HENRY VII. HENRY THE LION. 



6S3 



-jaused the pope to be conveyed away from tlie altar, 

 while at mass, and cut down, in the streets of Rome, 

 all who opposed him. After an imprisonment of two 

 months, Pascal yielded ; Henry was crowned without 

 any new conditions, and, upon his knees, received from 

 the proud prelate the permission to inter, in consecrated 

 ground, the remains of his unhappy father, whom he 

 had himself conspired against. The disturbances in 

 Germany soon brought Henry back from Italy. 

 While he was engaged in fighting against Lolhairc, 

 duke of Saxony, the Roman bishop excited a rebel- 

 lion in Italy, and among the princes of the German 

 empire, against him, and declared that the peace 

 which had been concluded with the emperor was 

 compulsory. Tins war continued two years, and 

 devastated Germany in a shocking manner ; after 

 which, Henry made a second expedition to Italy, 

 and compelled Pascal to fly to Apulia. After his 

 death, which soon took place, the cardinals elected 

 Galatius II. Henry, dissatisfied with this, caused 

 Bourdin, archbishop of Braga, under the name of 

 Gregory VIII. to be chosen. Galatius went to 

 Vienna, where he collected together a council, and 

 excommunicated Henry. The successor of Galatius, 

 Calixtus II., did the same at the council of Rheims. 

 By this, and by the continual insurrections of the 

 nobility of the kingdom, Henry was at length com- 

 pelled to yield. He subscribed, in 1122, the con- 

 cordat of Worms, in which he declared his renuncia- 

 tion of the right of investiture by the ring and staff, 

 ind confirmed to all the churches the free choice of 

 their prelates ; but the choice of the bishops and ab- 

 bots of the German kingdom was to be made in the 

 presence of the emperor, and the person elected was 

 to receive investiture from the emperor, by the scep- 

 tre, in regard to his temporal possessions and privi- 

 leges. In order to furnish occupation to his turbulent 

 vassals, Henry sought a pretext for a war with 

 France. But before this broke out, a contagious 

 disease carried him off, at Utrecht, May 22, 1125. 

 Henry was a disobedient son, a ruler without power, 

 without fidelity, and without religion. During his 

 reign, the vassals and feudal tenants of the crown 

 made themselves independent princes, and the poli- 

 tical and national division of Germany was, as it 

 were, sanctioned for posterity. He was the last 

 ruler of the imperial family of the Franks, which was 

 succeeded by the Suabian house. 



HENRY VII., emperor of Germany, son of the 

 duke of Luxemberg, was chosen emperor, Nov. 29, 

 1308, after an interregnum of seven months from the 

 death of Albert I. He was the first German emperor 

 who was chosen solely by the electors, without the 

 interference of the other estates of the empire. 

 Charles of Valois was his competitor. Henry, how- 

 ever, obtained the preference, cliiefly through the 

 agency of Clement V., who, although a Frenchman 

 l>y birth, declared himself secretly in favour of the 

 prince of Lorraine. One of the first acts of his 

 government was to punish the murderers of Albert I. 

 (q. v.) By the marriage of his son John with the 

 heiress of Bohemia, Henry secured to his family this 

 important kingdom, to the exclusion of He/iry, duke 

 of Carinthia, who was the next heir. He then 

 undertook an expedition to Italy, and compelled the 

 Milanese to place upon his head the iron crown of 

 Lombardy. Henry suppressed, by force, the revolt 

 which then broke out in Upper Italy ; took Cre- 

 mona, Lodi, Brescia, by storm ; caused his chan- 

 cellor Turiani, the secret leader of this insurrection, 

 to be burnt, and then went to Rome, of which 

 Robert, king of Naples, had possession, and refused 

 him entrance. Having captured the city, he was 

 crowned Roman emperor by two cardinals, while 1 , in 

 the streets and different quarters of the city, the 



work of murder and pillage was still going on. 

 He then marched to Florence, put Robert of Naples 

 under the ban of the empire, and threatened the 

 inhabitants of Florence and Lucca with death if they 

 did not instantly surrender. Notwithstanding this, 

 they defended themselves vigorously ; and, as Henry 

 was marching against Naples, he died suddenly at 

 Buonconvento, Aug. 24, 1313, in the fifty-first year 

 of his age. There is a story that he died of poison, 

 administered by a Dominican named Montepulciano, 

 in the consecrated wine of the eucharist. Clement 

 V. immediately excommunicated the body of the 

 emperor, and absolved Robert of Naples from the 

 ban. After the empire had remained without a 

 head during fourteen months, Louis of Bavaria was 

 chosen emperor. John, king of Bohemia, and son 

 of Henry, thirty years after Ins father's death, for- 

 mally acquitted the Dominicans from the suspicion 

 of having poisoned him. 



HENRY THE LION, the most remarkable prince 

 of Germany in the twelfth century, was born in 

 1129. His father died in 1139, of poison. The son 

 inherited, with the large possessions, the numerous 

 feuds of his father. In 1146, Henry assumed the 

 government of Saxony. At the diet of princes, in 

 Frankfort (1147) he demanded restitution of Bavaria, 

 which had been taken from his father, and given to 

 an Austrian prince. The emperor refused, and a 

 war ensued, which terminated to the advantage of 

 Henry. The emperor Frederic I. restored Bavaria 

 to him in 1154, and Henry was then at the height of 

 his power. His possessions extended from the 

 Baltic and the North sea to the Adriatic. FI enry 

 soon became involved in disputes with the clergy, 

 who formed a confederacy at Merseburgh, in 1166 : 

 but Henry overcame them. About two years after- 

 wards, he separated from his wife, and married 

 Matilda, daughter of Henry II. of England. He 

 then went on an expedition to the Holy Land, and, 

 during his absence, his enemies, and even the em- 

 peror, made encroachments on his dominions. In 

 1174, at the head of a large body of troops, he fol- 

 lowed Frederic I. on his fifth expedition to Italy, but 

 left him at the siege of Alessandria. In consequence 

 of his quarrel with the emperor, and his non-ap- 

 pearance after being summoned before three diets, 

 he was put under the ban of the empire. His 

 dominions were given to other princes. Henry 

 defended himself, for a time, successfully ; but he 

 was at last obliged to flee to Lubeck. In 1182, he 

 asked pardon of the emperor, on his knees, and 

 Frederic promised him that he should retain his 

 hereditary possessions ; but he was obliged to leave 

 G ermany for three years, and went to England. He 

 returned in 1184; but Frederic, suspicious of the 

 proud and high-minded Henry, obliged him to go 

 once more to England, for three years, or to follow 

 him to Palestine. He preferred the first ; but, as 

 the promise to leave his hereditary possessions un- 

 disturbed was violated, he went back (1189) and con- 

 quered many cities. A reconciliation was at last 

 effected between the contending parties. His eldest 

 son had married Agnes, the niece of Frederic I., and 

 Ui is connexion of a descendant of the mightiest Guelf 

 with the greatest Gibeline, seemed to be the signal for 

 a termination of the old quarrel. The quarrel 

 between the emperor and Henry was concluded, and 

 he died in peace at Brunswick, 1195, sixty- six years 

 old. His tomb is still to be seen there. Henry was 

 noble-minded, brave, and indefatigable, but stubborn, 

 proud and passionate. Though constantly engaged 

 in a struggle with the clergy, he was pious. He 

 was much in advance of his age in fostering industry, 

 science, commerce, and the arts. He always bore 

 up manfully against misfortune. 



