Germany At The Time Of The Interregnum

(1256--1273.)



Change in the Character of the German Empire. --Richard of Cornwall and

Alphonso of Castile purchase their election. --The Interregnum.

--Effect of the Crusades. --Heresy and Persecution. --The Orders of

Knighthood. --Conquests of the German Order. --Rise of the Cities.

--Robber-Knights. --The Hanseatic League. --Population and Power of

the Cities. --Gothic Architecture. -The Universities. --Seven

Classes of the People. --The small States. --Service of the

Hohenstaufens to Germany. --Epic Poetry of the Middle Ages.

--Historical writers.





[Sidenote: 1256. CHANGES IN GERMANY.]



The end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty marks an important phase in the

history of Germany. From this time the character of the Empire is

radically changed. Although still called "Roman" in official documents,

the term is henceforth an empty form, and even the word "Empire" loses

much of its former significance. The Italian Republics were now

practically independent, and the various dukedoms, bishoprics,

principalities and countships, into which Germany was divided, were fast

rendering it difficult to effect any unity of feeling or action among

the people. The Empire which Charlemagne designed, which Otto the Great

nearly established, and which Barbarossa might have founded, but for the

fatal ambition of governing Italy, had become impossible. Germany was,

in reality, a loose confederation of differently organized and governed

States, which continued to make use of the form of an Empire as a

convenience rather than a political necessity.



The events which followed the death of Konrad IV. illustrate the corrupt

condition of both Church and State at that time. The money which Pope

Innocent IV. so freely expended in favor of the anti-kings, Henry Raspe

and William of Holland, had already taught the Electors the advantage of

selling their votes: so, when William was slain by the farmers of

Friesland, and no German prince seemed to care much for the title of

Emperor (since each already had independent power over his own

territory), the high dignity so recently possessed by Frederick II., was

put up at auction. Two bidders made their appearance, Richard of

Cornwall, brother of Henry III. of England, and king Alphonso of

Castile, surnamed "the Wise." The Archbishop of Cologne was the business

agent of the former: he received 12,000 silver marks for himself, and

eight or nine thousand apiece for the Dukes of Bavaria, the Archbishop

of Mayence, and several other electors. The Archbishop of Treves, in the

name of king Alphonso, offered the king of Bohemia, the Dukes of Saxony

and the Margrave of Brandenburg 20,000 marks each. Of course both

purchasers were elected, and they were proclaimed kings of Germany

almost at the same time. Alphonso never even visited his realm: Richard

of Cornwall came to Aix-la-Chapelle, was formally crowned, and returned

now and then, whenever the produce of his tin-mines in Cornwall enabled

him to pay for an enthusiastic reception by the people. He never

attempted, however, to govern Germany, for he probably had intelligence

enough to see that any such attempt would be disregarded.



[Sidenote: 1256.]



This period was afterwards called by the people "the Evil Time when

there was no Emperor"--and, in spite of the two kings, who had fairly

paid for their titles, it is known in German history as "the

Interregnum." It was a period of change and confusion, when each prince

endeavored to become an absolute ruler, and the knights, in imitating

them, became robbers; when the free cities, encouraged by the example of

Italy, united in self-defence, and the masses of the people, although

ground to the dust, began to dream again of the rights which their

ancestors had possessed a thousand years before.



First of all, the great change wrought in Europe by the Crusades was

beginning to be felt by all classes of society. The attempt to retain

possession of Palestine, which lasted nearly two hundred years,--from

the march of the First Crusade in 1096 to the fall of Acre in

1291,--cost Europe, it is estimated, six millions of lives, and an

immense amount of treasure. The Roman Church favored the undertaking in

every possible way, since each Crusade instantly and greatly

strengthened its power; yet the result was the reverse of what the

Church hoped for, in the end. The bravery, intelligence and refined

manners of the Saracens made a great impression on the Christian

knights, and they soon began to imitate those whom they had at first

despised. New branches of learning, especially astronomy, mathematics

and medicine, were brought to Europe from the East; more luxurious

habits of life, giving rise to finer arts of industry, followed; and

commerce, compelled to supply the Crusaders and Christian colonists at

such a distance, was rapidly developed to an extent unknown since the

fall of the Roman Empire.



[Sidenote: 1256. GROWTH OF INDEPENDENT SECTS.]



As men gained new ideas from these changes, they became more independent

in thought and speech. The priests and monks ceased to monopolize all

knowledge, and their despotism over the human mind met with resistance.

Then, first, the charge of "heresy" began to be heard; and although

during the thirteenth and a part of the fourteenth centuries the Pope of

Rome was undoubtedly the highest power in Europe, the influences were

already at work which afterwards separated the strongest races of the

world from the Roman Church. On the one hand, new orders of monks were

created, and monasteries increased everywhere: on the other hand,

independent Christian sects began to spring up, like the Albigenses in

France and the Waldenses in Savoy, and could not be wholly suppressed,

even with fire and sword.



The orders of knighthood which possessed a religious character, were

also established during the Crusades. First the Knights of St. John,

whose badge was a black mantle with a white cross, formed a society to

guard pilgrims to the Holy Land, and take care of the sick. Then

followed the Knights Templar, distinguished by a red cross on a white

mantle. Both these orders originated among the Italian chivalry, and

they included few German members. During the Third Crusade, however

(which was headed by Barbarossa), the German Order of Knights was

formed, chiefly by the aid of the merchants of Bremen and Luebeck. They

adopted the black cross on a white mantle as their badge, took the

monkish vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience, like the Templars and

the Knights of St. John, and devoted their lives to war with the

heathen. The second Grand-Master of this order, Hermann of Salza,

accompanied Frederick II. to Jerusalem, and his character was so highly

estimated by the latter that he made him a prince of the German Empire.



[Sidenote: 1256.]



Inasmuch as the German Order really owed its existence to the support

of the merchants of the Northern coast, Hermann of Salza sought for a

field of labor wherein the knights might fulfil their vows, and at the

same time achieve some advantage for their benefactors. As early as

1199, the Bremen merchants had founded Riga, taken possession of the

eastern shore of the Baltic and established German colonies there. The

native Finnish or Lithuanian inhabitants were either exterminated or

forcibly converted to Christianity, and an order, called "the Brothers

of the Sword," was established for the defence of the colonies. This new

German territory was separated from the rest of the Empire by the

country between the mouths of the Vistula and the Memel, claimed by

Poland, and inhabited by the Borussii, or Prussians, a tribe which

seems to have been of mixed Slavic and Lithuanian blood. Hermann of

Salza obtained from Poland the permission to possess this country for

the German Order, and he gradually conquered or converted the native

Prussians. In the meantime the Brothers of the Sword were so hard

pressed by a revolt of the Livonians that they united themselves with

the German Order, and thenceforth formed a branch of it. The result of

this union was that the whole coast of the Baltic, from Holstein to the

Gulf of Finland, was secured to Germany, and became civilized and

Christian.



During the thirty-five years of Frederick II.'s reign and the seventeen

succeeding years of the Interregnum, Germany was in a condition which

allowed the strong to make themselves stronger, yet left the weaker

classes without any protection. The reigning Dukes and Archbishops were,

of course, satisfied with this state of affairs; the independent counts

and barons with large possessions maintained their power by temporary

alliances; the inferior nobles, left to themselves, became robbers of

land, and highwaymen. With the introduction of new arts and the wider

extension of commerce, the cities of Germany had risen in wealth and

power, and were beginning to develop an intelligent middle-class,

standing between the farmers, who had sunk almost into the condition of

serfs, and the lesser nobles, most of whom were equally poor and proud.

Upwards of sixty cities were free municipalities, belonging to the

Empire on the same terms as the dukedoms; that is, they contributed a

certain proportion of men and money, and were bound to obey the decrees

of the Imperial Diets.



[Sidenote: 1256. ROBBER-KNIGHTS.--CITIES.]



As soon, therefore, as there was no superior authority to maintain order

and security in the land, a large number of the knights became

freebooters, plundering and laying waste whenever opportunity offered,

attacking the caravans of travelling merchants, and accumulating the

ill-gotten wealth in their strong castles. Many an aristocratic family

of the present day owes its inheritance to that age of robbery and

murder. The people had few secured rights and no actual freedom in

Germany, with the exception of Friesland, some parts of Saxony and the

Alpine districts.



In this condition of things, the free cities soon found it advisable to

assist each other. Bremen, Hamburg and Luebeck first formed a union,

chiefly for commercial purposes, in 1241, and this was the foundation of

the famous Hanseatic League. Immediately after the death of Konrad IV.,

Mayence, Speyer, Worms, Strasburg and Basel formed the "Union of Rhenish

Cities," for the preservation of peace and the mutual protection of

their citizens. Many other cities, and even a number of reigning princes

and bishops, soon became members of this league, which for a time

exercised considerable power. The principal German cities were then even

more important than now; few of them have gained in population or in

relative wealth in the course of 600 years. Cologne had then 120,000

inhabitants, Mayence 90,000, Worms 60,000, and Ratisbon on the Danube

upwards of 120,000. The cities of the Rhine had agencies in England and

other countries, carried on commerce on the high seas, and owned no less

than 600 armed vessels, with which they guarded the Rhine from the

land-pirates whose castles overlooked its course.



During this age of civil and religious despotism, the German cities

possessed and preserved the only free institutions to be found. They

owed this privilege to the heroic resistance of the republican cities of

Italy to the Hohenstaufens, which not only set them an example but

fought in their stead. Sure of the loyalty of the German cities, the

Emperors were not so jealous of their growth; but some of the rights

which they conferred were reluctantly given, and probably in return for

men or money during the wars in Italy. The decree which changed a

vassal, or dependent, into a free man after a year's residence in a

city, helped greatly to build up a strong and intelligent middle-class.

The merchants, professional men and higher artisans gradually formed a

patrician society, out of which the governing officers were selected,

while the mechanics, for greater protection, organized themselves into

separate guilds, or orders. Each of the latter was very watchful of the

character and reputation of its members, and thus exercised a strong

moral influence. The farmers, only, had no such protection: very few of

them were not dependent vassals of some nobleman or priest.



[Sidenote: 1260.]



The cities, in the thirteenth century, began to exhibit a stately

architectural character. The building of splendid cathedrals and

monasteries, which began two centuries before, now gave employment to

such a large number of architects and stone-cutters, that they formed a

free corporation, under the name of "Brother-builders," with especial

rights and privileges, all over Germany. Their labors were supported by

the power of the Church, the wealth of the merchants and the toil of the

vassals, and the masterpieces of Gothic architecture arose under their

hands. The grand Cathedrals of Strasburg, Freiburg and Cologne with many

others, yet remain as monuments of their genius and skill. But the

private dwellings, also, now began to display the wealth and taste of

their owners. They were usually built very high, with pointed gables

facing the street, and adorned with sculptured designs: frequently the

upper stories projected over the lower, forming a shelter for the open

shops in the first story. As the cities were walled for defence, the

space within the walls was too valuable to be given to wide squares and

streets: hence there was usually one open market-place, which also

served for all public ceremonies, and the streets were dark and narrow.



In spite of the prevailing power of the Roman Church, the Universities

now began to exercise some influence. Those of Bologna and Padua were

frequented by throngs of students, who attended the schools of law,

while the University of Salerno, under the patronage of Manfred, became

a distinguished school of medicine. The Arabic university of Cordova, in

Spain, also attracted many students from all the Christian lands of

Europe. Works on all branches of knowledge were greatly multiplied, so

that the copying of them became a new profession. For the first time,

there were written forms of law for the instruction of the people. In

the northern part of Germany appeared a work called "The Saxon's

Looking-Glass," which was soon accepted as a legal authority by the

people. But it was too liberal for the priests, and under their

influence another work, "The Suabian's Looking-Glass," was written and

circulated in Southern Germany. The former book declares that the

Emperor has his power from God; the latter that he has it from the Pope.

The Saxon is told that no man can justly hold another man as property,

and that the people were made vassals through force and wrong; the

Suabian is taught that obedience to rulers is his chief duty.



[Sidenote: 1260. CLASSES OF THE PEOPLE.]



From these two works, which are still in existence, we learn how

complicated was the political organization of Germany. The whole free

population was divided into seven classes, each having its own

privileges and rules of government. First, there was the Emperor;

secondly, the Spiritual Princes, as they were called (Archbishops,

reigning Bishops, &c.); thirdly, the Temporal Princes, some of whom were

partly or wholly "Vassals" of the Spiritual authority; and fourthly, the

Counts and Barons who possessed territory, either independently, or as

Lehen of the second and third classes. These four classes constituted

the higher nobility, by whom the Emperor was chosen, and each of whom

had the right to be a candidate. Seven princes were specially entitled

"Electors," because the nomination of a candidate for Emperor came from

them. There were three Spiritual--the Archbishops of Mayence, Treves and

Cologne; and four Temporal--the Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, the

Margrave of Brandenburg and the King of Bohemia.



The fifth class embraced the free citizens from among whom magistrates

were chosen, and who were allowed to possess certain privileges of the

nobles. The sixth and seventh classes were formed out of the remaining

freemen, according to their circumstances and occupations. The serfs and

dependents had no place in this system of government, so that a large

majority of the German people possessed no other recognized right than

that of being ruled and punished. In fact, the whole political system

was so complicated and unpractical that we can only wonder how Germany

endured it for centuries afterwards.



At the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty there were one hundred and

sixteen priestly rulers, one hundred ruling dukes, princes, counts and

barons, and more than sixty independent cities in Germany. The larger

dukedoms had been cut up into smaller states, many of which exist,

either as states or provinces, at this day. Styria and Tyrol were

separated from Bavaria; the principalities of Westphalia, Anhalt,

Holstein, Juelich, Berg, Cleves, Pomerania and Mecklenburg were formed

out of Saxony; Suabia was divided into Wuertemberg and Baden, the

Palatinate of the Rhine detached from Franconia and Hesse from

Thuringia. Each of the principal German races was distinguished by two

colors--the Franks red and white, the Suabians red and yellow, the

Bavarians blue and white, and the Saxons black and white. The Saxon

black, the Frank red, and the Suabian gold were set together as

the Imperial colors.



[Sidenote: 1260.]



The chief service of the Hohenstaufens to Germany lay in their direct

and generous encouragement of art, learning and literature. They took up

the work commenced by Charlemagne and so disastrously thwarted by his

son Ludwig the Pious, and in the course of a hundred years they

developed what might be called a golden age of architecture and epic

poetry, so strongly does it contrast with the four centuries before and

the three succeeding it. The immediate connection between Germany and

Italy, where the most of Roman culture had survived and the higher forms

of civilization were first restored, was in this single respect a great

advantage to the former country. We cannot ascertain how many of the

nobler characteristics of knighthood, in that age, sprang from the

religious spirit which prompted the Crusades, and how many originated

from intercourse with the refined and high-spirited Saracens; both

elements, undoubtedly, tended to revive the almost forgotten love of

poetry in the German race.



[Sidenote: 1270. GERMAN EPIC POEMS.]



When the knights of Provence and Italy became as proud of their songs as

of their feats of arms; when minstrels accompanied the court of

Frederick II. and the Emperor himself wrote poems in rivalry with them;

when the Duke of Austria and the Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia invited

the best poets of the time to visit them and received them as

distinguished guests, and when wandering minstrels and story-tellers

repeated their works in a simpler form to the people everywhere, it was

not long before a new literature was created. Walter von der Vogelweide,

who accompanied Frederick II. to Jerusalem, wrote not only songs of love

and poems in praise of Nature, but satires against the Pope and the

priesthood. Godfrey of Strasburg produced an epic poem describing the

times of king Arthur of the Round Table, and Wolfram of Eschenbach, in

his "Parcival," celebrated the search for the Holy Grail; while inferior

poets related the histories of Alexander the Great, the Siege of Troy,

or Charlemagne's knight, Roland. Among the people arose the story of

Reynard the Fox, and a multitude of fables; and finally, during the

thirteenth century, was produced the celebrated Nibelungenlied, or

Song of the Nibelungen, wherein traditions of Siegfried of the

Netherlands, Theodoric the Ostrogoth and Attila with his Huns are mixed

together in a powerful story of love, rivalry and revenge. The most of

these poems are written in a Suabian dialect, which is now called the

"Middle (or Mediaeval) High-German."



Among the historical writers were Bishop Otto of Friesing, whose

chronicles of the time are very valuable, and Saxo Grammaticus, in whose

history of Denmark Shakspeare found the material for his play of

Hamlet. Albertus Magnus, the Bishop of Ratisbon, was so distinguished

as a mathematician and man of science that the people believed him to be

a sorcerer. There was, in short, a general intellectual awakening

throughout Germany, and, although afterwards discouraged by many of the

276 smaller powers, it was favored by others and could not be

suppressed. Besides, greater changes were approaching. A hundred years

after Frederick II.'s death gunpowder was discovered, and the common

soldier became the equal of the knight. In another hundred years,

Gutenberg invented printing, and then followed, rapidly, the Discovery

of America and the Reformation.