Dominus Mundi: Henry VI, Empire, and Crusade

“Dominus Mundi: Henry VI, Empire, and Crusade” analyzes the attitudes and actions of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, from his anointing as co-king (1169) through his death (1197), from the viewpoint of the Hohenstaufen and from sources outside of the empire. It examines the historical forces that influenced Henry VI's self-conception of his authority as lord of the world (dominus mundi) and his role as the legitimate leader of the forces of Christendom and head of the crusading movement at the end of the twelfth century. Henry pursued these aims with an ambition that sometimes frustrated his father's goals and shocked other powerful figures in western Christendom. Informed contemporaries viewed Henry as one of the most powerful figures of his age, who capitalized on the ideological advances of Frederick Barbarossa. Twelfth- and early thirteenth-century sources manifest divergent interpretations of Henry as either an ideal emperor enforcing legitimate claims of lordship, or as a savage warlord unjustly punishing Christianity to achieve illegitimate mastery. These interpretations are rendered sensible only by placing Henry in the context of a resurgence of scholarship on ancient Rome and its claims for dominion coupled with the full infiltration of crusading ideology into the sensibilities of the nobility. Henry was influenced by the encomiasts in his father's court and was trained by Barbarossa, to act according to this theory of imperial supremacy, even after supposed reversals such as the Peace of Venice (1177). During the Third Crusade, Henry supported the German crusade while managing imperial affairs. The imagery and language of Henry's imperial coronation (1191) reinforced the perception that Henry had a duty to manage the affairs of Christendom, which he immediately set about doing. To this end he held Richard I of England captive, militarily captured Sicily, and forced the Byzantine empire to support his crusade (1197–1198), and brutally suppressed Sicilian resistance. By examining diplomatic, literary, and narrative sources, this thesis situates Henry's rule of violence as the natural outcome of cultural forces, youthful exuberance and inexperience, and ideologies of authority current in his age.