Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry VII (1275 or 1278/79 – 24 August 1313) was the King of Germany from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg. During his brief career he reinvigorated the imperial cause in Italy, which was racked with the partisan struggles between the divided Guelph and Ghibelline factions, and inspired the praise of Dino Compagni and Dante Alighieri. He was the first emperor since the death of Frederick II in 1250, ending the Great Interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire; however, his premature death threatened to undo his life's work. His son, John of Bohemia, failed to be elected as his successor, and there was briefly another anti-king, Frederick the Fair, who contested the rule of Louis IV.

Life

Election as King of the Romans

Born probably between 1275 or 1278/79 in Valenciennes, he was a son of Count Henry VI of Luxembourg and Béatrice from the House of Avesnes. Raised at the French court, he was the lord of comparatively small properties in a peripheral and predominantly French-speaking part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was symptomatic of the empire's weakness that during his rule as the Count of Luxembourg, he agreed to become a French vassal, seeking the protection of King Philip the Fair of France. During his rule of Luxembourg, he ruled effectively, especially in keeping the peace in local feudal disputes. Philip thought he had the backing of the French Pope Clement V (established at Avignon), and that his prospects of bringing the empire into the orbit of the French royal house were good. He lavishly spread French money in the hope of bribing the German electors. The principal rival to Charles appeared to be Rudolf, the Count Palatine.

Given his background, although he was a vassal of Philip the Fair, the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, and who were unhappy with both Charles and Rudolf. Henry's brother, Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier, won over a number of the electors, including the Archbishop of Cologne, in exchange for some substantial concessions. He agreed to crown Henry emperor at Candlemas 1312 personally, the title having been vacant since the death of Frederick II. Henry in exchange, swore an oath of protection to the Pope, As emperor, Henry had planned to restore the glory of the Holy Roman Empire, but he did not reckon on the bitterly divided state that Italy had now become. Nevertheless, he insisted that the current rulers in all of the Italian city-states had usurped their powers. He insisted that the towns should come under the immediate control of the Empire, and that their exiles should be recalled. He eventually forced the cities to comply with his demands, and the despots had to surrender their keys. Although Henry rewarded their submission with titles and fiefs, it did cause a great deal of resentment that only grew over time. Henry proceeded to Milan, where he was crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy on 6 January 1311. He also imposed his brother-in-law, Amadeus of Savoy, as the vicar-general in Lombardy. caused the Guelph cities to turn against Henry, and he encountered further resistance when he sought to enforce imperial claims on what had become communal lands and rights, and attempted to replace communal regulations with imperial laws. had fled from Milan, Also while in Genoa he discovered that King Robert of Naples had decided to oppose the spread of imperial power in the Italian peninsula, and resumed his traditional position as head of the Guelph parties, as Florence, Lucca, Siena and Perugia all declared their support for Robert. With Florence's encouragement, much of Lombardy flared into open rebellion against Henry, with uprisings throughout December 1311 and January 1312,

Wars against Florence and Robert of Naples

Rome was in a state of confusion as Henry approached the city walls. The Orsini family had adopted the cause of Robert of Naples, while the Colonna family threw their weight behind Henry. who had decided, with help from the Florentines The imperial party was fired upon by hostile crossbowmen in the Lateran’s banqueting hall shortly after the coronation. Robert of Naples, in the meantime, had made increasing demands upon Henry, including Henry making Robert's son the Imperial vicar of Tuscany, and that Henry had to depart Rome within four days of his coronation. as a rebel vassal. Meanwhile, at Carpentras near Avignon, Clement was unwilling to fully support Henry, since Robert, of a cadet line of the French, was the representative of French power in Italy, and Clement was far from independent of French policies. Furthermore, he was concerned about being encircled by Henry should he successfully defeat Robert. Thus began the siege of Florence, Henry possessing some 15,000 infantrymen and 2,000 cavalry, up against a combined Florentine strength of 64,000 defenders. he began his long-delayed campaign against Robert of Naples on 8 August 1313.

Legacy At Henry's death, and for the following decades, the central figure in Italian policy remained his nemesis, Robert of Naples. In the Empire, Henry's son, John the Blind, was elected King of Bohemia in 1310. After the death of Henry VII, two rivals, the Wittelsbach Ludwig of Bavaria and Frederick the Handsome of the House of Habsburg, laid claim to the crown. Their dispute culminated in the Battle of Mühldorf on 28 September 1322, which was lost by Frederick. Ludwig's Italian expedition (1327–29), made in the spirit of righting the wrongs done to Henry, was also abortive. The legacy of Henry was clearest in the successful careers of two among the local despots he made Imperial Vicars in northern cities, Cangrande I della Scala of Verona and Matteo Visconti of Milan.

Tomb

Pisa was a Ghibelline city, which means that the city supported the Holy Roman Emperor. When Henry VII died, Pisans built a monumental tomb inside their cathedral. The tomb was centered behind the High Altar in the apse. The choice of place was intended to demonstrate the devotion of the Pisans to the Emperor.

The tomb, constructed in 1315 by Sienese sculptor Tino di Camaino, while the tomb remains in the cathedral.

There is a plaster cast (1890) of the tomb in the Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Henry VII is the famous alto Arrigo in Dante's Paradiso, in which the poet is shown the seat of honor that awaits Henry in Heaven. Henry in Paradiso xxx.137f is "He who came to reform Italy before she was ready for it". Dante also alludes to him numerous times in Purgatorio as the savior who will bring imperial rule back to Italy, and end the inappropriate temporal control of the Church. In 1921, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Dante's death, Henry VII's tomb was opened and examined.

Henry VII's tomb was opened and studied again in 2013, 700 years after his death. The remains had been wrapped in a large rectangular colorful silk shroud, described in the 1921 study as "a fine shroud woven in bands", which was retrieved from the coffin for analysis and subsequently moved to be displayed at the Museum of the Opera del Duomo. The skeleton was recomposed and its analysis led to the estimation that Henry VII's height was 1.78 metres.

Family and children Henry was married in Tervuren 9 July 1292 to Margaret of Brabant, daughter of John I, Duke of Brabant, and had three children: John I, King of Bohemia (10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346) Marie (1304 – 26 March 1324, Issoudun), married in Paris 21 September 1322 to King Charles IV of France. Beatrix (1305 – 11 November 1319), married 1318 to King Charles I of Hungary. Beatrix died in child birth.