Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia

Berthold II
Duke of Carinthia
Berthold of Zähringen statue, Constance
Reign	1061–1077
Spouse(s)	Judith of Bohemia
Noble family	House of Zähringen
Father	Berthold I of Breisgau
Born	c. 1000
Died	6 November 1078(1078-11-06) Limburg Castle, Weilheim, Swabia
Buried	Hirsau Abbey

Berthold II (c. 1000 – 6 November 1078), a member of the Swabian House of Zähringen, was Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 1061 until 1077.

He was possibly the descendant of one Berthold (Bezzelin) of Zähringen, a Swabian count in the Breisgau region and relative of the Ahalolfing dynasty who was killed in the 982 Battle of Stilo fighting against the Kalbid emir of Sicily. The early Zähringer were close allies of the Imperial Ottonian dynasty; Berthold's son Count Berthold II (Birchtilo) was among the nobles capturing and mutilating Antipope John XVI at the behest of Emperor Otto III. On his mother's side of the family, Berthold probably descended from the House of Hohenstaufen, who then were counts in Ortenau, Thurgau, Breisgau, and Baar.

Berthold quickly rose to one of the most powerful counts in the Swabian duchy and the Salian emperor Henry III even promised his party-follower the ducal title, then held by Otto of Schweinfurt. However, upon Otto's death in 1057, Henry's widow Agnes of Poitou gave Swabia in fief to Count Rudolf of Rheinfelden. Berthold received, as compensation for the abandonment of his claim, the ducal titles to Carinthia with the Veronese march after the death of the Ezzonid duke Conrad III in 1061, whereby the Zähringer finally ascended to the status of a princely house.