Agnes of Germany
| Agnes of Germany | |
|---|---|
| Duchess consort of Swabia Margravine consort of Austria |
|
 Stained-glass painting of Agnes, c. 1290, in the well-house of Heiligenkreuz Abbey |
|
| Spouse(s) | Frederick I, Duke of Swabia Leopold III of Austria |
| Noble family | Salian dynasty (by birth) House of Hohenstaufen (by marriage) House of Babenberg (by marriage) |
| Father | Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Mother | Bertha of Savoy |
| Born | 1072 |
| Died | 24 September 1143 (aged 70–71) Klosterneuburg |
Agnes of Germany (1072 – 24 September, 1143) was a German noblewoman. By her first marriage, she was a Duchess consort of Swabia; by her second marriage, she was a Margravine consort of Austria.
Family [edit]
She was the daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Bertha of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Otto, Count of Savoy and Adelaide of Susa.
Agnes married firstly, in 1089, Frederick I, Duke of Swabia. They had several children, named in a document found in the abbey of Lorsch:
- Hedwig-Eilike (1088–1110), married Friedrich, Count of Legenfeld
- Bertha-Bertrade (1089–1120), married Adalbert, Count of Elchingen
- Frederick II of Swabia
- Hildegard
- Conrad III of Germany
- Gisihild-Gisela
- Heinrich (1096–1105)
- Beatrix (1098–1130), became an abbess
- Kunigunde-Cunniza (1100–1120/1126), wife of Henry X, Duke of Bavaria (1100–1139)
- Sophia, married a count Adalbert
- Fides-Gertrude, married Hermann III, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Following Frederick's death in 1105, Agnes married Leopold III (born 1073; died 15 Nov. 1136), the Margrave of Austria (1095 till 1136). According to a legend, a veil lost by Agnes and found by Leopold years later while hunting instigated him to found the Klosterneuburg Monastery.
Their children were:
- Leopold IV
- Henry II of Austria
- Berta, married Heinrich of Regensburg
- Agnes, "one of the most famous beauties of her time", married Wladyslaw II of Poland
- Ernst
- Uta, wife of Liutpold von Plain
- Otto of Freising, bishop and biographer
- Conrad, Bishop of Passau, and Archbishop of Salzburg
- Elizabeth, married Hermann, Count of Winzenburg
- Judith, m. c. 1133 William V of Montferrat. Their children formed an important Crusading dynasty.
- Gertrude, married Vladislav II of Bohemia
According to the Continuation of the Chronicles of Klosterneuburg, there may have been up to seven others (possibly from multiple births) stillborn or died in infancy.
In 1125, Agnes' brother, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, deceased childless, leaving Agnes and her children as heirs of the Salian dynasty's immense allodial estates, including Waiblingen.
In 1127, Agnes' eldest surviving son, Konrad III, was elected by opposition as rival King of Germany against Saxon party's Lothar III. When Lothar died in 1137, Konrad won the position.
Sources and Further Reading [edit]
- Karl Lechner, Die Babenberger, 1992.
- Brigitte Vacha & Walter Pohl, Die Welt der Babenberger: Schleier, Kreuz und Schwert, Graz, 1995.
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 45-24
