The 1028 German royal election was an imperial election held on 14 April 1028 to select a co-ruler for the Holy Roman Empire. The election took place at the initiative of Conrad II to secure the succession for his son, Henry III.
Background Emperor Conrad II was determined to strengthen royal authority in Germany. Ignoring the claim of Emeric, the son of King Stephen I of Hungary, to Bavaria, Conrad persuaded the Bavarian aristocrats to acknowledge Henry as their duke in Regensburg on 24 July 1027. Henry's appointment to the duchy was unprecedented—Bavaria had never been ruled by a ten-year-old duke.
In autumn 1027, the Emperor sent Bishop Werner of Strasbourg to Constantinople to win a bride from the Byzantine imperial family for Henry, but Werner's sudden death put an end to the negotiations with Emperor Constantine VIII.
Election and coronation At Conrad's initiative, the "clergy and the people" elected Henry his co-ruler and Pilgrim, Archbishop of Cologne, crowned Henry king in Aachen on Easter 1028. Henry was thereafter named the "hope of the empire" on his father's seals in accordance with Byzantine customs.
Aftermath Conrad sent another embassy to Constantinople. Constantine VIII's successor, Emperor Romanos III Argyros, proposed the hand of one of his sisters to Henry, but Conrad's envoy, Count Manegold of Donauwörth, refused the offer since she was already married.
Following his election, Henry began to take an active role in the administration of the empire, specifically in negotiations with Stephen I of Hungary in 1031. He remained co-ruler until the death of Conrad II in 1039, at which point he succeeded him as king and imperator in spe.
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