2021-06-14 Mon

Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, the duchies which he held until 1180. Henry was the founder of Munich and Lubeck he also founded and developed numerous other cities in Northern Germany and Bavaria.

He was one of the most powerful German princes of his time. At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania. Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen and in part through the legacies of his four grandparents.

Shortly after his death, Henry the Lion became the subject of a folktale, the so-called Heinrichssage. The Heinrichssage details a fictional account of Henry's pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A popular part of the tale deals with the Brunswick Lion. According to legend, Henry witnessed a fight between a lion and a dragon while on pilgrimage. He joins the lion in its fight and they slay the dragon.

The faithful lion then accompanies Henry on his return home. After its master's death, the lion refuses all food and dies of grief on Henry's grave. The people of Brunswick then erect a statue in the lion's honor. The legend of Henry the Lion also inspired the Czech tale of the knight Bruncvík, which is depicted on a column on Charles Bridge in Prague.

On the occasion of the 800th Anniversary of the Death of Henry the Lion, the German Federal Republic of Germany issued a coin of value 10 Deutsche mark in 1995. The obverse of a coin depicts the Thin eagle divides date and denomination. On the other hand, the reverse of a coin engraved Artistic rampant lion left.

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