The Gandersheim Conflict, Part 2

The Archbishop of Mainz and the Bishop of Hildesheim each wanted jurisdiction over the wealthy Gandersheim Abbey. This conflict reached a peak of pettiness when the abbey was to be reconsecrated on 14 September 1000 after being rebuilt due to a fire years earlier.

Archbishop of Mainz Willigis had postponed the consecration by a week after Bishop of Hildesheim Bernward had already received an invitation. Willigis knew that Bernward would be tied up in other court matters a week later. When Bernward showed up on the 14th, thinking he was going to take part in the ceremony and yet finding no preparations made, he decided to perform a Mass anyway. He publicly preached against the acting abbess, Sophia (who favored Willigis), which caused a riot.

On the 21st, Willigis appeared for the consecration and made a point of Bernward's absence, calling it a breach of duty and demanding that he appear the next day or Willigis would consecrate the abbey alone. Bernard had already planned for this: he sent Bishop of Schleswig Ekkehard to take his place at Gandersheim, a solution supported by canon law. Although Bernward would have preferred being at Gandersheim himself, he was able to avoid giving Willigis the sole spotlight and the opportunity to criticize Bernard for his absence.

Willigis convened a synod at Gandersheim to deal with the rights of Gandersheim once and for all, but Bernward was already on his way to Rome to appeal to Pope Sylvester II and Emperor Otto III (Sophia's nephew). Bernward reached Rome on 4 January, A representative from Ekkehard with details of the incident at Gandersheim arrived on the 7th.

Although Willigis was an important member of the court from the time of Otto's father, Bernward had familiarity on his side: Bernward and Sylvester (Gerbert of Aurillac prior to becoming pope) were tutors to Otto III in his youth. A papal letter dated 13 January was sent to Willigis to demand he hand off the rights to Gandersheim to the bishops of Hildesheim.

Willigis and Sophia still opposed Bernward. Another synod in June held by a papal legate was disrupted when armed men loyal to Willigis prevented the reading aloud of the papal letter transferring rights. Willigis tried to invite Bernward to a meeting in August, but Bernward claimed (and perhaps was) ill and sent Ekkehard and the German historian Thangmar as his representatives. Willigis did not believe the story of illness. Otto called for another meeting in December, postponed until 6 January 1002 because of weather, and then cancelled when Otto died on 23 January.

Otto's successor was Henry II ("the Saint"), son of Henry the Quarrelsome who had caused much trouble years earlier for Otto and the kingdom. A man in his 30s who needed no regent and had his own mind, he called both bishops to a meeting in 1006 at which he declared the conflict over and gave Bernward the task to finally plan the consecration ceremony. During the ceremony, Henry (who attended) officially declared that Gandersheim Abbey was to be in the hands of the bishops of Hildesheim. Willigis was allowed to participate in the consecration.

Fifteen years later the conflict arose again, but I really want to get back to the regency of Otto III before we forget. We'll resume how things were going with Otto's mother and paternal grandmother. See you tomorrow.

Otto III's Regency, Part 1

Otto III (980 - 23 January 1002) became King of Germany at the age of three on the death of his father, Otto II. He was in line to be Holy Roman Emperor, but had to go through a regency period until he was older. He was able to claim the title King of Italy in April 996, and Holy Roman Emperor in May.

Otto's closest male relative after the death of his father was Henry the Quarrelsome (pictured here), who claimed the regency. Henry had tried to usurp Otto II's position and had been imprisoned for it, but was released upon Otto II's death. Against the objections of Otto III's mother, Theophanu, and Theophanu's mother-in-law, Adelaide of Italy, Archbishop of Cologne Warin granted Henry the regency. The two women had had their differences in the past (and probably in the present), but each was a Holy Roman Empress, and neither wanted to see someone else have control of the empire.

The women's concerns were well-founded. Henry ruled less on behalf of Otto and more (according to Gerbert of Aurillac) in a style of joint kingship. Henry took (abducted) Otto to Saxony where he campaigned for the German throne for himself. Not everyone supported this, and some of the nobles removed themselves to a place where they could plan to oppose him. The civil war that would have resulted led to Henry backing down from his claims so long as he was restored as Duke of Bavaria (a title he had lost when he first opposed Otto II).

In 984 the regency then passed to Theophanu. She kept much of her husband's court intact, and Archbishop of Mainz Willligis, technically by his office the chancellor of Germany, handled a lot of the administration. In 986, at an Easter celebration, Theophanu managed to see the major dukes of Germany (Henry the Quarrelsome, Conrad I of Swabia, Henry III of Carinthia, and Bernard I of Saxony) pay tribute to the five-year-old king of Germany, taking roles in the ceremony as steward, chamberlain, cupbearer, and marshal.

When he turned six, Otto began being tutored by Gerbert of Aurillac and court chaplain Bernward of Hildesheim.

Things were relatively calm (although Adelaide found some of her previous authority lessened). The first real challenge came when the Great Gandersheim Conflict broke out, involving two of the loyal servants we have already met as well as Otto's great aunt whom we have not. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Theophanu and Adelaide

Odilo of Cluny (c.962 - 1049) wrote a life of Holy Roman Empress Adelaide of Italy (to whom he was supposedly related). It is from Odilo that we learn Adelaide was very happy when "that Greek woman died."

The "Greek woman" was Theophanu, who in 972 married Adelaide's son, Otto II, who became Holy Roman Emperor a year later when his father and Adelaide's husband, Otto I, died.

Part of the issue between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law may have been simply that Adelaide, the first woman to be crowned Holy Roman Empress, who was deeply involved in the empire's administration, was unwilling to relinquish her authority and step away during her son's reign. She may also have been (this is not unlikely) unhappy with a foreigner marrying her son (there was some hostility between the East and West of the Roman Empire).

There were more overt reasons, however. In 972, Adelaide's niece married a man known as Henry the Quarrelsome, who was the son of Otto I's younger brother Henry I of Bavaria. Henry wanted to oust Otto II in 974. Otto imprisoned Henry in 976, but when Otto II died in 983 Henry was released and tried to take the throne from the successor, Otto III. Henry kidnapped the three-year-old Otto III, but he lost the support of the German nobility and was forced to submit to the authority of Empress Theophanu. Adelaide's early friendly association with Henry made Theophanu unhappy.

Otto II had even felt it necessary to exile Adelaide from court in 978 because of her interference with his administration, spending her time between Pavia and with her brother Conrad I, King of Burgundy, in Arles. Conrad helped reconcile mother and son.

Peter Damian (c.1007 - 1072), although writing later, claimed that Theophanu had an affair with John Philagathos (c.945 - c.1001), a Greek monk who was Theophanu's chaplain and Otto's chancellor 980-982 and briefly became Antipope John XVI.

When Otto II died, Otto III was only three, so Theophanu was regent, but Adelaide would have had a difficult time not being involved in government with her son gone. Both women held the title Empress. Adelaide had dowry lands and wanted to dispose of those rents/taxes as she saw fit, but Theophanu now (as regent for the young Emperor Otto III), had the authority to direct many of those finances. Theophanu pre-deceased Adelaide, who then became regent for Otto III. Let's see how that went, next time.