Henry IV (of Germany)

King of Germany (r. 1056-1106) and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1084-1106)

• Born: November 11, 1050
• Birthplace: Goslar, Saxony (now in Germany)
• Died: August 7, 1106
• Place of death: Liège, Lorraine (now in Belgium)

Henry’s struggles with the German nobility and the Papacy had a decisive impact on the future constitutional and political development of Germany. Although his tenacious defense of the rights and prerogatives of the monarchy was largely unsuccessful, it still marked him as one of the greatest of the German kings.

Early Life

Henry IV was born on November 11, 1050, the son and heir of Henry III and his wife, Agnes of Poitou. Henry was well educated for the period: He could read and write, knew Latin, and had an interest in music and architecture. His childhood was very tumultuous and would have an inordinate influence on his personality and his later decisions.

In 1056, his father died. The German nobles accepted the five-year-old Henry as king only because his father had earlier forced them three times to swear allegiance to him. Control of the monarchy quickly fell to Henry’s mother, a weak, retiring woman thoroughly unsuited to the rough world of German politics. She did her best, but under her regency the interests of the monarchy were not advanced, royal lands were alienated to various princes, and the political situation in Germany began to unravel.

These problems became very clear when in April, 1062, Archbishop Anno of Cologne enticed the twelve-year-old Henry onto a gaily decorated boat on the Rhine River at Kaiserwerth and kidnapped him. Henry tried to escape by jumping over the side and was rescued only with great difficulty. The conspirators’ motivation was simply to satisfy their own selfish desires while allowing Henry only a semblance of power. Probably relieved to be done with the responsibility of being regent, Agnes made no objection, nor did any other significant group in Germany, to the kidnapping; instead she fulfilled her long-held desire to enter a convent.

By 1066, when he was able to assume power for himself at the age of sixteen, Henry was a tall, attractive man, who despite frequent illnesses had an imposing physical presence. Lacking the piety of his father, Henry reacted against the restraints of his childhood by living a dissolute life. His experiences with the German princes during the regency not only had taught him trickery, deceit, and cunning, but also had filled him with an intense pride in the dignity of the monarchy and a burning desire to preserve and defend its rights. The protection of the monarchy would remain the constant goal of his reign; in 1066, Henry was ready to begin the arduous task of restoring the power and prestige of the crown.

Life’s Work

Because of the erosion of royal authority during the regency, Henry’s first priority was to create a firm economic foundation for the monarchy, enabling it to act independently of the desires of the German nobility. That required the reinstitution of royal properties in Saxony, making it the center of royal power. Such a program was certain to be opposed by the Saxon nobles, who would see it as a threat to the gains they had made during the regency, and by the free Saxon peasants, who correctly perceived any increase in the monarchy’s power as leading to servitude. Led by Otto von Nordheim and Magnus Billung, these groups rebelled in 1070. Although the Saxons had some success against Henry, the issue was never in serious doubt and on June 9, 1075, the imperial army decisively defeated a Saxon army of nobles and peasants at Langensalza on the river Unstrutt. Broken and crushed, Saxony appeared completely subjugated and Henry was poised to govern it directly through royal officials, ministeriales, with Goslar as his capital. Had this success proved lasting, there is little doubt that Henry would have completed the political program of the Ottonian and Salian kings: the creation of a German “state” like that of Norman England. At the very moment of his greatest victory, however, Henry was suddenly faced with an even more perilous enemy in the person of Pope Gregory VII.

Gregory, formerly the Cluniac monk Hildebrand, was elected pope in 1073 while Henry was preoccupied with Saxony. At first, relations between the two were quite friendly. Gregory followed ancient custom by informing the German king of his election and requesting Henry’s confirmation, which was granted. Had Henry understood the true aims and beliefs of Gregory, however, this approval would not have been forthcoming.

Within this short, pale, and plebeian fifty-year-old pope burned a revolutionary vision of the Church and its place in society. Essentially, Gregory saw himself called by God to free the Church from the chains of secular authority. He envisioned a Church, under the absolute control of the Papacy, having ultimate primacy over all society. All authority, secular and clerical, would serve the will of the pope. Indeed, Gregory attacked the German king and the German church precisely because it was the most organized and disciplined in Europe. It had been reformed by Henry II and Henry III and therefore was attached to the Crown and not to the Papacy. Thus, if absolute papal control of the Church and society were to become a reality in Europe, first the secular control of the German church had to be destroyed. His contemporaries were very aware that Gregory’s program was revolutionary, breaking with ancient custom and tradition.

Gregory carefully planned his move against Henry, choosing to strike just as the Saxon revolt was coming to its climax. At the Lenten Synod of 1075, Gregory, as part of a sweeping reform program against simoniac German clergy, forbade Henry to perform any lay investitures or else suffer severe penalties a mortal challenge to the monarchy’s ability to rule. The German kings had long used prelates as the chief officials of the kingdom and to deny them the power to appoint and to invest the bishops and the abbots of the imperial abbeys was to shred the crown’s capacity to govern.

Henry ignored the pope’s decree, and once the Saxons were reduced, he turned his attention to Milan, where he appointed an archbishop in direct opposition to Gregory, who had supported another candidate. The pope retaliated with his famous letter of December 8, 1075, in which he called Henry to penance and threatened him with the loss of his throne. He also ordered his messengers to berate Henry personally for his moral faults, making it clear that if the king did not submit, excommunication and deposition would follow.

Gregory had miscalculated. By taking such an extreme position, one that imperiled civil order in Germany, he drove the German bishops and Henry together; on January 24, 1076, they met at Worms. There Henry and his bishops approved a letter castigating the pope. It began “Hildebrand, no longer pope but false monk” and concluded by stating “We Henry, king by the grace of God, with all our bishops say to you: come down, come down!” This letter reached Gregory in February, 1076, but now it was Henry who had overreached. The pope immediately excommunicated and deposed the king and absolved all of his subjects of their fealty to him. Within months Henry found himself isolated, deserted by his former allies, and facing an increasingly more powerful opposition. In October, the German nobility met at Tribur to decide how to treat the excommunicated monarch. Henry had to agree to remove the excommunication within a year or the nobles would no longer consider him king. They apparently believed that Henry would be unable to fulfill this requirement, for they also invited Gregory to meet with them as a mediator at Augsburg on February 2, 1077. Henry realized that if the Augsburg meeting took place the monarchy was doomed.

At this juncture Henry performed a brilliant political maneuver. Secretly crossing the Alps, for all the major passes were blocked by nobles hostile to the monarchy, he appeared before Gregory at Canossa on January 25, 1077; for three days Henry stood in the cold and snow wearing only sackcloth as penance. Gregory was reluctant to grant absolution, but he was a priest and a priest could not refuse forgiveness to a sincere penitent, as Henry well knew. As a result of this dramatic action Henry was absolved and restored to his throne.

The German princes were furious with Gregory. The meeting at Augsburg had only been a week away, but now with the excommunication removed, they had no legitimate reason for rebellion. Nevertheless, they elected Rudolf of Swabia as antiking and Germany was plunged into three years of civil war. Henry knew that Rudolf was not a serious threat as long as Gregory did not recognize Rudolf as the rightful king. Gregory remained neutral for three years and then, possibly fearful that Henry was reconsolidating his power, excommunicated him again at the Lenten Synod of 1080 and declared Rudolf the legitimate king. Rudolf, however, was killed in battle the following October; this time, the German clergy and nobility stood by Henry, for they realized that Gregory posed as much a threat to their privileges as to the king’. With this support, Henry held a council at Mainz that deposed Gregory and established an antipope. It was now Gregory who was isolated, and in 1081, Henry invaded Italy. Gregory took refuge in the Castle Sant’Angelo in Rome, and though faced with certain defeat, he refused to compromise. He was finally rescued by his Norman allies, with whom he retreated to southern Italy. Broken by this extraordinary conflict, Gregory died at Salerno on May 25, 1085.

It appeared that Henry had achieved his goals. Gregory had been driven into exile and Henry’s position in Germany never seemed stronger. In 1087, his eldest son, Conrad, was crowned the next king, and in 1089, after his wife Bertha’s death, Henry married Adelheid, the daughter of a Russian prince. Yet within a few years, Henry’s world began to collapse around him. In 1088, Bishop Otto of Ostia was elected Pope Urban II. Because of his political genius, Urban was a much more potent adversary than was his predecessor; he successfully exploited conditions in Germany to advance the papal program. Urban was aided by Henry’s family problems.

In 1093, the papal party persuaded the impressionable Conrad to desert his father and be crowned king of the Lombards. Simultaneously, Henry’s young wife, Adelheid, after being imprisoned for adultery, escaped and spread incredible tales about Henry’s moral corruption. The forces that Henry had opposed since 1066 once again arrayed themselves against him; from 1090 to 1096 he was trapped in a castle near Verona. In 1096, however, Henry was able to return to Germany and at Mainz he held a diet that deposed Conrad (who died in 1101) and crowned his brother, Henry, heir. Henry also tried to make peace with Urban, but the pope refused these overtures and renewed Henry’s excommunication. At this moment young Henry betrayed his father. Henry IV, who by now was understandably suspicious of his family, was nevertheless tricked by his son into leaving his armed escort and accompanying him to the castle at Böckelheim. There Henry became his son’s prisoner and was forced to confess his sins and to renounce his rights to the throne. Henry V had staged a successful coup; before he could mount a counterstroke, Henry IV died at Liège on August 7, 1106.

Significance

Henry IV’s reign was a turning point in German history. His political goal had been to continue the policy initiated by Conrad II of consolidating royal power at the expense of the German nobility and clergy. Henry’s vision was for a feudal monarchy whose every aspect would be inspired and controlled by the king. He was well aware of the strong opposition he would face in attempting to achieve this ambitious plan, but Henry was never dismayed by adversity and he did have some success. A royal capital was created, royal lands were extended, and for a period of time the nobility was held in check. Henry’s development of a bureaucratic government employing civil servants called ministeriales anticipated similar reforms accomplished under the Capetians in France and the Plantagenets in England.

The Investiture Controversy halted the evolution toward a strong, centralized monarchy, however, and started a steady dissolution of the crown’s authority. With the monarchy preoccupied with its fight with the Papacy, developing noble families, such as the Zahringer of Swabia, were able to consolidate their own position. By the time of Henry’s death in 1106, the German nobility was already in the ascendancy and Germany had started down the long, tortuous path of feudalism just as the other monarchies in France and England were beginning to create new types of royal government and to extend their authority into broader areas of society.

It is not difficult to see the heroic character of Henry IV. He struggled mightily and with extraordinary courage to preserve and to expand royal power. In his mind’s eye, Henry had grasped the vague outline of the future course of government better than had any of his contemporaries. If it is true, as James Westfall Thompson states, that “a man is to be judged not by what he achieves, but by what he labors to accomplish,” then Henry IV was the greatest German monarch of the Middle Ages.

Franconian (Salian) Kings of Germany, 1024-1125

Reign

• King

1024-1039

• Conrad II

1039-1056

• Henry III

1056-1106

• Henry IV

1106-1125

• Henry V

1125

• Franconian/Salian line ends

Bibliography

Barraclough, G. The Origins of Modern Germany. 4th ed. Oxford: Basil, Blackwell and Mott, 1962. This is a very impressive survey of Germany from 800 to 1939. Constitutional issues and the development of a central government are stressed. The period of 1025-1075 is seen as a time of royal consolidation, while the era from 1075, when the Investiture Controversy breaks out, to 1152 is perceived as a period of decline for the German monarchy.

Eyck, Frank. Religion and Politics in German History: From the Beginnings to the French Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. An analysis of how Germanic peoples preserved links with classical civilization through their ability to assimilate other cultures and peoples, from their alliances with eighth century popes through the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The initial bond between the Germanic rulers and popes turned to conflict as the Papacy gained power. Tables, maps, bibliography, index.

Fuhrmann, Horst. Germany in the High Middle Ages, 1050-1200. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. This work provides an outstanding summary of Henry IV’s reign and places it within the context of the history of medieval Germany. The discussion of the Investiture Controversy and the Saxon rebellion is concise yet detailed. The bibliography is the best of any of the works cited here and details only those studies done in English.

Hampe, Karl. Germany Under the Salian and Hohenstaufen Emperors. Translated by Ralph Bennett. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1973. Originally published in 1909, this book is still regarded as one of the most readable and reliable accounts of eleventh and twelfth century Germany. Hampe sees Henry IV’s policies as reactionary with their object of restoring ancient rights of the monarchy. There are some excellent insights regarding Henry’s motives and character. Highly recommended.

Jeep, John M., et al., eds. Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2001. An A-Z encyclopedia that addresses all aspects of the German- and Dutch-speaking medieval world from 500 to 1500. Entries include individuals, events, and broad topics such as feudalism and pregnancy. Bibliographical references, index.

Joachimsen, Paul. “The Investiture Contest and the German Constitution.” In Studies in Medieval History/Middle Ages: Medieval Germany, 911-1250. Vol. 2, Essays by German Historians, edited by G. Barraclough. 4th ed. London: Basil, Blackwell and Mott, 1967. Considered by some to be a classic in the field, this article succinctly discusses the constitutional issues of the Investiture Controversy and maintains that the historical significance of Henry IV’s reign is the fact that he took issue with the Papacy’s view that the German monarchy was solely an electoral monarchy with no regard given to the rights of blood or heredity.

Moore, Robert Ian. The First European Revolution, c. 970-1215. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2000. According to the publisher, “a radical reassessment of Europe from the late tenth to the early thirteenth centuries [arguing that] the period witnessed the first true ’revolution’ in European society,” supported by transformation of the economy, family life, political power structures, and the rise of the non-Mediterranean cities. Bibliography, index.

Robinson, Ian Stuart. Henry IV of Germany, 1056-1106. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. The first English-language work on Henry IV and the seminal events occurring during his reign over kingdoms of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, including the beginning of the church-state confrontation. Maps, bibliography, index.

Thompson, James Westfall. Feudal Germany. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928. This book was criticized when first published for not including the latest scholarship. It maintains that the root of Henry’s struggle with the Papacy was economic. Rome wanted to gain complete control of the Church in Germany and Henry IV could not allow this to happen. There is a very detailed description of the Saxon rebellion and some fine descriptions of Henry.