Bruno, Bishop of Augsburg, had been the first tutor of the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry III.

On Bruno's death in 1029, Egilbert, Bishop of Freising, had been appointed to take his place.

Henry had come of age in 1033 at the age of sixteen and Egilbert had been compensated for his services.

Emperor Conrad II, Henry’s father, had in 1035 deposed Adalbero, Duke of Carinthia, but Egilbert had persuaded Henry to refuse this injustice and the princes of Germany, having legally elected Henry, would not recognize the deposition unless their king did also.

Henry, in accordance with his promise to Egilbert, had not consented to his father's act and Conrad, stupefied, fell unconscious after many attempts to turn Henry.

Upon recovering, Conrad knelt before his son and exacted the desired consent.

The emperor had penalized Egilbert dearly.

Henry had been married in 1036 o Gunhilda of Denmark, a daughter of Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, England, and Norway, by his wife Emma of Normandy.

Early on, Henry's father had arranged with Cnut to have him rule over some parts of northern Germany (Kiel) and in turn to have their children married.

The marriage had taken place in Nijmegen at the earliest legal age.

Henry had been called to aid his father in Italy in 1038, and Gunhilda had died on the Adriatic Coast during the return trip (from the same epidemic in which Herman IV of Swabia died).

His father in 1039 also dies, and Henry becomes sole ruler and imperator in spe.

Henry spends his first year in power on a tour of his domains.

He visits the Low Countries to receive the homage of Gothelo I, Duke of Upper and Lower Lorraine.

He is joined in Cologne by Herman II, Archbishop of Cologne, who accompanied him and his mother to Saxony, where hewill build the town of Goslar up from obscurity to stately imperial grandeur.