GEOPOLITICAL STRUCTURE OF HESSE AND THURINGIA

With the accession of the Ottonian kings from Saxony to the German throne, the strategic importance of Thuringia and Hesse increased dramatically. Located in the centre and on the eastcentral border of the German realm, Hesse and Thuringia lay between the familial power base of the Ottonian kings in the Harz region and the valuable crown properties in the Rhine—Main basin (see Maps 1 and 4). Thus, the Ottonian kings and the early Salians, who assumed control of the crown properties in Saxony in succession to the Ottonians, continually had to cross these regions when travelling between their centres of kingship in Saxony and those in the middle Rhineland. Moreover, because these two areas were likewise situated between Saxony and the southernmost duchies of the realm, their strategic importance actually increased in the early eleventh century when Henry II and the first two Salian kings began to integrate Bavaria and Swabia more fully into the royal itinerary. Therefore, the structure of the realm and political necessity demanded that the early German kings have secure passage through the centre of their realm. This meant that they had to control Hesse and Thuringia politically or at least decentralize the local power structure there sufficiently, so that no indigenous power could grow strong enough to block royal access to the other regions of the realm. In addition, since these two areas did not abound in royal property, the Ottonian and Salian monarchs had to assure the accommodation and upkeep of the royal retinue during its passage.