Editing Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

==Reign as king==
===Royal election===
Emperor Henry II died childless in 1024, bringing an end to the [[Ottonian dynasty]] that had ruled Germany since 919.<ref>"Germany", Martin Volkl, ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology'', Volume 2, ed. Clifford J. Rogers, ([[Oxford University Press]], 2010), p. 171. {{ISBN?}}</ref> Without a clear successor to the German throne, Henry's widow [[Cunigunde of Luxembourg]] ruled as regent while the German dukes gathered to elect a new king. Cunigunde was assisted by her brothers Bishop [[Dietrich I of Metz]] and Duke [[Henry V of Bavaria]]. Archbishop [[Aribo of Mainz]], the [[primate of Germany]], also assisted Cunigunde.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archbishop Aribo di Magonza |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmagon.html |date=24 July 2017 |publisher=Catholic-Hierarchy |access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref>

On 4 September 1024, the German princes gathered at Kamba, a historical name for an area on the east banks of the [[Rhine]] opposite the modern German town of [[Oppenheim]]. Now the location of ''Kamba'' is marked with a small equestrian statue of Conrad II. The chronicler and Conrad's [[chaplain]], [[Wipo of Burgundy]], attended the meeting and documented the event. Archbishop Aribo presided over the assembly. Conrad presented himself as a candidate for election, as did his younger cousin [[Conrad II, Duke of Carinthia|Conrad]]. Both were [[Family tree of German monarchs|descendants]] of [[Emperor Otto I]] by their common grandfather [[Otto of Worms]], son of Liutgarde, one of Otto's daughters.{{sfn|Bernhardt|2002|p=311}} Although further members of the Ottonian dynasty existed, none were seriously considered eligible. The [[Duchy of Saxony]] adopted a neutral strategy while the [[Duchy of Lorraine]] favoured the younger Conrad. A majority of the assembled princes favoured the elder Conrad, as the father of a seven-year-old son implied a more stable dynastic future for the kingdom. As president of the assembly, Archbishop Aribo cast the first vote and supported the elder Conrad. He was joined by the other clerics in support of him. The secular dukes then cast their votes for the elder Conrad as well. Archbishop [[Pilgrim of Cologne]], Duke [[Gothelo I of Lower Lorraine]] and Duke [[Frederick II of Upper Lorraine]] did not support him.{{sfn|Schutz|2010|pp=115–}}

[[File:Speyer dom 11.jpg|thumb|[[Speyer Cathedral]], consecrated in 1061]]

Conrad was crowned [[king of Germany]] by Archbishop Aribo in [[Mainz Cathedral]] on 8 September 1024 at the age of 34.{{sfn|Heer|1968|p=51}}{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=97}} To mark his election, Conrad commissioned the construction of [[Speyer Cathedral]], near his ancestral home of Worms. Construction began in 1030. Archbishop Aribo, as archbishop of Mainz, was already the chancellor of Germany. Conrad wanted to reward the archbishop for his electoral support, so he made Aribo chancellor of Italy as well, making Aribo the second most powerful man in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] as the imperial chancellor.{{sfn|Weinfurter|1999|p=22–}}<ref name="rege">{{Cite web |title=Heinrich V. in seiner Zeit |url=http://www.regesta-imperii.de/fileadmin/user_upload/downloads/Regesta_Imperii_Beiheft_34.pdf |last=Gerhard Lubich |publisher=Regesta |access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref>

Aribo refused to crown Conrad's wife Gisela as queen as their marriage violated canon law. Conrad refused to accept Archbishop Aribo's position. Archbishop Pilgrim of Cologne saw the situation as an opportunity to restore his relationship with the king, after refusing to support Conrad's election, and he crowned Gisela queen on 21 September 1024. The political reorientation of Pilgrim also weakened the opposition towards the new king.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gisela |url=https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0001/bsb00016322/images/index.html?seite=427 |last=Otto zu Stolberg-Wernigerode |publisher=Neue deutsche Biographie |access-date=1 April 2020}}</ref>

===Early reign===
Conrad inherited a kingdom troubled by problems. The dukes of Saxony and Lorraine and his cousin Conrad of Carinthia opposed his rule. In order to strengthen his position, Conrad and Gisela embarked on a royal tour. At [[Augsburg]] Conrad received the support of Bishop [[Bruno of Augsburg|Bruno]] and at [[Strasbourg]] he acquired the support of Bishop [[Werner I (Bishop of Strasbourg)|Werner]]. Both men were brothers of former emperor Henry II and Conrad appointed them to high office at his court. After visiting Cologne Conrad stopped at [[Aachen]], where he, as a successor of the empire's founder [[Charlemagne]], announced that he would continue the tradition of claiming [[East Francia]]. The princes of the [[Duchy of Lorraine]] rejected his claim, though. Conrad then moved north to Saxony, visiting abbesses [[Adelaide I, Abbess of Quedlinburg|Adelaide I of Quedlinburg]] and [[Sophia I, Abbess of Gandersheim|Sophia I of Gandersheim]], daughters of [[Emperor Otto II]]. They supported Conrad, which helped to rally the Saxon nobility behind him. During [[Christmas]] at [[Minden]], the Saxon nobles, led by Duke [[Bernard II, Duke of Saxony|Bernard II]], officially recognized him as sovereign. He in turn had vowed to respect and honour the ancient Saxon customs and laws. Conrad and Gisela would remain in Saxony until March 1025, when they moved on to the [[Duchy of Swabia]], celebrating [[Easter]] at [[Augsburg]] and then proceeded on to the [[Duchy of Bavaria]], spending the feast of [[Pentecost]] at [[Regensburg]]. The royal couple finally visited [[Zürich]], where after ten months they ended their tour. Conrad then entered Burgundy in order to renew the royal claim, that, in 1016, Emperor Henry II had forced the childless Burgundian King [[Rudolph III of Burgundy|Rudolph III]] to name him as his heir.{{sfn|Wolfram|2010|p=443–}}

Conrad needed to address the longstanding "[[Gandersheim Conflict]]", as he had assumed the German throne. The decade-old unsettled dispute on who controlled [[Gandersheim Abbey]] and its estates dated back to the reign of [[Emperor Otto III]]. Both the [[Archbishop of Mainz]] and the [[Bishop of Hildesheim]] claimed authority over the Abbey, including the right to invest and anoint the abbey's nuns. Though Otto III had once eased tensions among the warring parties by declaring that both bishops would be entitled to anoint the Abbess and her sisters, the conflict still lingered. Archbishop [[Aribo (archbishop of Mainz)|Aribo of Mainz]], the new [[Primate of Germany]], counted on Conrad, who was indebted to Aribo for his support during the royal election. In January 1027, the king summoned a [[synod]] at [[Frankfurt]] to end the dispute, but a conclusion could not be reached. He called another synod in September 1028, which also failed. Only a third synod in 1030 solved the conflict when Bishop [[Gotthard of Hildesheim]] renounced his claims in favour of Aribo.{{sfn|Wolfram|2010|p=443–}}<ref name="Davids2002">{{Cite book |last=Adelbert Davids |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9Nf-GHTgnEC&pg=PA92 |title=The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the Turn of the First Millennium |year= 2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52467-4 |pages=92–}}</ref>

During his royal tour at Augsburg, Conrad and his younger cousin [[Conrad II, Duke of Carinthia|Conrad the Younger]] engaged in an argument, that, although not entirely clear, was related to the younger Conrad's demands of yet-unpaid compensation that Conrad II had promised him for withdrawing from the 1024 election. The lack of conflict between them after September 1027 suggests that they reconciled by then.{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=75}}

===Unrest in Italy===
[[File:Iron Crown.JPG|thumb|300px|Following his expedition into Italy in early 1026, Conrad II was crowned with the [[Iron Crown of Lombardy]] as the [[King of the Lombards]].]]

In Bavaria, Conrad came into contact with members of the Italian ruling elite for the first time. In June 1025, bishops from [[Northern Italy]], led by Archbishop [[Aribert (archbishop of Milan)|Aribert of Milan]], crossed the [[Alps]] in order to pay homage to Conrad. In exchange for certain administrative privileges, Aribert agreed to crown Conrad [[Iron Crown of Lombardy|King]]. However, the situation in Italy had become increasingly unstable after the death of Henry II. Amidst occasional riots, many Italian aristocrats demanded the secession of the [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Kingdom of Italy]] from the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The local aristocrats and merchants increasingly considered the idea of Frankish [[Ultramontanism|ultramontan]] protection against [[Saracen]] and [[Byzantine]] threats to be obsolete. The Italian throne was now viewed as vacant and not Conrad's as a matter of right.  The Lombard cities wanted to elect a king from the ranks of their own magnates, and when this motion failed, they tried to invite a prince from [[Aquitaine]] or other French realms. They offered the Italian crown to the [[House of Capet|Capetian]] king [[Robert II of France]] and his son [[Hugh Magnus]]. After the offer was rejected, they approached Duke [[William V of Aquitaine]], who, initially intrigued by the offer, rejected it as well.{{sfn|Bury|1922|p=264}}{{sfn|Schutz|2010|p=117}}

When the news of Henry's death spread, the citizens of [[Pavia]] revolted and destroyed the local imperial palace of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogothic king]] [[Theodoric the Great]], built during the 5th century.<ref name="Morgan-Owenson1821">{{Cite book |last=Sydney Morgan-Owenson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lupQAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA200 |title=Italy |publisher=H. Colburn |year=1821 |pages=200–}}</ref> Though Pavia was no longer the seat of imperial administration in Italy since the Ottonian dynasty, the palace had been perceived as a symbol of imperial authority in Italy and its mere presence within the city walls had been deemed intolerable. Pavia had—thanks to its strategic location on the trade routes from Italy to Burgundy and France—become an important commercial centre. The local merchants and aristocrats demanded the greatest possible autonomy from imperial control.<ref name="boni">{{Cite journal |title=Boniface of Canossa and the Emperor Conrad III |url=https://www.academia.edu/40250313 |last=Robert Houghton |journal=Storicamente |date=24 July 2017 |volume=13 |publisher=Academiaa |access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref> Schutz notes that Pavia disliked the financial burden they had to bear whenever the monarchs came to the citadel. The bishops protested the separatist movement though, as they fared better under imperial protection than under local princes.{{sfn|Schutz|2010|p=117}}

In the wake of the ecclesiastical mission, a party of noblemen from [[Pavia]] travelled north to meet Conrad and asked for severance from the Empire. The emissaries justified the actions of their fellow citizens by claiming that Pavia had always been loyal to the Italian king, as long as the king was alive and present, and that the revolt had taken place when the Italian throne was vacant. Conrad rejected the argument, that just as a ship remains devoted to its captain after his death, the Empire remains imperial property after the death of an emperor. The kingdom of Italy, according to Conrad, belonged to the empire as a matter of legal right. In his ''[[Constitutio de feudis]]'' ("Edict on the Benefices of the Italian Kingdom") of 1038 he would determine his regulations of the feudal contracts in Italy.<ref name="Stock1983">{{Cite book |last=Brian Stock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ves8Li9LH8C |title=The Implications of Literacy: Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries |page=156 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1983 |isbn=0-691-10227-9}}</ref> Conrad also declared that the Ostrogothic palace was property of the Empire and therefore the king had the right to punish those responsible for its destruction. The Pavian embassy returned to Italy in opposition to [[Salian dynasty|Salian]] rule.<ref name=boni/>

In February 1026, Conrad assembled a large army of armoured knights for an expedition into Italy, including troops commanded by both Archbishop [[Aribo (archbishop of Mainz)|Aribo of Mainz]] and Archbishop [[Pilgrim (archbishop of Cologne)|Pilgrim of Cologne]]. Conrad's army moved south and a contingent besieged Pavia and blocked all trade in the area, as he continued his campaign. By March 1026, Conrad arrived in [[Milan]] and was crowned with the [[Iron Crown of the Lombards]] by Archbishop [[Aribert (archbishop of Milan)|Aribert of Milan]] as [[King of the Lombards]]. From Milan, Conrad travelled to [[Vercelli]], where he celebrated [[Easter]] with the aged [[Leo of Vercelli|Bishop Leo of Vercelli]], who had been a chief advisor to the late [[Emperor Otto III]]. When Leo died a few days later, Archbishop Aribert became the chief supporter of the [[Salian dynasty]] in Italy. With Conrad's assistance, Aribert rose to the highest-ranking religious office in Italy and oversaw the expansion of the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]] in Milan. In June 1026, Conrad led his army to [[Ravenna]], but quartering his soldiers among the Ravennese population caused tensions in the city. Conrad then marched north to mitigate the risk the summer heat might pose to his army. In autumn Conrad left his summer camp in the [[Po Valley]] and marched to the Burgundian border. Conrad then celebrated [[Christmas]] at [[Ivrea]]. By the end of winter, the Italian aristocrats voluntarily ended their opposition to Conrad's reign. Pavia, however, remained in revolt until early 1027 when Abbot [[Odilo of Cluny]] brokered a peace deal between the city and Conrad.<ref name="Halfond2016">{{Cite book |last=Gregory I. Halfond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIC1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |title=The Medieval Way of War - Studies in Medieval Military History in Honor of Bernard S. Bachrach |date=2016 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-02419-4 |pages=69–}}</ref>