Richinza of Nordheim and Brunswick
Overview
Biography
Richinza (Richenza) was the daughter of Henry the Fat of Nordheim and Gertrud of Brunswick. Richinza’s brother, Otto, inherited his father’s lands, Richinza her mother’s, which she brought to her marriage with Lothar of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony, c.1100. They had one daughter, Gertrud, born 1115; Gertrud married Henry, Duke of Bavaria, whose power and support had been important in the rise of her father to the royal and imperial thrones. She brought the Nordheim and Brunonen lands to the Welf family. Their son, Henry the Lion, married Matilda of England, a daughter of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richinza was guardian of her grandson, Henry, after his father died (1139), and until she died in 1141.Lothar supported Henry V against his father, Henry IV, for which he was made Duke of Saxony in 1106, but he later revolted against Henry V and defeated him at Welfesholz in 1115, after which he had independent control in Saxony. Lothar was elected king after Henry V died in 1125, though he was not of the imperial family, and emperor in 1133, with the support of the church, but over objections of the Hohenstaufen, who did not make peace with him until 1135. Meanwhile, Lothar had made concessions to the papacy, including the Matildine lands, which he ceded and received as a fief from the pope with an annual rent. He was crowned by Innocent II in Italy in 1132 and died in 1137.