Henry of Kalden

Henry of Kalden (German: Heinrich von Kalden; c. 1175 – after 1214) was a ministerialis in the service of the German kings Henry VI, Philip, Otto IV, and Frederick II.

Henry probably was a son of the Franconian noble Henry III Testa of Pappenheim, Imperial marshal of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Historians have speculated whether Henry Testa and Henry of Kalden are one and the same person, though recent research tends to the assumption of a father-son relationship. They are also rated as the builders of Kaltenburg Castle, erected between 1150 and 1180.

The Pappenheim dynasty had held the hereditary marshal office since about 1100. Henry Testa was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade and is documented serving Emperor Frederick's son and successor Henry VI, while the latter was yet just King of the Romans, in his 1190/91 campaign to the Sicilian kingdom as his right by marriage to the Norman princess Constance. He participated in the unsuccessful siege of Naples, before intense summer heat, epidemics and supply shortages caused the Imperial troops to leave the siege early, returning to Germany, and presumably died in 1191 at Monte Cassino.

Henry von Kalden succeeded his father as Imperial marshal in the service of Emperor Henry VI. In 1194, when Henry VI finally subdued the peninsula and could invade Sicily, his marshal was with him. Back in Germany, he spent Christmas 1195 with the emperor at the Imperial Palace of Hagenau. Henry of Kalden was again sent to Catania, where he and Markward von Annweiler defeated a large resistance army of Sicilian nobles in 1197, sacked the city and took captive its bishop. Henry was one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1197 and led the Imperial army to Acre in September, however, the German princes denied his authority and chose Duke Henry of Brabant as commander. Nevertheless, when the crusaders heard of Emperor Henry's death in Messina, they had to return to Germany in order to secure their hereditary estates.

...
Wikipedia