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Medieval Germany -- The Saxon Dynasty,
919-1024
Because the dukes of the East Frankish Kingdom had wearied of being ruled
by a foreign king, they elected a German to serve as their king once the
Carolingian line expired. The election of Conrad I (r. 911-18), Duke of
Franconia, as the first German king has been marked by some historians
as the beginning of German history.
Conrad's successor, Henry I (r. 919-36),
Duke of Saxony, was powerful enough to designate his son Otto I (r. 936-73)
as his successor. Otto was so able a ruler that he came to be known as
Otto the Great. He overpowered other territorial dukes who rebelled against
his rule and reversed the particularist trend for a time. But he failed
to establish the principle of hereditary succession, and the German dukes
continued to elect one of their number as king. But through military successes
and alliances with the church, which had extensive properties and military
forces of its own, Otto expanded the crown lands, thus laying the foundation
of monarchical power. Henry, Otto, and the later Saxon kings also encouraged
eastward expansion and colonization, thereby extending German rule to
parts of the Slavic territories of Poland and Bohemia. The Magyars' westward
expansion was halted by Otto in 955 at the Battle of Lechfeld in southern
Germany.
In 962 Otto, who had also gained control of the Middle Kingdom, was formally
crowned king of the Romans. The possessor of this title would, in time,
be known as the Holy Roman Emperor. The coronation came to be seen as
the founding of the Holy Roman Empire, an institution that lasted until
1806 and profoundly influenced the course of German history. The coronation
of Otto was a moment of glory for the German monarchy, but its long-term
consequences were not beneficial because as German kings sought to exercise
the offices of the empire they became involved in Italian affairs, often
to such an extent that they neglected the governing of Germany. Because
German kings were so often in Italy, the German nobility became stronger.
In addition, the presence of German kings in Italy as emperors soon caused
them to come into conflict with the papacy, which did not hesitate to
seek allies in Italy or Germany to limit imperial power. A last problem
was that the succession to the German throne was often uncertain or was
hotly contested because it was not inheritable, but could only be attained
through election by the German dukes. This circumstance made the formation
of an orderly or stable central government nearly impossible. In the opinion
of some historians, Otto's triumph in Rome in 962 ultimately was disastrous
for Germany because it delayed German unification by centuries.
- The Merovingian Dynasty,
ca. 500-751
- The Carolingian Dynasty,
752-911
- The Saxon Dynasty, 919-1024
- The Salian Dynasty, 1024-1125
- The Hohenstaufen Dynasty,
1138-1254
- The Empire under the Early
Habsburgs
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