Certain
ecclesiastical
changes were made at the same time.
Cambridge Medieval History - v3 - Germany and the Western Empire
32 f.
, and Maurenbrecher, Die Kaiser politik
Ottos 1, Historische Zeitschrift, v. 141, and Der Ludolfinische Aufstand von 953,
Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, iv. 597, but see Giesebrecht, Kaiserzeit, i.
828, and Dümmler, Otto der Grosse, 212 f. , for the opposite view.
CH. VIII.
## p. 198 (#244) ############################################
198
Hungarian invasion
of their dukes. It was the duke who was attacked in Bavaria, in Lorraine,
and in Saxony. Only in Swabia was Liudolf's personal popularity
sufficiently strong to secure the loyalty of the tribe ; though even there
an anti-ducal party was formed under the leadership of Burchard, a
kinsman of the former duke. The inception of the war may be traced
to personal causes, to the personal jealousy of the leaders : its support to
the tribal opposition to the centralising system of the dukedoms. The
issue was decided not by any military exploit, successful campaign, or
victory in the field, but by the diversion created by an Hungarian inroad,
and by the violent reaction which followed against the party which
sought to gain advantage from alliance with the invaders.
The Hungarians had at the outset of Otto's reign, in 937 and in 938,
made two abortive attempts to invade Saxony. In 948 and in 949 they
had made incursions into Bavaria, but had been beaten off by Duke
Henry, who in two campaigns in the following year had successfully
carried the war into their own country. Nevertheless, early in the year
954 the Hungarians, who were always ready to turn the intestine troubles
of their neighbours to their own advantage, once more poured into
Germany. Contemporary historians have laid the charge of inviting the
barbarians upon both parties concerned in the struggle, but the occasion
was too obvious to require any solicitation. Certain it is, however, that
the invaders were eagerly welcomed by Liudolf and Conrad, who supplied
them with guides. They swept through Bavaria and Franconia, plunder-
ing as they went; they were publicly entertained at Worms on Palm
Sunday and loaded with presents of silver and gold. Conrad himself led
them on across the Rhine in the hope of regaining his own duchy through
their aid. But the raid of the barbarians did nothing to improve the
duke's position in Lorraine; they penetrated as far as Utrecht merely
laying waste the land as they passed; thence they moved southward
through Vermandois, Laon, and Rheims into Burgundy, and the remnant
of their band, much reduced in numbers by fighting and disease, returned
to their own country by way of Italy.
The invasion was Otto's deliverance. The royal army pressed hard
upon the Bavarians, who were forced to crave a truce, which was granted
till 16 June when a diet was to be held at Langenzenn, near the present
town of Nuremberg, where the case was to be decided. At the diet of
Langenzenn, all the leaders of the revolt, realising that their cause was
lost, made their appearance. During the proceedings each party accused
the other of introducing the Hungarians. The Archbishop of Mayence
and Conrad made their submission, but Liudolf remained obdurate; he
rode off in the night with his attendants to Ratisbon. The king followed
in pursuit, fighting on his way an indecisive engagement at Rosstall.
Ratisbon withstood the assault of the royal army. A long siege followed,
during which many skirmishes were fought before the walls, and the
burghers were reduced to the point of starvation. Finally, after the
## p. 199 (#245) ############################################
Defeat of the Hungarians in the Lechfeld
199
city had been invested for some six weeks, Liudolf and the citizens ob-
tained a truce, pending a settlement to be arranged at a diet to be held
at Fritzlar. Liudolf made a last attempt to rally his cause in Swabia ;
failing in this, he sought and gained his father's forgiveness. But neither
he nor Conrad recovered their dukedoms. As a result of the civil war
there were many new appointments to be made. For this purpose a
diet was held at Arnstadt on 7 December. The dukedom of Swabia
was given to Burchard, probably the son of the old Duke of Swabia of
that name and so a first cousin to Queen Adelaide. Lorraine had already
been granted to the king's brother Bruno, who in the previous year had
succeeded Archbishop Wikfried in the metropolitan see of Cologne.
The see of Mayence was also vacant, since the turbulent Archbishop Frede-
rick had died a few weeks before the meeting of the diet. His place
was filled by William, Otto's natural son. Bavaria held out until the
spring; but Henry was victorious over Herold, the rebellious Archbishop
of Salzburg, and the burghers of Ratisbon, again reduced to the ex-
tremities of famine, submitted themselves to Otto. So by the end of
the spring of 955 Otto was able to return in peace to his native Saxony.
The Hungarians, encouraged by their successful raid of the previous
year, made another inroad early in the year 955. It was checked, and
Otto received in Saxony what purported to be an Hungarian embassy ;
in fact its intention was nothing more nor less than to spy out the land,
and immediately afterwards Duke Henry sent word that the barbarians
had crossed the frontier. Their main body was encamped on the banks of
the Lech near Augsburg. The city was defended by its Bishop St Ulric,
whose contemporary biographer speaks of the desperate straits to which
he was reduced ; the city walls were dilapidated and unprovided with
towers; it seemed impossible to withstand an assault from an enemy
whose numbers are said to have amounted to one hundred thousand
horsemen. Yet one day the bishop, arrayed in his pontifical robes, sallied
forth, himself unarmed, into the ranks of the enemy and threw them into
confusion. On the following day, the feast of St Lawrence (10 August),
as the bishop quietly awaited the inevitable counter-attack, he heard the
welcome news of Otto's approach. When the news of the invasion reached
him Otto had hurried southward with a small band of Saxons. On
his march, other troops collected and he reached the neighbourhood of
Augsburg with a vast army drawn from all parts of Germany. The host
was formed up in eight divisions: three from Bavaria, two from Swabia,
and one each from Saxony, Lorraine and Bohemia. The battle was fought
in the Lechfeld to the south of the city on the left bank of the river? ,
1 The exact site on which the battle was fought is much disputed. Schäfer in the
Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin), xxvii. 1905, opposed the old
view asserted by Bresslau in Historische Zeitschrift, 1897, Der Ort der Ungarnschlacht,
that the battle was fought in the Lechfeld south of the city on the left bank of
the river, and supposes the place to have been on the left bank but north-west of
CH. VIII.
## p. 200 (#246) ############################################
200
Peace restored in Germany
As on other occasions, legend gives the credit of the victory to the Holy
Lance with which Otto was armed. At first the enemy made headway
.
against the Swabian and Bohemian divisions ; but the courage and re-
source of Conrad, the deposed Duke of Lorraine, who fell in the battle,
restored the fortunes of the royal army. The victory was complete ;
and for three days the scattered remnants of the Hungarian hordes
were pursued and killed or taken captive. The victory had far-reaching
effects both for the conqueror and the conquered. Germany was for ever
relieved of the menace of invasion and the Hungarians gave up their
restless mode of life and took to a settled and peaceful existence.
The Hungarians were not the only neighbours of Germany who
had sought to take advantage of the civil war. The Wends rose in
revolt against German rule. In 954 Margrave Gero and Conrad (it is
characteristic of Otto to entrust his recent antagonist with a command)
won a victory over the Ukrani. Further north, in the district under
the authority of Duke Herman, the trouble was more serious; the
duke's nephews Wichmann and Ekbert, who had already attempted
without success to raise Saxony in revolt against their uncle, now joined
with the Wends. No decisive victory determined the fighting, which
continued intermittently and with varying success for a period of two
years. It was the news of the defeat of the Hungarians on the banks of
the Lech which struck the Wends with awe, and compelled them to make
an abject submission. They sent messages offering their accustomed
tribute: but Otto was not disposed to let them off so lightly. Accom-
panied by Liudolf and Boleslav of Bohemia, he ravaged their land as far
as Recknitz to the west of the Isle of Rügen. . Their leader Stoinef was
slain : Wichmann and Ekbert fled the country and took refuge at the
court of Duke Hugh in France. In 957 Wichmann again appeared in
alliance with the Wends, but he was finally defeated in 958 and received
à pardon on taking “a terrible oath never to conspire again against
Otto or his kingdom. ”
In Lorraine also there were signs of trouble, but the wise and states-
manlike rule of Bruno restored and maintained peace. Count Reginar
of Hainault was at the root of the disturbance; it was his hostility
to Conrad that secured the loyalty of Lorraine during the civil war.
Apparently he expected reward for his services, and, failing to get it, he
stirred up revolts against the authority of Bruno. The archbishop
suppressed two risings in 957 and 959 and, as a precaution against dis-
order in the future, deemed it advisable to divide the duchy into two
units of administration: a certain noble of the country named Godfrey
had already been placed over the lower, and Frederick, brother of the
Augsburg. Others have suggested yet other possibilities, e. g. Wallmenich, Die
Ungarnschlacht auf dem Lechfeld, chooses the right bank of the river to the south-east
of the city and Hadank, Einige Bemerkungen über die Ungarnschlacht, 1908, the
right bank to the north-east of the city as the spot.
## p. 201 (#247) ############################################
Otto the Great as Emperor
201
powerful Bishop Adalbero of Metz, was now set over the upper province.
To the prudent and judicious policy of the Archbishop of Cologne, it
may be added, was due the maintenance of friendly relations with France,
and it is no exaggeration to assert that to his support Lothair, on the
death of Louis IV in 954, owed his peace'ul and uncontested succession
in that kingdom.
By the year 960 Otto's rule in Germany was firmly established. The
Hungarians were defeated once and for all: the Wends between the Elbe
and the Oder were quelled; Lorraine and the Western Kingdom, thanks
to Bruno, were at peace. The presence of envoys from foreign courts at his
solemn assemblies testifies to the strength of his rule and to the extent of
his fame. Romans and Greeks, Saracens and Russians visited his court,
bringing him gifts of gold, silver and ivory, balm and precious ointments,
and lions, camels, monkeys, and ostriches, animals hitherto unknown in
Saxony. All nations of the Christian world, concludes Widukind, looked
to the great king in their troubles. So in 959 ambassadors from the
Russian Queen Olga, who was baptised in 957, came to Germany to beg
Otto to send missionaries to their heathen country. A certain Libertius
was ordained bishop for the purpose but died before he could embark on
his difficult enterprise ; Adalbert from the monastery of St Maximin at
T'rèves was chosen in his place, but after a year's fruitless endeavour
returned to his own country.
So again, John XII, Pope and patrician of Rome, sought Otto's
assistance against the oppression of Berengar and his son Adalbert.
The project suited Otto's own policy. The conduct of the vassal king
of Italy had already earned his displeasure; but unable to go in person
he had sent Liudolf, who, since he had lost his dukedom, was in need of
employment. A brilliant and successful campaign (956–7) was, however,
cut short by the death of its leader. Liudolf died of fever at Pombia
and the work was left unfinished. At the appeal of the Pope in 959,
Otto prepared to cross the Alps himself. Anxious to secure the throne
in his own line in the event of his death during the campaign, he caused
his infant son Otto to be elected king at Worms and to be solemnly
crowned and anointed in the royal chapel of Charles the Great at Aix-
la-Chapelle. Then leaving the boy in charge of William, Archbishop of
Mayence, he set out to deliver Italy from its enemies and to receive the
imperial crown from the hands of Pope John XII.
Of the last twelve years of his life and reign, the Emperor spent
scarcely more than two in Germany. The imperial title brought with
it new responsibilities to bear, new difficulties to overcome; the work of
his later years was beyond the Alps. Nevertheless, it is unjust to lay to
his charge the neglect of Germany, a charge which can be supported
against his grandson Otto III. Otto the Great never lost interest, never
disregarded the affairs of his original kingdom. At Rome one of his first
considerations was the organisation of the Church on the eastern frontier
CH. VIII.
## p. 202 (#248) ############################################
202
Spread of Christianity in the North
I
of
.
D
of Saxony, the carrying out of his cherished plan, the foundation of a
metropolitan see at Magdeburg. As early as 955 he had sent Hademar,
Abbot of Fulda, to Rome to discuss this project with Pope Agapetus.
The jealousy of the Bishop of Halberstadt and of the Metropolitan of
Mayence put every obstacle in his path. But at last, on 12 February 962,
he was able to make the final arrangements and obtained from Pope
John XII a bull for the erection of an archbishopric at Magdeburg and a
bishopric at Merseburg. It was not, however, until 968 that effect was
given to it by the appointment of bishops. Adalbert, the first Arch-
bishop of Magdeburg, was a man of peculiar interest. He began life in
the monastery of St Maximin at Trèves, for some years he was a notary
in the chancery, in 961 he was sent as a bishop to preach the gospel in
Russia. In 966 he became Abbot of Weissenburg in Alsace, and in 968
Archbishop of Magdeburg. He is also conjectured to be the author of
the Continuation of the Chronicle of Regino of Prüm', and his varied life
and profound experience make his work of the highest value for the history
of Otto the Great.
The Emperor returned to Germany at the beginning of the year 965.
After an absence of more than three years there was much work requiring
his attention. The Wends, again assisted and roused by the turbulent
Wichmann, had given much trouble to Otto's vicegerents, Herman and
Gero, and the intermittent warfare was only brought to an end in 967
when Wichmann, then in alliance with the Redarii, was defeated and slain.
Nevertheless, in spite of the many difficulties in the way, Christianity and
,
German influence had extended very rapidly. In a campaign in 963
Gero subdued the Lusatians and received the submission and tribute of
Mesco, Duke of the Poles, who was also engaged in war with the Wends.
Bohemia was on terms of close friendship with Germany when under the
younger Boleslav, who appeared in person at Otto's court in 973. He
was zealous in the cause of Christianity and it was through the influence
of his daughter Dabravka that Mesco was baptised and missionary work
was set on foot for the first time in Poland. About the same time Harold
Bluetooth, King of Denmark, was baptised, and enjoined the Christian
faith upon his subjects. The death of Gero, soon after his return from
a pilgrimage to Rome in 965, was a set-back to German expansion. He
was the real founder of the German dominion between the Elbe and the
Oder, and his place was difficult to fill. It provided the occasion for
,
the division of the conquered territory into the later system of marches:.
1 The conjecture now generally accepted is Giesebrecht's, see Kaiserzeit, 1. 778.
2 The date of Harold's conversion is disputed. Waitz, Heinrich, 1. , p. 165, attri-
butes it to the year 934. But the later date 965 accepted by Dümmler, Otto der Grosse,
p. 391, seems to be more in accordance with the evidence. Widukind, in. 65, who
gives a detailed account of the conversion, and Adam of Bremen, 11. 3, place the
event after a successful campaign by Otto against the Danes which must have taken
place after the Emperor's return from Italy in 965.
3 On Gero's death his march was divided into three: (1) the North march under
>
## p. 203 (#249) ############################################
Death of Otto the Great
203
a
The death of Archbishop Bruno in the same year deprived the Emperor
of another of his most loyal and most valuable governors. In his ducal
office he had no successor: the division of the duchy into the provinces
of Upper and Lower Lorraine, carried out by Bruno in 959, rendered a
duke or archduke over the whole superfluous.
The years 966 to 972 were spent in Italy. Two events which bear
upon German history may be recorded ; first, the young king Otto II
was crowned Emperor at the hands of the Pope John XIII on Christmas
Day 967; and secondly, after a long series of negotiations, a Byzantine
princess, a niece of John Tzimisces named Theophano, was given in marriage
to the young Emperor.
At Christmas 972 Otto the Great was again in Germany. He was
honoured by embassies to his court from distant lands, even from the
Saracens in Africa. His work, however, was completed, he had outlived his
friends and associates. While he was absent in Italy, his son William and
his mother Matilda had died (March 968): soon after his return he lost
his trusted and loyal servant Herman. He himself did not survive much
longer. He died at Memleben, the little town in the Harz Mountains
which had also witnessed the death of his father, on 7 May 973, in his
sixty-first year. His body was taken to Magdeburg and buried in the
cathedral he had built.
The Saxon historian, Widukind, sums up the achievements of his life
in the voice of popular opinion : "The people, saying many things in
“
his praise, recalled to mind that he had ruled his subjects with paternal
piety, he had liberated them from their enemies, had conquered with his
arms the proud Avars, Saracens, Danes, and Slavs; he had brought Italy
under his yoke ; he had destroyed the temples of his heathen neighbours
and set up churches and priests in their place. ” All this he had accom-
plished. If he had failed in his attempt to centralise the government of
Germany, his failure was due to the inevitable progress towards feudalism
and the too deeply rooted tribal traditions. If in this direction his
empire fell short of its model, the empire of Charles the Great, in an-
other direction it was conspicuously in advance of it. His work, in the
extension of German influence and civilisation and in the progress of
Christianity towards the north and east of his dominions, was of per-
manent value, and stood as the firm basis of future expansion and future
development.
one margrave, (2) the East march or March of Lausitz under two margraves, and
(3) the Thuringian march, later the March of Meissen, under three margraves.
CH. VIII.
## p. 204 (#250) ############################################
204
CHAPTER IX.
OTTO II AND OTTO III.
The stability of the Saxon dynasty is shewn in a marked degree by
the way in which son succeeded father almost without question until the
direct line breaks off for lack of an heir with Otto III. Otto II, who was
born towards the end of 955, had been elected and twice crowned (at
Aix-la-Chapelle in May 961 and at Rome on Christmas Day 967) during
his father's lifetime. When Otto the Great died in 973, he was universally
accepted as his successor. It was not that there was no opposition, but the
people of Germany as a whole were satisfied with the ruling family and,
in cases of rebellion, were prepared to give their support to the hereditary
sovereign. This fact is proved not only in the frequent Bavarian revolts
in the reign of Otto II, but also and more remarkably in the attempt of
the Duke of Bavaria to wrest the crown from its rightful possessor,
the infant Otto III. Otto the Red is described by the chronicler
Thietmar as being possessed of fine physical powers ; and though at
first, through lack of experience, he shunned wise counsel, chastened by
troubles he set a rein upon himself and lived nobly for the rest of his
days.
During the first seven years of his reign his energies were directed
towards Bavaria and Lorraine. Bavaria enjoyed a position of greater
independence than any of the other duchies. Its traditions were more
deeply rooted; the influence of the old ducal family was stronger. It
had ties closely binding it with the other southern duchy, Swabia.
Burchard, Duke of Swabia, had died the year of Otto's accession and
the new king filled the vacancy by appointing Otto, the son of his half
brother Liudolf, former Duke of Swabia. Duke Burchard's widow,
Hedwig, was the daughter of Judith, the widow of Henry I of Bavaria,
who was always anxious to advance the interests of her family. She and
her son Henry, the ruling Duke of Bavaria, resented the favour shewn to
Otto, son of Liudolf, and broke into open revolt. In the first struggles
we may see an arrangement of parties which remained unchanged
throughout the reign. On the one side stand the sons of the children
of Otto the Great by his first marriage with Edith, both named Otto,
the one just elected to the duchy of Swabia, the other shortly after
appointed Duke of Carinthia; to this party the Emperor first turned
## p. 205 (#251) ############################################
Bavarian revolts
205
for support. The Bavarian family, Duke Henry and his cousin Henry,
son of Duke Berthold, were the leaders of the opposite faction. Later,
it was openly favoured by the Empress Adelaide the queen-mother, who
had a somewhat natural aversion to the sons of her stepchildren, for it
was these men who had headed the revolt against her husband in 955
just after and largely in consequence of her marriage? . In the first rebel-
lion in Bavaria Henry's ambition seems to have aspired to the throne.
It was the more serious as he was allied with Boleslav, Duke of the
Bohemians, and with Mesco, Duke of the Poles. The plot was however
discovered in time; Henry and his chief adviser, Abraham, Bishop of
Freising, were summoned under pain of the ban to appear before the
Emperor and were imprisoned, Henry at Ingelheim, Bishop Abraham
at Corvey; Judith, who was also deeply involved in the conspiracy,
entered a convent at Ratisbon.
It was not until the autumn of 975 that Otto was able to take the
field against Boleslav of Bohemia to punish him for his share in the
Bavarian revolt. In the interval he had been called away to deal with a
dangerous incursion of the Danes under Harold Bluetooth who, having
crossed the frontier wall, was ravaging the country beyond the Elbe.
Otto hurriedly collected an army, marched against the invaders, and
drove them back to the wall. He could not pursue his success further
for a formidable army of Norwegians under Jarl Hákon blocked his way.
But his object was achieved. Harold opened negotiations offering all his
treasure; this Otto declined and withdrew to collect a larger army, but
when Harold offered not only treasure, but also a tribute and his son as
a hostage, his terms were accepted. To strengthen the frontier Otto
established a new fortress on the east coast of Schleswig.
Before two years had elapsed, Henry, who well merited his name
“the Wrangler," had escaped from his imprisonment at Ingelheim and
again broke into revolt. Two brothers, Berthold and Liutpold, of the
house of Babenberg, hurriedly mustered the local levies and held him
in check until, at the approach of Otto himself, the rebellious duke fled
I A table will make the relationships clear:
Henry the Fowler
Arnulf,
Berthold,
Edith=Otto I=Adelaide Henry, Duke of Bavaria Duke of
1
a
Duke of
Bavaria
Otto II=Theophano Bavaria Judith
Henry
Liudolf Liut- Otto III
gard=Conrad,
Otto,
Duke of
Duke of
Lorraine
Swabia
and
Bavaria Otto, Duke of Carinthia
Burchard,=Hedwig
Duke of
Swabia
Henry,
Duke of
(the Wrangler), Carinthia
Duke of
Bavaria
Henry II, Duke
of Bavaria and
later Emperor
H. .
## p. 206 (#252) ############################################
206
The War of the Three Henries
to Bohemia. At an assembly of princes held at Ratisbon in July 976
Henry was deprived of his duchy, which was granted to Otto of Swabia.
For the first time the two duchies were united under one ruler ; but the
Bavaria granted to Duke Otto was not the same Bavaria as Duke Henry
had formerly held. Several important changes diminished it in extent
and in power; first, Carinthia with the March of Verona was completely
severed and formed into a separate duchy which was conferred on Henry,
called the younger, son of the old Duke Berthold of Bavaria; secondly,
the two brothers, Berthold and Liutpold, were rewarded for their fidelity
to the imperial cause. Berthold was made more independent, the
Nordgau of Bavaria being formed into a new margravate on the Bohe-
mian frontier, while Liutpold was established on a firmer footing on the
East March, which we now know as Austria, where. his descendants
flourished first as margraves and later as dukes down to the thirteenth
century.
Certain ecclesiastical changes were made at the same time.
The Church in Bavaria was freed from the control of the duke and
became directly dependent on the king ; large grants were made to the
bishops of Salzburg and Passau ; and the bishopric of Prague, founded
the previous year, was attached to the province of Mayence, thus freeing
the ecclesiastical centre in Bohemia from any Bavarian influence.
Boleslav of Bohemia had been a principal accessory to the Bavarian
revolts; the campaign of 975 had been without result, so in 977 Otto
again took the field against him. Though he himself was successful,
.
his nephew, Duke Otto, in command of an army of Bavarians, met
with a disaster. One evening his men were peacefully bathing in the
river near Pilsen, when they were surprised by a body of Bohemians
who slew many of them and captured much booty. Eventually, how-
ever, Boleslav was brought to submission and did homage to the
Emperor at Magdeburg (Easter 978). A year later a successful cam-
paign compelled Mesco, Duke of the Poles, to submit to the imperial
authority. But while the Emperor was engaged in the punitive expedi-
tion in Bohemia, a fresh conspiracy of an alarming nature was set on
foot in Bavaria. Henry of Carinthia, and Henry, Bishop of Augsburg,
allied themselves with Henry, the deposed Duke of Bavaria. Even the
Church wavered in its loyalty. Nevertheless, in the “War of the Three
Henries” as it was called, Otto was entirely successful. Accompanied
by Duke Otto he advanced against the rebels, whom he found in
possession of Passau. By means of a bridge of boats he closely invested
the town and soon brought it to surrender (September 977). At the Easter
Court (978) held at Magdeburg judgment was given against the
conspirators. The two dukes were sentenced to banishment, and Henry
of Carinthia also suffered the loss of his recently acquired duchy, which
was conferred upon Otto the son of Conrad of Lorraine. The Bishop
of Augsburg was delivered over to the custody of the Abbot of Werden
where he remained till, on the intervention of Duke Otto and the clergy
a
>
## p. 207 (#253) ############################################
Otto II and Lorraine
207
of his diocese, he was granted his liberty (July). The repeated rebellions
in Bavaria occasioned a marked change in the character of the duchy.
Its traditions, its independent position, its ruling family were crushed.
Henceforth Bavaria like the other duchies takes its place in the national
system of Otto the Great. It was also in consequence of the new
appointments in Bavaria and of the elevation of the two Ottos to the
ducal dignity that the Empress Adelaide who had, in the first years of
the reign, exercised considerable influence over her son, now withdrew
from court to her native Burgundy. Her place of influence in Otto's
councils was afterwards taken by the Empress Theophano.
Lorraine had from the beginning of the reign been a source of
trouble to Otto. The lower province, after the death of Duke Godfrey
in Italy, had fallen under the direct government of the king. In January
974 Reginar and Lambert (Lantbert), the sons of the banished Count
Reginar of Hainault, had attempted to regain their father's possessions
and fortified Boussu on the river Haine. Otto advanced into Lorraine,
burnt the stronghold, and captured the garrison ; but he allowed the
brothers to escape. Two years later they reappeared in alliance with
Charles, the brother of Lothair, King of France, and Otto, son of the
Count of Vermandois. The revolt was, however, suppressed by Godfrey,
whom the Emperor had set over the cour ty of Hainault. The next
year the troublesome sons of Reginar were reinstated in their paternal
inheritance of Hainault, and their ally in the recent rebellion, Charles,
the brother of the King of France, was invested with the duchy of
Lower Lorraine.
Charles, however, entertained no fraternal feelings for his brother;
indeed, Otto's object in granting him the duchy seems to have been
a desire to gain an ally in the all too probable event of his coming
to blows with the King of France. This appointment, therefore, together
with the slight shewn to the Empress Adelaide, whose daughter Emma
by her first marriage with Lothar of Italy was now Queen of France,
provided ample pretext for Lothair to try to regain Lorraine for the
West Frankish crown. So long as a Caroling occupied the Western
• throne, there was a party in Lorraine realy to transfer their allegi-
ance to him.
With so large an army that “their erect spears ap-
peared more like a grove of trees than arms," Lothair marched against
Aix-la-Chapelle. When news of the French advance was brought to
Otto he refused to believe it possible. Convinced of the truth only
when the enemy were at the very gates of the town, he and his wife were
compelled to make a hasty retreat to Cologne, leaving the old Carolingian
capital in the hands of the enemy. Lothair sacked the palace and
reversed the position of the brazen eagle set up on its summit by Charles
the Great? He then returned to his own dominions. Otto did not
1 According to Richer 111. 71, the eagle was set up by Charles the Great facing
the west, signifying that the Emperor was lord of the West Franks as well as the
>
CH, x.
## p. 208 (#254) ############################################
208
Revolt of the Slavs
permit this extraordinary piece of audacity to remain long unpunished.
With a large army he crossed the frontier in October, while the French
king retreated before him to Etampes. Otto sacked the royal manor of
Attigny, passed unchecked through Rheims and Soissons, plundered the
palace of Compiègne and eventually appeared on the heights of Mont-
martre above Paris. But as a fresh army was mustering to resist him,
he contented himself with ravaging the country round and then withdrew
to Germany. The French army harassed the rear of the retreating
army and even fought a slight engagement on the banks of the Aisne.
In the next year Lothair involved himself in a local dispute in Flanders,
but finally sought an interview with the Emperor at Margut on the
Chiers (980), where he agreed to abandon all claim to Lorraine.
During the first seven years of his reign Otto had been fairly successful.
He had settled the troubles with which he was confronted in Bavaria at
the outset of his reign; he had maintained his position in Lorraine in
the face of repeated rebellions and attempts of Lothair to recover it for
the West Frankish crown; he had subdued the Danes, the Bohemians,
and the Poles. Under his rule the work of conversion of the heathen
races on the eastern frontier made rapid progress. Bishoprics were
established for Bohemia at Prague, for Moravia at Olmütz and for
Denmark at Odense on the island of Fyn. Even the Hungarians, in
spite of intermittent warfare in which Liutpold succeeded in extending
the East March as far as the Wienerwald, were inclined to be on better
terms with Germany and permitted Bishop Pilgrim of Passau to pursue
his missionary labours among the heathen Magyars.
The affairs of Germany were at last sufficiently settled to justify the
Emperor's absence in Italy. In November 980 he crossed the Alps
accompanied by his wife, his infant son (Otto III was born in July 980),
and his nephew Otto of Swabia.
The disastrous end of Otto's Italian campaign of 980-9831 led to
revolts all along the German frontier, accompanied by a heathen
reaction. Duke Bernard of Saxony on his way to the diet of Verona
(983) was summoned back by the news that Svein who had deposed his
father, Harold Bluetooth, had overrun the Danish March. The Lusa-
tians broke into rebellion, destroyed the churches of Havelberg and
Brandenburg and put many Christians to the sword. Hamburg was
plundered and burnt by the Obotrites, Zeitz by an army of Bohemians.
The faith of Christ and St Peter, says Thietmar, was forsaken for
the worship of demons. A combined movement of the Saxon princes
East Franks, and King Lothair turned it to the S. E. indicating that the West Frankish
king was lord over Germany. But Thietmar 11. 8 says the opposite. “It was the
custom of all who possessed this place to turn it (the eagle) towards their country";
that is, if it pointed east it indicated that the German king was lord of Aix-la-
Chapelle.
1 Vide supra, pp. 168–70.
## p. 209 (#255) ############################################
Accession of Otto III
209
under the Margrave Dietrich, the Archbishop of Magdeburg and the
Bishop of Halberstadt succeeded in checking the advance in a battle
fought at Belkesheim, just west of the Elbe, but they failed to re-
establish German influence or Christianity among the heathen tribes.
The work of Otto the Great, carried on so successfully in the earlier
years of his son's reign, received a blow from which it did not recover
for more than a century.
It only remains to notice the complete reversal of German policy
which is marked by the diet held at Verona in June 983. The death of
Otto, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria, at Lucca on his way back to Germany
necessitated a new arrangement for the southern duchies. His death,
combined with the disasters in Germany and Italy, involved the ruin of
the party represented by the descendants of Otto the Great's first
marriage, the two Duke Ottos, and the ascendancy of what we may call
the Adelaide party. The Emperor was not strong enough to stand
against the powerful influences of his mother. Not only did he make
her regent in Italy, but further he deposed Otto of Carinthia from his
duchy which, reunited with Bavaria, he gave to Henry the Younger.
The unfortunate Otto was therefore kept from his duchy through no
fault of his own, until Otto III, taking advantage of another vacancy in
995, reinstated him in his former dignity. Swabia was granted to
Conrad of the Franconian family. At the same diet the infant son of
the Emperor was chosen as the successor to the throne.
Misfortune and the Italian climate combined to ruin the Emperor's
health. After a short illness he died at Rome on 7 December 983 in
his twenty-eighth year and was buried in the church of St Peter.
Otto III, then three years old, was being crowned at the Christmas
festival at Aix-la-Chapelle when news arrived of his father's death at
Rome. The question of the regency at once arose. It would, according
to German practice, fall to Henry the Wrangler, the deposed and im-
prisoned Duke of Bavaria, but Byzantine custom favoured the Empress
Mother and it was not likely that Theophano would allow her claim to
be lightly passed over. Henry, who was immediately set at liberty by
the Bishop of Utrecht, took prompt action. Moreover, it soon became
evident that he was aiming not at the regency but at the crown. He
hurried to Cologne and before his opponents had time to consider the
situation, he had taken the young Otto out of the hands of Archbishop
Willigis of Mayence. Though he won the support of the powerful
Archbishops of Cologne, Trèves and Magdeburg and the Bishop of Metz,
yet a strong party in Lorraine collected to withstand him. The strength
of this party lay in the influential family of Godfrey, the Count of
Hainault and Verdun. His son Adalbero was Bishop of Verdun, his
brother, also Adalbero, was Archbishop of Rheims. With the arch-
bishop worked the most remarkable man of the tenth century, Gerbert
of Aurillac. In 983 Otto II had made him abbot of the Lombard
C. JED, H. VOL. III, CHIX.
14
## p. 210 (#256) ############################################
210
The Regency
.
monastery of Bobbio, but disgusted at the lack of discipline of the
monks, he had just returned to resume his former work of Scholasticus
at the cathedral school of Rheims. From his correspondence for these
years we can gather how indefatigably he laboured in the interests of
the
young
Otto.
The situation was rendered more complex by the unexpected appear-
ance of Lothair as a candidate for the regency. Perhaps his real motive
was to induce Henry to give up Lorraine in return for the abandon-
ment of his claim, which, being upheld by the Lotharingian aristocracy,
by his brother Charles, and by Hugh Capet, was sufficiently formidable
to cause alarm. Soon he actually made this proposal to Henry and
entered into a secret compact with him, by which he agreed to support
the duke's claim to the throne in return for the duchy. The Lotharin-
gian nobles, alienated by the altered circumstances, at once prepared to
resist Lothair's attempt to occupy the duchy. Verdun fell before the
French attack (March 984) and Godfrey, who bravely defended it, was
captured. The stout resistance of Godfrey's sons, Herman and Adalbero,
prevented Lothair from making further progress, and the hostility of
Hugh Capet made it necessary for him to turn his attention to his own
kingdom. With the departure of the King of France, the centre of
action shifted to the east. In Saxony Henry's efforts met with no
success. Though he had himself proclaimed king by his supporters at
the Easter festival at Quedlinburg, where he received oaths of fealty from
the princes of the Bohemians, Poles and Obotrites, he was formally
renounced by an assembly of Saxon princes. Loyal to the representative
of the Saxon dynasty, they even prepared to resist the usurper with arms.
Failing to reconcile them, though succeeding in staving off a war by a
truce, Henry withdrew to his old duchy of Bavaria, where he found
himself firmly withstood by his cousin Henry the Younger.
Lothair had made no headway in Lorraine. The loyalty of the
Saxons and the energy of Conrad of Swabia and Willigis of Mayence,
the leaders of Otto's party, prevented Henry from gaining ground in the
other duchies; he was in no position to attempt to win the crown by
force of arms. Driven by pressure of circumstances he submitted his
claim to a diet of German princes. The assembly which met at Bürstadt
near Worms decided unanimously in favour of the young Otto. Henry
engaged to deliver the boy to the care of his mother and grandmother
at a diet to be held at Rara (perhaps Rohr, near Meiningen) on 29 June.
In the interval Henry, supported by Boleslav, prince of the Bohemians,
tried his fortunes in Thuringia but with similar lack of success. At
the diet of Rara, on the guarantee that he would be compensated
with Bavaria, Henry handed over the young king to the charge of
Theophano and Adelaide, who had been summoned from Italy. Henry
the Younger made some show of resistance at being ousted from his
duchy of Bavaria, but a final pacification took place early in the year
a
a
## p. 211 (#257) ############################################
War on the Eastern Frontier
211
985 at Frankfort. Henry was re-established in Bavaria and his cousin
was forced to content himself with Carinthia and the March of Verona,
now again formed into a separate duchy. At first Theophano and
Adelaide acted as joint regents, but the influence of the former soon
became predominant. In the administration of the kingdom she was
assisted by Willigis, Archbishop of Mayence, who took charge of affairs
in Germany during her absence in Italy in 989. The minority fell at a
critical time. The death of King Lothair of France in 986, followed a
year later by the death of his son, Louis V, without an heir, plunged
France into a civil war, during which the opposing parties of Hugh
Capet and Charles of Lower Lorraine, the representative of the Caro-
lingian house, each sought to win the help of the regents of Germany.
Theophano succeeded in maintaining a neutral attitude ; but the dynastic
question was no sooner settled in favour of Hugh, than another hot
dispute broke out as the result of the decision of the synod held at the
monastery of St Basle de Verzy near Rheims (June 991). The Arch-
bishop Arnulf of Rheims, the natural son of Lothair, was deposed from
his see and Gerbert was appointed in his place. Germany was again
called
upon to play a part in the affairs of France. A synod of German
bishops held at Ingelheim in 994 declared against the decisions of
St Basle. The controversy dragged on until 998, when Otto solved
the problem by making Gerbert Archbishop of Ravenna, thus leaving
Rheims in undisputed possession of Arnulf.
Still more serious was the general state of unrest on the Eastern
frontier. During the years 985-987 there was continual fighting against
the Wends and Bohemians. With the help of Mesco, Duke of the
Poles, Meissen was recovered for the Margrave Eckhard. When in 990
a war broke out between the Poles and Bohemians Theophano supported
Mesco while Boleslav was allied with the Lusatians. The Bohemians,
fearing to engage with the Germans, treated for peace. The Saxons
acted as mediators but barely escaped destruction through the treachery
of the barbarians. It was Boleslav, and not their ally Mesco, who
enabled the Saxon army to escape in safety to Magdeburg. On 15 June
991 Theophano died. Adelaide, who now returned from Italy and
undertook the regency, had neither the energy nor the statesmanlike
qualities of the younger Empress, and the weakness of her rule soon
became apparent in the frontier warfare. Brandenburg in 991 became
the centre of operations. The young king captured it with the help of
Mesco, but no sooner was his back turned than it was reconquered for
the Lusatians by a Saxon named Kiso. Otto renewed the attack in the
following year with the help of Henry of Bavaria and Boleslav of
Bohemia ; Boleslav, who had succeeded his father Mesco as prince of the
Poles, being threatened with a war with the Russians, was unable to
accompany the king in person but sent troops to his assistance. But not
till the spring of 993 was the fortress recovered, and then not by the
CH, Tx.
14-2
## p. 212 (#258) ############################################
212
Ambitions of Otto III
ineffectual efforts of his motley army, but by the same means as it was
lost, the treachery of Kiso. His faithless conduct brought on an attack
of the Lusatians; they fell upon and scattered an army sent to Kiso's
support under the Margrave Eckhard of Meissen. However, when the
king took the field himself they were quickly dispersed. A brief notice
of the Quedlinburg annalist informs us of a general rising of the Wends:
“All the Slavs except the Sorbs revolted from the Saxons" (994).
After a short campaign in the following year Otto seems to have
patched up some kind of a truce, and restored order sufficient to permit
him to leave Germany, and fulfil his cherished wish of visiting Italy.
Unfortunately the disturbances were not confined to the eastern
frontier. In 991 the Northmen, taking advantage of the internal
weakness of Germany, renewed their piratical descents on the Frisian
coast. In 994 they actually sailed up the river Elbe and carried their
devastations into Saxony. In an engagement fought at Stade a small
band of Saxons was defeated and their leaders were captured. While
the Saxon chiefs lay bound hand and foot on the ships, the Northmen
ravaged the country at will. Of the captives, some were ransomed, the
Margrave Siegfried effected his escape by making his capturers intoxi-
cated, the remainder, after shameful mutilation, were cast, more dead
than alive, upon the shore. The pirates renewed their inroads in the
next year, but the defensive measures taken by Bishop Bernward of
Hildesheim successfully checked their aggressions.
Our brief summary of the events of the frontier campaigns illustrates
the difficulties of the situation in Germany; it shews how fatal and how
lasting had been the effects of Otto II's Italian policy, how unwise the
high imperial aims of Otto III. Fortunately for the regents the southern
duchies had given no trouble since the baffled attempt of Henry the
Wrangler to obtain the crown for himself. Changes however had taken
place in their administration. On the death of Henry the Younger in
989 Carinthia and the March of Verona had been re-attached to the
duchy of Bavaria. But when Henry the Wrangler died in 995, they did
not pass with Bavaria to his son Henry, afterwards the Emperor Henry II,
but were restored to Otto, the son of Conrad the Red'.
Otto's first object was to visit Italy. He had taken the government
into his own hands in 994 when he was fourteen years of age, but owing
to the unsettled state of Germany it was not until 996 that he was able
to achieve his purpose. It was after his return from his first expedition
across the Alps that he began to develop that ambitious and somewhat
fantastic policy, for which perhaps he has been too severely censured. It
must be remembered that from his earliest boyhood he had come under
the influence of foreigners. The blame must rest equally on all those
who had charge of his education. His mother, the Empress Theophano,
and his tutor John, Abbot of the monastery of Nonantula, a Calabrian by
1 According to some authorities Otto was not restored to his duchy till 1002.
## p. 213 (#259) ############################################
Visit to the tomb of Charlemagne
213
>
birth, had taught him Latin and Greek, taught him to despise “Saxon
rusticity” and to prefer “our Greek subtility? . " They had also made
him familiar with the elaborate ceremonial of the Byzantine court. His
intimacy with Gerbert, when he was still at an impressionable age, had
moulded him into the ideals of the Roman Empire.
He was now in 996 Holy Roman Emperor, and the title had for
him a greater meaning than for his predecessors. The legend on one
of his seals, i renovatio imperii Romanorum,” shews clearly that he
realised that he was making a change in the imperial position. The
change is most apparent in the ordering of the institution where the
business of the Empire was transacted, the imperial chancery. Otto the
Great had not revived the system which had prevailed under the Caro-
lingians of treating Italy as a part of the Empire under the same
administrative machinery. He had established a separate chancery for
Italy. Germany and Italy were to be two distinct governments under one
ruler. When a vacancy occurred in 994 in the chancellorship of Italy,
Otto had appointed his chaplain Heribert. On the death of the German
chancellor, Hildibald of Worms, in 998, Heribert was placed at the
head of the German chancery also. Otto had departed from the system
established by his grandfather and, working on a definite plan, he returned
to the Carolingian tradition of a combined chancery for the whole
Empire. The two titular heads, the arch-chancellors of Germany and
Italy, remained, but their offices were sinecures ; the business of the
Empire was done by a single chancellor in a single chancery. Equally
significant is Otto's choice of counsellors. He completely emancipated
himself from the control of those men who had conducted the administra-
tion during his minority. Willigis of Mayence, Hildibald of Worms,
were replaced by an entirely new body of men. With the exception
of the chancellor Heribert, who was appointed Archbishop of Cologne
in 999, the men who exercised the most influence at court were foreigners.
Gerbert of Aurillac, Marquess Hugh of Tuscany, Peter, Bishop of Como,
the arch-chancellor of Italy, form the Emperor's intimate circle of
advisers.
The reverential, though perhaps over inquisitive, visit of the Emperor
to the tomb of Charles the Great at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 1000 is
symbolic of his attitude and policy. The famous story of the opening of
the tomb is recorded by the chronicler of the monastery of Novalesa in
Lombardy, who, though writing more than half a century later, gives
his information on the authority of Otto, Count of Lomello, who is said
to have been present on the occasion. “We entered in," he said, “unto
Charles. He was not lying down, as is the manner with the bodies of
other dead men, but sat on a certain chair as though he lived. He was
crowned with a golden crown, and held a sceptre in his hands, the same
being covered with gloves, through which the nails had grown and
1 Gerbert, Epist. (ed. Julien Havet), no. 186.
CH. I.
## p. 214 (#260) ############################################
214
Failure and Death of Otto III
pierced. And above him was a tabernacle compact of brass and marble
exceedingly. Now when we were come in unto the tomb, we brake and
made straightway an opening in it. And when we entered into it, we
perceived a vehement savour. So we did worship forthwith to him with
bended thighs and knees; and straightway Otto the Emperor clad him
with white raiment, and pared his nails, and made good all that was
lacking about him.
Ottos 1, Historische Zeitschrift, v. 141, and Der Ludolfinische Aufstand von 953,
Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, iv. 597, but see Giesebrecht, Kaiserzeit, i.
828, and Dümmler, Otto der Grosse, 212 f. , for the opposite view.
CH. VIII.
## p. 198 (#244) ############################################
198
Hungarian invasion
of their dukes. It was the duke who was attacked in Bavaria, in Lorraine,
and in Saxony. Only in Swabia was Liudolf's personal popularity
sufficiently strong to secure the loyalty of the tribe ; though even there
an anti-ducal party was formed under the leadership of Burchard, a
kinsman of the former duke. The inception of the war may be traced
to personal causes, to the personal jealousy of the leaders : its support to
the tribal opposition to the centralising system of the dukedoms. The
issue was decided not by any military exploit, successful campaign, or
victory in the field, but by the diversion created by an Hungarian inroad,
and by the violent reaction which followed against the party which
sought to gain advantage from alliance with the invaders.
The Hungarians had at the outset of Otto's reign, in 937 and in 938,
made two abortive attempts to invade Saxony. In 948 and in 949 they
had made incursions into Bavaria, but had been beaten off by Duke
Henry, who in two campaigns in the following year had successfully
carried the war into their own country. Nevertheless, early in the year
954 the Hungarians, who were always ready to turn the intestine troubles
of their neighbours to their own advantage, once more poured into
Germany. Contemporary historians have laid the charge of inviting the
barbarians upon both parties concerned in the struggle, but the occasion
was too obvious to require any solicitation. Certain it is, however, that
the invaders were eagerly welcomed by Liudolf and Conrad, who supplied
them with guides. They swept through Bavaria and Franconia, plunder-
ing as they went; they were publicly entertained at Worms on Palm
Sunday and loaded with presents of silver and gold. Conrad himself led
them on across the Rhine in the hope of regaining his own duchy through
their aid. But the raid of the barbarians did nothing to improve the
duke's position in Lorraine; they penetrated as far as Utrecht merely
laying waste the land as they passed; thence they moved southward
through Vermandois, Laon, and Rheims into Burgundy, and the remnant
of their band, much reduced in numbers by fighting and disease, returned
to their own country by way of Italy.
The invasion was Otto's deliverance. The royal army pressed hard
upon the Bavarians, who were forced to crave a truce, which was granted
till 16 June when a diet was to be held at Langenzenn, near the present
town of Nuremberg, where the case was to be decided. At the diet of
Langenzenn, all the leaders of the revolt, realising that their cause was
lost, made their appearance. During the proceedings each party accused
the other of introducing the Hungarians. The Archbishop of Mayence
and Conrad made their submission, but Liudolf remained obdurate; he
rode off in the night with his attendants to Ratisbon. The king followed
in pursuit, fighting on his way an indecisive engagement at Rosstall.
Ratisbon withstood the assault of the royal army. A long siege followed,
during which many skirmishes were fought before the walls, and the
burghers were reduced to the point of starvation. Finally, after the
## p. 199 (#245) ############################################
Defeat of the Hungarians in the Lechfeld
199
city had been invested for some six weeks, Liudolf and the citizens ob-
tained a truce, pending a settlement to be arranged at a diet to be held
at Fritzlar. Liudolf made a last attempt to rally his cause in Swabia ;
failing in this, he sought and gained his father's forgiveness. But neither
he nor Conrad recovered their dukedoms. As a result of the civil war
there were many new appointments to be made. For this purpose a
diet was held at Arnstadt on 7 December. The dukedom of Swabia
was given to Burchard, probably the son of the old Duke of Swabia of
that name and so a first cousin to Queen Adelaide. Lorraine had already
been granted to the king's brother Bruno, who in the previous year had
succeeded Archbishop Wikfried in the metropolitan see of Cologne.
The see of Mayence was also vacant, since the turbulent Archbishop Frede-
rick had died a few weeks before the meeting of the diet. His place
was filled by William, Otto's natural son. Bavaria held out until the
spring; but Henry was victorious over Herold, the rebellious Archbishop
of Salzburg, and the burghers of Ratisbon, again reduced to the ex-
tremities of famine, submitted themselves to Otto. So by the end of
the spring of 955 Otto was able to return in peace to his native Saxony.
The Hungarians, encouraged by their successful raid of the previous
year, made another inroad early in the year 955. It was checked, and
Otto received in Saxony what purported to be an Hungarian embassy ;
in fact its intention was nothing more nor less than to spy out the land,
and immediately afterwards Duke Henry sent word that the barbarians
had crossed the frontier. Their main body was encamped on the banks of
the Lech near Augsburg. The city was defended by its Bishop St Ulric,
whose contemporary biographer speaks of the desperate straits to which
he was reduced ; the city walls were dilapidated and unprovided with
towers; it seemed impossible to withstand an assault from an enemy
whose numbers are said to have amounted to one hundred thousand
horsemen. Yet one day the bishop, arrayed in his pontifical robes, sallied
forth, himself unarmed, into the ranks of the enemy and threw them into
confusion. On the following day, the feast of St Lawrence (10 August),
as the bishop quietly awaited the inevitable counter-attack, he heard the
welcome news of Otto's approach. When the news of the invasion reached
him Otto had hurried southward with a small band of Saxons. On
his march, other troops collected and he reached the neighbourhood of
Augsburg with a vast army drawn from all parts of Germany. The host
was formed up in eight divisions: three from Bavaria, two from Swabia,
and one each from Saxony, Lorraine and Bohemia. The battle was fought
in the Lechfeld to the south of the city on the left bank of the river? ,
1 The exact site on which the battle was fought is much disputed. Schäfer in the
Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin), xxvii. 1905, opposed the old
view asserted by Bresslau in Historische Zeitschrift, 1897, Der Ort der Ungarnschlacht,
that the battle was fought in the Lechfeld south of the city on the left bank of
the river, and supposes the place to have been on the left bank but north-west of
CH. VIII.
## p. 200 (#246) ############################################
200
Peace restored in Germany
As on other occasions, legend gives the credit of the victory to the Holy
Lance with which Otto was armed. At first the enemy made headway
.
against the Swabian and Bohemian divisions ; but the courage and re-
source of Conrad, the deposed Duke of Lorraine, who fell in the battle,
restored the fortunes of the royal army. The victory was complete ;
and for three days the scattered remnants of the Hungarian hordes
were pursued and killed or taken captive. The victory had far-reaching
effects both for the conqueror and the conquered. Germany was for ever
relieved of the menace of invasion and the Hungarians gave up their
restless mode of life and took to a settled and peaceful existence.
The Hungarians were not the only neighbours of Germany who
had sought to take advantage of the civil war. The Wends rose in
revolt against German rule. In 954 Margrave Gero and Conrad (it is
characteristic of Otto to entrust his recent antagonist with a command)
won a victory over the Ukrani. Further north, in the district under
the authority of Duke Herman, the trouble was more serious; the
duke's nephews Wichmann and Ekbert, who had already attempted
without success to raise Saxony in revolt against their uncle, now joined
with the Wends. No decisive victory determined the fighting, which
continued intermittently and with varying success for a period of two
years. It was the news of the defeat of the Hungarians on the banks of
the Lech which struck the Wends with awe, and compelled them to make
an abject submission. They sent messages offering their accustomed
tribute: but Otto was not disposed to let them off so lightly. Accom-
panied by Liudolf and Boleslav of Bohemia, he ravaged their land as far
as Recknitz to the west of the Isle of Rügen. . Their leader Stoinef was
slain : Wichmann and Ekbert fled the country and took refuge at the
court of Duke Hugh in France. In 957 Wichmann again appeared in
alliance with the Wends, but he was finally defeated in 958 and received
à pardon on taking “a terrible oath never to conspire again against
Otto or his kingdom. ”
In Lorraine also there were signs of trouble, but the wise and states-
manlike rule of Bruno restored and maintained peace. Count Reginar
of Hainault was at the root of the disturbance; it was his hostility
to Conrad that secured the loyalty of Lorraine during the civil war.
Apparently he expected reward for his services, and, failing to get it, he
stirred up revolts against the authority of Bruno. The archbishop
suppressed two risings in 957 and 959 and, as a precaution against dis-
order in the future, deemed it advisable to divide the duchy into two
units of administration: a certain noble of the country named Godfrey
had already been placed over the lower, and Frederick, brother of the
Augsburg. Others have suggested yet other possibilities, e. g. Wallmenich, Die
Ungarnschlacht auf dem Lechfeld, chooses the right bank of the river to the south-east
of the city and Hadank, Einige Bemerkungen über die Ungarnschlacht, 1908, the
right bank to the north-east of the city as the spot.
## p. 201 (#247) ############################################
Otto the Great as Emperor
201
powerful Bishop Adalbero of Metz, was now set over the upper province.
To the prudent and judicious policy of the Archbishop of Cologne, it
may be added, was due the maintenance of friendly relations with France,
and it is no exaggeration to assert that to his support Lothair, on the
death of Louis IV in 954, owed his peace'ul and uncontested succession
in that kingdom.
By the year 960 Otto's rule in Germany was firmly established. The
Hungarians were defeated once and for all: the Wends between the Elbe
and the Oder were quelled; Lorraine and the Western Kingdom, thanks
to Bruno, were at peace. The presence of envoys from foreign courts at his
solemn assemblies testifies to the strength of his rule and to the extent of
his fame. Romans and Greeks, Saracens and Russians visited his court,
bringing him gifts of gold, silver and ivory, balm and precious ointments,
and lions, camels, monkeys, and ostriches, animals hitherto unknown in
Saxony. All nations of the Christian world, concludes Widukind, looked
to the great king in their troubles. So in 959 ambassadors from the
Russian Queen Olga, who was baptised in 957, came to Germany to beg
Otto to send missionaries to their heathen country. A certain Libertius
was ordained bishop for the purpose but died before he could embark on
his difficult enterprise ; Adalbert from the monastery of St Maximin at
T'rèves was chosen in his place, but after a year's fruitless endeavour
returned to his own country.
So again, John XII, Pope and patrician of Rome, sought Otto's
assistance against the oppression of Berengar and his son Adalbert.
The project suited Otto's own policy. The conduct of the vassal king
of Italy had already earned his displeasure; but unable to go in person
he had sent Liudolf, who, since he had lost his dukedom, was in need of
employment. A brilliant and successful campaign (956–7) was, however,
cut short by the death of its leader. Liudolf died of fever at Pombia
and the work was left unfinished. At the appeal of the Pope in 959,
Otto prepared to cross the Alps himself. Anxious to secure the throne
in his own line in the event of his death during the campaign, he caused
his infant son Otto to be elected king at Worms and to be solemnly
crowned and anointed in the royal chapel of Charles the Great at Aix-
la-Chapelle. Then leaving the boy in charge of William, Archbishop of
Mayence, he set out to deliver Italy from its enemies and to receive the
imperial crown from the hands of Pope John XII.
Of the last twelve years of his life and reign, the Emperor spent
scarcely more than two in Germany. The imperial title brought with
it new responsibilities to bear, new difficulties to overcome; the work of
his later years was beyond the Alps. Nevertheless, it is unjust to lay to
his charge the neglect of Germany, a charge which can be supported
against his grandson Otto III. Otto the Great never lost interest, never
disregarded the affairs of his original kingdom. At Rome one of his first
considerations was the organisation of the Church on the eastern frontier
CH. VIII.
## p. 202 (#248) ############################################
202
Spread of Christianity in the North
I
of
.
D
of Saxony, the carrying out of his cherished plan, the foundation of a
metropolitan see at Magdeburg. As early as 955 he had sent Hademar,
Abbot of Fulda, to Rome to discuss this project with Pope Agapetus.
The jealousy of the Bishop of Halberstadt and of the Metropolitan of
Mayence put every obstacle in his path. But at last, on 12 February 962,
he was able to make the final arrangements and obtained from Pope
John XII a bull for the erection of an archbishopric at Magdeburg and a
bishopric at Merseburg. It was not, however, until 968 that effect was
given to it by the appointment of bishops. Adalbert, the first Arch-
bishop of Magdeburg, was a man of peculiar interest. He began life in
the monastery of St Maximin at Trèves, for some years he was a notary
in the chancery, in 961 he was sent as a bishop to preach the gospel in
Russia. In 966 he became Abbot of Weissenburg in Alsace, and in 968
Archbishop of Magdeburg. He is also conjectured to be the author of
the Continuation of the Chronicle of Regino of Prüm', and his varied life
and profound experience make his work of the highest value for the history
of Otto the Great.
The Emperor returned to Germany at the beginning of the year 965.
After an absence of more than three years there was much work requiring
his attention. The Wends, again assisted and roused by the turbulent
Wichmann, had given much trouble to Otto's vicegerents, Herman and
Gero, and the intermittent warfare was only brought to an end in 967
when Wichmann, then in alliance with the Redarii, was defeated and slain.
Nevertheless, in spite of the many difficulties in the way, Christianity and
,
German influence had extended very rapidly. In a campaign in 963
Gero subdued the Lusatians and received the submission and tribute of
Mesco, Duke of the Poles, who was also engaged in war with the Wends.
Bohemia was on terms of close friendship with Germany when under the
younger Boleslav, who appeared in person at Otto's court in 973. He
was zealous in the cause of Christianity and it was through the influence
of his daughter Dabravka that Mesco was baptised and missionary work
was set on foot for the first time in Poland. About the same time Harold
Bluetooth, King of Denmark, was baptised, and enjoined the Christian
faith upon his subjects. The death of Gero, soon after his return from
a pilgrimage to Rome in 965, was a set-back to German expansion. He
was the real founder of the German dominion between the Elbe and the
Oder, and his place was difficult to fill. It provided the occasion for
,
the division of the conquered territory into the later system of marches:.
1 The conjecture now generally accepted is Giesebrecht's, see Kaiserzeit, 1. 778.
2 The date of Harold's conversion is disputed. Waitz, Heinrich, 1. , p. 165, attri-
butes it to the year 934. But the later date 965 accepted by Dümmler, Otto der Grosse,
p. 391, seems to be more in accordance with the evidence. Widukind, in. 65, who
gives a detailed account of the conversion, and Adam of Bremen, 11. 3, place the
event after a successful campaign by Otto against the Danes which must have taken
place after the Emperor's return from Italy in 965.
3 On Gero's death his march was divided into three: (1) the North march under
>
## p. 203 (#249) ############################################
Death of Otto the Great
203
a
The death of Archbishop Bruno in the same year deprived the Emperor
of another of his most loyal and most valuable governors. In his ducal
office he had no successor: the division of the duchy into the provinces
of Upper and Lower Lorraine, carried out by Bruno in 959, rendered a
duke or archduke over the whole superfluous.
The years 966 to 972 were spent in Italy. Two events which bear
upon German history may be recorded ; first, the young king Otto II
was crowned Emperor at the hands of the Pope John XIII on Christmas
Day 967; and secondly, after a long series of negotiations, a Byzantine
princess, a niece of John Tzimisces named Theophano, was given in marriage
to the young Emperor.
At Christmas 972 Otto the Great was again in Germany. He was
honoured by embassies to his court from distant lands, even from the
Saracens in Africa. His work, however, was completed, he had outlived his
friends and associates. While he was absent in Italy, his son William and
his mother Matilda had died (March 968): soon after his return he lost
his trusted and loyal servant Herman. He himself did not survive much
longer. He died at Memleben, the little town in the Harz Mountains
which had also witnessed the death of his father, on 7 May 973, in his
sixty-first year. His body was taken to Magdeburg and buried in the
cathedral he had built.
The Saxon historian, Widukind, sums up the achievements of his life
in the voice of popular opinion : "The people, saying many things in
“
his praise, recalled to mind that he had ruled his subjects with paternal
piety, he had liberated them from their enemies, had conquered with his
arms the proud Avars, Saracens, Danes, and Slavs; he had brought Italy
under his yoke ; he had destroyed the temples of his heathen neighbours
and set up churches and priests in their place. ” All this he had accom-
plished. If he had failed in his attempt to centralise the government of
Germany, his failure was due to the inevitable progress towards feudalism
and the too deeply rooted tribal traditions. If in this direction his
empire fell short of its model, the empire of Charles the Great, in an-
other direction it was conspicuously in advance of it. His work, in the
extension of German influence and civilisation and in the progress of
Christianity towards the north and east of his dominions, was of per-
manent value, and stood as the firm basis of future expansion and future
development.
one margrave, (2) the East march or March of Lausitz under two margraves, and
(3) the Thuringian march, later the March of Meissen, under three margraves.
CH. VIII.
## p. 204 (#250) ############################################
204
CHAPTER IX.
OTTO II AND OTTO III.
The stability of the Saxon dynasty is shewn in a marked degree by
the way in which son succeeded father almost without question until the
direct line breaks off for lack of an heir with Otto III. Otto II, who was
born towards the end of 955, had been elected and twice crowned (at
Aix-la-Chapelle in May 961 and at Rome on Christmas Day 967) during
his father's lifetime. When Otto the Great died in 973, he was universally
accepted as his successor. It was not that there was no opposition, but the
people of Germany as a whole were satisfied with the ruling family and,
in cases of rebellion, were prepared to give their support to the hereditary
sovereign. This fact is proved not only in the frequent Bavarian revolts
in the reign of Otto II, but also and more remarkably in the attempt of
the Duke of Bavaria to wrest the crown from its rightful possessor,
the infant Otto III. Otto the Red is described by the chronicler
Thietmar as being possessed of fine physical powers ; and though at
first, through lack of experience, he shunned wise counsel, chastened by
troubles he set a rein upon himself and lived nobly for the rest of his
days.
During the first seven years of his reign his energies were directed
towards Bavaria and Lorraine. Bavaria enjoyed a position of greater
independence than any of the other duchies. Its traditions were more
deeply rooted; the influence of the old ducal family was stronger. It
had ties closely binding it with the other southern duchy, Swabia.
Burchard, Duke of Swabia, had died the year of Otto's accession and
the new king filled the vacancy by appointing Otto, the son of his half
brother Liudolf, former Duke of Swabia. Duke Burchard's widow,
Hedwig, was the daughter of Judith, the widow of Henry I of Bavaria,
who was always anxious to advance the interests of her family. She and
her son Henry, the ruling Duke of Bavaria, resented the favour shewn to
Otto, son of Liudolf, and broke into open revolt. In the first struggles
we may see an arrangement of parties which remained unchanged
throughout the reign. On the one side stand the sons of the children
of Otto the Great by his first marriage with Edith, both named Otto,
the one just elected to the duchy of Swabia, the other shortly after
appointed Duke of Carinthia; to this party the Emperor first turned
## p. 205 (#251) ############################################
Bavarian revolts
205
for support. The Bavarian family, Duke Henry and his cousin Henry,
son of Duke Berthold, were the leaders of the opposite faction. Later,
it was openly favoured by the Empress Adelaide the queen-mother, who
had a somewhat natural aversion to the sons of her stepchildren, for it
was these men who had headed the revolt against her husband in 955
just after and largely in consequence of her marriage? . In the first rebel-
lion in Bavaria Henry's ambition seems to have aspired to the throne.
It was the more serious as he was allied with Boleslav, Duke of the
Bohemians, and with Mesco, Duke of the Poles. The plot was however
discovered in time; Henry and his chief adviser, Abraham, Bishop of
Freising, were summoned under pain of the ban to appear before the
Emperor and were imprisoned, Henry at Ingelheim, Bishop Abraham
at Corvey; Judith, who was also deeply involved in the conspiracy,
entered a convent at Ratisbon.
It was not until the autumn of 975 that Otto was able to take the
field against Boleslav of Bohemia to punish him for his share in the
Bavarian revolt. In the interval he had been called away to deal with a
dangerous incursion of the Danes under Harold Bluetooth who, having
crossed the frontier wall, was ravaging the country beyond the Elbe.
Otto hurriedly collected an army, marched against the invaders, and
drove them back to the wall. He could not pursue his success further
for a formidable army of Norwegians under Jarl Hákon blocked his way.
But his object was achieved. Harold opened negotiations offering all his
treasure; this Otto declined and withdrew to collect a larger army, but
when Harold offered not only treasure, but also a tribute and his son as
a hostage, his terms were accepted. To strengthen the frontier Otto
established a new fortress on the east coast of Schleswig.
Before two years had elapsed, Henry, who well merited his name
“the Wrangler," had escaped from his imprisonment at Ingelheim and
again broke into revolt. Two brothers, Berthold and Liutpold, of the
house of Babenberg, hurriedly mustered the local levies and held him
in check until, at the approach of Otto himself, the rebellious duke fled
I A table will make the relationships clear:
Henry the Fowler
Arnulf,
Berthold,
Edith=Otto I=Adelaide Henry, Duke of Bavaria Duke of
1
a
Duke of
Bavaria
Otto II=Theophano Bavaria Judith
Henry
Liudolf Liut- Otto III
gard=Conrad,
Otto,
Duke of
Duke of
Lorraine
Swabia
and
Bavaria Otto, Duke of Carinthia
Burchard,=Hedwig
Duke of
Swabia
Henry,
Duke of
(the Wrangler), Carinthia
Duke of
Bavaria
Henry II, Duke
of Bavaria and
later Emperor
H. .
## p. 206 (#252) ############################################
206
The War of the Three Henries
to Bohemia. At an assembly of princes held at Ratisbon in July 976
Henry was deprived of his duchy, which was granted to Otto of Swabia.
For the first time the two duchies were united under one ruler ; but the
Bavaria granted to Duke Otto was not the same Bavaria as Duke Henry
had formerly held. Several important changes diminished it in extent
and in power; first, Carinthia with the March of Verona was completely
severed and formed into a separate duchy which was conferred on Henry,
called the younger, son of the old Duke Berthold of Bavaria; secondly,
the two brothers, Berthold and Liutpold, were rewarded for their fidelity
to the imperial cause. Berthold was made more independent, the
Nordgau of Bavaria being formed into a new margravate on the Bohe-
mian frontier, while Liutpold was established on a firmer footing on the
East March, which we now know as Austria, where. his descendants
flourished first as margraves and later as dukes down to the thirteenth
century.
Certain ecclesiastical changes were made at the same time.
The Church in Bavaria was freed from the control of the duke and
became directly dependent on the king ; large grants were made to the
bishops of Salzburg and Passau ; and the bishopric of Prague, founded
the previous year, was attached to the province of Mayence, thus freeing
the ecclesiastical centre in Bohemia from any Bavarian influence.
Boleslav of Bohemia had been a principal accessory to the Bavarian
revolts; the campaign of 975 had been without result, so in 977 Otto
again took the field against him. Though he himself was successful,
.
his nephew, Duke Otto, in command of an army of Bavarians, met
with a disaster. One evening his men were peacefully bathing in the
river near Pilsen, when they were surprised by a body of Bohemians
who slew many of them and captured much booty. Eventually, how-
ever, Boleslav was brought to submission and did homage to the
Emperor at Magdeburg (Easter 978). A year later a successful cam-
paign compelled Mesco, Duke of the Poles, to submit to the imperial
authority. But while the Emperor was engaged in the punitive expedi-
tion in Bohemia, a fresh conspiracy of an alarming nature was set on
foot in Bavaria. Henry of Carinthia, and Henry, Bishop of Augsburg,
allied themselves with Henry, the deposed Duke of Bavaria. Even the
Church wavered in its loyalty. Nevertheless, in the “War of the Three
Henries” as it was called, Otto was entirely successful. Accompanied
by Duke Otto he advanced against the rebels, whom he found in
possession of Passau. By means of a bridge of boats he closely invested
the town and soon brought it to surrender (September 977). At the Easter
Court (978) held at Magdeburg judgment was given against the
conspirators. The two dukes were sentenced to banishment, and Henry
of Carinthia also suffered the loss of his recently acquired duchy, which
was conferred upon Otto the son of Conrad of Lorraine. The Bishop
of Augsburg was delivered over to the custody of the Abbot of Werden
where he remained till, on the intervention of Duke Otto and the clergy
a
>
## p. 207 (#253) ############################################
Otto II and Lorraine
207
of his diocese, he was granted his liberty (July). The repeated rebellions
in Bavaria occasioned a marked change in the character of the duchy.
Its traditions, its independent position, its ruling family were crushed.
Henceforth Bavaria like the other duchies takes its place in the national
system of Otto the Great. It was also in consequence of the new
appointments in Bavaria and of the elevation of the two Ottos to the
ducal dignity that the Empress Adelaide who had, in the first years of
the reign, exercised considerable influence over her son, now withdrew
from court to her native Burgundy. Her place of influence in Otto's
councils was afterwards taken by the Empress Theophano.
Lorraine had from the beginning of the reign been a source of
trouble to Otto. The lower province, after the death of Duke Godfrey
in Italy, had fallen under the direct government of the king. In January
974 Reginar and Lambert (Lantbert), the sons of the banished Count
Reginar of Hainault, had attempted to regain their father's possessions
and fortified Boussu on the river Haine. Otto advanced into Lorraine,
burnt the stronghold, and captured the garrison ; but he allowed the
brothers to escape. Two years later they reappeared in alliance with
Charles, the brother of Lothair, King of France, and Otto, son of the
Count of Vermandois. The revolt was, however, suppressed by Godfrey,
whom the Emperor had set over the cour ty of Hainault. The next
year the troublesome sons of Reginar were reinstated in their paternal
inheritance of Hainault, and their ally in the recent rebellion, Charles,
the brother of the King of France, was invested with the duchy of
Lower Lorraine.
Charles, however, entertained no fraternal feelings for his brother;
indeed, Otto's object in granting him the duchy seems to have been
a desire to gain an ally in the all too probable event of his coming
to blows with the King of France. This appointment, therefore, together
with the slight shewn to the Empress Adelaide, whose daughter Emma
by her first marriage with Lothar of Italy was now Queen of France,
provided ample pretext for Lothair to try to regain Lorraine for the
West Frankish crown. So long as a Caroling occupied the Western
• throne, there was a party in Lorraine realy to transfer their allegi-
ance to him.
With so large an army that “their erect spears ap-
peared more like a grove of trees than arms," Lothair marched against
Aix-la-Chapelle. When news of the French advance was brought to
Otto he refused to believe it possible. Convinced of the truth only
when the enemy were at the very gates of the town, he and his wife were
compelled to make a hasty retreat to Cologne, leaving the old Carolingian
capital in the hands of the enemy. Lothair sacked the palace and
reversed the position of the brazen eagle set up on its summit by Charles
the Great? He then returned to his own dominions. Otto did not
1 According to Richer 111. 71, the eagle was set up by Charles the Great facing
the west, signifying that the Emperor was lord of the West Franks as well as the
>
CH, x.
## p. 208 (#254) ############################################
208
Revolt of the Slavs
permit this extraordinary piece of audacity to remain long unpunished.
With a large army he crossed the frontier in October, while the French
king retreated before him to Etampes. Otto sacked the royal manor of
Attigny, passed unchecked through Rheims and Soissons, plundered the
palace of Compiègne and eventually appeared on the heights of Mont-
martre above Paris. But as a fresh army was mustering to resist him,
he contented himself with ravaging the country round and then withdrew
to Germany. The French army harassed the rear of the retreating
army and even fought a slight engagement on the banks of the Aisne.
In the next year Lothair involved himself in a local dispute in Flanders,
but finally sought an interview with the Emperor at Margut on the
Chiers (980), where he agreed to abandon all claim to Lorraine.
During the first seven years of his reign Otto had been fairly successful.
He had settled the troubles with which he was confronted in Bavaria at
the outset of his reign; he had maintained his position in Lorraine in
the face of repeated rebellions and attempts of Lothair to recover it for
the West Frankish crown; he had subdued the Danes, the Bohemians,
and the Poles. Under his rule the work of conversion of the heathen
races on the eastern frontier made rapid progress. Bishoprics were
established for Bohemia at Prague, for Moravia at Olmütz and for
Denmark at Odense on the island of Fyn. Even the Hungarians, in
spite of intermittent warfare in which Liutpold succeeded in extending
the East March as far as the Wienerwald, were inclined to be on better
terms with Germany and permitted Bishop Pilgrim of Passau to pursue
his missionary labours among the heathen Magyars.
The affairs of Germany were at last sufficiently settled to justify the
Emperor's absence in Italy. In November 980 he crossed the Alps
accompanied by his wife, his infant son (Otto III was born in July 980),
and his nephew Otto of Swabia.
The disastrous end of Otto's Italian campaign of 980-9831 led to
revolts all along the German frontier, accompanied by a heathen
reaction. Duke Bernard of Saxony on his way to the diet of Verona
(983) was summoned back by the news that Svein who had deposed his
father, Harold Bluetooth, had overrun the Danish March. The Lusa-
tians broke into rebellion, destroyed the churches of Havelberg and
Brandenburg and put many Christians to the sword. Hamburg was
plundered and burnt by the Obotrites, Zeitz by an army of Bohemians.
The faith of Christ and St Peter, says Thietmar, was forsaken for
the worship of demons. A combined movement of the Saxon princes
East Franks, and King Lothair turned it to the S. E. indicating that the West Frankish
king was lord over Germany. But Thietmar 11. 8 says the opposite. “It was the
custom of all who possessed this place to turn it (the eagle) towards their country";
that is, if it pointed east it indicated that the German king was lord of Aix-la-
Chapelle.
1 Vide supra, pp. 168–70.
## p. 209 (#255) ############################################
Accession of Otto III
209
under the Margrave Dietrich, the Archbishop of Magdeburg and the
Bishop of Halberstadt succeeded in checking the advance in a battle
fought at Belkesheim, just west of the Elbe, but they failed to re-
establish German influence or Christianity among the heathen tribes.
The work of Otto the Great, carried on so successfully in the earlier
years of his son's reign, received a blow from which it did not recover
for more than a century.
It only remains to notice the complete reversal of German policy
which is marked by the diet held at Verona in June 983. The death of
Otto, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria, at Lucca on his way back to Germany
necessitated a new arrangement for the southern duchies. His death,
combined with the disasters in Germany and Italy, involved the ruin of
the party represented by the descendants of Otto the Great's first
marriage, the two Duke Ottos, and the ascendancy of what we may call
the Adelaide party. The Emperor was not strong enough to stand
against the powerful influences of his mother. Not only did he make
her regent in Italy, but further he deposed Otto of Carinthia from his
duchy which, reunited with Bavaria, he gave to Henry the Younger.
The unfortunate Otto was therefore kept from his duchy through no
fault of his own, until Otto III, taking advantage of another vacancy in
995, reinstated him in his former dignity. Swabia was granted to
Conrad of the Franconian family. At the same diet the infant son of
the Emperor was chosen as the successor to the throne.
Misfortune and the Italian climate combined to ruin the Emperor's
health. After a short illness he died at Rome on 7 December 983 in
his twenty-eighth year and was buried in the church of St Peter.
Otto III, then three years old, was being crowned at the Christmas
festival at Aix-la-Chapelle when news arrived of his father's death at
Rome. The question of the regency at once arose. It would, according
to German practice, fall to Henry the Wrangler, the deposed and im-
prisoned Duke of Bavaria, but Byzantine custom favoured the Empress
Mother and it was not likely that Theophano would allow her claim to
be lightly passed over. Henry, who was immediately set at liberty by
the Bishop of Utrecht, took prompt action. Moreover, it soon became
evident that he was aiming not at the regency but at the crown. He
hurried to Cologne and before his opponents had time to consider the
situation, he had taken the young Otto out of the hands of Archbishop
Willigis of Mayence. Though he won the support of the powerful
Archbishops of Cologne, Trèves and Magdeburg and the Bishop of Metz,
yet a strong party in Lorraine collected to withstand him. The strength
of this party lay in the influential family of Godfrey, the Count of
Hainault and Verdun. His son Adalbero was Bishop of Verdun, his
brother, also Adalbero, was Archbishop of Rheims. With the arch-
bishop worked the most remarkable man of the tenth century, Gerbert
of Aurillac. In 983 Otto II had made him abbot of the Lombard
C. JED, H. VOL. III, CHIX.
14
## p. 210 (#256) ############################################
210
The Regency
.
monastery of Bobbio, but disgusted at the lack of discipline of the
monks, he had just returned to resume his former work of Scholasticus
at the cathedral school of Rheims. From his correspondence for these
years we can gather how indefatigably he laboured in the interests of
the
young
Otto.
The situation was rendered more complex by the unexpected appear-
ance of Lothair as a candidate for the regency. Perhaps his real motive
was to induce Henry to give up Lorraine in return for the abandon-
ment of his claim, which, being upheld by the Lotharingian aristocracy,
by his brother Charles, and by Hugh Capet, was sufficiently formidable
to cause alarm. Soon he actually made this proposal to Henry and
entered into a secret compact with him, by which he agreed to support
the duke's claim to the throne in return for the duchy. The Lotharin-
gian nobles, alienated by the altered circumstances, at once prepared to
resist Lothair's attempt to occupy the duchy. Verdun fell before the
French attack (March 984) and Godfrey, who bravely defended it, was
captured. The stout resistance of Godfrey's sons, Herman and Adalbero,
prevented Lothair from making further progress, and the hostility of
Hugh Capet made it necessary for him to turn his attention to his own
kingdom. With the departure of the King of France, the centre of
action shifted to the east. In Saxony Henry's efforts met with no
success. Though he had himself proclaimed king by his supporters at
the Easter festival at Quedlinburg, where he received oaths of fealty from
the princes of the Bohemians, Poles and Obotrites, he was formally
renounced by an assembly of Saxon princes. Loyal to the representative
of the Saxon dynasty, they even prepared to resist the usurper with arms.
Failing to reconcile them, though succeeding in staving off a war by a
truce, Henry withdrew to his old duchy of Bavaria, where he found
himself firmly withstood by his cousin Henry the Younger.
Lothair had made no headway in Lorraine. The loyalty of the
Saxons and the energy of Conrad of Swabia and Willigis of Mayence,
the leaders of Otto's party, prevented Henry from gaining ground in the
other duchies; he was in no position to attempt to win the crown by
force of arms. Driven by pressure of circumstances he submitted his
claim to a diet of German princes. The assembly which met at Bürstadt
near Worms decided unanimously in favour of the young Otto. Henry
engaged to deliver the boy to the care of his mother and grandmother
at a diet to be held at Rara (perhaps Rohr, near Meiningen) on 29 June.
In the interval Henry, supported by Boleslav, prince of the Bohemians,
tried his fortunes in Thuringia but with similar lack of success. At
the diet of Rara, on the guarantee that he would be compensated
with Bavaria, Henry handed over the young king to the charge of
Theophano and Adelaide, who had been summoned from Italy. Henry
the Younger made some show of resistance at being ousted from his
duchy of Bavaria, but a final pacification took place early in the year
a
a
## p. 211 (#257) ############################################
War on the Eastern Frontier
211
985 at Frankfort. Henry was re-established in Bavaria and his cousin
was forced to content himself with Carinthia and the March of Verona,
now again formed into a separate duchy. At first Theophano and
Adelaide acted as joint regents, but the influence of the former soon
became predominant. In the administration of the kingdom she was
assisted by Willigis, Archbishop of Mayence, who took charge of affairs
in Germany during her absence in Italy in 989. The minority fell at a
critical time. The death of King Lothair of France in 986, followed a
year later by the death of his son, Louis V, without an heir, plunged
France into a civil war, during which the opposing parties of Hugh
Capet and Charles of Lower Lorraine, the representative of the Caro-
lingian house, each sought to win the help of the regents of Germany.
Theophano succeeded in maintaining a neutral attitude ; but the dynastic
question was no sooner settled in favour of Hugh, than another hot
dispute broke out as the result of the decision of the synod held at the
monastery of St Basle de Verzy near Rheims (June 991). The Arch-
bishop Arnulf of Rheims, the natural son of Lothair, was deposed from
his see and Gerbert was appointed in his place. Germany was again
called
upon to play a part in the affairs of France. A synod of German
bishops held at Ingelheim in 994 declared against the decisions of
St Basle. The controversy dragged on until 998, when Otto solved
the problem by making Gerbert Archbishop of Ravenna, thus leaving
Rheims in undisputed possession of Arnulf.
Still more serious was the general state of unrest on the Eastern
frontier. During the years 985-987 there was continual fighting against
the Wends and Bohemians. With the help of Mesco, Duke of the
Poles, Meissen was recovered for the Margrave Eckhard. When in 990
a war broke out between the Poles and Bohemians Theophano supported
Mesco while Boleslav was allied with the Lusatians. The Bohemians,
fearing to engage with the Germans, treated for peace. The Saxons
acted as mediators but barely escaped destruction through the treachery
of the barbarians. It was Boleslav, and not their ally Mesco, who
enabled the Saxon army to escape in safety to Magdeburg. On 15 June
991 Theophano died. Adelaide, who now returned from Italy and
undertook the regency, had neither the energy nor the statesmanlike
qualities of the younger Empress, and the weakness of her rule soon
became apparent in the frontier warfare. Brandenburg in 991 became
the centre of operations. The young king captured it with the help of
Mesco, but no sooner was his back turned than it was reconquered for
the Lusatians by a Saxon named Kiso. Otto renewed the attack in the
following year with the help of Henry of Bavaria and Boleslav of
Bohemia ; Boleslav, who had succeeded his father Mesco as prince of the
Poles, being threatened with a war with the Russians, was unable to
accompany the king in person but sent troops to his assistance. But not
till the spring of 993 was the fortress recovered, and then not by the
CH, Tx.
14-2
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Ambitions of Otto III
ineffectual efforts of his motley army, but by the same means as it was
lost, the treachery of Kiso. His faithless conduct brought on an attack
of the Lusatians; they fell upon and scattered an army sent to Kiso's
support under the Margrave Eckhard of Meissen. However, when the
king took the field himself they were quickly dispersed. A brief notice
of the Quedlinburg annalist informs us of a general rising of the Wends:
“All the Slavs except the Sorbs revolted from the Saxons" (994).
After a short campaign in the following year Otto seems to have
patched up some kind of a truce, and restored order sufficient to permit
him to leave Germany, and fulfil his cherished wish of visiting Italy.
Unfortunately the disturbances were not confined to the eastern
frontier. In 991 the Northmen, taking advantage of the internal
weakness of Germany, renewed their piratical descents on the Frisian
coast. In 994 they actually sailed up the river Elbe and carried their
devastations into Saxony. In an engagement fought at Stade a small
band of Saxons was defeated and their leaders were captured. While
the Saxon chiefs lay bound hand and foot on the ships, the Northmen
ravaged the country at will. Of the captives, some were ransomed, the
Margrave Siegfried effected his escape by making his capturers intoxi-
cated, the remainder, after shameful mutilation, were cast, more dead
than alive, upon the shore. The pirates renewed their inroads in the
next year, but the defensive measures taken by Bishop Bernward of
Hildesheim successfully checked their aggressions.
Our brief summary of the events of the frontier campaigns illustrates
the difficulties of the situation in Germany; it shews how fatal and how
lasting had been the effects of Otto II's Italian policy, how unwise the
high imperial aims of Otto III. Fortunately for the regents the southern
duchies had given no trouble since the baffled attempt of Henry the
Wrangler to obtain the crown for himself. Changes however had taken
place in their administration. On the death of Henry the Younger in
989 Carinthia and the March of Verona had been re-attached to the
duchy of Bavaria. But when Henry the Wrangler died in 995, they did
not pass with Bavaria to his son Henry, afterwards the Emperor Henry II,
but were restored to Otto, the son of Conrad the Red'.
Otto's first object was to visit Italy. He had taken the government
into his own hands in 994 when he was fourteen years of age, but owing
to the unsettled state of Germany it was not until 996 that he was able
to achieve his purpose. It was after his return from his first expedition
across the Alps that he began to develop that ambitious and somewhat
fantastic policy, for which perhaps he has been too severely censured. It
must be remembered that from his earliest boyhood he had come under
the influence of foreigners. The blame must rest equally on all those
who had charge of his education. His mother, the Empress Theophano,
and his tutor John, Abbot of the monastery of Nonantula, a Calabrian by
1 According to some authorities Otto was not restored to his duchy till 1002.
## p. 213 (#259) ############################################
Visit to the tomb of Charlemagne
213
>
birth, had taught him Latin and Greek, taught him to despise “Saxon
rusticity” and to prefer “our Greek subtility? . " They had also made
him familiar with the elaborate ceremonial of the Byzantine court. His
intimacy with Gerbert, when he was still at an impressionable age, had
moulded him into the ideals of the Roman Empire.
He was now in 996 Holy Roman Emperor, and the title had for
him a greater meaning than for his predecessors. The legend on one
of his seals, i renovatio imperii Romanorum,” shews clearly that he
realised that he was making a change in the imperial position. The
change is most apparent in the ordering of the institution where the
business of the Empire was transacted, the imperial chancery. Otto the
Great had not revived the system which had prevailed under the Caro-
lingians of treating Italy as a part of the Empire under the same
administrative machinery. He had established a separate chancery for
Italy. Germany and Italy were to be two distinct governments under one
ruler. When a vacancy occurred in 994 in the chancellorship of Italy,
Otto had appointed his chaplain Heribert. On the death of the German
chancellor, Hildibald of Worms, in 998, Heribert was placed at the
head of the German chancery also. Otto had departed from the system
established by his grandfather and, working on a definite plan, he returned
to the Carolingian tradition of a combined chancery for the whole
Empire. The two titular heads, the arch-chancellors of Germany and
Italy, remained, but their offices were sinecures ; the business of the
Empire was done by a single chancellor in a single chancery. Equally
significant is Otto's choice of counsellors. He completely emancipated
himself from the control of those men who had conducted the administra-
tion during his minority. Willigis of Mayence, Hildibald of Worms,
were replaced by an entirely new body of men. With the exception
of the chancellor Heribert, who was appointed Archbishop of Cologne
in 999, the men who exercised the most influence at court were foreigners.
Gerbert of Aurillac, Marquess Hugh of Tuscany, Peter, Bishop of Como,
the arch-chancellor of Italy, form the Emperor's intimate circle of
advisers.
The reverential, though perhaps over inquisitive, visit of the Emperor
to the tomb of Charles the Great at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 1000 is
symbolic of his attitude and policy. The famous story of the opening of
the tomb is recorded by the chronicler of the monastery of Novalesa in
Lombardy, who, though writing more than half a century later, gives
his information on the authority of Otto, Count of Lomello, who is said
to have been present on the occasion. “We entered in," he said, “unto
Charles. He was not lying down, as is the manner with the bodies of
other dead men, but sat on a certain chair as though he lived. He was
crowned with a golden crown, and held a sceptre in his hands, the same
being covered with gloves, through which the nails had grown and
1 Gerbert, Epist. (ed. Julien Havet), no. 186.
CH. I.
## p. 214 (#260) ############################################
214
Failure and Death of Otto III
pierced. And above him was a tabernacle compact of brass and marble
exceedingly. Now when we were come in unto the tomb, we brake and
made straightway an opening in it. And when we entered into it, we
perceived a vehement savour. So we did worship forthwith to him with
bended thighs and knees; and straightway Otto the Emperor clad him
with white raiment, and pared his nails, and made good all that was
lacking about him.
