Here are some excerpts from the Chronicle of Hermann of Reichenau in a translation by I.S. Robinson. Hermann (July 18, 1013 – September 24, 1054) was also called Hermannus Contractus or Hermannus Augiensis or Herman the Cripple or the Lame. Amongst his many achievements, he wrote a chronicle (which was later continued by his student Berthold of Reichenau). Here are the Slav passages of Hermann’s chronicle.
1004
“King Henry went by way of Verona into the region of Italy on this side of the Po and subjected to himself all the cities in that region. On the very day on which he was crowned, he broke into Pavia and subdued it by fire and sword. After taking hostages, he returned from there into Saxony and after a few days he turned his arms against the Slavs. He forced the Bohemians to accept their former duties of services and payment of tribute; he also brought Boleslav, the duke of the Polish Slavs, into subjection, together with all his people,* and returned to Saxony victorious. Duke Herman of Swabia died and he was succeeded in the duchy by his son, Herman, who was a boy and acceptable to all the people.”
* In autumn 1004 Henry restored the exiled Duke Jaromir of Bohemia. The reference to Boleslav is to Boleslav Chrobry (duke 992 – 1025; king 1025). The expedition took place in August to September of 1005.
1032
“Rudolf, the indolent petty king of Burgundy, died and his crown and the insignia of the kingship were brought to Emperor Conrad by Seliger. In these days, while the emperor was leading an army against Miesco, the king of those Slavs who are called Poles,* Odo the son of the sister of the same Rudolf, a prince of Champagne in France, invaded the kingdom of Burgundy, captured the fortresses of Neuenburg and Murten and placed his own garrisons in them…”
* Mieszko II (ruling 1025 – 1034). The emperor’s unsuccessful expedition was in September.
1034
“…The pagan Slavs known as Liutizi attacked the frontiers of Saxony…”
1035
“…Duke Adalbero of Carinthia and Istria lost the emperor’s favor and was also deprived of his duchy. The Liutizi captured the fortress of Werben, which was secretly betrayed to them, and killed or led away captive many of our men. The emperor forced a crossing of the River Elbe, entered their province and laid it waste far and wide. A great synod was assembled in Tribur.”
1036
“…The Liutizi Slavs were obliged to pay tribute to the emperor…”
1039
“…King Henry undertook an expedition to Bohemia, but when Bretislav the duke of that people, had sen him his son as a hostage and had promised – although it was a feigned promise – that he himself would come and perform what was commanded of him, he at once returned. During the winter Peter, king of the Hungarians invaded the frontiers of his kingdom and laid it waste, plundering burning and taking captives.”
1040
“King Henry attacked the duke of the Bohemians, who was once again in rebellion. In order to storm the forest obstruction or rampart on both sides, he sent the lightly armed part of the army through a lonely mountain pass into the province. When, however, the knights entered the difficult and heavily wooded terrain, on 22 August on this side and on the following day on the other side, and while with futile labour, already wearied, they sought in vain to attack a particular earthwork, the Bohemians poured in all sides and they were slaughtered, taken prisoner or put to flight. Those of our men who still remained in the province were brought out through the intervention of the hermit Gunther* and returned safely. Meanwhile the king departed with the loss of very many knights and princes and with his purpose unfulfilled…”
* “from the Thuringial comital familypf Schwarzburg and Kaefernburg, monk of Niederaltaich, founded settlement of hermits at Rinchnach.”
1041
“King Henry restored to the Bohemian duke his son, who had been held as a hostage, and ransomed the prisoners who had been captured in the forest. The following summer he collected a grate army, entered that province by an unfrequented route and laid everything waste with pillage and burning until the duke was compelled by hardship to sue for peace.* He summoned the king’s vassals to him and promised them his own surrender and subjection together with all his people and also promised that he would come to the king in Regensburg and perform what was commanded him. He soon fulfilled his promise through his actions after the king departed.** In the same year the treacherous Hungarians set up again…”
* “Henry entered Bohemia on 15 August and campaigned until 29 September according to Steindorff (1874).”
** “He appeared in Regensburg in October, paid tribute, took an oath of fidelity and promised service to Henry and received from him Bohemia and two Polish provinces according to Steindorff again (1874).”
1042
“…After the subjection of the Hungarians of that territory since they refused to accept Peter, he installed for them as duke one of their number who was at that time in exile among the Bohemians. Immediately after the king’s departure, however, Aba drove the duke back into Bohemia and the latter was unable to put up any resistance…”
1045
“…The Slavs who are called Liutizi were troubling the borders of Saxony; but when the king came there with a force of his vassals, they surrendered and promised the customary tribute. In the autumn the hermit Gunther departed to Christ and was laid to rest in Prague, a city of Bohemia…”
1047
“…At that time he promoted the Swabian count Welf, son of the former count Welf, to be duke of Carinthia…”
1048
“…THe emperor left Regensburg, where he celebrated Easter [3 April] with Duke Otto and Duke Bretislav* and many princes, and, coming back to Swabia, he entered our own Reichenau…”
* “Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia, whose wife Judith (Jutta) of Schweinfurt was Duke Otto’s sister.”
1050
“…After Easter the lord pope agains assembled a synod in Rome and, subsequently advancing beyond Rome, he subjected some of the princes and cities in that region both to himself and to the emperor by means of an oath and excommunicating the Beneneventans, who were still in rebellion. Some princes of the foreig nations also sent envoys to him as pope and promised him subjection. The emperor prepared an expedition against Casimir, duke of the Poles, who was planning a rebellion. He was, however, held back by a serious illness and received him when he requested peace and a treaty and departed…”*
* According to the German scholar Steindorff (1874): “Casimir I (ruling 1034 – 1058) was accused of having usurped by force a province given by the emperor to the duke of the Bohemians. He came to the emperor on the royal estate of Goslar and defended himself against the accusation by means of an oath and those matters in which he was guilty he corrected according to the emperor’s judgment.”
1051
“…The following autumn the emperor, disdaining to accept the pact that King Andreas offered through his envoys, invaded Hungary with a great army. While Bishop Gebhard of Regensburg, Duke Welf and Duke Bretislav were sent to lay waste to the northern Danube region, he himself marched through the territory of Carinthia. He made a long detour because of the overflowing of rivers, while supplies were brought from the ships, as far as possible on horses. He invaded the treacherous kingdom and laid waste all the surrounding territory, as long as supplies were available for the army, since the Hungarian army fled rapidly higher and thither like a band of robbers, nowhere daring to give battle on equal terms. When, however, the army began to suffer from scarcities and hunger, the Hungarians prepared to cut off their retreat, having stationed their forces on the riverbanks that they had previously fortified band in shallow marches, and threatened either to force them all to surrender or to starve them to death. The knights were undismayed and unhesitatingly waded over and put to flight the enemies who opposed them on the rivers. Certain Burgundian, Saxon and Polish knights* crossed the river, not without danger to themselves, and in a short time stormed and captured a very strong fortress built at the bridge over the River Repcze, in which the enemy had t he greatest trust. They cut down and scattered the Hungarians and opened the way for the rest of the army. After almost all had passed through, the fortress was set on fire, which cut off some of the hindmost, placing them in great danger because the enemy was pushing them. The emperor thus returning and those whom he had sent beyond the Danube having png since come back after achieving success in their enterprises, King Andreas sent a request for peace to our Margrave Adalbert and promised peace on his own part.”
* The presence of Polish knights may be explained by the fact that Casimir I had previously gotten German support for the enterprise of reclaiming the Polish throne.
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