On this day, July 2nd, 936 King Henry I, called the Fowler, founder of what would later become the Holy Roman Empire died in his palace in Memleben.
His great achievement was to bring the stem duchies of Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia and Lothringia together into one political entity that lasted until 1806. He achieved that not through the direct application of military power but through a combination of display of arms and diplomacy. He convinced his rival dukes to accept him as a First amongst Equals and tied them to the new entity through agreements of friendship and participation in prayer associations.
His other great achievement was a fundamental restructuring of the border. He encouraged the construction of large defensive structures against the bane of the times, the Magyars (=Hungarians) who had been raiding Western Europe almost annually. He ordered that of every 9 peasants, one should take up arms and move onto a castle to train to defend the country. He also supported the creation of units of armoured cavalry, who would later turn into the medieval knights. His great success over the Magyars at Ried (Riade) did prove that the Francian armies could defeat the fearsome Magyars paving the way to his son, Otto the Great's comprehensive victory at the battle on the Lechfeld in 955.
During the Nazi regime, the history of Henry the Fowler was cruelly twisted into a racist-nationalist narrative that has no connection with reality but meant that even today his memory is seen as problematic.
More about this period of History in Season 1 of the History of the Germans Podcast available on Spotify, Apple podcast and anywhere else you get your podcasts from. Links are here:
https://historyofthegermans.com/henry-the-fowler-919-936/#germany #history #german #germanyde #onthisday #geschichte #historyfacts #historynerd #historybuff #historylover #historylesson #historygeek #onthisdayinhistory #germanhistory #historynerds #historypodcast #deutschegeschichte #historyoftheworld #historypodcasts #geschichtspodcast
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