The text we're reading right now is “Germany in the High Middle Ages, c. 1050 – 1200” by Horst Fuhrmann.  Now I'm reading about Henry III and Henry IV. It seems that pre WWII Henry IV was included in a major work of biographical portraits in Germany, but after WWII he was dropped and Henry III was included. Why is this? Why would the time period be more or less favorable to either one? Henry III seemed to be a very religious man, they called him the "priestly" king. Henry III  was religious and having certain characteristics making him more righteous, for instance he didn?t have jesters at his wedding, and while his father was a rather crude and mean person (the incident where his father Conrad II made a man stand with honey on him while a bear licked it off!) Henry III doesn?t appear to be that kind of person. In addition, when Conrad II deposed an Archbishop, Henry III reconciled with the Bishop and even though they disagreed politically, Henry let him stay in office when he took the throne. It was against canon law for ecclesiastics to swear oaths and while other rulers may not have supported that, Henry III did by issuing an edict ensuring clerics were not required to swear oaths. Henry III discontinued certain immoral practices in governing like simony, which were the bestowing church offices in return for a consideration. At the same time Henry seems to be of good character and values, we find that he believes that while he has a deep obedience to God, the people owe him a deep unquestioning obedience. He wants the people to respect him as he respects God. In addition, he was anointed with Holy Oil, another king who believed that his reign was divine. I'm reading more on Henry IV so I don't have much on him now, although what I've read so far shows he fought against an aggressively expansionist papacy. Thoughts anyone?  Contrasts and comparisons between the two?