CONRAD II INCREASES HIS POWER
In the year 1024 a gifted and vigorous king had at length been elected; to such a man a thorough reform of political conditions would certainly appear an imperative necessity in view of the condition to which the empire had been reduced. Conrad II had first to try to increase the property of the crown before he could venture upon a struggle against the usurpations of the nobles. This was not to be effected either easily or speedily, and he therefore endeavoured in the first place to gain time for confirming his power by friendly behaviour towards the great nobles. For this reason, after his consort Gisela had also been crowned at Cologne, he determined to begin by making a progress through Germany, for the double purpose of securing general recognition and investigating the condition of the crown lands of the head of the empire. He first went to Aachen, where an assembly of the nobles of Lorraine had been convened. The king’s most formidable enemies were the seigneurs of the higher nobility; and in order to counterbalance them Conrad was obliged to rely on the middle classes, represented at this time by the lesser nobles, the commons not having yet attained a sufficient degree of power.
German Woman of Quality of the Tenth Century
During his stay in Aachen, the king won the favour of the lesser nobility by a very well calculated political measure. Most families of this class had already fallen, by the spread of feudalism, into the position of vassals to some great noble; and disputes frequently arose between them and their feudal lords, because in certain cases the latter would not allow the fief to be transmitted to the descendants of the vassal. Conrad II, who was well aware of this state of things and eager for any means of weakening the power of the great nobles, promulgated during his stay in Aachen a decree to the effect that the descendants of a vassal were entitled to succeed to the fief in perpetuity.
This was a very drastic measure, and greatly increased the popularity of the king. From Aachen Conrad proceeded to Saxony to dispose the minds of the Saxons favourably to himself. There he was obliged to have recourse to very different means. The Saxons were by this time accustomed to the unity of the German state, but they were still apprehensive of restrictions upon their national laws, and their first and most pressing demand was for the confirmation of the same. These consisted of the harsh regulations of serfdom which had come down from primitive times, the strict prohibition of unequal marriages, etc., and thus redounded to the advantage of the nobility alone.
[1024-1026 A.D.]
Conrad, however, could not afford to anger the great Saxon nobles, and he therefore confirmed “the so cruel laws of the Saxons,” as Wipo[c] phrases it. Having thus secured his recognition by the North Germans, he next collected the tribute due from the border Slavs who were subjects of the empire, that by this means he might provide himself with material resources for carrying out his designs; and then proceeded by way of Franconia to Bavaria and Swabia. On this progress Conrad established himself firmly in the popular esteem, and by the time it was finished his position seemed much stronger than before.
In Italy fresh troubles had arisen, for a party among the Lombards were desirous of overthrowing the German supremacy, and wished to transfer their allegiance to France for that purpose. On the other hand, Heribert, archbishop of Milan, was well disposed towards the Germans, and therefore journeyed to visit Conrad II, who was at that time in Constance, in which place he had likewise resided during the first year of his reign. The king received him very graciously, and lent a favourable ear to the bishop’s request that he should make a military expedition into Italy. An embassy from the opposition party, and from the city of Pavia in particular, had also made its appearance at Constance, but was harshly received by Conrad; and it is probable that he would at that time have undertaken a campaign beyond the Alps if he had not been busy with matters nearer home. The consummation of the national unity of the German race was obviously an admirable means of enhancing the power of the crown, but a considerable portion of German territory was still alienated from the empire. Part of Switzerland on the German side of the Jura belonged to Burgundy, which was ruled by an independent king.
A quarrel over the succession, to which we have previously referred, had already taken place between this monarch and Henry II, and had resulted in the conclusion of a treaty by which after the death of the childless king Rudolf the succession to his dominions was assured to the head of the German Empire.