Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/828

* HENRY IV. 764 HENRY IV. name. Under Anno's regency the German author- ity was reestablished over Hungary. The Arch- bishop, liowever, was greatly disliked by Henry, and was forced to make way for the Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, who became the young King's tutor, and in 1005 caused him to be declared of age. Henry had been brought up very badly. He had ability, but an ungovernable temper; he was brave, but a poor general ; he was surrounded by flatterers, and at first gave himself up almost entirely to pleasure. Germany soon sank into a state of feudal anarchy. The Slavs revolted and devastated the northeastern parts of the Empire, while the Danes h'eld the Baltic coast. Henry at- tempted to reestablish his authority by degrading the independent dukes in the south, by imprison- ing the Duke of Saxony, and by erecting many fortresses in his duchy. The Saxons revolted in 1073, instigated in large measure by their bishops, and Henry barely escajjed from their hands. The nobles in the north aided him against Saxony, and in June, 1075. he won a great victory on the Unstrut which temporarily crushed the rebellion ; for the first time he seemed to be really powerful. But the greatest danger came to a head just at this time. After the death of Henry III. the Papacy had gradually freed itself from Imperial control. In 1059 a decree had been enacted which gave the election of the Pope to the col- lege of cardinals, and during the period of dis- order in Germany the Church, under the guidance of Hildebrand, had gained steadily in power. In 1073 Hildebrand was elected Pope as Gregory VII. ( q.v. ), and proceeded with greater energj' to carry out the policy of ecclesiastical and Papal supremacy with which he had been identified so closely under the two preceding popes. In 1075 a s_vnod at Rome passed a decree against lay in- vestiture, threatening secular princes who should presume to confer abbacies or bishoprics on priests with excommunication. The bishops and abbots in the Empire held great possessions and were great territorial lords. If Henry could not control their appointment, a large part of his resources and power would be taken from liim and a large sec- tion of the Empire would become independent. As long as the bishops and abbots continued to hold tlieir temporal possessions as feudal lords, it was absolutely necessary to the King to have them luider his control. On the other hand, the Church was determined to appoint its own officials. When Henry therefore appointed an archbishop for Jlilan. Gregory sent legates to demand that he should obey the decree against lay investiture, charging liim at the same time with simony and oppression of the clergy. Henry, however, was elated by his great victory over the Saxons, and in no mood to temporize, as he had done previously. He retorted by convoking a German council at Worms. January 24. 1076. which de- posed the Pope. The Pope in return excommuni- cated Henry, decreed his deposition, and released his subjects from their oath of allegiance. All of Henry's enemies seized this opportunity to revolt, and proposed to elect a new king, and the most that Henry could obtain was a respite. He was deprived of all authority, and if not ab- solved within a year was to be deposed. The Pope seemed to be entirely triumphant, and Henry doomed to degradation; but there was one weak point in Gregory's position which af- forded Henry a chance of redeeming his fortunes. As a Christian priest the Pope was bound to par- don a penitent who sought absolution; when, therefore, Gregory, who had promised to take no action without the consent of the German nobles, with whom he was to hold a council, set out lor Germany, Henry hurried to Italy to meet him. The Lombards, who were hostile to the Pope, elcomed the Emperor eagerly, and he soon had an army at his command. Gregory took refuge in the strong castle of Canossa. belonging to Countess Matilda of Tuscany. Henry, how- ever, had not come to fight, but to seek absolu- tion. For three days (January 25-27, 1077) he begged admission to Canossa as a penitent, wait- ing barefooted at the gate of the courtyard of the castle ; and finally Gregory had to yield and to grant the desired absolution. Canossa was the deepest possible humiliation for Henry, but his act had won for him a diplomatic victory. He had prevented the meeting between Gregory and the nobles, and had placed the latter in the position of rebels, if they persisted in their hos- tility. JIany of them did persist, and elected an anti- king in the person of Rudolph, Duke of Swabia : but Henry now had many partisans. Civil war raged throughout Germany, and every part of the country except Saxony was divided into two parties. Gregory VII. hesitated, but finally in 1080 recognized the anti-king, and excomnumi- cated Henry once more. Rudolph, however, was killed soon after, and his death was accepted as a judgment of God. An antipope, Clement III., was elected by the Imperial Party, and in 1084 Henry captured the city of Rome and installed the antipojje. who gave him the Imperial crown ; but in the same year the Emperor, who had been besieging Gregory VII. in Sant' Angelo, was driv- en from Rome by Robert Guiscard ( q.v. ). Greg- ory VII. died soon after in exile. The strife went on in Germany, where Henry had to con- tend against two other anti-kings — Hermann of Luxemburg, who died in 1087, and the Margrave of Meissen, whose death occurred in 1089. Sup- ported bj' Godfrey of Bouillon (q.v.) and Fred- erick of Swabia, the ancestor of the Hohenstau- fen. Henry was on the whole successfully assert- ing himself, when his eldest son, Conrad, joined the Emperor's enemies. For a time this weak- ened the Emperor, but he gradually won the sup- port of the great nobles, all of wliom were weary of the strife. Conrad was deposed from his po- sition as heir to the throne, and died in 1101, and Henry, the second son of the Emperor, was declared heir. Henry's difficulties, however, were not over. The Pope, Paschal II., renewed the excommunication against Henry. His second son was induced to rebel, and the Emperor was made prisoner December, 1105, and foi'ced to ab- dicate. He died soon after. August 7, 1106, while ])reparing to make war upon his son. As he died excommunicated, his body remained unburied for five years. During the latter part of his life especially, he was' very popular with the people, who mourned his loss. Consult: ]Meyer von- Knonau, Jahrhiicher des deutschen Reicfts unter ndiirich IV. iind Heivrich F. (Leipzig, 1890-94) ; Floto, Heinrich IV. and sein Zeitalter (Stuttgart, 1855-57) : Giesebrecht. Geschichle der deutschen Kaiserzeit, vol. iii. (5th ed., Leipzig, 1890) ; also the authorities referred to under Gbegort VII. See iNVESTiruKE.