Henry the Lion (1129/1131-1195), his name in German, Heinrich der Löwe, was Duke of Saxony from 1142 and Duke of Bavaria from 1156. He was the richest of the German nobles, at least until the enrichment of the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty during the reign of Frederick I. Henry achieved this great wealth in large part by the combined legacies of his four grandparents. He was the son of Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of duke Welf IV and an heir of the Billungs, former dukes of Saxony. Henry's father died in 1139 when Henry was still a child, and King Conrad III did not immediately give the two dukedoms to Henry. Henry's mother was Gertude, only daughter of the Emperor Lothar III and of Richenza of Nordheim, heiress to the Saxon territories of Nordheim and Brunswick-Lüneburg.He acquired Saxony in 1142, and Bavaria in 1156. In 1158 he married as his second wife Matilda (1156 -1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is the founder of Munich (1157/58; München) and Lübeck (1159); he also founded and developed the cities of Stade, Lüneburg and the city of Braunschweig (Brunswick). He made Brunswick the capital of his principality, where he had a bronze Lion erected on his castle yard, next to the Brunswick Cathedral, in 1166 – the first bronze statue north of the Alps, which still exists today. The Lion was his heraldic animal.  The lion demonstrates his power which was nearly that of a king. In 1175, Henry the Lion refused to aid his cousin Emperor Frederick I, against Lombardy, because he did not accept the condition of investing him with the rich city of Goslar. It was this insubordination the Emperor could not tolerate. Henry had to face a feudal lawsuit and was condemned in 1180, losing most of his principality. He had to leave Germany in 1182 for three years and stayed with his father-in-law, Henry II. The last years of his life Henry the Lion tried to gain back what he had lost, but he mostly failed. The tombs of Henry the Lion and his wife,from England, Mathilde. In his right hand, he holds the cathedral, in the left hand, he holds his sword.  They were built around 1225 and made from  lime-stone.