Imperial crisis Henry V was probably born on 11 August in 1081 or 1086. However, only the date of his
accolade (Schwertleite) at Easter 1101 can be confirmed. This ceremony usually took place at the age of 15. At the time of Henry's birth, his father, emperor Henry IV, had already been engaged in many years of drawn out conflicts with the pope, the imperial bishops, and secular princes for the preservation of his rule. Henry IV had never paid much attention to the advice, or the rights and privileges of the landed nobility. Another line of research supports the theory that the murder of Sieghard of Burghausen in February 1104 by
ministerials and citizens of Regensburg was the trigger for the overthrow of Henry IV. According to Burghausen's relatives and other nobles, the emperor had failed to punish the perpetrators appropriately, proving that Henry IV viewed aristocrats with disdain. Henry V had attempted in vain to mediate an amicable settlement between Burghausen and the ministerials in the dispute that led to the murder, and he also would have had a reason to resent his father's inaction. A flaw in this theory is that there was a very long time lag between the murder of Burghausen and when Henry V turned his back on his father. In November 1104, Henry V joined his father's army on a punitive expedition against Saxon Reformers who had opposed the election of the
Archbishop of Magdeburg. On 12 December 1104, Henry V broke away from his father, thereby breaking the oath of allegiance to the ruling king. Henry V made his way to Regensburg, where he celebrated Christmas with his followers. While there, his father's enemies sought to convince him to revolt. Henry considered their arguments, but he was restrained by the oath he had taken to take no part in the business of the Empire during his father's lifetime. At the turn of the year 1104/05, he sent messengers to Rome to seek absolution from his loyalty oath by
Pope Paschal II, Between 1105 and 1106, supporters of Henry IV and Henry V each disseminated arguments in letters and historiographic texts in order to build support among the people of the empire, while father and son each accused the other of disregard for the divine and earthly orders. Henry V began to strengthen his ties with Saxony, where the opposition against his father was particularly strong due in part to his absence from the duchy since 1089. In the spring of 1105, Henry V stayed in Saxony for two months and showed his willingness to work with the church on the basis of
Gregorian ideas by removing the bishops, Friedrich von Halberstadt, Udo von Hildesheim, and Henry von Paderborn, who had been appointed by his father. In
Quedlinburg, he entered the town barefoot on Palm Sunday, thus demonstrating his humility (
humilitas), an elementary Christian virtue of rulers. His stay concluded with the celebration of the Pentecost festival in
Merseburg and the confirmation of the Magdeburg
metropolitan. Henry V promised the hand of his sister,
Agnes, in marriage to the Babenberger,
Leopold III, thereby convincing Leopold to abandon his father's party. At the end of October 1105, Henry V arrived at
Speyer, the centre of Salian rule. Here he installed Gebhard, a fervent opponent of his father, as
Bishop. In the fall of 1105, the armies of father and son faced each other at the
Regen river. However, a battle was prevented by the princes of both sides who wished to find a peaceful solution. At Christmas 1105, an agreement was to be reached at a
diet in Mainz. Henry IV advanced to
Mainz for the announced diet. According to the
Vita Heinrici IV On 20 December 1105 in
Koblenz Henry V ''"fell around his father's neck", "shed tears and kissed him"
– public expressions of reconciliation that were morally binding during the 12th century. Henry IV then disbanded and released his army as father and son left for the diet in Mainz on 21 December. On 23 December in Bingen, Henry persuaded his father to retreat to a castle for his own protection, as Archbishop Ruthard of Mainz would refuse to let him into the city. Henry agreed and was led to Böckelheim Castle, the property of Bishop Gebhard, not for his protection, but for custody. Henry was thrown into the dungeon and was held there "unwashed and unshaven and deprived of any service"'' over Christmas. At the Reichstag in Mainz, Henry prompted his father to hand over the
imperial insignia (crown, scepter, imperial cross, holy lance and imperial sword). Henry IV then was transferred to
Ingelheim where he personally was to hand over the imperial insignia and was forced to abdicate on 31 December 1105. Henry V subsequently spread the narrative in which his father had ceded the insignia and his rule to him voluntarily. This distortion of the events implied his strong desire to feign dynastic continuity. The beginning of his reign was marked by a lengthy time of unusual harmony between the king and the princes. Unlike his Salian predecessors, Henry V would count his reign only from the day on which he received the imperial insignia and was chosen for royal duty by the election of the princes. The reference to
Saint Mary and the divine mandate was no longer the legitimate basis for Salian rule. However, Henry IV escaped from prison in Ingelheim and fled to
Liège. His son feared a reversal of the balance of power and summoned a Reichstag for Easter 1106. Henry IV had already begun to organize resistance against his son, but suddenly died on 7 August 1106 in Liège, where he received an honorable funeral. The princes opposed a funeral in Speyer, but Henry V overruled this decision. On 24 August, he had his father's body dug up and transferred to Speyer, since in Liège some form of veneration of the deceased as a saint was about to begin. The re-burial at the Speyer crypta would imply continuity and help stabilize the position of the rebel son, who could
present himself as a legitimate force of conservation and progress. On 3 September 1106 the body was once again temporarily buried in a still unconsecrated chapel north of Speyer cathedral. An appropriate funeral among his ancestors was only admissible and indeed performed in 1111 after the abolishment of Henry IV's pending excommunication.
Period of consensual rule who had supported Henry during his struggle with his father. Henry rewarded him generously with the land and title of the Duchy of Saxony as
fief, the basis for his ascent as Henry's royal and imperial successor in the city of
Milan, where resentments against Imperial rule repeatedly culminated in armed conflicts near modern
Wrocław, Duke
Bolesław III confronts and triumphs over emperor Henry V, who is forced to withdraw from Poland, 24 August 1109 In spring 1106, while Henry reflects on his father's mistakes, he remarked that
"disregard for the princes was the downfall of the empire." Thus, the following years of his reign were characterized by greater shared responsibilities of the princes and the sanctioning of church reforms. Documents and annals prove the consensual practice of his rule. Records of princes and nobles in royal documents, who actively take part in government affairs, increased. In several documents Henry would state that he had carried out his actions
"with the judgment and advice of the princes". In order to find greater consent with the nobility he would summon
diets (Hoftage). The princes' participation in great numbers at the diets and the strong increase in chroniclers' reports confirm the new sense of responsibility among the king's vassals for the empire. Henry V reinstalled the bishops who had been banned from entering their
bishoprics under his father. Negotiations with the Pope now took place among representatives of the clerics and secular princes. Bishop Eberhard von Eichstätt (until his early death in 1112), Count Berengar II of Sulzbach and Count Palatine
Gottfried von Calw were particularly close to the young king and are most frequently mentioned by the worldly nobles in the royal documents. Additionally, the archbishops Friedrich of Cologne and
Bruno von Trier, the bishops Burchhard von Münster, Otto von Bamberg and Erlung von Würzburg and Count Hermann von Winzenburg were named remarkably often in official documents. From 1108 the
Staufer Duke Friedrich II and from 1111 Margrave
Hermann von Baden would frequently appear in the records. In 1107, Henry campaigned to restore
Borivoi II in
Bohemia, which was only partially successful. Henry summoned
Svatopluk the Lion, who had captured Duke Borivoi. Borivoi was released at the emperor's command and appointed godfather to Svatopluk's new son. Nevertheless, on Svatopluk's return to Bohemia, he assumed the throne. In 1108, Henry went to war with
Coloman of Hungary on behalf of
Prince Álmos. An attack by
Boleslaus III of Poland and Borivoi on Svatopluk forced Henry to give up his campaign. Instead, he invaded
Poland to compel them to renew their accustomed tribute but was again defeated at the
Battle of Hundsfeld. In 1110, he succeeded in securing the
Duchy of Bohemia for
Ladislaus I. Imperial rule had eroded in Italy after the demise of Henry IV. For fifteen years, from October 1095 to October 1110, neither Henry IV nor Henry V had issued a single document for the Italian administration. Consequently, Italian officials saw no reason to travel to the northern part of the empire and obtain their royal documents. Under Henry V opposition to Salian rule reached its climax in the
Milan metropolis. Henry V. continued the practice of investiture with ring and staff (
per anulum et baculum) and was able to maintain a working relationship with the clerical princes. In Mainz on 7 January 1106
Conrad I was invested with ring and staff as the new
Archbishop of Salzburg. In 1107, the Salians occupied the bishoprics of Halberstadt, Magdeburg, Speyer and Verdun with the expressed participation of and approval by the princes. The court chapel, the cathedral schools and the
diocesan chapters of Speyer, Bamberg or Liège had lost all relevance for the Episcopal Consecration, but family ties to the high nobility. Upon the selection of the bishops, the king only sought the consent of an exclusive circle of a few noble families. These families in turn only campaigned for candidates among their own ranks, who might become important in the future expansion of their respective territories. This practice effectively promoted a clerical office, that was attainable via a hereditary selection process. Henry's indicative bishop investiture with ring and staff did not help to solve the conflict with the papacy.
Pope Paschal II eventually demanded Henry's complete renunciation of the investiture of clerics. However, the king and the bishops collaborated further as the Pope proved incapable to suppress these practices. Attempts to come to any form of agreement on the question of the investiture failed in 1106 at the Synod of
Guastalla and 1107 in
Châlons-en-Champagne.
First Italian expedition and
Matilda of Tuscany were married from 1089 to 1095. Henry's primary concern during his reign was the settlement of the
Investiture Controversy, which had caused serious setbacks for the empire during the previous imperial tenure. The papal party who had supported Henry in his resistance to his father hoped he would endorse the papal decrees, which had been renewed by
Paschal II at the synod of
Guastalla in 1106. The king, however, continued to invest the bishops, but wished the pope to hold a council in Germany to settle the question. After some hesitation, Paschal preferred
France to Germany, and, after holding a council at
Troyes, renewed his prohibition of lay investiture. The matter slumbered until 1110, when, negotiations between king and pope having failed, Paschal renewed his decrees. At a
Hoftag in August 1110 concrete plans were made for a march on Rome and arrangements to bring about an honorable end to the investiture dispute. The army chose the shortest route via the
Great St Bernard Pass, reached
Piacenza and
Parma, then moved to Florence, arrived at
Sutri in February 1111 and from there proceeded towards Rome. Henry
was imbued with ideas of an epochal event upon his departure for Italy. He signalled preparedness as he ordered a new royal seal to be made.
Duke Welf II of Bavaria commanded a second column that entered Italy from the southeast of the empire and had orders to rendez-vous with the main contingent near Roncaglia. This impressive display of integrity proved that even the clans that had opposed and violently fought Henry's father were now on the Salian side. Welf's presence was particularly important for Henry as he had been married to
Matilda of Tuscany from 1089 to 1095, which entitled him to inheritance claims on her vast property. Matilda allowed the troops to traverse her substantial territories in the greater part of Northern Italy, that included present-day
Lombardy,
Emilia, the
Romagna and
Tuscany. Henry V sent envoys to Matilda in order to negotiate and complete the note:
"de pace [...] de regis honore suoque" (
for peace and the honor of the king [...]). This honor, that determined the rank of the king was an idea, that had developed among the latest Salians towards a concept of lordship from which also future imperial claims on Southern Italy and on Matilda's property were derived. Matilda, who in 1079 had indeed intended to bequeath all her property to the pope in the event of her childlessness, now opted for an agreement between the pope and the king, and deployed the name
Henry. The way to Rome was open for the king. Henry put great effort into documentation and into staging events favorably for the royal party. He was allegedly accompanied by a huge army of 30,000 knights from all over the empire, that according to
Otto of Freising, gave an
impressive display of worldly power in the nightly glow of the torches. The strength of his forces helped him to secure general recognition in
Lombardy, where
archbishop Grossolano intended to crown him with the
Iron Crown of Lombardy. Henry could only command such a large army because his rule was based on consensus with the princes and dukes. Among the participants of this great procession was Henry's court chaplain David, who as a chronicler had been tasked to document a chronicle of all important events in volumes and in
such a simple style that even less learned people can understand it. Thus, Henry had already planned the
historiographic elements of documentation and propaganda, that might be useful in likely future clashes with the Pope. David's account has not survived, but the work has been used by later authors. The celebrations for the coronation began on 12 February 1111. Henry V kissed the feet of the Pope in public in front of
St. Peter's Basilica. In doing so, he symbolized his subordination to the spiritual father. This ritual was mentioned in the 1111 coronation for the first time and became an official ritual in the coronation ceremonies of the future emperors before entering St. Peter's Basilica. Upon the Pope's imprisonment, however, Henry lost widespread acknowledgment as he had apprehended Christ's representative, the highest authority in the Latin Christian world. In response, he was banned by cardinal and
legate Cuno of Praeneste at a synod in Jerusalem in the summer of 1111. In September 1112 he was excommunicated by a Burgundian synod headed by Archbishop Guido of Vienne, the future
Pope Calixtus II. According to scholar Stefan Weinfurter, the year 1111 was a turning point in the reign of Henry V. The recent unity between the
Reform Church and the king broke and with it the ties of consensual rule between the king and the secular princes. In March 1112, the Investiture privilege was revoked by the curia on a
Lateran council and designated as
depraved privilege (
Pravilege). In the general disorder that followed, an attempt to liberate the pontiff was thwarted in a struggle during which the king was wounded. A
Norman army sent by
Prince Robert I of Capua to rescue the papists was turned back by the imperialist
count of Tusculum,
Ptolemy I of Tusculum.-->
Return to Germany Crowned emperor, Henry quickly retreated beyond the Alps. On his return to Italy he was a guest of Matilda of Tuscany at Bianello Castle from 6 to 8 May 1111. Matilda and Henry concluded a contract that researchers interpreted as Henry V's document of inheritance in case the margravine dies. On 7 August 1111, Henry was able to finally bring about his father's funeral, who had so far rested in an unconsecrated side chapel of Speyer Cathedral. On the same day and seven days later, on 14 August (a date of significance for the
liturgical commemoration of the dead) Henry granted two privileges, which endowed the citizens of Speyer with yet unprecedented civil liberties. As the first privilege lays out memorial ceremonies the privileges for the citizens of the city of Speyer are considered a
milestone in the history of the emergence of civil liberties. The residents were granted numerous rights and benefits (including exemption from inheritance taxes, court taxes and property taxes). No other city in the empire was granted such extensive and far-reaching liberties at the beginning of the 12th century. These privileges highlight the changes in the Salian idea of kingship compared to the first three Salian rulers. Donations no longer applied to the clergy alone, but an entire township was committed to the Salian
Memorialization. The Speyer civil liberties, legal privileges and economic advance were associated with the memory of Henry V. The funeral ritual was of particular importance to Henry regarding the legitimization of his rule. At the funeral, he had presented himself as the loyal son and legitimate heir of the late emperor and demonstrated dynastic continuity. At the same time, he made it clear that his kingship was based not only on his successful rebellion against the father and the approval of the princes, but also on his inheritance claim to the throne. The city of
Worms was also granted generous privileges in 1114, however, unlike in Speyer, the residents were not granted any personal freedoms. though was later pardoned. The insurgents united behind the Archbishop of Cologne and collectively fell from the emperor in early 1114. Two imperial campaigns against the dissidents failed. Initially, Henry took the fortified town of Deutz, which lay across the Rhine from Cologne. His control of Deutz allowed him to cut Cologne off from all river trade and transportation. At this point, the citizens of Cologne assembled a large force, including bowmen, and crossed the river, formed their ranks, and prepared to meet Henry's army. When Frederick, Count of Westphalia, arrived with his brother, also named Henry, and their substantial force, the emperor withdrew, barely escaping capture. From then on Lothair maintained a near royal rule in Saxony, while Henry's power to uphold universal kingship decreased further. The lack of acceptance and loss of prestige reflected itself at the court as none of the princes attended the
Hoftag on 1 November 1115 in Mainz. Scheduled
court days had to be cancelled in advance due to the lack of confirmed participants. Henry celebrated Christmas of 1115, one of the most essential occasions of royal representation, in Speyer, surrounded by only a few faithful adherents among whom
Duke Frederick II of Swabia gained increasing significance. Simultaneously, Henry's opponents gathered in Cologne upon the invitation of Adalbert of Mainz, to discuss clerical issues. Henry's position in Bavaria remained uncontested. After a short stop in 1111 on his return from Italy, he was absent until 1121. The conflicts in Saxony and the Rhineland required lengthy presence in these regions. Nevertheless, the
Duchy of Bavaria remained loyal and Henry's opponents failed to assert themselves in Bavaria while the Bavarian nobles attended Henry's court throughout the empire. Despite the events of 1111 and the clashes in 1115,
Berengar II of Sulzbach,
Diepold III, Margrave of Vohburg, count
Engelbert II of Spanheim as well as his brother Hartwig,
Bishop of Regensburg and Hermann,
Bishop of Augsburg proved to be loyal supporters of Henry V. These nobles received extraordinary treatment for their services. Engelbert II acquired the
March of Istria and in 1124 the
Duchy of Carinthia.
Marriage to Matilda of England (1110) . (Chronicle of
Ekkehard of Aura,
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge) From 1108 on Henry V made official proposals for a marriage with a princess of the English royal family, seeking to increase the authority of the Salian king and secure his throne. His engagement with the eight-year-old princess
Matilda took place in Utrecht at Easter of 1110. The
Anglo-Norman King
Henry I of England paid the extraordinarily high sum of 10,000 or 15,000 pounds of silver as
dowry. In return, his daughter's marriage to Henry V enormously increased his prestige. On 25 July 1110 Matilda was crowned
Roman-German Queen in Mainz by the Archbishop of Cologne. Four years later the wedding celebrations also took place in Mainz on 7 January 1114 amid great splendor and the attention of princes from all over the empire. The Salians appropriated the occasion to reaffirm unanimity with the imperial nobles after the conflicts in recent years. Duke Lothair of Supplinburg appeared barefoot and in
penitent clothing at the wedding. He was forgiven for his participation in the inheritance disputes of
Carniola after performing a
Deditio (submission). This occasion is the only known case of a
Deditio during Henry V's reign, which historians have compared to the amicable set of rules and conflict management and settlement of the
Ottonian dynasty. On the other hand, Henry had Count
Louis of Thuringia captured and imprisoned for his participation in the Saxon rebellion,
which upset many princes. Henry's impertinent demonstrations of power greatly diminished the overall atmosphere of the festivity. Some princes left the festival without permission, as others used the opportunity for conspiracies. The marriage to Matilda produced no male heirs. The chronicler
Hériman of Tournai mentions a child of Henry and Matilda that died soon after birth. A single source mentions a daughter of Henry named Bertha, who was probably illegitimate. She married Count
Ptolemy II of Tusculum in 1117. The emperor's bond with the nobility of Rome through marriage was unique. In his conflict with the Pope and the struggle for domination in Italy, the
Tusculan marriages of imperial partisans would receive particular honor. Eventually, affairs in Italy compelled Henry to leave and appoint duke
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen and his brother Conrad, the future king
Conrad III as administrators.
Second Italian expedition , the preferred eastern Alpine crossing during the Middle Ages, seen from the north '' After Henry had departed from Rome in 1111, a council declared the privilege of the lay investiture to be invalid.
Guido, Archbishop of Vienne, excommunicated the emperor, and called upon the pope to ratify the verdict. Paschal, however, refused to take so extreme a step. The discord entered a new stage in 1115 when
Matilda of Tuscany died. Matilda's death on 24 July 1115 caused Henry, accompanied only by a small contingent, to leave for Italy in February 1116 in order to secure his inheritance of the enormous property complex in Upper and Central Italy. In addition, he wished to stabilize Salian rule in Northern Italy and create a new power base against the overpowering opposition in the northern part of the empire. He had issued a whole series of court documents in advance, with which he intended to present himself as guarantor of law and justice in Italy. Henry was able to obtain Matilda's property without any problems and his authority was accepted in all the Italian municipalities. Henry regarded Rome as to be of particular importance and, ardently welcomed, he honored the city with five visits, more than any other Salian king.