A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

1512. MILITARY CHANGES.

This division of Germany into districts had the external appearance of an orderly political arrangement; but the States, great and little, had been too long accustomed to having their own way. The fact that an independent baron, like Franz von Sickingen, could still disturb a large extent of territory for a number of years, shows the weakness of the new national power. Moreover, nothing seems to have been done, or even attempted, by the Diet, to protect the agricultural population from the absolute despotism of the landed nobility. In Alsatia, as early as 1493, there was a general revolt of the peasants (called by them the Bond-shoe), which was not suppressed until much blood had been shed. It excited a spirit of resistance throughout all Southern Germany. In 1514, Duke Ulric of Würtemberg undertook to replenish his treasury by using false weights and measures, and provoked the common people to rise against him. They formed a society, to which they gave the name of "Poor Konrad," which became so threatening that, although it was finally crushed by violence, it compelled the reform of many flagrant evils and showed even the most arrogant rulers that there were bounds to tyranny.

But, although the feudal system was still in force, the obligation to render military service, formerly belonging to it, was nearly at an end. The use of cannon, and of a rude kind of musket, had become general in war: heavy armor for man and horse was becoming not only useless, but dangerous; and the courage of the soldier, not his bodily strength or his knightly accomplishments, constituted his value in the field. The Swiss had set the example of furnishing good troops to whoever would pay for them, and a similar class, calling themselves Landsknechte (Servants of the Country), arose in Germany. The robber-knights, by this time, were nearly extinct: when Frederick of Hohenzollern began to use artillery against their castles, it was evident that their days of plunder were over. The reign of Maximilian, therefore, marks an important turning-point in German history. It is, at the same time, the end of the stormy and struggling life of the Middle Ages, and the beginning of a new and fiercer struggle between men and their oppressors. Maximilian, in fact, is called in Germany "the Last of the Knights."

1512.

The strength of Germany lay chiefly in the cities, which, in spite of their narrow policy towards the country, and their jealousy of each other, had at least kept alive and encouraged all forms of art and industry, and created a class of learned men outside of the Church. While the knighthood of the Hohenstaufen period had sunk into corruption and semi-barbarism, and the people had grown more dangerous through their ignorance and subjection, the cities had gradually become centres of wealth and intelligence. They were adorned with splendid works of architecture; they supported the early poets, painters and sculptors; and, when compelled to act in concert against the usurpations of the Emperor or the inferior rulers, whatever privileges they maintained or received were in favor of the middle-class, and therefore an indirect gain to the whole people.

The cities, moreover, exercised an influence over the country population by their markets, fairs, and festivals. The most of them were as largely and as handsomely built as at present, but in times of peace the life within their walls was much gayer and more brilliant. Pope Pius II., when he was secretary to Frederick III. as Æneas Sylvius, wrote of them as follows: "One may veritably say that no people in Europe live in cleaner or more cheerful cities than the Germans; their appearance is as new as if they had only been built yesterday. By their commerce they amass great wealth: there is no banquet at which they do not drink from silver cups, no dame who does not wear golden ornaments. Moreover, the citizens are also soldiers, and each one has a sort of arsenal in his own house. The boys in this country can ride before they can talk, and sit firmly in the saddle when the horses are at full speed: the men move in their armor without feeling its weight. Verily, you Germans might be masters of the world, as formerly, but for your multitude of rulers, which every wise man has always considered an evil!"

During the fifteenth century a remarkable institution, called "the Vehm"—or, by the people, "the Holy Vehm"—exercised a great authority throughout Northern Germany. Its members claimed that it was founded by Charlemagne, to assist in establishing Christianity among the Saxons; but it is not mentioned before the twelfth century, and the probability is that it sprang up from the effort of the people to preserve their old democratic organization, in a secret form, after it had been overthrown by the reigning princes. The object of the Vehm was to enforce impartial justice among all classes, and for this purpose it held open courts for the settlement of quarrels and minor offences, while graver crimes were tried at night, in places known only to the members. The latter were sworn to secrecy, and also to implicit obedience to the judgments of the courts or the orders of the chiefs, who were called "Free Counts." The head-quarters of the Vehm were in Westphalia, but its branches spread over a great part of Germany, and it became so powerful during the reign of Frederick III. that it even dared to cite him to appear before its tribunal.

1515. LAST YEARS OF MAXIMILIAN.

In all probability the dread of the power of the Vehm was one of the causes which induced both Maximilian and the princes to reorganize the Empire. In proportion as order and justice began to prevail in Germany, the need of such a secret institution grew less; but about another century elapsed before its courts ceased to be held. After that, it continued to exist in Westphalia as an order for mutual assistance, something like that of the Freemasons. In this form it lingered until 1838, when the last "Free Count" died.

Among the other changes introduced during Maximilian's reign were the establishment of a police system, and the invention of a postal system by Franz of Taxis. The latter obtained a monopoly of the post routes throughout Germany, and his family, which afterwards became that of Thurn and Taxis, received an enormous revenue from this source, from that time down to the present day. Maximilian himself devoted a great deal of time and study to the improvement of artillery, and many new forms of cannon, which were designed by him, are still preserved in Vienna.