The downfall of Henry the Lion

The loss of imperial fiefdoms was followed by reorganization of the empire

Frederick I Barbarossa had been able to count on the support of his cousin Henry the Lion in his election as Roman-German king. In return, he awarded Henry – already Duke of Saxony – the Duchy of Bavaria. As the ruler of the two imperial fiefdoms, Henry was second only to the King. The power went to his head and Henry alienated large sections of the nobility. When Henry refused to provide the military support required of him by his oath of allegiance to Barbarossa, the nobility seized their opportunity and charged him with insubordination. A court assembly convened in early 1180 found him guilty and stripped him of the Duchies of Saxony and Bavaria. Whilst the lands of Saxony were redistributed immediately, a further court assembly was convened in Altenburg on 16 September 1180 to allocate the territories in Bavaria to new lords. As Henry chose to resist, Frederick Barbarossa had no choice but to use military force against his cousin. Henry yielded and was therefore permitted to keep his family estates but was required to spend several years in exile at the court of his father-in-law, the King of England.

Henry the Lion’s downfall had far-reaching consequences for the territorial development of the empire. The division of Saxony and Bavaria marked the end of the great tribal duchies of the early Middle Ages. The Duchy of Westphalia was separated from Saxony, and the remaining territory was awarded to the Count of Anhalt, who was then raised to a dukedom. Bavaria was reduced in size and passed to the Wittelsbach dynasty, who ruled there until 1918. Austria had already been established as an independent duchy, and Styria, which had previously been part of Bavaria, was added to it a little later. It was from this small south-eastern core territory that the House of Habsburg would rise to its eventual prominence.