HENRY

born 1211, Sicily died Feb. 12, 1242, Martirano, Calabria, Kingdom of Sicily German king (from 1220), son of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II. After apparently spending most of his youth in Germany, Henry was crowned king of Sicily in 1212 and made duke of Swabia in 1216. Pope Innocent III had favoured his coronation as king of Sicily in the hope that the union of Sicily with the empire would be dissolved, and he had obtained a promise from Frederick to this effect. Nevertheless, Henry was chosen king of the Romans, or German king, at Frankfurt in April 1220 and crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle (modern Aachen, Ger.) on May 8, 1222, by his guardian Engelbert, archbishop of Cologne. The murder of Engelbert in 1225 was followed by an increase of disorder in Germany, and relations between Frederick and his son began to be strained. In 1231 Henry refused to appear at the diet at Ravenna and opposed the privileges granted by Frederick to the princes at Worms. In 1232 he submitted to his father, but in 1233 he issued a manifesto to the princes, and in 1234 raised the standard of revolt at Boppard. He succeeded in forming an alliance with the Lombards in December 1234, but his few supporters fell away when the Emperor reached Germany in 1235, and, after a vain attack on Worms, Henry submitted and was kept for some time as a prisoner in Germany. His formal deposition as German king was not considered necessary, because he had broken the oath taken in 1232. (He is usually not reckoned among the German kings.) He was removed to San Felice in Apulia and afterward to a prison at Martirano in Calabria, where he died, probably by his own hand. born c. 1269/74, Valenciennes, Hainaut died Aug. 24, 1313, Buonconvento, near Siena, Italy count of Luxembourg (as Henry IV), German king (from 1308), and Holy Roman emperor (from 1312) who strengthened the position of his family by obtaining the throne of Bohemia for his son. He failed, however, in his attempt to bind Italy firmly to the empire. Henry succeeded his father, Henry III, as count of Luxembourg in 1288. He was chosen German king in November 1308 at Frankfurt and was crowned at Aachen the following January, becoming the first German king of the House of Luxembourg. Bohemia was acquired through the Bohemian princess Elizabeth, who, in exchange for imperial assistance in her attempt to seize the throne of Bohemia from her brother-in-law Henry of Carinthia, offered her hand in marriage to Henry's son John of Luxembourg. Following their marriage on Aug. 30, 1310, the couple set out for Bohemia, accompanied by a German-Bohemian army, which captured Prague on Dec. 19, 1310, and installed John as king of Bohemia. Meanwhile, Henry journeyed to Italy, assuming the Lombard crown in Milan in January 1311. The cities of Piedmont and Lombardy submitted to him, and, in accordance with his proclaimed program of peace and impartial justice, he reconciled the warring factions and restored the exiles to their homes. But because most of them were pro-imperial Ghibellines, suspicion and discontent were aroused among the Florentines and their Guelf (anti-imperialist) allies in Tuscany and Romagna. Disorders broke out in February 1311 and led to the revolt of Brescia (May 1311), which Henry was not able to subdue until September. Early in May 1312 Henry entered Rome, where he found part of the city held against him by the troops of Robert, the Angevin king of Naples. He was, nevertheless, crowned emperor on June 29 by cardinals nominated by the Pope for that purpose. In August Henry left Rome on a campaign against the Guelf forces of Tuscany. Although he subdued a number of Tuscan towns, he failed to take Florence, the leading Guelf city in Tuscany. After spending some time in Pisa (which was friendly to his cause), he left that city in August 1313 on an expedition against Naples. On the way, after an unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Siena, he was stricken ill with fever and died. He was buried in the cathedral of Pisa. Additional reading R.L. Storey, The Reign of Henry VII (1968), is a clear summary of research, with a useful bibliography; Michael Van Cleave Alexander, The First of the Tudors: A Study of Henry VII and His Reign (1980), is a general account of his life; Stanley B. Chrimes, Henry VII (1972), treats Henry VII's government; English Historical Documents, vol. 5, 1485-1558, ed. by C.H. Williams (1967); and The Reign of Henry VII from Contemporary Sources, ed. by Albert F. Pollard, 3 vol. (1913-14, reprinted 1967), provide valuable collections of documents for the reign; John D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1558, (1952, reissued 1978): and Geoffrey R. Elton, England Under the Tudors, 2nd ed. (1974, reissued 1977), offer interesting interpretations of the reign and useful bibliographies.