History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5

Name: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5
Author: Gibbon, Edward

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Between the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Alps, the successors of
      Otho acquired a vain supremacy over the broken kingdoms of
      Burgundy and Arles. In the North, Christianity was propagated by
      the sword of Otho, the conqueror and apostle of the Slavic
      nations of the Elbe and Oder: the marches of Brandenburgh and
      Sleswick were fortified with German colonies; and the king of
      Denmark, the dukes of Poland and Bohemia, confessed themselves
      his tributary vassals. At the head of a victorious army, he
      passed the Alps, subdued the kingdom of Italy, delivered the
      pope, and forever fixed the Imperial crown in the name and nation
      of Germany. From that memorable aera, two maxims of public
      jurisprudence were introduced by force and ratified by time. I.
      That the prince, who was elected in the German diet, acquired,
      from that instant, the subject kingdoms of Italy and Rome. II.
      But that he might not legally assume the titles of emperor and
      Augustus, till he had received the crown from the hands of the
      Roman pontiff. 119

      117 (return) [ He was the son of Otho, the son of Ludolph, in
      whose favor the Duchy of Saxony had been instituted, A.D. 858.
      Ruotgerus, the biographer of a St. Bruno, (Bibliot. Bunavianae
      Catalog. tom. iii. vol. ii. p. 679,) gives a splendid character
      of his family. Atavorum atavi usque ad hominum memoriam omnes
      nobilissimi; nullus in eorum stirpe ignotus, nullus degener
      facile reperitur, (apud Struvium, Corp. Hist. German. p. 216.)
      Yet Gundling (in Henrico Aucupe) is not satisfied of his descent
      from Witikind.]

      118 (return) [ See the treatise of Conringius, (de Finibus
      Imperii Germanici, Francofurt. 1680, in 4to.: ) he rejects the
      extravagant and improper scale of the Roman and Carlovingian
      empires, and discusses with moderation the rights of Germany, her
      vassals, and her neighbors.]

      119 (return) [ The power of custom forces me to number Conrad I.
      and Henry I., the Fowler, in the list of emperors, a title which
      was never assumed by those kings of Germany. The Italians,
      Muratori for instance, are more scrupulous and correct, and only
      reckon the princes who have been crowned at Rome.]

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History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5Gibbon, Edward

History

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Between the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Alps, the successors of
      Otho acquired a vain supremacy over the broken kingdoms of
      Burgundy and Arles. In the North, Christianity was propagated by
      the sword of Otho, the conqueror and apostle of the Slavic
      nations of the Elbe and Oder: the marches of Brandenburgh and
      Sleswick were fortified with German colonies; and the king of
      Denmark, the dukes of Poland and Bohemia, confessed themselves
      his tributary vassals. At the head of a victorious army, he
      passed the Alps, subdued the kingdom of Italy, delivered the
      pope, and forever fixed the Imperial crown in the name and nation
      of Germany. From that memorable aera, two maxims of public
      jurisprudence were introduced by force and ratified by time. I.
      That the prince, who was elected in the German diet, acquired,
      from that instant, the subject kingdoms of Italy and Rome. II.
      But that he might not legally assume the titles of emperor and
      Augustus, till he had received the crown from the hands of the
      Roman pontiff. 119

      117 (return) [ He was the son of Otho, the son of Ludolph, in
      whose favor the Duchy of Saxony had been instituted, A.D. 858.
      Ruotgerus, the biographer of a St. Bruno, (Bibliot. Bunavianae
      Catalog. tom. iii. vol. ii. p. 679,) gives a splendid character
      of his family. Atavorum atavi usque ad hominum memoriam omnes
      nobilissimi; nullus in eorum stirpe ignotus, nullus degener
      facile reperitur, (apud Struvium, Corp. Hist. German. p. 216.)
      Yet Gundling (in Henrico Aucupe) is not satisfied of his descent
      from Witikind.]

      118 (return) [ See the treatise of Conringius, (de Finibus
      Imperii Germanici, Francofurt. 1680, in 4to.: ) he rejects the
      extravagant and improper scale of the Roman and Carlovingian
      empires, and discusses with moderation the rights of Germany, her
      vassals, and her neighbors.]

      119 (return) [ The power of custom forces me to number Conrad I.
      and Henry I., the Fowler, in the list of emperors, a title which
      was never assumed by those kings of Germany. The Italians,
      Muratori for instance, are more scrupulous and correct, and only
      reckon the princes who have been crowned at Rome.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5

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