Suggest an Edit — Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor

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Biography

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Henry II, later venerated as Saint Henry, was born on 6 May 973 into the Bavarian line of the Ottonian dynasty. His father was Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, known as Henry the Quarrelsome for repeated revolts against Emperor Otto II; his mother was Gisela of Burgundy. After his father's failed rebellion the boy was placed in ecclesiastical care and given an unusually thorough education for a tenth-century prince, first at the cathedral school of Hildesheim and later under Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg. In 995 he succeeded as Duke of Bavaria. When Emperor Otto III died childless in Italy in early 1002, Henry, as the nearest male Ottonian kinsman, claimed the German throne. After a contested election he was crowned King of the Germans at Mainz in June 1002 and gradually obtained recognition throughout the realm.

As king he worked to restore royal authority after Otto III's long absences in Italy and bound his rule closely to the Church. In 1007 he founded the Diocese of Bamberg, endowed it richly with lands and relics, and made the city his preferred residence; Bamberg Cathedral later became his burial church. In 1004 he was crowned King of Italy at Pavia. On 14 February 1014 Pope Benedict VIII crowned him Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. His reign included repeated campaigns against Bolesław I of Poland, expeditions against the Lutici on the northeastern frontier, and interventions in Italy in support of the papacy and imperial rights. He also involved himself in Burgundian affairs, whose succession later passed to the Salians.

About 999 he married Cunigunde of Luxembourg. The marriage remained childless. Later hagiographers claimed the couple had taken a vow of chastity; historically the absence of heirs simply ended the Ottonian dynasty with Henry. Contemporary and later writers depicted him as a devout ruler, a daily Mass-goer, a founder and reformer of monasteries, and a Benedictine oblate who favored Cluniac reform and generally cooperated with the popes of his day.

Henry died on 13 July 1024 at the imperial palace of Grona near Göttingen and was buried in Bamberg Cathedral. With no surviving children, the German princes elected Conrad II, beginning Salian rule. Veneration arose quickly at Bamberg and spread through the empire. Pope Eugene III canonized him in 1146, the first German king to receive papal canonization. His feast is kept on 13 July. Christian tradition invokes him as patron of Bamberg and Basel, of childless couples, of kings and dukes, of people with disabilities, of Benedictine oblates, and against sterility.

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