Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1046?56) of the Salian dynasty
Henry III
(
Heinrich III
, 28 October 1016 ? 5 October 1056), called
the Black
or
the Pious
, was
Holy Roman Emperor
from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the
Salian dynasty
, he was the eldest son of
Conrad II
and
Gisela of Swabia
.
[1]
[2]
Henry was raised by his father, who made him Duke of
Bavaria
in 1026, appointed him co-ruler in 1028 and bestowed him with the
duchy of Swabia
and the
Kingdom of Burgundy
ten years later in 1038.
[4]
The emperor's death the following year ended a remarkably smooth and harmonious transition process towards Henry's sovereign rule, that was rather uncharacteristic for the
Ottonian
and
Salian
monarchs.
[4]
Henry succeeded Conrad II as
Duke of Carinthia
and
King of Italy
and continued to pursue his father's political course on the basis of
virtus et probitas
(courage and honesty), which led to an unprecedented sacral exaltation of the kingship. In 1046 Henry ended the
papal schism
, was crowned Emperor by
Pope Clement II
, freed the
Vatican
from dependence on the Roman nobility and laid the foundation for its empire-wide authority. In the duchies, Henry enforced the sovereign royal right of disposition, thereby ensuring tighter control. In
Lorraine
, this led to years of conflict from which he emerged victorious. Another sphere of defiance formed in southern Germany from 1052 to 1055. Henry III died, aged only 39. Modern historians, however, identify the final years of his reign as the beginning of a crisis in the Salian monarchy.
[5]
[6]
Early life
[
edit
]
Born on 28 October 1016,
[7]
or 1017,
[8]
Henry was the son of
Conrad of Worms
and
Gisela of Swabia
.
Conrad was a
Franconian
aristocrat
who held domains along the river
Rhine
when his son was born.
He was related to the imperial
Ottonian dynasty
through his great-grandmother,
Liutgard
?a daughter of the
Holy Roman Emperor
,
Otto I
.
Conrad may have fathered a son before his marriage to Gisela, because a
royal charter
referred to his sons in 1024, but its reliability is dubious.
Henry was always mentioned as his father's sole son in charters issued after February 1028.
Gisela, who was descended from
Charlemagne
, had a strong claim both to
Swabia
and to
Burgundy
.
Conrad was Gisela's third husband and she had given birth to three sons and possibly a daughter during her previous two marriages.
Conrad was illiterate, but Gisela was solicitous to their son's education and Henry learnt to read.
[17]
The last Ottonian monarch,
Henry II
, died on 13 July 1024.
The German aristocrats who assembled at Kamba to elect his successor proclaimed Conrad of Worms king on 4 September.
Conrad's opponent formed a coalition that included his stepson,
Ernest II, Duke of Swabia
.
They took up arms against the King in the second half of 1025, but he forced most of them into submission before the end of the year.
Ernest asked his mother Gisela to mediate a reconciliation and she convinced the eight-year-old Henry also to intervene on Ernest's behalf in early 1026.
Ernest had to promise to provide military assistance to Conrad to achieve a pardon.
Conrad designated Henry as his heir in
Augsburg
in February 1027.
A year later, before departing for his first Italian campaign, Conrad charged
Bruno
,
Bishop of Augsburg
, with Henry's guardianship.
Historian Stefan Weinfurter states that Bruno, who was Emperor Henry II's brother, was "particularly well-suited to impart regal concepts and imperial traditions" to his ward.
Bruno accompanied Henry to Rome where they attended Conrad's
imperial coronation
on Easter 1027.
Dynastic consolidation and co-ruler
[
edit
]
Emperor Conrad II was determined to strengthen royal authority in Germany.
Ignoring the claim of
Emeric
, the son of King
Stephen I of Hungary
, to Bavaria, Conrad persuaded the Bavarian aristocrats to acknowledge Henry as their duke in
Regensburg
on 24 July 1027.
Henry's appointment to the duchy was unprecedented?Bavaria had never been ruled by a ten-year-old duke.
In autumn 1027, the Emperor sent Bishop
Werner of Strasbourg
to
Constantinople
to win a bride from the Byzantine imperial family for Henry, but Werner's sudden death put an end to the negotiations with Emperor
Constantine VIII
.
At Conrad's initiative, the "clergy and the people" elected Henry his co-ruler and
Pilgrim
,
Archbishop of Cologne
, crowned Henry king in
Aachen
on Easter 1028.
Henry was thereafter named the
"hope of the empire"
on his father's seals in accordance with Byzantine customs.
Conrad sent another embassy to Constantinople.
Constantine VIII's successor, Emperor
Romanos III Argyros
, proposed the hand of one of his sisters to Henry, but Conrad's envoy, Count Manegold of Donauworth, refused the offer since she was already married.
Bishop Bruno of Augsburg died on 6 April 1029 and Conrad appointed
Egilbert
,
Bishop of Freising
, as Henry's new tutor.
Bavaria made raids into Hungary and provoked a Hungarian counter-attack.
Conrad assembled Bavarian,
Lorrainian
and
Bohemian
troops and invaded Hungary in June 1030. Insufficient supplies forced him to return and the Hungarians attacked and beat his army at Vienna.
Conrad left Bavaria, assigning the task to deal with the Hungarians to the twelve-year-old Henry.
Egilbert of Freising started negotiations with Stephen I of Hungary on Henry's behalf.
Egilbert agreed to cede lands along the frontier to the Hungarians in return for the release of their prisoners.
Henry accepted the terms and signed the peace treaty during a meeting with Stephen I in Hungary in early 1031.
Egilbert's mentorship lasted until Henry's
accolade
in late June or early July in 1033.
Egilbert received generous grants for his services on 19 July.
Upon
Rudolph III of Burgundy
's death Conrad II claimed the title to the Burgundian succession and marched his army to Burgundy during the winter of 1032/1033. In two large-scale military summer campaigns in 1033 and 1034, Conrad defeated his rival
Odo II, Count of Blois
. On 1 August 1034, Conrad II officially incorporated the
Kingdom of Burgundy
into the Holy Roman Empire at a ceremony held in the
Cathedral of Geneva
.
[39]
Henry and
Gunhilda of Denmark
, the daughter of
Emma of Normandy
and
Canute the Great
,
King of Denmark
,
England
and
Norway
, were engaged on 18 May 1035.
On the same occasion Conrad declared war on the
Liutizi
, a pagan Slavic tribe
and deposed his brother-in-law,
Adalbero, Duke of Carinthia
.
Conrad entrusted Canute with
Southern Jutland
upon their children's marriage, which took place in
Nijmegen
during the 1036 feast of
Pentecost
.
[42]
In Spring 1037, a revolt in Northern
Italy
is started by Archbishop
Aribert
of
Milan
. By Emperor's (
Conrad II
) decree, Henry travelled south of the
Alps
where he then acquired a big stick, famously known as
"The Big Stick of 1037"
. However the conflict would not be resolved by Henry until 1040 through military and diplomatic pressure coupled with growing civil unrest.
[43]
[44]
In 1038, Henry was called to aid his father in Italy. On their return trip along the
Adriatic
coast Gunhilda died from an epidemic that apparently had also caused the death of
Herman IV of Swabia
near
Naples
.
In 1039, Emperor Conrad II also died, and Henry succeeded him as king and
imperator in spe
.
Royal and imperial reign
[
edit
]
Inaugural tour
[
edit
]
Henry inaugurated his reign with a tour through his domains. In the
Low Countries
he received homage of
Gothelo I, Duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine
, and in
Cologne
, he was joined by
Herman II, Archbishop of Cologne
, who accompanied him and his mother to
Saxony
, where he established the town of
Goslar
as a future imperial residence. Heading an army he entered
Thuringia
where he met
Eckard II, Margrave of Meissen
, whose advice and counsel he sought with regard to the recent successes of Duke
Bretislav I
of Bohemia in
Poland
.
[46]
In Bohemia only a delegation that offered hostages appeased Henry and he disbanded his army and continued his tour. He visited
Bavaria
, when, upon his departure, King
Peter Orseolo
of Hungary sent raiding parties into Swabia. At
Ulm
, Henry convened a
diet
and received acknowledgement from the present Italian princes.
Henry returned to
Ingelheim
where he was recognized by a Burgundian embassy and by
Aribert
,
Archbishop of Milan
, whom he had supported against his father.
[42]
Henry's consensus with Aribert was an attempt to solve the old interior imperial conflict with Conrad. When
Adalbero I of Eppenstein
was deposed by Conrad, Henry also inherited the
Duchy of Carinthia
, by which he became triple-duke (Bavaria, Swabia and Carinthia) on top of being triple-king of Germany, Burgundy and Italy.
[47]
Conflict with Bohemia and Hungary
[
edit
]
Henry led his first military campaign as sovereign in 1040 into Bohemia, where
Bretislav I
intended to establish a separate archbishopric. After having attended the reform sessions of a number of monasteries, Henry summoned his army at
Stablo
. In July he joined with contingents at Goslar and deployed his entire army at
Regensburg
. He set out on 13 August and was soon ambushed in the passes of the
Bohemian Forest
and forced to retreat with heavy losses at the
Battle at Br?dek
. Only after the release of a large number of Bohemian hostages, including Bretislav's son, did Henry procure the release of his prisoners. Upon conclusion of the peace, Henry retreated hastily. On his return to Germany, he appointed Suidger?the future
Pope Clement II
?as
bishop of Bamberg
.
[46]
In 1040,
Peter of Hungary
was overthrown by
Samuel Aba
and fled to Germany, where Henry welcomed him despite their former enmity. Bretislav was now deprived of his former ally, upon which Henry prepared another campaign into Bohemia. On 15 August, almost exactly one year after his last expedition he set out once more, was victorious and signed a peace treaty with Bretislav at Regensburg.
[46]
Henry spent Christmas 1041 at
Strasbourg
, and received emissaries from the Duchy of Burgundy, where he travelled during the new year to settle administrative and judicial matters. On the road near
Basel
he learnt of Hungarian raids into Bavaria and bestowed the duchy to a certain
Henry VII
, a relative of the last independent duke. At Cologne, Henry summoned the royal princes, who unanimously declared war on Hungary. After he had sent a wedding delegation to
Agnes of Poitou
he set out in September 1042 and successfully subdued the western territories of Hungary. Aba fled to his eastern estates, as Henry installed a cousin as steward, who was, however, quickly removed after the emperor had left.
After Christmas at his chosen imperial residence, Goslar, he received foreign guests. Duke Bretislav appeared in person, a
Kievan
marriage embassy was dismissed and the ambassadors of
Casimir I of Poland
were rejected as the duke did not show up in person. Henry left for the French border near
Ivois
, in order to meet King
Henry I of France
, most likely to discuss the impending marriage to the princess of
Aquitaine
. Henry next returned to Hungary and forced Aba to recognize the
Danubian
territories, a former donation of
Stephen I of Hungary
,
pro causa amicitiae
(for friendship's sake). These territories had been ceded to Hungary after Conrad II's defeat of 1030. This border remained in place between Hungary and
Austria
until 1920.
Promotion of Speyer
[
edit
]
Gisela, Henry's mother, died in March 1043. She was solemnly buried in Speyer. The king appeared barefoot, in tears, and penitent robe at the funeral, his arms crossed, threw himself on the ground in front of the crowd and moved everyone to tears. With Henry's emulation of Christian humble self-denial, he intended to prove his ability to hold pious kingship. Historians have referred since to the period of the
"Christomimetic royalty"
. Henry promoted Speyer far more than his father Conrad. Shortly before leaving for Italy, he endowed the church with a magnificently illustrated gospel book, called the
Codex Aureus Escorialensis
, also known as the Speyer Gospel. The Dome of Speyer was gradually extended during the following years and a large burial sector was created for future rulers and royal continuity.
[48]
[49]
In October 1043, Henry, displaying deep personal piety, announced from the pulpit of the
Konstanz Minster
that the
Peace and Truce of God
be respected all over his realms on that very day. This day was to be remembered as the
"Day of Indulgence"
or
"Day of Pardon"
. He, Henry, granted universal indulgence and pardon while in turn promised himself to forgive all injuries suffered, pains endured and to refrain from all acts of vengeance
[42]
and he encouraged all his imperial subjects to do likewise.
[47]
[50]
Marriage to Agnes of Poitou
[
edit
]
In 1043 Henry married
Agnes of Poitou
, the daughter of Duke
William V of Aquitaine
and
Agnes of Burgundy
. She resided at the court of her stepfather,
Geoffrey Martel
,
Count of Anjou
. The association with this boisterous vassal of the king of France and her
consanguinity
with Henry (both were descendants of
Henry the Fowler
) stirred up some consternation among many clerics, who opposed their union. The marriage, however, took place anyway and Agnes was crowned queen at
Mainz
.
[51]
Conflicts in Lorraine and pacification in Hungary
[
edit
]
Henry spent the winter at
Utrecht
, where he again announced an indulgence. In April 1044,
Gothelo
, Duke of
Lower
and
Upper Lorraine
died. Henry opposed the
political particularism
of the dukes. In order to diminish their power he appointed the younger son
Gothelo II
as duke of the Lower duchy instead of
Godfrey
, Gothelo I's eldest son who had already been installed as duke of Upper Lorraine. Henry claimed that Gothelo I's deathbed wish was to bequeath both sons with a share of the estate. Godfrey, who had been a faithful servant of Henry, eventually rose in rebellion. Henry attempted to reconcile the brothers at
Nijmegen
but failed. However, Henry considered the ducal fief to be a royal office and insisted on his prerogative when he appointed dignitaries at his discretion.
[50]
On 6 July 1044 Henry, accompanied by
Peter Orseolo
, entered Hungary at the head of a moderately sized force, which
engaged
Samuel Aba's sizeable army. Discord among the Magyar forces prevented cohesive manoeuvres and their troops quickly dispersed upon Henry's onslaught. At
Szekesfehervar
Peter regained his
fief
as King of Hungary.
Aba was eventually captured by Peter and beheaded. Henry implemented regular Imperial administration in Hungary.
[46]
Upon his return from the Hungarian expedition, Godfrey of Upper Lorraine established new alliances, including with Henry of France, who might support him in a likely future insurrection.
The emperor reacted promptly and summoned Godfrey to
Aachen
. He was convicted and lost the duchy of Upper Lorraine and his fief of the county of
Verdun
.
Godfrey fled and took up arms in revolt. Henry wintered at
Speyer
and prepared for the Lorraine campaign of 1045.
In early 1045, Henry entered Lorraine at the head of an army, and besieged and conquered Godfrey's castle of
Bockelheim
(near
Kreuznach
). After he had taken a number of castles, lack of supplies forced him to leave. He garrisoned the ducal castles and cities to prevent any incursions by Godfrey and left for Burgundy. Godfrey had stirred up rebellions in Burgundy by creating conflicts between the imperialist faction and the domestic royal faction, which supported an independent Burgundy. Louis,
Count of Montbeliard
, challenged and defeated
Reginald I, Count of Burgundy
. When Henry arrived, Reginald and Gerold,
Count of Geneva
, paid homage and Burgundy was subsequently incorporated into the empire.
[54]
Height of power
[
edit
]
Henry settled political issues with the Lombard magnates at
Augsburg
. In Goslar he invested
Otto
with the duchy of Swabia, the
count palatine
,
Henry I
with the
Duchy of Lorraine
and
Baldwin
with the
Margraviate of Antwerp
. During the preparations of the jaunt to Hungary where Henry had intended to spend Pentecost with King Peter, a wooden floor collapsed in a residence where
Bruno
,
Bishop of Wurzburg
was killed. In Hungary, Peter presented Henry with the
Golden Lance
and pledged an oath of fealty among his nobles. The crown of Hungary was bestowed on Peter in perpetuity and the kingdoms of Germany and Hungary were at peace. In July, Godfrey surrendered and was imprisoned at
Giebichenstein
.
War in Lorraine
[
edit
]
Henry fell ill at
Tribur
in October, so Henry of Bavaria and Otto of Swabia chose Otto's nephew and successor as count palatine,
Henry I of Lorraine
as Henry III's successor. However, Henry III recovered, but remained without an heir. In early 1046, Henry's old advisor, Eckard of Meissen, died, leaving Meissen to Henry. He bestowed it on
William
, count of
Orlamunde
.
[55]
Henry then moved to Lower Lorraine, where Gothelo II had just died and
Dirk IV of Holland
had seized
Flushing
. Henry personally led a campaign against Count Dirk and recovered Flushing. He gave it to
Bernold
,
Bishop of Utrecht
, and returned to Aachen to celebrate Pentecost and to decide on the fate of Lorraine. Henry restored Godfrey, but transferred the county of Verdun to the bishop of the city, which angered the duke. Henry bestowed the lower duchy to
Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine
and appointed
Adalbert
,
archbishop of Bremen
.
The right of a German court to try an Italian bishop was considered very controversial. The problem culminated in the
Investiture Controversy
that overshadowed the reigns of Henry's son and grandson. Henry moved on to Saxony and held imperial courts at
Quedlinburg
,
Merseburg
(in June) and Meissen, where he appointed his daughter Beatrice abbess and ended the strife between
Siemomysł, Duke of Pomerania
and
Casimir of Poland
.
[47]
Imperial coronation
[
edit
]
Henry summoned the senior princes of the empire and departed to Italy. His ally, Aribert of Milan, had recently died and the Milanese citizens had chosen
Guido
to succeed him. In Rome, the three popes
Benedict IX
,
Sylvester III
and
Gregory VI
contested the pontifical honours.
Benedict was a
Tusculan
who had previously renounced the throne, Sylvester a
Crescentian
, and Gregory was a reformer (
simoniac
). Henry marched to
Verona
and
Pavia
, where he held court and dispensed justice. He moved on to
Sutri
and held a
second court
on 20 December 1046 where he deposed all three papal candidates. In Rome he held a synod, declared all Roman priests unfit for office and as Adalbert of Bremen refused the honour, Henry appointed
Suidger of Bamberg
, who was acclaimed by the people and clergy. He adopted the name
Clement II
.
[56]
[57]
On Christmas Day 1046, Clement was consecrated, and Henry and Agnes crowned emperor and empress. The Roman citizenry awarded Henry the
Golden Chain of the Patriciate
and elevated him to
patricius
. Henry visited
Frascati
, the capital of the
counts of Tusculum
and seized all castles of the Crescentii family. Joined by the pope, he ventured to
southern Italy
and reverted most of his father's policies.
[55]
At
Capua
, Henry was received by Prince
Guaimar IV of Salerno
and
Capua
. However, Henry returned Capua to the twice-deprived Prince
Pandulf IV
, a highly unpopular choice. Guaimar had been acclaimed as
Duke of Apulia and Calabria
by the
Norman
mercenaries under
William Iron Arm
and his brother
Drogo of Hauteville
.
In return, Guaimar had recognized the conquests of the Normans and invested William as his vassal with the
comital
title. Henry made Drogo, William's successor in Apulia, a direct vassal of the imperial crown. He did likewise to
Ranulf Drengot
, the count of
Aversa
, who had been a vassal of Guaimar as Prince of Capua. Thus, Guaimar was deprived of his greatest vassals, his principality split in two, and his greatest enemy reinstated. These decisions made Henry unpopular among the Lombards, and
Benevento
, although a papal vassal, would not approve of him. The Italian circuit was completed when he arrived at Verona in May 1047.
[47]
Henry's appointments
[
edit
]
Upon his return to Germany, Henry assigned the offices that had been left vacant. He transferred his last personal duchy, Carinthia, to
Welf
, made his Italian
chancellor
Hunfried
Bishop of Ravenna
, appointed to several other sees, installing Guido in
Piacenza
, his chaplain Theodoric in
Verdun
, the provost Herman of Speyer in
Strasbourg
and his German chancellor Theodoric in
Constance
. The important Lorrainian bishoprics of
Metz
and
Trier
received, respectively,
Adalbero
and
Eberhard
, a chaplain.
[46]
Henry was at Metz in July 1047 when Godfrey once again rose in rebellion. Godfrey was now allied with
Baldwin of Flanders
, his son (the margrave of Antwerp), Dirk of Holland, and
Herman, Count of Hainaut
. Henry gathered an army and went north, where he gave
Adalbert of Bremen
Godfrey's former lands and oversaw the trial by combat of
Thietmar
, the brother of
Bernard II, Duke of Saxony
, accused of plotting to kill the king. Bernard, an enemy of Adalbert, was now clearly on Henry's bad side. Henry made peace with the new king of Hungary,
Andrew I
, and moved into the
Netherlands
. At Flushing, he was defeated by Dirk. The Hollanders sacked
Charlemagne
's palace at
Nijmegen
and burnt
Verdun
. Godfrey then performed a public penance and assisted in the reconstruction of Verdun.
[46]
The rebels besieged
Liege
, which was stoutly defended by Bishop
Wazo
. Henry gave Upper Lorraine to one
Adalbert
and left. The pope had died in the meantime and Henry chose Poppo of Brixen to succeed him, who adopted the name
Damasus II
. Henry gave Bavaria to one
Cuno
and, at Ulm in January 1048, Swabia to
Otto of Schweinfurt
, called
the White
. Henry met Henry of France again, probably at Ivois in October and at Christmas, envoys from Rome came to seek a new pope, Damasus having died. Henry's most enduring papal selection was Bruno of Toul, who took office as
Leo IX
, under whom the Church would be divided between East and West. Henry's final appointment of this long spate was a successor to Adalbert in Lorraine. For this, he appointed
Gerard of Chatenoy
, a relative of Adalbert and Henry himself.
[58]
[59]
Peace in Lorraine
[
edit
]
1049 proved to be a successful year. Dirk of Holland was defeated and killed. Adalbert of Bremen managed a peace with Bernard of Saxony and negotiated a treaty with the missionary monarch
Sweyn II of Denmark
. With the assistance of Sweyn and
Edward the Confessor
of England, whose enemies Baldwin had harboured, Baldwin of Flanders was harassed by sea and unable to escape the onslaught of the imperial army. At Cologne, the pope excommunicated Godfrey and Baldwin. The former abandoned his allies and was imprisoned by the emperor again. Baldwin also gave in under Henry's pressure. Finally, the war had ended in the Low Countries and Lorraine.
[60]
Final years
[
edit
]
In 1051, Henry undertook a third Hungarian campaign but suffered a major defeat at the
Battle of Vertes
. His troops fled the battlefield over a range of hills still called "Vertes" ("Armoured") because discarded armour has been found there for centuries. In Lower Lorraine,
Lambert, Count of Louvain
; and Richildis, widow of Herman of Mons and new bride of Baldwin of Antwerp, caused trouble. Godfrey was released and given Lower Lorraine, to safeguard the unstable peace attained two years before.
In 1052, Henry undertook a fourth campaign against Hungary, and besieged
Pressburg
without success, as the Hungarians sank his supply ships on the Danube river. Henry was unable to continue his campaign and in fact never tried again. Henry did send a Swabian army to assist Leo in Italy, but he recalled it quickly. At Christmas 1052, Cuno of Bavaria was summoned to Merseburg and deposed by a small council of princes for his conflict with
Gebhard III
,
Bishop of Regensburg
. Cuno revolted.
[46]
Final wars in Germany
[
edit
]
On 26 June 1053, at Tribur, the young
Henry
, born 11 November 1050, was elected king of Germany. Andrew of Hungary almost made peace, but Cuno convinced him otherwise. Henry appointed his young son duke of Bavaria and went to deal with the ongoing insurrection. Henry sent another army to assist Leo in the
Mezzogiorno
against the Normans. He himself had confirmed their conquests as his vassals. Leo, without assistance from Guaimar (distanced from Henry since 1047), was defeated at the
Battle of Civitate
on 18 June 1053 by
Humphrey
, Count of Apulia;
Robert Guiscard
, his younger brother; and Prince
Richard I of Capua
. The Swabians were cut to pieces.
[54]
In 1054, Henry traveled north to deal with the bellicose Casimir of Poland. He transferred
Silesia
from Bretislav to Casimir. Bretislaus nevertheless remained loyal to the end. Henry turned westwards and crowned his young son at Aachen on 17 July and then marched into Flanders, as the two Baldwins had rebelled again. John of Arras, who had seized
Cambrai
before, had been forced out by Baldwin of Flanders and so turned to the Emperor. In return for inducing
Liutpert, Bishop of Cambrai
, to give John the castle, John would lead Henry through Flanders. The Flemish campaign was a success, but Liutpert could not be convinced.
Bretislav, who had regained Silesia in a short war, died in 1054. The margrave of Austria,
Adalbert
, however, successfully resisted the depredations of Cuno and the raids of the king of Hungary. Henry could thus direct his attention elsewhere than rebellions for once. He returned to Goslar, the city where his son had been born and which he had raised to imperial and ecclesiastic grandeur with his palace and church reforms. He passed Christmas there and appointed
Gebhard of Eichstedt
as the next holder of the Petrine see, with the name Victor II. He was the last of Henry's four German popes.
[55]
Preparing Italy and Germany for his death
[
edit
]
In 1055, Henry turned south, to Italy again, for
Boniface III of Tuscany
, ever an imperial ally, had died, and his widow,
Beatrice of Bar
, had married Godfrey of Lorraine (1054). First, however, he gave his old hostage,
Spitignev
, the son of Bretislaus, to the Bohemians as duke. Spitignev did homage and Bohemia remained securely, loyally, and happily within the Imperial fold. By Easter, Henry had arrived in
Mantua
. He held several courts, one at
Roncaglia
?where, a century later (1158),
Frederick Barbarossa
held a
far more important diet
?and sent out his
missi dominici
to establish order. Godfrey, ostensibly the reason for the visit, was not well received by the people and returned to Flanders. Henry met the pope at
Florence
and arrested Beatrice, for marrying a traitor, and her daughter
Matilda
, later to be such an enemy of Henry's son. The young
Frederick of Tuscany
, son of Beatrice, refused to come to Florence and died within days.
[54]
Henry returned and at Christmas 1055 he arranged the subsequent marriage of his successor. In
Zurich
, the heir to the throne,
Henry IV
, was engaged to
Bertha of Turin
of the
House of Savoy
.
[61]
Henry entered a Germany in turmoil. A staunch ally against Cuno in Bavaria, Gebhard of Regensburg, was implicated in a plot against the king along with Cuno and Welf of Carinthia. Sources diverge here: some claim only that the retainers of the princes plotted the undoing of the king. Whatever the case, it all came to naught, and Cuno died of
plague
, with Welf soon following him to the grave. Baldwin of Flanders and Godfrey were at it again, besieging Antwerp, and they were defeated again. Henry's reign was clearly changing in character: old foes were dead or dying and old friends as well.
[55]
Herman of Cologne died. Henry appointed his confessor,
Anno
, as Herman's successor. Henry of France, so long eyeing Lorraine greedily, met for a third time with the emperor at Ivois in May 1056. The French king, not renowned for his tactical or strategic prowess, but admirable for his personal valour on the field, had a heated debate with the German king and challenged him to single combat. Henry fled at night from this meeting. Once in Germany again, Godfrey made his final peace, and Henry went to the northeast to deal with a Slav uprising after the death of William of Meissen. He fell ill on the way and took to bed. He freed Beatrice and Matilda and had those with him
swear allegiance
to the young Henry, whom he commended the pope, present.
On 5 October, not yet forty, Henry died at
Bodfeld
, the imperial hunting lodge in the
Harz
mountains.
His heart was transferred to
Goslar
and his body to
Speyer
, to rest next to his father's in the family vault of the
cathedral of Speyer
. Henry had been one of the most powerful of the Holy Roman Emperors. His authority as king in Burgundy, Germany and Italy was only rarely questioned, his power over the church was at the root of what the reformers he sponsored later fought against in his son, and his achievement in binding to the empire her tributaries was clear. Nevertheless, his reign is often pronounced a failure in that he apparently left problems far beyond the capacities of his successors to handle. The
Investiture Controversy
was largely the result of his church politics, though his popemaking gave the Roman diocese to the reform party.
[63]
He united all the great duchies save Saxony to himself at one point or another but gave them all away. His most enduring and concrete monument may be the impressive palace (
kaiserpfalz
) at Goslar.
[49]
Family and children
[
edit
]
Henry III was married twice and had at least eight children:
- Beatrice
(1037 ? 13 July 1061), abbess of
Quedlinburg
and
Gandersheim
- With his second wife,
Agnes
:
- Adelaide II
(1045,
Goslar
? 11 January 1096), abbess of
Gandersheim
from 1061 and Quedlinburg from 1063
- Gisela (1047,
Ravenna
? 6 May 1053)
- Matilda
(October 1048 ? 12 May 1060,
Pohlde
), married 1059
Rudolf of Rheinfelden
, duke of Swabia and
anti-king
(1077)
- Henry
, his successor
- Conrad
(1052,
Regensburg
? 10 April 1055), duke of Bavaria (from 1054)
- Judith
(1054,
Goslar
? 14 March 1092 or 1096), married, firstly, in 1063,
Solomon of Hungary
, and, secondly, in 1089,
Ladislaus I Herman
,
Duke of Poland
- With an anonymous concubine:
- Azela, mother of bishop Johannes of Speyer
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Jan Habermann.
"The curious story of Henry III"
. UNESCO World Heritage Centre
. Retrieved
1 February
2020
.
- ^
"Heinrich III. mit neuem Geburtsjahr"
. Regesta Imperii - Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz. 18 July 2016
. Retrieved
1 February
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Rudolf Schieffer (30 September 2013).
Christianisierung und Reichsbildungen: Europa 700?1200
. C.H.Beck. pp. 150?.
ISBN
978-3406653766
.
- ^
Friedrich Prinz.
"Kaiser Heinrich III. seine widerspruchliche Beurteilung und deren Grunde, in Historische Zeitschrift No. 246 (1988)"
(PDF)
. MGH Bibliothek
. Retrieved
15 February
2020
.
- ^
Thomas Zotz.
"Spes imperii ? Heinrichs III. Herrschaftspraxis und Reichsintegration"
(PDF)
. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
. Retrieved
15 February
2020
.
- ^
Gerhard Lubich; Dirk Jackel (2016).
"Das Geburtsjahr Heinrichs III.: 1016"
. Deutsches Archiv fur Erforschung des Mittelalters: 581?592.
- ^
"Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor"
.
Britannica
. 12 March 2024.
- ^
Johann Heinrich Albers (1872).
Die Erziehung Heinrich III. in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklung der staatlichen und kirchlichen Verhaltnisse des 11. Jahrhunderts: Inaugural-Dissertation
. Universitats-Buchdruckerei.
- ^
Previte-Orton, Charles William
.
"The early history of the house of Savoy (1000-1233)"
. Cambridge, The University press Archive
. Retrieved
15 February
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Kampers, Franz. "Henry III." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Archived
6 October 2021 at the
Wayback Machine
Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 January 2016
- ^
"1037"
.
- ^
Cowdrey, H. E. J. (22 January 1966).
"Archbishop Aribert Ii of Milan"
.
History
.
51
(171): 1?15.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1468-229X.1966.tb01165.x
.
JSTOR
24405426
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Friedrich Steinhoff (1865).
Das Konigthum und Kaiserthum Heinrich III.: Eine verfaszungsgeschichtl. Monografie
. Deuerlich. pp.
17
?.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Heinrich III"
. Deutsche Biographie
. Retrieved
15 February
2020
.
- ^
Reuter, Timothy
(2006).
Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 98?.
ISBN
978-1139459549
.
- ^
a
b
John H. Arnold (2014).
The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity
. OUP Oxford. pp. 486?.
ISBN
978-0191015007
.
- ^
a
b
Boshof, Egon
(2008).
Die Salier
.
Kohlhammer Verlag
. p. 112.
ISBN
978-3170201835
.
- ^
Constance Brittain Bouchard (1987).
Sword, Miter, and Cloister: Nobility and the Church in Burgundy, 980?1198
. Cornell University Press.
ISBN
0801419743
.
[
page needed
]
- ^
a
b
c
Bernd Schneidmuller; Stefan Weinfurter (2003).
Die deutschen Herrscher des Mittelalters: historische Portraits von Heinrich I. bis Maximilian I. (919?1519)
. C.H. Beck. pp. 136?.
ISBN
978-3406509582
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Stefan Weinfurter (2015).
"Ordnungskonfigurationen im Konflikt Das Beispiel Kaiser Heinrichs III"
.
Vortrage und Forschungen
.
54
. Uni Heidelberg: 79?100.
doi
:
10.11588/vuf.2001.0.17742
. Retrieved
16 February
2020
.
- ^
Mary Stroll (2011).
Popes and Antipopes: The Politics of Eleventh Century Church Reform
. Brill. pp. 10?.
ISBN
978-9004217010
.
- ^
Thorndike, Lynn
;
Shotwell, James Thomson
(1928).
The History of Medieval Europe p.285
. Dalcassian Publishing Company. pp. 285?. GGKEY:TY4HYGTG9WL.
- ^
C. Stephen Jaeger (2013).
The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950?1200
. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 202?.
ISBN
978-0812200300
.
- ^
John S. Ott; Anna Trumbore Jones (2007).
The Bishop Reformed: Studies of Episcopal Power and Culture in the Central Middle Ages
. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 135?.
ISBN
978-0754657651
.
- ^
Stefan Weinfurter (January 2006).
"Das Jahrhundert der Salier (1024?1125)"
.
Francia
. Academia
. Retrieved
16 February
2020
.
- ^
Elisabeth van Houts (31 January 2019).
Married Life in the Middle Ages, 900-1300
. OUP inrichOxford. pp. 47?.
ISBN
978-0-19-251974-0
.
- ^
von Giesebrecht, Wilhelm
(1841).
Annales Altahenses: eine Quellenschrift zur Geschichte des eilften Jahrhunderts aus Fragmenten und Excerpten hergestellt
. Duncker und Humblot. pp.
125
?.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Bernhardt, John W. (2002).
Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936-1075
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-39489-9
.
- Keynes, Simon
(1999). "The cult of King Alfred". In Lapidge, Michael; Godden, Malcolm; Keynes, Simon (eds.).
Anglo-Saxon England
. Cambridge University Press.
- Lohse, Tillmann
(2013). "Heinrich IV., seine Halbschwester Azela und die Wahl zum Mitkonig am 26. Juni 1053 in Tribur: Zwei ubersehene Quellenbelege aus Goslar".
Niedersachsisches Jahrbuch fur Landesgeschichte
(in German).
85
: 217?227.
- North, William (2006). "Henry III". In Emmerson, Richard K.; Clayton-Emmerson, Sandra (eds.).
Key Figures in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia
. Routledge.
- Norwich, John Julius
.
The Normans in the South 1016?1130
. Longmans: London, 1967.
- Ryley, Caroline M. (1964). "The Emperor Henry III". In Gwatkin, H. M.;
Whitney, J. P.
(eds.).
The Cambridge Medieval History:Germany and the Western Empire
. Vol. III. Cambridge University Press.
- Schutz, Herbert
(2010).
The Medieval Empire in Central Europe: Dynastic Continuity in the Post-Carolingian Frankish Realm, 900?1300
. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
ISBN
978-1443819664
.
- Weinfurter, Stefan (1999).
The Salian Century: Main Currents in an Age of Transition
. The Middle Ages. Translated by Bowlus, Barbara M. University of Pennsylvania Press.
ISBN
0812235088
.
- Whitney, J. P.
(1968). "The Reform of the Church". In Tanner, J. R.;
Previte-Orton, C. W.
; Brooke, Z. N. (eds.).
The Cambridge Medieval History
. Vol. V. Cambridge University Press.
- Wolfram, Herwig
(2006).
Conrad II, 990?1039: Emperor of Three Kingdoms
. Translated by Kaiser, Denise A. The Pennsylvania State University Press.
ISBN
027102738X
.
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,
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,
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,
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,
(1347?1349; Lower: 1349?1353; Straubing: 1353?1388)
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,
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, Duke
(1516?1545)
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(1550?1579)
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(1579?1597)
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(1597?1623)
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