Die Sieges-Allee

DIE SIEGES-ALLEE. EDITED BY LYDIA D. ALDER. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY G. ALFRED ALDER AND CHARLES J. THOMAS, LATE MISSIONARIES TO GERMANY. II. SECOND GROUP— EARL OTTO I.— 1168-1184. Otto I had, as eldest son of Albrecht, the Bear, in his father's lifetime, taken part in the government. He had undertaken a victorious campaign against thePommern,and first reduced to vassalage to the government, this Slavish district, which, till then, for hundreds of years, had waged cruel war between Brandenburg ^nd Pommern. At last Otto I, on the side of Frederick I, helped to advance the power of Henry the Lion. Out of the ruins of the Askanischan house, Otto's younger brother Beurhard was given, as war debt, the dukedom of Saxony. Christianity had, under the government of the Mark, made further progress. Above all. Otto I founded the Cloister Lehnin. There is a saying about Lehnin as follows: Count Otto was slumbering after a hunt, being fatigued by the midday heat. In a dream he saw a doe, which unceasingly pressed him until he ran her through with his spear. He awoke and told his companions of the dream. Some were of the opinion that he should build a castle on this spot, against the heathen enemies of the Cross. But Otto said, "A castle I will found here, where I can, through the weapons of priestly men, prepare a fight for the servants of the devil ; then I'll calmly await the Judgment day." At once he permitted the Cistergiensen monks to come out of the cloister of Siltichenback, by Mansfield, who in 1180, in the swamps and forests of Zanche, southeast of Brandenburg, began the marine cloister Lehnin.

306 IMPROVEMENT ERA. As one of the seven officials of the kingdom, he perfected the office of Arch Chamberlain at the Pfingsten, 1184, at the famous Reichtag of Frederick I at Nainez. In 1184, Otto was buried there, and later many of his posterity. . ABBOTT SIEBOLD was the first, superintendent of the newly-founded cloister Lehnin. As such he directed the civilizing work of the monks for about ten years, until 1190, when, through his Slavish adversaries, he suffered a martyr's death. The fables, circulated later, about his end, by the enemies of the clergy of the cloister, are long ago laid by. PRINCE PRIBISLAW, a Wendish noble warrior in Havilland, turned with his wife to Christianity, and received in baptism the name of Henry, while his people still brought blood offerings to the three-headed gods of Triglaff. Through his friendship Albrecht, the Bear, was enabled to establish a strong foothold on the frontier, to the right of the Elbe. Pribislaw raised Albrecht 's heir. Otto I out of the baptism, and gave him as a christening present the cloister and forests of Zanche. As Pribislaw was without an heir, he made all of his holdings over to Earl Albrecht. So went to the death this last Brandenburg Slavic Prince in 1150, and without a struggle, his estat e went over to the Askaner. Pribislaw is said to be the founder of the Marine Church, on Mount Haslung, by Brandenburg, which was torn down by Frederick I, in 1722. THIRD GROUP — OTTO II — 1184-1205. Otto II followed his father. Otto I, as main heir. Two younger brothers were given districts in the Old Mark. As one of these, Henry f rom Gardelagen died without an heir in 1192. The younger brother sought the honor. Albrecht, Count from Ameburg, fought his brother. Otto II, over the estate, but they suffered each other, as a dangerous discord took place with the head bishop, Ludolf of Magdeburg. He held the church ban over the Brandenburg brothers. They came to an understanding, when it was agreed that their Old Mark estates, and what they had inherited.

DIE SIEGES-ALLEE. 307 on the right of the Elbe, they would take from him in feudal tenure. In the wars of the German kingdom we find Otto II Hohenstaufen against the Guelps, whose close neighborhood was always dangerous to the Askamus. Through this, his political stand, he incurred the anger of the great Pope Innocent III, and brought his severe reprimand on himself in the year 1200. JOHAN GANG was of the noble line, that was afterward called after the ancestral seat. Putlitz is first mentioned as a warrior, and lived in. the neighborhood of Otto II. As one of the first original nobility of Mark, he found his place by the side of Otto. The line of the Geese were large land owners in the Priegnitz, and probably belonged to the noble Slavin families, who now held estates in feudal grants from the new German authorities. Johan died in 1231. Shortly before his death he founded the nun cloister Marienfliss on the Stepnitz by Pritzwalk. The artist has placed the model of this cloister in the arms of the statue, after the custom of the Middle Ages. Johan presented the cloister, a holy relic, with the blood of the Savior, which Kaizer Otto IV had brought out of the Holy Land. HENRY OF ANTWERP is a representative of the Old Mark historiography. While other contemporary accounts of the old Brandenburg history are lost, he gives a Latin account of the recapture of the city Brandenburg, in the year 1157, by Albrecht, the Bear, which the Slav Prince Laego had taken by a sudden attack and through a fortunate accident. As the author of this account, our Henry from Antwerp is accredited. He wrote it while young in the clergy. Later he was Canon and Prior of the chapter of the church at Brandenburg. About 1230 he died full of years. [to be continued.]