to his imagination, and he believed that as, on the other
side of the Rhine, the Frank, the Burgundian, and the Lombard severally
obeyed an independent sovereign, the East Frank, the Saxon, the Swabian,
and the Bavarian, on this side of the Rhine, were also desirous of
asserting a similar independence, and that it would be easier and less
hazardous to found a hereditary dukedom in a powerful and separate state
than to maintain the imperial dignity, undermined, as it was, by
universal hostility.

The influence of Hatto and the consent of Otto placed Conrad, Duke of
Franconia, on the imperial throne. Sprung from a newly risen family, a
mere creature of the bishop, his nobility as a feudal lord only dating
from the period of the Babenberg feud, he was regarded by the Church as
a pliable tool and by the dukes as little to be feared. His weakness was
quickly demonstrated by his inability to retain the rich allods of the
Carlovingian dynasty as heir to the imperial crown, and his being
constrained to share them with the rest of the dukes; he was,
nevertheless, more fully sensible of the dignity and of the duties of
his station than those to whom he owed his election probably expected.
His first step was to recall Regingar of Lothringia, who was oppressed
by France, to his allegiance as vassal of the empire.

Otto died in 912, and his son Henry, a high-spirited youth, who had
greatly distinguished himself against the Slavi, ere long quarrelled
with the aged bishop Hatto. According to the legendary account, the
bishop sent him a golden chain so skilfully contrived as to strangle its
wearer. The truth is that the ancient family feud between the house of
Conrad and that of Otto, which was connected with the Babenbergers,
again broke out, and that the Emperor attempted again to separate
Thuringia, which Otto had governed since the death of Burkhard, from
Saxony, in order to hinder the overpreponderance of that ducal house.
Hatto, it is probable, counselled this step, as a considerable portion
of Thuringia belonged to the diocese of Mayence, and a collision between
him and the duke was therefore unavoidable. Henry flew to arms, and
expelled the adherents of the bishop from Thuringia, which forced the
Emperor to take the field in the name of the empire against his haughty
vassal. This unfortunate civil war was a signal for a fresh irruption of
the Slavi and Hungarians. During this year the Bohemians and Sorbi also
made an inroad in