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Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Henry II (May 6, 973 - July 13, 1024) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014 until his death in 1024 and last member of the Ottonian dynasty of Emperors, as he had no children. The Duke of Bavaria from 995, Henry became King of Germany following the death of his second cousin, Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1002, was crowned King of Italy in 1004, and was crowned by the Pope as Emperor in 1014.

Henry was born on May 6, 973 as the son of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and Gisela of Burgundy. He was the great-grandson of German King Henry the Fowler and a member of the Bavarian branch of the Ottonian dynasty. Since his father had rebelled against two previous emperors, the younger Henry was often in exile. This led him to turn to the Church at an early age, first finding refuge with the Bishop of Freising and later being educated at the cathedral school of Hildesheim. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995, where he attempted to join his second cousin, Otto III, in suppressing a revolt against imperial rule in Italy in 1002. Before Henry could arrive, however, Otto III died of fever, leaving no heir. After defeating several other claimants to the throne, Henry II was crowned as King of Germany on July 9, 1002, and as King of Italy on May 15, 1004. In that same year, he incorporated the Duchy of Bohemia into the Holy Roman Empire.

Unlike his predecessor, who had focused upon imperial attention in Italy, Henry spent most of his reign concerned with imperial territory north of the Alps. Like so many emperors, he found himself facing rebellion after rebellion as soon as he came to the throne. He brought westward into the German heartlands the Ottonian policy of forming feudal ties with the territories of the imperial realm and raising them to the status of the throne's closest allies, vassals, and dependents. Theocracy, not democracy, thus emerged as the dominant element of German politics. On February 14, 1014, the Pope crowned Henry as Holy Roman Emperor. For his personal holiness and efforts to support the Church, he was made a Saint by the Pope in 1146, making Henry II the only German monarch to be a saint.

Family[]

Henry married Cunigunde of Luxembourg, who later became his queen and empress. As the union produced no children, after Henry's death in 1024, the German nobles elected a great-great-grandson of Emperor Otto I, to succeed him, who was the first of the Salian dynasty of Emperors.

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