Ulrich II (r. 1181 – 10 August 1202), a member of the

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were immediate Counts of Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269. Its cadet branches ruled in the Imperial C ...

, was

Duke of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial Sta ...

from 1181 until his death. He was one of the noble Germans who took part in the

Crusade of 1197 The Crusade of 1197, also known as the Crusade of Henry VI (german: Kreuzzug Heinrichs VI.) or the German Crusade (''Deutscher Kreuzzug''), was a crusade launched by the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI in response to the aborted attempt of his fa ...

Life

Ulrich II was the eldest son of Duke

Herman of Carinthia Herman of Carinthia (1105/1110 – after 1154), also called Hermanus Dalmata or Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, by his own words born in the "heart of Istria", was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and translator of Arabic works int ...

, who had married

Agnes of Babenberg Agnes of Babenberg ( pl, Agnieszka austriacka; 1108/13 – 24/25 January 1163) was a scion of the Franconian House of Babenberg and by marriage High Duchess of Poland and Duchess of Silesia. Family and personality Agnes was a daughter of Leo ...

, daughter of Duke Henry Jasomirgott of Austria and former

queen consort of Hungary This is a list of the queens consorts of Hungary ( hu, királyné), the consorts of the kings of Hungary. After the extinction of the Árpád dynasty and later the Angevin dynasty, the title of King of Hungary has been held by a monarch outsid ...

. Still a minor when his father died in 1181, he initially was under guardianship of his maternal uncle Duke Leopold V of Austria. Therefore, he had to stand back when the

Otakar Otakar is a masculine Czech given name of Germanic origin (cf. Audovacar). Notable people with the name include: *Otakar Batlička (1895–1942), Czech adventurer, journalist, ham radio operator, member of Czech Nazi resistance group in World War ...

rulers of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

became extinct and Leopold concluded the 1186

Georgenberg Pact The Georgenberg Pact (also called the Georgenberg Compact, german: Georgenberger Handfeste) was a treaty signed between Duke Leopold V of Austria and Duke Ottokar IV of Styria on 17 August 1186 at Enns Castle on the Georgenberg mountain. The ...

with Ottokar IV in order to reserve the right of succession for the Austrian

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 ...

. His paternal uncle was Pellegrino of Ortenburg-Spanheim, who ruled as

Patriarch of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate (bishop), primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholicism, Independent Catholic Chur ...

from 1195 to 1204. In 1192 he made a donation to St. Paul's Abbey. Ulrich II came of age to rule independently from 1194 and, like his father, remained a loyal supporter of the Imperial

Hohenstaufen dynasty 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 dynast ...

. When Emperor Henry VI called for the

German Crusade The Crusade of 1197, also known as the Crusade of Henry VI (german: Kreuzzug Heinrichs VI.) or the German Crusade (''Deutscher Kreuzzug''), was a crusade launched by the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI in response to the aborted attempt of his f ...

in 1195, the Carinthian duke was among the many nobles who undertook to go, even though he had scarcely reached adulthood. Starting in March 1197 these nobles with their troops left from the south of Italy and Sicily. The main fleet reached

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

in September 1197. The crusade ended after the fall of

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

and

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Henry VI died of a fever in Messina in October 1197. When they heard the news many of the higher-ranking nobles returning to Germany to protect their interests in the forthcoming

Imperial election The election of a Holy Roman Emperor was generally a two-stage process whereby, from at least the 13th century, the King of the Romans was elected by a small body of the greatest princes of the Empire, the prince-electors. This was then followed ...

. Having returned to Germany, Ulrich participated in the election of

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208) was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of his older brother Emperor Henry VI in 1197 meant that the Hohenstaufen rule (whi ...

in 1198. However, he fell ill shortly afterwards and became incapable of ruling, whereafter his younger brother

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 1946 ...

acted as regent. There is a record of the duke making another donation to Saint George's Abbey on 31 March 1199. According to the necrology of

Seckau Abbey Seckau Abbey (german: Abbey of Our Lady) is a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monastery and Co-Cathedral in Seckau in Styria, Austria. History Middle Ages Seckau Abbey was endowed in 1140 by Canons Regular, Augustinian canons. An already existin ...

, Ulrich died on 12 August 1202.

References

Citations Sources * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spanheim, Ulrich II of 12th-century births 1202 deaths Dukes of Carinthia Christians of the Crusade of 1197 Year of birth unknown