page_title: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
section_title: Period of consensual rule
hierarchical_section_title: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor / Life / Period of consensual rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Atrium of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio.
context_page_description: Henry V, as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in 1098.
  In Emperor Henry IV's conflicts with the imperial princes and the struggle against the reform papacy during the Investiture Controversy, young Henry V allied himself with the opponents of his father. He forced Henry IV to abdicate on 31 December 1105 and ruled for five years in compliance with the imperial princes. He tried, unsuccessfully, to withdraw the regalia from the bishops and in order to at least preserve the previous right to invest he captured Pope Paschal II and forced him to perform his imperial coronation in 1111. Once crowned emperor, Henry departed from joint rule with the princes and resorted to earlier Salian autocratic rule. After he had failed to increase control over the church, the princes in Saxony and on the Middle and Lower Rhine, in 1121 the imperial princes forced Henry V to consent with the papacy. He surrendered to the demands of the second generation of Gregorian reformers, and in 1122 he and Pope Callixtus II ended the Investiture Controversy in the Concordat of Worms.
context_section_description: In spring 1106, while Henry reflects on his father's mistakes, he remarked that "disregard for the princes was the downfall of the empire."  Thus, the following years of his reign were characterized by greater shared responsibilities of the princes and the sanctioning of church reforms. Documents and annals prove the consensual practice of his rule. Records of princes and nobles in royal documents, who actively take part in government affairs, increased. In several documents Henry would state that he had carried out his actions "with the judgment and advice of the princes". In order to find greater consent with the nobility he would summon diets (Hoftage). The princes' participation in great numbers at the diets and the strong increase in chroniclers' reports confirm the new sense of responsibility among the king's vassals for the empire. Henry V reinstalled the bishops who had been banned from entering their bishoprics under his father. Negotiations with the Pope now took place among representatives of the clerics and secular princes. Bishop Eberhard von Eichstätt (until his early death in 1112), Count Berengar II of Sulzbach and Count Palatine Gottfried of Calw were particularly close to the young king and are most frequently mentioned by the worldly nobles in the royal documents. Additionally, the archbishops Friedrich of Cologne and Bruno von Trier, the bishops Burchhard von Münster, Otto von Bamberg and Erlung von Würzburg and Count Hermann von Winzenburg were named remarkably often in official documents. From 1108 the Staufer Duke Friedrich II and from 1111 Margrave Hermann von Baden would frequently appear in the records.
  Thanks to the consensual cooperation between the lords and the king, Henry was the first Salian ruler, who had managed to acquire unhindered access to all parts of the empire after a long time and thus able to successfully intervene in political affairs in both the western and eastern imperial estates. Henry visited Saxony several times until 1112, as his relationship with the Saxons was stable during the next years.
  After the 1106 death of the last member of the Saxon Billung family line Duke Magnus, Henry did not confer the Duchy of Saxony to any of the two sons-in-law, Henry the Black or Otto of Ballenstedt, but to Lothar of Supplinburg, as reward for Lothar's support during the 1104/05 disempowerment of Henry IV. This act was enforced  upon the legal body of the duchy against traditional habits of dynastic inheritage.
  In 1107, Henry campaigned to restore Borivoi II in Bohemia, which was only partially successful. Henry summoned Svatopluk the Lion, who had captured Duke Borivoi. Borivoi was released at the emperor's command and appointed godfather to Svatopluk's new son. Nevertheless, on Svatopluk's return to Bohemia, he assumed the throne. In 1108, Henry went to war with Coloman of Hungary on behalf of Prince Álmos. An attack by Boleslaus III of Poland and Borivoi on Svatopluk forced Henry to give up his campaign. Instead, he invaded Poland to compel them to renew their accustomed tribute but was again defeated at the Battle of Hundsfeld. In 1110, he succeeded in securing the Duchy of Bohemia for Ladislaus I.
  Imperial rule had eroded in Italy after the demise of Henry IV. For fifteen years, from October 1095 to October 1110, neither Henry IV nor Henry V has issued a single document for the Italian administration. Consequently, Italian officials saw no reason to travel to the northern part of the empire and obtain their royal documents. Under Henry V opposition to Salian rule reached its climax in the Milan metropolis.
  Henry V. continued the practice of investiture with ring and staff (per anulum et baculum) and was able to maintain a working relationship with the clerical princes. Next to the staff, the ring became the symbol, that epitomized the marriage of the bishop to his church. This practice had only been introduced by emperor Henry III, yet became one of the causes for Henry IV's conflict with the Pope.
  In Mainz on January 7, 1106 Conrad I was invested with ring and staff as the new Ar
caption: Atrium of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in the city of Milan, where resentments against Imperial rule repeatedly culminated in armed conflicts
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