Bernard II

…Krosno, where two other armies commanded by Bernard II of Saxony and Olrich (Udalrich) of Bohemia are supposed to join him.

The plan fails, however, as Boleslaw's maneuvers prevent the two armies from joining up.

Henry’s army had needed over a month to reach the line of the Oder River, and once there, his troops encounter strong resistance led by Mieszko and his father.

Henry sends a delegation to the Polish rulers, in an effort to induce them to conclude a peace settlement.

Mieszko refuses, and after the Emperor's failure to defeat his troops in battle, Henry decides to begin retreating to Dziadoszyce.

The Polish prince follows in pursuit, and inflicts heavy losses on the German army.

Mieszko II advances with the Polish army to Meissen and tries unsuccessfully to besiege the castle of his brother-in-law, Margrave Herman I (husband of his sister Regelinda).

During the fighting, Polish bowmen kill Margrave Gero and two hundred other German knights; Boleslaw allows the Bishop of Meissen, Eido, to recover the bodies for burial.

Henry II withdraws as a result of these setbacks; the fighting stops in autumn.

Subsequent negotiations with Boleslaw I fail.

Fighting between the Poles and the Germans resumes only in 1017 after the failure of peace talks.

Henry marches an army from Leitzkau to Głogów (Glogau), where Boleslaw I awaits him, but chooses not to besiege the city as it is too strongly fortified.

Instead, Henry besieges nearby Niemcza (Nemzi, Nimptsch); however, Polish reinforcements manage to enter the city on two occasions and the siege is without success.

At the same time, Mieszko goes to Moravia at the head of ten legions and plans an allied attack together with Bohemia against the Emperor.

The contemporary German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg, generally ill disposed towards Poles, on this occasion comments on the bravery and skill of the defenders at Niemcza, noting that they neither cheered when they were successful, nor lamented when they suffered a setback.

The inhabitants of the city also erect a cross on the wall that faces the pagan Lutician allies of the emperor.

Eventually, due to an illness of part of his army, Henry aborts the siege and withdraws, taking the route to Bohemia because the way back into Germany is blocked by Boleslaw's main forces, stationed at Wroclaw.

Henry has been confronted during these campaigns with the opposition of part of the Saxon nobility, including the House of Billung, who maintain good relations and are in part relatives of Boleslaw I.

In 1017, Henry II therefore addresses Boleslaw I as "public enemy" (hostis publicus) and forbids further contacts with him.

At the end of 1017, Boleslaw's troops invade German land between the Mulde and Elbe rivers.

Stephen I of Hungary has allied himself with his brother-in-law, the Emperor Henry II, against Prince Boleslaw I of Poland, who has waged three wars since 1004 with the emperor over title to Bohemia and other Slavic lands.

Stephen has sent troops to the emperor's army, and in the Peace of Bautzen, in 1018, the Polish prince has to hand over the occupied territories to Stephen.

Under the Treaty of Bautzen, signed on January 30, Boleslaw wins recognition of Lusatia, Moravia, and Misnia (Meissen) as parts of Poland.

Both parties also exchange hostages.

Henry does not attend, nor will he renew the campaigns against Boleslaw hereafter.

The peace is confirmed by the marriage of Oda of Meissen, daughter of Eckard I, to Boleslaw.

It is Boleslaw’s fourth marriage; Regelind, a daughter from his previous marriage with Emnilda of Lusatia, is already married to Oda's brother Herman (Hermann) I of Meissen.

Henry also obliges himself to support Boleslaw with three hundred knights in the Polish ruler's expedition to Kiev in the same year.

Shortly afterwards, Stephen sends troops to help Boleslaw I in his campaign against Kievan Rus'.

Stephen of Hungary, in alliance with the Eastern Emperor Basil II, leads his armies against Bulgaria in 1018, and collects several relics during his campaign.

Bernard II, who is regarded as the greatest of the Billungers, has expanded the powers of the duke in Saxony.

Originally a supporter of Emperor Henry II, Bernard had accompanied him into Poland and negotiated the treaty of Bautzen of 1018.

He revolts in 1019–102 and gains the recognition of the tribal laws of Saxony, something his father had failed to do.

Nako, having turned to Christianity after his defeat in the Battle of Recknitz in 955, had established his seat at Mecklenburg.

His sons Mstivoj and Mstidrag and grandsons Mstislaw and Udo are mostly associated with the Slavic uprising of 983.

All of them had either abandoned Christianity or were "bad Christians" (at least for a time).

Udo was a bad Christian (male christianus according to Adam of Bremen) whose own father, Mistiwoi, had renounced the new religion for the old Slavic paganism.

Udo had sent his son to be educated at the monastery of St. Michael at Lenzen and later at Lüneburg.

After a Saxon murdered Udo in 1028, Gottschalk had renounced Christianity and assumed the leadership of the Liutici to avenge his father, killing many Saxons before Duke Bernard II of Saxony defeated and captured him; his lands had gone to Ratibor of the Polabians.

Reconverted to Christianity, Gottschalk had been released and sent to Denmark with many of his people to serve King Cnut in his wars with Norway.

Sveyn Estridson, Jarl of Denmark, desired independence from King Magnus I of Norway in 1042.

Because Magnus is supported by his brother-in-law, Bernard II, Sveyn achieves an alliance with the Obotrites through the mediation of Gottschalk.

However, the Obotrite chief Ratibor is killed in a siege by Magnus in 1043.

In an attempt to avenge their father, his sons are killed in the same year in a battle at Lürschau Heath on 28 September.

The death of Ratibor and his sons allows Gottschalk, who marries Sveyn's daughter Sigrid, to seek the inheritance of his father Udo as Prince of the Obodrites.

Emperor Henry III, presiding over his empire from his castle at Goslar in Germany, has overawed the restive Saxon nobles and, through war and diplomacy, has induced the rulers of Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary to do homage.

He enlists reformers from Cluny, Peter Damian, and other churchmen to serve him as councilors and friends.

In an attempt to restrict private warfare, Henry has promulgated the Peace of God.

He has also endowed monasteries, and has participated in reformist councils, as well as retaining traditional controls over ecclesiastics and their institutions.