Herman IV (c. 1015-July 1038) was the

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 ...

(1030–1038). He was the second son of Ernest I and

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 ...

. He was one of the

Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria fr ...

dukes of Swabia. Herman became duke in 1030 following the death of his older brother Ernest II. At the time he was still a minor. Seven years later, his stepfather, 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 kingdom ...

, married him to

Adelaide of Susa Adelaide of Susa (also ''Adelheid'', ''Adelais'', or ''Adeline''; – 19 December 1091) was the countess of part of the March of Ivrea and the Marchioness of Turin in Northwestern Italy from 1034 to her death. She was the last of the Arduin ...

, the marchioness of Turin, in January 1037. Herman was then invested as margrave of Turin. In July of the next year, while campaigning with Conrad in

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

, he was struck down by an epidemic near

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 ...

. Conrad then transferred rule of the duchy of Swabia to his own son, Henry I, while Adelaide remarried to Henry of Montferrat. He was buried in

Trento Cathedral Trento Cathedral (, ; ) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Trento, northern Italy. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trento, and until 1802, was the seat of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent. It was built over a pre-existing 4th ...

on 28 July 1038, because the summer heat made it impossible to bring his corpse back to Germany. Because of a late Austrian source, Herman is sometimes mistakenly said to have had children. This was not the case. Herman was on campaign for much of his short marriage to Adelaide and he died without heirs.Schwennicke, ''Europäische Stammtafeln'', I.1, table 84

References

Sources

* * *'Hermann IV., Hzg. v. Schwaben,' in: ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' (LexMA), vol. 4 (Munich and Zürich, 1989), cols. 2161–2162. *D. Schwennicke, '' Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten'' (Marburg, 1978). *S. Hellmann, ''Die Grafen von Savoyen und das Reich: bis zum Ende der staufischen Periode'' (Innsbruck, 1900), accessible online (but without page numbers) at
Genealogie Mittelalter

External links

(in German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herman 04, Duke of Swabia 1010s births 1038 deaths Dukes of Swabia House of Babenberg Year of birth uncertain Jure uxoris officeholders