Henry IX (1075 – 13 December 1126), called the Black, a member of the
House of Welf, was
Duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126.
Life and reign
Henry was the second son of Duke
Welf I of Bavaria (died 1101) from his marriage with
Judith,[1] daughter of Count
Baldwin IV of Flanders. As a young man, he administered the family's
Este property south of the Alps.
Duke Henry nevertheless upheld close relations with the ruling
Salian dynasty. In 1116, he joined Emperor Henry V's second
Italian campaign to seize the estates of late Margravine
Matilda of Tuscany. He succeeded his elder brother
Welf II as
Bavarian duke, when the latter died childless in 1120. Henry was also instrumental in bringing about the 1122
Concordat of Worms, ending the long-lasting
Investiture Controversy between Pope and Emperor.
In the early 1120s, Henry commissioned the Genealogia Welforum, a family history in
Latin, composed at
Weingarten Abbey. He may have been prompted by the canonization of Bishop
Conrad of Constance in 1123. Conrad was a Welf and his canonization stimulated Henry's interest in his ancestors. At the same time, Henry made an inventory of his family's tombs.[2]
Duke Henry played a vital role in the royal
election of 1125: first supporting his son-in-law, the
Hohenstaufen duke
Frederick II of Swabia, he switched his allegiance to his old rival Duke Lothair of Saxony—probably after Lothair promised that
Gertrude, his only daughter and heir, would marry Henry's son
Henry the Proud. The marriage was concluded in May 1127. The estrangement between the Welf and Hohenstaufen dynasties ("
Guelphs and Ghibellines") lasted until the 13th century.
After Lothair won the tumultuous election, he imposed an
Imperial ban on Frederick II, however, the king's forces were not able to conquer the Hohenstaufen territories in Swabia. In 1126 Henry abdicated as Bavarian duke in favour of his second son Henry the Proud and retired to the family foundation of
Weingarten Abbey in
Upper Swabia, possibly to not be obliged to participate in the prosecution of his son-in-law.
Henry died shortly thereafter and was buried in Weingarten. His wife Wulfhilde outlived him by only 16 days. Henry's
epithet "the Black" has not been recorded before the 13th century. Both Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa and his bitter rival
Henry the Lion were his grandsons.
^Stefan Tebruck (2017), "The Propaganda of Power: Memoria, History, Patronage", in
Graham A. Loud; Jochen Schenk (eds.), The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100–1350: Essays by German Historians, Routledge, pp. 160–180, esp. 167–168.
Barber, Malcolm (2004). The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 1050–1320. Routledge.
Lyon, Jonathan R. (2013). Princely Brothers and Sisters. Cornell University Press.
Luscombe, David; Riley-Smith, Jonathan, eds. (2006). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge University Press.
Literature
Bernd Schneidmüller: Die Welfen. Herrschaft und Erinnerung (819–1252) (= Urban-Taschenbücher 465).
Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart etc., 2000,
ISBN3-17-014999-7, pp. 149 ff.
Deed of Henry IX for Ranshofen Abbey, 30 July 1125,
"digitalised image". Photograph Archive of Old Original Documents (Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden).
University of Marburg.