ff% -^^ CHAPTER XVIII POPES AND EMPERORS Section 73. Origin of the Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne's successors in the German part of his em- pire found it quite as hard as did the kings of the western, or French, kingdom to keep control of their vassals. Germany, like France, was divided up into big and little fiefs, and the dukes and counts were continually waging war upon each other and upon their king. The general causes of this chronic disorder in the Middle Ages have been described in a previous chapter. The first German ruler whom we need to notice here was Otto the Great, who came to the throne in the year 936. He- got as many of the great fiefs as possible into the hands of his relatives in the hope that they would be faithful to him. He put an end forever to the invasions of the Hungarians who had been ravaging Germany. He defeated them in a great battle near Augsburg and drove them out of his realms. As has already been said (see above, p. 386), they finally settled in eastern Europe and laid the foundations of what is now the important state of Hungary. 43S
