AGNES,
A German Empress. She was the daughter of Duke William of Aquitaine, and in the year 1043, on the death of his first wife, was espoused by King Henry the Third, of Germany. In 1047 she and her husband received the imperial crown at Rome, from the hands of Pope Clement the Second. By this marriage Agnes bad five children, two sons and three daughters, and her eldest son, Henry, being only five years old when the death of his father took place, the empress was entrusted by the princess of the empire, with the regency. She is generally praised for the manner in which, during several years, she discharged the important duties of this office; but a woman's hand could scarcely have sufficient power to control the unruly spirits of those stormy times. With the view of conciliating the dukes who had been hostile to the late king, she bestowed upon them several vacant duchies, and the power thus given into their hands was turned against her. One of them carried off her daughter Matilda, when only eleven years of age, and others formed a conspiracy for the purpose of getting possession of the young king, and the administration of the affairs of the empire; the former object they accomplished in the year 1062, when Agnes resolved to withdraw from public life; her friends, however, persuaded her to remain in the regency, which she did for a time; but being unable to obtain the restoration of her son, she finally retired to a monastery in Italy, where she died in 1077.