HENRY

n.

or St. Henry German Heinrich

born May 6, 973, Albach?, Bavaria

died July 13, 1024, near Göttingen, Saxony; canonized 1146; feast day July 13

Duke of Bavaria (as Henry IV, 995–1005), German king (1002–24), and emperor (1014–24), the last of the Saxon dynasty.

He led a series of military campaigns against Poland before making peace in 1018. He asserted German authority in northern Italy and was crowned emperor by Pope Benedict VIII on Feb. 14, 1014. To protect the papacy he fought Greeks and Lombards in Italy (1021). He fostered cooperation between church and state and established the German bishops as secular rulers as well as ecclesiastical princes and established a reputation for religious piety.