From this complicated series of events some interesting
conclusions may be deduced. The Empire, which has so often been abused as a
source of countless woes to Germany, was revived in the interests of a purely German
policy. Unlike his son and his grandson, Otto I never submitted to the spell of
Italy. Since the time of Charles the Great it had been taken for granted that
the Empire could only be conferred by the Pope and only held by a King of
Italy. Otto did not greatly value his Italian dominions, though circumstances
forced him to reside in Italy for a large part of his later years. For a time
he had thoughts of recovering Apulia and Calabria from the Greeks, Sicily from
the Arabs. But he abandoned his claims against the Eastern Empire as the price
of a marriage-alliance, and he left Sicily untouched.
The Crown of Italy was valuable
to him chiefly as a qualification for his imperial office. To the
ecclesiastical duties of that office he was not indifferent. His bishops,
though largely employed as secular administrators, were chosenwith some regard
to their spiritual duties; he was a friend to the Cluniac movement for monastic
reform. But clearly he did not visit Rome in pursuit of any plans for cleansing
that Augean stable the Papacy. The vices of John XII were notorious; but, as a
Pope who could legally confer the Empire, he was good enough for Otto's
purpose. Only when John repented of his bargain and turned traitor was he
evicted in favour of a more reputable successor (963). And John's successor was
a layman until the time of his election. Otto's chief concern was to secure a trustworthy
partisan; this remained the Saxon policy till the days of his grandson.
