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- BIOGRAPHY
Heinrich, Graf von Württemberg-Mömpelgard, was born in Stuttgart on 7 September 1448, the son of Ulrich V 'der Vielgeliebte', Graf von Württemberg-Stuttgart, and his second wife Elisabeth von Bayern-Landshut.
As the second son, Heinrich was destined for an ecclesiastical career. He was cathedral provost in Eichstatt from about 1464. In Mainz he was intended as successor to Archbishop Graf Adolf von Nassau, who appointed him in 1465 his coadjutor and administrator of temporal affairs. The powerful Albrecht Achilles, Kurfürst von Brandenburg, who had married his daughter Elisabeth to Heinrich's brother Eberhard, was influential behind the scenes. Albrecht sought to bind the Mainz archbishopric firmly to the imperial party controlled by him, to which Heinrich's father Ulrich V also belonged. The archbishop of Mainz was one of the seven prince-electors, which gave him considerable influence in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire. With Heinrich, the position of coadjutor was directed against the Wittelsbachs and above all against Friedrich 'der Siegreiche', Kurfürst von der Pfalz, who had humiliated Ulrich V at the Battle of Seckenheim in 1462 during the Mainz Diocesan War (1461-1463). Because the Mainz archbishop was unwilling to play the role intended for him, however, strong tensions developed between him and Heinrich which flowed into the so-called Coadjutor Feud (Koadjutorfehde) of 1465 to 1467. In the end Kurfürst Friedrich was almost completely successful, and the house of Württemberg and Heinrich in particular were left largely empty handed. In 1467 Heinrich was forced to resign as coadjutor, but received the rule over Bischofsheim in compensation. In 1470 he returned this to the archbishop. He was briefly again the cathedral provost at Eichstädt, but soon after he ended his ecclesiastical career.
In the Urach settlement of 12 July 1473 to resolve the future boundaries of the Württemberg possessions, Heinrich received the county of Mömpelgard together with some related Burgundian fiefs and the Alsatian estates of Horburg, Reichenweiler and Bilstein, though he had no strong prospect of inheriting the main part of Württemberg. His new estates brought him into heavy embroilment with Charles 'the Bold', duke of Burgundy, who coveted Heinrich's Burgundian estates. Charles had long manoeuvred to acquire overlordship rights to the castle of Mömpelgard, and when in March 1474, under the mediation of Louis XI, king of France, an alliance hostile to Charles was concluded between Duke Sigismund of Austria and the Swiss Confederacy, Charles decided that he needed to possess that castle, which could be strategically important to him in a future war. Charles had Heinrich arrested near Metz and demanded that he consent to open access to the castle and city of Mömpelgard to facilitate the duke's use of them in a war. When Heinrich rejected Charles' demands, Heinrich was incarcerated in a number of dungeons, in Luxembourg, Granges, Maastricht and Boulogne, and once on the mountain of la Crotte opposite Mömpelgard he was threatened with execution. After the duke's death at the Battle of Nancy, Heinrich was finally freed in the spring of 1477, and he provided his services to Archduke Maximilian, helping to fight his rebellious subjects in the Netherlands. In return for an annual stipend he resigned the county of Mömpelgard and the Burgundian estates in favour of his older brother Eberhard on 26 April 1482, keeping only the Alsatian estates for himself.
After briefly resuming his ecclesiastical career and joining the Order of St. John in Strasbourg, on 10 January 1485 at Reichenweier Heinrich married Elisabeth von Zweibrücken-Bitsch, daughter of Simon VI Wecker, Graf von Zweibrücken-Bitsch, and Elisabeth von Lichtenberg-Lichtenau. Elisabeth died on 17 February 1487, soon after the birth of their son Eitel Heinrich, who would be renamed Ulrich at his confirmation in 1493; he would have progeny. On 21 July 1488 Heinrich married Eva von Salm, daughter of Johann IV, Graf zu Salm, and Margarete von Sirck. Their two children Marie and Georg I would both have progeny.
Undoubtedly as a result of the treatment he suffered during his imprisonment, Heinrich slipped gradually into insanity and behaved increasingly erratically in Reichenweier and its surroundings. Hence in August 1490 his cousin Eberhard I (V), then the ruler of Württemberg, with the approval of Heinrich's close friends, invited Heinrich to come to him in Stuttgart, and had him arrested and incarcerated in the fortress of Hohen-Urach, whereupon Emperor Friedrich named Eberhard his guardian and carer. Heinrich lived another 29 years as a prisoner in that fortress, and occasionally in Stuttgart, until he died on 15 April 1519. His wife Eva lived with him until his death. She died on 26 April 1521.
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