Judith of Bavaria (795-843)
| Judith of Bavaria | |
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Empress Judith, 2nd wife of Emperor Louis the Pious (from a c. 1510 manuscript)
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| Spouse(s) | Louis the Pious |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | Elder House of Welf |
| Father | Welf |
| Mother | Hedwig, Duchess of Bavaria |
| Born | 797/805 |
| Died | 19 April 843 Tours |
| Buried | Basilica of St-Martins |
Queen Judith (797/805 – 19 April 843), also known as Judith of Bavaria, was the daughter of Count Welf of Bavaria and Saxon noblewoman, Hedwig. She was the second wife of Louis the Pious, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans, which brought her the titles of queen and empress. Marriage to Louis marked the beginning of her rise as an influential figure in the Carolingian court. She had two children with Louis, a daughter Gisela and a son, Charles the Bald. The birth of her son led to a major dispute over the imperial succession, and tensions between her and Charles' half-brothers from Louis' first marriage. She would eventually fall from grace when Charles' wife, the new empress Ermentrude of Orléans, rose to power. She was buried in 846 in Tours.
No surviving sources provide a record of Judith’s exact date and year of birth. Judith was probably born between 797 and 805, given that girls in the Carolingian world would be eligible for marriage at around the age of twelve, and her marriage to King Louis occurred in 819.
Judith was the daughter of the noble Saxon Heilwig and Count Welf I, and belonged to the ancestor of the kin-group known to historians as the Welfs. Though the Welf clan was noble, they were not part of the '"Imperial Aristocracy'" (Reichsaristokratie) that dominated high office throughout the Carolingian empire. The Welf clan's leaders, having lost influence in their home region of Alemannia (present-day southwestern Germany and northern Switzerland) eventually rose to power though cementing familial ties with the Carolingian Imperial Aristocracy in the 770s. Nonetheless, they remained a part of the upper aristocracy (Hochadel) of their region, given the numerous appearance of the noble titles of ducal (duke) and comital (counts) in primary sources. This noble status made Judith a suitable marriage prospect for the imperial family, and the Welf clan as a whole saw its prestige and power increase after Judith’s marriage to the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious in 819.
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