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 German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were immediate Counts of Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269. Its cadet branches ruled in the Imperial C ...

, was

Duke of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) 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 Sta ...

from 1161 until his death.

Family

He was the second son of Duke

Ulrich I of Carinthia Ulrich I (died 7 April 1144), of the House of Sponheim, was the Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 1135 until his death. He was the eldest son of Duke Engelbert and Uta, daughter of Burggrave Ulrich of Passau, his namesake. His father ...

(d. 1144) and his wife Judith 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 (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

succeeded him. He married Elizabeth, a daughter of Margrave

Leopold of Styria Leopold the Strong (died 1129) was Margrave of Styria from 1122 to 1129. He was the son of Margrave Ottokar II of Styria and Elisabeth of Austria from the Babenberg family. His wife was Sophie of Bavaria, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria. 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 (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

. In December 1161 he was solemnly enthroned on the

Duke's Chair The Duke's Chair, also known as the Duke's Seat (german: Herzogstuhl, sl, vojvodski prestol 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 ...

in the

Zollfeld Zollfeld ( sl, Gosposvetsko polje) is a slightly ascending plain in Carinthia, Austria. It is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in the East Alpine region. Geography It is from to wide and about long, with an elevation between above sea ...

plain, in the presence of Archbishop

Eberhard of Salzburg Eberhard was Archbishop of Salzburg, Austria. 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 Regensburg. In 1146 Pope Innocent II ap ...

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

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and the failed meeting with King

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...

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

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'' protector over the

Diocese of Gurk The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt (german: Diözese Gurk-Klagenfurt, sl, Krška škofija) is a Catholic diocese covering the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is part of the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg. Though named after Gur ...

as well as over the Carinthian possessions of the

Bishopric of Bamberg The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg (german: Hochstift 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 ...

and the

Patriarchate of Aquileia The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see in northeastern Italy, centred on the ancient city of Aquileia situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the Italian seacoast. For many centuries it played an important part in histor ...

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

Otakar Otakar is a masculine Czech given name of Germanic origin (cf. Audovacar). Notable people with the name include: *Otakar Batlička (1895–1942), Czech adventurer, journalist, ham radio operator, member of Czech Nazi resistance group in World War ...

margraves of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

and local nobles like the counts of Heunburg and Ortenburg. Upon the death of his uncle Margrave

Engelbert III of Istria Engelbert III (died 6 October 1173), a member of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim, was March of Istria, Margrave of Istria from 1124 until his death. Life Engelbert was the second son of Margrave Engelbert II of Istria, Engelbert II and ...

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 ( pl, Agnieszka austriacka; 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 Leo ...

, daughter of Duke

Henry II of Austria Henry II (german: Heinrich; 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 ...

and widow of King

Stephen III of Hungary Stephen III ( hu, István, hr, Stjepan, sk, Štefan; 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 un ...

. They had two known sons: *

Ulrich II, Duke of Carinthia Ulrich II (r. 1181 – 10 August 1202), a member of the House of Sponheim, was Duke of Carinthia from 1181 until his death. He was one of the noble Germans who took part in the Crusade of 1197. Life Ulrich II was the eldest son of Duke Herman of ...

(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 (german: Stift St. Paul im 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 Rom ...

, 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