Hatheburg of Merseburg

Hatheburg (also Hatheburch) (* 876 in Merseburg; † on 21 June after 909) was the first wife of Henry the Fowler, later king of East Francia (Germany). After their marriage was dissolved, Hatheburg became abbess of a convent.

Hatheburg of Merseburg
Born876
Diedafter 909
Spouse(s)Henry the Fowler
Issue
FatherErwin of Merseburg

Family

Hatheburg was the daughter of Erwin of Mersburg, who possessed property in Hassegau and Friesenfeld. The name of Hatheburg's mother is Wendilgarde and her mother's sister, Hildegard, was married to Thietmar, Count of Merseburg, who was Henry the Fowler's military tutor (vir disciplinae militaris peritissmus). Erwin had no sons and Hatheburg and her sister were the heirs to his property.

Life

Hatheburg was married around 890, for the first time, to a man whose name is not known. She was widowed shortly afterwards, and entered a monastery where she took the veil.

According to the chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, "burning with youthful love", Henry wanted to marry Hatheburg because of "her beauty and the usefulness of her inherited wealth".[1] Hatheburg and Henry married in 906, and Henry gained control of Hathburg's inheritance.[2] Because Hatheburg had taken the veil, and the couple married without dispensation, their marriage was condemned by Bishop Sigismund of Halberstadt.[3] The couple were threatened with excommunication at a church synod. According to Thietmar, Henry was "disturbed by such talk" and decided to approach the emperor, Conrad I of Germany for help.[4] Conrad ensured that the sentence of excommunication was deferred, and the couple remained married. Yet by 909, Henry began to burn "for the beauty and wealth" of another woman: Matilda of Ringelheim.[5] Henry declared his marriage to Hatheburg was illegal, and the couple separated. Hatheburg returned to the convent, where she became abbess, and Henry married Matilda.[6]

Children

Probably in 906 Hatheburg gave birth to Henry's son, Thankmar.[7] Because the validity of Hatheburg and Henry's marriage was questioned, so was Thankmar's legitimacy.

Notes
  1. Warner, The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, I, ch. 5, p. 70.
  3. Waitz, Heinrich I., p. 316.
  4. Warner, The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, I, ch. 6, 71.
  5. Warner, The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, I, ch. 9, p. 74.
  7. Warner, The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, I, ch. 9, 74.
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References
  • Gerd Althoff: Adels- und Königsfamilien im Spiegel ihrer Memorialüberlieferung. Studien zum Totengedenken der Billunger und Ottonen. Wilhelm Fink, München 1984, S. 350
  • Gerd Althoff: Die Ottonen. Königsherrschaft ohne Staat. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln 2000.
  • Mechthild Black-Veldtrup: Kaiserin Agnes (1043-1077). Quellenkritische Studien. Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 1995, S. 160–162.
  • Ernst Ludwig Dümmler|Ernst Dümmler: Geschichte des Ostfränkischen Reiches. Duncker und Humblot, Berlin 1865.
  • Winfrid Glocker: Die Verwandten der Ottonen und ihre Bedeutung in der Politik. Böhlau, Köln/Wien 1989.
  • Hagen Keller: Die Ottonen.C. H. Beck, München 2001, S. 24–26.
  • Georg Waitz: Jahrbücher des Deutschen Reiches unter König Heinrich I. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1963, S. 15. 208.
  • D.A. Warner, ed. and trans., Ottonian Germany. The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg (Manchester, 2001).
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