Henry the Fat

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Henry the Fat's grave slab in the Bursfelde monastery church

Heinrich the Fette or Heinrich the Rich (* around 1055; † before April 10, 1101 ) was Count in Rittigau and Eichsfeld and Margrave of Friesland . He was the eldest son of Otto von Northeim and his wife Richenza von Schwaben . In contemporary sources, he is considered henricus crassus referred, with crassus the meaning fat or rich can have.

Heinrich took over his father's house counties in Rittigau and Eichsfeld in 1083, making him one of the most influential Saxon princes. Around the year 1086 he married the rich widow Gertrud the Younger of Braunschweig , which enabled him to add those of the Counts of Katlenburg and those of the Brunones to the Northeimer lands and to further expand his influence. He inherited parts of the Werra Valley from the Counts of Bilstein , making him the sole owner of it. He was also Vogt of the Helmarshausen Monastery and the Bursfelde Monastery, which he founded in 1093 .

Heinrich was initially one of the supporters of the anti-king Hermann von Salm , with whom he was related by marriage. In 1086, however, he and his brothers switched to Henry IV's side .

His wife Gertrud von Braunschweig was the only sister of Ekbert II whose marriage remained childless. Under inheritance law, she would have been the heir to the county of Friesland when her brother died in 1090. However, the county came under the administration of Bishop Conrad of Utrecht . Konrad was murdered in 1099, and Heinrich managed to win the county in 1101 by the grace of the emperor. The Utrecht Ministerial, who saw their position threatened by Heinrich, the Frisian boatmen, whose duties Heinrich wanted to regulate again, and the city of Staveren , whose special rights he did not recognize, allied against him. They received Heinrich kindly, but with deceit. When he noticed this, he tried to flee to the sea, but was drowned by boatmen. Gertrud narrowly escaped the attack. Heinrich's date of death is not known, only the day of his burial in the Bursfeld monastery on April 10, 1101.

The Mecklenburg and Brunonian property came to the Guelphs via Heinrich's daughter Richenza , who was married to Lothar von Süpplingenburg .

progeny

The marriage with Gertrud had three children:

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