Berthold, Duke of Merania

Berthold IV (died 12 August 1204) was the Count of Andechs (from 1172) and first Duke of Merania (from 1183), that is, the seacoast of Dalmatia and Istria of the House of Andechs. In 1188 he was appointed as margrave of Istria and from 1180 to 1182 he was duke of Croatia and Dalmatia. He was the son of Berthold I of Istria and Hedwig of Wittelsbach.

In 1175, he was raised to the margraviate of Istria and then years later (1185) made the duke of the region called "Merania" after the Adriatic Sea (mare is Latin for "sea"). Merania encompassed the same area as the old margraviate, but its ruler now gained much prestige from his new title.

In 1186, he accompanied the Emperor Henry VI to the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1189, he led the third division of the imperial army and was its standard-bearer on the Third Crusade. In 1195, he appeared as the advocate of Tegernsee Abbey. After Henry's death in 1197, he sided with the claimant Philip of Swabia. At this juncture, the duke of Merania was at the height of his power and influence. He possessed lands from Franconia to the Adriatic.

Berthold died in 1204 and was buried in Diessen.

Marriage and issue

Berthold married Agnes of Rochlitz, and they had the following:

• Otto I, who succeeded his father
• Ekbert, bishop of Bamberg
• Henry, margrave of Istria
• Hedwig, married Henry I the Bearded, duke of Silesia
• Gertrude, married Andrew II of Hungary
• Agnes, married Philip II of France
• Berthold, patriarch of Aquileia
• Mathilde, abbess of Klitzingen

An unnamed daughter married into the Nemanjic family of Serbia