Henry (VII) of Germany - Imprisonment and Death

Imprisonment and Death

Henry was kept prisoner in various places in Apulia. His seclusion may have been dictated as much by his health as by his rebelliousness: analysis of his skeleton in 1998–1999 has shown that he was suffering from advanced leprosy in his last years. This was perhaps the real cause which prevented the Emperor from forgiving him.

Possibly on 12 February 1242, Henry died near to Martirano after a fall from his horse when he was moved there from Nicastro. Some chroniclers report that it had been an attempted suicide. His father had him buried with royal honours in the cathedral of Cosenza, in an antique Roman sarcophagus.

Frederick, Henry's second and only surviving son, was deprived of the succession jointly with his father after his rebellion in 1235. However, his grandfather Frederick II, in his testament, entrusted him with the Duchy of Austria and the Marquisate of Styria, but he could never take over the government of these lands and died few years later (ca. 1251/1252) unmarried and childless.

Among the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry is numbered only in parentheses, as he did not exercise the sole kingship. He is not to be confused with the later Emperor Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg.