User:Kansas Bear/Siegfried I

Siegfried of Ballenstedt (c.1075; † 9 March 1113), Siegfried I, Palgrave near Rhine from 1095/1097 to 1113 and Count of Weimar-Orlamünde between 1112 and 1113.

Life
Siegfried was born c.1075, the son of Adalbert II, Count of Ballenstedt and the Adelheid of Weimar-Orlamünde, a daughter of the count Otto I (Weimar), Markgraf von Meissen. When his father was murdered around the year 1080 by Egeno II of Konradsburg, Siegfried and his brother Otto (Ballenstedt) fled. By marriage of his mother with Palgravegraf Hermann II of Lorraine and afterwards with Pfalzgraf Heinrich II of Laach Siegfried after the death of Heinrich Heinrich (at the latest by 1097) the dignity and power of a Rhineland Palatinate.

Under the impression of the successful First Crusade, Siegfried also undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1112 he renewed the founding of the Abbey of Laach, which had already begun in 1093 by his stepfather, the Palatine Count Heinrich II of Laach was, but was discontinued after his death in 1095.

In 1112 count Ulrich II of Weimar-Orlamünde (1070-1112), without leaving offspring. On the basis of his descent from Adelheid of Orlamünde, Siegfried now claimed the county, but was thereby in conflict with the emperor Heinrich V (1106-1125). An attack on Siegfried by imperial parties at the Teufelsmauer at Warnstedt on 21 February 1113 survived the Palgrave seriously injured, but soon died on March 9th. Siegfried left the immature sons of Siegfried II (Weimar-Orlamünde) (1107-1124) and Wilhelm (Weimar-Orlamünde) (1112-1140), who came from his marriage with Gertrude, daughter of Count Heinrich von Northeim. The Palatinate County first lost the Askanians until they were able to recover Wilhelm in 1125.

Descendants
Three children emerged from the marriage with Gertrud von Northeim:
 * Siegfried II (Weimar Orlamunde) of Weimar-Orlamünde
 * Adela of Orlamünd ∞ Konrad I of Peilstein (nobility of the nobility)
 * Wilhelm (Weimar-Orlamünde) of Ballenstedt (Weimar-Orlamünde)