Hermann II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia

Hermann II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia 1064–1085. He was count in the Ruhrgau and the Zulpichgau, as well as a count of Brabant.

Life

According to Egon Kimpen he was the son of Henry I of Lotharingia and Mathild of Verdun, daughter of Gozelo I of Lotharingia, but the basis for this has been questioned. However, if that is the case, his maternal uncle was Pope Stephen IX. Until 1064, young Hermann was under the guardianship of Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne, who significantly reduced Hermann's territorial power.
In 1080 he married Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde, widow of Adalbert II, Count of Ballenstedt. She was a daughter of Otto of Orlamünde, count of Weimar and margrave of Meissen in Thuringia, and Adela of Brabant. Together they had two children who had died by 1085.
He is assumed to have been the last Count Palatine of Lotharingia of the Ezzonian dynasty. He was seriously injured in a duel with Albert III, Count of Namur, near his castle in Dalhem. He died in the abbey of Echternach on September 20, 1085.
His widow married again, her third husband being Henry of Laach, count in the Mayfeldgau, who became the first count palatine of the Rhine between 1085 and 1087.