Henry II, Duke of Bavaria

He was the son of Duke Henry I of Bavaria,^[1] (who in turn was the younger brother of King Otto I of Germany (Emperor from 962)), and the elder Henry's wife Judith. Henry succeeded his father at the age of four, under the guardianship of his mother. His sister Hadwig was married to Duke Burchard III of Swabia in 954. In 972 Henry married Princess Gisela of Burgundy,^[2] herself a niece of Empress Adelaide.

Upon Emperor Otto's death in 973, Henry could rely on his ties to the South German duchies of Swabia and Bavaria as well as to the adjacent Kingdom of Burgundy. He installed his cousin HenryasBishop of Augsburg, denying the investiture rights of Emperor Otto's son and successor Otto II. Henry's actions in naming a bishop in a duchy not his own and without Imperial direction brought him into conflict with both Otto II and Burchard III. Not desiring civil war, Otto II, on 22 September 973, invested Henry's nominee as bishop. When his brother-in-law Duke Burchard III died without heirs, he raised claims to his Swabian duchy. However, Otto II enfeoffed his own nephew Otto of Swabia against the tenacious opposition of Burchard's widow Hadwig.

In 974 Duke Henry resolved to oust Otto II from the throne. With support of his sister Hadwig, he forged alliances with Bavarian and Saxon nobles, and also with Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia and Duke Mieszko I of Poland. Otto II was able to take Henry captive in Ingelheim - though he also had to deal with rebellious nobles in the County of Hainaut and the Bishopric of Cambrai as well as with the raids of the Danish king Harald BluetoothinHolstein.

In 976 Henry managed to escape and instigated a revolt in Bavaria, but was defeated when Otto II occupied Regensburg and stripped Henry of his duchy. He severed the Duchy of Carinthia and the Margraviate of Austria from the Bavarian lands and enfeoffed them to his supporters Henry the Younger (who changed sides shortly afterwards) and Leopold of Babenberg. The smaller Bavarian duchy was ceded to Henry's rival Duke Otto of Swabia. Following the War of the Three Henries in 977/78, the deposed duke was placed under the custody of Bishop Folcmar of Utrecht.

When in 983 Otto II suddenly died from malariainRome, Henry was released from captivity. He once again tried to usurp the German throne, when he abducted the infant Otto III and, according to the medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg, had himself proclaimed King of the Romans at the graves of Emperor Otto I and King Henry the FowlerinMagdeburg and Quedlinburg. However, it turned out that he had lost the support of the German dukes and also was not able to oust Duke Henry the Younger from Bavaria.

Through the agency of Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, Henry in 985 finally submitted to Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an Hoftag assembly in Rohr. Although he failed in his attempt to gain control of Germany, he did regain Bavaria and in 989 also received the Carinthian duchy.

Henry and his wife Gisela of Burgundy^[3] had the following children:

• Henry IV of Bavaria (973/78–1024),^[4] succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995, fulfilled his father's ambitions when he was elected King of the Romans (as Henry II) in 1002 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1014
• Bruno (d. 1029), Bishop of Augsburg from 1006
• Gisela of Bavaria (984/85–1060), married King Stephen I of Hungary.^[3]