Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia

Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
Picture of Herman I in the Elisabethpsalter
Spouse(s)	Sophia of Sommerschenburg Sophia of Wittelsbach
Noble family	Ludowingians
Father	Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia
Mother	Judith of Hohenstaufen
Born	c. 1155
Died	25 April 1217(1217-04-25) Gotha
Buried	Reinhardsbrunn

Hermann I (died 25 April 1217), Landgrave of Thuringia and (as Hermann III) Count Palatine of Saxony, was the second son of Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia (the Iron), and Judith of Hohenstaufen, the sister of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa..

Life

Little is known of his early years, but in 1180 Hermann joined a coalition against Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, and with his brother, Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia, suffered a short imprisonment after his defeat by Henry at Weissensee. The brothers were released the following year. Louis had been made Count Palatine of Saxony as a reward for his services to the emperor, but transferred the dignity to Hermann. He strengthened his authority over the County Palatine by marrying Sophia, daughter of Lutgard of Stade and Frederick II of Sommerschenburg, a former Count Palatine.

Louis III died in 1190. Emperor Henry VI attempted to seize Thuringia as a vacant fief of the Holy Roman Empire, but Hermann frustrated the plan and established himself as the landgrave. Having joined a league against the emperor, he was accused, probably wrongly, of an attempt to murder him. Henry VI was not only successful in detaching Hermann from the hostile combination, but gained his support for the scheme to unite Sicily with the Empire.

Hermann joined the German Crusade of 1197 but returned on news of Henry VI's death. In the wars between the rival kings, Philip of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick (1198-1208), Hermann's support was purchased by the late emperor's brother, Duke Philip of Swabia, but as soon as Philip's cause appeared to be weakening he transferred his allegiance to Otto of Brunswick, the later Emperor Otto IV. Philip accordingly invaded Thuringia in 1204 and compelled Hermann to come to terms by which he surrendered the lands he had obtained in 1198. After the death of Philip and the recognition of Otto, Hermann was among the princes who assembled at Nuremberg in 1211 and invited Frederick of Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily, (afterwards Emperor Frederick II), to come to Germany and assume the crown. In consequence of this step the Saxons attacked Thuringia, but the landgrave was saved by Frederick's arrival in Germany in 1212.

After the death of his first wife in 1195, Hermann married Sophia, daughter of Otto of Wittelsbach. By her he had four sons, two of whom, Louis IV of Thuringia and Henry Raspe, succeeded their father in turn as landgrave. His oldest son Louis, who succeeded him, was the husband of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Hermann died at Gotha in 1217 and was buried at Reinhardsbrunn.

Hermann was fond of the society of men of letters, and Walther von der Vogelweide and other Minnesingers were welcomed to his castle, the Wartburg. In this connection he figures in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Issue

With Sophia of Sommerschenburg:

• Jutta (1184-1235), married twice:
  1. in 1194 to Margrave Theodoric I of Meissen (1161-1221)
  2. in 1223 to Count Poppo VII of Henneberg (d. 1245)
• Hedwig, married in 1211 to Count Albert II of Weimar-Orlamünde

With Sophia of Wittelsbach:

• Irmgard (b. 1197), married in 1211 to Count Henry I of Anhalt
• Louis IV (1200-1227)
• Herman (1202-1216)
• Conrad (1204-1247), grand master of the Teutonic Knights
• Henry Raspe (1204-1247)
• Agnes, married twice:
  1. in 1225 to Henry "the Profane" of Babenberg (1208-1228), a son of Duke Leopold VI of Austria
  2. in 1229 to Duke Albert I of Saxony (c. 1175 – 1261)

Ancestry

Family of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia

16. Louis the Bearded               8. Louis the Springer                       17. Cecilia of Sangerhausen               4. Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia                             18. Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark               9. Adelheid of Stade                       19. Oda of Werl               2. Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia                                   20. Either Giso II or Giso III               10. Giso IV, Count of Gudensberg                       21. Mathilde               5. Hedwig of Gudensberg                             22. Rugger II, Count of Bilstein               11. Kunigunde of Bilstein                       1. Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia                                         24. Frederick of Büren               12. Frederick I, Duke of Swabia                       25. Hildegard of Egisheim               6. Frederick II, Duke of Swabia                             26. Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor               13. Agnes of Germany                       27. Bertha of Savoy               3. Judith of Hohenstaufen                                   28. Sigebert I, Count of Saarbrücken               14. Frederick I, Count of Saarbrücken                       7. Agnes of Saarbrücken                             30. Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine               15. Gisela of Lorraine                       31. Gertrude of Flanders

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
• E. Winkelmann, Philipp von Schwaben und Otto IV. von Braunschweig (Leipzig, 1873–1878)
• F. Wachter, Thüringische and obersächsische Geschichte (Leipzig, 1826)

External links

Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia Ludowingians Born: c. 1155 Died: 1217
German royalty
Preceded by Louis III	Landgrave of Thuringia 1190–1217	Succeeded by Louis IV