Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II (6 May 972 – 13 July 1024), also known as crowned Henry as Holy Roman Emperor (“Romanorum Saint Henry, Obl. S. B. ( extquotedblOblate of Saint Imperator”) in Rome. Benedict extquotedbl), was Holy Roman Emperor (“Ro- The rule of Henry II is seen as a period of centralized manorum Imperator”) from 1014 until his death in 1024 authority throughout the Empire. He consolidated his and the last member of the Ottonian dynasty of Emperors power by cultivating personal and political ties with the as he had no children. The Duke of Bavaria from 995, Catholic Church. He greatly expanded the Ottonian dy- Henry became King of Germany (“Rex Romanorum”) nasty’s custom of employing clergy as counter-weights following the sudden death of his second cousin, Emperor against secular nobles. Through donations to the Church Otto III in 1002, was crowned King of Italy (“Rex Ital- and the establishment of new dioceses, Henry strength- iae”) in 1004, and was crowned by the Pope as Emperor ened imperial rule across the Empire and increased con- in 1014. trol over ecclesiastical affairs. He stressed service to the The son of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Gisela Church and promoted monastic reform. For his personal of Burgundy, Emperor Henry II was a great-grandson of holiness and efforts to support the Church, Pope Bl. Eu- German King Henry I and a member of the Bavarian gene III canonized him in 1146, making Henry II the only branch of the Ottonian dynasty. Since his father had re- German monarch to be a saint. belled against two previous emperors, the younger Henry Henry II married Cunigunde of Luxembourg, who later was often in exile. This led him to turn to the Church at became his queen and empress. As the union pro- an early age, first finding refuge with the Bishop of Freis- duced no children, after Henry’s death the German nobles ing and later being educated at the cathedral school of elected Conrad II, a great-great-grandson of Emperor Hildesheim. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria Otto I, to succeed him. Conrad was the first of the Salian in 995 as “Henry IV”. As Duke, he attempted to join his dynasty of Emperors. second-cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, in sup- pressing a revolt against imperial rule in Italy in 1002. Before Henry II could arrive, however, Otto III died of fever, leaving no heir. After defeating several other 1 Early life and marriage claimants to the throne, Henry II was crowned as King of Germany (“Rex Romanorum”) on July 9, 1002 and as Henry was born on 5 May 972, the son of Duke Henry II, King of Italy (“Rex Italiae”) on 15 May 1004. Henry II in Duke of Bavaria, and Gisela of Burgundy. Through his 1004 aided Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia against the Poles, father, he was the grandson of Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, definitively incorporating the Duchy of Bohemia into the and the great-grandson of King Henry I of Germany. By Holy Roman Empire. his mother, he was the grandson of King Conrad I of Bur- Unlike his predecessor, who had focused upon imperial gundy, and the great-grandson of King Rudolf II of Bur- attention in Italy, Henry spent most of his reign concerned gundy. with imperial territory north of the Alps. His main focus The elder Henry came into conflict with his cousin Holy was on a series of wars against the Polish Duke Bolesław Roman Emperor Otto II, in 974. The elder Henry and I, who had already conquered a number of countries sur- Otto II disputed each other’s claims to authority over rounding him. Henry did, however, lead three expe- the Duchy of Swabia: Henry claimed the duchy as his ditions into Italy to ensure imperial dominion over the birthright while Otto II maintained his right to name a peninsula: twice to suppress secessionist revolts and once duke of his choosing. After an initial failed revolt, Otto to challenge the Byzantine Empire for dominance over II imprisoned the elder Henry in Ingelheim. After es- southern Italy. On 14 February 1014, Pope Benedict VIII caping, Henry again revolted against Otto II. When this 1 2 2 REIGN AS KING second revolt failed, Otto II deposed Henry as Duke of As the funeral procession moved through the Duchy of Bavaria and sent him into exile under the custody of the Bavaria in February 1002, Henry met the procession in Bishop of Utrecht in April 978. As a consequence of Polling, just north of the Alps. To legitimize his claims, his revolt, the Emperor stripped the Duchy of Bavaria of Henry demanded Archbishop Heribert of Cologne give its southeastern territories bordering Italy and formed the him the Imperial Regalia, chief among them being the Duchy of Carinthia. Holy Lance. Heribert, however, had sent these ahead of During his father’s exile, the younger Henry lived in the procession, possibility out of distrust of Henry and Hildesheim. As a child he was educated by the Bishop possibly because he favored the succession of his rela- of Freising and then studied at the Hildesheim Cathe- tive Duke Herman II of Swabia as the next king. In or- dral. The Emperor himself ensured the younger Henry der to force Herman II to relinquish the Holy Lance to received an ecclesiastical education in order that by be- him, Henry imprisoned the Archbishop and his brother coming a religious official he would be prevented from the Bishop of Wurzburg. With neither the symbols of participating in the Imperial government. imperial authority, the crown jewels, nor the cooperation of Heriberto, Henry was unable to convince the nobles at- The death of Otto II in 983 allowed the elder Henry to tending Otto III’s funeral procession to elect him as king. be released from custody and to return from exile. The A few weeks later, at Otto III’s funeral in Aachen Cathe- elder Henry claimed regency over Otto III, the three-year dral, Henry again attempted to gain the support of the old child of Otto II. After a failed attempt to claim the Kingdom’s nobles and was again rejected. German throne for himself in 985, the elder Henry re- linquished the regency to the child’s mother Theophanu. So it was without the support of the Kingdom’s nobil- In return for his submission to the child king, Henry was ity that Henry took the radical action of having him- restored as Duke of Bavaria. The younger Henry, now self anointed and crowned King of Germany (“Rex Ro- thirteen years old, was named his regent over Bavaria. manorum”) by Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz on 9 July When the elder Henry died in 995, the younger Henry 1002 at Mainz, in present day Germany. Henry’s action was elected by the Bavarian nobles as the new Duke to marked the first time a German king was not crowned in succeed his father as “Henry IV”[1] Aachen Cathedral since Emperor Otto I began the tra- dition in 936 and the first time a German king assumed In 999 Henry married Cunigunde of Luxembourg,[2] a the throne without election by the German nobility. Un- daughter of Siegfried, Count of Luxembourg. This mar- der the regal name of “King Henry II”, he appeared be- riage granted him an extensive network of contacts in fore the Saxons in mid-July in full regal apparel. There, Germany’s western territories. Henry convinced Bernard I, Duke of Saxony to support his claims to the throne. In return for his support, Henry guaranteed Bernard’s right to rule the Saxons and to rep- resent their interests before him. 2 Reign as king Shortly after gaining the support of the Saxons, Henry arranged for Archbishop Willigis to crown his wife, 2.1 Disputed succession Cunigunde of Luxembourg as Queen of Germany on 10 August[3] 1002[4] in Paderborn, in present day Germany. In 1001, Emperor Otto III experienced a revolt against his reign in Italy. The Emperor sent word for Henry II to join him with reinforcements from Germany, but then 2.2 Consolidation of power died unexpectedly in January 1002. Otto was only 21 at the time of death and had left no children and no in- Henry II spent the next several years consolidating his structions for the Imperial succession. In the Ottonian dy- political power within his borders. Herman II, Duke of nasty, succession to the throne had belonged to the Saxon Swabia, in particular fiercely contested Henry II’s right to branch, not the Bavarian line of which Henry was a mem- the throne. The Swabian Duke believed he was Otto III’s ber. Rival candidates for the throne, including Ezzo of true successor, as he had married a daughter of Liudof, Lotharingia, Margrave Eckard I of Meissen, and Duke eldest son of Emperor Otto I. Armed conflicts between Herman II of Swabia, strongly contested Henry’s right to Henry II and Herman II broke out but proved to be in- succeed Otto III. conclusive. This forced the two men to fight each other 3 politically for the support of the Swabian nobles. in 1003. Unable to decisively defeat Herman in Swabia, Henry II In 1004 Henry II responded to calls for aid from Ital- attempted to legitimize his usurpation of the throne by ian bishops and led an invasion into Italy against Arduin. traveling throughout the various duchies of his kingdom Henry II gathered his troops at Augsburg and marched – Saxony, Bavaria, Swabia, Upper Lorraine, Lower Lor- through the Brenner Pass to Trento, Italy.