Irmgard (also Irmengard) Countess of Nassau , née von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim

patroness of Sonnenberg

born: around 1315

died: 03.01.1371 in Liebenau Abbey near Worms

Irmgard, widow of Burgrave Konrad III of Nuremberg since 1334, married King Adolf's son, Count Gerlach I of Nassau (around 1283-1361), in 1337. In 1338, she took part in Emperor Louis IV's visit to Wiesbaden in September.

In 1344, Count Gerlach appointed his sons Adolf and Johann as his successors and in 1346 transferred the rule of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein and Nassau-Weilburg to them. However, as he reserved the proceeds from numerous taxes and other income for his by no means petty household with Countess Irmgard in Wiesbaden and probably also at Sonnenberg Castle, it was left to his wife to provide her two sons from her marriage to Count Gerlach, Kraft (c. 1338-1356) and Ruprecht VI (c. 1340-1390), who were excluded from the succession, with a share of the inheritance. Countess Irmgard, who had already obtained the granting of town rights by Emperor Charles IV for the Burgflecken belonging to her Wittum Sonnenberg on 29.07.1351, succeeded in obtaining a share of the inheritance from the sons of Count Gerlach on 04.07.1355.1355, her two sons, who were still under her guardianship, received the meagre inheritance in Sonnenberg with the villages of Kloppenheim and Auringen as their main compensation and from this formed the small lordship of Nassau-Sonnenberg, which, however, was only able to retain its independence for half a century.

In 1367, together with her son Ruprecht and his wife Anna, she financially supported her stepson Count Adolf, who was in dire financial straits due to his involvement in the seven-year Mainz bishopric dispute, and in return received half of Wiesbaden and the villages of Erbenheim, Schierstein and Naurod as a pledge. Countess Irmgard and her son were entitled to reside in Wiesbaden Castle, which is why a detailed truce was concluded at the same time.

Irmgard spent the rest of her life at Klarenthal Abbey and died as a Dominican nun at Liebenau Abbey near Worms, where she was also buried. In Sonnenberg, Irmengardstraße is named after her.