enriching themselves by the plunder of their neighbours. Henry the Fowler made the subjection of the Wends a matter of national concern. Four years (928-932) were occupied in their conquest, but every enterprise Henry undertook was crowned with success[1]. First, in a campaign against the Slavs of the Havel country in the depths of winter, he besieged and captured the ice-bound city of Brandenburg and brought the tribe to submission. Thence turning his energies against the Dalemintzi on the lower Elbe, after a siege of twenty days he took by storm their city of Jahna and planted the stronghold of Meissen as a base for further operations in that district. The subjection of Bohemia was a more serious undertaking; for this campaign he sought the help of Duke Arnulf, and for the first time Bavarian and Saxon marched together in the royal army. Wenceslas, the reigning Duke of Bohemia, had entered upon his inheritance at an early age and during a long minority his mother Drahomina, a Lusatian by birth, acted as regent; it was her policy of assisting the Wends in their wars against the Germans that brought about the enmity of the German king. When however in 929 (?) Henry and Arnulf entered Bohemia, Wenceslas had assumed the government. He had been brought up to the Christian faith by his grandmother Saint Ludmilla, who by her influence over the young duke had earned the hatred and jealousy of her daughter-in-law and at the latter's instigation had suffered the death of a martyr. Wenceslas, whose pious life and terrible end was to gain for him the reward of canonisation, was prepared to make amends for the imprudent policy of his regent mother; when therefore the German army approached Prague he promptly entered into negotiations. He surrendered his lands, received them back as a fief of the German crown, and agreed to pay a yearly tribute of six hundred marks of silver and one hundred and twenty head of cattle.
But no sooner was peace restored than the Wends, chafing under the German yoke, broke out into revolt[2]. The Redarii were the first to take up arms: they captured the town of Walsleben and massacred the inhabitants. The success was the signal for a general rising. The Counts Bernard and Thietmar, Henry's lieutenants in that district, took prompt action, marched against the fortress of Lenzen on the right bank of the Elbe, and, after fierce fighting, completely routed the enemy on 4 September 929. Many fell by the sword, many, in attempting flight, were drowned in the neighbouring lakes. There were but few survivors of that bloody encounter. Widukind reckons the enemy's losses at the incredible figure of two hundred thousand. Yearly tribute and the
- ↑ For the geography of the Slav campaigns see the Maps No. 26, a and b of Professor Peisker issued with Vol. II. of this work.
- ↑ Widukind, i. 36, sums up Henry's achievements against the Slavs before the outbreak of the general revolt of 929 thus: Cumque vicinae gentes a rege Heinrico factae essent tributariae, Apodriti, Wilti, Hevelli, Dalamanci, Boemi, Redarii et pax esset...
