Agnes of Germany was the daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...

 and Bertha of Savoy

Bertha of Savoy

Bertha of Savoy , also called Bertha of Turin, was the first wife of Emperor Henry IV, and was German Queen and Holy Roman Empress. She is buried in the cathedral of Speyer.-Life:...

. Her maternal grandparents were Otto, Count of Savoy, Aosta and Moriana

Otto of Savoy

Otto was Count of Savoy from 1051 until his death. He was son of Humbert I, the first Count of Savoy, and his wife Ancilla, and ascended the throne after the death of his elder brother, Amadeus I of Savoy.Otto substantially enlarged his lands through his marriage with Adelaide of Susa,...

 and Adelaide, Marchioness of Turin and Susa.

Agnes married firstly, in 1089, Frederick I, Duke of Swabia

Frederick I, Duke of Swabia

Frederick I von Staufen was Duke of Swabia from 1079 to his death. He was the first ruler of Swabia from the House of Hohenstaufen, and was the builder of dynasty's ancestral Hohenstaufen Castle near Göppingen.-Parents:...

. They had several children:

• Heilica (1088–1110), wife of Friedrich von Lengenfeld (died 1119)
• Bertha (1089–1120), wife of Adalbert von Elchingen, Count von Ravenstein (1075–1120)
• Frederick II of Swabia
• Hildegard
• Conrad III of Germany
  Conrad III of Germany
  Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
  
  
• Gisela
• Henry (1096–1105)
• Beatrix (1098–1130)
• Kunigunde (1100–1120/1126), wife of Henry of Bavaria (1100–1139)
• Richilde wife of Hugh de Roucy
• Gertrude wife of Hermann von Stahleck

Following Frederick's death in 1105, Agnes married Leopold III (born 1073; died 15 Nov. 1136) the Margrave of Austria (1095 till 1136). Leopold was the son of Margrave Leopold II

Leopold II, Margrave of Austria

Leopold II was a Babenberg Margrave of Austria ruling from 1075 onwards. He was known as Leopold the 'fair'. He was the son of Ernest the Brave and Adelheid, the daughter of Margrave Dedi II of Meissen...

 and Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

Ida of Austria , daughter of Rapoto IV of Cham, also known as Itha, was the wife of Leopold II of Austria, and the mother of Leopold III. She was known as one of the great beauties of her day....

. According to legend, a veil lost by Agnes and found by Leopold years later while hunting instigated him to found the monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 of Klosterneuburg

Klosterneuburg

Klosterneuburg is an attractive small town in Lower Austria, Austria with a population of 24,442.It is located on the Danube, immediately north of Vienna, from which it is separated by the Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg hills...

.

Their children were:

• Leopold IV
  Leopold IV, Duke of Bavaria
  Leopold IV, the Generous was Margrave of Austria from 1137 and Duke of Bavaria from 1139 until his death....
  
  
• Henry II Jasomirgott.
• Berta (d.9 Apr 1150), bur St Emmeran), m. Henry III, Burggraf of Regensburg
  Regensburg
  Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
  
   (d.27 Nov [1174], bur St Emmeran), and had issue.
• Agnes
  Agnes of Babenberg
  Agnes of Babenberg , was a German noblewoman, a scion of the Franconian House of Babenberg and by marriage High Duchess of Poland and Duchess of Silesia....
  
  , m. 1125 Władysław II the Exile, High Duke of Poland. Agnes is said to have been "one of the most famous beauties of her time".
• Ernst.
• Uta (died 1154), wife of Liutpold von Plain.
• Otto of Freising
  Otto of Freising
  Otto von Freising was a German bishop and chronicler.-Life:He was the fifth son of Leopold III, margrave of Austria, by his wife Agnes, daughter of the emperor Henry IV...
  
  , bishop and biographer of his nephew Frederick I "Barbarossa".
• Conrad, Bishop of Passau
  Bishop of Passau
  The Diocese of Passau is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Germany. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of München und Freising. The diocese covers an area of 5,442 km². The current bishop is Wilhelm Schraml.-History:...
  
  , and Archbishop of Salzburg
  Archbishopric of Salzburg
  The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
  
  .
• Elizabeth, m. Hermann II of Winzenburg.
• Judith
  Judith of Babenberg
  Judith of Babenberg , , was a daughter of Agnes of Germany and her second husband Leopold III of Austria. The chronicler Otto of Freising was one of her older brothers; Conrad III of Germany her half-brother. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was her nephew.She married c...
  
  , m. c. 1133 William V of Montferrat. Their children formed an important Crusading dynasty.
• Gertrude
  Gertrude of Babenberg (d. 1150)
  Gertrude of Babenberg was the first wife of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and the Duchess of Bohemia. She was the daughter of count Leopold III, Margrave of Austria and his wife Agnes of Germany....
  
  , m. King Vladislaus II of Bohemia.

According to the Continuation of the Chronicles of Klosterneuburg, there may have been up to seven others (possibly from multiple births) stillborn or died in infancy.

In 1125, Agnes' brother, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

, deceased childless, leaving Agnes and her children as heirs of the Salian dynasty's immense allodial estates, including Waiblingen

Waiblingen

Waiblingen is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart Region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital of the Rems-Murr district...

.

In 1127, Agnes' eldest surviving son, Konrad III, was elected by opposition as rival king of Germany against Saxon party's Lothar III. When Lothar died in 1137, Konrad won the position.

Sources and Further Reading

• Karl Lechner, Die Babenberger, 1992.
• Brigitte Vacha & Walter Pohl, Die Welt der Babenberger: Schleier, Kreuz und Schwert, Graz, 1995.
• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 45-24