Germany as a region

Although less clearly defined by geography

than the other natural territories of western

Europe (such as Italy, the Spanish peninsula,

France or Britain), the area broadly identified

as Germany has clear boundaries on three

sides - the Baltic to the north, the Rhine to

the west, the Alps or the Danube to the

south. Only to the east is there no natural

border (a fact which has caused much strife

and confusion in European history).

The region becomes associated with the name

Germany in the 1st century BC, when

the conquest of Gaul makes the Romans

aware for the first time that there is an ethnic

and linguistic distinction between

the Celts (or Gauls) and their aggressive

neighbours, the Germans.

Celts, Germans and Romans: 2nd - 1st

century BC

The Celts themselves, in earlier centuries,

have moved westwards from Germany,

crossing the Rhine into France and pushing

ahead of them the previous neolithic

inhabitants of these regions. More recently

the Celts have been subjected to the same

westward pressure from various Germanic

tribes. The intruders are identified as a group

by their closely related languages, defined as

the Germanic or Teutonic subdivision ofIndo-

European language.

From the 2nd century BC the Germans exert

increasing pressure on the Roman empire.

The reign of Augustus Caesarsees a trial of

strength between the empire and the tribes,

leading to an uneasy balance of power.

The region in which Augustus makes

the most effort to extend the empire is

beyond the Alps into Germany. By 14 BC the

German tribes are subdued up to the Danube.

In the next five years Roman legions push

forward to the Elbe. But this further border

proves impossible to hold. In AD 9 Arminius,

a German chieftain of great military skill,

destroys three Roman legions in the

Teutoburg Forest.

The Romans pull back (though they return

briefly to avenge what seems a shameful

defeat). The conclusion, bequeathed by

Augustus to his successors, is that the Roman

empire has some natural boundaries; to the

north these are the Rhine and the Danube.

German and Roman Europe: from the 5th

century

The Germanic tribes continue to raid, often

deep into the empire. But their base remains

north of the Rhine and Danube until the 5th

century - when the Visigoths, Ostrogoths,

Vandals, Burgundians and Franks move in

vast migrations through

Italy,France and Spain.

Their presence becomes part of the history of

these regions. France and Spain - prosperous

and stable parts of the Roman empire -

have becomes almost as Romanized as Italy

itself. Culturally they are strong enough to

absorb their new Germanic masters, as is

revealed by the boundary line of Europe's

languages. French, Spanish, Portuguese and

Italian are known as the Romance

languages because they share a Roman, or

Latin, origin.

Northern Europe, by contrast,

speaks Germanic languages. Scandinavia

does so because it is the region from which

the German tribes migrate southwards.

Britain does so because tribes invading from

the 5th century (Angles and Saxons) are

able to dominate a culture less fully

Romanized than Gaul. And Germany, with the

Netherlands, does so because here the tribes

are relatively unaffected by Roman influence -

secure in a region which Tacitus describes as

'covered either by bristling forests or by foul

swamps'.

By the same token the tribes in the German

heartland are backward. For the first few

centuries of the post-Roman era they are no

match for the more sophisticated Franks,

who have established themselves in Gaul.

Charles the Great: 768-814

The only empire which has ever united France and

Germany (apart from a few years under Napoleon) is the

one established in the 8th century by Charlemagne, the

grandson ofCharles Marteland son of Pepin III.

On the death of his father in 768, Charles - whose name

Charlemagne is a version of the Latin Carolus

Magnus (Charles the Great) - inherits the western part of

the Frankish empire, a coastal strip from southwest

France up through the Netherlands into northern

Germany. Three years later his brother Carloman dies.

Charlemagne annexes Carloman's inheritance - central

France and southwest Germany. By the time of his own

death, in 814, he rules much of the rest of Germany

together with northern Italy.

Conversion of the Saxons: 772-804

North of the Alps Charlemagne extends his territory

eastwards to include Bavaria, but his main efforts within

Germany are directed against the Saxons.

The Saxons, restless Germanic tribesmen, have long

plagued the settled Frankish territories by raiding from

their forest sanctuaries. Charlemagne the emperor is

harmed by their depredations; Charlemagne the

Christian is outraged by their pagan practices. From 772

he wages ferocious war against them, beginning with the

destruction of one of their great shrines and its sacred

central feature - the Irminsul or 'pillar of the world', a

massive wooden column believed to support the

universe.

It takes Charlemagne thirty years to subdue the Saxons;

not until 804 are they finally transformed into settled

Christians within his empire. It has been a brutal process.

Charlemagne's method is military conquest followed by

forced conversion and the planting of missionary

outposts, usually in the form of bishoprics. In his book of

rules, the official punishment for refusing to be baptized

is death.

The chronicles record that on one day some 4500

reluctant Saxons are executed for not worshipping the

right god.

Holy Roman Emperor: 800

In 799, for the third time in half a century, a pope is in

need of help from the Frankish king. After being

physically attacked by his enemies in the streets of Rome

(their stated intention is to blind him and cut out his

tongue, to make him incapable of office), Leo III makes

his way through the Alps to visit Charlemagne at

Paderborn.

It is not known what is agreed, but Charlemagne travels

to Rome in 800 to support the pope. In a ceremony in St

Peter's, on Christmas Day, Leo is due to anoint

Charlemagne's son as his heir. But unexpectedly (it is

maintained), as Charlemagne rises from prayer, the pope

places a crown on his head and acclaims him emperor.

Charlemagne expresses displeasure but accepts the

honour. The displeasure is probably diplomatic, for the

legal emperor is undoubtedly the one in Constantinople.

Nevertheless this public alliance between the pope and

the ruler of a confederation of Germanic tribes now

reflects the reality of political power in the west. And it

launches the concept of the new Holy Roman Empire

which will play an important role throughout the Middle

Ages.

The Holy Roman Empire only becomes formally

established in the next century. But it is implicit in the

title adopted by Charlemagne in 800: 'Charles, most

serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific

emperor, governing the Roman empire.'

Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle: 805

Five years after the coronation in Rome, Leo III

is again with Charlemagne at a religious ceremony. But

this time it is in Germany. He is consecrating

Charlemagne's spectacular new church in Aachen, begun

just nine years previously in 796.

The French name of Aachen, Aix-la-Chapelle, specifically

features this famous building - a small but richly

decorated octagonal chapel which Charlemagne has

consciously modelled on another famous imperial

church, Justinian's San Vitale in Ravenna.

Much is significant about the choice of Aachen as

Charlemagne's seat of power. It is in the north of his

empire, at the opposite extreme from Rome. The pope's

journey north in 805 makes it plain that Rome cannot

assume precedence in this new Christian partnership;

and when Charlemagne decides to crown his only

surviving son, Louis, as co-emperor in 813, the ceremony

takes place in the imperial chapel at Aachen without the

pope.

The site of Aachen is also ideal in terms of Charlemagne's

united Frankish empire. It lies exactly between the west

and east Frankish kingdoms, a fact reflected in its

modern position at the intersection between the borders

of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

A centre of Christian learning:780-814

While extending his territories, Charlemagne needs to

improve the administration of the empire. Christian

clerics (the only literate group in the barbarian north) are

enlisted as his civil servants at Aachen, where the

emperor also establishes a programme of education and

cultural revival.

Alcuin, a distinguished teacher from York, is invited in

780 to found a school in the palace at Aachen

(Charlemagne and his family sometimes join the lessons);

and the copying of manuscripts is carried out in a

beautiful scriptwhich later becomes the basis of Roman

type. Though still primitive by the standards of classical

culture, the renewal of intellectual and artistic life under

Charlemagne has justly been described as the Carolingian

Renaissance.

The Carolingian inheritance:814

Charlemagne intends, in the tradition of the

Franks, to divide his territory equally between his sons.

But the two eldest die, in 810 and 811, leaving only Louis

- who succeeds as sole emperor in 814. His subsequent

name, Louis the Pious, reveals a character different from

his father's; he is more interested in asserting authority

through the medium of church and monastery than on

the battlefield.

Charlemagne's great empire remains precariously intact

for this one reign after his death. Its fragmentation

begins when Louis dies, in 840. But the name

ofCharlemagne in legend and literature remains

vigorously alive .

The region united by Charlemagne includes, in modern

terms, northeast Spain, France, Belgium, the

Netherlands, much of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and

north Italy. In 840, on the death of Charlemagne's son

Louis the Pious, war breaks out between his three sons

over their shares of this inheritance.

A division between the brothers is finally agreed, in 843,

in a treaty signed at Verdun. The dividing lines drawn on

this occasion prove of lasting and dark significance in the

history of Europe.

Three slices of Francia: 843

Two facts of European geography (the Atlantic coast and

the Rhine) dictate a vertical division of the Frankish

empire, known in Latin as Francia. The three available

sections are the west, the middle and the east - Francia

Occidentalis, Francia Media and Francia Orientalis.

It is clear that Francia Occidentalis will include much of

modern France, and that Francia Orientalis will

approximate to the German-speaking areas east of the

Rhine. Francia Media, an ambiguous region between

them, is the richest strip of territory. Allotted to

Charlemagne's eldest son, Lothair I, it stretches from the

Netherlands and Belgium down both sides of the Rhine

to Switzerland and Italy.

This central Frankish kingdom is in subsequent centuries,

including our own, one of the great fault lines of Europe.

The northern section becomes known as Lotharingia (the

territory of Lothair) and thus, in French, Lorraine;

between it and Switzerland is Alsace. As power grows or

decreases to the west or the east, in the great regions

emerging slowly as France and Germany, these

Rhineland provinces frequently change hands or

allegiance.

So, for many centuries, do the Low Countries, Burgundy

and northern Italy.

Feudal upstarts: 9th - 10th century

The external threat from maraudingVikings in the west

and fromMagyars in the east aggravates an already grave

internal problem for the feudal dynasties of

Charlemagne's descendants.Feudalism, with its

decentralization of military and territorial power, has at

the best of times a tendency to foster regional

independence. In periods of crisis, when the regions

need to be well armed if they are to repel invaders, it is

almost inevitable that the feudal holders of large tracts

of frontier territory grow in strength until they are

capable of challenging their own king.

Baronial contenders upset the succession to the throne

in the west Frankish kingdom from the late 9th century

and in the eastern kingdom a few years later.

In 911 the east Frankish king dies without a male heir.

The only legitimate claimant within the Carolingian

dynasty is Charles III, ruler of the west Frankish kingdom.

Rather than do homage to him, and reunite the empire

of Charlemagne, the eastern Franks and the Saxons elect

one of their own number to the vacant throne. Conrad,

the duke of Franconia, becomes the German king.

Although not of the Carolingian line, Conrad is

nevertheless a Frank. But on his death the Franks and the

Saxons together elect a Saxon king. In 919 Henry I

becomes the founder of the Saxon, or Ottonian, dynasty.

Ottonian dynasty: 919-962

The east Frankish kingdom over which Henry I becomes

king in 919 consists of four great duchies - territories

settled by tribes (such as the Baivarii and the Suebi)

which have been conquered by the Franks and converted

to Christianity. Their leaders, becoming dukes in the

Frankishfeudal system, accept the rule of any strong

Frankish king but tend to independence in other reigns.

The four are Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony and the Franks' own

region, Franconia.Lorraine, a fifth duchy, is a frequently

disputed territory between the east and west Frankish

kingdoms.

Henry succeeds in asserting at least nominal control over

these five duchies (often called the stem duchies). He is

succeeded by his son Otto in 936.

The rule of Otto I, or Otto the Great, amounts to a revival

and extension of the eastern half of Charlemagne's great

empire. Where Charlemagne used a combination of force

and Christianity to subdue the Saxons on his border, Otto

applies the same tactics in the north against

theDanes and in the east against the Slavs. He protects

the eastern border of what now becomes known as

the Reich (the German 'empire') by a decisive victory

against the Magyars of Hungary on a plain near the river

Lech in 955.

LikeCharlemagne, Otto marches into northern Italy and

proclaims himself king of theLombards. Like

Charlemagne he is crowned by the pope in Rome.

Emperors and popes: 962-1250

The imperial role accorded by the pope

toCharlemagne in 800 is handed on in increasingly

desultory fashion during the 9th century. From 924 it

falls into abeyance. But in 962 a pope once again needs

help against his Italian enemies. Again he appeals to a

strong German ruler.

The coronation of Otto I by pope John XII in 962 marks a

revival of the concept of a Christian emperor in the west.

It is also the beginning of an unbroken line of Holy

Roman emperors lasting for more than eight centuries.

Otto I does not call himself Roman emperor, but his son

Otto II uses the title - as a clear statement of western and

papal independence from the other Christian emperor

inConstantinople.

Otto and his son and grandson (Otto II and Otto III)

regard the imperial crown as a mandate to control the

papacy. They dismiss popes at their will and instal

replacements more to their liking (sometimes even

changing their mind and repeating the process).

This power, together with territories covering much of

central Europe, gives the German empire and the

imperial title great prestige from the late 10th century.

This high status is unaffected by a minor change of

dynasty in the early 11th century.

In 1024 the male line of descent fromOtto I dies out. The

princes elect the duke ofFranconia, descended from Otto

in the female line, as the German king Conrad II. His

dynasty is known either as Franconian (from the province

of the Franks) or Salian (from the Salii, one of the main

tribal groups of the Franks).

Conrad's son, Henry III, is crowned emperor in Rome in

1046. Before his coronation he deposes three rival

claimants to the papacy and selects a candidate of his

own - the German bishop of Bamberg - who carries out

the coronation in St Peter's. This renewed intervention in

Rome's affairs launches two centuries of conflict

between Germanemperors and the papacy.

Guelphs and Ghibellines: from1152

The struggle between emperors and popes is at its most

extreme during the reign of Henry III's son, Henry IV. But

it continues unabated after the next change of dynasty.

Henry IV's son, Henry V, dies without an heir in 1125. By

this time two of the most powerful German families,

each closely linked to the imperial house, are the Welfs

and the Hohenstaufen. They are bitter rivals, but the

German electors show signs of resolving that issue when

they select Frederick I as German king in 1152. On his

father's side he is a Hohenstaufen, on his mother's a

Welf.

The hostility of the popes to the German emperors

remains a factor in European andItalian politicsduring

the Hohenstaufen period. Indeed the ancient Welf

hatred of the Hohenstaufen becomes linked to papal

hostility. Supporters of the papacy in Italy become

known as Guelphs (a version of Welf), while the imperial

party are called Ghibellines (from Waiblingen, the name

of a Hohenstaufen stronghold in Swabia).

The particular bugbear of the papacy is the

emperorFrederick II. He alarms them because the

dynastic marriage of his parents has brought him control

of southern Italy and Sicily as well Germany. Yet this

unwieldy extension of the German empire is also a

source of weakness within Germany itself.

German kings and emperors: 10th - 13th century

When the Holy Roman empire was re-established in the

10th century, with the coronation ofOtto I, the German

kingdom was by far the most powerful territory in

Europe. But the political structure in Germany

contributes, in the long run, to a decline in the power of

the German kings.

It is the tradition in Germany, an alliance of powerful

duchies, for the king of the Germans to be elected from

among the local rulers (though the practice of power

ensures that the choice usually remains within a

dynasty). And the reign of Otto I introduces an extra

tradition - that the German king is also automatically the

emperor, once the pope has crowned him in Rome.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the regions of

western Europe (France,England, Spain) are developing

strong centralized monarchies, Germany moves in the

opposite direction. Large numbers of small territories

grow in wealth and independence, while offering

nominal allegiance to the emperor. Some are aristocratic

in origin, domains of noble families; others are

ecclesiastical, with a rich abbot or bishop wielding

temporal power; a few are towns, flexing new economic

muscle. All are ferociously competitive.

This tendency to anarchy results from the paradox of an

elected feudal overlord. His position, not based on

conquest, must depend on a network of negotiated

alliances - meaning, in brutal reality, concessions.

The lack of authority of the German kings within

Germany is compounded by the demands on their

attentions elsewhere. Being Roman emperors, they have

interests to defend in Italy.

The problem is at its extreme in the 13th century when

marriage brings the rich kingdom of Sicily to

theHohenstaufendynasty of German kings. For much of

his reign Frederick II succeeds in controlling Germany,

Italy and his favourite domain of Sicily, as well as going

on crusade and becoming king of Jerusalem. But after his

death, in 1250, the empire loses any real political

meaning. The title becomes valued only as the most

resounding dignity possessed by the German kings.

Pressure eastwards: 11th - 13th century

Dynastic politics may have the effect of making the

German empire less cohesive, but the energies of the

German people achieve at the same time a marked

expansion of the realm. This is achieved commercially

through the trading network of the Hanseatic towns.

And it is reflected in territorial terms in the steady push

eastwards (or in GermanDrang nach Osten) into the less

developed and heavily forested lands occupied by Slavs

and Prussians.

This process at first brings considerable benefits to the

colonized regions, though it also inevitably leads to

violent reactions against the colonists.

The German advance is gradual, achieved by peasant

settlement (laboriously clearing the forests), by the

granting of feudal rights in newly conquered territories,

by the establishment of monasteries and bishoprics, and

by the extension of Baltic tradealong the coast.

By these means the ancient German duchies are

expanded. Swabia absorbs much of what is

nowSwitzerland. Bavaria extends spasmodically

into Austria, with occasional disastrous reverses at the

hands of the Magyars inHungary. To the north the

Prussians resist German attempts to conquer and

convert them in the 10th century, remaining pagan in

their remote forests until the arrival of theTeutonic

knights in the 13th century.

Hanseatic League: 12th - 17th century

In 1159 Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria,

builds a new German town on a site which he has

captured the previous year. It is Lübeck, perfectly placed

to benefit from developing trade in the Baltic. Goods

from the Netherlands and the Rhineland have their

easiest access to the Baltic through Lübeck. For trade in

the opposite direction, a short land journey from Lübeck

across the base of the Danish peninsula brings goods

easily to Hamburg and the North Sea.

Over the next two centuries Lübeck and Hamburg, in

alliance, become the twin centres of a network of trading

alliances known later as the Hanseatic League.

A Hanse is a guild of merchants. Associations of German

merchants develop in the great cities on or near the

Baltic (Gdansk, Riga, Novgorod, Stockholm), on the

coasts of the North Sea (Bergen, Bremen) and in western

cities where the Baltic trade can be profitably brokered -

in particular Cologne, Bruges and London.

It suits these German merchants, and the towns which

benefit from their efforts, to form mutual alliances to

further the flow of trade. Safe passage for everyone's

goods is essential. The control of pirates becomes a

prime reason for cooperation, together with other

measures (such as lighthouses and trained pilots) to

improve the safety of shipping.

The rapid growth of Hanseatic trade during the 13th

century is part of a general pattern of increasing

European prosperity. During this period the towns with

active German hanse gradually organize themselves in a

more formal league, with membership fees and regular

'diets' to agree policies of mutual benefit. By the 14th

century there about 100 such towns, some of them as far

afield as Iceland and Spain. Their German communities

effectively control the trade of the Baltic and North Sea.

But economic decline during the 14th century takes its

toll on the success of the Hanseatic towns. So do political

developments around the Baltic.

In 1386 Poland and Lithuaniamerge, soon winning the

region around Gdansk from the Teutonic knights. On the

opposite shore of the sea, the three Scandinavian

kingdoms are united in 1389; the new monarchy

encompassesStockholm, previously an independent

Hanseatic town. A century later, when Ivan III

annexesNovgorod, he expels the German merchants.

Such factors contribute to the gradual decline of the

Hanseatic League. What began as a positive union to

promote trade becomes a restrictive league, attempting

to protect German interests against foreign competitors.

But great enterprises fade slowly. The final Hanseatic diet

is held as late as 1669.

Prussia and the Teutonic

knights: 1225-1525

The Teutonic knights,

short of work in the Holy

Land, adopt a new form of

crusade in about 1225. A

prince of Poland, Conrad of

Mazovia, asks them to

control his unruly

neighbours, the pagan

Prussians - tribes who have

lived for many centuries in

the lands northeast of

Germany, bordering

the Baltic sea. The knights

prepare their campaign

carefully, establishing in

advance their rights over

any land they may conquer.

In 1230 Conrad formally

cedes to the order his

territories on the west bank

of the Vistula.

During the next thirty years

the knights fight their way

east along the coast as far

as the Neman river, building

castles to hold down the

Prussians and sharing out

the land as feudal fiefs for

German families.

In 1261 an uprising by the

Prussians almost succeeds in

evicting the Teutonic

knights. It takes the knights

some twenty years to regain

full control. They achieve

their purpose by giving

feudal rights to many more

families and by importing

large numbers of German

peasants to till the land

(their iron ploughs are more

effective than the wooden

implements of the Prussians

in this heavily wooded

region).

The knights improve their

security when they seize

Gdansk in 1308 and annexe

the coast west to the Oder

(the region known

as Pomerania). This links

Prussia with the German

empire. But it has a very

adverse effect on its

southern neighbours, cutting

Poland off from the sea.

The knights retain this

territory for a century,

until Poland and

Lithuania win a crushing

victory over the order

at Grunwaldin 1410. The

disposal of Prussian territory

between Poland and the

knights is eventually agreed

in a treaty at Torun in 1466.

The western part of Prussia,

around the Vistula, is

incorporated in the Polish

kingdom. Further west along

the

coast,Pomerania (annexed

by the knights in 1308-9) is

now restored to Poland.

But the eastern part of

Prussia, more densely

settled by Germans, is

granted to the order as a

feudal duchy owing

allegiance to Poland.

This arrangement lasts until

the Reformation. In 1525,

under Lutheran influence,

the high master dissolves

the Teutonic Order in

Prussia. However he retains

his own position at the head

of the duchy, owing

allegiance just as before to

the Polish crown. But he is

now the secular duke of

Prussia, a position capable

of becoming hereditary.

The name of this last high

master in the region is

Albert. He is a member of

the Hohenzollern family.

Prussia becomes one of his

family's most significant

possessions.

After the Hohenstaufen:

1254-1438

The Hohenstaufen period

has seen some notably

forceful popes (Innocent III,

Gregory IX, Innocent IV)

and powerful emperors

(Frederick I, Frederick II). It

is followed, after the death

of the last Hohenstaufen

ruler in 1254, by a

prolonged time of

uncertainty in

both papacy and empire.

The popes abandon Rome in

1309 and spend most of the

14th century in self-imposed

exile in Avignon. From

1378 there are two rival

popes (a number

subsequently rising to three)

in the split known as

the Great Schism.

Meanwhile, for almost

twenty years after the death

of Conrad IV in 1254, the

German princes fail to elect

any effective king or

emperor. This period is

usually known (with a

grandiloquence to match

the Great Schism in the

papacy) as the Great

Interregnum.

The interregnum ends with

the election of Rudolf I as

German king in 1273. The

choice subsequently seems

of great significance,

because he is the

first Habsburg on the

German throne. But the

Habsburg grip on the

succession remains far in

the future. During the next

century the electors choose

kings from several families.

Not till the coronation of

Charles IV in 1346 is there

the start of another dynasty

- that of the house

of Luxembourg.

Charles IV is crowned

emperor in Rome in 1355.

He makes his capital in

Prague (he has

inherited Bohemia as well

as Luxembourg), bringing

the city its first period of

glory. The imperial dignity

remains in Charles's family

until 1438, when it is

transferred to the

Habsburgs.

At the beginning and end of

those eighty years Charles

and his son Sigismund take

a strong line with the

papacy. Within a year of his

coronation, Charles issues

the Golden Bull of 1356

which excludes the pope

from any influence in the

choice of emperor. And in

1414 Sigismund is

instrumental in bringing

together the Council of

Constance which finally

ends the Great Schism and

restores a single pope to

Rome.

The Golden Bull and the

electors: 1356-1806

The Golden Bull, issued by

Charles IV in 1356, clarifies

the new identity which the

Holy Roman empire has

been gradually adopting. It

ends papal involvement in

the election of a German

king, by the simple means

of denying Rome's right to

approve or reject the

electors' choice. In return,

by a separate agreement

with the pope, Charles

abandons imperial claims in

Italy - apart from a title to

the kingdom of Lombardy,

inherited

from Charlemagne.

The emphasis is clear. This

is now to be essentially a

German empire, as reflected

in a new form of the title

adopted in 1452 -sacrum

Romanum imperium nationis

Germanicae (Holy Roman

empire of the German

nation).

The Golden Bull also clarifies

and formalizes the process

of election of a German

king. The choice has

traditionally been in the

hands of seven electors, but

their identity has varied.

The group of seven is now

established as three

archbishops (of Mainz,

Cologne and Trier) and four

hereditary lay rulers (the

count palatine of the Rhine,

the duke of Saxony, the

margrave of Brandenburg

and the king of Bohemia).

Imperial cities: 12th -

15th century

The fragmented political

structure of Germany has

certain advantages for the

larger German towns. An

elected emperor often finds

it difficult to control virtually

independent territories, held

by hereditary nobles or by

dignitaries of the church. In

such circumstances there

may be a natural alliance

between the emperor and

the citizens of a prosperous

borough - who frequently

have their own grudge

against their local feudal

overlord.

The rich burghers can help

the emperor with funds or

troops for his armies. He can

help them with privileges to

protect their trade.

Gradually, over the

centuries, a premier league

of German cities begins to

emerge. It consists of those

which hold their rights

directly from the emperor.

These are the Reichstädte,

or imperial cities. Since the

emperor is often relatively

powerless, this direct

allegiance becomes

tantamount to

independence.

Such cities run their own

affairs and make alliances

among themselves for

mutual benefit, even putting

armies into the field to

enforce their interests. Each

of them is run by a Rat, or

council, membership of

which is often limited to the

leading local families.

In many ways the imperial

cities are similar to

contemporarycommunes in

Italy or Flanders. But they

are more numerous and are

more inclined to group

together in large trading

alliances - of which

the Hanseatic League is

the best known example.

A document of 1422 lists

seventy-five free German

cities. They include many of

the most distinguished

places in early German

history - Aachen, Cologne,

Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen,

Dortmund, Frankfurt am

Main, Regensburg,

Augsburg, Nuremberg, Ulm.

From 1489 all the free cities

are formally represented in

the imperial diet

or Reichstag.

Reichstag: 12th - 19th

century

The Reichstag is in origin

the royal council of the

medieval German emperors,

similar in kind to the curia

regis of kings in western

Europe at the same period.

The term is usually

translated into English as

imperial diet -

Reich meaning empire,

and Tag (day) being

reflected in diet (from dies,

'day' in Latin).

At first only the princes and

bishops of the empire are

summoned to a diet, but the

representation gradually

extends to lessser feudal

nobles and then to

the imperial cities. The

larger cities become

informally involved during

the 13th century. From

1489 all the free cities are

given a guaranteed role in

the diet.

The reform of 1489

organizes the imperial diet

in three separate colleges.

The first consists of the

seven electors who are

responsible for choosing a

new emperor when the

throne is vacant (a group

established by the Golden

Bull of 1356). The second is

the college of princes, of

whom sixty-one are from

the hereditary nobility and

thirty-three are bishops.

The third is the college of

the cities, identified as two

groups. They consist of

fourteen towns loosely

identified with the Rhineland

and thirty-seven with

Swabia.

The three colleges of the

diet meet separately and

pass their own resolutions.

These resolutions are

combined in an agreed

statement which is then

presented to the emperor -

who has the legal right to

act upon it in whole, in part

or not at all (the degree of

compliance depends largely

on his need at the time for

the diet's financial support).

In the 16th century

the Holy Roman

empire begins a long

decline into irrelevance. The

emperors are Habsburgs,

with their roots in Austria.

The German princes are

increasingly independent.

The imperial diet lapses into

disuse, meeting from 1663

in Regensburg but deciding

little. Two centuries later,

with the creation of a

new German empire in

1871, the Reichstag is

revived as Germany's

parliament.

Germany and the Reformation: 1517-1648

The decline of the Holy Roman empire is closely

connected with the great 16th-century upheaveal in

central Europe - that of the Reformation. The German

princes, in the many semi-independent territories of the

empire, see the religious options suddenly on offer as

political opportunities.

The pope is resented by many as a devious and distant

intriguer, who drains away money from local church

lands and regularly demands more. The emperor, lord of

vast newHabsburgterritories, is now also a distant figure

with interests far beyond the traditional empire.

Once the turmoil of the Reformation begins, in the years

after 1517, each German prince assesses his own best

chance of securing or expanding his territory and his

treasury. The resulting conflicts within German-speaking

regions are frequent until the peace ofAugsburg in 1555.

They then erupt again in theThirty Years' War of 1618-

48.

The great dispute soon becomes a European event. But

the original flare-up in 1517 is very much a German

phenomenon.

Albert of Mainz: 1517

Germany provides a context in which materialism within

the Roman Catholic church is offensively evident. Some

of the principalities, which together make up the Holy

Roman empire, are ruled by unscrupulous prelates living

in the style of Renaissance princes. Foremost among

them is Albert, archbishop of Mainz and one of the seven

imperial electors.

By the age of twenty-four Albert holds a bishopric and a

second archbishopric in addition to Mainz. Such plurality

is against canon law. But the pope, Leo X, agrees to

overlook the irregularity in return for a large donation to

the building costs of the new St Peter's.

Both pope and archbishop are men of the world

(the pope is aMedici). Leo makes it possible for Albert to

recover his costs by granting him the concession for the

sale of indulgences towards the building of St Peter's.

Half the money for each indulgence is go to Rome; the

other half will help to pay off Albert's debts (he has

borrowed the money for the original donation from

the Fuggersof Augsburg).

This secret arrangement might distress the faithful if they

knew of it. But more immediately shocking to some is the

behaviour of the friar Johann Tetzel, whom Albert

employs to sell the indulgences.

Tetzel is a showman. When preaching to gullible crowds

in German towns he goes far beyond the official doctrine

ofindulgences. He promises the immediate release of

loved ones from the pain of Purgatory as soon as a

purchase is made. He even has a catchy jingle to make

the point: 'As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, The

soul from Purgatory springs.'

In October 1517 some parishioners return to Wittenberg

with indulgences which they have bought from Tetzel -

indulgences so powerful, some have been led to believe,

that they could pardon a man who had raped the Virgin

Mary. News of this travesty reaches the ears of a

professor at the university of Wittenberg.

Luther's ninety-five theses: 1517

Martin Luther, a man both solemn and

passionate, is an Augustinian friar teaching theology at

the university recently founded in Wittenberg by

Frederick the Wise, the elector of Saxony. Obsessed by

his own unworthiness, he comes to the conclusion that

no amount of virtue or good behaviour can be the basis

of salvation (as proposed in the doctrine known as

justification by works). If the Christian life is not to be

meaningless, he argues, a sinner's faith must be the only

merit for which God's grace might be granted.

Luther therefore becomes a passionate believer in an

alternative doctrine, justification by faith, for which he

finds evidence in the writings of St Paul.

Nothing could be further from the concept of

justification by faith than Tetzel's impudent selling of

God's grace. Luther has often argued against the sale of

indulgences in his sermons. Now he takes a more public

stand. He writes out ninety-five propositions about the

nature of faith and contemporary church practice.

The tone of these 'theses', as they come to be known, is

academic. But the underlying gist, apart from overt

criticism ofindulgences, is that truth is to be sought in

scripture rather than in the teaching of the church. By

nailing his theses to the door of All Saints' in Wittenberg,

as Luther does on 31 October 1517, he is merely

proposing them as subjects for debate.

Instead of launching a debate in Wittenberg, the ninety-

five theses spark off a European conflagration of

unparalleled violence. The Reformation ravages western

Christendom for more than a century, bringing violent

intolerance and hatred which lasts in some Christian

communities down to the present day. No sectarian

dispute in any other religion has matched the destructive

force, the brutality and the bitterness which begins in

Wittenberg in 1517.

Luther is as surprised as anyone else by the eruption

which now engulfs him - slowly at first but with

accelerating pace after a year or two. Its violence derives

from several unusual elements.

The papacy is determined to suppress this impertinence.

Luther's writings are burnt in Rome in 1520; his

excommunication follows in 1521. This is the predictable

part. The unexpected elements are the groundswell of

support in Germany, nourished by a deep resentment of

papal interference; and the effect of the relatively new

craft of printing.

BeforeGutenberg, news of Luther's heresy would have

circulated only slowly. But now copies of the ninety-five

theses are all over Europe within weeks. A fierce debate

develops, with pamphlets pouring from the presses -

many of them from Luther's pen. Within six years, by

1523, Europe's printers produce 1300 different editions

of his tracts.

In these circumstances it is impossible for the issue to be

swept under the carpet. Any action taken against Luther

in person is certain to provoke a crisis - though in the

early years his safety depends heavily on the protection

of Frederick the Wise, proud of his university and

reluctant to hand over to Rome its famous theologian,

however controversial.

Support for the excommunicated monk is so strong

among German knights that the young emperor,Charles

V, is prevailed upon to hear his case at a diet held in 1521

in Worms. Luther is given a safe conduct for his journey

to and from the diet. He is no doubt aware of the value

of an imperial safe conduct to JohnHuss a century earlier,

but he accepts the challenge.

The Diet of Worms: 1521

Where Huss had slipped into Constance in 1414 almost

alone, Luther arrives at the dietat Worms supported by a

large number of enthusiastic German knights.

Nevertheless the purpose of the confrontation, from the

emperor's point of view, is a demand that he should

recant.

In a lengthy speech Luther explains that he will recant

any of his views if they can be proved wrong by scripture

or reason. Otherwise he must remain true to his

conscience and to his understanding of God's word. The

presses soon reduce this to the pithy statement which

has been remembered ever since: Hier stehe ich. Ich

kann nicht anders., 'Here I stand. I can not do otherwise.'

The emperor and the diet declare Luther an outlaw in the

Edict of Worms (using the violentlyIntemperate

language of the time). Luther leaves Worms with his safe

conduct guaranteed for a few days. Once it has expired,

it becomes the duty of any of the emperor's loyal

subjects to seize the heretic.

Precisely that disaster seems to happen. Luther is

bumping along in his wagon when armed men gallop up

and drag him off. He is not seen in public for almost a

year, causing many to assume that he is dead. But the

armed men belong to Frederick the Wise. They take

Luther to safety in one of Frederick's castles, the

Wartburg, where he is given new clothes and a new

identity - asJunker Georg, or plain Squire George.

Speyer:1526-1529

In the years following the Edict of Worms, and Luther's

return toWittenberg in 1522, the princes of German

states and the councils of imperial cities engage in

furious argument whether to accept the Edict's rejection

of Luther's reforms. There is growing hostility to external

interference in German affairs - from Rome and from the

pope's committed ally, a Holy Roman emperor whose

interests now seem as much Spanish as German. A large

minority within the empire is in rebellious mood.

In 1526 the emperor, Charles V, attempts to calm the

situation by appeasement.

An imperial diet held in Speyer in 1526 modifies the

outright ban on Luther's teachings, imposed five years

previously in the Edict of Worms. Now each German

prince is to take his own decision on the matter, with the

responsibility to answer for it 'to God and the emperor'.

Three years later, once again at Speyer, another diet take

the opposite line. The concession of 1526 is withdrawn,

and the Edict of Worms reinstated. A dissenting minority,

consisting of five princes and fourteen imperial cities,

publishes a 'Protestation' against the decision. As a result

they become known as the Protestants.

Augsburg: 1530-1555

The need to settle religious unrest in Germany is made

more urgent by the shock of the Turks

besiegingVienna in September 1529. They withdraw

unsuccessfully a month later. But the affront vividly

suggests the possibility of greater dangers.

The emperor Charles V makes a new attempt to resolve

the issue at a diet in Augsburg in June 1530. Luther,

officially an outlaw under the terms of the Edict

ofWorms, is unable to attend. His place is taken

byMelanchthon, who presents what is now known as

theAugsburg Confession. Drawing various previous

documents into one coherent whole, this becomes the

standard statement of the Lutheran faith.

Melanchthon's purpose is to emphasize that the

Lutheran reforms 'dissent in no article of faith from the

Catholic church'. They merely strip away abuses which

have been introduced in recent centuries. The diet

refuses to accept this, decreeing instead that by April

1531 all Protestant princes and cities must recant from

the Lutheran position and (an important element)

restore all church and monastic property which has been

seized.

The threat of military intervention by the emperor is

implicit. In response, the Protestant princes and some of

the imperial cities form a defensive pact for mutual

defence, established in 1531 as the League of

Schmalkalden.

Over the next two decades the League is often in action

against its Catholic neighbours in Germany. In 1547 it

suffers a severe reverse in the battle of Mühlberg, a

victory for Charles V which results in the League's two

main leaders - the elector of Saxony and Philip of Hesse -

spending five years as the emperor's prisoners.

But no military victory can resolve these deep religious

divisions within the empire. When another imperial diet

meets at Augsburg in 1555, presided over by Charles V's

brother Ferdinand, all sides are weary and desperate for

a solution.

The compromise eventually accepted, and known as the

Peace of Augsburg, acknowledges the reality which has

emerged in the years since Luther's ninety-five

thesessparked off the conflict. Each prince and city is to

be allowed to choose between Roman Catholicism and

Lutheranism (but all other sects, such as the Swiss

reformed church and theAnabaptists, remain

proscribed). The formula is later succinctly described in

the Latin phrase cuius regio, eius religio(whoever has the

kingdom chooses the religion).

The principle of the ruler choosing the religion has

effectively held sway for some time within the empire.

And it has been far more starkly the case in the

independent kingdoms ofnorthwest Europe.

After Augsburg: 1555-1619

The Augsburg formula preserves for half a century an

uneasy peace in the German lands, while princes use

their religious freedom as a form of diplomacy.

Catholic rulers can be sure of strong support from a

newly invigorated Rome after the Council of Trent; an

energetic role is now played in their territories by the

new order ofJesuits. Lutheran princes gain strength not

only from each other but from Protestant kingdoms to

the northwest,Denmark andSweden. And the minority of

Calvinist territories can expect friendship from France

during the reign of Henry IV.

Early in the 17th century the two sides form up in

opposing blocs, each headed by a branch of the

Wittelsbach family. The Wittelsbachs of the Rhine

Palatinate, in southwest Germany, are Calvinist; they

lead the Protestant Union, formed in 1608. The

Wittelsbachs of Bavaria, just to the east, form the

Catholic League in the following year.

This confrontation does not immediately lead to armed

conflict - until the Protestants of distant Bohemia elect as

their king, in 1619, the Calvinist Wittelsbach, Frederick V.

The response by the Catholic League, in alliance with

pope and emperor, becomes one of the opening

encounters of theThirty Years' War.