Hermann III (c.994/995 - April 1, 1012) was a member of the

Conradine The Conradines or Conradiner were a dynasty of Franconian counts and dukes in the 8th to 11th Century, named after Duke Conrad the Elder and his son King Conrad I of Germany. History The family is first mentioned in 832, with Count Gebhard in ...

dynasty. He was

Duke of Swabia The Dukes of Swabia were the rulers of the Duchy of Swabia during the Middle Ages. Swabia was one of the five stem duchy, stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most no ...

from 1003 until 1012.

Life

Hermann was the son of Herman II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Gerberga of Burgundy, daughter of

Conrad I of Burgundy Conrad I, called the Peaceful (; ; ; – 19 October 993), was King of Burgundy (ruling a political unit also called the Kingdom of Arles) from 937 until his death in 993. Life A member of the Elder House of Welf, Conrad was the son of King ...

. He had many illustrious relatives. Through his father, Hermann was descended from

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler ( or '; ; – 2 July 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the king of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emper ...

; through his mother from

Louis IV of France Louis IV (920/921 – 10 September 954), called ''d'Outremer'' or ''Transmarinus'' ("From overseas"), reigned as King of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his s ...

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

and

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. Hermann's sister,

Gisela of Swabia Gisela of Swabia ( 990 – 15 February 1043), was queen of Germany from 1024 to 1039 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 to 1039 by her third marriage with Emperor Conrad II. She was the mother of Emperor Henry III. She was regent of ...

, married

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 kingdom ...

Inheritance and regency

In 1003, when Hermann was about nine years old, his father died and Hermann inherited the duchy of Swabia. Since he was a minor, Hermann's reign as duke was effectively controlled by his cousin, the

King of Germany This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (), from Treaty of Verdun, the division of the Francia, Frankish Empire in 843 and Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in ...

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

, who was his guardian. Henry II was mistrustful of the Conradines. Herman III's father, Herman II, had opposed the election of Henry II as king of Germany in 1002, and promoted himself as a rival candidate for the throne. Henry II thus used his position as Hermann's guardian to limit the power of the dukes of Swabia. He took control of key places in Swabia himself (including Hohentwiel,

Breisach Breisach am Rhein (, ; formerly Alt-Breisach, , in contrast to " New Breisach"; Low Alemannic: ''Alt-Brisach''), commonly known as Breisach, is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the di ...

and

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

), and replaced the ducal mint with a royal mint. He separated

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

from the duchy of Swabia and gave control of Alsace to one of his relatives, Count Gerhard.Weinfurter, ''Heinrich II'', p. 63. Henry's control over Swabia was still present when Hermann died, aged about eighteen, in 1012. Hermann III did not marry and had no heirs. The male line of the Conradines of Swabia came to an end with his death. Henry II selected

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...

to succeed him; two years later, Ernest married Hermann's sister

Notes

Sources

* *S.Weinfurter, ''Heinrich II. (1002-1024) Herrscher am Ende der Zeiten'' *

External links

Hermann III, Herzog von Schwaben
(in German) 1012 deaths Dukes of Swabia Medieval child monarchs Conradines Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain Dukes of the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-duke-stub