On the contrary, Bonifacius IX. went secretly to work to depose Wenzel. He gained the support of the four Electors of the Rhine, who, headed by the Archbishop of Mayence, came together in 1400, proclaimed that Wenzel had forfeited his Imperial dignity, and elected the Count Palatine Rupert, a member of the house of Wittelsbach (Bavaria), in his place. The city of Aix-la-Chapelle shut its gates upon the latter, and he was crowned in Cologne. A majority of the smaller German princes, as well as of the free cities, refused to acknowledge him; but, on the other hand, none of them made any movement in Wenzel's favor, and so there were, practically, two separate heads to the Empire.
Rupert imagined that his coronation in Rome would secure his authority in Germany. He therefore collected an army, entered into an alliance with the republic of Florence against Milan, and marched to Italy in 1401. Near Brescia he met the army of the Lombards, commanded by the Milanese general, Barbiano, and was so signally defeated that he was compelled to return to Germany. In the meantime Wenzel had come to a temporary understanding with Jodocus of Moravia and the Hapsburg Dukes of Austria, and his prospects improved as Rupert's diminished. It was not long, however, before he quarrelled with his brother Sigismund, and was imprisoned by the latter. Then ensued a state of general confusion, the cause of which is easy to understand, but the features of which it is not easy to make clear.
1405.
A number of reigning princes and cities held a convention at Marbach in 1405, and formed a temporary union, the object of which was evidently to create a third power in the Empire. Both Rupert and Wenzel at first endeavored to break up this new league, and then, failing in the attempt, both intrigued for its support. The Archbishop of Mayence and the Margrave of Baden, who stood at its head, were secretly allied with France; the smaller princes were ambitious to gain for themselves a power equal to that of the seven Electors, and the cities hoped to recover some of their lost rights. The League of Marbach, as it is called in history, had as little unity or harmony as the Empire itself. All Germany was given up to anarchy, and seemed on the point of falling to pieces: so much had the famous Golden Bull of Karl IV. accomplished in fifty years!
On the eastern shore of the Baltic, also, the march of German civilization received an almost fatal check. The two strongest neighbors of the German Order, the Poles and Lithuanians, were now united under one crown, and they defeated the army of the Order, 60,000 strong, under the walls of Wilna, in 1389. After an unsatisfactory peace of some years, hostilities were again resumed, and both sides prepared for a desperate and final struggle. Each raised an army of more than 100,000 men, among whom, on the Polish side, there were 40,000 Russians and Tartars. The decisive battle was fought at Tannenberg, in July, 1410, and the German Order, after losing 40,000 men, retreated from the field. It was compelled to give up a portion of its territory to Poland, and pay a heavy tribute: from that day its power was broken, and the Slavonic races encroached more and more upon the Germans along the Baltic.
1410. THE ANTI-EMPEROR RUPERT.
During this same period Holland was rapidly becoming estranged from the German Empire, and France had obtained possession of the greater part of Flanders. Luxemburg and part of Lorraine were incorporated with Burgundy, which was rising in power and importance, and had become practically independent of Germany. There was now no one to guard the ancient boundaries, and probably nothing but the war between England and France prevented the latter kingdom from greatly increasing her territory at the expense of the Empire.
Although Rupert of the Palatinate acquired but a limited authority in Southern Germany, he is generally classed among the German Emperors, perhaps because Wenzel's power, after the year 1400, was no greater than his own. The confusion and uncertainty in regard to the Imperial dignity lasted until 1410, when Rupert determined to make war upon the Archbishop of Mayence—who had procured his election, and since the League of Marbach was his chief enemy—as the first step towards establishing his authority. In the midst of his preparations he died, on the 18th of May, 1410.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE REIGN OF SIGISMUND AND THE HUSSITE WAR.