The Historians' History of the World 07

Against the Saxons the arms of the emperor were in the first place turned; but amongst these rebels great discord prevailed; and the anti-cæsar Hermann incurred the censures of the church for contracting a marriage within the prohibited degrees. Many of the Saxons voluntarily returned to their allegiance; and Henry succeeded in mastering the remainder, though not without a severe struggle and a sanguinary defeat at Pleichfeld. Hermann of Luxemburg, now fallen into general contempt, obtained permission from Henry to retire to his patrimony in Lorraine; and perished soon afterwards in a mock attack on one of his own castles (1088).

In the midst of this confusion the emperor had still sufficient authority to dispose of two crowns. Out of gratitude to his faithful ally, Wratislaw, duke of Bohemia, he conferred on him the royal title, and caused him to be crowned king at Prague by the archbishop of Trèves. And at Aachen, Conrad, eldest son of Henry, was anointed king of Germany by the archbishop of Cologne in the year 1087.

Besides the rebellious Saxons the emperor was compelled to take arms against his cousin-german, Eckbert, markgraf of Thuringia, who now aspired to the imperial dignity. Another competitor was also in the field, Ludolf, duke of Carinthia. But these rival claims were without difficulty silenced. Eckbert was surprised and slain in a mill near Brunswick, by the vassals of Adelaide, abbess of Quedlinburg, the emperor’s sister; and Ludolf died about the same period without striking a blow.

HENRY AND CONRAD

[1087-1101 A.D.]

Peace being thus restored in Germany, Henry made haste to revisit Italy, where he hoped to reap advantage from the death of his arch-foe, Pope Gregory VII. After the short pontificate of Victor III, Urban II was raised to the papacy; and, as he seemed resolved to tread in the steps of Gregory, he received the cordial support of the countess Matilda. That princess had entered into a second marriage with Welf, son of Welf VI, duke of Bavaria, a union which ranged one of the most formidable of the German nobles against the fortunes of Henry. After laying waste the estates of Matilda in Lorraine the emperor arrived in Lombardy, besieged and took Mantua, and received considerable encouragement by the rupture of Welf with the countess, and the desertion of the father and son from the papal cause.

But these propitious events were more than countervailed by the rebellion of his own son, Conrad, whose unnatural ambition tempted him to this fatal step. Seduced by the blandishments of Matilda and the pope, he was crowned king of Italy at Milan, with the promise of the imperial dignity on condition of his yielding the great question of investitures. Fortunately the contagion was confined to Italy; and, on his return to Germany, Henry IV found no marks of disaffection. The assembled states maintained their fidelity, declared Conrad to have forfeited the crown, and elected in his stead Henry, second son of the emperor, who swore to respect his father’s authority, and abstain from interfering in the government. The services of the imperial partisans were liberally rewarded, and to Welf VI were restored the duchy of Bavaria and other states which he had forfeited by his former rebellion. The guilty Conrad soon found his visions of dominion entirely dissipated. Discouraged by the fidelity of the Germans to the emperor the supporters of the young prince fell rapidly away, and he died deserted and despised at Florence, not without suspicion of poison (1101).

Henry IV now again announced his intention of visiting Italy, in the hope of effecting a reconciliation between the empire and the popedom. But his schemes were at once frustrated by a new rebellion. Neither regarding the oath he had solemnly sworn, nor admonished by the example of his brother’s fall, Henry, second son of the emperor, impatient of the long reign of his father, appeared in arms against him. The rebellious prince found a warm supporter in Pope Paschal II, who succeeded Urban II in 1099, and in a council held in Rome solemnly renewed the censures which his predecessor Gregory had thundered against Henry. No pretension of the see of Rome was more odious than the right it assumed to absolve men from oaths deliberately taken; and the new pope taught the prince to believe that the excommunication of his father completely freed him from all obligation. In the bitterness of his heart the afflicted Henry attempted to recall his son to a sense of duty by the most gentle and touching exhortations; but these mild efforts were entirely lost upon the prince, who resolutely declared his determination to avoid all intercourse with a man excommunicated.k

END OF HENRY IV

[1101-1106 A.D.]