Maria of Brabant, Holy Roman Empress

Marie of Brabant (* 1190, † 9 March to 14 June 1260 ) was German Empress as the wife of the emperor Otto IV (* probably 1176/77; † May 19, 1218 at the Harzburg ).

She was the daughter of Henry I, Duke of Brabant, and Matilda of Boulogne.

1198 Mary was engaged with the Guelph Otto IV, Duke Henry hesitated but the wedding in the following years due to the current dispute over the German throne addition, its aspect changes 1204 brought the project to a complete standstill, without the engagement was formally dissolved.

Married Otto IV 1212 Stauferin Beatrix of Swabia, but died a few days after the wedding. Since Henry had been years earlier with Otto IV reconciled after the murder of Otto's adversary Philip of Swabia ( 1208), when Mary was as a wife again interesting: On May 19, 1214 married in Maastricht was still closed.

Mary of Brabant was known for her passion for gambling that brought the Emperor at times of financial distress.

Only four years after Otto's death, she graduated in July 1220 with Count William I of Holland a second marriage. Even William died two years later, on February 4, 1222. Both marriages were childless.

In her second widowhood, she again took the title of Empress, she used decades after Otto's death, when she the Cistercian monastery "Locus imperatricis " founded in Binderen in Brabant.

Her grave is in St. Peter's Church in Leuven.