Hatheburg (also Hatheburch) (* 876 in

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...

; † on 21 June after 909) was a Frankish queen, the first wife of Henry the Fowler, later king of East Francia (Germany). After their marriage was dissolved, Hatheburg became abbess of a convent.

Family

Hatheburg was the daughter of Erwin of Mersburg, who possessed property in

Hassegau The Hassegau was a medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was located in the duchy's southeastern corner; confined by the Saale river to the east and its Unstrut and Wipper tributaries to the south and north ...

and

Friesenfeld The Friesenfeld was a Gau (territory), in modern-day north Thuringia and south Saxony-Anhalt in the area between Allstedt and Merseburg and which bordered Hassegau. Numerous places in Friesenfeld such as Erdeborn were named in the Hersfeld Tithe Re ...

. The name of Hatheburg's mother is Wendilgarde and her mother's sister, Hildegard, was married to

Thietmar, Count of Merseburg Thietmar (I) (also ''Thiatmar'', ''Dietmar'', or ''Thiommar'') (died 1 June 932), Count and Margrave, was the military tutor (''vir disciplinae militaris peritissmus'') of Henry the Fowler while he was the heir and then duke of the Duchy of Saxony ...

, who was Henry the Fowler's military tutor (''vir disciplinae militaris peritissmus''). Erwin had no sons and Hatheburg and her sister were the heirs to his property.

Life

Hatheburg was married around 890, for the first time, to a man whose name is not known. She was widowed shortly afterwards, and entered a monastery where she took the veil. According to the chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, "burning with youthful love", Henry wanted to marry Hatheburg because of "her beauty and the usefulness of her inherited wealth". Hatheburg and Henry married in 906, and Henry gained control of Hathburg's inheritance. Because Hatheburg had taken the veil, and the couple married without dispensation, their marriage was condemned by Bishop Sigismund of Halberstadt. The couple were threatened with excommunication at a church synod. According to Thietmar, Henry was "disturbed by such talk" and decided to approach the emperor,

Conrad I of Germany Conrad I (; c. 881 – 23 December 918), called the Younger, was the king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first king not of the Carolingian dynasty, the first to be elected by the nobility and the first to be anointed. He was chosen a ...

for help. Conrad ensured that the sentence of excommunication was deferred, and the couple remained married. Yet by 909, Henry began to burn "for the beauty and wealth" of another woman: Matilda of Ringelheim. Henry declared his marriage to Hatheburg has been unlawful, due to her prior vows as a nun, and the couple separated. Hatheburg returned to the convent, where she became abbess, and Henry married Matilda.

Children

Probably in 906 Hatheburg gave birth to Henry's son,

Thankmar Thankmar (or Tammo) (c. 908 – 28 July 938) was the eldest (and only) son of Henry I of Germany by his first wife, Hatheburg of Merseburg. His mother had been previously married and widowed, after which she entered a convent. Because she left the ...

.Warner, ''The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg'', I, ch. 9, 74. Because the validity of Hatheburg and Henry's marriage was questioned, so was Thankmar's legitimacy.

Notes

References

Gerd Althoff Gerd Althoff (born 9 July 1943) is a German historian of the Early and High Middle Ages. He presents himself (in words used as part of the title of one of his many books) as a researcher into the "political rules of the game" in the Middle Ages. ...

: ''Adels- und Königsfamilien im Spiegel ihrer Memorialüberlieferung. Studien zum Totengedenken der Billunger und Ottonen.'' Wilhelm Fink, München 1984, S. 350 * Gerd Althoff: ''Die Ottonen. Königsherrschaft ohne Staat.''

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-l ...

, Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln 2000. * Mechthild Black-Veldtrup: ''Kaiserin Agnes (1043-1077). Quellenkritische Studien.'' Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 1995, S. 160–162. * Ernst Ludwig Dümmler, Ernst Dümmler: ''Geschichte des Ostfränkischen Reiches.'' Duncker und Humblot, Berlin 1865. * Winfrid Glocker: ''Die Verwandten der Ottonen und ihre Bedeutung in der Politik.'' Böhlau, Köln/Wien 1989. * Hagen Keller: ''Die Ottonen.''C. H. Beck, München 2001, S. 24–26. * Georg Waitz: ''Jahrbücher des Deutschen Reiches unter König Heinrich I.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1963, S. 15. 208. * D.A. Warner, ed. and trans., ''Ottonian Germany. The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg'' (Manchester, 2001). {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatheburg of Merseburg Frankish queens consort German queens consort Ottonian dynasty 876 births 10th-century German women Year of death unknown