Herman became duke in 1030 following the death of his older brother Ernest II.
Seven years later, his stepfather, the Emperor Conrad II, married him to Adelaide of Susa, the marchioness of Turin, in January 1037.
[2] In July of the next year, while campaigning with Conrad in Southern Italy, he was struck down by an epidemic near Naples.
He was buried in Trento Cathedral on 28 July 1038, because the summer heat made it impossible to bring his corpse back to Germany.
Herman was on campaign for much of his short marriage to Adelaide and he died without heirs.