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MEDIEVAL AND MODERN

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 901 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MEDIEVAL AND See also:MODERN  See also:HISTORY When See also:Clovis, or Chlodovech, became See also:king of a tribe of the Salian See also:Franks in 481, five years after the fall of the Western See also:empire, the region afterwards called See also:Germany was Divisions divided into five See also:main districts, and its history for Germany. the succeeding three centuries is mainly the history of the tribes inhabiting these districts . In the See also:north-See also:east, dwelling between the See also:Rhine and the See also:Elbe, were the See also:Saxons (q.v.), to the east and See also:south of whom stretched the extensive See also:kingdom of Thuringia (q.v.) . In the south-See also:west the See also:Alamanni occupied the territory afterwards called See also:Swabia (q.v.), and ex-tended along the See also:middle Rhine until they met the Ripuarian Franks, then living in the See also:northern See also:part of the See also:district which at a later See also:period was called after them, See also:Franconia (q.v.); and in the south-east were the Bavarians, although it was some See also:time before their See also:country came to be known as See also:Bavaria (q.v.) . Clovis was descended from Chlogio, or Clodion, who had ruled over a See also:branch of the Salian Franks from 427 to 447, and whose successors, following his example, had secured an The wass of cows. influential position for their tribe . Having obtained See also:possession of that part of See also:Gaul which See also:lay between the See also:Seine and the See also:Loire, Clovis turned his See also:attention to his eastern neighbours, and was soon engaged in a struggle with the Alamanni which probably arose out of a See also:quarrel between them and the Ripuarian Franks for the possession of the middle Rhine . When in 496, or soon afterwards, the Alamanni were defeated, they were confined to what was afterwards known as Swabia, and the northern part of their territory was incorporated with the kingdom of the Franks . Clovis had See also:united the Salian Franks under his See also:rule, and he persuaded, or compelled, the Ripuarian Franks also to accept him as their king; but on his See also:death in 511 his kingdom was divided, and the Ripuarian, or Rhenish, Franks as they are sometimes called, together with some of the Alamanni, came under the rule of his eldest son Theuderich or See also:Theodoric I . This was the first of the many partitions which effectually divided the kingdom of the Franks into an eastern and a western portion, that is to say, into divisions which eventually became Germany and See also:France respectively, and the district ruled by Theuderich was almost identical with that which afterwards See also:bore the name of See also:Austrasia . In 531 Theuderich killed Hermannfried, king of the Thuringians, a former ally, with whom he had quarrelled, conquered his kingdom, and added its See also:southern portion to his own possessions . His son and successor; Theudebert I., exerciseda certain supremacy over the Alamanni and the Bavarians, and even claimed authority over various Saxon tribes between whom and the Franks there had been some fighting . After his death in 548, however, the Frankish See also:power in Germany sank to very See also:minute proportions, a result due partly to the spirit of tribal See also:independence which lingered among the See also:German races, but principally to the paralysing effect of the unceasing rivalry between Austrasia and See also:Neustria . From 548 the Alamanni were ruled by a See also:succession of See also:dukes who soon made themselves in-dependent; and in 555 a See also:duke of the Bavarians, who exercised his authority without regard for the Frankish supremacy, is first mentioned .

In Thuringia, which now only consisted of the central part of the former kingdom, King Dagobert I. set up in 634 a duke named Radulf who soon asserted his independence of Dagobert and of his successor, See also:

Sigebert III . The Saxons for their part did not own even a nominal See also:allegiance to the Frankish See also:kings, whose authority on the right See also:bank of the Rhine was See also:con-fined to the district actually occupied by men of their own name, which at a later date became the duchy of Franconia . During these years the eastern border of Germany was constantly ravaged by various See also:Slavonic tribes . King Dagobert sent troops to repel these marauders from time to time, but the main See also:burden of See also:defence See also:fell upon the Saxons, Bavarians and Thuringians . The virtual independence of these German tribes lasted until the See also:union of Austrasia and Neustria in 687, an achievement mainly due to the efforts of See also:Pippin of Heristal, who soon became the actual, though not the nominal, ruler of the Frankish See also:realm . Pippin and his son See also:Charles Martel, who was See also:mayor of the See also:palace from 717 to 741, renewed the struggle with the Germans and were soon successful in re-establishing the central power which the Merovingian kings had allowed to slip from their grasp . The ducal See also:office was abolished in Thuringia, a See also:series of See also:wars reduced the Alamanni to strict dependence, and both countries were governed by Frankish officials . Bavaria was brought into subjection about the same time; the Bavarian See also:law, committed to See also:writing between 739 and 748, strongly emphasizes the supremacy of the Frankish king, whose authority it recognizes as including the right to appoint and even to depose the duke of Bavaria . The Saxons, on the other See also:hand, succeeded in retaining their independence as a See also:race, although their country was ravaged in various See also:campaigns and some tribes were compelled from time to time to pay See also:tribute . The rule of Pippin the See also:Short, both before and after his See also:coronation as king, was troubled by See also:constant risings on the part of his East Frankish or German subjects, but aided by his See also:brother See also:Carloman, who for a time administered this part of the Frankish kingdom, Pippin was generally able to See also:deal with the rebels . After all, however, even these powerful Frankish conquerors had but imperfect success in Germany . When they were See also:present with their formidable armies, they could command obedience; when engaged, as they often were, in distant parts of the vast Frankish territory, they could not See also:trust to the fulfilment of the See also:fair promises they had exacted .

One of the See also:

chief causes of their See also:ill-success was the continued independence of the Saxons . Ever since they had acquired the northern See also:half of Thuringia, this See also:war-like race had been extending its power . They were still heathens, cherishing See also:bitter hatred towards the Franks, whom they regarded as the enemies both of their liberties and of their See also:religion; and their hatred found expression, not only in expeditions into Frankish territory, but in help willingly rendered to every German See also:confederation which wished to throw off the Frankish yoke . Hardly any See also:rebellion against the dukes of the Franks, or against King Pippin, took See also:place in Germany without the Saxons coming "forward to aid the rebels . This was perfectly understood by the Frankish rulers, who tried again and again to put an end to the evil by subduing the Saxons . They could not, however, attain their See also:object . An occasional victory was gained, and some border tribes were from time to time compelled to pay tribute; but the See also:mass of the Saxons remained unconquered . This was partly due to the fact that the Saxons had not, like the other German confederations, aduke who, whenbeaten, could be held responsible The Saxons remain See also:independent . for the engagements forced upon him as the representative of his subjects . A Saxon chief who made See also:peace with the Franks could undertake nothing for the whole See also:people . As a conquering race, they were firmly compact; conquered, they were in the hands of the See also:victor a rope of See also:sand . It was during the time of Pippin of Heristal and his son and See also:grandson that the See also:conversion of the Germans to See also:Christianity was mainlyeffected .

Some traces of See also:

Roman Christianity chrisuan- still lingered in the Rhine valley and in southern ky In Germany . Germany, but the bulk of the people were See also:heathen, in spite of the efforts of See also:Frank and Irish missionaries and the command of King Dagobert I. that all his subjects should be baptized . See also:Rupert, See also:bishop of See also:Worms, had already made some progress in the See also:work of converting the Bavarians and Alamanni, as had See also:Willibrord among the Thuringians when St See also:Boniface appeared in Germany in 717 . Appointed bishop of the Germans byPopeGregory II., and supported byCharles Martel,hepreached with much success in Bavaria and Thuringia, notwithstanding some hostility from the See also:clergy who disliked the See also:influence of See also:Rome . He founded or restored bishoprics in Bavaria, Thuringia and elsewhere, and in 742 presided over the first German See also:council . When he was martyred in 755 Christianity was professed by all the German races except the Saxons, and the See also:church, organized and wealthy, had been to a large extent brought under the See also:control of the papacy . The old See also:pagan faith was not yet entirely destroyed, and traces of its influence may still be detected in popular beliefs and customs . But still Christianity was dominant, and soon became an important See also:factor in the See also:process of See also:civilization, while the See also:close See also:alliance of the German church with the papacy was followed by results of the utmost consequence for Germany . The reign of See also:Charlemagne is a period of See also:great importance in the history of Germany . Under his rule the first signs of See also:national unity and a serious advance in the progress of The work See also:order and civilization may be seen . The See also:long struggle, of Cherie- magne. which ended in 804 with the submission of the Saxons to the See also:emperor, together with the See also:extension of a real Frankish authority over the Bavarians, brought the German races for the first time under a single ruler; while war and See also:government, law and religion, alike tended to weld them into one people . The armies of Charlemagne contained warriors from all parts of Germany; and although tribal law was respected and codified, legislation See also:common to the whole empire was also introduced .

The See also:

general See also:establishment of the Frankish See also:system of government and the presence of Frankish officials helped to break down the barriers of race, and the influence of Christianity was in the same direction . With the conversion of the Saxons the whole German race became nominally See also:Christian; and their ruler was lavish in granting lands and privileges to prelates, and untiring in See also:founding bishoprics, monasteries and See also:schools . See also:Measures were also taken for the See also:security and See also:good government of the country . Campaigns against the Slavonic tribes,if sometimes failing in their immediate object, taught those peoples to respect the power of the Frankish monarch; and the establishment of a series of See also:marches along the eastern frontier gave a sense of safety to the neighbouring districts . The tribal dukes had all disappeared, and their duchies were split up into districts ruled by See also:counts (q.v.), whose tendencies to independence the emperor tried to check by the visits of the missi dominici (q.v.) . Some of the results of the government of Charlemagne were, however, less beneficial . His coronation as Roman emperor in 800, although it did not produce at the time so powerful an impression in Germany as in France, was fraught with consequences not always favourable for the former country . The tendencies of the tribe to independence were crushed as their See also:ancient popular assemblies were discouraged; and the See also:liberty of the freemen was curtailed owing to the exigencies of military service, while the power of the church was rarely directed to the highest ends . The reign of the emperor See also:Louis I. was marked by a number of abortive schemes for the See also:partition of his dominions among his sons, which provoked a See also:state of strife that was largely responsible for the increasing weakness of the Empire . The mild nature of xi . 27his rule, however, made Louis popular with his German subjects, to whose support mainly he owed his restoration to power on two occasions . When in 825 his son Louis, after- wards called " the German," was entrusted with the G°1J; government of Bavaria and from this centre gradually sons. extended his authority over the Carolingian dominions east of the Rhine, a step was taken in the process by which East See also:Francia, or Germany, was becoming a unit distinguish-able from other portions of the Empire; a process which was carried further by the treaty of See also:Verdun in See also:August 843, when, after a struggle between Louis the German and his See also:brothers for their See also:father's See also:inheritance, an arrangement was made by which Louis obtained the bulk of the lands east of the Rhine together with the districts around See also:Mainz, Worms and See also:Spires on the See also:left bank .

Although not yet a single people, the German tribes had now for the first time a ruler whose authority was confined to their own lands, and from this time the beginnings of national See also:

life may be traced . For fifty years the main efforts of Louis were directed to defending his kingdom from the inroads of his Slavonic neighbours, and his detachment from the See also:rest of the Empire necessitated by these constant engagements towards the east, gradually gave both him and his subjects a distinctive See also:character, which was displayed and emphasized when, in ratifying an alliance with his half-brother, the West-Frankish king, Charles the Bald, the See also:oath was sworn in different See also:tongues . The East and West Franks were unable to understand each other's speech, so Charles took the oath in a See also:Romance, and Louis in a German See also:dialect . Important as is the treaty of Verdun in German history, that of See also:Mersen, by which Louis and Charles the Bald settled in 870 their dispute over the kingdom of See also:Lothair, second son Louis, the of the emperor Lothair I., is still more important . German The additional territory which Louis then obtained and his gave to his dominions almost the proportions which successors, Germany maintained throughout the middle ages . They were bounded on the east by the Elbe and the Bohemian mountains, and on the west beyond the Rhine they included the districts known afterwards as See also:Alsace and See also:Lorraine . His See also:jurisdiction embraced the territories occupied by the five ancient German tribes, and included the five archbishoprics of Mainz, Treves (See also:Trier), See also:Cologne, See also:Salzburg and See also:Bremen . When Louis died in 876 his kingdom was divided among his three sons, but as the two See also:elder of these soon died without heirs, Germany was again united in 882 under his remaining son Charles, called " the See also:Fat," who soon became ruler of almost the whole of the extensive domains of Charlemagne . There was, however, no cohesion in the restored empire, the disintegration of which, moreover, was hastened by the ravages of the Northmen, who plundered the cities in the valley of the Rhine . Charles attempted to buy off these redoubtable invaders, a policy which aroused the anger of his German subjects, whose resentment was accentuated by the king's indifference to their See also:condition, and found expression in 887 when See also:Arnulf, an illegitimate son of Carloman, the eldest son of Louis the German, led an See also:army of Bavarians against him . Arnulf himself was recognized as German or East-Frankish king, although his actual authority was confined to Bavaria and its neighbourhood . He was successful in freeing his kingdom for a time from the ravages of the Northmen, but was not equally fortunate in his contests with'the Moravians .

After his death in 899 his kingdom came under the nominal rule of his See also:

young son Louis " the See also:Child," and in the See also:absence of See also:firm rule and a central authority became the See also:prey of the See also:Magyars and other hordes of invaders . During these wars See also:feudalism made rapid advance in Germany . The different peoples compelled to attend to their own defence appointed dukes for See also:special military services (see DUKE); and these dukes, chosen often from members aeudallsm of the old ducal families, succeeded without much Germany. difficulty in securing a more permanent position for themselves and their descendants . In See also:Saxony, for example, we hear of Duke See also:Otto the Illustrious, who also ruled over Thuringia; and during the See also:early years of the loth See also:century dukes See also:ski appear in Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia and Lorraine . These dukes acquired large tracts of See also:land of which they gave grants on conditions of military service to persons on whom they could rely; while many independent landowners sought their See also:protection on terms of vassalage . The sarne process took place in the See also:case of great See also:numbers of freemen of a See also:lower class, who put themselves at the service of their more powerful neighbours in return for protection . In this manner the feudal See also:tenure of land began to prevail in almost all parts of Germany, and the elaborate social system which became known as feudalism was gradually built up . The dukes became virtually independent, and when Louis the Child died in 911, the royal authority existed in name only . While Louis the Child lived the German dukes were virtually kings in their duchies, and their natural tendency was to make See also:Conrad 1, themselves See also:absolute rulers . But, threatened as they were by the Magyars, with the Slays and Northmen always ready to take See also:advantage of their weakness, they could not afford to do without a central government . Accordingly the nobles assembled at See also:Forchheim, and by the See also:advice of Otto the Illustrious, duke of Saxony, Conrad of Franconia was chosen German king . The dukes of Bavaria, Swabia and Lorraine were displeased at this See also:election, probably because Conrad was likely to prove considerably more powerful than they wished .

Rather than acknowledge him, the duke of Lotharingia, or Lorraine, transferred his allegiance to Charles the See also:

Simple of France; and it was in vain that Conrad protested and despatched armies into Lorraine . With the help of the See also:French king the duke maintained his ground, and for the time his country was lost to Germany . Bavaria and Swabia yielded, but, mainly through the See also:fault of the king himself, their submission was of brief duration . The rise of the dukes had been watched with extreme See also:jealousy by the leading prelates . They saw that the independence they had hitherto enjoyed would be much more imperilled by powerful See also:local See also:governors than by a See also:sovereign who necessarily regarded it as part of his See also:duty to protect the church . Hence they had done everything they could to prevent the dukes from extending their authority, and as the government was carried on during the reign of Louis the Child mainly by Hatto I., See also:archbishop of Mainz, they had been able to throw considerable obstacles in the way of their rivals . They had now induced Conrad to quarrel with both Swabia and Bavaria, and also with See also:Henry, duke of Saxony, son of the duke to whom he chiefly owed his See also:crown . In these contests the German king met with indifferent success, but the struggle with Saxony was not very serious, and when dying in See also:December 919 Conrad recommended the Franconian nobles to offer the crown to Henry, the only See also:man who could See also:cope with the anarchy by which he had himself been baffled . The nobles of Franconia acted upon the advice of their king, and the Saxons were very willing that their duke should rise to still higher honours . Henry I., called " the See also:Fowler," lands, although Bavaria, Swabia and Franconia they occasionally invaded as before . The king made admirable use of the opportunity he had secured, confining his efforts, however, to Saxony and Thuringia, the only parts of Germany over which he had any control . In the southern and western German lands towns and fortified places had long existed; but in the north, where Roman influence had only been feeble, and where even the Franks had not exercised much authority until the time of Charlemagne, the people still lived as in ancient times, either on solitary farms or in exposed villages .

Henry saw that, while this state of things lasted, the See also:

population could never be safe, and began -the construction of fortresses and walled towns . Of every See also:group of nine men one was compelled to devote himself to this work, while the remaining eight cultivated his See also:fields and allowed a third of their produce to be stored against times of trouble . The necessities of military discipline were also a subject of attention . Hitherto the Germans had fought mainly on See also:foot, and, as the Magyars came on horseback, the nation was placed at an immense disadvantage . A powerful force of See also:cavalry was now raised, while at the same time the See also:infantry were drilled in new and more effective modes of fighting . Although these preparations were carried on directly under Henry's supervision, only in Saxony and Thuringia the neighbouring dukes were stimulated to follow his example . When he was ready he used his new troops, before turning them against their chief enemy, the Magyars, to punish refractory Slavonic tribes; and he brought under temporary subjection nearly all the Slays between the Elbe and the See also:Oder . He proceeded also against the Bohemians, whose duke was compelled to do See also:homage . The truce with the Magyars was not renewed, whereupon in 933 a See also:body of invaders crossed, as in former years, the frontier of Thuringia . Henry prudently waited until dearth of provisions forced the enemy to See also:divide into two bands . He then swept down upon the weaker force, annihilated it, and rapidly advanced against the remaining portion of the army . The second See also:battle was more severe than the first, but not less decisive .

The Magyars, unable to cope with a disciplined army, were cut down in great numbers, and those who survived rode in terror from the See also:

field . The exact scenes of these conflicts are not known, although the date of the second encounter was the 15th of See also:March 933; but few more important battles have ever been fought . The power of the Magyars was not indeed destroyed, but it was crippled, and the way was prepared for the effective liberation of Germany from an intolerable See also:plague . While the Magyars had been troubling Germany on the east and south, the Danes had been irritating her on the north . Charlemagne had established a march between the See also:Eider and the Schlei; but in course of time the Danes had not only seized this territory, but had driven the German population beyond the Elbe . The Saxons had been slowly reconquering the lost ground, and now Henry, advancing with his victorious army into See also:Jutland, forced Gorm, the Danish king, to become his See also:vassal and regained the land between the Eider and the Schlei . But Henry's work concerned the duchy of Saxony rather than the kingdom of Germany . He concentrated all his energies on the government and defence of northern and eastern Germany, leaving the southern and western districts to profit by his example, while his policy of refraining from interference in the affairs of the other duchies tended to diminish the ill-feeling which existed between the various German tribes and to bring peace to the country as a whole . It is in these directions that the reign of Henry the Fowler marks a See also:stage in the history of ,Germany . When this great king died in See also:July 936 every land inhabited by a German population formed part of the German kingdom, and none of the duchies were at war either with him or among themselves . Along the northern and eastern frontier were tributary races, and the country was for the time rid of an enemy which, for nearly a See also:generation, had kept it in perpetual fear . Great as were these results, perhaps Henry did even greater service Henry the Fowler. who was chosen German king in May 919, was one of the best of German kings, and was a See also:born statesman and See also:warrior .

His ambition was of the noblest order, for he sank his See also:

personal interests in the cause of his country, and he knew exactly when to attain his See also:objects by force, and when by con-cession and moderation . Almost immediately he overcame the opposition of the dukes of Swabia and Bavaria; some time later, taking advantage of the troubled state of France, he accepted the homage of the duke of Lorraine, which for many centuries afterwards remained a part of the German kingdom . Having established See also:internal order, Henry was able to turn to matters of more pressing moment . In the first See also:year of his reign the Magyars, who had continued to See also:scourge Henry Germany during the reign of Conrad, See also:broke into and the Saxony and plundered the land almost without See also:hind-Magyars. See also:rance . In 924 they returned, and this time by good See also:fortune one of their greatest princes fell into the hands of the Germans . Henry restored him to his countrymen on condition that they made a truce for nine years; and he promised to pay yearly tribute during this period . The barbarians accepted his terms, and faithfully kept their word in regard to Henry's own Henry's work in Saxony . The Magyars return . in beginning the growth of towns throughout north Germany. of the neighbourhood of the Danes, who, after the death of King Not content with merely making them places of defence, he decreed that they should be centres for the administra-The tion of See also:justice, and that in them should be held all public growth of towns.. festivities and ceremonies; he also instituted markets, and encouraged traders to take advantage of the opportunities provided for them . A strong check was thus imposed upon the tendency of freemen to become the vassals of great lords . This See also:movement had become so powerful by the troubles of the See also:epoch that, had no other current of influence set in, the entire class of freemen must soon have disappeared . As they now knew that they could find protection without looking to a See also:superior, they had less temptation to give up their independence, and many of them settled in the towns where they could be safe and See also:free .

Besides maintaining a manly spirit in the population, the towns rapidly added to their importance by the stimulus they gave to all kinds of See also:

industry and See also:trade . Before his death Henry obtained the promise of the nobles at a national See also:assembly, or See also:diet, at See also:Erfurt to recognize his son Otto as his successor, and the promise was kept, Otto Otto the being chosen German king in July 936 . Otto I. the Great . Great began his reign under the most favourable circumstances . He was twenty-four years of See also:age, and at the coronation festival, which was held at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, the dukes performed for the first time the nominally See also:menial offices known as the See also:arch-offices of the German kingdom . But these peaceful relations soon came to an end . See also:Reversing his father's policy, Otto resolved that the dukes should See also:act in the strictest sense as his vassals, or lose their dignities . At the time of his coronation Germany was virtually a federal state; he wished to transform it into a firm and compact See also:monarchy . This policy speedily led to a formidable rebellion, headed by Thankmar, the king's half-brother, a fierce warrior, who fancied that he had a See also:prior claim to the crown, and who secured a number of followers in Saxony . He was joined by See also:Eberhard, duke of Franconia, and it was only by the aid of the duke of Swabia, whom the duke of Franconia had offended, that the rising was put down . This happened in 938, and in 939 a second rebellion, led by Otto's brother Henry, was supported by the duke of Franconia and by Giselbert, duke of Lorraine . Otto again triumphed, and derived immense ad-vantages from his success .

The duchy of Franconia he kept in his own hands, and in 944 he granted Lorraine to Conrad the Red, an energetic and See also:

honourable See also:count, whom he still further attached to himself by giving him his daughter for his wife . Bavaria, on the death of its duke in 947, was placed under his brother Henry, who, having been pardoned, had become a loyal subject . The duchy of Swabia was also brought into Otto's See also:family by the See also:marriage of his son See also:Ludolf with Duke See also:Hermann's daughter, and by these means Otto made himself See also:master of the kingdom . For the time, feudalism in truth meant that lands and offices were held on condition of service; the king was the genuine ruler, not only of freemen, but of the highest vassals in the nation . In the midst of these internal troubles Otto was attacked by the French king, Louis IV., who sought to regain Lorraine. orto's However, the German king was soon able to turn his wars with arms against his new enemy; he marched into France France and made peace with Louis in 942 . Otto's subsequent 'with interventions in the affairs of France were mainly the Slays. directed towards making peace between Louis and his powerful and rebellious vassal, See also:Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, both of whom were married to sisters of the German king . Much more important than Otto's doings in France were his wars with his northern and eastern neighbours . The duke of Bohemia, after a long struggle, was brought to submission in, 95o . Among the Slays between the Elbe and the Oder the king ,was represented by See also:Margrave See also:Gero, a warrior well fitted for the rough work he had to do, loyal to his sovereign, but capable of any treachery towards his enemies, who conquered much of the country north of Bohemia between the Oder and the upper and middle Elbe . Margrave Billung, who looked after the Abotrites on the lower Elbe, was less fortunate, mainly because Henry, often attacked the hated Germans, but some progress was made in bringing this district under German influence . Otto, having profound faith in the power of the church to reconcile conquered peoples to his rule, provided for the benefit of the Danes the bishoprics of See also:Schleswig, Ripen and See also:Aarhus; and among those which he established for the Slays were the important bishoprics of See also:Brandenburg and See also:Havelberg . In his later years he set up the archbishopric of See also:Magdeburg, which took in the See also:sees of See also:Meissen, See also:Zeitz and See also:Merseburg .

Having secured peace in Germany and begun the real See also:

conquest of the border races, Otto was by far the greatest sovereign in See also:Europe; and, had he refused to go beyond the limits within which he had hitherto acted, it is probable 'Et'' in itaiy . that he would have established a united monarchy . But a decision to which he soon came deprived posterity of the results which might have sprung from the policy of his earlier years . About 951 See also:Adelaide, widow of Lothair, son of Hugh, king of See also:Italy, having refused to marry the son of Berengar, margrave of See also:Ivrea, was See also:cast into See also:prison and cruelly treated . She appealed to Otto; other reasons called him in the same direction, and in 951 he crossed the See also:Alps and descended into See also:Lombardy . He displaced Berengar, and was so fascinated by See also:Queen Adelaide that within a few See also:weeks he was married to her at See also:Pavia . But Otto's son, Ludolf, who had received a promise of the German crown, saw his rights threatened by this marriage . He went to an old enemy of his father, See also:Frederick, archbishop of Mainz, and the two plotted together against the king, who, See also:hearing of their proceedings, returned to Germany in 952, leaving Duke Conrad of Lorraine as his representative in Italy . Otto, who did not suspect how deep were the designs of the conspirators, paid a visit to Mainz, where he was seized and was compelled to take certain See also:solemn pledges which, after his See also: