Gregory Brown
513 Agnes Arnold Hall
Department of Philosophy
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3004

Welf IV.
(d. ca. 1101)

Duke of Bavaria (as Welf I., 1070)
Count of Altorf (Weingarten)
Founder of the "Younger House of Welf"

Immediately after the death of his mother Kunigunde (Cuniza) around 1055, Welf IV. secured for himself the Welf freehold in Swabia.  In doing so he vetoed the donation of the property that Welf III. (d. 1055) had made to the monastery of Altorf (Weingarten) and proclaimed himself the indisputable heir. Thus he founded the "Younger House of Welf."  After the Welfs were restored in Swabia, Welf IV. laid claim to the Italian inheritance of his father Azzo II. of Este. But Welf IV. could not hold out against his Italian half brother from the second marriage of Azzo II.  As an ancestor of the House of Este, Fulco I. inherited all of the Italian properties of his deceased father Azzo II.

Welf IV. orchestrated a planned politics of marriage.  His first marriage was to Ethlinde of Nordheim, who was the daughter of duke Otto II. of Bavaria (d. 1083).  After his father-in-law Otto of Bavaria was involved in an act of high treason, Welf IV. married Judith of Flanders.  By doing so Welf IV. demonstrated his loyalty to the throne, which eventually brought him, as duke Welf I., the ducal dignity in Bavaria in 1070. He abandoned his alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich IV. (1050-1106) to become an important supporter of the papal party in Italy.  His 17-year-old son, Welf V. (1073-1120) (later Welf II. of Bavaria), married the 43-year-old countess Matilda of Tuscany in 1089.  The marriage ended in separation, and Welf I. of Bavaria appealed to Heinrich IV. for help against Matilda.  Whereupon Heinrich attacked Matilda's castle in Nogara, south of Verona, but abandoned the siege when Matilda's army counterattacked.  The Este family tried to claim, in Welf V.'s name, Matilda's land after her death but were unsuccessful.  When Duke Welf I. of Bavaria died in 1101, Welf V. (1073-1120) inherited the duchy of Bavaria to become Welf II. of Bavaria.

--Adapted from the website, Die Welfen

Sources

  • The Encyclopedia Britannica CD 99.
  • Schneidmüller, Bernd.  In the catalog for the exhibition: "Heinrich der Löwe," Brunswick 1995.

Web