Sophie of Winzenburg (1105 in Winzenburg, near

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

– 6 or 7 July 1160 in

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

)Internet portal for the state of Brandenburg
/ref> was the first Margravine of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

Life

Sophie was a daughter of Count Herman I of Winzenburg and his first wife, who was a Countess of Everstein. She donated an

oxgang An oxgang or bovate ( ang, oxangang; da, oxgang; gd, damh-imir; lat-med, bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English a ...

of farmland near

Wellen Wellen (; li, Wille) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On 1 January 2018, Wellen had a total population of 7,402. The total area is 26.72 km², giving a population density of 266 inhabitants per km2. The municip ...

to the monastery at Leitzkau and later another oxgang near Wolmirsleben. In 1158, she accompanied her husband on 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.

Death

Her sister,

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...

, was

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...

Quedlinburg Abbey Quedlinburg Abbey (german: Stift Quedlinburg or ) was a house of secular canonesses ''(Frauenstift)'' in Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Mathilda, the widow of the East Frankis ...

. Sophie and Beatrix both died in 1160. Some sources suggest that Sophie died on 25 March, other name 6 or 7 July. She was buried in the church of the monastery in

Ballenstedt Ballenstedt is a town in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Geography It is situated at the northern rim of the Harz mountain range, about 10 km (6 mi) southeast of Quedlinburg. The municipal area comprises the vi ...

Criticism

The present state of research is that the identity of her father has not been conclusively proven. She may have belonged to another noble house in which the name Sophie was used.

Image

Seven hundred years after her death, a

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...

depicting Sophie and her husband was found in

Aschersleben Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Geography Aschersleben lies near the confluence of ...

. German Wikipedia article on the find at Aschersleben Her portrait is stylized, as was usual in that period. The fact that Albert depicted his wife beside him on coins is a sign of his extraordinary love for Sophie.

Marriage and issue

In 1125, she married

Albert the Bear Albert the Bear (german: Albrecht der Bär; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142. Life Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Ba ...

.Karlheinz Deschner: ''Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums'', vol. 8, Rowohlt, 2006, , p. 417 She had a dozen children with him. Of these children,

Bernhard Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

lived the longest, viz. until 1212. # Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg (1126/1128 – 7 March 1184) # Count Herman I of Orlamünde (died 1176) # Siegfried (died 24 October 1184), Bishop of Brandenburg from 1173 to 1180,

Prince-Archbishop of Bremen This list records the bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (german: link=no, Bistum Bremen), supposedly a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops of Hamburg (si ...

, the first ranked prince, from 1180 to 1184 # Heinrich (died 1185), a canon in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

# Count Adalbert of

(died after 6 December 1172) # Count Dietrich of Werben (died after 5 September 1183) # Count Bernhard of Anhalt (1140 – 9 February 1212), Count of Anhalt, and from 1180 also Duke of Saxony as Bernard III #

Hedwig Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanus Adol ...

(d. 1203), married to Otto II, Margrave of Meissen # Daughter, married to Vladislav of Olomouc, the eldest son of

Soběslav I, Duke of Bohemia Soběslav I (also "Sobeslaus"; c. 1075 – 14 February 1140) was Duke of Bohemia from 1125 until his death. He was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, the youngest son of Vratislaus II (d. 1092), by his third wife Świętosława of Poland. Life ...

# Adelheid (died 1162), a nun in Lamspringe # Gertrude, married in 1155 to Duke Děpold I of Jamnitz # Sybille (died c. 1170), Abbess of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

# Eilika

Footnotes

References

* Otto Dungern: ''Thronfolgerecht und Blutsverwandtschaft der deutschen Kaiser seit Karl dem Großen'', Papiermühle, Vogt, 1910, p. 159 * Bettina Elpers: ''Regieren, Erziehen, Bewahren: mütterliche Regentschaften im Hochmittelalter'', Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 2003, , p. 152

External links

Genealogical data for Sophie

Genealogical data for Sophie and incomplete data for her children
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie of Winzenburg 1105 births 1160 deaths Margravines of Brandenburg 12th-century German nobility 12th-century German women