ABSTRACT
Henry II, surnamed ‘the Saint’, having made God his heir, died without offspring at Castle Grona on 13 July 1024, and was buried at Bamberg. The male line of the Saxon kings had come to an end, but there were suitable candidates stemming from Otto the Great’s daughter Luitgard, who had married Conrad the Red, duke of Lotharingia. The choice devolved upon two cousins by the name of Conrad. The elder had the reputation of good character alone, whereas the younger had vast estates in Franconia and a reforming attitude in ecclesiastical affairs similar to that of the late emperor. Yet it was the penurious elder Conrad who was elected in the end, precisely because he was known to oppose the Cluniac reforms ; for the bishops, most of whom were also opposed to Cluny, considered him a safer candidate from their point of view.
