The 1125 German royal election was the Imperial election which lasted from 24 August to 1 or 2 September 1125, following the death of Henry V. It resulted in the coronation of the Duke of Saxony Lothair of Supplinburg as the King of the Romans by the Archbishop of Mainz, Adalbert on 13 September in Aachen.
The events during the election are preserved in most detail in the Narratio de electione Lotharii Saxoniae ducis in regem Romanorum (Account of the Election of Lothair of Saxony as King of the Romans), which was written by an unknown eye-witness, probably a monk at Göttweig Abbey, where the manuscript of the text was found. The manuscript was produced in the middle of the 12th century and thus at least twenty-five years after the events it describes. The detailed content of the account and the author's unawareness of the conflict between Lothair and the Staufen brothers Frederick II and Conrad III indicates that the original text was written before the end of 1125 and that the surviving manuscript must be a copy of it. [1] Further accounts of events during the election are provided by the Orderic Vitalis and Otto of Freising.
Archbishop Adalbert, advisor of the last Salian emperor Henry V, came into opposition to him during the Investiture Controversy by 1112 at the latest and made contact with the Saxon dukes who were opponents of Henry. [2] Adalbert was imprisoned for three years and then continued his opposition to Henry V until he was compensated by the Emperor in the Concordat of Worms in 1122. Lothair remained an open enemy of the Salians and the Staufens. [3]
Henry V died on 23 May 1125. His will left his personal property to his nephew Duke Frederick II von Staufen of Swabia, but placed the Imperial regalia in the care of his wife Empress Matilda at Trifels Castle until an imperial election could be held. [4] As Archchancellor and highest-ranking prince of the Empire, Archbishop Adalbert I was in charge of preparing and presiding over the election. At Henry's funeral, which probably took place in Speyer in June, the anti-Salian attitude of Adalbert became clear. He desired a free election in which Duke Frederick II's succession would not be a foregone conclusion. Otto von Freising and Ordericus Vitalis report that Adalbert took the Imperial regalia from Matilda in preparation for the Imperial election. [5]
The electoral system chosen by Adalbert was a recent innovation, first used in the election of the Abbot of Zwiefalten Abbey in 1095, which was called the Electio per compromissum (Election through compromise), in which there would be ten candidates from each of the provinces of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, and Saxony and they would all have to reach an agreement on a single candidate. [6] The forty electors obviously could not agree, but three candidates were put forward:
Otto von Freising records a fourth candidate, Charles I, Count of Flanders, who rejected the offer. [7]
Frederick, as nephew, supporter and personal heir of the last Salian emperor could claim the strongest right to the throne and was considered the favourite. But the powerful Duke Lothair had significant support, as a long-term opponent of the Salian emperors' hostile policy toward the spiritual princes of the empire. Leopold of Austria was also linked to the Salian dynasty, since his wife Agnes of Waiblingen was a daughter of Henry IV, and he enjoyed the support of the southern German clergy. [8]
Frederick, who was encamped outside the city of Mainz, did not immediately appear at the electoral assembly. After the three candidates had been named, Adalbert went to Lothair and Leopold to ask if either of them was willing to recognise one of the other candidates as king. Both agreed and simultaneously announced their renunciation of their candidature. [9] In this way, they showed their humility and demonstrated that they were worthy of being elected as king. [10] According to the Narratio, Frederick believed that as a result of this announcement by the other two candidates, he was the only candidate remaining. The following day he entered the city victoriously, expecting to be elected by the assembled princes.
After Frederick's arrival, Adalbert repeated the question he had asked the previous day to each candidate, but when he came to Frederick he also asked whether he was willing to renounce the designation of a successor in order to enable free elections in future. Frederick left this question unanswered and went back to his camp to consult with his associates, thereby resigning as a candidate.
Subsequently, Lothair's followers riotously proclaimed him king and called on the inhabitants of the city who were assembled outside to celebrate the new king. Although many of the Bavarian princes protested at the elevation of Lothair to the kingship without an election and were demanding that an actual vote take place, Adalbert barred the doors to prevent the people of Mainz from acclaiming Lothair and to prevent the Bavarian princes from holding the vote. Then one of the Papal legates in attendance called for quiet and the Bavarian bishops declared that they could not reach a decision without Henry the Black, their Duke, who had left the assembly at the same time as Frederick II.
Perhaps three days later, [11] the electors gathered once more and Lothair was elected king by the princes, including Henry the Black, who was present this time. [12] The princes then performed homage to the new king. Frederick II finally did homage two days later and Archbishop Frederick of Cologne crowned Lothair in Aachen on 13 September. Conflict had already broken out between the king and Frederick II by the end of the year. [13]
The Hohenstaufen dynasty, also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty's most prominent rulers – Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220) – ascended the imperial throne and also reigned over Italy and Burgundy. The non-contemporary name of 'Hohenstaufen' is derived from the family's Hohenstaufen Castle on the Hohenstaufen mountain at the northern fringes of the Swabian Jura, near the town of Göppingen. Under Hohenstaufen rule, the Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent from 1155 to 1268.
Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia. He died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III and from 1138 until his death in 1152 king in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Duke Frederick I of Swabia and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans during the Middle Ages, and also known as the German-Roman Emperor since the early modern period, was the ruler and head of state of the Holy Roman Empire. The title was held in conjunction with the title of king of Italy from the 8th to the 16th century, and, almost without interruption, with the title of king of Germany throughout the 12th to 18th centuries.
Lothair II was the king of Lotharingia from 855 until his death. He was the second son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. He was married to Teutberga, daughter of Boso the Elder.
Frederick II, called the One-Eyed, was Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His younger brother Conrad was elected King of the Romans in 1138.
Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, was a Frankish jurist and theologian, as well as the friend, advisor and propagandist of Charles the Bald. He belonged to a noble family of northern Francia.
Leopold III, known as Leopold the Good, was the Margrave of Austria from 1095 to his death in 1136. He was a member of the House of Babenberg. He was canonized on 6 January 1485 and became the patron saint of Austria, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Vienna. His feast day is 15 November.
Henry II, called Jasomirgott, a member of the House of Babenberg, was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1140 to 1141, Duke of Bavaria and Margrave of Austria from 1141 to 1156, and the first Duke of Austria from 1156 until his death.
Agnes of Waiblingen, also known as Agnes of Germany, Agnes of Poitou and Agnes of Saarbrücken, was a member of the Salian imperial family. Through her first marriage, she was Duchess of Swabia; through her second marriage, she was Margravine of Austria.
Adalbert I von Saarbrücken was Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1111 until his death. He played a key role in opposing Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the Investiture Controversy, and secured the election of Lothair III rather than Henry V's chosen heir in 1125, causing later Holy Roman Emperors to make concessions in order to maintain hereditary monarchy.
Henry IX, called the Black, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126.
The Battle of Welfesholz was fought on 11 February 1115 between the Imperial army of the Emperor Henry V and a rebellious Saxon force.
William of Hirsau was a Benedictine abbot and monastic reformer. He was abbot of Hirsau Abbey, for whom he created the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses, based on the uses of Cluny, and was the father of the Hirsau Reforms, which influenced many Benedictine monasteries in Germany. He supported the papacy in the Investiture Controversy. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is a Blessed, the second of three steps toward recognition as a saint.
Gertrude of Süpplingenburg was, by her two successive marriages, Duchess of Bavaria from 1127 to 1138, Margravine of Tuscany from 1136 to 1139, and Duchess of Saxony from 1137 to 1138, Margravine of Austria and again Duchess of Bavaria until her death. She was regent of Saxony during the minority of her son in 1139–1142.
Herman II was a member of the Conradine dynasty. He was Duke of Swabia from 997 to his death. In 1002, Herman unsuccessfully attempted to become king of Germany.
Conrad I, called the Great, a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Meissen from 1123 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1136 until his retirement in 1156. Initially a Saxon count, he became the ruler over large Imperial estates in the Eastern March and progenitor of the Saxon electors and kings.
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in 1098.
Matilda of Swabia, a member of the Conradine dynasty, was Duchess of Carinthia by her first marriage with Duke Conrad I and Duchess of Upper Lorraine by her second marriage to Duke Frederick II. She played an active role in promoting her son, Duke Conrad the Younger, as a candidate for the German throne in 1024 and to this end corresponded with King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland.
The German royal election of 1002 was the decision on the succession which was held after the death of Emperor Otto III without heirs. It was won by Duke Henry IV of Bavaria among accusations of uncustomary practices.
