(1024—1106.)
- Konrad II. elected Emperor.
- —Movements against him.
- —Journey to Italy.
- —Revolt of Ernest of Suabia.
- —Burgundy attached to the Empire.
- —Siege of Milan.
- —Konrad's Death.
- —Henry III. succeeds.
- —Temporary Peace.
- —Corruptions in the Church.
- —The "Truce of God."
- —Henry III.'s Coronation in Rome.
- —Rival Popes.
- —New Troubles in Germany.
- —Second Visit to Italy.
- —Return and Death.
- —Henry IV.'s Childhood.
- —His Capture.
- —Archbishops Hanno and Adalbert.
- —Henry IV. begins to reign.
- —Revolt and Slaughter of the Saxons.
- —Pope Gregory VII.
- —His Character and Policy.
- —Henry IV. excommunicated.
- —Movement against him.
- —He goes to Italy.
- —His Humiliation at Canossa.
- —War with Rudolf of Suabia.
- —Henry IV. besieges Rome.
- —Death of Gregory VII.
- —Rebellions of Henry IV.'s Sons.
- —His Capture, Abdication and Death.
- —The First Crusade.
1024.
On the 4th of September, 1024, the German nobles, clergy and people came together on the banks of the Rhine, near Mayence, to elect a new Emperor. There were fifty or sixty thousand persons in all, forming two great camps: on the western bank of the river were the Lorrainese and the Rhine-Franks, on the eastern bank the Saxons, Suabians, Bavarians and German-Franks. There were two prominent candidates for the throne, but neither of them belonged to the established reigning houses, the members of which seemed to be so jealous of one another that they mutually destroyed their own chances. The two who were brought forward were cousins, both named Konrad, and both great-grandsons of Duke Konrad, Otto the Great's son-in-law, who fell so gallantly in the great battle with the Hungarians, in 955.
For five days the claims of the two were canvassed by the electors. The elder Konrad had married Gisela, the widow of Duke Ernest of Suabia, which gave him a somewhat higher place among the princes; and therefore after the cousins had agreed that either would accept the other's election as valid and final, the votes turned to his side. The people, who were present merely as spectators (for they had now no longer any part in the election), hailed the new monarch with shouts of joy, and he was immediately crowned king of Germany in the Cathedral of Mayence.
GERMANY under the Saxon and Frank Emperors. Twelfth Century
1024.
Konrad—who was Konrad II. in the list of German Emperors—had no subjects of his own to support him, like his Saxon predecessors: his authority rested upon his own experience, ability and knowledge of statesmanship. But his queen, Gisela, was a woman of unusual intelligence and energy, and she faithfully assisted him in his duties. He was a man of stately and commanding appearance, and seemed so well fitted for his new dignity that when he made the usual journey through Germany, neither Dukes nor people hesitated to give him their allegiance. Even the nobles of Lorraine, who were dissatisfied with his election, found it prudent to yield without serious opposition.
The death of Henry II., nevertheless, was the signal for three threatening movements against the Empire. In Italy the Lombards rose, and, in their hatred of what they now considered to be a foreign rule (quite forgetting their own German origin), they razed to the ground the Imperial palace at Pavia: in Burgundy, king Rudolf declared that he would resist Konrad's claim to the sovereignty of the country, which, being himself childless, he had promised to Henry II.; and in Poland, Boleslaw, who now called himself king, declared that his former treaties with Germany were no longer binding upon him. But Konrad II. was favored by fortune. The Polish king died, and the power which he had built up—for his kingdom, like that of the Goths, reached from the Baltic to the Danube, from the Elbe to Central Russia—was again shattered by the quarrels of his sons. In Burgundy, Duke Rudolf was without heirs, and finally found himself compelled to recognize the German sovereign as his successor. With Canute, who was then king of Denmark and England, Konrad II. made a treaty of peace and friendship, restoring Schleswig to the Danish crown, and re-adopting the river Eider as the boundary.