Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia

Who was Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia?

Engelbert II from the House of Sponheim was Margrave of Istria and Carniola from sometime between 1101 and 1107 until 1124. In 1124, he was raised to a Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona which he held until his retirement in 1135.

Engelbert II was the son of Count Engelbert I of Sponheim and his wife Hedwig of uncertain descent, maybe a daughter of the Billung duke Bernard II of Saxony. He married Uta, daughter of Burgrave Ulric of Passau. Together they were the parents of the following children:

⁕Ulric I, succeeded his father in Carinthia in 1135

⁕Engelbert III, succeeded his father in Istria, Carniola and Kraiburg in 1124

⁕Henry, Bishop of Troyes in 1145

⁕Matilda, married Count Theobald the Great of Blois-Champagne

⁕Rapoto I, Count of Ortenburg in 1130 and Kraiburg in 1173

⁕Adelheid, Abbess of Göss in 1146

⁕Hartwig II, Bishop of Regensburg in 1155

⁕Ida, married Count William III of Nevers

About 1100 he established the County of Kraiburg on the inherited estates of his wife in Bavaria. Unlike his father, Engelbert II was a loyal supporter of the Salian dynasty. He stood as guarantor of German king Henry V at his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in February 1111 and witnessed the Concordat of Worms with Pope Callixtus II in September 1122. In the same year his elder brother Henry IV was created Duke of Carinthia and upon his death in 1123 Engelbert II succeeded him, having already replaced Count Ulric II of Weimar as margrave in Istria and Carniola about 1107.