It was during this time that the second great invasion of Teutons by

Asiatics took place. The Huns of Attila were not more fierce nor more

victorious than the wild Magyars who had succeeded to the inheritance

of the “scourge of God” and had seized Hungaria. This second invasion,

coming at the time when the Northmen were overrunning West Frankland

and were still a danger on the northern coasts, affected the history

of Germany and of Europe to an extent little seen by those who see no

interest in the dim beginnings of modern society. For, as we shall see,

it was this second great wave of barbarian invasion which forced upon the

free country-dwelling Germans the rude discipline of feudalism and the

protecting restraints of city walls. Viewed in this light the dark page

of history before us grows luminous and significant.

The great Hungarian, more correctly, Magyar, movement began in the

first year of the tenth century, upon the break-up of the Kingdom of

Moravia.[a] The Hungarians continually made fresh conquests along the

Danube. Cussal, one of their leaders, was, however, defeated in two

great battles on the Enns and near to Vienna, and was left on the field

(900 A.D.). Undismayed by these disasters, the Hungarians attacked the

Carinthian Alps, whilst the Abodriti under Crito made an inroad into

Saxony; but being again repulsed, they made an incursion into Italy

and laid that country waste (902 A.D.). For a third time they appeared

in such force, that Liutpold, the son of Ernst, the former markgraf,

was defeated and killed near Presburg, and Ludwig, who was present in

this battle, narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. They next invaded

Thuringia (908 A.D.) where the new markgraf, Burkhard, after making a

valiant defence, also fell. The following year (909 A.D.) they entered

Franconia, where the markgraf Gebhard vainly attempted to stem their

progress, and was killed. The death of these leaders at once proves the

obstinate resistance made by the Germans, and the numerical superiority

of the enemy.

[Sidenote: [908-911 A.D.]]

The Hungarian warrior was irresistible in the fury of his onset,

invincible in battle by his contempt of death, untiring in pursuit, or

secured from it by the rapidity of his horse. His blood-thirstiness,

his inhuman treatment of the unarmed and helpless, his destructive

and predatory habits, astonished and terrified the milder German, who

regarded him in the light of an evil spirit, as the Goth had formerly

regarded the Hun, until he became habituated to him. The suddenness with

which these mounted hordes appeared in the heart of the country and again

vanished, greatly strengthened the belief in their supernatural powers.

They also acted with a sort of religious fanaticism, from a belief that

every enemy they slew would be their vassal in a future state. They

were so blood-thirsty, that they would make use of the corpses of their

opponents as tables during their savage feasts. They bound the captured

women and maidens with their own long hair, and drove them in flocks to

Hungary.

Ludwig the Child, dismayed by these repeated disasters, concluded a

treaty of peace with these people, and consented to pay them a ten

years’ tribute. The Enns was declared the boundary of Hungary, and

the wild Arpads erected their royal castle on the beautiful mountain

on the Danube, on which the splendid monastery of Mölk now stands.

The Germans were deeply sensible of the dishonour incurred by this

ignominious tribute, of the danger of their internal dissensions, and of

the misfortune of being governed by so impotent a monarch. It was even

publicly preached from the pulpit, “Woe to the land, whose king is a

child!” The youthful monarch died (911 A.D.) before he had even reigned,

and with him ended the race of Charlemagne in Germany.

CONRAD THE FIRST (911-918 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [911-912 A.D.]]

The cessation of the Carlovingian line did not sever the bond of union

that existed between the different nations of Germany, although a

contention arose between them concerning the election of the new emperor,

each claiming that privilege for itself; and as the increase of the

ducal power had naturally led to a wider distinction between them, the

diet convoked for the purpose represented nations instead of classes.

There were consequently four nations and four votes; the Franks under

Duke Conrad, whose authority nevertheless could not compete with that of

the now venerable Hatto, archbishop of Mainz, who may be said to have

been, at that period, the pope in Germany: the Saxons, Friedlanders,

Thuringians, and some of the subdued Slavs, under Duke Otto: the

Swabians, with Switzerland and Alsace, under different grafs, who, as

the immediate officers of the crown, were named Kammerboten, in order to

distinguish them from the grafs nominated by the dukes: the Bavarians,

with the Tyrolese and some of the subdued eastern Slavs, under Duke

Arnulf the Bad, the son of the brave Duke Liutpold. The Lothringians

(people of Lorraine) formed a fifth nation, under their duke, Regingar,

but were at that period incorporated with France.

The first impulse of the diet was to bestow the crown on the most

powerful among the different competitors, and it was accordingly offered

to Otto of Saxony, who not only possessed the most extensive territory

and the most warlike subjects, but whose authority, having descended

to him from his father and grandfather, was also the most firmly

secured. But both Otto and his ancient ally, the bishop Hatto, had

found the system they had hitherto pursued, of reigning in the name of

an imbecile monarch, so greatly conducive to their interest, that they

were disinclined to abandon it. Otto was a man who mistook the prudence

inculcated by private interest for wisdom, and his mind, narrow as the

limits of his dukedom, and solely intent upon the interests of his

family, was incapable of the comprehensive views requisite in a German

emperor, and indifferent to the welfare of the great body of the nation.

The examples of Boson, of Eudes, of Rudolf of upper Burgundy, and of

Berengar, who, favoured by the difference in descent of the people they

governed, had all succeeded in severing themselves from the empire,

were ever present to his imagination, and he believed that as, on the

other side of the Rhine, the Frank, the Burgundian, and the Lombard,

severally obeyed an independent sovereign, the East Frank, the Saxon, the

Swabian, and the Bavarian, on this side of the Rhine, were also desirous

of asserting a similar independence, and that it would be easier and

less hazardous to found an hereditary dukedom in a powerful and separate

state, than to maintain the imperial dignity, undermined as it was by

universal hostility.

[Illustration: CONRAD THE FIRST

(From an old print)]

The influence of Hatto and the consent of Otto placed Conrad, duke of

Franconia, on the imperial throne. Sprung from a newly arisen family,

a mere creature of the bishop, his nobility as a feudal lord only

dating from the period of the Babenberg feud, he was regarded by the

church as a pliable tool, and by the dukes as little to be feared. His

weakness was quickly demonstrated by his inability to retain the rich

allods of the Carlovingian dynasty as heir to the imperial crown, and

his being constrained to share them with the rest of the dukes; he was,

nevertheless, more fully sensible of the dignity and of the duties of

his station than those to whom he owed his election probably expected.

His first step was to recall Regingar of Lorraine, who was oppressed by

France, to his allegiance as vassal of the empire.

[Sidenote: [912-917 A.D.]]

Otto died in 912, and his son Henry, a high-spirited youth, who had

greatly distinguished himself against the Slavs, erelong quarrelled with

the aged bishop Hatto. According to the legendary account, the bishop

sent him a golden chain, so skilfully contrived as to strangle its

wearer. The truth is, that the ancient family feud between the house of

Conrad and that of Otto, which was connected with the Babenbergers, again

broke out, and that the emperor attempted again to separate Thuringia,

which Otto had governed since the death of Burkhard, from Saxony, in

order to hinder the over-preponderance of that ducal house. Hatto, it is

probable, counselled this step, as a considerable portion of Thuringia

belonged to the diocese of Mainz, and a collision between him and the

duke was therefore unavoidable. Henry flew to arms, and expelled the

adherents of the bishop from Thuringia, which forced the emperor to take

the field in the name of the empire against his haughty vassal.

This highly unfortunate civil war was a signal for a fresh irruption of

the Slavs and Hungarians. During this year the Bohemians and Sorbs also

made an inroad into Thuringia and Bavaria, and in 913 the Hungarians

advanced as far as Swabia, but being surprised near Ötting by the

Bavarians under Arnulf, who on this occasion bloodily avenged his

father’s death, and by the Swabians under the Kammerboten, Erchanger

and Berthold, they were all, with the exception of thirty of their

number, cut to pieces. Arnulf subsequently embraced a contrary line of

policy, married the daughter of Geisa, king of Hungary, and entered

into a confederacy with the Hungarian and the Swabian Kammerboten, for

the purpose of founding an independent state in the south of Germany,

where he had already strengthened himself by the appointment of several

markgrafs, Rudiger of Pechlarn in Austria, Rathold in Carinthia, and

Barthold in the Tyrol. He then instigated all the enemies of the empire

simultaneously to attack the Franks and Saxons, at that crisis at war

with each other (915 A.D.), and whilst the Danes under Gorm the Old,

and the Abodriti (Obotrites), destroyed Hamburg, immense hordes of

Hungarians, Bohemians, and Sorbs laid the country waste as far as Bremen.

The emperor was, meanwhile, engaged with the Saxons. On one occasion

Henry narrowly escaped being taken prisoner, being merely saved by the

stratagem of his faithful servant, Thiatmar, who caused the emperor

to retreat by falsely announcing to him the arrival of a body of

auxiliaries. At length a pitched battle was fought near Merseburg between

Henry and Eberhard (915 A.D.), the emperor’s brother, in which the Franks

were defeated, and the superiority of the Saxons remained, henceforward,

unquestioned for more than a century. The emperor was forced to negotiate

with the victor, whom he induced to protect the northern frontiers of the

empire whilst he applied himself in person to the re-establishment of

order in the south.

[Sidenote: [917-919 A.D.]]

In Swabia, Salomon, bishop of Constance, who was supported by the

commonalty, adhered to the imperial cause, whilst the Kammerboten

were unable to palliate their treason, and were gradually driven to

extremities. Erchanger, relying upon aid from Arnulf and the Hungarians,

usurped the ducal crown and took the bishop prisoner. Salomon’s extreme

popularity filled him with such rage that he caused the feet of some

shepherds, who threw themselves on their knees as the captured prelate

passed by, to be chopped off. His wife, Bertha, terror-stricken at the

rashness of her husband and foreseeing his destruction, received the

prisoner with every demonstration of humility, and secretly aided his

escape. He no sooner reappeared than the people flocked in thousands

around him: _Heil, Herro! Heil, Liebo!_ (“Hail, master! Hail, beloved

one!”) they shouted, and in their zeal, attacked and defeated the

traitors and their adherents. Berthold vainly defended himself in his

mountain stronghold of Hohentwiel. The people so urgently demanded the

death of these traitors to their country that the emperor convoked a

general assembly at Albingen in Swabia, sentenced Erchanger and Berthold

to be publicly beheaded, and nominated Burkhard (917 A.D.), whose father

and uncle had been assassinated by order of Erchanger, as successor

to the ducal throne. Arnulf withdrew to his fortress at Salzburg, and

quietly awaited more favourable times. His name was branded with infamy

by the people, who henceforth affixed to it the epithet of “The Bad,” and

the _Nibelungenlied_ has perpetuated his detested memory.

Conrad died in 918, without issue. On his death-bed, mindful only of the

welfare of the empire, he proved himself deserving even by his latest act

of the crown he had so worthily worn, by charging his brother Eberhard to

forget the ancient feud between their houses, and to deliver the crown

with his own hands to his enemy, the free-spirited Henry, whom he judged

alone capable of meeting all the exigences of the state. Eberhard obeyed

his brother’s injunctions, and the princes respected the will of their

dying sovereign.

REIGN OF HENRY (I) THE FOWLER (918-936 A.D.)

The princes, with the exception of Burkhard and of Arnulf, assembled at

Fritzlar, elected the absent Henry king, and despatched an embassy to

inform him of their decision. It is said that the young duke was at the

time among the Harz Mountains, and that the ambassadors found him in the

homely attire of a sportsman in the fowling floor. He obeyed the call of

the nation without delay, and without manifesting surprise. The error he

had committed in rebelling against the state, it was his firm purpose to

atone for by his conduct as emperor. Of a lofty and majestic stature,

although slight and youthful in form, powerful and active in person,

with a commanding and penetrating glance, his very appearance attracted

popular favour: besides these personal advantages, he was prudent and

learned, and possessed a mind replete with intelligence. The influence of

such a monarch on the progressive development of society in Germany could

not fail of producing results fully equalling the improvements introduced

by Charlemagne.

[Sidenote: [919-936 A.D.]]

The youthful Henry,[144] the first of the Saxon line, was proclaimed

king of Germany at Fritzlar (919 A.D.) by the majority of votes, and,

according to ancient custom, raised upon the shield. The archbishop of

Mainz offered to anoint him according to the usual ceremony, but Henry

refused, alleging that he was content to owe his election to the grace of

God and to the piety of the German princes, and that he left the ceremony

of anointment to those who wished to be still more pious.[e]

The accession of Henry I is an event of the utmost importance in the

history of Germany. From the days of Ludwig the German the eastern

Carlovingians had been engaged upon protecting and welding together that

eastern section of the empire which to-day we know as Germany. But they

had ruled over the various German tribes by the right that Charlemagne

had made for himself, and then the right of conquest. This domination

of the Carlovingian kings of the Franks over the Germans died out in

Arnulf. In the failure of Conrad’s reign the second great step was taken

in severing the tie with the past. The domination of the eastern Franks

was now to be rejected altogether, and with the substitution of the

Luidolfings for the Carolings, the race of Wittekind succeeded to the

inheritance that had been seized by Charles.[a]

THE UNIFICATION OF THE EMPIRE

[Sidenote: [916-936 A.D.]]

Before Henry could pursue his more elevated projects, the assent of the

southern Germans, who had not acknowledged their choice of their northern

compatriots, had to be gained. Burkhard of Swabia, who had asserted his

independence, and who was at that time carrying on a bitter feud with

Rudolf, king of Burgundy, whom he had defeated (919 A.D.) in a bloody

engagement near Winterthur, was the first against whom he directed the

united forces of the empire, in whose name he, at the same time, offered

him peace and pardon. Burkhard, seeing himself constrained to yield, took

the oath of fealty to the newly elected king at Worms, but continued

to act with almost his former unlimited authority in Swabia, and even

undertook an expedition into Italy in favour of Rudolf, with whom he had

become reconciled. The Italians, enraged at the wantonness with which

he mocked them, assassinated him. Henry bestowed the dukedom of Swabia

on Hermann, one of his relations, to whom he gave Burkhard’s widow in

marriage. He also bestowed a portion of the south of Alamannia on King

Rudolf, in order to win him over, and in return received from him the

holy lance, with which the side of the Saviour had been pierced as he

hung on the cross. Finding it no longer possible to dissolve the dukedoms

and great fiefs, Henry, in order to strengthen the unity of the empire,

introduced the novel policy of bestowing the dukedoms, as they fell

vacant, on his relations and personal adherents, and of allying the rest

of the dukes with himself by intermarriage, thus uniting the different

powerful houses in the state into one family.

Bavaria still remained in an unsettled state. Arnulf the Bad, leagued

with the Hungarians, against whom Henry had great designs, had still much

in his power, and Henry, resolved at any price to dissolve this dangerous

alliance, not only concluded peace with this traitor on that condition,

but also married his son Henry to Judith, Arnulf’s daughter (921 A.D.).

Arnulf deprived the rich churches of great part of their treasures, and

was consequently abhorred by the clergy, the chroniclers of those times,

who, chiefly on that account, depicted his character in such unfavourable

colours.[e]

With wonderful acuteness of perception Henry comprehended the situation

and recognised in what way alone a union of the German tribes was

possible; how, in other words, the existence of the east-Frankish,

_i.e._, of the German kingdom, could alone be preserved. He took care

not to follow the wrong lead of King Conrad; he struck out new paths for

himself with ingenious and undaunted spirit. He did not wish to establish

the authority of the state by the subjection of the single stems under

one ruling one, as the Merovingians and after them the Carlovingians had

done, nor to establish Saxon dominion according to Frankish rule; he did

not plan to rule and administer the lands from one centre with the aid of

the officials who were dependent on him alone, as had been the way of the

Frankish kings. Only through a more liberal organisation of the realm, as

Henry saw, could a union of the German people be maintained at the time.

The ideal which presented itself to his mind was something as follows:

each stem was to stand by itself as far as its own affairs was concerned,

and was to rule itself according to old rights and tradition; it was to

be ruled and led in times of war and peace by a duke to whom the counts

and lords of the land owed military attendance and obedience. This duke

was to settle the disputes among the lords of the land at his diets, was

to preserve peace and protect his boundaries from the inroads of the

enemy; but just as the dukes governed the single stems in the realm, so

the king was to rule over all the lands of the empire; he was to be the

highest judge and general of the whole people. So it was to be, and so it

was.

In the idea which Henry conceived, the kingdom appeared almost as only

an alliance of German stems under the leadership of a king jointly

elected by them. And yet they were far from willingly recognising this

leadership. Bavaria and Swabia had separated themselves from the kingdom

for the moment: in the former Arnulf ruled, in the latter Burkhard,

with wholly independent power; and Lorraine had been allied with the

west-Frankish kingdom for years. Franconia and Saxony alone formed the

kingdom at first; for the moment Henry’s power did not go beyond them.

And although he as king was raised above Eberhard, still the latter as

a duke stood practically on a level beside him. Just as Henry reserved

for himself the full ducal power as he had always possessed it, so also

in the Frankish lands it was preserved for Eberhard in the same way;

the position which his family had won and established under Conrad’s

rule was in no wise lessened. Never again did any disagreement break out

between Henry and Eberhard; they remained allies until Henry’s death

and the growing state was founded chiefly upon their accord. Henry’s

thoughts, however, were not limited to Saxony and Franconia; from the

very beginning they had been directed to the union of all the German

tribes, and hence he made it his first business to bring all the stems

which had once belonged to the east-Frankish kingdom to a recognition of

his supremacy.

In the sixth year of his reign King Henry had accomplished the immense

task of uniting all the German lands and tribes; he had succeeded in

doing that for which King Conrad had striven so obstinately and yet so

unsuccessfully. Not with haste and impatience, not with terror and the

sound of arms, had he done it; but through a quiet, clear perception of

the true position of things and that lauded pacific disposition which

would not let him shed German blood against Germans for no purpose. Thus

a bond of unity was woven around the German stems, which became more and

more close in time and surrounded by which the Germans first came to a

clear consciousness of their own nationality. The kingdom as it now stood

appears almost like an alliance of states; but out of it grew quickly

enough a powerful, united state under as strong a monarchy as those times

could produce. Henry had reached the goal which the pope and bishops

at the council of Altheim had set themselves and had not been able to

reach--the unification of Germany; but he reached this goal by a wholly

different road than the one those bishops had taken. Thus it was not

they who laid the cornerstone of the German Empire, but the man who had

refused to accept the crown from the hand of a priest.

Everything was accomplished almost in silence; a new order of things for

centuries to come was established with ease--by magic, one feels inclined

to say; endless confusion was seen to be solved in the simplest fashion.

It was as when an unknown terror breaks upon a large number of people

in the darkness of night--everything is thrown into a confusion which

increases from moment to moment, until the sun shines out in the morning

and its beams gild the fields: the confused masses then easily assort

themselves, quiet returns, and the world beams again in clear sunshine.

Henry’s clear spirit was the sun which turned the night of the German

lands into day.

WARS AGAINST OUTER ENEMIES

[Sidenote: [924 A.D.]]

But of what use was all this building and creating if he could not

succeed in enduringly protecting the empire against its outer enemies and

above all against the Hungarians? However, in spite of the discouragement

caused by repeated defeats, Henry did not lose faith in the strength of

his people, and fortune favoured the courageous man. For it was fortune

that led the Hungarians just at that time to spare the German lands of

the hither Rhine for a longer space of time and to direct their attacks

chiefly against Italy, the west-Frankish kingdom, and Lorraine. But in

the year 924 they appeared again and turned towards Saxony. Everything

whither they came was laid desolate. The castles and strongholds, the

cloisters and churches, the dwellings of the poor peasants, were all

reduced to ashes; old and young, men and women, were slaughtered; again

by the clouds of smoke and the appearance of fire in the sky could the

path be followed which was taken by the terrible enemy; again the people

took refuge in the forests, on the tops of mountains, and in hidden

caves. “It is better to be silent on this subject,” says Wittekind [the

historian], “than to increase suffering by words.”

King Henry did not dare to meet the superior forces of the enemy in an

open battle. He had learned to know what war with them meant at an early

date, and he did not believe his army was able to face them. It is true

that every free Saxon who had completed his thirteenth year was bound to

service, and had to take up arms against an approaching enemy; the old

military provisions of the Frankish kingdom were also in force according

to the letter of the law, and according to them every free man who owned

at least five hides of land had to serve personally in the militia,

and the smaller landowners had to equip a fighter in common. But these

provisions had fallen into disuse; hard times had decreased the number of

freemen; the militia, seldom assembled, was formed of men knowing nothing

of war.

Moreover, the Hungarians had to be met with cavalry, and although the

Frankish feudal army consisted almost entirely of mounted knights, yet

in Saxony cavalry service was still new and not widespread; the greatest

part of the nobility here kept only poorly armed dependents who performed

their military service on foot. Henry avoided a battle, therefore, and

shut himself up with his faithful followers in his fortified castle Werla

at the foot of the Harz, not far from Goslar. The favour of fortune again

did not desert him. A prominent Hungarian was captured by the king’s men

and brought before him. The captive stood in high favour with his people,

and consequently ambassadors were sent at once to free him from the bonds

of the enemy. Gold and silver were offered for him in large measure,

but that was not what Henry sought. He wanted peace, only peace, and he

even offered, if he should be granted a truce of nine years, not only to

give back the captive but also to pay the Hungarians a yearly tribute.

On these conditions the Hungarians, swearing to observe a truce of nine

years, withdrew to their homes.

Larger fortified towns were at that time still unknown in Saxony and

Thuringia; only on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, and beyond

these rivers where the Romans had once lived, were there on German soil

populous towns with fortified walls and towers, which, however, since the

expeditions of the Normans and the Hungarian wars, lay mostly in heaps

and ruins. The Saxons according to ancient custom still lived in single

houses standing alone in the midst of their fields and meadows, or else

they assembled in open villages. Only here and there arose royal palaces

and castles of the nobles, only here and there were the enclosed seats of

bishops, priests, and monks, the first gathering-places of a more active

intercourse. The boundaries were also poorly protected; the strongholds

which Charlemagne had once laid out had been mostly destroyed in the wars

against the Danes and Wends. The land thus, without being able to offer

any resistance, lay open to the inroads of the enemy, which could not be

checked in the interior either, on account of the scattered settlements.

The first necessity, therefore, seemed to Henry to be to enlarge the

existing forts and fortify them more strongly, to lay out new strongholds

so as to be able to assemble larger forces in secure places. This was

especially imperative on the frontiers in order to repulse the enemy on

the very threshold.

Henry had already succeeded in destroying the Serbs on the Saale, and

at the same time the Wendian tribes which had forced their way across

the middle Elbe had been driven back across the river. In these frontier

regions, which had fallen to him as the victor, Henry had settled large

numbers of his dependents and bound them to military service in return

for larger or smaller fiefs. He had thus at the same time established

military colonies on the conquered territory, and here, where everything

was on a military footing, and in the neighbouring districts which stood

mostly under the same leadership with the marks he had free hand to carry

out his plans. In the same way King Edward of England had a few years

before restored or newly built a long line of frontier forts, and thus

secured his realm against the inroads of the enemy; perhaps Henry in his

undertakings had the example of the Anglo-Saxons in mind.

Day and night people were now at work building in the frontier districts.

House had to adjoin house, and court, court; everything was surrounded

with walls and ramparts. The work went on without a moment’s pause. Henry

encouraged the people to unaccustomed efforts, because he wished them

to become hardened in times of peace, so that they would be better able

to endure the privations of war. Thus there grew up in those districts

settlements surrounded with walls and ramparts: smaller places were

enlarged, destroyed fortifications restored; often large numbers of human

habitations suddenly sprang up, where before only a simple hut had stood.

At that time, Quedlinburg in the Harz was wholly rebuilt; Merseburg,

which was always a place dear to the king, was enlarged and surrounded by

a stone wall.

Henry at the same time opened at Merseburg an asylum for criminals; this

was done in order to populate the town and make it capable of defending

itself against the enemy. These suspicious characters lived in a suburb

of Merseburg, whereas the citadel itself was occupied by more reliable

dependents. These criminals were called the Merseburgans, and formed a

troop of soldiery which Henry seems often to have used in especially

dangerous enterprises. “It was,” says Wittekind[f] [the historian], “a

band composed of robbers; for the king, who liked to be mild towards his

subjects, exempted even thieves or robbers, when they were brave and

warlike men, from their deserved punishment and caused them to settle in

the suburb of Merseburg. He gave them fields and arms and ordered them to

keep the peace with their countrymen; against the Wends, however, he let

them make plundering expeditions as often as they pleased.” So strong was

this Merseburg troop that a few years later it furnished 1,000 men for

the war with Bohemia.

But also in other ways Henry tried to increase the population of the

fortified towns. He commanded all diets, popular gatherings, and

festivities to be held within the walls of the citadel; as often as the

Saxons came together they were to assemble in the strongholds so that

they might gradually become accustomed to life in enclosed places,

which they still regarded as imprisonment. Here also he perhaps was

following the example of King Edward, who in the same way ordered all

commercial dealings to be conducted within the gates of the citadel. But

the fortified places of Saxony and Thuringia were not only to provide

the possibility of offering a strong resistance to a fresh attack of the

enemy; they were at the same time to provide refuge and safety to all

the inhabitants of the frontier regions. Consequently every ninth man

had to move into the town to erect a dwelling for himself and his eight

companions, and also to provide granaries and storehouses, since the

third part of all the fruits of the field which were produced had to be

delivered in the citadel and were there stored. The eight, however, who

remained outside cultivated the field of the one within, sowed it and

harvested it, and brought the harvest into his granaries. Without the

citadel there could be no buildings, or only worthless ones, since these

were destroyed at the first attack of the enemy.

His military provisions, so far as can be seen from the scanty records,

dealt with feudal service in Saxony, which he compelled from now on

to be rendered in horses and mounted soldiers. Henry remodelled the

organization of the army and the conduct of war, and brought them into

new lines which were followed by the Germans for a long time afterward.

[Sidenote: [924-929 A.D.]]

Henry was occupied four years with the ordering of all these things.

“My tongue,” says Wittekind,[f] “cannot tell with what precaution and

watchfulness he did everything at that time which could help to protect

the fatherland.” As soon, however, as Henry knew that his army was in

fighting trim, he used it to attack the Wend tribes (928). They were

the nearest enemies of the empire and of Saxony, and at the same time

less dangerous than the Hungarians; so that the war against them was

considered the best school to prepare for the stronger enemy. The first

attack was upon the Hevelli, a Wend tribe, which dwelt on both sides of

the Havel and on the lower Spree. Several times they fought, and Henry

conquered each time, penetrating finally to the chief stronghold of the

tribe, the present Brandenburg. The city, at that time called Brennaburg,

lay surrounded by the Havel. It was midwinter when Henry laid siege to

it, and he pitched his camp on the ice. Ice, iron, and famine,--the three

brought about the fall of Brennaburg, and with it the whole of the land

of the Hevelli fell into the hands of the conqueror.

Henry next proceeded southward against the Daleminzi, against whom he had

won his first laurels. They were familiar with the strokes of Henry’s

sword and did not dare to meet him in open battle. They shut themselves

up within their stronghold, Gana, but this also was taken on the

twentieth day. Deadly hatred had long reigned between Wends and Saxons,

which here demanded sanguinary sacrifices. The city was plundered, the

grown men were killed, the children sold as slaves. Severe custom would

have it thus, and the German has taken his word “slave” from the Slavs.

Henry also proceeded against the Czechs in Bohemia, whose lands adjoined

those of the Daleminzi, with whom they were tribally related. Only

since one generation had the tribe been ruled by one family, that of

the Premyslids; Christianity had made some headway under this single

rulership, although it found difficult entry among the stiff-necked tribe.

A more powerful resistance was to be expected from this numerous tribe,

united under one rule, than from the other Slavic stems. Therefore the

king called on Duke Arnulf for aid, and a Bavarian army advanced through

the Bohemian forest, at the same time with the king, into the land of

the Czechs. It was the first time that the Bavarians had given the

Saxons military attendance. They penetrated clear into the centre of the

country where Prague is located on the bank of the swift Moldau. Here the

young Bohemian duke Wenceslaus, who had already accepted Christianity

through the influence of his pious grandmother, Ludmilla, surrendered

himself and his land to the king (929). He received it again in fief and

from now on paid the Saxons a tribute, which perhaps already at that

time, as later, consisted of 500 silver marks and 120 oxen. From that

time on the kings of Germany demanded feudal service and obedience from

the Bohemian princes, until finally the land itself at a much later

period fell to the German princes.

[Sidenote: [929 A.D.]]

While the king himself was subjugating these Slavic stems, his counts had

fought with success against the Wends living in the north. The Redarii

living in the lake districts north of the Havel as far as the Peene were

first conquered, then the Abodriti and the Wilzi who dwelt north and

west of them clear to the shores of the Baltic. Within a short time the

greatest part of the land between the Elbe and Oder was won for Saxon

rule, but the hard will of the Wend tribes living in these districts was

not broken and the blood of their relatives which had been shed cried

for vengeance. First the Redarii arose in rage against German rule; they

gathered together and fell upon Walsleben. The strongly fortified town

was at that time well populated, but it could not defend itself against

the superior numbers of the enemy. It was taken by assault and all its

inhabitants were killed; not one saw the light of the coming day. This

was a signal for a general uprising. The Wend tribes of the north arose

to a man, to throw off the hated yoke of the Saxons.

Henry prepared quickly for battle and ordered Count Bernhard, to whom

he had intrusted the guardianship of the Redarii, and Count Thietmar,

to begin the war at once, by the siege of Lenzen, a stronghold which

was in the hands of the Wends. The Saxon militia was assembled as well

as possible in the general haste, and together with the war forces from

the marks, was placed under Bernhard’s command. When Lenzen had been

besieged for five days, it was announced by spies that an army of Wends

was in the vicinity and that it would attack the Saxon camp at the fall

of night. Bernhard at once assembled his warriors in his tent and ordered

them to remain under arms the whole night. The crowd separated and each

gave himself up to joy or sorrow, hope or fear, according to whether he

desired the battle or not. Night came on; it was darker than usual, the

sky covered with heavy clouds, and the rain fell in torrents. In such

weather the courage of the Wends sank and they gave up the attack. When,

however, the morning dawned, although the Saxons had been under arms

all night, Bernhard decided to venture an attack himself, and gave the

signal for battle. Thereupon all took an oath forgiving themselves their

failings and each other their ancient feuds--such was the custom before

a battle--and with a solemn oath swore to support and aid each other in

the strife as they would their leaders. Then when the sun came up--the

sky shone in clear blue after the storm of the night--they marched out of

camp.

At the first assault Bernhard had to give way before the superior force

of the enemy. But he noticed that the Wends had no more cavalry than

he, although they had countless numbers of infantry which moved forward

on the muddy ground only with great difficulty and was driven back by

the force of the cavalry. Consequently he did not lose courage, and the

confidence of himself and his followers increased when they saw that a

dense steam went up from the wet garments of the Wends, whereas they

themselves were surrounded with clearest light; it was as if the God

of the Christians were fighting with them against the heathen. Again

the signal for attack was given, and with a joyful war cry they charged

on the ranks of the enemy. The Wends stood close together, and it was

attempted in vain to break a path through their compact ranks; only

on the right and left were a few isolated squads of Wends attacked,

conquered, and killed. Much blood had already been shed on both sides

and the Wends still kept their stand. Then Bernhard sent a messenger to

Thietmar asking him to hasten to the help of the army, and the latter

quickly sent a captain with fifty knights clad in armour, to attack the

enemy from the side. With the rattle of armour this band charged like

a tempest upon the Wends; their ranks wavered, and soon the whole army

broke into the wildest flight. The sword of the Saxons raged in all

parts of the field. The Wends tried to reach Lenzen, but in vain; for

Thietmar had occupied all the roads. Thereupon many of them in despair

plunged into a neighbouring lake, and those whom the sword had spared

found death in the waves. Not one of the infantry escaped and very few of

the cavalry. Eight hundred were taken captive; they had been threatened

with death and they all found death on the following day. More than

one hundred thousand Wends were said to have perished. The Saxons also

suffered severe losses and lost many a noble man from their army. With

this victory the war was ended. The battle was fought on September 4th,

929; Lenzen surrendered the next day. The inhabitants laid down their

arms and asked only for their lives; this was granted them, but they had

to leave the city naked. Their wives and children, their slaves, their

possessions--all fell into the hands of the conquerors.

[Sidenote: [929-933 A.D.]]

Bernhard and Thietmar won great renown above all the German people,

because they had won a glorious victory over an innumerable army of the

detested Wends with a comparatively small force collected in haste. The

king received them with the greatest honour, and from his mouth their

deeds received the highest tribute. Other joyful sounds mixed with the

jubilee of victory. Just at that time Henry was celebrating the marriage

of his eldest son Otto. He had chosen a life companion for him from the

royal family of the tribally related Anglo-Saxons; the beautiful Editha,

daughter of King Edward and a sister of King Athelstan, who at that time

ruled England with a strong hand, was to be led to the altar by Otto.

Athelstan had felt himself so flattered by Henry’s suit that he sent

over to Germany not only Editha, but also her sister Elgiva; Henry and

Otto might choose between the two. Accompanied by Athelstan’s chancellor

Thorketul, the princesses sailed up the Rhine as far as Cologne, where

they were met by Henry’s ambassadors. Editha remained the chosen one and

the marriage was celebrated at once with great pomp (930). As a rich

dowry from her husband Editha received Magdeburg and many beautiful

estates in Saxony.

But the nine years of the truce with the Hungarians were now nearing

their end and war was again threatened with these most terrible enemies

of the empire. Henry had made good use of his respite. Saxony was

protected by firm strongholds, the king had at his disposal an army

experienced in war and faithfully attached to him; it was now time to

measure swords with the old enemy. It was not long until the ambassadors

of the Hungarians appeared to demand the tribute as usual, but they

returned this time with empty bags. Thereupon the mounted bands of the

Hungarians saddled quickly, and countless swarms took their way towards

the west through the land of the Daleminzi; but the latter knew that

Henry was prepared for war, and instead of the demanded tribute they

scornfully threw a fat dog before the enemy. However angry the Hungarians

were at this insult, they nevertheless did not stop for revenge, but

hurried on to the land of Thuringia, which they laid desolate in the

winter of 932-933. When Thuringia could no longer support the large

numbers of the enemy, a part of the army proceeded further west in order

to attack Saxony from another side.

[Sidenote: [933-934 A.D.]]

Henry had already collected a strong force of cavalry from Saxony and

Thuringia and had ordered out the militia. Also from Bavaria and the

other lands subject to him, many knights, it is related, had hurried to

his standard. Quietly he awaited the moment when the countless swarms of

the enemy should separate. Scarcely, however, had that troop separated

and started towards the west, than Saxons and Thuringians attacked it

impetuously. In a sanguinary battle the leaders of the enemy fell and

their hordes fled panic-stricken in all directions. Many perished from

the winter frosts, others died of hunger; a large number fell into

captivity.

The other, larger part of the Hungarian army, however, which had remained

in the east, in Thuringia, had in the meanwhile been informed that there

was a castle in the neighbourhood where lived a sister of the king--she

was born to Duke Otto out of wedlock and had married a Thuringian named

Wido--in which there was much gold and silver. Consequently they at once

set out and assaulted the castle. They would have taken it at the first

attack if the fall of night had not put an end to the battle. Scarcely,

however, were their arms at rest, when they heard of the defeat of their

companions, of the victory of the Saxons, and of how King Henry was

advancing against them with a powerful army. They lit great bonfires to

collect their scattered troops and at once began their retreat.

Henry was camped that same night not far from the Hungarians in a place

which was then called Riade, perhaps the present Rietheburg, in the

golden meadow on the Unstrut, where many strongholds of the Luidolfings

were scattered on all sides. When morning broke and it was learned how

near the enemy was, the king determined to attack them at once and placed

his army in battle array. He exhorted his followers to put all their

trust in God, and declared that he would be with them to-day as in so

many other battles; the Hungarians were enemies of the empire and of them

all, they must fight to avenge their fatherland and their fathers; the

enemy would soon give way if they would only charge bravely and strike

boldly. Then the heart of each one in the army swelled with courage;

they all saw with joy how their king hurried about on his horse, now in

front, now in the middle, and now on the last ranks of the army, and how

everywhere the flag of the archangel Michael, the chief banner of the

empire, waved before him. The king was afraid that when the Hungarians

saw the large numbers of armed horsemen of the Saxons they would not

keep their stand but would break apart and thus frustrate a decisive

battle. Consequently he sent on ahead a small force of one thousand

Thuringian infantry with only a few armed knights. He thought that when

this force appeared the Hungarians would at once give battle and then be

led on, clear up to the battle ranks of his army. And so it happened. The

Hungarians ventured close to the king’s army, but as soon as they caught

sight of the troops of knights they turned and fled. And they fled so

rapidly that, although they were pursued for two miles, only a few of

them were captured or killed; the king, however, stormed their camp and

freed all prisoners. It was the 15th of March, 933; after it, so long as

Henry lived, no Hungarian was seen on German soil.

When this memorable victory had been fought, there was no end to the

jubilee in the army and in the whole Saxon land. As father of the

fatherland Henry greeted his army and his people; they extolled him as

world-ruler and emperor almost as if they had had a premonition of the

greatness and power which were reserved for his son Otto. He, however,

gave God the glory for the victory; he attributed his success to divine

aid alone, and the tribute which he had been accustomed to pay to the

enemy he now gave to the church in order to give it to the poor. Far over

the whole world spread the renown of the great Saxon king, who had been

the first to conquer the much-feared Hungarians in a great battle and had

driven them out of his land.

And Henry’s sword was to reach even the last enemy of the Saxons--the

Danes. The latter had long since overstepped the bounds which the

emperor Charles had once marked out for them. Not only the frontier

district between the Eider, the Treene, and the Schlei had they taken in

possession, but also, after the unfortunate battle in which Duke Bruno

fell, they had seized all the land north of the Elbe, with the aid of

the Wends, and had with fire and sword laid waste the fruitful districts

of the Holsteins. The whole German population which had settled here was

crowded over the Elbe, and they were hardly safe from the plundering

of the enemy even on the hither side of the broad stream. It was only

gradually that the Danes were driven back so that the Saxons could return

to their old seats across the Elbe. But the Germans were also harassed

by the Danes from a different quarter; bands of northern pirates landed

continually on the coasts of Friesland and penetrated far into Saxony and

Lorraine.

[Sidenote: [934-936 A.D.]]

The Danes seem often to have been overpowered, since we learn that in

931 Henry baptised the kings of the Abodriti and of the Danes. But the

struggle was not ended. Therefore, the old hero rose once again at the

end of his life and led his army across the boundaries of the Danes

(934). Their king, Gorm the Old, although he was skilled in many battles

as a successful fighter, and had first united the kingdom of the Danes on

the islands in Skane and Jutland, yet did not dare to meet the conqueror

of the Hungarians in an open battle. He sued for peace and promised to

accept any conditions. Henry re-established the old boundaries of the

empire, by giving the abandoned districts as a fief to Saxon warriors;

he gave these northern districts a similar military organisation to the

marks captured from the Wends. The districts between the Eider, the

Treene, and the Schlei, called later the mark of Schleswig, remained in

the German Empire until Conrad II, nearly a hundred years later, ceded

to the Danes the land as far as the Eider. This cession seemed to be

favoured by circumstances, but it was not a fortunate act, since it

displaced the boundaries which Charlemagne had established and Henry had

restored.[b]

The same year (934 A.D.) a friendly meeting took place between him and

the kings of France and Burgundy on the Char, a tributary of the Maas.

Henry afterwards planned a visit to Rome, but died without accomplishing

that project (936 A.D.), when at the height of his splendour and renown.

He was buried at Quedlinburg, his favourite residence.[e]

FOOTNOTES

[140] [The form “Louis” is very commonly met with, but we prefer the

German.]

[141] [_i.e._ Emperor Ludwig II; Louis le Débonnaire being the emperor

Ludwig I.]

[142] Bertha, the wife of Adalbert (who was blindly guided by her), a

woman of an intriguing disposition, was the daughter of Lothair II and of

Waldrada. Her first husband was Theobald, count of Arles, by whom she had

Hugo, afterwards king of Italy. Sigonius relates the manner in which all

the intrigues of those times in Italy and Burgundy were conducted by this

woman.

[143] He took the latter prisoner in a stable, and said to him, “Your

wife would have made of you either a king or an ass, now you have become

the latter.”

[144] [Known to Germans as Heinrich der Vogler.]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII

OTTO THE GREAT AND HIS SUCCESSORS

[936-1024 A.D.]

THE CORONATION OF OTTO (936 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [936-938 A.D.]]

In the summer of 936 the leading men of the secular and clerical ranks

assembled at Aachen to elect a king. Times had changed decidedly since

the year 619, when Henry I received the crown. At his election only

the Frankish duke Eberhard with his vassals and the archbishop Heriger

of Mainz had appeared, besides the Saxon nobility. The whole kingdom

took part in Otto’s election; all the German dukes, the archbishops,

and probably a great many other high clerical and secular dignitaries

proceeded to Aachen. The Saxon lords who had already decided in favour

of Otto accompanied him thither; as he approached, those who had already

gathered in the city went out to meet him and brought him back in a

triumphal procession. The election took place in the celebrated palace

of Charlemagne. Between the castle and the court chapel (the beautiful

church of the Virgin) was an open colonnade through which the great

emperor had often passed on his way to church. In this place the secular

lords chose Otto for their king; he seated himself here and at once

caused them to bring him their homage; they placed their hands in his and

swore to support him against the enemy. Otto then, in company with the

princes, proceeded to the church of the Virgin, the much admired chapel

of Charlemagne, which was built in the form of an octagon, in part from

antique marble columns. Since the ground space would accommodate only

a limited number of persons, a great many had mounted to the circular

gallery-like passages above, in order to view the festive proceedings

from there. There had been a quarrel among the archbishops at first as

to which of them should crown the new ruler; finally it was agreed that

this honour should fall to Hildebert of Mainz on account of the peculiar

dignity of his person. The archbishop conducted Otto into the middle

of the chapel and then turned to the audience: “See,” he said, “I lead

before you the new king, who has been selected by God, appointed by King

Henry, and now chosen by all the princes, if this choice pleases you, so

manifest it by raising the right hand.” Thereupon the congregation raised

their right hands and showed their assent by a loud cry of acclamation.

The archbishop then led the new king to the altar upon which were the

insignia of kingly office--the sword with the girdle, the purple robe,

the bracelets, the staff, the sceptre, and the crown. He then turned to

Otto and presented him with the insignia of power, together with many

pious admonitions. “Receive this sword,” said he, “in order with it to

drive out all the enemies of Christ, the heathen, and all bad Christians,

since God has given thee dominion over the Frankish realm in order to

make of it a sure refuge for Christendom.” After Otto had received the

other royal insignia, accompanied with similar pious expressions, the

archbishop of Mainz anointed him, being assisted by the archbishop

Wikfried of Cologne, put the crown on his head, and conducted him to the

throne, which was placed between the marble columns of the church of the

Virgin. When the service was concluded the new king proceeded with the

secular and clerical lords to the banquet which had been prepared in the

palace of Charles the Great. The four dukes of the kingdom, Giselbert

of Lorraine, Eberhard of Franconia, Hermann of Swabia, and Arnulf of

Bavaria, had charge of the coronation festivities; they also waited on

the king personally at the banquet as vassals were accustomed to wait on

their feudal lord on especially ceremonious occasions.[b]

It was no empty formality when the princes who had once recognised his

father as their feudal lord now rendered him the same service which

they received from their dependents. Kingship already meant something

more than mere leadership of the Saxon dukes, and Otto was just the man

to assume the right which only one king had ever possessed in German

territory. If Henry seems almost more Saxon prince than king of the

Germans, Otto on the other hand, although he called himself also king of

the Franks, was from the very beginning of his reign king of the Germans

in the most complete sense of the word.[c]

THE OVERTHROW OF THE STEM DUCHIES

[Sidenote: [938-953 A.D.]]

A revival of the Carlovingian conception of sovereignty can at once be

discerned in the mind of the young king. The coronation itself offered

an opportunity for this to appear. The duke of Bavaria had not come to

do him homage; Otto deposed him and set up, beside the duchy of Bavaria,

a count palatine to watch that the interests of the king should never

suffer from the independence of the great vassal. It was the beginning

of a policy radically different from that of Henry, who had left almost

complete autonomy to the different nations and their dukes. From now

on till the time of Bismarck the main story of German history is the

struggle of the kings for a centralised government, and the frustration

of their efforts by the local magnates who represented the tribes and

nations of the earliest days.

The story of Otto’s wars against these great dukes is too long and too

intricate to tell in detail here. Suffice it to say that every duke in

the kingdom was in rebellion at one time and another. Even the Saxons

turned against them, and aided the rebellion of his elder but bastard

brother Thankmar and his younger brother Henry, who was the eldest born

of the children of Henry I after he was king. At first Otto was beaten,

but in a victory at Andernach (Birten) the dukes of Franconia and

Lorraine were slain, and the young Henry was forced to submit (939).

Then the great plan of Otto was realised. The power of the king was to

be secured by setting up members of his own family in place of the stem

dukes, whom the people had hitherto looked up to as sprung from the old

race of heroes, and the only hereditary lords of the Germans. Franconia

he kept for himself; Bavaria was given to the penitent brother Henry;

Swabia was held by his eldest son, Ludolf; his son-in-law Conrad was put

over Lorraine. But they were no longer the old independent sovereigns.

The scattered estates of the king that spread throughout the different

duchies offered the chance for a system of counts palatine who, like

the _missi dominici_ of Charlemagne, were to be the agents of royalty

and centralisation, and to watch with jealous eye the actions of their

neighbours, even if they were of the royal line. It was evident that

another Charles was at the helm, but a second civil war had to be fought

before the royal prerogatives were assured. Nothing shows more clearly

the real tendencies of German history towards local liberty rather than

imperial unity than the fact that the new dukes, the king’s own kin, were

soon leading the forces of their respective nations against Otto. But the

rebels quarrelled among themselves, and an invasion of the Hungarians

forced them to join in a common national defence. Otto, however, had

learned that he could never rely upon the dukes, whoever they were.

Traditions of local independence and tribal, or as they viewed it

“national” interests, overcame all ties of blood or duty. Counts palatine

were not strong enough to act as a sufficient check. They must be backed

up by some other force, or the unity of the monarchy was doomed. The only

available ally was the church, and with the same deep political purpose

at heart Otto posed as the protector of the church and its reformer. His

protection meant the exaltation of ecclesiastical lords to a plane equal

to or above that of the lay lords; his reformation meant the placing

of his brother, the learned Bruno, over the archiepiscopate of Cologne

(953), and his son William in the place of the perfidious Frederick, the

archbishop of Mainz, who had connived at a plan for Otto’s assassination.

THE TENTH CENTURY RENAISSANCE

These appointments were eminently just, no more attractive or saintly

character appears in German history than that of Bruno, who as chancellor

and as prelate carried out reforms that brought intellectual awakening

with religious revival. Fostered by him, rare literature again began to

be produced; the night of the dark age was passing, and Bruno, carrying

his library with him in his travels, and studying Greek with the

Scotchman Israel, is like an Erasmus of the tenth century. His work was

that of a reformer and teacher.[a]

Above all, however, Bruno attempted to revive the scholarly activity of

the clergy. Through him and through the men whom he trained, the court

again became the centre of a scholarly movement; the royal chapel took on

the character of a superior school. Of the seven liberal sciences which

at that time comprised the whole sum of earthly wisdom, only the three

lower ones, grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics, had, since the memory of

man, been taught in the schools; that Bruno directed his studies to the

four higher ones likewise, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy,

made him appear like a restorer of these sciences in the eyes of his

contemporaries. While he himself still continued to study, he became at

the same time the teacher of many others; he never let the superiority

of his mind be felt unpleasantly, but rather by his winning friendliness

and gentle earnestness, succeeded in charming everyone. While he himself

“hastened forward on the path of virtue with gigantic strides,” as his

biographer expresses it, he never wearied of looking back after those who

were left behind, to help them on their way.

[Sidenote: [950-1000 A.D.]]

The scholarly efforts of the court gained in breadth and depth after

Otto turned his attention to them, and they had already begun to bear

fruit in the year 950. Soon afterwards the learned Rather was called to

court. He was born in Lorraine, had left his home and made his fortune

in Italy through King Hugo, but had been driven out of his bishopric at

Verona. Bruno himself learned from Rather, who was held to be the first

theologian of his time. Bishop Liutprand of Cremona came to court a

little later, and also his not ordinary knowledge of old Latin literature

does not seem to have been left unused by Bruno. It was no longer only

the bones of the saints which were brought from over the Alps, but those

other relics of antiquity which are so much more precious in our eyes;

above all, the valuable manuscripts of classic authors. More than a

hundred of these were brought into German countries by an Italian, Gunzo

by name, at Otto’s command, some of the most valuable of which Italy

has carried back again after a lapse of centuries. People now applied

themselves with fresh zeal to the study of the old poets, orators, and

historians--Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Terence, Cicero, and Sallust arose

together from the dead and became the teachers of the Germans in the

liberal sciences.

From the court the new studies spread throughout the kingdom, the

cloister schools especially taking a gratifying part in the general

advancement. St. Gall and Reichenau reached their most flourishing

period; Fulda tried to maintain its old position; Hersfeld emulated it; a

teacher from Italy was called to Würzburg. In Saxony, Corvei especially

cultivated the sciences; also in the convents, especially at Gandersheim

and Quedlinburg, the girls read Virgil and Terence together with the

lives of the saints. While people had scarcely learned to know the

ancients, with minds still dazzled by the brilliancy of their oratory,

they found courage to compete with them; behind cloister walls men put

their hand to works which, with all their roughness, are not without a

certain lofty beauty, which show a sturdy attempt to reach perfection of

form, and which through their contents possess for us an imperishable

value.

It is a literature of a peculiar character which was developed out of

these efforts. It rests upon a national foundation and is yet clothed

in a garment of classic Roman language; it is monastic and ascetic,

but at the same time naturalistic according to the conception of the

ancients; it is ecclesiastic, but untrammelled by dogmatic disputes and

canonistic scholasticism; finally it is courtly, but at the same time

simple, true-hearted, and upright. The old-German heroic folk-lore is

reproduced in hexameters which are imitated or borrowed from Virgil; the

naïve fables must accommodate themselves to the strict beat of old verse

measure; the wonderful stories of the origin of the Saxons are repeated

in the language of Sallust and Tacitus; a nun treats the legends of the

saints in the form of a Terentian comedy. Bruno has stamped the impress

of his mind upon this whole literature. His taste for philological

learning, his ascetic zeal, his high position at court which came to him

from birth, influenced it perceptibly for over a century. But there was

also another spirit at work which he neither could nor would control. In

these books lives also the strong, sturdy, and true spirit of the German

people.

The tenth century, more than others, has been called an age of barbarism,

and its beginnings do indeed betray a decay of all that the Carlovingian

period had accomplished in the way of art and literature. But already

in the middle of the century we may detect new seeds of culture in the

German countries, and it was really from them that a civilisation first

developed which penetrated more deeply into the northern districts and

became acclimated there. It was, to be sure, a civilisation which at

first affected only the highest ranks of society--the court, the clergy,

and the nobility which had been drawn into the vicinity of the court;

but it was practically instrumental in gradually reforming all the

conditions of German life. No one more than the historian of the German

people perceives what a change took place at that time in the cultural

conditions. After he has emerged from the darkness of tradition into the

light of history already in the Carlovingian period, at the beginning

of the tenth century he is again surrounded by a twilight in which it

is impossible to distinguish fact from fable; tradition is confused,

contradictory, incomplete, and disconnected. But with the middle of the

century, contemporary, reliable sources are again opened up to him, which

on the whole permit him to follow the course of events clearly; the

ground becomes firm beneath his feet and only seldom is he compelled to

tread the uncertain path of supposition.

The king’s chapel, however, was not only a school of learning, it was

at the same time a plant-house for church and state, in that nearly all

the priests went out from it who in the following period were raised to

the seats of the German bishoprics by Otto and his successors. It is

a new generation of princes of the church very unlike that which the

later Carlovingian period had brought forth. These bishops, permeated

as they are with the dignity of their ecclesiastical position, are yet

truly submissive to the central power of the state; they willingly take

part in the king’s battles and cheerfully go from one country to another

in his interest and for his advantage. Hierarchic-theocratic ideas are

far from their minds, no less so the thought of a slavish obedience to

Rome, although they respect the rights of St. Peter; they are, however,

permeated with the feeling of a free independent authority which God has

given them over their bishoprics, and they rule their dioceses with a

patriarchal, all-comprehending power. Their first duties they consider

to be the organisation of ecclesiastical discipline, reformation of the

cloisters and chapters, and the awakening of a scholastic life; but

they feel it to be equally their calling to fortify their cities with

walls, to gain or to secure for them privileges of markets and coinage,

to elevate commerce, to cultivate waste regions, to clear away forests,

to regulate the service of their dependents legally, to preserve right

and justice within their immunities. They are throughout practical tasks

which they set themselves and they believe that they are serving God and

their fellow-men in performing them.

The Roman church has placed not a few of these bishops on the calendar

of its saints, but the German people also owe these men the deepest

gratitude. They have contributed not a little towards raising the

oppressed part of the nation, towards reviving city life, and towards

promoting agriculture, indeed one might say that even the more definite

development of the national spirit is due largely to them. From one

centre they went into all parts of the realm; wherever they went they

spread the same culture, the same principles of administration, the same

ecclesiastical-political views, and they themselves remained, although

separated, in a close, often an intimate, relationship with each other.

It might be said that among them for the first time, the firm outlines

of a national policy were established, which remained untouched by the

attitude of the person who happened to hold the chief power in the state.

In this rank of bishops we meet a large number of the most worthy men,

who showed themselves almost throughout filled with the same love for

their German fatherland until the struggle concerning the investiture

brought unholy discord into all ranks of life.[c]

THE STRENGTHENING OF THE MARKS

[Sidenote: [936-955 A.D.]]

But civil wars, the strengthening of royalty, and the activity of the

church were but a part of the interests of Otto. From the day of his

coronation the Slavs had been ravaging the frontiers on the northeast

and the Hungarians had raided the rich valleys of the upper Danube. In

campaign after campaign the king and his lieutenants kept the invaders

at bay. To secure his kingdom, Otto granted larger powers to the counts

of the border, the markgrafen, and thus prepared the way for the power

of Brandenburg and of Austria (the East Mark). He encouraged German

colonisation along the Elbe, and called to the assistance of his armies

the influence of Christianising missionaries. The reformation of his

clergy stood him in good stead, for not since the day of Charles

the Great did the missionary effort of the monks and clergy reap

such triumphs over heathenism and win so much in land and people for

Christendom.

VICTORY OVER THE MAGYARS AND WENDS

But the Hungarians were still unsubdued, and in the year 955 they made

a vast and final test of the strength of the new kingdom.[a] A powerful

party in Bavaria, headed by the count Werner, brother to the fallen

Arnulf, were induced by the hatred they bore to Henry to have recourse to

the Hungarians, whom they invited into the country. Confident of success

on account of their enormous numerical strength, the arrogant barbarians

boasted that their horses should drain every river in Germany. Augsburg,

whose supposed treasures attracted their cupidity, was besieged by them,

but made a brave defence under the command of Burkhard of Swabia. Their

king, Pulzko, was encamped at Günsburg. Otto instantly assembled the

arrière-ban of the entire empire; the Bohemians united their forces

with his; the Saxons, at that time engaged in opposing the Slavs, alone

failed. The two armies came within sight of each other on the Lech, near

Augsburg. Before the battle commenced, Otto addressed his troops, as his

father had done on a similar occasion, and vowed, when referring to the

victory won by Henry, to found a bishopric at Meresburg, if God granted

him success.

It was the 10th of August, 955. The sun poured with intense heat upon

the plain. The Hungarians rapidly crossed the Lech, fell upon the rear

of the German army, dispersed the Bohemians, and were pressing hard upon

the Swabians, when the fortune of the day was again turned by Conrad,

who, anxious to retrieve his fault and to regain the confidence of his

master, performed miracles of valour at the head of the Franconians. The

emperor struggled sword in hand in the thickest of the fight. A vast

number of the enemy were drowned in attempting to escape across the

river. Conrad was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow aimed at him

by one of the fugitives, when in the act of raising his helmet in order

to breathe more freely. A hundred thousand Hungarians are said to have

fallen on this occasion.[145] Two of their princes, Lehel and Bulcs, were

by the emperor’s command hanged on the gates of Augsburg. According to

some writers, King Pulzko and four of the war-chiefs were hanged before

the gates of Ratisbon. Werner was killed by the enraged Hungarians, but

few of whom escaped to their country, almost the whole of the fugitives

being slain or hunted down like wild beasts by the Bavarian peasants.

The adherents of the adverse party were mercilessly punished by Henry

of Bavaria, who caused them to be buried alive, or burned in beds of

quicklime. Herold, bishop of Salzburg, was by his orders deprived of

sight, and the patriarch Lupus of Aquileia met with a still more wretched

fate. This was the last inroad attempted by the Hungarians, who for the

future remained within their frontier, on their side equally undisturbed

by the Germans. The booty was so enormous that a peasant is said to have

had a silver plough made out of his share. The innumerable Hungarian

horses taken on this occasion also gave rise to the establishment of the

Keferloher horse fair.[d]

THE REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

[Sidenote: [936-962 A.D.]]

For a quarter of a century Otto (936-962) ruled with no higher title than

king of the Franks. It was not till the winter of 962 that this successor

of Charlemagne received the imperial crown, and proclaimed once more to

the world the fact of that union of Roman and Teuton, upon which the

structure of modern society was to rest. We have now to trace the story

of what Bryce regards as the real foundation of the Roman Empire of the

Middle Ages.

[Illustration: GERMAN PEASANT OF THE TENTH CENTURY]

The one portion of the Carlovingian monarchy which suffered most in the

dark age of dissolution was Italy. The heroic efforts on its behalf of

Louis II, the last worthy descendant of Charles, were rendered fruitless

by his early death without a son to succeed. Then Italy was a prize for

uncles and cousins, like Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat. After

their time there was a feudal anarchy in which the most noteworthy

leaders were the dukes of Friuli in the north, of Spoleto in the centre,

and of Capua and Benevento in the south, with marquises of Ivrea and

Tuscany and proud Roman counts, like those of the family of Crescentius,

to prevent consolidation or peace. At Rome itself the conditions were at

the worst. Popes were elected by clergy and populace, but mob violence

forced the elections amid riot and outrage.

[Sidenote: [950-962 A.D.]]

Above this world of ruin and disorder there still hung the shadow of an

imperial crown. From the year 900 it had been alternately the prize of

Lombard and Provençal (or Burgundian) princes.[146]

In the year 950 Lothair of Burgundy died suddenly, leaving his young,

witty, and beautiful widow Adelheid (Adelaide) to face the craft and

strength of Berengar II. Berengar determined to marry her to his son, and

upon her refusal imprisoned her in a fortress on the Lake of Como. From

this she escaped to the castle of Canossa.

Legend tells us that her deliverance was due to a priest who bored

through her prison wall, and that in her flight she was so closely

pursued as to be compelled to conceal herself in a field of standing

corn. Her flight at Canossa gave the excuse for the interference of

the German ally, Ludolf of Swabia, Otto’s eldest son. Ludolf at once

descended the Alps; his uncle Henry of Bavaria was at his heels to share

in the plunder, and laid claim to most of Venetia, although formerly

Berengar’s ally. But the prize was for neither of them. In 951 Otto

himself came down, and in Pavia, the old royal city of the Lombards,

he signalised his double triumph by assuming the title “king of the

Lombards” and by marrying the fair Adelaide. Henceforth the only obstacle

to the assumption of the empire was the formality of coronation.

Nine years elapsed, however, before Otto took the final step. His son had

withdrawn to Germany to lead a formidable rebellion against the father

who had foiled his plans. Conrad the red, duke of Lotharingia, joined

hands with him, and the civil wars broke out anew. It was then that the

great Hungarian invasion came to restore allegiance to the one prince who

could make headway against it. The rebels submitted and fought loyally

for their king. The battle of Lechfeld left Otto unquestioned master in

Germany. Fresh aggressions of Berengar, whom he had left as under-king in

Italy, now led him to take the final step.[a]

Berengar aimed at the independent sovereignty of Italy, in which he was

upheld by the majority of the people, whose national pride ill brooked

the despotic rule of either the clergy or the Germans. The Lombard

bishops, enraged at the restriction imposed upon them by Berengar, sought

the protection of the pope, who applied for aid to the emperor. The

family disputes that had so lately troubled Otto’s domestic peace, the

struggle with the Hungarians and the Slavs, had at this juncture been

brought to a favourable termination, and the reincorporation of Italy

with the empire again became the object of his ambition. Accordingly,

after causing his son, Otto II, to be crowned king of Germany at Aachen,

and entrusting the government of the empire to his brother Bruno,

archbishop of Cologne, and to his illegitimate son Wilhelm, who had

succeeded Frederick in the archbishopric of Mainz, he crossed the Alps

(961 A.D.), expelled Berengar, and for the first time entered Rome,

where the pope, John XII (a son of Alberic), was compelled to crown him

emperor.[d]

THE IMPERIAL CORONATION (962 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [962 A.D.]]

Ancient custom demanded that the pope should send the Roman senate, i.e.

the nobility of the city, and the citizens who bore arms to meet the

king, who was to receive the imperial crown, while he was encamped upon

the gardens of Nero under Monte Mario near the church of St. Peter, and

to escort him back to the city. This delegation, accordingly, started

out in pompous array with crosses and flags, dragon heads, and lofty

standards, accompanied by the corporations of the foreigners in Rome,

each hailing the joyful occasion by joyful songs in its own language.

Aristocratic youths belonging to the first families of the city, welcomed

the king at Monte Mario, kissed his feet, and then assisted him to mount

a horse sent by the pope, upon which they conducted him, through crowds

of people, to the steps leading to the outer court of St. Peter’s.

Before this sat the pope in full regalia, upon a golden throne surrounded

on both sides by the clergy. After the king had left his horse and

mounted the thirty-five marble steps, the pope arose, offered the king

his lips for a kiss, and extended his right hand in brotherly greeting.

They then passed through the brazen gates of the spacious outer court,

which was called the paradise of St. Peter, and proceeded towards the

main door--it was called the silver door--of the church. Before that was

opened, however, the king swore to the pope that he had come with pure

and upright intentions as regards the good of the city and church, and

promised him the donations given by the earlier emperors. To the sound

of the hymn, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” they

then entered the festively decorated and brilliantly lighted church,

which had no equal in all the world. The king hurried to the tomb of St.

Peter as soon as he entered the church and fell on his knees to pray. The

pope’s blessing and prayer concluded the ceremony in the church. This was

followed by a festive banquet which the pope gave the future emperor, who

then returned in the evening to his camp outside the city.

Thus was spent the day of the ceremonial reception; the coronation itself

did not take place until the following Sunday. On that day the people

gathered in the streets at an early hour; all the houses were decorated

with carpets and awnings; the whole city thereby took on a festive

appearance. Everybody then hastened to Leo’s city, to St. Peter’s, where

the king in a purple robe and golden greaves awaited the pope. The pope

appeared in the full regalia of his highest priestly office. After the

king had then put on clerical garments, he was anointed as a priest at

the altar and thus, as a member of the clerical order, received the

imperial crown and sword from the hands of the pope.

The church re-echoed with the loud congratulations and the joyful cries

of the crowd. As soon as these had subsided a lector read the document

which the emperor had made out for the pope in regard to the possessions

of St. Peter’s and the emperor with splendid gifts thanked Peter’s

successor, who had adorned his head with the highest crown in the world.

With such festivities King Berengar had been received in Rome and

crowned emperor. We possess no details concerning Otto’s reception and

coronation; but the proceedings could not have been very different

when he entered Rome on the 31st of January, and on February 2nd, 962,

received the imperial crown from the pope in St. Peter’s; with him

Adelheid was anointed and crowned.

Otto had attained the aim of long years of labour. The highest position

in western Christendom, the leadership of all the states which had gone

out from the empire of Charlemagne, had become his and through him they

became the possessions of the German nation.[c]

In 964 Otto returned to Germany, and held Whitsuntide at Cologne, where

he was attended by all the German princes, among whom appeared Lothair of

France. Peace and security reigned throughout the empire.

WARS IN ITALY AGAINST BYZANTIUM

[Sidenote: [966-972 A.D.]]

Otto revisited Italy (966 A.D.), where Adalbert, the son of Berengar, had

raised an insurrection in Lombardy; he was defeated on the Po by Burkhard

of Swabia. Pope Leo VIII was dead; the new pope, John XIII, the emperor’s

creature, who had been expelled from Rome by an adverse party, had been

reinstated by Pandolf, the valiant prince of Benevento, the last Lombard

who preserved his ancestral bravery and fidelity amid the vices of Italy.

Otto’s first act, on his arrival in Rome, was the infliction of a severe

chastisement on the refractory Romans; thirteen of the most distinguished

citizens were hanged. A fresh and closer treaty was concluded between the

emperor and the pope, to whose dominions the territory of Ravenna, which

had been severed from them, was restored, in return for which he solemnly

placed the imperial diadem on the head of Otto II, an incident of rare

occurrence during the lifetime and in the presence of the father.

All opposition to the irresistible power of the emperor had now

ceased--the whole of upper and central Italy lay in silent submission at

his feet. His first step was the imposition of a new form of government

upon Lombardy. He replaced the great dukes, with the exception of his

ally Pandolf, by numerous petty markgrafs, the majority of whom were

Germans by birth. He also settled a considerable number of Germans in the

different cities, and thus created a party favourable to the imperial

cause that counterpoised the rebellious spirit of the Lombards and

Romans. Pandolf of Benevento, surnamed Ironhead, and the petty duke,

Gisulf of Salerno, whose imbecility rendered him ever inconstant to his

allies, defended the frontiers of upper and central Italy against the

Greeks, who still retained possession of lower Italy, and the Saracens,

who had already settled in Sicily. Otto and his empress, Adelheid,

visited Pandolf (968 A.D.) who entertained them with great magnificence.

During his residence at Benevento, Otto undertook the conquest of lower

Italy. Bari, the strongly fortified Grecian metropolis, offering a

valiant and successful resistance, he had recourse to his favourite

policy, and despatched his confidant, Liutprand, the celebrated

historian, to the court of Nicephorus, the Grecian emperor, in order

to demand the hand of the beautiful princess Theophano, daughter to

Romanus the late emperor, for his son Otto II, probably in the hope of

receiving Italy as her dowry. His suit being contemptuously refused,

Otto undertook a second campaign during the following year, and chose

with great judgment his line of march along the Alps that separate lower

Italy into two parts, and thus command Apulia to the east and Calabria to

the west. Having thus opened a path, he returned the same way, leaving

the conquest of the low country to Pandolf, who having the misfortune to

be taken prisoner before Bovino, and to be sent to Constantinople, the

Greeks, under the patrician Eugenius, crossed the frontier, laid waste

the country in the neighbourhood of Capua and Benevento, and treated the

inhabitants with great cruelty. Otto, who was at that juncture in upper

Italy, sent the grafs Gunther and Siegfried to oppose them; a splendid

victory was gained, and the victors, animated by a spirit of revenge,

deprived the Greek prisoners of their right hands, noses, and ears. In

970, the Sicilian Saracens invaded the country, but were defeated at

Chiaramonte by Graf Gunther. At this time, the emperor Joannes, who

after the assassination of Nicephorus had ascended the throne of Greece,

restored Pandolf Ironhead to liberty, concluded peace with Otto, and

consented to the alliance of Otto II with the beautiful Theophano, who

was escorted from Constantinople by the archbishop Gero of Cologne,

Bruno’s successor, at the head of a numerous body of retainers.

[Sidenote: [972-973 A.D.]]

She was received in the palace of Pandolf at Benevento by the emperor

and the youthful bridegroom. Her extraordinary beauty attracted

universal admiration. The marriage ceremony was celebrated with great

magnificence at Rome (972 A.D.). This princess created an important

change in the manners of Germany by the introduction of Grecian

customs, which gradually spreading downwards from the court, where her

influence was first felt, affected the general habits of the people by

the alterations introduced in the monastic academies. The German court

adopted much of the pomp and etiquette of that of Greece. The number of

retainers increased with increasing luxury, and the plain manners of the

true-hearted German were exchanged for the finesse and adulation of the

courtier. The emperor also adopted the Grecian title of “sacred majesty”

(_sacra majestas_). Lower Italy remained in the hands of the Greeks.[d]

COMPARISON OF HENRY THE FOWLER AND OTTO WITH CHARLEMAGNE

The feeling of his unassailable position may have cheered the emperor on

the journey to his own palatinate and church, at Memleben on the Unstrut,

where the river, peaceful and calm on the surface but flowing strongly

in its depths, winds its way out of the valley through the neighbouring

mountains, which have still kept the name they bore in the days of

antiquity. It is supposed to have been an ancient Germanic burial-place.

He arrived there on the 6th of May, 973. It has rather been supposed that

he came there with a foreboding of death. But death hovered over him. On

the 7th he still kept the hours for prayer, not without interruption for

rest and for “offering his hand to the poor,” as the chronicle says.

He seemed cheerful at table. Whilst he was listening to the singing of

the Gospel at vespers, he was seized by the horror of death. Overcome

by heat and weakness, he was placed on a seat, received the Communion,

and died without any previous illness or death struggle. Thus the

man who might have been considered as the ruler of all the western

world, unexpectedly suffered the fate of mortals. The fullness of an

inexhaustible vigour accompanied him to the end of his life, when it was

suddenly conquered. He was only sixty-one years of age when he expired;

his father had died at about the same age, in the same place, after a

most active life.

Let us, even at the danger of repetition, add a few remarks concerning

the position in the world of these two great men.

They had been preceded by Pepin and Charles the Great, likewise father

and son, through whose succession and co-operation the West received its

definite form. That which the father had planned, the son carried out

with circumspect politics and the fortune of arms; under his long and

peaceful administration the Western Empire was formed. The relations were

not quite the same between Henry and Otto. Of Henry nothing is to be

found from which one can conclude that his plans were the foundations of

his son’s actions. But succeeding each other under altered circumstances,

they obtained the greatest success. To them is due the fact that the

Carlovingian kingdom was sustained. Father and son worked together to

banish the most dangerous enemies by which Germany was at any time

attacked. Through Otto, Italy again became closely united with the

empire, and western France kept in peaceful relation to it. The western

world, its power and civilisation, depended on the union of the three

great lands.

[Sidenote: [973 A.D.]]

[Illustration: A GERMAN CHIEF]

For the consolidation of the empire the union of Charles the Great with

the papacy was most essential; the ecclesiastical and temporal interests

co-operated. The church belonged to the Latin world; but it had a lasting

effect on the Germanic tribes. It united their religious views with the

idea of the apostolic mission of St. Peter, and with the traditions of

antiquity. Thus Saxony, which Charles subjected with arms, was organised

as an ecclesiastical province; Bavaria was subjected by direct influence

of the pope to the great kingdom which then became the empire--that is to

say, the constitution of the empire, embracing as it did Latin elements,

did not take place without the influence of the pope. Nevertheless the

personal authority of a great prince was necessary to keep all his

provinces in unity.

Since then, as has been remarked, a considerable alteration took place.

The opposition descended from antiquity between the priesthood and the

higher authorities had again broken out; the priesthood had acquired a

development and strength, with which the temporal power in the hands of

the Carlovingians could no longer interfere. In Germany the hierarchical

doctrines were also to the fore, and it might well have seemed possible

that the essence of the German spirit had been absorbed by them. But how

was it to escape this absorption? There can be no doubt that it was owing

chiefly to the establishment of a princely house which was essentially

Germanic and completely realised the idea of temporal power. The empire

which Henry I conquered and Otto the Great raised to a magnificent

structure, had a Germanic vein of preponderating strength and keenness;

it gave back authority to temporal power--not alone the supreme authority

but also the subordinate authority attending it, and was joined by those

bishops who were free from the power of the pope at Rome, until now

absolute. Had an unconditional subjection of the clergy taken place, this

would have shattered the foundation of the empire. The religious idea was

not fought by the Saxon princes, but ecclesiastical politics underwent

a change. The object now was to insure the independence of the imperial

and kingly authority and to save it from clerical interference in the

government.

It strove for a juxtaposition of the two authorities with a preponderance

of the temporal. This was the principle of the German Empire which

was autonomically raised by Henry and Otto on the foundation of the

Carlovingian. The relations of the European nations were reorganised by

the unification of Germany. In England and France they had not been so

fortunate as in Germany; the northern invasions had not been repelled,

the nationalities had even become altered under their influence. They had

other requirements, other centres. The rising of the temporal power in

itself created new foundations for them.

If the empire aspired to universal authority, this attempt would have

to be given up. A complete nullification of the papal authority would

have been unbearable to the German Empire, and the neighbouring nations

were far from being disposed to subject themselves to such a central

superiority as would thus have arisen. Awakened national feeling laid

the foundations of the German Empire, though religion was not without

its effect. In the course of the following century the latter gained in

intensity. From all these causes resulted the complex civilisation which

we call Western Christianity; since thenceforward chaotic forces and

tendencies progressed towards unification. The state thus founded became

the basis for modern civilisation.[e]

THE UNFORESEEN EVILS OF OTTO’S REIGN

[Sidenote: [962 A.D.]]

By far the most important act of Otto’s eventful life was his assumption

of the Lombard and the imperial crowns. His successors so steadily

followed his example that the sovereign crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle

claimed as his right to be afterwards crowned in Milan and in Rome.

Thus grew up the Holy Roman Empire, that strange state which, directly

descending through the empire of Charles the Great from the empire of the

cæsars, contained so many elements foreign to ancient life. We are here

concerned with it only in so far as it affected Germany. Germany itself

never until the nineteenth century became an empire. It is true that at

least the Holy Roman Empire was as a matter of fact confined to Germany;

but in theory it was something quite different. Like France, Germany was

a kingdom, but it differed from France in this, that its king was also

king in Italy, and Roman emperor. As the latter title made him nominally

the secular lord of the world, it might have been expected to excite the

pride of his German subjects; and doubtless, after a time, they did learn

to think highly of themselves as the imperial race. But the evidence

tends to show that at first they had no wish for this honour, and would

have much preferred had their ruler limited himself strictly to his own

people. There are signs that during Otto’s reign they began to have a

distinct consciousness of national life, their use of the word “deutsch,”

to indicate the whole people, being one of these symptoms.

To the connection of their kingdom with the empire they owe the fact that

for centuries they were the most divided of European nations. France was

made up of a number of loosely connected lands, each with its own lord,

when Germany, under Otto, was to a large extent moved by a single will,

well organised, and strong. But the attention of the French kings was

concentrated on their immediate interests, and in course of time they

brought their unruly vassals to order. The German kings, as emperors,

had duties which often took them away for long periods from Germany.

This alone would have shaken their authority, for during their absence,

the great vassals seized rights which it was afterwards difficult to

recover. Thus the imperial crown was the most fatal gift that could have

been offered to the German kings; apparently giving them all things, it

deprived them nearly of everything. And in doing this, it inflicted on

many generations incalculable and needless suffering.

[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE AND THE SCHOLARS]

By the policy of his later years, Otto did much to prepare the way for

the process of disintegration which he rendered inevitable by restoring

the empire. With the kingdom divided into five great duchies, the

sovereign could always have maintained at least so much unity as King

Henry secured; and as the experience of Otto himself showed, there would

have been chances of much greater centralisation. Yet he threw away this

advantage. Otto gave up the practice of retaining the duchies either in

his own hands or in those of relatives. Even Saxony, his native duchy,

and the chief source of his strength, was given to Markgraf Billung,

whose family long afterwards kept it.

As a set-off to the power of the princes--for the reigning immediate

vassals of the crown ranked as princes--Otto, especially after he became

emperor and looked upon himself as the protector of the church, immensely

increased the importance of the prelates. The emperor’s idea was that,

as church lands and offices could not be hereditary, their holders would

necessarily favour the crown. But he forgot that the church had a head

beyond Germany, and that the passion for the rights of an order may be no

less intense than that for the rights of a family. While the empire was

at peace with the popes, the prelates of the church did strongly uphold

it, and their influence was unquestionably, on the whole, much higher

than that of rude secular nobles.

But with the empire and the papacy in conflict, they could not but abide,

as a rule, by the authority which had the most sacred claims to their

loyalty. From all these circumstances it curiously happened that the

sovereign who did more than any other to raise the royal power, was also

the sovereign who, more than any other, wrought its decay.[f]

OTTO II (973-983 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [973-977 A.D.]]

Otto II was short in stature, but strong and muscular, and of an

extremely ruddy complexion; his temperament was fiery, but modified by

the refined and learned education he had received, for which he was

indebted to the care of his mother, Adelheid; his wife, Theophano, also

sympathised in his love of learning. Still, the Italian blood that flowed

in his veins estranged him too much from Germany, and excited in him so

strong an inclination for the south, that it became as impossible for his

mind to be completely absorbed by care for the empire as it was for his

rough but honest German subjects to adopt the pomp and refinement of his

court.

Swabia, on the death of the pious Hedwig, was inherited by Otto, the son

of Ludolf, between whom and Henry the Wrangler, of Bavaria, the ancient

feud that had arisen on account of the extent of their frontiers between

their fathers was still carried on. The emperor decided the question in

Otto’s favour and the quarrelsome Henry instantly attempted to rouse the

ancient national hatred of the Bavarians, and to stir them up to open

revolt. He also entered into alliance with Boleslaw of Bohemia, but was

anticipated in his designs by Otto, who threw him into prison, bestowed

Bavaria on Otto of Swabia, and Carinthia on a graf, Henry Minor, the

son of Berthold, probably a Babenberger; this graf sided with Henry of

Bavaria, revolted, and was deposed, 974 A.D. Carinthia was consequently

also bestowed upon Otto. In the following year, Harold, king of Denmark,

suddenly invaded Saxony, whence he was successfully repulsed. Shortly

after this event, Henry escaped from prison, again raised the standard of

rebellion, and was joined by the Bohemians, but again suffered defeat,

and was retaken prisoner (977 A.D.).

OTTO IN FRANCE AND ITALY

[Sidenote: [978-983 A.D.]]

In 978 A.D. war again broke out in the West, where Charles, the brother

of Lothair, king of France, attempted to gain possession of Lorraine,

but was repulsed by Otto, who advanced as far as Paris, and burned the

suburbs. The city, nevertheless, withstood his attack; and on his return

homewards, being surprised by the treacherous count of Hennegau, he was

compelled to come to terms with his opponents; Charles was permitted to

hold lower Lorraine in fee of the empire, and upper Lorraine was granted

to Frederick, count of Bar.

Otto, whose natural inclinations led him to Italy, was speedily called

there by the affairs of that country. Crescentius (Cencius) had usurped

the government in Rome, and attempted to revive the memory of ancient

times by causing himself to be created consul. The pope, Benedict VII,

was assassinated by his orders, and replaced by a creature of his own,

Bonifacius VII, in opposition to whom the Tuscan imperialists raised

Benedict VIII to the papal chair. Otto’s presence in Rome (980 A.D.)

quickly restored order. Crescentius was pardoned. Otto was visited during

his stay in Rome by Hugh Capet, Lothair’s secret competitor for the

throne of France, whose claim was countenanced by the emperor, on account

of the ingratitude displayed by the French monarch for the services

formerly rendered to his ancestors by the imperial house of Saxony.

Lower Italy next engaged the attention of the emperor, who attempted to

take forcible possession of his wife’s portion. The Greeks, until now

unceasingly at war with the Arabs, instantly united with them against

their common enemy. Naples and Taranto were taken by Otto, and the allies

were defeated near Cotrona (981 A.D.); Abul Kasim, the terror of lower

Italy, and numbers of the Arabs, were left on the field of battle. The

following campaign proved disastrous to the emperor, who, whilst engaged

in a conflict with the Greeks on the seashore near Basantello, not far

from Taranto, was suddenly attacked in the rear by the Arabs, and so

completely routed that he was compelled to fly for his life, and owed his

escape entirely to the rapidity of his horse. When wandering along the

shore in momentary expectation of being captured by the enemy, he caught

sight of a Grecian vessel, towards which he swam on horseback, in the

hope of not being recognised by those on board. He was taken up. A slave

recognised him, but instead of betraying him passed him off as one of the

emperor’s chamberlains. The Greeks made for Rossano with the intention

of taking on board the treasures of the pretended chamberlain, who, the

instant the vessel approached the shore, suddenly leaped into the sea and

escaped.

Lower Italy remained in the hands of the Greeks, and was governed by an

exarch. The Arabians also retained possession of Sicily.

QUELLING OF THE SLAVS

[Sidenote: [983-1004 A.D.]]

Mistevoi, the valiant prince of the Abodriti, favoured the Christian

religion, followed the banner of Otto II, and served under him in Italy;

on his return to his native country, he sued for the hand of Mechtildis,

the sister of Bernhard of Saxony, and on being insulted by the jealous

Dietrich, who called him a dog and unworthy of a Christian or of a German

bride, replied: “If we Slavs be dogs, we will prove to you that we can

bite.” The pagan Slavs, who were ever ripe for revolt, obeyed his call

the more readily, on account of the death of Ditmar, who with many other

of their tyrannical rulers had fallen in the Italian war. An oath of

eternal enmity against the Germans and the priests was taken before their

idol, Radegast, and suddenly rising in open rebellion, they assassinated

all who fell into their hands (983 A.D.), razed all the churches to the

ground, and completely destroyed the cities of Hamburg and Oldenburg,

besides those of Brandenburg and Havelburg.

The lands of Dietrich became one scene of desolation. Sixty priests

were flayed alive. The rebels were, nevertheless, completely beaten by

Dietrich and Riddag in a pitched battle near Tangermünde. The emperor,

however, more just than his father had been, deprived the cruel Dietrich

of his government, and bestowed it on Hodo. Riddag and his cousin,

the above-mentioned graf Dedo, remained in Meissen, whence Riddag was

afterwards expelled by the Bohemians. It was regained by his cousin and

successor, the brave Eckhart, whose exploits were equalled by those of

Bernhard Billung, who had returned from Italy in order to oppose the

Abodriti on the western frontier. The obstinacy with which the Slavs,

notwithstanding the terrible defeats, still held out, is proved by the

fact of Brandenburg having been first retaken in 994.

The peaceable conversion of the Bohemians and Poles chiefly contributed

to the gradual but complete subjection of the Slavs on the frontiers.

The independence of Bohemia and Poland was only possible so long as the

powerful Slavonic pagan states existed to their rear. This support was

now lost. Poland was already Christianised, and the bishop of Prague,

Adalbert, was a celebrated Bohemian saint. It was also about this period

that Christianity took firm footing in Denmark, although not without

fierce struggles.

Great changes took place also at this period in France. Lothair died

(986 A.D.), and in the following year his only son, Louis V. Charles of

Lorraine, Lothair’s brother, aspired to the throne, but was excluded by

the Capetian party. The disesteem in which he was held on account of his

licentious habits, and the refusal of assistance from Germany, where the

emperor, dissatisfied with the conduct of Lothair, no longer favoured the

Carlovingians, rendered him defenceless; he fell into the hands of his

rival, Hugh Capet, and died in prison (993 A.D.). His son Otto, the last

of the Carlovingian race, died, neglected and despised (1004 A.D.).

OTTO III (983-1002 A.D.)

The death of Otto II, which was occasioned by the hardships he had

undergone at Basantello, took place in Italy (983 A.D.). His son Otto

III, a child three years of age, was named as his successor, under the

joint guardianship of Theophano and Adelheid, who gave him such a learned

education that he received the appellation of the _Wunderkind_, on

account of the precocity of his intellect.

Henry the Wrangler, who aspired to the throne, and seized the person

of the young monarch, had already, by his conduct, estranged from

himself his countrymen the Saxons; the memory of the cruelties practised

by his father also rendered him unpopular in Bavaria, and he was

speedily reduced to submission by the Franconian party, at whose head

stood Willigis, the learned archbishop of Mainz. He was the son of a

wheelwright, and adopted a wheel for the arms of the archbishopric, with

these words, “Willigis, Willigis, remember thy origin.” Next in rank to

this spiritual head of the empire stood Conrad, duke of Franconia and

Swabia, and Henry, duke of Bavaria. Henry the Wrangler was compelled to

deliver up the emperor, and to take the oath of allegiance to him, in

consideration of which he was restored to the dukedom of Bavaria, on

the death of Henry Minor. The mere of Austria was granted to Leopold

I, grandson to Adalbert of Babenberg, whom Hatto had betrayed. This

brave markgraf displayed so much activity that in 983 he had driven

the Hungarians from the Ems, taken their royal castle of Mölk, and

compelled them to keep within the limits of modern Hungary. Their king

Geisa followed the example of the sovereigns of Bohemia and Poland,

and received baptism from the hands of Pilgerin, bishop of Passau; he

also sought to preserve peaceful relations with the Germanic Empire;

Christianity, nevertheless, first became the national religion during the

reign of his son, St. Stephen, who ascended the throne in 997 A.D., and

died in 1038 A.D. This monarch married Gisela, the daughter of Henry the

Wrangler, a union that strengthened his alliance with Germany. Leopold

planted numerous German colonists in lower Austria, the country regained

by him from the Hungarians, which was visited by fresh missionaries, who

there left imperishable records of their zeal.

The sceptre of Germany was no sooner again held by a child, than the

clergy and the great vassals of the empire sought to regain the power of

which they had been deprived during the preceding reigns. The youthful

emperor, guided by his mother and grandmother, who greatly favoured the

clergy, bestowed upon them rich lands and benefices. Peace was certainly

maintained throughout the empire, the dukes contenting themselves with

confirming their power in the interior of the state, unopposed by the

emperor. War was, however, still carried on, on the Slavonic frontier,

where Otto was occasionally allowed to appear in person, in order that he

might have opportunity by deeds of valour to gain his spurs.

OTTO III MAKES AND UNMAKES POPES

Theophano and Adelheid, whose thoughts were ever directed towards Italy,

their native land, had not been idle in their endeavours to rouse the

ambition of the youthful Otto, who, on attaining his majority, aspired

to the sovereignty of that country, where after the death of Otto II

the Italian party again rose in opposition to that of the emperor.

Crescentius, who had usurped unlimited power in Rome, caused the pope,

John XIV, to be assassinated, and expelled his successor, John XV, who

convoked an extraordinary council at Rheims (995 A.D.).

[Sidenote: [996-1000 A.D.]]

The German bishops and the pope, enraged at this conduct, unanimously

condemned him at the council at Rheims, and he was compelled to yield.

The pope expired during the following year, and the emperor marched

into Italy for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the church.

Crescentius was speedily overcome and pardoned. Otto, fired by youthful

enthusiasm, imagined that the future happiness of the world was to be

secured by a closer union of the imperial with the papal power, and with

his own hand, although himself scarcely out of his boyhood, placed the

tiara on the head of Bruno, the son of Otto of Carinthia, who was then in

his four-and-twentieth year, and who received the name of Gregory V.

Scarcely had the emperor quitted Rome, than Crescentius again raised the

banner of insurrection, inflamed all the dark and fiendlike passions of

the Roman populace, already indignant at the assumption of the tiara

by a stranger, and elected another Italian wretch, John XVI, pope. The

emperor instantly returned, and re-entering Rome, where his presence

alone sufficed to calm the uproar, caused the pretender to the popedom

to be deprived of sight, and to be led through the city mounted on an

ass. Crescentius, who had vainly thrown himself into the Engelburg,

was executed (998 A.D.). The well-founded hopes of the German party

were, however, doomed to be frustrated by Italian wiles, and it is only

left for us to imagine what Europe might have become, had these two

noble-minded youths been entrusted for a longer period with her temporal

and spiritual welfare.

The Pope, Gregory V, expired suddenly in 999 A.D. His death was, with

great justice, ascribed to poison. Gerbert became his successor, under

the name of Silvester II. His deep science and learning caused him to be

generally regarded as a wizard.

The death of Gregory, the friend of his youth, caused a deep dejection

to prey upon the mind of the emperor, which was also worked upon by the

exhortations of two Italian enthusiasts, the saints Romwald and Nilus,

who gained great power over him, and who, being the fellow-countrymen of

Crescentius, reproved him most particularly for the severity with which

he had treated that traitor, which severity they denounced as a crime.

The emperor was at length induced to do penance for fourteen days in a

cavern sacred to the archangel Michael, on the Monte Gargano, in Apulia,

and to perform a pilgrimage to the bones of St. Adalbert at Gnesen, in

Poland. He nevertheless reappeared here in his character as emperor, by

more strongly cementing the amicable relations that already subsisted

between Germany and Poland. He bestowed the title of king on Boleslaw

Chrobry, the son of Miseko and the Bohemian Dhobrowa.[d]

[Illustration: A GERMAN ARCHER]

Otto acted in regard to the Hungarians in precisely the same way that his

brother-in-law had shortly before this done at Constantinople with regard

to the Russians. We perceive that the house of the Porphyrogeniti, to

which Otto belonged on his mother’s side, appears closely connected with

the spread of Christianity, both towards the east from Constantinople

and in the Western Empire from Rome. It was fated that one kingdom

should unite itself with eastern, and that the other should unite itself

with western christendom. Both were in the hands of the purple-born

(Porphyrogeniti) family, and a fresh division between the Eastern and the

Western empires on the old lines resulted, as the Byzantines extended

their influence neither to Hungary nor to Poland, but left both these

countries to the Western imperium.

The noteworthy event of this epoch is the chronological coincidence of

the conversion of the Hungarians, Russians, and Poles to Christianity.

But the personality that welds the whole mass together is still that of

the young emperor.[b]

[Sidenote: [1000-1014 A.D.]]

On a visit to Aachen, Otto caused the tomb of Charlemagne to be opened.

That monarch was discovered seated on his throne. On Otto’s return

to Rome, he announced his intention of making her the capital of the

modern, as she had been that of the ancient world, but the Romans were

incapable either of comprehending his grand projects or of perceiving the

advantage that must have accrued to them had their city once more become

an imperial residence. The senseless and brutal populace again rose in

open insurrection. On one occasion Otto, addressing them from a tower,

upbraided them for their folly, and induced them to disperse. His death,

which took place in 1002, was ascribed to poison, but was more probably

caused by smallpox. In the following year, Pope Silvester also expired,

and with him every hope that had been raised for the reformation of the

church, which again fell under Italian influence.[d]

The remembrance of a young emperor with so wonderful a sense of phantasy,

and with so sad a fate, could not easily disappear from out the world.

Poetic tales grew up out of Otto’s early grave and preserved his

memory among the people longer than the sober accounts of history. It

was related that Otto met his death through a betrayal of love; this

glowing heart, so sensitive to friendship, could not be conceived of

as untouched by the magic of love. Stephania, a beautiful but proud

and heartless Roman lady, the widow of Crescentius--so runs the most

widespread tradition--enchained the emperor by her charms and, when he

had wholly given himself up to her, poisoned him, in order to avenge the

death of her husband. There is a deep truth in this tale, but it was not

a daughter of Rome but Rome herself who, with her imperishable charms,

enchained, betrayed, and killed the youth who had been adorned with the

imperial crown.[c]

HENRY (II) THE SAINT (1002-1024 A.D.)

Otto dying childless, the succession to the throne was again disputed.

Henry of Bavaria, the son of Henry the Wrangler, claimed it as the

nearest of kin, and was supported by the clergy on account of his piety

and his munificence towards the church. Henry’s party was considerably

strengthened by the adherence of Willigis, the pious archbishop of Mainz.

Eckhart, his most dangerous opponent, lost his life before he could carry

his projects into execution. Henry thereupon repaired to Aachen, where he

was crowned. The markgraf Henry of Schweinfurt demanded immediately after

the coronation of the emperor the dukedom of Bavaria, which had become

vacant by Henry’s accession to the throne and which was also aspired to

by Bruno, the emperor’s brother. Both competitors met with a refusal

from Henry, who bestowed Bavaria upon his brother-in-law Henry, count of

Luxemburg, upon which the two rivals entered upon a conspiracy against

him with Boleslaw II of Bohemia, who had not inherited the peaceable

disposition of his father. They were defeated by the emperor near

Creussen (1003 A.D.) and pardoned.

Affairs also wore a different aspect in the East; Boleslaw Chrobry of

Poland, a great conqueror, reduced Kieff in Russia beneath his rule.

In Bohemia, Boleslaw had broken his oath of allegiance to the empire.

The ancient race of Cracus had degenerated. A rival race, that of the

Wrssowez, was at the head of the democratic and pagan party, but could

merely offer a weak opposition, by dint of petty stratagems, to the

more powerful Christian party. At length the assassination of one of

the Wrssowez, by the order of Boleslaw, occasioned the formation of a

conspiracy against him; Boleslaw was enticed into Poland, where he fell

into the hands of the enraged Wrssowez, who deprived him of sight, and

placed Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the hands of Boleslaw of Poland.

A great reaction ensued. Boleslaw, at the head of the united Poles and

Bohemians, invaded the Lausitz and Meissen.

[Sidenote: [1014-1022 A.D.]]

After several severe campaigns, the emperor at length succeeded in

separating Bohemia from Poland, and in placing Udalrich or Ulrich, the

brother of the blind Boleslaw, on the throne of that dukedom. Udalrich

was faithless and tyrannical. In order the more firmly to secure the

possession of the crown, he deprived his second brother, Jaromir, of

sight. Boleslaw of Poland attempted to win him over, and sent his son,

Mieczyslaw, to negotiate with him. Udalrich delivered him up to the

emperor, who instantly restored him to liberty. The war, nevertheless,

was still carried on. The emperor suffered a defeat (1015 A.D.), probably

on the Bober, the half of his army that had crossed the stream being

suddenly attacked by the enemy. Mieczyslaw, inspirited by this success,

attacked Meissen; the castle was set on fire, but the conflagration was

extinguished by the women, who poured mead on the spreading flames. The

emperor afterwards undertook a fresh expedition into Silesia, where

he laid siege to the city of Nimptsch, but without success. Peace was

finally concluded with Poland at Bautzen (1018 A.D.).[d]

During the first years of the Polish war, the seizure of Valenciennes

by Baldwin IV, count of Flanders, also called the arms of Henry

into Lorraine; nor could the German plume himself on the success

of his expedition in that quarter. Baldwin, indeed, was reduced to

nominal submission; but he obtained from Henry not only the county of

Valenciennes, but also the island of Walcheren, and a considerable

portion of Zealand.[g]

HENRY’S POLICY

Henry did not pursue the irrealisable imperial policy of the Ottos.

Although he went down to Italy several times and was crowned king at

Pavia (1005 A.D.) and emperor at Rome (1013 A.D.), his interests were

plainly German, and the Italian affairs were no longer uppermost. Germany

and not Rome was his home, and in these narrower limits, his policy, a

national rather than imperial one, was successful. Raised to the throne

without the advantage of direct descent from the great Otto, he tried a

new device for subjecting the magnates of the realm, to whose favour he

owed the crown. By the help of Councils of the church and Assemblies or

Diets he attempted to keep his realm in hand. Though he was a good friend

of the clergy he was not their tool as has been often charged. He used

them as Otto I had done, to be the instruments of his temporal rule, and

by his encouragement of the monastic reforms of Cheny, he as well as the

people reaped many benefits.

The assemblies that met at his call to discuss the business of state

are now looked back to as the first Reichstags, and his reign is in a

sense the starting-point for something approaching a constitutional

organisation of Germany.[a]

Henry was, in 1016, enriched by the donation of another kingdom. Rudolf

III, king of Burgundy, having no children, resolved to secure his

dominions to the emperor, his nephew; and in spite of the remonstrances

of his subjects, who claimed the right of electing their sovereign,

surrendered his crown to Henry, reserving to himself for his life the

title of king, but submitting to hold that title as a vassal of the

empire. Rudolf survived this session sixteen years, and died in 1032,

having by his will ratified the donation to the reigning emperor.[g]

Henry was extremely devout, and was consequently idolised by the clergy.

He held five councils in Germany, improved and corrected ecclesiastical

discipline, rebuilt the churches that had been destroyed by the Slavs,

and raised a magnificent monument to his own memory by the foundation

of the bishopric of Bamberg, which he enriched at the expense of the

neighbouring landowners, among whom was the bishop of Würzburg, who

obstinately resisted his innovations until appeased by numerous gifts.

The pope, Benedict VIII, visited Bamberg in 1020 A.D. for the purpose of

consecrating the new establishment. The empress Kunigunde was equally

pious. The imperial pair had mutually taken the vow of chastity, and

remained childless. Kunigunde’s virtue, however, did not escape slander,

and she voluntarily underwent the ordeal by fire, and “walked unharmed

over glowing iron.” Henry, when on his death-bed, named as his successor

Graf Conrad, the Franconian duke, on account of his being the ablest

descendant of the most powerful race that remained in Germany after the

extinction of that of the Ottos, thus repaying, with equal magnanimity,

the generous conduct of Conrad I, when dying, towards the house of

Saxony. He expired in 1024 A.D. and was interred at Bamberg.[d]

RELATION OF ITALY TO THE EMPIRE AT DEATH OF HENRY II

[Sidenote: [1002-1024 A.D.]]

At the death of Otto III without children, in 1002, the compact between

Italy and the emperors of the house of Saxony was determined. Her

engagement of fidelity was certainly not applicable to every sovereign

whom the princes of Germany might raise to their throne. Accordingly

Ardoin, marquis of Ivrea, was elected king of Italy. But a German party

existed among the Lombard princes and bishops, to which his insolent

demeanour soon gave a pretext for inviting Henry II, the new king of

Germany collaterally related to their late sovereign. Ardoin was deserted

by most of the Italians, but retained his former subjects in Piedmont,

and disputed the crown for many years with Henry, who passed very little

time in Italy. During this period there was hardly any recognised

government; and the Lombards became more and more accustomed, through

necessity, to protect themselves and to provide for their own internal

police.