Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor

An attempted revenge mission in 1172 had been a catastrophic failure, resulting in the sitting Doge, Vitaly Mikhail, being killed by an angry mob shortly after his return home.

The hostage crisis would drag on for a decade, eventually resolving when the Eastern Empire went through another bout of political chaos in the early 1180s, which resulted in a greatly weakened regime, eventually restoring Venetian merchants to their former privileged position and agreeing to a schedule of reparations for the losses suffered during their lengthy imprisonment.

And so we arrive at the final years of the 12th century.

Venice's new Doge is a very old, blind man called Enrico Dandolo.

Richard's mother, who is still alive, goes around to all his vassals and all these people, and they have to raise all this money.

And eventually the Holy Roman Emperor, at that time a man named Henry VI, negotiates an exchange.

And then Richard ends up back in northern France, back in his domains, I want to say around 1195.

I might be off a little bit on a year or two, but around that time.

Otto, who had been supported by the pope, was then recognized by all as sovereign.

As emperor, he soon became hostile to the pope, who set up a rival king in the person of Frederick, son of Henry VI.

The latter, as king of Sicily, had been under the guardianship of Pope Innocent III.

His childhood had been spent in the midst of war, and his kingdom had been preserved only by the zealous care of the pope.

The death of Gregory in 1241 caused a truce.

During these years, Frederick attempted to establish in his dominions a national church of which he, and not the Pope, should be the head.

His plan was somewhat similar to that followed later by Henry VIII of England.

Innocent IV, elected Pope, renewed the excommunication in 1245 and caused an anti-king to be elected in Germany.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Pamela Nagami.

Chapter 17 Germany and Italy Part 2 His eldest son, Henry VI, 1190-1197, succeeded him without opposition and added the kingdom of Sicily to his dominions in 1194.

As the Lombard cities, freed from direct imperial control, were again engaged in warfare with one another, the emperor used one party against the other and secured money from both.

Richard the Lionhearted of England, who had fallen into captivity in Germany on his return from the crusade, was retained until he became the vassal of the emperor and paid an enormous ransom.

Philip was murdered in 1208.

Otto, who had been supported by the Pope, was then recognized by all as sovereign.

As emperor, he soon became hostile to the Pope, who set up a rival king in the person of Frederick, son of Henry VI.

The latter, as king of Sicily, had been under the guardianship of Pope Innocent III.

However great the personality of a monarch may be, the success or failure of his reign and the magnitude of his power are governed by the temper and tendencies of his age.

Our own Henry VIII owed the enjoyment of his absolute authority, not primarily to his profound sagacity and dominating will, but to the fact that the men of his century were eager to secure the peace and order that a benevolent despotism brings in its train.

And the unhappy Charles was the victim not so much of his own unstable mind and wavering purpose as of the gradual revulsion of feeling in a nation which, grown strong and self-confident under the good governance of the Tudor dynasty, was now eager to free itself from the controlling power which had led it into the haven of peace.

Amid the countless examples which history furnishes of this subjection of kings to circumstances, there is none more striking than the career of the emperor Frederick II.