Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105

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Lived 1050–1106, aged 56Germany

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66 languages
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Era
1050–1106
Aged 56

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

The emperor who walked barefoot through snow to beg a pope's forgiveness — then spent the next three decades fighting him anyway. Henry IV's standoff with Gregory VII over who controlled the Church became the defining power struggle of medieval Europe.

Biography

About

Henry IV inherited the German throne at five in 1056, his mother granting away royal lands to buy support while the papacy slipped from imperial control. Coming of age in 1065, he tried clawing back lost estates using lower-born officials, igniting revolts in Saxony he crushed twice by 1075. His insistence on appointing bishops collided with Gregory VII's reforms; excommunicated in 1076 and abandoned by his nobles, Henry crossed the Alps in winter for the humiliation at Canossa, kneeling three days for absolution. Restored to communion but not to power, he faced a rival king, suffered a second…

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