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Birth:          ABT 1025 Aquitaine
Death:          14 Dec 1077 Rome, Italy
Burial:         St. Peter's Basilica

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Poitou
Agnes of Poitou, also called Agnes of Aquitaine or Empress Agnes (c.?1025 – 14 
December 1077), a member of the House of Poitiers, was German queen from 1043 
and Holy Roman Empress from 1046 until 1056. From 1056 to 1061 she acted as 
regent of the Holy Roman Empire during the minority of her son Henry IV.
Family[edit]

She was the daughter of the Ramnulfid duke William V of Aquitaine (d. 1030)[1] and 
Agnes of Burgundy. She thereby was the sister of Duke William VI of Aquitaine, Duke 
Odo of Gascony, Duke William VII, and Duke William VIII of Aquitaine. Her maternal 
grandparents were Count Otto-William of Burgundy and Ermentrude of Rheims, 
daughter of Renaud of Roucy.

Marriage and children[edit]

Agnes married King Henry III of Germany in November 1043[Note 1] at the Imperial 
Palace Ingelheim.[2] She was his second wife[1] after Gunhilda of Denmark, who had 
died from malaria in 1038.[citation needed] This marriage helped to solidify the 
Empire's relationships with the princely houses in the west.[1] King Henry was able to 
improve his position versus the French royal dynasty and to exert his influence in the 
Duchy of Burgundy. Agnes, like her husband, was of profound piety, her family had 
founded Cluny Abbey and Abbot Hugh the Great was godfather of her son Henry IV.

Their children were:
Adelaide II (1045, Goslar – 11 January 1096), abbess of Gandersheim from 1061 and 
Quedlinburg from 1063
Gisela (1047, Ravenna – 6 May 1053)
Matilda (October 1048 – 12 May 1060, Pöhlde), married 1059 Rudolf of Rheinfelden, 
duke of Swabia and antiking (1077)
Henry, his successor[1]
Conrad II (1052, Regensburg – 10 April 1055), Duke of Bavaria (from 1054)
Judith (1054, Goslar – 14 March 1092 or 1096), married firstly 1063 Solomon of 
Hungary and secondly 1089 Ladislaus I Herman, Duke of Poland

Role as regent[edit]

After her husband's death on 5 October 1056, Agnes served as regent during on 
behalf of young son, Henry IV.[3] Henry III had secured the election of his son as King 
of the Romans on his deathbed. Agnes, aided by Hugh of Cluny and Pope Victor II, 
also Bishop of Eichstätt, tried to continue her husband's politics and to reinforce the 
rule of the Salian dynasty. However, despite being related to kings of Italy and 
Burgundy, she was not known as a quality leader. In order to forge alliances, she 
would give away three German duchies:[1] already on Christmas 1056, the Ezzonid 
scion Conrad III, a nephew of Count palatine Ezzo of Lotharingia, received the 
princeless Duchy of Carinthia. The next year she enfeoffed Rudolf of Rheinfelden with 
Swabia, appointed him administrator of Burgundy and offered him the hand of her 
daughter Matilda (according to the medieval chronicler Frutolf of Michelsberg Rudolf 
had possibly abducted her and extorted the betrothment). However, late Henry III had 
promised the Swabian duchy to Berthold of Zähringen, who in turn had to be 
compensated with Carinthia upon Conrad's death in 1061. At the same time, while 
German forces interfered in the fratricidal struggle of King Andrew I and Béla I of 
Hungary, Agnes ceded the Duchy of Bavaria to Count Otto of Nordheim. He reached a 
settlement with Hungary by enforcing the coronation of Andrew's son Solomon but 
later became a bitter rival of her son Henry IV.

Though initially a follower of the Cluniac Reforms, Agnes opposed the contemporary 
papal reform movement, and took the side of Italian dissidents who did as well.[1] 
Things had worsened after the death of Pope Victor II in 1057: his successor Stephen 
IX, who was unable to take actual possession of Rome due to the Roman aristocracy's 
election of an antipope, Benedict X, sent Hildebrand of Sovana and Anselm of Lucca 
(respectively, the future Popes Gregory VII and Alexander II) to Germany to obtain 
recognition from Agnes. Though Stephen died before being able to return to Rome, 
Agnes' help was instrumental in letting Hildebrand depose the Antipope [4] and with 
Agnes' support replace him by the Bishop of Florence, Nicholas II. However, on Easter 
1059 Nicholas issued the papal bull In nomine Domini establishing the cardinals as the 
sole electors of the pope, detrimental to the interests of the emperor. When Pope 
Alexander II was elected on 30 September 1061, Agnes refused to acknowledge him 
and had Antipope Honorius II elected; a schism that did not end until Pentecost 1064. 
The empress' candidate could not prevail against the Roman Curia; in consequence, 
Agnes retired from politics, leaving the regency to her confidant Bishop Henry II of 
Augsburg.

Bishop Henry did not receive wide acceptance due to his awkward and haughty 
manners, not least with a view to rumours about his relationship with the Empress as 
rendered by the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld. Moreover, the fact that the heir to the 
throne was raised by common ministeriales led to anger with the princes. In 1062, 
young Henry IV was abducted by a group of men, including Archbishop Anno II of 
Cologne and Otto of Nordheim, in a conspiracy to remove Agnes from the throne, 
referred to as the Coup of Kaiserswerth. Henry was brought to Cologne, and despite 
jumping overboard from a board to escape, he was recaptured again. Agnes resigned, 
as ransom, from the throne, and Anno together with the archbishops Siegfried of Mainz 
and Adalbert of Bremen took her place.[1] According to Frutolf of Michelsberg she 
retired to Fruttuaria Abbey after the dethroning, and when Henry IV reached majority 
moved to Rome, where her arrival in 1065 is documented by Peter Damian. Agnes 
went on to act as a mediator and peacemaker between her son and the papacy.[1] 
She died in Rome on 14 December 1077 and is buried at St. Peter's Basilica.

Legacy[edit]

Agnes is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, 
being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.[5][6]

Parents
DE POITOU William (Guillaume) V (III) "The Grand" (ABT  969 - 31 Jan 1030)
OF BURGUNDY (DE MACON) Agnes (ABT  987 - 10 Nov 1068)

Siblings
DE POITOU Beatrix (ABT 1020 - )
DE POITOU Agnes (ABT 1025 - 14 Dec 1077)
DE POITOU William (Guillaume) VI (VIII) (ABT 1026 - 25 Sep 1086)

Marriage To ____ Henry (Heinrich) III "the Black" (28 Oct 1017 - 5 Oct 1056)
    m. 21 Nov 1043 his 2d

Notes

Parents
OF FRANCONIA Conrad (Konrad) II "the Salic" ( 989 - 4 Jun 1039)
OF SWABIA Gisela (Gisele) (11 Nov  990 - 14 Feb 1043)

Children by ____ Henry (Heinrich) III "the Black" 28 Oct 1017 - 5 Oct 1056
OF FRANCONIA Henry (Heinrich) IV (11 Nov 1050 - 7 Aug 1106)

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