command was in capable hands; Herman Billung and Gero repressed the risings with a firm hand and even extended German influence further eastward. The death of Henry the Fowler had been the first signal for insurrection, in which the Redari seem to have taken the leading part. Henry they had learnt to fear, but Otto was untried and had yet to prove his strength. He hastened back from his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle and suppressed the rising. The Wends were held in check till the year 939 when Germany was in the throes of civil war, when the total subversion of the royal authority seemed inevitable, and an unrivalled opportunity of throwing off the German yoke presented itself. They made repeated inroads which were beaten off by Gero, and even the king himself, it appears, found time on more than one occasion to enter into the border conflict. In Bohemia, Boleslav, who had in 936 gained the throne by murdering his brother Wenceslas at the gates of the church of Alt-Bunzlau, asserted his independence and though temporarily checked by a force of Saxons and Thuringians sent against him in 938, he continued to be a source of danger and disturbance till Otto in 950 made an expedition in person to Bohemia and was recognised as overlord. The results, however, of the frontier fighting were on the whole satisfactory. Partly by his own efforts, partly by his keen insight into character which enabled him to select the right men for the work, Otto made progress, extended the German sway as far as the Oder, and prepared the way for the next stage in his Eastern policy, the consolidation of his conquests and the conversion of the conquered peoples to the Christian religion. The newly acquired territory was divided into two marches under the control of Herman and Gero. The tribute and rents accruing from these sources were appropriated to the maintenance of the frontier garrisons, to the establishment of colonies, and to the endowment of churches. In 948, probably on the occasion of the visit of the papal legate Marinus, Bishop of Bomarzo, to Germany, bishoprics were founded at Brandenburg and Havelberg in the province of Mayence, and at Ripen, Aarhus and Schleswig in the metropolitan diocese of Bremen for the organisation of further missionary work.
On the western frontier, also, the state of affairs was troublesome. The possession of Lorraine was by no means entirely a source of strength to the German monarchy. Owing to its position between the East and West Frankish dominions it involved the German king in the everlasting turmoil which characterised the history of France in the tenth century. Moreover Lorraine was always firmly attached to the Carolingian tradition, and there was always a party ready to support the Caroling kings in their attempts to win back the province for the Western Kingdom. There Louis IV was engaged in an incessant struggle to hold his own against a strong coalition of feudal nobles under the leadership of the all-powerful Count of Paris. During the decade 940-950 Otto was busily engaged beyond the Rhine. He lent his aid first to one side,
