Editing Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

===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}}