The Historians' History of the World 07

Otto dying childless, the succession to the throne was again disputed. Henry of Bavaria, the son of Henry the Wrangler, claimed it as the nearest of kin, and was supported by the clergy on account of his piety and his munificence towards the church. Henry’s party was considerably strengthened by the adherence of Willigis, the pious archbishop of Mainz. Eckhart, his most dangerous opponent, lost his life before he could carry his projects into execution. Henry thereupon repaired to Aachen, where he was crowned. The markgraf Henry of Schweinfurt demanded immediately after the coronation of the emperor the dukedom of Bavaria, which had become vacant by Henry’s accession to the throne and which was also aspired to by Bruno, the emperor’s brother. Both competitors met with a refusal from Henry, who bestowed Bavaria upon his brother-in-law Henry, count of Luxemburg, upon which the two rivals entered upon a conspiracy against him with Boleslaw II of Bohemia, who had not inherited the peaceable disposition of his father. They were defeated by the emperor near Creussen (1003 A.D.) and pardoned.

Affairs also wore a different aspect in the East; Boleslaw Chrobry of Poland, a great conqueror, reduced Kieff in Russia beneath his rule. In Bohemia, Boleslaw had broken his oath of allegiance to the empire. The ancient race of Cracus had degenerated. A rival race, that of the Wrssowez, was at the head of the democratic and pagan party, but could merely offer a weak opposition, by dint of petty stratagems, to the more powerful Christian party. At length the assassination of one of the Wrssowez, by the order of Boleslaw, occasioned the formation of a conspiracy against him; Boleslaw was enticed into Poland, where he fell into the hands of the enraged Wrssowez, who deprived him of sight, and placed Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the hands of Boleslaw of Poland. A great reaction ensued. Boleslaw, at the head of the united Poles and Bohemians, invaded the Lausitz and Meissen.

[1014-1022 A.D.]

After several severe campaigns, the emperor at length succeeded in separating Bohemia from Poland, and in placing Udalrich or Ulrich, the brother of the blind Boleslaw, on the throne of that dukedom. Udalrich was faithless and tyrannical. In order the more firmly to secure the possession of the crown, he deprived his second brother, Jaromir, of sight. Boleslaw of Poland attempted to win him over, and sent his son, Mieczyslaw, to negotiate with him. Udalrich delivered him up to the emperor, who instantly restored him to liberty. The war, nevertheless, was still carried on. The emperor suffered a defeat (1015 A.D.), probably on the Bober, the half of his army that had crossed the stream being suddenly attacked by the enemy. Mieczyslaw, inspirited by this success, attacked Meissen; the castle was set on fire, but the conflagration was extinguished by the women, who poured mead on the spreading flames. The emperor afterwards undertook a fresh expedition into Silesia, where he laid siege to the city of Nimptsch, but without success. Peace was finally concluded with Poland at Bautzen (1018 A.D.).d

During the first years of the Polish war, the seizure of Valenciennes by Baldwin IV, count of Flanders, also called the arms of Henry into Lorraine; nor could the German plume himself on the success of his expedition in that quarter. Baldwin, indeed, was reduced to nominal submission; but he obtained from Henry not only the county of Valenciennes, but also the island of Walcheren, and a considerable portion of Zealand.g

HENRY’S POLICY

Henry did not pursue the irrealisable imperial policy of the Ottos. Although he went down to Italy several times and was crowned king at Pavia (1005 A.D.) and emperor at Rome (1013 A.D.), his interests were plainly German, and the Italian affairs were no longer uppermost. Germany and not Rome was his home, and in these narrower limits, his policy, a national rather than imperial one, was successful. Raised to the throne without the advantage of direct descent from the great Otto, he tried a new device for subjecting the magnates of the realm, to whose favour he owed the crown. By the help of Councils of the church and Assemblies or Diets he attempted to keep his realm in hand. Though he was a good friend of the clergy he was not their tool as has been often charged. He used them as Otto I had done, to be the instruments of his temporal rule, and by his encouragement of the monastic reforms of Cheny, he as well as the people reaped many benefits.

The assemblies that met at his call to discuss the business of state are now looked back to as the first Reichstags, and his reign is in a sense the starting-point for something approaching a constitutional organisation of Germany.a