Henry of Schweinfurt (''de Suinvorde''; – 18 September 1017) was the Margrave of the Nordgau from 994 until 1004. He was called the "glory of eastern Franconia" by his own cousin, the chronicler

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two ...

. Henry was the son of Berthold and Eilika (Eiliswintha or Eila) of Walbeck. His father's parentage is not known with certainty, but he may have been a son of

Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria Arnulf II (birth unknown; died 14 July 937), also known as the Bad (german: der Schlimme), the Evil (''der Böse'') or the Wicked, a member of the Luitpolding dynasty, held the title of Duke of Bavaria from about 907 until his death in 937. He ...

. Henry was

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n, whoever his grandfather. Henry held a succession of countships after his father's death in 980. He was appointed ''marchio'', like his father, of the Bavarian Nordgau in 994. In 1003, he revolted against

Henry II of Germany Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler o ...

claiming that he had been promised the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria ( German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under ...

in return for his support. The king said that the Bavarians had a right to elect their own duke. Henry allied with Boleslaus I of Poland and

Boleslaus III of Bohemia Boleslaus III ( – 1037), called the Red ( cs, Boleslav III. Ryšavý; to denote a "red-haired" individual) or the Blind, a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was duke of Bohemia from 999 until 1002 and briefly again during the year 1003. He was ...

. Nevertheless, his rebellion was quashed and he himself was briefly captive. The king established the

Diocese of Bamberg The Archdiocese of Bamberg (lat. ''Archidioecesis Bambergensis'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria and is one of 27 Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. In 2015, 32.9% of the population identified as Catholic, and 15.6% of tho ...

to prevent any further uprisings in the region. The new diocese took over the secular authority of the margrave in the region of the Bavarian Nordgau. Finally, it was only the joint persuasion of both his saecular and ecclesiastical overlords,

Bernard I, Duke of Saxony Bernard I (c. 950 – 9 February 1011) was the Duke of Saxony between 973 and 1011, the second of the Billung dynasty, a son of Duke Herman and Oda. He extended his father's power considerably. He fought the Danes in 974, 983, and 994 during th ...

, and Tagino, Archbishop of Magdeburg, that reconciled him to Henry in 1004. Henry of Schweinfurt did subsequently gain new and old countships before his death in 1017. He was buried at

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban ag ...

Family

Henry married

Gerberga of Gleiberg Gerberga of Gleiberg (c. 970 – aft. 1036) was a daughter of Herbert of Wetterau and Irmtrud of Avalgau (957 – 1020). She married Henry of Schweinfurt and had the following children: *Otto III, Duke of Swabia * Eilika of Schweinfurt (c ...

, daughter of

Herbert of Wetterau Herbert of Wetterau (c. 930 – 992) was the son of Odo of Wetterau and a daughter (presumably named Cunigunde) of Herbert I, Count of Vermandois and Bertha de Morvis. Herbert was an important nobleman in central Germany and leader of the Conra ...

. They had three sons and two daughters: *

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

, who later became Duke of Swabia * Eilika or Eilica, married Bernard II, Duke of Saxony *

Judith of Schweinfurt Judith of Schweinfurt ( cs, Jitka ze Schweinfurtu / in old Czech: Jitka ze Svinibrodu; before 1003 – 2 August 1058) was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 1034 until 1055, by her marriage with the Přemyslid duke Bretislav I.Herwig Wolfram, ''Co ...

(died 2 August 1058), married

Bretislaus I of Bohemia Bretislav I ( cs, Břetislav I.; 1002/1005 – 10 January 1055), known as the "Bohemian Achilles", of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 1034 until his death. Youth Bretislav was the son of Duke Oldřich and his low-born concubine ...

* Burchard I, Bishop of Halberstadt, chancellor of the

Emperor Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...

*Henry, a count in the Nordgau

References

Sources

Reuter, Timothy Timothy Alan Reuter (25 January 1947 – 14 October 2002), grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical i ...

. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry of Schweinfurt Margraves of Germany Bavarian nobility 970s births 1017 deaths Year of birth uncertain 11th-century German nobility