Henry of Speyer


Henry of Speyer, a member of the Salian dynasty, was count in the Rhenish Franconian Wormsgau. He was the father of Emperor Conrad II.
According to the 977 donation deed of Lambrecht Abbey, Henry was the eldest son of Count Otto von Worms, Duke of Carinthia from 978 to 983 and again from 995, and his wife Judith. He married Adelaide of Metz, a sister of the Lorraine counts Gerhard III and Adalbert II. The marriage produced a son, Conrad, who was elected King of the Romans in 1024 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor three years later, and a daughter, Judith. Henry's younger brother Bruno was elected Pope Gregory V in 996, his brother Conrad I succeeded their father as Duke of Carinthia in 1004.
Little is known of Henry's life, since he died at around the age of 20, even predeceasing his father Otto. He is buried in Worms Cathedral along with his daughter Judith. Adelaide outlived her husband by many years; she secondly married another Franconian count, possibly from the Elder House of Babenberg, and died in 1046.