Bertha von Sulzbach

Bertha von Sulzbach , (different spelling: Berta ; * around 1110 in Sulzbach ; † 1158/60 in Constantinople ) was from 1146 under the name Irene as the wife of Manuel I. Komnenos the only German on the Byzantine imperial throne.

Life

Bertha was born as the daughter of Sulzbach Count Berengar I and Adelheid von Wolfratshausen around 1110 at Sulzbach Castle . Her siblings included Gertrud von Sulzbach (* around 1114; † April 14, 1146 in Hersfeld), wife of King Konrad III.

In 1142 Bertha was taken over by her brother-in-law Konrad III. adopted. Bertha came to Constantinople in 1142 and married the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I under the name Irene in January 1146. Her marriage to Emperor Manuel was politically motivated and was led by Manuel's father, the Emperor John II , and her brother-in-law, the Roman-German King Conrad III. initiated. The aim was to establish the alliance between Manuel I and Konrad III. against the Norman Roger II of Sicily . As a Roman Catholic Franconian at the Byzantine court, Bertha von Sulzbach was exposed to strong reservations, especially from the priesthood. Before she got married, she had mostly stayed in the women's chambers.

Manuel had her own palace building called "Polytimos" built for her and, as empress, furnished her with appropriate robes and entourage. Two children emerged from this marriage, namely Maria "Porphyrogenita" Komnene (* 1152; † July 1182), who was married to Rainer von Montferrat (* around 1162; † August 1182) from the house of the Margraves of Montferrat , and Anna Komnene (* 1154, † 1158), who died at the age of four.

Bertha tried to mediate in favor of Heinrich-Berengar , a son of Conrad III, who wanted to become engaged to a niece of Manuel. She showed skill in strengthening political ties between her husband and Conrad III, especially when he visited the Byzantine court in 1148.

From her personally poems and a funeral oration have been preserved. The year of her death is uncertain; in the sources it is given as 1158, end 1159 or 1160. When she died, Manuel I was on a campaign in Anatolia. Bertha was buried in the Pantocrator monastery , but her grave was destroyed after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the subsequent conversion of the church into a mosque.

Bertha's memory and her position in society took a special place in the Sulzbach tradition. The Chancellor rhyme chronicle passed on a story of the alleged return of Bertha from Byzantium, her death and her burial in Kastl. In the 17th century, Johannes Braun, the author of the Nordgauchronik, is said to have seen her grave in the monastery of the Counts of Sulzbach, the Kastl monastery . The return of Bertha and her grave in Kastl are considered untrue.

literature

Odilo Engels : Bertha von Sulzbach . In Lexikon des Mittelalter 1, Sp. 2023
Wilhelm Blum: Bertha-Irene: Bavarian Countess and Byzantine Empress . In: Bavaria and the ancient world. 150 years of Maximilians-Gymnasium in Munich . Edited by W.-A. from Reitzenstein. Munich 1999. pp. 65-75.
August Nitzschke: Bertha von Sulzbach (Irene, Eirene). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 151 ( digitized version ).
Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , pp. 319-320.

Web links

Publications about Bertha von Sulzbach in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii
Andrew Stone: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

↑ ^a ^b For the date of death, marriage and Bertha's parents as well as the number and names of her siblings and brothers-in-law, see Heinz Dopsch : Siedlung und Recht. On the prehistory of the Berchtesgaden founders , in: Walter Brugger (Ed.): History of Berchtesgaden. Stift - Markt - Land , Vol. 1, pp. 214 and 221.
^ Jürgen Dendorfer: Noble group formation and royal rule. The Counts of Sulzbach and their network of relationships in the 12th century. Munich 2004, p. 100.
↑ ^a ^b ^c August Nitzschke: Bertha von Sulzbach (Irene, Eirene). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 151 ( digitized version ).
↑ Neslihan Asutay-Effenberger: The land walls of Constantinople Opel-Istanbul. Historical-topographical and architectural studies. Berlin u. a. 2007, p. 122.
^ Garland-Stone, Bertha-Irene of Sulzbach, first wife of Manuel I Comnenus
^ Jürgen Dendorfer: Noble group formation and royal rule. The Counts of Sulzbach and their network of relationships in the 12th century. Munich 2004, p. 102.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Piroska of Hungary	Empress of Byzantium 1146–1158 / 1160	Mary of Antioch

personal data
SURNAME	Bertha von Sulzbach
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Berta von Sulzbach; Irene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Empress of Byzantium
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1110
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sulzbach-Rosenberg
DATE OF DEATH	1160
Place of death	Constantinople

[Dopsch-1] For the date of death, marriage and Bertha's parents as well as the number and names of her siblings and brothers-in-law, see Heinz Dopsch : Siedlung und Recht. On the prehistory of the Berchtesgaden founders , in: Walter Brugger (Ed.): History of Berchtesgaden. Stift - Markt - Land , Vol. 1, pp. 214 and 221.

[2] Jürgen Dendorfer: Noble group formation and royal rule. The Counts of Sulzbach and their network of relationships in the 12th century. Munich 2004, p. 100.

[Nitzschke-3] August Nitzschke: Bertha von Sulzbach (Irene, Eirene). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 151 ( digitized version ).

[4] Neslihan Asutay-Effenberger: The land walls of Constantinople Opel-Istanbul. Historical-topographical and architectural studies. Berlin u. a. 2007, p. 122.

[5] Garland-Stone, Bertha-Irene of Sulzbach, first wife of Manuel I Comnenus

[6] Jürgen Dendorfer: Noble group formation and royal rule. The Counts of Sulzbach and their network of relationships in the 12th century. Munich 2004, p. 102.