Editing Agnes of Poitou (section)

==Regency==
After her husband's death on 5 October 1056, Empress Agnes served as regent on behalf of her young son Henry IV.<ref name="Jackson 1999">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Guida M.|title=Women rulers throughout the ages : an illustrated guide|year=1999|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif|isbn=1576070913|edition=2nd rev., expanded and updated|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9791576070917}}</ref> Henry III had secured the [[Imperial election|election]] of his son as [[King of the Romans]] on his deathbed. Aided by Abbott Hugh of Cluny and [[Pope Victor II]], also [[bishop of Eichstätt]], Agnes tried to continue her husband's politics and to strengthen the rule of the [[Salian dynasty]]. However, despite being related to kings of Italy and Burgundy, she gained little respect as a leader.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/woman/23.html|title=Agnes of Poitiers, empress {{!}} Epistolae|website=epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu|access-date=2019-04-02}}</ref> The loss of some of her family's ancestral lands later weakened her son's position tremendously.<ref name =Ingelheim/>

After Henry's death, Agnes was placed in a difficult position between secular and religious powers.<ref name =Ingelheim/> She had support from her retinue and territories she had brought from France upon her marriage, and she wanted to follow the example of [[Adelaide of Italy|Empress Adelheid]]. She was however more restricted than the Ottonian queen-empresses.<ref>{{cite book |title=Royal and Elite Households in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: More than Just a Castle |date= 2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-36076-1 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHtTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |access-date=24 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

To win allies, she gave away three German [[Stem duchy|duchies]]:<ref name="Jackson-Laufer1999"/> already on Christmas 1056, the [[Ezzonid]] scion [[Conrad III, Duke of Carinthia|Conrad III]], a nephew of Count palatine [[Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia|Ezzo of Lotharingia]], received the [[Duchy of Carinthia]]. The next year she enfeoffed [[Rudolf of Rheinfelden]] with [[Duchy of Swabia|Swabia]], appointed him administrator of [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and offered him the hand of her daughter Matilda. According to the medieval chronicler [[Frutolf of Michelsberg]], Rudolf had possibly abducted Matilda and extorted the betrothal. However, Agnes' late husband had promised the Swabian duchy to [[Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia|Berthold of Zähringen]], who in turn had to be compensated with Carinthia upon Conrad's death in 1061.

At the same time, while German forces interfered in the fratricidal struggle of King [[Andrew I of Hungary|Andrew I]] and [[Béla I of Hungary]], Agnes ceded the [[Duchy of Bavaria]] to Count [[Otto of Nordheim]]. He reached a settlement with Hungary by enforcing the coronation of Andrew's son [[Solomon, King of Hungary|Solomon]] but later became a bitter rival of her son Henry IV.

Though initially a follower of the [[Cluniac Reforms]], Agnes opposed the contemporary papal reform movement, and took the side of Italian anti-reform party.<ref name="Jackson-Laufer1999"/> Things had worsened after the death of Pope Victor II in 1057: his successor [[Pope Stephen IX|Stephen IX]] was unable to take actual possession of Rome due to the Roman aristocracy's election of antipope [[Antipope Benedict X|Benedict X]], and Stephen sent Anselm of Lucca (future Pope [[Pope Alexander II|Alexander II]]) and Hildebrand of [[Sovana]] (future Pope [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]]) to Germany to obtain the support of Agnes as regent.

Though Stephen died before being able to return to Rome, Agnes' help was instrumental in enabling Hildebrand to depose the antipope<ref>According to the sources, feeling his was nearing his end, Stephen had his cardinal swear that they would wait for Hildebrand's return to Rome before electing his successor.{{cite journal|first=Agostino|last=Paravicini Bagliani|title=Una carriera dieotr le quinte|journal=Medioevo|issue=143|date=December 2008|page=70}}</ref> and to replace him by the [[bishop of Florence]], [[Pope Nicholas II|Nicholas II]]. Thereafter,  on Easter 1059 Nicholas issued the momentous papal bull ''[[In nomine Domini]]'' establishing the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] as the sole electors of the pope, denying this power to the emperor and all temporal rulers, including Agnes herself.

When Pope Alexander II was elected on 30 September 1061, Empress Agnes refused to acknowledge him and had [[Antipope Honorius II|Honorius II]] elected. This [[schism]] did not end until Pentecost 1064. The empress' candidate could not prevail against the Roman Curia; in consequence, Agnes retired from politics, leaving the regency to her confidant Bishop [[Henry II of Augsburg]].
[[File:Kaiserswerth1.jpg|thumb|Kaiserswerth Pfalz ruins]]
Bishop Henry did not receive wide acceptance due to his awkward and haughty manners, as well as scandalous rumours about his relationship with the empress, as recorded by [[Lambert of Hersfeld]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}. Moreover, the fact that the heir to the throne was raised by common ''[[ministeriales]]'' provoked anger among the [[Princes of the Holy Roman Empire|princes]]. In 1062, young Henry IV was abducted by a group including Archbishop [[Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne|Anno II of Cologne]] and Otto of Nordheim, in a conspiracy to remove Agnes from the throne, referred to as the [[Coup of Kaiserswerth]]. Henry was brought to [[Cologne]], and despite jumping overboard to escape, he was recaptured. From this point, the power shifted to Rome, as the pope elected the emperor.<ref name=Ingelheim/>

Defeated, Agnes resigned as regent and was replaced by Anno together with the archbishops [[Siegfried I (archbishop of Mainz)|Siegfried of Mainz]] and [[Adalbert of Hamburg|Adalbert of Bremen]].<ref name="Jackson-Laufer1999"/>