Bertha of Rheinfelden

Bertha of Rheinfelden (also Bertha of Bregenz) (born c. 1065; d. after 1128), countess of Kellmünz, was the daughter of Rudolf of Rheinfelden and wife of Ulrich X of Bregenz.

Bertha of Rheinfelden
Bornc. 1065
Diedc. 1133
Noble familyRheinfelden
Spouse(s)Ulrich X of Bregenz
Issue
FatherRudolf of Rheinfelden
MotherAdelaide of Savoy

Life

Bertha was the daughter of Rudolf of Rheinfelden and Adelaide of Savoy (daughter of Adelaide of Turin).[1] Her sister, Adelaide of Rheinfelden, was married to Ladislaus I of Hungary. Bertha’s husband was Ulrich X, count of Bregenz (d. 1097).[2] According to the Chronicle of Petershausen, Ulrich was betrothed to a daughter of Count Werner of Habsburg, but secretly arranged to marry Bertha instead.[3]

Bertha inherited property in the Schluchsee region. She possessed three (of the seven) secular benefices of the monastery of Marchtal.[4] (This property, which originally belonged to Herman II of Swabia, probably came into the possession of Bertha’s father, Rudolf, through his first marriage to Matilda of Germany, daughter of Emperor Henry III and Empress Agnes.[5]) Bertha also inherited the church of Sargans, which she donated to the monastery of Mehrerau, which she and her husband, Ulrich, re-founded, c.1097.[6] In addition to Mehrerau, Bertha was also a patron (benefactrix) of the monastery of Isny.[7] Through her husband, Ulrich, Bertha was also associated with the monastery of Petershausen. After her Ulrich’s death in a hunting accident in 1097, Bertha and her sons (Rudolf and Ulrich XI) restored property in Bigenhausen to Petershausen for the sake of her husband's soul.[8] And around 1122 Bertha interceded on behalf of lay brothers from Petershausen who had violently attacked the monastery’s cellarer. Bertha’s intervention ensured that they were received back into the monastery.[9]

After Ulrich X’s death, his dynasty (the house of Bregenz) came into conflict with the Welf and Kirchberg dynasties over property in Linzgau, Alpgau and Upper Raetia. According to one account, Bertha ‘fought manfully’ (virilter pugnavit) at the Battle of Jedesheim (January 1108 or 1109), at which the forces of Rudolf of Bregenz were defeated by Count Hartmann of Kirchberg.[10]

Bertha died sometime after 1128 and was buried at the abbey of Mehrerau.

Children

With Ulrich, Bertha had the following children:

Notes
  1. Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, III.26, p. 655 Archived 29 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine; Schwarzmaier, ‘Emerkingen,’ pp. 193f.
  2. Previté-Orton, Early History, p. 207.
  3. "Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, III.26, p. 655". Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. Historia monasterii Marchtelanensis, III.5, p. 665 Archived 29 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine; Hlawitschka, Untersuchungen, pp. 55f.
  5. Hlawitschka, Untersuchungen, pp.56f., 118.
  6. Necrologium Augiae Maioris, MGH Necr 1, p. 145 and n.3 Archived 29 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine; Hlawitschka, Untersuchungen, p. 106 n.93
  7. Necrologium Isnense, MGH Necr 1, p. 177 Archived 29 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine; Hlawitschka, Untersuchungen, p. 114, n.12
  8. Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, III.26, p. 656
  9. Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, IV.11, p. 663 Archived 2 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine; Beach, Monastic Reform, pp. 68f., 127f.
  10. Historia monasterii Marchtelanensis, MGH SS XXIX, III.5, 665; Berthold of Zwiefalten, Chronicon, ch. 41, p. 221.
  11. Casus Monasterii Petrishusensis, VI.20, p. 681.

References
  • Casus monasterii Petrishusensis, ed. O. Abel and L. Weiland, MGH SS XX (1869), pp. 624-683
  • Historia monasterii Marchtelanensis, MGH SS XXIX, pp. 660-683
  • Berthold of Zwiefalten, Chronicon, in L. Wallach, ‘Berthold of Zwiefalten's Chronicle,’ Traditio 13 (1957), pp. 187-233.
  • E. Hlawitschka, Untersuchungen zu den Thronwechseln der ersten Hälfte des 11. Jahrhunderts und zur Adelsgeschichte Süddeutschlands. Zugleich klärende Forschungen um “Kuno von Öhningen” (Sigmaringen, 1987), accessible online at:
  • H-M. Schwarzmaier, ‘Emerkingen. Entstehung und Formen einer Adelsherrschaft im Mittelalter,’ Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 25 (1966), 182-213.
  • A.I. Beach, The Trauma of Monastic Reform: Community and Conflict in Twelfth-Century Germany (Cambridge, 2017).
  • C.W. Previté-Orton, The Early History of the House of Savoy (1000-1233) (Cambridge, 1912), accessible online at: archive.org
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