Welf IV.

Welf IV., Ideal portrait in the Weingartener Stifterbüchlein, around 1500 ( Württembergische Landesbibliothek , Cod.hist. Q 584, fol. 25v)

Donor picture Welfs IV. From the Codex maior traditionum Weingartensium from the second half of the 13th century (Main State Archives Stuttgart, B 515, Vol. 2a, fol. 4r)

Welf IV (* around 1030/1040; † on November 8 or 9, 1101 in Paphos , Cyprus ) from the House of Welfs was as Welf I, Duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to 1101.

Life

Welf IV. Was a son of the Italian margrave Alberto Azzo II. D'Este (1009-1097) and Kunigundes of Carinthia , the sister of Duke Welf III. of Carinthia († March 31, before 1055). He was a member of the Este family on his father's side and a descendant (and heir) of the Welfs on his mother's side . Welf IV was the only heir to the Guelph possessions in Swabia , Raetia and Bavaria , albeit in a female line . His grandmother Imiza († after 1055), the widow of Welf II († 1030), had him brought to Germany to take over the inheritance that her childless son Welf III. had already bequeathed to the Altdorf monastery .

He married Ethelinde von Northeim , daughter of Otto von Northeim , Duke of Bavaria. His father-in-law was ostracized in 1070 , whereupon Welf disowned his wife - the marriage had also remained childless. At Christmas of the same year, Welf was entrusted by King Heinrich IV to succeed Otto in Bavaria. In 1070/71 he got a second marriage with the widowed Judith von Flanders .

In the investiture controversy , Welf stood on the papal side, supported the election of Rudolf von Rheinfelden against Heinrich in March 1077 , was ostracized in May and fled to Hungary ; From then on, the king himself ruled in his possessions and offices.

Around 1089, Pope Urban II brokered the marriage of Welf's 17-year-old son Welf V to Mathilde von Tuszien , the mistress of Canossa, 27 years her senior . The separation of this connection in the summer of 1095 prepared Welf's change to the imperial side and the reconciliation with the emperor that took place a year later (1096), which also involved the return of Bavaria to Welf. Welf IV took part in the 1101 crusade and died on the way back from Jerusalem on Cyprus . He was buried in Weingarten Abbey.

progeny

His second marriage had three children:

• Welf V. (* 1072/73; † September 24, 1120 at Kaufering Castle ), after the death of his father on the crusade in 1101 as Welf II Duke of Bavaria ∞ around 1089, separated in 1095, Mathilde (* around 1046, † 1115 ) Mistress of Canossa, Duchess of Tuscia etc., daughter of Bonifacius of Canossa, Duke of Spoleto
• Henry IX. der Schwarze (* 1074/75; † December 13, 1126 in Ravensburg ), 1120 Duke of Bavaria, ∞ Wulfhild of Saxony († December 29, 1126 in Altdorf ), daughter of Duke Magnus of Saxony ( Billunger )
• Kuniza († March 6, 1120) ∞ Friedrich Rocho († November 12....), Attested in 1086, probably Count von Dießen

literature

• Dieter R. Bauer , Matthias Becher (ed.): Welf IV. Key figure of a turning point. Regional and European perspectives (= magazine for Bavarian national history, supplement, series B. Volume 24). Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-10665-X . ( Review )
• Welf IV. In: Karl Bosl (Hrsg.): Bosls Bavarian biography. Pustet, Regensburg 1983, ISBN 3-7917-0792-2 , p. 832 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Sigmund Knights of Riezler :  Welf I . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 666-670.
• Wilhelm Störmer : Welf IV . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 2144 f.

Web links

Commons : Welf IV.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto von Northeim Heinrich VIII.	Duke of Bavaria 1070-1077 1096-1101	Henry VIII. Welf II.