Gebhard of Supplinburg (or ''Süpplingenburg''; died 9 June 1075) was a Saxon count in the Eastphalian

Harzgau The Harzgau was a medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the northeastern foorhils of the Harz mountains, part of the Eastphalia region of Saxony. It included the towns of Halberstadt, Quedlinburg, and Osterwieck, and was bounded by the Oker in the west, ...

and

Nordthüringgau The Nordthüringgau was a medieval county (german: Gau) in the Eastphalian region of the German stem duchy of Saxony. Geography The county was located on both sides of the upper Aller river in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It was bounded by the ...

. He was the father of Emperor Lothair II.

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 ...

, a niece of Saint

Bruno of Querfurt Bruno of Querfurt ( 974 – 14 February or 9/14 March 1009), also known as ''Brun'' and ''Boniface'', was a Christian missionary bishop and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania for trying to spread Christianity. H ...

. About 1052 he succeeded his father in the

Eastphalia Eastphalia (german: Ostfalen; 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 ...

n Harzgau und Nordthüringgau. About 1060, he married

Hedwig Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanus Adol ...

(d. 1090), a daughter of the Bavarian count Frederick of Formbach and heiress to Süpplingenburg Castle. According to the ''

Sächsische Weltchronik The ''Sächsische Weltchronik'' ("Saxon World Chronicle") is a universal history written in German prose. It is not clear in which regional form of German the original was written. Of the twenty-four surviving manuscripts, ten are in Low German, ...

'', he had to overcome the resistance of the rivalling Counts of

Goseck Goseck is a municipality lying on the river Saale, in the Burgenlandkreis district of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Geography Goseck is located on the north bank of the Saale, about halfway between Naumburg and Weißenfels. The municipali ...

, relatives of Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, who had the marriage annulled. Like many Saxon nobles, Gebhard joined the

Saxon Rebellion The Saxon Rebellion or Rebellion of the Saxons (german: Sachsenkrieg), also commonly called the Saxon Uprising (not to be confused with the Saxon Wars, also called the Saxon Uprising), refers to the struggle between the Salian dynasty ruling the H ...

of Count Otto of Northeim and Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt against the Salian king

Henry IV of Germany Henry IV (german: Heinrich 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 o ...

. 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 of Germany 11th-century Saxon people 1075 deaths Year of birth unknown House of Süpplinburger