I was recently reading about the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, and some of his decisions seemed strange and confusing to me.
At various points, he obtained the ducal titles of Bavaria, Swabia and Carinthia. He also split Lower and Upper Lorraine in two, possibly keeping the latter title for himself, but the article I read wasn't too clear about that part.
But then...He gave all of those titles away to various people, some of whom later betrayed him. What confuses me is what reasons he had for giving away these duchies to begin with. Would it not strengthen Imperial authority to control two of the powerful stem duchies personally? Perhaps my views are coloured by the situation in the Empire later in history, where how powerful you were without the Imperial crown often decided how much authority you had as Emperor, but it still seems odd to me that an Emperor who supposedly worked towards centralizing the Empire (by the standards of the 11th century) would re-establish the stem duchies like that.
Also, I forgot which of the Salian emperors did this, but one of them also gave away the ancestral lands of the Salians in western Franconia. Was Imperial authority at this point in history so great that the Emperor had no need of a personal domain of his own? Or did extensive land come with the Imperial crown then?
Lastly, if anyone happens to have any suggestions for (English) reading material about the Empire between the 10th and 11th centuries that would be welcome. Guessing most publications about the topic are probably in German though.
At various points, he obtained the ducal titles of Bavaria, Swabia and Carinthia. He also split Lower and Upper Lorraine in two, possibly keeping the latter title for himself, but the article I read wasn't too clear about that part.
But then...He gave all of those titles away to various people, some of whom later betrayed him. What confuses me is what reasons he had for giving away these duchies to begin with. Would it not strengthen Imperial authority to control two of the powerful stem duchies personally? Perhaps my views are coloured by the situation in the Empire later in history, where how powerful you were without the Imperial crown often decided how much authority you had as Emperor, but it still seems odd to me that an Emperor who supposedly worked towards centralizing the Empire (by the standards of the 11th century) would re-establish the stem duchies like that.
Also, I forgot which of the Salian emperors did this, but one of them also gave away the ancestral lands of the Salians in western Franconia. Was Imperial authority at this point in history so great that the Emperor had no need of a personal domain of his own? Or did extensive land come with the Imperial crown then?
Lastly, if anyone happens to have any suggestions for (English) reading material about the Empire between the 10th and 11th centuries that would be welcome. Guessing most publications about the topic are probably in German though.