The territory he governed is described variously in the sources as Francia, Neustria or Austrasia, perhaps indicating that his military command covered most of the north of the empire from the Breton March in the west to Frisia and Saxony in the east.
[8][7] The House of Babenberg, which governed the March of Austria from 976 until 1246, is generally regarded as descending from the Popponids, possibly through an unnamed daughter of Henry.
The victorious army then joined the rest of Louis the Younger's forces and marched on Mâcon, which they took from the rebel leader Boso, who had made himself king in Burgundy and Provence in opposition to the Carolingians.
[18] Having received oaths from the Viking leaders, the siege of Asselt was considered a success and the Frankish army withdrew.
[21] Henry and Liutbert are the most prominent men (after the Carolingian kings) in the latter part of the Mainz recension of the Annals of Fulda.
[22] In 885, Godfrid, one of the Viking leaders at Asselt who had sworn oaths to Charles, taken baptism and received Frisia, was accused of plotting with the king's cousin Hugh to seize Lotharingia.
[23] Henry then captured Hugh at Gondreville and handed him over to the emperor, who had him blinded and imprisoned in the monastery of Saint Gall.
According to the Annals of Saint-Vaast, after the Vikings destroyed one of Paris's towers, Joscelin sent Count Erkenger of Melun to East Francia with specific instructions to ask Henry to come with an army.
It was during this expedition that Henry's horse fell into a trap near Quierzy and he was cut off from his men and killed on 28 August.
Rather, the sudden deaths of Hugh and Henry followed by that of the Emperor Charles less than two years later left a vacuum in the West that Odo was able to take advantage of to have himself elected king in 888.
A marginal note[b] beside Regino's account of Henry's death directs the reader to the epitaph, which appears at the end of the manuscript.
[27][c] By 871, according to the Annals of Fulda, Henry was a count (Latin comes), a title the annalist prefers for him until the end of his life, even after he had attained higher rank.
By contrast, Regino of Prüm, usually calls Henry a duke (dux), a title implying military command and the control of territory much larger than a county.
[23] The Annals of Fulda describe Henry in 886 as "the margrave of the Franks, who held Neustria at that time" (marchensis Francorum, qui in id tempus Niustriam tenuit).
[26] Karl Ferdinand Werner goes further, saying that "in all the Frankish kingdoms properly so-called," that is, in Austrasia, Neustria and Franconia,[d] "Charles gave all powers to his commander-in-chief Henry.
"[8] On the other hand, Donald Jackman sees Henry's final command as restricted to Neustria proper, where he succeeded Hugh the Abbot after the latter's death on 12 May 886.
[15] According to Henry's epitaph, he was "triarch" (triarchos) of the Saxons, Franks and Frisians, which may mean that he ruled over them simultaneously or in succession.