Cologne, the city which competed with Mayence for precedence in Germany; it was already governed by Henry's life-long and most trusted adviser, Archbishop Herman, whose noble birth and strenuous activity contrast strongly with the comparative obscurity and the mildness of Bardo of Mayence.
In the first days of September, accompanied by the Empress Gisela and Archbishop Herman, Henry made his first visit as sole ruler to Saxony, of all the German lands the least readily bound to his throne and destined to play so fatal a part in the downfall of his heir. This weakness in the national bond Henry seems to have tried to remedy by personal ties. The obscure township of Goslar was to be transformed by his favour into a courtly city. Here in the wild district of the Harz was Botfeld, where, now and throughout his life, Henry gave himself up at times to hunting, his only pleasure and relaxation from the toils of state. Near at hand was the Abbey of Quedlinburg, whose then Abbess, the royal Adelaide, he distinguished as his "spiritual mother"; while her successors in turn were Henry's own two daughters, his eldest, Beatrice, niece of the Confessor, and his youngest, Adelaide.
Disquieting news reached Henry in Saxony of events in Bohemia, whose Duke Břatislav had, late in August, returned triumphantly to Prague after a whirlwind campaign throughout the length and breadth of Poland, a land recently made vassal to the Empire, the prince of which, Casimir, an exile in Germany, was the nephew of Herman of Cologne. From Saxony Henry passed through Thuringia towards Bohemia, and there consulted with Eckhard of Meissen, guardian of the Marches against Bohemia, a veteran of staunchest loyalty, in whose wise counsels Henry placed unfailing confidence in spite of his unsuccess in war. There can be no doubt that Henry in Thuringia was at the head of an armed force, and that he meant war with Bohemia; but an embassy with hostages from Břatislav, together, doubtless, with the need for completing the visitation of the German duchies, determined him for the time to peace. So he dismissed his forces, and turned south to Bavaria.
From Bavaria, at the beginning of the new year, 1040, he moved to his mother's native duchy of Swabia; while after his departure Peter of Hungary, ally of Břatislav, sent his Magyars raiding over the Bavarian borders. In Swabia, Henry visited, among other places, the famous monastery of Reichenau, the chief and most brilliant centre of learning in Germany, the home of Herman, the noble cripple, whose genius was extolled throughout Germany, and to whose pen we owe a very large, if not the chief part, of our knowledge both of his times and of Henry himself, a knowledge but little tinged with enthusiasm or sympathy for the king. As he passed through Constance, Henry shews for a moment a touch of human sympathy, as he visited, in the Church of Saint Mary, the tomb of his unfortunate eldest brother, Ernest of Swabia.
At Ulm he summoned his first "Fürstentag," the assembly of princes,
