Changes

Charlemagne had established a vast Empire that contained most of Western Europe. After his death, the Empire was divided among his heirs , which was the Frankish custom. The western part (West Francia) and the Eastern part (Eastern Francia) came to be ruled by separate members of the Carolingian dynasty and another . Another member of that family ruled led in Italy. These monarchies became increasingly weak and were could not able to defend their territories from attacks from invaders such as the Arabs or the Vikings. The Carolingians died out one by one , and local nobles became more powerful , and there was no central power in much of western Europe.

In West Francia, the Capetians , in response to Viking attacks , were developing a state that would become the kingdom of France. Eastern Francis , which corresponds today to Western Germany , was very unstable and beset by conflict. It was also attacked by external enemies such as the Danes, Slavs, and the Magyars <ref>Arnold, Benjamin, Medieval Germany, 500–1300 A Political Interpretation. (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997), p. 116 </ref>. The German lands were in a crisis , and the nobles in a rare moment of concern for the greater good decided to elect a leader or king, to defend the German landsin a rare moment of concern for the greater good. The decision to elect Henry the Duke of Saxony as their king. He is better known as Henry the Fowler , and he proved an inspired choice. He was an excellent general , and he defeated the Slavs, Danes, and the Magyars.

Henry was widely revered, and he began the process of restoring the old Reich or kingdom of Charlemagne. Nostalgia for the vanished Roman Empire in the West lasted for centuries , and many believed that it should be resurrected <ref>Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056 (Manchester, Addison Wesley Longman, 1991), p. 113</ref>. Henry sought to re-create the Roman Empire, just as Charlemagne had. This ambition was also to preoccupy his successors for centuries. When Henry died , his son, Otto , inherited the throne and his father’s ambitiondream.