Herman II of Spanheim (died 4 October 1181), a scion of the Rhenish

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval Germans, German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were Imperial immediacy, immediate Counts of County of Sponheim, Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Duchy of Carinthia, Carint ...

, was

Duke of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) 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 State after the original German stem duchy, stem duc ...

from 1161 until his death.

Family

He was the second son of Duke Ulrich I of Carinthia (d. 1144) and his wife

Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...

of Zähringen, daughter of Margrave Herman II of Baden.

Rule

In April 1144 Duke Ulrich I died, Herman's elder brother

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

succeeded him. He married Elizabeth, a daughter of Margrave

Leopold of Styria Leopold I of Styria, known as "the Brave" or "the Strong", served as the Margrave of Styria from 1122 until his death in 1129. Origin and family Margrave Leopold I of Syria belonged to the House of Traungauer, a cadet branch stemming from the H ...

, and died childless on 12 October 1161, whereafter Herman succeeded him as Carinthian duke. Herman reached the confirmation of his rule by Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

. In December 1161 he was solemnly enthroned on the

Duke's Chair The Duke's Chair, also known as the Duke's Seat (, or ), is a medieval stone seat dating from the ninth century and located at the Zollfeld plain near Maria Saal, north of Klagenfurt in the Austrian state of Carinthia. History The Duke's ...

in the

Zollfeld Zollfeld () is a slightly ascending plain in Carinthia, Austria with interspersed small woods, hills, and swamps. It is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in the East Alpine region. Geography It is from to wide and about long, with an ele ...

plain, in the presence of Archbishop

Eberhard of Salzburg Eberhard was Archbishop of Salzburg, Austria from 1146 until his death in 1164. Life Eberhard was born to a noble family of Nuremberg, Germany; he became a Benedictine in 1125 at Pruffening, Germany. Later he was made Abbot of Biburg near Re ...

and Patriarch Ulrich II of Aquileia. In 1162 he accompanied the emperor on his campaign to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and the failed meeting with King

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young () to differentiate him from his father Louis VI, was King of France from 1137 to 1180. His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and ...

. With varying degrees of success he tried to consolidate his position in Carinthia by achieving the office of a ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

'' protector over the

Diocese of Gurk The Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt (, ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church covering the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is part of the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg. Though named after Gurk Cathedral, the bishop's see since 1787 ...

as well as over the Carinthian possessions of the

Bishopric of Bamberg The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg () was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire. It goes back to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bamberg established at the 1007 synod in Frankfurt, at the behest of King Henry II to further expand the spr ...

and the

Patriarchate of Aquileia The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a m ...

. Like his brother, he was stuck in territorial disputes with the Otakar margraves of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

and local nobles like the counts of Heunburg and Ortenburg. Upon the death of his uncle Margrave Engelbert III of Istria in 1173, Herman could not assume the margravial title, but inherited his personal possessions around the town of Sankt Veit which emerged as ducal residence. About 1173, Herman married

Agnes of Babenberg Agnes of Babenberg (; 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 Leopold III, Margrave of A ...

, daughter of Duke

Henry II of Austria Henry II (; 1107 – 13 January 1177), called Jasomirgott, a member of the House of Babenberg,Lingelbach 1913, pp. 91–92. was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1140 to 1141, Duke of Bavaria (as ''Henry XI'') and Margrave of Austria from 1141 to 11 ...

and widow of King

Stephen III of Hungary Stephen III (, ; ; summer of 11474 March 1172) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1162 and 1172. He was crowned king in early June 1162, shortly after the death of his father, Géza II. However, his two uncles, Ladislaus and Stephen, who ...

. They had two known sons: * Ulrich II, Duke of Carinthia (c. 1181–1202) * Bernhard, Duke of Carinthia (c. 1181–1256). Herman was the first Sponheim duke to be buried in

St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal Saint Paul's Abbey in Lavanttal () is a Benedictine monastery established in 1091 near the present-day market town of Sankt Paul im Lavanttal in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The premises centered on the Romanesque monastery church were largely ...

, established by his great-grandfather Count Engelbert of Spanheim in 1091. He was succeeded by his eldest son Ulrich II.

Notes

References

* * {{Authority control 12th-century births 1181 deaths Dukes of Carinthia Burials at Saint Paul's Abbey, Lavanttal