Everything about Conrad Ii Of The Holy Roman Empire totally explained
Conrad II (c.
990–
June 4,
1039) was the son of a mid-level nobleman in
Franconia,
Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, who inherited the titles of count of
Speyer and of
Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty. As he matured he came to be well known beyond his power base in Worms and Speyer, so when the
Saxon line died off and the
elected monarchy for the
German realm stood vacant, he was elected
King of Germany in
1024 at the respectably old age of thirty-four years and crowned emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire on
March 26,
1027, becoming the first of four kings and emperors of the
Salian Dynasty.
Early life
During his reign, he proved that the
German monarchy had become a viable institution. Survival of the monarchy was no longer dependent on contracts between sovereign and territorial
nobles.
The father of Conrad II, Henry, Count of Speyer was a grandson of Luitgard, a daughter of the great Emperor
Otto I who had married the Salian Duke
Conrad the Red of Lorraine.
Despite his bloodline in that
age when people died young and younger, the orphaned Conrad grew up poor by the standards of the nobility and was raised by the bishop of
Worms.
He was reputed to be prudent and firm out of consciousness of deprivation. In 1016, he married
Gisela of Swabia, a widowed
duchess. Both parties claimed descent from Charles the Great (
Charlemagne) and were thus distantly related.
Strict canonists took exception to the marriage, and
Emperor Henry II used this to force Conrad into temporary exile.
They became reconciled, and upon Henry's death in 1024, Conrad appeared as a candidate before the electoral assembly of princes at
Kamba in the
Rhineland. He was elected by the majority and was crowned king in
Mainz on
September 8,
1024, arguably in the prime of life. It was equally obvious that the Saxon line of Emperors was at an end, and all of Europe speculated and maneuvered to influence the
Prince-electors in unseemly disrespect for the aging
Henry II
The Italian bishops paid homage at Conrad's court at
Konstanz in June 1025, but lay princes sought to elect
William V of Aquitaine, as king instead. However early in 1026 Conrad went to
Milan, where
Ariberto,
archbishop of Milan, crowned him
king of Italy. After overcoming some opposition of the towns Conrad reached
Rome, where
Pope John XIX crowned him emperor on Easter, 1027.
Politics
He formally confirmed the popular
legal traditions of
Saxony and issued new constitutions for
Lombardy. In 1028 at
Aachen he'd his son Henry elected and anointed king of
Germany. Henry married
Gunhilda of Denmark, daughter of King
Canute the Great of
England,
Denmark and
Norway by
Emma of Normandy. This was an arrangement that Conrad had made many years prior, when he gave Canute the Great parts of northern Germany to administer. Henry, the later Emperor
Henry III, became chief counselor of his father.
Conrad campaigned against
Poland in 1028 and forced
Mieszko II, son and heir of
Boleslaus I, to make peace and return land that Boleslaw I'd conquered from the Empire during his father's reign. At the death of Henry II the bold and rebellious Duke of Poland
Mieszko II had tried to throw off vassalage, but then submitted and swore to be Emperor Conrad's faithful vassal. Mieszko II quit being self-anointed king and returned to being duke of Poland.
In 1029 some
Bavarian border conflicts undermined the good relations with
Stephen I of Hungary. One year later Conrad launched a campaign against
Hungary. The Hungarians successfully used the
scorched earth tactics and the emperor had to withdraw with his army. Finally the Hungarian army forced him to surrender at
Vienna. After his defeat Conrad was obliged to cede some border territory to Hungary.
When
Rudolph III, King of Burgundy died on
February 2,
1032, he bequeathed his kingdom, which combined two earlier kingdoms of Burgundy, to Conrad. Despite some opposition, the Burgundian and Provencal nobles paid homage to Conrad in
Zürich in 1034. This kingdom of Burgundy, which under Conrad's successors would become known as the
Kingdom of Arles, corresponded to most of the southeastern quarter of modern France and included western Switzerland, the Franche-Comté and Dauphiné. It didn't include the smaller
Duchy of Burgundy to the north, ruled by a cadet branch of the Capetian
King of France. (Piecemeal over the next centuries most of the former Kingdom of Arles was incorporated into France - but King of Arles remained one of the Holy Roman Emperor's subsidiary titles until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.)
Conrad upheld the rights of the
valvassores (knights and burghers of the cities) of
Italy against Archbishop Aribert of Milan and the local nobles. The nobles as vassal lords and the
bishop had conspired to rescind rights from the burghers. With skillful diplomacy and luck Conrad restored order.
Last years
In 1038, Prince
Guaimar IV of Salerno requested his adjudication in a dispute over
Capua with its Prince
Pandulf, whom Conrad had released from imprisonment in 1024, immediately after his coronation. Hearing that
Michael IV the Paphlagonian of the
Byzantine Empire had received the same request, Conrad went to
Southern Italy, to
Salerno and
Aversa.
He appointed Richer, from Germany, as abbot of
Monte Cassino, the abbot Theobald being imprisoned by Pandulf. At
Troia, he ordered Pandulf to restore stolen property to Monte Cassino. Pandulf sent his wife and son to ask for peace, giving 300 lb of gold and a son and daughter as hostages. The emperor accepted Pandulf's offer, but the hostage escaped and Pandulf holed up in his outlying castle of
Sant'Agata dei Goti. Conrad besieged and took Capua and gave it to Guaimar with the title of Prince. He also recognised Aversa as a county of Salerno under
Ranulf Drengot, the
Norman adventurer. Pandulf, meanwhile, fled to
Constantinople. Conrad thus left the
Mezzogiorno firmly in Guaimar's hands and loyal, for once, to the Holy Roman Empire.
During the return trip to Germany an epidemic broke out among the troops. Conrad's daughter-in-law and stepson died. Conrad himself returned safely and held several important courts in
Solothurn,
Strasbourg and in
Goslar. His son
Henry was invested with the kingdom of Burgundy.
A year later in 1039 Conrad fell ill and died in
Utrecht.
A biography of Conrad II in chronicle form,
Gesta Chuonradi II imperatoris, was written by his chaplain
Wipo of Burgundy, and presented to
Henry III in 1046, not long after the latter was crowned.
Depictions of Conrad II
The Basilica of
Aquileia (northern Italy) contains an apse fresco (c. 1031) showing emperor Conrad II, his wife Gisela of Swabia and Patriarch Poppone of Aquileia.
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