74 
MEDIEVAL HISTORY 
ConraD NO heir, and on his death the crown passed by election 
I. to Conrad II., the, founder of the great Franconian 
1024-1039 Da . 
* dynasty. In his reign the kingdom of Burgundy was 
Bur- added to the Empire, which now included two out of 
AS en the three parts into,which the Carolingian Empire had 
To Trug been divided at the Treaty of Verdun, viz., the kingdom 
Mesa of the East Franks and the Middle Kingdom, or 
Lotharingia. Conrad, like his predecessor, had to wage 
war with Poland, and he also had wars with Hungary. 
To strengthen his position he took the part of the 
smaller landowners against the great nobles, and helped 
to establish the custom by which their fiefs were 
treated as hereditary. In Italy he had difficulty with 
Aribert, the Archbishop of Milan, who was trying to 
establish the independence of his see, and was strong 
enough to defy the Emperor, 
IIexey Under Conrad’s son, Henry III, the Empire reached 
UL the highwater mark of its greatness. (Germany and 
1039-1056 - 
Italy alike were ruled firmly. The great duchies were 
kept in the Emperor’s hands or given to his friends, 
Bohemia, now the strongest Slavic state, was defeated : 
Hungary was reduced to almost complete. dependence. 
In Rome no emperor had been so powerful, Henry 
was called in to settle a dispute between three rivals, 
each claiming to be Pope. He deposed them all and 
chose a worthy pope, and to the end of his reign 
nominated the Pope whenever a vacancy took place, 
using his power in such a way that the dignity of the 
Papacy was increased. 
IIeney He died suddenly in the prime of life, leaving a 
‚056-1106 child as his successor, and never again did an emperor 
attain to such power. The emperors, in reforming the 
Papacy, had raised up a serious rival to their own