King of Germany (994–1002) and Holy Roman Emperor (996–1002). He had ambitions of recreating the glory and power of the old Roman empire with himself as leader of world Christianity aided by a subservient pope. His short life was torn between periods of intense religious devotion (he lived for a year in a monastery), and dreams of secular power wielded from Rome, where he lived in oriental seclusion in the palace that he had had built. To control the papacy he installed in turn his cousin Gregory VI (996–99) and his tutor Sylvester II (999–1003) as popes, but this did not prevent rebellions in Italy.