Emperor Henry GERMANY, III

   Other names for Henry were HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE Emperor and GERMANY King.

   Ancestral File Number: PHM1-P2. User ID: 302555982.

   General Notes:

King of GERMANY Reigned 1039-1056, and HOLY ROMAN Emperor Reigned 1046-1056.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Gunhild, Daughter of Canute King of England and Emma, Mar Henry III Emperor of Germany, Died 1056."

A History of the English Speaking People Winston S Churchill Vol I The Birth of Britain Dodd Mead & Co p141:
"[Canute's] daughter was married to the Emperor Conrad's eldest son, who ultimately carried his empire across Schleswig to the banks of the Eider..."

Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Editions, Germany 1039: "Henry III, King of Germany 1039-1056, Son of Conrad II, 1048 Bohemia incorporated Savoy leaves under Count Humbert..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol IV, p1024, Henry III Emperor: "Born 28 Oct 1017 Bodfeld Germany, Died 5 Oct 1056 Bodfeld Germany, GermanKing and Holy Roman Emperor, brought the empire to its zenith in power but was less successful in his plan for political and ecclesiastical reform.
"The son of Emperor Conrad II, he acquired an interest in literature from the educational program devised by his mother, Gisela of Swabia. Ascending the German throne in 1039, he consolidated his eastern frontier by gaining control over Bohemia and Moravia. At a synod in Constance (1043) he announced his intention to thoroughly reform the Western Church and recreate Charlemagne's theocracy. The same year he married Agnes, a devotee of the Christian reform advocated by the Cluniac monasteries. On reaching Italy he convoked a synod at Sutri in which he ordered the election of Bishop Suidger of Bamberg as Pope Clement II, who immediately crowned Henry Holy Roman Emperor. His attempt to govern by leniency generated a series of rebellions in Lorraine, northeast Germany, Hungary and southern Italy, while his religiousreform and extirpation of heretics caused deep dissatisfaction among clergy and people, who charged him with greed."

Macropaedia, Vol VIII, p759, Henry III Emperor: "The German King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry III was a powerful advocate ofthe Cluniac reform movement that sought to purify the Western Church in the 11th century. The last emperor who was able to dominate the papacy, he was troubled in the latter part of his reign by opposition to his rule both in Germany and Italy...
"He was more thoroughly trained for his office than almost any other crown prince before or after. With the Emperor's approval, Gisela had taken charge of his upbringing, and she saw to it that he was educated by a number of tutors andacquired an interest in literature.
"In 1036 Henry married Gunhilda (Kunigunde), the young daughter of King Canute of England, Denmark, and Sweden. Because her father had died shortly before, the union with this frail and ailing girl brought with it no political advantages. She died in 1038, and the Emperor Conrad died the following year.
"His 22 year old successor as German King resembled him in appearance. From his mother Henry inherited much, especially her strong inclination to piety and church services. His accession to the throne, unlike that of his two predecessors, did not lead to civic unrest, but his reign was burdensome from the beginning. Probably over questions of principle, the self-willed Emperor quarrelled with the aging Gisela during her last years...
"Henry, prematurely believing he had reached the zenith of his power, displayed openly, as if it were a matter of governmentaly policy, his leanings toward the clerical-reform party.Intending to re-create a theocratic age like that of Charlemagne, he failed to realize that this could be done only as long as the papacy was powerless.
"Still a childless widower, he married Agnes, the daughter of William V of Aquitaineand Poitou, in 1043. The match must have been intended primarily to cement peace in the west and to assure imperial sovereignty over Burgundy and Italy, and Agnes' total devotion to the church reform advocated by the Cluniac monasteries probably confirmed Henry in his decision to take her for his wife. In November 1050 she bore him a son, who later became the emperor Henry IV. There followed another boy, Conrad, and three daughters. What Henry still lacked was the highest honour- hiscoronation as emperor at the hands of the pope.
"When Henry reached Rome in 1046, three rivals were claiming the papacy. Henry wanted a pacified Italy, in which German supremacy was uncontested, and he wanted to receive the imperial crownfrom unsullied hands. He convoked a synod at Sutri, which, at his bidding, elected as the new pope a German, Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, who was inaugurated as Clement II. On the same day he crowned the imperial couple...
"In September 1056 he fell sick in his favourite residence, the imperial palace at Bodfeld near Goslar, and, having assured the succession of his son Henry, he died on October 5."

The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, p1223, Henry III: "Born 1017, Died 1056, Holy Roman Emperor (1046-1056), and German King (1039-1056), son and successor of Conrad II. He was crowned joint king with his father in 1028, and acceded on Conrad's death in 1039. Under Henry III the medieval Holy Roman Empire probably attained its greatest power and solidity. In 1041, Henry defeated the Bohemians, who had been overrunning the lands of his vassals the Poles and compelled Duke Bratislaus I of Bohemia to renew his vassalage. Although several expeditions to Hungary against the raiding Magyars failed to establish his authority in that country, Henry was able in 1043 to fix the frontier of Austria and Hungary at the Leitha and Morava rivers, where it remained until the end of World War I. In the West, Henry attempted with some initial success to control particularist tendencies among the duchies. The dukes of Saxony and Lorraine (Lotharingia) offered the most resistance. In Saxony, Henry managed to avert rebellion, which, however, erupted after hisdeath. On the death of Duke Gozilo of Lorraine (1044), Henry divided the duchy between the duke's two sons. Godfrey, the elder, who received Upper Lorraine, organized numerous revolts against Henry, joined in the revolt by the counts of Holland and Flanders (Lower Lorraine)...Henry was unable to subdue him. Despite his political involvement Henry made religious matters his prime concern and supported monastic reform movements, including the Cluniac Order. He branded as simony the customary payments made to the king by new bishops and in 1046 undertook to reform the church. Descending into Italy, he had three rival claimants to the papacy set aside at the synods of Sutri and Rome and was accorded the decisive vote in papalelections. The four German popes named by Henry (including Leo IX) renewed the strength of the papacy, which was to prove the nevesis of his successors. On his death his wife Agnes of Poitou assumed the regency for his infant son, Henry IV."

The Story of Civilization, Will Durant, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Bk IV, The Dark Ages, Ch XX, The Rise of the North, Sec VI, Germany, p513: "[Conrad's] son Henry III (1039-1056) brought the new empire to its zenith. On the `Day of Indulgence',at Constance in 1043, he offered pardon to all those who had injured him, and exhorted his subjects to renounce all vengeance and hatred. For a decade his preaching and example- perhaps also his power- reduced the feuds of the dukes, and co-operated with the contemporary `Trusce of God' to bring a brief golden age to Central Europe. He patronized learning, founded schools, and completed the cathedrals of Speyer, Mainz, and Worms. But he was no saint pledged to eternal peace. He warred with Hungary till it recognized him as its feudal suzerain. He deposed three rival claimants to the papacy, and appointed two successive popes. In all Europe no other power equaled his. In the end he pushed his authority to an extreme that aroused opposition among both the prelates and the dukes, but he died before the storm, and bequeathed to Henry IV a hostile papacy and a troubled realm..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 PHM1-P2.

   Marriage Information:

Henry married Princess Gunhilda ENGLAND, daughter of King Cnut ENGLAND, I and Queen Emma Normandy ENGLAND, in 1036. (Princess Gunhilda ENGLAND was born in , , England and died in 1038 in , , Germany.)

   Marriage Information:

Henry also married Empress Agnes Aquitaine GERMANY, daughter of Duke William V AQUITAINE and Countess Agnes BURGUNDY, on 21 Nov 1043. (Empress Agnes Aquitaine GERMANY was born about 1024 and died on 14 Dec 1077.)