Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/671

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

XI HENRY I. (GERMANY) take command of the French army in the north, when, riding through the city, May 14, 1610, he was stabbed to the heart by the fanatic Francois Ravaillac. His death was re- garded as a national calamity. Henry's chil- dren, by his second wife, were his successor Louis XIII. ; Gaston, duke of Orleans ; Eliza- beth, who married Philip IV. of Spain ; Chris- tine, who became duchess of Savoy ; and Hen- rietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. of Eng- land. Ce"sar, his natural son by Gabrielle d'Estrees, was the founder of the house of Vendome, and grandfather of the celebrated ke who distinguished himself under Louis IV. The high capacities of Henry IV., as well as his shortcomings and " amiable faults," have always been well known ; but it is only in recent years that his ready wit and charming style as a writer have come to be fully appre- ciated, through the publication of his letters (9 vols. 4to) by M. Berger de Xivrey in the Documents inedits sur Vhistoire de France. Motley's "Life and Death of John of Barne- veld" (London, 1874) throws much light on Henry's last diplomatic transactions, and dis- plays the occasional frivolity of his motives in his most important enterprises. See also Hen- ri IV., by M. H. de Lescure (Paris, 1874). III. GERMANY. HE1VRY I., king of Germany, surnamed the Fowler or Falconer (der Finlcler or Vogler), the first of the line of Saxon sovereigns of Germany, born in 876, died in 936. He was the son of Otho the Illustrious, duke of Sax- ony, on whose death he succeeded to the duke- doms of Saxony and Thuringia. His father had been elected in 911 to the sovereignty of Germany, but had caused Conrad, duke of the Franks, to be elevated in his stead. This sov- ereign undertook to deprive Duke Henry of part of his inherited estates, but the latter fought his enemy at Eresburg (modern Stadt- berge), and compelled him to acknowledge all the ducal rights of Saxony and Thuringia. Conrad discovered the great qualities of his opponent, and, having been mortally wounded in an expedition against the Hungarians, desig- nated Henry as his successor, and sent messen- gers to make known his choice. The envoys, it is said, found the duke in the Hartz moun- tains, with a falcon upon his wrist, and this was the origin of his surname. Henry's elec- tion was formally declared in 919, by the no- bles of Franconia and Saxony. The dukes of Swabia and Bavaria refused their homage, but were speedily brought to submission. Henry also conquered Lorraine, which had hesitated to accept him. He erected the fief into a duchy, giving his daughter in marriage to Duke Giselbert ; and having thus consolidated the sovereignty of Germany, he turned all his attention to arresting the Slavic and Hunga- rian inroads. In 924 the Hungarians advanced into the very heart of Saxony. Their leader was captured, and in exchange for him Henry HENRY II. (GERMANY) 657 obtained a truce of nine years. He made the most of the truce by organizing his army, building castles, fortifying cities, and reducing Brandenburg, together with the tribes on the Eider and the Elbe, and extending his rule to Prague. From this period dates the fealty of the Bohemian princes to Germany (929). On the expiration of the truce war with the Hun- garians was renewed, and Henry gained a complete and decisive victory on the banks of the Saale (933), which for the time relieved Germany from all danger of invasion. In 934 he defeated the Danes, who were ravaging the coasts of his northern provinces. Henry reigned nearly 18 years, and left his kingdom powerful and prosperous. The municipal priv- ileges which he granted were the foundation of the Germanic corporations. HENRY II., Saint, surnamed the Lame, em- peror of Germany, great-grandson of the pre- ceding, born May 6, 972, died at Grone, near Gottingen, July 13, 1024. His surname of the Lame was derived from an accident which be- fell him at Pavia in 1004. He succeeded his father as duke of Bavaria in 995, was elected successor to Otho III. at Mentz, June 6, 1002, and marched immediately against Hermann of Swabia, his competitor, whom he defeated. After ravaging Swabia, Thuringia, Saxony, and Lorraine, he had himself crowned a second time at Aix-la-Chapelle ; he married Cune- gunda (Kunigunde), daughter of Sigfried, first count of Luxemburg, and had her crowned at Paderborn in 1003. In the following year he passed into Italy, defeated Arduin of Ivrea, who had assumed the title of Csesar, and on May 15 was crowned in Pavia with the iron crown of the Lombard kings. Returning to Germany, he drove the Poles out of Bohemia in 1006, confirmed Stephen of Hungary in his new royal dignity in 1007, and in 1008 be- stowed the duchy of Lorraine upon Godfrey, count of Ardennes. The continued ill success of his arms against Boleslas of Poland inspired him in 1011 with the resolution to embrace a monastic life ; but his counsellors dissuaded him from his purpose, and he soon afterward concluded a peace with Poland and secured the frontiers of Bohemia. At this time Cune- gunda, being publicly accused of adultery, un- derwent the ordeal of walking on red-hot ploughshares. In 1013 Henry defeated Arduin a second time, and having restored Pope Ben- edict VIIL, he and Cunegunda received at his hands the imperial crown at Rome, Feb. 14, 1014. Historians accuse him of having on this occasion promised fealty to the pope, thereby sowing the seeds of future dissensions between church and state. Having pacified Lombardy, Henry returned to Germany, and on his way assumed the monastic habit in the convent of St. Vannes at Verdun, and vowed obedience to the abbot. But the latter forthwith com- manded him to resume his imperial state and attend to the government of the empire. He was defeated anew by the Poles in 1015, and