Maria of Brabant (c. 1190 – May/June 1260), a member of the

House of Reginar The Reginarids (or Regnarids, Regniers, Reiniers, etc.) were a family of magnates in Lower Lotharingia during the Carolingian and Ottonian period. Their modern name is derived from the personal name which many members of the family bore, and which ...

, was

Holy Roman Empress The Holy Roman Empress or Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (''Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches'') was the wife or widow of the Holy Roman Emperor. The elective dignity of Holy Roman emperor was restricted to males only, but some empresse ...

from 1214 until 1215 as the second and last wife of the Welf emperor

Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...

Family

Maria was the eldest daughter of Duke Henry I of Brabant and Maud of Boulogne.

First marriage

Maria was betrothed to King Otto IV already in 1198, when she was only about eight years old. This happened while he was fighting for the German throne against his rival

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208), styled Philip II in his charters, was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of Philip's older brother Henry VI, Holy Roman E ...

. Maria's father, Duke Henry I, had initially supported the claims of the Welf dynasty, but he later adopted an ambivalent position. In 1204, he came out in favour of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

side, and the planned marriage seemed to have been cancelled. Matters changed again in 1208, when Philip of Swabia was assassinated and Otto IV became undisputed

King of the Romans King of the Romans (; ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward. The title originally referred to any German king between his election and coronatio ...

. Otto was crowned

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

in 1209. Duke Henry of Brabant now hastened to reconcile with the Welf ruler, renewing the prospect of his daughter marrying Otto, but once again, this did not happen. Soon after his coronation, Otto IV steered into conflict with the Pope over the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...

, then ruled by the young Hohenstaufen prince Frederick II, nephew of the late Philip of Swabia. Otto was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

by his former ally, Pope Innocent. In September 1211, Otto was faced with the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

of his new rival, Frederick, as

anti-king An anti-king, anti king or antiking (; ) is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. OED "Anti-, 2" The OED does not give "anti-king" its own entry ...

. One year after this, Otto demonstratively married Beatrice of Swabia, daughter of his original rival the late King Philip, and paternal first cousin to Frederick. Marie Otto

Yet another quirk of fate intervened: Beatrice of Swabia died less than three weeks after her wedding, on the 19th day, to be exact. Several Hohenstaufen loyalists had recently come over to support Otto IV against Frederick Hohenstaufen because of his marriage with Beatrice. Within a short period after her death, many of them transferred their allegiance back to Frederick II. Crowned king by Archbishop Siegfried II of Mainz in December 1212, Frederick's rise continued unabated and Otto was under increasing pressure. The previous engagement with Maria of Brabant once again became politically significant. Otto and Maria of Brabant got married on 19 May 1214 in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. She was about twenty-four years old by this time, and her husband approximately thirty-nine. In view of the ongoing conflict between Welfs and Hohenstaufens, Maria was Empress of a divided

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Her husband's rule came to an end, when Frederick forged an alliance with King

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

and provoked Otto to enter into the Anglo-French War. On 27 July 1214, the Imperial army was decisively defeated in the

Battle of Bouvines The Battle of Bouvines took place on 27 July 1214 near the town of Bouvines in the County of Flanders. It was the concluding battle of the Anglo-French War (1213–14), Anglo-French War of 1213–1214. Although estimates on the number of troo ...

and forced to retreat. King Philip II sent the captured Imperial ''

Reichsadler The ' (; "Imperial Eagle") is the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors, later by the Emperors of Austria and in modern coat of arms of Austria and Germany. The term is also translated as "Rei ...

'' standard to Frederick. With his forces decimated and having lost supporters to both death and defection, Otto was forced to withdraw to his Welf estates around Brunswick in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

with his wife. Otto was effectively deposed on 5 July 1215 and Frederick again crowned King of Germany on 25 July, unopposed this time. Pope Innocent III, who had previously crowned Otto, acknowledged Frederick's rule as emperor-to-be during the

Fourth Council of the Lateran The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the council's convocation and its meeting, m ...

in November. Maria joined her husband in his retirement. Resigned and seriously ill, Otto died at

Harzburg The Harzburg, also called Große Harzburg ("Great Harz Castle"), is a former imperial castle, situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range overlooking the spa resort of Bad Harzburg in Goslar District in the state of Lower Saxo ...

castle on 19 May 1218. There were no children from their marriage.

Second marriage

Maria remained a widow for about two years. In July 1220 she married her second husband Count William I of Holland. Nevertheless, William died just two years later, on 4 February 1222. He was survived by at least five children. Genealogists believe all five were born by his first wife Adelaide of Guelders. However, there is some uncertainty on their dates of birth. Maria survived her second husband by thirty-eight years, but never remarried. In her later years, she again adopted the title of empress, establishing a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery at Binderen, Brabant (today part of

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

). She is buried in St. Peter's Church, Leuven.

References

Sources

* *

External links