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Rh lived under princes were partly Christianised and partly though uneasily subject to Germany. But the Lyutitzi, wild and free communities living under elected rulers, were a more savage people. They might be useful as allies against the Poles, whom they hated more than they did the Germans under the tolerant Conrad, but there could be for them nothing approaching even semi-subjection. With them in the years preceding Henry's accession direct conflict had arisen through the avarice of the Saxons, upon whom Conrad had thrown the responsibility of defence. Repeated raids followed and Henry's first trial in arms was against them. Then a campaign in 1036, followed by great cruelty on Conrad's part enforced quiet, which lasted until the end of Henry's reign.

The other Slavs, those of the Baltic, had dealings with the Dukes of Saxony and the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, rather than with the Emperor. Archbishop Albrand (1035-1045) built in Hamburg a strong church and palace as a refuge from Slav raids; Duke Bernard II followed his example with another stronghold in the same city: duke and bishop attended to their respective duties, one of exacting tribute and the other of evangelisation. But there was frequent restlessness and grumbling at tribute demanded by the Duke and episcopal dues demanded by the Bishop of Oldenburg which, until 1160 when the see of Lübeck was founded, was the episcopal centre for the Obotrites; also, when Adalbert (1045) succeeded Albrand, duke and archbishop fell into strife. Bernard looked upon Adalbert as a spy in Henry's service; Adalbert strove to free his see from ducal encroachments. He finished the stone fortifications of Bremen as a protection against Bernard rather than against the Slavs: he added to those of Hamburg, and as further defence built a fortress on the banks of the Elbe, which its garrison made into a robber hold until the outraged inhabitants destroyed it.

In spite of large schemes for a province with more suffragans, Adalbert did little for the Slavs. It was neither archbishop nor Saxon duke who maintained peace among these Slavs of the Elbe, but Duke Godescalc. This remarkable noble was studying at Lüneburg when his father, an Obotrite prince, was murdered for his cruelty by a Saxon. Godescalc at once renounced Christianity and learning alike, and at the head of a horde of Lyutitzi set out to avenge his father's death. Suddenly his heart smote him for the woe and death he was dealing out: he gave himself up to Duke Bernard, who sent him into Denmark. There he took service with Knut and went with him to England. After the deaths of Knut and his sons he came home. He found the Obotrites suffering from a heavy defeat at the hands of Magnus of Norway, in which the family of Ratibor, their leading chief, had been all slain. He was able to regain his father's place and the leadership of the Obotrites. He extended his power as far as the country of the Lyutitzi, and the wide district of the Bremen diocese "feared him as a king" and paid him tribute. With the neighbouring Christian rulers, Scandinavian and German, he kept up a vigorous friend-