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Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty.

Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of his time. As the Duke of Saxony, Henry had had a decisive part in 1152 in his cousin Frederick Barbarossa's campaign for the throne. Because of this, in the following years, he was intensely promoted by Barbarossa. So, in 1156, he received the Dukedom of Bavaria. In North Germany, Henry could now build a kingly presence. He achieved this in Brunswick by building a new collegiate church, St Blaise, and, in the neighbouring Dankwarderode Castle, he placed a statue of a lion, as a symbol of its place as the capital of his duchies. The aggressive building strategy of the Duke in Saxony and north of the Elbe supplanted the influence of the previous greats of Saxony. Next, Henry repaid Barbarossa’s sponsorship by putting great effort into his service to the first Italian dynasty.

The agreement between Henry and Barbarossa encountered difficulties when Henry refused to send military assistance in 1176 for Barbarossa's invasion of Italy. With his expedition ending in defeat at the Battle of Legnano against the Lombard League, Barbarossa resented Henry for having failed to support him. In 1176, the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating him and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony during the reign of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and of Frederick's son and successor Henry VI. After the death of Barbarossa, and the failure of the overall Italian political scene and the peace agreement of 1177 (due to campaigning by Pope Alexander III), Henry the Lion overthrew more Dukes, but had to go into exile in southern England.

At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania. Alongside Frederick Barbarossa, he was an important protagonist in the Staufen-Welf conflict, which had served as the main political force in the twelfth century. Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen and in part through the legacies of his four grandparents. He is considered as one of the most important people of this early era. Provided by Wikipedia