[5] Another line of research supports the theory that the murder of Sieghard of Burghausen in February 1104 by ministerials and citizens of Regensburg was the trigger for the overthrow of Henry IV.

Henry V had attempted in vain to mediate an amicable settlement between Burghausen and the ministerials in the dispute that led to the murder, and he also would have had a reason to resent his father's inaction.

[5][page needed][6] In November 1104, Henry V joined his father's army on a punitive expedition against Saxon Reformers who had opposed the election of the Archbishop of Magdeburg.

According to the Vita Heinrici IV On 20 December 1105 in Koblenz Henry V "fell around his father's neck", "shed tears and kissed him" – public expressions of reconciliation that were morally binding during the 12th century.

Ruthard, Archbishop of Mainz, presented the imperial insignia with the cautionary words: "If he does not prove to be a just leader of the empire and a defender of the church, he will end like his father.

Unlike his Salian predecessors, Henry V would count his reign only from the day on which he received the imperial insignia and was chosen for royal duty by the election of the princes.

The re-burial at the Speyer crypta would imply continuity and help stabilize the position of the rebel son, who could present himself as a legitimate force of conservation and progress.

The princes' participation in great numbers at the diets and the strong increase in chroniclers' reports confirm the new sense of responsibility among the king's vassals for the empire.

[17][page needed] Thanks to the consensual cooperation between the lords and the king, Henry was the first Salian ruler, who had managed to acquire unhindered access to all parts of the empire after a long time and thus able to successfully intervene in political affairs in both the western and eastern imperial estates.

The court chapel, the cathedral schools and the diocesan chapters of Speyer, Bamberg or Liège had lost all relevance for the Episcopal Consecration, but family ties to the high nobility.

[18][page needed][26] Henry's primary concern during his reign was the settlement of the Investiture Controversy, which had caused serious setbacks for the empire during the previous imperial tenure.

The army chose the shortest route via the Great St Bernard Pass, reached Piacenza and Parma, then moved to Florence, arrived at Sutri in February 1111 and from there proceeded towards Rome.

Duke Welf II of Bavaria commanded a second column that entered Italy from the southeast of the empire and had orders to rendez-vous with the main contingent near Roncaglia.

Matilda allowed the troops to traverse her substantial territories in the greater part of Northern Italy, that included present-day Lombardy, Emilia, the Romagna and Tuscany.

This honor, that determined the rank of the king was an idea, that had developed among the latest Salians towards a concept of lordship from which also future imperial claims on Southern Italy and on Matilda's property were derived.

He was allegedly accompanied by a huge army of 30,000 knights from all over the empire, that according to Otto of Freising, gave an impressive display of worldly power in the nightly glow of the torches.

[33][1][page needed] Pope Paschal, who could not count on further support from Matilda of Tuscany, sought help from the Normans who ruled in Southern Italy and with whom the papacy has been trying to counterbalance the Roman-German rulers before.

Pope Paschal proposed that Henry give up the investiture altogether – the appointment of bishops to the episcopate – and in return get back all fiefs of sovereign royal regalia in the duchies and margraviates and the coin – market – and customs rights.

At this point, the citizens of Cologne assembled a large force, including bowmen, and crossed the river, formed their ranks, and prepared to meet Henry's army.

[45] When Frederick, Count of Westphalia,[clarification needed] arrived with his brother, also named Henry, and their substantial force, the emperor withdrew, barely escaping capture.

Henry celebrated Christmas of 1115, one of the most essential occasions of royal representation, in Speyer, surrounded by only a few faithful adherents among whom Duke Frederick II of Swabia gained increasing significance.

[49][50] From 1108 on Henry V made official proposals for a marriage with a princess of the English royal family, seeking to increase the authority of the Salian king and secure his throne.

[60][61][17][62] After the second Italian expedition, the opposition in Germany was gradually crushed, and a general peace was declared at Tribur,[63] while the desire for a settlement of the investiture dispute was growing.

After his father's walk to Canossa in 1077, the ideas of penitence and the personal exposure within one's social status could no longer be reconciled by another papal ban, as the intrinsic meanings symbolized subordination to the Pope.

As the two armies faced each other near the city, the commanding princes of both sides began negotiations and in autumn 1121 urged the emperor to make peace and seek balanced policies with regards to the Pope.

The princely assembly, that chronicler Ekkehard of Aura called a gathering of many "heads of the state" (tot capita rei publicae) met on 29 September 1121 in Würzburg and forced the emperor to finally reconcile with the pope.

Henry, who had been solemnly excommunicated at Reims by Calixt in October 1119,[66] abandoned his former papal nominee, Gregory VIII and is again received into the community of the Roman church.

The attack spurred a hitherto unknown patriotic feeling of unity in France, which the French King Louis VI utilized for the deployment of a massive army against which Henry V's forces represented no match.

The Hohenstaufer Duke Friedrich II had been considered a promising candidate for royal succession due to his kinship with Heinrich V and his involvement in the efforts towards imperial unification.

However, his candidacy at the Mainz electoral assembly on 24 August 1125 was unsuccessful since he refused to accept free elections (libera electio) of the princes and he further destroyed his chances due to his overconfidence of victory, which was generally perceived as haughty (ambicone cecatus).