History of Germany Part-5

At the age of 21, Otto 3rd died while suppressing rebellion in Italy of a strange sudden fever out of the 3rd had died unexpectedly without having been married and with no children.

 

Whatever future, he envisioned along with the stability that the atony ins and her subjects had brought to the Empire would now be challenged as multiple contenders  bickered for the throne eventually his  cousin Heinrich Duke of Bavaria would become king in a complicated and heated  contention in which rivals once more  went to war but he became Heinrich II in  1002 king of Italy in 1004 and Holy  Roman Emperor in 1014 clearly much of his reign was spent trying to secure the authority that the atony ins had wielded.

 

He also spent time fighting Poland over the territory of Bohemia the modern-day chess  Republic the independent-minded German  nobles or princes weren't heartbroken to  see a distracted wheat king on the  throne  Heinrich died in 1024 again with no heir  this brought an end to the Ottonian  dynasty and once more the German Nobles  would have to choose a king they would  choose Conrad ii thus beginning the Salian dynasty konrad like his  predecessors spent much of his early  reign travelling around his domain it  may seem odd that a ruler would spend so  little time in the capital city but at  this time and for much of the time there  was no capital city of the Holy Roman  Empire the closest thing would have been  the city of Aachen but effectively the  capital of the empire was wherever the  Emperor was in 1032 Conrad incorporated  burgundy into his domain though gained  diplomatically at the top.

 

The nation still had to be taken by force Burgundy along with the kingdoms of Germany and  Italy would form the base of the Holy  Roman Empire along with Bohemia although that is a different story. The Holy Roman Emperors though losing power slowly were still at the time perhaps the strongest  men in Europe but their power would soon  be challenged again as the seeds of an  inevitable conflict planted as far back as Charlemagne begun to sprout a power struggle between the Emperor and Pope  remembered as the investiture controversy as you recall the practice of using the church to keep a grasp over Germany in the whole empire dates back quite far in a country struggling with unity. The church was a centralizing unified force bishops typically held similar power as the German princes up to these point positions of power within the Church of Germany weren't handed out by the Pope. They were handed out by the Emperor's to ensure the church's loyalty to him at times the Emperor even felt he  had the power to install or to pose Pope's and turn though the Pope was the sole person who could crown a king Holy Roman Emperor the notion that a German king or any secular Lord should have  this power was challenged by the Gregorian reform movement this refers to a focus on reforms such as allowing the Pope to be elected by a College of Cardinals rather appointed by the Emperor and for the  church to be responsible in handling the positions of its own officials. The reforms began in 1056 not coincidentally at the same time of riot and conspiracy in Germany under the six-year-old king  Heinrich the fourths the situation escalated in 1075. When Pope Gregory the  seventh issued the dictators Popeye asserting that the church was founded by god that the pope alone can depose or in state bishops and that he may even oppose emperors Heinrich the fourth was not interested in complying with a list of rules that would undermine his power he sent the pope a letter making his  intentions quite clear that he intended  to remove him. Pope Gregory though was  prepared he soon announced that Heinrich the fourth was no longer king and  excommunicated him from the church Heinrich prepare to move south that opposed a Pope but he was prevented from  doing so by native unrest his  discontented subject slept at the  opportunity to legally rebel against  them and he was grounded by civil war  with his subjects who had the support of  the Pope fearing defeat in 1077 at the  city of Canossa in the famous walk to  Canossa Heinrich marched barefoot in thin  lothing through the snow to see the  Pope where he waited and fasted for  three days at the castle gates until  Pope Gregory finally received him this  act was humiliating to say the least  Heinrich's predecessors could make or  break a pope with a wave of their hands  now here he was begging to one for his  kingdom nevertheless. Heinrich was  forgiven and his excommunication was  lifted his relationship with the Pope  had been improved but the German nobles  weren't so forgiving rather they had  designs to continue the great Saxon  revolt as it is called and elect a new  king Rudolph von Rhine Feldon. The revolt would continue and in 1080 things seemed to get worse when Pope Gregory took the  side of Rudolph and excommunicated  Heinrich again this time. However, Heinrich was prepared and he received a  stroke of luck Rudolph would die that year the  following year with the rebellion waning  he invaded Rome as Heinrich marched  further the Pope was forced to call on a  new ally recruiting the Normans who had  recently occupied southern Italy.

 

In 1084, they came to his rescue but when the populace of Rome are bolted against Norman occupation Norman's plundered and burned much of the city Pope Gregory had won their support but now Rome opposed him and he  had to leave with the Normans to return south where he died a year later. Heinrich thus elevated his choice for Pope Clement the third who crowned him Holy Roman Emperor this would not end. the conflict however and in fact the conflict would not end until 11 22 when Heinrich son Heinrich the fifth who had often opposed his father in fact signs the Concordat of worms with Pope  Calixtus a second the church had  effectively won it's right to greater  power and independence this conflict  dealt a great blow to the Holy Roman Empire it saw the power of the papacy  grow and the power of the Empire began  to weaken as the nobility had resisted the power of the monarch for so long in Germany that contradicting him was commonplace. The concept of separatism was greatly favored in northern Italy and to the west amid this chaos and insubordination the English and French  were beginning to supplant the Empire's  position as a leading power in Europe  though the church had gained an upper  hand and though the title of Holy Roman Emperor was still not an inherited title  rather one granted solely by the Pope. It would not be the end over the debate of who was ultimately more powerful Emperor or Pope as we get into this period of history. I suppose I should preface the Holy Roman Empire to try to make it  clearer to understand a lot of people find the history and structure of the  Holy Roman Empire to be bizarre and  confusing and if it seems that way it's  essentially because it is even foreigners around it at the same time remarked that it was excessively complicated and confusing we of course saw the Ottonian trying to consolidate  power around the monarchy and the  Saline held a good degree of power until the investiture controversy as  well but this problem of a lack of centralized authority does not get much better over time in truth except for a few intervals it gets worse the Emperor's don't really wield true unchallenged authority over everyone.