Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach

Berengar II of Sulzbach
Berengar II of Sulzbach (c. 1080-3. December 1125) with hunting falcon under the organ loft above his coat of arms in Kastl Abbey
Born	c 1080-83
Died	3 December 1125
Nationality	Bavarian
Occupation	Knight
Known for	Foundation of Abbeys

Count Berengar II of Sulzbach (c. 1080-83 - 3 December 1125), sometimes known as Berengar I of Sulzbach, was Count of Sulzbach in Bavaria. Berengar was a leader of the reform party. He sided with Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy in opposition to Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and supported Henry V in his successful rebellion against his father. He is known as the founder of several abbeys.

Berengar's grandfather was Gebhard I, Count of Sulzbach (died 1071), who married the daughter of Count Berengar I of Sulzbach. Gebhard I may have been the son of Herman IV, Duke of Swabia (died 28 July 1038), but this is not certain. Gebhard I was father of Gebhard II. Berengar was the son of Count Gebhard II of Sulzbach (died 1085) and Irmgard of Rott (died 14 June 1101). His sister Adelaide may have married Count Siboto II of Weyarn-Falkenstein, who was later the advocate of Baumburg Abbey. The Weyarns at first supported Henry IV in his conflict with Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. Later Siboto II was associated with the pro-papal side that included the Sulzbachs.

Around 1099 Berengar married Adelaide, widow and heiress of Count Udalric of Passau, nicknamed "the very rich". Count Udalric's cousin, the Count palatine Rapoto of Bavaria, had died around the same time as Udalric and had been succeeded by Berengar's relative Diepold III, margrave of the Nordgau in Bavaria, who inherited the titles of Count of Cham and Margrave of Vuhburg. Berengar was married to Adelheid von Lechsgemünd for over six years until her death in 1105. This marriage seems to have been childless.

Berengar's second wife was Adelheid von Dießen-Wolfratshausen, with whom he had six children, Four of these children married into the highest circles. His son, Count Gebhard III of Sulzbach, married Matilda, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria. His daughter Gertrude was the wife of King Conrad III of Germany. Her sister Luitgarde married Godfrey II, Count of Louvain and Duke of Lower Lorraine. In 1143 his daughter Bertha, later called Irene, married the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos of Byzantium (c. 1120-1180). She died about 1158.