ARCHAEOLOGY

from an archaeological point of view germany is very far from being a homogeneous whole. not only has the development of the south differed from that of the north, and the west been subjected to other influences than those affecting the east, but even where the same influences have been at work the period of their operation has often varied widely in the different districts, so that in a general sketch of the whole country the chronology can only be a very rough approximation. in this article the dates assigned to the various periods in south germany are those given by sophus muller, on the lines first laid down by montelius. as regards north germany, muller puts the northern bronze age 500 years later than the southern, but a recent find in sweden bears out montelius's view that southern influence made itself rapidly felt in the north. the conclusions of montelius and muller are disputed by w. ridgeway, who maintains that the iron age originated in central europe, and that iron must consequently have been worked in those regions as far back as c. 2000 b.c. _older palaeolithic period._--the earliest traces of man's handiwork are found either at the end of the pre-glacial epoch, or in an inter-glacial period, but it is a disputed point whether the latter is the first of a series of such periods. a typical german find is at taubach, near weimar, where almond-shaped stone wedges, small flint knives, and roughly-hacked pieces of porphyry and quartz are found, together with the remains of elephants. there are also bone implements, which are not found in the earliest periods in france. _palaeolithic transition period_ (_solutre_).--more highly developed forms are found when the mammoth has succeeded the elephant. implements of chipped stone for the purposes of boring and scraping suggest that man worked hides for clothing. ornaments of perforated teeth and shells are found. _later palaeolithic period_ (_la madeleine_).--the next period is marked by the presence of reindeer. in the hohlefels in the swabian achthal there is still no trace of earthenware, and we find the skull of a reindeer skilfully turned into a drinking-vessel. saws, needles, awls and bone harpoons are found. it is to be noticed that none of the german finds (mostly in the south and west) show any traces of the highly developed artistic sense so characteristic of the dwellers in france at this period. the gap in our knowledge of the development of palaeolithic into neolithic civilization has recently been partially filled in by discoveries in north germany and france of objects showing rather more developed forms than those of the former period, but still unaccompanied by earthenware. it is a disputed point whether the introduction of neolithic civilization is due to a new ethnological element. _neolithic age_ (in south germany till c. 2000 b.c.).--neolithic man lived under the same climatic conditions as prevail to-day, but amidst forests of fir. he shows advance in every direction, and by the end of the later neolithic period he is master of the arts of pottery and spinning, is engaged in agricultural pursuits, owns domestic animals, and makes weapons and tools of fine shape, either ground and polished or beautifully chipped. traces of neolithic settlements have been found chiefly in the neighbourhood of worms, in the main district and in thuringia. these dwellings are usually holes in the ground, and presumably had thatched roofs. our knowledge of the later neolithic age, as of the succeeding periods, is largely gained from the remains of lake-dwellings, represented in germany chiefly by bavarian finds. the lake-dwellings in mecklenburg, pomerania and east prussia are of a different type, and it is not certain that they date back to the stone age. typical neolithic cemeteries are found at hinkelstein, alzey and other places in the neighbourhood of worms. in these graves the skeletons lie flat, while in other cemeteries, as at flomborn in rhine-hessen, and near heilbronn, they are in a huddled position (hence the name _hockergraber_). necklaces and bracelets of mediterranean shells point to a considerable amount of commerce. other objects found in the graves are small flint knives, stone axes, flint and lumps of pyrites for obtaining fire, and, in the women's graves, hand-mills for grinding corn. the earthenware vessels usually have rounded bottoms. the earliest ornamentation consists of finger-imprints. later we find two periods of zigzag designs in south germany with an intermediate stage of spirals and wavy lines, while in north and east germany the so-called string-ornamentation predominates. towards the end of the period the inhabitants of north germany erect megalithic graves, and in hanover especially the passage-graves. _bronze age_ (in south germany from c. 2000-1000 b.c.).--in the later stone age we note the occasional use of copper, and then the gradual appearance of bronze. the bronze civilization of the aegean seems to have had direct influence along the basins of the danube and elbe, while the culture of the western parts of central germany was transmitted through italy and france. no doubt the pre-eminence of the north, and especially of denmark, at this period, was due to the amber trade, causing southern influence to penetrate up the basin of the elbe to jutland. the earlier period is characterized by the practice of inhumation in barrows made of clays, stones or sand, according to the district. bronze is cast, whereas at a later time it shows signs of the hammer. from the finds in bavarian graves it appears that the chief weapons were the dagger and the long pointed _palstab_ (palstave), while a short dagger fixed like an axe on a long shaft is characteristic of the north. the women wore two bronze pins, a bracelet on each arm, amber ornaments and a necklace of bronze tubes in spirals. one or two vases are found in each barrow, ornamented with finger-imprints, "string" decoration, &c. the later period is characterized by the practice of cremation, though the remains are still placed in barrows. swords make their appearance. the women wear more and more massive ornaments. the vases are highly polished and of elegant form, with zigzag decoration. _hallstatt period_ (in germany 8th-5th century b.c.).--the hallstatt stage of culture, named after the famous cemetery in upper austria, is marked by the introduction of iron (see hallstatt). in germany its centre is bavaria, baden and wurttemberg, with the thuringian forest as the northern boundary. in brandenburg, lusatia, silesia, posen and saxony, where there was no strong bronze age tradition, hallstatt influence is very noticeable. in west prussia the urns with human faces deserve notice. the dead are either buried in barrows or cremated, the latter especially in north and east germany. in bavaria both practices are resorted to, as at hallstatt. the pottery develops beautiful form and colour. fibulae, often of the "kettle-drum" form, take the place of the bronze age pin. _la tene period_ (4th-1st century b.c.).--down to this time there is very little evidence concerning the racial affinities of the population. when our records first begin the western and southern portions of germany seem to have been inhabited by celtic peoples (see below "ethnography"). la tene, in switzerland, has given its name to the period, of which the earlier part corresponds to the time of celtic supremacy. it is interesting to note how the celts absorb roman and still more greek culture, even imitating foreign coins, and pass on their new arts to their teutonic neighbours; but in spite of the strong foreign influence the celtic civilization can in some sort be termed national. later it has a less rich development, betraying the political decay of the race. its centres in germany are the southern districts as far as thuringia, and the valleys of the main and saar. the ornamentation is of the conventionalized plant type: gold is freely used, and enamel, of a kind different from the roman enamel used later in germany, is applied to weapons and ornaments. chariots are used in war, and fortified towns are built, though we must still suppose the houses to have consisted of a wooden framework coated with clay. in these districts la tene influence is contemporary with the use of tumuli, but in the (non-celtic) coast districts it must be sought in urn-cemeteries. _roman period_ (from the 1st century a.d.).--the period succeeding to la tene ought rather to be called romano-germanic, the relation of the teutonic races to the roman civilization being much the same as that of the celts to classical culture in the preceding period. the rhine lands were of course the centre of roman civilization, with roman roads, fortresses, stone and tiled houses and marble temples. by this time the teutonic peoples had probably acquired the art of writing, though the origin of their national (runic) alphabet is still disputed. the graves of the period contain urns of earthenware or glass, cremation being the prevalent practice, and the objects found include one or more coins in accordance with roman usage. _period of national migrations_ (a.d. 300-500).--the grave-finds do not bear out the picture of a period of ceaseless war painted by the roman historians. on the contrary, weapons are seldom found, at any rate in graves, the objects in which bear witness to a life of extraordinary luxury. magnificent drinking-vessels, beautifully ornamented dice and draughtsmen, masses of gay beads, are among the commonest grave-finds. a peculiarity of the period is the development of decoration inspired by animal forms, but becoming more and more tortuous and fantastic. only those eastern parts of germany which were now occupied by slavonic peoples remained uninfluenced by this rich civilization. _the merovingian period_ (a.d. 500-800) sees the completion of the work of converting the german tribes to christianity. _reihengraber_, containing objects of value, but otherwise like modern cemeteries, with the dead buried in rows (_reihen_), are found over all the teutonic part of germany, but some tribes, notably the alamanni, seem still to have buried their dead in barrows. among the franks and burgundians we find monolithic sarcophagi in imitation of the romans, and in other districts sarcophagi were constructed out of several blocks of stone--the so-called _plattengraber_. the weapons are the _spatha_, or double-bladed german sword, the _sax_ (a short sword, or long knife, _semispathium_), the knife, shield, and the favourite german axe, though this latter is not found in bavaria. the ornaments are beads, earrings, brooches, rings, bracelets, &c., thickly studded with precious stones. authorities.--s. muller, _urgeschichte europas_ (1905), and _tierornamentik_ (1881); o. montelius, "chronologie der bronzezeit in n. deutschland und skandinavien," in _archiv fur anthropologie_, vols. xxv. and xxvi.; m. hoernes, _urgeschichte des menschen_ (1892), and _der diluviale mensch in europa_ (1903); m. much, _kupferzeit in europa_ (1893); r. munro, _lake-dwellings of europe_ (1890); j. naue, _bronzezeit in ober-bayern_ (1894); o. tischler, _ostpreussische altertumer_ (1902); r. virchow, _uber hunengraber und pfahlbauten_ (1866); j. mestorf, _urnenfriedhofe in schleswig-holstein_ (1886); a. lissauer, _prahistorische denkmaler preussens_ (1887); i. undset, _erstes auftreten des eisens in n. europa_ (1882); l. lindenschmit, _handbuch der deutschen altertumskunde_, i. (1880-1889); and w. ridgeway, _early age of greece_, i. (1901). also articles by the above and others, chiefly in _zeitschrift fur ethnologie_ (berlin); _archiv fur anthropologie_ (brunswick); _globus_ (brunswick); _westdeutsche zeitschrift_ (trier); _schriften der physikalisch-okonomischen gesellschaft_ (konigsberg); _nachrichten uber deutsche altertumskunde_ (berlin); _verhandlungen der berliner gesellschaft fur anthropologie_, &c.; _beitrage zur anthropologie bayerns_ (munich); and _zeitschrift fur deutsches altertum_ (berlin). (b. s. p.) ethnography and early history julius caesar in germany. our direct knowledge of germany begins with the appointment of julius caesar as governor of gaul in 59 b.c. long before that time there is evidence of german communication with southern civilization, as the antiquities prove, and occasional travellers from the mediterranean had made their way into those regions (e.g. pytheas, towards the end of the 4th century), but hardly any records of their journeys survive. the first teutonic peoples whom the romans are said to have encountered are the cimbri and teutoni, probably from denmark, who invaded illyria, gaul and italy towards the end of the 2nd century b.c. when caesar arrived in gaul the westernmost part of what is now germany was in the possession of gaulish tribes. the rhine practically formed the boundary between gauls and germans, though one gaulish tribe, the menapii, is said to have been living beyond the rhine at its mouth, and shortly before the arrival of caesar an invading force of germans had seized and settled down in what is now alsace, 72 b.c. at this time the gauls were being pressed by the germans along the whole frontier, and several of caesar's campaigns were occupied with operations, either against the germans, or against gaulish tribes set in motion by the germans. among these we may mention the campaign of his first year of office, 58 b.c., against the german king ariovistus, who led the movement in alsace, and that of 55 b.c. in which he expelled the usipetes and tencteri who had crossed the lower rhine. during the period of caesar's government he succeeded in annexing the whole of gaul as far as the rhine. (for the campaigns see caesar, julius.) the campaign of other roman leaders. after peace had been established in italy by augustus, attempts were made to extend the roman frontier beyond the rhine. the roman prince nero claudius drusus (q.v.) in the year 12 b.c. annexed what is now the kingdom of the netherlands, and constructed a canal (fossa drusiana) between the rhine and the lake flevo (lacus flevus), which partly corresponded to the zuyder zee, though the topography of the district has greatly altered. he also penetrated into regions beyond and crossed the weser, receiving the submission of the bructeri, chatti and cherusci. after drusus' death in 9 b.c., while on his return from an expedition which reached the elbe, the german command was twice undertaken by tiberius, who in a.d. 5 received the submission of all the tribes in this quarter, including the chauci and the langobardi. a roman garrison was left in the conquered districts between the rhine and the elbe, but the reduction was not thoroughly completed. about the same time the roman fleet voyaged along the northern coast apparently as far as the north of jutland, and received the nominal submission of several tribes in that region, including the cimbri and the charudes. in a.d. 9 quintilius varus, the successor of tiberius, was surprised in the _saltus teutobergensis_ between the lippe and the weser by a force raised by arminius, a chief of the cherusci, and his army consisting of three legions was annihilated. germanicus caesar, during his tenure of the command of the roman armies on the rhine, made repeated attempts to recover the roman position in northern germany and exact vengeance for the death of varus, but without real success, and after his recall the rhine formed for the greater part of its course the boundary of the empire. a standing army was kept up on the rhine, divided into two commands, upper and lower germany, the headquarters of the former being at mainz, those of the latter at vetera, near xanten. a number of important towns grew up, among which we may mention trier (augusta trevirorum), cologne (colonia agrippinensis), bonn (bonna), worms (borbetomagus), spires (noviomagus), strassburg (argentoratum) and augsburg (augusta vindelicorum). at a later date, however, probably under the flavian emperors, the frontier of upper germany was advanced somewhat beyond the rhine, and a fortification, the _pfahlgraben_, constructed to protect it. it led from honningen on the rhine, about half-way between bonn and coblenz, to mittenberg above aschaffenburg on the main, thence southwards to lorch in wurttemberg, whence it turned east to the junction of the altmuhl with the danube at kelheim. during the wars of drusus, tiberius and germanicus the romans had ample opportunity of getting to know the tribal geography of germany, especially the western part, and though most of our authorities lived at a somewhat later period, it is probable that they derived their information very largely from records of that time. it will be convenient, therefore, to give an account of the tribal geography of germany in the time of augustus, as our knowledge of the subject is much more complete for his reign than for several centuries later. the german tribes. of the gaulish tribes west of the rhine, the most important was the treveri, inhabiting the basin of the moselle, from whom the city of trier (treves) derives its name. the rauraci probably occupied the south of alsace. to the south of the treveri lay the mediomatrici, and to the west of them lay the important tribe of the sequani, who had called in ariovistus. the treveri claimed to be of german origin, and the same claim was made by a number of tribes in belgium, the most powerful of which were the nervii. the meaning of this claim is not quite clear, as there is some obscurity concerning the origin of the name germani. it appears to be a gaulish term, and there is no evidence that it was ever used by the germans themselves. according to tacitus it was first applied to the tungri, whereas caesar records that four belgic tribes, namely, the condrusi, eburones, caeraesi and paemani, were collectively known as germani. there is no doubt that these tribes were all linguistically celtic, and it is now the prevailing opinion that they were not of german origin ethnologically, but that the ground for their claim was that they had come from over the rhine (cf. caesar, _de bello gallico_ ii. 4). it would therefore seem that the name germani originally denoted certain celtic tribes to the east of the rhine, and that it was then transferred to the teutonic tribes which subsequently occupied the same territory. their movements. there is little doubt that during the last century before the christian era the celtic peoples had been pushed considerably farther west by the teutonic peoples, a process which was still going on in caesar's time, when we hear of the overthrow of the menapii, the last gaulish tribe beyond the rhine. in the south the same process can be observed. the boii were expelled from their territories in bohemia by the marcomanni in the time of augustus, and the helvetii are also recorded to have occupied formerly lands east of the rhine, in what is now baden and wurttemberg. caesar also mentions a gaulish tribe named volcae tectosages as living in germany in his time. the volcae arecomici in the south of france and the tectosages of galatia were in all probability offshoots of this people. the name of the tribe was adopted in the teutonic languages as a generic term for all celtic and italian peoples (o.h.g. _walha_, a.s. _wealas_), from which it is probably to be inferred that they were the celtic people with whom the teutonic races had the closest association in early times. it has been thought that they inhabited the basin of the weser, and a number of place-names in this district are supposed to be of celtic origin. farther to the south and west ptolemy mentions a number of place-names which are certainly celtic, e.g. mediolanion, aregelia, lougidounon, lokoriton, segodounon. there is therefore great probability that a large part of western germany east of the rhine had formerly been occupied by celtic peoples. in the east a gaulish people named cotini are mentioned, apparently in the upper basin of the oder, and tacitus speaks of a tribe in the same neighbourhood, the osi, who he says spoke the pannonian language. it is probable, therefore, that in other directions also the germans had considerably advanced their frontier southwards at a comparatively recent period. tribes in the west and north. coming now to the germans proper, the basin of the rhine between strassburg and mainz was inhabited by the tribocci, nemetes and vangiones, farther down by the mattiaci about wiesbaden, and the ubii in the neighbourhood of cologne; beyond them were the sugambri, and in the rhine delta the batavi and other smaller tribes. all these tribes remained in subjection to the romans. beyond them were the tencteri, probably about the basin of the lahn, and the usipetes about the basin of the ruhr. the basin of the lippe and the upper basin of the ems were inhabited by the bructeri, and in the same neighbourhood were the ampsivarii, who derive their name from the latter river. east of them lay the chasuarii, presumably in the basin of the hase. the upper basin of the weser was inhabited by the chatti, whose capital was mattium, supposed to be maden on the eder. to the north-west of them were situated the marsi, apparently between the diemel and the lippe, while the central part of the basin of the weser was inhabited by the cherusci, who seem to have extended considerably eastward. the lower part of the river-basin was inhabited by the angrivarii. the coastlands north of the mouth of the rhine were occupied by the canninefates, beyond them by the frisii as far as the mouth of the ems, thence onward to the mouth of the elbe by the chauci. as to the affinities of all these various tribes we have little definite information, but it is worth noting that the batavi in holland are said to have been a branch of the chatti, from whom they had separated owing to a _seditio domestica_. the basin of the elbe was inhabited by suebic tribes, the chief of which were the marcomanni, who seem to have been settled on the saale during the latter part of the 1st century b.c., but moved into bohemia before the beginning of the christian era, where they at once became a formidable power under their king maroboduus. the quadi were settled somewhat farther east about the source of the elbe. the hermunduri in the basin of the saale were in alliance with the romans and occupied northern bavaria with their consent. the semnones apparently dwelt below the junction of the saale and elbe. the langobardi (see lombards) possessed the land between the territory of the semnones and the mouth of the river. their name is supposed to be preserved in bardengau, south of hamburg. from later evidence it is likely that another division of the suebi inhabited western holstein. the province of schleswig (perhaps only the west coast) and the islands adjacent were inhabited by the saxons, while the east coast, at least in later times, was occupied by the angli. the coast of mecklenburg was probably inhabited by the varini (the later warni). the eastern part of germany was much less known to the romans, information being particularly deficient as to the populations of the coast districts, though it seems probable that the rugii inhabited the eastern part of pomerania, where a trace of them is preserved in the name rugenwalde. the lower part of the basin of the oder was probably occupied by the burgundiones, and the upper part by a number of tribes collectively known as lugii, who seem to correspond to the vandals of later times, though the early roman writers apparently used the word vandilii in a wider sense, embracing all the tribes of eastern germany. among the lugii we may probably include the silingae, who afterwards appear among the vandals in spain, and whose name is preserved in slavonic form in that of the province silesia. the goths (gotones) apparently inhabited the basin of the vistula about the middle of its course, but the lower part of the basin was inhabited by non-teutonic peoples, among whom we may mention the galindi, probably prussians, and the aestii, either prussian or esthonian, in the coastlands at the mouth of the river, who are known especially in connexion with the amber trade. to the east of the vistula were the slavonic tribes (veneti), and amongst them, perhaps rather to the north, a finnish population (fenni), which disappeared in later times. domestic wars of the germans. in the time of augustus by far the most powerful ruler in germany was maroboduus, king of the marcomanni. his supremacy extended over all the suebic tribes (except perhaps the hermunduri), and most of the peoples of eastern germany, including apparently the lugii and goths. but in the year a.d. 17 he became involved in an unsuccessful campaign against arminius, prince of the cherusci, in which the semnones and langobardi revolted against him, and two years later he was deprived of his throne by a certain catualda. the latter, however, was soon expelled by vibilius, king of the hermunduri, and his power was transferred to vannius, who belonged to the quadi. about the same time arminius met his death while trying to make himself king of the cherusci. in the year 28 the frisians revolted from the romans, and though they submitted again in the year 47, claudius immediately afterwards recalled the roman troops to the left bank of the rhine. in the year 50 vannius, king of the suebi, was driven from the throne by vibilius, king of the hermunduri, and his nephews vangio and sido obtained his kingdom. in the year 58 the chatti suffered a serious disaster in a campaign against the hermunduri. they seem, however, to have recovered very soon, and at the end of the 1st century had apparently extended their power at the expense of the cherusci. during the latter part of the 1st century the chauci seem to have been enlarging their territories: as early as the year 47 we find them raiding the roman lands on the lower rhine, and in 58 they expelled the ampsivarii, who after several vain attempts to acquire new possessions were annihilated by the neighbouring tribes. during the last years of the 1st century the angrivarii are found moving westwards, probably under pressure from the chauci, and the power of the bructeri was almost destroyed by their attack. in 69 the roman territory on the lower rhine was disturbed by the serious revolt of claudius civilis, a prince of the batavi who had served in the roman army. he was joined by the bructeri and other neighbouring tribes, but being defeated by petilius cerealis (afterwards consular legate in britain) at vetera and in other engagements gave up the struggle and arranged a capitulation in a.d. 70. by the end of the 1st century the chauci and chatti seem to have become by far the most powerful tribes in western germany, though the former are seldom mentioned after this time. after the time of tacitus our information regarding german affairs becomes extremely meagre. the next important conflict with the romans was the marcomannic war (166-180), in which all the suebic tribes together with the vandals (apparently the ancient lugii) and the sarmatian iazyges seem to have taken part. peace was made by the emperor commodus in a.d. 180 on payment of large sums of money. the alamanni, the goths and the franks. about the beginning of the 3rd century we find a forward movement in south-west germany among a group of tribes known collectively as alamanni (q.v.) who came in conflict with the emperor caracalla in the year 213. about the same time the goths also made their first appearance in the south-east and soon became the most formidable antagonists of rome. in the year 251 they defeated and slew the emperor decius, and in the reign of gallienus their fleets setting out from the north of the black sea worked great havoc on the coast of the aegean (see goths). it is not to be supposed, however, that they had quitted their own lands on the vistula by this time. in this connexion we hear also of the heruli (q.v.), who some twenty years later, about 289, make their appearance in the western seas. in 286 we hear for the first time of maritime raids by the saxons in the same quarter. about the middle of the 3rd century the name franks (q.v.) makes its first appearance, apparently a new collective term for the tribes of north-west germany from the chatti to the mouth of the rhine. arrival of the huns. in the 4th century the chief powers in western germany were the franks and the alamanni, both of whom were in constant conflict with the romans. the former were pressed in their rear by the saxons, who at some time before the middle of the 4th century appear to have invaded and conquered a considerable part of north-west germany. about the same time great national movements seem to have been taking place farther east. the burgundians made their appearance in the west shortly before the end of the 3rd century, settling in the basin of the main, and it is probable that some portions of the north suebic peoples, perhaps the ancient semnones, had already moved westward. by the middle of the 4th century the goths had become the dominant power in eastern germany, and their king hermanaric held a supremacy which seems to have stretched from the black sea to holstein. at his death, however, the supremacy of eastern germany passed to the huns, an invading people from the east, whose arrival seems to have produced a complete displacement of population in this region. with regard to the course of events in eastern germany we have no knowledge, but during the 5th century several of the peoples previously settled there appear to have made their way into the lands south of the carpathians and riesengebirge, amongst whom (besides the goths) may be especially mentioned the rugii and the gepides, the latter perhaps originally a branch of the goths. according to tradition the vandals had been driven into pannonia by the goths in the time of constantine. we do not know how far northward the hunnish power reached in the time of attila, but the invasion of this nation was soon followed by a great westward movement of the slavs. the burgundians and other tribes. in the west the alamanni and the descendants of the marcomanni, now called baiouarii (bavarians), had broken through the frontiers of the roman provinces of vindelicia and noricum at the beginning of the 5th century, while the vandals together with some of the suebi and the non-teutonic alani from the east crossed the rhine and invaded gaul in 406. about 435-440 the burgundians were overthrown by attila, and their king gunthacarius (gundahar) killed. the remains of the nation shortly afterwards settled in gaul. about the same time the franks overran and occupied the modern belgium, and in the course of the next half-century their dominions were enormously extended towards the south (see franks). after the death of attila in 453 the power of the huns soon collapsed, but the political divisions of germany in the ensuing period are far from clear. the franks and others in the 6th century. in the 6th century the predominant peoples are the franks, frisians, saxons, alamanni, bavarians, langobardi, heruli and warni. by the beginning of this century the saxons seem to have penetrated almost, if not quite, to the rhine in the netherlands. farther south, however, the old land of the chatti was included in the kingdom of clovis. northern bavaria was occupied by the franks, whose king clovis subdued the alamanni in 495. to the east of the franks between the harz, the elbe and the saale lay the kingdom of the thuringi, the origin of whom is not clear. the heruli also had a powerful kingdom, probably in the basin of the elbe, and to the east of them were the langobardi. the warni apparently now dwelt in the regions about the mouth of the elbe, while the whole coast from the mouth of the weser to the west scheldt was in the hands of the frisians. by this time all the country east of the lower elbe seems to have been slavonic. in the north, perhaps in the province of schleswig, we hear now for the first time of the danes. theodoric, king of the ostrogoths, endeavoured to form a confederacy with the thuringi, heruli and warni against clovis in order to protect the visigoths in the early years of the 6th century, but very shortly afterwards the king of the heruli was slain by the langobardi and their existence as an independent power came to an end. in 531 the thuringian kingdom was destroyed by the frankish king theodoric, son of clovis, with whom the saxons were in alliance. the saxons and the franks. during the 6th and 7th centuries the saxons were intermittently under frankish supremacy, but their conquest was not complete until the time of charlemagne. shortly after the middle of the 6th century the franks were threatened with a new invasion by the avars. in 567-568 the langobardi, who by this time had moved into the danube basin, invaded italy and were followed by those of the saxons who had settled in thuringia. their lands were given by the frankish king sigeberht to the north suebi and other tribes who had come either from the elbe basin or possibly from the netherlands. about the same time sigeberht was defeated by the avars, and though the latter soon withdrew from the frankish frontiers, their course was followed by a movement of the slavs, who occupied the basin of the elster and penetrated to that of the main. by the end of the 6th century the whole basin of the elbe except the saxon territory near the mouth had probably become slavonic. to the east of the saale were the sorbs (sorabi), and beyond them the daleminci and siusli. to the east of the saxons were the polabs (polabi) in the basin of the elbe, and beyond them the hevelli about the havel. farther north in mecklenburg were the warnabi, and in eastern holstein the obotriti and the wagri. to the east of the warnabi were the liutici as far as the oder, and beyond that river the pomerani. to the south of the oder were the milcieni and the lusici, and farther east the poloni with their centre in the basin of the vistula. the lower part of the vistula basin, however, was in possession of prussian tribes, the prussi and lithuani. the warni now disappear from history, and from this time the teutonic peoples of the north as far as the danish boundary about the eider are called saxons. the conquest of the frisians by the franks was begun by pippin (pepin) of heristal in 689 and practically completed by charles martel, though they were not entirely brought into subjection until the time of charlemagne. the great overthrow of the saxons took place about 772-773 and by the end of the century charlemagne had extended his conquests to the border of the danes. by this time the whole of the teutonic part of germany had been finally brought under his government. authorities.--caesar, _de bello gallico_, especially i. 31 ff., iv. 1-19, vi. 21 ff.; velleius paterculus, especially ii. 105 ff.; strabo, especially pp. 193 ff., 290 ff.; pliny, _natural history_, iv. ss 99 ff., 106; tacitus, annales, i. 38 ff., ii. 5 ff., 44 ff., 62 f., 88; _germania_, passim; _histories_, iv.; ptolemy ii. 9, ss 2 ff., 11, iii. 5, ss 19 ff.; dio cassius, passim; julius capitolinus; claudius mamertinus; ammianus marcellinus, passim; zosimus; jordanes, _de origine getarum_; procopius, _de bello gothico_; k. zeuss, _die deutschen und die nachbarstamme_; o. bremer in paul's _grundriss d. germ. philologie_ (2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 735 ff. (f. g. m. b.) medieval and modern history divisions of germany. when clovis, or chlodovech, became king of a tribe of the salian franks in 481, five years after the fall of the western empire, the region afterwards called germany was divided into five main districts, and its history for the succeeding three centuries is mainly the history of the tribes inhabiting these districts. in the north-east, dwelling between the rhine and the elbe, were the saxons (q.v.), to the east and south of whom stretched the extensive kingdom of thuringia (q.v.). in the south-west the alamanni occupied the territory afterwards called swabia (q.v.), and extended along the middle rhine until they met the ripuarian franks, then living in the northern part of the district which at a later period was called after them, franconia (q.v.); and in the south-east were the bavarians, although it was some time before their country came to be known as bavaria (q.v.). the wars of clovis. clovis was descended from chlogio, or clodion, who had ruled over a branch of the salian franks from 427 to 447, and whose successors, following his example, had secured an influential position for their tribe. having obtained possession of that part of gaul which lay between the seine and the loire, clovis turned his attention to his eastern neighbours, and was soon engaged in a struggle with the alamanni which probably arose out of a quarrel between them and the ripuarian franks for the possession of the middle rhine. when in 496, or soon afterwards, the alamanni were defeated, they were confined to what was afterwards known as swabia, and the northern part of their territory was incorporated with the kingdom of the franks. clovis had united the salian franks under his rule, and he persuaded, or compelled, the ripuarian franks also to accept him as their king; but on his death in 511 his kingdom was divided, and the ripuarian, or rhenish, franks as they are sometimes called, together with some of the alamanni, came under the rule of his eldest son theuderich or theodoric i. this was the first of the many partitions which effectually divided the kingdom of the franks into an eastern and a western portion, that is to say, into divisions which eventually became germany and france respectively, and the district ruled by theuderich was almost identical with that which afterwards bore the name of austrasia. in 531 theuderich killed hermannfried, king of the thuringians, a former ally, with whom he had quarrelled, conquered his kingdom, and added its southern portion to his own possessions. his son and successor, theudebert i., exercised a certain supremacy over the alamanni and the bavarians, and even claimed authority over various saxon tribes between whom and the franks there had been some fighting. after his death in 548, however, the frankish power in germany sank to very minute proportions, a result due partly to the spirit of tribal independence which lingered among the german races, but principally to the paralysing effect of the unceasing rivalry between austrasia and neustria. from 548 the alamanni were ruled by a succession of dukes who soon made themselves independent; and in 555 a duke of the bavarians, who exercised his authority without regard for the frankish supremacy, is first mentioned. in thuringia, which now only consisted of the central part of the former kingdom, king dagobert i. set up in 634 a duke named radulf who soon asserted his independence of dagobert and of his successor, sigebert iii. the saxons for their part did not own even a nominal allegiance to the frankish kings, whose authority on the right bank of the rhine was confined to the district actually occupied by men of their own name, which at a later date became the duchy of franconia. during these years the eastern border of germany was constantly ravaged by various slavonic tribes. king dagobert sent troops to repel these marauders from time to time, but the main burden of defence fell upon the saxons, bavarians and thuringians. the virtual independence of these german tribes lasted until the union of austrasia and neustria in 687, an achievement mainly due to the efforts of pippin of heristal, who soon became the actual, though not the nominal, ruler of the frankish realm. pippin and his son charles martel, who was mayor of the palace from 717 to 741, renewed the struggle with the germans and were soon successful in re-establishing the central power which the merovingian kings had allowed to slip from their grasp. the ducal office was abolished in thuringia, a series of wars reduced the alamanni to strict dependence, and both countries were governed by frankish officials. bavaria was brought into subjection about the same time; the bavarian law, committed to writing between 739 and 748, strongly emphasizes the supremacy of the frankish king, whose authority it recognizes as including the right to appoint and even to depose the duke of bavaria. the saxons, on the other hand, succeeded in retaining their independence as a race, although their country was ravaged in various campaigns and some tribes were compelled from time to time to pay tribute. the rule of pippin the short, both before and after his coronation as king, was troubled by constant risings on the part of his east frankish or german subjects, but aided by his brother carloman, who for a time administered this part of the frankish kingdom, pippin was generally able to deal with the rebels. the saxons remain independent. after all, however, even these powerful frankish conquerors had but imperfect success in germany. when they were present with their formidable armies, they could command obedience; when engaged, as they often were, in distant parts of the vast frankish territory, they could not trust to the fulfilment of the fair promises they had exacted. one of the chief causes of their ill-success was the continued independence of the saxons. ever since they had acquired the northern half of thuringia, this warlike race had been extending its power. they were still heathens, cherishing bitter hatred towards the franks, whom they regarded as the enemies both of their liberties and of their religion; and their hatred found expression, not only in expeditions into frankish territory, but in help willingly rendered to every german confederation which wished to throw off the frankish yoke. hardly any rebellion against the dukes of the franks, or against king pippin, took place in germany without the saxons coming forward to aid the rebels. this was perfectly understood by the frankish rulers, who tried again and again to put an end to the evil by subduing the saxons. they could not, however, attain their object. an occasional victory was gained, and some border tribes were from time to time compelled to pay tribute; but the mass of the saxons remained unconquered. this was partly due to the fact that the saxons had not, like the other german confederations, a duke who, when beaten, could be held responsible for the engagements forced upon him as the representative of his subjects. a saxon chief who made peace with the franks could undertake nothing for the whole people. as a conquering race, they were firmly compact; conquered, they were in the hands of the victor a rope of sand. christianity in germany. it was during the time of pippin of heristal and his son and grandson that the conversion of the germans to christianity was mainly effected. some traces of roman christianity still lingered in the rhine valley and in southern germany, but the bulk of the people were heathen, in spite of the efforts of frank and irish missionaries and the command of king dagobert i. that all his subjects should be baptized. rupert, bishop of worms, had already made some progress in the work of converting the bavarians and alamanni, as had willibrord among the thuringians when st boniface appeared in germany in 717. appointed bishop of the germans by pope gregory ii., and supported by charles martel, he preached with much success in bavaria and thuringia, notwithstanding some hostility from the clergy who disliked the influence of rome. he founded or restored bishoprics in bavaria, thuringia and elsewhere, and in 742 presided over the first german council. when he was martyred in 755 christianity was professed by all the german races except the saxons, and the church, organized and wealthy, had been to a large extent brought under the control of the papacy. the old pagan faith was not yet entirely destroyed, and traces of its influence may still be detected in popular beliefs and customs. but still christianity was dominant, and soon became an important factor in the process of civilization, while the close alliance of the german church with the papacy was followed by results of the utmost consequence for germany. the work of charlemagne. the reign of charlemagne is a period of great importance in the history of germany. under his rule the first signs of national unity and a serious advance in the progress of order and civilization may be seen. the long struggle, which ended in 804 with the submission of the saxons to the emperor, together with the extension of a real frankish authority over the bavarians, brought the german races for the first time under a single ruler; while war and government, law and religion, alike tended to weld them into one people. the armies of charlemagne contained warriors from all parts of germany; and although tribal law was respected and codified, legislation common to the whole empire was also introduced. the general establishment of the frankish system of government and the presence of frankish officials helped to break down the barriers of race, and the influence of christianity was in the same direction. with the conversion of the saxons the whole german race became nominally christian; and their ruler was lavish in granting lands and privileges to prelates, and untiring in founding bishoprics, monasteries and schools. measures were also taken for the security and good government of the country. campaigns against the slavonic tribes, if sometimes failing in their immediate object, taught those peoples to respect the power of the frankish monarch; and the establishment of a series of marches along the eastern frontier gave a sense of safety to the neighbouring districts. the tribal dukes had all disappeared, and their duchies were split up into districts ruled by counts (q.v.), whose tendencies to independence the emperor tried to check by the visits of the _missi dominici_ (q.v.). some of the results of the government of charlemagne were, however, less beneficial. his coronation as roman emperor in 800, although it did not produce at the time so powerful an impression in germany as in france, was fraught with consequences not always favourable for the former country. the tendencies of the tribe to independence were crushed as their ancient popular assemblies were discouraged; and the liberty of the freemen was curtailed owing to the exigencies of military service, while the power of the church was rarely directed to the highest ends. louis i. and his sons. the reign of the emperor louis i. was marked by a number of abortive schemes for the partition of his dominions among his sons, which provoked a state of strife that was largely responsible for the increasing weakness of the empire. the mild nature of his rule, however, made louis popular with his german subjects, to whose support mainly he owed his restoration to power on two occasions. when in 825 his son louis, afterwards called "the german," was entrusted with the government of bavaria and from this centre gradually extended his authority over the carolingian dominions east of the rhine, a step was taken in the process by which east francia, or germany, was becoming a unit distinguishable from other portions of the empire; a process which was carried further by the treaty of verdun in august 843, when, after a struggle between louis the german and his brothers for their father's inheritance, an arrangement was made by which louis obtained the bulk of the lands east of the rhine together with the districts around mainz, worms and spires on the left bank. although not yet a single people, the german tribes had now for the first time a ruler whose authority was confined to their own lands, and from this time the beginnings of national life may be traced. for fifty years the main efforts of louis were directed to defending his kingdom from the inroads of his slavonic neighbours, and his detachment from the rest of the empire necessitated by these constant engagements towards the east, gradually gave both him and his subjects a distinctive character, which was displayed and emphasized when, in ratifying an alliance with his half-brother, the west-frankish king, charles the bald, the oath was sworn in different tongues. the east and west franks were unable to understand each other's speech, so charles took the oath in a romance, and louis in a german dialect. louis the german and his successors. important as is the treaty of verdun in german history, that of mersen, by which louis and charles the bald settled in 870 their dispute over the kingdom of lothair, second son of the emperor lothair i., is still more important. the additional territory which louis then obtained gave to his dominions almost the proportions which germany maintained throughout the middle ages. they were bounded on the east by the elbe and the bohemian mountains, and on the west beyond the rhine they included the districts known afterwards as alsace and lorraine. his jurisdiction embraced the territories occupied by the five ancient german tribes, and included the five archbishoprics of mainz, treves (trier), cologne, salzburg and bremen. when louis died in 876 his kingdom was divided among his three sons, but as the two elder of these soon died without heirs, germany was again united in 882 under his remaining son charles, called "the fat," who soon became ruler of almost the whole of the extensive domains of charlemagne. there was, however, no cohesion in the restored empire, the disintegration of which, moreover, was hastened by the ravages of the northmen, who plundered the cities in the valley of the rhine. charles attempted to buy off these redoubtable invaders, a policy which aroused the anger of his german subjects, whose resentment was accentuated by the king's indifference to their condition, and found expression in 887 when arnulf, an illegitimate son of carloman, the eldest son of louis the german, led an army of bavarians against him. arnulf himself was recognized as german or east-frankish king, although his actual authority was confined to bavaria and its neighbourhood. he was successful in freeing his kingdom for a time from the ravages of the northmen, but was not equally fortunate in his contests with the moravians. after his death in 899 his kingdom came under the nominal rule of his young son louis "the child," and in the absence of firm rule and a central authority became the prey of the magyars and other hordes of invaders. feudalism in germany. during these wars feudalism made rapid advance in germany. the different peoples compelled to attend to their own defence appointed dukes for special military services (see duke); and these dukes, chosen often from members of the old ducal families, succeeded without much difficulty in securing a more permanent position for themselves and their descendants. in saxony, for example, we hear of duke otto the illustrious, who also ruled over thuringia; and during the early years of the 10th century dukes appear in franconia, bavaria, swabia and lorraine. these dukes acquired large tracts of land of which they gave grants on conditions of military service to persons on whom they could rely; while many independent landowners sought their protection on terms of vassalage. the same process took place in the case of great numbers of freemen of a lower class, who put themselves at the service of their more powerful neighbours in return for protection. in this manner the feudal tenure of land began to prevail in almost all parts of germany, and the elaborate social system which became known as feudalism was gradually built up. the dukes became virtually independent, and when louis the child died in 911, the royal authority existed in name only. conrad i. while louis the child lived the german dukes were virtually kings in their duchies, and their natural tendency was to make themselves absolute rulers. but, threatened as they were by the magyars, with the slavs and northmen always ready to take advantage of their weakness, they could not afford to do without a central government. accordingly the nobles assembled at forchheim, and by the advice of otto the illustrious, duke of saxony, conrad of franconia was chosen german king. the dukes of bavaria, swabia and lorraine were displeased at this election, probably because conrad was likely to prove considerably more powerful than they wished. rather than acknowledge him, the duke of lotharingia, or lorraine, transferred his allegiance to charles the simple of france; and it was in vain that conrad protested and despatched armies into lorraine. with the help of the french king the duke maintained his ground, and for the time his country was lost to germany. bavaria and swabia yielded, but, mainly through the fault of the king himself, their submission was of brief duration. the rise of the dukes had been watched with extreme jealousy by the leading prelates. they saw that the independence they had hitherto enjoyed would be much more imperilled by powerful local governors than by a sovereign who necessarily regarded it as part of his duty to protect the church. hence they had done everything they could to prevent the dukes from extending their authority, and as the government was carried on during the reign of louis the child mainly by hatto i., archbishop of mainz, they had been able to throw considerable obstacles in the way of their rivals. they had now induced conrad to quarrel with both swabia and bavaria, and also with henry, duke of saxony, son of the duke to whom he chiefly owed his crown. in these contests the german king met with indifferent success, but the struggle with saxony was not very serious, and when dying in december 919 conrad recommended the franconian nobles to offer the crown to henry, the only man who could cope with the anarchy by which he had himself been baffled. henry the fowler. the nobles of franconia acted upon the advice of their king, and the saxons were very willing that their duke should rise to still higher honours. henry i., called "the fowler," who was chosen german king in may 919, was one of the best of german kings, and was a born statesman and warrior. his ambition was of the noblest order, for he sank his personal interests in the cause of his country, and he knew exactly when to attain his objects by force, and when by concession and moderation. almost immediately he overcame the opposition of the dukes of swabia and bavaria; some time later, taking advantage of the troubled state of france, he accepted the homage of the duke of lorraine, which for many centuries afterwards remained a part of the german kingdom. henry and the magyars. having established internal order, henry was able to turn to matters of more pressing moment. in the first year of his reign the magyars, who had continued to scourge germany during the reign of conrad, broke into saxony and plundered the land almost without hindrance. in 924 they returned, and this time by good fortune one of their greatest princes fell into the hands of the germans. henry restored him to his countrymen on condition that they made a truce for nine years; and he promised to pay yearly tribute during this period. the barbarians accepted his terms, and faithfully kept their word in regard to henry's own lands, although bavaria, swabia and franconia they occasionally invaded as before. the king made admirable use of the opportunity he had secured, confining his efforts, however, to saxony and thuringia, the only parts of germany over which he had any control. henry's work in saxony. in the southern and western german lands towns and fortified places had long existed; but in the north, where roman influence had only been feeble, and where even the franks had not exercised much authority until the time of charlemagne, the people still lived as in ancient times, either on solitary farms or in exposed villages. henry saw that, while this state of things lasted, the population could never be safe, and began the construction of fortresses and walled towns. of every group of nine men one was compelled to devote himself to this work, while the remaining eight cultivated his fields and allowed a third of their produce to be stored against times of trouble. the necessities of military discipline were also a subject of attention. hitherto the germans had fought mainly on foot, and, as the magyars came on horseback, the nation was placed at an immense disadvantage. a powerful force of cavalry was now raised, while at the same time the infantry were drilled in new and more effective modes of fighting. although these preparations were carried on directly under henry's supervision, only in saxony and thuringia the neighbouring dukes were stimulated to follow his example. when he was ready he used his new troops, before turning them against their chief enemy, the magyars, to punish refractory slavonic tribes; and he brought under temporary subjection nearly all the slavs between the elbe and the oder. he proceeded also against the bohemians, whose duke was compelled to do homage. the magyars return. the truce with the magyars was not renewed, whereupon in 933 a body of invaders crossed, as in former years, the frontier of thuringia. henry prudently waited until dearth of provisions forced the enemy to divide into two bands. he then swept down upon the weaker force, annihilated it, and rapidly advanced against the remaining portion of the army. the second battle was more severe than the first, but not less decisive. the magyars, unable to cope with a disciplined army, were cut down in great numbers, and those who survived rode in terror from the field. the exact scenes of these conflicts are not known, although the date of the second encounter was the 15th of march 933; but few more important battles have ever been fought. the power of the magyars was not indeed destroyed, but it was crippled, and the way was prepared for the effective liberation of germany from an intolerable plague. while the magyars had been troubling germany on the east and south, the danes had been irritating her on the north. charlemagne had established a march between the eider and the schlei; but in course of time the danes had not only seized this territory, but had driven the german population beyond the elbe. the saxons had been slowly reconquering the lost ground, and now henry, advancing with his victorious army into jutland, forced gorm, the danish king, to become his vassal and regained the land between the eider and the schlei. but henry's work concerned the duchy of saxony rather than the kingdom of germany. he concentrated all his energies on the government and defence of northern and eastern germany, leaving the southern and western districts to profit by his example, while his policy of refraining from interference in the affairs of the other duchies tended to diminish the ill-feeling which existed between the various german tribes and to bring peace to the country as a whole. it is in these directions that the reign of henry the fowler marks a stage in the history of germany. the growth of towns. when this great king died in july 936 every land inhabited by a german population formed part of the german kingdom, and none of the duchies were at war either with him or among themselves. along the northern and eastern frontier were tributary races, and the country was for the time rid of an enemy which, for nearly a generation, had kept it in perpetual fear. great as were these results, perhaps henry did even greater service in beginning the growth of towns throughout north germany. not content with merely making them places of defence, he decreed that they should be centres for the administration of justice, and that in them should be held all public festivities and ceremonies; he also instituted markets, and encouraged traders to take advantage of the opportunities provided for them. a strong check was thus imposed upon the tendency of freemen to become the vassals of great lords. this movement had become so powerful by the troubles of the epoch that, had no other current of influence set in, the entire class of freemen must soon have disappeared. as they now knew that they could find protection without looking to a superior, they had less temptation to give up their independence, and many of them settled in the towns where they could be safe and free. besides maintaining a manly spirit in the population, the towns rapidly added to their importance by the stimulus they gave to all kinds of industry and trade. otto the great. before his death henry obtained the promise of the nobles at a national assembly, or diet, at erfurt to recognize his son otto as his successor, and the promise was kept, otto being chosen german king in july 936. otto i. the great began his reign under the most favourable circumstances. he was twenty-four years of age, and at the coronation festival, which was held at aix-la-chapelle, the dukes performed for the first time the nominally menial offices known as the arch-offices of the german kingdom. but these peaceful relations soon came to an end. reversing his father's policy, otto resolved that the dukes should act in the strictest sense as his vassals, or lose their dignities. at the time of his coronation germany was virtually a federal state; he wished to transform it into a firm and compact monarchy. this policy speedily led to a formidable rebellion, headed by thankmar, the king's half-brother, a fierce warrior, who fancied that he had a prior claim to the crown, and who secured a number of followers in saxony. he was joined by eberhard, duke of franconia, and it was only by the aid of the duke of swabia, whom the duke of franconia had offended, that the rising was put down. this happened in 938, and in 939 a second rebellion, led by otto's brother henry, was supported by the duke of franconia and by giselbert, duke of lorraine. otto again triumphed, and derived immense advantages from his success. the duchy of franconia he kept in his own hands, and in 944 he granted lorraine to conrad the red, an energetic and honourable count, whom he still further attached to himself by giving him his daughter for his wife. bavaria, on the death of its duke in 947, was placed under his brother henry, who, having been pardoned, had become a loyal subject. the duchy of swabia was also brought into otto's family by the marriage of his son ludolf with duke hermann's daughter, and by these means otto made himself master of the kingdom. for the time, feudalism in truth meant that lands and offices were held on condition of service; the king was the genuine ruler, not only of freemen, but of the highest vassals in the nation. otto's wars with france and with the slavs. in the midst of these internal troubles otto was attacked by the french king, louis iv., who sought to regain lorraine. however, the german king was soon able to turn his arms against his new enemy; he marched into france and made peace with louis in 942. otto's subsequent interventions in the affairs of france were mainly directed towards making peace between louis and his powerful and rebellious vassal, hugh the great, duke of the franks, both of whom were married to sisters of the german king. much more important than otto's doings in france were his wars with his northern and eastern neighbours. the duke of bohemia, after a long struggle, was brought to submission in 950. among the slavs between the elbe and the oder the king was represented by margrave gero, a warrior well fitted for the rough work he had to do, loyal to his sovereign, but capable of any treachery towards his enemies, who conquered much of the country north of bohemia between the oder and the upper and middle elbe. margrave billung, who looked after the abotrites on the lower elbe, was less fortunate, mainly because of the neighbourhood of the danes, who, after the death of king henry, often attacked the hated germans, but some progress was made in bringing this district under german influence. otto, having profound faith in the power of the church to reconcile conquered peoples to his rule, provided for the benefit of the danes the bishoprics of schleswig, ripen and aarhus; and among those which he established for the slavs were the important bishoprics of brandenburg and havelberg. in his later years he set up the archbishopric of magdeburg, which took in the sees of meissen, zeitz and merseburg. otto in italy. having secured peace in germany and begun the real conquest of the border races, otto was by far the greatest sovereign in europe; and, had he refused to go beyond the limits within which he had hitherto acted, it is probable that he would have established a united monarchy. but a decision to which he soon came deprived posterity of the results which might have sprung from the policy of his earlier years. about 951 adelaide, widow of lothair, son of hugh, king of italy, having refused to marry the son of berengar, margrave of ivrea, was cast into prison and cruelly treated. she appealed to otto; other reasons called him in the same direction, and in 951 he crossed the alps and descended into lombardy. he displaced berengar, and was so fascinated by queen adelaide that within a few weeks he was married to her at pavia. but otto's son, ludolf, who had received a promise of the german crown, saw his rights threatened by this marriage. he went to an old enemy of his father, frederick, archbishop of mainz, and the two plotted together against the king, who, hearing of their proceedings, returned to germany in 952, leaving duke conrad of lorraine as his representative in italy. otto, who did not suspect how deep were the designs of the conspirators, paid a visit to mainz, where he was seized and was compelled to take certain solemn pledges which, after his escape, he repudiated. the civil war. defeat of magyars. war broke out in 953, and the struggle was the most serious in which he had been engaged. in lorraine, of which duchy otto made his brother bruno, archbishop of cologne, administrator, his cause was triumphant; but everywhere else dark clouds gathered over his head. conrad the red hurried from italy and joined the rebels; in swabia, in bavaria, in franconia and even in saxony, the native land of the king, many sided with them. it is extremely remarkable that this movement acquired so quickly such force and volume. the explanation, according to some historians, is that the people looked forward with alarm to the union of germany with italy. there were still traditions of the hardships inflicted upon the common folk by the expeditions of charlemagne, and it is supposed that they anticipated similar evils in the event of his empire being restored. whether or not this be the true explanation, the power of otto was shaken to its foundations. at last he was saved by the presence of an immense external peril. the magyars were as usual stimulated to action by the disunion of their enemies; and conrad and ludolf made the blunder of inviting their help, a proceeding which disgusted the germans, many of whom fell away from their side and rallied to the head and protector of the nation. in a very short time conrad and the archbishop of mainz submitted, and although ludolf held out a little longer he soon asked for pardon. lorraine was given to bruno; but conrad, its former duke, although thus punished, was not disgraced, for otto needed his services in the war with the magyars. the great battle against these foes was fought on the 10th of august 955 on the lechfeld near augsburg. after a fierce and obstinate fight, in which conrad and many other nobles fell, the germans were victorious; the magyars were even more thoroughly scourged than in the battles in which otto's father had given them their first real check. the deliverance of germany was complete, and from this time, notwithstanding certain wild raids towards the east, the magyars began to settle in the land they still occupy, and to adapt themselves to the conditions of civilized life. otto crowned emperor. entreated by pope john xii., who needed a helper against berengar, otto went a second time to italy, in 961; and on this occasion he received from the pope at rome the imperial crown. in 966 he was again in italy, where he remained six years, exercising to the full his imperial rights in regard to the papacy, but occupied mainly in an attempt to make himself master of the southern, as well as of the northern half of the peninsula. connexion of germany with the empire. by far the most important act of otto's eventful life was his assumption of the lombard and the imperial crowns. his successors steadily followed his example, and the sovereign crowned at aix-la-chapelle claimed as his right coronation by the pope in rome. thus grew up the holy roman empire, that strange state which, directly descending through the empire of charlemagne from the empire of the caesars, contained so many elements foreign to ancient life. we are here concerned with it only as it affected germany. germany itself never until our own day became an empire. it is true that at last the holy roman empire was in reality confined to germany; but in theory it was something quite different. like france, germany was a kingdom, but it differed from france in this, that its king was also king in italy and roman emperor. as the latter title made him nominally the secular lord of the world, it might have been expected to excite the pride of his german subjects; and doubtless, after a time, they did learn to think highly of themselves as the imperial race. but the evidence tends to show that at first at least they had no wish for this honour, and would have preferred their ruler to devote himself entirely to his own people. there are signs that during otto's reign they began to have a distinct consciousness of national life, their use of the word "deutsch" to indicate the whole people being one of these symptoms. their common sufferings, struggles and triumphs, however, account far more readily for this feeling than the supposition that they were elated by their king undertaking obligations which took him for years together away from his native land. so solemn were the associations of the imperial title that, after acquiring it, otto probably looked for more intimate obedience from his subjects. they were willing enough to admit the abstract claims of the empire; but in the world of feudalism there was a multitude of established customs and rights which rudely conflicted with these claims, and in action, remote and abstract considerations gave way before concrete and present realities. instead of strengthening the allegiance of the germans towards their sovereign, the imperial title was the means of steadily undermining it. to the connexion of their kingdom with the empire they owe the fact that for centuries they were the most divided of european nations, and that they have only recently begun to create a genuinely united state. france was made up of a number of loosely connected lands, each with its own lord, when germany, under otto, was to a large extent moved by a single will, well organized and strong. but the attention of the french kings was concentrated on their immediate interests, and in course of time they brought their unruly vassals to order. the german kings, as emperors, had duties which often took them away for long periods from germany. this alone would have shaken their authority, for, during their absence, the great vassals seized rights which were afterwards difficult to recover. but the emperors were not merely absent, they had to engage in struggles in which they exhausted the energies necessary to enforce obedience at home; and, in order to obtain help, they were sometimes glad to concede advantages to which, under other conditions, they would have tenaciously clung. moreover, the greatest of all their struggles was with the papacy; so that a power outside their kingdom, but exercising immense influence within it, was in the end always prepared to weaken them by exciting dissension among their people. thus the imperial crown was the most fatal gift that could have been offered to the german kings; apparently giving them all things, it deprived them of nearly everything. and in doing this it inflicted on many generations incalculable and needless suffering. otto and the duchies. by the policy of his later years otto did much to prepare the way for the process of disintegration which he rendered inevitable by restoring the empire. with the kingdom divided into five great duchies, the sovereign could always have maintained at least so much unity as henry the fowler secured; and, as the experience of otto himself showed, there would have been chances of much greater centralization. yet he threw away this advantage. lorraine was divided into two duchies, upper lorraine and lower lorraine. in each duchy of the kingdom he appointed a count palatine, whose duty was to maintain the royal rights; and after margrave gero died in 965 his territory was divided into three marches, and placed under margraves, each with the same powers as gero. otto gave up the practice of retaining the duchies either in his own hands or in those of relatives. even saxony, his native duchy and the chief source of his strength, was given to margrave billung, whose family kept it for many years. to combat the power of the princes, otto, especially after he became emperor and looked upon himself as the protector of the church, immensely increased the importance of the prelates. they received great gifts of land, were endowed with jurisdiction in criminal as well as civil cases, and obtained several other valuable sovereign rights. the emperor's idea was that, as church lands and offices could not be hereditary, their holders would necessarily favour the crown. but he forgot that the church had a head outside germany, and that the passion for the rights of an order may be not less intense than that for the rights of a family. while the empire was at peace with the popes the prelates did strongly uphold it, and their influence was unquestionably, on the whole, higher than that of rude secular nobles. but with the empire and the papacy in conflict, they could not but abide, as a rule, by the authority which had the most sacred claims to their loyalty. from all these circumstances it curiously happened that the sovereign who did more than almost any other to raise the royal power, was also the sovereign who, more than any other, wrought its decay. otto ii. otto ii. had been crowned german king at aix-la-chapelle and emperor at rome during his father's lifetime. becoming sole ruler in may 973, his troubles began in lorraine, but were more serious in bavaria, which was now a very important duchy. its duke, henry, the brother of otto i., had died in 955 and had been succeeded by a young son, henry, whose turbulent career subsequently induced the bavarian historian aventinus to describe him as _rixosus_, or the quarrelsome. in 973 burchard ii., duke of swabia, died, and the new emperor refused to give this duchy to henry, further irritating this duke by bestowing it upon his enemy, otto, a grandson of the emperor otto i. having collected allies henry rebelled, and in 976 the emperor himself marched against him and drove him into bohemia. bavaria was taken from him and given to otto of swabia, but it was deprived of some of its importance. the southern part, carinthia, which had hitherto been a march district, was separated from it and made into a duchy, and the church in bavaria was made dependent upon the king and not upon the duke. having arrived at this settlement otto marched against the bohemians, but while he was away from germany war was begun against him by henry, the new duke of carinthia, who, forgetting the benefits he had just received, rose to avenge the wrongs of his friend, the deposed duke henry of bavaria. the emperor made peace with the bohemians and quickly put down the rising. henry of bavaria was handed over to the keeping of the bishop of utrecht and carinthia received another duke. otto and france. in his anxiety to obtain possession of southern italy, otto i. had secured as a wife for his son and successor theophano, daughter of the east roman emperor, romanus ii., the ruler of much of southern italy. otto ii., having all his father's ambition with much of his strength and haughtiness, longed to get away from germany and to claim these remoter districts. but he was detained for some time owing to the sudden invasion of lower lorraine by lothair, king of france, in 978. so stealthily did the invader advance that the emperor had only just time to escape from aix-la-chapelle before the town was seized and plundered. as quickly as possible otto placed himself at the head of a great army and marched to paris, but he was compelled to retreat without taking the city, and in 980 peace was made. otto in italy. at last, after an expedition against the poles, otto was able to fulfil the wish of his heart; he went to italy in 980 and never returned to germany. his claims to southern italy were vehemently opposed, and in july 982 he suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the east roman emperor's subjects and their saracen allies. the news of this crushing blow cast a gloom over germany, which was again suffering from the attacks of her unruly neighbours. the saxons were able to cope with the danes and the german boundary was pushed forward in the south-east; but the slavs fought with such courage and success that during the reigns of the emperors otto ii. and otto iii. much of the work effected by the margraves hermann billung and gero was undone, and nearly two centuries passed before they were driven back to the position which they had perforce occupied under otto the great. such were the first-fruits of the assumption of the imperial crown. otto iii. about six months before his death in rome, in december 983, otto held a diet at verona which was attended by many of the german princes, who recognized his infant son otto as his successor. otto was then taken to germany, and after his father's death he was crowned at aix-la-chapelle on christmas day 983. henry of bavaria was released from his confinement and became his guardian; but as this restless prince showed an inclination to secure the crown for himself, the young king was taken from him and placed in the care of his mother theophano. henry, however, gained a good deal of support both within and without germany and caused much anxiety to otto's friends, but in 985 peace was made and he was restored to bavaria. while theophano acted as regent, the chief functions of government were discharged by willigis, archbishop of mainz (d. 1011), a vigorous prelate who had risen from a humble rank to the highest position in the german church. he was aided by the princes, each of whom claimed a voice in the administration, and, during the lifetime of theophano at least, a stubborn and sometimes a successful resistance was offered to the attacks of the slavs. but under the prevalent conditions a vigorous rule was impossible, and during otto's minority the royal authority was greatly weakened. in saxony the people were quickly forgetting their hereditary connexion with the successors of henry the fowler; in bavaria, after the death of duke henry in 995, the nobles, heedless of the royal power, returned to the ancient german custom and chose henry's son henry as their ruler. the character of otto. in 995 otto iii. was declared to have reached his majority. he had been so carefully trained in all the learning of the time that he was called the "wonder of the world," and a certain fascination still belongs to his imaginative and fantastic nature. imbued by his mother with the extravagant ideas of the east roman emperors he introduced into his court an amount of splendour and ceremonial hitherto unknown in western europe. the heir of the western emperors and the grandson of an eastern emperor, he spent most of his time in rome, and fancied he could unite the world under his rule. in this vague design he was encouraged by gerbert, the greatest scholar of the day, whom, as silvester ii., he raised to the papal throne. meanwhile germany was suffering severely from internal disorders and from the inroads of her rude neighbours; and when in the year 1000 otto visited his northern kingdom there were hopes that he would smite these enemies with the vigour of his predecessors. but these hopes were disappointed; on the contrary, otto seems to have released boleslaus, duke of the poles, from his vague allegiance to the german kings, and he founded an archbishopric at gnesen, thus freeing the polish sees from the authority of the archbishop of magdeburg. henry ii. when otto iii. died in january 1002 there remained no representative of the elder branch of the imperial family, and several candidates came forward for the vacant throne. among these candidates was henry of bavaria, son of duke henry the quarrelsome and a great-grandson of henry the fowler, and at mainz in june 1002 this prince was chosen german king as henry ii. having been recognized as king by the saxons, the thuringians and the nobles of lorraine, the new king was able to turn his attention to the affairs of government, but on the whole his reign was an unfortunate one for germany. for ten years civil war raged in lorraine; in saxony much blood was shed in petty quarrels; and henry made expeditions against his turbulent vassals in flanders and friesland. he also interfered in the affairs of burgundy, but the acquisition of this kingdom was the work of his successor, conrad ii. during nearly the whole of this reign the germans were fighting the poles. boleslaus of poland, who was now a very powerful sovereign, having conquered lusatia and silesia, brought bohemia also under his rule and was soon at variance with the german king. anxious to regain these lands henry allied himself with some slavonic tribes, promising not to interfere with the exercise of their heathen religion, while boleslaus found supporters among the discontented german nobles. the honours of the ensuing war were with henry, and when peace was made in 1006 boleslaus gave up bohemia, but the struggle was soon renewed and neither side had gained any serious advantage when peace was again made in 1013. a third polish war broke out in 1015. henry led his troops in person and obtained assistance from the russians and the hungarians; peace was concluded in 1018, the elbe remaining the north-east boundary of germany. henry made three journeys to italy, being crowned king of the lombards at pavia in 1004 and emperor at rome ten years later. before the latter event, in order to assert his right of sovereignty over rome, he called himself king of the romans, a designation which henceforth was borne by his successors until they received the higher title from the pope. hitherto a sovereign crowned at aix-la-chapelle had been "king of the west franks," or "king of the franks and saxons." henry was generous to the church, to which he looked for support, but he maintained the royal authority over the clergy. although generally unsuccessful he strove hard for peace, and during this reign the principle of inheritance was virtually established with regard to german fiefs. conrad ii. after henry's death the nobles met at kamba, near oppenheim, and in september 1024 elected conrad, a franconian count, to the vacant throne. although favoured by the german clergy the new king, conrad ii., had to face some opposition; this, however, quickly vanished and he received the homage of the nobles in the various duchies and seemed to have no reason to dread internal enemies. nevertheless, he had soon to battle with a conspiracy headed by his stepson, ernest ii., duke of swabia. this was caused primarily by conrad's avowed desire to acquire the kingdom of burgundy, but other reasons for dissatisfaction existed, and the revolting duke found it easy to gather around him the scattered forces of discontent. however, the king was quite able to deal with the rising, which, indeed, never attained serious proportions, although ernest gave continual trouble until his death in 1030. with regard to the german duchies conrad followed the policy of otto the great. he wished to control, not to abolish them. in 1026, when duke henry of bavaria died, he obtained the duchy for his son henry, afterwards the emperor henry iii.; later, despite the opposition of the nobles, he invested the same prince with swabia, where the ducal family had died out. franconia was in the hands of conrad himself; thus saxony, thuringia, carinthia and lorraine were the only duchies not completely dependent upon the king. the neighbouring countries. when conrad ascended the throne the safety of germany was endangered from three different points. on the north was denmark ruled by canute the great; on the east was the wide polish state whose ruler, boleslaus, had just taken the title of king; and on the south-east was hungary, which under its king, st stephen, was rapidly becoming an organized and formidable power. peace was maintained with canute, and in 1035 a treaty was concluded and the land between the eider and the schlei was ceded to denmark. in 1030 conrad waged a short war against hungary, but here also he was obliged to assent to a cession of territory. in poland he was more fortunate. after the death of boleslaus in 1025 the poles plunged into a civil war, and conrad was able to turn this to his own advantage. in 1031 he recovered lusatia and other districts, and in 1033 the polish duke of mesislaus did homage to him at merseburg. his authority was recognized by the bohemians, and two expeditions taught the slavonic tribes between the elbe and the oder to respect his power. conrad in italy. in italy, whither he journeyed in 1026 and 1036, conrad was not welcomed. although as emperor and as king of the lombards he was the lawful sovereign of that country, the germans were still regarded as intruders and could only maintain their rights by force. the event which threw the greatest lustre upon this reign was the acquisition of the kingdom of burgundy, or arles, which was bequeathed to conrad by its king, rudolph iii., the uncle of his wife, gisela. rudolph died in 1032, and in 1033 conrad was crowned king at peterlingen, being at once recognized by the german-speaking population. for about two years his rival, odo, count of champagne, who was supported by the romance-speaking inhabitants, kept up the struggle against him, but eventually all opposition was overcome and the possession of burgundy was assured to the german king. the nobles and the land. this reign is important in the history of germany because it marks the beginning of the great imperial age, but it has other features of interest. in dealing with the revolt of ernest of swabia conrad was aided by the reluctance of the vassals of the great lords to follow them against the king. this reluctance was due largely to the increasing independence of this class of landholders, who were beginning to learn that the sovereign, and not their immediate lord, was the protector of their liberties; the independence in its turn arose from the growth of the principle of heredity. in germany conrad did not definitely decree that fiefs should pass from father to son, but he encouraged and took advantage of the tendency in this direction, a tendency which was, obviously, a serious blow at the power of the great lords over their vassals. in 1037 he issued from milan his famous edict for the kingdom of italy which decreed that upon the death of a landholder his fief should descend to his son, or grandson, and that no fiefholder should be deprived of his fief without the judgment of his peers. in another direction conrad's policy was to free himself as king from dependence upon the church. he sought to regain lands granted to the church by his predecessors; prelates were employed on public business much less frequently than heretofore. he kept a firm hand over the church, but his rule was purely secular; he took little or no interest in ecclesiastical affairs. during this reign the centre and basis of the imperial power in germany was moved southwards. saxony, the home of the ottos, became less prominent in german politics, while bavaria and the south were gradually gaining in importance. henry iii. henry iii., who had been crowned german king and also king of burgundy during his father's lifetime, took possession of his great inheritance without the slightest sign of opposition in june 1039. he was without the impulsiveness which marred conrad's great qualities, but he had the same decisive judgment, wide ambition and irresistible will as his father. during the late king's concluding years a certain bretislaus, who had served conrad with distinction in lusatia, became duke of bohemia and made war upon the disunited poles, easily bringing them into subjection. thus germany was again threatened with the establishment of a great and independent slavonic state upon her eastern frontier. to combat this danger henry invaded bohemia, and after two reverses compelled bretislaus to appear before him as a suppliant at regensburg. the german king treated his foe generously and was rewarded by receiving to the end of his reign the service of a loyal vassal; he also gained the goodwill of the poles by helping to bring about the return of their duke, casimir i., who willingly did homage for his land. the king of denmark, too, acknowledged henry as his feudal lord. moreover, by several campaigns in hungary the german king brought that country into the position of a fief of the german crown. this war was occasioned by the violence of the hungarian usurper, aba samuel, and formed henry's principal occupation from 1041 to 1045. henry's internal policy. in germany itself henry acquired, during the first ten years of his rule, an authority which had been unknown since the days of otto the great. early in his reign he had made a determined enemy of godfrey the bearded, duke of upper lorraine, who, in 1044, conspired against him and who found powerful allies in henry i., king of france, in the counts of flanders and holland, and in certain burgundian nobles. however, godfrey and his friends were easily worsted, and when the dispossessed duke again tried the fortune of war he found that the german king had detached henry of france from his side and was also in alliance with the english king, edward the confessor. while thus maintaining his authority in the north-east corner of the country by alliances and expeditions, henry was strong enough to put the laws in motion against the most powerful princes and to force them to keep the public peace. under his severe but beneficent rule, germany enjoyed a period of internal quiet such as she had probably never experienced before, but even henry could not permanently divert from its course the main political tendency of the age, the desire of the great feudal lords for independence. henry's wars. cowed, but unpacified and discontented, the princes awaited their opportunity, while the king played into their hands by allowing the southern duchies, swabia, bavaria and carinthia, to pass from under his own immediate control. his position was becoming gradually weaker when in 1051 he invaded hungary, where a reaction against german influence was taking place. after a second campaign in 1052 the hungarian king, andrew, was compelled to make peace and to own himself the vassal of the german king. meanwhile saxony and bavaria were permeated by the spirit of unrest, and henry returned from hungary just in time to frustrate a widespread conspiracy against him in southern germany. encouraged by the support of the german rebels, andrew of hungary repudiated the treaty of peace and the german supremacy in that country came to a sudden end. among the causes which undermined henry's strength was the fact that the mediate nobles, who had stood loyally by his father, conrad, were not his friends; probably his wars made serious demands upon them, and his strict administration of justice, especially his insistence upon the maintenance of the public peace, was displeasing to them. henry and the church. at the beginning of henry's reign the church all over europe was in a deplorable condition. simony was universally practised and the morality of the clergy was very low. the papacy, too, had sunk to a degraded condition and its authority was annihilated, not only by the character of successive popes, but by the fact that there were at the same time three claimants for the papal throne. henry, a man of deep, sincere and even rigorous piety, regarded these evils with sorrow; he associated himself definitely with the movement for reform which proceeded from cluny, and commanded his prelates to put an end to simony and other abuses. then moving farther in the same direction he resolved to strike at the root of the evil by the exercise of his imperial authority. in 1046 he entered italy at the head of an army which secured for him greater respect than had been given to any german ruler since charlemagne, and at sutri and in rome he deposed the three rival popes. he then raised to the papal see suidger, bishop of bamberg, who, as pope clement ii., crowned him emperor; after clement three other german popes--damasus ii., leo ix. and victor ii.--owed their elevation to henry. under these popes a new era began for the church, and in thus reforming the papacy henry iii. fulfilled what was regarded as the noblest duty of his imperial office, but he also sharpened a weapon whose keen edge was first tried against his son. the last years of henry iii. form a turning-point in german history. great kings and emperors came after him, but none of them possessed the direct, absolute authority which he freely wielded; even in the case of the strongest the forms of feudalism more and more interposed themselves between the monarch and the nation, and at last the royal authority virtually disappeared. during this reign the towns entered upon an age of prosperity, and the rhine and the weser became great avenues of trade. the minority of henry iv. when henry died in october 1056 the decline of the royal authority was accelerated by the fact that his successor was a child. henry iv., who had been crowned king in 1054, was at first in charge of his mother, the empress agnes, whose weak and inefficient rule was closely watched by anno, archbishop of cologne. in 1062, however, anno and other prominent prelates and laymen, perhaps jealous of the influence exercised at court by henry, bishop of augsburg (d. 1063), managed by a clever trick to get possession of the king's person. deserted by her friends agnes retired, and forthwith anno began to rule the state. but soon he was compelled to share his duties with adalbert, archbishop of bremen, and a year or two later adalbert became virtually the ruler of germany, leaving anno to attend to affairs in italy. adalbert's rule was very successful. compelling king solomon to own henry's supremacy he restored the influence of germany in hungary; in internal affairs he restrained the turbulence of the princes, but he made many enemies, especially in saxony, and in 1066 henry, who had just been declared of age, was compelled to dismiss him. the ambitious prelate, however, had gained great influence over henry, who had grown up under the most diverse influences. the young king was generous and was endowed with considerable intellectual gifts; but passing as he did from anno's gloomy palace at cologne to adalbert's residence in bremen, where he was petted and flattered, he became wayward and wilful. henry's personal rule. henry iv. assumed the duties of government soon after the fall of adalbert and quickly made enemies of many of the chief princes, including otto of nordheim, the powerful duke of bavaria, rudolph, duke of swabia, and berthold of zahringen, duke of carinthia. in saxony, where, like his father, he frequently held his court, he excited intense hostility by a series of injudicious proceedings. while the three ottos were pursuing the shadow of imperial greatness in italy, much of the crown land in this duchy had been seized by the nobles and was now held by their descendants. henry iv. insisted on the restoration of these estates and encroached upon the rights of the peasants. moreover, he built a number of forts which the people thought were intended for prisons; he filled the land with riotous and overbearing swabians; he kept in prison magnus, the heir to the duchy; and is said to have spoken of the saxons in a tone of great contempt. all classes were thus combined against him, and when he ordered his forces to assemble for a campaign against the poles the saxons refused to join the host. in 1073 the universal discontent found expression in a great assembly at wormesleben, in which the leading part was taken by otto of nordheim, by werner, archbishop of magdeburg, and by burkhard ii., bishop of halberstadt. under otto's leadership the thuringians joined the rising, which soon spread far and wide. henry was surprised by a band of rebels in his fortress at the harzburg; he fled to hersfeld and appealed to the princes for support, but he could not compel them to aid him and they would grant him nothing. after tedious negotiations he was obliged to yield to the demands of his enemies, and peace was made at gerstungen in 1074. zealously carrying out the conditions of the peace, the peasants not only battered down the detested forts, they even destroyed the chapel at the harzburg and committed other acts of desecration. these proceedings alarmed the princes, both spiritual and secular, and henry, who had gained support from the cities of the rhineland, was able to advance with a formidable army into saxony in 1075. he gained a decisive victory, rebuilt the forts and completely restored the authority of the crown. pope gregory vii. in 1073, while germany was in this confused state, hildebrand had become pope as gregory vii., and in 1075 he issued his famous decree against the marriage of the clergy and against their investiture by laymen. to the latter decree it was impossible for any sovereign to submit, and in germany there were stronger reasons than elsewhere for resistance. a large part of the land of the country was held by the clergy, and most of it had been granted to them because it was supposed that they would be the king's most efficient helpers. were the feudal tie broken, the crown must soon vanish, and the constitution of medieval society undergo a radical change. henry, who hitherto had treated the new pope with excessive respect, now announced his intention of going to rome and assuming the imperial title. the pope, to whom the saxons had been encouraged to complain, responded by sending back certain of henry's messengers, with the command that the king should do penance for the crimes of which his subjects accused him. enraged by this unexpected arrogance, henry summoned a synod of german bishops to worms in january 1076, and hildebrand was declared deposed. the papal answer was a bull excommunicating the german king, dethroning him and liberating his subjects from their oath of allegiance. effect of henry's excommunication. never before had a pope ventured to take so bold a step. it was within the memory even of young men that a german king had dismissed three popes, and had raised in turn four of his own prelates to the roman see. and now a pope attempted to drag from his throne the successor of this very sovereign. the effect of the bull was tremendous; no other was ever followed by equally important results. the princes had long been chafing under the royal power; they had shaken even so stern an autocrat as henry iii., and the authority of henry iv. was already visibly weakened. at this important stage in their contest with the crown a mighty ally suddenly offered himself, and with indecent eagerness they hastened to associate themselves with him. their vassals and subjects, appalled by the invisible powers wielded by the head of the church, supported them in their rebellion. the saxons again rose in arms and otto of nordheim succeeded in uniting the north and south german supporters of the pope. henry had looked for no such result as this; he did not understand the influences which lay beneath the surface and was horrified by his unexpected isolation. at a diet in tribur he humbled himself before the princes, but in vain. they turned from him and decided that the pope should be asked to judge henry; that if, within a year, the sentence of excommunication were not removed, the king should lose his crown; and that in the meantime he should live in retirement. scene at canossa. next came the strange scene at canossa which burned itself into the memory of europe. for three days the representative of the caesars entreated to be admitted into the pope's presence. no other mode of escape than complete subjection to gregory had suggested itself, or was perhaps possible; but it did not save him. although the pope forgave him, the german princes, resolved not to miss the chance which fortune had given them, met in march 1077, and deposed him, electing rudolph, duke of swabia, as his successor. but henry's bitter humiliations transformed his character; they brought out all his latent capacities of manliness. the struggle over investitures. the war of investitures that followed was the opening of the tremendous struggle between the empire and the papacy, which is the central fact of medieval history and which, after two centuries of conflict, ended in the exhaustion of both powers. its details belong more to the history of italy than to that of germany, where it took the form of a fight between two rival kings, but in germany its effects were more deeply felt. the nation now plucked bitter fruit from the seed planted by otto the great in assuming the imperial crown and by a long line of kings and emperors in lavishing worldly power upon the church. in the ambition of the spiritual and the secular princes the pope had an immensely powerful engine of offence against the emperor, and without the slightest scruple this was turned to the best advantage. henry iv. and the anti-kings. when this struggle began it may be said in general that henry was supported by the cities and the lower classes, while rudolph relied upon the princes and the opponents of a united germany; or, to make another division, henry's strength lay in the duchies of franconia and bavaria, rudolph's in swabia and saxony. in the rhineland and in southern germany the cities had been steadily growing in wealth and power, and they could not fail to realize that they had more to fear from the princes than from the crown. hence when henry returned to germany in 1078 worms, spires and many other places opened their gates to him and contributed freely to his cause; nevertheless his troops were beaten in three encounters and pope gregory thundered anew against him in march 1080. however, the fortune of war soon turned, and in october 1080 rudolph of swabia was defeated and slain. henry then carried the war into italy; in 1084 he was crowned emperor in rome by wibert, archbishop of ravenna, whom, as clement iii., he had set up as an anti-pope, and in 1085 gregory died an exile from rome. meanwhile in germany henry's opponents had chosen hermann, count of luxemburg, king in succession to rudolph of swabia. hermann, however, was not very successful, and when henry returned to germany in 1084 he found that his most doughty opponent, otto of nordheim, was dead, and that the anti-king had few friends outside saxony. this duchy was soon reduced to obedience and was treated with consideration, and when the third anti-king, egbert, margrave of meissen, was murdered in 1090 there would have been peace if germany had followed her own impulses. henry and the papacy. in the papacy, however, henry had an implacable foe; and again and again when he seemed on the point of a complete triumph the smouldering embers of revolt were kindled once more into flame. in italy his son, conrad, was stirred up against him and in 1093 was crowned king at monza; then ten years later, when germany was more peaceful than it had been for years and when the emperor's authority was generally acknowledged, his second son, henry, afterwards the emperor henry v., was induced to head a dangerous rebellion. the saxons and the thuringians were soon in arms, and they were joined by those warlike spirits of germany to whom an age of peace brought no glory and an age of prosperity brought no gain. after some desultory fighting henry iv. was taken prisoner and compelled to abdicate; he had, however, escaped and had renewed the contest when he died in august 1106. the first crusade. during this reign the first crusade took place, and the german king suffered severely from the pious zeal which it expressed and intensified. the movement was not in the end favourable to papal supremacy, but the early crusaders, and those who sympathized with them, regarded the enemies of the pope as the enemies of religion. henry v. in germany. the early years of henry v.'s reign were spent in campaigns in flanders, bohemia, hungary and poland, but the new king was soon reminded that the dispute over investitures was unsettled. pope paschal ii. did not doubt, now that henry iv. was dead, that he would speedily triumph; but he was soon undeceived. henry v., who with unconscious irony had promised to treat the pope as a father, continued, like his predecessors, to invest prelates with the ring and the staff, and met the expostulations of paschal by declaring that he would not surrender a right which had belonged to all former kings. lengthened negotiations took place but they led to no satisfactory result, while the king's enemies in germany, taking advantage of the deadlock, showed signs of revolt. one of the most ardent of these enemies was lothair of supplinburg, whom henry himself had made duke of saxony upon the extinction of the billung family in 1106. lothair was humbled in 1112, but he took advantage of the emperor's difficulties to rise again and again, the twin pillars of his strength being the saxon hatred of the franconian emperors and an informal alliance with the papal see. henry's chief friends were his nephews, the two hohenstaufen princes, frederick and conrad, to whose father frederick the emperor henry iv. had given the duchy of swabia when its duke rudolph became his rival. the younger frederick succeeded to this duchy in 1105, while ten years later conrad was made duke of franconia, a country which for nearly a century had been under the immediate government of the crown. the two brothers were enthusiastic imperialists, and with persistent courage they upheld the cause of their sovereign during his two absences in italy. the concordat of worms. at last, in september 1122, the investiture question was settled by the concordat of worms. by this compromise, which exhaustion forced upon both parties, the right of electing prelates was granted to the clergy, and the emperor surrendered the privilege of investing them with the ring and the staff. on the other hand it was arranged that these elections should take place in the presence of the emperor or his representative, and that he should invest the new prelate with the sceptre, thus signifying that the bishop, or abbot, held his temporal fiefs from him and not from the pope. in germany the victory remained with the emperor, but it was by no means decisive. the papacy was far from realizing hildebrand's great schemes; yet in regard to the question in dispute it gained solid advantage, and its general authority was incomparably more important than it had been half a century before. during this period it had waged war upon the emperor himself. instead of acknowledging its inferiority as in former times it had claimed to be the higher power; it had even attempted to dispose of the imperial crown as if the empire were a papal fief; and it had found out that it could at any time tamper, and perhaps paralyse, the imperial authority by exciting internal strife in germany. having thus settled this momentous dispute henry spent his later years in restoring order in germany, and in planning to assist his father-in-law, henry i. of england, in france. during this reign under the lead of otto, bishop of bamberg (c. 1063-1139), pomerania began to come under the influence of germany and of christianity. the reign of lothair the saxon. the franconian dynasty died out with henry v. in may 1125, and after a protracted contest lothair, duke of saxony, the candidate of the clergy, was chosen in the following august to succeed him. the new king's first enterprise was a disastrous campaign in bohemia, but before this occurrence he had aroused the enmity of the hohenstaufen princes by demanding that they should surrender certain lands which had formerly been the property of the crown. lothair's rebuff in bohemia stiffened the backs of frederick and conrad, and in order to contend with them the king secured a powerful ally by marrying his daughter gertrude to henry the proud, a grandson of welf, whom henry iv. had made duke of bavaria, a duchy to which henry himself had succeeded in 1126. henry was perhaps the most powerful of the king's subjects, nevertheless the dukes of swabia and franconia withstood him, and a long war desolated south germany. this was ended by the submission of frederick in 1134 and of conrad in the following year. lothair's position, which before 1130 was very weak, had gradually become stronger. he had put down the disorder in bavaria, in saxony and in lorraine; a diet held at magdeburg in 1135 was attended by representatives from the vassal states of denmark, hungary, bohemia and poland; and in 1136, when he visited italy for the second time, germany was in a very peaceful condition. in june 1133 during the king's first visit to italy he had received from pope innocent ii. the imperial crown and also the investiture of the extensive territories left by matilda, marchioness of tuscany; and at this time the pope seems to have claimed the emperor as his vassal, a statement to this effect (_post homo fit papae, sumit quo dante coronam_) being inscribed in the audience hall of the lateran at rome. (_continued in volume 11 slice 8._) footnotes: [1] i.e. the territory once under the jurisdiction of an imperial _vogt_ or _advocatus_ (see advocate). [2] the question, much disputed between germans and danes, is exhaustively treated by p. lauridsen in f. de jessen's _la question de sleswig_ (copenhagen, 1906), pp. 114 et seq. [3] see the comparative study in percy ashley's _local and central government_ (london, 1906). [4] the _kreis_ in wurttemberg corresponds to the _regierungsbezirk_ elsewhere. [5] the system of compulsory registration, which involves a notification to the police of any change of address (even temporary), of course makes it easy to determine the domicile in any given case. [6] actually between 1883 and 1908 over five million recruits passed through the drill sergeant's hands, as well as perhaps 210,000 one-year volunteers. [7] these last have a curious history. they were formed from about 1890 onwards, by individual squadrons, two or three being voted each year. ostensibly raised for the duties of mounted orderlies, at a time when it would have been impolitic to ask openly for more cavalry, they were little by little trained in real cavalry work, then combined in provisional regiments for disciplinary purposes and at last frankly classed as cavalry.