Henry III, a member of the Welf …

Years: 1147 - 1147

Henry III, a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, is the son of Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of Duke Henry the Black and an heiress of the Billungs, former dukes of Saxony.

Henry's mother is Gertrud, only daughter of Emperor Lothair III and his wife Richenza of Northeim, heiress of the Saxon territories of Northeim and the properties of the Brunones, counts of Braunschweig.

Henry's father had died in 1139, aged thirty-two, when Henry was still a child.

King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud, who had been his rival for the German crown in 1138, of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and Bavaria to Leopold of Austria.

Henry, however, had not relinquished his claims to his inheritance, and Conrad had returned Saxony to him in 1142.

Having reached his majority in 1146, Henry in 1147 marries Clementia of Zähringen, thereby gaining her hereditary territories in Swabia.

Upon the refusal of Conrad III to grant his demand of the Duchy of Bavaria, Henry initiates a war with the emperor, who is absent in Palestine with France’s Louis VII.

As Henry the Lion, he is to become one of the most powerful German princes of his time.

Related Events

Filter results