Conrad II of Italy

Conrad, born on February 12, 1074, at Hersfeld Abbey while his father, Henry IV, was fighting against the Saxon Rebellion, had been baptized in the abbey three days later.

After his victory against the Saxons, Henry had arranged for an assembly at Goslar on Christmas Day 1075 to swear an oath recognizing Conrad as his successor.

After the death of Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine on February 22, 1076, Henry had refused to appoint the late duke's own choice of successor, his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, and instead named his two-year-old son Duke of Lower Lorraine.

He did appoint Albert III of Namur, the deceased duke's brother-in-law, as his son vice-duke (vicedux) to perform the daily functions of government.

He also allowed the march of Antwerp to pass to Godfrey of Bouillon.

The total absence of Conrad from his duchy has caused or abetted the decline of ducal authority in it.

In 1082, while Conrad was in Italy, the peace of God had been introduced into the diocese of Liège.

Conrad had passed Christmas 1076 at Besançon with his parents.

Early the next year, he had accompanied his father across the Alps on the way to Canossa, because there was no one in Germany to whom Henry could have entrusted his son.

Conrad had subscribed to his first royal charter in 1079.

When Henry returned to Germany, Conrad had remained in Italy to act as a pledge to the imperialist party there.

He had been placed in the care of Archbishop Tedald of Milan and Bishop Denis of Piacenza, both excommunicated prelates and opponents of Pope Gregory VII.

In October 1080, Conrad had been present in the camp when a force from northern Italy defeated the troops of Marchioness Matilda of Tuscany near Mantua.

The Saxon lords who had supported the kingship of the late Rudolf of Swabia against Henry gathered in December 1080 "to discuss the state of their kingdom [Saxony]" in Bruno of Merseburg's words.

Henry had sent envoys to the Saxons asking them to accept his son Conrad as their king, and in exchange he promised never to enter Saxony.

(Conrad was apparently back in Germany.)

Otto of Northeim, speaking for the Saxons, "desired neither the son nor the father" since he had "often seen a bad calf begotten by a bad ox."

Henry had in December 1080 entered Italy, where he endeavored to wed his son to a daughter of Robert Guiscard.

He had offered Robert the march of Fermo as well, but no marriage could be agreed to since the duke had refused to do homage for his duchy of Apulia.

Again Henry left Conrad in Italy (July 1081), this time in the care of the lay princes "to watch over the province for him", according to the Annales Brunwilarenses and Annales Patherbrunnenses.

Conrad had returned to Germany in 1087 and, on May 30, had been crowned king in Aachen by Archbishop Sigwin of Cologne.

The ceremony was attended by Albert of Namur, Godfrey of Bouillon and Duke Magnus of Saxony, according to the Annales Weissenburgenses.

The last reference to Conrad as duke of Lower Lotharingia (dux Lothariorum) comes from a charter issued at Aachen shortly before his coronation, after which Henry had appointed Godfrey of Bouillon duke in his place.

On December 27, shortly after Conrad’s departure from Germany, his mother dies at thirty-six in Mainz.

By January 1088, Conrad has returned to Italy, with Bishop Ogerius of Ivrea as his chancellor and advisor.

The passing of Bertha perhaps provokes the rupture between Conrad and his father.

Sigwin von Are, a deacon in Cologne appointed archbishop here by the Emperor Henry IV in 1076, has remained a staunch supporter of Henry throughout the Investiture Controversy.

He had proclaimed the Peace of God in 1083, only the second bishop in Germany to do so.

He had rebuilt the church of Santa Maria in Cologne after it burned down in 1085, and on May 30, 1087, had crowned Henry's son Conrad King of Germany in Aachen.

He dies in Cologne and is buried in Cologne Cathedral.

Shortly after his death, he will begin to be called called "Sigwin the Pious."

Conrad had been unsuccessful in resisting Matilda of Tuscany until his father came down to italy in the spring of 1090 to launch his third punitive expedition in Italy.

Throughout 1091, Conrad has been at his father's side, as his "most beloved son".

On December 19, 1091 Conrad's grandmother, the Margravine Adelaide of Turin, died.

She had named her ten-year-old great-grandson, Peter, as her heir following the death of Peter's father, Count Frederick of Montbéliard, on June 29, 1091.

Henry, however, declares Conrad the rightful heir and places him in charge of the march.

The southern counties meanwhile are seized by Boniface I of Vasto and Henry grants the county of Asti to the bishop elect Oddo.

Throughout 1092, Conrad campaigns in the march of Turin to establish imperial control.

Emperor Henry had enjoyed some initial success against the lands of Canossa, but his defeat in 1092 causes the rebellion of the Lombard communes.

Conrad’s rebellion against his father in 1093 has the support of Matilda and her husband, Welf V, along with the Patarene-minded cities of northern Italy (Cremona, …

…Lodi, …

…Piacenza, and …

…Milan).

He was instigated to revolt, according to Ekkehard of Aura, by "one of his father's ministeriales, who was likewise named Conrad".

This is perhaps the same person as the Count Conrad sent by the young king as an envoy to King Roger II of Sicily, according to Geoffrey Malaterra.

Ekkehard otherwise gives positive account of Conrad's motivation, describing him as "a thoroughly catholic man, most devoted to the apostolic see, inclining to religion rather than government or war ... well enough furnished with courage and boldness [yet] preferr[ing] to occupy his time with reading rather than with sports" (Robinson, Ian S. (2000). Henry IV of Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press., p. 288).

Other sources favorable to Conrad include the Annales sancti Disibodi and the Casus monasterii Petrishusensis.

Among sources unfavorable to him are the Annales Augustani and Henry IV's anonymous biography, the Vita Heinrici IV, which describes Conrad as a pawn in hands of Matilda of Tuscany.

Bernold of Sankt Blasien records that Henry was so abject after Conrad's rebellion that he attempted suicide, but this may be a hyperbole allusive to the suicide of the biblical King Saul. (Robinson 2000, p. 288.)

Conrad is captured in mid-March by his father through a ruse, but soon escapes.

Otho de Lagery, named cardinal-bishop of Ostia around 1080 by Pope Gregory VII, has been one of the most prominent and active supporters of the Gregorian reforms, especially as legate in Germany in 1084 and is among the few whom Gregory VII had nominated as papabile (possible successors).

After Desiderous’s short reign as Victor III, Otho had been elected Pope Urban II by acclamation at a small meeting of cardinals and other prelates held in Terracina on March 12, 1088.

He has taken up the policies of Pope Gregory VII, and while pursuing them with determination, shows greater flexibility and diplomatic finesse.

At the outset, he has to reckon with the presence of the powerful antipope Clement III in Rome, but a series of well-attended synods held in Rome, Amalfi, Benevento, and Troia support him in renewed declarations against simony, lay investiture, clerical marriages (partly via the cullagium tax), and in continued opposition to Emperor Henry IV.

In accordance with this last policy, the marriage of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany with Welf, or Guelph, of Bavaria is promoted; Prince Conrad of Italy is assisted in his rebellion against his father and crowned King of the Romans at Milan in late July 1093 by Archbishop Anselm III; and Henry IV's wife, the Empress (Adelaide), is encouraged in her charges of sexual coercion against her husband.

According to the historian Landulf Junior, he is also crowned at Monza, where the Iron Crown is being kept.

After Conrad's coronation, Anselm dies and the new king invests his successor, Arnulf II, on December 6, 1093, although many of the bishops present to celebrate his coronation refuse to attend the simoniacal investiture of Arnulf.

The papal legate who is present, probably to speak with Conrad, immediately declares Arnulf deposed.

The accusation might have been that Arnulf had performed undue service to Conrad to secure his investiture, or that he had been too obeisant, a charge of simony ab obsequio.

The insurrection against Henry extends when Matilda manages to turn against him his elder son, Conrad, who is crowned King of Italy at Monza in 1093.

The Emperor therefore finds himself cut off from Germany, where his power is still at its height; he will be unable to return until 1097.

Conrad is at the height of his power in 1094, when his father is staying with Margrave Henry and Patriarch Udalric in the March of Verona, unable to enter Italy.

His antipope, Clement III, elected at the Synod of Brixen in 1080, who is traveling with him, even offers to resign so that Henry can negotiate with Pope Urban II if that is all that stands in the way.

A contemporary tract, Altercatio inter Urbanum et Clementum, argues the two popes claims should be adjudicated by a council.