Introduction

When he took up his quill in 967 or 968 and considered the events of the past fifty years, the Saxon monk and historian Widukind expressed pride at the success of the first two kings of the Saxon dynasty, Henry I (919–936) and Otto I (936–973). According to Widukind, Henry restored unity to the eastern kingdom, expanded his territory eastwards from the Saale to the Elbe river, established hegemony over the Danes, the trans-Elben Slavs, and the Bohemians, and also dominated affairs in the West Frankish kingdom as well as in the kingdom of Burgundy. His son Otto, building upon the foundation established by Henry, conquered the Slavic lands between the Elbe and the Oder rivers, maintained a dominant position over the rulers of Burgundy and West Francia, and conquered Italy all the way south to Capua and Benevento.

The military conquests through which the first two Saxon kings forged this empire resulted from the application of significant military resources in a focused manner in pursuit of medium- and long-term policy goals. Henry and Otto conceptualized strategic operations on the basis of a thorough understanding of contemporary political and military realities, as well as the Carolingian inheritance upon which these were founded. Otto's long-term policies will be examined in the next chapter. Here, the focus is on Henry's career as ruler of East Francia.

Although he regularly faced the need to deal with immediate crises, Henry focused throughout his reign on two main policies.