Hermann II (born 1049; died

Dalhem Dalhem (; wa, Dålem) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 Dalhem had a total population of 6,996. The total area is 36.06 km² which gives a population density of 180 inhabitants pe ...

, 20 September 1085),

Count Palatine of Lotharingia The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...

1064–1085. He was count in the Ruhrgau and the Zulpichgau, as well as a count of Brabant.

Life

According to Egon Kimpen he was the son of Henry I of Lotharingia († 1061) and Mathild of Verdun († 1060), daughter of Gozelo I of Lotharingia, but the basis for this has been questioned.Michał Tomaszek, ''Klasztor i jego dobroczyńcy. Średniowieczna narracja o opactwie Brauweiler i rodzie królowej Rychezy'' (Cracow, 2007), p. 54. However, if that is the case, his maternal uncle was

Pope Stephen IX Pope Stephen IX ( la, Stephanus, christened Frederick; c. 1020 – 29 March 1058) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 August 1057 to his death in 29 March 1058. He was a member of the Ardenne-Verdun family, ...

. Until 1064, young Hermann was under the guardianship of

Anno II Anno II ( – 4 December 1075) was Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 until his death. From 1063 to 1065 he acted as regent of the Holy Roman Empire for the minor Emperor Henry IV. Anno is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. Life He was b ...

, Archbishop of Cologne, who significantly reduced Hermann's territorial power. In 1080 he married

Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde ( - 28 March 1100) was the daughter of Otto I of Meissen and a member of the family of the counts of Weimar and Orlamünde. She married successively, Adalbert II of Ballenstedt, count palatine Herman II, and Henry o ...

(† 1100), widow of

Adalbert II, Count of Ballenstedt Adalbert II of Ballenstedt ( – 1076/1083), an early member of the House of Ascania, was ''Graf'' (count) in Saxony and ''Vogt'' of Nienburg Abbey. Life Adelbert, first mentioned in a 1033 deed, was born at Ballenstedt Castle in the Saxon Schwab ...

. She was a daughter of Otto of Orlamünde, count of Weimar and

margrave of Meissen This article lists the margraves of Meissen, a march and territorial state on the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire. History King Henry the Fowler, on his 928-29 campaign against the Slavic Glomacze tribes, had a fortress erected on a hil ...

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 ...

, and Adela of Brabant. Together they had two children who had died by 1085. He is assumed to have been the last

of the Ezzonian dynasty. He was killed in a duel with

Albert III, Count of Namur Albert III ( 1027 – 22 June 1102) was the Count of Namur from 1063 until his death. He was the son of Count Albert II and Regelinde of Verdun. Although he was not formally a duke, Albert is considered to have played the role of an acting Duke o ...

, near his castle in

. His widow married again, her third husband being

Henry of Laach Henry of Laach (in German: ''Heinrich von Laach'') was the first count palatine of the Rhine (1085/1087–1095). Henry was the son of Herman I, count of Gleiberg. Henry was a follower of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. He had lands in the southeast ...

, count in the Mayfeldgau, who became the first

count palatine of the Rhine The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...

between 1085 and 1087.

Life

References

Sources

Further reading