di, and both of these tribes were frequently
at war with the Romans, especially during the reign of the emperor Marcus
Aurelius, who died at Vindobona in A.D. 180 when campaigning against them.
Christianity and civilization obtained entrance into the land, but the
increasing weakness of the Roman empire opened the country to the inroads
of the barbarians, and during the period of the great migrations it was
ravaged in quick succession by a number of these tribes, prominent among
whom were the Huns. The lands on both banks of the river shared the same
fate, due probably to the fact to which Gibbon has drawn attention, that at
this period the Danube was frequently frozen over. About 590 the district
was settled by the Slovenes, or Corutanes, a Slavonic people, who formed
part of the kingdom of Samo, and were afterwards included in the extensive
kingdom of the Avars. The Franks claimed some authority over this people,
and probably some of the princes of the Slovenes had recognized this claim,
but it could not be regarded as serious while the Avars were in possession
of the land. In 791 Charlemagne, after he had established his authority
over the _Bajuvarii_ or Bavarians, crossed the river Enns, and moved
against the Avars. This attack was followed by campaigns on the part of his
lieutenants, and in 805 the Avars were finally subdued, and their land
incorporated with the Frankish empire. [Sidenote: Establishment of the East
Mark.] This step brought the later Austria definitely under the rule of the
Franks, and during the struggle Charlemagne erected a mark, called the East
Mark, to defend the eastern border of his empire. A series of margraves
ruled this small district from 799 to 907, but as the Frankish empire grew
weaker, the mark suffered more and more from the ravages of its eastern
neighbours. During the 9th century the Frankish supremacy vanished, and the
mark was overrun by the Moravians, and then by the Magyars, or Hungarians,
who destroyed the few remaining traces of Frankish influence.

[Sidenote: The house of Babenberg.]

A new era dawned after Otto the Great was elected German king in 936, and
it is Otto rather than Charlemagne who must be regarded as the real founder
of Austria. In August 955 he gained a great victory over the Magyars on the
Lechfeld, freed Bavaria from their presence, and refounded the East Mark
for the defence of his kingdom. In 976 his son, the emperor Otto II.,
entrusted the government of t