Saxon revolt of 1073–1075

This may have been primarily due to his Rhenish Franconian origin as well as his numerous stays in the Imperial Palace of Goslar, which imposed a disproportionately high economic burden on the surrounding population.

In addition, these castles were staffed with ministeriales of Swabian origin, who frequently plundered the Saxon population to make up for their lack of income.

[2] In 1070 the Saxon count Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria since 1061, had been accused by the ministerialis Egeno I of Konradsburg of planning an assault on the king's life.

While Otto was pardoned, Magnus remained in custody at the Harzburg and was not released even after his father's death in 1072, as he showed no intention of renouncing the Saxon ducal dignity.

To grasp the reasons for the uprising, it is important to deal with the persons and parties involved: Emperor Henry IV, the Saxon nobility and the remaining imperial princes.

The castle building programme should rather be seen as an expression of royal power, because Henry supported himself prominently through the ministeriales, who were dependent on his benevolence,[5] in order to free himself from the imperial princes.

[8] Henry's endeavours led to the desire for a ruler who would be easier to control and to the king being blamed by the Saxons for his abuse of official authority.

[10] Among the Saxon princes, Otto of Northeim in particular, found the king a serious thorn in his side due to his participation in the Coup of Kaiserswerth and his expansion of possessions in the Harz.

[12] According to the contemporary chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld, the Saxon princes came to the Imperial Palace of Goslar on 29 June 1073 in order to highlight these abuses and demand improvements.

Henry fled across the Harz mountains reaching the Landgraviate of Thuringia at Eschwege first and then moved on to Franconian Hersfeld further into southern Germany.

The Saxon leaders, by contrast, were aware that a victory by their army, consisting mainly of peasants, would have strengthened the position of the latter, something they were not in favour of.

This enraged the surrounding rural population who, in March 1074, razed the castle and its church to their foundation walls and desecrated the royal tombs.

The Saxon nobility refused any blame for the actions of the rural population and immediately offered to restore the castle and church at their own expense.

The chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld described the battle in his Annals: The battle raged from midday until the ninth hour, and the armies of the two states, Swabia and Bavaria, were on the brink of fleeing as messengers repeatedly reported to the King that their people were in danger, when suddenly Count Hermann of Gleiberg and the Bamberg troops launched an attack.