Conrad II of Italy

Conrad II (12 February 1074 – 27 July 1101) was the Duke of Lower Lorraine (1076–87), King of Germany (1087–98) and King of Italy (1093–98). He was the second son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and Bertha of Savoy, and their eldest son to reach adulthood, his older brother Henry having been born and died in the same month of August 1071. Conrad's rule in Lorraine and Germany was nominal. He spent most of his life in Italy and there he was king in fact as well as in name.

Conrad was born on 12 February 1074 at Hersfeld Abbey while his father was fighting against the Saxon Rebellion. He was baptised in the abbey three days later. After Henry's victory against the Saxons, he arranged for an assembly at Goslar on Christmas Day 1075 to swear an oath recognising Conrad as his successor. After the death of Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine on 22 February 1076, Henry refused to appoint the late duke's own choice of successor, his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, and instead named his two-year-old son Duke of Lower Lorraine. He did appoint Albert III of Namur, the deceased duke's brother-in-law, as his son's vice-duke (vicedux) to perform the daily functions of government. He also allowed the march of Antwerp to pass to Godfrey of Bouillon. The total absence of Conrad from his duchy caused or abetted the decline of ducal authority in it. In 1082, while Conrad was in Italy, the peace of God was introduced into the diocese of Liège.

Conrad passed Christmas 1076 at Besançon with his parents. Early the next year (1077) he accompanied his father across the Alps on the way to Canossa, because there was nobody in Germany to which Henry could entrust his son. Conrad subscribed to his first royal charter in 1079. When Henry returned to Germany, Conrad remained in Italy to act as a pledge to the imperialist party there. He was placed in the care of Archbishop Tedald of Milan and Bishop Denis of Piacenza, both excommunicated prelates and opponents of Pope Gregory VII. In October 1080, Conrad was present in the camp when a force from northern Italy defeated the troops of Marchioness Matilda of Tuscany near Mantua.

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