East Francia

Politics and institutions

East Francia was created by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, when Louis the German received the mostly Germanic-speaking lands east of the Rhine, including Saxony, Bavaria, Alamannia and Franconia. The kingdom was a Carolingian successor state, but its royal power was weaker than in the west and its dukes of Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia became hereditary rulers. The Carolingian line ended with Louis the Child in 911, when the nobles elected Conrad I, and in 919 the crown passed to the Saxon Henry the Fowler. Henry and his son Otto the Great rebuilt royal authority, defeated the Magyars, strengthened the church and created a powerful monarchy. Otto's imperial coronation in Rome in 962 turned East Francia into the core of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany.

Economy and finance

East Francia's economy was agrarian and less commercialized than the west. The great estates of the church, monasteries and nobles dominated the countryside, and the royal fisc provided the king's main income. The kingdom lay at the crossroads of trade between the Rhine, the Elbe, the Baltic and the Danes and Slavs, and its silver mines, salt and grain supported towns and markets. The Carolingian silver denier remained the basic currency, and the church's tithes and estates made it a major economic power. The Saxon and Salian kings later used the wealth of the Harz silver mines to finance their wars and the building of churches and palaces. The economy supported the Ottonian revival and the growth of German towns in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Society and culture

East Frankish society was a mosaic of Germanic and Slavic peoples, distinguished by law, custom and language. The Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians, Thuringians and Slavs lived under the king, the church and the great dukes, and the frontier regions were organized as marches against the Danes, Slavs and Magyars. Christianity spread through monasteries and bishoprics, and the church became a key instrument of royal government. The kingdom's culture was Carolingian in its Latin learning but increasingly German in its language and institutions. The Saxon kings patronized monasteries, built cathedrals and promoted the conversion of the Slavs and Scandinavians, while oral heroic poetry and the vernacular began to shape a German identity.

Military and frontiers

East Francia's army was a Carolingian-style host of royal vassals, ducal contingents and peasant levies. Its greatest test came from the Magyars, whose raids devastated the kingdom in the early tenth century. Henry the Fowler reorganized the army, built fortified towns and created a heavy cavalry force, and Otto the Great defeated the Magyars at the Lechfeld in 955. The army also campaigned against the Slavs, Danes and Italians, and Otto's victories made him the dominant ruler of Europe. The military power of the Saxon kings rested on the church, the duchies and the frontier marches, and their success in war strengthened the monarchy and the imperial claim. After Otto, the army became the core of the Holy Roman Empire's military system.

Foreign relations

East Francia's foreign policy was dominated by the Magyars, the Slavs, the Danes and the papacy. The kingdom fought the Magyars until Otto's victory at the Lechfeld in 955, and it expanded eastward into Slavic lands through marches, tribute and missionary bishoprics. Otto's intervention in Italy and his imperial coronation in 962 made East Francia the centre of the Holy Roman Empire and created a lasting conflict with Byzantium over the imperial title. The kingdom also maintained relations with the West Franks, the Danes and the papacy, and its church became a key ally of the crown. These policies laid the basis for Germany's medieval expansion and its imperial role in Central Europe.

Legacy and influence

East Francia became the Kingdom of Germany and the core of the Holy Roman Empire, and its institutions shaped German history for centuries. The elective monarchy, the great duchies, the alliance between crown and church and the frontier marches became permanent features of the German lands. The Ottoman and Salian kings built a powerful empire in Central Europe, and their conflict with the papacy over investiture shaped the medieval church-state relationship. The kingdom's Slavic frontier and its missionary activity influenced later German expansion and the cultural geography of Central Europe. Its memory survives in the German monarchy, the Holy Roman Empire and the idea of a German nation in the heart of Europe.