Henry, Margrave of Frisia

Who was Henry, Margrave of Frisia?

Henry the Fat, also known as Henry of Nordheim or Northeim, was from 1083 Count in Rittigau and Eichsfeld and from 1099 the Margrave of Frisia. He was the eldest son of Otto of Nordheim and Richenza of Swabia.

He was, by his patrimony of Rittigau and Eichsfeld, one of the most influential Saxon princes of his age. In 1086 he married the widow Gertrude of Brunswick and united the lands of the Counts of Katlenburg and the Brunonen to the Nordheimer Länderei. From the counts of Bilstein he inherited parts of the Werra Valley, where he became the sole landholder. Further, he was the Vogt of Helmarshausen and founded a Benedictine monastery at Bursfelde in 1093.

During the civil wars of the early 1080s Henry sided with the anti-king Herman of Salm, to whom he was related by marriage. In 1086 he and his brothers changed sides to support the Emperor Henry IV.

Henry's wife, Gertrude, was the only sister of Egbert II, Margrave of Meissen, whose own marriage remained childless. By the right of inheritance Henry stood to receive Egbert's counties in Frisia on the margrave's death in 1090, though Meissen was granted by the emperor to another Henry.