Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/274

 HENRY HENRY Henrywas crowned emperor in St. Peter's, 15 April, 1191. Thereupon he started at once for his heredi- tary possession, Sicily, at the head of his army. But the enterprise was doomed to complete disaster. While the emperor was besieging Naples, Henry the Lion's son, Henry, escaped from the king's camp in order to stir up the rebellion in Germany. In fact, Cologne and the Lower Rhine, as well as the Saxon Guelphs, entered into an alliance against the emperor. England was the backer of the league. Upon Henry's return to Germany the opposition was fostered by the dispute over the Liege succession. Henry now acted with offensive recklessness in filling the vacant bishop- ries. In Liege this led to bloody di.s- turliances. In that town the pope's candidate, Albert, a brother of the Duke of Brabant, was murdered by German knights (1102). The em- peror was accused I if complicity — [ii(ihal)ly without r. nson. The insur- ivciionnow spread I liruughout all the jirovinces on the Lower Rhine. The conspiracy of the jjrinces assumed constantly increas- ing proportions. It was in league not only with the King of England but also with the pope and the rival King critical situation Henry showed able diplomat and his shrewd, IlE.MiY 'I From the Maaesse Cotiex, a XlV-cen- tury collectioa of niinnesongs at Heidelberg of Sicily. In this himself to be an statesmanlike measures checked the formidal)le up- rising for a considerable time. Then an imexpected stroke of fortune came to the aid of the king. King Richard Cccur de Lion of England, on liis return from Palestine, was taken prisoner by Duke Leopold of .Vustria and delivered into Henry's hands. There- upon the dangerous opposition of the princes was paralysed. The Guelphs themselves were won over by means of a matrimonial alliance with the emperor's consent, between the Guelph Duke Henry and Arm- gard, a cousin of the emperor and daughter of the Count Palatine Conrad of the Rhine. Richard of England had returned to his kingdom as a vassal of the Cierman king. Thereliy the first step had been taken towards a far-reaching policy of expansion. Henry was now al)le to start on his second expedition to Italy (1194) with a much stronger force. King Tanered had died there, 20 Febniary, 1194. His only issue was an infant son. Henry was able to enter Palermo without opposition. The day after his coronation his wife Constance bore him a son who was baptized and received names held in especial honour by the Normans, Frederick and Roger. This child was now the legitimate heir to the throne of Sicily. With the birth of this son the idea of an he- reditary imperial crown first assumed really tangible shape in the emperor's mind. He was already think- ing of the constitutional union of Sicily with the em- pire. Thereliy — so ran lu's thoughts — ^^the hereditary right to the tlirone of Sieily would accrue to the Ro- man imperial crown. This plan was naturally the first step to a policy looking towards world-empire anfl would have divested the empire of its national charac- ter. Henry pursued this design obstinately, although as he well perceived, it was unfeasible without the co-operation of the pope and of the German princes. He was prepared to purchase the assent of the German princes by concessions. Consequently he was willing to give up the right of spoils to the spiritual princes and to grant the temporal princes the right to trans- mit their fiefs which had become hereditary by tradi- tion, to the female line. Perhaps they were only apparent concessions, perhaps it was Henry's purpose after the acceptance of his scheme to extend Sicilian regulations with their princely officials to Germany. The German territorial lords would have been auto- matically and gradually reduced thereby to the status of large landed proprietors. The emperor's power was so great that at first no .serious opposition was made to his plan. But it was not long before the Saxon princes and the .rchbishop of Cologne opposed it. Henry shrewdly put aside his great plan of an hereditary empire, satisfied for the time being with the election of his son Frederick as king at the Frankfort Diet. The years 1196-97 saw the Staufian kingdom at its zenith. England and half of France were va.ssals to the empire, Hungary and Denmark acknowledged the suzerainty of Germany. Once more the national party in Sicily rose in rebellion against the emperor's growing power, and this time it iT^eems to have been in league with Henry's hot-blooded wife, Constance. But a plot for a general massacre was discovered in time and suppressed in a most cruel fashion. The course was now absolutely clear for Henry's policy of world-empire. With Sicily as a centre, Henry pur- sued a Mediterranean policy that was to recall ancient Roman times. .Already he seriously thought of con- quering Constantinople and had demanded the ces- sion of territory from the Byzantine emperor. Al- ready the Kings of Cyprus and .Armenia became the vassals of Henry. A crusade on a magnificent scale was to crown Henry's world-policy. In fact, 60,000 crusadersleft Sicily in 1197, le<l by Henry's chancellor, Conrad. The emperor intended to follow later. How- ever, Henry V'l died at the height of his power. Of this the chronicler of St. Blasien writes: " His prema- tiu'e death should be mourned by the German people aufl by all men throughout the empire. For he in- ci-eased their glory by the wealth of foreign countries, -9 Sign of Henry VI " Signuiu donini Heinrici aexti ronianorum imperatoris invictissimi et regis sicilie+ " struck terror into the surrounding nations by his lira very and proved that they (the Ormans) wouUi certainly have surpa.ssed all other nations had not death ciit him short." Henry's death in truth fore- boded a catastrophe for Ciermany. Sec hil)liciirrM|>liy to the articles Frederick I .and Frederii-k II. A recent addition to the !u.stor>- of the finies is funiisheU hv H.Mi'E. Dciitsrhr Kdiserijesrhirhte }jn Zfitnltcr dc Snlirr und Slutifcr (Leipzig. 1909). ToErnE. Jiihrhiichcr tier (leulst:hm (iracliiclitr unler Kaiser Hrinrirh 17. (1.S67); CBo. Die Besie- fiur'iarn Urinrichs 17. zur rnfii'sclun Kurie wiihrend drr Jahre 1190 97 (Berlin. 1902); Hl.ocn. Forsrhuntjen zur Politik Kuistr Hrnricha VI. 1191 Si (Berlin. I.sy2): Ottendorf. Die limic- runti der bciden Xurmannenhnntt/e Tancreds und WiUtelms III. von Sizilien und ihre Ktimpfe gcgcn Kaiser Hcinrich VI. (Bonn, 1899). Franz ICampehs.