The Saxon expeditions against the Wends and the foundation of Magdeburg during Otto I’s reign

During the Middle Ages, rulers from different regions in Europe aspired to an idea of imperial hegemony over a territory. On the other hand, there were rulers who deliberately refused to be elected as emperors, although their reign showed some characteristics of imperial rule. This essay ask for the reasons why some rulers such as Otto I strove for an imperial agenda and how the expeditions of his margraves across Elbe were legitimized by contemporary writers. According to the idea of universal expansion including both Christians and pagans from all over the world, the Ottonian kingdom became an empire, an intrinsically Christian one, however, which followed the Carolingian model.