Judith of Hohenstaufen
Landgravine consort of Thuringia
Judith of Hohenstaufen, also known as Judith of Hohenstaufen or Judith of Swabia (c. 1133/1134 – 7 July 1191), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was Landgravine of Thuringia from 1150 until 1172 by her marriage with the Ludovingian landgrave Louis II. She was baptized as Judith, but was commonly called Jutta or Guta. Sometimes the Latinate form Clementia was used, or Claritia or Claricia.
Life
Judith was a daughter of Duke Frederick II of Swabia (1090–1147) and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, thereby a younger half-sister of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190). She first appeared in contemporary sources in 1150, upon her marriage with Landgrave Louis II of Thuringia. This wedlock was intended to cement the relationship between the Thuringian Ludovingians and the imperial House of Hohenstaufen, to strengthen Emperor Barbarossa in his fierce conflict with Duke Henry the Lion and the House of Welf.
When in 1168 her husband reconciled with Henry the Lion, Judith began the construction of Runneburg Castle in Weißensee. The neighbouring Counts of Beichlingen objected, and protested to Emperor Barbarossa. However, the emperor sided with his half-sister and rejected the protests. Runneburg Castle was situated halfway between Wartburg Castle and Neuenburg Castle and became the residence of the Landgraves of Thuringia. Later during the conflicts between Germany's most powerful dynasties, the strategically located Runneburg Castle became one of the most important castles in the area.
“Judith of Hohenstaufen” enters the record as landgravine consort of Thuringia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Judith, Hohenstaufen and Landgravine can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Judith of Hohenstaufen” 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.