Bertha of Sulzbach
Bertha of Sulzbach, (other spelling: Berta; * 1110 in Sulzbach, † 1158/60 in Constantinople Opel ) was from 1146 under the name of Irene as the wife of Manuel I Komnenos, the only German on the Byzantine throne.
Life
Bertha was the daughter of Count Berengar I. Sulzbacher and Adelheid of Wolfratshausen around the year 1110 Sulzbach Castle. Her siblings proposals included Gertrude of Sulzbach (c. 1114; † April 14, 1146 in Hersfeld ), which the second wife of King Conrad III. been.
Bertha was of Conrad III well in 1142. adopted. Bertha came in 1142 to Constantinople, Opel and married under the name Irene in January 1146 the Byzantine emperor Manuel I.. Her marriage to Emperor Manuel was politically motivated and was the father of Manuel, the emperor John II and her brother, the Holy Roman King Conrad III. initiated. The goal was the alliance between Manuel I. and Conrad III. against the Norman Roger II of Sicily to reaffirm. Bertha of Sulzbach was exposed as a Roman Catholic Franconian on Byzantine court especially on the part of the priesthood strong reservations. Before her marriage she had therefore stayed mainly in the women's quarters.
Manuel left for her own, " Polytimos " called palace building build and equipped it as empress with appropriate robes and entourage. From this marriage two children were born, namely Maria " Porphyrogenita " Komnene (* 1152, † July 1182 ) associated with Rainer of Montferrat (c. 1162; † August 1182 ) was married from the house of the Marquis of Montferrat, and Anna Comnena (* 1154, † 1158 ), who died only four years.
Bertha looked in favor Heinrich Berengar to convey a son of Conrad III. , Who wants to get engaged to a niece of Manuel. They showed skill in the consolidation of the political relationship between her husband and Conrad III. , Especially during his visit of the Byzantine court, in the year 1148.
From her personal poems and a grave speech are preserved. Your year of death is uncertain, it is indicated in the sources with 1158 end 1159 or 1160. When she died, was Manuel I on a campaign in Anatolia. Bertha was buried in Pantokratorkloster, but destroyed her grave after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the subsequent conversion of the church into a mosque.
The memory Bertha and her rank in society participated in the sulzbachischen House tradition a special place. The Kastler rhyming chronicle narrated a story of the alleged Bertha return from Byzantium, her death and her funeral in Kastl. Even in the 17th century to John Brown, the author of the Nordgauchronik who have seen her grave in the house of the Counts of Sulzbach Monastery, the Monastery Kastl. The Return of Bertha and her grave in Kastl, however, apply to be untrue.