Herman IV, Duke of Swabia

Who was Herman IV, Duke of Swabia?

Herman IV was the Duke of Swabia. He was the second son of Ernest I and Gisela of Swabia. He was one of the Babenberg dukes of Swabia.

Herman became duke in 1030 following the death of his older brother Ernest II. At the time he was still a minor.

Seven years later, his stepfather, the Emperor Conrad II, married him to Adelaide of Susa, the marchioness of Turin, in January 1037. Herman was then invested as margrave of Turin. In July of the next year, while campaigning with Conrad in Southern Italy, he was struck down by an epidemic near Naples. Conrad then transferred rule of the duchy of Swabia to his own son, Henry I, while Adelaide remarried to Henry of Montferrat.

He was buried in Trento Cathedral on 28 July 1038, because the summer heat made it impossible to bring his corpse back to Germany.

Because of a late Austrian source, Herman is sometimes mistakenly said to have had children. This was not the case. Herman was on campaign for much of his short marriage to Adelaide and he died without heirs.