Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Saint Henry II , called the Holy or the Saint, was the fifth and last
Holy Roman Emperor of the Saxon or
Ottonian dynasty.
Some sources give Henry's date of birth as 6 May 973. He was the son of
Henry the Quarrelsome of
Bavaria. As his father had rebelled against two previous emperors, he was often in exile. This led the younger Henry to turn to the Church at an early age, first finding refuge with Bishop Abraham of Freising and later being educated at the Cathedral School of
Hildesheim. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995 as Henry IV.
Encyclopedia
Saint
Henry II , called
the Holy or
the Saint, was the fifth and last
Holy Roman Emperor of the Saxon or
Ottonian dynasty.
Some sources give Henry's date of birth as 6 May 973. He was the son of
Henry the Quarrelsome of
Bavaria. As his father had rebelled against two previous emperors, he was often in exile. This led the younger Henry to turn to the Church at an early age, first finding refuge with Bishop Abraham of Freising and later being educated at the Cathedral School of
Hildesheim. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995 as Henry IV.
Henry was on his way to
Rome to save his besieged cousin, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto III, when the emperor died in January 1002. Knowing that opposition to his succession was strong, Henry quickly seized the royal insignia from his dead cousin's companions. Rivals such as Eckhard of Meissen and Duke Herman of Swabia strongly contested Henry's election, but with the aid of Archbishop Willigis of
Mainz he was able to secure his election and coronation on , though it would be a year before he was universally recognized.
Henry spent the next several years consolidating his political power on his borders. He waged a successful campaign against King
Boleslaus I of
Poland and then moved into
Italy to confront Arduin of Ivrea, who had styled himself King of Italy. The Italian campaign was harsh and full of atrocity and in the end he had to give it up and return his attention to Poland. He was, however, crowned King of Italy at
Pavia on May 15, 1004. In his second campaign against Boleslaus, he allied with the pagan Liutitians against the Christian Poles and waged successful campaigns that culminated in a lasting compromise peace with the Poles in 1018 in which Boleslaus was allowed to retain
Lusatia and Misnia but gave up
Bohemia.
Henry returned to Italy for another campaign in 1013 and went straight to Rome, where
Pope Benedict VIII crowned him Holy Roman Emperor on 14 February 1014. He took his duties to Italy seriously and appointed German officials to administer the country.
Henry's most significant contributions as emperor came in the realm of Church-State relations and Church administration within the Empire. He supported the bishops against the monastic clergy and aided them in establishing secular rule over broad territories to go with their spiritual power. He made sure to enforce celibacy amongst the clergy so that the land he granted would not be passed on to heirs. This ensured that the bishops remained loyal to him and provided a powerful bulwark against rebellious nobles and ambitious family members. Henry also founded the diocese of
Bamberg in 1007, which quickly became a center of scholarship and art.
In 1020, the pope visited him at Bamberg and consecrated his new cathedral there. He convinced him to return to Italy for a third campaign. In 1022, he set out commanding a large force down the
Adriatic coast. He sent Pilgrim, Archbishop of Cologne, ahead with a slightly smaller army along the Tyrrhenian littoral to subjugate
Capua. This he did and took the prince, Pandulf IV, captive. A third army, smaller still, under the command of Poppo of Aquileia, went through the
Apennines. All three divisions joined to besiege Troia, the new fortress of the Byzantine catepan Basil Boiannes. Henry almost executed the treacherous prince of Capua, but relented at the last moment. He failed to take Troia, but left the south well aware that Western imperial authority still extended that far. On his return journey, he attended a synod at Pavia where he advocated Church reform.
Henry had been working with the Pope to call a church council to confirm his new system of politico-ecclesiastical control when he died suddenly in 1024, leaving this work unfinished. Henry and his wife, Cunigunde of Luxemburg, had no children, reportedly because they had taken a mutual vow of
chastity. The Church canonized Henry and Cunigunde after their deaths.
Henry is buried in the
Bamberg Cathedral, which also has the tomb of Pope
Clement II making the only place both a Pope and Holy Roman Emperor are buried.
