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Clementia of Zähringen

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Clementia of Zähringen
Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony
Countess of Savoy
Tomb of Clementia of Zähringen
Died1175
SpouseHenry the Lion
Umberto III, Count of Savoy
IssueHenry of Saxony
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark
Richenza of Saxony
Sophia, Lady of Ferrara
Alicia of Savoy
HouseHouse of Zähringen
FatherConrad I, Duke of Zähringen
MotherClementia of Namur

Clementia of Zähringen (died 1175), was a daughter of Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen and his wife Clementia of Namur.[1] By her first marriage, Clementia was Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony. By her second marriage she was Countess of Savoy.

Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria

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Clementia was the youngest of six children, her family owned territory in Swabia. She was a great-granddaughter of Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg and his wife Clementia of Aquitaine, herself daughter of William VII, Duke of Aquitaine.

Clementia was firstly married in 1147 to Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony,[2] he later inherited Bavaria. The marriage was arranged to confirm her father's alliance with the Welf party in Southern Germany.[3] She was heiress of Badenweiler, although her husband sold these Swabian estates to Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1158, receiving in exchange Herzberg, Scharzfels and Pöhlde south of the Harz.[4]

Clementia and Henry had three children:

Henry repudiated Clementia because of the growing difficulties between her brother Duke Berthold IV and Emperor Frederick, the latter with whom Duke Henry was by then in close alliance with.[5] Frederick did not cherish Guelphish possessions in his home area and offered Henry several fortresses in Saxony in exchange. The couple's marriage was declared null at Constance on 23 November 1162.

Countess of Savoy

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Clementia remained unwed for two years before she married her second husband, Umberto III, Count of Savoy, Clementia being his third wife.[2] Umberto's first two marriages were not successful, his first wife died young; his second marriage ended in an annulment. Umberto gave up and became a Carthusian monk. However, the nobles and common people of Savoy begged him to marry yet again, which he reluctantly did to Clementia.

Clementia and Humbert had two daughters:

Clementia died in 1175, predeceasing both her husbands and three of her four daughters. After her death, Umberto attempted to return to the monastic life yet again but was forced to remarry a fourth and final time to Beatrice of Viennois who bore him the long-awaited son and heir, Thomas.[6]

Ancestry

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Notes

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  1. ^ Lyon 2013, p. 249.
  2. ^ a b Previte-Orton 1912, p. 329.
  3. ^ Haverkamp (1988), p. 146
  4. ^ Jordan (1986), pp. 65 and 95.
  5. ^ Haverkamp (1988), p. 223.
  6. ^ a b Previte-Orton 1912, p. 352.
  7. ^ Previte-Orton 1912, p. 339.

References

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  • Lyon, Jonathan R. (2013). Princely Brother and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100-1250. Cornell University Press.
  • Previte-Orton, C.W. (1912). The Early History of the House of Savoy: 1000-1233. Cambridge University Press.
Vacant
Title last held by
Sophie of Winzenburg 		Duchess of Saxony
1147–1162 		Vacant
Title next held by
Matilda of England
Preceded by Duchess of Bavaria
1156–1162
Vacant
Title last held by
Gertrude of Flanders 		Countess of Savoy
1162–1164 		Vacant
Title next held by
Beatrice of Viennois
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