Heinrich von Tunna, also Heinrich Bart and sometimes inaccurately referred to as Herman Bart (unknown - June 2, 1209) was the third Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, heading the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

from 1208 to his death in 1209.

Biography

Heinrich hailed from a minor line of

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

to the Landgrave of Thuringia. He in particular was the ministerialis to

Herman I Herman I may refer to: * Herman I (Archbishop of Cologne) (died in 924) * Herman I, Duke of Swabia (died in 949) * Herman I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (died in 996) * Herman I, Margrave of Meissen (died in 1038) * Herman I, Margrave of Baden (c ...

, who was also

Count Palatine of Saxony An imperial vicar (german: Reichsvikar) was a prince charged with administering all or part of the Holy Roman Empire on behalf of the emperor. Later, an imperial vicar was invariably one of two princes charged by the Golden Bull with administering ...

. He was likely from the family of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. It is documented that by 1208, he was married. In that year, his wife died. Heinrich, now a childless

widower A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

, decided to make a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. To finance the trip, he sold his piece of forest in

Ettersberg The Thuringian Basin (german: Thüringer Becken) is a depression (geology), depression in the central and northwest part of Thuringia in Germany which is crossed by several rivers, the longest of which is the Unstrut. It stretches about from north ...

to the

Reinhardsbrunn Reinhardsbrunn in Friedrichroda near Gotha, in the German state of Thuringia, is the site of a formerly prominent Benedictine abbey, the house monastery of the Ludovingian Landgraves of Thuringia abbey extant between 1085 and 1525. Later used as ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

for 10 marks. After arriving in the Levant, he joined the Teutonic Order, and after three months (possibly in 1209) became Grandmaster in the wake of his predecessor, Otto von Kerpen's death. The exact circumstances behind his sudden rise is unknown, though it demonstrates the fragility of the order at the time. Teutonic historians do not attribute much to his reign. The aforementioned fragility of the order and its general minuscule nature at the time rendered the order to be rather irrelevant. According to his successor,

Hermann von Salza Hermann von Salza (or Herman of Salza; c. 1165 – 20 March 1239) was the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1210 to 1239. A skilled diplomat with ties to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, Hermann oversaw the expansio ...

, who is credited with cementing the order as a notable force, the order lacked the capability to even field more than ten

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

. Heinrich's tenure as Grandmaster was short. After a few months, he died in Acre, where he was buried in one of the order's

chapels A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

.Marie-Louise Heckmann, ''Der Deutsche Orden und die "Goldene Bulle" Kaiser Karls IV'' (in Klaus Neitmann/Wolfgang Neugebauer, ''Jahrbuch Fur Die Geschichte Mittel und Ostdeutschlands'' ), KGSaur, München 2007, Vol. 52, p. 221.

References

{{Authority control Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order 13th-century German nobility