resigned the regency and retired with a broken heart to an Italian
convent, in which the remainder of her sad life was to be passed.

The unhappy boy soon learned that his new lot was not to be one of
pleasure. He had a life of severe discipline before him. Bishop Hanno
was a stern and rigid disciplinarian, destitute of any of the softness
to which the lad had been accustomed, and disposed to rule all under his
control with a rod of iron. He kept his youthful captive strictly
immured in the cloister, where he had to endure the severest discipline,
while being educated in Latin and the other learning of the age.

The regency given up by Agnes was instantly assumed by the ambitious
churchman, and a decree to that effect was quickly passed by the lords
of the diet, on the grounds that Hanno was the bishop of the diocese in
which the emperor resided. The character of Hanno is variously
represented by historians. While some accuse him of acts of injustice
and cruelty, others speak of him as a man of energy, yet one whose holy
life, his paternal care for his see, and his zealous reformation of
monasteries and foundation of churches, gained him the character of a
saint.

Young Henry remained but a year or two in the hands of this stern
taskmaster. An imperative necessity called Hanno to Italy, and he was
obliged to leave the young monarch under the charge of Adalbert,
Archbishop of Bremen, a personage of very different character from
himself. Adalbert, while a churchman of great ability, was a courtier
full of ambitious views. He was one of the most polished and learned men
of his time, at once handsome, witty, and licentious, his character
being in the strongest contrast to the stern harshness of Hanno and the
coarse manners of the nobles of that period.