Welf II, Count of Swabia


Welf II was a Swabian count and a member of the Elder House of Welf.

Life

He was a younger son of Count Rudolf II and Ita, a daughter of Duke Conrad I of Swabia of the Conradine dynasty. He constructed a castle at Ravensburg.
In the 1020s, Welf feuded with the Augsburg and Freising bishops. He pillaged the treasury of Bishop Bruno of Augsburg, brother of Emperor Henry II, and sacked the city of Augsburg.
Welf opposed the election of the Salian count Conrad II as King of the Romans in 1024 because it did not suit his interests, but he had to eventually relent. The next year he joined a rebellion launched by the Babenberg duke Ernest II of Swabia, but finally submitted in 1027. He died, probably in captivity, in 1030. He was buried at Weingarten Abbey.

Marriage and issue

Welf II was married to Imiza, daughter of Count Frederick of Luxembourg. With Imiza, Welf had at least two children: