Gisela von Backnang

Gisela von Backnang (* before 1027, † before 1050) was a Swabian noblewoman in the first half of the 11th century. Through her marriage to the Sülchgau -Grafen Hesso in the 1020s-years probably the city came Backnang and other possessions in Murrgau as dowry to the dynasty of Hess Onen . Gisela thus enabled the Hessonian rulership to be formed on the central Neckar through the goods she had brought in ; Backnang became the center of the noble family by the end of the century.

Its nickname "von Backnang" is not documented at the time; Backnang was first mentioned in 1067 as Baccananc . Gisela herself is first mentioned in a source in 1027 ; her husband - about whom little more than his name is known - is among those present at the establishment of a game ban in the Murrhardt forest.

Due to the large extent of their possessions, it is assumed that Gisela comes from an important noble family. Possibly she belongs to the early Counts of Calw . Since the name "Gisela" was often used around the dukes of Swabia at that time , there is speculation about an origin from this area, so she could be a relative of the Empress Gisela of Swabia , possibly even her daughter from her second marriage to Duke Ernst I.

It is known that Gisela and her husband were among the sponsors of the Einsiedeln monastery (in today's Switzerland); after their death before 1050, the monks there commemorated them as deceased benefactors in the year book in March. Gisela was also buried in Einsiedeln. Around 1050, her two sons, Gerung and Hesso von Blansingen , donated lands to the monastery in Stetten near Lörrach for the benefit of the mother's salvation . The latter son is probably identical with Hesso I. von Backnang .

literature

• Ottilie Kilian: Sülchgau - Wolfsölden - Schauenburg. The power politics of a medieval noble family (1000-1300) . In: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter / New Series , Volume 6 (1999), pp. 126–127, ISSN  0948-2784 (section Gisela von Backnang - Relationship to the Swabian ducal family )