Agnes of Poitou

Agnes was married to the Holy Roman emperor Henry III in 1043. After his death in 1056, she served as regent-empress of the Roman empire in the name of her young son, Henry IV. In a conspiracy against her, Henry was abducted in 1062 by a group of men including the bishop of Cologne and the duke of Bavaria, and thus she lost power. She moved to Rome in the later years of her life, where she acted as a mediator between her son, the throne, and his enemies.