Conrad II in the context of "Emperor Henry II"

William the Great (French: Guillaume le Grand; 969 – 31 January 1030) was duke of Aquitaine (as William V) and count of Poitou (as William II or III) from 990 until his death. Upon the death of the emperor Henry II, he was offered the kingdom of Italy but declined to contest the title against Conrad II.

Henry III (German: Heinrich III, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black (German: Heinrich der Schwarze) or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.

Henry was raised by his father, who made him Duke of Bavaria in 1026, appointed him co-ruler in 1028 and bestowed him with the duchy of Swabia and the Kingdom of Burgundy ten years later in 1038. The emperor's death the following year ended a remarkably smooth and harmonious transition process towards Henry's sovereign rule, that was rather uncharacteristic for the Ottonian and Salian monarchs. Henry succeeded Conrad II as Duke of Carinthia and King of Italy and continued to pursue his father's political course on the basis of virtus et probitas (courage and honesty), which led to an unprecedented sacral exaltation of the kingship. In 1046 Henry ended the papal schism, was crowned Emperor by Pope Clement II, freed the Vatican from dependence on the Roman nobility and laid the foundation for its empire-wide authority. In the duchies, Henry enforced the sovereign royal right of disposition, thereby ensuring tighter control. In Lorraine, this led to years of conflict from which he emerged victorious. Another sphere of defiance formed in southern Germany from 1052 to 1055. Henry III died in 1056, aged only 39. Modern historians identify the final years of his reign as the beginning of a crisis in the Salian monarchy.

Humbert I (Italian: Umberto I; c. 980 – 1047), better known as Humbert the White-Handed (French: Humbert aux blanches-mains) or Humbert Whitehand (Italian: Umberto Biancamano), was the count of Savoy from 1032 until his death and the founder of the House of Savoy.

Of obscure origins, his service to the Holy Roman Emperors Henry II and Conrad II was rewarded with the counties of Maurienne and Aosta and lands in Valais, all at the expense of local bishops and archbishops; the territory came to be known as the county of Savoy.

Burchard or Bouchard or Buckard or Burchard Aosta (died after 10 July 1068), was Bishop of Aosta (1025–1032) and Archbishop of Lyon (1033–1034), under the name of Burchard III, and finally prior of the territorial abbey of Saint Maurice. Burchard was a son of Humbert I, Count of Savoy and Aosta and his wife Auxilia, who may have originated from Aosta and who would have been the sister of Anselm of Aosta, bishop from 994–1025.

Burchard was jointly involved with his father in the governance of the Aosta Valley from April 8, 1022, perhaps as coadjutor beforehand to ensure the succession of his maternal uncle as bishop of Aosta in 1025. He was mentioned as bishop of Aosta on October 19, 1024 in a deed of gift alongside his father Humbert. On 10 March 1026 Buchard was transferred to the archbishopric of Lyon, which proves the assertion of regional power by his family. According to the chronicler Raoul Glaber, who specifies that he was the nephew of his predecessor, Burchard II of Lyons in the seat of Lyon, he takes the side, with Gerold Geneva Odo II, in the succession dispute King, who opposed his uncle, the Emperor Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, called the Salic, Duke of Franconia. They were defeated in 1034 by his father, Humbert, who led an army of the Emperor. He was captured and driven from Lyon by imperial troops. Released in 1039 by Henry III on condition that he withdraw into territory of Saint Maurice Abbey, he became "Agannensis abbatia Abbas', where he is mentioned for the last time in an act of July 10, 1068, although the necrology of the primatial St. John Lyon lists his death as occurring on June 10, 1046.

Werner I, Bishop of Strasbourg (ca. 975/980-1028) served from 1002 until his death on 28 October 1028. Werner I may have been one of six sons of Lanzelin of Klettgau, and also the brother of Radbot of Klettgau, a founder of the Habsburg dynasty. However, the sources that identify Werner with this Habsburg lineage are apocryphal, and therefore his connection to the family has been questioned.

He was close to the later German Emperor Henry II, whom he helped to be elected king (1002). As a consequence of the imperial favor this brought him, he was given control of the Abbey of St. Stephen in Strasbourg in 1003 and the Abbey of Schwarzach (Bavaria) in 1014. He further received privileges to hunt, procure lumber, and exercise other rights in certain undeveloped lands (known as a Wildbann) in Alsace in 1017. Often found in the emperor's entourage, Werner fought for him against King Rudolf III of Burgundy around 1020.

Later he was a supporter of Emperor Conrad II and accompanied him to his imperial coronation in Rome in 1027, then as a marriage broker envoy to Constantinople.

He may have had a part in the foundation of the Muri Monastery (though the source for this connection is potentially untrustworthy) and appears to have contributed to the rebuilding and expansion of the Strasbourg cathedral. Although Werner is attested in the 'Will of Bishop Wernher of Strassburg' as an early Habsburg, this document purported to be written in 1027 when it was actually written around 1085. On the other hand, in the Acta Murensia he is listed as a member of Lorraine Ducal House.