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Birth:           876 Memleben, Saxony
Death:          2 Jul  936 Membleben, Saxony

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Fowler
Henry the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Finkler or Heinrich der Vogler; Latin: Henricius 
Auceps) (876 – July 2, 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the elected king of 
East Francia (Germany) from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king, 
he established the Ottonian Dynasty of kings and emperors, he is generally considered 
to be the founder and first king of the medieval German state, known until then as 
East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet "the Fowler"[1] because he was 
allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to 
be king. By his death in July 936 Henry had prevented collapse of royal power, as had 
happened in West Francia, and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. 
Henry died on July 2, 936 in his royal palace in Memleben, one of his favourite places. 
He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor.
Family[edit]

Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Henry was the son of Otto the 
Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Henry of Franconia and 
Ingeltrude and a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. In 906 he married 
Hatheburg von Merseburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously 
been a nun. The marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were 
deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henry's son 
Thankmar. The annulment placed a question mark over Thankmar's legitimacy. Later 
that year he married Matilda, daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Count in Westphalia. 
Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwig and 
Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey 
where Henry is buried. She was later canonized.

Rule[edit]
 
Henry became Duke of Saxony after his father's death in 912. An able ruler, he 
continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the weakening kingdom of 
East Francia, and was frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South in Duchy 
of Franconia.

On December 23, 918 Conrad I, king of East Francia and Franconian duke, died. 
Although Henry had rebelled against Conrad I between 912 and 915 over the lands in 
Thuringia, Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Kingship now changed from 
Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne and 
were proud of their identity. Henry, as Saxon, was the first non-Frank on the throne.

Conrad's choice was conveyed by his brother, duke Eberhard III of Franconia at the 
Imperial Diet of Fritzlar in 919. The assembled Franconian and Saxon nobles elected 
Henry to be king with other regional dukes not participating in election. Archbishop 
Heriger of Mainz offered to anoint Henry according to the usual ceremony, but he 
refused - the only king of his time not to undergo that rite - allegedly because he 
wished to be king not by the church's but by the people's acclaim.

Henry, who was elected to kingship by only Saxons and Franconians at Fritzlar, had to 
subdue other dukes. Duke Arnulf of Bavaria did not submit until Henry defeated him in 
two campaigns in 921. Henry besieged his residence at Ratisbon (Regensburg) and 
forced Arnulf into submission. Arnulf had crowned himself as king of Bavaria in 919, 
but in 921 renounced crown and submitted to Henry while maintaining large autonomy 
and the right to mint his own coins. Duke Burchard II of Swabia soon swore fealty to 
the new King, but when he died, Henry appointed a noble from Franconia to be the 
new duke.

Henry was too weak to impose absolutist rule, and regarded his kingdom as a 
confederation of stem duchies rather than as a feudal monarchy and saw himself as 
primus inter pares (first among equals). Instead of seeking to administer the empire 
through counts, as Charlemagne had done and as his successors had attempted, 
Henry allowed the local dukes in Duchy of Franconia, Duchy of Swabia, and Duchy of 
Bavaria to maintain large internal autonomy.

Family and Children
As the first Saxon king of East Francia, Henry was the founder of the Ottonian 
dynasty. He and his descendants ruled East Francia, and later the Holy Roman 
Empire, from 919 until 1024.

Henry had two wives and at least six children.
With Hatheburg:
1.Thankmar (908 – 938) - rebelled against his half-brother Otto and was killed in battle 
in 938
With Matilda:
1.Hedwig (910 – 965) - wife of the West Francia's powerful Robertian duke Hugh the 
Great, mother of King Hugh Capet of West Francia
2.Otto I (912 – 973) - Duke of Saxony, King of East Francia and Holy Roman Emperor. 
In 929 Henry married Otto to Eadgyth, daughter of king of Wessex Edward the Elder
3.Gerberga (913 – 984) - wife of (1) Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia and (2) King Louis IV 
of France
4.Henry I (919 – 955) - Duke of Bavaria
5.Bruno (925 – 965) - Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia and regent of 
West Francia

Legacy[edit]


 


 Himmler at Henry's grave, 1938
Henry returned to public attention as a character in Richard Wagner's opera, 
Lohengrin (1850), trying to gain the support of the Brabantian nobles against the 
Magyars. After the attempts to achieve German national unity failed with the 
Revolutions of 1848, Wagner strongly relied on the picture of Henry as the actual ruler 
of all German tribes as advocated by pan-Germanist activists like Friedrich Ludwig 
Jahn.

There are indications that Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of Henry, 
who was proclaimed to be the first king of Germany.[9]

Parents
____ Otto "the Illustrious" "the Grand" (ABT  851 - 30 Nov  912)
____ Hedwige (Hathui) (ABT  855 - 24 Dec  903)

Siblings
____ Henry (Heinrich) I "the Fowler" ( 876 - 2 Jul  936)
OF SAXONY Oda ( 877 - AFT  952)
OF SAXONY Liudolf (ABT  878 - )

Marriage To VON RINGLEHEIM Mathilda (Mechtilde) (ABT  894 - 14 May  968)
    m.  909 his 2d

Notes
his 2d

Parents
VON RINGELHEIM Dietrich (Theoderich) (ABT  872 - 8 Sep  917)
VON FRIESLAND Reginhilde (Ragnhildis Ludmilla) (ABT  879 - ABT  917)

Children by VON RINGLEHEIM Mathilda (Mechtilde) ABT  894 - 14 May  968
____ Otto I "the Great" (23 Nov  912 - 7 May  973)
OF SAXONY Gerberge ( 913 - 5 May  984)
OF SAXONY Hedwig (ABT  915 - 14 Mar  965)

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