One further point may be noted in the portrait. The saints on Henry's side of the picture were ones with whom he had a special relationship. To them he had dedicated great churches, and those churches he had endowed with grants of land. In the Gospels these saints whom he had honoured now returned the favour, as sponsors of his spiritual and secular claims. Henry thought his ambitions pleasing to God and his saints, and had been careful to solicit their favour. The spiritual and secular were not distinct spheres but were part of the same picture and of the same world.
Henry's story is unusual only in its scale. Its essential feature-the volatility of fortune and of power--is common to the entire political life of northern Europe during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. Henry's aspirations and fall remind us that although it is possible to talk of a kingdom of France and a kingdom of Germany throughout this period, the development of those kingdoms and their internal coherence continued to depend upon a complex network of relations between kings and magnates, among the magnates themselves, and between the magnates and their own men. It was a period which saw great changes in almost every aspect of life, but these changes did not yet alter the nature of politics.
Before turning to consider what changed we should consider what endured. The Welfs traced their descent back to Charlemagne; their claim was not entirely valid, though it was true that they had provided a bride for Charlemagne's successor, but it was a natural claim to make. Charlemagne stood as the archetype of a Christian ruler. He had created a great empire, bestowed lands and offices, been a patron of Christian learning, extended the bounds of Christendom. In legend he had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brought back priceless relics, and he had waged war upon the Saracen in Spain. He stood as an exemplar to kings; in 1000 Otto III of Germany had his tomb opened, in 1165 Frederick Barbarossa had him canonized, while later Philip II of France stressed his
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