Adalbert I von Saarbrücken (died June 23, 1137) was
Archbishop-Elector of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The A ...
from 1111 until his death. He played a key role in opposing
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V (german: Heinrich V.; probably 11 August 1081 or 1086 – 23 May 1125, in Utrecht) was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ru ...
, during the
Investiture Controversy, and secured the election of
Lothair III rather than
Henry V's chosen heir in 1125, causing later Holy Roman Emperors to make concessions in order to maintain hereditary monarchy.
Life
Adalbert was the younger brother of
Frederick, Count of Saarbrücken. Adalbert served as imperial chancellor under Emperors
Henry IV and
Henry V. In 1110 he was sent to
Rome as part of an embassy to arrange for Henry V's
coronation as emperor. In exchange for supporting the Emperor in his quest to regain the rights to investiture (which Henry received from
Pope Paschal II in 1111), he was given the position of
Archbishop-Elector of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The A ...
.
Following this, however, Adalbert turned against the Emperor, due to personal dislikes as well as territorial ambitions. Henry ended up imprisoning Adalbert for three years (1112–1115) without trial after the archbishop refused to hand over control of the imperial castles.

Following his release, caused by a revolt by the people of
Mainz, he actively worked against the Emperor, using the latter's
excommunication as a pretext. Strong papal campaigning had meanwhile turned much of the German clergy against the Emperor, and Adalbert soon became the leader of the anti-Imperialist
bishops.
When Henry left for
Italy in 1116, Adalbert raised much of the country against the Emperor, and the conflict continued. After
Pope Calixtus II gained power in 1119, he made the archbishop a
papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
, following which Henry attacked Mainz. In response, Adalbert convinced the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
nobility to revolt. Negotiations between the two sides after they met for battle resulted in a temporary truce. The conflict between the two was suspended indefinitely following the
Concordat of Worms
The Concordat of Worms(; ) was an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire which regulated the procedure for the appointment of bishops and abbots in the Empire. Signed on 23 September 1122 in the German city of Worms by P ...
in 1122, where the Emperor surrendered investiture.
Adalbert did not forget his hatred of Henry, however. Upon the latter's death in 1125, he saw a golden opportunity. The archbishop felt that the German monarchy was much too powerful and needed to be weakened, starting with the elimination of hereditary succession. In the past, the elections for the Salian kings had been more of a mere stamp of approval for the living Emperors' sons than an actual election to determine who would become king. In this case, Henry's nephew,
Frederick II, Duke of Swabia stood as the obvious choice. However, after gaining the imperial insignia, the archbishop sabotaged Frederick's rise to the kingship. Adalbert convinced the nobility that hereditary monarchy was not in their best interests, and persuaded them to instead choose the relatively weak candidate Duke Lothair of
Saxony, who became
Lothair III. The election was thus important in that the nobility could no longer be guaranteed to vote for a king's designated heir, which forced later kings to give even greater concessions than ever before in return for a promise to elect their sons.
Adalbert died in 1137 and was buried in a chapel of
Mainz Cathedral. His was succeeded by his nephew Adalbert II, second son of Frederick (whose title of
Count of Saarbrücken
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
had passed to Adalbert II's older brother,
Simon I Simon I may refer to:
* Simon I (High Priest) (310–291 or 300–270 BCE)
* Simon I de Montfort (1025–1087)
* Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton (died c. 1111)
* Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (1076–1138)
* Simon I, Count of Saarbrü ...
, in 1135).
Sources
* Karl Hampe (1973). ''Germany Under the Salian and Hohenstaufen Emperors''.
*
Further reading
* Hauck A.: Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands. Berlin - Leipzig 1954, p. 932.
{{Authority control
1137 deaths
12th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire
Archbishops of Mainz
Burials at Mainz Cathedral
Year of birth unknown