Monday, June 3, 2024
Thompson Branch

Marquess of Montferrat II Boniface

Male 1202 - 1253  (~ 50 years)


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Generation: 1

  1. 1.  Marquess of Montferrat II Boniface was born Jul 1202; died 12 Jun 1253.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37148

    Notes:

    Boniface II (July 1202 - 12 June 1253), called the Giant, was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1225 until his death. He received the titularity of the Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1239.

    Boniface was the eldest but only son of the three children of William VI and his second wife, Berta di Clavesana. He was appointed to succeed his father in 1225 when William led a group of crusaders to Frankish Greece. In Spring 1226, he took full command of Montferrat.
    Boniface contracted an alliance with his cousin Manfred III of Saluzzo by which if one died without heirs the other would inherit his domains. This served to avert a civil war in which the intervention of the Emperor Frederick II, who was not on good terms with Boniface, could have been expected. Boniface had failed to repay the heavy debts to the German crown which his father had incurred. In 1226, threatened by imperial disfavour, he allied with the Lombard League against the Emperor. Despite the eventual mediation of Pope Honorius III, the two men were ever distrustful of one another.

    Towards 1228, Boniface negotiated a marital alliance with the House of Savoy. He proposed to marry Margaret, daughter of Amadeus IV of Savoy, but her grandfather Thomas I refused to grant the marriage while she was still very young. The two were wed in December 1235 at Chivasso, his capital, and Margaret became the mother of the future William VII. Amadeus appears to have concluded an agreement with Boniface whereby the latter would succeed to his Alpine Piedmontese lands if the Savoyard died without heirs. However, the alliance with Savoy broke down and the agreement was never realised.

    However, Boniface's main sights were set not on the Piedmont but on nearby Alessandria: from 1227, when he strengthened an alliance with Asti, he continued until his death to fight the Alessandrini. On the side of Alessandria rallied the League and Milan. In 1230, after having lost many fortified places, Boniface was roundly defeated and forced to recognise the power and rights of the League. When he tried again to bring Alessandria into submission, with allies from Saluzzo and Savoy, the Milanese army attacked Chivasso. The protracted siege lasted four months, with Boniface's attempts to repulse the besiegers failing each time. Chivasso capitulated 5 September 1231 and was not returned to Boniface for another year, after the margrave had admitted his own defeat and come to terms.

    After a subsequent rupture in his relations with Saluzzo and Savoy, he was prevented for a while from seeing his wife, who had gone on a trip to Piedmont. It was then that Boniface decided to switch loyalties and turned to the imperial camp. He escorted the Emperor on his Italian journeys and, in 1239, Frederick invested him with Thessalonica, which had originally been conquered by his grandfather in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Boniface I had left it to his second son Demetrius, who ceded his rights to the Emperor in 1230. This situation of amicability with the Empire did not persist, however. In 1243, he was bought over to the Guelph party. In 1245, when Frederick visited Turin, Boniface met him and requested his pardon. He was received back into the imperial fold. At this time of constant warfare with his relatives, news arrived of the death of Manfred of Saluzzo. Following the dead margrave's will, Boniface was afforded custody and guardianship of the young heir Thomas and his sister Alasia.

    The continuing political manoeuvring of Boniface was a response to the growing power of Amadeus of Savoy and, above all, the imperial decision to create a satellite state in Piedmont, carved from territory of Savoy, Saluzzo, and, above all, Montferrat. The death of Frederick in 1250 brought a brief respite and calm to Boniface's politics. Thenceforward distracted by the fight for the southern Piedmont, Boniface dedicated more energy to internal affairs than to warmaking. At Rome, Frederick's successor, Conrad IV, invested him with some adjacent land, particularly the city of Casale Monferrato. On 4 May 1253, Conrad invested him with Casale and on 12 May he was dead at Moncalvo, only a few hours after dictating his testament. His son William succeeded him.

    II — . Unknown [Group Sheet]

    Children:
    1. 2. Adelheid  Descendancy chart to this point


Generation: 2

  1. 2.  Adelheid Descendancy chart to this point (1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37092

    married I Albert 1263. I (son of I Otto and Matilda of Brandenburg) was born 1236; died 1279. [Group Sheet]

    Children:
    1. 3. II Albert  Descendancy chart to this point was born Abt 1268; died 22 Sep 1318.
    2. 4. Henry  Descendancy chart to this point was born 1267; died 1322.
    3. 5. William  Descendancy chart to this point was born 1270; died 1292.
    4. 6. Otto  Descendancy chart to this point died 1346.
    5. 7. Matilda (Unknown)  Descendancy chart to this point died 11 Dec 1310.
    6. 8. Lothar  Descendancy chart to this point died 1335.
    7. 9. Conrad  Descendancy chart to this point died 1303.


Generation: 3

  1. 3.  II Albert Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) was born Abt 1268; died 22 Sep 1318.

    Other Events:

    • Name: the fat
    • Reference Number: 37080

    Notes:

    The second son of Albert the Tall, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Albert was a boy when his father died in 1279. He was first under guardianship of his uncle, Conrad, Prince-Bishop of Verden, and then of his elder brother, Henry I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1286 the three brothers divided their father's Principality of Wolfenbüttel; Albert received the areas around Göttingen, Minden, Northeim, Calenberg, and Hanover. He made Göttingen his residence, thus Principality of Göttingen. In 1292, the third brother, William, died childless, and Albert and Henry, who had received the Principality of Grubenhagen, quarrelled about William's share, the remaining belittled areas around Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel; Albert finally prevailed.

    II married Rixa 1284. (daughter of I Henry and Rikissa Birgersdotter) [Group Sheet]

    Children:
    1. 10. Magnus  Descendancy chart to this point died 1369.
    2. 11. Adelaide  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 12. Richenza  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 13. Jutta  Descendancy chart to this point
    5. 14. Mechtild  Descendancy chart to this point
    6. 15. Luder  Descendancy chart to this point
    7. 16. II Albert  Descendancy chart to this point died 1358.
    8. 17. Henry  Descendancy chart to this point died 1362.
    9. 18. Otto  Descendancy chart to this point died 1344.
    10. 19. Ernest  Descendancy chart to this point died 1367.

  2. 4.  Henry Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) was born 1267; died 1322.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37093


  3. 5.  William Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) was born 1270; died 1292.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37094


  4. 6.  Otto Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) died 1346.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37095


  5. 7.  Matilda (Unknown) Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) died 11 Dec 1310.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37096


  6. 8.  Lothar Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) died 1335.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37097


  7. 9.  Conrad Descendancy chart to this point (2.2, 1.II1) died 1303.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37098



Generation: 4

  1. 10.  Magnus Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1) died 1369.

    Other Events:

    • Name: Magnus the Pious
    • Reference Number: 37070

    Notes:

    Magnus (died 1369), called the Pious (Latin Pius), was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

    The son of Albert the Fat, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Magnus was still a minor when his father died in 1318; he and his brother Ernest were put under the guardianship of their elder brother Otto, who continued as sole ruler even after his brothers came of age. After marrying Sophie, a niece of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Magnus was appointed margrave of Landsberg and count palatine of Saxony by the Emperor in 1333. Magnus took residence at Sangerhausen. When Otto died in 1344, Magnus and Ernest jointly took over government of the state; but already on 17 April 1345, they agreed to divide the territory. Magnus received the Principality of Wolfenbüttel.

    In 1346, a border war between Wolfenbüttel and the Archbishop of Magdeburg broke out. In exchange for help in this conflict, Magnus sold the Margraviate of Landsberg to Frederick II, Margrave of Meißen. But the Archbishop conquered Schöningen in 1347, and Magnus had to cede Hötensleben and some other possessions to the Archbishop. Financially ruined by the war, Magnus could not stop the cities in the state from acquiring more and more rights; especially the City of Brunswick was becoming more powerful.

    In 1348, the Emperor gave Landsberg and the Palatinate of Saxony to Bernard, Prince of Anhalt. The ensuing conflict over these territories between Magnus and Bernard ended amicably with a marriage between Magnus' son Magnus and Catherine, daughter of Valdemar, Prince of Anhalt.

    Magnus attempted to secure the Principality of Lüneburg for his son Louis, so that it could be reunited with Wolfenbüttel. The prince of Lüneburg, William II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a member of the same house to which Magnus belonged, the House of Welf, did not have sons; however, he had already promised the principality to a son of his daughter, a relative of the Duke of Saxony, before he agreed to Magnus' plan. Louis then married William's daughter Matilda. A lengthy conflict broke out that culminated in the Lüneburg Succession War, which was resolved only in 1388.

    In 1367, Magnus joined Dietrich, Archbishop of Magdeburg, Albert, Bishop of Halberstadt, Valdemar, Prince of Anhalt, and others in a campaign against Gerhard of Berg, Bishop of Hildesheim; they were defeated by Hildesheim in a battle near Farmsen and Dinklar on 3 September. Magnus was taken prisoner, and had to buy his freedom. He died in Summer of 1369.

    — Sophia. (daughter of I Henry) died 1356. [Group Sheet]

    Children:
    1. 20. II Magnus  Descendancy chart to this point was born 1324; died 1373.
    2. 21. Louis  Descendancy chart to this point died 1367.
    3. 22. Albert  Descendancy chart to this point died 1395.
    4. 23. Henry  Descendancy chart to this point
    5. 24. Ernest  Descendancy chart to this point
    6. 25. Matilda (Unknown)  Descendancy chart to this point
    7. 26. Helen  Descendancy chart to this point
    8. 27. Agnes  Descendancy chart to this point

  2. 11.  Adelaide Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37082


  3. 12.  Richenza Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37083


  4. 13.  Jutta Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37084


  5. 14.  Mechtild Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37085


  6. 15.  Luder Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1)

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37086


  7. 16.  II Albert Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1) died 1358.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37087


  8. 17.  Henry Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1) died 1362.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37088


  9. 18.  Otto Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1) died 1344.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37089


  10. 19.  Ernest Descendancy chart to this point (3.II3, 2.2, 1.II1) died 1367.

    Other Events:

    • Reference Number: 37090