1.
Golden Gospels of Henry III
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The Golden Gospels of Henry III, also Codex Aureus of Speyer or Speyer Gospels, is an eleventh-century illuminated Gospel Book. The manuscript contains the Vulgate versions of the four gospels plus prefatory matter including the Eusebian canon tables and it was probably produced at the Abbey of Echternach under the patronage of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1046, Henry donated the manuscript to Speyer Cathedral to commemorate the dedication of the high altar. The manuscript has 171 folios which measure 500mm by 335mm and is lavishly illuminated and it contains 13 full page miniatures, and 43 half-page miniatures,12 decorated pages of canon tables, and over 40 other decorated pages half-page initials. The manuscript was owned by Maximilian I. It was later in the Netherlands where it was owned by Maximilians daughter Margaret, while in the Netherlands the manuscript was used by Erasmus. It was subsequently acquired by Philip II, King of Spain, Codex Aureus Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf. Codices Illustres, The worlds most famous illuminated manuscripts,400 to 1600, the Pictorial Arts of the West, 800-1200. New Haven, Yale University Press,1993
2.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
3.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
4.
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Henry III, called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. He was the eldest son of Conrad II of Germany and Gisela of Swabia and his father made him Duke of Bavaria in 1026, after the death of Duke Henry V. On Easter Day 1028, after his father was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Henry was elected and crowned King of Germany in the cathedral of Aachen by Pilgrim, Archbishop of Cologne. After the death of Herman IV, Duke of Swabia in 1038, his father gave him that duchy, as well as the kingdom of Burgundy, which Conrad had inherited in 1033. Upon the death of his father on 4 June 1039, he became ruler of the kingdom and was crowned emperor by Pope Clement II in Rome. Henrys first tutor was Bruno, Bishop of Augsburg, on Brunos death in 1029, Egilbert, Bishop of Freising, was appointed to take his place. In 1033, at the age of sixteen, Henry came of age, Henry, in accordance with his promise to Egilbert, did not consent to his fathers act and Conrad, stupefied, fell unconscious after many attempts to turn Henry. Upon recovering, Conrad knelt before his son and exacted the desired consent, Egilbert was penalised dearly by the emperor. In 1036, Henry was married to Gunhilda of Denmark, a daughter of Canute the Great, King of Denmark, England, early on, Henrys father had arranged with Canute to have him rule over some parts of northern Germany and in turn to have their children married. The marriage took place in Nijmegen at the earliest legal age, in 1038, Henry was called to aid his father in Italy, and Gunhilda died on the Adriatic Coast during the return trip. In 1039, his father died, and Henry became sole ruler. Henry spent his first year in power on a tour of his domains and he visited the Low Countries to receive the homage of Gothelo I, Duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine. In Cologne, he was joined by Herman II, Archbishop of Cologne, who accompanied him and his mother to Saxony, where he was to build the town of Goslar up from obscurity to stately imperial grandeur. He had a force when he entered Thuringia to meet with Eckard II, Margrave of Meissen, whose advice. Only a Bohemian embassy bearing hostages appeased Henry and he disbanded his army and he passed through Bavaria, where, upon his departure, King Peter Urseolo of Hungary sent raiding parties into Swabia. There, at Ulm, he convened a Council of Princes at which he received his first recognition from Italy and he returned to Ingelheim and was recognised by a Burgundian embassy and Aribert, Archbishop of Milan, whom he had supported against his father. This peace with Aribert healed the only open wound in the Empire, meanwhile, in 1039, while he was touring his dominions, Conrad, Adalberos successor in Carinthia and Henrys cousin, died childless. Henry being his nearest kin automatically inherited that duchy as well and he was now a triple-duke and triple-king
5.
Adelaide II, Abbess of Quedlinburg
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Adelaide II, a member of the Salian dynasty, was Abbess of Gandersheim from 1061 and Abbess of Quedlinburg from 1063 until her death. Henry had vainly hoped for a heir to the throne, unsettled. Not until 1050, a son, Henry IV, was born, adelaides father died in 1056, leaving their minor son and his siblings under the regency of the dowager empress. Two years later, Adelaide succeeded her half-sister as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, she was ordained in Goslar Cathedral at Pentecost 1063. She ruled both abbeys as Adelaide II, in Gandersheim, already the appointment of Beatrice in 1043 by King Henry III had caused trouble with the canonesses insisting on their autonomy and electoral rights. The cause was taken up by Pope Stephen IX who decided that certain Gandersheim fiefs should not to be leased by the abbess, however, the conflict flared up again during Adelheids incumbency. According to the medieval chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld, the Quedlinburg Collegiate Church of St. Servatius burnt down in 1070 and had to be rebuilt, likewise, a great fire broke out in Gandersheim in 1081 and destroyed the abbey, so she had the foundations reconstructed. In 1071, Adelheid was present at the consecration of Halberstadt Cathedral by Bishop Burchard II, Adelheid died on 11 January 1096 at Quedlinburg Abbey, where she was buried in the Collegiate Church alongside her predecessors Adelaide I and Beatrice. Her niece Agnes, daughter of her sister Judith of Swabia, succeeded her as abbess of both Gandersheim and Quedlinburg in 1110/11
6.
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
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Henry IV ascended to King of the Germans in 1056. From 1084 until his abdication in 1105, he was also referred to as the King of the Romans. He was the emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful. His reign was marked by the Investiture Controversy with the Papacy, several civil wars over his throne took place in both Italy and Germany. He died of illness, soon after defeating his sons army near Visé, in Lorraine, in 1056 at Aachen, Henry IV was enthroned as the King of the Germans by Pope Victor II, while his mother, Agnes of Poitou, became regent. In 1062 the young king was kidnapped as a result of the Coup of Kaiserswerth, Agnes retired to a convent, and the government was placed in the hands of Anno. His first action was to back Pope Alexander II against the antipope Honorius II, the education and training of Henry were supervised by Anno, who was called his magister, while Adalbert of Hamburg, archbishop of Bremen, was styled Henrys patronus. Henrys education seems to have been neglected, and his willful, the malleable Adalbert of Hamburg soon became the confidante of the ruthless Henry. Eventually, during an absence of Anno from Germany, Henry managed to control of his civil duties. Henrys entire reign was marked by apparent efforts to consolidate Imperial power, in reality, however, he carefully worked to maintain the loyalty of the nobility and the support of the pope. In 1066, he expelled from the Crown Council Adalbert of Hamburg, Henry also adopted urgent military measures against the Slav pagans, who had recently invaded Germany and besieged Hamburg. In June 1066 Henry married Bertha of Savoy/Turin, daughter of Otto, Count of Savoy, in the same year, at the request of the Pope, he assembled an army to fight the Italo-Normans of southern Italy. Henrys troops had reached Augsburg when he received news that Godfrey of Tuscany, husband of the powerful Matilda of Canossa, in 1068, driven by his impetuous character and his infidelities, Henry attempted to divorce Bertha. Henry obeyed and his wife returned to Court, Henry believed that the Papal opposition was less about his marriage than about overthrowing lay power within the Empire, in favour of an ecclesiastical hierarchy. In the late 1060s, Henry demonstrated his determination to reduce any opposition and he led expeditions against the Lutici and the margrave of a district east of Saxony, soon afterwards he had to quell the rebellions of Rudolf of Swabia and Berthold of Carinthia. Much more serious was Henrys struggle with Otto of Nordheim, duke of Bavaria and it was decided that a trial by combat should take place at Goslar, but when Ottos demand for safe conduct to and from the place of meeting was refused, he declined to appear. He was declared deposed in Bavaria, and his Saxon estates were plundered, however, he obtained sufficient support to carry on a struggle with the king in Saxony and Thuringia until 1071, when he submitted at Halberstadt. Henry aroused the hostility of the Thuringians by supporting Siegfried, archbishop of Mainz, in his efforts to exact tithes from them
7.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
8.
Ramnulfids
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The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the 9th through 12th centuries. Their power base shifted from Toulouse to Poitou, in the early 10th century, they contested the dominance of northern Aquitaine and the ducal title to the whole with the House of Auvergne. In 1032, they inherited the Duchy of Gascony, thus uniting it with Aquitaine, by the end of the 11th century they were the dominant power in the southwestern third of France. The founder of the family was Ramnulf I, who became count in 835, ramnulfs son, Ramnulf II, claimed the title of King of Aquitaine in 888, but it did not survive him. Several daughters of this house achieved high status, adelaide married Hugh Capet and was thus the first Queen of France in the era of the Direct Capetians. Agnes married Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, and ruled as regent for her son, the most illustrious woman was certainly Aquitaines ruler Eleanor, whose marriage to Henry II of England crafted the Angevin Empire which was to cause so much discord between France and England. The Ramnulfid house did much to encourage art, literature, under William V, William IX, and William X, Aquitaine became the centre for the art of poetry and song in the vernacular, the troubadour tradition was born and raised there. The Peace and Truce of God were fostered and the ideal of courtly love invented, the House of Poitiers produced many Dukes of Aquitaine, who were officially titled Counts of Poitiers. This line became extinct in males in 1137, and in females in 1204 with the death of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was by her first marriage Queen of France, 1163-1201, Bohemond III, prince of Antioch, son of Raymond of Poitiers and Constance of Antioch. 1201-1216, Bohemond IV, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, second son of Bohemond III, 1216-1219, Raymond-Roupen, son of Raymond IV, Count of Tripoli, and Alice of Armenia. 1233-1252, Bohemond V, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, son of Bohemond IV, 1252-1268, Bohemond VI the Fair, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, son of Bohemond V and Luciana de Caccamo-Segni. The city of Antioch was definitively lost in 1268, but Bohemond VI retained the title of Prince of Antioch until his death, 1275-1287, Bohemond VII, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, son of preceding. 1287-1299, Lucia, princess of Antioch and countess of Tripoli, sister of preceding, married Narjot de Toucy, Sicilian admiral. Henry of Antioch, son of Bohemond IV of Antioch, married Isabella of Lusignan, heiress of the kingdom of Cyprus, the lineage of the House of Poitiers became extinct in 1487 with the death of Queen Charlotte of Cyprus. 1267-1284, Hugh III, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, son of Henry of Antioch, 1284-1285, John II, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, son of Hugues III and of Isabella of Ibelin. 1285-1306, Henry II, King of Cyprus, son of Hugues III, 1306-1310, Amalric, Prince of Tyre, governor of Cyprus, son of Hugh III and of Isabella of Ibelin. 1324-1359, Hugh IV, King of Cyprus, son of Guy of Cyprus, 1359-1369, Peter I, King of Cyprus, son of Hugh IV and of Alix of Ibelin. 1369-1382, Peter II, King of Cyprus, son of Peter I, 1382-1398, James I, King of Cyprus, son of Hugh IV and of Alix of Ibelin
9.
William V, Duke of Aquitaine
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William the Great was duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou from 990 until his death. Upon the death of the emperor Henry II, he was offered the kingdom of Italy but eventually declined to contest the title against Conrad II and he was the son and successor of William IV by his wife Emma of Blois, daughter of Theobald I of Blois. He seems to have taken after his mother, who ruled Aquitaine as regent until 1004. He was a friend to Bishop Fulbert of Chartres, who found in him another Maecenas and he himself was very well educated, a collector of books, and turned the prosperous court of Aquitaine into the learning centre of Southern France. Though a cultivated prince, he was a failure in the field and he called in the aid of his suzerain Robert II of France in subduing his vassal, Boso of La Marche. Eventually, Boso was chased from the duchy and he had to contain the Vikings who yearly threatened his coast, but in 1006, he was defeated by Viking invaders. He lost the Loudunais and Mirebalais to Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou and he had to give up Confolens, Ruffec, and Chabanais to compensate William II of Angoulême, but Fulbert negotiated a treaty outlining the reciprocal obligations of vassal and suzerain. However, his court was a centre of artistic endeavour and he its surest patron and he founded Maillezais Abbey and Bourgueil Abbey. He rebuilt the cathedral and many religious structures in Poitiers after a fire. He travelled widely in Europe, annually visiting Rome or Spain as a pilgrim, everywhere he was greeted with royal pomp. His court was of a flavour, receiving ambassadors from the Emperor Henry II, Alfonso V of León, Canute the Great. William considered the proposal seriously but, upon visiting Italy himself, he found the situation so unfavorable that he renounced the crown for himself. Most of his six letters deal with the Italian proposal. His reign ended in peace and he died on the last day of January 1030 at Maillezais, which he founded, the principal source of his reign is the panegyric of Adhemar of Chabannes. He was married at least 3 times and his first wife was Adalemode of Limoges, widow of Adalbert I of La Marche. They had one son, William VI, his successor His second wife was Sancha of Gascony, daughter of Duke William II Sánchez of Gascony and her second husband was Geoffrey II of Anjou. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040, University of California Press,1993, owen, D. D. R. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen and Legend. Cawley, Charles, AQUITAINE, Guillaume V Aquitaine died 1030, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
10.
Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Aquitaine
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Not to be confused with Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Bourbon Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Aquitaine was a daughter of Otto-William, Count of Burgundy and Ermentrude de Roucy. She was a member of the House of Ivrea, in 1019, she married Duke William V of Aquitaine by whom she had three children, William VII, Duke of Aquitaine, William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine and Agnes, Holy Roman Empress. William died on January 31,1030, leaving his widow, while married to William, Agnes gave many gifts to the abbey of Cluny. After her husbands death, Agnes lost her influence at the court of Poitiers since her sons were not heirs, in order for her to regain her position and ensure a future for her children, Agnes had to remarry. Thus she married Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou in 1032, in 1033, Geoffreys troops invaded Poitou with the support of Agnes. William VI, Duke of Aquitaine the new Count of Poitou, was captured in March and he was released only in 1036 against a large ransom and he died in 1038 without children. The county then returned to his brother, Agnes stepson Odo of Gascony and he went to war against Agnes, her husband and sons. Odo was killed at the battle at Mauzé, the succeeding Count of Poitou was Agness son, Peter, who took the name of William VII Aigret. Being too young, his mother governed territories in his place from 1039 to 1044 and indeed it even seems the government itself, without her husband. When she transmitted the power to William, she married and took the opportunity to give his son, Geoffrey Guy the duchy of Gascony. Agnes then joined Geoffrey in Anjou and although she may not have participated in the government. Agnes and Geoffrey stayed in Germany at the court, so her daughter Agnes could marry Henry III. After a pilgrimage to Monte Garaño, the couple went back to Poitou in 1047 where they founded Sainte-Marie-des-Dames, between 1047 and 1049, Agnes founded the abbey of Saint Nicolas de Poitou. Between 1049 and 1052, Agnes and Geoffrey separated, indeed, Agnes also influenced her husband, but she came from Burgundy and had retained strong links with her homeland, so it may be that it was Agnes who wanted the divorce. Still, Agnes returned to the court of Poitiers and her son William over whom she had much influence, a war soon broke out between Anjou and Poitou, which saw a victory for Geoffrey in 1053. This would have never happened if Agnes had not divorced Geoffrey. In 1058 William left for war against his former stepfather Count of Anjou, probably because Geoffrey gave the dowry of Agnes to his new wife. William was on the verge of winning when he died of an illness in 1058 and he was succeeded by his brother, Geoffrey Guy, who took the dynastic name of William VIII
11.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
12.
William VI, Duke of Aquitaine
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William VI, called the Fat, was Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou between 1030 and his death. He was the eldest son of William V the Great by his first wife, throughout his reign, he had to face the hostility of his stepmother, Agnes of Burgundy, the third wife of his father, who had remarried to Geoffrey Martel, then count of Vendôme. He entered into a war with Martel, who pretended to the government of the Saintonge, on 20 September 1034, he was captured in the field at Moncontour, near Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes. He was freed in 1036, after three years imprisonment, only by ceding the cities of Saintes and Bordeaux. He immediately reopened the war, but was defeated again and had to cede the isle of Oléron, William married Eustachie of Montreuil but had no known descendants. He reformed the administration of Poitiers by naming a provost and died there, being buried at Maillezais, dukes of Aquitaine family tree Nouvelle Biographie Générale. Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040, University of California Press,1993
13.
William VII, Duke of Aquitaine
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William VII, called the Eagle or the Bold, was the duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou between 1039 and his death, following his half-brother Odo. William was the son of William V of Aquitaine, the eldest by his third wife. He was brother-in-law of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, who married his sister Agnes and his mother remarried to Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou, during his reign. William won his patrimony in a war with his half-brother Odo and he did not, however, succeed in occupying Gascony. Geoffrey Martel refused to concede to him the territories gained in the reigns of his predecessors, William set to work regaining his patrimony by force of arms. He was besieging Geoffrey in Saumur when he died of dysentery and he was married to Ermesinde, of unknown origins. Two daughters have been hypothesized to be children of this couple, Clementia, who married Conrad I of Luxembourg Agnes, who married Peter I of Savoy
14.
William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine
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William VIII, born Guy-Geoffrey, was duke of Gascony, and then duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers between 1058 and 1086, succeeding his brother William VII. Guy-Geoffroy was the youngest son of William V of Aquitaine by his third wife Agnes of Burgundy and he was the brother-in-law of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor who had married his sister, Agnes de Poitou. He became Duke of Gascony in 1052 during his older brother William VIIs rule, Gascony had come to Aquitanian rule through William Vs marriage to Prisca of Gascony, the sister of Duke Sans VI Guilhem of Gascony. William VIII was one of the leaders of the army called to help Ramiro I of Aragon in the Siege of Barbastro. This expedition was the first campaign organized by the papacy, namely Pope Alexander II, against a Muslim city, Aragon and its allies conquered the city, killed its inhabitants and collected an important booty. However, Aragon lost the city again in the following years, during William VIIIs rule, the alliance with the southern kingdoms of modern Spain was a political priority as shown by the marriage of all his daughters to Iberian kings. He married three times and had at least five children, after he divorced his second wife due to infertility, he remarried to a much younger woman who was also his cousin. This marriage produced a son, but William VIII had to visit Rome in the early 1070s to persuade the pope to recognize his children from his marriage as legitimate. First wife, Garsende of Périgord, daughter of Count Aldabert II of Périgord and she became a nun at Saintes
15.
Otto-William, Count of Burgundy
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Otto-William, was Count of Mâcon, Count of Nevers, and the Count of Burgundy. Otto-William of Mâcon was born in 958 during the joint reign of his grandfather, King Berengar II of Italy and his mother was Gerberga of Mâcon. His mother gave him what would later be the Free County of Burgundy around Dole in 982, Otto also inherited the duchy of Burgundy on the other side of the Saône in 1002 from his stepfather Eudes Henry the Great. The duchy then corresponded to the diocese of Besançon in the Holy Roman Empire, by 990 Otto-William was the Count of Nevers. He was also Count of Mâcon in France, while the son of a king, he did not himself seek a royal wife. Even his childrens spouses, although from great families, came from widespread, the Duchy of Burgundy was annexed to the crown of France by King Robert II in 1004. Determined to be ruler of his own lands, Otto revolted against the Emperor Henry II in 1016. This was after Rudolph III of Burgundy, the last king of Arles, had done homage to Henry at Strasbourg making him his guard, on Ottos death, the Free County fell under the suzerainty of the German emperors. Otto-William died 21 September,1026 at the age of 64 and his first wife was Ermentrude, daughter of Renaud of Roucy. They had two sons and three daughters, Guy had been associated as count of Mâcon from 995, matilda, married Landri of Nevers, Count of Nevers Gerberga, married Guilhem II of Provence. Renaud I, Count of Burgundy, he married Adelaide of Normandy, agnes, married firstly William V of Aquitaine, secondly Geoffrey II of Anjou. Otto married the four-times widowed Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou late in life, dukes of Burgundy family tree Cawley, Charles, Source on Otto-William, Duke of Burgundy/Count of Mâcon, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
16.
Imperial Palace, Ingelheim
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The Imperial Palace Ingelheim is an important Imperial Palace erected in the second half of the 8th century in Germany. It served Emperors and Kings as a residence and place for governance until the 11th century, the palatinate complex is located in the cadastral area of Nieder-Ingelheim,15 km west of Mainz, in der cadastral section „Im Saal“ at a slope with look-out to the Rhine plains. From the buildings of the Imperial Palace impressive relics above ground are preserved today, the greater part of the complex remains as foundation under ground level and allows it to be the basis for archaeological excavations to reconstruct the entire system of buildings. Initial studies in the Palatinate area took place middle of the 19th century, in August 1852 Cohausen reported about first smaller excavations. 1888-89 Paul Clemen joined with excavations, the German Association for Art Research started under the direction of Christian Rauch in 1909 with systematic studies that had to be adjusted with the outbreak of the First World War but. Rauch but yet published preliminary reports on excavations, after which a 1931-32 model was made, in 1960, the excavations were taken under the direction of Walter Sage by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft again. 1963 Hermann Ament led the excavations, in 1965 and 1968/70 further archaeological investigations took place under the direction of Uta Wengenroth-Weimann. Following an overall plan of excavation and reconstruction drawings of Walter Sage, since 1995 there has again current excavations in the Pfalz region. These studies aim to recapture, descript and date the individual parts of the building and it could, for example, a gold coin and a belt tongue from the time of Charlemagne, as well as a high medieval warm air heating recovered. In addition, the latest excavation results were used to create last year a new model of the Palatinate Ingelheim, have been incorporated into the current findings
17.
Gunhilda of Denmark
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Gunhilda of Denmark, a member of the House of Knýtlinga, was Queen consort of Germany by her marriage with King Henry III of the Salian dynasty from 1036 until her death. Gunhilda was a daughter of King Cnut the Great, ruler over the Anglo-Scandinavian North Sea Empire and her maternal grandparents were Duke Richard I of Normandy and his second wife Gunnora. Her paternal grandparents were King Sweyn Forkbeard and his second wife Sigrid the Haughty and she was a sister of King Harthacnut. She was a paternal half-sister of King Svein of Norway and King Harold I of England and she was also a maternal half-sister of Alfred Aetheling and Edward the Confessor. About 1025, Gunhilda came to Germany as a child, the agreement had occurred prior to the death of Canute in 1035. During the Easter celebration in 1028, Henry received regality from the hands of his father with consent of the princes and was vested with the duchies of Bavaria and Swabia. Conrad temporarily had evolved plans to marry his son with Zoe Porphyrogenita, nevertheless, after these ambitions had failed, Gunhilda and Henry were finally betrothed at Pentecost 1035 in Bamberg and married one year later in Nijmegen. Upon her wedding, she took the German name Kunigunde, however, it seems that Gunhilda and her husband reconciled shortly afterwards. In December 1038, Emperor Conrad went on a campaign to Italy, while Empress Gisela together with Henry, stuck in a fierce conflict with quarrelsome Archbishop Aribert of Milan, Conrad asked his son for support and both Henry III and Gunhilda followed him on his expedition. In Italy, Gunhilda gave birth to the only daughter, Beatrice. While the siege of Milan proved unsuccessful, Emperor Conrad in 1038 was asked to intervene in a dispute between Guaimar IV of Salerno and Pandulf IV of Capua. He campaigned in the Mezzogiorno in support of Guaimar, took Capua and had Pandulf deposed and their victory found most of the Mezzogiorno loyal to the Holy Roman Empire. During the return journey to Germany, an epidemic broke out among the Imperial troops, Duke Herman IV of Swabia and Gunhilda were among the casualties. Gunhildas body was transferred to Germany and buried in the Limburg Abbey church, as her husband was not crowned King of the Romans until the death of his father Emperor Conrad II in 1039, Gunhilda was never crowned German queen
18.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
19.
Duchy of Burgundy
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Upon the extinction of the line with the death of Duke Philip I in 1361, the duchy fell back to King John II of France and the royal House of Valois. The Burgundian duchy rose to a complex of a European scale after in 1363 King John II of France ceded the duchy to his younger son Philip of Valois. By his marriage with Countess Margaret of Flanders, he laid the foundation for a Burgundian realm further north in the Low Countries collectively known as the Burgundian Netherlands. The Burgundian sphere, in its own right, was one of the largest ducal territories that existed at the time of the emergence of Early Modern Europe. Including the thriving regions of Flanders and Brabant, it was a centre of trade. After about one hundred years of Valois-Burgundy rule, however, the last duke Charles the Bold rushed to the Burgundian Wars and was killed in the 1477 Battle of Nancy. With the abdication of the Habsburg emperor Charles V in 1556, the Burgundians settled in the area around Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Mâcon, Autun and Châtillon-sur-Seine, and gave the name to the region. The Kingdom of the Burgundians was annexed by the Merovingian Kings of the Franks Childebert I in 534 following their defeat by the Franks and it was recreated, however, on several occasions when Frankish territories were redivided between the sons on the death of a Frankish king. As part of the Kingdom of the Franks, Burgundy maintained a semi-autonomous existence, with the Burgundians maintaining their own law code, however, southern Burgundy was pillaged by the Saracen invasion of the 8th century. When Charles Martel drove the invaders out, he divided Burgundy into four commands, Arles-Burgundy, Vienne-Burgundy, Alamanic Burgundy and he appointed his brother Childebrand governor of Frankish Burgundy. Under the Carolingians, Burgundian separatism lessened and Burgundy became a geographical term. As a vital military defender of the West Frankish border, Guerin was sometimes known by the Latin term for leader – Dux or Duke, by the time of Richard the Justiciar, the Duchy of Burgundy was beginning to emerge. Richard was officially recognised by the king as a duke, he stood as individual count of each county he held. As Duke of Burgundy, he was able to wield an increasing amount of power over his territory, to the collective body of his territory there came to be applied the term ducatus. Included in the ducatus of Richard were the regions of Autunais, Beaunois, Avalois, Lassois, Dijonais, Memontois, Attuyer, Oscheret, under Richard, these territories were given law and order, protected from the Normans, and served as a haven for persecuted monks. It was from his territories in Burgundy that he drew the resources needed to fight those who challenged his right to rule, under Hugh the Black came the beginning of what would be a long and troubled saga for Burgundy. His neighbours were the Robertian family, who held the title of Duke of Francia and this family, wanting to improve their standing in France and against the Carolingian kings, attempted to subject the duchy to the suzerainty of their own duchy. They failed, eventually, when they appeared close to success, they were forced to scrap the scheme, two brothers of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian King of France, took up the rule of Burgundy as duke
20.
Cluny Abbey
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Cluny Abbey dedicated to St Peter, is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was built in the Romanesque style, with three built in succession from the 4th to the early 12th centuries. The earliest basilica was the worlds largest church until the St. Peters Basilica construction began in Rome, Cluny was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine in 910. He nominated Berno as the first Abbot of Cluny, subject only to Pope Sergius III, the abbey was notable for its stricter adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict, whereby Cluny became acknowledged as the leader of western monasticism. The establishment of the Benedictine Order was a keystone to the stability of European society that was achieved in the 11th century, in 1790 during the French Revolution, the abbey was sacked and mostly destroyed, with only a small part of the Abbey surviving. Starting around 1334, the Abbots of Cluny maintained a townhouse in Paris known as the Hôtel de Cluny, apart from the name, it no longer possesses anything originally connected with Cluny. In 910, William I, Duke of Aquitaine the Pious, the deed of gift included vineyards, fields, meadows, woods, waters, mills, serfs, cultivated and uncultivated lands. Hospitality was to be given to the poor, strangers, William placed Cluny under the protection of saints Peter and Paul, with a powerful curse on anyone who should violate the charter. With the Pope across the Alps in Italy, this meant the monastery was essentially independent, in donating his hunting preserve in the forests of Burgundy, William released Cluny Abbey from all future obligation to him and his family other than prayer. Contemporary patrons normally retained a proprietary interest and expected to install their kinsmen as abbots, William appears to have made this arrangement with Berno, the first abbot, to free the new monastery from such secular entanglements and initiate the Cluniac Reforms. The Abbots of Cluny were statesmen on the stage and the monastery of Cluny was considered the grandest, most prestigious. The height of Cluniac influence was from the half of the 10th century through the early 12th. The first female members were admitted to the Order during the 11th century, Berno had adopted Benedicts interpretation of the Rule previously at Baume Abbey. Cluny was not known for the severity of its discipline or its asceticism, but the abbots of Cluny supported the revival of the papacy, the Cluniac establishment found itself closely identified with the Papacy. In the early 12th century, the order lost momentum under poor government and it was subsequently revitalized under Abbot Peter the Venerable, who brought lax priories back into line and returned to stricter discipline. Cluny reached its apogee of power and influence under Peter, as its monks became bishops, legates, and cardinals throughout France, but by the time Peter died, newer and more austere orders such as the Cistercians were generating the next wave of ecclesiastical reform. Outside monastic structures, the rise of English and French nationalism created a climate unfavourable to the existence of monasteries autocratically ruled by a head residing in Burgundy. The Papal Schism of 1378 to 1409 further divided loyalties, France recognizing a pope at Avignon and England one at Rome, interfered with the relations between Cluny and its dependent houses
21.
Hugh of Cluny
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Hugh of Cluny was an Abbot of Cluny, who is sometimes referred to as Hugh the Great or Hugh of Semur. He was one of the most influential leaders of the orders from the Middle Ages. Abbot Hugh built the abbey church at Cluny, the largest structure in Europe for many centuries. He was the force behind the Cluniac monastic movement during the last quarter of the 11th century. As the godfather of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV and his feast day is April 29. Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Hugh the Great
22.
Goslar
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Goslar is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Goslar is situated in the middle of the upper half of Germany, about 40 kilometres south of Braunschweig and about 70 km southeast of the state capital Hannover. The Schalke mountain is the highest elevation within the boundaries at 762 metres. The lowest point of 175 m is near the Oker river, in the northeast the Harly Forest stretches down to the Oker river, in the east Goslar borders on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Immediately to the south, the Harz range rise above the borough at a height of 636 m at Mt. Rammelsberg. The major rivers crossing the boundaries is the Oker with its Gose/Abzucht. The eponymic Gose River originates approximately 9 kilometres south-west of Goslar at the Auerhahn Pass east of the Bocksberg mountain, at the northern foot of the Herzberg it meets the smaller Abzucht stream, before it flows into the Oker. The Dörpke and Gelmke streams also flow from the Harz foothills to the south into the Goslar municipal area, liebenburg, Schladen-Werla, Osterwieck, Bad Harzburg, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, and Langelsheim. The township currently comprises 18 districts, Salian Emperor Henry I founded the town in the 10th century after the discovery of deposits in the nearby Rammelsberg. The wealth derived from silver mining brought Goslar the status of an Imperial City, the medieval Imperial Palace was built in the 11th century and became a summer residence for the emperors, especially Henry III of Germany who visited his favourite palace about twenty times. Henrys heart is buried in Goslar, his body in the vault in Speyer Cathedral. In the winter of 1798, the coldest of the century, to dispel homesickness he started to write a few verses about his childhood, which would eventually evolve into the masterpiece that was published in thirteen volumes after his death as The Prelude. Goslars medieval cathedral was built at the time as the medieval Imperial Palace, but only the porch survived. Other sights are the town hall and the ancient mines of the Rammelsberg, during the Cold War, Goslar was a major garrison town for the West German army and the Border police. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the barracks were vacated and it is host to several productions of visiting theatre companies and music groups. The alternative theatre Culture Power Station Harz or Kulturkraftwerk Harz is housed in a disused powerstation, being run by volunteers, it produces contemporary theatre, comedy and hosts mostly alternative cultural events. The oldest and most traditional sports club is the MTV Goslar and its main facilities, a football pitch and gymnasium are located at the Golden Meadow site
23.
Gandersheim Abbey
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Gandersheim Abbey is a former house of secular canonesses in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or Ottonian dynasty, in the collegiate church the original Romanesque church building is still visible, with Gothic extensions. It is a basilica with two towers on the westwork, consisting of a flat-roofed nave and two vaulted side-aisles. The transept has a crossing with more or less square arms. Beneath the crossing choir is a hall-crypt, the westwork consist of two towers and a connecting two-storey block, it originally had in addition a projecting entrance hall, also on two storeys, the paradise. The present church building, which has been subject to restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries, was begun in about 1100, remains of the previous building are incorporated into the present structure. The community settled first at Brunshausen, the first abbess was Hathumod, a daughter of Liudolf, as were the two succeeding abbesses. In 856 construction began on the church at Gandersheim and in 881 Bishop Wigbert dedicated it to the Saints Anastasius, Innocent and John the Baptist, already in 877 King Louis the Younger placed the abbey under the protection of the Empire, which gave it extensive independence. In 919 King Henry I granted it Imperial immediacy, the close connection to the Empire meant that the abbey was obliged to provide accommodation to the German kings on their travels, and numerous royal visits are recorded. The establishment of the abbey by the founder of the Liudolfingers gave it importance during the Ottonian period. Until the foundation of Quedlinburg Abbey in 936, Gandersheim was among the most important Ottonian family institutions, the canonesses, commonly known as Stiftsdamen, were allowed private property and as they had taken no vows, were free at any time to leave the abbey. The Ottonian and Salian kings and their entourages often stayed in Gandersheim, apart from the memorial masses for the founding family, one of the main duties of the canonesses was the education of the daughters of the nobility. One of the abbeys best-known canonesses was Roswitha of Gandersheim, famous as the first female German language poet. During a period of approximately 20 years — from about 950 to 970 or so — she wrote poetry, spiritual pieces and dramas. The pressure from Hildesheim moved the abbey increasingly into the sphere of Mainz, with the death of the last Salian king in 1125 the importance of the abbey began to diminish and it came more and more under the influence of the local territorial rulers. The Welfs in particular attempted until the dissolution of the abbey to gain control over it, the abbey were not able to establish their own territorial lordship. No later than the mid-1270s, the Dukes of Brunswick succeeded in obtaining the Vogtei of the abbey, another way to gain influence over the abbey was to place relatives in the abbesss chair. The Reformation was first introduced into the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1542 when troops of the Schmalkaldic League occupied it, the townspeople of Gandersheim had received the Reformation enthusiastically and on 13 July 1543 undertook an iconoclastic attack on the abbey church, where they destroyed images and altars
24.
Quedlinburg Abbey
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Quedlinburg Abbey was a house of secular canonesses in Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Mathilda, for many centuries it and its abbesses enjoyed great prestige and influence. Quedlinburg Abbey was an Imperial Estate and one of the approximately forty self-ruling Imperial Abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire, today, the mostly Romanesque buildings are a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The church, known as Stiftskirche St. Servatius, is used by the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Germany, Henry was buried here, as was Mathilda herself. Through the efforts of Queen Mathilda, Quedlinburg Abbey became one of the centers of Western Europe. Thanks to its Imperial connections the new foundation attracted rich endowments and was soon a wealthy, ecclesiastically, the abbess was exempt from the jurisdiction of her diocesan, the Bishop of Halberstadt, and subject to no superior except the Pope. The Bishops of Halberstadt were constantly engaged in dispute with the abbesses, the abbess, as head of an Imperial Abbey, had seat and voice at the Imperial Diet. She sat on the Bench of the Prelates of the Rhineland of the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of Ruling Princes, during the Reformation the abbey became Protestant, under Abbess Anna II. Between 1807 and 1813 it belonged to the short-lived French puppet state Kingdom of Westphalia, in the first decades after the foundation the community was favoured by numerous gifts of land, particularly from the Imperial family. All later clearances in the vicinity were also theirs, but in addition they acquired far more distant possessions, such as Soltau,170 kilometres away. The village of Breitenfeld bei Duderstadt belonged to the abbey until its dissolution, on 3 July 993 a deed of gift was executed by Emperor Otto III granting ownership of Potsdam, of which place this is the first documentary evidence. The deed marks a point in the struggle to win back territory east of the Elbe. In 999 the provincia of Gera came into the hands of the abbey, in 1209 the abbess appointed the Vögte of Weida as administrators of the territory. The gifts of Emperor Otto I,936,25 estates,937, the gifts of Emperor Otto II,974, estates places,979, one estate,985, five estates. The gifts of Emperor Otto III,992, three estates,993, two estates,995, four estates,999, one estate, later acquisitions totalled more than 150 estates. The abbey also received gifts of precious books, manuscripts and liturgical items. The Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission describes the treasure as the most valuable medieval church treasure next to Aachen, wiperts Evangeliary of 1513, and a liturgical ivory comb. The stolen items reappeared in 1987 and after much litigation were returned to the church in 1993, the abbey is also known as the home of the Annals of Quedlinburg, begun in 1008 and finished in 1030 in the abbey, quite possibly by a female writer
25.
Ravenna
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Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476. It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Eastern Roman Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards in 751, although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, the origin of the name Ravenna is unclear, although it is believed the name is Etruscan. Some have speculated that ravenna is related to Rasenna, the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, the origins of Ravenna are uncertain. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of islands in a marshy lagoon – a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, in 49 BC, it was the location where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon. Later, after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC and this harbor, protected at first by its own walls, was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages, during the German campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna. Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule, Emperor Trajan built a 70 km long aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars, Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city, for this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In AD402, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna, at that time it was home to 50,000 people. However, in 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, after many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III and the support of her nephew Theodosius II. The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in the west, Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theoderic the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, Theoderic took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slew Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Both Odoacer and Theoderic and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins, Ravennas Orthodox bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Capella Arcivescovile. Theoderic allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law, the Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs
26.
Rudolf of Rheinfelden
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Rudolf of Rheinfelden was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 1079. After a series of armed conflicts, Rudolf succumbed to his injuries after his forces defeated Henrys in the Battle on the Elster, Rudolf was the son of the Swabian count Kuno of Rheinfelden. He was first mentioned in a 1048 deed issued by the Salian emperor Henry III as a count in the Swabian Sisgau on the High Rhine, an estate then held by the Prince-Bishopric of Basel. Rudolfs family had large possessions up to Sankt Blasien Abbey in the Black Forest and he probably was related to King Rudolph II of Burgundy, the Dukes of Lorraine and the Ottonian dynasty. When Duke Otto III of Swabia died without heirs in 1057, Empress Agnes, consort of late Henry III, appointed him Swabian duke. Rudolf demanded, and received, Matildas hand in marriage, in 1061 Berthold received the Duchy of Carinthia instead. When Matilda died in 1060, Rudolf subsequently, in 1066, married Adelaide of Savoy, when Adelaides sister Bertha of Savoy married Henry IV in 1066, Rudolf became brother-in-law to the king twice over. During Agnes regency, the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire could further strengthen their position against the Imperial authority, in the 1062 Coup of Kaiserswerth, several princes led by Archbishop Anno II of Cologne even abducted the minor king to enforce the surrender of the Imperial Regalia. When Henry came of age in 1065, he continued the policies of his father against the reluctant Saxon nobility, however, after the joint victory, Rudolf became estranged to the king and rumours occurred that he was involved in adversarial conspiracies. Empress Agnes repeatedly had to arbitrate between the parties, Pope Gregory agreed to meet with the princes at Augsburg in February 1077. Already in January, Henry hastened to see the pope on his way to the Empire from Rome, by doing penance Henry managed to achieve absolution, buying time at the price of his reputation and secular authority. The rebels continued with their plans, Rudolf was elected anti-king on 15 March 1077 at the Kaiserpfalz in Forchheim, where already Louis the Child and Conrad I of Germany had been crowned. The first anti-king in the history of the Empire, he promised to respect the investiture solely according to law as well as the concept of the elective monarchy. Further claims raised by the princes were rejected as simony by the attendant papal legates. Rudolf was supported by the Archbishops of Mainz, Salzburg and Magdeburg as well as by the Dukes of Carinthia and Bavaria, the Saxon rebel Otto of Nordheim and possibly also by Duke Magnus of Saxony. He proceeded to Mainz, where on 25 May he was crowned by Archbishop Siegfried I, but soon after was forced to flee to Saxony and this presented a problem, since the Saxon duchy was cut off from his Swabian homelands by the kings Salian territory. Moreover, the pope avoided taking sides and adopted a waiting attitude, Rudolf was accused of greed, treason and usurpation by Henrys liensmen, while his own support crumbled. Rudolf gave Swabia to his son Berthold and attempted to rectify his situation by stalking Henrys forces near Würzburg, meanwhile, he was deprived of Swabia by the Hoftag diet at Ulm in May, and the king gave the duchy to Frederick of Büren, the first Hohenstaufen ruler
27.
Anti-king
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An anti-king, anti king or antiking is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. The term is used in a European historical context where it relates to elective monarchies rather than hereditary ones. In hereditary monarchies such figures are frequently referred to as pretenders or claimants. Anti-kings are most commonly referred to in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire, before the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV defined the provisions of the Imperial election, other nations with elective monarchies that produced anti-kings included Bohemia and Hungary. Several anti-kings succeeded in vindicating their claims to power, and were recognized as kings, for example, King Conrad III of Germany, Emperor Frederick II. The status of others as anti-kings is still disputed, e. g. in the case of Duke Henry II of Bavaria, ihre Rechtsgrundlagen bis zur goldenen Bulle, 2nd expanded edition, Rohrer, Brünn, Munich, Vienna,1944, pp.113 ff. Vom Frankenreich bis zur Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands, 5th revised edition, expanded with a table of chronology, in, Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, 2nd, fully revised and expanded edition. Published by Albrecht Cordes, Heiner Lück, Dieter Werkmüller and Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand as philological advisor, edited by, Falk Hess and Andreas Karg, Vol. I, Aachen-Geistliche Bank, Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin
28.
Regensburg
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Regensburg is a city in south-east Germany, situated at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. With over 140,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, the city is the political, economic and cultural centre of Eastern Bavaria and the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate. The medieval centre of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 2014, Regensburg was among the top sights and travel attractions in Germany. Generally known in English as Ratisbon until well into the twentieth century, the first settlements in Regensburg date from the Stone Age. The Celtic name Radasbona was the oldest given to a settlement near the present city, around AD90, the Romans built a fort there. In 179, a new Roman fort Castra Regina was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is believed that as early as in late Roman times the city was the seat of a bishop, from the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of a ruling family known as the Agilolfings. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, Regensburg remained an important city during the reign of Charlemagne. After the partition of the Carolingian Empire in 843, the city became the seat of the Eastern Frankish ruler, two years later, fourteen Bohemian princes came to Regensburg to receive baptism there. This was the point of Christianization of the Czechs. These events had a impact on the cultural history of the Czech lands, as they were consequently part of the Roman Catholic. A memorial plate at St Johns Church was unveiled a few years ago, commemorating the incident in the Czech, on 8 December 899 Arnulf of Carinthia, descendant of Charlemagne, died at Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany. In 800 AD the city had 23,000 inhabitants and by 1000 AD this had almost doubled to 40,000 people. In 1096, on the way to the First Crusade, Peter the Hermit led a mob of Crusaders that attempted to force the conversion of the Jews of Regensburg. Between 1135 and 1146, the Stone Bridge across the Danube was built at Regensburg and this bridge opened major international trade routes between northern Europe and Venice, and this began Regensburgs golden age as a residence of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the centre of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work. In 1245 Regensburg became a Free Imperial City and was a centre before the shifting of trade routes in the late Middle Ages. At the end of the 15th century in 1486, Regensburg became part of the Duchy of Bavaria, the city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1542 and its Town Council remained entirely Lutheran
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Solomon, King of Hungary
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Solomon, also Salomon was King of Hungary from 1063. Being the elder son of Andrew I, he was crowned king in his fathers lifetime in 1057 or 1058, however, he was forced to flee from Hungary after his uncle, Béla I, dethroned Andrew in 1060. Assisted by German troops, Solomon returned and was crowned king in 1063. On this occasion he married Judith, sister of Henry IV, in the following year he reached an agreement with his cousins, the three sons of Béla I. Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert acknowledged Solomons rule, but in exchange received one-third of the kingdom as a separate duchy, in the following years, Solomon and his cousins jointly fought against the Czechs, the Cumans and other enemies of the kingdom. Their relationship deteriorated in the early 1070s and Géza rebelled against him, Solomon could only maintain his rule in a small zone along the western frontiers of Hungary after his defeat in the Battle of Mogyoród on 14 March 1074. He officially abdicated in 1081, but was arrested for conspiring against Gézas brother and successor, Solomon was set free during the canonization process of the first king of Hungary, Stephen I, in 1083. In an attempt to regain his crown, Solomon allied with the Pechenegs, according to a nearly contemporaneous source, Solomon died on a plundering raid in the Byzantine Empire. Later legends say that he survived and died as a hermit in Pula. Solomon was a son of King Andrew I of Hungary and his wife and his parents were married in about 1038. He was born in 1053 as his parents second child and eldest son and his father had him crowned king in 1057 or 1058. Solomons coronation was a condition of his engagement to Judith. Their engagement put an end to the more than ten-year-long period of armed conflicts between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire. However, Solomons coronation provoked his uncle, Béla, who had until that time held a claim to succeed his brother Andrew according to the traditional principle of seniority. Béla had, since around 1048, administered the so-called ducatus or duchy and he pretended that he did this to prevent injury to his kingdom, for the Emperor would not have given his daughter to his son Salomon unless he had crowned him. When therefore they sang at Salomons coronation, Be lord over thy brethren, according to the Illuminated Chronicle, in order to secure Solomons succession, his father arranged a meeting with Duke Béla at the royal manor in Tiszavárkony. The king proposed that his brother choose between a crown and a sword, but had commanded his men to murder the duke if Béla picked the crown. The duke, whom a courtier had informed of the plan, chose the crown
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Imperial election
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The election of a Holy Roman Emperor or King of Germany was, from at least the 13th century, accomplished by a small body of the greatest princes of the Empire, the Prince-electors. Appointment as Emperor was normally for life, in 1356, the Emperor Charles IV, promulgated the Golden Bull, which became the fundamental law by which all future Kings and Emperors were elected. The Bohemian crown itself was also theoretically elective, but under the Habsburgs it became de facto. Later additions to the council were, The Duke of Bavaria. The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg of the House of Welf, listed below are all the elections that took place under the conditions of the Golden Bull, as are expulsions, readmittances, and additions to the electoral council. The 1376 election took place on June 10 in Frankfurt, Wenceslaus, son of Emperor Charles IV, and then holding the dignity of Elector of Brandenburg, was elected as Charless heir, King of the Romans. He succeeded as king when Charles died two years later on November 29,1378, at which point he also became King of Bohemia, the first election in 1400 took place on May 22 in Frankfurt. Dissatisfied with Wenceslauss performance of his duties as King of Germany, Frederick of Brunswick-Lüneburg was elected in opposition to Wenceslaus. However, the three electors of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, did not concur with the election. Frederick was assassinated two weeks later, on June 5,1400, the second election in 1400 took place on August 21 in Rhens-am-Rhein. The three spiritual electors and Rupert met again to formally depose King Wenceslaus on August 20,1400, the next day Rupert was chosen unanimously as the new King of Germany. However, the Elector of Saxony, the Elector of Brandenburg and the King of Bohemia were not present, and Wenceslaus never admitted the validity of his deposition, the two elections in 1410 took place on September 20 and October 1. These elections followed the death of Rupert, King of Germany, on September 20, three of the electors irregularly proclaimed Sigismund, King of Hungary, the son of the late Emperor Charles IV as King. The doubtful election of Sigismund in September was not accepted by the remaining electors, on October 1,1410, they elected Jobst of Moravia in opposition to his cousin Sigismund, but Jobst died only three months later. The elections of 1410 were the last to result in a king and anti-king. The 1411 election took place on July 21, following the death of Jobst on January 18,1411, there was no further obstacle to Sigismund being accepted as King by all the electors. An election was held after six months. By accepting this election, Sigismund tacitly admitted to the invalidity of his election in 1410, the 1438 election took place on March 18 in Frankfurt
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King of the Romans
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King of the Romans was the title used by the German king following his election by the princes from the time of Emperor Henry II onward. The title was predominantly a claim to become Holy Roman Emperor and was dependent upon coronation by the Pope, the title originally referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of Emperor at the hands of the Pope. Later it came to be used solely for the apparent to the Imperial throne between his election and his succession upon the death of the Emperor. The territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century, during this time, the kings claim to coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex in order to imply that Henrys authority was merely local, Henry continued to regularly use the title Romanorum Rex until he finally was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. Henrys successors imitated this practice, and were also called Romanorum Rex before, candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of the Germanic stem duchies. As these units broke up, rulers of principalities and even non-Germanic rulers were considered for the position. The only requirements generally observed were that the candidate be a male, a Catholic Christian. The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates, often in the city of Frankfurt after 1147. They were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Saxon duke, after the Investiture Controversy, Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation. Consequently, among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome, the Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until the Empires dissolution in 1806. After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans, though the ceremony was no more than a symbolic validation of the election result, it was solemnly celebrated. The details of Ottos coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, the kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at the coronation of Conrad II. In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral, at some time after the ceremony, the king would, if possible, cross the Alps, to receive coronation in Pavia or Milan with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy. Finally, he would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope, in such cases, the king might retain the title King of the Romans for his entire reign. At this time Maximilian also took the new title King of the Germans or King in Germany, the following were ruling Kings of the Romans, i. e. men who ruled the Kingdom without subordination to another King but who had not yet been crowned Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy, no person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Emperor. However, the Emperor could, and often did, have an elected to succeed him after his death
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Pope Victor II
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Pope Victor II, born Gebhard, Count of Calw, Tollenstein, and Hirschberg, was Pope from 13 April 1055 to his death in 1057. He was one of a series of German reform popes and he was born Gebhard of Calw, a son of the Swabian Count Hartwig of Calw and a kinsman of Emperor Henry III. At the insistence of Gebhard, Bishop of Ratisbon, the 24-year-old Gebhard was appointed Bishop of Eichstätt, in this position, he supported the Emperors interests and eventually became one of his closest advisors. After the death of Pope Leo IX, a Roman delegation headed by Hildebrand, later Pope Gregory VII, travelled to Mainz and he suggested Gebhard, who was duly nominated in September 1054. Gebhard, taking the name Victor II, moved to Rome and was enthroned in St. Peters Basilica on 13 April 1055. Victor excommunicated both Ramon Berenguer I, count of Barcelona, and Almodis, countess of Limoges, for adultery, at the behest of Ermesinde of Carcassonne, in 1055. In June 1055, Victor met the Emperor at Florence and held a council, which reinforced Pope Leo IXs condemnation of clerical marriage, simony, and the loss of the churchs properties. In the following year, he was summoned to the Emperors side, during, the rivalry between Archbishop Anno II of Cologne and other senior clergymen and the Dowager Empress, Victor II backed Agnes and her supporters. He died shortly after his return to Italy, at Arezzo and his death would mostly mark an end to the close relationship shared between the Salian dynasty and the Papacy. Victor IIs retinue wished to bring his remains to the cathedral at Eichstätt for burial, before they reached the city, however, the remains were seized by some citizens of Ravenna and buried there in the Church of Santa Maria Rotonda, the burial place of Theodoric the Great
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Salian dynasty
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The Salian dynasty, was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. He was elected German King in 1024 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor on 26 March 1027. The four Salian kings of the dynasty—Conrad II, Henry III, Henry IV, and Henry V—ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 to 1125 and they achieved the development of a permanent administrative system based on a class of public officials answerable to the crown. Werner of Worms and his son Duke Conrad the Red of Lorraine, Conrad the Red married Liutgarde, a daughter of Emperor Otto I. Their son Otto I, Duke of Carinthia ruled Carinthia from 978 to 1004, Duke Otto had three sons, Bruno, who became Pope Gregory V, Conrad, and Henry, count of Speyer. Henry was the father of the first Salian Emperor Conrad II, Pope Leo IX also had family ties to the dynasty, since his grandfather Hugo III was the brother of Adelheid, the grandmother of Henry III. After the death of the last Saxon Emperor Henry II the first Salian regent Conrad II was elected by the majority of the Prince-electors and was crowned German king in Mainz on 8 September 1024. Early in 1026 Conrad went to Milan, where Ariberto, archbishop of Milan, when Rudolph III, King of Burgundy died 1032, Conrad II also claimed this kingship on the basis of an inheritance Henry II had extorted from the former in 1006. Despite some opposition, the Burgundian and Provençal nobles paid homage to Conrad in Zürich in 1034 and this Kingdom of Burgundy would become known as the Kingdom of Arles under Conrads successors. Already in 1028 Conrad II had his son Henry III elected and anointed king of Germany, henrys tenure led to an overstatement of previously unknown sacral kingship. So during this reign Speyer Cathedral was expanded to be the largest church in Western Christendom, henrys conception of a legitimate power of royal disposition in the duchies was successful against the dukes, and thus secured royal control. However, in Lorraine, this led to years of conflict, but also in southern Germany a powerful opposition group was formed in the years 1052–1055. 1046 Henry ended the schism, freed the Papacy from dependence on the Roman nobility. His early death in 1056 was long regarded as a disaster for the Empire, the early Salians owed much of their success to their alliance with the Church, a policy begun by Otto I, which gave them the material support they needed to subdue rebellious dukes. In time, however, the Church came to regret this close relationship, the pope also attacked the concept of monarchy by divine right and gained the support of significant elements of the German nobility interested in limiting imperial absolutism. More important, the pope forbade ecclesiastical officials under pain of excommunication to support Henry as they had so freely done in the past, in the end, Henry IV journeyed to Canossa in northern Italy in 1077 to do penance and to receive absolution from the pope. However, he resumed the practice of lay investiture and arranged the election of an antipope in 1080, the monarchs struggle with the papacy resulted in a war that ravaged through the Holy Roman Empire from 1077 until the Concordat of Worms in 1122. The reign of the last ruler of the Salian dynasty Henry V coincided with the phase of the great Investiture Controversy
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Stem duchy
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The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Frankish Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined in the late 9th century, the old tribal areas assumed new identities as the subdivisions of the realm and these are the five stem duchies, Bavaria, Franconia, Lotharingia, Saxony and Swabia. The term Stammesherzogtum as used in German historiography dates to the mid-19th century, the terms applicability, and the nature of the stem duchies in medieval Germany consequently have a long history of controversy. The overly literal or etymologizing English translation stem duchy was coined in the early 20th century, while later authors tend to clarify the term by using the alternative translation tribal, use of the term stem duchies has become conventional. The derivation of the German people from a number of German tribes developed in 18th to 19th century German historiography and ethnography and this concept of German stems relates to the early and high medieval period and is to be distinguished from the more generic Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity. A distinction was made between the ancient stems, which were in existence in the 10th century, and recent stems. The delineation of the two concepts is necessarily vague, and as a result the concept has a history of political, the terms Stamm, Nation or Volk variously used in modern German historiography reflect the Middle Latin gens, natio or populus of the medieval source material. Traditional German historiography counts six Altstämme or ancient stems, viz. Bavarians, Swabians, Franks, all of these were incorporated in the Carolingian Empire by the late 8th century. The customary or tribal laws of these groups were recorded in the medieval period. Franconian, Saxon and Swabian law remained in force and competed with imperial law well into the 13th century, the use of Stämme, tribes, rather than Völker nations, peoples, emerged in the early 19th century in the context of the project of German unification. Karl Friedrich Eichhorn in 1808 still used Deutsche Völker German nations, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann in 1815 asked for unity of the German nation in its tribes. This terminology became standard and is reflected in the preamble of the Weimar constitution of 1919, reading Das deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen The German nation, united in its tribes. The division remains in current use in the classification of German dialects into Franconian, Alemannic, Thuringian, Bavarian. In the Free State of Bavaria, the division into Bavarian stems remains current for the populations of Altbayern, within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria, which had been conquered by Charlemagne, in German historiography they are called the jüngere Stammesherzogtümer, or more recent tribal duchies, although the term stem duchies is common in English. The duchies are often called younger in order to them from the older duchies which were vassal-states of the Merovingian monarchs. Certainly, their names had already appeared during the Migrations, yet, their political institutional, and biological structures had more often than not thoroughly changed. The kingdom was divided in 864–865 among the sons of Louis the German, after the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child, in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom
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Ezzonids
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The Ezzonids were a dynasty of Lotharingian stock dating back as far as the ninth century. They attained prominence only in the century, through marriage with the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. Named after Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1015 to 1034, they dominated the politics of the middle and lower Rhine, under the Salian Emperors, they even briefly held the dukedoms of Swabia, Carinthia, and Bavaria. The Ezzonids first appear with Erenfried I, count of the Bliesgau, Keldachgau, and Bonngau and he may have had Carolingian ancestors, although some historians prefer to link him to the former Thuringian kings. The political ascent of the Ezzonid dynasty becomes historically visible with the number of counties they acquired in the half of the tenth century. They ruled most of the Rhenish counties and were eventually granted Palatine status over the counts of the district. In spite of their accomplishments in the service of the Emperors. Hermann I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, according to the Brauweiler chronicle, he failed to succeed to the monarchy after the death of emperor Otto III in a rivalry with duke Henry II of Bavaria. The succession war between Ezzo and Henry II continued for ten years. The two men came to an agreement after a battle at Odernheim in 1011, kaiserswerth, Duisburg and the surrounding imperial territories were granted as a fief to Ezzo for renouncing the throne. When the German crown passed from the Ottonians to the Salians in 1024, Otto I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia and Duke of Swabia. At the same time, the palatinate of Lotharingia was passed to his nephew, heinrich I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, son of Count Hezzelin I, who was a brother of Ezzo. Hermann II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, Count of the Ruhrgau, Zulpichgau and his territorial power was importantly reduced by his guardian, Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne. Hermann is assumed to be the last of the Ezzonids, after his death at Dalhem on September 20,1085, the Palatinate of Lotharingia was suspended. His widow remarried the first count palatine of the Rhine, Henry of Laach, the Ezzonid line probably survived in the counts of Limburg Stirum, who are believed to descend from Adolf I of Lotharingia, youngest son of Hermann I. Richeza of Lotharingia, Queen of Poland, wife of Mieszko II Lambert King of Poland, conrad I, Duke of Bavaria, heir of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, died in exile after an attempt to assassinate the Emperor and seize the throne. Hermann I, Archbishop of Cologne, Chancellor of King Zwentibold of Lotharingia, Hermann II, Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor for Italy. Reuter, Timothy, Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056, New York, buhlmann, Michael, Quellen zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte Ratingens und seiner Stadtteile, I
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Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia
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Ezzo, sometimes called Ehrenfried, a member of the Ezzonid dynasty, was Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1015 until his death. As brother-in-law of Emperor Otto III, father of Queen Richeza of Poland and several other illustrious children, Ezzo was the son of the Lotharingian count palatine Herman I and his wife Heylwig of Dillingen. He was sent as a child to be educated by Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, nothing is known about his youth. Having married Matilda of Germany, a daughter of Emperor Otto II and his consort Theophanu, Ezzo became prominent during the reign of his brother-in-law, the marriage was expressly consented by the Dowager Empress Theophanu, probably to rally the powerful family of Ezzo to the throne. Matilda received as dowry out of Ottonian possessions lands in Thuringia and in the Duchy of Franconia, at the death of his father in 996, Hermans rich allodial property was shared between his sons. Ezzo received lands in Cochem on the Mosel river, in Maifeld, about the same time, he must have received the Palatinate and previous countal rights, as he is referred as count in the Auelgau in 1015 and as Count Palatine in the Bonngau in 1020. He also received the county of Ruhrgau with tutelage of Essen Abbey, unsuccessful candidate to the imperial throne upon the death of Emperor Otto III in 1002, his relation with the new Ottonian king Henry II was immediately very tensed. Henry disputed Ezzos ownership of territories, that he defended as his wifes inheritance of late Otto III, the conflict dragged on for years and reached its peak in 1011. Facing disturbances in Lotharingia, and in need for Ezzos military support, Ezzos victory led the king to make concessions and to a complete transformation of its policy. He reconciled with Ezzo, recognized its rights of inheritance and gave him the territories of Kaiserswerth. He also associated the Ezzonid dynasty to his Eastern policies, and these huge territorial concessions made Ezzo one of the most powerful princes in the Empire. The Benedictine monastery, which was consecrated in 1028 by Archbishop Pilgrim of Cologne, was to be the grave, the first member of the family buried there was Ezzo wife Matilda, who died on 4 November 1025. Very little is known about Ezzos later life, but we are told that he died at an age at Saalfeld on 21 March 1034. Ezzo has been quite a personality, even if the reporting on his life and offices. He was mostly active in political affairs when it came to his own interests and the standing of his house, and his dexterous management of the favours of Empress Theophano, Emperor Otto III and later Henry II, testify of his personal ambition and political dexterity. Ezzo and Mathilda left three sons and seven daughters, the first two sons, Liudolf and Otto were aimed at perpetuating the dynasty while the third Hermann, was raised to enter the clergy. Of the seven daughters only Richeza was conspicuously married, while the others were placed in monasteries of which all became abbesses. Otto I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia and later Duke of Swabia as Otto II, Theophanu, Abbess of Essen and Gerresheim
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Duchy of Carinthia
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The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Carinthia remained a State of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy and of the Austrian Empire, it remained a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until 1918. By the Carinthian Plebiscite in October 1920, the area of the duchy formed the Austrian state of Carinthia. In the seventh century the area was part of the Slavic principality of Carantania, the Bavarian stem duchy was incorporated into the Carolingian Empire when Charlemagne deposed Odilos son Duke Tassilo III in 788. In the 843 partition by the Treaty of Verdun, Carinthia became part of East Francia under King Louis the German, after Berthold became Duke of Bavaria in 938, both territories were ruled by him. Duke Henrys son Henry II the Quarreller from 974 onwards, revolted against his cousin Emperor Otto II, at the same time Emperor Otto II created a sixth duchy in addition to the original stem duchies, the new Duchy of Carinthia. He reverted the possession of the territories to the Luitpoldings, when he split Carinthia from the Bavarian lands, over the centuries, the name Carinthia gradually replaced former Carantania. The realm of the Carinthian dukes initially comprised a vast territory including the marches of Styria, Carniola and Istria, though Henry once again managed to regain the ducal title in 985, Carinthia upon his death in 989 fell back to the Imperial Ottonian dynasty in Bavaria. Adalbero was removed from office in 1035 after he had out of favour with the Salian Emperor Conrad II. In 1039 Carinthia was inherited by Emperor Henry III himself, who split off the Carniolan march the following year and granted it to Margrave Poppo of Istria. In 1077, the duchy was given to Luitpold, again a member of the Eppensteiner family, upon his death the duchy was further reduced in area, a large part of the Eppenstein lands in what is today Upper Styria passed to Margrave Ottokar II of Styria. The remainder of Carinthia passed from Duke Henry III to his godchild Henry from the House of Sponheim, the most outstanding of the Spanheim dukes was Bernhard, the first Carinthian duke who was actually described and honoured in documents as prince of the land. The last Spanheim duke was Ulrich III, he signed a treaty with his brother Archbishop Philip of Salzburg. In spite of being supported by the Habsburg king Rudolf I of Germany, the duchy was seized by Rudolph and Philip died a year later in 1279. Rudolf, after being elected King of the Romans and defeating King Ottokar II, the Habsburgs would continue to rule Carinthia until 1918. As with the component parts of the Habsburg Monarchy, Carinthia remained a semi-autonomous state with its own constitutional structure for a long time. The Habsburgs divided up their territories within the family twice, according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, each time, the Duchy of Carinthia became part of Inner Austria and was ruled jointly with the adjacent duchies of Styria and Carniola
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Duchy of Swabia
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The Duchy of Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. Swabia takes its name from the tribe of the Suebi, dwelling in the angle formed by the Rhine and the Danube, they were joined by other tribes, and were called Alamanni, until about the 11th century, when the form Swabia began to prevail. The duchy was proclaimed by Burchard II in 917, Burchard had allied himself with king Conrad I and defeated his rivals for the rule of Alemannia in a battle at Wahlwies in 915. The most notable family to hold Swabia were the Hohenstaufen, who held it, with a brief interruption, for much of this period, the Hohenstaufen were also Holy Roman Emperors. The duchy persisted until 1268, ending with the execution of Conradin, Rudolph I of Germany in 1273 attempted to revive the title of duke of Swabia, bestowing it on his youngest son, the later Rudolf II, who passed it to his son John Parricida. John died without an heir, in 1312 or 1313, marking the end of the revived title, the Margraviate of Baden detached itself from the duchy in the 12th century. In 496 the Alamanni were defeated by King Clovis I, brought under Francia, in the 7th century the people were converted to Christianity, bishoprics were founded at Augsburg and Konstanz, and in the 8th century abbeys at Reichenau Island and Saint Gall. At this time the duchy, which was divided into gaus or counties and it was bounded by the Rhine, Lake Constance, the Lech River and the Duchy of Franconia. During the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the counts became almost independent, the chief family in Alamannia was that of the counts of Raetia Curiensis, who were sometimes called margraves and sometimes, as in the case of Conrad II and Rudolf, dukes. Finally, Burchard I, was called duke of the Alaminnia and he was killed in 911, for which two counts palatine, Bertold and Erchanger, were accused of treason and put to death by order of the German king Conrad I. In 917, Burchard II, son of Burchard I and count in Raetia Curiensis, took the title of duke, and was recognized as such by King Henry I, the Fowler in 919. In the Battle at Winterthur in 919, Burchard defended the Thurgau against the claims of Rudolf II of Burgundy, Rudolf had attempted to expand his territory by capitalising on the feud between the Ahalolfing and Burcharding dynasties. He occupied the palace at Zürich and marched into the Thurgau from there and he was defeated by Burchard near Winterthur and was forced to abandon Zürich, retreating beyond the Reuss. Burchards position was virtually independent, and when he died in 926 he was succeeded by Hermann, a Franconian noble, liudolf revolted, and was deposed, and other dukes followed in quick succession. Burchard III, son of Burchard II, ruled from 954 to 973, when he was succeeded by Liudolfs son, Otto, afterwards duke of Bavaria, to 982, and Conrad I, a relative of Duke Hermann I, until 997. Hermann II, possibly a son of Conrad, succeeded, and, during these years the Swabians were loyal to the kings of the Saxon house, probably owing to the influence of the bishops. Hermann III had no children, and the passed to Ernest II, son of his eldest sister Gisela and Ernest I. In 1045 Henry, who had become German king as Henry III, granted Alamannia to Otto, grandson of the emperor Otto II and count palatine of the Rhine, and, in 1048, to Otto III, count of Schweinfurt
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Kingdom of Burgundy
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Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the area of France, Italy and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva. As a political entity, Burgundy has existed in a number of forms with different boundaries, notably, two of these entities — the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century — have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy. At other times there existed Kingdom of Provence, Duchy of Burgundy, Burgundy is named after a Germanic tribe of Burgundians who originated in mainland Scandinavia, then settled on the island of Bornholm, whose name in Old Norse was Burgundarholmr. From there they migrated south through Germanic lands into Roman Gaul and settled in the part of the Alps and Rhône valley. The first documented, though not historically verified King of the Burgundians was Gjúki, in the course of the Crossing of the Rhine in 406 the Burgundians settled as foederati in the Roman province of Germania Secunda along the Middle Rhine. The remaining Burgundians from 443 onwards settled in the Sapaudia region and their efforts to enlarge their kingdom down the Rhône river brought them into conflict with the Visigothic Kingdom in the south. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, king Gundobad allied with the powerful Frank king Clovis I against the threat of Theoderic the Great and he was then able to organize the Burgundian acquisitions based on the Lex Burgundionum, an Early Germanic law code. The decline of the Kingdom began when they came under attack from their former Frank allies, in 523 the sons of Clovis I campaigned in the Burgundian lands, instigated by their mother Clotilde, whose father king Chilperic II of Burgundy had been killed by Gundobad. In 532 the Burgundians were decisively defeated by the Franks at Autun, whereafter king Godomar was killed and Burgundian lands was annexed by the Frankish Empire in 534. While there no longer was an independent Burgundian kingdom, between 561 and 584 and between 639 and 737 several rulers of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty used the title of King of Burgundy. Partitions of Charlemagnes empire by his immediate Carolingian heirs led to a kingdom of Middle Francia. It included lands from North Sea to southern Italy and was ruled by emperor Lothair I, the northwestern part of the former Burgundian lands as Duchy of Burgundy was included in the kingdom of West Francia. This partition created more conflicts, as older Carolingians who ruled West Francia, as Charles of Provence was too young to rule, the actual power was held by regent, count Girart II of Vienne whose wife was the sister-in-law of emperor Lothar I. Girart was a regent, defending the kingdom from Vikings. Charles uncle, Charles the Bald of West Francia, attempted to intervene in Provence in 861 after receiving an appeal for intervention from the Count of Arles and he invaded Provence as far as Mâcon before being restrained by Hincmar of Rheims. Already in 858 count Girart arranged that should Charles of Provence die without heirs, Upper Burgundy remained under the influence of the East Frankish king Charles the Fat. From 887 these northern territories formed the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, proclaimed by the Welf noble Rudolph I of Burgundy at Saint-Maurice and it was one of the three kingdoms within the medieval Empire, the others being the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy
