Gebhard of Supplinburg (or ''Süpplingenburg''; died 9 June 1075) was a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

count in the Eastphalian Harzgau and Nordthüringgau. He was the father of Emperor

Lothair II Lothair II (835 – 8 August 869) was a Carolingian king and ruler of northern parts of Middle Francia, that came to be known as Lotharingia, reigning there from 855 until his death in 869. He also ruled over Burgundy, holding from 855 just th ...

Life

Gebhard was the son of Count Bernhard of Supplinburg (d. about 1069) and his wife Ida of

Querfurt Querfurt () is a town in the Saalekreis district, or ''Kreis'', in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is located in a fertile area on the Querne, west from Merseburg. In 2020, the town had a population of 10,454. The town Querfurt consists of Q ...

, a niece of Saint

Bruno of Querfurt Bruno of Querfurt, O.S.B. Cam., (; 974 – 14 February or 9/14 March 1009), also known as Brun, was a Christian missionary bishop, Camaldolese monk and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania for trying to spread C ...

. About 1052 he succeeded his father in the

Eastphalia Eastphalia ( �stˈfaːlən Eastphalian: ''Oostfalen'') is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern '' Gaue'' (shires) of the historic stem duchy of Saxony, roughly confined by the River Leine in the west and the Elbe a ...

n Harzgau und Nordthüringgau. About 1060, he married Hedwig (d. 1090), a daughter of the Bavarian count Frederick of Formbach and heiress to Süpplingenburg Castle. According to the '' Sächsische Weltchronik'', he had to overcome the resistance of the rivalling Counts of Goseck, relatives of Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, who had the marriage annulled. Like many Saxon nobles, Gebhard joined the Saxon Rebellion of Count Otto of Northeim and Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt against the

Salian The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty () was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the last Ottonian ...

king

Henry IV of Germany Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy R ...

. He was killed in the 1075 Battle of Langensalza by the king's forces. The later emperor Lothair II was Gebhard's posthumous son or born shortly before his death. His widow Hedwig secondly married Duke Theodoric II of Lorraine.

References

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Counts in Germany 11th-century Saxon people 1075 deaths Year of birth unknown House of Süpplinburger