ABSTRACT
In late spring 955 Otto the Great returned to Saxony. For almost two years he had devoted his energies to the suppression of rebellions that nearly toppled his regime.1 Gaining the upper hand against his foremost opponents, the king removed his son Liudolf and his son-in-law Conrad from their ducal offices. Then in the spring of 955 he moved vigorously against the Liutpoldings in Bavaria, besieging and capturing Regensburg, a formidable civitas, where the Count Palatine Arnulf was ensconced.2 Arnulf died in the fighting and subsequently Otto’s men captured Archbishop Herold of Salzburg, who had made the mistake of joining the rebellion as it was on the verge of collapse.3
