Welf
was formally restored to his duchy, and the succession was promised to
his son.
was formally restored to his duchy, and the succession was promised to
his son.
Cambridge Medieval History - v5 - Contest of Empire and the Papacy
pp.
90, 92), Gregory addresses the princes
“in Teutonico atque in Saxonico regno commanentibus” and “Rodulfo omnibusque
secum in regno Saxonum commanentibus. ”
CH. III.
## p. 140 (#186) ############################################
140
Henry's successful diplomacy
struggle was thus in the main between Saxony and Thuringia under
Rudolf and the rest of Germany under Henry, though in Swabia Berthold
and Welf were able to maintain themselves and were supported, in spite
of the Pope's neutrality, by an advanced section of Church reformers.
Henry's first move after Rudolf's withdrawal was to raise a force of
Bavarian and Bohemian troops and invade Swabia, which suffered terribly
from the constant depredations of both sides, neither of which was able
to obtain complete mastery. At the end of May he held a diet at Ulm,
where the three rebel dukes of South Germany were formally deprived of
their duchies. Carinthia was given to Liutold of Eppenstein, head of the
most important family in the duchy. Bavaria and Swabia he retained for
the time in his own hands. But in 1079 he founded the fortunes of the
Hohenstaufen family by appointing to the duchy of Swabia the Swabian
Count of Staufen, Frederick, to whom he married his daughter Agnes? .
From him he obtained loyal support, and Rudolf vainly attempted to create
a counter-influence in the duchy by having his son Berthold proclaimed at
Ulm as duke, and by marrying his daughter Agnes to Berthold, son of
Duke Berthold (who had died at the end of 1078).
During these years Rudolf was bitterly disappointed in his expecta-
tion of a direct intervention of the Pope against Henry. The papal
legates were as emphatic as he could wish, both at Forchheim in March
and at Goslar in November 1077, when the Cardinal-deacon Bernard
united with Archbishop Siegfried in excommunicating Henry; but they
were not upheld by their master, who persisted in his neutrality. Henry,
during the same period, shewed himself in diplomacy to be far astuter
than his impetuous rival. He was successful in preventing a conference
of nobles on both sides, which Rudolf tried to arrange in 1078 in recol-
lection of the success of this policy in 1073. He contrived, moreover, to
prevent a coalition between the forces of Rudolf and his South German
allies, though he failed to defeat them separately as he had hoped. On
7 August 1078 he fought an indecisive battle with the troops of Rudolf
at Melrichstadt in Franconia, where, though his own losses were the
heavier, his enemy was forced to retire; and, on the same day, an army
of peasants, hastily recruited from Franconia, was decisively defeated on
the Neckar by Dukes Berthold and Welf. But Henry maintained himself
at Würzburg, and so prevented the threatened junction of the enemies'
forces. Above all he was successful in keeping the Pope neutral, while at
the same time disappointing Gregory's hopes of making his judgment
decisive between the two kings. He was not, however, on this account
any the more compliant with the ecclesiastical decrees. He continued to
appoint, as it was essential to him that he should appoint, and invest to
bishoprics and abbeys vacant by death or occupied by supporters of his
1 In these two appointments Henry abandoned the policy of appointing an outsider
as duke. He now needed powerful dukes who could be relied on to support him.
## p. 141 (#187) ############################################
The final breach with the Pope, 1080
141
opponent. Rudolf imitated his example, though he was careful to leave
episcopal elections free, and so, besides the rival kings in the kingdom
and dukes in the duchies, there were rival bishops in several sees. Germany
was devastated by civil war, in which the peasants, especially in Swabia,
suffered the greatest hardships, and the trading opportunities of the towns
were severely handicapped. The whole country sighed for peace and order,
and it was becoming increasingly evident to the majority that in Henry's
victory lay the best hope of this being attained.
So in 1080 he was able to carry the war into the enemy's country and
invade Saxony. The battle of Flarchheim in Thuringia (27 January) was
indecisive and Henry had to retire again to Bavaria ; but his diplomacy
was successful in detaching from Rudolf's cause the leaders of the Billung
family, Duke Magnus and his uncle Herman, and also Margrave Ek bert
of Meissen. And now the time had arrived when the Pope was to make
the fateful decision that was to prolong and embitter the struggle of
which Germany was already so weary. The moment seems to have been
chosen by Henry himself. His envoys to the Lenten synod of 1080 were
instructed no longer to appeal, but to threaten the Pope, and Henry had
doubtless foreseen the result. He could hardly expect a judgment in his
favour, but an adverse decision, while it would be welcomed by few,
would be regarded with indignation by the vast majority. He contrived
in fact to throw upon the Pope the odium of starting the new struggle.
The sentence of Gregory VII not only upset the hopes of peace; it also
outraged German sentiment in its claim to depose the king and to set up
a successor in his place. The German bishops of Henry's party met at
Bamberg (Easter) and renounced obedience to Gregory; a diet attended
by king, nobles, and bishops assembled at Mayence (Whitsun) and repeated
this renunciation ; and finally, in an assembly mainly of North Italian
bishops at Brixen' on 25 June, Gregory was declared deposed and Arch-
bishop Guibert of Ravenna, nominated by Henry, was elected to succeed
him. With his compliant anti-Pope, Henry could now entertain the
prospect, impossible in 1076, of leading an expedition into Italy to
establish his will by force.
But he could not leave Germany with Rudolf still powerful in Saxony,
and he hastened back from Brixen to settle the issue with his rival. In
the autumn he collected an army and marched through Thuringia to the
Elster; there, in the neighbourhood of Hohen-Mölsen, a battle was
fought, in which Henry was defeated. But this was more than compen-
1 The choice of Brixen is curious. One would expect to find the meeting-place of
an Italian assembly within the Italian kingdom, and the presence of the Italian chan-
cellor, Bishop Burchard of Lausanne, points in the same direction. But, though it
is always difficult to fix the exact frontier-line, it seems clear that Brixen was on the
German side. Perhaps, as Giesebrecht suggests (Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit,
Vol. 1, p. 502), Brixen was chosen because of its isolation and security and the
undoubted loyalty of its bishop.
CH. III.
## p. 142 (#188) ############################################
142
Death of Rudolf. Herman of Salm as anti-king
sated by the mortal wound which Rudolf received, from the effects of which
he died on the following day. To many this appeared as the judgment
of God, not only on Rudolf but on the Pope as well. Though Henry was
stiil unable to win over Saxony by force or negotiations, his position was
sufficiently secure in Germany; now at last he could give his whole
attention to the decisive contest with the Pope. From the spring of 1081
to the summer of 1084 he was in Italy. He succeeded in defeating his
great aniversary, he established Guibert as Pope Clement III, and by him
was crowned Emperor in St Peter's. At Rome he seemed to hare realised
his ambition and to have raised himself to his father's height. But he was
forced to retire before the arrival of the Sormans, he could not overcome
the resistance of Countess Matilda, and his Pope did not receive the
recognition necessary to make him a useful tool. Imperial authority had
been revived in Italy, but not so effectively as he had contemplated.
In Germany, his enemies took advantage of his absence to elect a
Successor to Rudolf. The obvious candidate was Otto of Nordheim, whose
military skill had been conspicuous throughout. But, partly owing to
jealousy among the leaders, partly perhaps from the desire to obtain
western support, their choice fell on the Lotharingian Count Herman of
Salm, brother of Count Conrad of Luxemburg and nephew of Herman,
Count-Palatine of the Rhine. At any rate, he failed to win over his
powerful relatives, and his kingdom, like that of Rudolf, was confined to
Saxony. He had neither the ducal prestige nor the military prowess of his
predecessor, nor does he seem to have entered into relations with the
Pope; there was nothing to recommend this feeble rival of Henry.
Towards the end of 1082 he did indeed advance south into Swabia, and
the possibility of his leading an expedition into Italy caused Henry some
anxiety. But it came to nothing; the death of Margrave Cdo of the
North Mark in 1082 and in January 1083 of Otto of Nordheim, whose
sons were too young to play any part, deprived him of his chief military
support. On the news of Otto's death he hastily returned to Saxony, and
henceforward was of no account. So insignificant did he become that in
1088 he retired to his native Lorraine, and shortly afterwards was killed
in front of a castle he was besieging.
It was the Church party that formed the chief danger to Henry when
he returned to Germany in 1084. Archbishop Siegfried of Mayence had
died in February, but his authority in his province had long disappeared;
like the two anti-kings he had been forced since 1080 to remain in
Saxony. To succeed him Henry appointed Werner (Wezil) as archbishop
and arch-chancellor; in the latter office Siegfried had not been super-
seded-it was clearly a merely titular dignity, and the chancellor did the
real work. The organisation of a papal party was actively conducted by
the legate Otto, Cardinal-bishop of Ostia and afterwards Pope Urban II.
With the assistance of Abbot William of Hirschau he combined monastic
reform with opposition to Henry. The election of Gebhard as Bishop of
## p. 143 (#189) ############################################
Rival diets at Quedlinburg and Mayence
143
Constance in December was an important result of their joint efforts; for
Gebhard later succeeded Otto as permanent legate, and was probably
Henry's most dangerous enemy in Germany for the rest of his reign. In
the work of reform, not only did numerous Swabian monasteries adhere
to the rule of Hirschau, but the reform attracted laymen of the upper
classes who came in numbers to the monastery as conversi. From Swabia
Otto went on to Saxony. Here his influence was decisive against peace,
the desire for which led to a meeting of princes of both sides at Gerstun-
gen in January 1085. The Church party used the excommunication of
Henry and his supporters to prevent a reconciliation. In this the legate
was prominent, and still more so at a partisan synod held at Quedlinburg
just after Easter. The excommunication of the anti-Pope and his
adherents was a matter of common agreement, but Otto had the cause
of Church reform and reorganisation equally at heart. Decrees were
passed asserting the primacy of the Apostolic See and the supremacy of
papal jurisdiction ; others enforced Roman against local customs and
strengthened the central authority by creating uniformity; finally, a few
upheld the main principles of Church reform. It was at this point that
a cleavage of interests became manifest. The Saxon nobles, who had been
most zealous for Church reform when it was a useful weapon against
Henry IV, firmly resisted it when it meant the restoration by them of
churches and ecclesiastical property in their possession. Otto discovered
that the bishops supported their secular allies in this, and that political
interests in Saxony over-rode religious considerations.
While discord was thus beginning to make its appearance in Saxony,
Henry was establishing his hold more firmly in the rest of Germany. At
an imperial diet held at Easter 1085 at Mayence, the deposition of
Gregory VII and his supporters and the election of Guibert were con-
firmed, and the Peace of God was proclaimed. Already in 1081 Bishop
Henry of Liège had proclaimed the Peace in his diocese, and in 1083
Archbishop Sigewin of Cologne had done the same in his province.
Henry had ratified their action, and now extended it to the whole
kingdom. It was a sign, perhaps, of royal weakness that he could not by
his own authority enforce the maintenance of peace, but had recourse to
an expedient adopted in days of anarchy and royal impotence by the
Church in France and Burgundy. It was also an unfortunate moment to
choose in which to appeal to the sanction of the Church, when many of
his subjects regarded him and his followers as schismatics. But it seemed
for a time as if peace would result. Lorraine, which he visited in June,
was wholly loyal ; Henry confiscated the territory held there by Matilda,
and allotted it mainly to Godfrey of Bouillon and Bishop Dietrich of
Verdun. There followed a much greater triumph in July, when, taking
advantage of the divisions in Saxony to win over the lay nobles, he was
able for the first time for many years to enter the duchy in peace, and to
progress as far as Magdeburg.
CA. IIJ.
## p. 144 (#190) ############################################
}
144
The end of Saxon revolt
His success, however, was short-lived, and for this his failure to
appreciate the Saxon temper was responsible. Many bishops were still
hostile, especially the Archbishop of Magdeburg, and Henry proceeded
to appoint bishops of his own party to replace them. Nothing was more
calculated to cause a revulsion of feeling among the lay nobles than this
exercise of royal authority without their concurrence, and the introduction
of aliens into episcopal office in the duchy. Accordingly in September
Henry was forced to abandon Saxony once more. In the following year
(1086) Welf and his Swabian adherents were able to join forces with the
Saxons and to besiege the important town of Würzburg. Henry, hasten-
ing to its relief with an army mainly composed of peasants and levies from
the towns, was severely defeated at the battle of Pleichfeld on 11 August.
It was not the usual encounter of knights. The troops of Welf and of
the city of Magdeburg dismounted and fought on foot, with the cross as
their standard and encouraged by the prayers of the Archbishop of
Magdeburg? . As a result of the battle, Würzburg was captured and its
Bishop, Adalbero, was restored, though only temporarily, to his see. The
position of affairs, so favourable to Henry the previous year, seemed to
have been entirely reversed. But his enemies were not able to gain any
permanent advantage from their victory, or even to retain Würzburg for
long. Negotiations were resumed, to break down continually over the
impediment of Henry's excommunication and his recognition of the
anti-Pope. At last, in the summer of 1088, a renewal of discord in
Saxony caused a reaction in Henry's favour, and in a short time, for
good and all, the revolt in Saxony was ended.
The most powerful noble in Saxony at this time was Margrave Ekbert
of Meissen”. Of violent and audacious temper, like his father, he had
taken the lead in welcoming the king in Saxony in July 1085 and in
expelling him two months later. His Mark had previously been transferred
by Henry to Duke Vratislav of Bohemia, who received the title of king
in 1085; but Vratislav was unable to enter into possession of it. In 1087
Ekbert came to terms again with Henry, perhaps as the result of a
Bohemian invasion. But he immediately broke his word, having conceived
the bold scheme of getting himself appointed king in place of the helpless
Herman. This was too much for his jealous confederates. The bishops in
particular rejected his scheme, and the murder of Bishop Burchard of
Halberstadt, who had been in the forefront of every Saxon rising
against Henry, was believed to be Ekbert's revenge for his rebuff. The
ambition and violence of this noble were more dangerous than the royal
authority; the rest of Saxony hastened to make its peace with the
1 This battle is described in some detail by the chronicler Bernold (MGH, Script.
Vol. v, p. 445) who was himself present.
2 The Billung family, since their adhesion to Henry in 1080, seem to have taken
little part in public affairs. Duke Magnus remained loyal to Henry, and he is men-
tioned as present at the coronation of Henry's son Conrad as king in 1087.
## p. 145 (#191) ############################################
The climax of Henry's power, 1088-1090
145
Emperor', and, while safeguarding its own independence, recognised him
as king of Germany. The bishops indeed would not recognise Guibert;
they compromised by regarding Urban II as the rightful Pope, and at the
same time disregarding his excommunication of Henry. Ekbert was
isolated, and was condemned at a Saxon diet held at Quedlinburg in
1088; at Ratisbon in 1089 he was proscribed as a traitor, and on
Margrave Henry of the East Mark (Lusatia) was conferred the margravate
of Meissen. Ek bert remained defiant, and even posed as the champion of
the Church against Henry; at the end of 1088 he inflicted a severe defeat
on the king in front of his castle of Gleichen. But he was murdered
in 1090, and so all opposition in Saxony came to an end. His county of
Brunswick passed to his sister Gertrude, who married, as her second
husband, Henry the Fat, the son of Otto of Nordheim.
The
years
1088–1090 mark the climax of Henry's power in Germany.
Except for Margrave Ekbert, against whom he had the assistance of the
rest of Saxony, and the few Swabian counts that supported Welf, he was
universally recognised as king. The succession had been secured by the
coronation of his son Conrad as king in May 1087. The Church party
was dispirited and quiescent, and it lost its chief champion in Bavaria
with the death of Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in 1088. In Lorraine,
in 1089, Bishop Herman of Metz was reconciled with the king and
restored to his see, and the duchy of Lower Lorraine was conferred on
Godfrey of Bouillon. To the see of Cologne, vacant by the death of
Archbishop Sigewin, Henry appointed his chancellor Herman; and,
during his stay at Cologne for this purpose, he was married (his first wife,
Bertha, had died in 1087) to Praxedis (Adelaide), daughter of the Prince
of Kiev and widow of Margrave Henry of the North Mark. The marriage
was celebrated by Archbishop Hartwig of Magdeburg, with whom, in
spite of his prominent share in the king's defeat at Pleichfeld in 1086,
Henry was completely reconciled. The archbishop, however, refused to
recognise the anti-Pope, and this was the chief weakness in Henry's
position. It seems that on more than one occasion he could have come
to terms with the Church party and returned to communion, had he
consented to abandon Guibert. He was himself unwilling both to betray
so faithful a servant and to discard so useful a tool; while many
of his
chief supporters and advisers among the bishops, feeling that their own
fate was implicated in that of Guibert, influenced him in the same
direction. He might also have expected the ultimate success of his anti-
Pope. There was nothing to lead him to anticipate the fatal results to
himself of the election of Urban II as Pope in March 1088. Urban, like
his predecessor, had to live under Norman protection, and Guibert
remained securely in possession of Rome.
1 But it seems almost certain that he cannot have recovered full possession of the
royal domain. Probably the situation in Saxony was a return to the status quo of
C. MED. 2. VOL. V. CH. III.
10
1069.
## p. 146 (#192) ############################################
146
His disastrous expedition to Italy, 1090–1097
As in 1072 and 1075, the position in Germany appeared favourable
for the recovery of authority in Italy; and again a situation had arisen
vitally affecting imperial interests. In 1089, Countess Matilda of Tuscany,
now over forty years of age, devoting herself to furthering the political
advantage of the Papacy, had married the younger Welf, a lad of
seventeen. The elder Welf, having lost his Saxon allies, had turned his
ambitions to the south, and hoped for great things from this marriage.
His Italian inheritance adjoined the territories of Countess Matilda,
and he doubtless anticipated for himself a position in Italy such as Duke
Godfrey, the husband of Matilda's mother Beatrice, had held during the
minority of Henry IV. The Emperor came into Italy in April 1090 to
counteract the dangerous effects of this alliance, and at first met with
considerable success. But the papal party was rapidly gaining strength,
and unscrupulous in its methods worked among his family to effect his
ruin. The revolt of Conrad in 1093 under Matilda's influence, accompanied
by a league of Lombard cities against the Emperor, not only reduced
him to great straits but even cut off his retreat to Germany. The next
year another domestic blow was struck at the unfortunate Emperor. His
wife Praxedis, suspected of infidelity to her husband, escaped to take
refuge with Matilda and to spread gross charges against Henry. False
though they doubtless were, they were eagerly seized upon by his enemies,
and the Pope himself at the Council of Piacenza in 1095 listened to the
tale and pardoned the unwilling victim. Praxedis, her work done,
disappears from history; she seems to have returned to Russia and to
have died as a nun. Her husband, stunned with the shock of this double
treachery of wife and son, remained in isolation at Verona. But the
conflicting interests of Welf and the Papacy soon broke up the unnatural
marriage-alliance. Matilda separated from her second husband as she had
done from her first, and the elder Welf, who had no intention of merely
subserving papal interests, took his son back with him to Germany
in 1095. The next year he made his peace with the Emperor; the road
to Germany was opened again, and in the spring of 1097 Henry made
his way by the Brenner Pass into Bavaria.
The long absence of Henry in Italy had less effect than might have been
expected on his position in Germany. Saxony remained quiet, and the
government by non-interference was able to ensure the loyalty of the lay
nobles, among whom Henry the Fat, with Brunswick added to Nordheim
by his marriage with Gertrude, now held the leading place. In Lorraine
the Church party won a success in the adhesion of the Bishops of Metz,
Toul, and Verdun to the papal cause. Otherwise the only centre of dis-
turbance was Swabia. The government of Germany during Henry's
absence seems to have been entrusted to Duke Frederick of Swabia, in
conjunction with Henry, Count-Palatine of the Rhine, who died in
1095. In 1091 the death of Berthold, son of the anti-King Rudolf,
brought the house of Rheinfelden to an end. He was succeeded both in
## p. 147 (#193) ############################################
The First Crusade
147
his allodial territories and in his pretensions to the duchy of Swabia by
his brother-in-law Berthold of Zähringen, son of the former Duke of
Carinthia, a far more formidable rival to Duke Frederick. The successes
of Henry in Italy in 1091, combined with the death of Abbot William
of Hirschau, brought to the king's side many adherents in Swabia. But
the disasters of 1093 caused a reaction, and the papal party began
to revive under the lead of Bishop Gebhard of Constance, Berthold's
brother. An assembly held at Ulm declared the unity of Swabia under
the spiritual headship of Gebhard and the temporal headship of Berthold,
and a land-peace was proclaimed to last until Easter 1096, which Welf
with less success attempted to extend the next year to Bavaria and
Franconia. The Church party took the lead in this movement, and papal
overlordship was recognised by Berthold and Welf, who did homage to
Gebhard as the representative of the Pope. This coalition was entirely
ruined by the breach of Welf with Matilda, which led to his reconciliation
with Henry and to a complete severance of his alliance with the Papacy.
The comparative tranquillity during Henry's absence was due, not to
the strength of the government but in part to its weakness, and above all
to the general weariness of strife and the desire for peace. To this cause,
too, must be attributed the feeble response that Germany made when in
1095 the summons of Urban II to the First Crusade resounded through-
out Europe. Some, and among them even a great ecclesiastic like
Archbishop Ruthard of Mayence, were seized with the crusading spirit
so far as to join in the massacre of Jews and the plunder of their property.
But, except for Godfrey of Bouillon, who had been unable to make his
ducal authority effective in Lower Lorraine, no important German noble
actually went on crusade at this time. Indeed, it does not seem that the
position of Henry was to any material extent affected by the Crusade.
But, if the immediate effect was negligible, it was otherwise with the
ultimate effect. Important results were to arise from the circumstances in
which the crusading movement was launched—the Pope, the spiritual
head of Christendom, preaching the Crusade against the infidel, while
the Emperor, the temporal head, remained helpless in Italy, cut off from
communion with the faithful. Gregory VII in 1074 had planned to lead
a crusade himself, and wrote to Henry IV that he would leave the Roman
Church during his absence under Henry's care and protection. This plan
was typical of its author, though it was a curious reversal of the natural
functions of the two heads of Christendom. Had Pope and Emperor been
working together in the ideal harmony that Gregory VII conceived, it
would certainly have been the Emperor that would have led the crusaders
to Palestine in 1095, and under his suzerainty that the kingdom of
Jerusalem would have been formed. As it was, the Papacy took the
lead; its suzerainty was acknowledged; in the war against the infidel it
arrogated to itself the temporal as well as the spiritual sword. And not
only was the Emperor affected by the advantages that accrued to his
CH. III.
10-2
## p. 148 (#194) ############################################
148
Peace in Germany
great rival. His semi-divine character was impaired; when he failed to
take his natural place as the champion of the Cross, he prejudiced his
claim to be the representative of God upon earth.
At any rate, on his return to Germany Henry found but slight
opposition to his authority. The reconciliation with Welf was confirmed
in a diet at Worms in 1098, and was extended to Berthold as well.
Welf
was formally restored to his duchy, and the succession was promised to
his son. The rival claims to Swabia were settled: Frederick was confirmed
in the duchy, Berthold was compensated with the title of Duke (of
Zähringen) and the grant of Zurich, to be held as a fief directly from the
Emperor. At the price of concessions, which implied that he had re-
nounced the royal ambitions of his earlier years, Henry had made peace
with his old enemies, and all lay opposition to him in Germany ceased.
At a diet at Mayence the princes elected his second son Henry as king,
and promised to acknowledge him as his father's successor; the young
Henry took an oath of allegiance to his father, promising not to act with
independent authority during his father's lifetime. For the Emperor,
though anxious to secure the succession, was careful not to allow his son
the position Conrad had abused. The young Henry was anointed king
at Aix-la-Chapelle the following year; on the sacred relics he repeated
the oath he had taken at Mayence, and the princes took an oath of fealty
to him.
Ecclesiastical opposition remained, but was seriously weakened by the
defection of Berthold and Welf. It gained one notable, if not very
creditable, adherent in the person of Ruthard, who had succeeded Werner
as Archbishop of Mayence in 1089. The crusading fervour had manifested
itself, especially in the Rhine district, in outbreaks against the Jews, who,
when they were not murdered, were maltreated, forcibly baptised, and
despoiled of their property. Henry on more than one occasion had shewn
special favour to the Jews, who played no small part in the prosperity of
the towns. Immediately on his return from Italy, he had given permission
to the victims to return to their faith, and he was active in recovering for
them the property they had lost. Mayence had been the scene of one of
these anti-Jewish outbreaks, and the archbishop was suspected of com-
plicity and of having received his share of the plunder. Henry opened an
enquiry into this on the occasion of his son's election, to which the
archbishop refused to submit and fled to his Thuringian estates. Apart
from this, there is, until 1104, a period of unwonted calm in Germany,
and in consequence little to record. During these years the chief interest
lies in Lorraine, owing to the ambition of Count Robert II of Flanders
and the recrudescence of a communal movement at Cambrai. Defence
against the count was its object, and so the commune received recognition
from the Emperor and Bishop Walcher; but it found itself compelled
to come to terms with the count, who made peace with Henry in 1103.
Having enjoyed independence, the commune continued to exist, and
## p. 149 (#195) ############################################
The revolt of Henry V
149
entered into a struggle with the bishop, who was handicapped by a rival
and pro-papal bishop. For a time it maintained its independence, unti)
in 1107 it was overthrown by Henry V and episcopal authority restored.
Henry, then, might seem to have at last accomplished his object in
Germany, and by the universal recognition of his authority to have
achieved the mastery. But in reality he had failed, and the peace was
his recognition of failure. For it was a peace of acquiescence, acquiescence
on both sides, due to weariness. The nobles recognised him as king, and he
recognised the rights they claimed. Not as subjects, but almost as equals,
the Saxons, Welf, Berthold, had all made terms with him. No concessions,
however, could reconcile the Papacy. The death of Urban II in 1099
made no difference; his successor, Paschal II, was even more inflexible.
There seemed a prospect of peace when the anti-Pope Guibert died in
1100, and a diet at Mayence proposed an embassy to Rome. The follow-
ing year Henry proposed to go to Rome himself. In January 1103, at
another diet at Mayence, besides promulgating a land-peace for the
Empire for four years, Henry announced his intention, provided he could
be reconciled with the Pope, of going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
But to all these proposals the Pope turned a deaf ear. Henry had been
excommunicated and deposed, and the sentence was repeated by Paschal in
1102. There was no hope of ending the schism during Henry IV's lifetime.
This state of affairs led to the final catastrophe. To no one did the
situation give so much cause for dissatisfaction as to the heir to the
throne—the young Henry V. The longer his father lived the weaker he
felt would be the authority to which he would succeed. Self-interest de-
termined him, in defiance of his oath, to seize power before matters
became worse. He knew that he might expect the reconciliation with the
Pope that was denied to his father, and that the Germans would willingly
accept the leadership of one who was at the same time lawful king and
in communion with the Pope. Probably the disturbances that broke out
Ratisbon while the court was staying there at the beginning of 1104
decided him in his purpose. Many nobles had disliked the promulgation
of a land-peace, which interfered with their customary violence; then the
murder of a Bavarian count by one of his own ministeriales, and the
Emperor's neglect to punish the offender, provoked such discontent that
Henry IV found it wiser to leave Bavaria and go to Lorraine. Henry V
went with him, but he had already the nucleus of a party and began to
mature his plans. In Lorraine his father was among friends, but when at
the end of the year he marched north to punish a breach of the peace
by a Saxon count, the young Henry decided that the moment was ripe
for his venture. At Fritzlar on 12 December he escaped by night and
went rapidly south to Ratisbon, where he placed himself at the head of
the discontented nobles. His father, abandoning his expedition, returned
to the Rhine; he was broken-hearted at his son's treachery and made
frantic appeals to him to return. Henry V sanctimoniously refused to
CH. III.
## p. 150 (#196) ############################################
150
Treachery of Henry V
listen to an excommunicated man, and made overtures to the Pope which
were immediately successful.
The revolt was well-timed, and events turned out as Henry V had
planned. The papal legate, Bishop Gebhard of Constance, met him in
Bavaria and gave him the papal absolution. The Saxon and Thuringian
princes, with whom was the exiled Archbishop Ruthard of Mayence, sent
him an invitation which he eagerly accepted, and with the papal legate
at his side he arrived at Quedlinburg for Easter 1105. A synod was
held at Nordhausen on 21 May, at which he adopted an attitude of
humility that was immediately successful. The Church party was won
over by his action against imperialist bishops, and by his placing in the
forefront the excommunication of his father as the cause of his revolt;
the lay princes were equally attracted by his promise to act always in
accordance with their direction. He could now count on Saxony wholly,
and largely on Bavaria; Duke Welf seems on the whole to have remained
neutral. He was fortunate, too, in the death this year of his brother-in-
law, Duke Frederick of Swabia, whose sons were too young to intervene.
He now took the field against his father, and marched on Mayence
with the intention of restoring the archbishop. But the Rhine towns
stood firm in their loyalty, and, after taking Würzburg, he was forced to
retire to Ratisbon. His father followed hard on his tracks, retook
Würzburg, and nearly surprised the son at Ratisbon. Here the Emperor
was reinforced by Margrave Liutpold of Austria and Duke Bořivoi of
Bohemia. Henry V marched against him, and managed to entice from his
father his two chief supporters. The Emperor found himself abandoned on
all sides, and had to make a hurried escape to avoid capture. After an ad-
venturous and perilous flight through Bohemia and Saxony, he arrived
safely at Mayence at the end of October. Driven from there by his son's
approach, he took refuge at Cologne,and then followed the second and most
shameful treachery of the young Henry'. Promising to assist his reconcilia-
tion with the Pope, he persuaded his father to meet him and accompany
him to Mayence. Nothing was wanting that hypocrisy could suggest--
tears, prostration at his father's feet, solemn and repeated pledges of safe-
conduct. By these means he induced him to dismiss his retinue, and, on
arriving at Bingen, represented the danger of going to Mayence and enticed
him into the castle of Böckelheim, where he kept him a close prisoner. At
Christmas a diet was held at Mayence in the presence of papal legates, who
dominated the proceedings. The Emperor was brought before the diet, not
at Mayence where the townspeople might have rescued him, but at Ingel-
heim; crushed in spirit by his sufferings in prison and in fear for his life, he
surrendered the royal insignia, promising a humble confession of his mis-
deeds and even resignation of his throne. It was a scene that moved the
lay nobles to compassion, but the legates, having gained their ends,
1 K. Hampe, Deutsche Kaisergeschichte im Zeitalter der Salier und Staufen, p. 70,
calls it “the most devilish deed in all German history. ”
## p. 151 (#197) ############################################
Last days and death of Henry IV
151
declared themselves not competent to grant absolution. Henry V was
equally obdurate, and his father was kept in confinement at Ingelheim.
An invitation was sent to the Pope inviting his presence at a synod in
Germany. Henry V for his own purposes was willing to allow the papal
decision so much desired by Gregory VII.
But the year 1106 saw a change of fortune. The Emperor escaped
from captivity and was strongly supported in Lorraine and the Rhine
towns. In the spring Henry V was severely defeated outside Liège by a
coalition of Duke Henry of Lower Lorraine, Count Godfrey of Namur,
and the people of Liège; in the summer he signally failed before Cologne.
In face of this devoted loyalty to his father he was powerless; then sud-
denly death came to his aid, and the opposition collapsed. The Emperor,
worn out by sorrow and suffering, fell ill at Liège and died on 7 August.
On his death-bed he sent his last message to his son, requesting pardon
for his followers and that he might be buried beside his father at Spires.
His dying appeal was disregarded. Henry V deposed the Duke of Lower
Lorraine, and appointed Godfrey of Brabant in his place; the town of
Cologne was fined 5000 marks. The Pope refused absolution and Chris-
tian burial to the excommunicated Emperor. The people of Liège, in
defiance of king and Pope, had given his body a royal funeral in their
cathedral amid universal lamentation; the papal legates ordered its
removal. It was taken to the cathedral at Spires, where again the people
displayed their grief and affection. The bishop ordered it to be removed
once more to an unconsecrated chapel. Five years later, when Henry V
wrung from the Pope the cession of investiture, he also obtained absolu-
tion for his father, and on 7 August 1111 the body of Henry IV was at
last solemnly interred beside those of his father and grandfather in the
cathedral he had so richly endowed at Spires.
The story of this long reign of fifty years reads like a tragedy on
the Greek model. Mainly owing to conditions for which he was not
responsible, Henry was forced to struggle, in defence of his rights, against
odds that were too great for him, and finally to fall a victim to the
treachery of his son. The mismanagement of the imperial government
during his minority had given the opportunity for particularism in
Germany and for the Papacy in Italy to obtain a position from which
he could not dislodge them. As far as Germany was concerned, he might
have been successful, and he did at any rate acquire an important ally
for the monarchy in the towns, especially in the Rhine district. How
important it was is seen in 1073-4, when the example set by Worms
turned the tide that was flowing so strongly against him; and, more
notably still, in the resistance he was able to make to his son in the last
year of his life. But the reason that prevented his making full use of this
alliance prevented also his success in Germany. The fatal policy of Otto I
had placed the monarchy in a position from which it could not extricate
itself. Essentially it had to lean on ecclesiastical support, and from this
CH. III.
## p. 152 (#198) ############################################
152
Causes of his failure
two results followed. In the first place, as the important towns were
under episcopal authority, a direct alliance with them took place only
when the bishop was hostile to the king. Secondly, the success of Otto I's
policy, in Germany as in Italy, depended now on the Papacy being sub-
servient, or at least obedient, to imperial authority. The Papacy re-
generated by Henry III, especially with the opportunities it had had
during Henry IV's minority, could not acquiesce in its own dependence
or in the subordination of ecclesiastical appointments to lay control. A
contest between sacerdotium and imperium was inevitable, and, as we can
see, it could only have one end. Certainly it was the Papacy that caused
the failure of Henry IV. He was unfortunate in being faced at the
beginning by one of the greatest of all the Popes, and yet he was able
to defeat him; but he could not defeat the Papacy. It was the long
schism that partly prompted the revolt of Henry V, and it was the desire
to end it that won him the support of most of Germany. Papal excom-
munication was the weapon that brought Henry IV to his tragic end,
and avenged the death in exile of Gregory VII. And, apart from this,
it was owing to the Papacy that his reign in Germany had been unsuc-
cessful. He made peace with his enemies, but on their conditions; and
the task that he had set out so energetically to achieve-the vindication
of imperial authority-he had definitely failed to accomplish.
With the passing of the old king, many others of the leading actor
disappear from the scene. Especially in Saxony, old houses were becoming
extinct, and new families were rising to take their place in German
history. The Billungs, the Counts of Nordheim, the Ekberts of Brunswick,
had each in turn played the leading part against the king; and now the
male line had failed in all these families, and the inheritance had fallen
to women. In 1090 by the death of Ekbert II the male line of the
Brunswick house became extinct; his sister Gertrude was left as heiress,
and she married (as her second husband) Henry the Fat, the elder son of
Otto of Nordheim. He was murdered in 1101, his brother Conrad suffered
the same fate in 1103, and the elder daughter of Henry and Gertrude,
Richenza, became eventually heiress to both these houses'. Lothar, Count
of Supplinburg, by his marriage with Richenza in 1100, rose from an
insignificant position to become the most powerful noble in Saxony. In
1106 died Duke Magnus, the last of the Billungs. His duchy was given
by Henry V to Lothar, his family possessions were divided between his
two daughters: the eastern portion went to the younger, Eilica, who
married Count Otto of Ballenstädt and became the mother of Albert the
Bear, the Saxon rival of the Welfs; the western portion to the elder,
Wulfhild, who married Henry the Black, son of Duke Welf of Bavaria.
1 Gertrude had been married first to Count Dietrich of Katlenburg; on the death
of Henry the Fat she married Henry of Eilenburg, Margrave of Meissen •and the
East Mark. He died in 1103, and his posthumous son Henry died childless in 1123.
Gertrude herself died in 1117.
## p. 153 (#199) ############################################
Supplinburg
Ascanians
Brunonings
Nordheim
Otto,
Ekbert I
C. of Brunswick,
M. of Meissen,
ob. 1068
C. of Nordheim
(D. of Bavaria, 1061-70),
ob. 1083
Eilica m. Otto of Ballenstedt
Ekbert II
ob. 1090
Gertrude m. Henry the Fat
ob. 1117 ob. 1101
Conrad
ob, 1103
Gertrude
Lothar, C. of Supplinburg, m. Richenza
later Emperor
Sophia m. Dietrich of
Holland
Gertrude
Albert the Bear
D. of Bavaria and Saxony
1
Bernard of Anhalt,
Otto of Brunswick M. of Brandenburg
D. of Saxony
The rise of new noble families in Germany
Babenbergers
KING HENRY IV
1
(1) Agnes (2)
m.
Liutpold,
M. of Austria
King Conrad III
Liutpold,
M. of Austria
Henry Jasomirgott,
first D. of Austria
Otto,
Bishop of Freising
Welfs
Billungs
Welf IV,
D. of Bavaria, ob. 1101
Magnus,
D. of Saxony, ob. 1106
Welf V,
ob. 1120
Henry the Black m. Wulfhild
Henry the Proud m.
Henry the Lion,
Otto,
Welfs
Hohenstaufen
Henry the Black
Frederick,
C. of Staufen,
D. of Swabia
Judith
m. Frederick,
D. of Swabia
| D.
Frederick I Barbarossa
153
CH. 11.
## p. 154 (#200) ############################################
154
The character of Henry V
Thus were laid the foundations of the Welf power in Saxony; the struc-
ture was to be completed when the son of Henry and Wulfhild, Henry
the Proud, married Gertrude, daughter and heiress of Lothar and
Richenza; for the house of Supplinburg also failed in the male line.
Duke Welf of Bavaria himself died on crusade in 1101, and his duchy,
now hereditary, passed to Welf V, Countess Matilda's husband, and on
his death in 1120 to his brother Henry the Black. Finally, in 1105, Duke
Frederick of Swabia died and was succeeded by his son Frederick II; while
his widow Agnes, daughter of Henry IV, married in 1106 Liutpold III,
Margrave of Austria, and so became the ancestress of Babenbergers as
well as Hohenstaufen? .
Henry V, born in 1081, had been elected king in 1098; so that, young
as he still was, he had already been associated in the government for
eight years. He will always, apart from the Concordat of Worms, be
remembered primarily for his treatment of his father and, five years later,
of the Pope; in both these episodes he shewed himself brutal and un-
scrupulous. Perhaps to modern minds the studied treachery and hypocrisy
of 1105–6 will appear more repulsive than the direct and unconcealed
violence of 1111; his contemporaries, however, viewed the two incidents
quite differently, regarding rather the nature of the victim than the
quality of the crime. His action in deposing his excommunicated father
met with fairly general approval; while the horror inspired by his treat-
ment of the Pope did considerable damage to his prestige. He was not
capable, like his father, of inspiring devotion, but he could inspire respect.
For he was forceful, energetic, resourceful, and he did for some time
manage to dominate the German nobles. With more prudence too than
his father he conserved imperial resources, and, except in Italy in 1116
when policy demanded it, he was very sparing of grants from the royal
domain, even to bishops. Of diplomatic cunning he frequently gave proof,
especially in the circumstances of his revolt and in his negotiations with
Paschal II. In particular he had a strong sense of the importance of in-
fluencing opinion. There was nothing unusual in the manifestoes he issued
in justification of his actions on important occasions, but he went farther
than this. He prepared the way. The publication of the anonymous
Tractatus de investitura episcoporum in 1109 preluded his embassy to
Paschal II by expounding to all the righteousness of the imperial claims.
And he went beyond manifestoes. When he started on his journey to
Rome in 1110, he took with him David, afterwards Bishop of Bangor,
as the official historian of the expedition. David's narrative has unfor-
tunately not come down to us, but it was made use of by others, especially
1 She had in all 23 children. By her first marriage she became mother of King
Conrad III and grandmother of Frederick Barbarossa; by her second marriage she
became mother of Henry Jasomirgott, the first Duke of Austria, and of the historian,
Bishop Otto of Freising.
## p. 155 (#201) ############################################
His forced reliance on the nobles
155
by the chronicler Ekkehard. It was assuredly propaganda, not history;
but it was an ingenious and novel way of ensuring an authoritative
description of events calculated to impress contemporary opinion.
To prevent the further decline of imperial authority, he had allied
himself with the two powers responsible for that decline. His real policy
was in no whit different from that of his father, so that he was playing
a hazardous game; and it is doubtful whether, even from his own purely
selfish standpoint, he had taken the wisest course. To obtain the
assistance of the Pope, he had recognised the over-riding authority of the
sacerdotium; he had justified his revolt against his father on the ground
of the unfitness of an excommunicated man to be king, and had used the
papal power of absolution to condone his perjury. To obtain the co-
operation of the nobles, he had to abandon for a time the support of the
towns and the reliance on the ministeriales which had been so valuable to
his father. The nobles were, as usual, anxious to make their fiefs and
offices hereditary, to obtain the recognition of independent powers, and
to prevent the establishment of an over-riding royal justice. This they
expected to ensure by the participation in the government that Henry
had promised, and in this he humoured them for the time. Their names
appear as witnesses to royal charters; all acts of government, even the
nomination of bishops, are done consilio principum. For their support was
still necessary to him, and he skilfully made use of it to oppose a united
Germany to the claims of his other ally, the Pope. He had allowed the
legates to sit in judgment on his father, and to wreak their vengeance to
the full; he had shewn himself zealous in deposing schismatic bishops at
their dictation. All this was to his interest; but, his father dead, he was
not long in throwing off the mask. It was essential that the bishops
should be loyal subjects, and so he was careful to control elections; and,
worst of all to the mind of Paschal II, he refused to discontinue the
practice of lay investiture. In this, and against all claims of the Pope to
interfere in the affairs of Germany, he had the nobles, lay and ecclesias-
tical, almost to a man enthusiastically on his side.
For the first five years of his reign the issue with the Pope was the
leading question. Apart from Count Robert of Flanders, against whom
Henry had to lead an expedition in 1107, there was no serious disturbance
in Germany. In 1108-9 he was principally occupied on the eastern
frontiers, where he successfully asserted himself in Bohemia but failed
signally in his attempt to intervene in Hungary and Poland. All this time
negotiations with the Pope had been in progress, any satisfactory
result, and at last in 1110 Henry decided to go to Rome to effect a
settlement in person and to obtain the imperial crown. At the diet at
Ratisbon at which he announced his intention, the nobles unanimously
i It is perhaps remarkable that Paschal in 1105, when he had the chance, did not
take the opportunity to obtain assurances from Henry V on investiture or on any
other point.
without any
CH. III.
## p. 156 (#202) ############################################
156
Victory over the Pope.
“in Teutonico atque in Saxonico regno commanentibus” and “Rodulfo omnibusque
secum in regno Saxonum commanentibus. ”
CH. III.
## p. 140 (#186) ############################################
140
Henry's successful diplomacy
struggle was thus in the main between Saxony and Thuringia under
Rudolf and the rest of Germany under Henry, though in Swabia Berthold
and Welf were able to maintain themselves and were supported, in spite
of the Pope's neutrality, by an advanced section of Church reformers.
Henry's first move after Rudolf's withdrawal was to raise a force of
Bavarian and Bohemian troops and invade Swabia, which suffered terribly
from the constant depredations of both sides, neither of which was able
to obtain complete mastery. At the end of May he held a diet at Ulm,
where the three rebel dukes of South Germany were formally deprived of
their duchies. Carinthia was given to Liutold of Eppenstein, head of the
most important family in the duchy. Bavaria and Swabia he retained for
the time in his own hands. But in 1079 he founded the fortunes of the
Hohenstaufen family by appointing to the duchy of Swabia the Swabian
Count of Staufen, Frederick, to whom he married his daughter Agnes? .
From him he obtained loyal support, and Rudolf vainly attempted to create
a counter-influence in the duchy by having his son Berthold proclaimed at
Ulm as duke, and by marrying his daughter Agnes to Berthold, son of
Duke Berthold (who had died at the end of 1078).
During these years Rudolf was bitterly disappointed in his expecta-
tion of a direct intervention of the Pope against Henry. The papal
legates were as emphatic as he could wish, both at Forchheim in March
and at Goslar in November 1077, when the Cardinal-deacon Bernard
united with Archbishop Siegfried in excommunicating Henry; but they
were not upheld by their master, who persisted in his neutrality. Henry,
during the same period, shewed himself in diplomacy to be far astuter
than his impetuous rival. He was successful in preventing a conference
of nobles on both sides, which Rudolf tried to arrange in 1078 in recol-
lection of the success of this policy in 1073. He contrived, moreover, to
prevent a coalition between the forces of Rudolf and his South German
allies, though he failed to defeat them separately as he had hoped. On
7 August 1078 he fought an indecisive battle with the troops of Rudolf
at Melrichstadt in Franconia, where, though his own losses were the
heavier, his enemy was forced to retire; and, on the same day, an army
of peasants, hastily recruited from Franconia, was decisively defeated on
the Neckar by Dukes Berthold and Welf. But Henry maintained himself
at Würzburg, and so prevented the threatened junction of the enemies'
forces. Above all he was successful in keeping the Pope neutral, while at
the same time disappointing Gregory's hopes of making his judgment
decisive between the two kings. He was not, however, on this account
any the more compliant with the ecclesiastical decrees. He continued to
appoint, as it was essential to him that he should appoint, and invest to
bishoprics and abbeys vacant by death or occupied by supporters of his
1 In these two appointments Henry abandoned the policy of appointing an outsider
as duke. He now needed powerful dukes who could be relied on to support him.
## p. 141 (#187) ############################################
The final breach with the Pope, 1080
141
opponent. Rudolf imitated his example, though he was careful to leave
episcopal elections free, and so, besides the rival kings in the kingdom
and dukes in the duchies, there were rival bishops in several sees. Germany
was devastated by civil war, in which the peasants, especially in Swabia,
suffered the greatest hardships, and the trading opportunities of the towns
were severely handicapped. The whole country sighed for peace and order,
and it was becoming increasingly evident to the majority that in Henry's
victory lay the best hope of this being attained.
So in 1080 he was able to carry the war into the enemy's country and
invade Saxony. The battle of Flarchheim in Thuringia (27 January) was
indecisive and Henry had to retire again to Bavaria ; but his diplomacy
was successful in detaching from Rudolf's cause the leaders of the Billung
family, Duke Magnus and his uncle Herman, and also Margrave Ek bert
of Meissen. And now the time had arrived when the Pope was to make
the fateful decision that was to prolong and embitter the struggle of
which Germany was already so weary. The moment seems to have been
chosen by Henry himself. His envoys to the Lenten synod of 1080 were
instructed no longer to appeal, but to threaten the Pope, and Henry had
doubtless foreseen the result. He could hardly expect a judgment in his
favour, but an adverse decision, while it would be welcomed by few,
would be regarded with indignation by the vast majority. He contrived
in fact to throw upon the Pope the odium of starting the new struggle.
The sentence of Gregory VII not only upset the hopes of peace; it also
outraged German sentiment in its claim to depose the king and to set up
a successor in his place. The German bishops of Henry's party met at
Bamberg (Easter) and renounced obedience to Gregory; a diet attended
by king, nobles, and bishops assembled at Mayence (Whitsun) and repeated
this renunciation ; and finally, in an assembly mainly of North Italian
bishops at Brixen' on 25 June, Gregory was declared deposed and Arch-
bishop Guibert of Ravenna, nominated by Henry, was elected to succeed
him. With his compliant anti-Pope, Henry could now entertain the
prospect, impossible in 1076, of leading an expedition into Italy to
establish his will by force.
But he could not leave Germany with Rudolf still powerful in Saxony,
and he hastened back from Brixen to settle the issue with his rival. In
the autumn he collected an army and marched through Thuringia to the
Elster; there, in the neighbourhood of Hohen-Mölsen, a battle was
fought, in which Henry was defeated. But this was more than compen-
1 The choice of Brixen is curious. One would expect to find the meeting-place of
an Italian assembly within the Italian kingdom, and the presence of the Italian chan-
cellor, Bishop Burchard of Lausanne, points in the same direction. But, though it
is always difficult to fix the exact frontier-line, it seems clear that Brixen was on the
German side. Perhaps, as Giesebrecht suggests (Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit,
Vol. 1, p. 502), Brixen was chosen because of its isolation and security and the
undoubted loyalty of its bishop.
CH. III.
## p. 142 (#188) ############################################
142
Death of Rudolf. Herman of Salm as anti-king
sated by the mortal wound which Rudolf received, from the effects of which
he died on the following day. To many this appeared as the judgment
of God, not only on Rudolf but on the Pope as well. Though Henry was
stiil unable to win over Saxony by force or negotiations, his position was
sufficiently secure in Germany; now at last he could give his whole
attention to the decisive contest with the Pope. From the spring of 1081
to the summer of 1084 he was in Italy. He succeeded in defeating his
great aniversary, he established Guibert as Pope Clement III, and by him
was crowned Emperor in St Peter's. At Rome he seemed to hare realised
his ambition and to have raised himself to his father's height. But he was
forced to retire before the arrival of the Sormans, he could not overcome
the resistance of Countess Matilda, and his Pope did not receive the
recognition necessary to make him a useful tool. Imperial authority had
been revived in Italy, but not so effectively as he had contemplated.
In Germany, his enemies took advantage of his absence to elect a
Successor to Rudolf. The obvious candidate was Otto of Nordheim, whose
military skill had been conspicuous throughout. But, partly owing to
jealousy among the leaders, partly perhaps from the desire to obtain
western support, their choice fell on the Lotharingian Count Herman of
Salm, brother of Count Conrad of Luxemburg and nephew of Herman,
Count-Palatine of the Rhine. At any rate, he failed to win over his
powerful relatives, and his kingdom, like that of Rudolf, was confined to
Saxony. He had neither the ducal prestige nor the military prowess of his
predecessor, nor does he seem to have entered into relations with the
Pope; there was nothing to recommend this feeble rival of Henry.
Towards the end of 1082 he did indeed advance south into Swabia, and
the possibility of his leading an expedition into Italy caused Henry some
anxiety. But it came to nothing; the death of Margrave Cdo of the
North Mark in 1082 and in January 1083 of Otto of Nordheim, whose
sons were too young to play any part, deprived him of his chief military
support. On the news of Otto's death he hastily returned to Saxony, and
henceforward was of no account. So insignificant did he become that in
1088 he retired to his native Lorraine, and shortly afterwards was killed
in front of a castle he was besieging.
It was the Church party that formed the chief danger to Henry when
he returned to Germany in 1084. Archbishop Siegfried of Mayence had
died in February, but his authority in his province had long disappeared;
like the two anti-kings he had been forced since 1080 to remain in
Saxony. To succeed him Henry appointed Werner (Wezil) as archbishop
and arch-chancellor; in the latter office Siegfried had not been super-
seded-it was clearly a merely titular dignity, and the chancellor did the
real work. The organisation of a papal party was actively conducted by
the legate Otto, Cardinal-bishop of Ostia and afterwards Pope Urban II.
With the assistance of Abbot William of Hirschau he combined monastic
reform with opposition to Henry. The election of Gebhard as Bishop of
## p. 143 (#189) ############################################
Rival diets at Quedlinburg and Mayence
143
Constance in December was an important result of their joint efforts; for
Gebhard later succeeded Otto as permanent legate, and was probably
Henry's most dangerous enemy in Germany for the rest of his reign. In
the work of reform, not only did numerous Swabian monasteries adhere
to the rule of Hirschau, but the reform attracted laymen of the upper
classes who came in numbers to the monastery as conversi. From Swabia
Otto went on to Saxony. Here his influence was decisive against peace,
the desire for which led to a meeting of princes of both sides at Gerstun-
gen in January 1085. The Church party used the excommunication of
Henry and his supporters to prevent a reconciliation. In this the legate
was prominent, and still more so at a partisan synod held at Quedlinburg
just after Easter. The excommunication of the anti-Pope and his
adherents was a matter of common agreement, but Otto had the cause
of Church reform and reorganisation equally at heart. Decrees were
passed asserting the primacy of the Apostolic See and the supremacy of
papal jurisdiction ; others enforced Roman against local customs and
strengthened the central authority by creating uniformity; finally, a few
upheld the main principles of Church reform. It was at this point that
a cleavage of interests became manifest. The Saxon nobles, who had been
most zealous for Church reform when it was a useful weapon against
Henry IV, firmly resisted it when it meant the restoration by them of
churches and ecclesiastical property in their possession. Otto discovered
that the bishops supported their secular allies in this, and that political
interests in Saxony over-rode religious considerations.
While discord was thus beginning to make its appearance in Saxony,
Henry was establishing his hold more firmly in the rest of Germany. At
an imperial diet held at Easter 1085 at Mayence, the deposition of
Gregory VII and his supporters and the election of Guibert were con-
firmed, and the Peace of God was proclaimed. Already in 1081 Bishop
Henry of Liège had proclaimed the Peace in his diocese, and in 1083
Archbishop Sigewin of Cologne had done the same in his province.
Henry had ratified their action, and now extended it to the whole
kingdom. It was a sign, perhaps, of royal weakness that he could not by
his own authority enforce the maintenance of peace, but had recourse to
an expedient adopted in days of anarchy and royal impotence by the
Church in France and Burgundy. It was also an unfortunate moment to
choose in which to appeal to the sanction of the Church, when many of
his subjects regarded him and his followers as schismatics. But it seemed
for a time as if peace would result. Lorraine, which he visited in June,
was wholly loyal ; Henry confiscated the territory held there by Matilda,
and allotted it mainly to Godfrey of Bouillon and Bishop Dietrich of
Verdun. There followed a much greater triumph in July, when, taking
advantage of the divisions in Saxony to win over the lay nobles, he was
able for the first time for many years to enter the duchy in peace, and to
progress as far as Magdeburg.
CA. IIJ.
## p. 144 (#190) ############################################
}
144
The end of Saxon revolt
His success, however, was short-lived, and for this his failure to
appreciate the Saxon temper was responsible. Many bishops were still
hostile, especially the Archbishop of Magdeburg, and Henry proceeded
to appoint bishops of his own party to replace them. Nothing was more
calculated to cause a revulsion of feeling among the lay nobles than this
exercise of royal authority without their concurrence, and the introduction
of aliens into episcopal office in the duchy. Accordingly in September
Henry was forced to abandon Saxony once more. In the following year
(1086) Welf and his Swabian adherents were able to join forces with the
Saxons and to besiege the important town of Würzburg. Henry, hasten-
ing to its relief with an army mainly composed of peasants and levies from
the towns, was severely defeated at the battle of Pleichfeld on 11 August.
It was not the usual encounter of knights. The troops of Welf and of
the city of Magdeburg dismounted and fought on foot, with the cross as
their standard and encouraged by the prayers of the Archbishop of
Magdeburg? . As a result of the battle, Würzburg was captured and its
Bishop, Adalbero, was restored, though only temporarily, to his see. The
position of affairs, so favourable to Henry the previous year, seemed to
have been entirely reversed. But his enemies were not able to gain any
permanent advantage from their victory, or even to retain Würzburg for
long. Negotiations were resumed, to break down continually over the
impediment of Henry's excommunication and his recognition of the
anti-Pope. At last, in the summer of 1088, a renewal of discord in
Saxony caused a reaction in Henry's favour, and in a short time, for
good and all, the revolt in Saxony was ended.
The most powerful noble in Saxony at this time was Margrave Ekbert
of Meissen”. Of violent and audacious temper, like his father, he had
taken the lead in welcoming the king in Saxony in July 1085 and in
expelling him two months later. His Mark had previously been transferred
by Henry to Duke Vratislav of Bohemia, who received the title of king
in 1085; but Vratislav was unable to enter into possession of it. In 1087
Ekbert came to terms again with Henry, perhaps as the result of a
Bohemian invasion. But he immediately broke his word, having conceived
the bold scheme of getting himself appointed king in place of the helpless
Herman. This was too much for his jealous confederates. The bishops in
particular rejected his scheme, and the murder of Bishop Burchard of
Halberstadt, who had been in the forefront of every Saxon rising
against Henry, was believed to be Ekbert's revenge for his rebuff. The
ambition and violence of this noble were more dangerous than the royal
authority; the rest of Saxony hastened to make its peace with the
1 This battle is described in some detail by the chronicler Bernold (MGH, Script.
Vol. v, p. 445) who was himself present.
2 The Billung family, since their adhesion to Henry in 1080, seem to have taken
little part in public affairs. Duke Magnus remained loyal to Henry, and he is men-
tioned as present at the coronation of Henry's son Conrad as king in 1087.
## p. 145 (#191) ############################################
The climax of Henry's power, 1088-1090
145
Emperor', and, while safeguarding its own independence, recognised him
as king of Germany. The bishops indeed would not recognise Guibert;
they compromised by regarding Urban II as the rightful Pope, and at the
same time disregarding his excommunication of Henry. Ekbert was
isolated, and was condemned at a Saxon diet held at Quedlinburg in
1088; at Ratisbon in 1089 he was proscribed as a traitor, and on
Margrave Henry of the East Mark (Lusatia) was conferred the margravate
of Meissen. Ek bert remained defiant, and even posed as the champion of
the Church against Henry; at the end of 1088 he inflicted a severe defeat
on the king in front of his castle of Gleichen. But he was murdered
in 1090, and so all opposition in Saxony came to an end. His county of
Brunswick passed to his sister Gertrude, who married, as her second
husband, Henry the Fat, the son of Otto of Nordheim.
The
years
1088–1090 mark the climax of Henry's power in Germany.
Except for Margrave Ekbert, against whom he had the assistance of the
rest of Saxony, and the few Swabian counts that supported Welf, he was
universally recognised as king. The succession had been secured by the
coronation of his son Conrad as king in May 1087. The Church party
was dispirited and quiescent, and it lost its chief champion in Bavaria
with the death of Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in 1088. In Lorraine,
in 1089, Bishop Herman of Metz was reconciled with the king and
restored to his see, and the duchy of Lower Lorraine was conferred on
Godfrey of Bouillon. To the see of Cologne, vacant by the death of
Archbishop Sigewin, Henry appointed his chancellor Herman; and,
during his stay at Cologne for this purpose, he was married (his first wife,
Bertha, had died in 1087) to Praxedis (Adelaide), daughter of the Prince
of Kiev and widow of Margrave Henry of the North Mark. The marriage
was celebrated by Archbishop Hartwig of Magdeburg, with whom, in
spite of his prominent share in the king's defeat at Pleichfeld in 1086,
Henry was completely reconciled. The archbishop, however, refused to
recognise the anti-Pope, and this was the chief weakness in Henry's
position. It seems that on more than one occasion he could have come
to terms with the Church party and returned to communion, had he
consented to abandon Guibert. He was himself unwilling both to betray
so faithful a servant and to discard so useful a tool; while many
of his
chief supporters and advisers among the bishops, feeling that their own
fate was implicated in that of Guibert, influenced him in the same
direction. He might also have expected the ultimate success of his anti-
Pope. There was nothing to lead him to anticipate the fatal results to
himself of the election of Urban II as Pope in March 1088. Urban, like
his predecessor, had to live under Norman protection, and Guibert
remained securely in possession of Rome.
1 But it seems almost certain that he cannot have recovered full possession of the
royal domain. Probably the situation in Saxony was a return to the status quo of
C. MED. 2. VOL. V. CH. III.
10
1069.
## p. 146 (#192) ############################################
146
His disastrous expedition to Italy, 1090–1097
As in 1072 and 1075, the position in Germany appeared favourable
for the recovery of authority in Italy; and again a situation had arisen
vitally affecting imperial interests. In 1089, Countess Matilda of Tuscany,
now over forty years of age, devoting herself to furthering the political
advantage of the Papacy, had married the younger Welf, a lad of
seventeen. The elder Welf, having lost his Saxon allies, had turned his
ambitions to the south, and hoped for great things from this marriage.
His Italian inheritance adjoined the territories of Countess Matilda,
and he doubtless anticipated for himself a position in Italy such as Duke
Godfrey, the husband of Matilda's mother Beatrice, had held during the
minority of Henry IV. The Emperor came into Italy in April 1090 to
counteract the dangerous effects of this alliance, and at first met with
considerable success. But the papal party was rapidly gaining strength,
and unscrupulous in its methods worked among his family to effect his
ruin. The revolt of Conrad in 1093 under Matilda's influence, accompanied
by a league of Lombard cities against the Emperor, not only reduced
him to great straits but even cut off his retreat to Germany. The next
year another domestic blow was struck at the unfortunate Emperor. His
wife Praxedis, suspected of infidelity to her husband, escaped to take
refuge with Matilda and to spread gross charges against Henry. False
though they doubtless were, they were eagerly seized upon by his enemies,
and the Pope himself at the Council of Piacenza in 1095 listened to the
tale and pardoned the unwilling victim. Praxedis, her work done,
disappears from history; she seems to have returned to Russia and to
have died as a nun. Her husband, stunned with the shock of this double
treachery of wife and son, remained in isolation at Verona. But the
conflicting interests of Welf and the Papacy soon broke up the unnatural
marriage-alliance. Matilda separated from her second husband as she had
done from her first, and the elder Welf, who had no intention of merely
subserving papal interests, took his son back with him to Germany
in 1095. The next year he made his peace with the Emperor; the road
to Germany was opened again, and in the spring of 1097 Henry made
his way by the Brenner Pass into Bavaria.
The long absence of Henry in Italy had less effect than might have been
expected on his position in Germany. Saxony remained quiet, and the
government by non-interference was able to ensure the loyalty of the lay
nobles, among whom Henry the Fat, with Brunswick added to Nordheim
by his marriage with Gertrude, now held the leading place. In Lorraine
the Church party won a success in the adhesion of the Bishops of Metz,
Toul, and Verdun to the papal cause. Otherwise the only centre of dis-
turbance was Swabia. The government of Germany during Henry's
absence seems to have been entrusted to Duke Frederick of Swabia, in
conjunction with Henry, Count-Palatine of the Rhine, who died in
1095. In 1091 the death of Berthold, son of the anti-King Rudolf,
brought the house of Rheinfelden to an end. He was succeeded both in
## p. 147 (#193) ############################################
The First Crusade
147
his allodial territories and in his pretensions to the duchy of Swabia by
his brother-in-law Berthold of Zähringen, son of the former Duke of
Carinthia, a far more formidable rival to Duke Frederick. The successes
of Henry in Italy in 1091, combined with the death of Abbot William
of Hirschau, brought to the king's side many adherents in Swabia. But
the disasters of 1093 caused a reaction, and the papal party began
to revive under the lead of Bishop Gebhard of Constance, Berthold's
brother. An assembly held at Ulm declared the unity of Swabia under
the spiritual headship of Gebhard and the temporal headship of Berthold,
and a land-peace was proclaimed to last until Easter 1096, which Welf
with less success attempted to extend the next year to Bavaria and
Franconia. The Church party took the lead in this movement, and papal
overlordship was recognised by Berthold and Welf, who did homage to
Gebhard as the representative of the Pope. This coalition was entirely
ruined by the breach of Welf with Matilda, which led to his reconciliation
with Henry and to a complete severance of his alliance with the Papacy.
The comparative tranquillity during Henry's absence was due, not to
the strength of the government but in part to its weakness, and above all
to the general weariness of strife and the desire for peace. To this cause,
too, must be attributed the feeble response that Germany made when in
1095 the summons of Urban II to the First Crusade resounded through-
out Europe. Some, and among them even a great ecclesiastic like
Archbishop Ruthard of Mayence, were seized with the crusading spirit
so far as to join in the massacre of Jews and the plunder of their property.
But, except for Godfrey of Bouillon, who had been unable to make his
ducal authority effective in Lower Lorraine, no important German noble
actually went on crusade at this time. Indeed, it does not seem that the
position of Henry was to any material extent affected by the Crusade.
But, if the immediate effect was negligible, it was otherwise with the
ultimate effect. Important results were to arise from the circumstances in
which the crusading movement was launched—the Pope, the spiritual
head of Christendom, preaching the Crusade against the infidel, while
the Emperor, the temporal head, remained helpless in Italy, cut off from
communion with the faithful. Gregory VII in 1074 had planned to lead
a crusade himself, and wrote to Henry IV that he would leave the Roman
Church during his absence under Henry's care and protection. This plan
was typical of its author, though it was a curious reversal of the natural
functions of the two heads of Christendom. Had Pope and Emperor been
working together in the ideal harmony that Gregory VII conceived, it
would certainly have been the Emperor that would have led the crusaders
to Palestine in 1095, and under his suzerainty that the kingdom of
Jerusalem would have been formed. As it was, the Papacy took the
lead; its suzerainty was acknowledged; in the war against the infidel it
arrogated to itself the temporal as well as the spiritual sword. And not
only was the Emperor affected by the advantages that accrued to his
CH. III.
10-2
## p. 148 (#194) ############################################
148
Peace in Germany
great rival. His semi-divine character was impaired; when he failed to
take his natural place as the champion of the Cross, he prejudiced his
claim to be the representative of God upon earth.
At any rate, on his return to Germany Henry found but slight
opposition to his authority. The reconciliation with Welf was confirmed
in a diet at Worms in 1098, and was extended to Berthold as well.
Welf
was formally restored to his duchy, and the succession was promised to
his son. The rival claims to Swabia were settled: Frederick was confirmed
in the duchy, Berthold was compensated with the title of Duke (of
Zähringen) and the grant of Zurich, to be held as a fief directly from the
Emperor. At the price of concessions, which implied that he had re-
nounced the royal ambitions of his earlier years, Henry had made peace
with his old enemies, and all lay opposition to him in Germany ceased.
At a diet at Mayence the princes elected his second son Henry as king,
and promised to acknowledge him as his father's successor; the young
Henry took an oath of allegiance to his father, promising not to act with
independent authority during his father's lifetime. For the Emperor,
though anxious to secure the succession, was careful not to allow his son
the position Conrad had abused. The young Henry was anointed king
at Aix-la-Chapelle the following year; on the sacred relics he repeated
the oath he had taken at Mayence, and the princes took an oath of fealty
to him.
Ecclesiastical opposition remained, but was seriously weakened by the
defection of Berthold and Welf. It gained one notable, if not very
creditable, adherent in the person of Ruthard, who had succeeded Werner
as Archbishop of Mayence in 1089. The crusading fervour had manifested
itself, especially in the Rhine district, in outbreaks against the Jews, who,
when they were not murdered, were maltreated, forcibly baptised, and
despoiled of their property. Henry on more than one occasion had shewn
special favour to the Jews, who played no small part in the prosperity of
the towns. Immediately on his return from Italy, he had given permission
to the victims to return to their faith, and he was active in recovering for
them the property they had lost. Mayence had been the scene of one of
these anti-Jewish outbreaks, and the archbishop was suspected of com-
plicity and of having received his share of the plunder. Henry opened an
enquiry into this on the occasion of his son's election, to which the
archbishop refused to submit and fled to his Thuringian estates. Apart
from this, there is, until 1104, a period of unwonted calm in Germany,
and in consequence little to record. During these years the chief interest
lies in Lorraine, owing to the ambition of Count Robert II of Flanders
and the recrudescence of a communal movement at Cambrai. Defence
against the count was its object, and so the commune received recognition
from the Emperor and Bishop Walcher; but it found itself compelled
to come to terms with the count, who made peace with Henry in 1103.
Having enjoyed independence, the commune continued to exist, and
## p. 149 (#195) ############################################
The revolt of Henry V
149
entered into a struggle with the bishop, who was handicapped by a rival
and pro-papal bishop. For a time it maintained its independence, unti)
in 1107 it was overthrown by Henry V and episcopal authority restored.
Henry, then, might seem to have at last accomplished his object in
Germany, and by the universal recognition of his authority to have
achieved the mastery. But in reality he had failed, and the peace was
his recognition of failure. For it was a peace of acquiescence, acquiescence
on both sides, due to weariness. The nobles recognised him as king, and he
recognised the rights they claimed. Not as subjects, but almost as equals,
the Saxons, Welf, Berthold, had all made terms with him. No concessions,
however, could reconcile the Papacy. The death of Urban II in 1099
made no difference; his successor, Paschal II, was even more inflexible.
There seemed a prospect of peace when the anti-Pope Guibert died in
1100, and a diet at Mayence proposed an embassy to Rome. The follow-
ing year Henry proposed to go to Rome himself. In January 1103, at
another diet at Mayence, besides promulgating a land-peace for the
Empire for four years, Henry announced his intention, provided he could
be reconciled with the Pope, of going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
But to all these proposals the Pope turned a deaf ear. Henry had been
excommunicated and deposed, and the sentence was repeated by Paschal in
1102. There was no hope of ending the schism during Henry IV's lifetime.
This state of affairs led to the final catastrophe. To no one did the
situation give so much cause for dissatisfaction as to the heir to the
throne—the young Henry V. The longer his father lived the weaker he
felt would be the authority to which he would succeed. Self-interest de-
termined him, in defiance of his oath, to seize power before matters
became worse. He knew that he might expect the reconciliation with the
Pope that was denied to his father, and that the Germans would willingly
accept the leadership of one who was at the same time lawful king and
in communion with the Pope. Probably the disturbances that broke out
Ratisbon while the court was staying there at the beginning of 1104
decided him in his purpose. Many nobles had disliked the promulgation
of a land-peace, which interfered with their customary violence; then the
murder of a Bavarian count by one of his own ministeriales, and the
Emperor's neglect to punish the offender, provoked such discontent that
Henry IV found it wiser to leave Bavaria and go to Lorraine. Henry V
went with him, but he had already the nucleus of a party and began to
mature his plans. In Lorraine his father was among friends, but when at
the end of the year he marched north to punish a breach of the peace
by a Saxon count, the young Henry decided that the moment was ripe
for his venture. At Fritzlar on 12 December he escaped by night and
went rapidly south to Ratisbon, where he placed himself at the head of
the discontented nobles. His father, abandoning his expedition, returned
to the Rhine; he was broken-hearted at his son's treachery and made
frantic appeals to him to return. Henry V sanctimoniously refused to
CH. III.
## p. 150 (#196) ############################################
150
Treachery of Henry V
listen to an excommunicated man, and made overtures to the Pope which
were immediately successful.
The revolt was well-timed, and events turned out as Henry V had
planned. The papal legate, Bishop Gebhard of Constance, met him in
Bavaria and gave him the papal absolution. The Saxon and Thuringian
princes, with whom was the exiled Archbishop Ruthard of Mayence, sent
him an invitation which he eagerly accepted, and with the papal legate
at his side he arrived at Quedlinburg for Easter 1105. A synod was
held at Nordhausen on 21 May, at which he adopted an attitude of
humility that was immediately successful. The Church party was won
over by his action against imperialist bishops, and by his placing in the
forefront the excommunication of his father as the cause of his revolt;
the lay princes were equally attracted by his promise to act always in
accordance with their direction. He could now count on Saxony wholly,
and largely on Bavaria; Duke Welf seems on the whole to have remained
neutral. He was fortunate, too, in the death this year of his brother-in-
law, Duke Frederick of Swabia, whose sons were too young to intervene.
He now took the field against his father, and marched on Mayence
with the intention of restoring the archbishop. But the Rhine towns
stood firm in their loyalty, and, after taking Würzburg, he was forced to
retire to Ratisbon. His father followed hard on his tracks, retook
Würzburg, and nearly surprised the son at Ratisbon. Here the Emperor
was reinforced by Margrave Liutpold of Austria and Duke Bořivoi of
Bohemia. Henry V marched against him, and managed to entice from his
father his two chief supporters. The Emperor found himself abandoned on
all sides, and had to make a hurried escape to avoid capture. After an ad-
venturous and perilous flight through Bohemia and Saxony, he arrived
safely at Mayence at the end of October. Driven from there by his son's
approach, he took refuge at Cologne,and then followed the second and most
shameful treachery of the young Henry'. Promising to assist his reconcilia-
tion with the Pope, he persuaded his father to meet him and accompany
him to Mayence. Nothing was wanting that hypocrisy could suggest--
tears, prostration at his father's feet, solemn and repeated pledges of safe-
conduct. By these means he induced him to dismiss his retinue, and, on
arriving at Bingen, represented the danger of going to Mayence and enticed
him into the castle of Böckelheim, where he kept him a close prisoner. At
Christmas a diet was held at Mayence in the presence of papal legates, who
dominated the proceedings. The Emperor was brought before the diet, not
at Mayence where the townspeople might have rescued him, but at Ingel-
heim; crushed in spirit by his sufferings in prison and in fear for his life, he
surrendered the royal insignia, promising a humble confession of his mis-
deeds and even resignation of his throne. It was a scene that moved the
lay nobles to compassion, but the legates, having gained their ends,
1 K. Hampe, Deutsche Kaisergeschichte im Zeitalter der Salier und Staufen, p. 70,
calls it “the most devilish deed in all German history. ”
## p. 151 (#197) ############################################
Last days and death of Henry IV
151
declared themselves not competent to grant absolution. Henry V was
equally obdurate, and his father was kept in confinement at Ingelheim.
An invitation was sent to the Pope inviting his presence at a synod in
Germany. Henry V for his own purposes was willing to allow the papal
decision so much desired by Gregory VII.
But the year 1106 saw a change of fortune. The Emperor escaped
from captivity and was strongly supported in Lorraine and the Rhine
towns. In the spring Henry V was severely defeated outside Liège by a
coalition of Duke Henry of Lower Lorraine, Count Godfrey of Namur,
and the people of Liège; in the summer he signally failed before Cologne.
In face of this devoted loyalty to his father he was powerless; then sud-
denly death came to his aid, and the opposition collapsed. The Emperor,
worn out by sorrow and suffering, fell ill at Liège and died on 7 August.
On his death-bed he sent his last message to his son, requesting pardon
for his followers and that he might be buried beside his father at Spires.
His dying appeal was disregarded. Henry V deposed the Duke of Lower
Lorraine, and appointed Godfrey of Brabant in his place; the town of
Cologne was fined 5000 marks. The Pope refused absolution and Chris-
tian burial to the excommunicated Emperor. The people of Liège, in
defiance of king and Pope, had given his body a royal funeral in their
cathedral amid universal lamentation; the papal legates ordered its
removal. It was taken to the cathedral at Spires, where again the people
displayed their grief and affection. The bishop ordered it to be removed
once more to an unconsecrated chapel. Five years later, when Henry V
wrung from the Pope the cession of investiture, he also obtained absolu-
tion for his father, and on 7 August 1111 the body of Henry IV was at
last solemnly interred beside those of his father and grandfather in the
cathedral he had so richly endowed at Spires.
The story of this long reign of fifty years reads like a tragedy on
the Greek model. Mainly owing to conditions for which he was not
responsible, Henry was forced to struggle, in defence of his rights, against
odds that were too great for him, and finally to fall a victim to the
treachery of his son. The mismanagement of the imperial government
during his minority had given the opportunity for particularism in
Germany and for the Papacy in Italy to obtain a position from which
he could not dislodge them. As far as Germany was concerned, he might
have been successful, and he did at any rate acquire an important ally
for the monarchy in the towns, especially in the Rhine district. How
important it was is seen in 1073-4, when the example set by Worms
turned the tide that was flowing so strongly against him; and, more
notably still, in the resistance he was able to make to his son in the last
year of his life. But the reason that prevented his making full use of this
alliance prevented also his success in Germany. The fatal policy of Otto I
had placed the monarchy in a position from which it could not extricate
itself. Essentially it had to lean on ecclesiastical support, and from this
CH. III.
## p. 152 (#198) ############################################
152
Causes of his failure
two results followed. In the first place, as the important towns were
under episcopal authority, a direct alliance with them took place only
when the bishop was hostile to the king. Secondly, the success of Otto I's
policy, in Germany as in Italy, depended now on the Papacy being sub-
servient, or at least obedient, to imperial authority. The Papacy re-
generated by Henry III, especially with the opportunities it had had
during Henry IV's minority, could not acquiesce in its own dependence
or in the subordination of ecclesiastical appointments to lay control. A
contest between sacerdotium and imperium was inevitable, and, as we can
see, it could only have one end. Certainly it was the Papacy that caused
the failure of Henry IV. He was unfortunate in being faced at the
beginning by one of the greatest of all the Popes, and yet he was able
to defeat him; but he could not defeat the Papacy. It was the long
schism that partly prompted the revolt of Henry V, and it was the desire
to end it that won him the support of most of Germany. Papal excom-
munication was the weapon that brought Henry IV to his tragic end,
and avenged the death in exile of Gregory VII. And, apart from this,
it was owing to the Papacy that his reign in Germany had been unsuc-
cessful. He made peace with his enemies, but on their conditions; and
the task that he had set out so energetically to achieve-the vindication
of imperial authority-he had definitely failed to accomplish.
With the passing of the old king, many others of the leading actor
disappear from the scene. Especially in Saxony, old houses were becoming
extinct, and new families were rising to take their place in German
history. The Billungs, the Counts of Nordheim, the Ekberts of Brunswick,
had each in turn played the leading part against the king; and now the
male line had failed in all these families, and the inheritance had fallen
to women. In 1090 by the death of Ekbert II the male line of the
Brunswick house became extinct; his sister Gertrude was left as heiress,
and she married (as her second husband) Henry the Fat, the elder son of
Otto of Nordheim. He was murdered in 1101, his brother Conrad suffered
the same fate in 1103, and the elder daughter of Henry and Gertrude,
Richenza, became eventually heiress to both these houses'. Lothar, Count
of Supplinburg, by his marriage with Richenza in 1100, rose from an
insignificant position to become the most powerful noble in Saxony. In
1106 died Duke Magnus, the last of the Billungs. His duchy was given
by Henry V to Lothar, his family possessions were divided between his
two daughters: the eastern portion went to the younger, Eilica, who
married Count Otto of Ballenstädt and became the mother of Albert the
Bear, the Saxon rival of the Welfs; the western portion to the elder,
Wulfhild, who married Henry the Black, son of Duke Welf of Bavaria.
1 Gertrude had been married first to Count Dietrich of Katlenburg; on the death
of Henry the Fat she married Henry of Eilenburg, Margrave of Meissen •and the
East Mark. He died in 1103, and his posthumous son Henry died childless in 1123.
Gertrude herself died in 1117.
## p. 153 (#199) ############################################
Supplinburg
Ascanians
Brunonings
Nordheim
Otto,
Ekbert I
C. of Brunswick,
M. of Meissen,
ob. 1068
C. of Nordheim
(D. of Bavaria, 1061-70),
ob. 1083
Eilica m. Otto of Ballenstedt
Ekbert II
ob. 1090
Gertrude m. Henry the Fat
ob. 1117 ob. 1101
Conrad
ob, 1103
Gertrude
Lothar, C. of Supplinburg, m. Richenza
later Emperor
Sophia m. Dietrich of
Holland
Gertrude
Albert the Bear
D. of Bavaria and Saxony
1
Bernard of Anhalt,
Otto of Brunswick M. of Brandenburg
D. of Saxony
The rise of new noble families in Germany
Babenbergers
KING HENRY IV
1
(1) Agnes (2)
m.
Liutpold,
M. of Austria
King Conrad III
Liutpold,
M. of Austria
Henry Jasomirgott,
first D. of Austria
Otto,
Bishop of Freising
Welfs
Billungs
Welf IV,
D. of Bavaria, ob. 1101
Magnus,
D. of Saxony, ob. 1106
Welf V,
ob. 1120
Henry the Black m. Wulfhild
Henry the Proud m.
Henry the Lion,
Otto,
Welfs
Hohenstaufen
Henry the Black
Frederick,
C. of Staufen,
D. of Swabia
Judith
m. Frederick,
D. of Swabia
| D.
Frederick I Barbarossa
153
CH. 11.
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154
The character of Henry V
Thus were laid the foundations of the Welf power in Saxony; the struc-
ture was to be completed when the son of Henry and Wulfhild, Henry
the Proud, married Gertrude, daughter and heiress of Lothar and
Richenza; for the house of Supplinburg also failed in the male line.
Duke Welf of Bavaria himself died on crusade in 1101, and his duchy,
now hereditary, passed to Welf V, Countess Matilda's husband, and on
his death in 1120 to his brother Henry the Black. Finally, in 1105, Duke
Frederick of Swabia died and was succeeded by his son Frederick II; while
his widow Agnes, daughter of Henry IV, married in 1106 Liutpold III,
Margrave of Austria, and so became the ancestress of Babenbergers as
well as Hohenstaufen? .
Henry V, born in 1081, had been elected king in 1098; so that, young
as he still was, he had already been associated in the government for
eight years. He will always, apart from the Concordat of Worms, be
remembered primarily for his treatment of his father and, five years later,
of the Pope; in both these episodes he shewed himself brutal and un-
scrupulous. Perhaps to modern minds the studied treachery and hypocrisy
of 1105–6 will appear more repulsive than the direct and unconcealed
violence of 1111; his contemporaries, however, viewed the two incidents
quite differently, regarding rather the nature of the victim than the
quality of the crime. His action in deposing his excommunicated father
met with fairly general approval; while the horror inspired by his treat-
ment of the Pope did considerable damage to his prestige. He was not
capable, like his father, of inspiring devotion, but he could inspire respect.
For he was forceful, energetic, resourceful, and he did for some time
manage to dominate the German nobles. With more prudence too than
his father he conserved imperial resources, and, except in Italy in 1116
when policy demanded it, he was very sparing of grants from the royal
domain, even to bishops. Of diplomatic cunning he frequently gave proof,
especially in the circumstances of his revolt and in his negotiations with
Paschal II. In particular he had a strong sense of the importance of in-
fluencing opinion. There was nothing unusual in the manifestoes he issued
in justification of his actions on important occasions, but he went farther
than this. He prepared the way. The publication of the anonymous
Tractatus de investitura episcoporum in 1109 preluded his embassy to
Paschal II by expounding to all the righteousness of the imperial claims.
And he went beyond manifestoes. When he started on his journey to
Rome in 1110, he took with him David, afterwards Bishop of Bangor,
as the official historian of the expedition. David's narrative has unfor-
tunately not come down to us, but it was made use of by others, especially
1 She had in all 23 children. By her first marriage she became mother of King
Conrad III and grandmother of Frederick Barbarossa; by her second marriage she
became mother of Henry Jasomirgott, the first Duke of Austria, and of the historian,
Bishop Otto of Freising.
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His forced reliance on the nobles
155
by the chronicler Ekkehard. It was assuredly propaganda, not history;
but it was an ingenious and novel way of ensuring an authoritative
description of events calculated to impress contemporary opinion.
To prevent the further decline of imperial authority, he had allied
himself with the two powers responsible for that decline. His real policy
was in no whit different from that of his father, so that he was playing
a hazardous game; and it is doubtful whether, even from his own purely
selfish standpoint, he had taken the wisest course. To obtain the
assistance of the Pope, he had recognised the over-riding authority of the
sacerdotium; he had justified his revolt against his father on the ground
of the unfitness of an excommunicated man to be king, and had used the
papal power of absolution to condone his perjury. To obtain the co-
operation of the nobles, he had to abandon for a time the support of the
towns and the reliance on the ministeriales which had been so valuable to
his father. The nobles were, as usual, anxious to make their fiefs and
offices hereditary, to obtain the recognition of independent powers, and
to prevent the establishment of an over-riding royal justice. This they
expected to ensure by the participation in the government that Henry
had promised, and in this he humoured them for the time. Their names
appear as witnesses to royal charters; all acts of government, even the
nomination of bishops, are done consilio principum. For their support was
still necessary to him, and he skilfully made use of it to oppose a united
Germany to the claims of his other ally, the Pope. He had allowed the
legates to sit in judgment on his father, and to wreak their vengeance to
the full; he had shewn himself zealous in deposing schismatic bishops at
their dictation. All this was to his interest; but, his father dead, he was
not long in throwing off the mask. It was essential that the bishops
should be loyal subjects, and so he was careful to control elections; and,
worst of all to the mind of Paschal II, he refused to discontinue the
practice of lay investiture. In this, and against all claims of the Pope to
interfere in the affairs of Germany, he had the nobles, lay and ecclesias-
tical, almost to a man enthusiastically on his side.
For the first five years of his reign the issue with the Pope was the
leading question. Apart from Count Robert of Flanders, against whom
Henry had to lead an expedition in 1107, there was no serious disturbance
in Germany. In 1108-9 he was principally occupied on the eastern
frontiers, where he successfully asserted himself in Bohemia but failed
signally in his attempt to intervene in Hungary and Poland. All this time
negotiations with the Pope had been in progress, any satisfactory
result, and at last in 1110 Henry decided to go to Rome to effect a
settlement in person and to obtain the imperial crown. At the diet at
Ratisbon at which he announced his intention, the nobles unanimously
i It is perhaps remarkable that Paschal in 1105, when he had the chance, did not
take the opportunity to obtain assurances from Henry V on investiture or on any
other point.
without any
CH. III.
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156
Victory over the Pope.
