Bertha, Duchess of Lorraine

Bertha of Lorraine (or Bertha of Swabia) (b.c. 1123/30 – d. 1194/5) was a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. She was the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and, through marriage to Matthias I duke of Lorraine, she was duchess of Lorraine (c.1138-1176).

Family

Bertha (sometimes called Judith) was the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and Judith of Bavaria (1103- 22 February 1131), daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria.[1] Through her father, Bertha was a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty: her paternal uncle was king Conrad III and her brother was the future emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Bertha married Matthias of Lorraine c.1138.[2] Bertha frequently issued charters alongside her husband.[3] She used at least two different types of seal to authenticate her documents, on which she was riding astride on horseback, which was a highly unusual image for a medieval noblewoman to use.[4] After the death of Matthias in 1176, Bertha issued documents with her son, Simon, who succeeded his father as duke of Lorraine.[5]

Marriage and issue

With Matthias I, Bertha had several children, including:[6]

  • Simon (died 1205), his successor in Lorraine
  • Frederick (died 1206), count of Bitche and his nephew's successor
  • Judith (died 1173), married Stephen II, count of Auxonne (1170)
  • Alice (died 1200), married Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy
  • Theoderic (died 1181), bishop of Metz (1174–1179)
  • Matthias (died 1208), count of Toul
  • Unnamed daughter who died young
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References
  1. Brooke, Europe in the Central Middle Ages, p. 438.
  2. Jasperse, ‘Manly Minds,’ p. 311.
  3. Jasperse, 'To Have and to Hold'.
  4. Jasperse, ‘Manly minds,’ pp. 311-5.
  5. Jasperse, 'To Have and to Hold,'pp. 94-5.
  6. Poull, La maison ducale de Lorraine, pp. 37-39.

Sources
  • C. Brooke, Europe in the Central Middle Ages (Routledge, 2014).
  • J. Jasperse, ‘To Have and to Hold: Coins and Seals as Evidence for Motherly Authority,' In C. Fleiner and E. Woodacre, (eds): Royal Mothers and Their Ruling Children. Wielding Political Authority from Antiquity to the Early Modern Era (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 83-104.
  • J. Jasperse, ‘Manly Minds in Female Bodies: Three Women and their Power through Coins and Seals’, Arenal: Revista de historia de las mujeres 25:2 (2018), 295-321.
  • G. Poull, La maison ducale de Lorraine devenue la maison impériale et royale d’Autriche, de Hongrie et de Bohême (Nancy, Presses universitaires de Nancy, 1991).
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