The foreign policy of Conrad II. was equally wise. He made friends of the powerful King Canute and his Danes by marrying Henry III. to Canute's daughter. The Polish King was reduced to a vassal duke and Bohemia and Lucatia were won back, while the Bulgarians were effectually held in check. He assumed the crown of Burgundy, which became an integral part of Germany (1032) and gave the crown to his son (1038). Early in his rule (1026) Conrad had entered Italy and assumed the iron crown of Lombardy. Then he made his way to Rome in 1027 on Easter day and was there crowned Emperor by Pope John XIX. in the presence of a great multitude of Romans and Germans. Through the Normans he then extended his imperial sway over southern Italy, but ten years later he was forced to make a journey to Rome to reconquer that part of his Empire. In Germany Conrad II. ruled the clergy with a rod of iron, filled bishoprics for purely political ends, and used the Church to build up his royal powers. In Lombardy he won over the clerical party at that time hostile to the Pope, and thus smoothed his march to Rome. In John XIX. he found one of the worst examples of the utter worldliness into which the successors of Peter could degenerate. John XIX. before his election had been only a business man, but he was a brother of the presiding Pontiff Benedict VIII., and a member of the powerful Tusculan family. By dint of money[408:1] he won the office and in one day was hurried through all the clerical orders and installed into power (1024). Hoping for a powerful ally, John XIX. had invited Conrad II. to Rome. A great Lateran Synod followed the coronation of Conrad II. on Easter day,[408:2] but apparently nothing was said about reforms in the Church, although badly needed. When Conrad died in 1039 the German Empire had reached its pinnacle of greatness. No sovereign since Charles the Great had exercised such powers, for the German and Italian princes were subject to the imperial crown and the clergy were dependent upon it. Henry III. (1029-1056) came to the German throne with brighter prospects than any of his predecessors. What a field for an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a Napoleon! What an opportunity to cut Germany loose from the Empire and make her the greatest power in Europe! The Polish monarchy was falling to pieces; Hungary was rent by the pagan and Christian parties; Canute's northern empire had broken down; Italy, chronically subdivided, was awaiting a master; and the young king was also Duke of Bavaria, Franconia, and Swabia. Hindesheim, a contemporary, declared that no one in the Empire mourned the loss of Conrad because such better things were expected of his son, one of the most highly cultured young men of the age.[409:1]