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

by Bayard Taylor

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 Lübeck 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.

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.

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, Jülich, Berg, Cleves, Pomerania and Mecklenburg were formed out of Saxony; Suabia was divided into Würtemberg 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.