Bertha of Savoy Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire 1
- Born: 21 Sep 1051
- Marriage (1): Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor on 25 Dec 1055 in Zürich, Switzerland
- Died: 27 Dec 1087, Mainz, Rhenish Franconia, Germany at age 36
General Notes:
Bertha of Savoy (21 September 1051 \endash 27 December 1087), also called Bertha of Turin, a member of the Burgundian House of Savoy, was Queen consort of Germany from 1066 and Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire from 1084 until 1087 as the first wife of the Salian emperor Henry IV.
Life
Bertha of Savoy was a daughter of Count Otto I of Savoy (also called Eudes or Odo; c.?1023 \endash c.?1057/1060) and his wife Adelaide of Susa (c.?1014/1020 \endash 1091) from the Arduinici noble family. She thereby was the sister of Count Peter I of Savoy (d. 1078), Count Amadeus II of Savoy (d. 1080), and Adelaide (d. 1079), consort of the German anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden.
Marriage
Still during the lifetime of Emperor Henry III, Bertha at the age of four was betrothed to Henry III's son, Henry IV (aged five) on 25 December 1055 in Zürich.[1] Bertha was raised in Germany thereafter. When she was fifteen, Bertha was crowned queen in Würzburg in June 1066 and married Henry on 13 July 1066 at the Königspfalz of Trebur.[2]
Although they had grown up together and Bertha was apparently a pretty young woman, the Saxon chronicler Bruno of Merseburg, an avowed opponent of Henry IV, reported on Henry's continual unfaithfulness: "He had two or three concubines at the same time, in addition [to his wife], yet he was not content. If he heard that someone had a young and pretty daughter or wife, he instructed that she be supplied to him by force. (...) His beautiful and noble wife Bertha (...) was in such a manner hated by him that he never saw her after the wedding any more than necessary, since he had not celebrated the wedding out of free will."[3]
Bertha married Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, son of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (1046-1056) and King of Germany (1028-1056) and Agnes of Poitou and Aquitaine Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire, on 25 Dec 1055 in Zürich, Switzerland. (Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor was born on 11 Nov 1050 in Imperial Palace of Goslar, Saxony and died on 7 Aug 1106 in Liège, Lower Lorraine, Belgium.)
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