Henry probably was a son of the
Franconian noble Henry III
Testa of
Pappenheim, Imperial
marshal of the
Hohenstaufen emperor
Frederick Barbarossa. Historians have speculated whether Henry Testa and Henry of Kalden are one and the same person, though recent research tends to the assumption of a father-son relationship. They are also rated as the builders of
Kaltenburg Castle, erected between 1150 and 1180. The Pappenheim dynasty had held the hereditary marshal office since about 1100. Henry Testa was one of the leaders of the
Third Crusade and is documented serving Emperor Frederick's son and successor Henry VI, while the latter was yet just
King of the Romans, in his 1190/91 campaign to the
Sicilian kingdom as his right by marriage to the
Norman princess
Constance. He participated in the unsuccessful siege of
Naples, before intense summer heat, epidemics and supply shortages caused the Imperial troops to leave the siege early. Henry Testa returned to Germany, and presumably died in 1191 at
Monte Cassino. Henry von Kalden succeeded his father as Imperial marshal in the service of Emperor Henry VI. In 1194, when Henry VI finally subdued the peninsula and could invade Sicily, his marshal was with him. Back in Germany, he spent Christmas 1195 with the emperor at the
Imperial Palace of
Hagenau. Henry of Kalden was again sent to
Catania, where he and
Markward von Annweiler defeated a large resistance army of Sicilian nobles in 1197, sacked the city and took captive its bishop. Henry was one of the leaders of the
Crusade of 1197 and led the Imperial army to
Acre in September, however, the German princes denied his authority and chose Duke
Henry of Brabant as commander. Nevertheless, when the crusaders heard of Emperor Henry's death in
Messina, they had to return to Germany in order to secure their hereditary estates. Henry remained a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and entered the service of Henry VI's brother and successor in Germany, Duke
Philip of Swabia. In the throne quarrel with the
Welf prince
Otto IV, he aided Philip against the forces of Landgrave
Hermann of Thuringia in 1204 and against the
Cologne citizens in 1206, as well as in the negotiations with
Pope Innocent III. On 8 June 1208, however, Philip was murdered out of rage by the
Bavarian count palatine Count
Otto VIII of Wittelsbach. Henry of Kalden received permission from the Pope to track down and kill Otto to avenge his master's death. Granted, Henry killed him at
Oberndorf, on the
Danube, near
Regensburg, and cut off his head. He nevertheless accepted the new circumstances and joined the side of the recently crowned Emperor Otto IV, whose closest advisor he became, arranging Otto's marriage with Philip's daughter
Beatrice and moulding an aggressive Sicilian policy. After the December 1212 coronation of Henry VI's son
Frederick II, however, Otto's position worsened and the marshal returned to the Hohenstaufen fold. He is last documented in 1214 deeds. ==Sources==