Herman II, Count of Winzenburg (died 29 January 1152) was a son of
Herman I, Count of Winzenburg
Herman I, Count of Winzenburg (also known as ''Herman of Windberg''; – 1137 or 1138) was count of Formbach and Radelberg. From 1109 to 1130, he was also Count of Winzenburg and from 1122 to 1138, he was Count of Reinhausen. He was also La ...
and his second wife, Hedwig. She was either Hedwig of Assel-Woltingerode or Hedwig of Carniola-Istria. Herman II succeeded his father as Count of
Winzenburg
Winzenburg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2016, it is part of the municipality Freden. It comprises four smaller communities, including the village of Winzenburg, whi ...
, without achieving the dominant position his father had held. He was a loyal supporter of Archbishop
Adalbert of Mainz
Adalbert I von Saarbrücken (died June 23, 1137) was Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1111 until his death. He played a key role in opposing Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the Investiture Controversy, and secured the election of Lothair III ...
for many years.
Life
In 1122, Count Herman III of Reinhausen died, the brother of Herman II's paternal grandmother Matilda of Reinhausen. Herman II's father, Herman I was his legal successor as Count of Reinhausen, Count in the Leinegau, and
advocatus
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 ...
of Reinhausen Abbey. After an imperial ban had been pronounced over his father in 1130, Herman II dwelled in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
, probably in
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
.
From 1138, sought and gained the favour of King
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III (german: Konrad; it, Corrado; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III and from 1138 until his death in 1152 k ...
, who saw them as a counterweight to the
House of Welf
The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconia, Franconian family from ...
. Herman II received Plesseburg castle in
Paderborn
Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...
as a fief, an styled himself ''Herman of Plesse''.
Herman II was a
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...
of the Archbishops of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
and an opponent of the houses of
Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to:
*Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious
*Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau
*Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...
and Northeim during the succession crisis of 1138. In 1140, he reconciled with Northeim. When the Northeim family died out with the death of
Siegfried IV of Boyneburg on 27 April 1144, Herman II inherited the castles of Bomeneburg and Boyneburg. A short time later, Herman's younger brother henry of Assel married Siegfried's widow Richenza. Herman, who possesses large funds, subsequently purchased a large part of Siegfried's inheritance, including Homburg castle, from Siegfried's other heirs. King Conrad III also invested the two brothers with some large imperial fiefs Siegfried IV had held, in order to tie them closer to the crown. They were also invested with the fiefs Siegfried had held from the Archbishop of Mainz and other prince-bishops. The fiefs they held from Mainz were especially important to them, as is evidenced by the fact that they ceded Reinhausen Abbey, their family's ancestral monastery, as well as the St. Blaise monastery in Northeim, which they had acquire earlier, to Mainz. After his defeat in the issue of the inheritance of Count Rudolph II of Stade, Conrad III could consider the division of the inheritance of the Boyneburg family as a success, since it made the Counts of Winzenburg into a strong counterweight to the House of Welf.
Herman II allied himself closely with Conrad III and even married Conrad's half-sister. After this marriage, he was considered an
Imperial Prince
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors o ...
. He witnessed many royal documents and always appeared in the closest royal entourage. He constantly quarreled with the bishops of
Halberstadt
Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...
and the
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
s of
Corvey Abbey
The Princely Abbey of Corvey (german: link=no, Fürststift Corvey or Fürstabtei Corvey) is a former Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was one of the half-dozen self-ruling '' princely ...
over a fief they had withheld. He pressured the Bishop of
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...
to invest him with
Winzenburg Castle
Winzenburg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2016, it is part of the municipality Freden. It comprises four smaller communities, including the vil ...
, and the bishop did so on 8 May 1150. His possessions then stretched from the
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, t ...
river into northern
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
and in to the
Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "Untereichsfeld" = lower Eichsfeld) and northwest of the state of Thuringia ("Obereichsfeld" = upper Eichsfeld) in th ...
.
The
ministeriales
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 ...
of the church in Hildesheim hated him, because of his domineering attitude. On the night of 29 January 1152, two of them broke into Winzenburg castle and killed Herman II and his pregnant wife with their swords. One of the murderers was beheaded in 1156; the other, Count Henry of
Bodenburg
Bodenburg is a village in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located about 20 km south of Hildesheim, and about 5 km from Bad Salzdetfurth. The community has a population of 1,814 (2021).
Overview
A castle with a moat and a stand-alone tower w ...
, was defeated in a
trial by battle
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...
and went into Neuwerk Monastery in
Halle.
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
, who descended from the Counts of Northeim via his mother, seized Homburg castle. On 13 October 1152, at a Diet in Würzburg, the emperor also granted Herman's possessions from the Reinhausen side to Herny the Lion; Henry's claim was based on the fact that Henry's maternal great-grandmother had been a sister of Herman's great-grandfather.
Marriage and issue
![Elisabeth, wife of Herman of Winzburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Elisabeth%2C_wife_of_Herman_of_Winzburg.jpg)
Herman II married twice:
* In 1142, he married Elisabeth of Austria (1124-1143; died in childbirth), a younger daughter of Margrave
Leopold the Pious of Austria from the
House of Babenberg
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...
. Elisabeth's mother was
Agnes of Germany
Agnes of Waiblingen (1072/73 – 24 September 1143), also known as Agnes of Germany, Agnes of Poitou and Agnes of Saarbrücken, was a member of the Salian imperial family. Through her first marriage, she was Duchess of Swabia; through her secon ...
; she was a daughter of Emperor
Henry IV and a half-sister of Conrad III.
* In 1148, he married
Lutgard of Salzwedel
Lutgard of Salzwedel or ''Liutgard/Luitgard of Stade'', (b. , murdered 1152) was Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Eric III.
Life
Lutgard was born to Richardis, Countess of Sponheim-Lavanttal, and Count Rudolf I of Stade and Ditmarsh (d. 112 ...
(d. 1152), a daughter of
Count Rudolf I of Stade, Margrave of the
Northern March
The Northern March or North March (german: Nordmark) was created out of the division of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the ''Marca'' (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Brandenburg) and ...
. She was the widow of King
Eric III of Denmark
Eric III Lamb ( da, Erik III Lam, – 27 August 1146) was the King of Denmark from 1137 until 1146. He was the grandson of Eric I of Denmark and the nephew of Eric II of Denmark, whom he succeeded on the throne. He abdicated in 1146, as th ...
and had previously divorced Count Palatine
Frederick VI of Saxony. With Lutgard, he had:
** a daughter (1149 – before 1204), married:
**# Count Henry III of Schwarzburg (
de) (d. 26 July 1184)
**# Count Ulrich I of Wettin (d. 28 September 1206)
** another daughter (b. 1150), married to Magnus Boris, Duke of Southern Jutland, a grandnephew of King
Eric I of Denmark
Eric I ( – 10 July 1103), also known as Eric the Good ( da, Erik Ejegod), was King of Denmark following his brother Olaf I of Denmark, Olaf I Hunger in 1095. He was a son of Sweyn II of Denmark, Sweyn II. His mother's identity is unknown. He ...
** Hedwig (b. 1151), provostess of
Gandersheim Abbey
Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...
The inheritance rights of his alleged son Otto and the two daughters are unknown.
References
*
* W. Wattenberg and Edmund Winkelmann: ''Die Jahrbücher von Magdeburg, Chronographus Saxo'', in the series ''Die Geschichtsschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit'', vol. 63, 3rd unchanged ed., Leipzig, 1941
* Eduar Winkelmann: ''Der sächsische Annalist'', in the series ''Die Geschichtsschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit'', vol. 54, 3rd unchanged ed., Leipzig, 1941
External links
Boyneburg castle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herman 02 Winzenburg
Year of birth unknown
1152 deaths
Counts of Germany
12th-century German nobility