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61-532: Niklot began his open resistance when the German King (later Emperor) Lothar III granted the Obotrite realm to his Danish vassal Canute Lavard . Together with Pribislav of Wagria , son of Budivoj and nephew of Henry , Niklot fought Lothar and Canute. After the murder of Canute in 1131, Niklot and Pribislav partitioned the Obotrite territory, with Niklot receiving the eastern lands. In order to weaken Pribislav in

122-643: A bone of contention under Henry III between the Salians and Saxony . The castle building programme should rather be seen as an expression of royal power, because Henry supported himself prominently through the ministeriales , who were dependent on his benevolence in order to free himself from the imperial princes. But this drew further displeasure from the princes. The motives of the Saxon nobles are now obvious, as they were hugely affected by Henry's actions and were consequently outraged. They did not want to give up so easily

183-668: A daughter Gertrude , born 18 April 1115. To secure Welf support for his election as king, Lothair married Gertrude to Henry X, Duke of Bavaria , on 29 May 1127. Their only son was Henry the Lion . After Lothair's death in 1137, the Hohenstaufen Conrad was elected King as Conrad III. Henry the Proud, Lothair’s son-in-law and heir, refused to acknowledge the new king. In response, Conrad III deprived him of all his territories. Saxon revolt of 1073%E2%80%931075 The Saxon revolt refers to

244-635: A descendant of the Saxon margrave Dietrich of Haldensleben who secondly married the Billung duke Ordulf of Saxony upon Count Frederick's death. Little is known of Lothair's youth. His name first appears in the contemporary records in 1088. His father Gebhard of Supplinburg joined the Saxon rebellion against the ruling Salian dynasty and died on 9 June 1075 in the Battle of Langensalza , fighting troops loyal to emperor Henry IV . Shortly after Gebhard's death Lothair

305-467: A first collision Anacletus prevailed. Innocent had to leave Rome and fled to France. Nonetheless, Anacletus could only secure the support of Roger II of Sicily, Innocent was, with the help of Bernard of Clairvaux , able to secure the support of King Louis VI of France and King Henry I of England. Both popes offered Lothair the imperial crown. The king was occupied with the Staufer resistance and once again it

366-451: A hostage, terms which Lothair refused after being pressured by Innocent II. The imperial troops, however, were adamant against campaigning during the hot summer and revolted. The emperor, who had hoped for the complete conquest of Sicily, instead captured Capua and Apulia from Roger and bestowed them on Roger's enemies. Innocent, however, protested, claiming that Apulia fell under papal reign. Emperor and Pope eventually jointly bequeathed

427-546: A potential candidate, the princes did not choose him; instead, in 1077 in Forchheim , they selected Rudolf of Rheinfelden and, later, Hermann of Salm as antikings . Nevertheless, Otto had a significant influence on the opposition's politics. Militarily, he distinguished himself again in the battles of Mellrichstadt , Flarchheim and the Elster , leading from the front. Even Henry's son, King Henry V of Germany , still had to fight

488-530: A suitable candidate. Although the most powerful territorial prince in Saxony, he was of advanced age (slightly over fifty years of age) and had no male heir, not the ideal prerequisites for a long dynastic line of kings. He was elected King of Germany and asserted himself against Leopold III of Austria and Charles the Good . His election was notable in that it marked a departure from the concept of hereditary succession as

549-515: A victory by their army, consisting mainly of peasants, would have strengthened the position of the latter, something they were not in favour of. So it happened that on 2 February 1074 peace negotiations in Gerstungen took place, which resulted in a settlement between the warring parties. The main outcome was that Henry IV agreed to the slighting of his castles on the edge of the Harz. Henry's accession to

610-595: Is heaven, be your God; you be our god, and it sufficeth us. You honor Him, and in turn we shall honor you. By 1158, King Valdemar the Great of Denmark began to pay Henry the Lion for assistance, leading Niklot to retaliate. The Danish king and the Saxon duke then allied in 1160. While the Danes harried the coast and distracted the Rani , the Saxons killed Niklot at his stronghold of Burg Werle;

671-765: The Margraviate of Meissen , Lothair enforced the appointment of Conrad of Wettin and ceded the March of Lusatia to Count Albert the Bear . Upon Emperor Henry V's death in 1125, Archchancellor Adalbert summoned the royal electoral assembly in Mainz . On August 24 the electors declined the candidacy of the primary contender Duke Frederick of Hohenstaufen, who destroyed his chances due to his appalling overconfidence ( ambicone cecatus ) and his refusal to accept free princely elections ( libera electio ). Adalbert of Mainz considered Lothair to be

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732-554: The Norman Kingdom of Sicily . In 1013, a certain Saxon nobleman named Liutger was mentioned as a count in or of the Harzgau subdivision of Eastphalia . His grandson Count Gebhard , father of Emperor Lothair, possibly acquired the castle of Süpplingenburg about 1060 via his marriage with Hedwig , a daughter of the Bavarian count Frederick of Formbach and his wife Gertrud, herself

793-625: The Saxon Wars , also called the Saxon Uprising). Undercurrents of discord between the Salian royal family and the Saxons already existed under Henry's father, Emperor Henry III . This may have been primarily due to his Rhenish Franconian origin as well as his numerous stays in the Imperial Palace of Goslar , which imposed a disproportionately high economic burden on the surrounding population. With

854-490: The comital office was a failure, as he allegedly was deposed a year later on charges of breach of the peace . The sources, however provide conflicting dates. The 1131 investiture of Louis marked the beginning of smooth Ludowingian rule for more than a century. In 1134 Lothar appointed the Ascanian Albert the Bear as Margrave of Brandenburg and in 1136 Conrad the Great of Wettin , already margrave of Meissen, for

915-454: The Bear and Louis I of Thuringia . However, Soběslav immediately went to meet Lothair at his camp and formally requested and received the fief of Bohemia. Peace was restored, prisoners set free and although the winner of the battle had submitted himself to the losing side, he secured full legitimacy and lasting prestige. Having both Saxon and Bavarian ancestry, the Supplinburg dynasty

976-450: The Emperor's second Italian campaign, before a ten-year constitutio pacis was declared. Lothair, now uncontested ruler, set out in 1136 with a sizeable army. The campaign proved to be successful and indeed, Roger II of Sicily soon sought peace. In 1136 the campaign against Roger began at the insistence of Innocent II and Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus . Two columns, one led by Lothair,

1037-457: The Harz. Because of this dispute and the later loss of his estates, Otto takes a leading role in the insurrection during the course of the alleged murder plot against the king. The quarrels surrounding the ministeriales had wider repercussions and continued even among the non-insurgents. The resulting fear of loss of power, resulted in the great princes of the Empire lending their passive support to

1098-650: The Landgraviate of Thuringia, that encompassed the remaining and predominantly non-contiguous estates of the ill-fated former Merovingian Duchy of Thuringia . The brutal conquest of the old Thuringii kingdom under king Chlothar I had left the area devastated. Subsequently the Franks desired to rule the acquisition, which proved to be only partly successful, as a long process of depopulation and recurring population replacement by Franconians, Bavarians and Christianized Slavs followed. The 1129 appointment of Herman of Winzenburg to

1159-454: The Lion of Saxony and Henry of Ratzeburg . After the death of Obotrite Prince Henry, a Christian, Niklot allegedly renounced Christianity in favor of traditional pagan beliefs. However, this is uncertain; according to Helmold 's Chronica Slavorum , Niklot promised to Christianize his lands as part of the peace agreement, and in the late 1150s he wrote to Henry the Lion: Let the god, who

1220-552: The Nordmark and Count Gebhard of Supplinburg , who was killed in battle, as well as the Saxon count palatine Frederick II of Goseck and Count Dietrich II of Katlenburg . One of the two leaders, Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt, was detained in Homburg by royal troops and finally handed over on 13 June to the Bishop of Bamberg as a prisoner. The chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld described

1281-621: The Obotrite territory was largely partitioned by the Christians. Niklot's death ended Slavic control in Mecklenburg up to the Peene River. His son Pribislav recovered his inheritance as Prince of Mecklenburg in 1167 as a Saxon vassal. His other son Wertislaw was the father of Nicholas I, Lord of Mecklenburg . Lothar III Lothair III , sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (1075 – 4 December 1137),

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1342-506: The Polish Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth for the 1121 established Duchy of Pomerania , which in addition to the island of Rügen was eventually secured as a fief of the Empire. The 1130 papal election had resulted in another schism. A minority of the cardinals elected Innocent II before a majority of the cardinals appointed Anacletus II in a tumultuous process. Both popes claimed to have been legally elected and in

1403-834: The Romans again on 29 March 1131. Lothair was accompanied by a modest troop contingent as most men were garrisoned in Germany to counter Staufer aggression. He carefully avoided hostilities but attempted to besiege Milan, which, however, failed. Eventually he arrived in Rome. As Anacletus controlled St. Peter , Lothair's imperial coronation took place in the Lateran Basilica on 4 June 1133. Emperor Lothair continued to avoid explicit resistance against papal impediments on his royal office. He ignored Innocent's bull, in which he advocated imperial authority derived from him and Lothair recognized papal claims to

1464-501: The accession of Henry IV in 1065 this conflict intensified, as Henry made demands on numerous Imperial domains ( Reichsgüter ) in the centre of the Saxon heartland around the Harz mountains—especially the silver mines of Rammelsberg . To secure these estates he initiated a castle building programme, erecting numerous fortresses along the range, the most prominent being the Harzburg castle. This

1525-571: The battle in his Annals : The battle raged from midday until the ninth hour, and the armies of the two states, Swabia and Bavaria, were on the brink of fleeing as messengers repeatedly reported to the King that their people were in danger, when suddenly Count Hermann of Gleiberg and the Bamberg troops launched an attack. Now the Duke of Bohemia, followed by Duke Godfrey of Lorraine galloped with their cavalry to join

1586-553: The battle. The Saxons could not withstand this massive onslaught and slowly fell back. On 27 October at the village of Spier near Sondershausen , the Saxon leader finally capitulated to the king in public, i.e. in front of the whole army. Henry had no mercy, but savoured his triumph. The Saxon leader's submission was barefoot, according to Lambert, and the surrender, without exception, unconditional. Henry then held numerous Saxon princes in prison in various places and transferred their fiefs to others. Beginning almost simultaneously with

1647-657: The crown lands, which provoked a Staufer reaction. Lothair then isolated Frederick II as he placed him under Imperial ban and withdrew the Franconian ducal fief from Conrad. After Lothair's 1127 campaign against the Staufers had collapsed at the gates of Nuremberg, the Swabians and the Franconians declared Frederick's younger brother Conrad anti-king Conrad III. Looking for support of his kingship, in 1128 Conrad went to Italy, where he

1708-411: The death of duke Magnus of Billung , who had died without an heir in 1106. Emboldened by the promotion and incensed over the king's increasingly autocratic rule, such as the wanton imposition of a new tax on ducal lords, Duke Lothair joined the growing opposition party to Henry. He acted autonomously by vesting Count Adolf of Schauenburg with the newly established County of Holstein in 1111. Lothair

1769-508: The demolition of his Harz castles included the Harzburg, which included a collegiate church and a family grave containing Henry's dead son and brother. To protect the royal burial ground, Henry directed that only the towers and walls of the Harzburg would be removed. This enraged the surrounding rural population who, in March 1074, razed the castle and its church to their foundation walls and desecrated

1830-581: The duchy to Rainulf of Alife . Lothair resided in Salerno from August to October 1137 and had copper coins ( follari ) minted in his name. On the return trip, he gave his son-in-law Henry of Bavaria the Margraviate of Tuscany and the Duchy of Saxony. He also gave him the imperial insignia, which depending on the point of view was interpreted as designation for the new king or not. On December 3, 1137, Lothair died on

1891-467: The electors preferred a sovereign with moderate powers after the Salian era of oppressio . Somewhat naive concerning the complex power struggle between the papacy and the empire, Lothair also consented to several symbolic acts that were subsequently interpreted by the Roman Curia as signaling acceptance of papal confirmation of his position. Duke Vladislaus I of Bohemia died in 1125. The succession

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1952-587: The followers of King Henry who fought with him were the Swabian duke Rudolf of Rheinfelden , Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia , Duke Theoderic II of Upper Lorraine and the Babenberg margrave Ernest of Austria , who was killed in battle, as well as Bishop Hermann of Bamberg and Count Hermann II of Gleiberg. On the Saxon side, in addition to Count Otto of Northeim and Bishop Burchard II von Halberstadt, were Magnus Billung, meanwhile Duke of Saxony, Margrave Lothair Udo II of

2013-468: The following years, Niklot allied with Saxon lords, especially Count Adolf II of Holstein , allowing Slavic pirates to attack the Danes. The prince's Saxon allies turned against him during the 1147 Wendish Crusade . Although Niklot resisted the siege of his fortress at Dobin , he was forced to pay tribute to the Christian crusaders. He subsequently arranged peaceful terms with Adolf of Holstein, Duke Henry

2074-537: The imperial cathedral Lothar has created an outstanding architectural monument. His reign was more than just an episode between Salians and Staufer and considered an era of self-confident rule over the empire, even if his political vision of the establishment of a Welf kingdom on March 7, 1138, in Koblenz was destroyed by the “coup d'état” of the Staufers. The Süpplingenburg dynasty was only short-lived. By his wife, Richenza of Northeim , Lothair had only one surviving child,

2135-416: The influence that they had built up during the absence of a ruler. This independence, which the king himself tried to achieve, led to a competition with the king, which in turn led to dissatisfaction among the Saxon princes. Henry's endeavours led to the desire for a ruler who was easier to control and to the king being blamed by the Saxons for his abuse of official authority. There was also a conflict due to

2196-480: The insurrection. For example, Rudolf of Swabia , Berthold of Carinthia and Welf IV dissociated themselves from the Emperor. According to the contemporary chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld , the Saxon princes came to the Imperial Palace of Goslar on 29 June 1073 in order to highlight these abuses and demand improvements. Henry IV refused to enter discussions and then fled from the large, advancing Saxon army to

2257-730: The loss of Burgundy to a power hostile to the empire, appointed his loyal ally Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen as Rector of the Principatus Burgundiaey . Emperor Lothar's policies and actions in the northern and eastern estates of the kingdom would have the longest-lasting impacts. As a Saxon by birth, he was certainly more focused on that region than previous and future monarchs. He already pursued active territorial policies before his royal tenure as early as 1111, when he installed count Adolf of Schauenburg in Holstein and Stormarn . In an act of royal consolidation policy Lothair established

2318-537: The nearby castle of Harzburg, where he was besieged by the Saxon rebels, again led by Count Otto of Nordheim together with Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt . The king, however, was able to escape on the night of 10 August 1073, allegedly through the castle's well shaft. Henry fled across the Harz mountains reaching the Landgraviate of Thuringia at Eschwege first and then moved on to Franconian Hersfeld further into southern Germany. But he found hardly any support among

2379-559: The office of the Margraviate of Lusatia, thereby uniting the two marches . In addition, he petitioned the pope to grant more executive rights for the Archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg . King Eric II of Denmark was made an imperial prince of the emperor in 1135, and member of the Reichstag. Lothair's diplomatic missions to the warring parties of Poland and Bohemia / Hungary were successful and resulted in overdue tribute payment by

2440-449: The other by his son-in-law Henry the Proud arrived in Italy. On the river Tronto , Count William of Loritello did homage to Lothair and opened the gates of Termoli to him. Advancing deep into the southern part of the peninsula, the two armies met at Bari , and continued further south in 1137. Roger offered to give Apulia as a fief of the Empire to one of his sons and give another son as

2501-468: The outbreak of the uprising, it is important to deal with the persons and parties involved: Emperor Henry IV , the Saxon nobility and the remaining imperial princes . The king had his own rationales, which were also based on the Coup of Kaiserswerth and which had far-reaching consequences. The period after the coup was used by the imperial princes to further extend their power base within the Empire, since there

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2562-400: The princes of the Empire, who were not willing to go to battle with him against the Saxons. As a result, on 27 January 1074, Henry stood at the head of what was only a small army compared to the much larger Saxon one at Hersfeld. Both sides were afraid to join in battle, but for different reasons. Henry probably because of his obvious inferiority. The Saxon leaders, by contrast, were aware that

2623-502: The return journey at Breitenwang . His body was boiled to prevent putrefaction, and his bones were transferred to the Collegiate Church of Saints Peter and Paul at Königslutter , which he had chosen as his burial site and for which he had laid the cornerstone in 1135. A month later, pope Anaclet II's death also ended the papal schism. When his grave was opened in 1620, a sword and an imperial orb were found among other things. With

2684-450: The royal tombs. This deed may have had a considerable personal effect on Henry, but politically it put all the trumps in his hand: the plunder of the church and the desecration of the royal tomb caused great outrage in his kingdom, and many imperial princes returned to Henry's side. The Saxon nobility refused any blame for the actions of the rural population and immediately offered to restore the castle and church at their own expense. Henry

2745-472: The so-called "royal immediacy", the regular presence of the king in certain parts of the Empire. This situation was possibly overdramatized; for the king stayed in other parts of the Empire without similar complications. Among the Saxon princes, a certain Otto of Northeim , in particular, found the king a serious thorn in his side due to his participation in the Coup of Kaiserswerth and his expansion of possessions in

2806-583: The struggle between the Salian dynasty ruling the Holy Roman Empire and the rebel Saxons during the reign of Henry IV . The conflict reached its climax in the period from summer 1073 until the end of 1075, in a rebellion that involved several clashes of arms. The Saxon Rebellion or Rebellion of the Saxons ( German : Sachsenkrieg ) is also commonly called the Saxon Uprising (not to be confused with

2867-571: The surrender, the Investiture Controversy took Henry's full attention in the years that followed. Unrest in Saxony also continuously flared up during this period, but did not reach the same level of political and military disruption as in the time from 1073 to 1075. At the diet of princes in Trebur in October 1076, Otto of Northeim again aligned himself with the opposition. Although he was always

2928-703: The vast Matildine estates in Northern Italy (formerly owned by Margravine Matilda of Tuscany ), although he was able to secure the territorial fiefs. In the northern empire Lothair finally succeeded and defeated the Staufers in 1135 thanks to the help of Henry the Proud, who had been the Duke of Bavaria since the death of his father, Henry the Black. At the Reichstag in Bamberg in 1135 the brothers were pardoned and restored to their office and estates. Anti-king Conrad renounced his royal title, The Staufers promised to take part in

2989-448: The wealthiest nobleman among his fellow Saxons . He supported future emperor Henry V during his 1104 rebellion against his father Henry IV, and the ensuing disempowerment campaign, that culminated in the abdication of the emperor on December 31, 1105, and his son's coronation a few days later. For his loyalty Lothair was rewarded with the fief of title and estate of the Duchy of Saxony upon

3050-472: Was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg , his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens , Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia . He died while returning from a successful campaign against

3111-565: Was Bernard of Clairvaux who convinced the sovereign to favor pope Innocent II. In March 1131 these three met in Liège , where Lothair performed the ceremonial strator service (stirrup holder) for the pope and promised help in the conflict against Anacletus and Roger II of Sicily . His request for investiture restoration was rejected, but all rights and privileges as laid out in the Concordat of Worms were confirmed. Innocent II crowned Lothair King of

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3172-451: Was a political opponent of the Salian dynasty and the House of Hohenstaufen . Disputes arose with Duke Frederick II when he refused to hand over property to Lothair, which the king considered to be royal property, the Staufer on the other hand argued, that it belonged to the Salian heritage. The contentious assets had long been administered together with other Salian domestic estates, their origin

3233-558: Was born at Unterlüß . In 1107 he married Richenza , daughter of Count Henry of Northeim and Gertrude of Brunswick , heiress of the Brunonids . Lothair's land purchases, inheritance and marriage alliances among the Saxon nobles, resulted in the acquisition of the domains of the House of Billung and the Counts of Northeim . The marriage with Richenza of the Brunonids in particular, made him

3294-461: Was crowned King of Italy by Anselm V, Archbishop of Milan . Lothair took advantage of Conrad's absence and weak position and resumed his attacks on the Staufers and in 1129 conquered the Staufer cities Nuremberg and Speyer . Conrad, on the other hand failed to acquire the desired assistance in Italy, and having made no political progress, returned in 1130, which assured at least a partial victory for Lothair. Lastly Lothair, in order to prevent

3355-408: Was deposed and banned , he nevertheless gained the support of the son of Ordulf, Duke of Saxony , the young Magnus . During this time, King Henry IV had been both captured and arrested. While Otto was pardoned, Magnus remained in custody at the Harzburg and was not released even after his father's death in 1072, as he showed no intention of renouncing the Saxon ducal dignity. To grasp the reason for

3416-508: Was disputed among his surviving brother Soběslav I and his Moravian cousin Otto the Black , who was supported by Vladislaus' widow Richeza of Berg . In late 1125 Lothair joined Otto's side, who had advanced large sums of money. A military campaign against Soběslav was launched and in February 1126 Lothair's force entered Bohemian territory and was promptly defeated at the Battle of Chlumec . Soběslav captured high-ranking nobles, like Albert

3477-476: Was hard to determine and difficult to separate. Lothair advocated the principle that all of the assets in question had now become imperial properties due to the extinction of the Salian dynasty. The first armed engagements between Lothair and the Staufer took place as early as 1125 and increased in the years that followed. Lothair, with the approval obtained at a meeting of the princes in Regensburg, attempted to seize

3538-494: Was no overall de facto ruler able to hinder them. Empress Agnes herself was too weak and had fallen into disgrace, and the young king was in the hands of Anno of Cologne . When Henry was dubbed a knight in 1065, he was able to counter these ensuing developments. However, the course of events should not be seen as a recuperation, since the loss of royal lands in the Harz region may be regarded as of low importance and therefore not an essential motive. These areas had already been

3599-570: Was once again bent on confrontation and this time gathered a much larger army, although he was not able to march against Saxony until 1075. In the First Battle of Langensalza (known in Germany as the "Battle of Homburg on the Unstrut", Homburg being a former monastery near Bad Langensalza ) on 9 June 1075 he dealt the Saxon army, which consisted mainly of simple peasants, a crushing defeat and then rampaged through Saxony and Thuringia laying waste. Amongst

3660-409: Was perceived as a threat by the Saxons. In addition, these castles were staffed with ministeriales of Swabian origin, who frequently plundered the Saxon population to make up for their lack of income. In 1070 the Saxon count Otto of Nordheim , Duke of Bavaria since 1061, had been accused by the ministerialis Egeno I of Konradsburg of planning an assault on the king's life. Even though Otto

3721-468: Was temporarily deposed in 1112, when Henry transferred the ducal title to Otto of Ballenstedt . He was soon reinstated when count Otto fell into disgrace and he tactically submitted himself to Henry V. In 1115 however, he took command of the rebellious Saxon forces and defeated the emperor in the Battle of Welfesholz . Henry completely lost control over the administration and the revenue of Saxony. When in 1123 Henry V vested Count Wiprecht of Groitzsch with

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