HENRY IV, EMPEROR. – Son of the preceding, by Agnes, b. 11 Nov. 1050, d. near Vise (Belgium) 7 Aug. 1106. Crowned king at the age of four, he was able to secure his father’s succession in 1056 through the intervention of Pope Victor II, but as he was still a child a regency was established under Agnes. Following a conspiracy in 1062, he was taken from his mother and taken to Cologne for his education, but he grew up despised and of corrupt morals. Declared of age at fifteen in 1065, the following year he married Bertha of Savoy, whom he soon abandoned to indulge in the grossest pleasures, and from whom he would gladly have divorced had not St Peter Damian threatened him with ecclesiastical penalties. He took the reins of government in 1066 and immediately set about energetically to strengthen his authority over the lands of the Empire, for which he had to wage struggles that made his rule difficult. But the bitterest conflict he engaged in was against the Church over the investiture controversy.
During the regency of Agnes and in the early years of his own reign, simony was openly practised in Germany: bishoprics and abbeys were sold to the highest bidder and bought by persons not always worthy. Gregory VII, elected on 22 Apr. 1073, resolved to put an end to such disorder by striking at its root. At first his relations with Henry were marked by cordiality and a spirit of conciliation, so much so that the Emperor promised satisfaction and showed himself favourable to an agreement. Meanwhile, in the Lenten Synod of 1075, Gregory promulgated the decree against lay investiture. Henry, who needed loyal ecclesiastical vassals to counterbalance the power of the lay ones, judged the papal prohibition as an infringement of his rights and, emboldened by his victory over the Saxons, continued unabated in conferring investitures. Gregory, though always disposed to peace, protested energetically, but his legates obtained no satisfaction and summoned Henry to the Roman Synod of 1076. In response, Henry convened a diet at Worms and on 24 Jan. 1076, under the most absurd charges, deposed Gregory. This decision was later ratified by the bishops of northern Italy assembled at Piacenza and notified to Rome during the Lenten Synod. To such impudence Gregory replied with excommunication, forbidding Henry from governing Germany and Italy and absolving his subjects from their oath of fealty. Around Henry the princes and bishops abandoned him, and in Oct. 1076 the Diet of Tribur decided to convene a synod for the following February to be held in Germany under the presidency of the Pope to settle the question. Henry, with a shrewd move, forestalled his enemies: he came down into Italy and at Canossa on 28 Jan. 1077 obtained absolution from Gregory. Meanwhile the German princes had elected another emperor at Forchheim in the person of Rudolf of Swabia: civil war broke out and dragged on until 13 Oct. 1080, when Rudolf’s death left Henry sole master. Gregory VII, however, in March 1080 excommunicated Henry again as a perjurer and breaker of faith.
Along with this military setback, Henry had to endure the revolt of his son Conrad, who with the help of Countess Matilda was crowned king of Italy at Milan, the formation of a league among the Lombard cities, and the defection of several German bishops. Remaining in northern Italy, though renouncing any offensive designs, he did not cease to act diplomatically to isolate Urban, until, discouraged, in 1097 he returned to Germany, abandoning the antipope Clement to his fate. When Urban died in July 1099, Henry then took steps with his successor Paschal II to reach a reconciliation with the Church. He acknowledged having been wrong to disturb the peace, but his half-hearted proposals were rejected and the Pope renewed the excommunication (March 1092). Fresh negotiations were undertaken the following year, and Henry seemed this time determined to reconcile himself with the Church; he even promised to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but was prevented by a serious event. In Dec. 1094 his other son Henry, associated with power after the defection of the firstborn Conrad, abandoned his father, taking with him all the adherents of Henry’s policy. Civil war broke out fiercely between father and son and ended with the defeat and deposition of Henry, ratified at the Diet of Mainz at the beginning of 1106. In Aug. of that same year Henry died, reconciled with the Church. – See pl. XXX.