Heinrich II. (Austria)

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Statue in the Army History Museum .
Monument to Jasomirgott, the founder of the Schottenstift in Vienna , on the south-facing outer wall of the collegiate church.
Gertrud (Gertraud), daughter of Emperor Lothar, and Theodora Komnena, niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos (excerpt from the Babenberger family tree , Klosterneuburg Abbey )

Heinrich II , called Jasomirgott (* 1107 ; † January 13, 1177 in Vienna ), from the Babenberg family, was Count Palatine of the Rhine (1140–1141), Margrave of Austria (1141–1156), Duke of Bavaria (1143–1156 ) and Duke of Austria (1156–1177). He was a son of Margrave Leopold III. and Salierin Agnes of Waiblingen , daughter of Emperor Henry IV. and sister Emperor Henry V

Heinrich's older half-brothers from his mother's first marriage were the Staufer Friedrich II., The one-eyed , Duke of Swabia and father of the later Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa , and the Roman-German King Konrad III. His younger brother Leopold IV became margrave before him, his other younger brothers were the important chronicler and bishop of Freising, Otto von Freising , and the archbishop of Salzburg and bishop of Passau, Konrad II. Von Babenberg .

The Babenberg Duke was married to Gertrud , the only daughter of Emperor Lothar III, from May 1, 1142 to April 18, 1143 . He concluded his second marriage in 1148 with Theodora Komnena , a niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I. Both marriages demonstrate the importance of the Babenbergs in Central Europe at that time.

Life

Heinrich was the second of six sons of Margrave Leopold III. But the first one of these with Agnes of Waiblingen , the sister of the last Salierkönigs , Henry V , had.

When his father died, Heinrich's younger brother Leopold IV followed him as Margrave of Austria. This is astonishing at first, as he was only the third son of Leopold III. Adalbert, the eldest son, was not, however, the son of the imperial daughter Agnes, who used her influence for one of her own sons. It is unclear why she did this not for Heinrich, the second son, but for Leopold. It is believed that Heinrich was not staying in the margraviate at the time his father died, but on the Rhine, where he was managing his mother's Salic inheritance. It is possible that Adalbert was the eldest to succeed Leopold III. determined, whereby the entrustment of Heinrich with the Rhenish presence of the Babenbergs was not a neglect.

Count Palatine on the Rhine and Duke of Bavaria

In April 1140 Heinrich was enfeoffed with the Palatinate County near the Rhine. A count palatine had extensive rights such as the appointment of counts and was therefore almost on a par with a duke. Heinrich was only able to exercise this office for a short time, because his brother Leopold IV , who had remained childless, died in October 1141 , whereupon Heinrich succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria and Margrave of Austria. The Duchy of Bavaria was transferred to Leopold IV in the spring of 1139 after King Konrad III had it. Heinrich the proud had withdrawn because he had not recognized him. Heinrich then resided in Regensburg, the then capital of Bavaria.

In May 1142 Heinrich married Gertrud von Sachsen, about 26 years old, the only daughter of Emperor Lothar III. , also widow of Heinrich the Proud. She died on April 18, 1143 giving birth to Heinrich's first child.

Participation in the Second Crusade

In 1147 Heinrich took part in the Second Crusade as Duke of Bavaria . He borrowed money from several monasteries, appointed his younger brother Konrad to be the "provincial administrator" and in May 1147 joined the procession of King Konrad III. who first moved from Regensburg along the Danube towards Vienna and then on to Hungary. Heinrich always stays in the company of Konrad III during the crusade .

On October 26, 1147, the crusade on the Tembris River in Asia Minor ended in disaster. Only a few knights were able to save themselves by fleeing quickly, including Heinrich II. And the young knight Friedrich von Schwaben, who later became the German king and Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa . On his way home to Regensburg, Heinrich married the Byzantine princess and niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I , Theodora Komnena, at the end of 1148 . Later, Heinrich will grant her high rights in the Privilegium Minus , which expressly demand her "consent".

The Duchy of Austria

In the 1130s, Henry the Proud had a conflict with King Conrad III. In 1138 Konrad withdrew the Duchy of Bavaria from him and passed it on to the Babenbergs. The new Emperor Friedrich I tried to find a balance with the Guelphs and enfeoffed the son of Henry the Proud, Heinrich the Lion , with Bavaria in 1156 . Now a replacement had to be found for the Babenberger: The compensation was the Privilegium Minus , through which Austria became an independent duchy, independent of Bavaria.

Unlike his father, who mostly ruled in Klosterneuburg , Heinrich made Vienna his residence in 1145 . Only through this act was Vienna able to outstrip cities like Krems , Melk or Klosterneuburg and has remained the capital of the country ever since. In 1147 the first previous building of today 's St. Stephen's Cathedral was completed and consecrated on June 8th as a visible sign of the new meaning of the city. The small, Romanesque St. Stephen's Church still stood outside the city walls. In 1155 Heinrich donated the Schottenkloster in Vienna in the immediate vicinity of his Am Hof ​​residence , where he was buried.

death

At the end of November 1176 Heinrich suffered an accident near Melk when a rotten wooden bridge broke under his horse, causing an open fracture of the femoral neck, as a result of which he died on January 13, 1177 in Vienna. According to his last wish, he was buried in a high grave in the Schottenkirche , which, however, fell victim to the various renovations and new buildings of the church. His grave has been in the crypt of the Schottenstift since the 19th century. He lies there in a neo-Romanesque sarcophagus with his wife Theodora and daughter Agnes. Today there is a statue of Heinrich on the outer wall of the Schottenkirche.

progeny

From his 1st marriage to Gertrud von Sachsen :

  • Richardis (Richenza)
⚭ Heinrich Landgrave von Steffling

From his 2nd marriage to Theodora Komnena :

  • Agnes (* around 1154, † 1182)
⚭ 1.) 1168 Stephan III. Hungarian king (1161–1172) from the house of the Árpáds .
⚭ 2.) Hermann II of Spanheim , Duke of Carinthia , († 1181)
⚭ 1172 Ilona (Helene) of Hungary , (* 1158 - 25 May 1199), daughter of the Hungarian King Géza II.
⚭ 1179 Richza (Richsa) of Bohemia, († April 19, 1182), daughter of the Bohemian King Vladislav II.

Meaning of the nickname

The nickname Jasomirgott came up in the 13th century in the form of Jochsamergott . This epithet appears for the first time in a short text, the "Auctarium vinobonense", which probably originated from the Melker annals. There one refers to Heinrich with “called Ioch so mir got”.

The exact meaning is unclear. Sometimes it is explained with the Middle High German yoke sam mir got (help) , yes, how God should help me. This corresponds to the oath formula “so help me God” . According to another theory, the epithet originated from a corrupted Arabic saying that Henry II got to know on the Second Crusade. However, it cannot be precisely determined which Arabic saying or prayer formula it is. The Arab chronicler Ibn el Furât speaks of a "Jâsan elkund Harrî", a Count Heinrich with the surname Jâsan.

Furthermore, Helmut Hanko writes of a fictitious anecdote that can be found in Jans Enikels Fürstenbuch :

“Heinrich sends to Vienna for precious skins for a magnificent fur, with which he wants to appear before the emperor. However, the messenger misunderstood the order and brought an ox skin with him. Heinrich says to the emperor: Herre weren't ewr mocking ez es ioch sammir got ... "

The Jasomirgottstraße opposite the main gate of St. Stephen's Cathedral is named after Heinrich II . In the Schottenstift there is the Heinrich Jasomirgott fountain . Franz Melnitzky created a statue of the duke for Vienna's Rathausplatz .

reception

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I on February 28, 1863, Heinrich II was added to the list of "most famous war princes and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation" . For this purpose, a life-size statue of Heinrich was set up in the Feldherrenhalle of the then newly built Imperial and Royal Court Weapons Museum (today: Army History Museum Vienna ). The statue was created in 1872 by the sculptor Johann Pertscher (1837–1872) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by Emperor Franz Joseph himself.

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinrich II. (Austria)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, pp. 42–5.
  2. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 45.
  3. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 50.
  4. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 63.
  5. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 66.
  6. ↑ Walter Kleindel: Austria Chronicle. History and culture data. Vienna / Heidelberg: Ueberreuter 1978, family table of the Babenbergs (attached)
  7. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 21.
  8. ^ Karl Lechner: The Babenberger. Margraves and Dukes of Austria 976–1246. Böhlau, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-205-08508-6 , p. 351.
  9. ^ Austria Forum: Jasomirgott, Duke Heinrich II.
  10. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 22.
  11. ↑ Helmut Hanko: Duke Heinrich II. Jasomirgott. Count Palatine near the Rhine. Duke of Bavaria. Duke of Austria. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012, p. 21.
  12. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 29.
predecessor Office successor
Leopold Duke of Bavaria
1143–1156 		Heinrich XII.
Otto I of Salm Count Palatine near the Rhine
1140–1141 		Hermann von Stahleck
personal data
SURNAME Henry II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heinrich Jasomirgott
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count Palatine of the Rhine, Margrave of Austria, Duke of Bavaria and Duke of Austria
DATE OF BIRTH 1107
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1177
Place of death Vienna