Hugh was the son of Hugh II of Nordgau. According to Nicolas Viton of Saint-Allais, he succeeded, in 1027, his nephew Eberhard VI, who had died childless. In the same year
Ernest II, Duke of Swabia, rebelled against his stepfather, the
Salic emperor
Conrad II, and Hugh's lands and castles in
Alsace were devastated and plundered, before he was forced to surrender and was imprisoned. Hugh IV was the first cousin of Conrad II, because this sovereign's mother,
Adelaide, was the sister of his father Hugh II of Nordgau. He founded the Abbey of Hesse, to honour
Blessed Bishop Martin, near
Sarrebourg, whose privileges were confirmed by his son, Pope Leo IX in 1050. In Altdorf, Hugh had a monastery dedicated to the martyr
Cyriacus. He also founded the Abbey of Woffenheim, while his wife, Hedwig of Dabo, founded the Abbey of Notre-Dame d'Oelenberg near Reiningue. Hugh died in 1048, while his wife had died two years earlier, in 1046. ==Marriage and children==