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Birth:          21 Sep 1051 of Maurienne, Savoy
Death:          27 Dec 1087 
Burial:         Speyer Cathedral

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_of_Savoy
Bertha of Savoy (21 September 1051 – 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[edit]

Bertha of Savoy was a daughter of Count Otto I of Savoy (also called Eudes or Odo; 
c.?1023 – c.?1057/1060) and his wife Adelaide of Susa (c.?1014/1020 – 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. Her maternal grandparents were Margrave 
Ulric Manfred II of Turin and Bertha of Milan.

Marriage[edit]

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]

Attempted repudiation[edit]

Despite the insults and humiliations to which she was subjected by her husband, 
Bertha remained true to him. Nevertheless in 1069, Henry attempted to repudiate her. 
At an assembly at Worms, he "explained publicly (before the princes), that his 
relationship with his wife was not good; for a long time he had deceived others, but 
now he did not want to do so any longer. He could not accuse her of anything that 
justified a divorce, but he was not capable of carrying out conjugal relations with her 
any longer. He asked them for the sake of God to remove him from the bonds of a 
marriage closed under bad signs ... so that the way to a luckier marriage might be 
opened. And nobody knowing any objection to raise, and his wife being an obstacle to 
a second marriage ceremony, he then swore that she was as he received her, 
unstained and her virginity intact."[4]

The German episcopacy dared not submit to the king's demands, and no conclusion 
was reached at the Worms assembly. Instead, the German bishops called on Pope 
Alexander II for assistance and a synod was convened at Frankfurt for later in the 
year. During this time, Bertha retired to Lorsch Abbey. The papal legate Peter Damian 
presided at the Frankfurt synod; he opposed Henry's repudiation of Bertha on the 
grounds of canon law, but many of the German princes were more concerned about 
the response of Bertha's mother Adelaide.[5] Henry IV reluctantly reconciled with his 
consort. Their first daughter was born in the following year (1070). On 12 February 
1074 their son Conrad was born at Hersfeld Abbey, where Bertha stayed while Henry 
was fighting against the Saxon Rebellion,[6] and was baptised in the abbey three days 
later.[7] After Henry's victory against the Saxons, he arranged for an Imperial Diet at 
Goslar on Christmas Day 1075 to swear an oath recognising Conrad as his successor.
[8]

Canossa[edit]

During the fierce Investiture Controversy, Bertha's husband was excommunicated by 
Pope Gregory VII at the Lenten synod in Rome in 1076. In October, the German 
princes took the occasion and swore an oath at Trebur that they would no longer 
recognise Henry as king unless this excommunication was lifted. Henry thus had to 
cross the Alps and travel to Italy in order to meet with Gregory during the winter of 
1076/77.

Bertha and their young son, Conrad, accompanied Henry on his dangerous journey. 
While the South German princes supporting his rival Rudolf of Rheinfelden blocked his 
path, Henry hoped to travel through one of the Alpine passes controlled by his 
mother-in-law, but Adelaide extracted a high price before allowing him to do this.[9] 
Adelaide then accompanied Henry and Bertha on the long and dangerous Walk to 
Canossa, where from 25 January 1077, Henry and Bertha underwent penance barefoot 
for three days outside in the cold and begged Gregory VII's forgiveness. Adelaide was 
among those who acted an oath-helper to secure Henry’s absolution from 
excommunication.[10]

After the forces of Henry IV had besieged and occupied Rome, he and Bertha were 
crowned emperor and empress on 31 March 1084 by Antipope Clement III.[11]

Death[edit]

Bertha was thirty-six years old when she died in Mainz on 27 December 1087. She was 
buried in the Salian crypt at Speyer Cathedral.[12] In 1089 Emperor Henry married 
Princess Eupraxia of Kiev but the marriage failed in 1095.

Children[edit]

From her marriage with Henry, Bertha eventually had five children, two of whom died 
while still young:[13]
Adelheid (1070 – bef. 4 June 1079).[14]
Henry (1/2 August 1071 – 2 August 1071).
Agnes (summer 1072/early 1073 – 24 September 1143), married firstly Frederick I, 
Duke of Swabia (the first ruler of the Hohenstaufen dynasty) and secondly Leopold III, 
Margrave of Austria, a member of the House of Babenberg.
Conrad (12 February 1074 – 27 July 1101), later Roman-German King and King of Italy.
Henry V (11 August 1081/86 – 23 May 1125), later Roman-German King and Holy 
Roman Emperor.

Parents
OF SAVOY Otto (Odo) (Eudes) I (ABT 1020 - 19 Jan 1058)
VON SUSA Adelaide (ABT 1015 - 19 Dec 1091)

Siblings
____ Amadeus (Amadeo) II (ABT 1046 - 26 Jan 1080)
OF MAURIENNE Adelaide (ABT 1047 - 1079)
OF MAURIENNE (OF LORRAINE) Bertha (21 Sep 1051 - 27 Dec 1087)

Marriage To OF FRANCONIA Henry (Heinrich) IV (11 Nov 1050 - 7 Aug 1106)
    m. 13 Jul 1066 

Notes

Parents
____ Henry (Heinrich) III "the Black" (28 Oct 1017 - 5 Oct 1056)
DE POITOU Agnes (ABT 1025 - 14 Dec 1077)

Children by OF FRANCONIA Henry (Heinrich) IV 11 Nov 1050 - 7 Aug 1106
OF FRANCONIA Agnes (ABT 1073 - 24 Sep 1143)

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