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 duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most notable family ...

(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 S ...

. He was one of the

Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...

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 kingdoms ...

, married him to

Adelaide of Susa Adelaide of Turin (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 The March or Marquisate of Turin ( it, marca di Torino) was a territory of medieval Italy from the mid-10th century, when it was established as the Arduinic March ( la, marca Arduinica). It comprised several counties in Piedmont, including the cou ...

, 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 ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

, he was struck down by an epidemic near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Conrad then transferred rule of the duchy of Swabia to his own son,

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

, while Adelaide remarried to

Henry of Montferrat Henry (c.1020-c.1044/5) was a member of the Aleramid dynasty. He was a younger son of William III of Montferrat and Waza. From 1042, he was co-ruler of the March of Montferrat with his older brother Otto II of Montferrat. Probably in 1041, cer ...

. He was buried in

Trento Cathedral Trento Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di San Vigilio, ''Duomo di Trento''; german: Kathedrale Trient) 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 s ...

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

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