On July 13th, 1024 Emperor Henry II died without an heir. not only that, but his family has so comprehensively died out, there is not a single descendant in the male line left. Fear of unrest and civil war grips the inhabitants of the empire.
An election is called for early September, as quickly as such things could be organised in the 11th century. The upper echelons of society debate a long list of candidates before agreeing on a shortlist of just two, both named Konrad, both from the same clan of Salian Franks.
Medieval imperial elections have little in common with today’s elections. there are no set rules about the electors, the purpose is not to determine the will of the people but to unveil the will of God. Decisions are unanimous, mainly because dissenters leave before the votes are cast.
Ultimately Konrad the elder (1024-1039) a giant of a man at 2m tall is elected. He appears in all and everything the opposite of his predecessor. But that may be just appearance…
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
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The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
Overview
The century of Salian rule from 1024 to 1125 is the crucial turning point not just for German, but for European history more generally. It is in this period that the Investiture Controversy pits Popes against Emperors. The dispute is nominally about the role secular powers play in the selection of bishops and abbots.
But in reality, it is about much more than that. It is about whether the monarch acts as the representative of God, or as mere mortal, subject to Papal authority. It is about whether Europe becomes a coherent political entity ruled by an all-powerful emperor or whether it becomes a fragmented system of interlocking states, cities, and lordships under a parallel church infrastructure. It is about whether Europe becomes a uniform society or the diverse structure that will give birth both to endless warfare and misery as well as the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment (to name just a few).
We move from the unexpected election of Konrad II to his son Henry III becoming the undisputed senior ruler in Western Europe. The backlash against the emerging command monarchy culminates in Emperor Henry IV kneeling in the snow outside the Castle of Canossa begging Pope Gregor VII to receive him back into the mother church.
The founder of the Salian dynasty was an unlikely contender to become king .He had been de facto disinherited by his grandfather who passed the leadership of the family to his uncle and later his cousin. What rescued him was his marriage to the beautiful and ambitious Gisela who brought resources and connections into the marriage.
He was elected against the odds in 1024 and managed to establish his rule quickly, achieving an imperial coronation in Rome in 1027. From then on, he ruthlessly expanded direct royal control, not only over the imperial church, but also over duchies, counties and abbeys.
He developed the concept of the res publica, the state, being separate from and above the person of the king/emperor. He led a successful foreign policy that brought the Kingdom of Burgundy into the empire and broke the threat of a powerful Poland.
#22 Konrad II – Who would have thought
Electing a most unlikely successor to Henry II
Konrad II was neither a mighty prince nor a relative of the House of Otto I, but still he was elected emperor
#23 Duke Ernst Rebel and Legend
A Medieval Story about Loyalty and Friendship
Konrad II’s push for centralised control leads to a rebellion, led by the emperor’s 16-year old stepson, duke Ernst II of Swabia (1012-1030).
#24 Konrad II’s Acquisition of Burgundy
The Last Kingdom to be added to the Holy Roman Empire
Emperor Konrad II claims the kingdom of Burgundy, not as his personal right, but as a right of the Holy Roman Empire
#25 Speyer Cathedral
Konrad II builds the largest Church in Europe
The greatest of the Salian legacies are the great cathedrals, and above all, Speyer, the brainchild of Konrad II
The second Salian ruler brings the medieval empire to its zenith in 1046.
Poland, Bohemia and Hungary have to swear fealty. Internally all five duchies are either directly controlled by the Emperor or brought to submission.
At the synod of Sutri he dismisses three popes is one fell swoop and puts a fourth one in place.
It is all downhill from there. The new popes are growing in stature and influence. The Saxons keep grumbling whilst Lothringia remains a source of troubles. The Hungarians throw off their chains….and then he dies leaving a 6-year old son behind
#26 Henry III Comin’ in Smoothly
The first seamless transition of power from Father to Son in 70 years
For the first time in almost 70 years the transition from one king/emperor to the next is smooth. Konrad II was not only one of the most successful medieval rulers, he also managed to live long enough for his son Henry III to grow up to adulthood before taking over.
#27 Peace in Our Time
The first Empire-Wide Peace
Henry’s rule is not without tension. The dukes of Saxony and Lothringia are moving into opposition to the king and emperor falls severely ill in 1045.
#28 Three Popes with One Stone
The Council of Sutri in 1046
In 1046 Henry III finally has time to go to Rome. He finds out that pope Gregory VI has bought the papacy for cold hard cash, a sin that could invalidate his coronation. Henry III gets involved, deposes all three competing popes and inadvertently starts a chain of events that ends in what Norman Cantor calls “the first of the three world revolutions”.
#29 – The Medieval Empire at its Zenith
Henry III, Tyrant or Consolidator of Power?
In 1046 Henry III had reached the zenith of his rule. He had deposed three unworthy popes and replaced them with serious churchmen who will bring the necessary reforms about. Domestically he is in control of the three Eastern European lands, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary and the restless Lotharingians seem settled. How did it come about that by 1056 the chronicler writes that “both the foremost men and the lesser men of the kingdom began more and more to murmur against the emperor. They complained he had long since departed from his original conduct of justice, peace, piety, fear of god and manifold virtues in which he ought to have made progress”
Finding a more controversial German ruler in the Middle Ages will be difficult. His enemies called him a debauched, spoiled brat who would rape and even murder his enemies. He himself had been subject to assassination plots ever since he was a mere 7 years old.
He became king at the age of 6 and saw the central power crumbling under his mother’s ineffective rule. Age 12 he is being abducted in a coup d’etat and finds that his mother does not fight for him, even sides with his enemies.
When he tries to establish a new territorial power base he is forced into a bloody and remorseless war against the Saxons.
Meanwhile Pope Gregory VII believes the emperor is no different to any other king obliged to kneel and wash the pope’s feet.
A terrible miscalculation leaves Henry IV kneeling in the snow before Pope Gregory VII. The ensuing 50 years of war change the face of Europe
#30 The Three Roads to Canossa
Lay Piety, Reform Papacy and the Saxon Rebellion
Emperor Henry III is dead. The realm is now in the hands of his widow, Agnes of Poitou who rules on behalf of the six-year-old king Henry IV. Agnes is no Theophanu and no Adelheid. Not that she is incompetent, she just isn’t absolutely brilliant, and absolutely brilliant is the baseline necessary to manage this fragile situation.
#31 The (second) Saxon War
The Nobles Rebel against “the Imperial Tyrant” Henry IV
King Henry IV embarks on his ambitious castle building project around Goslar, Otto of Northeim delivers a rousing speech, Saxons rebel, royal bones are thrown in the rubbish, brother fights brother…and more!
#32 Not Pope but False Monk
Emperor Henry IV confronts the Pope Gregory VII
The rise of the papacy since 1046 is almost linear. Popes free themselves from the Roman aristocracy, take over leadership of the church reform movement and claim universal leadership of Christianity. Conflict with the other universal power, the emperor is inevitable..
#33 Canossa Finally
Emperor Henry IV kneels in the Snow before Pope Gregory VII
It is time – we are finally going to Canossa. Expect imperial power to go up in smoke, greedy mothers-in-laws, frozen passes, hoisted horses and tobogganing empresses.
#34 Gaining the Upper Hand
Henry IV defeats the anti-king Rudolf von Rheinfelden
Unperturbed by Henry IV’s release from the ban the German princes elect Rudolph von Rheinfelden as the new king, change the constitution of the empire and start a civil war that is lost when a man loses not his head, but his hand.
#35 To Rome! to Rome!
Henry IV takes Revenge on Pope Gregory VII
Suddenly the boot is on the other foot and emperor Henry IV chases pope Gregory VII out of Rome and into exile in Salerno
#36 Henry IV is Coming Home
The Pacification of the Empire after a Decade of War
Henry IV returned as emperor and made his mark on Saxony, waiting for gregiry VII and his appointees to die
#37 The two Grooms
Mathilda of Tuscany Marries a much Younger man – for power, not love
The wedding of the 60-year old countess Matilda of Tuscany to the strapping 18-year old Welf IV was organised by the Pope – for power not love
#38 The First Crusade
Crusaders attacking the Jewish communities in Mainz, Speyer and Worms
In 1095 Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade and things get out of control almost immediately as preachers whip up crowds to set off immediately. These crowds bring unimaginable horrors to the Jewish communities in Mainz, Worms, Trier and elsewhere
#39 The Final Betrayal
The End of Emperor Henry IV
It is hard to believe, but the last years of Henry IV’s tumultuous reign still held one final humiliation that capped the pain this man had already endured.
Even though Henry V takes over from his father through treachery, the early years of his reign are a much needed reprieve from the turbulent reign of his father.
Things get out of hand when he accepts a proposal of Pope Paschalis II to forsake any involvement in the management of the church in exchange for receiving all of the church lands and rights back, a good third of all the assets of the empire.
Though the plan cannot be implemented against the staunch opposition of the princes, it has repercussion on the standing of the young emperor. How can the bishops and abbots, and their cousins, the dukes, counts and barons believe the emperor is a guarantor of their ancient rights, when he almost expropriated them.
Henry V finds himself quickly in a situation not dissimilar to his father. He tried to seal this can of creepy-crawlies with the Concordat of Worms…
#40 Henry V has a Cunning Plan
Pope Paschal II offers to hand back all imperial fiefs which causes havoc
Having lured his father into a trap and then deposed, we now have a new king, Last week you heard the story from the father’s perspective, this time we look at it from Henry V’s perspective, and maybe he was not as much of a rotten apple as it looks?
#41 The Concordat of Worms
Henry V brings the Investiture Controversy to an end (not voluntary)
In this week’s episode Henry V the last of the Salians will find that despite all his efforts, the tide of history cannot be stemmed, leaving him in almost exactly the same place his father ended up in 1076.
#42 A World Revolution?
What did the Investiture Controversy really change
Many writers have compared the Investiture controversy to the great world revolutions of 1789 and 1917 – let’s look at the arguments
Great history of these personalities. A historical WHO IS WHO, and their relationships and interactions playing out. So much royal and religious politic playing out.
I just found and binged on everything up to the Salians, and am so excited to keep going! I moved to Germany a year ago snd have been trying to find histories of Germany in English, as I am struggling to learn German. Thanks for an awesome series!
I love to continue on other episode very informative and interesting.