Some French genealogists go
so far as to trace the descent of Hugh Capet to this hero of the Saxon
woods. In truth, he has been made to some extent the Roland or the
Arthur of Saxony, though fancy has not gone so far in his case as in
that of the French paladin and the Welsh hero of knight-errantry, for,
though he and his predecessor Hermann became favorite characters in
German ballad and legend, the romance heroes of that land continued to
be the mythical Siegfried and his partly fabulous, partly historical
companions of the epical song of the Nibelung.
_THE RAIDS OF THE SEA-ROVERS._
While Central and Southern Europe was actively engaged in wars by land,
Scandinavia, that nest of pirates, was as actively engaged in wars by
sea, sending its armed galleys far to the south, to plunder and burn
wherever they could find footing on shore. Not content with plundering
the coasts, they made their way up the streams, and often suddenly
appeared far inland before an alarm could be given. Wherever they went,
heaps of the dead and the smoking ruins of habitations marked their
ruthless course.
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