Henry VI of Hohenstaufen in majesty: an analysis af its imagetic representations between the Liber ad honorem augusti (1197) and the Codex Manesse (1340)

Abstract

We seek in this article to analyze the developments of iconographic representations of the monarch in majesty between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, from images that represent Emperor Henry VI of the Holy Roman Empire extracted from the Liber ad honorem Augusti (1197) and the Codex Manesse (1340). Henry VI is a monarch understudied by Brazilian medievalist historiography, which usually gives more attention to its predecessor and immediate successor, the Emperors Frederick I and Frederick II. However, he was a figure of great importance in his time, being responsible for the considerable expansion of the revitalization program of the imperial prestige inherited from his father, through the conquest of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, the submission of various kingdoms to the Holy Roman Empire, the leadership in the Crusader movement, and was a poet. We analyze the iconographic production focused on Henry VI through processes of stereotyping and depersonalization of representations, and resorting to the principle of them, during the Ottonian dynasty (tenth century), as well through the process of establishment of a transpersonal monarchy in the Empire from the eleventh century.