Adalbert 1043-72, German churchman, archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, a diocese that included Scandinavia. He was a favorite of Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, who appointed Adalbert to the archbishopric in order to break the power of the dukes of N Europe. He was a guardian of Henry's son and successor, Henry IV, but his relentless ambition to strengthen the church and the monarchy at the expense of the nobles (chiefly by annexing their lands) defeated itself. The nobles allied themselves with the abbots, who hated him for his efforts to subordinate the abbeys, and with the bishops, who feared his... Read more