Henry V, the Elder of Brunswick (; – 28 April 1227), a member of the
House of Welf, was
Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1195 until 1212.
Life
Henry was the eldest son of
Henry the Lion, Duke of
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
and
Matilda, the eldest daughter of King
Henry II of England and
Eleanor of Aquitaine.
After his father's deposition by his first-cousin
[Barbarossa was the son of Judith of Bavaria, sister of Henry X, Duke of Bavaria, father of Henry the Lion] 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 dynast ...
emperor
Frederick Barbarossa, he grew up in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. When the family returned to
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in 1189, young Henry distinguished himself by defending the Welf residence of
Braunschweig against the forces of the emperor's son King
Henry VI. Peace was established the next year, provided that Henry and his younger brother Lothar (d. 1190) were held in hostage by the king. He had to join the German forces led by Henry VI, by then emperor, on the 1191 campaign to the
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...
and participated in the
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
of
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. Taking advantage of the Emperor falling ill, Henry finally deserted, fled to
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, and returned to Germany, where he falsely proclaimed Henry VI's death and tried to underline his own abilities as a possible successor. This partly led to the withdrawal of Henry VI and the captivity of
Empress Constance.
Though he was
banned, he became heir to the
County Palatine of the Rhine
This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire bet ...
through his 1193 marriage to
Agnes of Hohenstaufen, a cousin of Emperor Henry VI and daughter of
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, Count Palatine of the Rhine, the younger half-brother of the late Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He and Emperor Henry VI reconciled shortly afterwards, and upon Conrad's death in 1195, Henry was enfeoffed with his County Palatine. A close ally of the emperor, he accompanied him on the conquest of Sicily in 1194/95 and on the
Crusade of 1197.
After the sudden death of the emperor in 1197, Henry's younger brother
Otto IV became one of two rival kings of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
. At first he supported him, but switched sides to
Philip of Swabia in 1203. Having divided the Welf
allod
Allod, deriving from Frankish language, Frankish ''alōd'' meaning "full ownership" (from ''al'' "full, whole" and ''ōd'' "property, possession"; Medieval Latin ''allod'' or ''allodium''), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was ...
ial lands with his brothers Otto and
William of Winchester, Henry then ruled over the northern Saxon territories around
Stade and
Altencelle and also was confirmed as count palatine by King Philip. When the German throne quarrel ended with Philip's assassination in 1208, Henry again sided with Otto IV. In Imperial service, he tried to ward off the territorial claims by the
Rhenish Prince-archbishops of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
,
Trier
Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
and
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
, though to no avail.
After he inherited further significant properties in Saxony from his brother William in 1213, Henry ceded the Palatinate to his son
Henry the Younger and moved north. After his son's early death the next year, he left his Welf properties to his nephew, William's son
Otto the Child, who became the first
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1235. Henry died in 1227 and is entombed in
Brunswick Cathedral.
Marriage and children
In 1193, Henry married
Agnes of Hohenstaufen (1177–1204), daughter of Count Palatine
Conrad.
They had the following children:
*
Henry VI (1197–1214), married Matilda, daughter of Duke
Henry I of Brabant
*
Irmengard (1200–1260), married Margrave
Herman V of Baden
*
Agnes (1201–1267), married
Otto II of Wittelsbach, Count palatine of the Rhine from 1214, Duke of Bavaria from 1231.
Around 1209, he married
Agnes of Landsberg (d. 1248), daughter of the
Wettin margrave
Conrad II of Lusatia.
Ancestors
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Counts Palatine of the Rhine
House of Welf
1170s births
1227 deaths
Christians of the Crusade of 1197
Burials at Brunswick Cathedral