Henry was archbishop of Mainz from 1142 to 1153.

In his early years as archbishop he was assisted by Anselm of Havelberg

Anselm of Havelberg

Anselm of Havelberg was a German bishop and statesman, and a secular and religious ambassador to Constantinople. He was a Premonstratensian, a defender of his order and a critic of the monastic life of his time, and a theorist of Christian history...

. He supported Friedrich von Staufen as successor to Konrad III of Germany.

At the time of the Second Crusade

Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...

, he tried to prevent a repetition of the 1096 violence against the Jews of Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

. He called in Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...

, to counter inflammatory preaching by a monk, Radulphe

Radulphe

Radulphe was a French monk who, without permission from his superiors, left his monastery in France and travelled to the Rhine Valley during the Second Crusade where he preached "that the Jews should be slain as the enemies of the Christian religion."At Cologne Simon "the Pious" was murdered and...

.

He was a supporter and correspondent of Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen , also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and...

. He consecrated the church of her convent at Rupertsberg

Rupertsberg

Rupertsberg is a crag at the confluence of the Nahe River and the Rhine, in Bingen am Rhein. It is named for Saint Rupert of Bingen, son of Bertha of Bingen. It is notable as the site of the first convent founded by Saint Hildegard of Bingen, in 1150, after leaving the monastery at Disibodenberg...

 in 1152. He has been portrayed showing her works to Pope Eugene III

Pope Eugene III

Pope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...

 and Bernard of Clairvaux.

He was archchancellor

Archchancellor

An archchancellor or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries....

 of Germany, ex officio, but also of Burgundy

Kingdom of Arles

The Kingdom of Arles or Second Kingdom of Burgundy of the High Middle Ages was a Frankish dominion established in 933 from lands of the early medieval Kingdom of Burgundy at Arles...

at the end of his life.