daughter of

Ulric of Passau (died 2 February 1099). Together they were the parents of the following children: * Ulric I, succeeded his father in Carinthia in 1135 * Engelbert III, succeeded his father in Istria, Carniola and Kraiburg in 1124 *

, Bishop of Troyes in 1145 *

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

, married Count Theobald the Great of Blois-Champagne * Rapoto I, Count of Ortenburg in 1130 and Kraiburg in 1173 *Adelheid, Abbess of Göss in 1146 *

Hartwig II Hartwig of Uthlede (died 3 November 1207) was a German nobleman who – as Hartwig II – Prince-Archbishop of Bremen (1185–1190 and de facto again 1192–1207) and one of the originators of the Livonian Crusade. Biography Coming from a fami ...

Bishop of Regensburg The Bishops of Regensburg (Ratisbon) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

in 1155 *Ida, married Count William III of Nevers

References

Sources

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{{Margraves of Istria 1141 deaths 12th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire Margraves of Istria Margraves of Carniola Dukes of Carinthia House of Sponheim Austrian people of German descent Year of birth unknown