Henry the Fowler
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2019) |
Henry the Fowler | |
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Otto the Illustrious | |
Successor | Otto the Great |
Born | c. 7 July 876 Mimileba, East Francia |
Died | 2 July 936 (aged 59–60) Mimileba, East Francia |
Burial | |
Spouse | |
Issue |
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Hedwiga | |
Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity |
Henry the Fowler (
He was born into the Liudolfing line of Saxon dukes. His father Otto I of Saxony died in 912 and was succeeded by Henry. The new duke launched a rebellion against the king of East Francia, Conrad I of Germany, over the rights to lands in the Duchy of Thuringia. They reconciled in 915 and on his deathbed in 918, Conrad recommended Henry as the next king, considering the duke the only one who could hold the kingdom together in the face of internal revolts and external Magyar raids.
Henry was elected and crowned king in 919. He went on to defeat the rebellious dukes of
Family
Born in
In 906 he married Hatheburg of Merseburg,[3] daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously been a nun. The marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henry's son Thankmar. The annulment placed a question mark over Thankmar's legitimacy. Later that year he married Matilda,[3] daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Count in Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons and two daughters, Hedwig and Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey where Henry and Matilda are buried. She was later canonized.
His son
Rule
Henry became Duke of Saxony after his father's death in 912. An able ruler, he continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the weakening kingdom of East Francia, and was frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South in the Duchy of Franconia.
On 23 December 918 Conrad I, king of East Francia and Franconian duke, died. Although Henry had rebelled against Conrad I between 912 and 915 over the lands in Thuringia, Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Kingship now changed from the Franks to the Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne and were proud of their identity. Henry, as Saxon, was the first non-Frank on the throne.
Conrad's choice was conveyed by his brother, duke
Henry, who was elected to kingship by only the Saxons and Franconians at Fritzlar, had to subdue the other dukes.
Duke
Duke
In the short remnant of a more lengthy text, "Fragmentum de Arnulfo duce Bavariae (de)", the author gives a very lively impression of the disconcert Henry's claims caused in Bavaria: The piece abruptly starts with a clause. It relates that Henry I (Saxo Heimricus), following the advice of an unnamed bishop, had invaded the Bavarian kingdom (regnum Baioariae) in a hostile way. Decidedly, it hints at the unlawfulness of this encroachment, namely in that Bavaria was a territory in which none of Henry's forefathers had ever possessed even a foot (gressum pedis) of land. This was also the reason – by God's will (Dei nutu) – for him having been defeated in this first campaign. This can be seen as proof that Henry did campaign against Bavaria, and Arnulf, more than once. In the second chapter, the unknown chronicler hints that Henry's predecessor on the throne,
Henry besieged Arnulf's residence at Ratisbon and forced the duke into submission. Arnulf had crowned himself as king of Bavaria in 919, but in 921 renounced the crown and submitted to Henry while maintaining significant autonomy and the right to mint his own coins.
In his time, the king was considered primus inter pares (first among equals). The king and princes formulated policies together and the position of the monarchy could only be consolidated gradually. Even under Otto the Great and later monarchs, consensus building would remain important.[4][5]
Wars over Lotharingia
In 920, the king of West Francia, Charles the Simple, invaded and marched as far as Pfeddersheim near Worms, but retreated when he learned that Henry was organizing an army.[6] On 7 November 921, Henry and Charles met and concluded the Treaty of Bonn, in which Henry was recognized as the east Frankish king and Charles rule in Lotharingia was recognized.[7] Henry then saw an opportunity to take Lotharingia when a civil war over royal succession began in West Francia after the coronation of King Robert I.[8] In 923 Henry crossed the Rhine twice, capturing a large part of the duchy.[9] The eastern part of Lotharingia was left in Henry's possession until October 924.[citation needed]
In 925 Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia rebelled. Henry invaded the duchy and besieged Gilbert at Zülpich (Tolbiac), captured the town, and became master of a large portion of his lands. Allowing Gilbert to remain in power as duke, Henry arranged the marriage of his daughter Gerberga to his new vassal in 928. Thus he brought that realm, which had been lost in 910, back into the kingdom as the fifth stem duchy.
Wars with Magyars
The threat of Magyar raiders improved his situation, as all the dukes and nobles realized that only a strong state could defend their lands against barbarian incursions.
In 919 Henry was defeated by the Magyars in the Battle of Püchen, hardly escaping from being killed in battle, managing to take refuge in the town of Püchen.[a]
In 921 the
Henry, having captured a Hungarian prince, managed to arrange a ten-year truce in 924, though he agreed to pay annual tribute. By doing so he and the dukes gained time to build new fortified towns and to train a new elite cavalry force.[11] Henry built fortified settlements as a defense against Magyar and Slav invaders. In 932 Henry refused to pay the annual tribute to the Magyars. When they began raiding again, Henry, with his improved army in 933 at the Battle of Riade, crushed the Magyars so completely that they never returned to the northern lands of Henry's kingdom.[12]
Wars with Slavs
During the truce with the Magyars, Henry subdued the
Meanwhile, the Slavic
Wars with Danes
Henry also pacified territories to the north, where the
Family and children
German royal dynasties | |
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Family tree of the German monarchs Category:Ottonian dynasty | |
Succession | |
Preceded by Conradine dynasty | |
Followed by Salian dynasty | |
As the first Saxon king of East Francia, Henry was the founder of the Ottonian dynasty. He and his descendants ruled East Francia, and later the Holy Roman Empire, from 919 until 1024.
Henry had two wives and at least six children:
- Hedwig (910–965)[3] – wife of West Francia's powerful Robertian duke Hugh the Great, mother of Hugh Capet, King of West Francia
- Otto I (912–973)[3] – Duke of Saxony, King of East Francia and Holy Roman Emperor. In 929 Henry married Otto to Eadgyth, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex. One of his son was Prince (dux) Slavník, from an unknown mother, he founded the Slavník dynasty, from this dynasty comes the later noble family of Lehoczky.
- Gerberga (913–984)[3] – wife of (1) Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia and (2) King Louis IV of France
- Duke of Bavaria[16]
- Duke of Lotharingia and regent of West Francia.
Legacy
Henry returned to public attention as a character in
There are indications that Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of Henry, who was proclaimed to be the first king of Germany.[17][18] Himmler traveled to Quedlinburg several times to hold a ceremony in the crypt on the anniversary of the king's death, 2 July. This started in 1936, 1,000 years after Henry died. Himmler considered him to be the "first German king" and declared his tomb a site of pilgrimage for Germans. In 1937, the king's remains were reinterred in a new sarcophagus.[19]
In the arts
- Henry the Fowler is a main character of Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin.
- Henry the Fowler is one of two antagonists, being the end boss in the final mission of the 2001 game Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The game portrays him as an evil necromancer and anachronistically places him in 943 CE, 7 years after his actual death year of 936.
See also
- Family tree of the German monarchs
Notes
- ^ Rex autem Avares sepenumero insurgentes expulit. Et cum in uno dierum hos inpari congressu ledere temptaret, victus in urbem, quae Bichni vocatur, fugit; ibique mortis periculum evadens, urbanos maiori gloria, quam hactenus haberent vel comprovinciales hodie teneant, et ad haec muneribus dignis honorat." English translation from the Latin: The king drove away the Avars [Magyars], who attacked his country repeatedly. And when he once, with insufficient forces, dared to attack them, he was defeated and fled in a city, with the name Bichni [Püchen]. Because he there escaped death, so he gave the citizens the same greater privileges than they had before, and which have no match among their countrymen until this day, and besides that, he gave them rich presents too."[10]
References
- ^ Böhmer, Johann Friedrich. (1893). Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Herrschern aus dem Sæchsischen Hause, 919-1024. p. 4. "Der wahltag ist nicht überliefert... er fallt vielmehr zwischen 12. und 24. mai 919". [The day of the election is not recorded... but it falls between 12 and 24 May 919]
- ^ OCLC 833300891.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bernhardt 2002, p. table 1.
- ISBN 978-1-317-02200-8. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-13-096772-5. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ^ Poole 1926, p. 180.
- ^ Bachrach 2012, p. 19.
- ^ Bachrach 2012, p. 21.
- ^ Bachrach 2012, pp. 21–22.
- ^ von Holtzmann 1935, p. 21.
- ^ Leyser 1982, p. 13.
- ^ a b Steinberg 2014, p. 5.
- ^ Krofta 1957, p. 426.
- ^ Poole 1926, p. 185.
- ^ Gannholm, Tore. "First churches on Gotland as described in GUTA LAGH".
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(help) - ^ Barraclough 1961, p. 76.
- ^ Frischauer 1953, pp. 85–88.
- ^ Kersten 1957, p. 238.
- ^ Janssen 2000.
Sources
- Bachrach, David S. (2012). Warfare in Tenth-Century Germany. The Boydell Press.
- Bachrach. David S. "Restructuring the Eastern Frontier: Henry I of Germany, 924–936," Journal of Military History (Jan 2014) 78#1 pp 9–36
- Barraclough, Geoffrey, ed. (1961). Studies in Mediaeval History:Mediaeval Germany. Vol. II. Essays. Basil Blackwell.
- Bernhardt, John W. (2002). Ininerant Kingship & Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval German, c. 936–1075. Cambridge University Press.
- Frischauer, Willi (1953). Himmler, the Evil Genius of the Third Reich. Odhams.
- Kersten, Felix (1957). The Kersten Memoirs: 1940–1945. Macmillan.
- von Holtzmann, Robert (1935). Thietmari Merseburgensis Episcopi Chronicon. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
- Janssen, Karl-Heinz (2000). "Himmlers Heinrich(German)" (PDF). Die Zeit. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
- Krofta, Kamil (1957). "Bohemia to the Extinction of the Premyslids". In Tanner, J.R.; Previt-Orton, C.W.; Brook, Z.N. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History: Victory of the Papacy. Vol. VI. Cambridge University Press.
- Leyser, Karl (1982). Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours 900–1250 (1st ed.). The Hambledon Press.
- Poole, Austen Lane (1926). "Germany: Henry I and Otto the Great". In Gwatkin, H. M.; Whitney, J. P.; Tanner, J.R.; Previte-Orton, C.W. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. III. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–203.
- Steinberg, S. H. (2014). A Short History of Germany. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-66016-8.
Further reading
- Arnold, Benjamin, Medieval Germany, 500–1300: A Political Interpretation (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997)
- Bachrach, David S., 'The Military Organization of Ottonian German, c. 900–1018: The Views of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg', The Journal of Military History, 72 (2008), 1061–1088
- Bachrach, David S., 'Exercise of Royal Power in Early Medieval Europe: the Case of Otto the Great 936–73', Early Medieval Europe, 17 (2009), 89–419
- Bachrach, David S., 'Henry I of Germany's 929 Military Campaign in Archaeological Perspective', Early Medieval Europe, 21 (2013), 307–337
- Bachrach. David S., 'Restructuring the Eastern Frontier: Henry I of Germany, 924–936', Journal of Military History, 78 (2014), 9–36
- Gillingham, John, The Kingdom of Germany in the High Middle Ages (900–1200) (London: The Historical Association, 1971)
- Leyser, Karl, Rule and Conflict in Early Medieval Society: Ottonian Saxony (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1979)
- Leyser, Karl, Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours 900–1250 (London: The Hambledon Press, 1982)
- Müller-Mertens, Eckhard, 'The Ottonians as Kings and Emperors', in The New Cambridge Medieval History III: c. 900–1024, ed. by Timothy Reuter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 233–266
- Nicholas, David M., The Evolution of the Medieval World: Society, Government & Thought in Europe, 312–1500 (London: Routledge, 1992)
- Peden, Alison 'Unity, Order and Ottonian Kingship in the Thought of Abbo of Fleury', in Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages: Studies Presented to Henry Mayr-Harting, ed. Richard Gameson and Henrietta Leyser (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 158–168
- Reuter, Timothy, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, C. 800–1056 (London: Longman Group, 1991)
- Reuter, Timothy 'The 'Imperial Church System' of the Ottonian and Salian Rulers: a Reconsideration', The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 33 (2011), 347–375
External links
- Deed by Henry I for Hersfeld Abbey, 1 June 932 with his seal, "digitalised image". Photograph Archive of Old Original Documents (Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden). University of Marburg.
- Publications about Henry I in the OPAC of the Regesta Imperii