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HENRY (1129-1195)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 295 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HENRY (1129-1195) , surnamed the " See also:Lion," See also:duke of See also:Saxony and See also:Bavaria, only son of Henry the Proud, duke of Saxony and Bavaria, and Gertrude, daughter of the See also:emperor See also:Lothair the Saxon, was See also:born at See also:Ravensburg, and was a member of the See also:family of See also:Welf. In 1138 the See also:German See also:king See also:Conrad III. had sought to deprive Henry the Proud of his duchies, and when the duke died in the following See also:year the interests of his See also:young son were maintained in Saxony by his See also:mother, and his grandmother Richenza, widow of Lothair, and in Bavaria by his See also:uncle, See also:Count Welf VI. This struggle ended in May 1142 when Henry was invested as duke of Saxony at See also:Frankfort, and Bavaria was given to Henry II., Jasomirgott, See also:margrave of See also:Austria, who married his mother Gertrude. In 1147 he married Clementia, daughter of Conrad, duke of See also:Zahringen (d. 1152), and began to take an active See also:part in administering his dukedom and extending its See also:area. He engaged in a successful expedition against the Abotrites, or Obotrites, in 1147, and won a considerable See also:tract of See also:land beyond the See also:Elbe, in which were re-established the bishoprics of See also:Mecklenburg,' See also:Oldenburg 2 and Ratzeburg. Hartwig, See also:arch-See also:bishop of See also:Bremen, wished these See also:sees to be under his authority, but Henry contested this claim, and won the right to invest these bishops himself, a See also:privilege afterwards confirmed by the emperor See also:Frederick I. Henry, meanwhile, had not forgotten Bavaria. In 1147 he made a formal claim on this duchy, and in 1151 sought to take See also:possession, but failing to obtain the aid of his uncle Welf, did not effect his purpose. The situation was changed in his favour when Frederick I., who was anxious to count the duke among his supporters, succeeded Conrad as German king in See also:February 1152. Frederick was unable at first to persuade Henry Jasomirgott to abandon Bavaria, but in See also:June 11 J4 he recognized the claim of Henry the Lion, who accompanied him on his first See also:Italian See also:campaign and distinguished himself in suppressing a rising at See also:Rome, Henry's formal See also:investiture as duke of Bavaria taking See also:place in See also:September 1156 on the emperor's return to See also:Germany. Henry soon returned to Saxony, where he found full See also:scope for his untiring See also:energy.

Adolph II., count of See also:

Holstein, was compelled to cede See also:Lubeck to him in 1158; See also:campaigns in 1163 and 1164 See also:beat down further resistance of the Abotrites; and Saxon garrisons were established in the conquered lands. The duke was aided in this See also:work by the See also:alliance of Valdemar I., king of See also:Denmark, and, it is said, by engines of See also:war brought from See also:Italy. During these years he had also helped Frederick I. in his expedition of 1157 against the Poles, and in See also:July 1159 had gone to his assistance in Italy, where he remained for about two years. The vigorous See also:measures taken by Henry to increase his See also:power aroused considerable opposition. In 1166 a See also:coalition was formed against him aL See also:Merseburg under the leadership of See also:Albert the See also:Bear, margrave of See also:Brandenburg, and See also:Archbishop Hartwig. Neither See also:side met with much success in the desultory warfare that ensued, and Frederick made See also:peace between the combatants at See also:Wurzburg in June 1168. Having obtained a See also:divorce from his first wife in 1162, Henry was married at See also:Minden in February 1168 to See also:Matilda (1156-1189), daughter of Henry II., king of See also:England, and was soon afterwards sent by the emperor Frederick I. on an See also:embassy to the See also:kings of England and See also:France. A war with Valdemar of Denmark, caused by a See also:quarrel over the See also:booty obtained from ' The see was transferred to See also:Schwerin by Henry in 1167. 2 Transferred to Lubeck in 1163.the See also:conquest of See also:Rugen, engaged Henry's activity until June 1171, when, in pursuance of a treaty which restored peace, Henry's daughter, Gertrude, married the Danish See also:prince, Canute. Henry, whose position was now very strong, made a See also:pilgrimage to See also:Jerusalem in 1172, was received with See also:great respect by the eastern emperor See also:Manuel See also:Comnenus at See also:Constantinople, and returned to Saxony in 1173. A variety of reasons were leading to a rupture in the harmonious relations between Frederick and Henry, whose increasing power could not See also:escape the emperor's See also:notice, and who showed little inclination to See also:sacrifice his interests in Germany in See also:order to help the imperial cause in Italy. He was not pleased when he heard that his uncle, Well, had bequeathed his Italian and Swabian lands to the emperor, and the crisis came after Frederick's check before See also:Alessandria in 1175.

The emperor appealed personally to Henry for help in February, or See also:

March 1176, but Henry made no move in response, and his defection contributed in some measure to the emperor's defeat at See also:Legnano. The peace of See also:Venice provided for the restoration of Ulalrich to his see of See also:Halberstadt. Henry, however, refused to give up the lands which he had seized belonging to the bishopric, and this conduct provoked a war in which Ulalrich was soon joined by See also:Philip, archbishop of See also:Cologne. No attack on Henry appears to have been contemplated by Frederick to whom both parties carried their complaints, and a See also:day was fixed for the See also:settlement of the dispute at See also:Worms. But neither then, nor on two further occasions, did Henry appear to See also:answer the charges preferred against him; accordingly in See also:January 118o he was placed under the imperial See also:ban at Wurzburg, and was declared deprived of all his lands. Meanwhile the war with Ulalrich continued, but after his victory at Weissensee Henry's See also:allies began to fall away, and his cause to decline. When Frederick took the See also:field in June 1181 the struggle was soon over. Henry sought for peace, and the conditions were settled at See also:Erfurt in See also:November 1181, when he was granted the counties of See also:Luneburg and See also:Brunswick, but was banished under See also:oath not to return without the emperor's per-See also:mission. In July 1182 he went to his See also:father-in-See also:law's See also:court in See also:Normandy, and afterwards to England, returning to Germany with Frederick's permission in 1185. He was soon regarded once more as a menace to the peace of Germany, and of the three alternatives presented to him by the emperor in 1188 he rejected the See also:idea of. making a formal renunciation of his claim, or of participating in the crusade, and See also:chose See also:exile, going again to England in 1189. In See also:October of the same year, however, he returned to Saxony, excusing himself by asserting that his lands had not been defended according to the emperor's promise. He found many allies, took Lubeck, and soon almost the whole of Saxony was in his power.

King Henry VI. was obliged to take the field against him, after which the duke's cause declined, and in July 1190 a peace was arranged at See also:

Fulda, by which he retained Brunswick and Luneburg, received See also:half the revenues of Lubeck, and gave two of his sons as hostages. Still hoping to regain his former position, he took See also:advantage of a See also:league against Henry VI. in 1193 to engage in a further revolt; but the captivity of his See also:brother-in-law See also:Richard I., king of England, led to a reconciliation. Henry passed his later years mainly at his See also:castle of Brunswick, where he died on the 6th of See also:August 1195, and was buried in the See also:church of St See also:Blasius which he had founded in the See also:town. He had by his first wife a son and a daughter, and by his second wife five sons and a daughter. One of his sons was See also:Otto, afterwards the emperor Otto IV., and another twas Henry (d. 1227) count See also:palatine of the See also:Rhine. Henry was a See also:man of great ambition, and won his surname of " Lion " by his See also:personal bravery. His See also:influence on the fortunes of Saxony and See also:northern Germany was very considerable. He planted Flemish and Dutch settlers in the land between the Elbe and the See also:Oder, fostered the growth and See also:trade of Lubeck, and in other ways encouraged trade and See also:agriculture. He sought to spread See also:Christianity by introducing the See also:Cistercians, See also:founding bishoprics, and See also:building churches and monasteries. In 1874 a See also:colossal statue was erected to his memory at Brunswick. The authorities for the See also:life of Henry the Lion are those dealing a ith the reign of the emperor Frederick I., and the See also:early years of his son King Henry VI.

The See also:

chief See also:modern See also:works are H. See also:Prutz, Heinrich der See also:Lowe (See also:Leipzig, 1865); M. Philippson, Geschichte Ileinrichs See also:des Lowers (Leipzig, 1867); and L. Weiland, Das sdchsische Herzogthum unter Lothar and Heinrich dem Lowen (Greifswald, 1866).

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