HENRY I. (876?--936), surnamed the "Fowler," German king, son of Otto the Illustrious, duke of Saxony, shared in early life in various campaigns for the defence of Saxony. He married Hat burg, a daughter of Irwin, count of Merseburg, but as she had taken the veil on the death of a former husband this union was declared illegal by the church, and in 9o9 he married Matilda, daughter of a Saxon count named Thiederich, and a reputed descendant of the hero Widukind. On his father's death in 912 he became duke of Saxony, which he defended against the Slays (see SAXONY). In 918 the German king Conrad I. advised the nobles to make the Saxon duke his successor. The Franks and the Saxons met at Fritzlar in May 919 and chose Henry as Ger man king. The new king refused to allow his election to be sanc tioned by the church. His authority, save in Saxony, was merely nominal; but he secured a recognition of his sovereignty from the Bavarians and the Swabians. In 921 Charles III. of France recognized Henry as king of the East Franks, and when in 923 the French king was taken prisoner by Herbert, count of Ver mandois, Lorraine came under Henry's authority, and Giselbert, who married his daughter Gerberga, was recognized as duke. Henry reduced various Slavonic tribes in the east to subjection, took Brennibor, the modern Brandenburg, from the Hevelli, and secured both banks of the Elbe for Saxony. In 923 he had bought a truce for ten years with the Hungarians, by a promise of tribute, and on its expiration he gained two great victories over them in 933 at Jechaburg and Riade. The Danes were defeated, and ter ritory as far as the Eider secured for Germany; and the king sought further to extend his influence by entering into relations with the kings of England, France and Burgundy. He died at Memleben on July 2, 936. By his first wife, Hatburg, he left a son, Thankmar, who was excluded from the succession as illegiti mate; and by Matilda he left three sons, the eldest of whom, Otto (afterwards the emperor Otto the Great), succeeded him, and two daughters. Henry undertook only such enterprises as he was able to carry through. Laying more stress on his position as duke of Saxony than king of Germany, he conferred great benefits on his duchy. The founder of her town life and the creator of her army, he ruled in harmony with her nobles and secured her frontiers from attack.
See Widukind of Corvei, "Res gestae Saxonicae," ed. G. Waitz in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Band iii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 seq.) ; "Die Urkunde des deutschen Konigs Heinrichs I.," edited by T. von Sickel in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Diplomata (Hanover, 1879) ; W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, Bande i., ii. (Leipzig, 1881) ; G. Waitz, Jahr biicher des deutschen Reichs enter Konig Heinrich I. (Leipzig, 1885) ; and F. Loher, Die deutsche Politik Konig Heinrich I. (Munich, 1857)