Hermann I. (Werl)

Hermann I († around 985 ) was Count von Werl . He was married to the king's daughter Gerberga of Burgundy and probably played an important role in imperial politics at times.

Life

Hermann is the first representative of the Werl company, for whom some reliable data is available. It is still unclear whether a Hermann located near Meschede was his grandfather around 913 and a Heinrich named in 947 and 955 his father. It is possible that a Bernhard with count rights on Hellweg and in North Westphalia was his brother.

But for Hermann I, too, the tradition is sparse. Even in his time, the Counts of Werl were probably bailiffs of the Werden monastery . Like his predecessors, he was Vogt of the Meschede Monastery . Hermann also had his seat at Werl. There is only one document in which it is directly mentioned. This is a certificate from Otto II dated March 25, 978. In the Regesta imperii it says: At the request of his wife Theophanu, Otto is giving the Völlinghausen farm in Gau Engern in the County of Hermanns, including accessories, to the abbot Thiezswid von Meschede (nos ob dilectissimae contectalis nostrae Theuphanu rogatum atque per eius precativam exhortationem venerandae probitatis abbatissae Thiezsuuid nominatę quandam curtem Folkgeldinghuson nuncupatum in pago Angeron in comitatu Heremanni comitis sitam donasse in proprium ...)

He was part of the emperor. The donation from the court in Völlinghausen to the Werler monastery was probably a reward for Hermann's support in defeating the Bavarian Duke Heinrich the Quarrel .

He was probably present at the court conference in Dortmund in 978, where there was a conflict between Emperor Otto II and his mother Adelheid , in the course of which Adelheid left the imperial court and went to the court of her brother Konrad III. went from Burgundy. Around this time Hermann also came into contact with the Burgundian court. Possibly he accompanied the imperial mother there on the imperial order. This relationship led to her marriage to a daughter of the Burgundian king named Gerberga around 978/79. The marriage is only secured by somewhat later indirect sources, in particular the Quedlinburg Annals . The later writing Annalista Saxo has the text reproduced later slightly distorting and thus distorting. Current research has no doubts about the marriage between Hermann and Gerberga.

Through the marriage, Hermann became brother-in-law of Heinrich the quarrel and entered into family relationships with the Ottonian house. The marriage resulted in Hermann II , Bernhard von Werl and Rudolf von Werl . A daughter Hitda or Ida later became abbess of the Meschede Monastery. Perhaps it was this who gave the pen valuable gifts, including the Hitda Codex , when she took office .

Hermann is equated with Count Hermann, who was in Italy in 983 with Otto II. After his death, he worked as a mediator. It was possible to settle the dispute within the imperial family with Heinrich the brawler. Among other things, the fact that the imperial court was in Soest , near Werl, in August 985 speaks for the identity of Hermann with the count of the same name . From there the court moved to Wiedenbrück , where Otto III. at the instigation of the Dowager Empress Theophanu, the Meschede Monastery was granted the previous privileges. This can be interpreted as thanks for Hermann's achievements in the imperial service. Because Hermann was not named as Vogt in the relevant document and provisions were made for a Vogt election, it can be assumed that Hermann died shortly before. After Hermann's death, Gerberga married Hermann II of Swabia in 988 at the latest .

literature

• Paul Leidinger : The Counts of Werl and Werl-Arnsberg (approx. 980–1124): Genealogy and aspects of their political history in the Ottonian and Salian times. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Volume 1: The Electorate of Cologne Duchy of Westphalia from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Aschendorff, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-402-12827-5 , pp. 119–170, here 126–130.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto II. (RI II) n.763 978 March 25, - Magdeburg RI-online