German kings were to bind men to them by rewarding them at the expense of Germany's neighbours, they now had to do so to the south in Italy where there was no consolidated power to bar the way.
The first German king to recognize this was Otto's grandson, Otto III ( 983-1002). His father, Otto II ( 973-83) had followed in Otto I's footsteps, intervening as he had done in the troubled affairs of the French kingdom and to the east extending German domination as far as the Oder. A disastrous defeat in southern Italy sparked off a great Slav revolt in 981-3, however, and German rule was again marked by the Elbe. A series of fruitless campaigns to recover the lost lands during the 990s may have made Otto III pause to consider; so too may the martyrdom of the revered Adalbert, exiled bishop of Prague, at the hands of the Pomeranians. A pilgrimage to his tomb at Gniezno in 1000 led to the foundation of an archbishopric there, directly subject to Rome, and an equivalent foundation was made for the Hungarians at Esztergom the next year. At the same time relics were transferred there and Boleslav Chobry was recognized as semi-independent ruler of Poland, though he did not take a crown for himself until 1024. Otto III himself spent much of the latter part of his reign in Italy, having settled eastern affairs to his satisfaction and facing little danger in Lotharingia from the French king or magnates. How far he dreamed of a renewed empire as head of a federation of Christian kingdoms, and how realistic such a project was, are questions which have exercised historians ever since, not least since they are unanswerable, Otto dying prematurely at the age of 21.
Unlike his predecessors Otto III left no heir. Events on his death were an unwelcome portent of things to come, for the succession of his cousin, Henry of Bavaria, was opposed by two other magnates, Ekkehard of Meissen and Hermann of Swabia. Each had powerful adherents, Boleslav Chobry and the archbishop of Magdeburg respectively, and their opposition illustrates the fragility of the state which the Liudolfings had created. Ekkehard was related to Boleslav by marriage; time and again the ties which magnates might contract within
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