Judith of Hohenstaufen, also known as ''Judith of Hohenstaufen'' or ''Judith of Swabia'' ( – 7 July 1191), a member of the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
dynasty, was Landgravine 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 ...
from 1150 until 1172 by her marriage with the
Ludovingian
The Ludovingians or Ludowingians (german: Ludowinger) were the ruling dynasty of Thuringia and Hesse during the 11th to 13th centuries.
Their progenitor was Louis the Bearded who was descended from a noble family whose genealogy cannot be pre ...
landgrave
Louis II. She was baptized as ''Judith'', but was commonly called ''Jutta'' or ''Guta''. Sometimes the Latinate form ''Clementia'' was used, or ''Claritia'' or ''Claricia''.
Life
Judith was a daughter of Duke
Frederick II of Swabia
Frederick II (1090 – 6 April 1147), called the One-Eyed, was Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His younger brother Conrad was elected King of the Romans in 1138.
Life Early career
Frederic ...
(1090–1147) and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, thereby a younger half-sister of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
(1122–1190). She first appeared in contemporary sources in 1150, upon her marriage with Landgrave Louis II of Thuringia. This wedlock was intended to cement the relationship between the Thuringian Ludovingians and the imperial House of Hohenstaufen, to strengthen Emperor Barbarossa in his fierce conflict with Duke
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 ...
and 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 ...
.
When in 1168 her husband reconciled with Henry the Lion, Judith began the construction of Runneburg Castle in
Weißensee. The neighbouring Counts of
Beichlingen
Beichlingen is a village and a former municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...
objected, and protested to Emperor Barbarossa. However, the emperor sided with his half-sister and rejected the protests. Runneburg Castle was situated halfway between
Wartburg
The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...
Castle and
Neuenburg Castle and became the residence of the Landgraves of Thuringia. Later during the conflicts between Germany's most powerful dynasties, the strategically located Runneburg Castle became one of the most important castles in the area.
Judith survived both her husband and her eldest son Landgrave
Louis III Louis III may refer to:
* Louis the Younger, sometimes III of Germany (835–882)
* Louis III of France (865–882)
* Louis the Blind, Louis III, Holy Roman Emperor, (c. 880–928)
* Louis the Child, sometimes III of Germany (893–911)
* Louis I ...
. She died on 7 July 1191 and was buried in
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 next to her husband.
Her name is still omnipresent in Weißensee, which shows how highly she was regarded during her lifetime.
Grave stone
Judith's grave stone
Drawing of the stone on the site of Olesch-Mendel Ancestry Research
/ref> was created in the 14th century, well after her death. It must have been installed after the fire of 1292. It was moved from Reinhardsbrunn to the choir of the St. George's Church in Eisenach
Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...
.
The Landgravine is depicted holding a lap dog in her left arm, while her right hand holds a scepter. A wide cantilevered canopy, held up by two angels, is extended over her head. The angels appear to sit on a pillow behind her head. The inscription reads ("the sister of Emperor Frederick").
Due to the canopy, this grave stone was larger than those of the other Landgraves of Thuringia (which are also on display in the St. George church in Eisenach). It must have made her grave very visible, even when the grave stone was part of the church floor. The presence of the Emperor's sister in the family tree introduced additional honor, which is why her family background was emphasized in the inscription.
Marriage and issue
In 1150, Judith married Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia
Ludwig II, Landgrave of Thuringia, nicknamed ''Louis the Iron'' (1128 – 14 October 1172 at Neuenburg Castle in Freyburg).
Life
He was born in 1128, the son of Louis I, who in 1131 became the first landgrave of Thuringia, and his wife, ...
. They had the following children:
* Louis III Louis III may refer to:
* Louis the Younger, sometimes III of Germany (835–882)
* Louis III of France (865–882)
* Louis the Blind, Louis III, Holy Roman Emperor, (c. 880–928)
* Louis the Child, sometimes III of Germany (893–911)
* Louis I ...
(1151–1190), succeeded her husband as Landgrave of Thuringia
* 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 ...
(d. 1217), succeeded his brother as Landgrave of Thuringia
* Henry Raspe III ( – 18 July 1217), Count of Gudensberg
* Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederick ...
( – 1229), Count of Ziegenhain
Ziegenhain is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe ...
* Judith, married Herman II, Count of Ravensberg
References
* Helga Wäß: ''Grabplatte der Landgräfin Jutta'', in: ''Form und Wahrnehmung mitteldeutscher Gedächtnisskulptur im 14. Jahrhundert. Ein Beitrag zu mittelalterlichen Grabmonumenten, Epitaphen und Kuriosa in Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen, Nord-Hessen, Ost-Westfalen und Südniedersachsen'', vol. 2: ''Katalog ausgewählter Objekte vom Hohen Mittelalter bis zum Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts'', Tenea Verlag, Berlin 2006, , catalogue item #794. The grave plates of the Landgraves of Thuringia are on pp. 531–542.
External links
Weißensee
Runneburg Castle
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judith of Hohenstaufen
Hohenstaufen
Landgravines of Thuringia
Year of birth uncertain
1130s births
1191 deaths
12th-century German nobility
Daughters of monarchs