Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, (1081 - May 23, 1125) was the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He forced the abdication in 1105 of his father, the emperor Henry IV and secured his own election as king, assuming the imperial crown in 1111.

Despite initial Papal support for his accession, Henry continued the Investiture Controversy started by his father against the Pope's insistence on control all ecclesiastical appointments in Germany. Invading Italy twice (1110 and 1116) and imprisoning Pope Paschal II and sixteen cardinals for two months in 1111. A Norman army sent by Prince Robert I of Capua to rescue them was turned back by the count of Tusculum, Ptolemy I, and Henry extracted the guarantee of investiture he wanted. On a later expedition he set up a rival antipope in opposition to Paschal in Rome. Henry eventually secured a compromise (the Concordat of Worms, 1122) under which the Pope would invest church appointees with their spiritual offices, the Emperor with their lay rights.

On 7 January 1114,

Henry married the young Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, at Mainz. They had no surviving children, though Hermann of Tournai mentions a child who died soon after birth. Henry's illegitimate daughter Bertha married Ptolemy II of Tusculum, daughter of the first Ptolemy, in 1117.

Preceded by: Henry IV	King of Germany 1105–1125	Succeeded by: Lothair II
	Holy Roman Emperor 1111–1125