Henry III, Duke of Brabant

Henry III of Brabant (c. 1230 – February 28, 1261, Leuven) was Duke of Brabant between 1248 and his death. He was the son of Henry II of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen.

The disputed territory of Lothier, the former Duchy of Lower Lorraine, was assigned to him by the German King Alfonso X of Castile. Alfonso also appointed him Imperial Vicar to advance his claims on the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1251, he married Adelaide of Burgundy (c. 1233 – October 23, 1273), daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy and Yolande de Dreux, by whom he had four children:

Henry III

Henry III may refer to:

Henry III, Margrave of Meissen

Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious (Heinrich der Erlauchte) (c. 1215 – 15 February 1288) from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia (as Henry IV) from 1221 until his death; from 1242 also Landgrave of Thuringia.

Life

Born probably at the Albrechtsburg residence in Meissen, Henry was the youngest son of Margrave Theodoric I of Meissen and his wife Jutta, daughter of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia. In 1221 he succeeded his father as Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia, at first under guardianship of his maternal uncle, Landgrave Louis IV of Thuringia, and after his death in 1227, under that of Duke Albert I of Saxony. In 1230 he was legally proclaimed an adult.

Henry experienced his first armed combat at Balga during the 1237 Prussian Crusade led by the Teutonic Knights. In 1245 after many years of conflict with the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, he was forced to cede the fortresses of Köpenick, Teltow and Mittenwalde north of Lower Lusatia. In 1249 however, the Silesian duke Bolesław II the Bald granted him the eastern area around Schiedlo Castle at the Oder river, where Henry founded the town of Fürstenberg.

Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry III (28 October 1017 – 5 October 1056), called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. He was the eldest son of Conrad II of Germany and Gisela of Swabia. His father made him duke of Bavaria (as Henry VI) in 1026, after the death of Duke Henry V.

On Easter Day 1028, after his father was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Henry was elected and crowned King of Germany in the cathedral of Aachen by Pilgrim, Archbishop of Cologne.

After the death of Herman IV, Duke of Swabia in 1038, his father gave him that duchy, as well as the kingdom of Burgundy, which Conrad had inherited in 1033. Upon the death of his father on 4 June 1039, he became sole ruler of the kingdom and was crowned emperor by Pope Clement II in Rome (1046).

Early life and reign

Henry's first tutor was Bruno, Bishop of Augsburg. On Bruno's death in 1029, Egilbert, Bishop of Freising, was appointed to take his place. In 1033, at the age of sixteen, Henry came of age and Egilbert was compensated for his services. In 1035, Adalbero, Duke of Carinthia, was deposed by Conrad, but Egilbert convinced Henry to refuse this injustice and the princes of Germany, having legally elected Henry, would not recognise the deposition unless their king did also. Henry, in accordance with his promise to Egilbert, did not consent to his father's act and Conrad, stupefied, fell unconscious after many attempts to turn Henry. Upon recovering, Conrad knelt before his son and exacted the desired consent. Egilbert was penalised dearly by the emperor.

Duke of Brabant

The Duke of Brabant was the formally ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was Duke of Lower Lotharingia at that time). The Duchy of Brabant was a feudal elevation of the since 1085/1086 existing title of Landgrave of Brabant. This was an Imperial fief which was assigned to Count Henry III of Leuven shortly after the death of the preceding Count of Brabant, Count Palatine Herman II of Lotharingia (born 20 September 1085). Although the corresponding county was quite small (limited to the territory between the rivers Senne and Dender) its name was applied to the entire country under control of the Dukes from the 13th century on. In 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became Duke of Lotharingia. Formerly Lower Lotharingia, this title was now practically without territorial authority, but was borne by the later Dukes of Brabant as an honorific title.