During his rule in Germany, Henry moved from one Kaiserpfalz residence to another or–to a lesser extent–stayed at Prince-bishop's sees in the tradititon of the medieval itinerant kingship.
He concentrated on the Franconian core locations of his kingdom, while the Bavarian and Saxon lands were less subject to the central authority.
His travel routes through Germany as well as his campaigns in Italy are documented by numerous deeds he issued year by year.

The emperor strongly relied on high-ranking clergy like the archbishops Philip of Cologne and Conrad of Mainz.
Several contemporary accounts of his life given by ecclesiastical chroniclers like Godfrey of Viterbo or Peter of Eboli in his Liber ad honorem Augusti (on the emperor's conquest of Sicily) paint a bright picture of Henry's rule; while the annals by Otto of Sankt Blasien are considered more objective.
In his Arnoldi Chronica Slavorum the chronicler Arnold of Lübeck concentrates on the dispute between the Hohenstaufen and Welf dynasties from a pronounced Welf perspective, while Gislebert of Mons tells of Henry's policies in Hainaut and Flanders.
The Hohenstaufen rule in Italy and the Mezzogiorno is documented by the chronicles of Archbishop Romuald of Salerno and Richard of San Germano.
Henry's conflict with King Richard I of England is rendered by Roger of Hoveden and Gervase of Tilbury, expressing their negative attitudes towards the emperor.

Later historians stressed the fact of Henry's early death and the succeeding throne quarrel as a stroke of fate and a major setback for the development of a German nation state begun under his father Frederick Barbarossa.
On the other hand, the emperor's stern measures in Sicily earned him the reputation of a cruel and merciless ruler.
Present-day historical research classifies Henry as a man of his time; though a capable ruler he had to cope with the centrifugal forces of the disintegrating empire while at the same time he overstretched the Hohenstaufen realm to an extent that finally could not be kept together.
During his rule in Germany, Henry moved from one Kaiserpfalz residence to another or–to a lesser extent–stayed at Prince-bishop's sees in the tradititon of the medieval itinerant kingship. He concentrated on the Franconian core locations of his kingdom, while the Bavarian and Saxon lands were less subject to the central authority. His travel routes through Germany as well as his campaigns in Italy are documented by numerous deeds he issued year by year.
The emperor strongly relied on high-ranking clergy like the archbishops Philip of Cologne and Conrad of Mainz. Several contemporary accounts of his life given by ecclesiastical chroniclers like Godfrey of Viterbo or Peter of Eboli in his Liber ad honorem Augusti (on the emperor's conquest of Sicily) paint a bright picture of Henry's rule; while the annals by Otto of Sankt Blasien are considered more objective. In his Arnoldi Chronica Slavorum the chronicler Arnold of Lübeck concentrates on the dispute between the Hohenstaufen and Welf dynasties from a pronounced Welf perspective, while Gislebert of Mons tells of Henry's policies in Hainaut and Flanders. The Hohenstaufen rule in Italy and the Mezzogiorno is documented by the chronicles of Archbishop Romuald of Salerno and Richard of San Germano. Henry's conflict with King Richard I of England is rendered by Roger of Hoveden and Gervase of Tilbury, expressing their negative attitudes towards the emperor.
Later historians stressed the fact of Henry's early death and the succeeding throne quarrel as a stroke of fate and a major setback for the development of a German nation state begun under his father Frederick Barbarossa. On the other hand, the emperor's stern measures in Sicily earned him the reputation of a cruel and merciless ruler. Present-day historical research classifies Henry as a man of his time; though a capable ruler he had to cope with the centrifugal forces of the disintegrating empire while at the same time he overstretched the Hohenstaufen realm to an extent that finally could not be kept together.
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor