"Henry the Exuberant" Henry was born in 972, the oldest of a family of four children. His father was Henry the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria. His mother was Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy. Henry's father had rebelled against two previous emperors and spent a lot of time in exile, so as a child Henry was educated in the Christian faith by St. Wolfgang, the Bishop of Regensburg. Later he was educated at the Hildesheim Cathedral. Henry was an intelligent and devout student and for a period of time, he was considered for the priesthood. He became well acquainted with ecclesiastical interests at an early age. St. Wolfgang's lessons in piety and charity left a lasting mark on Henry's soul, but it was ultimately in the political realm, not the Church, that he would exercise these virtues. When his father died in 995, Henry succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria. Seven years later, his cousin Otto III, the Holy Roman Emperor, died in Rome. Despite stro...
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