Berthold II of Swabia
Duke of Swabia
Berthold II (c. 1050 – 12 April 1111), also known as Berchtold II, was the Duke of Swabia from 1092 to 1098.
After he conceded the Duchy of Swabia to the Staufer in 1098, the title of "Duke of Zähringen" was created for him, in use from c. 1100 and continued by his successors until 1218.
Life and family
Berthold was a younger son of Berthold I of Zähringen, and he initially supported Rudolf of Rheinfelden against King Henry IV. In 1077, both the Zähringer and Rheinfeldener were relieved of their titles and possessions by the king. Berthold I of Zähringen died in 1078 and his son Berthold inherited his claims, including a claim to the Duchy of Swabia. In 1079, Berthold married Agnes of Rheinfelden, Rudolf's daughter.
In the following years, he became a strong supporter of Rudolf's eldest son, Berthold of Rheinfelden, against the king. He was also at odds with Frederick of Stauf and the bishops of Basel and Strasbourg. However, when the region quieted down in the late 1080s, Berthold is found as a witness to an exchange of land involving the bishop of Basel (1087).
Tensions rose again in 1090, when Berthold of Rheinfelden died.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q650325. VIAF identifies the subject as 80543977. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1050, 1111, 1092 and 1098.
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This entry incorporates text from “Berthold II of Swabia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.