Conrad II, Emperor, Known as the Salic

CONRAD II, Emperor, Known as the Salic. - When the Saxon dynasty died out with Henry II in 1024, the choice fell on the Franconian-Rhenish count C., who, born around 990 and great-grandson, through his mother, of Otto the Great, thus became the founder of the Salian dynasty. Disorders broke out in Lorraine and in Italy; while the succession to the kingdom of Burgundy put C. in conflict with other princes, German and French, the collapse of the great Polish kingdom at the death of Boleslaus opened vast possibilities for action in the eastern lands; C. established agreements with the Bohemians and the Russians of Kiev. Having settled the affairs of Germany, he accepted the invitation of Aribert, archbishop of Milan, and descended into Italy in the spring of 1026. Pavia was still hostile, because of the disputes that had arisen under Henry II, and the coronation took place in Milan, and the following year in Rome, at the hands of John XIX on 26 March 1027. After an ineffective descent into the South, where the Norman infiltration was beginning, C. returned to Germany and in 1035 was able to secure Burgundy for the empire, against the ambitions of Odo of Champagne. In 1037 he returned to Italy: this time Archbishop Aribert was hostile and the Pavians favorable.

Unlike Henry II, no scruple restrained him in the ecclesiastical field from providing for political interests without concern for ecclesiastical prescriptions, and he favored the simoniacal machinations of the most unscrupulous figures, tolerating that the tiara should come into the hands of a scion of the Tusculani, Benedict IX (v.), in order to use him for his own ends. He knew, however, how to draw new strength for the service of the Crown, relying, against the high nobility, on the lesser nobility and, above all, on the ministeriales, whom he used in military enterprises and in offices. The most notable act of the new expedition into Italy was the Constitutio de feudis of 1037, which assured the hereditary nature of fiefs. Having failed in the siege of Milan, and having renewed an attempt at asserting himself in Campania almost in vain, he crossed the Alps again and went to die at Utrecht on 4 June 1039.

Pier Fausto Palumbo