REESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. After the disintegration of Charlemagne's empire, the portion of it now known as Germany broke up into fragments, largely independent of one another, and full of fight and pride. The result there was continual and pitiless warfare. This, coupled with the raids of the Northmen along the northern coast and the Magyars on the east, led to the election of a king in 919 (Henry the Fowler) who could establish some semblance of unity and order. By 961 the German duchies and small principalities had been so consolidated that a succeeding king (Otto I) felt himself able to attempt to reëstablish the Holy Roman Empire by subjugating Italy and annexing it as an appendage under German rule. He descended into Italy (961), subjugated the cities, overthrew the Papacy, created a pope to his liking, and reëstablished the old Empire, in name at least. For a century the German rule was nominal, but with the outbreak of the conflict in the eleventh century between king and pope over the question of which one should invest the bishops with their authority (known as the _investiture conflict_, 1075-1122), Pope Gregory VII humbled the German king (Henry IV) at Canossa (1077) and won a partial success. Then followed repeated invasions of Italy, and a century and a half of conflicts between pope and king before the dream of universal empire under a German feudal king ended in disaster, and Italy was freed from Teutonic rule. [Illustration: FIG. 54, THE CITY-STATES OF NORTHERN ITALY All of the cities in the valley of the Po, except Turin, Pavia, and Mantua, were members of the Lombard League of 1167.]