During his last years the emperor's was occupied with a campaign in Flanders and the succession of the margraviate of Meissen, two disputes in which his opponents were aided by Lothair of Saxony.
On 23 May 1125, Henry died of cancer in Utrecht at the age of 39.
His bones are buried at Speyer, his heart and bowels are buried at the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht.
On his deathbed, he entrusted the care of his wife Mathilde and having no legitimate children he left his possessions to his sororal nephew, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.
Upon his death the dynastic line of the Franconian, Salian emperors went extinct.

Speyer's importance as the Salic memorial site soon declined and it took several generations until it became a royal burial site again.
The emperor's long tenure of excommunication was probably the reason that only Gladbach, a reform monastery under Siegburg domain and the Niederaltaich Imperial Abbey, are the only monasteries that have adopted Henry V's memorial service.

Matilda handed the imperial insignia to the Archbishop of Mainz and in September 1126 she returned to England.
The Hohenstaufer Duke Friedrich II had been considered a promising candidate for royal succession due to his kinship with Heinrich V and his involvement in the efforts towards imperial unification.
However, his candidacy at the Mainz electoral assembly on August 24, 1125 was unsuccessful since he refused to accept free elections (libera electio) of the princes and he further destroyed his chances due to his overconfidence of victory, which was generally perceived as haughty (ambicone cecatus).
Further royal candidates were Leopold III, Margrave of Austria, Charles I, Count of Flanders and the Saxon Duke Lothar III, who was eventually elected.
Legitimacy was no longer determined by inheritance, but through election by the imperial princes.
During his last years the emperor's was occupied with a campaign in Flanders and the succession of the margraviate of Meissen, two disputes in which his opponents were aided by Lothair of Saxony. On 23 May 1125, Henry died of cancer in Utrecht at the age of 39. His bones are buried at Speyer, his heart and bowels are buried at the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht. On his deathbed, he entrusted the care of his wife Mathilde and having no legitimate children he left his possessions to his sororal nephew, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Upon his death the dynastic line of the Franconian, Salian emperors went extinct.
Speyer's importance as the Salic memorial site soon declined and it took several generations until it became a royal burial site again. The emperor's long tenure of excommunication was probably the reason that only Gladbach, a reform monastery under Siegburg domain and the Niederaltaich Imperial Abbey, are the only monasteries that have adopted Henry V's memorial service.
Matilda handed the imperial insignia to the Archbishop of Mainz and in September 1126 she returned to England. The Hohenstaufer Duke Friedrich II had been considered a promising candidate for royal succession due to his kinship with Heinrich V and his involvement in the efforts towards imperial unification. However, his candidacy at the Mainz electoral assembly on August 24, 1125 was unsuccessful since he refused to accept free elections (libera electio) of the princes and he further destroyed his chances due to his overconfidence of victory, which was generally perceived as haughty (ambicone cecatus). Further royal candidates were Leopold III, Margrave of Austria, Charles I, Count of Flanders and the Saxon Duke Lothar III, who was eventually elected. Legitimacy was no longer determined by inheritance, but through election by the imperial princes.
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor