15) From the Death of Henry III to the End of the First Saxon Rebellion, 1056–c.1076

In the middle of the 11th century, numerous problems were coming together to undermine the stability of the Kingdom of Eastern Frankia. The expansion of the kingdom came to a halt and there was no significant improvement under Conrad II and Henry III.

• The static situation on the frontiers, especially in the east, meant there were fewer new resources available for redistribution to the aristocracy and the great churches of the kingdom. The earlier Salians, Conrad II and Henry III, had made up for some of the income lost by developing the silver mines at Goslar in Saxony.
• There were new and more aggressive styles of lordship. Lords were under pressure to preserve and 'renew' the patrimonies which they had inherited, and to maintain the honour of their lineages.
• Conrad II and Henry III had alienated the Saxons by applying this style of lordship to the royal demesne in Saxony. The move alienated the Billungs and other aristocrats who were also consolidating their estates around their own 'high fortresses'. 
• The stability and cohesion of many ecclesiastical establishments was being undermined from within by diverse forces including courtliness, reform movements that aimed to purify the ecclesiastical order of secular influences, and status competition among heads of churches, bishops and abbots.

• The 'rhetoric of purity' was beginning to create serious problems for the king. There were signs the reform movement could cause problems for the Salians in the attacks that followed Henry III's removal of 3 popes in 1046. But, Henry III's commitment to the cause of reform meant there was no conflict with the pope over who was the head of the church for the time being. Henry III and Pope Leo IX worked together to promote the cause of ecclesiastical reform in the church at large.
• The far-flung geography of the empire also caused problems in Henry IV's minority. Even when the kings were healthy and young, they struggled to attend the needs of every part of the empire, and this problem was especially acute during the early years of new reigns. During this period, kings had to consolidate their hold in the core regions, and especially in royal minorities, the government of the realm was in the hands of the regents.

There's evidence that several regions, not just Saxony, were on the verge of rebellion in the final years of Henry III's reign. There had been persistent unrest in Upper Lotharingia and Bavaria, and these tensions erupted again in 1056. Henry III came very close to being deposed at the end of his reign. People were worried that Henry IV would follow in his family's footsteps believing in nature and not nurture. Agnes of Poitou managed to secure the assent of the leading aristocrats to Henry's accession and to her appointment as regent, but at the cost of many concessions. The leading men were bought off with privileges and rights. It can be argued the so-called 'crisis of Germany' was delayed by granting the great magnates some breathing space, allowing them to resume their ambitions without hindrance and continue with their expansions.

Henry's minority also set the papacy on a more independent course. The reform party had filled many key positions in the Roman Church, but since the empress was detained in Germany to be regent for her son, they were faced with the possibility that the aristocratic clans of Latium could use their clients and their powers over the people of the city to reclaim their former hold on the papacy. The reformers took 3 measures to secure their hold on the Roman Church, but these did have long-term consequences:

• The reformers formed an alliance with Godfrey the Bearded, and the alliance was sealed with the election of his younger brother Frederic as Pope Stephen IX (or X). Such an alliance would have been impossible while Henry III was still alive due to his hostility to Godfrey. The empress was displeased at his election to pope but couldn't do anything about it. Stephen IX died less than a year after his election, so Gregory III had his uncle elected as pope Benedict X. But the reformers organised the election of Pope Nicholas II instead, and Godfrey marched on Rome and expelled the 'anti-pope' Benedict X. War was then made against Benedict X who was imprisoned and then died in confinement.
• A new process for appointing popes was introduced by Nicholas II that removed the 'people' (the Roman clans) from the process and gave the decisive vote to the cardinal clergy of Latium. This was called the Papal Election Decree of 1059. The cardinal bishops elected a successor, then the other cardinal clergy ratified their choice, and then the rest of the clergy and people expressed their consent.
• An alliance with the Normans of Apulia was made. The pope en-feoffed these men with the territories they had conquered in southern Italy at the Synod of Melfi in 1059, helping to legitimise their conquests. Guiscard, a leader of the Normans and previous vassel of Henry III, vowed that if Nicholas died before him, he would help the cardinals elect his successor in accordance with the election decree. This was a radical reversal of previous policy.

Agnes recognised that these moves threathened the rights of her son regarding the papacy and the Italian possessions of the empire. When Nicholas II died, there was a brief papal schism. The reformers elected Pope Alexander II, but the imperial court nominated Bishop Peter Cadalus of Parma who chose the name Honorius II, and there was an attempt to install him as pope in 1063. The scene was set for conflict between the papacy and the empire, but it was delayed by a coup d'etat which saw the end of Agnes' regency. In 1062, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne had the king kidnapped, robbing Agnes of her role as regent.

For the next 7 years, the king's rights and possessions in the north and in Italy were gradually eroded as various 'regents' and their supporters exploited their control of his possessions. During this time, Archbishop Anno abandoned Peter Cadalus and lent his support to Alexander II and recognised him as pope. Alexander II was perhaps the most sensible pope during this period.

When Henry IV came of age and assumed full control of his inheritance in 1065, the situation changed rapidly. There was an immediate return to the policy of enforcing royal rights in Saxony and the reversion to the crown of royal lands that had been granted to the aristocracy there. The return to the programme of territorial consolidation in south-eastern Saxony revived all of the earlier resentment at this policy. Particular anger was directed at the behaviour of the king's minesterials.

The people were forced to build fortresses for the king, none of which were delegated to the control of local men. Henry IV retained direct rule over them, garrisoning them with his own ministerials chiefly recruited from Suabia.

The Saxon aristocracy were also scandalised by the targetting of Otto of Northeim, a Saxon who was duke of Bavaria, and Magnus Billung, duke of Saxony. Henry 'conspired' to entrap Otto in charges of treason so that he could claim his allodial holdings in south-eastern Saxony. He fled but was captured and imprisoned with Magnus Billung. Henry wanted to challenge him to trial by combat, but this was refused rather unusually. So, he was sentenced to death.

It is difficult to assess Henry's personality. It has been suggested he may have been attempting to break away from aspects of his family's tradition as he began his reign by establishing a new mausoleum at the Harzburg. But, after being pushed out of Saxony in the 1080s, he turned his attention to the family cathedral at Speyer.

Henry IV also seems to have been more comfortable with the culture of courtliness than with the ideals of ecclesiastical reform that had been associated with his father. His friends and enemies all commented on his courtliness, both good and bad. It can be suggested there was a liberal atmosphere at his court that made him vulnerable to slander by his enemies.

On the whole, Henry seemed to show extreme personal piety and courtliness. He was a cultivation of the manners of a fine gentleman. But it is very hard to work out the truth from the sources available.

In the summer of 1073, the nobility of eastern Saxony supported by much of the free peasantry came to Goslar with their military retainers to confront the king. They made several demands. The first was that the king should demolish all the castles he was currenlty building, the second was that he should restore the lands he had siezed, the third was that he forsake the company of lowborn advisors, and the fourth was that he should stop coming to Saxony as there was no need for him to be around the aristocracy.

Henry responded with delaying tactics before slipping away to Harzburg in the middle of the night. The confrontation was resumed there, but not long after he slipped away again to the mountains of Hersfeld. Previous to this, armies of other duchies had been gathered at Hersfeld for war against the Poles, and Henry now tried to redirect these forces against the Saxons, but they refused to support him. So, he was forced to agree to negotiations.

But, opinion shifted when it became widely discovered that Saxon peasants had desecrated the Salian tombs in the chapel of the Harzburg. In December 1074, Henry managed to rally most of the magnates of the other duchies for a campaign against the Saxons to avenge the humiliations inflicted on his family. Both sides' armies assembled for a full-scale battle that took place at Homburg in June 1075. Henry IV won thanks to the Suabian contingent. Led by their duke, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, they caught the Saxons by surprise at the outset of the battle, sacrificing themselves for their king. After, with his cause vindicated, Henry resumed his dynasty's policy of assertive lordship in the region.

When the Saxon magnates surrendered to the king in 1075, to many observers it seemed as though Henry IV's cause had been vindicated and that God had validated his position. But at this moment, Henry IV was caught with a challenge from another direction, from a much-emboldened papacy which was now headed by Pope Gregory VII. Henry's under-estimation of this challenge would give his opponents a second chance to depose him.