Otto the Great Revives the Holy Roman Empire.—His son, Otto the Great (936-973), consolidated the royal power, and reduced the great Duchies to submission, keeping them in his own hands or in those of members of his family. In 951 he entered Italy to settle the affairs of the Lombard kingdom, but returned to cope with a revolt terminated only by the vital danger of an invasion by the Magyars, whose power was finally crushed in 955. Crowned Emperor by the Pope in 962, he set an example to subsequent German kings, who claimed the Imperial and Lombard crowns as of right; but the precedent led also to the continued absences of the German rulers in Italy and the severance of their interests from those of their own proper dominions. The sense of German nationality grew in his reign, yet this was accompanied by a weakening of central authority and the development of the power of the great vassals, dukes, and princes, ecclesiastical and secular.
Under the House of Franconia.—After his death constant civil war increased their power until their growing independence was checked by Conrad II. (1024-1039), the first of the Franconian Emperors, who rendered the mediate nobles, vassals of the great lords, less dependent on their feudal superiors, and formed a close alliance with the towns. His son, Henry III. (1039-1056), further strengthened the royal power, put down private war, and in 1043 proclaimed a general peace.
Struggle with the Papacy.—His attempted reformation of the Papacy and appointment of four German popes in succession commenced the long and fierce struggle between the Emperors and the Popes. During the minority of his son, Henry IV., the great nobles recovered much of their power. His opposition to the famous decree of Pope Gregory VII. in 1075 against the marriage of the clergy and their investiture by laymen was followed by his summons to Rome, his deposition of the Pope through a synod of German bishops, his excommunication and complete humiliation at Canossa in 1077. The dispute was only settled under his son, Henry V., by a compromise, the “Concordat of Worms,” in 1122, but the power of the Papacy had been enormously strengthened. It had attempted to dispose of the Imperial Crown, and Innocent II. even claimed to have granted it to Lothar of Saxony (1125-1137) in 1133 as to a vassal.
Famous Hohenstaufen Line.—With Conrad III. of Franconia (1137-1152) commences the line of the famous Hohenstaufen Emperors. The two great parties supporting the Pope and the Emperor now first became known as Guelfs and Ghibelines (Welfs and Waiblings). His successor, the great Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190), was occupied in Italy during long years with the now permanent struggle against the Popes and the Italian cities supporting them. In Germany Teutonic power was extended over the Slavonic countries along the Baltic by Henry the Lion of Saxony and Albert the Bear, to whom was granted the Mark of Brandenburg. Under Frederick II. (1212-1250) the struggle with the Papacy was continued. Sentence of excommunication was [507] launched against him, and a rival king was elected, and his continued absence in Italy led to the utmost anarchy in Germany. Meanwhile the conquest of the Slavonic lands now forming a great part of Prussia progressed steadily under the Knights of the Teutonic Order and of the Order of the Sword.
The period of the Hohenstaufens was one of great brilliancy. Chivalry was promoted in the Crusades, literature was in full bloom in the works of the Minnesänger, Gothic architecture received its finest developments, the towns increased in prosperity, many serfs were freed, and codes of local customs and usages were compiled, such as the Sachsenspiegel and the Schwabenspiegel. On the other hand, the greater vassals became practically independent, and the principle of inheritance was applied to their lands and offices. The privileges usurped by the ecclesiastical and secular princes were confirmed by Frederick II. in the “Pragmatic Sanctions” of 1220 and 1232, and the right of electing the Emperor was confined to the Seven Electors.
The Interregnum.—The period of anarchy culminating in the “Great Interregnum” (1250-1273) is marked by the formation of the Rhenish Confederation of some seventy leading cities for mutual defense, and of the powerful Hanseatic League.
Beginning of the Hapsburg Line.—Rudolf of Hapsburg, elected in 1273, revived the royal authority and strictly enforced justice, but his rule was unfavorable to the growing privileges of the towns. In this respect his policy was reversed by his successor, Adolf of Nassau (1291-1298), and by his son, Albert I. (1298-1308), who even befriended the serfs and the Jews. The long struggle between the Empire and the Papacy practically ended under Louis IV. (1314-1347), by the formal declaration of the Electors in 1338 that the Papal sanction was not needed to the election of the emperor. Public peace was encouraged under Louis IV., and his friendship to the towns was constant. Industry and trade flourished more and more in the cities, and their government was now becoming more democratic through the victory of the craft-guilds over the old patrician families.
House of Luxemburg.—Charles IV. (1347-1378), the first emperor who retained his hereditary lands on election, by the “Golden Bull” in 1356 regulated the method of election and confirmed the complete sovereignty of the Electors in their own territories. In 1396 the foundations of Swiss independence were laid in the victory of the “Eidgenossen” over Duke Leopold of Austria at Sempach.
Reformation Foreshadowed.—In the reign of Sigismund (1410-1437), who united the dignities of King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, and Margrave of Brandenburg, and who was the last Emperor crowned at Rome, the Hussite war, consequent on the burning of John Huss by the Council of Constance in 1415, foreshadowed the Reformation. The Mark of Brandenburg now passed to the Hohenzollerns, under whom it was to grow into the kingdom of Prussia.
The reigns of Frederick IV. (1440-1493), and Maximilian I. (1493-1519), the husband of Mary, the heiress of Charles the Bold, last Duke of Burgundy, bring the Middle Ages to a close. The age of chivalry was ended by the invention of gunpowder and the use of mercenary troops; the realities of feudalism had passed away, the Imperial authority had dwindled to nominal control, and princes and cities had attained independence. But the Imperial dignity was now permanently connected with the House of Hapsburg and combined with great territorial possessions. The semblance and, to some extent, the reality of unity were established by the growing use of Roman law, by the constitution in 1495 of an Imperial Tribunal or Court of Appeal (the “Aulic Council”), and by the division of Germany in 1501 and 1512 into “Circles,” each with its own “States” charged to carry out the decisions of the Imperial Chamber.