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- BIOGRAPHY
Konrad II was born about 990, the son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Heinrich, Graf von Speyer, and Adelaide of Alsace. Konrad's father was a grandson of Luidgard von Sachsen, a daughter of the great Emperor Otto I who had married the Salian Duke Konrad 'the Red' of Lorraine.
Konrad inherited the titles of Count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Heinrich died aged only twenty. The orphaned Konrad grew up poor by the standards of the nobility and was raised by the bishop of Worms.
He was reputed to be prudent and firm out of his consciousness of deprivation. In 1016 he married Gisela von Schwaben, a twice widowed duchess who was the daughter of Hermann II, Herzog von Schwaben, and Gerberge de Bourgogne. Both parties claimed descent from Emperor Otto I 'the Great' and were thus related. Strict canonists took exception to the marriage, and Emperor Heinrich II used this to force Konrad into temporary exile.
They became reconciled, and upon Heinrich's death in 1024, Konrad appeared as a candidate before the electoral assembly of princes at Kamba in the Rhineland. He was elected by the majority and was crowned king in Mainz on 8 September 1024, arguably in the prime of life. It was equally obvious that the Saxon line of emperors was at an end, and all of Europe speculated and manoeuvred to influence the prince-electors in unseemly disrespect for the aging Heinrich II. The Italian bishops paid homage at Konrad's court at Konstanz in June 1025, but lay princes sought to elect Guillaume V of Aquitaine as king instead. However early in 1026 Konrad went to Milan, where Ariberto, archbishop of Milan, crowned him king of Italy. After overcoming some opposition from the towns Konrad reached Rome, where Pope John XIX crowned him emperor at Easter 1027.
He formally confirmed the popular legal traditions of Saxony and issued a new constitution for Lombardy. In 1028 at Aachen he had his son Heinrich elected and anointed German king. Heinrich married Gunhild of Denmark, daughter of Knud 'den Store', king of England, Denmark and Norway, and Emma of Normandy. This was an arrangement that Konrad had made many years before, when he gave Knud parts of northern Germany to administer. Heinrich, the later Emperor Heinrich III, became chief counsellor of his father.
Konrad campaigned against Poland in 1028 and forced Mieszko II, son and heir of Boleslaw I, to make peace and return land that Boleslaw had conquered from the empire. At the death of Heinrich II the bold and rebellious Mieszko II had tried to throw off his vassalage, but he then submitted and swore to be Emperor Konrad's faithful vassal. Mieszko II ceased to be a self-anointed king and reverted to being duke of Poland.
In 1029 some Bavarian border conflicts undermined the good relations with Stephan I of Hungary. One year later Konrad launched a campaign against Hungary. The Hungarians successfully used scorched earth tactics and the emperor had to withdraw with his army. Finally the Hungarian army forced him to surrender at Vienna. After his defeat Konrad was obliged to cede some border territory to Hungary.
When Rudolph III, king of Burgundy died on 2 February 1032 he bequeathed his kingdom, which combined two earlier kingdoms of Burgundy, to Konrad. Despite some opposition, the Burgundian and Provencal nobles paid homage to Konrad in Zürich in 1034. This kingdom of Burgundy, which under Konrad's successors would become known as the kingdom of Arles, corresponded to most of the south-eastern quarter of modern France and included western Switzerland, the Franche-Comté and Dauphiné. It did not include the smaller duchy of Burgundy to the north, ruled by a cadet branch of the Capetian kings of France. (Piecemeal over the next centuries most of the former kingdom of Arles was incorporated into France - but King of Arles remained one of the Holy Roman Emperor's subsidiary titles until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.)
Konrad upheld the rights of the _valvassores_ (knights and burghers of the cities) of Italy against Archbishop Aribert of Milan and the local nobles. The nobles as vassal lords and the bishop conspired to rescind rights from the burghers. With skilful diplomacy and luck Konrad restored order.
In 1038, Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno requested his adjudication in a dispute over Capua with its Prince Pandulf, whom Konrad had released from imprisonment in 1024, immediately after his coronation. Hearing that the Byzantine Emperor Michael IV 'the Paphlagonian' had received the same request, Konrad travelled to Salerno and Aversa in Southern Italy.
He appointed Richer, from Germany, as abbot of Monte Cassino, the abbot Theobald being imprisoned by Pandulf. At Troia, he ordered Pandulf to restore stolen property to Monte Cassino. Pandulf sent his wife and son to ask for peace, giving 300 pounds weight of gold and a son and daughter as hostages. The emperor accepted Pandulf's offer, but the hostages escaped and Pandulf took refuge in his outlying castle of Sant'Agata dei Goti. Konrad besieged and took Capua and gave it to Guaimar with the title of Prince. He also recognised Aversa as a county of Salerno under Pandulf Drengot, the Norman adventurer. Pandulf of Capua, meanwhile fled to Constantinople. Konrad thus left the Mezzogiorno firmly in Guiamar's hands and loyal, for once, to the Holy Roman Empire.
During Konrad's return to Germany an epidemic broke out among his troops. Konrad's daughter-in-law and stepson died. Konrad himself returned safely and held several important courts in Solothurn, Strasbourg and Goslar. His son Heinrich was invested with the kingdom of Burgundy.
A year later in 1039 Konrad fell ill. He died in Utrecht on 4 June 1039. A biography of Konrad II in chronicle form, _Gesta Chuonradi II imperatoris,_ was written by his chaplain Wipo of Burgundy, and presented to Heinrich III in 1046, not long after Heinrich's coronation as emperor.
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