Maria of Brabant (1190-1260)
Maria von Brabant (* 1190 ; † between March 9 and June 14, 1260 ) was German Empress as the wife of Emperor Otto IV. (* Probably 1176/77; † May 19, 1218 at the Harzburg ).
She was the daughter of Henry I , Duke of Brabant , and Mathilde of Boulogne .
In 1198 Maria was betrothed to the Guelph Otto IV, but Duke Heinrich postponed the wedding due to the current dispute over the German throne; his change of sides in 1204 brought the project to a standstill without the engagement being formally dissolved.
Otto IV married Beatrix von Schwaben from Staufer in 1212 , but she died a few days after the wedding. Since Heinrich had reconciled with Otto IV years earlier after the murder of Otto's adversary Philipp von Schwaben (1208), Maria became interesting again as a wife: on May 19, 1214 the marriage was finally concluded in Maastricht .
Maria von Brabant was known for her gambling addiction , which at times brought the emperor into financial distress.
Two years after Otto's death, she married Count Wilhelm I of Holland in July 1220 . Wilhelm died two years later, on February 4, 1222. Both marriages remained childless.
In her second widowhood, she again took on the title of empress, which she still used decades after Otto's death when she founded the Cistercian monastery Locus imperatricis near Binderen in Brabant .
Her grave is in the St. Pieterskirche in Leuven .
literature
- Monika Escher, Frank G. Hirschmann : Maria von Brabant - the forgotten empress. Imperial politics, cultural transfer and urbanization. In: Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte , Vol. 137 (2001), pp. 161–197. Online edition at the BSB
- Amalie Fößel : Beatrix von Schwaben and Maria von Brabant - the women of Otto IV. In: Bernd Ulrich Hucker / Stefanie Hahn / Hans-Jürgen Derda (eds.) Otto IV. Dream of the Guelph Empire. Landesausstellung Niedersachsen 2009. Petersberg 2009, pp. 229–236, ISBN 978-3-86568500-1
Web links
predecessor | Office | Successor |
---|---|---|
Beatrix of Swabia |
Holy Roman Empress May 19, 1214 to 1220 |
Constance of Aragon |
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Maria of Brabant |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Empress as wife of Emperor Otto IV. |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1190 |
DATE OF DEATH | between March 9, 1260 and June 14, 1260 |