Henry Raspe

Henry Raspe (born c. 1202—died Feb. 16, 1247, Wartburg Castle, Thuringia) was the landgrave of Thuringia (1227–47) and German anti-king (1246–47) who was used by Pope Innocent IV in an attempt to oust the Hohenstaufen dynasty from Germany. On the death of his elder brother Landgrave Louis IV, in 1227, Henry seized power (thus excluding his nephew Hermann II from the succession) and banished Louis’s widow, St. Elizabeth, from the Thuringian court. In 1236 he...