The Historians' History of the World 07

And Henry’s sword was to reach even the last enemy of the Saxons—the Danes. The latter had long since overstepped the bounds which the emperor Charles had once marked out for them. Not only the frontier district between the Eider, the Treene, and the Schlei had they taken in possession, but also, after the unfortunate battle in which Duke Bruno fell, they had seized all the land north of the Elbe, with the aid of the Wends, and had with fire and sword laid waste the fruitful districts of the Holsteins. The whole German population which had settled here was crowded over the Elbe, and they were hardly safe from the plundering of the enemy even on the hither side of the broad stream. It was only gradually that the Danes were driven back so that the Saxons could return to their old seats across the Elbe. But the Germans were also harassed by the Danes from a different quarter; bands of northern pirates landed continually on the coasts of Friesland and penetrated far into Saxony and Lorraine.

[934-936 A.D.]

The Danes seem often to have been overpowered, since we learn that in 931 Henry baptised the kings of the Abodriti and of the Danes. But the struggle was not ended. Therefore, the old hero rose once again at the end of his life and led his army across the boundaries of the Danes (934). Their king, Gorm the Old, although he was skilled in many battles as a successful fighter, and had first united the kingdom of the Danes on the islands in Skane and Jutland, yet did not dare to meet the conqueror of the Hungarians in an open battle. He sued for peace and promised to accept any conditions. Henry re-established the old boundaries of the empire, by giving the abandoned districts as a fief to Saxon warriors; he gave these northern districts a similar military organisation to the marks captured from the Wends. The districts between the Eider, the Treene, and the Schlei, called later the mark of Schleswig, remained in the German Empire until Conrad II, nearly a hundred years later, ceded to the Danes the land as far as the Eider. This cession seemed to be favoured by circumstances, but it was not a fortunate act, since it displaced the boundaries which Charlemagne had established and Henry had restored.b

The same year (934 A.D.) a friendly meeting took place between him and the kings of France and Burgundy on the Char, a tributary of the Maas. Henry afterwards planned a visit to Rome, but died without accomplishing that project (936 A.D.), when at the height of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his favourite residence.e

FOOTNOTES

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

[141] [i.e. Emperor Ludwig II; Louis le Débonnaire being the emperor Ludwig I.]

[142] Bertha, the wife of Adalbert (who was blindly guided by her), a woman of an intriguing disposition, was the daughter of Lothair II and of Waldrada. Her first husband was Theobald, count of Arles, by whom she had Hugo, afterwards king of Italy. Sigonius relates the manner in which all the intrigues of those times in Italy and Burgundy were conducted by this woman.

[143] He took the latter prisoner in a stable, and said to him, “Your wife would have made of you either a king or an ass, now you have become the latter.”

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

CHAPTER VIII

OTTO THE GREAT AND HIS SUCCESSORS

[936-1024 A.D.]

THE CORONATION OF OTTO (936 A.D.)

[936-938 A.D.]