During his brief career he reinvigorated the imperial cause in Italy, which was racked with the partisan struggles between the divided Guelph and Ghibelline factions, and inspired the praise of Dino Compagni and Dante Alighieri.

His son, John of Bohemia, failed to be elected as his successor, and there was briefly another anti-king, Frederick the Fair, contesting the rule of Louis IV.

[6] Raised at the French court, he was the lord of comparatively small properties in a peripheral and predominantly French-speaking part of the Holy Roman Empire.

[7] It was symptomatic of the empire's weakness that during his rule as the Count of Luxembourg, he agreed to become a French vassal, seeking the protection of King Philip the Fair of France.

[citation needed] Given his background, although he was a vassal of Philip the Fair,[7] Henry was bound by few national ties, an aspect of his suitability as a compromise candidate among the electors,[11] the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, and who were unhappy with both Charles and Rudolf.

Prior to leaving Germany, he sought to smooth relations with the Habsburgs, who had been forced against their will to accept the accession of Henry's son in Bohemia, cowed by the threats of making the Duchy of Austria dependent on the Bohemian crown.

He therefore confirmed them in their imperial fiefs by October 1309; in exchange, Leopold of Habsburg agreed to accompany Henry in his Italian expedition, and to provide a body of troops as well.

[13] While these negotiations were taking place, Henry began his descent into northern Italy in October 1310, with his eldest son John remaining in Prague as the Imperial vicar.

[13] As he crossed the Alps and travelled into the Lombard plain, nobles and prelates of both Guelph and Ghibelline factions hastened to greet him, and Dante circulated an optimistic open letter addressed to the rulers and the people.

[14] As emperor, Henry had planned to restore the glory of the Holy Roman Empire, but he did not reckon on the bitterly divided state that Italy had now become.

Cremona was the first to feel Henry's wrath, after the Torriani family and their supporters[19] had fled from Milan,[17] falling on 26 April 1311, after which he razed the city walls.

Popular opinion began to turn against Henry, with Florence allying itself with the Guelph communities of Lucca, Siena and Bologna, and engaging in a propaganda war against the king.

[17] This was successful in that Pope Clement V, under increasing pressure from King Philip of France, began to distance himself from Henry and to take up the cause of the Italian Guelphs who had been appealing to the Papacy for support.

[22] With Florence's encouragement, much of Lombardy flared into open rebellion against Henry, with uprisings throughout December 1311 and January 1312,[22] while in the Romagna, King Robert strengthened his position.

[20] Henry also began legal proceedings against Florence, laying charges of Lèse majesté against the city and placing it under an Imperial ban in December 1311.

[22] After spending two months in Genoa, Henry continued on to Pisa by ship, where he was eagerly received by the inhabitants, who were the traditional enemies of Florence and were Ghibelline.

[20] With their partisans fighting in the streets, Henry was also confronted with the news that the Castel Sant'Angelo and the Vatican quarter were securely in the hands of Robert, the Angevin king of Naples,[24] who had decided, with help from the Florentines[23] that his own dynastic interests were not in favour of renewed Imperial presence in Italy.

[22] He then refused to commit, as Pope Clement V had requested, to seek a truce with Robert of Naples, and he didn't rule out attacking the southern kingdom.

[16] His Italian allies were loath to join him, and so his army consisted of some 4,000 knights, while a fleet was prepared to attack Robert's realm directly.

After the death of Henry VII, two rivals, the Wittelsbach Ludwig of Bavaria and Frederick the Handsome of the House of Habsburg, laid claim to the crown.

The legacy of Henry was clearest in the successful careers of two among the local despots he made Imperial Vicars in northern cities, Cangrande I della Scala of Verona and Matteo Visconti of Milan.

Nowadays the statues, the textiles and goldwork gathered around the funeral shroud have been moved to and are featured in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo [it] in Pisa,[35] while the tomb remains in the cathedral.

Dante also alludes to him numerous times in Purgatorio as the savior who will bring imperial rule back to Italy, and end the inappropriate temporal control of the Church.

[36] The bones were also examined by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy to study medieval post-mortem practices.