Henry II the Saint
Henry II was the last Ottonian emperor and the only one to be canonised. Born in 973, he was the son of Henry the Quarrelsome of Bavaria, the cousin who had rebelled against Otto II and been imprisoned for it, and was educated for the church at Hildesheim and Regensburg — which shaped everything he did afterwards. He succeeded as Duke of Bavaria in 995 and, on Otto III's childless death in 1002, seized the succession by intercepting the funeral procession carrying the imperial insignia and refusing to release the body until he had them. His policy reversed his predecessor's entirely. Otto III had moved to Rome and dreamed of a renewed Roman empire; Henry governed from Germany, treated Italy as a province to be visited when necessary, and concentrated on the frontier with Poland. He fought Bolesław the Brave in three wars over Lusatia and Bohemia, and allied with the pagan Liutizi against a Christian king to do it, which the clergy found difficult to explain. He governed through the church — appointing bishops, endowing them with counties and regalian rights, and using them as an administrative class that could not found dynasties. The imperial church system is his, and it is the arrangement the Investiture Controversy destroyed two generations later. He founded the bishopric of Bamberg in 1007 and built its cathedral. His marriage to Cunigunde produced no children, and later tradition made it a chaste one. He died in 1024 and was canonised in 1146. He is the only German king or emperor the Church made a saint, and his wife was canonised too.
- Lived: 973 CE – 1024 CE
- Nationality: German
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader
