title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Freedom of religion, despite being guaranteed in the constitution, faces many restrictions in Malaysia. Based on the Malaysian constitution, a Malay in Malaysia must be a Muslim, and Malays cannot convert to another religion. Islamic religious practices are determined by official Sharia law, and Muslims can be fined for not fasting or refusing to pray. Women are increasingly pressured to wear head coverings. Non-Malays are more free to shift between religions. Attempts by Muslims to convert to other religions are punished by state governments, with punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment. The federal government does not intervene in legal disputes over conversion, leaving it to the courts. The secular courts of Malaysia have ruled they do not have the authority to decide these cases, referring them to the Syariah courts. These Islamic courts have unanimously ruled that all ethnic Malays must remain Muslims. Even non-Malays who have converted to Islam are not allowed to leave Islam, and children born to Muslim parents are considered to be Muslims. A non-Muslim who wishes to marry a Muslim must first convert to Islam.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Many Muslims who have attempted to convert have received death threats. Those who have converted lead a secret double life. The civil court claims that conversions are under the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts, but converts contend that, as they are no longer Muslim, the Syariah courts hold no power over them. Authorities only allow Sunni Islam to be practised, arresting those who stray from those beliefs. Converts taken for rehabilitation by Islamic authorities are forced to dress and act as Muslims. In at least one case, a professed Hindu, who was listed as a Muslim because her parents were even though she was raised by her grandmother as a Hindu, was forced to eat beef. Only one person is known to have had their conversion from Islam accepted, an 89-year-old woman who converted to Buddhism in 1936 and had her decision accepted after her death in 2006. In 2018, the Chief Minister of the state of Sarawak pledged to amend Sarawak's laws to allow individuals to convert from Islam, following a court case where three women who had converted to Islam after marrying Muslims sought to be registered as Christians again following divorce from their spouse or their spouse's death.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Conflicting views regarding the conversion law have placed the government in a dilemma as academics and politicians intensely debate its relevance whilst causing considerable tension between non-Muslims who oppose the laws with Muslim groups who advocate for its preservation. It is illegal to disseminate any non-Islamic religious material to Muslims. The PAS party wishes that the death penalty be enacted for Muslims who attempt to convert, as part of their ultimate desire to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In recent years, there have been some issues over non-Muslims eating during Muslim fasting month, religious terminology used by non-Muslims, and non-Muslim religious sites affected by intolerant Muslim authorities.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: The separate religious communities have a generally tolerant relationship. Festivals are held for all major religions, which are participated in by people from that religion and others in a Malaysian practise known as 'Open House'. Malaysia has a reputation for being a successful multicultural country, with the only two serious occurrences of racial violence in modern history occurring in 1946 and 1969. Other countries have examined Malaysia as an example for handling Islamic fundamentalism.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: However, some politicians allege that there is a creeping Islamisation of Malaysian society, and due to the links between race and religion it is thought the economic status of different races causes religious problems. The predominance of Islam and its slow spread into everyday life in Malaysia has caused worry for non-Muslim groups. The Kerling Incident in 1978, where four Muslims died in the latest in a series of attacks on Hindu temples, re-ignited fears of racial violence and led to political calls for religious tolerance. A Tamil newspaper was temporarily shut down in 1980 after being accused of insulting Islam. The destruction of Hindu temples by the government for development purposes, and the difficulty of obtaining land and permission for new temples, has raised tensions.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2004 appeared at a Christian gathering to read from the Bible and called for religious unity despite differences. This was done at a time when Malaysia was head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. In February 2005 the Malaysian Bar Council organised the discussion of an interfaith commission, although several Islamic groups refused to participate claiming the commission would "weaken Islam". Several Muslim groups boycotted and condemned an interfaith council, claiming Islam should only be discussed by Muslims. The government states the commission was not necessary but encourages and promotes interfaith dialogue. Some non-Muslim interfaith organisations do exist, such as the MCCBCHS, the Malaysian Council of Churches, and the Christian Federation of Malaysia.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In 2006 a memorandum was presented to the prime minister by non-Muslim cabinet members asking for a review of constitutional provisions affecting the rights of non-Muslims. After protests by Muslim leaders in the governing coalition, this was withdrawn. It is forbidden for non-Muslims to try to convert Muslims, although Muslims are allowed to convert others. Malay politicians have asked the Chinese and Indian communities not to question Malay rights, for fear of igniting ethnic violence, with harmony between the races and religions being seen as a necessity.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: There is a divide within Muslims between those espousing more pluralist views and those seeking a more Islamic society. An increase in political Islam has led to instances of aggression towards non-Muslims, including attacks on churches. Prominent points of tensions include conversion, with converting away from Islam being effectively legally impossible, and language use, with the use of Malay for non-Muslim religious sermons and materials being controversial. Religious tolerance is more apparent in East Malaysia, which has a greater incidence of interfaith marriages and less tension around language use. Muslim communities in Peninsular Malaysia are generally more conservative.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Islam is the predominant religion of the country and is recognised as the state's official religion. It is practised by about 63 percent of Malaysians. Many Muslim holy days are national holidays, including the end of Ramadan, the end of the Hajj, and the birthday of Muhammad. Islam is thought to have been brought to Malaysia around the 12th century by Indian traders. In the early 15th century the Malacca Sultanate, commonly considered the first independent state in the peninsula, was founded. Led by a Muslim prince the influence of Malacca led to the spread of Islam throughout the Malay population.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Although most people in Malaya were Muslim by the 15th century, the tolerant form of Islam brought by the Sufi meant that many traditional practices were incorporated into Islamic traditions. Islam is generally practised liberally, although in the last 20 years strict adherence to Islamic practice has increased. The official code of Islam in Malaysia is Sunni, and the practice of any other form of Islam is heavily restricted. The government opposes what it calls "deviant" teachings, forcing those who are deemed to follow these teachings to undergo "rehabilitation". In June 2006, 56 deviant teachings had been identified by national authorities, including Shi'a, transcendental meditation, and Baháʼí Faith teachings. However, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia later clarified that Baháʼí Faith was erroneously declared a deviant offshoot of Islam by one of the state religious authorities as the 14th Muzakarah (Conference) of the Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia held on 22–23 October 1985 decided that the Baháʼí doctrine is not part of Islam and the religion is recognised by the Registration Department and national census as an independent religion.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In June 2005 religious authorities reported that there were 22 "deviant" religious groups with around 2,820 followers in Malaysia. No statistics are given on rehabilitations, and the government actively monitors Shi'a groups. Restrictions have been imposed on Imams coming from overseas.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: The Malaysian government promotes a moderate version of Sunni Islam called "Islam Hadhari". "Islam Hadhari" was introduced by former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. It is meant to encourage a balanced approach to life and encourages inclusivity, tolerance, and looking outwards. The qualities it values are knowledge, hard work, honesty, good administration, and efficiency. The Islamic party PAS desires a stricter interpretation of Islam and the promotion of Islamic law. Due to Islam being the state religion, many mosques and other religious services are supported by the government. Control of the mosques is usually done on a state rather than a federal level. The charitable Zakāt tax is collected by the government, and the government supports those wishing to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1985, Kassim Ahmed wrote a book called "" which promoted Quranism, but it was subsequently banned by the Malaysian government.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Per Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia one must be Muslim to be considered Malay. In practice, Muslims cannot convert to another religion due to the Shari'a courts denying conversion claims, and if a Malay did convert they would lose their status as bumiputera. People of non-Muslim origins are required to convert to Islam if they marry a Muslim person. Public schools are required to offer Islamic religious instruction, although alternative ethics classes are provided for non-Muslims. Many women wear the tudong, which covers the head but leaves the face exposed, although there is no law requiring this. Islamic police monitor the Muslim population. Regulation of sexual activities among the Muslim population is strict, with laws prohibiting unmarried couples from occupying a secluded area or a confined space, to prevent suspicion of acts considered islamically immoral.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Muslims are obliged to follow the decisions of Syariah courts in matters concerning their religion. The Islamic judges are expected to follow the Shafi`i legal school of Islam, which is the main madh'hab of Malaysia. These courts apply Sharia law. The jurisdiction of Shariah courts is limited only to Muslims in matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce, apostasy, religious conversion, and custody among others. No other criminal or civil offences are under the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts, which have a similar hierarchy to the civil courts. Despite being the supreme courts of the land, the Civil Courts (including the Federal Court) do not hear matters related to Islamic practices. Cases concerning a Muslim and a non-Muslim are usually handled by the civil courts, although in cases such as child custody or property settlement the non-Muslim has no say.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In 2009 the National Fatwa Committee decided female circumcision was part of Malaysian Islamic practice, making it obligatory unless determined to be harmful to the individual.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Archaeological evidence, as well as official Chinese imperial records and Indian sources, confirm the existence of several Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Malaysia from the 3rd to 13th century CE. The earliest of these Indianized kingdoms was probably Kedah-Langkasuka in northern Malay Peninsula.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Kedah, lying half-way between China and the Middle-east, was an important entréport in the "Maritime Silk-route". The foundations of ancient stupas have been uncovered in Sungai Mas. The famous Chinese traveler-monk, Yi Jing, stopped over there on his sea voyage to Nalanda, India in 671 CE. Kedah later became a vassal of Srivijaya from the 7th to 11th century CE. The Maharajas of Srivijaya were Buddhists, and they were responsible for building many of the monuments in Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and Java, including the famous Candi Borobudur in Central Java) and Muaro Jambi Temple Compounds in Sumatra.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In 607CE, a Chinese embassy of the Sui Dynasty recorded the presence of the Buddhist kingdom of Che-tu (literally, "red-earth"). Located in the interiors of modern-day Kelantan, the kingdom supplied gold and jungle produce to Langkasuka and Champa (Southern Vietnam). Terracotta figurines of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the Mahayana School were found in the districts of Tanah Merah and Gua Musang in Kelantan.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Buddhism is currently the second largest religious denomination in Malaysia after Islam. There are approximately 5.4 million Buddhist adherents in the country, comprising 19.2% of the population of 28.3 million (January 2011 estimates). The majority of them are ethnic Chinese who follow the Mahayana tradition.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Theravada Buddhists include ethnic Chinese, Siamese (or Thais), and smaller numbers of Burmese, Sinhalese and Indians. The many ethnic groups of Theravadins usually establish temples in the style of their own traditions, and catering mainly to their own indigenous groups. The Thai community for example establish 'Wats' or Thai Buddhist temples like Wat Chetawan, have resident Thai monks, and conduct their religious services in Pāli and Thai languages.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: The Sinhalese (Sri Lankan Buddhists) migrated to then Malaya a century ago when both Malaya and Ceylon were under British colonial rule. They brought with them Sinhalese Buddhism with its unique traditions that survive to this day in a few Sri Lankan Viharas (temples) dotting the country and the most prominent one is Buddhist Maha Vihara in Kuala Lumpur.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Most Mahayana Buddhist temples in Malaysia adopt the classical 'Chinese temple' architectural style. The Mahayana Buddhists conduct their services in Mandarin and in various other Chinese dialects, although some urban-area temples have been preaching in English. The practice among the majority ethnic Chinese who profess themselves as Buddhists is actually a syncretic combination of Buddhism and Chinese beliefs and traditions.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Wesak Day was officially declared a public holiday in 1962 throughout the newly independent Federation of Malaya. A Malaysian Buddhist Council has been created to promote the study and practice of Buddhism and promote solidarity among Malaysian Buddhists.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Most Malaysian Chinese practice a syncretic blend of various faiths, including Mahayana Buddhism and other denominations of Buddhism, the Chinese folk religions, Confucianism and Taoism. Although Buddhism was influential prior to the arrival of Islam, the majority of the current Chinese population arrived during British rule of Malaya. Chinese New Year is celebrated as a national holiday. For many Chinese, religion is an essential part of their cultural life.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: It is uncommon for any Malaysian Chinese to be an absolute follower of a particular belief. Many nominally claim membership in a certain belief, yet respect beliefs from multiple religions into their lives. The Chinese traditional religion has become a strong influence in life, and new sects have arisen trying to integrate different religious teachings. Beliefs in Malaysia have also often adopted influence from local animism.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Chinese temples mostly enshrine deities from the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Malaysia has over 150 Taoist temples served by 12,000 priests, with the Taoist communities sharing links with those in Taiwan and Mainland China. Although the religion is not as organised as others, a Malaysia Taoist Association was formed in 1995 and a Taoist Organisation League was formed in 1997.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: A Chinese population known as the Hui people practised Islam yet retained Chinese culture and have unique traditions. Communities existed in Singapore, Pangkor Island, and Sitiawan before the Second World War. The last established community, in Penang, was dispersed when they were evicted from their homes due to development projects.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: In 2013, a video of a group of Buddhist practitioners from Singapore conducting religious ceremonies in a surau had become viral on Facebook. Malaysian police have arrested a resort owner after he allowed 13 Buddhists to use a Muslim prayer room (surau) for their meditation at Kota Tinggi, Johor. The incident has been frowned upon Muslims in Malaysia. It has also become a hot topic in the social media. Following up at 28 August 2013, the controversial prayer room was demolished by the resort management within 21 days from the date of receipt of the notice after much protests by the residents of Kota Tinggi. At the time, Syed Ahmad Salim, the resort owner explained that he had allowed the group of Buddhists to use the surau for a meditation session as he was unaware that it was an offence.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: The majority of the Tamils who make up 9% of Malaysia's population practice Hinduism. Hinduism was influential prior to Islam, but current adherents are mostly descended from migrant communities from Tamil Nadu who came to Malaya to work on British rubber plantations. A small community of migrants from North India also exists.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Urban temples are often dedicated to a single deity, while rural temples are often home to many different deities. Most were brought with immigrants. Most temples follow the Saivite tradition from Southern India, for the worship of Shiva. The Hindu holiday of Thaipusam and Deepavali is a national holiday. This shift to multi-deity temples occurred beginning in the 1980s, often alongside the rebuilding and expansion of existing temples. More complex worship rituals were developed to accommodate this shift. At the same time, there was a revival of more dedicated religious practice, with greater adherence to traditional practices and the phasing out of practices such as animal sacrifice. Interest in Tamil grew as a way to access religious texts that were not available in English.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Practice of the Hindu religion is strongly linked with the cultural identity of Malaysian Indians. Those who convert to another religion may be ostracised by their family and the Indian community. Some gurus have emerged within the country, and have pushed for greater celebration of Hindu festivals and a rejection of caste discrimination.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: There is growing anger in the Hindu community over what they believe is a government-backed drive to demolish Hindu temples under the guise that they are illegal structures. The Hindu Rights Action Force, a coalition of 50 Hindu-based NGOs, has accused the government of an unofficial policy of "temple cleansing", with much of the demolition focused around the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. An Indian minister in the cabinet even threatened to boycott Deepavali in response to these demolitions.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: About 10% of the population of Malaysia are Christians, mostly non-Malay Bumiputera, also including some Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indian minorities. The most common denominations are Anglican, Methodist, and Roman Catholic. Most Christians are found in East Malaysia, where Good Friday is a public holiday in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Christmas is a national holiday, although Easter is not.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Traders with links to Christianity from the Middle East arrived in what is now Malaysia in the 7th century. Catholicism was brought by the Portuguese in the 15th century, followed by Protestantism with the Dutch in 1641. As Portuguese influence declined Protestantism began to eclipse Catholicism. Christianity spread further through missionaries who arrived during British rule in the 19th century and introduced Christianity to East Malaysia. Initial conversions focused mainly on the Straits Settlements. When missionaries began to spread through the peninsula, they were discouraged from converting Malays, focusing on Chinese and Indian immigrants.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Christianity has become restricted as Malaysia has become more Islamic. Restrictions have been placed on the construction of new churches, although existing ones are allowed to operate. The city of Shah Alam has not allowed any churches to be built. Christians are not allowed to attempt the conversion of Muslims and their literature must have a note saying it is for non-Muslims only. Similarly, the film "The Passion of the Christ" was restricted only to Christian viewers. In April 2005 two Christians were arrested for distributing Christian material in front of a mosque, although charges were later dropped. The restrictions of the dissemination of Malay-language Christian material is much less strict in East Malaysia than in the west. Good Friday is also an official holiday in East Malaysia, although not a national one.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: The use of the Malay word "Allah" for God has caused a dispute in Malaysia, with Malay language Bibles banned due to the use of this word, and a government policy was established in 1986 forbidding the use of a small number of words by Christians, including "Allah". It was argued that as the Bibles could be used to spread religions other than Islam, they were against the constitution. Other ministers opposed this discrimination. In 2005 Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz tried to enforce this, although some of his ministers argued the national language could be used for any purpose. In 2009 a court ruled that Allah could be used by the Catholic "Herald", however this was overturned in 2013. The ban was not applied to East Malaysia due to the relative autonomy of the states there, a position confirmed by the Malaysian government in 2011. The Bible in the indigenous Iban language was allowed, as that language has no alternate word besides "Allah" for God. In March 2021 the Kuala Lumpur high court overturned the 1986 ban, a ruling which was quickly appealed by the government following religious and political pressure.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: A small Sikh community exists in Malaysia, brought by the British to form police units. They follow Sikhism, and open their places of worship to all races, ages, and genders. No Sikh holiday has been declared a national holiday, although there are 120,000 in the country. Sikhs have, like Christians, come under pressure not to use the word "Allah" for God in their religious texts.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: A small Jewish community existed on the island of Penang. Jews first came into contact with the Malay peninsula during the 11th century when Jewish traders traded with the Kedah Sultanate and Langkasuka. Many Jews in Malaysia came from Persia. After the communist revolution in China, more Jews fled to Southeast Asia. However, the Jewish community declined, with many emigrating to countries such as Australia. Due to not having enough members to hold some Jewish rituals, the only synagogue in Penang, established in 1932, was shut down in 1976. The last burial in Penang's Jewish cemetery took place in 1978. By the 1990s the community had disappeared, and it is now thought that there are only two Jews who hold Malaysian passports.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: A small Baháʼí Faith community exists in Malaysia, with members from Chinese, Eurasian, Indian, Indigenous communities. It was introduced to Malaya by an Iranian couple in 1950, with the first National Spiritual Assembly being elected in 1964. A community of around 2500 Jains lives in Malaysia, with the state of Ipoh hosting the only Jain temple in Southeast Asia. Most are Gujaratis, who are thought to have arrived in Malacca in the 15th or 16th century.


title: Religion in Malaysia

text: Traditional beliefs are still practised by the Orang Asal people. Loosely classified as animism, the beliefs are not recognised by the state as a religion. Animistic beliefs are passed down through oral tradition due to the lack of a writing system in indigenous groups, who call their beliefs "agama adat" (traditional or customary religions). The different religions are rather varied, with different names and concepts for their supreme god and other supernatural deities. Most of the beliefs are heavily influenced by the environment, with physical features such as mountains, trees, valleys, and rivers being sacred. A close relationship with nature is nurtured, and the relationship of humans and nature is a strong part of the religion, with everyday activities such as hunting and gathering having spiritual significance.


title: Lotus position

text: Lotus position or Padmasana () is a cross-legged sitting meditation pose from ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha yoga, and is widely used for meditation in Hindu, Tantra, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.


title: Lotus position

text: Variations include easy pose (Sukhasana), half lotus, bound lotus, and psychic union pose. Advanced variations of several other asanas including yoga headstand have the legs in lotus or half lotus. The pose can be uncomfortable for people not used to sitting on the floor, and attempts to force the legs into position can injure the knees.


title: Lotus position

text: Shiva, the meditating ascetic God of Hinduism, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and the Tirthankaras in Jainism have been depicted in the lotus position, especially in statues. The pose is emblematic both of Buddhist meditation and of yoga, and as such has found a place in Western culture as a symbol of healthy living and well-being.


title: Lotus position

text: The name Padmasana is from the Sanskrit पद्म "Padma", "lotus" and आसन, Āsana, "posture" or "seat". In Asian cultures, the sacred lotus is used as a symbol of growth towards perfection and enlightenment as it is rooted in the mud at the bottom of the pond, but rises and blooms above the water. In Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, the pose is also called the "vajra position" (Skt. "vajrāsana", Ch. 金剛座 "jīngāngzuò").


title: Lotus position

text: The pose is ancient and is described, along with other asanas (sitting postures), in the 8th century book "Patanjalayogashastravivarana". A figure seated in lotus position on a lotus flower is shown on dinar coins of Chandragupta II, who reigned c. 380–c. 415 AD. The first tantric text to discuss posture (asana), the 6th-10th century "Nisvasattvasamhita Nayasutra" (4.11-17, 4.104-106), directs the meditator and "user of mantras" to sit in lotus or a similar posture. The 15th century "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" states that the pose destroys all diseases, and that a yogin in the pose who retains the air breathed in through the nadi channels attains liberation.


title: Lotus position

text: Sukhasana is from Sanskrit सुख "sukha", meaning "pleasure" or "ease". The 19th century "Sritattvanidhi" describes and illustrates the pose. The name, and the more general name Yogasana ("Yoga pose") which may denote a variety of sitting poses, is found in much older documents as a meditation seat, such as in the 4th century "Darshana Upanishad".


title: Lotus position

text: From sitting cross-legged on the floor (Sukhasana), one foot is placed on top of the opposite thigh with its sole facing upward and heel close to the abdomen. The other foot is then placed on the opposite thigh as symmetrically as possible. The pose requires "very open hips". It can be modified using a support such as a cushion or blanket; by sitting on its forward edge, the pelvis is tilted forward.


title: Lotus position

text: In half lotus, अर्ध पद्मासन (Ardha Padmasana), one leg is bent and resting on the ground, the other leg is bent with the foot in lotus position. It is an easier meditation position than full lotus.


title: Lotus position

text: In bound lotus, बद्ध पद्मासन (Baddha Padmasana), the practitioner sits in full lotus, and each hand reaches around the back to grasp the opposite foot.


title: Lotus position

text: For psychic union pose, यओगमुद्रासन (Yogamudrasana), the practitioner bends forward in full lotus, bringing the forehead as close to the floor as possible. The pose is both an asana and a mudra; easier variants begin from Ardha Padmasana.


title: Lotus position

text: Variations of several other asanas such as Sirsasana (yoga headstand), Sarvangasana (shoulderstand), Simhasana (lion pose), Matsyasana (fish pose), and Gorakshasana (cowherd pose) have the legs in lotus. Asanas such as Vatayanasana (horse pose) and advanced forms of Ardha Matsyendrasana (half lord of the fishes pose) have one leg as in half lotus.


title: Lotus position

text: Lotus is one of the yoga poses that most commonly causes injury. Attempts to force the legs into lotus pose can injure the knees by squeezing and damaging the medial meniscus cartilage; this is painful and takes a long time to heal. The hip joints must rotate outwards approximately 115 degrees to permit full lotus. Students who cannot achieve this much hip rotation may try to compensate by bending the knee joint sideways, risking injury. Rather than bending the knee, the thighs can be encouraged to rotate outwards (using hand pressure or a strap).


title: Lotus position

text: The yoga guru B. K. S. Iyengar notes that people unused to sitting on the floor will initially feel "excruciating" pain in the knees, but that this subsides with practice, until the pose becomes relaxing, both restful and alert and hence ideal for pranayama.


title: Lotus position

text: Twentieth century advocates of some schools of yoga, such as Iyengar, made claims for the effects of yoga on specific organs, without adducing any evidence.


title: Lotus position

text: Iyengar claimed that Padmasana encourages blood circulation in the abdomen and lumbar region, toning the spine and abdominal organs.


title: Lotus position

text: In Buddhism, statues of the founder, Gautama Buddha, sometimes depict him seated in lotus position and enthroned on a lotus flower.


title: Lotus position

text: In Hinduism, statues often depict gods, especially Shiva, meditating in Padmasana. In Bali, a Padmasana is also a type of Hindu shrine, named for the posture.


title: Lotus position

text: The scholar of religion Thomas Tweed wrote in 2008 that "the prevailing image of Buddhist practice has been the solitary meditator, eyes half closed, sitting in the lotus position." Ian Fleming's 1964 novel "You Only Live Twice" has the action hero James Bond visiting Japan, where he "assiduously practised sitting in the lotus position." The critic Lisa M. Dresner notes that Bond is mirroring Fleming's own struggles with the pose. The BBC journalist Megan Lane commented in 2003 that since yoga as exercise had become mainstream, lotus position (like tree pose) had been used by advertisers to sell "all manner of goods and services." She noted that both "healthy living" goods such as vitamins, fitness clubs, water filter and probiotic yogurt, and unrelated items such as cars, airlines, financial services "and even beer" have made use of images of yoga to convey a message of well-being. Poland's Obory Dairy gave its advertising agency the goal of creating awareness of their "Jogi" yogurt as exclusive and with a positive image. The agency responded with a photograph of two young women meditating in lotus pose at dawn under the heading "Start your day with Jogi", the brand name also meaning "yoga" in Polish.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The second plague pandemic was a major series of epidemics of plague that started with the Black Death, which reached Europe in 1348 and killed up to half of the population of Eurasia in the next four years. Although the plague died out in most places, it became endemic and recurred regularly. A series of major epidemics occurred in the late 17th-century, and the disease recurred in some places until the late 18th-century or the early-19th century. After this, a new strain of the bacterium gave rise to the third plague pandemic, which started in Asia around the mid-19th century.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Plague is caused by the bacterium "Yersinia pestis," which exists in parasitic fleas of several species in the wild and of rats in human society. In an outbreak, it may kill all of its immediate hosts and thus die out, but it can remain active in other hosts that it does not kill, thereby causing a new outbreak years or decades later. The bacterium has several means of transmission and infection, including through rats carried on ships or vehicles, fleas hidden in grain, and transmitted by blood and sputum directly between humans.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: There have been three major outbreaks of plague. The Plague of Justinian in the 6th and 7th centuries is the first known attack on record, and marks the first firmly recorded pattern of plague. From historical descriptions, as much as 40% of the population of Constantinople died from the plague. Modern estimates suggest that half of Europe's population died as a result of this first plague pandemic before it disappeared in the 700s. After 750, plague did not appear again in Europe until the Black Death of the 14th-century.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The second pandemic's origins are disputed; originating either in Central Asia or Crimea, and appearing in Crimea by 1347. It may have reduced world population from an estimated 450 million to 350–375 million by the year 1400. A study published in the journal "Nature" in June 2022 found evidence for "Yersinia pestis" in the teeth of early plague victims in the Tian Shan mountains, now north Kyrgyzstan, indicating a likely origin of that iteration of the plague.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The plague returned at intervals with varying virulence and mortality until the early 19th-century. In England, for example, the plague returned between 1360 and 1363, killing 20% of Londoners, and then again in 1369, killing 10–15%.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the 16th-century, the plague hit San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Islands between 1582 and 1583.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the 17th-century, there were a series of "great plague" outbreaks: the Great Plague of Seville between 1647 and 1652, the Great Plague of London between 1665 and 1666, and the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the 18th-century, there was the Great Plague of Marseille, which took place between 1720 and 1722; the Great Plague of 1738, which occurred in Eastern Europe between 1738 and 1740; and the Russian plague of 1770–1772, which took place in Central Russia, and particularly affected Moscow. However, the plague in its virulent form seemed to gradually disappear from Europe, though lingering in Egypt and the Middle East.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: By the early 19th-century, the threat of plague had diminished, though it was quickly replaced by the spread of another deadly, infectious disease in the first cholera pandemic, beginning in 1817; the first of several cholera pandemics to sweep through Asia and Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The third plague pandemic hit China in the 1890s and devastated India. While it was largely contained in the East, it became endemic in the western United States, where sporadic outbreaks of plague continue to occur.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Arab historians Ibn Al-Wardi and Almaqrizi believed the Black Death originated in Mongolia, and Chinese records show a huge outbreak in Mongolia in the early 1330s.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In recent years, more research has emerged that shows the Black Death most likely originated on the northwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, and may not even have reached India and China, as research on the Delhi Sultanate and the Yuan Dynasty showed no evidence of any serious epidemic in 14th-century India and no specific evidence of plague in 14th-century China.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: There were large epidemics in China in 1331 and between 1351 and 1354 in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, and others, which are considered to have killed between 50% and 90% of the local populations, with numbers running into the tens of millions. However, there is no proof currently that these were caused by plague, though there are indications for the second set of epidemics. Europe was initially protected by a hiatus in the Silk Road.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders from their port city of Kaffa in Crimea in 1347. During a protracted siege of the city, between 1345 and 1346, the Mongol Golden Horde army of Jani Beg, whose mainly Tatar troops were suffering from the disease, catapulted infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa to infect the inhabitants, though it is more likely that infected rats travelling across the siege lines spread the epidemic to the inhabitants. As the disease took hold, Genoese traders fled across the Black Sea to Constantinople, where the disease first arrived in Europe in summer 1347. The epidemic there killed the 13-year-old son of the Byzantine emperor, John VI Kantakouzenos, who wrote a description of the disease modelled on Thucydides' account of the 5th-century BCE Plague of Athens, but noting the spread of the Black Death by ship between maritime cities. Nicephorus Gregoras also described in writing to Demetrios Kydones the rising death toll, the futility of medicine against it, and the panic of the citizens.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: It arrived at Genoa and Venice in January 1348, while simultaneously spreading through Asia Minor and into Egypt. The bubonic form was described graphically in Florence in "The Decameron" and Guy de Chauliac also described the pneumonic form at Avignon. It rapidly spread to France and Spain and, by 1349, was in England. In 1350, it was afflicting Eastern Europe and had reached the centre of Russia by 1351.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The 14th-century eruption of the Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe's population, irrevocably changing its social structures, and resulted in the widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival has been seen as creating a general mood of morbidity, influencing people to "live for the moment", as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in "The Decameron" (1353). Petrarch, noting the unparalleled and unbelievable extremity of the disease's effects, wrote that "happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe ... will look upon our testimony as a fable".


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The second pandemic spread throughout Eurasia and the Mediterranean Basin. The plague repeatedly returned to haunt Europe and the Mediterranean Basin throughout the 16th to 17th centuries. The plague ravaged much of the Islamic world. Plague was present in at least one location in the Islamic world virtually every year between 1500 and 1850. According to Jean-Noel Biraben, plague was present somewhere in Europe in every year between 1346 and 1671. According to Ellen Schiferl, between 1400 and 1600, there was a plague epidemic recorded in at least one part of Europe for every year, except 1445.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the Byzantine Empire, the 1347 Black Death outbreak in Constantinople lasted a year, but plague recurred ten times before 1400. Plague was repeatedly reintroduced to the city because of its strategic location between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and between Europe and Asia, as well as its position as the imperial capital.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Constantinople retained its imperial status at the centre of the Ottoman Empire after the Fall of Constantinople to Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453. Approximately 1–2% of the city's population died annually of plague. Especially severe episodes were recorded by the Ottoman historians Mustafa Âlî and Hora Saadettin between 1491 and 1503, with 1491 through 1493 being the most afflicted years. Plague returned in 1511 until 1514 and, after 1520, was endemic in the city until 1529. Plague was endemic in Constantinople again between 1533 and 1549, 1552 and 1567, and for most of the remaining 16th-century.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the 17th-century, plague epidemics within Constantinople were noted in the following years: 1603, 1611 to 1613, 1647 to 1649, 1653 to 1656, 1659 to 1688, 1671 to 1680, 1685 to 1695, and 1697 to 1701.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the 18th-century, there were 64 years in which plague broke out in the capital, and a further 30 plague years which occurred in the first half of the 19th-century. Of these later 94 plague epidemics in Constantinople between 1700 and 1850, six of them—occurring in 1705, 1726, 1751, 1778, 1812, and 1836—are estimated to have killed more than 5% of the population, whereas 83 of the epidemics killed 1% or fewer.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Plague repeatedly struck the cities of North Africa. Between 1620 and 1621, Algiers lost 30,000–50,000 people to it, with outbreaks returning in 1654 to 1657, 1665, 1691, and 1740 to 1742.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Plague remained a major event in Ottoman society until the second quarter of the 19th-century. Between 1701 and 1750, thirty-seven both large scale and smaller epidemics were recorded in Constantinople, with a further thirty-one occurring between 1751 and 1800. The Great Plague of 1738 affected Ottoman territory in the Balkans, lasting until 1740.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Baghdad has suffered severely from visitations of the plague, with outbreaks killing up to two-thirds of its population.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: One of the last epidemics to strike the Balkans during the second plague pandemic was Caragea's plague, between 1813 and 1814.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt witnessed the plague epidemics that ravaged Hejaz and Egypt between 1812 and 1816. He wrote: "In five or six days after my arrival [in Yanbu] the mortality increased; forty or fifty persons died in a day, which, in a population of five or six thousand, was a terrible mortality."


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Although regular outbreaks of disease were common for decades prior to 1618, the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) greatly accelerated their spread. Based on local records, military action accounted for less than 3% of civilian deaths; the major causes were starvation (12%) and bubonic plague (64%). The modern consensus is the population of the Holy Roman Empire declined from 18 to 20 million in 1600 to 11 to 13 million in 1650, and did not regain pre-war levels until 1750.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The Great Plague of Vienna struck Vienna, the dynastic seat of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1679, killing an estimated 76,000 people. Emperor Leopold I fled the city upon the outbreak, but vowed to erect a Marian column in thanksgiving, if the plague would end. Vienna's Plague Column, located on the Graben, was commissioned in 1683 and inaugurated in 1694.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: By 1357, the plague had returned to Venice and, from 1361 to 1363, the rest of Italy experienced the first recurrence of the pandemic. Pisa, Pistoia, and Florence in Tuscany were especially badly affected; there killed a fifth of the population. In the of 1369 to 1371, 10–15% died.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Survivors were aware that the Black Death of 1347 to 1351 was not a unique event and that life was now "far more frightening and precarious than before". The Italian peninsula was struck with an outbreak of plague in 68% of the years between 1348 and 1600. There were 22 outbreaks of plague in Venice between 1361 and 1528. Petrarch, writing to Giovanni Boccaccio in September 1363, lamented that while the Black Death's arrival in Italy in 1348 had been mourned as an unprecedented disaster, "Now we realize that it is only the beginning of our mourning, for since then this evil force, unequalled and unheard of in human annals through the centuries, has never ceased, striking everywhere on all sides, on the left and right, like a skilled warrior."


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the Jubilee Year of 1400, announced by Pope Boniface IX, one of the most severe occurrences of plague was exacerbated by the many pilgrims making their way to and from Rome; in the city itself 600–800 died daily. As recorded by the undertakers' records in Florence, at least 10,406 people died; the total death toll was estimated at twice that figure by 15th century chronicler Giovanni Morelli. Half of the population of Pistoia and its hinterland were killed that year.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Another outbreak occurred in Padua in 1405 and claimed 18,000 lives. In the plague epidemic of 1449 to 1452, 30,000 Milanese died in 1451 alone.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: A particularly deadly plague struck Italy between 1478 and 1482. The territories of the Republic of Venice saw 300,000 dead in the epidemic's eight-year course. Luca Landucci wrote in 1478 that the citizens of Florence "were in a sorry plight. They lived in dread, and no one had any heart to work. The poor creatures could not procure silk or wool ... so that all classes suffered." In addition to plague, Florence was suffering both from excommunication leading to war with the Papal States and from the political strife following the Pazzi conspiracy.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In 1479, the plague broke out in Rome; Bartolomeo Platina, the head of the Vatican Library was killed, and Pope Sixtus IV fled the city and was absent for more than a year. Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino also died.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Following the Sack of Rome in 1527 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, plague broke out in both Rome and Florence. The plague emerged in Rome and killed 30,000 Florentines—a quarter of the city's inhabitants. The "Description of the Plague at Florence in the Year 1527", by Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi, records this plague in detail; copied out by Niccolò Machiavelli with annotations by Strozzi. He wrote:


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Further plague epidemics accompanied the Siege of Florence in 1529; there, religious buildings became hospitals and 600 temporary structures were built to house the infected without the city walls.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: After 1530, political strife calmed and warfare in Italy became less frequent. Subsequently, plague outbreaks became more rare, affecting only individual cities or regions, but were particularly severe. In the forty-three years between 1533 and 1575, there were eighteen epidemics of plague. The especially damaging Italian plague of 1575 to 1578 travelled both north and southwards through the peninsula from either end; the death toll was particularly high. By official reckoning, Milan lost 17,329 to plague in 1576, while Brescia recorded 17,396 killed in a town that did not exceed 46,000 total inhabitants. Venice, meanwhile, saw between a quarter and a third of its population die of plague in the epidemic of 1576 to 1577 with 50,000 deaths.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In the first half of the 17th century, a plague claimed some 1.7 million victims in Italy, or about 14% of the population.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The Great Plague of Milan was possibly the most disastrous of the century: the city of Milan lost half its population of about 100,000, while Venice was as afflicted as in its severe 1553 to 1556 outbreak.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The Italian Plague of 1656 to 1657 was the last major catastrophic plague in Italy, with the Naples Plague the most severe. In 1656, the plague killed about half of Naples's 300,000 inhabitants.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Messina saw the last epidemic in Italy, in 1742 to 1744. The final recorded incidence of plague in Italy was in 1815 to 1816, when plague broke out in Noja, a town near Bari.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Over 60% of Norway's population died from 1348 to 1350. The last plague outbreak ravaged Oslo in 1654.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In Russia, where the disease hit somewhere once every five or six years from 1350 to 1490. In 1654, the Russian plague killed about 700,000 inhabitants.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In 1709–1713, a plague epidemic followed the Great Northern War (1700–1721), between Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia and its allies, killing about 100,000 in Sweden, and 300,000 in Prussia. The plague killed two-thirds of the inhabitants of Helsinki, and claimed a third of Stockholm's population. This was the last plague in Scandinavia, but the Russian plague of 1770–1772 killed up to 100,000 people in Moscow.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Great Plague of 1738 was a pandemic of plague lasting 1738–1740 and affecting areas in the modern nations of Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, and Austria. The Russian plague epidemic of 1770-1772 killed as much as 100,000 people in Moscow alone, with thousands more dying in the surrounding countryside.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In 1466, perhaps 40,000 people died of plague in Paris. During the 16th and 17th centuries, plague visited Paris nearly once every three years, on average. According to historian Geoffrey Parker, "France alone lost almost a million people to plague in the epidemic of 1628–31." Western Europe's last major epidemic occurred in 1720 in Marseilles.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Plague epidemics ravaged London in the 1563 London plague, in 1593, 1603, 1625, 1636, and 1665, reducing its population by 10 to 30% during those years. The 1665–66 Great Plague of London was the final major epidemic of the pandemic, with the last death of plague in the walled City of London recorded fourteen years later in 1679.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: More than 1.25 million deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th-century Spain. The plague of 1649 probably reduced the population of Seville by half.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Malta suffered from a number of plague outbreaks during the second pandemic between the mid-14th and early 19th centuries. The most severe outbreak was the epidemic of 1675–1676 which killed around 11,300 people, followed by the epidemic of 1813–1814 and that of 1592–1593, which killed around 4,500 and 3,000 people respectively.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The 1582 Tenerife plague epidemic (also 1582 San Cristóbal de La Laguna plague epidemic), was an outbreak of bubonic plague that occurred between 1582 and 1583 on the island of Tenerife, Spain. It is currently believed to have caused between 5,000 and 9,000 deaths on an island with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants at that time (between approximately 25-45% of the island's population).


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The 18th and 19th century outbreaks, though severe, marked the retreat of the pandemic from most of Europe (18th century), northern Africa, and the Near East (19th century). The pandemic died out progressively across Europe. One documented case was in 17th century London, where the first proper demographer, John Graunt, failed by just five years to see the last recorded death from plague, which happened in 1679, 14 years after the Great Plague of London. The reasons it died out totally are not well understood. It is tempting to think that the Great Fire of London the next year destroyed the hiding places of the rats in the roofs. There was not a single recorded plague death "within the walls" after 1666. However, by this time, the city had spread well beyond the walls, which contained most of the fire, and most plague cases happened beyond the limits of the fire. Likely more significant was the fact that all buildings after the fire were constructed of brick rather than wood and other flammable materials.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: This pattern was broadly followed after major epidemics in northern Italy (1631), south and east Spain (1652), southern Italy and Genoa (1657), Paris (1668).


title: Second plague pandemic

text: Synder suggests that the replacement of the Black rat ("Rattus rattus"), which thrived among people and was frequently kept as a pet, by the more aggressive and prolific Norway or brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus") was a major factor. The Brown rat, which arrived as an invasive species from the East, is skittish and avoids human contact, and their aggressive and asocial behavior made them less attractive to humans. As the Brown rat violently drove out the Black rat in country after country, becoming the dominant species in that ecological niche, rat-to-human contact declined, as did the opportunities for plague to pass from rat fleas to humans. One of the major demarcations for hot spots in the third plague pandemic was the places where the Black rat had yet to be replaced, such as Bombay (now Mumbai) in India.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: It has been suggested that evolutionary processes may have favored less virulent strains of the pathogen "Yersinia pestis".


title: Second plague pandemic

text: In all probability, almost all of the existing hypotheses had some effect in bringing about the end of the pandemic, though the main cause may never be conclusively determined.


title: Second plague pandemic

text: The disappearance happened rather later in the Nordic and eastern European countries but there was a similar halt after major epidemics.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor—the second monarch of the Salian dynasty—and Agnes of Poitou. After his father's death on 5 October 1056, Henry was placed under his mother's guardianship. She made grants to German aristocrats to secure their support. Unlike her late husband, she could not control the election of the popes, thus the idea of the "liberty of the Church" strengthened during her rule. Taking advantage of her weakness, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne kidnapped Henry in April 1062. He administered Germany until Henry came of age in 1065.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry endeavoured to recover the royal estates that had been lost during his minority. He employed low-ranking officials to carry out his new policies, causing discontent in Saxony and Thuringia. Henry crushed a riot in Saxony in 1069 and overcame the rebellion of the Saxon aristocrat Otto of Nordheim in 1071. The appointment of commoners to high office offended German aristocrats, and many of them withdrew from Henry's court. He insisted on his royal prerogative to appoint bishops and abbots, although the reformist clerics condemned this practice as simony (a forbidden sale of church offices). Pope Alexander II blamed Henry's advisors for his acts and excommunicated them in early 1073. Henry's conflicts with the Holy See and the German dukes weakened his position and the Saxons rose up in open rebellion in the summer of 1074. Taking advantage of a quarrel between the Saxon aristocrats and peasantry, he forced the rebels into submission in October 1075.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry adopted an active policy in Italy, alarming Pope Alexander II's successor, Gregory VII, who threatened him with excommunication for simony. Henry persuaded most of the German bishops to declare the Pope's election invalid on 24 January 1076. In response, the Pope excommunicated Henry and released his subjects from their allegiance. German aristocrats who were hostile to Henry called for the Pope to hold an assembly in Germany to hear Henry's case. To prevent the Pope from sitting in judgement on him, Henry went to Italy as far as Canossa to meet with the Pope. His penitential "Walk to Canossa" was a success and Gregory VII had no choice but to absolve him in January 1077. Henry's German opponents ignored his absolution and elected an antiking, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, on 14 March 1077. The Pope was initially neutral in the two kings' conflict, enabling Henry to consolidate his position. Henry continued to appoint high-ranking clerics, for which the Pope again excommunicated him on 7 March 1080. Most German and northern Italian bishops remained loyal to Henry and they elected the antipope Clement III. Rudolf of Rheinfelden was killed in battle and his successor, Hermann of Salm, could only exert royal authority in Saxony. From 1081, Henry launched a series of military campaigns to Italy, and Clement III crowned him emperor in Rome on 1 April 1084.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Hermann of Salm died and Henry pacified Saxony with the local aristocrats' assistance in 1088. He launched an invasion against the pope's principal Italian ally, Matilda of Tuscany, in 1089. She convinced Henry's elder son, Conrad II, to take up arms against his father in 1093. Her alliance with Welf I, Duke of Bavaria, prevented Henry's return to Germany until 1096 when he was reconciled with Welf. After Clement III's death, Henry did not support new antipopes, but did not make peace with Pope Paschal II. Henry proclaimed the first (imperial peace) which covered the whole territory of Germany in 1103. His younger son, Henry V, forced him to abdicate on 31 December 1105. He tried to regain his throne with the assistance of Lotharingian aristocrats, but became ill and died without receiving absolution from his excommunication. Henry's preeminent role in the Investiture Controversy, his "Walk to Canossa" and his conflicts with his sons and wives established his controversial reputation, with some regarding him as the stereotype of a tyrant, and others describing him as an exemplary monarch who protected the poor.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry was the third monarch of the Salian dynasty—the royal house ruling Germany from 1024 to 1125. The 11th-century kings of Germany also ruled Italy and Burgundy and had a strong claim to the title of Holy Roman Emperor. They were convinced that their claim to the emperorship entitled them each to act as the head of all Christians and to control papal elections in Rome. Rome was actually dominated by local aristocrats, the Tusculani and the Crescentii, who raised their own candidates to the papal throne. Their rivalries caused scandals, culminating in three rival popes—Benedict IX, Sylvester III and Gregory VI—in 1045. To put an end to the schism, Henry's father, Henry III, crossed the Alps to Italy and held a church synod at Sutri on 20 December 1046. The synod deposed the three popes and replaced them with a German prelate, Bishop Suidger of Bamberg, who assumed the name Clement II.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry III emphasized the priestly nature of kingship, attributing it to the kings' anointment by holy oil. A man of great personal piety, he regarded himself as "Vicar of Christ", authorized to administer state and church alike. The Romans awarded him the hereditary title of patrician, acknowledging his and his successors' right to cast the first vote at papal elections. His new title enabled him to secure the appointment of German clerics to the papal throne. The third German pope, Leo IX, came from Lotharingia—a province that had been an important centre of reformist clerics. They wanted to purify the Church through the re-implementation of ancient (or supposedly ancient) collections of canon law and Leo IX enthusiastically introduced their ideas to Rome. He prohibited simony—the sale of church offices—and promoted clerical celibacy. Imperial control of church affairs was in the long run incompatible with the reformist idea of "liberty of the Church" which claimed that ecclesiastic institutions could only be subject to the authority of the Holy See. The conflict between the two ideas reached its pinnacle during Henry IV's reign, developing into the confrontation known as the Investiture Controversy.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Germany, Italy and Burgundy were composed of semi-independent provinces, each administered by a prelate or a lay aristocrat. The prelates—the bishops and abbots—were not only wealthy landowners, they also played an important role in state administration. They were required to make annual gifts to the kings and also to provide the monarchs with well-defined regular services, including the collection of taxes and hospitality. The dukes were the most powerful lay aristocrats in Germany. They were primarily military commanders, but they were also responsible for the administration of justice. The monarchs occasionally kept the office of duke for themselves or for their closest relatives, but sooner or later they had no choice but to fill vacant duchies, because they depended on the most powerful aristocrats' support.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry III came into conflict with influential dukes towards the end of his life. Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Upper Lotharingia, married a wealthy widow, Margravine Beatrice of Tuscany, without the Emperor's consent. Henry III also outraged the Saxon duke, Bernard II, because he supported the duke's main rival, Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, in the seizure of some Saxon counties. The Salian kings who inherited their Ottonian predecessors' domains in Saxony visited the province frequently. Their lengthy visits irritated the Saxon aristocrats who were exposed to direct royal control for more time than their peers in other parts of the empire. The Saxons' grievances against the Salian monarchs broke out in a series of revolts during Henry IV's reign.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The empire's neighbours caused no less concern. Henry III launched punitive expeditions against Bohemia to extort an oath of fealty from the rebellious Duke Bretislav I. King Peter of Hungary, who owed his throne to Henry, also swore fealty to him, but was dethroned in 1046. Henry invaded Hungary, but could not force Peter's successor, King Andrew I, into submission. Andrew designated his brother, Béla, as his heir. Conflicts between Andrew and Béla, and later between their sons, culminated during the first decades of Henry IV's reign, provoking German military campaigns against Hungary. Henry III asserted his authority over the southern Italian princes, including the Norman counts of Aversa and Apulia in 1047. The absent emperor, however, could not control the Norman adventurers and he chose to charge the popes with the representation of his interests in southern Italy.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Born on 11 November 1050, Henry was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, by his second wife, Agnes of Poitou. Henry was most likely born in his father's palace at Goslar. His birth had been long-awaited; Henry III had fathered four daughters, but his subjects were convinced only a male heir could secure the "peace of kingdom" (as Hermann II, Archbishop of Cologne, called it in a sermon). Henry was first named for his grandfather, Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, but Abbot Hugh of Cluny, whom Henry III had appointed as his son's godfather, convinced the Emperor to give his name to his heir. While celebrating Christmas 1050 at Pöhlde in Saxony, the ailing Henry III designated his infant son as his successor.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Archbishop Hermann baptised Henry in Cologne on Easter Sunday 1051. In November, the Emperor held an assembly at Tribur to secure his son's succession. The German princes who attended the meeting elected the one-year-old king. They stipulated they would acknowledge him as his father's successor only if he acted as a "just ruler" during his father's lifetime. Historian Ian S. Robinson supposes the princes actually wanted to persuade Henry III to change his methods of government since the child king had no role in state administration. At Christmas 1052, the Emperor made Henry the duke of Bavaria.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Archbishop Hermann crowned Henry King of Germany in Aachen on 17 July 1054. On this occasion, Henry's two-year-old younger brother, Conrad, most likely received Bavaria from their father. When Conrad died in 1055, the Emperor gave Bavaria to Empress Agnes. The Emperor betrothed Henry to Bertha of Savoy in late 1055. Her parents, Adelaide, Margravine of Turin, and Otto, Count of Savoy, controlled north-western Italy. The Emperor wanted to secure their alliance against the rebellious Godfrey the Bearded.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry III fell seriously ill after eating a stag's liver in late September 1056. Historian Herbert Schutz attributes his sudden illness to his exhaustion. Already dying, the Emperor commended his son to the protection of Pope Victor II who had come from Italy to Germany to seek the Emperor's protection against the Norman rulers of southern Italy. Henry III died on 5 October 1056.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: At the age of six, Henry became sole monarch of the empire. Pope Victor II convinced the German aristocrats to swear fealty to their young king and enthroned him in Aachen. Although Empress Agnes had been planning to enter a nunnery, she was appointed her son's guardian. She was responsible for her son's education along with a royal (unfree liegeman), Cuno. She secured the most powerful aristocrats' support through lavish grants. Agnes was reconciled with Godfrey the Bearded and made her late husband's other opponent, Conrad of the Ezzonid family, duke of Carinthia.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Agnes took full control of state administration as regent after Pope Victor II left Germany early in 1057, but she paid little attention to Burgundy and Italy. Henry had inherited his father's Roman title of patrician, but the concept of "liberty of the Church" became dominant in Rome during his minority. Pope Victor's successor, Stephen IX—Godfrey the Bearded's brother—was elected without royal intervention early in August.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: A group of Saxon aristocrats plotted against Henry, fearing he would continue his father's oppressive policies after reaching the age of majority. They convinced Otto of Nordmark, who had recently returned from exile, to mount a coup. Henry's two relatives, Bruno II and Egbert I of Brunswick, attacked the conspirators. Bruno killed Otto but was mortally wounded in the skirmish.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1057, Agnes appointed a wealthy aristocrat, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, to be Duke of Swabia and also charged him with the administration of Burgundy. Godfrey the Bearded took possession of Spoleto and Fermo, probably through a royal grant. Rumours of Godfrey's determination to seize the imperial crown with Pope Stephen's help spread in Italy, but the Pope died unexpectedly on 29 March 1058.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Roman aristocrats placed one of their number, Giovanni, Cardinal Bishop of Velletri, on the papal throne without consulting with Henry's representatives. Giovanni took the name Benedict X, but Peter Damian, the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, refused to consecrate him, although the consecration of a new pope had been the Ostian bishops' traditional privilege. The cardinals assembled at Florence where Pope Stephen had died to discuss Pope Stephen's succession. They wanted to elect the local bishop Gerard pope and sent an envoy to Germany to inform Henry about their plan. Henry, "having deliberated with the princes", designated Gerard as the Pope in Augsburg on 7 June. King Andrew I of Hungary also sent delegates to Germany in September 1058. Andrew wanted to secure his five-year-old son Solomon's succession, ignoring his brother's claim to succeed him. The Hungarian envoys and Henry's representatives concluded a treaty, and Henry's sister, Judith, was engaged to Solomon.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The reformist clerics elected Bishop Gerard pope in Florence in December 1058. He took the name Nicholas II. Godfrey the Bearded accompanied him to Rome and forced Antipope Benedict to leave the city. His advisor, the monk Hildebrand, was determined to strengthen the autonomy of the papacy. The Pope held a synod which issued a decree, , establishing the cardinals' right to elect the popes as against election by people and clergy, which had been manipulated by Henry III. Referring to Henry IV as "presently king and with the help of God emperor-to-be", the decree also confirmed the emperors' existing prerogatives over papal elections, but without specifying them. As early as 1057–1058, however, Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida questioned the monarchs' right to invest clerics with bishoprics and abbeys in his treatises against simony.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pope Nicholas invested two Norman rulers, Robert Guiscard and Richard I of Capua, with southern Italian duchies in 1059. In return, the Normans swore fealty to the Pope and promised to support him against his enemies, probably the Roman aristocrats. Although the duchies were imperial fiefs, Nicholas's action did not necessarily trespass on imperial rights, because the popes had acted as the emperors' representatives in southern Italy for a decade. However, the Pope's treaty with the Normans forged their lasting alliance.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Andrew I of Hungary faced a rebellion from his brother, Duke Béla, in 1060. Agnes dispatched Bavarian, Saxon and Bohemian troops to Hungary to fight Béla and his Polish allies, but the three armies did not coordinate their movements. Béla defeated his brother who died of his wounds. Andrew's family fled to Germany, and Béla was crowned king on 6 December. After Béla's victory, the command of the German duchies along the Hungarian frontier had to be strengthened. Agnes ceded Bavaria to a wealthy Saxon lord, Otto of Nordheim, and replaced Duke Conrad of Carinthia with Berthold of Zähringen in early 1061.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Relations between Pope Nicholas and the German prelates became tense for unknown reasons in 1061. When Nicholas died on 20 July 1061, the Roman aristocrats dispatched an embassy to Henry asking him to nominate a new pope. Hildebrand and other reformist clerics elected Anselm of Baggio, Bishop of Lucca, pope on 30 September without Henry's confirmation. Anselm took the name Pope Alexander II. Henry summoned the Italian bishops to a synod in Basel to discuss the situation. He attended the synod, wearing the insignia of his office of patrician of the Romans. The synod elected Cadalus, Bishop of Parma, antipope on 28 October.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The election of two popes divided the German clergy. Some bishops supported Cadalus (now known as Honorius II) and others accepted Alexander II. Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg was Honorius's most prominent supporter, while Archbishop Anno II of Cologne acknowledged Alexander as the lawful pope. Empress Agnes supported Honorius, for which her advisors were excommunicated by Alexander. Her blatant favouritism for Bishop Henry II of Augsburg and the complete failure of the Hungarian campaign had compromised her prestige; the schism raised more indignation. Archbishop Anno, Egbert of Brunswick, Otto of Nordheim and other discontented aristocrats decided to deprive her of the regency. Archbishop Anno equipped a ship "with admirable workmanship" and sailed down the Rhine to an island near the royal palace at Kaiserswerth in April 1062. The ship fascinated Henry, so Anno could easily talk him into a visit on it. As soon as Henry stepped on board, the ship was cast off. Fearing his captors wanted to murder him, Henry jumped into the river. He almost drowned, but Egbert of Brunswick rescued him.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The "Coup of Kaiserswerth" destroyed the Empress's self-confidence, and she retired to her estates. Anno replaced her as the head of the government. His new title of "magister" (master) shows that he also took charge of Henry's education. Anno was determined to put an end to the schism. In October 1062, the synod of the German bishops appointed his nephew, Burchard II, Bishop of Halberstadt, to begin negotiations with Pope Alexander II. That same month, the theologian Peter Damian completed a treatise defending the legality of Alexander II's election. He emphasised that Henry's "right to participate in the papal elections ... is subject each time to reconfirmation by the pope". Damian's argument implied that Henry only inherited a claim to the imperial prerogatives relating to papal elections, but he could forfeit it. Respect for the monarch also declined in Germany. For example, the retainers of Abbot Widerad of Fulda and Bishop Hezilo of Hildesheim ignored Henry's commands when an armed conflict broke out between them in his presence at a church in Goslar in June 1063.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Béla I of Hungary wanted to make peace with Henry to secure his throne against his nephew, Solomon, who had taken refuge in Germany. Henry and his advisors, however, insisted on Solomon's restoration to the Hungarian throne and German troops invaded Hungary in August 1063. Henry gained his first military experience during this campaign. Béla died in an accident unexpectedly and the German army entered Székesfehérvár. Henry installed Solomon on the throne and attended his wedding to Judith before returning to Germany. Adalbert of Bremen accompanied Henry on the Hungarian campaign and struck up a friendship with him. Adalbert was mentioned as Henry's "protector" in royal diplomas from 1063, indicating a position equal to Anno's. Anno went to Italy to recognise Alexander II as pope at a synod in Mantua in May 1064, and in his absence Adalbert was able to strengthen his influence with Henry.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry was girded with a sword as a token of his coming of age in Worms on 29 March 1065. According to the contemporaneous account of Lampert of Hersfeld, Henry attacked Archbishop Anno of Cologne soon after the ceremony and only his mother could calm him down. Lampert's report is not fully reliable, but it is known that Anno was ousted from Henry's court. At Worms, Henry accepted Pope Alexander II's invitation to Rome. Agnes of Poitou recovered her influence, but she left Germany for Italy two months later and Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen took full control of state administration. Henry's journey to Rome was postponed first until autumn, and then indefinitely, although the Pope needed Henry's presence to overcome the Italian supporters of Antipope Honorius II. Instead of travelling to Rome, Henry visited Burgundy in June 1065. Burgundian diplomas show the local aristocrats regarded his visit as the starting date of his reign. From Burgundy, Henry went to Lorraine where he granted Lower Lorraine to Godfrey the Bearded in October.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Adalbert of Bremen, in concert with the King's young friend, Werner, abused royal prerogative to seize church property and took bribes for royal appointments. They persuaded the King to grant monasteries to the most powerful prelates and princes to appease their envy at their aggrandizement. Adalbert's attempts to take possession of Lorsch Abbey by force caused his fall, because the scandal enabled Archbishops Siegfried of Mainz and Anno of Cologne to stage a plot. They secured the support of Otto of Nordheim, Rudolf of Rheinfelden and Berthold of Zähringen and convinced Henry to dismiss Adalbert on 13 January 1066. Anno regained the King's favour, but thereafter no royal advisors could take full control of state administration.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry fell unexpectedly ill in the middle of May 1066. His sickness was so serious that he was thought to be dying. The aristocrats began to seek his successor, but he recovered in two weeks. He immediately married his betrothed, Bertha, most probably because the uncertainty about the childless monarch's succession caused widespread anxiety in his realms. Late in 1066, Prince Richard I of Capua rose up against Pope Alexander II and invaded Roman Campagna. Early in 1067, Agnes of Poitou hurried back from Rome to Germany to persuade her son to intervene on the Pope's behalf. Henry ordered his troops to assemble at Augsburg, but Godfrey the Bearded was faster and launched a successful counter-offensive against Richard in June. Godfrey's independent act was regarded as an insult to Henry's authority in Italy.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Adalbert of Bremen's fall had encouraged the Lutici (a pagan Slavic tribe dwelling over the river Elbe) to invade Germany and plunder Hamburg. In early 1069, Henry crossed the Elbe to punish the invaders. He defeated them, but could not prevent them from launching subsequent plundering raids against Saxony.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Large parcels of the royal demesne were distributed during Henry's minority, and he decided to recover them around 1069. The bulk of the royal estates had been in Saxony. Henry sent Swabian "ministeriales" to the duchy to investigate property rights. The appointment of non-native unfree officials offended the Saxons, especially because the new officials ignored their traditional civil procedures. New castles were built in Saxony and Henry manned them with Swabian soldiers. Like his father, Henry spent more time in Saxony than in other parts of Germany and the accommodation of his retinue was the Saxons' irksome duty. The Thuringians were also outraged that Henry supported Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz's claim to collect tithes from them, although most Thuringians had been exempted from the church tax for centuries. The Margrave of Lower Lusatia, Dedi I, was the first Saxon lord to rebel. He claimed benefices that his wife's former husband, Otto I, Margrave of Meissen, had held, but Henry refused him in 1069. Dedi approached the Thuringians for help, but after Henry's promise to confirm their exemption from tithes the Thuringians joined the royal army. Henry invaded Dedi's domains and forced him to surrender.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto of Nordheim held vast estates in Saxony. After a nobleman, Egeno, accused him of plotting against Henry's life, Otto was summoned to "purge himself of that charge in single combat" early in August 1070. The contemporary historian Bruno the Saxon stated that Henry had paid Egeno to accuse Otto, but his account is biased. Fearing his case would not be judged fairly, Otto disobeyed the summons and fled from Bavaria to Saxony. He was soon outlawed and his benefices were confiscated. Henry invaded Otto's Saxon domains, but Otto raided the royal estates in Thuringia. Ordulf, Duke of Saxony, and most Saxon aristocrats remained loyal to Henry, but Ordulf's son and heir, Magnus, joined Otto's revolt. Henry ceded Bavaria to Otto's wealthy son-in-law, Welf, at Christmas 1070. Without their peers' support, Otto and Magnus had to surrender. Henry placed them in the German dukes' and bishops' custody on 12 June 1071.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen convinced Henry to release Otto of Nordheim in May 1072, but Magnus of Saxony remained imprisoned. Before long, Adalbert died and Henry seized his treasury—an early example of the application of the by a German monarch. Henry started appointing low-ranking men to royal offices in the whole kingdom and this practice outraged the German aristocrats. Rudolf of Rheinfelden and Berthold of Zähringen returned to their duchies from the royal court and rumours accusing them of plotting against the King spread in Germany. Rudolf appealed to Agnes of Poitou, asking her to reconcile him with her son. Agnes, who had moved to Rome in 1065, returned to Germany and mediated a reconciliation in July 1072. It proved temporary because Henry did not dismiss his advisors. Agnes shared the dukes' negative views of Henry's advisors and persuaded Pope Alexander to excommunicate at least five of them in February 1073, though Henry did not sever ties with them.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Appointments to the highest church offices remained crucial elements of Henry's authority: the practice enabled him to demand benefices for his supporters from the wealthy bishops and abbots, but the reformist clergy condemned it as simony. When Henry appointed a Milanese nobleman, Gotofredo, to the Archbishopric of Milan in 1070, Pope Alexander II excommunicated the new archbishop. Henry obtained Gotofredo's consecration, however, which brought him into a prolonged conflict with the Holy See. The Bishopric of Constance became another source of conflict in 1070 after the local clerics appealed to the Holy See to prevent the installation of Henry's candidate, Charles of Magdeburg, to the episcopal see. Henry denied Charles had bribed him, but he publicly admitted at a synod that his advisors may have received money from Charles. Pope Alexander II decided to investigate and summoned all German bishops who had been accused of simony or corruption to Rome, but he died in two months. The Romans proclaimed Hildebrand as his successor on 22 April 1073.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Hildebrand, who assumed the name Gregory VII, did not seek confirmation from Henry. He did not challenge Henry's prerogatives, but he was convinced a monarch who had regular contacts with excommunicated people could not intervene in church affairs. He regarded lay investiture as the principal barrier to completing the reform of the Church and challenged royal appointments, taking advantage of individual complaints against German prelates. Henry's Italian chancellor, Bishop Gregory of Vercelli, and an assembly of the German bishops, urged the King to declare Gregory's election invalid, because he had been proclaimed pope by the Romans instead of being elected by the cardinals. The German dukes and Godfrey the Bearded's influential widow, Beatrice of Tuscany, convinced Henry that he should cooperate with the Pope.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Bolesław II, Duke of Poland, invaded Bohemia in early 1073, and Henry decided to launch a punitive action against him. He ordered the Saxon aristocrats to assemble at Goslar, where on 29 June they asked Henry to redress their grievances. Henry made no concessions and withdrew from Goslar to Harzburg. Otto of Nordheim soon convinced the assembled Saxons to take up arms for their liberties. The Saxons marched to Harzburg, but Henry had fled to Eschwege. The Thuringians and the Saxons concluded an alliance and captured Lüneburg. To save the life of the commander of Lüneburg, Henry released Magnus of Saxony, whom the rebels acknowledged as their lawful duke without seeking royal confirmation. The German dukes and bishops did not come to Henry's rescue, and the rebels began attacking the royal castles. To prevent the rebellious Saxon bishops from securing the Pope's support, Henry addressed a letter of penance to the Pope, admitting he had been involved in simony. He claimed his youthful arrogance had been responsible for his sins and blamed his advisors for his acts.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Siegfried of Mainz, Anno of Cologne, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, Berthold of Zähringen and other German aristocrats came to Gerstungen to begin negotiations with the Saxon leaders in October 1073. They tried to persuade Henry to redress the Saxons' grievances, but he was determined to crush the revolt. A month later, Henry's servant Regenger informed Rudolf and Berthold that Henry was planning to murder them. Regenger was ready to prove his words in a judicial duel, but he died unexpectedly in January 1074. His statements, however, deepened the conflict between the King and the two dukes. Henry, who had just recovered from an illness, moved to Worms. The local bishop, Adalbert, denied his entry, but the townspeople rose up against the bishop and surrendered Worms to Henry. A grateful Henry exempted the burghers from customs duties, emphasising their loyalty in a time when "all the princes of the realm were raging" against him.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen, Udo, Archbishop of Trier, and eight bishops came to visit Henry in Worms in early 1074. Their retainers and the Worms militia joined Henry in a new military campaign against the Saxons and Thuringians, but he soon realised the rebels outnumbered his army and entered into negotiations with them. Henry accepted the rebels' principal demands in the Treaty of Gerstungen on 2 February. He agreed to destroy his castles and appoint only natives to offices in Saxony in return for the Saxon aristocrats' promise to raze their newly built fortresses. On hearing the agreement, the Saxon peasants captured and destroyed Harzburg and desecrated the graves of Henry's younger brother and first-born son. The destruction of the royal graves aroused public indignation, and Henry regarded it as a violation of the treaty.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pope Gregory appointed the cardinal bishops Gerald of Ostia and Hubert of Palestrina to begin negotiations with Henry. Agnes of Poitou accompanied the two legates to her son's court. After Henry had done a public penance for simony, the legates absolved him on 27 April 1074. They summoned the German bishops to a synod to hear the case of Bishop Herman I of Bamberg who had been accused of simony, but eight prelates did not obey their summons. In response, the Pope suspended Archbishop Liemar from office, and summoned the disobedient bishops to Rome. Henry did not intervene in the conflict, although the German prelates under investigation were his staunch supporters.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry's brother-in-law, Solomon of Hungary, sent envoys to Henry seeking his assistance against his cousin Géza (who was Béla I's eldest son). Géza had defeated Solomon on 14 March 1074, forcing him to take refuge in the fortresses of Moson and Pressburg (now Mosonmagyaróvár in Hungary and Bratislava in Slovakia, respectively). Solomon promised to cede six castles to Henry and acknowledge his suzerainty in return for Henry's support to recover his country. Henry invaded Hungary and marched as far as Vác, but he could not force Géza to surrender. Pope Gregory sharply criticised Solomon for his willingness to accept Henry's suzerainty, because the Pope regarded Hungary as a fief of the Holy See.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 7 December 1074, Pope Gregory asked Henry to compel the German prelates who had not obeyed his summons to attend a synod in Rome. The Pope suspended five German bishops for disobedience at the synod of Lent in Rome in February 1075. He blamed Henry's five advisors, likely those who had been excommunicated by his predecessor, for the conflict over the archbishopric of Milan. Henry and the German bishops wanted to avoid a conflict. Archbishops Siegfied of Mainz and Liemar of Bremen travelled to Rome to begin negotiations with the Pope. They did not protest when the Pope deposed Bishop Herman of Bamberg. The Pope appreciated their obedience and appointed Siegfried to hold a reforming synod in Germany.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry had meanwhile made preparations to take vengeance for the desecration of the royal graves at Harzburg. He promised amnesty and gifts to those who joined his campaign against Saxony. Most German dukes and many bishops hurried to Breitungen where the royal troops were assembling in June 1074. Saxon nobles and prelates also deserted to the royal camp. Under the command of Rudolf of Rheinfelden, the royal army launched a surprise attack on the Saxons at Homburg Castle on 9 June. Most Saxon noblemen were able to flee from the battlefield, but many of the common foot soldiers were slaughtered. Those who survived the massacre condemned the noblemen for their comrades' fate, and their stories turned the Saxon peasantry against their lords. Pope Gregory VII congratulated Henry on his victory, stating that the Saxons' defeat at Homburg was an act of "divine judgement".


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry invaded Saxony again in autumn 1075. Godfrey the Hunchback, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was the sole German duke to join his campaign, but the Saxons were unable to resist. Otto of Nordheim convinced them to surrender unconditionally to the King on 26 or 27 October. Henry pardoned Otto and returned all his benefices except Bavaria. He showed no mercy to other rebel leaders, who were imprisoned and had their estates confiscated. Henry summoned the German dukes to Goslar to swear fealty to his two-year-old son, Conrad, as his successor, but only Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia obeyed his command.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry knew that his dependence on Pope Gregory VII was loosened after his victory in the Saxon War. He sent Count Eberhard the Bearded as his deputy to Italy. Eberhard demanded an oath of fealty from the Pope's vassal, Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. Henry made one of his chaplains, Tedald, archbishop of Milan, thereby contradicting the Pope's former decisions. Alarmed by these acts, the Pope announced he would excommunicate Henry unless he changed his policies.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry regarded the Pope's words as a clear denial of the sacred nature of kingship. He held a synod in Worms on 24 January 1076. Two archbishops, twenty-four German bishops (two-thirds of the German episcopate), one Burgundian bishop, an Italian bishop and Godfrey the Hunchback attended it. At Henry's order, they declared the Pope's election invalid and demanded his abdication. An assembly of the Lombard bishops and aristocrats passed a similar resolution in Piacenza on 5 February. Henry's most important ally, Godfrey the Hunchback, was murdered on 22 February. Godfrey had named his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, as his heir, but Henry granted Lower Lorraine to his own son, Conrad.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pope Gregory VII was informed of the decisions of the two assemblies during the synod of Lent in Rome. He excommunicated Henry and released his subjects from fealty in a public prayer addressed to Saint Peter. The deposition of a monarch by a pope was unprecedented, but the Pope was convinced Henry's extraordinary arrogance could not be punished otherwise. On learning of the Pope's decision Henry convoked a synod in Utrecht, but the local bishop, William I, was the only prelate willing to excommunicate the Pope. Henry wanted to demonstrate that the Pope's denial of the monarchs' role in the administration of the Christian community was responsible for their conflict. His chaplain, Gottschalk, completed a letter to be circulated in Germany, which emphasised that only God could judge a monarch. The letter addressed the Pope as the "false monk, Hildebrand" and ended with the dramatic warning demanding his abdication: "descend, descend!" Two incidents occurred in succession which discouraged Henry's supporters: a fire after a lightning strike destroyed the cathedral of Utrecht on 27 March, and Bishop William's sudden death on 27 April.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry's opponents regarded these incidents as divine retribution for his sinful acts. Bishop Herman of Metz released the Saxon rebels who had been in his custody. Bishop Burchard of Halberstadt, who had been one of the leaders of the Saxon revolt, escaped from captivity and returned to Saxony. Theoderic and William, members of the House of Wettin, also returned from exile and rose up against Henry. Henry invaded Saxony in August, but only Vratislaus II of Bohemia accompanied him. Their arrival provoked a general uprising, and Henry was forced to flee to Bohemia. The German aristocrats and prelates met at Trebur from 16 October to 1 November. They convinced Henry to accept the terms the Pope had set for him. He had to promise to dismiss his excommunicated advisors and acknowledge Gregory as the lawful pope. Furthermore, he was to acknowledge the Pope's jurisdiction in his conflicts with the German dukes and bishops. They announced they would elect a new king if Henry was unable to achieve his absolution before the anniversary of his excommunication. They also invited Pope Gregory to Germany to hold an assembly in Augsburg on 2 February 1077.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry moved to Speyer and lived there as a penitent. He decided to depart for Italy to achieve his absolution, because he wanted to prevent the Pope from hearing his case at an assembly dominated by his enemies. Although the winter was unexpectedly severe, Henry, his wife and their retainers crossed the Mont Cenis pass in December. On 25 January, they reached Canossa Castle where the Pope had sought refuge, fearing that Henry came to Italy to capture him. Henry remained barefoot and wearing sackcloth at the castle for three days. Matilda of Tuscany (who held the castle), Adelaide of Turin and Hugh of Cluny convinced the Pope he had no choice but to absolve the remorseful King. Before receiving absolution, Henry had to pledge to accept the Pope's judgement in his conflict with his subjects.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry remained in Italy after his absolution, which surprised his German opponents. They held an assembly at Forchheim, arguing that it had not restored their oaths of fealty. The bishops, archbishops, dukes and the Saxons' representatives who attended the assembly elected Rudolf of Rheinfelden king on 14 March 1078. Although the papal legates who were present acknowledged Rudolf's election, Pope Gregory VII remained neutral. He maintained he was entitled to settle the dispute and informed both Henry and Rudolf he would hear their case at an assembly in Germany.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On hearing of the election of an anti-king, Henry replaced Rudolf's principal ally, Berthold of Zähringen, with Liutold of Eppenstein as duke of Carinthia and awarded Friuli to Sigehard, Patriarch of Aquilea. He confiscated Swabia from Rudolf and Bavaria from Welf, placing both duchies under his direct control. Before returning to Germany in April, Henry made his three-year-old son, Conrad, his lieutenant in Italy. He charged two excommunicated Italian prelates, Tedald of Milan and Denis of Piacenza, with Conrad's protection. Unable to prevent Henry's return, Rudolf of Rheinfelden moved to Saxony.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry visited Ulm, Worms, Nuremberg, Mainz, Strasbourg, Utrecht and Augsburg to demonstrate the full restoration of his royal authority. He rewarded his supporters with estates confiscated from his opponents, but the grantees had to obtain actual possession by force. Henry and Rudolf's armies approached each other for the first time near Würzburg in August, but Henry avoided battle as his forces were outnumbered. Both camps' aristocrats wanted to restore peace and agreed to hold a joint assembly in the absence of the kings at the Rhine in November. Henry sent troops to the Rhine to prevent the negotiations.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The papal legate, Cardinal Bernard, excommunicated Henry on 12 November 1077. Henry sent Bishops Benno II of Osnabrück and Theoderic of Verdun to Rome to begin negotiations with the Pope, whose position in Italy had been weakening. The Pope appointed a new legate, whose name was not recorded, to represent him in Germany. The papal legate celebrated Easter with Henry in Cologne on 8 April 1078, demonstrating that the Pope had not regarded Henry's excommunication as valid. Henry invaded Lotharingia and forced Bishop Herman of Metz into exile, but Berthold of Zähringen and Welf of Bavaria inflicted defeats on his Swabian and Franconian supporters. Rudolf of Rheinfelden hurried to Franconia and met Henry and his army of 12,000 Franconian peasants at Mellrichstadt on 7 August. The Battle of Mellrichstadt proved indecisive.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pope Gregory prohibited all clerics from receiving royal appointments to bishoprics or abbeys in November 1078. The royal investiture was a basic element of royal administration. The ring and crosier the prelates received from monarchs during their installation symbolised their mutual dependence. At the February 1079 synod of Lent, Henry's opponents, Bishops Altmann of Passau and Herman of Metz, convinced the Pope to send new legates to Germany, but the Pope forbade his legates to pass judgement against the prelates who had been appointed by Henry.


title: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Henry confiscated Rudolf of Rheinfelden's inherited Swabian estates and ceded them to Bishop Burchard of Lausanne in March. In the same month, he made a wealthy local aristocrat, Frederick of Büren, duke of Swabia. Frederick could only take possession of the lands north of the Danube, because Rudolf of Rheinfelden's son, Berthold, asserted his authority over the southern parts of Swabia.