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Clementia of Zähringen

Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony

Clementia of Zähringen
Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony Countess of Savoy
Tomb of Clementia of Zähringen
Died	1175
Spouse	Henry the Lion Umberto III, Count of Savoy
Issue	Henry of Saxony Gertrude, Queen of Denmark Richenza of Saxony Sophia, Lady of Ferrara Alicia of Savoy
House	House of Zähringen
Father	Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen
Mother	Clementia of Namur

Clementia of Zähringen (died 1175), was a daughter of Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen and his wife Clementia of Namur.^[1] By her first marriage, Clementia was Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony. By her second marriage she was Countess of Savoy.

Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria[edit]

Clementia was the youngest of six children, her family owned territory in Swabia. She was a great-granddaughter of Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg and his wife Clementia of Aquitaine, herself daughter of William VII, Duke of Aquitaine.

Clementia was firstly married in 1147 to Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony,^[2] he later inherited Bavaria. The marriage was arranged to confirm her father's alliance with the Welf party in Southern Germany.^[3] She was heiress of Badenweiler, although her husband sold these Swabian estates to Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1158, receiving in exchange Herzberg, Scharzfels and Pöhlde south of the Harz.^[4]

Clementia and Henry had three children:

• Henry, died young
• Gertrude (1155–1197), married first Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia, and then King Canute VI of Denmark
• Richenza (c. 1157 – 1167), died young

Henry repudiated Clementia because of the growing difficulties between her brother Duke Berthold IV and Emperor Frederick, the latter with whom Duke Henry was by then in close alliance with.^[5] Frederick did not cherish Guelphish possessions in his home area and offered Henry several fortresses in Saxony in exchange. The couple's marriage were declared null at Constance on 23 November 1162.

Countess of Savoy[edit]

Clementia remained unwed for two years before she married her second husband, Umberto III, Count of Savoy, she was his third wife.^[2] Umberto's first two marriages were not successful, his first wife died young; his second marriage ended in an annulment. Umberto gave up and became a Carthusian monk. However, the nobles and common people of Savoy begged him to marry yet again, which he reluctantly did to Clementia.

Clementia and Humbert had two daughters:

• Sophia (1165–1202), married Azzo VI of Este^[6]
• Alicia (1166–1178), betrothed to John of England^[7]

Clementia died in 1175, predeceasing both her husbands and three of her four daughters. After her death, Umberto attempted to return to the monastic life yet again but was forced to remarry a fourth and final time to Beatrice of Viennois who bore him the long-awaited son and heir, Thomas.^[6]

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Lyon, Jonathan R. (2013). Princely Brother and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100-1250. Cornell University Press.
• Previte-Orton, C.W. (1912). The Early History of the House of Savoy: 1000-1233. Cambridge University Press.