Ep. 31: Investiture Controversy (1065-1122) - The (second) Saxon War

History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.9 • 551 Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

n 1065 king Henry IV begins his personal rule. After 9 years of regency., the last 3 of which under a government of barons headed by archbishop Anno of Cologne, imperial power is much diminished. Prelates and lords are raiding the imperial purse, when the barons force the young king to dismiss his main adviser, he realises that the previous model of kingship no longer operates. He cannot rely on the oaths of fealty sworn by his counts and dukes, nor can he put faith in the Imperial Church System his predecessors could draw on. He chooses the royal lands around the rich silver mines of Goslar as the nucleus for his new, territorial power base. He builds mighty castles on the tops of mountains that project royal power, he installs a governor, rather than a count as the head of his administration, and most of the castles’ garrison and administrators are ministeriales, unfree men trained in war. This new policy clashes with the Saxons, the stem who had already stood in opposition to Henry's father and had plotted to murder him when he was only a child. In 1073 the Saxons gather in an assembly to hear Otto of Northeim 's famous speech that turned disaffection into outright rebellion. In 18 months, Henry IV's Saxon War will become a rollercoaster where he goes from unconditional surrender to triumph - but is the triumph going to last? Homepage with maps, photos and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com Facebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistory Instagram: history_of_the_germans Reddit: u/historyofthegermans Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans?fan_landing=true

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans.
0:08.0	Episode 31, the Second Saxon War.
0:13.0	I think I have to apologize for last week's oversized episode.
0:17.0	I'm trying to keep the length to 25 minutes with the tolerance up to 35 minutes.
0:22.6	43 minutes was definitely too long.
0:26.0	The problem came about because we reached one of those moments of high drama
0:29.5	when the three strands of the Investiture controversy come together.
0:33.4	The struggle between imperial power and the magnates,
0:36.2	the popular movement demanding church reform,
0:39.0	and the expanding role and conception of the papacy. Today's job should be a touch easier,
0:44.6	because we will predominantly focus on the first of these three, the escalating tensions between
0:49.6	young King Henry IV and his barons. I said should, because it's not that simple. One of the problems
0:58.2	are the sources. Up until now, most of our sources, be it Vidokin, Lyudbrand of Cremona, Tietma of Mirzebuk,
1:04.9	Vipu, Hermann of Reichena, etc. were usually supportive of the emperors, but not excessively biased.
1:16.6	Some had to be taken with a grain of salt as they skipped bits or put their favorite rulers into better light. The chroniclers, we have the second half of the 11th century, are different.
1:20.6	Since the controversy between Emperor and Pope goes to the heart of people's identity and beliefs,
1:26.6	there is no neutral or semi-neutral
1:29.1	observer. The main sources, namely Bruno, who wrote the book of the Saxon Wars, and Lambert
1:35.2	of Herzfeld, whose annals provide a detailed account of Henry IV's reign, are both heavily
1:40.8	biased against the Emperor. And when I say biased, I really mean biased. Bruno in particular
1:46.8	accuses Henry IV of all sorts of treachery and licentiousness, up to the rape of nuns, incest with
1:53.1	his sisters, premeditated murder, etc. Henry IV's much less effective PR machine retaliates
	...

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