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HENRY III -HENRY V. 



order to be crowned emperor at Rome ; but he died 

 in 936, at Memleben, a little more than sixty years 

 old. after a fortunate and glorious reign of sixteen 

 years, and was buried with great pomp at Quedling- 

 burg. He was distinguished for excellent qualities, 

 mental and bodily. 1 1 is naturally clear understanding 

 supplied his defects of learning. He lias been re- 

 proached for his love of show, and the impetuosity 

 of his temper. What he had begun, his son and 

 successor, Otlio I., gloriously completed. 



HENRY III. of Germany, son of the emperor 

 Conrad II., and descended from the Salian Franks, 

 was born in 1017, and succeeded his father in the 

 imperial dignity, 1039. He had already been chosen 

 king in 1027. Nature had given him the talents, and 

 education the character suitable for an able ruler. 

 The church was compelled to acknowledge its de- 

 pendence on him. Upon his first journey over the 

 Alps, in 1046, he deposed three popes, put upon the 

 vacant chair a new one, Clement II., and established 

 his right to interfere in the choice of the Roman 

 bishop so firmly, that as long as he lived the papal 

 chair was filled in submission to his will. The re- 

 mainder of the clergy were also under his strict scru- 

 tiny. In all the parts of his German, Italian, and 

 Burgundian territories, no spiritual dignitary dared 

 to bestow any important office, or to appropriate the 

 property of the church, without consulting him. The 

 temporal lords he held not merely in dependence, 

 but in actual subjection. The duchies and counties 

 he filled or left vacant at his pleasure, and the whole 

 empire was at length changed into a monarchy 

 dependent upon the king alone. Henry now reigned 

 despotically, but displayed, in every thing which he 

 undertook, a steady and persevering spirit. All 

 classes were at length dissatisfied with him ; how- 

 ever, the priests and clergy, on account of his great 

 show of piety, gave him their approbation, and the 

 surname of the pious. Henry died in 1056, at Both- 

 feld, after he had, three years before, caused his son 

 to be chosen his successor. 



HENRY IV., the son of the preceding, was born 

 in 1050, and at the death of his father was only five 

 years old. At the age of fifteen, Henry assumed the 

 government at the diet of Goslar. The pernicious 

 counsels of Adelbert, archbishop of Bremen, soon 

 produced troubles, especially in Saxony, where 

 Henry committed many acts of violence. The Saxons 

 joined with the inhabitants of Thuringia, who suffered 

 under the same grievances, and drove Henry from 

 Saxony (1073), destroyed many of the castles which 

 he had built to overawe the inhabitants, and com- 

 pelled him the same year to an accommodation, in 

 which the destruction of the remaining castles was 

 stipulated. But some churches having been destroy- 

 ed by the populace, Henry accused the Saxons to the 

 pope of sacrilege, and thus gave him an opportunity 

 to interfere as umpire. The Saxons offered to make 

 every satisfaction ; but Henry suddenly invaded their 

 territory with a powerful army, and attacked them, 

 in 1075, at Langensalza on the Unstrut, where they 

 suffered a total defeat. Henry took all their princes 

 and nobles prisoners, sent them into other countries, 

 and treated the people like an angry victor. The 

 Saxons, in turn, now complained to the pope. Gre- 

 gory VII. (Hildebrand), who had been elevated to 

 the papal chair some years before, without the con- 

 sent of the imperial court, eagerly seized this oppor- 

 tunity to extend his power, and, in 1076, summoned 

 Henry, under penalty of excommunication, to appear 

 before him at Rome, and answer to the complaints 

 of the Saxons. Henry regarded this threat so little, 

 dhat he instigated the bishops, who were assembled 

 by his order at Worms, to renounce their obedience 

 to the pope. Gregory, however, pronounced the 



sentence of excommunication against nim, and ab- 

 solved his subjects from their allegiance, and Henry 

 soon found himself deserted, and in danger of losing 

 every thing. In this state of affairs he was obliged 

 to go to Italy and make his submission to the pope. 

 He found Gregory at Canossa, not far from Reggio, 

 a strong castle belonging to Matilda, countess of 

 Tuscany, whither he had retired for security. Three 

 days successively, Henry appeared in a penitential 

 dress, in the court of the castle, before he coulrt ob- 

 tain an audience of the pope. lie was released from 

 the excommunication only under the most severe 

 conditions, viz., to be obedient to the pope in all 

 things, &c. The insolence with which the pope used 

 his victory produced a reaction ; the Italian princes, 

 who had long been dissatisfied with Gregory, and 

 were desirous of deposing him, gathered round 

 Henry, who was not disposed to fulfil the hard condi- 

 tions imposed upon him, and offered him their assist- 

 ance. The German princes, however, at the instiga- 

 tion of the pope, assembled at Forcheim in 1077, and 

 elected Rodolph, duke of Stiabia, king. Henry has- 

 tened back to Germany, and overcame his rival, who 

 lost his life in battle, in 1080. Henry's next adver- 

 saries, Hermann of Luxemburg, and Egbert, mar- 

 grave ofjThuringia, were still less able to oppose 

 him. Gregory again excommunicated Henry ; but, 

 at the council of Brixen, in 1080, he was deposed by 

 the German and Italian bishops as a heretic and a 

 sorcerer. In 1081, Henry marched into Italy, to 

 take vengeance on Gregory, who had shut himself 

 up in the castle of St Angelo, and caused himself to 

 be crowned at Rome, by the pope, Clement III., 

 whom he had himself named. Gregory took refuge 

 among the Normans in Calabria, and died at Salerno 

 in 1085. The dissatisfaction against Henry in Ger- 

 many had not subsided ; his oldest son, Conrad, re- 

 belled against him, but was overcome, and died at 

 Florence in 1101, deserted by his partisans. Henry 

 caused his second son, Henry, to be elected his suc- 

 cessor (1097), and crowned. But the latter, regard- 

 less of his oath not to interfere in the government 

 during the life of his father, suffered himself to be 

 seduced into rebellion. He made himself master of 

 his father's person in 1105, by stratagem, and com- 

 pelled him to abdicate the throne at Ingelheim. 

 Henry IV. ended his life and his sorrows, in neglect, 

 at Liege, in 1106, and, as he died under sentence of 

 excommunication, was not buried till five years after, 

 when the sentence was taken off, and his remains 

 were interred at Spire. He had received from nature 

 good talents, prudence, and courage, but his defec- 

 tive education had rendered him in the highest de- 

 gree stubborn. He was an able warrior, and was 

 victorious in sixty-two battles. 



HENRY V., the son and successor of the preced- 

 ing, emperor of Germany, was born in the year 1081. 

 He made himself disgracefully notorious by his con- 

 spiracy against his father, and by his cruel treatment 

 of him. Scarcely had Henry V. ascended the throne, 

 when he declared himself against the usurpations of 

 the Romish court, and the unfortunate question of 

 investiture anew distracted the empire. A war com- 

 menced by him against the Hungarians and Poles, 

 was unfortunate. In 1111, he married Matilda, the 

 daughter of Henry I., king of England ; and the rich 

 dowry of this princess gave him the means of under- 

 taking an expedition over the Alps, in order to 

 receive the imperial crown from the pope in Rome. 

 But, as Pascal would consent to confer it only upon 

 the condition that those rights which had already 

 been claimed by Gregory, should be formally conced- 

 ed, and as the bishops continued to add fuel to the 

 fire which was already kindled, Henry determined to 

 put an end to the dispute by an act of violence. He 



