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| - Henry was the youngest son of the Emperor Henry III, by his third wife Agnes de Poitou, and was probably born at the royal villa at Goslar. His christening was delayed until the following November so that Abbot Hugh of Cluny could be one of his godparents. But even before that, at his Christmas court Henry III induced the attending nobles to promise fidelity to his son. Three years later, still anxious to ensure the succession, Henry III had a larger assembly of nobles elect the young Henry as his successor, and then, had him elected as king by Herman II, Archbishop of Cologne at Trebur. The coronation was held on 17 July 1054 in Aachen. When Henry III unexpectedly died in 1056, the accession of the six-year-old Henry IV was not opposed by his vassals. The dowager Empress Agnes acted as re
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| abstract
| - Henry was the youngest son of the Emperor Henry III, by his third wife Agnes de Poitou, and was probably born at the royal villa at Goslar. His christening was delayed until the following November so that Abbot Hugh of Cluny could be one of his godparents. But even before that, at his Christmas court Henry III induced the attending nobles to promise fidelity to his son. Three years later, still anxious to ensure the succession, Henry III had a larger assembly of nobles elect the young Henry as his successor, and then, had him elected as king by Herman II, Archbishop of Cologne at Trebur. The coronation was held on 17 July 1054 in Aachen. When Henry III unexpectedly died in 1056, the accession of the six-year-old Henry IV was not opposed by his vassals. The dowager Empress Agnes acted as regent, and, according to the will of the dead emperor, the German pope Victor II was named as her counsellor. The latter's death in 1057 soon showed the political ineptitude of Agnes, and the powerful influence held over her by German magnates and Imperial functionaries. Agnes assigned the Duchy of Bavaria, given by her husband to Henry IV, to Otto of Nordheim. This deprived the young king of a solid base of power. Likewise, her decision to assign the Duchies of Swabia and Carinthia to Rudolf of Rheinfelden (who married her daughter Matilda) and Berthold of Zähringen, respectively, would prove mistakes, as both later rebelled against the king. Unlike Henry III, Agnes proved incapable of influencing the election of the new popes, Stephen IX and Nicholas II. The Papal alliance with the Normans of southern Italy, formed to counter the communal resistance in Rome, resulted in the deterioration of relations with the German King, as well as Nicholas' interference in the election of German bishops. Agnes also granted local magnates extensive territorial privileges that eroded the King's material power. In 1062 the young king was kidnapped during a conspiracy of German nobles led by archbishop Anno II of Cologne. Henry, who was at Kaiserwerth, was persuaded to board a boat lying in the Rhine; it was immediately unmoored and the king jumped into the stream, but was rescued by one of the conspirators and carried to Cologne. Agnes retired to a convent, the government subsequently placed in the hands of Anno. His first move was to recognize Pope Alexander II in his conflict with the antipope Honorius II, who had been initially recognized by Agnes but was subsequently left without support. Anno's rule proved unpopular. The education and training of Henry were supervised by Anno, who was called his magister, while Adalbert of Hamburg, archbishop of Bremen, was styled Henry's patronus. Henry's education seems to have been neglected, and his willful and headstrong nature developed under the conditions of these early years. The malleable Adalbert of Hamburg soon became the confidant of the ruthless Henry. Eventually, during an absence of Anno from Germany, Henry managed to obtain control of his civil duties, leaving Anno only with the ecclesiastical ones.
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