German Woman of Quality of the Tenth Century
During his stay in Aachen, the king won the favour of the lesser nobility by a very well calculated political measure. Most families of this class had already fallen, by the spread of feudalism, into the position of vassals to some great noble; and disputes frequently arose between them and their feudal lords, because in certain cases the latter would not allow the fief to be transmitted to the descendants of the vassal. Conrad II, who was well aware of this state of things and eager for any means of weakening the power of the great nobles, promulgated during his stay in Aachen a decree to the effect that the descendants of a vassal were entitled to succeed to the fief in perpetuity.
This was a very drastic measure, and greatly increased the popularity of the king. From Aachen Conrad proceeded to Saxony to dispose the minds of the Saxons favourably to himself. There he was obliged to have recourse to very different means. The Saxons were by this time accustomed to the unity of the German state, but they were still apprehensive of restrictions upon their national laws, and their first and most pressing demand was for the confirmation of the same. These consisted of the harsh regulations of serfdom which had come down from primitive times, the strict prohibition of unequal marriages, etc., and thus redounded to the advantage of the nobility alone.
[1024-1026 A.D.]
Conrad, however, could not afford to anger the great Saxon nobles, and he therefore confirmed “the so cruel laws of the Saxons,” as Wipoc phrases it. Having thus secured his recognition by the North Germans, he next collected the tribute due from the border Slavs who were subjects of the empire, that by this means he might provide himself with material resources for carrying out his designs; and then proceeded by way of Franconia to Bavaria and Swabia. On this progress Conrad established himself firmly in the popular esteem, and by the time it was finished his position seemed much stronger than before.
In Italy fresh troubles had arisen, for a party among the Lombards were desirous of overthrowing the German supremacy, and wished to transfer their allegiance to France for that purpose. On the other hand, Heribert, archbishop of Milan, was well disposed towards the Germans, and therefore journeyed to visit Conrad II, who was at that time in Constance, in which place he had likewise resided during the first year of his reign. The king received him very graciously, and lent a favourable ear to the bishop’s request that he should make a military expedition into Italy. An embassy from the opposition party, and from the city of Pavia in particular, had also made its appearance at Constance, but was harshly received by Conrad; and it is probable that he would at that time have undertaken a campaign beyond the Alps if he had not been busy with matters nearer home. The consummation of the national unity of the German race was obviously an admirable means of enhancing the power of the crown, but a considerable portion of German territory was still alienated from the empire. Part of Switzerland on the German side of the Jura belonged to Burgundy, which was ruled by an independent king.
A quarrel over the succession, to which we have previously referred, had already taken place between this monarch and Henry II, and had resulted in the conclusion of a treaty by which after the death of the childless king Rudolf the succession to his dominions was assured to the head of the German Empire.
When Henry was dead, however, the king of Burgundy tried to put a different construction on the treaty, declaring that he had bestowed the succession on Conrad’s predecessor merely as his sister’s son, and not as king of the Germans. But Conrad II being bent, as Wipoc observes, on the aggrandisement and not the diminution of the empire, forthwith took up arms against Rudolf and occupied the city of Bâle, which at that time belonged to Burgundy.
By this he incurred the violent enmity of Duke Ernst of Swabia, who was the “natural” heir of Rudolf, and of Gisela by her first marriage, and thus stepson to Conrad II; and as many German nobles secretly sided with the duke, while at the same time a Slavonic prince, Boleslaw by name, rebelled against the empire, and while the affairs of Italy seemed imperatively to demand the king’s presence, the latter postponed the acquisition of the rest of Burgundy to a more favourable opportunity. He first marched to Saxony to reduce Boleslaw to submission; but the Slavonic prince died before his arrival, and a civil war broke out between his sons which exhausted the forces of both.
CONRAD IN ITALY AND GERMANY (1026-1039 A.D.)
[1026-1030 A.D.]
Putting off, therefore, the subjugation of the rebellious Slavs, Conrad immediately set everything in readiness for his expedition into Italy. He first convoked a diet at Augsburg, had his son Henry elected successor to his throne, and yielding to his wife’s persuasions was reconciled to his stepson, Duke Ernst of Swabia. This took place in 1026, and in the same year the German army made its appearance in Italy. Pavia was first invested, and repeated attempts were made to take it by storm; but the brave citizens victoriously repulsed every assault, and Conrad was reduced to great straits. This so enraged him that, goaded to fury, he savagely devastated the surrounding country. The German king gained little by these cruelties, and as in spite of his victory he suffered great loss at the taking of Ravenna, he might have been compelled to retreat ingloriously from Italy if his political astuteness had not come to his aid. He succeeded in bringing the king of Burgundy, on whose assistance the Lombards relied, over to his own side. Rudolf came to Italy in person to be present at Conrad’s coronation as emperor, and the courage of the inhabitants of the invaded country sank so low that even Pavia surrendered, and Conrad was acknowledged king of Lombardy. He then received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope John XIX, on the 26th of March, 1027; and after making some provisions for the pacification of Lombardy he hastened back to Germany, where in the meanwhile his presence had become extremely necessary.
In spite of the show of reconciliation, Duke Ernst of Swabia was meditating open rebellion. Conrad was well informed of the plans of the conspirators, though the secret had been carefully guarded; and therefore, after crossing the Alps, he proceeded with all haste to Ratisbon to make preparations for subduing the threatened revolt. Conrad’s plans on this occasion strikingly display his practical ability and clear-sightedness. During his absence in Italy the ducal office had become vacant in Bavaria by the death of Henry, and the king endeavoured to procure it for his own family. In view of the encroachments of the great nobles, who amassed vast wealth at the expense of the empire, this would have profited him little unless he could increase the ducal revenue at the same time. Consequently, having succeeded in getting his ten-year-old son Henry appointed duke of Bavaria, Conrad instituted a strict inquiry into the condition of the property of the empire in that province, and restored to the crown much that had been usurped by bishops and counts. By this measure the king really struck at the root of the evil. Decrees could do little to cement the unity of the empire; what it needed was to be provided with a material basis. And of this, the most necessary element in the condition to which the empire had come was the creation of a revenue which should make the head of the state independent of the accidents of private fortune for the maintenance of his authority.