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HERMANN I

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 366 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERMANN I . (d. 1217), See also:landgrave of Thuringia and See also:count with the See also:composition of the Latin See also:hymns Veni Sancte Spiritus, Salve See also:palatine of See also:Saxony, was the second son of See also:Louis II. the Hard, II landgrave of Thuringia, and See also:Judith of See also:Hohenstaufen, See also:sister of the See also:emperor See also:Frederick I. Little is known of his See also:early years, but in 1180 he joined a See also:coalition against See also:Henry the See also:Lion, See also:duke of Saxony, and with his See also:brother, the landgrave Louis III., suffered a See also:short imprisonment after his defeat at Weissensee by Henry. About this See also:time he received from his brother Louis the Saxon See also:palatinate, over which he strengthened his authority by marrying See also:Sophia, sister of See also:Adalbert, count of Sommerschenburg, a former count palatine. In 1190 Louis died and Hermann by his energetic See also:measures frustrated the See also:attempt of the emperor Henry VI. to seize Thuringia as a vacant See also:fief of the See also:Empire, and established himself as landgrave. Having joined a See also:league against the emperor he was accused, probably wrongly, of an attempt to See also:murder him. Henry was not only successful in detaching Hermann from the hostile See also:combination, but gained his support for the See also:scheme to unite See also:Sicily with the Empire. In 1197 Hermann went on crusade. When Henry VI. died in 1198 Hermann's support was See also:purchased by the See also:late emperor's brother See also:Philip, duke of See also:Swabia, but as soon as Philip's cause appeared to be weakening he transferred his See also:allegiance to See also:Otto of Bruns-See also:wick, afterwards the emperor Otto IV. Philip accordingly invaded Thuringia in 1204 and compelled Hermann to come to terms by which he surrendered the lands he had obtained in 1198. After the See also:death of Philip and the recognition of Otto he was among the princes who invited Frederick of Hohenstaufen, afterwards the emperor Frederick II., to come to See also:Germany and assume the See also:crown.

In consequence of this step the See also:

Saxons attacked Thuringia, but the landgrave was saved by Frederick's arrival in Germany in 1212. After the death of his first wife in 1195 Hermann married Sophia, daughter of Otto I., duke of See also:Bavaria. By her he had four sons, two of whom, Louis and Henry See also:Raspe, succeeded their See also:father in turn as landgrave. Hermann died at See also:Gotha on the 25th of See also:April 1217, and was buried at Reinhardsbrunn. He was fond of the society of men of letters, and See also:Walther von der Vogelweide and other See also:Minnesingers were welcomed to his See also:castle of the See also:Wartburg. In this connexion he figures in See also:Wagner's Tannhduser. See E. See also:Winkelmann, Philipp von Schwaben and Otto IV. von Braunschweig (See also:Leipzig, 1873—1878) ; T. Knochenhauer, Geschichte Thuringens (Gotha, 1871) ; and F. Wachter, Thuringische and obersachsische Geschichte (Leipzig, 1826).

End of Article: HERMANN I

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HERMANDAD (from hermano, Lat. germanus, a brother)
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