Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 72, Clouds on the Horizon.

This week, we will watch Henry VI attempts to make the papacy comfortable with the fact

their neighbor to the south is not the same as their neighbor to the north.

Pope Salisdine may see it as encirclement by a family,

whose track record as sons of the mother church has been, to say politely, a bit patchy.

But Henry the Sixth thinks that there is a way to making this work.

Now let's see.

Before we start, just a reminder,

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history of the Germans.com. You find all the links in the show notes. And thanks a lot to Francisco,

Peter and Pear who have already signed up. Now last time we left Emperor Henry the 6th enjoying

the string of successes that made the year 1194 by far his best.

Not only did he take possession of the kingdom of Sicily, his by right of inheritance through his wife,

but what put the icing on the cake in 1194 was the birth of his son and heir in the city of Jaze on Christmas

Day. He was only 32 but his wife had just turned 40,

and hope of continuing his line must have been thin on the ground.

Henry VI had probably resigned himself to the idea of not having a legitimate heir.

For him to die without a direct air was not particularly worrisome for the dynasty, though,

since Henry's father, Barbarossa, had eight sons, of which four, including Henry,

...