Imperial Charter-- Emperor Henry V | Imperial Charter issued by Emperor Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire, 1116, with Imperial monogram and seal

Imperial Charter-- Emperor Henry V.

Single leaf, 455 cm x 285 mm (unframed), 20 Lines, ruled, Latin, written in diplomatic Minuscule with Littera Elongata at top and bottom, including imperial monogram and contemporary signatures at foot of page, date of issue in lower margin, wax seal at lower right-hand margin (100 mm diameter); overall good copy with few illegible instances, creases from vertical and horizontal folding noticeable, light water damage to bottom and right margin

A FASCINATING EARLY IMPERIAL CHARTER ISSUED BY THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR HENRY V IN 1116 LIFTING AN IMPERIAL BAN

The intriguing charter was issued by the chancellery of Emperor Henry V in 1116. During this year, the emperor was forced to travel to Italy to secure his dominion over the Italian states, in the hope of tipping the scales in his favour in the power struggles against rising forces in the North. Henry V (1081/86 –1125) was King of Germany and later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1111 to 1125. He was the last reigning king of the Salian dynasty, which controlled the Holy Roman Empire from 1024 until 1125.

This charter is a fascinating witness to the power struggles Henry V faced throughout his reign. To deter the aristocratic uprising against him, Henry V enacted one of the severest punishments an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire could bestow on one of his subjects. The so-called imperial ban (germ. Reichsacht) stripped a subject of all their rights and properties, negating even the most fundamental right to live. Anyone who injured or killed someone under an imperial ban was absolved from any legal repercussions.

However, in his charter, Emperor Henry V forgives the brothers Ansedisius and Wido, as well as their father, Duke Rainbald of Treviso, officially lifting the imperial ban which had been enacted following offenses against Henry V and his father, Henry IV. The charter reinstates all three men into the current Emperor’s good graces and forgoes the charges brought against them. Henry V further restitutes and confirms their father’s property to them, which the brothers had lost in consequence of the imperial ban.

This charter is an important historical witness to a dramatic practice of outlawry in the Holy Roman Empire during the fading glory of the Salian reign.

PROVENANCE

1. Written in the chancellery of Henry V during his travels to Italy.

2. Europe, Private Collection.

LITERATURE

Transcription of charter in Monumenta Germaniae Historica https://data.mgh.de/databases/ddhv/dhv_155.htm

Goez, Elke. "Zwischen Reichszugehörigkeit und Eigenständigkeit: Heinrich V. und Italien. Ein Werkstattbericht." In Heinrich V. in seiner Zeit. Herrschen in einem europäischen Reich des Hochmittelalters, ed. Gerhard Lubich, Köln: Böhlau, 2013, pp. 215-232.

Battenberg, Friedrich. "Acht," in Handwörterbuch zur Deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, ed. Albrecht Cordes, 2nd ed., vol. 1, Berlin: Schmidt, 2008.

Waas, Adolf. Heinrich V. Gestalt und Verhängis des letzten salischen Kaisers, München: Gerog D. W. Callwey, 1967.