Page 266 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

The Lands of the Holy Roman Empire:
Germany and Italy
In the tenth century, the powerful dukes of Saxony became kings of the lands of the eastern Frankish king- dom (or Germany, as it came to be known). The best known of the Saxon kings of Germany was Otto I (936–973), who intervened in Italian politics and for his efforts was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pope in 962, reviving a title that had not been used since the time of Charlemagne. Otto’s creation of a new “Roman Empire” in the hands of the eastern Franks (or Germans, as they came to be called) added a tremendous burden to the kings of Germany, who now took on the onerous task of ruling Italy as well.
In the eleventh century, German kings created a strong monarchy and a powerful empire by leading armies into Italy. To strengthen their power, they had come to rely on their ability to control the church and select bishops and abbots, whom they could then use as royal administrators. But the struggle between church and state during the reign of Henry IV
(1056–1106) weakened the king’s ability to use church officials in this way. The German kings also tried to bolster their power by using their position as emperors to exploit the resources of Italy. But this tended to backfire; many a German king lost armies in Italy in pursuit of a dream of empire, and no German dynasty demonstrates this better than the Hohenstaufens (hoh-en-SHTOW-fenz).
FREDERICK I Both Frederick I (1152–1190) and Freder- ick II (1212–1250), the two most famous members of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to create a new kind of empire. Previous German kings had focused on building a strong German kingdom, to which Italy might be added as an appendage (see Map 10.3). Fred- erick I, known as Barbarossa (bar-buh-ROH-suh) (Red- beard) to the Italians, however, planned to get his chief revenues from Italy as the center of a “holy empire,” as he called it (hence the name Holy Roman Empire). But his attempt to conquer northern Italy ran into severe difficulties. The pope opposed him, fearful that the em- peror wanted to incorporate Rome and the Papal States
Holy Roman Empire Papal States Kingdom of Sicily Republic of Venice
North Sea
Baltic Sea
MAP 10.3 The Lands of the Holy Roman Empire in the Twelfth Century. The Hohenstaufen rulers Frederick I and Frederick II sought
to expand the Holy Roman Empire to include all of Italy. Frederick II had only fleeting success: after his death, several independent city-states arose in northern Italy, while in Germany, the nobles had virtually free rein within their domains.
Q Why did the territorial conquests of the Holy Roman emperors cause alarm in the papacy?
DENMARK
SAXONY
FRISIA
LOWER LORRAINE
UPPER
LORRAINE BAVARIA MORAVIA
ENGLAND
POMERANIA LUSATIA
POLAND SILESIA
THURINGIA FRANCONIA BOHEMIA
Atlantic Ocean
SWABIA
LOMBARDY
PROVENCE TUSCANY
AUSTRIA
Venice
REPUBLIC OF
VENICE
Naples APULIA
FRANCE
ARLES
BURGUNDY
HUNGARY
Corsica Rome Sardinia
0 0
228
200
400 200
600 Kilometers 400 Miles
KINGDOM
OF
SICILY
Sicily
Chapter 10
The Rise of Kingdoms and the Growth of Church Power
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