CHAPTER XIII.KING KONRAD, AND THE SAXON RULERS, HENRY I. AND OTTO THE GREAT.(912—973.)Growth of Small Principalities in Germany.—Changes in the Lehen, or Royal Estates.—Diet at Forchheim.—The Frank Duke, Konrad, chosen King.—Events of his Reign.—The Saxon, Henry the Fowler, succeeds him.—Henry's Policy towards Bavaria, Lorraine and France.—His Truce with the Hungarians.—His Military Preparations.—Defeat of the Hungarians.—Henry's Achievements.—His Death.—Coronation of Otto.—His first War.—Revolt of Duke Eberhard and Prince Henry.—War with Louis IV. of France.—Otto's Victories.—Henry pardoned.—Conquest of Jutland.—Otto's Empire.—His March to Italy.—Marriage with Adelheid of Burgundy.—Revolt of Ludolf and Konrad.—The Hungarian Army destroyed.—The Pope calls for Otto's Aid.—Otto crowned Roman Emperor.—Quarrel with the Pope.—Third Visit to Italy.—His Son married to an Eastern Princess.—His Triumph and Death.912.When Ludwig the Child died, the state of affairs in Germany had greatly changed. The direct dependence of the nobility and clergy upon the Emperor, established by the political system of Charlemagne, was almost at an end; the country was covered with petty sovereignties, which stood between the chief ruler and the people. The estates which were formerly given to the bishops, abbots, nobles, and others who had rendered special service to the Empire, were calledLehen, or "liens" of the monarch (as explained inChapter X.); they were granted for a term of years, or for life, and afterwards reverted to the royal hands. In return for such grants, the endowed lords were obliged to secure the loyalty of their retainers, the people dwelling upon their lands, and, in case of war, to follow the Emperor's banner with their proportion of fighting men.So long as the wars were with external foes, with opportunities for both glory and plunder, the service was willingly performed; but when they came as a consequence of family quarrels, and every portion of the empire was liable to be wasted in its turn, the Emperor's "vassals," bothspiritual and temporal, began to grow restive. Their military service subjected them to the chance of losing theirLehen, and they therefore demanded to have absolute possession of the lands. The next and natural step was to have the possession, and the privileges connected with it, made hereditary in their families; and these claims were very generally secured, throughout Germany, during the reign of Karl the Fat. Only in Saxony and Friesland, and among the Alps, were the common people proprietors of the soil.912. THE WARS OF KING KONRAD.The nobles, or large land-owners, for their common defence against the exercise of the Imperial power, united under the rule of Counts or Dukes, by whom the former division of the population into separate tribes or nations was continued. The Emperors, also, found this division convenient, but they always claimed the right to set aside the smaller rulers, or to change the boundaries of their states for reasons of policy.Charles the Silly, of the Carolingian line, reigned in France in 911, and was therefore, according to the family compact, the heir to Ludwig the Child. Moreover, the Pope, Stephen IV., had threatened with the curse of the Church all those who should give allegiance to an Emperor who was not of Carolingian blood. Nevertheless, the German princes and nobles were now independent enough to defy both tradition and Papal authority. They held a Diet at Forchheim, and decided to elect their own king. They would have chosen Otto, Duke of the Saxons,—a man of great valor, prudence and nobility of character—but he felt himself to be too old for the duties of the royal office, and he asked the Diet to confer it on Konrad, Duke of the Franks. The latter was then almost unanimously chosen, and immediately crowned by Archbishop Hatto of Mayence.Konrad was a brave, gay, generous monarch, who soon rose into high favor with the people. His difficulty lay in the jealousy of other princes, who tried to strengthen themselves by restricting his authority. He first lost the greater part of Lorraine, and then, on attempting to divide Thuringia and Saxony, which were united under Henry, the son of Duke Otto, his army was literally cut to pieces. A Saxon song of victory, written at the time, says, "The lower world was too small to receive the throngs of the enemies slain."917.Arnulf of Bavaria and the Counts Berthold and Erchanger of Suabia defeated the Hungarians in a great battlenear the river Inn, in 913, and felt themselves strong enough to defy Konrad. He succeeded in defeating and deposing them; but Arnulf fled to the Hungarians and incited them to a new invasion of Germany. They came in two bodies, one of which marched through Bavaria and Suabia to the Rhine, the other through Thuringia and Saxony to Bremen, plundering, burning and slaying on their way. The condition of the Empire became so desperate that Konrad appealed for assistance to the Pope, who ordered an Episcopal Synod to be held in 917, but not much was done by the Bishops except to insist upon the payment of tithes to the Church. Then Konrad, wounded in repelling a new invasion of the Hungarians, looked forward to death as a release from his trouble. Feeling his end approaching, he summoned his brother Eberhard, gave him the royal crown and sceptre, and bade him carry them to Duke Henry of Saxony, the enemy of his throne, declaring that the latter was the only man with power and intelligence enough to rule Germany.Henry was already popular as the son of Otto, and it was probably quite as much their respect for his character as for Konrad's last request, which led many of the German nobles to accompany Eberhard and join him in offering the crown. They found Henry in a pleasant valley near the Hartz, engaged in catching finches, and he was thenceforth generally called "Henry the Fowler" by the people. He at once accepted the trust confided to his hands: a Diet of the Franks and Saxons was held at Fritzlar the next year, 919, and he was there lifted upon the shield and hailed as King. But when Archbishop Hatto proposed to anoint him king with the usual religious ceremonies, he declined, asserting that he did not consider himself worthy to be more than a king of the people. Both he and his wife Mathilde were descendants of Wittekind, the foe and almost the conqueror of Charlemagne.Neither Suabia nor Bavaria were represented at the Diet of Fritzlar. This meant resistance to Henry's authority, and he accordingly marched at once into Southern Germany. Burkhard, Duke of Suabia, gave in his submission without delay; but Arnulf of Bavaria made preparations for resistance. The two armies came together near Ratisbon: all was ready for battle, when king Henry summoned Arnulf to meet him alone, between their camps. At thisinterview he spoke with so much wisdom and persuasion that Arnulf finally yielded, and Henry's rights were established without the shedding of blood.921. TREATY WITH FRANCE.In the meantime Lorraine, under its Duke, Giselbert, had revolted, and Charles the Silly, by unexpectedly crossing the frontier, gained possession of Alsatia, as far as the Rhine. Henry marched against him, but, as in the case of Arnulf, asked for a personal interview before engaging in battle. The two kings met on an island in the Rhine, near Bonn: the French army was encamped on the western, and the German army on the eastern bank of the river, awaiting the result. Charles the Silly was soon brought to terms by his shrewd, intelligent rival: on the 7th of November, 921, a treaty was signed by which the former boundary between France and Germany was reaffirmed. Soon afterwards, Giselbert of Lorraine was sent as a prisoner to Henry, but the latter, pleased with his character, set him free, gave him his daughter in marriage, and thus secured his allegiance to the German throne.In this manner, within five or six years after he was chosen king, Henry had accomplished his difficult task. Chiefly by peaceful means, by a combination of energy, patience and forbearance, he had subdued the elements of disorder in Germany, and united both princes and people under his rule. He was now called upon to encounter the Hungarians, who, in 924, again invaded both Northern and Southern Germany. The walled and fortified cities, such as Ratisbon, Augsburg and Constance, were safe from their attacks, but in the open field they were so powerful that Henry found himself unable to cope with them. His troops only dared to engage in skirmishes with the smaller roving bands, in one of which, by great good fortune, they captured one of the Hungarian chiefs, or princes. A large amount of treasure was offered for his ransom, but Henry refused it, and asked for a truce of nine years, instead. The Hungarians finally agreed to this, on condition that an annual tribute should be paid to them during the time.This was the bravest and wisest act of king Henry's life. He took upon himself the disgrace of the tribute, and then at once set about organizing his people and developing their strength. The truce of nine years was not too long for the work upon which he entered. He began by forcing the people to observe a stricter military discipline, byteaching his Saxon foot-soldiers to fight on horseback, and by strengthening the defences along his eastern frontier. Hamburg, Magdeburg and Halle were at this time the most eastern German towns, and beyond or between them, especially towards the south, there were no strong points which could resist invasion. Henry carefully surveyed the ground and began the erection of a series of fortified enclosures. Every ninth man of the district was called upon to serve as garrison-soldier, while the remaining eight cultivated the land. One-third of the harvests was stored in these fortresses, wherein, also, the people were required to hold their markets and their festivals. Thus Quedlinburg, Merseburg, Meissen and other towns soon arose within the fortified limits. From these achievements Henry is often called in German History, "the Founder of Cities."928.Having somewhat accustomed the people to this new form of military service, and constantly exercised the nobles and their men-at-arms in sham fights and tournaments (which he is said to have first instituted), Henry now tested them in actual war. The Slavonic tribes east of the Elbe had become the natural and hereditary enemies of the Germans, and an attack upon them hardly required a pretext. The present province of Brandenburg, the basis of the Prussian kingdom, was conquered by Henry in 928; and then, after a successful invasion of Bohemia, he gradually extended his annexation to the Oder. The most of the Slavonic population were slaughtered without mercy, and the Saxons and Thuringians, spreading eastward, took possession of their vacant lands. Finally, in 932, Henry conquered Lusatia (now Eastern Saxony); Bohemia was already tributary, and his whole eastern frontier was thereby advanced from the Baltic at Stettin to the Danube at Vienna.933. VICTORY OVER THE HUNGARIANS.By this time the nine years of truce with the Hungarians were at an end, and when the ambassadors of the latter came to the German Court to receive their tribute, they were sent back with empty hands. A tradition states that Henry ordered an old, mangy dog to be given to them, instead of the usual gold and silver. A declaration of war followed, as he had anticipated; but the Hungarians seem to have surprised him by the rapidity of their movements. Contrary to their previous custom, they undertook a winter campaign, overrunning Thuringia and Saxony in such immense numbers that the king did not immediately ventureto oppose them. He waited until their forces were divided in the search for plunder, then fell upon a part and defeated them. Shortly afterwards he moved against their main army, and on the 15th of March, 933, after a bloody battle (which is believed to have been fought in the vicinity of Merseburg), was again conqueror. The Hungarians fled, leaving their camp, treasures and accumulated plunder in Henry's hands. They were never again dangerous to Northern Germany.After this came a war with the Danish king, Gorm, who had crossed the Eider and taken Holstein. Henry brought it to an end, and added Schleswig to his dominion rather by diplomacy than by arms. After his long and indefatigable exertions, the Empire enjoyed peace; its boundaries were extended and secured; all the minor rulers submitted to his sway, and his influence over the people was unbounded. But he was not destined to enjoy the fruits of his achievements. A stroke of apoplexy warned him to set his house in order; so, in the spring of 936, he called together a Diet at Erfurt, which accepted his second son, Otto, as his successor. Although he left two other sons, no proposition was made to divide Germany among them. The civil wars of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, during nearly 400 years, compelled the adoption of a different system of succession; and the reigning Dukes and Counts were now so strong that they bowed reluctantly even to the authority of a single monarch.Henry died on the 20th of July, 936, not sixty years old. His son and successor, Otto, was twenty-four,—a stern, proud man, but brave, firm, generous and intelligent. He was married to Editha, the daughter of Athelstan, the Saxon king of England. A few weeks after his father's death, he was crowned with great splendor in the cathedral of Charlemagne, at Aix-la-Chapelle. All the Dukes and Bishops of the realm were present, and the new Emperor was received with universal acclamation. At the banquet which followed, the Dukes of Lorraine, Franconia, Suabia, and Bavaria, served as Chamberlain, Steward, Cupbearer and Marshal. It was the first national event of a spontaneous character, which took place in Germany, and now, for the first time, a German Empire seemed to be a reality.The history of Otto's reign fulfilled, at least to the people of his day, the promise of his coronation. Like hisfather, his inheritance was to include wars with internal and external foes; he met and carried them to an end, with an energy equal to that of Henry I., but without the same prudence and patience. He made Germany the first power of the civilized world, yet he failed to unite the discordant elements of which it was composed, and therefore was not able to lay the foundation of a distinctnation, such as was even then slowly growing up in France.937.He was first called upon to repel invasions of the Bohemians and the Wends, in Prussia. He entrusted the subjection of the latter to a Saxon Count, Hermann Billung, and marched himself against the former. Both wars lasted for some time, but they were finally successful. The Hungarians, also, whose new inroad reached even to the banks of the Loire, were twice defeated, and so discouraged that they never afterwards attempted to invade either Thuringia or Saxony.Worse troubles, however, were brewing within the realm. Eberhard, Duke of the Franks (the same who had carried his brother Konrad's crown to Otto's father), had taken into his own hands the punishment of a Saxon noble, instead of referring the case to the king. The latter compelled Eberhard to pay a fine of a hundred pounds of silver, and ordered that the Frank freemen who assisted him should carry dogs in their arms to the royal castle,—a form of punishment which was then considered very disgraceful. After the order had been carried into effect, Otto received the culprits kindly and gave them rich presents; but they went home brooding revenge.Eberhard allied himself with Thankmar, Otto's own half-brother by a mother from whom Henry I. had been divorced before marrying Mathilde. Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine, Otto's brother-in-law, joined the conspiracy, and even many of the Saxon nobles, who were offended because the command of the army sent against the Wends had been given to Count Hermann, followed his example. Otto's position was very critical, and if there had been more harmony of action among the conspirators, he might have lost his throne. In the struggle which ensued, Thankmar was slain and Duke Eberhard forced to surrender. But the latter was not yet subdued. During the rebellion he had taken Otto's younger brother, Henry, prisoner; he secured the latter's confidence, tempted him with the prospect of being chosen king in caseOtto was overthrown, and then sent him as his intercessor to the conqueror.939. REVOLT OF OTTO'S BROTHER, HENRY.Thus, while Otto supposed the movement had been crushed, Eberhard, Giselbert of Lorraine and Henry, who had meantime joined the latter, were secretly preparing a new rebellion. As soon as Otto discovered the fact, he collected an army and hastened to the Rhine. He had crossed the river with only a small part of his troops, the remainder being still encamped upon the eastern bank, when Giselbert and Henry suddenly appeared with a great force. Otto at first gave himself up for lost, but determined at least to fall gallantly, he and his followers fought with such desperation that they won a signal victory. Giselbert retreated to Lorraine, whither Otto was prevented from following him by new troubles among the Saxons and the subject Wends between the Elbe and Oder.The rebellious princes now sought the help of the king of France, Louis IV. (calledd'Outre-mer, or "from beyond sea," because he had been an exile in England). He marched into Alsatia with a French army, while Duke Eberhard and the Archbishop of Mayence added their forces to those of Giselbert and Henry. All the territory west of the Rhine fell into their hands, and the danger seemed so great that many of the smaller German princes began to waver in their fidelity to Otto. He, however, hastened to Alsatia, defeated the French, and laid siege to the fortress of Breisach (half-way between Strasburg and Basel), although Giselbert was then advancing into Westphalia. A small band who remained true to him met the latter and forced him back upon the Rhine; and there, in a battle fought near Andernach, Eberhard was slain and Giselbert drowned in attempting to fly.This was the turning-point in Otto's fortunes. The French retreated, all the supports of the rebellion fell away from it, and in a short time the king's authority was restored throughout the whole of Germany. These events occurred during the year 939. The following year Otto marched to Paris, which, however, was too strongly fortified to be taken. An irregular war between the two kingdoms lasted for some time longer, and was finally terminated by a personal interview between Otto and Louis IV., at which the ancient boundaries were reaffirmed, Lorraine remaining German.940.Henry, pardoned for the second time, was unable tomaintain himself as Duke of Lorraine, to which position Otto had appointed him. Enraged at being set aside, he united with the Archbishop of Mayence in a conspiracy against his brother's life. It was arranged that the murder should be committed during the Easter services, in Quedlinburg. The plot was discovered, the accomplices tried and executed, and Henry thrown into prison. During the celebration of the Christmas mass, in the cathedral at Frankfort, the same year, he suddenly appeared before Otto, and, throwing himself upon his knees before him, prayed for pardon. Otto was magnanimous enough to grant it, and afterwards to forget as well as forgive. He bestowed new favors upon Henry, who never again became unfaithful.During this time the Saxon Counts, Gero and Hermann, had held the Wends and other Slavonic tribes at bay, and gradually filled the conquered territory beyond the Elbe with fortified posts, around which German colonists rapidly clustered. Following the example of Charlemagne, the people were forcibly converted to Christianity, and new churches and monasteries were founded. The Bohemians were made tributary, the Hungarians repelled, and in driving back an invasion of the king of Denmark, Harold Blue-tooth, Otto marched to the extremity of the peninsula of Jutland, and there hurled his spear into the sea, as a sign that he had taken possession of the land.He now ruled a wider, and apparently a more united realm, than his father. The power of the independent Dukes was so weakened, that they felt themselves subjected to his favor; he was everywhere respected and feared, although he never became popular with the masses of the people. He lacked the easy, familiar ways with them which distinguished his father and Charlemagne; his manner was cold and haughty, and he surrounded himself with pomp and ceremony. He married his eldest son, Ludolf, to the daughter of the Duke of Suabia, whom the former soon succeeded in his rule; he gave Lorraine to his son-in-law, Konrad, and Bavaria to his brother Henry, while he retained the Franks, Thuringians and Saxons under his own personal rule. Germany might have grown into a united nation, if the good qualities of his line could have been transmitted without its inordinate ambition.While thus laying, as he supposed, the permanent basis of his power, Otto was called upon by the king of France, who,having married the widow of Giselbert of Lorraine, was now his brother-in-law, for help against Duke Hugo, a powerful pretender to the French throne. In 946 he marched at the head of an army of 32,000 men, to assist king Louis; but, although he reached Normandy, he did not succeed in his object, and several years elapsed before Hugo was brought to submission.951. OTTO'S VISIT TO ITALY.In the year 951, Otto's attention was directed to Italy, which, since the fall of the Carolingian Empire, had been ravaged in turn by Saracens, Greeks, Normans and even Hungarians. The Papal power had become almost a shadow, and the title of Roman Emperor was practically extinct. Berengar of Friuli, a rough, brutal prince, called himself king of Italy, and demanded for his son the hand of Adelheid, the widow of his predecessor. On her refusal to accept Berengar's offer, she was imprisoned and treated with great indignity, but finally she succeeded in sending a messenger to Germany, imploring Otto's intervention. His wife, Editha of England, was dead: he saw, in Adelheid's appeal, an opportunity to acquire an ascendency in Italy, and resolved to claim her hand for himself.Accompanied by his brother Henry of Bavaria, his son Ludolf of Suabia, and his son-in-law Konrad of Lorraine, with their troops, Otto crossed the Alps, defeated Berengar, took possession of Verona, Pavia, Milan and other cities of Northern Italy, and assumed the title of king of Lombardy. He then applied for Adelheid's hand, which was not refused, and the two were married with great pomp at Pavia. Ludolf, incensed at his father for having taken a second wife, returned immediately to Germany, and there stirred up such disorder that Otto relinquished his intention of visiting Rome, and followed him. After much negotiation, Berengar was allowed to remain king of Lombardy, on condition of giving up all the Adriatic shore, from near Venice to Istria, which was then annexed to Bavaria.954.Duke Henry, therefore, profited most by the Italian campaign, and this excited the jealousy of Ludolf and Konrad, who began to conspire both against him, and against Otto's authority. The trouble increased until it became an open rebellion, which convulsed Germany for nearly four years. If Otto had been personally popular, it might have been soon suppressed; but the petty princes and the people inclined to one side or the other, according to the prospects ofsuccess, and the Empire, finally, seemed on the point of falling to pieces. In this crisis, there came what appeared to be a new misfortune, but which, most unexpectedly, put an end to the wasting strife. The Hungarians again broke into Germany, and Ludolf and Konrad granted them permission to pass through their territory to reach and ravage their father's lands. This alliance with an hereditary and barbarous enemy turned the whole people to Otto's side; the long rebellion came rapidly to an end, and all troubles were settled by a Diet held at the close of 954.The next year the Hungarians came again in greater numbers than ever, and, crossing Bavaria, laid siege to Augsburg. But Otto now marched against them with all the military strength of Germany, and on the 10th of August, 955, met them in battle. Konrad of Lorraine led the attack and decided the fate of the day, but, in the moment of victory, having lifted his visor to breathe more freely, a Hungarian arrow pierced his neck and he fell dead. Nearly all the enemy were slaughtered or drowned in the river Lech. Only a few scattered fugitives returned to Hungary to tell the tale, and from that day no new invasion was ever undertaken against Germany. On the contrary, the Bavarians pressed eastward and spread themselves along the Danube and among the Styrian Alps, while the Bohemians took possession of Moravia, so that the boundary lines between the three races then became very nearly what they are at the present day.Soon afterwards, Otto lost his brother Henry of Bavaria, and, two years later, his son Ludolf, who died in Italy, while endeavoring to make himself king of the Lombards. A new disturbance in Saxony was suppressed, and with it there was an end of civil war in Germany, during Otto's reign. We have already stated that he was proud and ambitious: the crown of a "Roman Emperor," which still seemed the highest title on earth, had probably always hovered before his mind, and now the opportunity of attaining it came. The Pope, John XII., a boy of seventeen, who found himself in danger of being driven from Rome by Berengar, the Lombard, sent a pressing call for help to Otto, who entered upon his second journey to Italy in 961.962. OTTO'S CORONATION IN ROME.He first called a Diet together at Worms, and procured the acceptance of his son Otto, then only 6 years old, as his successor. The child was solemnly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle;the Archbishop Bruno of Cologne was appointed his guardian and vicegerent of the realm during Otto's absence, and the latter was left free to carry out his designs beyond the Alps. He was received with rejoicing by the Lombards, and the iron crown of the kingdom was placed on his head by the Archbishop of Milan. He then advanced to Rome and was crowned Emperor in St. Peter's by the boy-pope, on the 2d of February, 962. Nearly a generation had elapsed since the title had been held or claimed by any one, and its renewal at this time was the source of centuries of loss and suffering to Germany. It was a sham and a delusion,—a will-o'-the wisp which led rulers and people aside from the true path of civilization, and left them floundering in quagmires of war.Otto had hardly returned to Lombardy before the Pope, who began to see that he had crowned his own master, conspired against him. The Pope called on the Byzantine Emperor for aid, incited the Hungarians, and even entered into correspondence with the Saracens in Corsica. All Italy became so turbulent that three years elapsed before the Emperor Otto succeeded in restoring order. He took Rome by force of arms, deposed the Pope and set up another of his own appointment, banished Berengar, and compelled the universal recognition of his own sovereignty. Then, with the remnants of an army which had almost been destroyed by war and pestilence, he returned to Germany in 965.A grand festival was held at Cologne, to celebrate his new honors and victories. His mother, the aged queen Mathilde, Lothar, reigning king of France, and all the Dukes and Princes of Germany, were present, and the people came in multitudes from far and wide. The internal peace of the Empire had not been disturbed during Otto's absence, and his journey of inspection was a series of peaceful and splendid pageants. An insurrection having broken out among the Lombards the following year, he sent Duke Burkhard of Suabia to suppress it in his name; but it soon became evident that his own presence was necessary. He thereupon took a last farewell of his old mother, and returned to Italy in the autumn of 966.Lombardy was soon brought to order, and the rebellious nobles banished to Germany. As Otto approached Rome, the people restored the Pope he had appointed, whom they had in the meantime deposed: they were also compelled togive up the leaders of the revolt, who were tried and executed. Otto claimed the right of appointing the Civil Governor of Rome, who should rule in his name. He gave back to the Pope the territory which the latter had received from Pippin the Short, two hundred years before, but nearly all of which had been taken from the Church by the Lombards. In return, the Pope agreed to govern this territory as a part, or province, of the Empire, and to crown Otto's son as Emperor, in advance of his accession to the throne.966.These new successes seem to have quite turned Otto's mind from the duty he owed to the German people; henceforth he only strove to increase the power and splendor of his house. His next step was to demand the hand of the Princess Theophania, a daughter of one of the Byzantine Emperors, for his son Otto. The Eastern Court neither consented nor refused; ambassadors were sent back and forth until the Emperor became weary of the delay. Following the suggestion of his offended pride, he undertook a campaign against Southern Italy, parts of which still acknowledged the Byzantine rule. The war lasted for several years, without any positive result; but the hand of Theophania was finally promised to young Otto, and she reached Rome in the beginning of the year 972. Her beauty, grace and intelligence at once won the hearts of Otto's followers, who had been up to that time opposed to the marriage. Although her betrothed husband was only seventeen, and she was a year younger, the nuptials were celebrated in April, and the Emperor then immediately returned to Germany with his Court and army.973. DEATH OF OTTO THE GREAT.All that Otto could show, to balance his six years' neglect of his own land and people, was the title of "the Great," which the Italians bestowed upon him, and a Princess of Constantinople, who spoke Greek and looked upon the Germans as barbarians, for his daughter-in-law. His return was celebrated by a grand festival held at Quedlinburg, at Easter, 973. All the Dukes and reigning Counts of the Empire were present, the kings of Bohemia and Poland, ambassadors from Constantinople, from the Caliph of Cordova, in Spain, from Bulgaria, Russia, Denmark and Hungary. Even Charlemagne never enjoyed such a triumph; but in the midst of the festivities, Otto's first friend and supporter, Hermann Billung, whom he had made Duke of Saxony, suddenly died. The Emperor became impressed with the ideathat his own end was near: he retired to Memleben in Thuringia, where his father died, and on the 6th of May was stricken with apoplexy, at the age of sixty-one. He died, seated in his chair and surrounded by his princely guests, and was buried in Magdeburg, by the side of his first wife, Editha of England.Otto completed the work which Henry commenced, and left Germany the first power in Europe. Had his mind been as clear and impartial, his plans as broad and intelligent, as Charlemagne's, he might have laid the basis of a permanent Empire; but, in an evil hour, he called the phantom of the sceptre of the world from the grave of Roman power, and, believing that he held it, turned the ages that were to follow him into the path of war, disunion and misery.
KING KONRAD, AND THE SAXON RULERS, HENRY I. AND OTTO THE GREAT.
(912—973.)
Growth of Small Principalities in Germany.—Changes in the Lehen, or Royal Estates.—Diet at Forchheim.—The Frank Duke, Konrad, chosen King.—Events of his Reign.—The Saxon, Henry the Fowler, succeeds him.—Henry's Policy towards Bavaria, Lorraine and France.—His Truce with the Hungarians.—His Military Preparations.—Defeat of the Hungarians.—Henry's Achievements.—His Death.—Coronation of Otto.—His first War.—Revolt of Duke Eberhard and Prince Henry.—War with Louis IV. of France.—Otto's Victories.—Henry pardoned.—Conquest of Jutland.—Otto's Empire.—His March to Italy.—Marriage with Adelheid of Burgundy.—Revolt of Ludolf and Konrad.—The Hungarian Army destroyed.—The Pope calls for Otto's Aid.—Otto crowned Roman Emperor.—Quarrel with the Pope.—Third Visit to Italy.—His Son married to an Eastern Princess.—His Triumph and Death.
912.
When Ludwig the Child died, the state of affairs in Germany had greatly changed. The direct dependence of the nobility and clergy upon the Emperor, established by the political system of Charlemagne, was almost at an end; the country was covered with petty sovereignties, which stood between the chief ruler and the people. The estates which were formerly given to the bishops, abbots, nobles, and others who had rendered special service to the Empire, were calledLehen, or "liens" of the monarch (as explained inChapter X.); they were granted for a term of years, or for life, and afterwards reverted to the royal hands. In return for such grants, the endowed lords were obliged to secure the loyalty of their retainers, the people dwelling upon their lands, and, in case of war, to follow the Emperor's banner with their proportion of fighting men.
So long as the wars were with external foes, with opportunities for both glory and plunder, the service was willingly performed; but when they came as a consequence of family quarrels, and every portion of the empire was liable to be wasted in its turn, the Emperor's "vassals," bothspiritual and temporal, began to grow restive. Their military service subjected them to the chance of losing theirLehen, and they therefore demanded to have absolute possession of the lands. The next and natural step was to have the possession, and the privileges connected with it, made hereditary in their families; and these claims were very generally secured, throughout Germany, during the reign of Karl the Fat. Only in Saxony and Friesland, and among the Alps, were the common people proprietors of the soil.
912. THE WARS OF KING KONRAD.
The nobles, or large land-owners, for their common defence against the exercise of the Imperial power, united under the rule of Counts or Dukes, by whom the former division of the population into separate tribes or nations was continued. The Emperors, also, found this division convenient, but they always claimed the right to set aside the smaller rulers, or to change the boundaries of their states for reasons of policy.
Charles the Silly, of the Carolingian line, reigned in France in 911, and was therefore, according to the family compact, the heir to Ludwig the Child. Moreover, the Pope, Stephen IV., had threatened with the curse of the Church all those who should give allegiance to an Emperor who was not of Carolingian blood. Nevertheless, the German princes and nobles were now independent enough to defy both tradition and Papal authority. They held a Diet at Forchheim, and decided to elect their own king. They would have chosen Otto, Duke of the Saxons,—a man of great valor, prudence and nobility of character—but he felt himself to be too old for the duties of the royal office, and he asked the Diet to confer it on Konrad, Duke of the Franks. The latter was then almost unanimously chosen, and immediately crowned by Archbishop Hatto of Mayence.
Konrad was a brave, gay, generous monarch, who soon rose into high favor with the people. His difficulty lay in the jealousy of other princes, who tried to strengthen themselves by restricting his authority. He first lost the greater part of Lorraine, and then, on attempting to divide Thuringia and Saxony, which were united under Henry, the son of Duke Otto, his army was literally cut to pieces. A Saxon song of victory, written at the time, says, "The lower world was too small to receive the throngs of the enemies slain."
917.
Arnulf of Bavaria and the Counts Berthold and Erchanger of Suabia defeated the Hungarians in a great battlenear the river Inn, in 913, and felt themselves strong enough to defy Konrad. He succeeded in defeating and deposing them; but Arnulf fled to the Hungarians and incited them to a new invasion of Germany. They came in two bodies, one of which marched through Bavaria and Suabia to the Rhine, the other through Thuringia and Saxony to Bremen, plundering, burning and slaying on their way. The condition of the Empire became so desperate that Konrad appealed for assistance to the Pope, who ordered an Episcopal Synod to be held in 917, but not much was done by the Bishops except to insist upon the payment of tithes to the Church. Then Konrad, wounded in repelling a new invasion of the Hungarians, looked forward to death as a release from his trouble. Feeling his end approaching, he summoned his brother Eberhard, gave him the royal crown and sceptre, and bade him carry them to Duke Henry of Saxony, the enemy of his throne, declaring that the latter was the only man with power and intelligence enough to rule Germany.
Henry was already popular as the son of Otto, and it was probably quite as much their respect for his character as for Konrad's last request, which led many of the German nobles to accompany Eberhard and join him in offering the crown. They found Henry in a pleasant valley near the Hartz, engaged in catching finches, and he was thenceforth generally called "Henry the Fowler" by the people. He at once accepted the trust confided to his hands: a Diet of the Franks and Saxons was held at Fritzlar the next year, 919, and he was there lifted upon the shield and hailed as King. But when Archbishop Hatto proposed to anoint him king with the usual religious ceremonies, he declined, asserting that he did not consider himself worthy to be more than a king of the people. Both he and his wife Mathilde were descendants of Wittekind, the foe and almost the conqueror of Charlemagne.
Neither Suabia nor Bavaria were represented at the Diet of Fritzlar. This meant resistance to Henry's authority, and he accordingly marched at once into Southern Germany. Burkhard, Duke of Suabia, gave in his submission without delay; but Arnulf of Bavaria made preparations for resistance. The two armies came together near Ratisbon: all was ready for battle, when king Henry summoned Arnulf to meet him alone, between their camps. At thisinterview he spoke with so much wisdom and persuasion that Arnulf finally yielded, and Henry's rights were established without the shedding of blood.
921. TREATY WITH FRANCE.
In the meantime Lorraine, under its Duke, Giselbert, had revolted, and Charles the Silly, by unexpectedly crossing the frontier, gained possession of Alsatia, as far as the Rhine. Henry marched against him, but, as in the case of Arnulf, asked for a personal interview before engaging in battle. The two kings met on an island in the Rhine, near Bonn: the French army was encamped on the western, and the German army on the eastern bank of the river, awaiting the result. Charles the Silly was soon brought to terms by his shrewd, intelligent rival: on the 7th of November, 921, a treaty was signed by which the former boundary between France and Germany was reaffirmed. Soon afterwards, Giselbert of Lorraine was sent as a prisoner to Henry, but the latter, pleased with his character, set him free, gave him his daughter in marriage, and thus secured his allegiance to the German throne.
In this manner, within five or six years after he was chosen king, Henry had accomplished his difficult task. Chiefly by peaceful means, by a combination of energy, patience and forbearance, he had subdued the elements of disorder in Germany, and united both princes and people under his rule. He was now called upon to encounter the Hungarians, who, in 924, again invaded both Northern and Southern Germany. The walled and fortified cities, such as Ratisbon, Augsburg and Constance, were safe from their attacks, but in the open field they were so powerful that Henry found himself unable to cope with them. His troops only dared to engage in skirmishes with the smaller roving bands, in one of which, by great good fortune, they captured one of the Hungarian chiefs, or princes. A large amount of treasure was offered for his ransom, but Henry refused it, and asked for a truce of nine years, instead. The Hungarians finally agreed to this, on condition that an annual tribute should be paid to them during the time.
This was the bravest and wisest act of king Henry's life. He took upon himself the disgrace of the tribute, and then at once set about organizing his people and developing their strength. The truce of nine years was not too long for the work upon which he entered. He began by forcing the people to observe a stricter military discipline, byteaching his Saxon foot-soldiers to fight on horseback, and by strengthening the defences along his eastern frontier. Hamburg, Magdeburg and Halle were at this time the most eastern German towns, and beyond or between them, especially towards the south, there were no strong points which could resist invasion. Henry carefully surveyed the ground and began the erection of a series of fortified enclosures. Every ninth man of the district was called upon to serve as garrison-soldier, while the remaining eight cultivated the land. One-third of the harvests was stored in these fortresses, wherein, also, the people were required to hold their markets and their festivals. Thus Quedlinburg, Merseburg, Meissen and other towns soon arose within the fortified limits. From these achievements Henry is often called in German History, "the Founder of Cities."
928.
Having somewhat accustomed the people to this new form of military service, and constantly exercised the nobles and their men-at-arms in sham fights and tournaments (which he is said to have first instituted), Henry now tested them in actual war. The Slavonic tribes east of the Elbe had become the natural and hereditary enemies of the Germans, and an attack upon them hardly required a pretext. The present province of Brandenburg, the basis of the Prussian kingdom, was conquered by Henry in 928; and then, after a successful invasion of Bohemia, he gradually extended his annexation to the Oder. The most of the Slavonic population were slaughtered without mercy, and the Saxons and Thuringians, spreading eastward, took possession of their vacant lands. Finally, in 932, Henry conquered Lusatia (now Eastern Saxony); Bohemia was already tributary, and his whole eastern frontier was thereby advanced from the Baltic at Stettin to the Danube at Vienna.
933. VICTORY OVER THE HUNGARIANS.
By this time the nine years of truce with the Hungarians were at an end, and when the ambassadors of the latter came to the German Court to receive their tribute, they were sent back with empty hands. A tradition states that Henry ordered an old, mangy dog to be given to them, instead of the usual gold and silver. A declaration of war followed, as he had anticipated; but the Hungarians seem to have surprised him by the rapidity of their movements. Contrary to their previous custom, they undertook a winter campaign, overrunning Thuringia and Saxony in such immense numbers that the king did not immediately ventureto oppose them. He waited until their forces were divided in the search for plunder, then fell upon a part and defeated them. Shortly afterwards he moved against their main army, and on the 15th of March, 933, after a bloody battle (which is believed to have been fought in the vicinity of Merseburg), was again conqueror. The Hungarians fled, leaving their camp, treasures and accumulated plunder in Henry's hands. They were never again dangerous to Northern Germany.
After this came a war with the Danish king, Gorm, who had crossed the Eider and taken Holstein. Henry brought it to an end, and added Schleswig to his dominion rather by diplomacy than by arms. After his long and indefatigable exertions, the Empire enjoyed peace; its boundaries were extended and secured; all the minor rulers submitted to his sway, and his influence over the people was unbounded. But he was not destined to enjoy the fruits of his achievements. A stroke of apoplexy warned him to set his house in order; so, in the spring of 936, he called together a Diet at Erfurt, which accepted his second son, Otto, as his successor. Although he left two other sons, no proposition was made to divide Germany among them. The civil wars of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, during nearly 400 years, compelled the adoption of a different system of succession; and the reigning Dukes and Counts were now so strong that they bowed reluctantly even to the authority of a single monarch.
Henry died on the 20th of July, 936, not sixty years old. His son and successor, Otto, was twenty-four,—a stern, proud man, but brave, firm, generous and intelligent. He was married to Editha, the daughter of Athelstan, the Saxon king of England. A few weeks after his father's death, he was crowned with great splendor in the cathedral of Charlemagne, at Aix-la-Chapelle. All the Dukes and Bishops of the realm were present, and the new Emperor was received with universal acclamation. At the banquet which followed, the Dukes of Lorraine, Franconia, Suabia, and Bavaria, served as Chamberlain, Steward, Cupbearer and Marshal. It was the first national event of a spontaneous character, which took place in Germany, and now, for the first time, a German Empire seemed to be a reality.
The history of Otto's reign fulfilled, at least to the people of his day, the promise of his coronation. Like hisfather, his inheritance was to include wars with internal and external foes; he met and carried them to an end, with an energy equal to that of Henry I., but without the same prudence and patience. He made Germany the first power of the civilized world, yet he failed to unite the discordant elements of which it was composed, and therefore was not able to lay the foundation of a distinctnation, such as was even then slowly growing up in France.
937.
He was first called upon to repel invasions of the Bohemians and the Wends, in Prussia. He entrusted the subjection of the latter to a Saxon Count, Hermann Billung, and marched himself against the former. Both wars lasted for some time, but they were finally successful. The Hungarians, also, whose new inroad reached even to the banks of the Loire, were twice defeated, and so discouraged that they never afterwards attempted to invade either Thuringia or Saxony.
Worse troubles, however, were brewing within the realm. Eberhard, Duke of the Franks (the same who had carried his brother Konrad's crown to Otto's father), had taken into his own hands the punishment of a Saxon noble, instead of referring the case to the king. The latter compelled Eberhard to pay a fine of a hundred pounds of silver, and ordered that the Frank freemen who assisted him should carry dogs in their arms to the royal castle,—a form of punishment which was then considered very disgraceful. After the order had been carried into effect, Otto received the culprits kindly and gave them rich presents; but they went home brooding revenge.
Eberhard allied himself with Thankmar, Otto's own half-brother by a mother from whom Henry I. had been divorced before marrying Mathilde. Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine, Otto's brother-in-law, joined the conspiracy, and even many of the Saxon nobles, who were offended because the command of the army sent against the Wends had been given to Count Hermann, followed his example. Otto's position was very critical, and if there had been more harmony of action among the conspirators, he might have lost his throne. In the struggle which ensued, Thankmar was slain and Duke Eberhard forced to surrender. But the latter was not yet subdued. During the rebellion he had taken Otto's younger brother, Henry, prisoner; he secured the latter's confidence, tempted him with the prospect of being chosen king in caseOtto was overthrown, and then sent him as his intercessor to the conqueror.
939. REVOLT OF OTTO'S BROTHER, HENRY.
Thus, while Otto supposed the movement had been crushed, Eberhard, Giselbert of Lorraine and Henry, who had meantime joined the latter, were secretly preparing a new rebellion. As soon as Otto discovered the fact, he collected an army and hastened to the Rhine. He had crossed the river with only a small part of his troops, the remainder being still encamped upon the eastern bank, when Giselbert and Henry suddenly appeared with a great force. Otto at first gave himself up for lost, but determined at least to fall gallantly, he and his followers fought with such desperation that they won a signal victory. Giselbert retreated to Lorraine, whither Otto was prevented from following him by new troubles among the Saxons and the subject Wends between the Elbe and Oder.
The rebellious princes now sought the help of the king of France, Louis IV. (calledd'Outre-mer, or "from beyond sea," because he had been an exile in England). He marched into Alsatia with a French army, while Duke Eberhard and the Archbishop of Mayence added their forces to those of Giselbert and Henry. All the territory west of the Rhine fell into their hands, and the danger seemed so great that many of the smaller German princes began to waver in their fidelity to Otto. He, however, hastened to Alsatia, defeated the French, and laid siege to the fortress of Breisach (half-way between Strasburg and Basel), although Giselbert was then advancing into Westphalia. A small band who remained true to him met the latter and forced him back upon the Rhine; and there, in a battle fought near Andernach, Eberhard was slain and Giselbert drowned in attempting to fly.
This was the turning-point in Otto's fortunes. The French retreated, all the supports of the rebellion fell away from it, and in a short time the king's authority was restored throughout the whole of Germany. These events occurred during the year 939. The following year Otto marched to Paris, which, however, was too strongly fortified to be taken. An irregular war between the two kingdoms lasted for some time longer, and was finally terminated by a personal interview between Otto and Louis IV., at which the ancient boundaries were reaffirmed, Lorraine remaining German.
940.
Henry, pardoned for the second time, was unable tomaintain himself as Duke of Lorraine, to which position Otto had appointed him. Enraged at being set aside, he united with the Archbishop of Mayence in a conspiracy against his brother's life. It was arranged that the murder should be committed during the Easter services, in Quedlinburg. The plot was discovered, the accomplices tried and executed, and Henry thrown into prison. During the celebration of the Christmas mass, in the cathedral at Frankfort, the same year, he suddenly appeared before Otto, and, throwing himself upon his knees before him, prayed for pardon. Otto was magnanimous enough to grant it, and afterwards to forget as well as forgive. He bestowed new favors upon Henry, who never again became unfaithful.
During this time the Saxon Counts, Gero and Hermann, had held the Wends and other Slavonic tribes at bay, and gradually filled the conquered territory beyond the Elbe with fortified posts, around which German colonists rapidly clustered. Following the example of Charlemagne, the people were forcibly converted to Christianity, and new churches and monasteries were founded. The Bohemians were made tributary, the Hungarians repelled, and in driving back an invasion of the king of Denmark, Harold Blue-tooth, Otto marched to the extremity of the peninsula of Jutland, and there hurled his spear into the sea, as a sign that he had taken possession of the land.
He now ruled a wider, and apparently a more united realm, than his father. The power of the independent Dukes was so weakened, that they felt themselves subjected to his favor; he was everywhere respected and feared, although he never became popular with the masses of the people. He lacked the easy, familiar ways with them which distinguished his father and Charlemagne; his manner was cold and haughty, and he surrounded himself with pomp and ceremony. He married his eldest son, Ludolf, to the daughter of the Duke of Suabia, whom the former soon succeeded in his rule; he gave Lorraine to his son-in-law, Konrad, and Bavaria to his brother Henry, while he retained the Franks, Thuringians and Saxons under his own personal rule. Germany might have grown into a united nation, if the good qualities of his line could have been transmitted without its inordinate ambition.
While thus laying, as he supposed, the permanent basis of his power, Otto was called upon by the king of France, who,having married the widow of Giselbert of Lorraine, was now his brother-in-law, for help against Duke Hugo, a powerful pretender to the French throne. In 946 he marched at the head of an army of 32,000 men, to assist king Louis; but, although he reached Normandy, he did not succeed in his object, and several years elapsed before Hugo was brought to submission.
951. OTTO'S VISIT TO ITALY.
In the year 951, Otto's attention was directed to Italy, which, since the fall of the Carolingian Empire, had been ravaged in turn by Saracens, Greeks, Normans and even Hungarians. The Papal power had become almost a shadow, and the title of Roman Emperor was practically extinct. Berengar of Friuli, a rough, brutal prince, called himself king of Italy, and demanded for his son the hand of Adelheid, the widow of his predecessor. On her refusal to accept Berengar's offer, she was imprisoned and treated with great indignity, but finally she succeeded in sending a messenger to Germany, imploring Otto's intervention. His wife, Editha of England, was dead: he saw, in Adelheid's appeal, an opportunity to acquire an ascendency in Italy, and resolved to claim her hand for himself.
Accompanied by his brother Henry of Bavaria, his son Ludolf of Suabia, and his son-in-law Konrad of Lorraine, with their troops, Otto crossed the Alps, defeated Berengar, took possession of Verona, Pavia, Milan and other cities of Northern Italy, and assumed the title of king of Lombardy. He then applied for Adelheid's hand, which was not refused, and the two were married with great pomp at Pavia. Ludolf, incensed at his father for having taken a second wife, returned immediately to Germany, and there stirred up such disorder that Otto relinquished his intention of visiting Rome, and followed him. After much negotiation, Berengar was allowed to remain king of Lombardy, on condition of giving up all the Adriatic shore, from near Venice to Istria, which was then annexed to Bavaria.
954.
Duke Henry, therefore, profited most by the Italian campaign, and this excited the jealousy of Ludolf and Konrad, who began to conspire both against him, and against Otto's authority. The trouble increased until it became an open rebellion, which convulsed Germany for nearly four years. If Otto had been personally popular, it might have been soon suppressed; but the petty princes and the people inclined to one side or the other, according to the prospects ofsuccess, and the Empire, finally, seemed on the point of falling to pieces. In this crisis, there came what appeared to be a new misfortune, but which, most unexpectedly, put an end to the wasting strife. The Hungarians again broke into Germany, and Ludolf and Konrad granted them permission to pass through their territory to reach and ravage their father's lands. This alliance with an hereditary and barbarous enemy turned the whole people to Otto's side; the long rebellion came rapidly to an end, and all troubles were settled by a Diet held at the close of 954.
The next year the Hungarians came again in greater numbers than ever, and, crossing Bavaria, laid siege to Augsburg. But Otto now marched against them with all the military strength of Germany, and on the 10th of August, 955, met them in battle. Konrad of Lorraine led the attack and decided the fate of the day, but, in the moment of victory, having lifted his visor to breathe more freely, a Hungarian arrow pierced his neck and he fell dead. Nearly all the enemy were slaughtered or drowned in the river Lech. Only a few scattered fugitives returned to Hungary to tell the tale, and from that day no new invasion was ever undertaken against Germany. On the contrary, the Bavarians pressed eastward and spread themselves along the Danube and among the Styrian Alps, while the Bohemians took possession of Moravia, so that the boundary lines between the three races then became very nearly what they are at the present day.
Soon afterwards, Otto lost his brother Henry of Bavaria, and, two years later, his son Ludolf, who died in Italy, while endeavoring to make himself king of the Lombards. A new disturbance in Saxony was suppressed, and with it there was an end of civil war in Germany, during Otto's reign. We have already stated that he was proud and ambitious: the crown of a "Roman Emperor," which still seemed the highest title on earth, had probably always hovered before his mind, and now the opportunity of attaining it came. The Pope, John XII., a boy of seventeen, who found himself in danger of being driven from Rome by Berengar, the Lombard, sent a pressing call for help to Otto, who entered upon his second journey to Italy in 961.
962. OTTO'S CORONATION IN ROME.
He first called a Diet together at Worms, and procured the acceptance of his son Otto, then only 6 years old, as his successor. The child was solemnly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle;the Archbishop Bruno of Cologne was appointed his guardian and vicegerent of the realm during Otto's absence, and the latter was left free to carry out his designs beyond the Alps. He was received with rejoicing by the Lombards, and the iron crown of the kingdom was placed on his head by the Archbishop of Milan. He then advanced to Rome and was crowned Emperor in St. Peter's by the boy-pope, on the 2d of February, 962. Nearly a generation had elapsed since the title had been held or claimed by any one, and its renewal at this time was the source of centuries of loss and suffering to Germany. It was a sham and a delusion,—a will-o'-the wisp which led rulers and people aside from the true path of civilization, and left them floundering in quagmires of war.
Otto had hardly returned to Lombardy before the Pope, who began to see that he had crowned his own master, conspired against him. The Pope called on the Byzantine Emperor for aid, incited the Hungarians, and even entered into correspondence with the Saracens in Corsica. All Italy became so turbulent that three years elapsed before the Emperor Otto succeeded in restoring order. He took Rome by force of arms, deposed the Pope and set up another of his own appointment, banished Berengar, and compelled the universal recognition of his own sovereignty. Then, with the remnants of an army which had almost been destroyed by war and pestilence, he returned to Germany in 965.
A grand festival was held at Cologne, to celebrate his new honors and victories. His mother, the aged queen Mathilde, Lothar, reigning king of France, and all the Dukes and Princes of Germany, were present, and the people came in multitudes from far and wide. The internal peace of the Empire had not been disturbed during Otto's absence, and his journey of inspection was a series of peaceful and splendid pageants. An insurrection having broken out among the Lombards the following year, he sent Duke Burkhard of Suabia to suppress it in his name; but it soon became evident that his own presence was necessary. He thereupon took a last farewell of his old mother, and returned to Italy in the autumn of 966.
Lombardy was soon brought to order, and the rebellious nobles banished to Germany. As Otto approached Rome, the people restored the Pope he had appointed, whom they had in the meantime deposed: they were also compelled togive up the leaders of the revolt, who were tried and executed. Otto claimed the right of appointing the Civil Governor of Rome, who should rule in his name. He gave back to the Pope the territory which the latter had received from Pippin the Short, two hundred years before, but nearly all of which had been taken from the Church by the Lombards. In return, the Pope agreed to govern this territory as a part, or province, of the Empire, and to crown Otto's son as Emperor, in advance of his accession to the throne.
966.
These new successes seem to have quite turned Otto's mind from the duty he owed to the German people; henceforth he only strove to increase the power and splendor of his house. His next step was to demand the hand of the Princess Theophania, a daughter of one of the Byzantine Emperors, for his son Otto. The Eastern Court neither consented nor refused; ambassadors were sent back and forth until the Emperor became weary of the delay. Following the suggestion of his offended pride, he undertook a campaign against Southern Italy, parts of which still acknowledged the Byzantine rule. The war lasted for several years, without any positive result; but the hand of Theophania was finally promised to young Otto, and she reached Rome in the beginning of the year 972. Her beauty, grace and intelligence at once won the hearts of Otto's followers, who had been up to that time opposed to the marriage. Although her betrothed husband was only seventeen, and she was a year younger, the nuptials were celebrated in April, and the Emperor then immediately returned to Germany with his Court and army.
973. DEATH OF OTTO THE GREAT.
All that Otto could show, to balance his six years' neglect of his own land and people, was the title of "the Great," which the Italians bestowed upon him, and a Princess of Constantinople, who spoke Greek and looked upon the Germans as barbarians, for his daughter-in-law. His return was celebrated by a grand festival held at Quedlinburg, at Easter, 973. All the Dukes and reigning Counts of the Empire were present, the kings of Bohemia and Poland, ambassadors from Constantinople, from the Caliph of Cordova, in Spain, from Bulgaria, Russia, Denmark and Hungary. Even Charlemagne never enjoyed such a triumph; but in the midst of the festivities, Otto's first friend and supporter, Hermann Billung, whom he had made Duke of Saxony, suddenly died. The Emperor became impressed with the ideathat his own end was near: he retired to Memleben in Thuringia, where his father died, and on the 6th of May was stricken with apoplexy, at the age of sixty-one. He died, seated in his chair and surrounded by his princely guests, and was buried in Magdeburg, by the side of his first wife, Editha of England.
Otto completed the work which Henry commenced, and left Germany the first power in Europe. Had his mind been as clear and impartial, his plans as broad and intelligent, as Charlemagne's, he might have laid the basis of a permanent Empire; but, in an evil hour, he called the phantom of the sceptre of the world from the grave of Roman power, and, believing that he held it, turned the ages that were to follow him into the path of war, disunion and misery.