Henry III German Heinrich (b. Oct. 28, 1017—d. Oct. 5, 1056, Pfalz Bodfeld, near Goslar, Saxony) Duke of Bavaria (as Henry VI, 1027—41), duke of Swabia (as Henry I, 1038—45), German king (1039-56), and emperor (1046-56). He gained sovereignty over Bohemia and Moravia and arranged the election of Pope Clement II, who crowned him emperor. The last emperor to dominate the papacy, Henry appointed three more popes in succeeding years. He championed the church reform advocated by the monasteries of Cluny and Gorze. He was nearly deposed in a revolt (1054-55), and in his later years his influence faltered in northeastern Germany, Hungary, southern Italy, and Lorraine.
Henry IV orig. Henry Bolingbroke (b. April? 1366, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, Eng.—d. March 20, 1413, London) King of England (1399-1413), first of three 15th-century monarchs of the house of Lan¬ caster. Son of John of Gaunt, he initially supported Richard II against the duke of Gloucester but turned against him after being banished in 1398. He invaded England in 1399, forcing Richard’s surrender and abdication. Having gained the crown by usurpation, he successfully consolidated his power in the face of repeated uprisings of powerful nobles. However, he failed to subdue the Welsh under Owen Glendower, was defeated by the Scots, and was unable to overcome the fiscal and administrative weak¬ nesses that contributed to the eventual downfall of the Lancastrian dynasty. He was succeeded by his son, Henry V.
Henry IV or Henry of Navarra French Henri de Navarre (b.
Dec. 13, 1553, Pau, Bearn, Navarra—d. May 14, 1610, Paris) First Bour¬ bon king of France (1589-1610) and king of Navarra (as Henry III, 1572— 89), one of the most popular figures in French history. Henry was brought up as a Protestant and received his military training from the Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Coligny in the Wars of Religion. He married Margaret of Valois in 1572; the marriage provided the opportunity for the Massa¬ cre of Saint Bartholomew's Day six days later. Henry was held at the French court from 1572 to 1576, when he escaped to join the forces against Henry III. He fought the War of the Three Henrys and prevailed as unrivaled leader. He became king after Henry III was assassinated in 1589, but was forced to fight the Holy League for nine years to secure his kingdom. In 1593 he converted to Roman Catholicism to remove all pretext for resistance to his rule. He entered Paris amid cheers in 1594, but he had to wage war (1595-98) against Spain, which supported the remaining resistance to him in France. Henry signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598, ending 40 years of civil war. With the aid of his ministers, including the duke de Sully, Henry brought order and new prosperity to France. His earlier marriage was annulled, and in 1600 he married Marie de Medicis. In 1610 he was assas¬ sinated by a fanatical Roman Catholic.
Henry IV German Heinrich (b. Nov. 11, 1050, Goslar?, Saxony—d. Aug. 7, 1106, Liege, Lorraine) Duke of Bavaria (1055-61), German king (1054-1106), and emperor (1084-1105/6). He succeeded to the German
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Henry V > Henry I 863
throne at age six; his pious and unworldly mother was regent until 1062, and Henry gained control of the government upon reaching his majority in 1065. His reassertion of royal rights provoked rebellion in Saxony (1073-75). He engaged in a long struggle with Pope Gregory VII over the issues of obedience to papal commands and lay investiture (see Investiture Controversy). Gregory excommunicated him and absolved his subjects of their oaths of loyalty. Seeking absolution, Henry was forced to cross the Alps in winter and, according to tradition, stand barefoot in the snow three days before the castle at Canossa, where the pope was staying, before the latter would rescind his order. The German princes deserted Henry (1077) and elected Rudolf I as king. In 1080 Gregory excommunicated Henry again and recognized Rudolf. Henry responded by conquering Rome (1084) and installing the antipope Clement III. In his last years his sons Conrad and Henry led rebellions against his rule.
Henry V (b. Sept. 16?, 1387, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales—d. Aug. 31, 1422, Bois de Vincennes, Fr.) King of England (1413—22) of the House of Lancaster. The eldest son of Henry IV, he fought Welsh rebels (1403-08). As king he harshly suppressed a Lollard uprising (1414) and a Yorkist conspiracy (1415). He claimed extensive lands in France and launched an invasion (1415), and his stunning victory at the Battle of Agincourt made England one of the greatest powers in Europe. His con¬ tinuing victories forced the French to sign the Treaty of Troyes (1420), in which Henry was named heir to the French throne and regent of France. He married Catherine, daughter of the French king, but died of camp fever before he could return home.
Henry VI (b. Dec. 6, 1421, Windsor, Berkshire, Eng.—d. May 21/22, 1471, London) King of England (1422-61, 1470-71). Son of Henry V, he became king as an infant, and grew up a pious and studious recluse, who suffered episodes of mental instability. England’s political affairs were dominated by the rivalries of a series of overpowerful ministers of the houses of Lancaster and York, and Henry’s incapacity for government became one of the causes of the Wars of the Roses. In 1461 a Yorkist was proclaimed Edward IV. Henry fled, but he returned in 1464 in an unsuc¬ cessful Lancastrian rising and was eventually captured and imprisoned. After a quarrel in the York faction, he was restored to the throne in 1470. Edward fled but soon returned to defeat and kill the earl of Warwick and regain the throne. The death in battle of Prince Edward, Henry’s heir, sealed Henry’s fate, and he was murdered in the Tower of London soon afterward.
Henry VI German Heinrich (b. autumn 1165, Nijmegen, Neth.—d. Sept. 28, 1197, Messina, Italy) German king (1169-97) and Holy Roman emperor (1191-97) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty who acquired the king¬ dom of Sicily by marriage. Crowned king in 1169, Henry took over gov¬ ernment of the Holy Roman Empire when his father, Frederick I Barbarossa, embarked on a Crusade to the Holy Land in 1189. Soon after his coronation he faced revolts by Henry the Lion in Germany and Tan- cred in Sicily, but he succeeded in making peace in 1194. His efforts to make the imperial crown hereditary were unsuccessful, but his son Fre¬ derick II would become emperor after the death of Henry’s eventual suc¬ cessor, the Welf ruler, Otto IV.
Henry VII orig. Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond (b. Jan. 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales—d. April 21, 1509, Rich¬ mond, Surrey, Eng.) King of England (1485-1509) and founder of the Tudor dynasty. As earl of Richmond and a kinsman in the House of Lan¬ caster, he fled to Brittany after the triumph of the Yorkist forces in 1471. He later returned to England, rallied the opponents of Richard III, and defeated him at the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). He married Elizabeth of York and ended the Wars of the Roses, though Yorkist plots continued. He made peace with France (1492), the Netherlands (1496), and Scotland (1499) and used his children’s marriages to build European alliances. His commercial treaties and promotion of trade made England wealthy and powerful. He was succeeded by his son Henry VIII.
Henry VII German Heinrich (b. c. 1269/74, Valenciennes, Hainaut—d. Aug. 24, 1313, Buonconvento, near Siena, Italy) Count of Luxembourg (as Henry IV), German king (1308-13), and Holy Roman Emperor (1312-13). The first German king of the House of Luxembourg, he strengthened the position of his family by obtaining the throne of Bohemia for his son. He became ruler of Lombardy (1311) but faced con¬ flicts between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Though crowned emperor at Rome, he was unable to subdue Florence or Naples, and he failed in his attempt to bind Italy firmly to the empire.