Adelheid of Weimar-Orlamünde

Adelheid von Weimar-Orlamünde (* around 1055; † March 28, 1100 , buried in Springiersbach, memorial in Maria Laach and Echternach) was the heir to Count Otto I of Weimar and Orlamünde , who was also Margrave of Meißen from 1062-1067 , and Adela von Brabant, daughter of Reginar von Löwen (a son of Count Lambert I von Löwen ) from the house of the Reginare . She died on a pilgrimage to Rome .

Life

Adelheid, who as Countess Palatine (seal inscription : Adeleide Palatina comitissa ) carried one of the oldest surviving women's seals, came from the Weimar family . She was married and widowed three times:

• In her first marriage she married the Ascanian Adalbert II von Ballenstedt (* around 1030; † 1079/1080), who was treacherously murdered around 1079 by Egeno II of Konradsburg , probably in a feud. This marriage had two children:
  • Otto the Rich (* around 1070/73; † 1123), who received the Ascanian inheritance from his father; he became Count von Ballenstedt , Count of Anhalt , from 1112 Duke of Saxony and for many years he was in a feud with the murderers who had killed his father from behind (due to estrangement etc.).
  • Siegfried (* around 1075; † 1113), who inherited the Weimar-Orlamündischen claims of his mother; after the death of his stepfather and adoptive father, he became Count Palatine near Rhine .

• After Adalbert's assassination married Adelheid beginning of 1080 in second marriage to Count Palatine Herman II of Lorraine. (* Around 1049, † 1085) from the House of Ezzonen . Hermann fell in a duel against Albert III. von Namur on September 20, 1085. From this marriage she had two children, who both died in 1085.

• After Hermann's death in 1085, Adelheid married Heinrich II von Gleiberg - Luxemburg (* around 1050, † April 12, 1095), who named himself Heinrich II von Laach after his Laach castle on the east bank of the lake . He was a count in Mayengau and perhaps also in Engersgau . Heinrich became (at least from 1087) Hermann's successor as Count Palatinate and was the first to call himself " Count Palatine near the Rhine ". The marriage remained childless. Heinrich adopted Adelheid's second son from his first marriage, Siegfried von Ballenstedt , who, after Heinrich's death in 1099, became his successor as Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Foundation of the Abbey of St. Maria zu Laach

Adelheid's third husband, Heinrich II von Laach , founded the Abbatia ad Lacum (German: Abtei zu Laach , the word Laach - related to our current word Lache  - in Laach) in 1093 with the consent and participation of Adelheid in Laach Old High German lacha (from Latin . lacus , -us m -. lake), meaning lake ) in honor of the holy Virgin Mary and the holy Nicholas . The construction work was interrupted after Adelheid's death in 1100. It was not until 1112 that Adelheid's son and Heinrich's stepson and heir, Count Palatine Siegfried, renewed the foundation and had construction work resumed. It has been called Maria Laach Abbey since 1863 and has been populated by Benedictine monks since 1892 .

Web links

• Genealogy Middle Ages: Adelheid von Weimar-Orlamünde
• Seal of Adelheid of Orlamünde