Chapter IX: The Franconian, or Salian, Dynasty (1)

[1024-1125 A.D.]

For the epoch of Henry II we have preserved to us the work of Bishop Thietmar[b] & of Merseburg, which, starting from local and personal points of view and showing the writer’s unwavering loyalty to the king, to whom the bishop owed his position, at once discloses and elucidates in a variety of communications the conditions obtaining in the interior of Germany. Although not unbiassed where the king is concerned, it is yet invaluable in respect of the details it affords; the internal conditions of the empire are clearly mapped out before our eyes. On the other hand, the tendencies which characterise the imperium of Henry II are more or less obscured from view. The bishop, who must be regarded as a contemporary chronicler, was already dead when they had taken definite shape.

On the other hand, Wipo,[c] the biographer of Conrad II with whom the line of the Salians commences, started entirely from the standpoint of the imperium. He wrote a biography of Conrad after his death for the instruction and edification of his son and successor, Henry III. The aspirations of the Salic house in the direction of world-wide power occupy the chief place in his work. The devolvement of the imperium upon the Salic house was an event of great importance both in German and universal history. Yet there is nothing so very unexpected and extraordinary in the elevation of Conrad II.

The Salians represent one of the parties that had once, under Otto the Great, risen up against him from the very lap of his own family. They are descended, as we have already mentioned, from the marriage of one of Otto’s daughters with the heroic Conrad the Red, the greatest warrior of those times. His son Otto, count in Wormsgau, received Carinthia, an appanage of Bavaria, in fief. He is the father of Bruno, whom Otto III raised to the papal see, as also of Conrad, who on his father’s death succeeded to the dukedom of Carinthia. This Conrad was married to Matilde, a daughter of Hermann of Swabia. Of their union a son was born, known under the name of Conrad the Younger.

[Sidenote: [1024 A.D.]]

Duke Conrad, father of the younger Conrad, had had an elder brother named Henry, who possessed a count’s fief in Franconia. This Henry--who was therefore to be considered the chief representative of the authority of that house, and who, had he not died before his father, would have inherited the dukedom--had married Adelheid, a sister of the powerful Alsatian count of the house of Egisheim. The issue of this marriage was Conrad II, to whom accordingly descended by right of inheritance the claims of the Conrad dynasty. The right of succession of the elder Conrad can hardly be questioned. For the prerogative of elder lines must be upheld, if we will do justice to the constant change of families upon the throne.[d]

After the decease of Henry II, it was evident to every friend of Germany that the unity of the nation must be cemented without delay if all that had been founded by Conrad I and Henry I was not to come wholly to naught. The princes and the higher ranks of nobles would perhaps have been well content to see the empire break up into its old condition of disintegration; the clergy, on the other hand, had nothing to gain by such a turn of fortune, and they consequently laboured with the utmost zeal for the appointment of a capable head to the empire. As matters stood the king could only be nominated by election, and on this occasion the election had to be held with more freedom and more solemnity than usual, because the choice was not limited to the children or descendants of a deceased monarch. In the early days of the vacancy no candidates for the highest office of the state presented themselves, and the question on whom to bestow the crown was therefore long debated amongst the princes, higher nobility, and bishops.

They finally resolved to call a solemn assembly of the people, and there to let the public opinion of the nation decide upon Henry’s successor. It is possible that the persons who were secretly managing this business of the election had already a definite plan as to who was to be king; but such a plan might nevertheless present difficulties in the accomplishment, and for this reason each party tried to use the expedient of a national assembly for the furtherance of its own particular object. But to all appearance the public opinion of the nation occupied the position of arbitrator between the various parties, and as such exercised a stronger influence upon the election than might have been expected in view of the condition of the empire at the time.

Of course, except for the bishops and clergy this national assembly was entirely composed of the greater and lesser nobles and their followers, for the towns had not yet arrived at such a height of prosperity as to claim direct participation in the affairs of the empire. And, equally of course, the subordinate bondman had no opinion to give, only the gentry being qualified to vote. Hence the lesser nobility as a body represented the public opinion of the nation, in contradistinction to the sovereign princes; and it was they who were permitted to wield so great an influence in state affairs in the matter of the solemn election to the throne after the death of Henry II.

A NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Henry’s death had taken place on the 13th of July, 1024, and on the 4th of September in the same year those qualified to vote amongst all the German races gathered together on the Rhine, between Mainz and Worms, in the neighbourhood of the old “Königstuhl” (a stone structure in the form of a chair, where the kings of Germany were proclaimed), to proceed with all solemnity to the election of a new head of the empire. The throng was considerable, and was distributed in accordance with the great duchies of the empire; the Lorrainers taking up their quarters on the left bank of the Rhine, the Saxons, Franconians, Swabians, and Bavarians on the right. The princes and bishops naturally took the lead in the election ceremonies, and they therefore met at Kamba, opposite Oppenheim. There they conferred concerning the candidates for royalty who should be proposed to the people--that is to say, to the aforesaid body of the minor nobility. The opinions they expressed always came to the knowledge of the popular assembly, so that the latter could exercise at least a moral influence upon the principal electors by applause or dissent. The conference lasted long, its fluctuations of opinion communicated a certain amount of agitation to the great throng, the minds of men were kept in suspense, and the solemn election became a scene of great animation. At length the diversities of opinion resolved themselves into an agreement that two men were worthiest to wear the crown, both of them Franconian nobles, both bearing the name of Conrad, and both being the sons of two brothers--grandsons of the famous Conrad the Red, son-in-law of Otto I. In order to distinguish between the two, one was styled the Elder and the other the Younger.

The election hung undecided between them for some time longer, till the elder Conrad, calculating the effect such a step would have upon the people, approached the younger with an amicable proposal that each of them should do his best to prevent a quarrel over the election; and to that end they should both undertake to yield sincere allegiance to whichever should be nominated by a majority of the princes with the assent of the people. When the younger Conrad had agreed to this, the archbishop of Mainz solemnly proposed the elder Conrad as head of the empire, setting forth his superior claims in a brief oration. The proposition was strongly supported by a majority of the bishops, and secured the assent of many of the princes; and when the empress Kunigunde, the widow of Henry II, handed over the insignia of royalty with all speed to Conrad the Elder, the assembly hailed him king of the Germans, and the election was ratified by the solemn plaudits of the nation. Conrad the Younger himself had given his vote for his cousin when he saw the way the election was tending, and a quarrel was thus avoided. The duke of Lorraine and the archbishop of Cologne both expressed their dissatisfaction at the result of the election, but no more serious consequences ensued; and Conrad the Elder was recognised by all parties as king of the Germans, the second of that name. This circumstance conduced greatly to the furtherance of the national interests of Germany, as did the result of the election itself; for the new king was a man well fitted to impart fresh strength and consequence to the empire.

Conrad II, it is true, was not animated by the noble spirit which leads through pure patriotism to a self-denying devotion to public affairs; on the contrary, he zealously pursued his own selfish ends, and was often led astray by motives of mere self-interest. Nevertheless, as it happened, his wishes coincided with the interests of the nation; for he strove to enhance the power of his own house, and seeking to attain this end by establishing a hereditary monarchy, he bent all his endeavours to increasing the imperial authority and, as a natural consequence, cementing national unity. Nor was he deficient in the qualities required for at least approximate success in his schemes, though we miss in him the nobler endowments for success, which advance openly to gain the object they have in view, by the help of genius, force of character, and inflexible will. But in place of these qualities he possessed a political sagacity so keen and subtle that he could carry through the most difficult schemes by covert measures. With this sagacity he combined energy, courage, and skill in arms. Indeed for the greater part of his life he had been engaged in military pursuits, but he nevertheless was possessed of so remarkable an aptitude for politics, that, being as clear-headed as he was adroit, he directed the affairs of the state with altogether exceptional skill.

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.

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.

[Sidenote: [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.

When Henry was dead, however, the king of Burgundy tried to put a different construction on the treaty, declaring that he had bestowed the succession on Conrad’s predecessor merely as his sister’s son, and not as king of the Germans. But Conrad II being bent, as Wipo[c] observes, on the aggrandisement and not the diminution of the empire, forthwith took up arms against Rudolf and occupied the city of Bâle, which at that time belonged to Burgundy.

By this he incurred the violent enmity of Duke Ernst of Swabia, who was the “natural” heir of Rudolf, and of Gisela by her first marriage, and thus stepson to Conrad II; and as many German nobles secretly sided with the duke, while at the same time a Slavonic prince, Boleslaw by name, rebelled against the empire, and while the affairs of Italy seemed imperatively to demand the king’s presence, the latter postponed the acquisition of the rest of Burgundy to a more favourable opportunity. He first marched to Saxony to reduce Boleslaw to submission; but the Slavonic prince died before his arrival, and a civil war broke out between his sons which exhausted the forces of both.

CONRAD IN ITALY AND GERMANY (1026-1039 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1026-1030 A.D.]]

Putting off, therefore, the subjugation of the rebellious Slavs, Conrad immediately set everything in readiness for his expedition into Italy. He first convoked a diet at Augsburg, had his son Henry elected successor to his throne, and yielding to his wife’s persuasions was reconciled to his stepson, Duke Ernst of Swabia. This took place in 1026, and in the same year the German army made its appearance in Italy. Pavia was first invested, and repeated attempts were made to take it by storm; but the brave citizens victoriously repulsed every assault, and Conrad was reduced to great straits. This so enraged him that, goaded to fury, he savagely devastated the surrounding country. The German king gained little by these cruelties, and as in spite of his victory he suffered great loss at the taking of Ravenna, he might have been compelled to retreat ingloriously from Italy if his political astuteness had not come to his aid. He succeeded in bringing the king of Burgundy, on whose assistance the Lombards relied, over to his own side. Rudolf came to Italy in person to be present at Conrad’s coronation as emperor, and the courage of the inhabitants of the invaded country sank so low that even Pavia surrendered, and Conrad was acknowledged king of Lombardy. He then received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope John XIX, on the 26th of March, 1027; and after making some provisions for the pacification of Lombardy he hastened back to Germany, where in the meanwhile his presence had become extremely necessary.

In spite of the show of reconciliation, Duke Ernst of Swabia was meditating open rebellion. Conrad was well informed of the plans of the conspirators, though the secret had been carefully guarded; and therefore, after crossing the Alps, he proceeded with all haste to Ratisbon to make preparations for subduing the threatened revolt. Conrad’s plans on this occasion strikingly display his practical ability and clear-sightedness. During his absence in Italy the ducal office had become vacant in Bavaria by the death of Henry, and the king endeavoured to procure it for his own family. In view of the encroachments of the great nobles, who amassed vast wealth at the expense of the empire, this would have profited him little unless he could increase the ducal revenue at the same time. Consequently, having succeeded in getting his ten-year-old son Henry appointed duke of Bavaria, Conrad instituted a strict inquiry into the condition of the property of the empire in that province, and restored to the crown much that had been usurped by bishops and counts. By this measure the king really struck at the root of the evil. Decrees could do little to cement the unity of the empire; what it needed was to be provided with a material basis. And of this, the most necessary element in the condition to which the empire had come was the creation of a revenue which should make the head of the state independent of the accidents of private fortune for the maintenance of his authority.

The kings commonly made the mistake of trying to gain the adherence or friendship of the great nobles by presents made at the expense of the property of the empire; and therefore Conrad II acted not only wisely but honourably when, amidst the greatest dangers, he adopted the opposite course; for it was nobler to perish than to reduce the office of head of the state to a shadow, by purchasing the favour of the great nobles. The salutary effect of his firmness was quickly manifest; for after he had gained his object in Bavaria the king took vigorous measures to put an end to the agitation in Swabia. For this purpose he promptly convened a diet at Ulm to sit in judgment upon Duke Ernst in Alamannia. The duke collected an army and marched against the king, but the firm attitude of the latter had already made a great impression upon the nobles. Two counts deserted the duke, others of the conspirators followed, and within a short time Ernst’s forces were so diminished that he was obliged to submit to the king’s mercy. Conrad had his stepson conveyed in custody to the fortress of Giebichenstein near Halle, and then reduced the whole of Swabia to allegiance to the head of the empire. These proceedings added greatly to his reputation, open and secret foes now courted the king’s favour, and by the fifth year of his reign Conrad II had materially increased the authority of the empire.

[Sidenote: [1030-1032 A.D.]]

He now determined to take in hand the expedition against the Slavs, which had been postponed on account of the urgency of Italian affairs; but it proved abortive, and he was forced to return into Saxony with great loss. A quarrel with the Hungarians arose at the same time, and Duke Ernst renewed his attempt at rebellion. Conrad had recalled him from Giebichenstein and offered to reinstate him in his duchy under certain conditions; but the negotiations came to nothing, Ernst escaped from his stepfather’s court and with his faithful adherent, Count von Kyburg, essayed the fortune of war. Both were outlawed, and soon afterwards slain in a fight in the Black Forest.[147]

Conrad’s safety was consequently assured in that quarter, and he immediately invaded Hungary with an army. Here again he soon found it preferable to restore peace by the methods of political sagacity rather than by force of arms, and negotiations were therefore adroitly set on foot and brought to a successful issue. Stephen, king of Hungary, sued for peace and it was concluded on terms honourable to Germany. During the duke of Swabia’s second revolt the Slavs, against whom Conrad’s arms had proved so unfortunate, had invaded and ravaged Saxony and Thuringia.

Little could be done to oppose them, on account of the war with the Hungarians, but as soon as that was ended the German king resolved to exact satisfaction. Once more, however, he was desirous of courting success by policy rather than by arms. Mieczyslaw, the son of Duke Boleslaw, was involved in a war (as has already been stated) with his brother Otto. Now, in Conrad’s unlucky campaign against Mieczyslaw, Otto, who inclined to the side of the Germans, had been driven out of the country. With him Conrad again entered into negotiations, and in consequence Otto (who was also favoured by the Russians) appeared once more in the district between the Elbe and the Oder, occupied by Slavonic tribes, who even then were styled Poles. Conrad sent an army from Saxony to support his protégé, and the civil war began afresh among the Poles. Mieczyslaw was thus brought to a more yielding temper, and, although Otto was slain soon after, he endeavoured to establish a permanent peace with the king of Germany. A peace was actually brought about, the Polish prince submitting to tribute and to give part of the country between the Elbe and the Oder to the Germans.

[Sidenote: [1032-1036 A.D.]]

During the war and the negotiations with Mieczyslaw (in the year 1032) King Rudolf of Burgundy died. Conrad II had long laid claim to the succession, and as a certain count of Champagne, Eudes by name, opposed his pretensions, he was obliged to turn his arms westwards after concluding peace with the Poles. The count of Champagne had already occupied Neuenburg (Neuchâtel) and Murten (Morat); but by the winter of 1032 he had been forced into a somewhat disadvantageous position in Switzerland, and when, in the year 1033, Conrad II invaded Champagne itself to compel his rival to evacuate Burgundy, the latter submitted at discretion and promised the king of the Germans that he would leave the country, confirming his promise with a solemn oath. Conrad was obliged to hurry back to Germany, as another Slavonic tribe on the Elbe, the Liutizi this time, was disquieting Germany, and Othelric, duke of Bohemia, was threatening rebellion. Othelric was deposed, and Conrad was on the point of attacking the Liutizi when tidings came that Eudes of Champagne had broken his word and was again endeavouring to acquire the sovereignty of Burgundy. In the spring of 1034 the German king marched for the second time through Bavaria and Swabia to Burgundy, while another army invaded it at his command, crossing over the St. Bernard from Lombardy. From this time forward Eudes could offer but a futile resistance. Conrad was acknowledged king by the whole of Burgundy, and the country was solemnly incorporated with the German Empire. Switzerland was thereby also brought into complete union with the mother-country, and the full extent of German nationality restored. Thereupon Conrad brought the Liutizi once more into subjection to the empire, but in this war such cruelties were perpetrated that he entailed upon himself the curses of the unhappy Slavs and the reprobation of history.

Nevertheless his outward position was brilliant. Not only had he considerably extended the borders of the empire, but he had exalted the royal office to power and dignity. Tranquillity prevailed in the interior of Germany; in Italy, on the contrary, a commotion arose more serious than the disorders common in that country. There, as in Germany, the sway of the great nobles was oppressive, but in Italy disaffection was rife among the vassals, and they determined to resist the arrogant pretensions of their lords, sword in hand. The storm broke out first in Milan, and between that city and Lodi a great battle was fought which practically left matters as they had been. The emperor allowed himself to be drawn into the quarrel, and undertook a second military expedition to Italy in the year 1036.

In Italy the emperor promulgated a famous edict on the subject of estates in fee (_Edictum de beneficiis_), by which he directed that a vassal should not be deprived of such an estate except for certain offences, and then only by the sentence of the law pronounced by a court of his peers.

The appeal to the king or his deputy had a place in these legal proceedings--another clear proof of the purpose of Conrad’s policy, which aimed at weakening the power of the great nobles.

[Sidenote: [1035-1039 A.D.]]

On the other hand there are many evidences to show how greatly the royal authority had increased. For one thing, Conrad deposed Duke Adalbert of Carinthia from his high office in 1035, because he had not borne himself worthily in the Lombard disturbances; and Italy itself witnessed a deed wholly without precedent, for Archbishop Heribert of Milan, a powerful prince and highly respected dignitary of the church, who occupied almost the first place after the pope, was arrested for disloyalty by the German king.

Heribert saved himself from imprisonment by flight, and Conrad, whom he then openly defied, could hardly take any effective action against him; nevertheless the occurrence produced a profound impression. After two years’ absence from home the king returned to Germany, where he occupied himself principally with the affairs of Burgundy, and ultimately delegated the government of that country to his son Henry. In the year 1038 he proceeded to North Germany and there endeavoured to consolidate the empire by paving the way for settled legal order. In the year 1039 he fell sick at Utrecht, and died at that place on the 3rd of July in the same year.

THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III (1039 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1039-1043 A.D.]]

Among the merits of Conrad II, a high place must be given to the care he bestowed upon the education of his son and successor. Henry III was adorned with all the qualities which constitute the basis of true greatness; for not only did his admirable intellectual endowments render him capable of acquiring skill as a statesman and a commander, but his firmness and courage provided him with means of applying what he learned to practical affairs. With acute intelligence and energy he combined a high degree of moral earnestness, manifested in honourable endeavours after improvement; and as the natural bias of his mind inclined him strongly to benevolence and justice, nothing but a wise education was needed to make Henry one of the noblest of his race.[148]

Fortunately the development of his character was well cared for. His mother, Gisela, a woman of strong intellect and great nobility of soul, highly educated for her time, had a beneficent influence on him in childhood, and when the boy had thriven and grown strong under her care he was transferred altogether to the charge of the learned bishop Bruno of Augsburg, who initiated his pupil, by years of systematic teaching, into all the knowledge of the age. Then followed instruction in political affairs from Bishop Eigelbert of Freisingen, by which Henry profited so greatly that from his nineteenth year onwards his father was able to employ him in such matters. At the same time, he was thoroughly trained in all knightly accomplishments, and early sent into the field.

The twenty-two-year-old king saw clearly the path he had to follow. Even in his father’s lifetime he had realised where the strength and the weakness of the empire lay; where he should continue to act in his father’s spirit, and where he must strike out on a totally different path. Henry III, like his predecessor, desired the aggrandisement of his own house; like him he endeavoured to make the royal dignity hereditary in his family, but he scorned to stoop to unworthy means. Being convinced that his endeavours were conducive to the interests of the nation rather than subversive of them, he felt his conscience clear and thought himself justified in carrying out his designs by honourable methods. He was thus constrained to avoid much in which Conrad II would have indulged himself, and the first token of this difference was Henry’s firm resolve to raise the standard of public morals by steadfastly refusing to accept gifts in return for ecclesiastical preferment.

HENRY’S EFFORTS FOR PEACE

Even during the lifetime of Conrad II, Bretislaw, duke of Bohemia, a son of Othelric, had invaded Poland and perpetrated hideous ravages in the country. The German king--either appealed to by the inhabitants in their distress, or apprehensive for his own sake of the spread of the power of Bohemia--despatched two armies in the year 1039 to attack Bretislaw in Bohemia itself, an enterprise which ended in disaster to the Germans. In order to restore his impaired credit, Henry was obliged to undertake a fresh expedition against the Bohemian duke in the following year. This he conducted with great energy, himself leading one of the two armies he had equipped. This time victory waited upon the German arms, Prague was invested and Bretislaw compelled to submit. The latter vowed allegiance and fealty to the head of the German Empire, undertook to pay tribute, and gave hostages as a guarantee of his good faith. For all that Henry was not yet free to devote his energies to the domestic affairs of the empire, for disturbances began to be rife in Burgundy and fresh dangers loomed in the Hungarian quarter. Peter, king of Hungary, had been driven out of his country, and appealed for assistance to Henry at Ratisbon; Ovo, the new king, pursued him with an army and the enemies plundered freely in Bavaria.

In consequence Henry marched to Hungary with an army in August, 1042, to demand satisfaction for the outrage. He advanced victoriously through the country, took several fortified towns, and received the oath of allegiance or fealty from the inhabitants; but he could not induce them to take back their banished king. He therefore installed another sovereign and returned at once to Germany. In the winter immediately following (1042) he hurried to Burgundy, where he tranquillised the country by his firm and clement administration of justice. Thus he quickly reduced the refractory nobles to obedience; but on the other hand fresh troubles arose in Hungary, where the people drove out the new sovereign whom Henry had installed as soon as the latter had withdrawn from the country. Ovo made repeated incursions into Bavaria and laid waste the country on both sides of the Danube. The German king, who was consequently constrained to undertake a second campaign against the Hungarians, soon put an end to the evil, and compelled the enemy not only to make reparation but to give ampler security for his good behaviour in future.

[Sidenote: [1043-1046 A.D.]]

Then at length Henry resolved to devote all his attention to internal politics. One of the greatest evils of the times was the abuse of the right of self-help, which gave birth to a rude system of government by force under which the nation was lapsing into savagery. The weaker suffered under the heaviest oppressions, and the wise king was therefore deeply concerned to remedy first of all this aspect of public affairs. To pave the way for the establishment of a system of law he convened a diet of the empire at Constance, when he returned from his second Hungarian campaign. This took place in the year 1043, and many temporal lords, as well as bishops, appeared at it. Henry III was always present at its deliberations; he fired all who were there by his own enthusiasm for peace and justice, and brought them to a unanimous decision that thenceforth legal order should be maintained in Germany. The king issued a decree to this effect with the sanction of the diet, and thus established a peace hitherto unknown in the country. To ensure a result so happy Henry had set a noble example by magnanimously pardoning all his enemies.

From Constance, Henry proceeded to Goslar, where in the winter of 1043 he was visited by embassies from several nations desirous of testifying their respect for the head of the German Empire. So great was the esteem in which he was held that a Russian embassy solemnly offered the young king, who was already a widower, the hand of the czar’s daughter. Henry, however, haughtily rejected any such alliance, and the Russians departed sorrowfully from his court. In the same year the king married Agnes, daughter of the count of Poitiers, and at this ceremony one of the admirable traits of his character was clearly shown. Great distress prevailed in the land in consequence of the failure of the crops and an outbreak of cattle-plague; and instead of admitting jugglers and musicians to his nuptial festivities and bestowing rich presents upon them, he distributed the money among the poor, to alleviate their distress. Other events soon occurred to augment the troubles of the time, for the Hungarians a third time broke their oath of allegiance, while symptoms of rebellion declared themselves in Lorraine, Duke Gottfried trying to seize for his own the portion of the country which his father, with the king’s consent, had assigned to Gozelo, his second son. Under these circumstances Henry had only a small force to employ against the Hungarians, but once more his daring and courage compensated for the paucity of material resources.

Ovo offered battle at the head of an immense army. The German king had not yet collected all his troops, many of them having been delayed by the way. Nevertheless Henry boldly crossed the Raab under the eyes of the Hungarians, made a furious onslaught on the enemy’s lines with his handful of troops, and won a victory as complete as it was brilliant. As a result of this success Peter was reinstated as king and received the crown of Hungary as a fief of the German Empire. After these great achievements Henry swiftly turned his arms against the rebel duke Gottfried of Lorraine. The struggle did not long hang in the balance; Gottfried soon realised the king’s superior power, submitted, and was punished with incarceration in the fortress of Giebichenstein. Thus by a solemn act of justice the emperor of the Germans ratified the political principle that the dukes were responsible officers of the state. To confirm by practice the royal prerogative of nominating such officers, the dukedom of Swabia was conferred on Count Otto of the Rhenish palatinate in the year 1045; and in 1046 Frederick, brother of the duke of Bavaria, was installed in Upper Lorraine, in place of Gozelo. In the same spirit Henry guarded against usurpations on the part of other great nobles. Thus, in the year 1046, he punished Margrave Dietrich of Vlärdingen in Holland, for having taken wrongful possession of what was not his own.

THE PAPACY SUBORDINATED TO HENRY

[Sidenote: [1046-1047 A.D.]]

The affairs of Italy next attracted the attention of the German king. There the utmost disorder had crept, not only into political affairs, but also into those of the church. Ecclesiastical preferment was openly bought and sold, church dignitaries strove among themselves for power by intrigues of every sort, while, to crown all, three popes were quarrelling for the authority of supreme pontiff. Scenes of this kind confirmed Henry in his determination to inaugurate a reformation of the church. He therefore made preparations to proceed to Italy forthwith, but before starting he released Duke Gottfried from his captivity at Giebichenstein, and magnanimously reinstated him in his high office. He then crossed the Alps with a vast army in the autumn of 1046. On his arrival in Italy he found a council of bishops who had assembled at his command at Sutri to decide first of all the scandalous dispute between pope and rival popes. The king of Germany refused to tolerate any one of the antagonists, but required that they should all three be deposed. By the mingled energy and wisdom of his conduct he succeeded in carrying his point, and a German prelate, Bishop Suidger of Bamberg, was appointed head of the church at his wish. Suidger assumed the title of Clement II, and Henry received the imperial crown from his hand in St. Peter’s church at Rome, in the year 1047. One important step had now been taken towards the accomplishment of the king’s great designs, and having seen the new pope firmly established in his office, Henry III returned that same year to Germany.

There the beneficial results of the Diet of Constance were gratifyingly evident, for such order prevailed throughout the country “as no man ever experienced before.” Margrave Dietrich of Vlärdingen had indeed attempted to avail himself of the king’s absence to renew his arrogant pretensions, and Duke Gottfried of Lorraine still nourished thoughts of sedition; the two had even formed a secret confederacy against the emperor, together with Count Baldwin of Flanders. But they had but short-lived successes; Henry III promptly deposed the rebellious duke from his office, and deprived him of all authority. Dietrich lost not only his dominions, but his life into the bargain, and the whole of his territory was brought under the emperor’s sway. The credit of the imperial authority was completely restored.

Meanwhile the king displayed the most commendable vigour in the conduct of domestic politics. During the disturbances in Lorraine and Holland, which he left to his great officers to quell, he had been making progress through all parts of Germany and had despatched important affairs of state at various places. Everywhere the king’s keen glance watched over the course of justice, and the interior of Germany attained a notable degree of prosperity and contentment. This we can perceive from the fact that the cities were rising by degrees to the position of an independent element in the state. In the wars against Gottfried of Lorraine and Dietrich of Vlärdingen, the citizens, admonished by the bishops, often took up arms themselves in defence of their cities, which is evidence not only of the advance which those communities had made both in wealth and population, but also of the political importance they had acquired. It is worthy of note, also, that even then the cities were on the side of imperial authority against rebellious counts and dukes.

[Sidenote: [1047-1048 A.D.]]

Henry III was now strong enough to carry through the long-contemplated reformation of the church. In the press of business which had occupied him he had never lost sight of ecclesiastical affairs; on the contrary, he had steadily made preparations with a view to his purpose in this respect, displaying a vigour which commands admiration. The pope had previously claimed the right to nominate the emperor; the third Henry, on the contrary, exercised a decisive influence over the election of the pope, and it became almost customary that this office should be conferred by the king of Germany. The elevation of Clement II to the papacy had taken place by Henry’s desire; Clement died nine months after, and the king of Germany nominated the bishop of Brixen as his successor. This pope, who took the name of Damasus II, died a few weeks after his arrival at Rome; and Henry again filled the vacancy in the apostolic see, this time elevating a relative of his own, Bishop Bruno of Toul, to the position of head of the church. The manner in which the chroniclers speak of these important proceedings is remarkable. With them there is no longer any question of the right of the king of Germany to nominate the pope; they mention it as a matter that calls for no explanation. “Poppo, bishop of Brixen,” says Hermann,[f] “was chosen pope by the emperor and sent to Rome, where he was received with great honour.” The same thing is said of the nomination of the bishop of Toul. Lambert of Aschaffenburg,[g] who confirms this testimony, adds that on the death of the pope the Romans always sent an embassy to the king of Germany to request him to nominate a new supreme pontiff. Such a state of things was wholly without precedent, and by means of it Henry exalted, more highly than any of his predecessors, the power of the empire.

In the completion of the reformation of the church in the year 1050, one of the emperor’s chief aims was fulfilled. The effect of the measure on the country was most salutary, morals were purified and a higher standard of seriousness and industry prevailed. The system of law and order was consolidated by the subjugation of the great nobles. But it was not only the dukes and counts whom Henry kept within bounds; he inflicted sharp chastisement on members of the lesser nobility also, by confiscating their property or by other methods, if they committed any act of wanton injustice. By this means he imposed a strong restraint upon the abuse of self-help, and the towns throve and increased so rapidly that they presently began to take direct part in the affairs of the empire.

For several years Henry’s relations with foreign countries were friendly; but this peace was disturbed from 1051 onwards by the joint attempt of the Poles and Hungarians to shake off German dominion. The Hungarians invaded the empire, and in the year 1051 the emperor took the field against them in person. He advanced into Hungary itself with a great force; and though obliged to withdraw by inclement weather, his retreat was marked by valiant feats of arms on the part of the German army. In the following year, 1052, a second expedition was undertaken against Hungary. Henry III invested Pressburg, but at the intercession of Pope Leo IX he raised the siege and returned to Germany. But a genuine peace could not be brought about merely by the mediation of the pontiff; the enmity continued.

[Sidenote: [1052-1055 A.D.]]

The Peace of Tribur was finally ratified, and Henry had once more time to devote his energies to the internal affairs of the empire. Down to the year 1055 he worked hard at consolidating the legal system and developing the resources of the nation. Fresh disorders in Italy called him thither. Matters beyond the Alps had been in dire confusion for many years, for Pope Leo IX became involved in a war with the Normans in 1053 and was actually taken prisoner by them. In addition, Gottfried, the deposed duke of Lorraine, who had been reconciled to the emperor in 1050 by the good offices of Leo IX and had then accompanied the pope to Italy, had there married the widow of Marquis Bonifazio of Tuscany and taken possession of her former husband’s dominions. Henry III feared that Gottfried would stir up rebellion in Italy, and this circumstance seemed also to render the emperor’s presence in that country imperative. He had therefore long meditated another expedition across the Alps, but disaffections that arose in Germany itself and various isolated attempts on the part of some refractory nobles decided him not to quit the country.

In the year 1054 Pope Leo died and the Romans again sent an embassy to request the emperor to nominate a new pope. This he at first modestly declined to do; but, yielding nevertheless to their reiterated entreaties, he designated Bishop Gebhard of Eichstädt, his kinsman and friend, as the successor of Leo IX. Gebhard was unanimously accepted in this capacity, and assumed the papal dignity under the title of Victor II, amidst the acclaims of the people. Thus Henry III for the fourth time disposed of the papal office, and for the fourth time conferred it on a German. At the nomination of Victor II Hildebrand himself, the influential counsellor of Leo IX, was with the embassy which besought the emperor to designate the next pope, which proves how little intention Hildebrand had of opposing the will of Henry III. Like the emperor he earnestly desired reform, and showed by this step that he had no fear of undue encroachments on the part of the latter upon the privileges of the church. Thus even the strongest natures in a manner attest their reverence for the great emperor’s character.

After the appointment of Pope Victor II, the king of Germany felt himself bound to afford him the protection of his imperial authority, and in the year 1055 he started for Italy, almost at the same time as the pope. In May of that year he appeared on the plains of Roncaglia; and there the princes and feudal vassals of Italy likewise appeared, to offer the homage of sincere reverence to the king of Germany, together with their oaths of allegiance. Pope Victor II convened a synod at Florence, where, in the emperor’s presence, the laws against simony and other edicts of a reformatory tendency were either re-enacted or amplified. An inquiry was then held into the conduct of Gottfried, sometime duke of Lorraine, which ended in the acquittal of the defendant--not, so the old chronicler expressly states, because his innocence was proved, but because his judges feared that if driven to desperation he would make himself the leader of the Normans in lower Italy. His wife Beatrice was carried off to Germany by Henry III, who defended his arbitrary action in this respect by saying that Beatrice had disposed of her hand without his consent, and had moreover bestowed it upon an enemy of her country. Towards the end of the year 1055 the emperor recrossed the Alps. Several nobles were already cherishing schemes of revolt, for a conspiracy had been formed against him under the leadership of Bishop Gebhard of Ratisbon; and Gottfried, assisted by Count Baldwin, once more made his appearance in Lorraine. The schemes of the malcontents were again frustrated by Henry’s firmness; Gebhard was brought to trial and committed to prison, and both Gottfried and Baldwin were defeated in the open field.

On this occasion the emperor met the king of France at Jovi to settle various affairs of state, and here again the vigour and heroic temper of Henry III were strikingly displayed. For the French king asserted that the German Empire had unlawfully taken possession of Lorraine, whereupon Henry offered to prove the falsity of the assertion by single combat. The king of France was only too well aware of the German emperor’s superiority, and fled secretly by night across the border.[h]

THE TRUCE OF GOD

[Sidenote: [1035-1056 A.D.]]

The times were rude, manners were no less so. Ceaseless wars, the feuds of the nobles, acts of violence of every kind, combined with hunger and pestilence to bring unspeakable misery upon the nations. According to the opinions of the time, the papacy should have been a strong helper in the midst of these calamities, but Rome was the seat of the worst disorders of all and most of the popes neither deserved nor commanded respect. At length the miseries of the age aroused--first in the monastery of Cluny in Burgundian France--an austere and devout religious spirit which at first found expression, according to the fashion of the times, in penitential exercises and monkish discipline, but presently ripened into vast projects of reform.

Hence came, in particular, the recommendation of the “truce of God” (_Treuga Dei_), and hence it spread over Burgundy and France. This was an attempt to insure certain days of peace and quiet in that iron age; it ordained that no feud should be fought out between Wednesday evening and early Monday morning, and the church sanctioned this institution. So strong was the influence of the example set by Cluny (Clugny) that in a little while all the numerous monasteries in France and Burgundy joined the “congregation of Cluny,” and a sombre earnestness took possession of the best men of the time.

So it was with Henry III. In the midst of the corruptions of the age he saw no salvation except through the most drastic measures, and felt that he, as the emperor, had a special call to be the deliverer of the people. He himself set a good example; he appointed none but earnest and worthy men to bishoprics, and that without taking money or presents from them; by act and admonition he laboured incessantly for peace and conciliation. He looked upon his imperial rank as a sacred office, instituted for the improvement of Christendom, and never set the crown upon his head without previous confession and penance, which last he even had inflicted upon himself with scourges. But the more he humbled himself the more urgent did he feel was the call to raise up the church by the mighty hand of the first of earthly sovereigns.

SORROWS OF HENRY’S LAST YEARS

[Sidenote: [1045-1056 A.D.]]

The day of Sutri was the culminating point of the emperor’s life; from that time forward until he died he was engaged in an incessant struggle with adverse circumstances. The Hungarians, after overthrowing King Peter and putting out his eyes, had shaken off the yoke of the empire, and Henry’s frequent expeditions against the rebels led to no good result. Furthermore, before these events occurred, that same Gozelo of Lorraine to whom Conrad II had been so deeply indebted and upon whom he had bestowed the whole of Lorraine, had died, and Henry III conferred Upper Lorraine alone as a fief upon his son Gottfried the Bearded. Gottfried rebelled, and, as we have seen, won the hand of Beatrice of Tuscany, the widow of Bonifazio; and thus by marriage this enemy of the emperor had become the most powerful prince in Italy.

Momentous changes were also taking place in lower Italy. The Normans had there founded a dominion which began to menace the borders of the states of the church. Leo IX, like his predecessor a German by birth, went to war with them, and took the field in person after the custom of German bishops. He had been defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Civitate, not far from Monte Gargano. But the Normans, as crafty as they were devout, treated the successor of St. Peter with profound veneration, and Leo made his peace with them, outwardly at least, and repealed the sentence of excommunication pronounced upon them. After Leo’s death, Hildebrand, who directed the policy of the papal see, realised the value of the friendship thus gained; and seeing that the Normans were anxious to establish a legitimate claim to their conquests in lower Italy and Sicily, he induced them to accept their lands in fee from St. Peter, after which they became loyal vassals of the pope. This circumstance, together with the rise of Gottfried’s power, obliged the emperor to undertake a fresh expedition to Rome. In the matter of the Normans, Henry could achieve nothing, for affairs in Germany had obliged him to return thither with all speed.