Bernhard von Spanheim

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Bernhard von Spanheim statue, Klagenfurt

Bernhard von Spanheim (or Sponheim) (1176 or 1181 – 4 January 1256) was Duke of Carinthia for 54 years from 1202 until his death.

Family

Bernhard was a scion of the noble House of Sponheim descending from Rhenish Franconia, which in 1122 had inherited the Imperial State of Carinthia. His father was Duke Herman II of Carinthia, who had reigned from 1161 until 1181. He was at first succeeded by Bernhard's elder brother Duke Ulrich II, who reigned for two decades but died childless on 10 August 1202, whereafter Bernhard succeeded him.[1] His mother was Agnes of Babenberg, the daughter of Duke Henry II of Austria, who previously had been married to late King Stephen III of Hungary.[1]

Bernhard's paternal grandparents were Margrave Engelbert III of Istria and Matilda of Sulzbach.[2] Matilda was a daughter of the Bavarian Nordgau Count Berengar II of Sulzbach (d. 3 December 1125) and Adelheid of Wolfratshausen. Her sisters included Gertrude and Bertha of Sulzbach, respectively the wives of King Conrad III of Germany and Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.[3]

Reign

Bernhard had actually been regent over the Carinthian duchy since his brother Duke Ulrich II had fallen seriously ill in 1199. In the conflict between the rivaling House of Hohenstaufen and the Welfs around the German throne, he originally continued his brother's support for their relative Philip of Swabia, grandnephew of King Conrad III, who had been elected King of the Romans in 1198. He nevertheless turned to the Welf Otto IV after Philipp's assassination in 1208. In 1213, Bernhard again switched sides to Philip's nephew King Frederick II, who finally prevailed.

Bernhard gained control over the strategically important Loibl Pass leading to the adjacent March of Carniola in the south, where his son Ulrich III in 1248 became margrave upon his marriage with Agnes of Andechs, daughter of Duke Otto I of Merania. He is also credited as founding the Kostanjevica (Landstraß) Cistercian Abbey in Lower Carniola about 1234 as well as the later Carinthian capital Klagenfurt, that he had transferred to its present location in 1246. Bernhard is buried at St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.

Marriage and children

In 1213, Bernhard married Judith, a daughter of the Přemyslid King Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second Queen consort, Constance, daughter of the Árpád King Béla III of Hungary. They had four known children:[4]

  • Ulrich III (c.1220-1269), Duke of Carinthia 1256-1269, Margrave of Carniola since 1248
  • Bernhard of Carinthia.
  • Margaret of Carinthia.
  • Philip of Carinthia (d. 21/22 July 1279), Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1247 to 1256 and Patriarch of Aquileia from 1269 to 1273.

When Duke Ulrich III had died without heirs, his brother Philip was claimant to the estates of Carinthia and Carniola and even reached his enfeoffment by King Rudolph I of Germany in 1275. He nevertheless could not prevail against his first cousin King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who in 1268 had signed an inheritance treaty with late Duke Ulrich.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernard of Sponheim.
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Ulrich II		 Duke of Carinthia
1202–1256 		Succeeded by
Ulrich III

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cawley, Charles, Profile of Herman II of Carinthia and his wife, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,
  2. ↑ Cawley, Charles, Profile of Engelbert III of Istria and his wife, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,
  3. ↑ Cawley, Charles, Profile of Berengar of Sulzbach, his wife and chieldren, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,
  4. ↑ Cawley, Charles, Profile of Bernhard of Carinthia, his wife and children, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,
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