Bertha of Savoy

Bertha of Savoy or Bertha of Turin (* September 21, 1051, † December 27, 1087 in Mainz ) was IV Roman-German Queen and Empress as the wife of Henry. She was the daughter of Count Otto of Savoy ( House of Savoy ) and Adelaide of Turin ( Arduine ). Her grave is in the cathedral of Speyer.

Marriage

Even as a child, and during his lifetime Henry III. Henry IV and Bertha were engaged on December 25, 1055 in Zurich. The wedding ceremony took place at the July 13, 1066 around in Tribur after the actual marriage in Würzburg instead. While Bertha According to the sources was devoted to her husband from the beginning in love and faithfulness, Henry met his wife, whom he had married on the orders of his father, initially only with reluctance. Although it should have been a pretty young wife, the Saxon chronicler Bruno, an avowed opponent of Henry IV reports, of its continued infidelity:

Henry's divorce request

Henry struggled in 1069 even divorce proceedings and provided a for that time extraordinarily honest as hopeless divorce grounds:

Such a divorce request dared the German episcopate, not to decide and called the Pope Alexander II. The sent his legate Peter Damian on the synod of Frankfurt and refused to divorce. Thereupon Henry seemed to have added to his fate, but was born in the year after, the first daughter of the couple.

The more marriage and children

Bertha accompanied her husband finally carrying in her arms and on the perilous journey to Canossa, her three year old son Conrad. She stopped with her husband from 25 to January 28, 1077 in the freezing cold outside the walls of the castle to reach the solution of the papal excommunication.

Together with Heinrich drew Bertha later to Rome, where he was crowned on March 31, 1084 for the Empress.

On December 27, 1087 Bertha died in Mainz. From the marriage with Henry five children:

  • Adelheid ( 1070-4. Before June 1079 )
  • Heinrich ( 1071-2. August 1071 )
  • Agnes of Waiblingen ( 1072/73-24. September 1143 )
  • Konrad (III ) (12 February 1074-27. July 1101 )
  • Henry V (8 January 1086-23. May 1125 )

Swell

  • Bruno of Merseburg: Brunonis saxonicum bellum. Bruno Saxony war. - Translated v. Franz -Josef Schmale. - In: sources on the history of the Emperor Henry IV - Darmstadt, 1968 - ( = Selected sources on German history of the Middle Ages Freiherr vom Stein Memorial Edition, 12. ). . - S. 191-405.
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, Count of Savoy Adelaide of Susa Arduinici Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor Trebur Episcopal Conference Agnes of Germany Conrad II of Italy Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor Neue Deutsche Biographie Agnes of Poitou Integrated Authority File
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