The High Middle Ages begin with the transition of the Frankish Kingdom to the Holy Roman Empire under the Saxon dynasty, named "the Ottonians". Under the following Salian dynasty the Empire went through major changes. The last and maybe best known medieval dynasty, the Hohenstaufen, reached the height of Imperial power, and perished tragically.

Page 1: Ottonians and Salians    Page 2: Hohenstaufen

The Middle Ages are the era of knights, minnesong, Romanesque art and medieval castles.  In the Valley of the Rhine, many ruins and even well preserved medieval castles have remained. In Seven Mountains, we can visit three ruins of medieval castles: those on the mountains Drachenfels, Löwenburg and Rosenau. Unfortunately, nothing has remained of the medieval castle on top of the Wolkenburg mountain.

The Saxon dynasty, called the Ottonians

Since the ancient Germanic times, the Dukes of the most important tribes - Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians and Thuringians - had elected their king. In 919, the last Frankish king in the Eastern-Frankish realm died, and the Dukes elected the Duke of Saxony, Henry I. (919-936). For the first time, a man who was not of Frankish origin ascended the Eastern-Frankish throne.

His son Otto I. (936-973), later called the Great, stabilized and enlarged the Oriental Frankish Kingdom. He and knights from all parts of the kingdom fought the legendary battle on the Lechfeld (955) against the Magyars, he prevailed in Northern Italy and thus became the most powerful king of his time. The Pope, involved in fights with the Roman nobility, asked him for help, offering him the Emperor's crown - the crown that had been Carlemagne's some 150 years before.

From the Frankish Realm to the Holy Roman Empire

Perhaps the concept of the "Holy Roman Empire" is difficult to understand. Indeed the Empire, that existed from the Middle Ages until its dissolution under Napoleon, was a unique institution in history. To understand it better, it is useful to think in the medieval way. Already Carlemagne had followed the idea that the Roman Empire, after centuries of political instability, revived in the Frankish Realm, and that the Frankish Kings were successors to the Roman Emperors. When Otto I. was crowned Emperor in 962, he followed this tradition. At that time, it was referred to as the "Roman Empire", the prefix "Holy" was not used yet. Nonetheless, the idea of the sacral empire existed from the beginning onwards: the religious connotations implied to defend Christianity and the Pope, but also the privilege to appoint bishops and other high clergymen. In order to be crowned Emperor by the Pope, the King had to travel to Rome. Often this was more war than ceremony, since the Kings had to fight nobles and rebellious cities and to solve disputes on his way to Rome.

Otto I. (936-973) was a powerful ruler, but nonetheless he had a hard time with the dukes. For that reason, the King  sought the support of the clergy: bishops were appointed by the King, they did not marry and have children who inherited their title and wealth; so when a bishop died, his bishopric fell back to the King who appointed a new bishop. With time, the Kings depended more on the clergymen and ceded rights to them, most of all the right to own land and build territories. This concept was hardly disputed during the time of the Ottonians and the first Salians.

This political situation is reflected in the Seven Mountains. In a document from 1015 the village of "Königswinter" is mentioned, the name ("König" is the German word for "King") indicated that it was Royal property. However, that was to change soon.

Under Henry III., called "the Black" (1035-1056), the concept of the sacral empire reached it climax, but also its turning point. Henry lII. appointed Popes and did away with anti-popes. Most people considered the King God's representative on earth. Henry III. appointed bishops and abbots, even Popes! On the other hand, the King, very religious and ascetic himself, supported the religious reform movement coming from the monastery of Cluny in France. The reformers demanded that the Church returned to its true tasks instead of striving for wealth and sumptuousness, and that the clergymen lived according to very strict rules. Moreover, Cluny demanded that the Church was absolutely independent from any worldly power, and thus the upcoming conflict between emperor and pope already began during the reign of Henry III.

This conflict, referred to as the Investiture Controversy broke out openly between Henry IV. (1056-1106), son of Henry III., and the Pope Gregory VII., a radical supporter of the reform. The Pope insisted that the Emperor submitted to his authority. When Henry appointed a bishop, the conflict escalated. The Pope excommunicated the Emperor and banned him. Thus, Henry was excluded from the society of decent people, and his subjects had no longer to obey to a banned king, on the contrary, they were explicitly released of all loyalty owed to the King. Now the Dukes joined forces against the King and a civil war broke out. In this situation, Henry IV. saw no other way than to do penance and hope for the Pope to soften, and he made the famous walk to Canossa (1077). Finally, Gregory VII. released him from the ban. For the short term, Henry IV. had regained freedom of action, but at the same time he had recognized how much power the ban, and by that the Pope, had over the King. The time of the sacral kingdom as under Henry II. and Henry III. was over, and the King's authority was irremediably damaged.

The long reign of Henry IV, even his whole life was marked by conflicts. At the end of his life, he had to fight his most bitter fight against his own son. Henry V. rebelled against him, he was forced to abdicate and they incarcerated him as if he was a criminal. Nonetheless, at the moment of his death, he sent his blessings to his son.

As soon as Henry V. (1106-1125) had ascended the throne, he continued his father's policy, and the Investiture Controversy continued. He traveled to Rome and, with the sword in his hand, forced the Pope to crown him emperor. But the day that Henry had left, the Pope revoked, and the German Dukes rebelled against the king. For the moment, the fight between Emperor and Pope was over. Yet, the true winners were the German Dukes.

The rise of the Archbishopric of Cologne under the Ottonians and Salians

The Salians kings gave us  the famous cathedrals of Speyer, Worms and Mainz. In Cologne, the first churches of Romanesque style were built, St. Maria im Kapitol, St. Georg and St. Aposteln.

In a document from 1015 the village of "Königswinter" is mentioned, the name ("König" is the German word for "King") indicated that it was Royal property.

When in 1025 the Archbishop of Mainz refused to crown the wife of the first Salian King Conrad II., the hour of the Archbishop of Cologne, Pilgrim, had come: he crowned the Queen, and from that day on the privilege of crowning the Kings in Aachen remained with the Archbishops of Cologne. From 1031 onwards, they also were the chancellors of the Holy Roman Empire. To clarify: at that time the Archbishop of Cologne was both, a high clergyman and a worldly duke. The Archbishop Anno II. enlarged his territory by defeating the local counts.

By the middle of the XI. century, the Archbishops of Cologne owned large territories on the left bank of the Rhine. Half a century later, Königswinter was part of their possessions. The Archbishops of Cologne now owned the mountains Wolkenburg and Drachenfels, the castle on the Wolkenburg as well as the villages Königswinter and Ittenbach. In 1118, Archbishop Friedrich I. von Schwarzenberg gave orders to build a castle on top of the mountain Wolkenburg. Unfortunately, nothing has remained of it. This design uses a sketch that you can see in the Siebengebirgsmuseum (Museum of Seven Mountains) in Königswinter.

During the Salian dynasty, the age of the crusades began (1096-1270), When the Turkish Seldshuks had conquered Syria and Palestine and stopped the Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Pope Urban II called upon the Christian knights to go on crusade. Many knights from the Rhineland left for Palestine, a theme that we find in various legends.