Anno, born around 1010, belonging to the…

Anno, born around 1010, belonging to the Swabian family of the von Steusslingen, and educated at Bamberg, had become confessor to the Emperor Henry III, who in 1956 had appointed him archbishop of Cologne.

He has taken a prominent part in the government of Germany during the minority of Henry IV and is the leader of the party that in 1062 seizes the person of Henry in the coup of Kaiserswerth, and deprives his mother, the empress Agnes, of power.

Henry is brought to Cologne, and despite jumping overboard from a board to escape, he is recaptured again.

Agnes resigns, as ransom, from the throne, and Anno takes her place as regent.

After the dethroning, she moves to Rome, where she will act as a mediator and peacemaker between Henry IV and his enemies.

Anno’s first move is to back Pope Alexander II against the antipope Honorius II, whom Agnes had initially recognized but subsequently left without support.

Anno's rule proves unpopular.

For a short time, Anno exercises the chief authority in the kingdom, but he is soon obliged to share this with Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, and Siegfried I, Archbishop of Mainz, retaining for himself the supervision of Henry's education and the title of magister.