Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne

Who was Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne?

Saint Anno II was Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 to 1075.

He was born around 1010, belonging to the Swabian family of the von Steusslingen, and was educated at Bamberg. He became confessor to the Emperor Henry III, who appointed him archbishop of Cologne in 1056. He took a prominent part in the government of Germany during the minority of Henry IV and was the leader of the party which in 1062 seized the person of Henry in the coup of Kaiserswerth, and deprived his mother, the empress Agnes, of power. For a short time Anno exercised the chief authority in the kingdom, but he was soon obliged to share this with Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, and Siegfried I, Archbishop of Mainz, retaining for himself the supervision of Henry's education and the title of magister.

The office of chancellor of the kingdom of Italy was at this period regarded as an appanage of the archbishopric of Cologne, and this was probably the reason why Anno had a considerable share in settling the papal dispute in 1064. He declared Alexander II to be the rightful pope at a synod held at Mantua in May 1064, and took other steps to secure his recognition. Returning to Germany, he found the chief power in the hands of Adalbert, and as he was disliked by the young king, he left the court but returned and regained some of his former influence when Adalbert fell from power in 1066. He succeeded in putting down a rising against his authority in Cologne in 1074, and it was reported he had allied himself with William the Conqueror, King of England, against the emperor. Having cleared himself of this charge, Anno took no further part in public business and died in Siegburg Abbey on 4 December 1075, where he was buried.