Incursions
Index
Thie
[906.] ... he dispatched Henry with a Saxon levy and the duke's military household against the Daleminzi, whom he himself had fought for many years. The Daleminzi were not able to withstand Henry's attack, and summoned against him the Avars…1
[929. Henry I campaigns successfully against Hevelli, taking Brandenburg2; against Daleminzi, taking Gana; against Bohemians, taking Prague; also made Abodrites, Wilzi, and Redarii tributary; Redarii rebelled, taking Walsleben; Saxons respond by besieging Lenzen, a battle described in detail.]3
932. King Henry was in 'Lonsicin'.4
[933?] From here [Meissen], he compelled the Milzeni, already subject to his will, to pay tribute. Furthermore, after long besieging the burg Lebusa... he forced the residents to flee to a small inner fortress and then to surender. From that day, on which he justly destoyed it by fire, to the present, the burg has been uninhabited.
[950.] At that time, the king campaigned against Boleslav, the king of the Bohemians. [continues with further detail] 5
955. King Otto contended most perilously against the Abodrites, whom Ekbert, the son of his maternal aunt, had gathered against him.6
[957. The final campaigns of Wichmann against Mieszko of the 'Licicaviki', the Liutizi, the Wagrians, and the Abodrites; he later joined with the Slavs called Wuloini (i.e., from Wollin) against Mieszko, who called in aid from Boleslav of Bohemia.]7
963. Back home the Slavs called Lausitzer were also subdued.8
[972] The illustrious Margrave Hodo collected an army and attacked Mieszko though the latter was faithful to the emperor and paid tribute for territory extending to the river Warthe. Only my father, Count Siegfried, then a young man and unmarried, came to his aid with warriors of his own. When the battle began at Zehden, on the feast of John the Baptist, they were initially successful. But then Mieszko's brother, Cidibur, attacked and killed all the best warriors, with the exception of two counts. The emperor was very disturbed when he heard this miserable news and sent representatives from Italy who ordered Hodo and Mieszko to leave off their fighting and preserve the peace until he returned, or risk losing his favor.9
976. Henry, duke of the Bavarians, fled to Bohemia after being deprived of both his office and the communion of the church. While he was residing there, with Duke Boleslav, the emperor attacked with a strong army, but gained nothing at all against these two. Moreover, through the treachery of one of Boleslav's warriors, he lost a great troop of Bavarians who were coming to his aid and had just set up camp next to the burg Pilsen. In the evening, the Bavarians were washing themselves without having set a guard for security. Suddenly, the mailed enemy arrived and cut them down as they ran naked to their tents and through the meadow. The enemy returned with all of their booty, happy and unharmed. Hearing of the loss of so many men, and knowing that no other route of return was accessible to him, the emperor went directly to his burg at Cham.10
[983. Peoples Christian and tribute-paying rose up in response to Margrave Dietrich's arrogance. On 29 July, they invaded Havelberg and destroyed the cathedral. Three days later, they attacked Brandenburg. Bohemians under Dedi took Zeitz. Other Slavs sacked the monastery of St. Laurence at Calbe. Duke Mistui of the Abodrites ravaged Hamburg. Thirty bands on horse and foot burned and pillaged as far as the Tanger river. A force annihilated some of the enemy; at night, some of these Slavs escaped.]11
[984. Duke Boleslav of Bohemia takes possession of Meissen, expelling the bishop; he return the next year after Boleslav went home.]12
986. King Otto while still a little boy came to Slavia with a large army of Saxons. Mieszko came to him there with a very great multitude, and obtained from him a camel and many other presents, and also put himself under his power. Proceeding together, they laid waste to that whole land with fires and much pillage.13
987. The Saxons again laid waste to Slavia. Whence compelled, they put themselves under the king’s control and the castles along the Elbe were restored.14
990. In this year the Saxons twice laid waste the Abodrites in a powerful attack. Many of them and especially the most noteworthy were killed, others were murdered in the river. By the grace of God, the Saxons returned with peace and victory. Mieszko and Boleslav, dukes of the Slavs, contended amongst themselves with serious hostility.15
991. King Otto with a large army of Saxons and reinforcements from Mieszko besieged and conquered Brandenburg16. When he was leaving there, a certain Saxon, Kizo, boldly invaded the same burg with the aid of the Liutizi rashly enough against the king’s command, and, with the perseverance of the aforesaid Slavs, altogether unjustly subjugated it to his control contrary to human or divine law. He attempted frequent attacks of robbery in Saxony along the river Elbe. By the grace of God he fled from them into hiding, not as a victor but a like a fugitive thief.17
[994.] At this time, the Slavs were defeated.18
995. King Otto lay waste the Abodrites, and overthrew their burgs and fortresses. Boleslaw, son of Mieszko, brought him aid with a large army, and also the Bohemians came with the son of the other Boleslav. And the king took himself to Saxony with a vast army. … The Slavs lay waste to Saxony by frequent attack.19
997. The Slavs, with the treachery innate to them, broke the agreement of the peace that had been achieved and gnawed the Saxon borders with furtive robberies. Provoked against them, the emperor invaded with a large army, conquered, and pillaged Stodorania, which is commonly called Heneldum, a distinguished land among the Slavonic ones, and as a conqueror entered gloriously into Magdeburg, the preeminent burg of the Saxons. In the meantime however, while the august emperor, that is Otto III, passed through Hevaldum laying waste, the assembled Veletabi attacked unexpectedly the province of Bardengau with much plundering and burning. Seeing this, the Westphalians, whom the aforementioned emperor, proceeding on his campaign, had left to guard the province, swiftly and powerfully overtook the Liutizi and, although they were few, they laid low an innumerable multitude of pagans with such great slaughter and seized so much booty from them that the amount neither of that slaughter nor of the booty can in any way be set forth in human speech.20
[997. A Slav raid on Arneburg involving archbishop Giselher of Madgeburg.]21
[1002.] Boleslav...assembled an army and seized Margrave Gero's march as far as the river Elbe. Then, with siege troops sent ahead, he captured the burg of Bautzen, with all its possessions, and immediately thereafter attacked Strehla.22 Secretly, he also tried to bribe the residents of Meissen... [more on this]. Elated by this success, Boleslav occupied the entire region up to the Elster and secured it with a garrison. [more on how Boleslav's claimed to do so with Henry's permission, on negotiations concerning the region after Henry's coronation, Boleslav's frustration] When he arrived at the city of Strehla, he immediately set fire to it and abducted a large part of the local populace.23
[1003. Boleslav Chrobry further negotiating for Meissen, moving an army to the region, sparing Strehla]24 In one day the whole fertile region of Lommatzsch was ravaged with fire and sword and had its inhabitants abducted. [also receive booty and several thousand captives from Mügeln]25
[1004.] Boleslaw attacked the Bavarians... with a large force. In response, the king assembled an army and attacked the lands of the Milzeni.26
[1004. King Henry invades Bohemia to oust Boleslaw Chrobry from power there, taking Zatec by force and reinstating the Premyslid Jaromir as ruler in Prague. Afterward, Jaromir assists Henry in attacking the Milzeni and beseiging Bautzen--ultimately surrendered by Boleslaw.]27
[1005. Mid-August to mid-September, joined by the Bohemians and the Liutizi, Henry advances an army against the Poles, crossing through the region of Lausitz toward the Oder, where he puts Boleslaw and his forces to flight from Krossen and, laying waste, proceeds toward Poznan. Although Polish garrisons readily abandoned their burgs, Henry's army suffered privation and frequent ambush. Stopping short of Poznan, the two rulers made peace there and the armies returned home.]28
[1005. Jaromir, the Liutizi, and the residents of Wollin complain to King Henry about predations by Boleslaw as a result of the peace agreement; Henry agrees to renounce it. Boleslaw lays waste to Möckern, outside Magdeburg, and takes Zerbst. He then takes the regions of Lausitz, Sorau, and Selpuli and besieges Bautzen.]29
[1009.] The Slavs, who have no fear of God, pillaged both a church located outside the city of Metz and the congregation that served it [implicitly while under the command of the German marcher lord, Dietrich].30
[1009. A force of Poles tries to take Meissen but is easily repulsed, to Boleslaw's displeasure.]31
1010. Expedition to the Slavs, from which the king returned sick with a few men.32
[1012. Boleslaw takes Lebusa, with slaughter and booty, then sets it afire--on 20 August.]33
1015. The emperor again went with an army against the Poles.34
[1017.] Moravian soldiers of Boleslaw surrounded and killed a large but careless band of Bavarians.35
1017. That same year, he [the emperor] again entered Poland with an army.36