Henry III "the Great" (? – 1246) was the count of

Sayn Sayn was a small Germany, German county of the Holy Roman Empire which, during the Middle Ages, existed within what is today Rhineland-Palatinate, Rheinland-Pfalz. There have been two Counties of Sayn. The first emerged in 1139 and became closel ...

(1202–1246), a county located near the

Sieg River The Sieg () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length. The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From here ...

in northern

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Henry III shared the first year of his reign with his uncle, count Henry II, as he and his father Eberhard II had co-ruled the county. Gottfried II (Count of

Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Steph ...

) had been a regent from 1181 and continued until his death in 1220. John, count of Sponheim-Starkenburg, was regent from 1226 until Henry's death in 1246. In 1233, Conrad of Marburg, Conrad Dorso and John the One-Eyed accused Henry of indulging in satanic orgies. Henry pleaded his case successfully to an assembly of bishops in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

and was acquitted.See Robert I. Moore, ''The War on Heresy. Faith and Power in Medieval Europe'', London, Profile Books, 2014, p. 280-281. Conrad, however, refused to accept the verdict, but eventually left Mainz. While passing near

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, Conrad was ambushed and killed by a group of knights. It is unknown whether they were in the service of Henry. Henry died in 1246. His county was inherited by his brother-in-law, count Eberhard III of Sponheim-Eberstein.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry 3, Count Of Sayn Counts of Sayn 12th-century births 1246 deaths People from former German states in Rhineland-Palatinate Year of birth unknown