ying taxes to the comes. In 664/666 the bishop of Speyer was granted immunity, a privilege repeatedly confirmed by following rulers, e. g. by Charlemagne in 782.
The economic basis for Speyer�s bishops were their possessions, substantial estates, customs and ferry levies as well as the prerogative of coinage received in the 10th century. The immunity privileges granted to church and bishops confirmed and expanded in 969 by Emperor Otto the Great and by Henry IV in 1061 placed Speyer under the protection, control and rule of the bishops. The increasing power of the bishops and the church lead to repeated tensions with the nobility of the Speyergau and the emperor in which the emerging bourgoisie was to become a fourth party. Especially the struggle of the town with the bishop and the church was to mark the history of Speyer in the following 6 centuries.
In 687, the Frankish Empire was re-unified. The Carolingians established a royal palace (K�nigspfalz) in Speyer which served as a temporary seat of the kings and emperors. Yet, in those years, Speyer was of little political importance. Charlemagne visited Speyer several times and in 838 Louis the Pious for the first time held court in town, the starting point of 50 diets held in Speyer in the following 600 years.
When the Frankish Empire was divided up among the three sons of Louis the Pious in 843, Speyer fell under the reign of Louis the German who was given the eastern Frankish territories, East Francia, which was to become the Kingdom of Germany. With the soon evolving Stem duchies, Speyer then became part of the Duchy of Franconia. In these years many Speyer bishops took part in synods and negotiations in Paris and Rome on behalf of the king. Rhenish Franconia became the cradle of the Salian Dynasty which brought forth four German Kings and Holy Roman Emperors.
The year 1024 marked a decisive event in the history of the town. In Oppenheim near Mainz Konrad II, a Salian from the Speyer
