der Vogler Heinrich I

Heinrich I, der Vogler, Deutscher König (876-936 Memleben), became duke of Saxony by inheritance in 912, and in 919 was elected Deutscher König. Largely by negotiation he extended the authority of the empire eastwards into Schleswig, Holstein, and Brandenburg. In 923 he bought off the Hungarians, and ten years later, having used the respite to rearm, defeated them on the Unstrut. Heinrich, the father of Otto I, der Große, was never crowned emperor, though at the time of his death he was contemplating a journey to Rome. He was buried in Quedlinburg.

A legend of the 12th c. recounts that the news of his election was brought to him while he was occupied with a bird decoy, and this episode is the subject of a well-known ballad by J. N. Vogl, ‘Heinrich der Vogler’ (‘Herr Heinrich sitzt am Vogelherd’), which was set to music by C. Loewe. He is also the subject of a play by J. Mosen (Heinrich der Finkler, 1835), and of poems by Klopstock and J. P. Conz.