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When Henry V had been crowned King of the Romans (or Germans, depending on who you ask) he had been unable to get the Pope to Crown him Holy Roman Emperor. In order to get his coronation Henry had been forced to launch a full scale invasion of Italy and capture the Pope and force him to crown Henry V as Emperor. This invasion was financed by the large dowry sent from England alongside then Princess Matilda. Now she faced a similar problem as Empress-Regent. Whereas her late husband had faced Paschal II she faced Honorius II. Honorius was displeased with how Henry V had handled the implementation of the Concordat of Worms, not viewing the reforms as having been completed. As a price for coronation he demanded a fuller compliance with the Concordat, as well as the lands once owned by Matilda of Tuscany. Matilda, who had no relation to the Empress-Regent, had supposedly left her extensive lands to the church despite her earlier bequeathing them to the Emperor. Henry V and Honorius had already fought a war over this subject that had cumulated in Henry expelling Honorius from Rome for a brief time.

Matilda refused the Popes demands the moment she saw them, then reiterated her request, now with an addition requesting Honorius come north into Germany to crown Henry. Honorius refused and so Henry VI's supporters found themselves in a stalemate. Attempts were made at a compromise, sources indicate that Matilda or someone under her proposed a return of Matilda of Tuscany's land in exchange for Honorius coming to Aachen to crown Henry VI. The Pope refused. Honorius stood firm in his demands, and would not consent to anything but Henry coming to Rome for his coronation. Deadlock.

Here Archbishop Adalbert reentered the scene. Weakened but not vanquished by Lothair's failure to be elected Adalbert began to consider the possibility of an armed revolt against Henry VI, or more accurately his mother. Adalbert had, after much hemming and hawing, abandoned any hope he had to raise Lothair up to the position of Emperor. Instead he sought a different route to power.

In 1062 a group of conspirators led by the Archbishop of Cologne kidnapped the young Emperor Henry IV and stole the Imperial Regalia. In doing so they removed Empress Agnes and the Bishop of Augsburg from the roles of regents and put themselves in control of the emperor's future. Adalbert hoped to repeat this so called "Conspiracy of Kaiserwerth" and take Henry VI into his custody, enabling him to mold the young boy however he wished. However his plotting lacked two things that the Conspiracy of Kaiserwerth had. Firstly the kidnapping of Henry IV had occurred after Empress Agnes had demonstrated a certain lack of governing ability as regent, Matilda had not yet had time to lose so much faith. Secondly the kidnapping had been unprecedented and thus unexpected. Empress Matilda was not unversed in the history of her husband's dynasty and made preparations to avoid an incident like that of Kaiserwerth, just as a Norman would avoid going on hunting trips with possible rivals. Adalbert quickly found that his first plan, seizing the boy and spiriting him away, would simply not work. After his attempts to supplant Henry VI after his father's death Matilda and Fredrick rightfully did not trust Adalbert at all. So Adalbert moved on to his back up plan: full on revolt.


To this end he returned towards Lothair, who he had so recently abandoned. Adalbert raised the possibility that any hypothetical new regency would "obviously" have to include such a powerful man as the Duke of Saxony. Adalbert also assured Lothair that once Henry VI was in the "right hands" even more lands would be granted to him. Perhaps Lothair hesitated here. The Duke of Saxony was not a man prone to frantic political machinations, it had been Adalbert who had run his push against Henry, and he had sworn to follow Henry VI as Emperor. Lothair was at his core an honorable man and rebellion against a boy who had done no wrong yet would not have appealed to him. But in the end further land grants were promised, and Adalbert spun a fanciful tale. In Adalbert's story Matilda was a jeezabel-esque Harlot who had led Henry V onto his path against god, he implored Lothair to rise up for the good of Christendom. This appears to have tipped Lothair over the edge and the Duke was soon plotting open rebellion against Matilda and Fredrick.

Meanwhile negotiations between the regency and the Papal Curia ground to a halt. Time, disaster or human malice have destroyed any evidence, but it was widely speculated that Honorius was informed of Adalbert's schemes. Certainly the Pope seems to have decided that dragging out the dispute over Henry VI's coronation would work out in the churches favor.

And so it seemed, when on March 21 followers of Archbishop Adalbert violently detained representatives of Fredrick the One-Eyes in Mainz. This was swiftly followed by Matilda demanding justice to which Adalbert refused. While Matilda pondered how to respond Lothair helpfully provided an answer by announcing that he would be sending forces from Saxony to Mainz to "protect the bishop's sanctity". Matilda and Fredrick demanded that he stop. Lothair did not and so the Third Saxon Revolt began.