Agnes of Hohenstaufen

Agnes of Hohenstaufen (1176 – 7 or 9 May 1204) was the daughter and heiress of the Hohenstaufen count palatine Conrad of the Rhine. She was Countess of the Palatinate herself from 1195 until her death, as the wife of the Welf count palatine Henry V. Life Agnes' father Conrad of Hohenstaufen was a younger half-brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who had enfeoffed him with the Electoral Palatinate in 1156. A cautious and thoughtful politician, he aimed for peace and reconciliation in the Empire. Even before 1180, he had betrothed his daughter to Henry V, the eldest son of the rebellious Saxon duke Henry the Lion, in order to defuse the re-emerging conflict between the Hohenstaufen and Welf dynasties. In 1193, however, Barbarossa's son and successor, Emperor Henry VI, wanted to create a political alliance with King Philip II of France and planned to marry his cousin Agnes to Philip II. When the young Welf scion Henry V heard of this plan, he contacted Agnes' parents. Her father avoided definitive statements on her betrothal, as he preferred a marriage with the French king, but also did not want to offend Henry V, whom Agnes revered fanatically. Agnes' mother Irmengard (d. 1197), daughter of Count Berthold I of Henneberg, continued to advocate her daughter's marriage with the Welf prince. A little later she took advantage of the absence of her husband, who stayed at Henry VI's court, to thwart the Emperor's plan. She invited the young Welf to Stahleck Castle, where he and Agnes were married in January or February 1194.