Richenza from Northeim

Richenza von Northeim, mural (around 1890) in the Kaiserdom Königslutter

Richenza's grave crown (material: lead). Today in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum .

Richenza von Northeim (* around 1087-89; † June 10, 1141 ) from the family of the Northeim Counts was Duchess in Saxony (since 1106), Queen (since 1125) and Empress (since 1133).

Life

Richenza was the daughter of Count Heinrich the Fat of Northeim († 1101) and the Brunoness Gertrud the Younger of Braunschweig .

In 1100 she married Lothar von Süpplingenburg , Duke of Saxony and later Emperor . She took an active part in her husband's rule. This can be seen, among other things, in her work during the papal schism of 1130 and her mediation of the settlement of the conflict with the Hohenstaufen Konrad III. and Friedrich von Schwaben . Richenza also played an important role in awarding her husband's certificates.

Her daughter Gertrud von Süpplingenburg , born in 1115, married Duke Heinrich the Proud of Bavaria († 1139), with which the Brunon and Northeim inheritance passed to the Guelphs . In the fight against the Ascanian Albrecht the Bear , appointed by the king as Duke of Saxony , she secured the claims of her grandson Heinrich the Lion on Saxony.

She was buried next to her husband, who died in 1137, and her son-in-law Heinrich the Proud in Königslutter Cathedral. The grave equipment included a simply crafted and preserved grave crown .

In honor of Richenza, the former girls' high school in her hometown Northeim bore her name until the 1970s. The building is now part of the Corvinianum high school .

literature

• Amalie Fößel :  Richenza. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 512 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Stefan Pätzold : Richenza. In: Amalie Fößel (Ed.): The Empresses of the Middle Ages. Pustet, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7917-2360-0 , pp. 181-196.
• Robert Conrad : Salus in manu feminae. Participation in rule and memoria of Empress Richenza (1087 / 89–1141) (Historical Studies 512) Matthiesen Verlag, Husum 2020, ISBN 978-3-7868-1512-9 .

Web links

Commons : Richenza von Northeim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Renate Seidel: The Counts of Mansfeld. History and stories of a German noble family. Fouqué Literaturverlag, Engelsbach 1998, ISBN 3-8267-4230-3 , p. 129.

predecessor	Office	Successors
Matilda (England)	Roman-German queen 1125 to 1137	Gertrud von Sulzbach
Matilda (England)	Roman-German Empress 1133 to 1137	Beatrix of Burgundy