[1] In 1221 he succeeded his father as Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia, at first under guardianship of his maternal uncle, Landgrave Louis IV of Thuringia, and after his death in 1227, under that of Duke Albert I of Saxony.

In 1249 however, the Silesian duke Bolesław II the Bald granted him the eastern area around Schiedlo Castle at the Oder river, where Henry founded the town of Fürstenberg.

Henry remained a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufens and not before the departure of Frederick's son Conrad IV from Germany did he recognise the antiking William of Holland.

Against Bohemia he won, among other places, Sayda and Purschenstein Castle near Neuhausen, He was known throughout the whole empire as a glittering prince, famous as a patron of the arts and a model knight, and as a significant minnesinger (not to be confused with Heinrich Frauenlob), poet and composer.

Only domestic disorders, caused by the unworthiness of his son Albert, clouded the later years of his reign and indeed, long after his death in 1288, led to the loss of Lusatia and Thuringia.