Burchard II

Who was Burchard II?

Burchard II was a German cleric and statesman, the Bishop of Halberstadt from 1059 until his death, and a nephew of the archbishops Anno II of Cologne and Werner of Magdeburg.

In 1057, Burchard became provost of the church of SS Simon and Judas in Goslar. In 1059, through the intervention of his uncle, Anno, he succeeded Burchard I in the diocese of Halberstadt.

In 1062, it was the decision of a German-Italian synod held at Augsburg to send Burchard, high in the favour of the regent of the young Henry IV, Empress Agnes, to Rome to mediate a disputed Papal election between the legitimate Pope Alexander II and the Antipope Honorius II. Although the German crown stood by Honorius, Burchard vowed to stand by Hildebrand, the great Papal reformer, and supported Alexander. In gratitude, Alexander bestowed on Burchard the coveted pallium.

In the dead of winter 1067–1068, Burchard, crossing frozen marshland, invaded the country of the Wilzi, razed the pagan temple at Radgosc, and returned to Saxony riding the sacred black horse. As late as the early twentieth century, children of the region around Halberstadt still sang nursery rhymes in memory of this feat: