Heinrich (of "Babenburg") (Heimricus)
Heinrich (of "Babenburg") (Heimricus)In 866, Heinrich appears as leader of the soldiers of Ludwig the Younger when the latter revolted against his father ["... Heimricum principem militiae suae ..." Ann. Fuld. (Mogont.), s.a. 866 (p. 65)]. In 880, Heinrich was one of the leaders fighting against the rebellion of Hugues, illegitimate son of Lothar II, winning a conflict against Thibaud, ally and brother-in-law of Hugues [Ann. Fuld. (Mogont.), s.a. 880 (p. 95)]. Heinrich later gained prominence fighting against the Vikings. He was killed by the Vikings in 886, when he was called dux Austrasiorum by Annales Vedastini and marchensis Francorum by one continuation of Annales Fuldenses, which also state that he held Neustria ["Heinricum dictum ducem Austrasiorum" Ann. Vedast., s.a. 886 (p. 61); "Occiso ibi Heimrico marchensi Francorum, qui in id tempus Niustriam tenuit, ..." Ann. Fuld. (cont. Ratisbon.), s.a. 886 (p. 114); "Ubi dum aliquanto tempore moraretur, Heimrih comes a suis desertus et ab hostibus circumdatus occiditur." Ann. Fuld. (Mogont.), s.a. 886 (p. 105)]. There is no justification for calling him duke of Lorraine, as has sometimes been done [see Parisot (1898), 469-70]. In a charter witnessed by his brother Poppo, either Heinrich or his son of the same name is called count of Grabfeld ["... in pago Graphelt in comitatu Heinrici ... Huius rei testes sunt Boppo comes. ..." Codex Fuld., 284-5 (#625); the date given is 16 April 887, but the indiction given is for 880].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: 28 August 886.
Place of
death: Near Paris.
Place of
burial: Saint-Medard de
Soissons.
As noted above Annales
Fuldenses and Annales Vedastini place his death in
886, as do the Annales Alamannici ["Heimrihcus
dux a Nordmannis occisus est." Ann. Alamannici,
s.a. 886, MGH SS 1: 52]. The Necrological Annals of Fulda place
his death on 28 August 886 ["5. Kal. Sep. ob. Heimrih
com." Ann. Nec. Fuld., s.a. 886, MGH SS 13:
186]. Further verifying his date of death in necrologies which
don't give the year is complicated by possible confusion with
Heinrich der Zänker, duke of Bayern (Bavaria), who also died on
a 28 August (995) [e.g., "[V Kal. Sep.] ... Heinric
f...ric' dux ob." Calend. Merseb., 120].
Regino places his death wrongly in 887, and states that he was
buried at Saint-Medard de Soissons ["Agminibus autem
impetum facientibus vix cadaver exanime eruitur et a suis usque
Suessionis deportatum in basilica sancti Medardi sepelitur."
Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 887 (pp. 125-6)]. [See Dümmler
(1887-8), 3: 170 (Heinrich's grave inscription), 269, n. 2]
Probable father or
grandfather: Poppo (I),
fl. 819-839, count of Grabfeld.
See the Commentary section for details.
Mother: Unknown.
See the Commentary section for some
unconvincing conjectures.
Spouse: Unknown.
There has been much speculation on the
identity of Heinrich's spouse, none of it conclusive. See the
Commentary section.
Children:
On 9 February 888, the unnamed
sons of count Heinrich are mentioned in a Fulda charter ["...
in pago Puohunna dicto in comitatu filiorum Heimrici comitis ..."
Codex Fuld., 286-7 (#629)]. In 898, the sons of
Heinrich, namely Adalbert, Adalhard, and Heinrich, were involved
in a quarrel with Rudolf, bishop of Würzburg ["Ea
tempestate inter Ruodolfum episcopum Wirziburgensem et filios
Heinrici ducis Adalbertum, Adalardum et Heinricum magna
discordiarum lis et inplacabilis odiorum controversia ex parvis
minimisque rebus oritur ..." Regino, Chronicon,
s.a. 898 (p. 145)]. By 902, a full scale feud had erupted between
the three "Babenberg" brothers and the
"Konradiner" brothers, counts Eberhard and Gebhard, and
bishop Rudolf, in which Heinrich was killed and Adalhard was
captured and beheaded by orders of Gebhard ["Adalbertus
cum fratribus Adalardo et Heinrico collecta valida manu adversus
Everhardum et Gebehardum et Ruodolfum fratres, ..., ex castro,
quod Babenberh dicitur, prosiliens ad pugnam processit. ... in
quo certamine Heinricus interfectus est et Adalardus captus et
post modicum iussu Gebehardi decollatus est." Regino, Chronicon,
s.a. 902 (p. 149)].
Adalbert, d. 9 September 906, count of
Grabfeld.
Two Fulda charters identify Adalbert as
count of Grabfeld and Tullifeld [undated (late 880's?): "...
in pago Graphelde in nordhemero marca in comitatu Adalberti. ...
Bobbo comes. Adalbraht. Bobbo. filii eius. ..." Codex
Fuld., 286 (#628); 8 May 901: "... in Ibistetino
marcu in pago Grapfelde et Tullifelde in comitatu Adalbrahtes ..."
ibid., 297 (#648)]. The last of the three brothers, Adalbert was
deprived of all of his lands and executed by decapitation on 9
September 906 ["... adiudicantibus capitalem suscepit
sententiam V. Id. Septembris." Regino, Chronicon,
s.a. 906 (p. 152); "V. id. [Sep.] ... Adelbert' com. o."
Calend. Merseb., 121; "v. id. [Sep.] Adalbertus
comes." Kalendarium necrologicum Weissenburgense,
Fontes rerum Germ., 4: 313; Dummler (1887-8), 3: 542 n.
1].
Adalard, d. 902.
[Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 902 (p.
149), see above]
Heinrich, d. 902.
[Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 902 (p.
149), see above]
Brother: Poppo (II), fl. 880-892, duke of
Thüringen (Thuringia).
Poppo first appears in 880 as count and
duke of the Sorbian Mark ["Quibus Boppo comes et dux
Sorabici limitis (cum Thuringiis) occurrit et Dei auxilio fretus
ita eos prostravit, ut nullus de tanta multitudine remaneret."
Ann. Fuld. (Mogont.), s.a. 880 (p. 95)]. The Annales
Fuldenses explicitly call him a brother of Heinrich on two
occasions ["Civile bellum inter Saxonibus et Thuringis
exoritur, machinantibus Poppone fratre Heimrici et Eginone
comitibus; magna post clade Poppo cum Thuringis inferior extitit."
Ann. Fuld. (cont. Ratisbon.), s.a. 882 (p. 109); "Heimricus,
frater Popponis scilicet, ..." ibid., s.a. 883 (p.
110)]. Poppo also appears as duke of Thuringia, and was deprived
of his honors in 892 ["... Boppone Turingorum duce ..."
Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 889 (p. 134); "Boppo
dux Thuringorum dignitatibus expoliatur; ..." ibid.,
s.a. 892 (p. 140); "Poppo dux Thuringoroum honoribus
privatus est." Ann. Fuld. (cont. Ratisbon.),
s.a. 892 (p. 122)]. A Fulda document apparently of the late 880's
is witnessed by two of his sons, showing that he left issue
["... in pago Graphelde in nordhemero marca in comitatu
Adalberti. ... Bobbo comes. Adalbraht. Bobbo. filii eius. ..."
Codex Fuld., 286 (#628)].
Probable father or
grandfather: Poppo (I),
fl. 819-839, count of Grabfeld.
Poppo appears in records from 819 to 839 [4
November 819: "... in pago Grapfeld ... in pago Folcfeld
... in pago Gozfeld ... in pago Cueringeuue ... . ... facta haec
traditio in conuentu publico in uilla Sundheim coram comite et
iudicibus suis. Popo comes. ..." Codex Fuld.,
175 (#388); 23 November 819: "in pago Grapfelde ... +
sign. Popponi comitis ..." ibid., 176 (#389); 24 May
821: "... Treisbaches ... Poppo comes ..."
ibid., 178 (#393); 29 March 823: "... uillae Ostheim ...
in uilla quae nuncupatur Tulba in pago Salageuue ... + sign.
Popponis comitis." ibid., 184 (#408); 20 February 825:
"... factus est publicus conuentus Popponis comitis et
totius comitatus eius in terminis uillae quae dicitur Geismari
... Poppo comes ..." ibid., 201 (#456); 1 February 826:
"... ego Poppo comes trado ... capturam unam in silua
Bochonia comprehensam iuxta fluuium qui dicitur Lutraha quod est
in pago Grapfeld ... + sign. Popponi comitis qui haec fecit
traditionem." ibid., 205 (#465); 14 June & 10 July
838: "... Popone comite ..." (one of many
counts named), ibid., 226 (#513); 27 February 839: "...
duas scilicet uillas ex beneficio Bopponis comitis infra Bokoniam
quarum uocabula sunt Geismara et Borsaa, ... quae res in in pago
Graphelt sitae ..." ibid., 231-2 (#524)]. Both
onomastically and by his possessions, Poppo (I) stands out as a
predecessor of the brothers Heinrich and Poppo (II), and if he
was not their father or grandfather, then he would have almost
certainly been their uncle or another very close relative. Many
have assigned Heinrich and Poppo (II) as probable sons of Poppo
(I) [e.g., Dümmler (1887-8), 3: 168, 522; Geldner (1971), 7,
gen. table], but others have allowed for a possible intervening
generation, for which there seems sufficient time [e.g., Stein
(1884), 139; Hlawitschka (2006), 1.2: 58]. Either alternative
fits the evidence well enough, and it is difficult to decide
between them.
Possible daughter:
Hadwig, d. 24
December, prob. 903;
m. Otto
"der Erlauchten", d.
30 November 912, duke of Sachsen (Saxony), 880-912.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
The wife of Heinrich
As noted below, the medieval
account of Heinrich's supposed wife must be rejected, and the
modern attempts to identify his wife are based on the assumption
that Hadwig was his daughter, and are covered in more detail on
the page of Hadwig.
Falsely attributed wife
(probably mythical):
Baba, alleged daughter of Otto, duke of
Saxony.
Several sources state that Baba, daughter of duke Otto, was the
mother of Adalbert (of Babenberg), and that Babenberg was named
after Baba ["... Otto dux. Hic habuit filium qui
vocabatur Heinricus humilis et filiam Babam nomine, matrem
Adalberti, de cuius nomine idem mons Babenberc dictus est."
Regum Imperatorum Catalogus, MGH SS 10: 137; gen. table,
Ekkehard, Chron. Wirziburgense, MGH SS 6: 28; "...
Adelbertus ..., filius sororis Heinrici ducis sed postea regis,
nepos Ottonis ducis Saxoniae, ..." Ekkehard, Chron.
Univ., s.a. 901, MGH SS 6: 174; "His temporibus
Adalbertus magnus heros, cuius pater Heinricus dux, mater Baba
dicebatur, idemque sororis filius Heinrici postea regis, nepos
vero Ottonis Saxonum ducis, cum fratribus suis ..." Ann.
Saxo, s.a. 902, MGH SS 6: 590]. This relationship is not
chronologically possible, and it is likely that the name Baba is
itself an invention. See the page of duke Otto
for more details.
Conjectured wife (improbable): NN, daughter of
count Adelard, and sister of Adélaïde,
second wife of Louis
II le Bègue, king of France.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
Conjectured wife (unlikely): Engeltrude, b. say 837×840, d. after
2 April 870, daughter of Eberhard, duke of Friuli.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
Conjectured wife (extremely
improbable):
Judith, d. after 863×4, daughter
of Eberhard, duke of Friuli.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
Falsely attributed
wife: Bava/Baba, daughter of Berengario, count of
Spoleto.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
Conjectured wife (possible): NN,
granddaughter of count Egbert and St. Ida.
See the page of Hadwig for details.
Conjectured
identification (false):
Hunroch, b.
before 20 June 840, living 1 July 874, d. 874×5?, duke of
Friuli, 865-874×5;
m. Ava, daughter of duke Liutfrid.
In 1899, Depoin conjectured that Heinrich
was the same person as Hunroch, duke of Friuli [Depoin (1899),
50-1; see the page of Hunroch's father Eberhard], but this identification is not possible, for Heinrich
was the brother of Poppo, duke of the Thuringians [see above],
and enough is known about Eberhard's children to be sure that
Poppo was not among them.
Conjectured daughter (doubtful):
Adallinde;
m. Eticho, count (Welf family).
The starting point of this conjecture is a
certain count Heinrich who appears in an act of Heinrich I dated
18 October 927, where the king refers to this count Heinrich as propinquus
noster ["... Heinricus divina favente clementa rex.
... quia nos interventu fidelis dilectique comitis ac propinqui
nostri Henrici ..." MGH DD H I, 51 (#14)]. Decker-Hauff
identifies this propinquus with the count Heinrich who
appears in eight other acts of Konrad I and Heinrich I during the
period 912-34 [MGH DD K I, 10 (#9), 12 (#11), 16 (#17), 32 (#35),
33 (#36); H I, 40 (#2), 65 (#29), 70 (#36)], and with Heinrich
"mit dem goldenen Wagen", of the German
"Welf" family, son of Eticho ["Eticho genuit
filium Heinricum ..." Genealogia Welforum, c.
1, MGH SS 13: 733; Historia Welforum Weingartensis, c.
4, MGH SS 21: 459]. Decker-Hauff then concluded based on the
appearance of the name Heinrich that Eticho had married a
daughter of Heinrich of Neustria [Decker-Hauff (1955), 315-321,
337]. The supposed daughter was supplied with the name Adallind
based on the identification of Eticho with a certain Ato who had
a wife named Adallinde [Decker-Hauff (1955), 322ff.]. In a severe
criticism of Decker-Hauff's article, Tellenbach pointed out that
there was probably more than one count Heinrich appearing in the
above records, and rejected the identification of Eticho with Ato
[Tellenbach (1956), 184ff.].
Conjectured son (evidence
unknown):
Berengar.
Decker-Hauff conjectures another son
Berengar for Heinrich [Decker-Hauff (1955), 301, with evidence
supposedly to be given in a future work]. Given Decker-Hauff's
generally unconvincing arguments in this article, it seems best
to doubt the information.
Althoff (1984) = Gerd Althoff, Adels- und Königsfamilien im Spiegel ihrer Memorialüberlieferung (Munich, 1984).
Ann. Fuld. = Friedrich Kurze, ed., Annales Fuldenses (MGH SRG 7, Hannover, 1891).
Calend. Merseb. = Ludwig Hesse, "Calendrium Merseburgense", Zeitschrift für Archivkunde, Diplomatik und Geschichte 1 (1834): 101-150.
Codex Fuld. = Ernst Friedrich Johann Dronke, ed., Codex diplomaticus Fuldensis (Cassel, 1850).
Decker-Hauff (1955) = Hansmartin Decker-Hauff, "Die Ottonen und Schwaben", Zeitschrift für Württemburgische Landesgeschichte 14 (1955), 233-371.
Depoin (1899) = Joseph Depoin, "Le duc Ébrard de Frioul et les trois comtes Matfrid", Annales de la société archéologique de Bruxelles 13, 1 (1899): 5-20.
Dümmler (1887-8) = Ernst Dümmler, Geschichte des Ostfränkischen Reiches, 3 vols. (2nd. ed., Leipzig, 1887-8).
Fontes rerum Germ. = Johann Friedrich Boehmer, Fontes rerum Germanicarum, 4 vols. (Stuttgart & Tübingen, 1843-68).
Geldner (1971) = Ferdinand Geldner, Neue Beiträge zur Geschichte der "Alten Babenberger" (Meisenbach, 1971).
Hlawitschka (1974) = Eduard Hlawitschka, "Zur Herkunft der Liudolfinger und zu einigen Corveyer Geschichtsquellen", Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 38 (1974): 92-165.
Hlawitschka (2006) = Eduard Hlawitschka, Die Ahnen de hochmittelalterlichen deutschen Könige, Kaiser und ihrer Gemahlinnen. Ein kommentiertes Tafelwerk. Band I: 911-1137, 2 vols. (MGH Hilfsmittel, 25, Hannover, 2006).
MGH DD = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata series.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Parisot (1898) = Robert Parisot, Le Royaume de Lorraine sous les Carolingiens (1898, reprinted Geneva, 1975).
Regino, Chronicon = Friedrich Kurze, ed., Reginonis abbatis Prumiensis Chronicon cum continuatione Treverensi (MGH SRG, Hannover, 1890).
Stein (1884) = F. Stein, "Ostfranken im zehnten Jahrhundert", Forschungen zur Deutschen Geschichte 24 (1884): 123-152.
Tellenbach (1956) = Gerd Tellenbach, "Kritische Studien zur großfränkischen und alemanniscen Adelsgeschichte", Zeitschrift für Württemburgische Landesgeschichte 15 (1956), 169-190.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 3 April 2011.