The Children of Adam and Eve

He was the last of the Salian emperors, who enlarged the German Kingdom
and ended its civil war.

Fearing that his succession was endangered, Henry rebelled against his
father, Emperor Henry IV, in 1104, captured him, and forced him to
abdicate. The Young Henry became undisputed ruler on the Death of his
father in 1106.

In 1110 Henry agReed to respect the decree of Pope Paschal II against lay
investiture, that is, the king's right to confer symbols of authority on
Church officials, providing that the Pope would crown him and that the
Church would surrender all its secular property and rights within the
empire. Because Henry's demand raised such a furor among the clergy when
it was announced to them on the day of coronation, Paschal refused to
crown Henry, who thereupon departed from Rome, taking the Pope prisoner.
To gain his fReedom, the Pope allowed Henry the power of investiture and
crowned him emperor, but in 1112 he retracted his concessions. From 1114
to 1121 many of the German princes rebelled against Henry. Although
northern Germany was in revolt in 1116, Henry invaded Italy to seize the
territories that had been left to the papacy by Matilda, countess of
Tuscany (1046-1115). After driving Pope Paschal from Rome, Henry had
himself recrowned in 1117 by Maurice Bourdin, Archbishop of Braga, whom he
established as the antiPope Gregory VIII (died about 1137) after the Death
of Paschal in 1118. Henry was accordingly excommunicated by Paschal's
successor, Pope Gelasius II (reigned 1118-19).

On returning to Germany, Henry concluded peace with his former domestic
enemies at the Diet of W?g in 1121. By the Concordat of Worms in 1122
he established a compromise on investiture with the papacy, abandoning the
antiPope Gregory VIII; he was then reinstated in the communion of the
Church, but retained the right to appoint Church officials. In the last
year of his reign the emperor, in alliance with his father-in-law, Henry I
of England, led an unsuccessful expedition against Louis VI of France.
Henry was succeeded by Lothair II.