Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen

Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen
Berthold IV, relief by Franz Anton Xaver Hauser in the choir of Freiburg Minster
Spouse(s)	Heilwig of Frohburg Ida, Countess of Boulogne
Noble family	House of Zähringen
Father	Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen
Mother	Clementia of Luxembourg-Namur
Born	c. 1125
Died	8 December 1186

Territories in what is now Switzerland, c. 1200. The green parts were held by the Dukes of Zähringen

Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen (c. 1125 – 8 December 1186) was a Duke of Zähringen and Rector of Burgundy. He founded numerous cities, including Fribourg.

Life

Berthold IV succeeded his father, Conrad I, in 1152 as Duke of Zähringen. Berthold also claimed the title of "Duke of Burgundy", which he had agreed upon with Barbarossa to receive after conquering the Cisjuran ("French") territories of Burgundy together and also helping him out in his Italian campaign in 1152. However, the conquest of Burgundy failed and in 1156 the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa instead married Beatrice, the daughter of the last Count of Burgundy of the House of Ivrea.^[1] This interfered with Berthold's claims and Berthold was given the title of Rector of Burgundy and was made overlord over the Transjuran ("Swiss") parts of Burgundy, Geneva, Lausanne and Sion.

The rivalry with Duke Frederick IV of neighbouring Swabia caused him to fight on the side of Welf VI in the Feud of Tübingen (1164-1166). In 1173, he became overlord of Zurich.

An entry in the necrology of the Abbey of Saint Peter in the Black Forest reads Berchtoldus 4. dux de Zaeringen, offcium cum 5 candelis. Depositio Iohannis Tüfer abbatis: "Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen donated 5 candles for the memory of John the Baptist".^[2]

Marriages and issue

Berthold IV was married to Heilwig of Frohburg, with whom he had three children:

• Berthold V, the last Duke of Zähringen. After his death, the counts of Kyburg and Urach inherited the Zähringen possessions
• Agnes, married to Count Egino IV of Urach — According to the necrology of Tennenbach Abbey, she was the daughter of Berthold V^[3]
• Anna, married to Count Ulrich III of Kyburg

References

• Gerd Tellenbach (1955), "Berthold IV.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German) 2, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 160–161
• Georg von Wyß (1875), "Berthold IV., Herzog von Zähringen", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German) 2, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 538–541

Footnotes

1. E. Heyck: Geschichte der Herzöge von Zährigen, Freiburg 1891, pp. 329
2. Necrologium minus Monasterii S. Petri Nigrae Silvae, in: Monumenta Germaniae historica — Necrologia Germania, vol. I, p. 337
3. Necrologium Tennenbacense — Necrologia Germania, vol. I. p. 340