A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

His son, Henry III., already crowned King of Germany as a boy, now mounted the throne. He was twenty-three years old, distinguished for bodily as well as mental qualities, and was apparently far more competent to rule than many of his predecessors had been. Germany was quiet, and he encountered no opposition. The first five years of his reign brought him wars with Bohemia and Hungary, but in both, in spite of some reverses at the beginning, he was successful. Bohemia was reduced to obedience; a part of the Hungarian territory was annexed to Austria, and the king, Peter, as well as Duke Casimir of Poland, acknowledged themselves dependents of the German Empire. The Czar of Muscovy (as Russia was then called) offered Henry, after the death of Queen Gunhilde, a princess of his family as a wife; but he declined, and selected, instead, Agnes of Poitiers, sister of the Duke of Aquitaine.

But, although the condition of Germany, and, indeed, of the greater part of Europe, was now more settled and peaceful than it had been for a long time, the consequences of the previous wars and disturbances were very severely felt. The land had been visited both by pestilence and famine, and there was much suffering; there was also notorious corruption in the Church and in civil government; the demoralization of the Popes, followed by that of the Romans, and then of the Italians, had spread like an infection over all Christendom. When things seemed to be at their worst, a change for the better was instituted in a most unexpected quarter and in a very singular manner.

1040.

In the monastery of Cluny, in Burgundy, the monks, under the leadership of their Abbot, Odilo, determined to introduce a sterner, a more pious and Christian spirit into the life of the age. They began to preach what they called the treuga Dei, the "truce" or "peace of God," according to which, from every Wednesday evening until the next Monday morning, all feuds or fights were forbidden throughout the land. Several hundred monasteries in France and Burgundy joined the "Congregation of Cluny"; the Church accepted the idea of the "peace of God," and the worldly rulers were called upon to enforce it. Henry III. saw in this new movement an agent which might be used to his own advantage no less than for the general good, and he favored it as far as lay in his power. He summoned a Diet of the German princes, urged the measure upon them in an eloquent speech, and set the example by proclaiming a full and free pardon to all who had been his enemies. The change was too sudden to be acceptable to many of the princes, but they obeyed as far as convenient, and the German people, almost for the first time in their history, enjoyed a general peace and security.

The "Congregation of Cluny" preached also against the universal simony, by which all clerical dignities were bought and sold. Priests, abbots, bishops, and even in some cases, Popes, were accustomed to buy their appointment, and the power of the Church was thus often exercised by the most unworthy hands. Henry III. saw the necessity of a reform; he sought out the most pious, pure and intelligent priests, and made them abbots and bishops, refusing all payments or presents. He then undertook to raise the Papal power out of the deplorable condition into which it had fallen. There were then three rival Popes in Rome, each of whom officially excommunicated and cursed the others and their followers.

In the summer of 1046, Henry III. crossed the Alps with a magnificent retinue. The quarrels between the nobles and the people, in the cities of Lombardy, were compromised at his approach, and he found order and submission everywhere. He called a Synod, which was held at Sutri, an old Etruscan town, 30 miles north of Rome, and there, with the consent of the Bishops, deposed all three of the Popes, appointing the Bishop of Bamberg to the vacant office. The latter took the Papal chair under the name of Clement II., and the very same day crowned Henry III. as Roman Emperor. To the Roman people this seemed no less a bargain than the case of Otto III., and they grew more than ever impatient of the rule of both Emperor and Pope. Their republican instincts, although repressed by a fierce and powerful nobility, were kept alive by the examples of Venice and Milan, and they dreamed as ardently of a free Rome in the twelfth century as in the nineteenth.

1046. APPOINTMENT OF POPES.

Up to this time the Roman clergy and people had taken part, so far as the mere forms were concerned, in the election of the Popes. They were now compelled (of course very unwillingly) to give up this ancient right, and allow the Emperor to choose the candidate, who was then sure to be elected by Bishops of Imperial appointment. In fact, during the nine remaining years of Henry III.'s reign, he selected three other Popes, Clement II. and his first two successors having all died suddenly, probably from poison, after very short reigns. But this was the end of absolute German authority and Roman submission: within thirty years the Christian world beheld a spectacle of a totally opposite character.

Henry III. visited Southern Italy, confirmed the Normans in their rule, as his father had done, and then returned to Germany. He had reached the climax of his power, and the very means he had taken to secure it now involved him in troubles which gradually weakened his influence in Germany. He was generous, but improvident and reckless: he bestowed principalities on personal friends, regardless of hereditary claims or the wishes of the people, and gave away large sums of money, which were raised by imposing hard terms upon the tenants of the crown-lands. A new war with Hungary, and the combined revolt of Godfrey of Lorraine, Baldwin of Flanders and Dietrich of Holland against him, diminished his military resources; and even his success, at the end of four weary years, did not add to his renown. Leo IX., the third Pope of his appointment, was called upon to assist him by hurling the ban of the Church against the rebellious princes. He also called to his assistance Danish and English fleets which assailed Holland and Flanders, while he subdued Godfrey of Lorraine. The latter soon afterwards married the widowed Countess Beatrix of Tuscany, and thus became ruler of nearly all Italy between the Po and the Tiber.

By the year 1051, all the German States except Saxony were governed by relatives or personal friends of the Emperor. In order to counteract the power of Bernhard, Duke of the Saxons, of whom he was jealous, he made another friend, Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, with authority over priests and churches in Northern Germany, Denmark, Scandinavia and even Iceland. He also built a stately palace at Goslar, at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, and made it as often as possible his residence, in order to watch the Saxons. Both these measures, however, increased his unpopularity with the German people.