Bertha of Sulzbach

Bertha of Sulzbach (1110s – August 29, 1159) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus.

Life

She was born in Sulzbach, a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December 1125) and his second spouse Adelheid of Wolfratshausen. He was one of the rulers who signed the Concordat of Worms (23 September 1122). In August, 1125, Berengar is mentioned in documents of Lothair III, King of the Romans. The death of Berengar is mentioned four months later.^[1]

Empress

Emissaries of the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus arrived in Germany, seeking an alliance against Roger II of Sicily. To seal the alliance, the emissaries requested that Conrad send a princess of his family to be married to the emperor's son, Manuel. Instead, Conrad selected his sister-in-law, Bertha, and sent her to Greece escorted by Emicho von Leiningen, the Bishop of Würzburg.

By the time Bertha arrived at the Imperial court in Constantinople, the emperor John was dead, and his son Manuel was now the reigning emperor. Manuel delayed marrying her for three years, until shortly after Epiphany 1146, at which point she became empress and was renamed "Irene" (Εἰρήνη), a common name for foreign-born princesses. As an introduction for her to the Hellenic culture she was marrying into, John Tzetzes wrote his Allegories on the Iliad.

Bertha-Irene was noted for shunning the frivolity of the luxurious Byzantine court; Basil of Ochrid, the archbishop of Thessalonica, praised her for her modesty and piety, and Nicetas Choniates (53sq.) noted that she did not wear face-paint. The patriarch of Constantinople, Cosmas II Atticus, who had been accused of heresy, allegedly cursed Bertha-Irene's womb in 1147 to prevent her bearing a son.

Bertha-Irene died in Constantinople in 1159. Her husband Manuel was described as "roaring like a lion" in grief at her death, despite his infidelities during her lifetime. He remarried, in 1161, to Maria of Antioch.

Issue

She and Manuel had two daughters:

Maria Comnena (1152–1182), who married Renier of Montferrat.
Anna Comnena (1154–1158).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Bertha of Sulzbach

16. Berengar I, Count of Sulzbach

8. Gebhard I, Count of Sulzbach

17. Adelheid

4. Gebhard II, Count of Sulzbach

18. Berengar, Count of Nordgau

9. unnamed

2. Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach

20. Poppo II von Rott

10. Kuno I. von Rott, Count Palatine of Bavaria

21. daughter of Kuno I, Count of Sualafeld

5. Irmgard von Rott

22. Frederick III, Count of Diessen

11. Uta von Dießen-Andechs

23. Irmgard von Gilching

1. Bertha of Sulzbach

24. Frederick II, Count of Diessen

12. Berthold I, Count of Diessen

6. Otto II, Count of Wolfratshausen

26. Konrad von Hohenwart

13. unnamed

3. Adelheid of Wolfratshausen

28. Adalbert, Margrave of Austria

14. Ernest, Margrave of Austria

29. Frozza Orseolo

7. Judith of Babenberg (hypothecal)

30. Dedi I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark

15. Matilda of Bethune

31. Oda of Ostmark

Sources

↑ Cawley, Charles, Profile of Berengar of Sulzbach, his wives and children, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy ,

Otto of Freising, Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa
Choniates, Nicetas, Historia, ed. J.-L. Van Dieten, 2 vols., Berlin and New York, 1975; trans. as O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates, by H.J. Magoulias, Detroit; Wayne State University Press, 1984.
Garland, Lynda. Byzantine Empresses, 1999
Garland, Lynda, & Stone, Andrew, "Bertha-Irene, first wife of Manuel I Comnenus", De Imperatoribus Romanis (external link)

Royal titles
Bertha of Sulzbach House of Babenberg Born: 1110s Died: 1159
Preceded by Piroska of Hungary	Byzantine Empress consort 1146–1159	Succeeded by Maria of Antioch

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[fmg.ac-1] Cawley, Charles, Profile of Berengar of Sulzbach, his wives and children, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy ,