Agnes of Waiblingen
Agnes of Waiblingen (1072/73 – 24 September 1143), also known as Agnes of Germany, Agnes of Poitou and Agnes of Saarbrücken, was a member of the Salian imperial family. Through her first marriage, she was Duchess of Swabia; through her second marriage, she was Margravine of Austria. Family. She was the daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Bertha of Savoy. First marriage. In 1079, aged seven, Agnes was betrothed to Frederick, a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; at the same time, Henry IV invested Frederick as the new duke of Swabia. The couple married in 1086 , when Agnes was fourteen. They had eleven children, named in a document found in the abbey of Lorsch: Second marriage. Following Frederick's death in 1105, Agnes married Leopold III (1073–1136), the Margrave of Austria (1095–1136). According to a legend, a veil lost by Agnes and found by Leopold years later while hunting was the instigation for him to found the Klosterneuburg Monastery. Their children were: According to the "Continuation of the Chronicles of Klosterneuburg", there may have been up to seven other children (possibly from multiple births) stillborn or who died in infancy. In 1125, Agnes' brother, Henry V , Holy Roman Emperor, died childless, leaving Agnes and her children as heirs to the Salian dynasty's immense allodial estates, including Waiblingen. In 1127, Agnes' second son, Konrad III, was elected as the rival King of Germany by those opposed to the Saxon party's Lothar III. When Lothar died in 1137, Konrad was elected to the position.