The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0088/00882.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 33KB | 514 lines

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$Title{History Of Europe During The Middle Ages
Part I}
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$Author{Hallam, Henry}
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Title:       History Of Europe During The Middle Ages
Book:        Book V: History Of Germany To The Diet Of Worms In 1495
Author:      Hallam, Henry

Part I

     Sketch of German History under the Emperors of the House of Saxony -
House of Franconia - Henry IV. - House of Suabia - Frederic Barbarossa - Fall
of Henry the Lion - Frederic II. - Extinction of House of Suabia - Changes in
the Germanic Constitution - Electors - Territorial Sovereignty of the Princes
- Rodolph of Hapsburg - State of the Empire after his Time - Causes of Decline
of Imperial Power - House of Luxemburg - Charles IV. - Golden Bull - House of
Austria Frederic III. - Imperial Cities - Provincial States - Maximilian -
Diet of Worms - Abolition of Private Wars - Imperial Chamber - Aulic Council -
Bohemia - Hungary - Switzerland.

     After the deposition of Charles the Fat in 888, which finally severed the
connection between France and Germany, ^a Arnulf, an illegitimate descendant
of Charlemagne, obtained the throne of the latter country, in which he was
succeeded by his son Louis. ^b But upon the death of this prince in 911, the
German branch of that dynasty became extinct.  There remained indeed Charles
the Simple, acknowledged as king in some parts of France, but rejected in
others, and possessing no personal claims to respect.  The Germans therefore
wisely determined to choose a sovereign from among themselves.  They were at
this time divided into five nations, each under its own duke, and
distinguished by difference of laws, as well as of origin: the Franks, whose
territory, comprising Franconia and the modern Palatinate, was considered as
the cradle of the empire, and who seem to have arrogated some superiority over
the rest, the Suabians, the Bavarians, the Saxons, under which name the
inhabitants of Lower Saxony alone and Westphalia were included, and the
Lorrainers, who occupied the left bank of the Rhine as far as its termination.
The choice of these nations in their general assembly fell upon Conrad Duke of
Franconia, according to some writers, or at least a man of high rank, and
descended through females from Charlemagne. ^c [A.D. 911.]

[Footnote a: There can be no question about this in a general sense.  But
several German writers of the time assert that both Eudes and Charles the
Simple, rival kings of France, acknowledged the feudal superiority of Arnulf.
Charles, says Regino, regnum quod usurpaverit ex manu ejus percepit.
Struvius, Corpus Hist. German, pp. 202, 203.  This acknowledgment of
sovereignty in Arnulf King of Germany, who did not even pretend to be emperor,
by both the claimants of the throne of France, for such it virtually was,
though they do not appear to have rendered homage, cannot affect the
independence of the crown in that age, which had been established by the
treaty of Verdun in 843, but proves the weakness of the competitors, and their
want of patriotism.  In Eudes it is more remarkable than in Charles the
Simple, a man of feeble character, and a Carlovingian by birth.]

[Footnote b: The German princes had some hesitation about the choice of Louis,
but their partiality to the Carlovingian line prevailed.  Struvius, p. 208:
quia reges Francorum semper ex uno genere procedebant, says an Archbishop
Hatto, in writing to the pope.]

[Footnote c: Schmidt, Hist. des Allemands, t. ii. p. 288.  Struvius, Corpus
Historiae Germanicae, p. 210.  The former of these writers does not consider
Conrad as Duke of Franconia.]

     Conrad dying without male issue, the crown of Germany was bestowed upon
Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, ancestor of the three Othos, who followed
him in direct succession.  [A.D. 919.] To Henry, and to the first Otho (Otho
I., A. D. 936; Otho II., 973; Otho III., 983), Germany was more indebted than
to any sovereign since Charlemagne.  The conquest of Italy, and recovery of
the imperial title, are indeed the most brilliant trophies of Otho the Great;
but he conferred far more unequivocal benefits upon his own country by
completing what his father had begun, her liberation from the inroads of the
Hungarians.  Two marches, that of Misnia, erected by Henry the Fowler, and
that of Austria, by Otho, were added to the Germanic territories by their
victories. ^d

[Footnote d: Many towns in Germany, especially on the Saxon frontier, were
built by Henry I., who is said to have compelled every ninth man to take up
his residence in them.  This had a remarkable tendency to promote the
improvement of that territory, and, combined with the discovery of the gold
and silver mines of Goslar under Otho I., rendered it the richest and most
important part of the empire.  Struvius, pp. 225 and 251.  Schmidt, t. ii. p.
322.  Putter, Historical Development of the German Constitution, vol. i. p.
115.]

     A lineal succession of four descents without the least opposition seems
to show that the Germans were disposed to consider their monarchy as fixed in
the Saxon family.  Otho II. and III. had been chosen each in his father's
lifetime, and during legal infancy.  The formality of election subsisted at
that time in every European kingdom; and the imperfect rights of birth
required a ratification by public assent.  If at least France and England were
hereditary monarchies in the tenth century, the same may surely be said of
Germany; since we find the lineal succession fully as well observed in the
last as in the former.  But upon the early and unexpected decease of Otho
III., a momentary opposition was offered to Henry Duke of Bavaria, a
collateral branch of the reigning family.  [A.D. 1002.] He obtained the crown,
however, by what contemporary historians call an hereditary title, ^e and it
was not until his death in 1024 that the house of Saxony was deemed to be
extinguished.

[Footnote e: A maxima multitudine vox una respondit; Henricum, Christi
adjutoria, et jure haereditario, regnaturum.  Ditmar apud Struvium, p. 273.
See other passages quoted in the same place.  Schmidt, t. ii. p. 410.]

     No person had now any pretensions that could interfere with the unbiassed
suffrages of the nation; and accordingly a general assembly was determined by
merit to elect Conrad, surnamed the Salic, a nobleman of Franconia. ^f [A.D.
1024.] From this prince sprang three successive emperors, Henry III., IV., and
V. (Henry III., A.D. 1039; Henry IV., 1056; Henry V., 1106).  Perhaps the
imperial prerogatives over that insubordinate confederacy never reached so
high a point as in the reign of Henry III., the second emperor of the house of
Franconia.  It had been, as was natural, the object of all his predecessors,
not only to render their throne hereditary, which, in effect, the nation was
willing to concede, but to surround it with authority sufficient to control
the leading vassals.  These were the dukes of the four nations of Germany,
Saxony, Bavaria, Suabia, and Franconia, and the three archbishops of the
Rhenish cities, Mentz, Treves, and Cologne.  Originally, as has been more
fully shown in another place, duchies, like counties, were temporary
governments, bestowed at the pleasure of the crown.  From this first stage
they advanced to hereditary offices, and finally to patrimonial fiefs. But
their progress was much slower in Germany than in France.  Under the Saxon
line of emperors, it appears probable that, although it was usual, and
consonant to the prevailing notions of equity, to confer a duchy upon the
nearest heir, yet no positive rule enforced this upon the emperor, and some
instances of a contrary proceeding occurred. ^g But, if the royal prerogative
in this respect stood higher than in France, there was a countervailing
principle that prohibited the emperor from uniting a fief to his domain, or
even retaining one which he had possessed before his accession.  Thus Otho the
Grea