Holy Roman Empire: Political History and Notable Figures

936 - 1024 - Ottonian Dynasty (All Facts)

936 - 962 - Otto the Great, as King of Germany (All Facts)

• First King and Founder of Germany (and first King and Founder of Holy Roman Italy)

  • Crowed King of Germany at Aachen

  • He assumed the throne upon the breakup of the Frankish / Francia Empire due to anarchy, foreign invasion, and rivalries of royal pretenders

  • His rule also represented the reestablishment of a hereditary monarchy in Germany after a period of anarchy and political instability

    • His rule thus led to Germany being ruled by a single ruler and a single dynasty which asserted itself

• To consolidate his own rule, he and his followers defeated Eberhard of Franconia and other rebellious dukes in the Battle of Andernach

  • The rebellion began when the dukes resented his ambitions to rule not just Saxony but all of Germany

  • His approach upset Bavarians, Franconians, and even Saxons

  • His own brother Henry even joined in the rebellion against him

  • He did this, however, to gather and unite the Saxons (Saxony), Franconians (Francia), and Bavarians (Bavaria) into one German Kingdom

• To consolidate his nobles, he and his forces defeated the Magyars once and for all in the Battle of Lechfeld

  • He drove the Magyars out of Germany permanently, where they retreated to Hungary, finally abandoning the raids that caused Germany / East Francia so much damage

• To consolidate his kingdom and eventual empire, he made a shrewd assessment of the political situation in Europe in which he

  • United the Saxons, Franks, and Bavarians into one German Kingdom after the Battle of Andernach

  • Subjugated and conquered the lands of the Eastern Slavs

  • Sought to legitimize his claim to the lands of Lotharingia / Middle Francia (which included Italy, Burgundy, and eastern Gaul at the time) by being crowned emperor in Rome by the Pope, like the previous rulers of the Kingdoms of Lotharingia and Francia

• He invaded and took control of Italy after Adelaide of Burgundy was kidnapped by Berengar (his predecessor Holy Roman Emperor)

  • Adelaide appealed to him, who he rescued and then married

  • He then had the lands in Italy that he took control of from this annexed to his growing kingdom and the eventual territorial Holy Roman Empire

• He invaded and took control of Italy a second time after Pope John XII appealed to him for help against troublemakers in Rome

962 - 973 - Otto the Great, as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (All Facts)

• First King and Founder of Germany and 12th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

  • He was initially the King of Germany

  • First Emperor and Founder of the territorial / geographic Holy Roman Empire and First Emperor and Founder of his namesake Dynasty of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire

  • After an appeal by Pope John XII for aid against King Berengar of Italy, his Holy Roman Emperor predecessor, he invaded Italy a second time and overthrew his Holy Roman Emperor predecessor to become the new Holy Roman Emperor, and by which he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII in St. Peter’s

  • He did this to legitimize his claim to the lands of Lotharingia / Middle Francia (which included Italy, Burgundy, and eastern Gaul at the time) by being crowned emperor in Rome by the Pope, like the previous rulers of the Kingdoms of Lotharingia and Francia

• He then proceeded to starve Rome into surrender

• He declared that in the future no papal election would be valid until an oath of allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor had been taken

  • He also determined the outcome of the election of future popes by deposing and exiling Benedict V

  • He did this in order to reinstate his own nomination for the papal throne, Leo VIII

  • After Leo VIII died, he nominated and had elected Leo VIII’s papal successor, John XIII

  • Shortly after this, he was temporarily imprisoned by the Romans who disliked the emperor for his foreign influence on the papacy

  • However, he was soon released and marched on Rome with an enormous army to reinstate John XIII

• His rule proved to be very unpopular, but it laid down the foundations for the Holy Roman Empire and Second Reich of Germany

961 - 983 - Otto II (All Facts)

• 2nd King of Germany and 13th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 2nd King of Holy Roman Italy)

  • He was nicknamed “The Red”

• He and his forces were defeated by the Fatimid Caliphate in the Battle of Stilo after they had provoked the conflict by calling a Holy War against him and his empire

• He

  • Demanded that Pope Benedict VI, imprisoned by the Roman people after the death of the namesake’s father and predecessor who had installed the pope, be released

  • Installed Pope Benedict VII to replace the Roman-backed antipope Boniface VII

  • Installed Pope John XIV once Pope Benedict VII died, without the consultation of the Roman people

• He suddenly died of malaria and was succeeded by his infant son

983 - 1002 - Otto III (All Facts)

• 3rd King of Germany and 14th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 3rd King of Holy Roman Italy)

  • As an infant, the empire was ruled by his mother Theophano and his grandmother Adelaide (of Burgundy, also kidnapped by Berengar, King of Italy) as regents, with the help of clerics

  • He was only three when his father and predecessor died

  • His succession was disputed by Henry “The Troublemaker,” Duke of Bavaria, who kidnapped him as an infant

    • Theophano and Adelaide, ruling as regents, forced Henry “The Troublemaker”, Duke of Bavaria, to return the child

  • Under his reign, there was a power struggle between the magnates

  • During this power struggle, the East Slavs took advantage of the turmoil and recovered their independence east of the Elbe River

  • Eventually, at 16 years of age, he was crowned emperor with the dreams of making Rome the capital of a universal empire, at that point in the form of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany and sought to restore the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne

  • Interestingly, he was a child of both East and West

    • His mother Theophano was the niece of Emperor John Tzimiskes of the Byzantine Empire, showing his Eastern side

    • His father was his predecessor, showing his Western side as a Saxon

    • He was thus half-Byzantine, half-Saxon

  • He was schooled by bishops and described as “the wonder of the world”

  • His visions of grandeur, however, were considered unrealistic, even at the time as his empire, upon his assumption to the throne, lacked an educated ruling class, a bureaucracy, and a network of communication

  • Like his two direct predecessors of the same name, he faced a struggle to impose unity on strong provincial barons who were hostile to notions of a world empire which would diminish their local power

  • He was a strong and able leader who inherited from his predecessor grandfather the capacity to form wide political conceptions

• He helped rebuild / recreate the old “Roman Empire” in the form of the “Holy Roman Empire” by incorporating Germany as well as the Slavic countries under his kingship

• He was responsible for the succession of a number of Popes in the attempt that one would crown him Holy Roman Emperor

  • Pope John XV died before he could crown the namesake

  • He installed his cousin Bruno as Pope Gregory V, but after his installment, a band of disgruntled Roman patricians drove him out of the office and replaced him with antipope John XVI

    • So the namesake marched on Rome and deposed and mutilated antipope John XVI, reinstalling Pope Gregory V, until he died suspiciously shortly afterwards

  • He then installed his former tutor Gerbert, already the Archbishop of Ravenna, as Pope Sylvester II (a name that was chosen to evoke the grandeur of Ancient Rome as Pope Sylvester I baptized Constantine the Great)

• His political restoration of the (Holy) Roman Empire led to a revival of arts and literature

  • Under his reign, classical texts were translated into (High) German

  • The deeds of his namesake dynasty up his reign were chronicled in the “Res Gestae Saxionae,” produced during his reign

  • Under his reign, huge basilicas were built and decorated by artists from the great monasteries

• He established friendly relations with Poland when he went to the Polish city of Gniezno and visited the grave of St. Wojciech

• He settled in Rome, restored its palaces, and struck seals proclaiming “Renovatio Imperii Romani”

  • However, the people of Rome revolted against his interference with papal matters

  • He was besieged in his palace and forced to leave for Paterno

  • Thus, while preparing to retake his capital of Rome at 22 years old, he died of malaria in the town of Paterno in Italy

  • He was buried beside Charlemagne, his hero, whose body he had disinterred so that he could pray before it, a truly romantic feat

1002 - 1024 - Henry II (All Facts)

• 4th King of Germany and 15th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 4th King of Holy Roman Italy), the Final King / Emperor of the Ottonian Dynasty

  • He was the son of Henry “The Troublemaker,” Duke of Bavaria

• He responded to the various threats facing his reign and empire by seeking the support of the Church

  • He sought to make the Church servants to the Holy Roman Emperors

  • He granted land and titles to bishops and abbots lavishly to persuade them to submit to the Holy Roman Empire

• He travelled to Rome to have himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor on the steps of St. Peter’s by Pope Benedict VIII

  • The Pope asked him if he would be a faithful defender of the Church, to which he responded in the affirmative

  • The Pope placed in his hand a golden orb surmounted by a cross, symbolic of his rule over the world’s empire

  • After his coronation at Pavia, a quarrel developed between the Germans who accompanied him and the people of Pavia, which grew into a full-scale battle in which much of the city of Pavia was burnt and hundreds of citizens were slaughtered

  • He married Cunigunde, the daughter of the count of Luxembourg

    • He and his wife were admitted into the church and anointed

  • He was pious, well-meaning, but had poor health

  • He was destined for the Church when his predecessor died without children and when the Bavarians and Franks called

  • When Pope Benedict VIII was deposed by antipope Gregory VI, he had Gregory VI deposed and Pope Benedict VIII reinstated

• Upon his assumption to the throne, he faced endless struggles to contain rebellions and feuds by powerful nobles

  • Via concessions and favors, he won the dubious allegiance of Saxons, Lotharingian, Thuringians, and Swabians

  • He also faced multiple wars on every frontier in which

    • Boleslaw of Poland seized lands to his east

      • This conflict began after he invaded Poland with the hopes of recreating the Frankish Carolingian Empire, backed by his German nobles

      • However, he was unable to defeat Boleslaw and Poland was forced to sign the unfavorable treaty, the Peace of Bautzen, in which Boleslaw’s gains were consolidated

    • The Count of Flanders moved to seize Lotharingia

• When he died, the Lombards revolted against Germany and the Holy Roman Empire

1024 - 1125 - Salian Dynasty (All Facts)

1024 - 1039 - Conrad II (All Facts)

• 5th King of Germany and 16th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 5th King of Holy Roman Italy), he was the First King and Founder of the Salian Dynasty of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire

  • He marched onto Italy to claim his rightful crown of Lombardy, coming up against stiff opposition from the inhabitants of

    • Pavia, who closed the city gates to his army

    • Ravenna, where his men hacked down people running to safety

  • He ordered survivors of these conflicts to parade before him in hair shirts, barefoot, with unsheathed swords hung around their necks, and to beg for forgiveness

  • He was crowned emperors in the presence of two other crowned heads, Rudolf of Burgundy and Canute the Great of England and Denmark (and Norway) amid imperial pomp and religious infighting

  • During his coronation, two archbishops (of Milan and Ravenna) vied for the honor of leading the king to the altar, exchanging harsh words and even punches in the process outside St. Peter’s

  • He married Queen Gisela

• He incorporated the Kingdom of Burgundy into the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of their heirless King Rudolf III, becoming its first Holy Roman / German King

1028 - 1056 - Henry III (All Facts)

• 6th King of Germany and 17th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 6th King of Holy Roman Italy), he was the 2nd of the Salian Dynasty of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Italy

• He

  • forced the abdication of Pope Gregory VI on the grounds of simony

  • confirmed the deposition of Pope Sylvester III and Pope Benedict IX

  • had installed Pope Clement II after the depositions and abdications of his corrupt papal predecessors

  • had installed Pope Damasus after he and his Holy Roman forces militaristically drove Pope Benedict IX out of the papal office after ignoring his original deposition against him and serving a third term

• He died at Pfalz Bodfeld

1054 - 1105 - Henry IV (All Facts)

• 7th King of Germany and 18th Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and 7th King of Holy Roman Italy), he was the 3rd of the Salian Dynasty of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Italy

  • His mother Agnes of Poitou ruled as regent when he assumed the throne at the age of six