HENRY III, EMPEROR. – Son of Conrad II the Salic and Gisela, born on 28 Oct. 1017, died at Bodfeld in the Harz on 5 Oct. 1056. Educated in Bavaria under the direction of two bishops, he took part from an early age in military enterprises. Succeeding his father on 4 June 1039, he immediately set about expanding his domains and consolidating the authority of his kingdom, paying no heed to Italian affairs until 1046. In that year
(a) A. Ostheim, *Die deutsche Buchmalerei*, Firenze-Jena 1928)
HENRY III, EMPEROR. – King Henry III enthroned. Miniature from the Echternach Gospel Book (1039-40) – Bremen, Stadtbibliothek.
HENRY III, EMPEROR – HENRY IV, EMPEROR
he returned to Germany, taking with him as hostages the countess Beatrice of Tuscany and her daughter Matilda, since he had been unable to subdue her husband, Godfrey of Lorraine, who had become a threat to his authority in Italy.
He was praised by his contemporaries for supporting the reform of the Church and for his disinterestedness, being free from any taint of simony in conferring ecclesiastical dignities.
Bibl. E. Steindorff, *Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich III*, 2 vols., Leipzig 1874-81; A. Fliche, *La réforme grégorienne*, I, Louvain 1923, pp. 104-13; J. Gay, *Les Papes du XIe siècle et la chrétienté*, Paris 1926, pp. 107-30; A. Fliche, *L'Europe occidentale de 987 à 1125*, IV, 1930; P. Kehr, *Heinrich III und das Papsttum*, Berlin 1930; S. Landi, *L’arte polacca*, in *Storia dell’arte medioevale in Italia*, ed. U. Nebbia, Milan 1936; E. Amann and A. Dumas, *L’Église au pouvoir des laïcs*, in A. Fliche and V. MARTINO G, *Histoire de l’Église*, VII, Paris 1933, pp. 92-110.