Hermann II (Werl)

Hermann II (* around 980 ; † 1025 ) was Count von Werl , Count in Lochtrop , Leri and Dreingau and Count in the Diocese of Osnabrück . He was also Vogt of the monasteries Werden , Liesborn , Meschede and Oedingen .

family

Hermann was the eldest son of Count Hermann I von Werl and the Gerberga von Burgund , a daughter of the Burgundian King Konrad III. His brothers were Bernhard and Rudolf . He was also half-brother of Empress Gisela von Schwaben and Mathilde , married to Konrad I of Carinthia , and cousin of King Heinrich II and nephew of King Rudolf III. of Burgundy .

He himself was married twice. The name of the first wife is unknown. The second, whom he married in 1007, was called Godila von Rothenburg . This was the widow of Count Liuthar von Walbeck . From his first marriage, Heinrich I , Konrad (I), Adalbert Graf im Emegau and Bernhard II von Werl and possibly Hermann I Bishop of Münster emerged. The children Rudolf and Mathilde came from his second marriage, about whom no further details are available.

Life

It appears in a document for the first time in 997 in a document from Otto III. In this, the emperor was wearing at the request of Hermann's mother's pin Meschede the courtyard of a proscribed and deceased Hunold in Stockhausen pen Meschede. Hermann and his mother Gerberga were the founders of the Oedingen monastery in the year 1000 , of which he was also governor.

After the death of Otto III. (1002) the Werler Count House did not support their cousin, who later became Heinrich II , in the subsequent election of a king , but rather Gerberga's husband Hermann II of Swabia . Even later, Hermann stood in clear opposition to the emperor. Probably for this reason the Werler are hardly mentioned in imperial documents at this time. The conflicts between Hermann and his family members and various bishops were also due to their support for the emperor.

Politically, Hermann was an opponent of Bishop Dietrich von Munster. There was a dispute over the Liesborn monastery in 1016/17 . This was passed from the Ekbertines to the Counts of Werl, but was placed under the control of the Bishop of Munster by Heinrich II. The feud was ended by imperial orders. A year later Heinrich , the son Hermann, feuded the Cologne Archbishop Heribert of Cologne , because he had captured Heinrich's mother for unknown reasons. In the autumn of the same year the Werler fought against Bishop Meinwerk von Paderborn, together with Count Thietmar from Billung , to whom they were possibly also related . It was about the Helmarshausen monastery . In the course of the feud, Hermann was captured by Count Udo von Catlenburg. The emperor viewed the actions of the allies as an insurrection and boasted of his suppression. At Christmas of the year, the conspirators were pardoned by Heinrich II. In the next year a general uprising arose out of the unrest in Westphalia and Saxony against the emperor under Duke Bernhard I. In the last years of Heinrich II there seems to have been a certain reconciliation, Hermann can be found in 1024 as a high-ranking witness in the imperial Certificates. There are some indications that Hermann accompanied the emperor on his last journey to the Palatinate Grone.

After the death of Emperor Heinrich II, Hermann played an important role in clarifying the succession. Because of his relationship, he appeared to be an ideal mediator. Konrad II was the husband of his half-sister Gisela . The other candidate, also named Konrad von Kärnten, was married to Hermann's half-sister Mathilde. Immediately after the death of the emperor, a meeting of Saxon counts took place in the royal palace Werla an der Oker in order to prepare the election of the emperor under the direction of Duke Bernhard. Hermann also took part. At the same time the reconciliation with Bishop Meinwerk was made. Hermann also took part in the meeting of princes at the grave of St. Ida , around the same time as the election of the king on September 4, 1024 in Kampa. The Königsumritt Conrad II. Led the emperor to Westphalia, where the end of 1024 held a court day in Dortmund. Hermann was also present, who appears as a witness alongside other high-ranking people in an imperial document. Later, the proximity to the emperor decreased because at least part of the Werler family in the years 1026-1028 sided with Konrad of Carinthia in his dispute with the emperor.

Count Hermann was one of the bailiffs of the Werden monastery . After the abbot Hettharnich complained about interference by Hermann II with the emperor, the count was given the farms near Arnsberg and other possessions, among other things , but the count's family waived any further claims against the monastery. As a result, the property of the Count's house, which had shrunk due to inheritance divisions, could be consolidated again to some extent.

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 pp. 130–138.
• Johann Suibert Seibertz : State and legal history of the Duchy of Westphalia. Volume 1, Section 1: Diplomatic family history of the old Counts of Westphalia zu Werl and Arnsberg. Ritter, Arnsberg 1845, digitized .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto III. (RI II) n.1236 RI-online
2. ↑ Otto III. (RI II) n.1370 1000 May 18, Elspe RI-online
3. ^ Heinrich II. (RI II) n.1873b RI-online
4. ^ Heinrich II. (RI II) n. 1951b 1019 (June) RI-online