Agnes of Germany

Stained-glass painting of Agnes, c. 1290, in the well-house of Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Spouse(s)	Frederick I, Duke of Swabia Leopold III of Austria
Noble family	Salian dynasty
Father	Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Bertha of Savoy
Born	1072
Died	24 September 1143(1143-09-24) Klosterneuburg

Agnes of Germany (1072 – September 24, 1143) was an Austrian margravine consort.

Family

She was the daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Bertha of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Otto, Count of Savoy and Adelaide of Susa.

Agnes married firstly, in 1089, Frederick I, Duke of Swabia. They had several children:

• Heilica (1088–1110)
• Bertha (1089–1120)
• Frederick II of Swabia
• Hildegard
• Conrad III of Germany
• Gisela
• Henry (1096–1105)
• Beatrix (1098–1130)
• Kunigunde (1100–1120/1126), wife of Henry of Bavaria (1100–1139)
• Richilde
• Gertrude

Following Frederick's death in 1105, Agnes married Leopold III (born 1073; died 15 Nov. 1136), the Margrave of Austria (1095 till 1136). According to a legend, a veil lost by Agnes and found by Leopold years later while hunting instigated him to found the monastery of Klosterneuburg.

Their children were:

• Leopold IV
• Henry II of Austria
• Berta, who had issue
• Agnes, "one of the most famous beauties of her time"
• Ernst
• Uta, wife of Liutpold von Plain
• Otto of Freising, bishop and biographer
• Conrad, Bishop of Passau, and Archbishop of Salzburg
• Elizabeth
• Judith, m. c. 1133 William V of Montferrat. Their children formed an important Crusading dynasty.
• Gertrude

According to the Continuation of the Chronicles of Klosterneuburg, there may have been up to seven others (possibly from multiple births) stillborn or died in infancy.

In 1125, Agnes' brother, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, deceased childless, leaving Agnes and her children as heirs of the Salian dynasty's immense allodial estates, including Waiblingen.

In 1127, Agnes' eldest surviving son, Konrad III, was elected by opposition as rival king of Germany against Saxon party's Lothar III. When Lothar died in 1137, Konrad won the position.

Sources and Further Reading

• Karl Lechner, Die Babenberger, 1992.
• Brigitte Vacha & Walter Pohl, Die Welt der Babenberger: Schleier, Kreuz und Schwert, Graz, 1995.
• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 45-24