Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V
Henry V depicted in a contemporary Gospel Book
Holy Roman Emperor
Reign13 April 1111 – 23 May 1125
Coronation13 April 1111
PredecessorHenry IV
SuccessorLothair III
King of Germany
(Formally King of the Romans)
Reign1099 – 23 May 1125
PredecessorHenry IV
SuccessorLothair III
King of Italy
Reign1098 – 23 May 1125
PredecessorConrad II
SuccessorConrad III
Bornc. 11 August 1081/11 August 1086
Goslar, Saxony
Died23 May 1125 (aged 38 or 43)
Utrecht
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1110)
DynastySalian
FatherHenry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
MotherBertha of Savoy

Henry V (German: Heinrich V.; probably 11 August 1081 or 1086[1] – 23 May 1125) was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), 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. Then 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.

  1. ^ Christopher Kleinhenz (2004). Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-94880-1.

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