GERMANIC LAWS

germanic laws, early. of those germanic laws of the early middle ages which are known as _leges barbarorum_, we here deal with the principal examples other than frankish, viz. (1) _leges wisigothorum_, (2) _lex burgundionum_, (3) _pactus alamannorum_ and _lex alamannorum_, (4) _lex bajuvariorum_, (5) _lex saxonum_, (6) _lex frisionum_, (7) _lex angliorum et werinorum, hoc est, thuringorum_, and (8) _leges langobardorum_. all these laws may in general be described as codes of procedure and tariffs of compositions. they present somewhat similar features with the salic law, but often differ from it in the date of compilation, the amount of fines, the number and nature of the crimes, the number, rank, duties and titles of the officers, &c. for the salic law and other frankish laws, see salic law, and for the edict of theodoric i., which was applicable to the ostrogoths and romans, see roman law. for the whole body of the germanic laws see p. canciani, _barbarorum leges antiquae_ (venice, 1781-1789); f. walter, _corpus juris germanici antiqui_ (berlin, 1824); _monumenta germaniae historica, leges_. for further information on the codes in general, see h.m. zopfl, _deutsche rechtsgeschichte_ (4th ed., heidelberg, 1871-1876); j.e.o. stobbe, _geschichte der deutschen rechtsquellen_ (brunswick, 1860-1864); paul viollet, _histoire du droit civil francais_ (2nd ed., paris, 1893); h. brunner, _deutsche rechtsgeschichte_ (2nd ed., leipzig, 1906). 1. _leges wisigothorum._--karl zeumer's edition of these laws in the 4to series of the _mon. germ. hist._ throws new light on all questions relating to their date and composition. it is now certain that the earliest written code of the visigoths dates back to king euric (466-485). besides his own constitutions, euric included in this collection constitutions of his predecessors, theodoric i. (419-451), thorismund (451-453), and theodoric ii. (453-466), and he arranged the whole in a logical order. of this code fragments of chapters cclxxvi. to cccxxxvi.[1] have been discovered in a palimpsest ms. in the bibliotheque nationale at paris (latin coll., no. 12161), a fact which proves that the code ran over a large area. euric's code was used for all cases between goths, and between them and romans; in cases between romans, roman law was used. at the instance of euric's son, alaric ii., an examination was made of the roman laws in use among romans in his dominions, and the resulting compilation was approved in 506 at an assembly at aire, in gascony, and is known as the breviary of alaric, and sometimes as the _liber aniani_, from the fact that the authentic copies bear the signature of the _referendarius_ anian. euric's code remained in force among the visigoths of spain until the reign of leovigild (568-586), who made a new one, improving upon that of his predecessor. this work is lost, and we have no direct knowledge of any fragment of it. in the 3rd codification, however, many provisions have been taken from the 2nd, and these are designated by the word "_antiqua_"; by means of these "_antiqua_" we are enabled in a certain measure to reconstruct the work of leovigild. after the reign of leovigild the legislation of the visigoths underwent a transformation. the new laws made by the kings were declared to be applicable to all the subjects in the kingdom, of whatever race--in other words, they became territorial; and this principle of territoriality was gradually extended to the ancient code. moreover, the conversion of reccared i. (586-601) to orthodoxy effaced the religious differences among his subjects, and all subjects, _qua_ christians, had to submit to the canons of the councils, which were made obligatory by the kings. after this change had been accepted, recceswinth (649-672) made a new code, which was applicable to visigoths and romans alike. this code, known as the _liber judiciorum_, is divided into 12 books, which are subdivided into _tituli_ and chapters (_aerae_). it comprises 324 constitutions taken from leovigild's collection, a few of the laws of reccared and sisebut, 99 laws of chindaswinth (642-653), and 87 of recceswinth. a recension of this code of recceswinth was made in 681 by king erwig (680-687), and is known as the _lex wisigothorum renovata_; and, finally, some additamenta were made by egica (687-702). in zeumer's edition of the _leges wisigothorum_ the versions of recceswinth and erwig, where they differ from each other, are shown in parallel columns, and the laws later than erwig are denoted by the sign "_nov_." for further information see the preface to zeumer's edition; h. brunner, _deutsche rechtsgeschichte_ (2nd ed., leipzig, 1906); urena y smenyaud, _la legislacion gotico-hispana_ (madrid, 1905). 2. _lex burgundionum._--this code was compiled by king gundobald (474-516), very probably after his defeat by clovis in 500. some additamenta were subsequently introduced either by gundobald himself or by his son sigismund. this law bears the title of _liber constitutionum_, which shows that it emanated from the king; it is also known as the _lex gundobada_ or _lex gombata_. it was used for cases between burgundians, but was also applicable to cases between burgundians and romans. for cases between romans, however, gundobald compiled the _lex romana burgundionum_, called sometimes, through a misreading of the mss., the _liber papiani_ or simply _papianus_. the barbarian law of the burgundians shows strong traces of roman influence. it recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand sanctions the judicial duel and the _cojuratores_ (sworn witnesses). the vehement protest made in the 9th century by agobard, bishop of lyons, against the _lex gundobada_ shows that it was still in use at that period. so late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the burgundians invoked as personal law in cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code. the text of the _lex burgundionum_ has been published by f. bluhme in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, iii. 525; by karl binding in the _fontes rerum bernensium_ (vol. i., 1880); by j.e. valentin smith (paris, 1889 seq.); and by von salis (1892) in the 4to series of the _mon. germ. hist._ cf. r. dareste, "la loi gombette," in the _journal des savants_ (july 1891). 3. _pactus alamannorum_ and _lex alamannorum._--of the laws of the alamanni, who dwelt between the rhine and the lech, and spread over alsace and what is now switzerland to the south of lake constance, we possess two different texts. the earlier text, of which five short fragments have come down to us, is known as the _pactus alamannorum_, and from the persistent recurrence of the expression "et sic convenit" was most probably drawn up by an official commission. the reference to affranchisement _in ecclesia_ shows that it was composed at a period subsequent to the conversion of the alamanni to christianity. there is no doubt that the text dates back to the reign of dagobert i., i.e. to the first half of the 7th century. the later text, known as the _lex alamannorum_, dates from a period when alamannia was independent under national dukes, but recognized the theoretical suzerainty of the frankish kings. there seems no reason to doubt the st gall ms., which states that the law had its origin in an agreement between the great alamannic lords and duke landfrid, who ruled the duchy from 709 to 730. the two texts have been published by j. merkel in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, iii., and by karl lehmann in the 4to series of the same collection. 4. _lex bajuvariorum._--we possess an important law of the bavarians, whose duchy was situated in the region east of the lech, and was an outpost of germany against the huns, known later as avars. parts of this law have been taken directly from the visigothic law of euric and from the law of the alamanni. the bavarian law, therefore, is later than that of the alamanni. it dates unquestionably from a period when the frankish authority was very strong in bavaria, when the dukes were vassals of the frankish kings. immediately after the revolt of bavaria in 743 the bavarian duke odilo was forced to submit to pippin and carloman, the sons of charles martel, and to recognize the frankish suzerainty. about the same period, too, the church of bavaria was organized by st boniface, and the country divided into several bishoprics; and we find frequent references to these bishops (in the plural) in the law of the bavarians. on the other hand, we know that the law is anterior to the reign of duke tassilo iii. (749-788). the date of compilation must, therefore, be placed between 743 and 749. there is an edition of the _lex bajuvariorum_ by j. merkel in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by e. von schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. cf. von schwind's article in the _neues archiv_, vol. xxxi. 5. _lex saxonum._--germany comprised two other duchies, saxony and frisia, of each of which we possess a text of law. the _lex saxonum_ has come down to us in two mss. and two old editions (those of b.j. herold and du tillet), and the text has been edited by karl von richthofen in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, v. the law contains ancient customary enactments of saxony, and, in the form in which it has reached us, is later than the conquest of saxony by charlemagne. it is preceded by two capitularies of charlemagne for saxony--the _capitulatio de partibus saxoniae_ (a. boretius i. 68), which dates undoubtedly from 782, and is characterized by great severity, death being the penalty for every offence against the christian religion; and the _capitulare saxonicum_ (a. boretius i. 71), of the 28th of october 797, in which charlemagne shows less brutality and pronounces simple compositions for misdeeds which formerly entailed death. the _lex saxonum_ apparently dates from 803, since it contains provisions which are in the _capitulare legi ribuariae additum_ of that year. the law established the ancient customs, at the same time eliminating anything that was contrary to the spirit of christianity; it proclaimed the peace of the churches, whose possessions it guaranteed and whose right of asylum it recognized. 6. _lex frisionum._--this consists of a medley of documents of the most heterogeneous character. some of its enactments are purely pagan--thus one paragraph allows the mother to kill her new-born child, and another prescribes the immolation to the gods of the defiler of their temple; others are purely christian, such as those which prohibit incestuous marriages and working on sunday. the law abounds in contradictions and repetitions, and the compositions are calculated in different moneys. from this it would appear that the documents were merely materials collected from various sources and possibly with a view to the compilation of a homogeneous law. these materials were apparently brought together at the beginning of the 9th century, at a time of intense legislative activity at the court of charlemagne. there are no mss. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon b.j. herold's edition (_originum ac germanicarum antiquitatum libri_, basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by karl von richthofen in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, iii. 631. 7. _lex angliorum el werinorum, hoc est, thuringorum._--in early times there dwelt in thuringia, south of the river unstrut, the angli, who gave their name to the _pagus engili_, and to the east, between the saale and the elster, the warni (werini, or varini), whose name is seen in werenofeld. in the 9th century, however, this region (then called werenofeld) was occupied by the sorabi, and the warni and angli either coalesced with the thuringi or sought an asylum in the north of germany. a collection of laws has come down to us bearing the name of these two peoples, the _lex angliorum et werinorum, hoc est, thuringorum_. this text is a collection of local customs arranged in the same order as the law of the ripuarians. parts of it are based on the _capitulare legi ribuariae additum_ of 803, and it seems to have been drawn up in the same conditions and circumstances as the law of the saxons. there is an edition of this code by karl von richthofen in the _mon. germ. hist._, _leges_, v. 103. the old opinion that the law originated in south holland is entirely without foundation. 8. _leges langobardorum._--we possess a fair amount of information on the origin of the last barbarian code, the laws of the lombards. the first part, consisting of 388 chapters, is known as the _edictus langobardorum_, and was promulgated by king rothar at a diet held at pavia on the 22nd of november 643. this work, composed at one time and arranged on a systematic plan, is very remarkable. the compilers knew roman law, but drew upon it only for their method of presentation and for their terminology; and the document presents germanic law in its purity. rothar's edict was augmented by his successors; grimoald (668) added nine chapters; liutprand (713-735), fifteen volumes, containing a great number of ecclesiastical enactments; ratchis (746), eight chapters; and aistulf (755), thirteen chapters. after the union of the lombards to the frankish kingdom, the capitularies made for the entire kingdom were applicable to italy. there were also special capitularies for italy, called _capitula italica_, some of which were appended to the edict of rothar. at an early date compilations were formed in italy for the use of legal practitioners and jurists. eberhard, duke and margrave of rhaetia and friuli, arranged the contents of the edict with its successive additamenta into a _concordia de singulis causis_ (829-832). in the 10th century a collection was made of the capitularies in use in italy, and this was known as the _capitulare langobardorum_. then appeared, under the influence of the school of law at pavia, the _liber legis langobardorum_, also called _liber papiensis_ (beginning of 11th century), and the _lombarda_ (end of 11th century) in two forms--that given in a monte cassino ms. and known as the _lombarda casinensis_, and the _lombarda vulgata_. there are editions of the _edictus_, the _concordia_, and the _liber papiensis_ by f. bluhme and a. boretius in the _mon. germ. hist., leges_, iv. bluhme also gives the rubrics of the _lombardae_, which were published by f. lindenberg in his _codex legum antiquarum_ in 1613. for further information on the laws of the lombards see j. merkel, _geschichte des langobardenrechts_ (1850); a. boretius, _die kapitularien im langobardenreich_ (1864); and c. kier, _edictus rotari_ (copenhagen, 1898). cf. r. dareste in the _nouvelle revue historique de droit francais et etranger_ (1900, p. 143). (c. pf.) footnote: [1] the lacunae in these fragments have been filled in by the aid of the law of the bavarians, where the chief provisions are reproduced. germanicus caesar (15 b.c.-a.d. 19), a roman general and provincial governor in the reign of tiberius. the name germanicus, the only one by which he is known in history, he inherited from his father, nero claudius drusus, the famous general, brother of tiberius and stepson of augustus. his mother was the younger antonia, daughter of marcus antonius and niece of augustus, and he married agrippina, the granddaughter of the same emperor. it was natural, therefore, that he should be regarded as a candidate for the purple. augustus, it would seem, long hesitated whether he should name him as his successor, and as a compromise required his uncle tiberius to adopt him, though tiberius had a son of his own. of his early years and education little is known. that he possessed considerable literary abilities, and that these were carefully trained, we gather, both from the speeches which tacitus puts into his mouth, and from the reputation he left as an orator, as attested by suetonius and ovid, and from the extant fragments of his works. at the age of twenty he served his apprenticeship as a soldier under tiberius, and was rewarded with the triumphal insignia for his services in crushing the revolt in dalmatia and pannonia. in a.d. 11 he accompanied tiberius in his campaign on the rhine, undertaken, in consequence of the defeat of varus, with the object of securing the german frontier. in 12 he was made consul, and increased his popularity by appearing as an advocate in the courts of justice, and by the celebration of brilliant games. soon afterwards he was appointed by augustus to the important command of the eight legions on the rhine. the news of the emperor's death (14) found germanicus at lugdunum (lyons), where he was superintending the census of gaul. close upon this came the report that a mutiny had broken out among his legions on the lower rhine. germanicus hurried back to the camp, which was now in open insurrection. the tumult was with difficulty quelled, partly by well-timed concessions, for which the authority of the emperor was forged, but chiefly owing to his personal popularity. some of the insurgents actually proposed that he should put himself at their head and secure the empire for himself, but their offer was rejected with indignation. in order to calm the excitement germanicus determined at once on an active campaign. crossing the rhine, he attacked and routed the marsi, and laid waste the valley of the ems. in the following year he marched against arminius, the conqueror of varus, and performed the last rites over the remains of the roman soldiers that still lay there unburied, erecting a barrow to mark the spot. arminius, however, favoured by the marshy ground, was able to hold his own, and it required another campaign before he was finally defeated. a masterly combined movement by land and water enabled germanicus to concentrate his forces against the main body of the germans encamped on the weser, and to crush them in two obstinately contested battles. a monument erected on the field proclaimed that the army of tiberius had conquered every tribe between the rhine and the elbe. great, however, as the success of the roman arms had been, it was not such as to justify this boastful inscription; we read of renewed attacks from the barbarians, and plans of a fourth campaign for the next summer. but the success of germanicus had already stirred the jealousy and fears of tiberius, and he was reluctantly compelled to return to rome. on the 26th of may 17 he celebrated a triumph. the enthusiasm with which he was welcomed, not only by the populace, but by the emperor's own praetorians, was so great that the earliest pretext was seized to remove him from the capital. he was sent to the east with extraordinary powers to settle a disputed succession in parthia and armenia. at the same time gnaeus calpurnius piso, one of the most violent and ambitious of the old nobility, was sent as governor of syria to watch his movements. germanicus proceeded by easy stages to his province, halting on his way in dalmatia, and visiting the battlefield of actium, athens, ilium, and other places of historic interest. at rhodes he met his coadjutor piso, who was seeking everywhere to thwart and malign him. when at last he reached his destination, he found little difficulty in effecting the settlement of the disturbed provinces, notwithstanding piso's violent and persistent opposition. at artaxata zeno, the popular candidate for the throne, was crowned king of armenia. to the provinces of cappadocia and commagene roman governors were assigned; parthia was conciliated by the banishment of the dethroned king vonones. after wintering in syria germanicus started for a tour in egypt. the chief motive for his journey was love of travel and antiquarian study, and it seems never to have occurred to him, till he was warned by tiberius, that he was thereby transgressing an unwritten law which forbade any roman of rank to set foot in egypt without express permission. on his return to syria he found that all his arrangements had been upset by piso. violent recriminations followed, the result of which, it would seem, was a promise on the part of piso to quit the province. but at this juncture germanicus was suddenly attacked at epidaphne near antioch by a violent illness, which he himself and his friends attributed to poison administered by plancina, the wife of piso, at the instigation of tiberius. whether these suspicions were true is open to question; it seems more probable that his death was due to natural causes. his ashes were brought to rome in the following year (20) by his wife agrippina, and deposited in the grave of augustus. he had nine children, six of whom, three sons and three daughters, survived him, amongst them the future emperor gaius and the notorious agrippina, the mother of nero. the news of his death cast a gloom over the whole empire. nor was germanicus unworthy of this passionate devotion. he had wiped out a great national disgrace; he had quelled the most formidable foe of rome. his private life had been stainless, and he possessed a singularly attractive personality. yet there were elements of weakness in his character which his short life only half revealed: an impetuosity which made him twice threaten to take his own life; a superstitious vein which impelled him to consult oracles and shrink from bad omens; an amiable dilettantism which led him to travel in egypt while his enemy was plotting his ruin; a want of nerve and resolution which prevented him from coming to an open rupture with piso till it was too late. he possessed considerable literary abilities; his speeches and greek comedies were highly spoken of by his contemporaries. but the only specimen of his work that has come down to us is the translation in latin hexameters (generally attributed to him, although some consider domitian the author), together with scholia, of the _phaenomena_ of aratus, which is superior to those of cicero and avienus (best edition by a. breysig, 1867; 1899, without the scholia). a few extant greek and latin epigrams also bear the name germanicus. in addition to monographs by a. zingerle (trent, 1867) and a. breysig (erfurt, 1892), there are treatises on the german campaigns by e. von wietersheim (1850), p. hofer (1884), f. knoke (1887, 1889), w. fricke (1889), a. taramelli (1891), dahm (1902). see tacitus, _annals_, i.-iv. (ed. furneaux); suetonius, _augustus, tiberius_; j.c. tarver, _tiberius_ (1902); merivale, _hist. of the romans under the empire_, chs. 42, 43; h. schiller, _geschichte der romischen kaiserzeit_, i. 1 (1883), pp. 227, 258, 261-266, 270-276; m. schanz, _geschichte der romischen litteratur_, pt. ii. (2nd ed., 1901), and teuffel-schwabe, _hist. of roman literature_ (eng. tr., 1900), 275. germanium (symbol ge, atomic weight 72.5); one of the metallic elements included in the same natural family as carbon, silicon, tin and lead. it was discovered in 1886 by c. winkler in argyrodite, a mineral found at freiberg in saxony. on examination of the metal and its salts it was shown to be identical with the hypothetical element _ekasilicon_, whose properties had been predicted by d. mendeleeff many years previously. the element is of extremely rare occurrence, being met with only in argyrodite and, to a very small extent, in euxenite. it may be obtained from argyrodite by heating the mineral in a current of hydrogen; or by heating the dioxide to redness with carbon. it forms grey coloured octahedra of specific gravity 5.496 at 20 deg. c., melting at 900 deg. c.; it burns at a red heat, is insoluble in hydrochloric acid, but dissolves in _aqua regia_, and is also soluble in molten alkalis. two oxides of germanium are known, the _dioxide_, geo2, being obtained by roasting the sulphide and treatment with nitric acid. it is a white powder, very slightly soluble in water, and possesses acid properties. by heating with a small quantity of magnesium it is converted into _germanious oxide_, geo. by heating the metal with chlorine, _germanic chloride_, gecl4, is obtained as a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 86-87 deg. c., it is decomposed by water forming a hydrated germanium dioxide. _germanium dichloride_, gecl2, and _germanium chloroform_, gehcl3, have also been described. germanium compounds on fusion with alkaline carbonates and sulphur form salts known as _thiogermanates_. if excess of a mineral acid be added to a solution of an alkaline thiogermanate a white precipitate of _germanium disulphide_, ges2, is obtained. it can also be obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through a solution of the dioxide in hydrochloric acid. it is appreciably soluble in water, and also in solutions of the caustic alkalis and alkaline sulphides. by heating the disulphide in a current of hydrogen, _germanious sulphide_, ges, is formed. it sublimes in thin plates of a dark colour and metallic lustre, and is soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis. alkyl compounds of germanium such as _germanium tetra-ethyl_, ge(c2h5)4, a liquid boiling at 160 deg. c., have been obtained. the germanium salts are most readily recognized by the white precipitate of the disulphide, formed in acid solutions, on passing sulphuretted hydrogen. the atomic weight of the element was determined by c. winkler by analysis of the pure chloride gecl4, the value obtained being 72.32, whilst lecoq de boisbaudran (_comptes rendus_, 1886, 103, 452), by a comparison of the lines in the spark spectrum of the element, deduced the value 72.3. german language. together with english and frisian, the german language forms part of the west germanic group of languages. to this group belongs also langobardian, a dialect which died out in the 9th or 10th century, while burgundian, traces of which are not met with later than the 5th century, is usually classed with the east germanic group. both these tongues were at an early stage crushed out by romance dialects, a fate which also overtook the idiom of the western franks, who, in the so-called _strassburg oaths_[1] of 842, use the romance tongue, and are addressed in that tongue by louis the german. leaving english and frisian aside, we understand by _deutsche_ _sprache_ the language of those west germanic tribes, who, at their earliest appearance in history, spoke a germanic tongue, and still speak it at the present day. the chief of these tribes are: the saxons, the franks (but with the restriction noted above), the chatti (hessians), thuringians, alemannians and bavarians. this definition naturally includes the languages spoken in the low countries, flemish and dutch, which are offsprings of the low franconian dialect, mixed with frisian and saxon elements; but, as the literary development of these languages has been in its later stages entirely independent of that of the german language, they are excluded from the present survey. the german language, which is spoken by about seventy-one millions, and consequently occupies in this respect the third place among european languages, borders, in the west and south, on romance languages (french, italian), and also to some extent on slavonic. on italian and slovenian territory there are several german-speaking "islands," notably the sette and tredici communi, east and north-east of the lake of garda, and the "gottschee landchen" to the south of laibach. the former of these is, however, on the point of dying out. neighbours on the east, where the boundary line runs by no means as straight as on the west or south, are the magyars and again slavonic races. here, too, there are numerous "islands" on hungarian and slavonic territory. danes and frisians join hands with the germans in the north.[2] in the west and south the german language has, compared with its status in earlier periods, undoubtedly lost ground, having been encroached upon by romance tongues. this is the case in french flanders, in alsace and lorraine, at any rate before the war of 1870, in the valleys south of monte rosa and in southern tirol; in styria and carinthia the encroachment is less marked, but quite perceptible. on the east, on the other hand, german steadily spread from the days of charles the great down to recent times, when it has again lost considerable ground in bohemia, moravia and livonia. at the time of charles the great the eastern frontier extended very little beyond the lower elbe, following this river beyond magdeburg, whence it passed over to the saale, the bohemian forest and the river enns (cf. the map in f. dahn, _urgeschichte der germanischen und romanischen volker_, vol. iii.). partly as a result of victories gained by the germans over the avars and slavs, partly owing to peaceful colonization, the eastern boundary was pushed forward in subsequent centuries; bohemia was in this way won for the german tongue by german colonists in the 13th century, silesia even a little earlier; in livonia german gained the upper hand during the 13th century, while about the same time the country of the prussians was conquered and colonized by the knights of the teutonic order. the dialect which these colonists and knights introduced bore the middle german character; and this, in various modifications, combined with low german and even dutch elements, formed the german spoken in these newly-won territories. in the north (schleswig), where at the time of charles the great the river eider formed the linguistic boundary, german has gained and is still gaining on danish. before considering the development of the language spoken within these boundaries, a word of explanation is perhaps necessary with regard to the word _deutsch_. as applied to the language, _deutsch_ first appears in the latin form _theotiscus_, _lingua theotisca_, _teutisca_, in certain latin writings of the 8th and 9th centuries, whereas the original old high german word _thiudisc_, _tiutisc_ (from _thiot_, _diot_, "people," and the suffix _-isc_) signified only "appertaining to the people," "in the manner of the people." cf. also gothic _[thorn]iudisko_ as a translation of [greek: ethnikos] (gal. ii. 14). it, therefore, seems probable that if the application of the word to the language (_lingua theotisca_) was not exactly an invention of latin authors of german nationality, its use in this sense was at least encouraged by them in order to distinguish their own vernacular (_lingua vulgaris_) from latin as well as from the _lingua romana_.[3] in the 8th and 9th centuries german or "deutsch" first appears as a written language in the dialects of old high german and old low german. of an "urdeutsch" or primitive german, i.e. the common language from which these sharply distinguished dialects of the earliest historical period must have developed, we have no record; we can only infer its character--and it was itself certainly not free from dialectic variations--by a study of the above-named and other germanic dialects. it is usual to divide the history of the german language from this earliest period, when it appears only in the form of proper names and isolated words as glosses to a latin text, down to the present day, into three great sections: (1) old high german (_althochdeutsch_) and old low german (old saxon; _altniederdeutsch_, _altsachsisch_); (2) middle high german (_mittelhochdeutsch_) and middle low german (mittelniederdeutsch); and (3) modern high german and modern low german (_neuhochdeutsch_ and _neuniederdeutsch_). it is more difficult to determine the duration of the different periods, for it is obvious that the transition from one stage of a language to another takes place slowly and gradually. the first or old high german period is commonly regarded as extending to about the year 1100. the principal characteristic of the change from old high german to middle high german is the weakening of the unaccented vowels in final syllables (cf. o.h.g. _taga_, _gesti_, _geban_, _gabum_ and m.h.g. _tage_, _geste_, _geben_, _gaben_). but it must be remembered that this process began tentatively as early as the 10th century in low german, and also that long, unaccented vowels are preserved in the alemannic dialect as late as the 14th century and even later. opinion is more at variance with regard to the division between the second and third periods. some would date modern high german from the time of luther, that is to say, from about 1500. but it must be noted that certain characteristics attributed to the modern german vowel system, such as lengthening of middle high german short vowels, the change from middle high german _i_, _u_, _iu_ to modern high german _ei_, _au_, _eu_ (_ou_), of middle high german _ie_, _uo_, _ue_ to modern high german _i_, _u_, _u_, made their appearance long before 1500. taking this fact into consideration, others distinguish a period of classical middle high german extending to about 1250, and a period of transition (sometimes called _fruhneuhochdeutsch_, or early modern high german) from 1250 to 1650. the principal characteristics of modern high german would then consist in a greater stability of the grammatical and syntactical rules, due to the efforts of earlier grammarians, such as schottelius, gottsched and others, and the substitution of a single vowel sound for the varying vowels of the singular and plural of the preterite of strong verbs (cf. middle high german _schreib_, _schriben_, and modern high german _schrieb_, _schrieben_, &c.). the much debated question of the origins of modern high german has been recently reopened by o. behaghel (_geschichte der deutschen sprache, l.c._ 661), who hopes that a more satisfactory solution may be arrived at by the study of certain syntactical peculiarities to be seen in the dialects of more recent periods. as the middle ages did not produce a german _schriftsprache_ or literary language in the modern sense of the word, which--as is undoubtedly the case in modern german--might have influenced the spoken language (_umgangssprache_), the history of the language in its earlier stages is a history of different dialects. these dialects will, therefore, claim our attention at some length. it may be assumed that the languages of the different west germanic tribes enumerated above were, before the appearance of the tribes in history, distinguished by many dialectic variations; this was certainly the case immediately after the migrations, when the various races began to settle down. but these differences, consisting presumably in matters of phonology and vocabulary, were nowhere so pronounced as to exclude a mutual understanding of individuals belonging to different tribes. one might compare the case of the poles and czechs of the present day. during the 6th century, however, a phonological process set in, which ultimately resulted in the separation of germany into two great linguistic divisions, south and north, or, as the languages are called, high and low german. this fundamental change, which is known as the second or high german soundshifting (_lautverschiebung_), spread northward from the mountainous districts in the south, and, whatever its cause may have been,[4] left behind it clear and easily recognizable effects on the germanic voiced stop _d_, which became changed to _t_, and more especially on the voiceless stops _t_, _p_ and _k_. dialects which have shifted initial _t_ and _tt_ in the middle of a word to the affricate _tz_ (written _z_, _tz_) and _p_ and _k_ in corresponding positions to the affricates _pf_ and _k[chi]_ (written _ch_), further, _t_, _p_ and _k_ in the middle of words between vowels, to the double spirant _zz_ (now written _ss_, _sz_), _ff_, _hh_ (written _ch_), are called high german; those in which these changes have not taken place form the low german group, this group agreeing in this respect with english and frisian. of these sound changes, that of _t_ to _tz_ and _zz_ (_ss_) is the most universal, extending over the whole region in which shifting occurs; that of _k_ to _k[chi]_ (_ch_), the most restricted, being only found in old bavarian, and in the swiss pronunciation, e.g. in _chind_. the remaining dialects occupy positions between the two extremes of complete shifting and the absence of shifting. some franconian dialects, for instance, leave _p_ unchanged under certain conditions, and in one dialect at least, middle franconian, _t_ has remained after vowels in certain pronominal forms (_dat_, _wat_, _allet_, &c.). on this ground a subdivision has been made in the high german dialects into (a) an upper german (_oberdeutsch_) and (b) a middle german (_mitteldeutsch_) group; and this subdivision practically holds good for all periods of the language, although in old high german times the middle german group is only represented, as far as the written language is concerned, by franconian dialects. as the scientific study of the german language advanced there arose a keen revival of interest--and that not merely on the part of scholars--in the dialects which were so long held in contempt as a mere corruption of the _schriftsprache_.[5] we are still in the midst of a movement which, under the guidance of scholars, has, during the last three decades, bestowed great care on many of the existing dialects; phonological questions have received most attention, but problems of syntax have also not been neglected. monumental works like wenker's _sprachatlas des deutschen reiches_ and dialect dictionaries are either in course of publication or preparing;[6] while the difficult questions concerned with defining the boundaries of the various dialects and explaining the reasons for them form the subject of many monographs.[7] beginning in the north we shall now pass briefly in review the dialects spoken throughout the german-speaking area. a. the low german dialects the low german dialects, as we have seen, stand nearest to the english and frisian languages, owing to the total absence of the consonantal shifting which characterizes high german, as well as to other peculiarities of sounds and inflections, e.g. the loss of the nasals _m_ and _n_ before the spirants _f_, _s_ and _p_. cf. old saxon _fif_ (five), _us_ (us), _kup_ (cf. uncouth). the boundary-line between low and high german, the so-called _benrather linie_, may roughly be indicated by the following place-names, on the understanding, however, that the ripuarian dialect (see below) is to be classed with high german: montjoie (french border-town), eupen, aachen, benrath, dusseldorf, north of siegen, cassel, heiligenstadt, harzgerode, to the elbe south of magdeburg; this river forms the boundary as far as wittenberg, whence the line passes to lubben on the spree, furstenwald on the oder and birnbaum near the river warthe. beyond this point the low germans have slavs as their neighbours. compared with the conditions in the 13th century, it appears that low german has lost ground; down to the 14th and 15th centuries several towns, such as mansfeld, eisleben, merseburg, halle, dessau and wittenberg, spoke low german. low german falls into two divisions, a western division, namely, low franconian, the parent, as we have already said, of flemish and dutch, and an eastern division, low saxon (_plattdeutsch_, or, as it is often simply called, low german). the chief characteristic of the division is to be sought in the ending of the first and third person plural of the present indicative of verbs, this being in the former case _-en_, in the latter _-et_. inasmuch as the south-eastern part of low franconian--inclusive of gelderland and cleves--shifts final _k_ to _ch_ (e.g. _ich_, _mich_, _auch_, _-lich_), it must obviously be separated from the rest, and in this respect be grouped with high german. low saxon is usually divided into westphalian (to the west of the weser) and low saxon proper, between weser and elbe. the south-eastern part of the latter has the verbal ending -en and further shows the peculiarity that the personal pronoun has the same form in the dative and accusative (_mik_, _dick_), whereas the remainder, as well as the westphalian, has _mi_, _di_ in the dative, and _mi_, _di_ or _mik_, _dik_ in the accusative. to these low german dialects must also be added those spoken east of the elbe on what was originally slavonic territory; they have the ending _-en_ in the first and third person plural of verbs.[8] b. the high german dialects 1. _the middle german group._--this group, which comprises the dialects of the middle rhine, of hesse, thuringia, upper saxony (meissen), silesia and east prussia to the east of the lower vistula between bischofswerder, marienburg, elbing, wormditt and wartenberg--a district originally colonized from silesia--may be most conveniently divided into an east and a west middle german group. a common characteristic of all these dialects is the diminutive suffix _-chen_, as compared with the low german form _-ken_ and the upper german _-lein_ (o.h.g. _lin_). east middle german consists of silesian, upper saxon and thuringian,[9] together with the linguistic colony in east prussia. while these dialects have shifted initial germanic _p_ to _ph_, or even to _f_ (_fert_ = _pferd_), the west middle german dialects (roughly speaking to the west of the watershed of werra and fulda) have retained it. if, following a convincing article in the _zeitschrift fur deutsches altertum_ (37, 288 ff.) by f. wrede, we class east and south franconian--both together may be called high franconian--with the upper german dialects, there only remain in the west middle german group:[10] (a) middle franconian and (b) rhenish franconian. the former of these,[11] which with its _dat_, _wat_, _allet_, &c. (cf. above) and its retention of the voiced spirant _b_ (written _v_) represents a kind of transition dialect to low german, is itself divided into ([alpha]) ripuarian or low rhenish with cologne and aachen (aix-la-chapelle) as centres, and ([beta]) moselle franconian[12] with trier (treves) as principal town. the latter is distinguished by the fact that in the middle high german period it shifts germanic _-rp-_ and _-rd-_, which are retained in (a), to _-rf-_ and _-rt-_ (cf. _werfen_, _hirtin_ with _werpen_, _hirdin_).[13] the rhenish franconian dialect is spoken in the rhenish palatinate, in the northern part of baden (heidelberg), hesse[14] and nassau, and in the german-speaking part of lorraine. a line drawn from falkenberg at the french frontier to siegen on the lahn, touching the rhine near boppard, roughly indicates the division between middle and rhenish franconian. 2. _the upper german group._--the upper german dialects, which played the most important part in the literature of the early periods, may be divided into (a) a bavarian-austrian group and (b) a high franconian-alemannic group. of all the german dialects the bavarian-austrian has carried the soundshifting to its furthest extreme; here only do we find the labial voiced stop _b_ written _p_ in the middle of a word, viz. old bavarian _kapames_, old alemannic _kabames_ ("we gave"); here too, in the 12th century, we find the first traces of that broadening of _i_, _u_, _iu_ (_u_) to _ei_, _au_, _eu_, a change which, even at the present day, is still foreign to the greater part of the alemannic dialects. only in bavarian do we still find the old pronominal dual forms _es_ and _enk_ (for _ihr_ and _euch_). finally, bavarian forms diminutives in _-el_ and _-erl_ (_madel_, _maderl_), while the franconian-alemannic forms are _-la_ and _-le_ (_madle_). on the other hand, the pronunciation of _-s_ as _-sch_, especially _-st_ as _-scht_ (cf. _last_, _haspel_, pronounced _lascht_, _haschpel_), may be mentioned as characteristic of the alemannic, just as the _fortis_ pronunciation of initial _t_ is characteristic of high franconian, while the other franconian and upper german dialects employ the _lenis_. the alemannic dialect which, roughly speaking, is separated from bavarian by the lech and borders on italian territory in the south and on french in the west, is subdivided into: (a) swabian, the dialect of the kingdom of wurttemberg and the north-western part of tirol (cf. h. fischer, _geographie der schwabischen mundart_, 1895); (b) high alemannic (swiss), including the german dialects of switzerland, of the southern part of the black forest (the basel-breisgau dialect), and that of vorarlberg; (c) low alemannic, comprising the dialects of alsace and part of baden (to the north of the feldberg and south of rastatt), also, at the present day, the town of basel. only swabian has taken part in the change of _i_ to _ei_, &c., mentioned above, while initial germanic _k_ has been shifted to _ch_ ([chi]) only in high alemannic (cf. _chalt_, _chind_, _chorn_, for _kalt_, _kind_, _korn_). the pronunciation of _u_ as _u_, _u_ (_hus_ for _haus_) is peculiar to alsatian. the high franconian dialects, that is to say, east and south (or south-rhenish) franconian, which are separated broadly speaking by the river neckar, comprise the language spoken in a part of baden, the dialects of the main valley from wurzburg upwards to bamberg, the dialect of nuremberg and probably of the vogtland (plauen) and egerland. during the older historical period the principal difference between east and south franconian consisted in the fact that initial germanic _d_ was retained in the latter dialect, while east franconian shifted it to _t_. both, like bavarian and alemannic, shift initial german _p_ to the affricate _pf_. finally, the bavarian-austrian dialect is spoken throughout the greater part of the kingdom of bavaria (i.e. east of the lech and a fine drawn from the point where the lech joins the danube to the sources of the rivers elster and mulde, this being the east franconian border-line), in austria, western bohemia, and in the german linguistic "islands" embedded in hungary, in gottschee and the sette and tredici communi (cf. above).[15] the old high german period the language spoken during the old high german period, that is to say, down to about the year 1050, is remarkable for the fulness and richness of its vowel-sounds in word-stems as well as in inflections. cf. _elilenti_, _elend_; _luginari_, _lugner_; _karkari_, _kerker_; _menniskono slahta_, _menschengeschlecht_; _herzono_, _herzen_ (gen. pl.); _furisto_, _vorderste_; _hartost_, (_am_) _hartesten_; _sibunzug_, _siebzig_; _ziohemes_, (_wir_) _ziehen_; _salbota_, (_er_) _salbte_; _gaworahtos_, (_du_) _wirktest_, &c. of the consonantal changes which took place during this period that of the spirant th (preserved only in english) to d (_werthan_, _werdan_; _theob_, _deob_) deserves mention. it spread from upper germany, where it is noticeable as early as the 8th century to middle and finally, in the 11th and 12th centuries, to low germany. further, the initial _h_ in _hl_, _hn_, _hr_, _hw_ (cf. _hwer_, _wer_; _hreini_, _rein_; _hlahhan_, _lachen_) and _w_ in _wr_ (_wrecceo_, _recke_) disappeared, this change also starting in upper germany and spreading slowly north. the most important vowel-change is the so-called mutation (_umlaut_),[16] that is to say, the qualitative change of a vowel (except _i_) in a stem-syllable, owing to the influence of an _i_ or _j_ in the following syllable. this process commenced in the north where it seems to have been already fully developed in low german as early as the 8th century. it is to be found, it may be noted, in anglo-saxon, as early as the 6th century. it gradually worked its way southwards to middle and upper germany where, however, certain consonants seem to have protected the stem syllable from the influence of _i_ in a following syllable. cf., for instance, modern high german _drucken_ and _drucken_; _glauben_, _kaufen_, _haupt_, words which in middle german dialects show mutation. orthographically, however, this process is, during the first period, only to be seen in the change of _a_ to _e_; from the 10th century onwards there are, it is true, some traces of other changes, and vowels like _u_, _o_, _ou_ must have already been affected, otherwise we could not account for the mutation of these vowels at a period when the cause of it, the _i_ or _j_, no longer existed. a no less important change, for it helped to differentiate high from low german, was that of germanic _e_2 (a closed _e_-sound) and _o_ diphthongs in old high german, while they were retained in old low german. cf. o.h.g. _her_, _hear_, _hiar_, o.l.g. _her_; o.h.g. _fuoz_, o.l.g. _fot_. the final result was that in the 10th century ie (older forms, _ia_, _ea_) and _uo_ (older _ua_, _oa_ in alemannic, _ua_ in south franconian) had asserted themselves throughout all the high german dialects. again while in old high german the older diphthongs _ai_ and _au_ were preserved as _ei_ and _ou_, unless they happened to stand at the end of a word or were followed by certain consonants (_h_, _w_, _r_ in the one case, and _h_, _r_, _l_, _n_, _th_, _d_, _t_, _z_, _s_ in the other; cf. _zeh_ from _zihan_, _zoh_ from _ziohan_, _verlos_, &c.), the old low german shows throughout the monophthongs _e_ (in middle low german a closed sound) and _o_ (cf. o.l.g. _sten_, _oga_). these monophthongs are also to be heard in rhenish franconian, the greater part of east franconian and the upper saxon and silesian dialects of modern times (cf. _stein_: _steen_ or _stan_; _laufen_: _lofen_ or _lopen_). of the dialects enumerated above, bavarian and alemannic, high and rhenish franconian as well as old saxon are more or less represented in the literature of the first period. but this literature, the chief monuments of which are otfrid's _evangelienbuch_ (in south franconian), the old saxon _heliand_ (a life of christ in alliterative verse), the translation of tatian's _gospel harmony_ (east franconian) and that of a theological tract by bishop isidore of seville and of parts of the bible (rhenish franconian), is almost exclusively theological and didactic in character. one is consequently inclined to attach more value to the scanty remains of the _hildebrandslied_ and some interesting and ancient charms. the didactic spirit again pervades the translations and commentaries of notker of st gall in the early part of the 11th century, as well as a paraphrase of the _song of songs_ by an abbot williram of ebersberg a little later. latin, however, reigned supreme throughout this period, it being the language of the charters, the lawbooks (there is nothing in germany to compare with the laws of the anglo-saxons), of science, medicine, and even poetry. it is thus needless to say that there was no recognized literary language (_schriftsprache_) during this period, nor even any attempt to form one; at most, we might speak of schools in the large monasteries, such as reichenau, st gall, fulda, which contributed to the spread and acceptance of certain orthographical rules. the middle high german period the following are the chief changes in sounds and forms which mark the development of the language in the middle high german period. the orthography of the mss. reveals a much more extensive employment of mutation (_umlaut_) than was the case in the first period; we find, for instance, as the mutation of _o_, _o_, of _o_, _oe_, _of u_, _iu_ (_u_), of _uo_, _ue_, of _ou_, _ou_, and _eu_ (cf. _holer_, _boese_, _hiuser_, _guete_, _boume_), although many scribes, and more especially those of middle and low german districts, have no special signs for the mutation of _u_, _u_, and _o_. of special interest is the so-called "later (or weaker) mutation" (_jungerer oder schwacherer umlaut_) of _a_ to a very open _e_ sound, which is often written _a_. cf. _mahte_ (o.h.g. _mahti_), _magede_ (o.h.g. _magadi_). the earlier mutation of this sound produced an _e_(_e_), a closed sound (i.e. nearer _i_). cf. _geste_ (o.h.g. _gesti_). the various old high german vowels in unstressed syllables were either weakened to an indifferent _e_ sound (_geben_, o.h.g. _geban_; _bote_, o.h.g. _boto_; _sige_, o.h.g. _sigu_) or disappeared altogether. the latter phenomenon is to be observed after _l_ and _r_, and partly after _n_ and _m_ (cf. _ar(e)_, o.h.g. _aro_; _zal_, o.h.g. _zala_; _wundern_, o.h.g. _wuntaron_, &c.); but it by no means took place everywhere in the same degree and at the same time. it has been already noted that the alemannic dialect (as well as the archaic poets of the german national epic) retained at least the long unstressed vowels until as late as the 14th century (_gemarterot_, _gekriuzegot_, &c., and low and middle german preserved the weakened _e_ sound in many cases where upper german dropped it. in this period the beginnings are also to be seen in low and middle german (heinrich von veldeke shows the first traces of it) of a process which became of great importance for the formation of the modern german literary language. this is the lengthening of originally short vowels in open syllables,[17] for example, in modern high german _tages_, _weges_, _lobe_ (middle high german _tages_, _weges_, _lobe_). in austria, on the other hand, there began as far back as the first half of the 12th century another movement of equal importance for modern high german, namely, the conversion of the long vowels, _i_, _u_, _u_, into _ei_ (_ou_), _au_, _eu_ (_au_).[18] it is, therefore, in mss. written in the south-east that we find forms like _zeit_, _lauter_ (_loter_), _heute_, &c., for the first time. with the exception of low german and alemannic--swabian, however, follows in this respect the majority--all the german dialects participated in this change between the 14th and 16th centuries, although not all to the same degree. the change was perhaps assisted by the influence of the literary language which had recognized the new sounds. in england the same process has led to the modern pronunciation of _time_, _house_, &c., and in holland to that of _tijd_, _huis_, &c. f. wrede (_zeitschrift fur deutsches altertum_ xxxix. 257 ff.) has suggested that the explanation of the change is to be sought in the apocope and syncope of the final _e_, and the greater stress which was in consequence put on the stem-syllable. the tendency to a change in the opposite direction, namely, the narrowing of diphthongs to monophthongs, is to be noticed in middle german dialects, i.e. in dialects which resisted the apocope of the final _e_, where _ie_, _uo_, _ue_ become _i_, _u_, _u_; thus we have for _brief_, _brif_, for _huon_, _hun_, for _brueder_, _bruder_, and this too was taken over into the modern high german literary language.[19] no consonantal change was so widespread during this period as that of initial _s_ to _sch_ before _l_, _n_, _m_, _w_, _p_ and _t_. cf. _slingen_, _schlingen_; _swer_ (_e_) _n_, _schworen_, &c. the forms _scht_- and _schp_- are often to be met with in alemannic mss., but they were discarded again, although modern german recognizes the pronunciation _schp_, _scht_.[20] with regard to changes affecting the inflections of verbs and nouns, it must suffice here to point out that the weakening or disappearance of vowels in unstressed syllables necessarily affected the characteristic endings of the older language; groups of verbs and substantives which in old high german were distinct now become confused. this is best seen in the case of the weak verbs, where the three old high german classes (cf. _nerien_, _salbon_, _dagen_) were fused into one. similarly in the declensions we find an increasing tendency of certain forms to influence substantives belonging to other classes; there is, for instance, an increase in the number of neuter nouns taking _-er_ (_-ir_) in the plural, and of those which show mutation in the plural on the model of the _i-_ stems (o.h.g. _gast_, pl. _gesti_; cf. forms like _ban_, _benne_; _hals_, _helse_; _wald_, _welde_). of changes in syntax the gradual decay in the use of the genitive case dependent on a noun or governed by a verb (cf. constructions like _eine brunne rotes goldes_, or _des todes wunschen_) towards the end of the period, and also the disappearance of the old high german sequence of tenses ought at least to be mentioned. in the middle high german period, the first classical period of german poetry, the german language made great advances as a vehicle of literary expression; its power of expression was increased and it acquired a beauty of style hitherto unknown. this was the period of the _minnesang_ and the great popular and court epics, of walther von der vogelweide, hartmann von aue, wolfram von eschenbach and gottfried von strassburg; it was a period when literature enjoyed the fostering care of the courts and the nobility. at the same time german prose celebrated its first triumphs in the sermons of berthold von regensburg, and in the mystic writings and sermons of meister eckhart, tauler and others. history (eike von repkow's _weltchronik_) and law (_sachsenspiegel_, _schwabenspiegel_) no longer despised the vernacular, and from about the middle of the 13th century german becomes, in an ever-increasing percentage, the language of deeds and charters. it has been a much debated question how far germany in middle high german times possessed or aspired to possess a _schriftsprache_ or literary language.[21] about the year 1200 there was undoubtedly a marked tendency towards a unification of the literary language on the part of the more careful poets like walther von der vogelweide, hartmann von aue and gottfried von strassburg; they avoid, more particularly in their rhymes, dialectic peculiarities, such as the bavarian dual forms _es_ and _enk_, or the long vowels in unstressed syllables, retained in alemannic, and they do not make use of archaic words or forms. we have thus a right to speak, if not of a middle high german literary language in the widest sense of the word, at least of a middle high german _dichtersprache_ or poetic language, on an alemannic-franconian basis. whether, or in how far, this may have affected the ordinary speech of the nobility or courts, is a matter of conjecture; but it had an undeniable influence on middle and low german poets, who endeavoured at least to use high german forms in their rhymes. attempts were also made in low german districts, though at a later stage of this period, to unify the dialects and raise them to the level of an accepted literary language. it will be shown later why these attempts were unsuccessful. unfortunately, however, the efforts of the high german poets to form a uniform language were also shortlived; by the end of the 13th century the _dichtersprache_ had disappeared, and the dialects again reigned supreme. modern high german although the middle high german period had thus not succeeded in effecting any permanent advance in the direction of a uniform literary language, the desire for a certain degree of uniformity was never again entirely lost. at the close of the 13th century literature had passed from the hands of the nobility to those of the middle classes of the towns; the number of writers who used the german tongue rapidly increased; later the invention of printing, the increased efficiency of the schools, and above all the religious movement of the reformation, contributed to awakening the desire of being understood by those who stood outside the dialectic community of the individual. a single authoritative form of writing and spelling was felt on all sides to be particularly necessary. this was found in the language used officially by the various chanceries (_kanzleien_), and more especially the imperial chancery. since the days of charles iv. (1347-1378) the latter had striven after a certain uniform language in the documents it issued, and by the time of maximilian i. (1493-1519) all its official documents were characterized by pretty much the same phonology, forms and vocabulary, in whatever part of germany they originated. and under maximilian's successor, charles v., the conditions remained pretty much the same. the fact that the seat of the imperial chancery had for a long time been in prague, led to a mingling of upper and middle german sounds and inflections; but when the crown came with frederick iii. (1440-1493) to the habsburgs, the upper german elements were considerably increased. the chancery of the saxon electorate, whose territory was exclusively middle german, had to some extent, under the influence of the imperial chancery, allowed upper german characteristics to influence its official language. this is clearly marked in the second half of the 15th century, and about the year 1500 there was no essential difference between the languages of the two chanceries. thuringia, silesia and brandenburg soon followed suit, and even low german could not ultimately resist the accepted high german notation (_o_, _o_, _u_, _u_, _ou_, _ie_, &c.). we have here very favourable conditions for the creation of a uniform literary language, and, as has already been said, the tendency to follow these authorities is clearly marked. in the midst of this development arose the imposing figure of luther, who, although by no means the originator of a common high german speech, helped very materially to establish it. he deliberately chose (cf. the often quoted passage in his _tischreden_, ch. 69) the language of the saxon chancery as the vehicle of his bible translation and subsequently of his own writings. the differences between luther's usage and that of the chancery, in phonology and inflection, are small; still he shows, in his writings subsequent to 1524, a somewhat more pronounced tendency towards middle german. but it is noteworthy that he, like the chancery, retained the old vowel-change in the singular and plural of the preterite of the strong verbs (i.e. _steig_, _stigen_; _starb_, _sturben_), although before luther's time the uniformity of the modern preterite had already begun to show itself here and there. the adoption of the language of the chancery gave rise to the mixed character of sounds and forms which is still a feature of the literary language of germany. thus the use of the monophthongs _i_, _u_, and _u_, instead of the old diphthongs _ie_, _uo_ and _ue_, comes from middle germany; the forms of the words and the gender of the nouns follow middle rather than upper german usage, whereas, on the other hand, the consonantal system (_p_ to _pf_; _d_ to _t_) betrays in its main features its upper german (bavarian-austrian) origin. the language of luther no doubt shows greater originality in its style and vocabulary (cf. its influence on goethe and the writers of the _sturm und drang_), for in this respect the chancery could obviously afford him but scanty help. his vocabulary is drawn to a great extent from his own native middle german dialect, and the fact that, since the 14th century, middle german literature (cf. for instance, the writings of the german mystics, at the time of and subsequent to eckhart) had exercised a strong influence over upper germany, stood him in good stead. luther is, therefore, strictly speaking, not the father of the modern german literary language, but he forms the most important link in a chain of development which began long before him, and did not reach its final stage until long after him. to infer that luther's language made any rapid conquest of germany would not be correct. it was, of course, immediately acceptable to the eastern part of the middle german district (thuringia and silesia), and it did not find any great difficulty in penetrating into low germany, at least into the towns and districts lying to the east of the saale and elbe (magdeburg, hamburg). one may say that about the middle of the 16th century luther's high german was the language of the chanceries, about 1600 the language of the pulpit (the last bible in low german was printed at goslar in 1621) and the printing presses. thus the aspirations of low germany to have a literary language of its own were at an early stage crushed. protestant switzerland, on the other hand, resisted the "uncommon new german" until well into the 17th century. it was also natural that the catholic lower rhine (cologne) and catholic south germany held out against it, for to adopt the language of the reformer would have seemed tantamount to offering a helping hand to protestant ideas. at the same time, geographical and political conditions, as well as the pronounced character of the upper german dialects, formed an important obstacle to a speedy unification. south german grammarians of the 16th century, such as laurentius albertus, raise a warning voice against those who, although far distant from the proper use of words and the true pronunciation, venture to teach _nos puriores germanos_, namely, the upper germans. in 1593 j. helber, a swiss schoolmaster and notary, spoke of three separate dialects as being in use by the printing presses:[22] (1) _mitteldeutsch_ (the language of the printers in leipzig, erfurt, nuremberg, wurzburg, frankfort, mainz, spires, strassburg and cologne; at the last mentioned place in the event of their attempting to print _ober-teutsch_); (2) _donauisch_ (the printers' language in south germany, but limited to bavaria and swabia proper--here more particularly the augsburg idiom, which was considered to be particularly _zierlich_);[23] (3) _hochst reinisch_, which corresponds to swiss german. thus in the 16th century germany was still far from real unity in its language; but to judge from the number and the geographical position of the towns which printed in _mitteldeutsch_ it is pretty clear which idiom would ultimately predominate. during the 17th century men like m. opitz (_buch von der deutschen poeterey_) and j.g. schottelius (_teutsche sprachkunst_, 1641, and _von der teutschen sprachkunst_, 1663), together with linguistic societies like the _fruchtbringende gesellschaft_ and the nuremberg _pegnitzorden_, did a great deal to purify the german language from foreign (especially french) elements; they insisted on the claims of the vernacular to a place beside and even above latin (in 1687 christian thomasius held for the first time lectures in the german language at the university of leipzig), and they established a firm grammatical basis for luther's common language, which especially in the hymnals had become modernized and more uniform. about the middle of the 17th century the disparity between the vowels of the singular and plural of the preterite of the strong verbs practically ceases; under east middle german influence the final _e_ is restored to words like _knabe_, _jude_, _pfaffe_, which in south german had been _knab_, &c.; the mixed declension (_ehre_, _ehren_; _schmerz_, _schmerzen_) was established, and the plural in -_er_ was extended to some masculine nouns (_wald_, _walder_);[24] the use of the mutated sound has now become the rule as a plural sign (vater, baume). how difficult, even in the first half of the 18th century, it was for a swiss to write the literary language which luther had established is to be seen from the often quoted words of haller (1708-1777): "i am a swiss, the german language is strange to me, and its choice of words was almost unknown to me." the catholic south clung firmly to its own literary language, based on the idiom of the imperial chancery, which was still an influential force in the 17th century or on local dialects. this is apparent in the writings of abraham a sancta clara,[25] who died in 1709, or in the attacks of the benedictine monk, augustin dornbluth, on the _meissner schriftsprache_ in 1755. in the 18th century, to which these names have introduced us, the grammatical writings of j.c. gottsched (_deutsche sprachkunst_, 1748) and j.c. adelung (_grammatisch-kritisches worterbuch der hochdeutschen mundart_, 1774-1786) exercised a decisive and far-reaching influence. gottsched took as his basis the spoken language (_umgangssprache_) of the educated classes of upper saxony (meissen), which at this time approximated as nearly as possible to the literary language. his _grammar_ did enormous services to the cause of unification, ultimately winning over the resisting south; but he carried his purism to pedantic lengths, he would tolerate no archaic or dialectical words, no unusual forms or constructions, and consequently made the language unsuited for poetry. meanwhile an interest in old german literature was being awakened by bodmer; herder set forth better ideas on the nature of language, and insisted on the value of native idioms; and the _sturm und drang_ led by goethe encouraged all individualistic tendencies. all this gave rise to a movement counter to gottsched's absolutism, which resulted in the revival of many obsolete german words and forms, these being drawn partly from luther's bible translation (cf. v. hehn, "goethe und die sprache der bibel," in the _goethe-jahrbuch_, viii. p. 187 ff.), partly from the older language and partly from the vocabulary peculiar to different social ranks and trades.[26] the latter is still a source of linguistic innovations. german literary style underwent a similar rejuvenation, for we are on the threshold of the second classical period of german literature. it had strengthened gottsched's hand as a linguistic reformer that the earlier leaders of german literature, such as gellert, klopstock and lessing, were middle germans; now wieland's influence, which was particularly strong in south germany, helped materially towards the establishment of one accepted literary language throughout all german-speaking countries; and the movement reaches its culmination with goethe and schiller. at the same time this unification did not imply the creation of an unalterable standard; for, just as the language of opitz and schottelius differed from that of luther, so--although naturally in a lesser degree--the literary language of our day differs from that of the classic writers of the 18th century. local peculiarities are still to be met with, as is to be seen in the modern german literature that emanates from switzerland or austria. but this unity, imperfect as it is, is limited to the literary language. the differences are much more sharply accentuated in the _umgangssprache_,[27] whereby we understand the language as it is spoken by educated people throughout germany; this is not only the case with regard to pronunciation, although it is naturally most noticeable here, but also with regard to the choice of words and the construction of sentences. compared with the times of goethe and schiller a certain advance towards unification has undoubtedly been made, but the differences between north and south are still very great. this is particularly noticeable in the pronunciation of _r_--either the uvular _r_ or the _r_ produced by the tip of the tongue; of the voiced and voiceless stops, _b_, _p_, _d_, _t_, _g_ and _k_; of the _s_ sounds; of the diphthongs; of the long vowels _e_ and _oe_, &c. (cf. w. vietor, _german pronunciation_, 2nd ed., 1890). the question as to whether a unified pronunciation (_einheitaussprache_) is desirable or even possible has occupied the attention of academies, scholars and the educated public during recent years, and in 1898 a commission made up of scholars and theatre directors drew up a scheme of pronunciation for use in the royal theatres of prussia.[28] this scheme has since been recommended to all german theatres by the german _buhnenverein_. desirable as such a uniform pronunciation is for the national theatre, it is a much debated question how far it should be adopted in the ordinary speech of everyday life. some scholars, such as w. braune, declared themselves strongly in favour of its adoption;[29] braune's argument being that the system of modern pronunciation is based on the spelling, not on the sounds produced in speaking. the latter, he holds, is only responsible for the pronunciation of _-chs-_ as _-ks-_ in _wachsen_, _ochse_, &c., or for that of _sp-_ and _st-_ in _spielen_, _stehen_, &c. other scholars, again, such as k. luick and o. brenner, warn against any such attempts to create a living language on an artificial basis;[30] the _buhnendeutsch_ or "stage-german" they regard as little more than an abstract ideal. thus the decision must be left to time. authorities.--_general literature_: j. grimm, _geschichte der deutschen sprache_ (leipzig, 1848; 4th ed., 1880); w. scherer, _zur geschichte der deutschen sprache_ (berlin, 1868; 2nd ed., 1878); e. forstemann, _geschichte des deutschen sprachstammes_ (nordhausen, 1874-1875); o. behaghel, _die deutsche sprache_ (leipzig, 1886; 2nd ed., 1902); the same, "geschichte der deutschen sprache," in paul's _grundriss der germanischen philologie_ (2nd ed.), i. pp. 650 ff.; o. weise, _unsere deutsche sprache, ihr werden und ihr wesen_ (leipzig, 1898); k. von raumer, _geschichte der germanischen philologie_ (munich, 1870); j. grimm, _deutsche grammatik_ (4 vols., vols. i.-iii. in new edition, 1870-1890); dieter, _laut- und formenlehre der altgermanischen dialekte_ (2 vols., leipzig, 1898-1900); f. kauffmann, _deutsche grammatik_ (2nd ed., 1895); w. wilmanns, _deutsche grammatik_, so far, vols, i., ii. and iii., 1 (strassburg, 1893-1906, vol. i., 2nd ed., 1897); o. brenner, _grundzuge der geschichtlichen grammatik der deutschen sprache_ (munich, 1896); h. lichtenberger, _histoire de la langue allemande_ (paris, 1895). _old and middle high german period_: w. braune, _althochdeutsche grammatik_ (2nd ed., halle, 1891); the same, _abriss der althochdeutschen grammatik_ (3rd ed., 1900); f. holthausen, _altsachsisches elementarbuch_ (heidelberg, 1899); w. schluter, _untersuchungen zur geschichte der altsachsichen sprache_, i. (gottingen, 1892); o. schade, _altdeutsches worterbuch_ (2nd ed., halle, 1872-1882); g.e. graff, _althochdeutscher sprachschatz_ (6 vols., berlin, 1834-1842) (index by massmann, 1846); e. steinmeyer and e. sievers, _althochdeutsche glossen_ (4 vols., berlin, 1879-1898); j.a. schmeller, _glossarium saxonicum_ (munich, 1840); k. weinhold, _mittelhochdeutsche grammatik_ (3rd ed., paderborn, 1892); h. paul, _mittelhochdeutsche grammatik_ (5th ed., halle, 1900); v. michels, _mittelhochdeutsches elementarbuch_ (heidelberg, 1900); o. brenner, _mittelhochdeutsche grammatik_ (3rd ed., munich, 1894); k. zwierzina, "mittelhochdeutsche studien," in _zeitschrift fur deutsches altertum_, vols. xliv. and xlv.; a. lubben, _mittelniederdeutsche grammatik_ (leipzig, 1882); w. muller and f. zarncke, _mittelhochdeutsches worterbuch_ (4 vols., leipzig, 1854-1866); m. lexer, _mittelhochdeutsches handworterbuch_ (3 vols., 1872-1878); the same, _mittelhochdeutsches taschenworterbuch_ (8th ed., 1906); k. schiller and a. lubben, _mittelniederdeutsches worterbuch_ (6 vols., bremen, 1875-1881); a. lubben, _mittelniederdeutsches handworterbuch_ (norden, 1888); f. seiler, _die entwicklung der deutsch. kultur im spiegel des deutschen lehnworts_ (halle, i., 1895, 2nd ed., 1905, ii., 1900). _modern high german period_: e. wulcker, "die entstehung der kursachsischen kanzleisprache" (in the _zeitschrift des vereins fur kursachsische geschichte_, ix. p. 349); the same, "luthers stellung zur kursachsischen kanzleisprache" (in _germania_, xxviii. pp. 191 ff.); p. pietsch, _martin luther und die hochdeutsche schriftsprache_ (breslau, 1883); k. burdach, _die einigung der neuhochdeutschen schriftsprache_, (1883); e. opitz, _die sprache luthers_ (halle, 1869); j. luther, _die sprache luthers in der septemberbibel_ (halle, 1887); f. kluge, _von luther bis lessing_ (strassburg, 1888) (cf. e. schroder's review in the _gottinger gelehrte anzeiger_, 1888, 249); h. ruckert, _geschichte der neuhochdeutschen schriftsprache bis zur mitte des 18. jahrhunderts_ (1875): j. kehrein, _grammatik der deutschen sprache des 15. bis 17. jahrhunderts_ (leipzig, 2nd ed., 1863); k. von bahder, _grundlagen des neuhochdeutschen lautsystems_ (strassburg, 1890); r. meyer, _einfuhrung in das altere neuhochdeutsche_ (leipzig, 1894); w. scheel, _beitrage zur geschichte der neuhochdeutschen gemeinsprache in koln_ (marburg, 1892); r. brandstetter, _die rezeption der neuhochdeutschen schriftsprache in stadt und landschaft luzern_ (1892); k. burdach, "zur geschichte der neuhochdeutschen schriftsprache" (_forschungen zur deutschen philologie_, 1894); the same, "die sprache des jungen goethe" (_verhandlungen der dessauer philologenversammlung_, 1884, p. 164 ff.); f. kasch, _die sprache des jungen schiller_ (dissertation, 1900); f. kluge, "uber die entstehung unserer schriftsprache" (beihefte zur _zeitschrift des allgemeinen sprachvereins_, heft 6, 1894); a. waag, _bedeutungsentwickelung unseres wortschatzes_ (lahr, 1901). mention must also be made of the work of the german commission of the royal prussian academy, which in 1904 drew up plans for making an inventory of all german literary mss. dating from before the year 1600 and for the publication of middle high german and early modern high german texts. this undertaking, which has made considerable progress, provides rich material for the study of the somewhat neglected period between the 14th and 16th centuries; at the same time it provides a basis on which a monumental history of modern high german may be built up, as well as for a _thesaurus linguae germanicae_. (r. pr.) footnotes: [1] k. mullenhoff and w. scherer, _denkmaler deutscher poesie und prosa_, 3rd ed., by e. steinmeyer, 1892, no. lxvii. [2] for a detailed description of the boundary line cf. o. behaghel's article in paul's _grundriss_, 2nd ed., pp. 652-657, where there is also a map, and a very full bibliography relative to the changes in the boundary. [3] cf. j. grimm, _deutsche grammatik_, 3rd ed., i. p. 13; f. kluge, _etymologisches worterbuch_, 6th ed., pp. 75 ff.; k. luick, "zur geschichte des wortes 'deutsch,'" in _anzeiger fur deutsches altertum_, xv., pp. 135, 248; h. fischer, "theotiscus, deutsch," in paul and braune's _beitrage_, xviii. p. 203; h. paul, _deutsches worterbuch_ (1897), p. 93. [4] cf. p. kretschmer, _einleitung in die geschichte der griechischen sprache_ (gottingen, 1896), who holds the mingling of celtic and germanic elements in southern and south-western germany responsible for the change. it might also be mentioned here that h. meyer (_zeitschrift f. deut. altertum_, xlv. pp. 101 ff.) endeavours to explain the first soundshifting by the change of abode of the germanic tribes from the lowlands to the highlands of the carpathian mountains. [5] of writers who have made extensive use of dialects, it must suffice to mention here the names of j.h. voss, hebel, klaus groth, fritz reuter, usteri, g.d. arnold, holtei, castelli, j.g. seidl and anzengruber, and in our own days g. hauptmann. [6] cf. f. staub and l. tobler, _schweizerisches idiotikon_ (1881 ff.); e. martin and f. lienhart, _worterbuch der elsassischen mundarten_ (strassburg, 1899 ff.); h. fischer, _schwabisches worterbuch_ (tubingen, 1901 ff.). earlier works, which are already completed, are j.a. schmeller, _bayrisches worterbuch_ (2nd ed., 2 vols., munich, 1872-1877); j.b. schopf, _tiroler idiotikon_ (innsbruck, 1886); m. lexer, _karntisches worterbuch_ (1862); h. gradl, _egerlander worterbuch_, i. (eger, 1883); a.f.c. vilmar, _idiotikon von kurhessen_ (marburg, 1883) (with supplements by h. von pfister); w. crecelius, _oberhessisches worterbuch_ (darmstadt, 1890-1898). professor j. franck is responsible for a _rheinisches worterbuch_ for the prussian academy. [7] cf. the article "mundarten" by r. loewe in r. bethge, _ergebnisse und fortschritte der germanistischen wissenschaft_ (leipzig, 1902), pp. 75-88; and f. mentz, _bibliographie der deutschen mundartforschung_ (leipzig, 1892). of periodicals may be mentioned deutsche mundarten, by j.w. nagl (vienna, 1896 ff.); _zeitschrift fur hochdeutsche mundarten_, by o. heilig and ph. lenz (heidelberg, 1900 ff.), continued as _zeitschrift f. deutsche mundarten_, verlag des allgemeinen deutschen sprachvereins. owing to its importance as a model for subsequent monographs j. kinteler's _die kerenzer mundart des kantons glarus_ (leipzig, 1876) should not be passed unnoticed. [8] cf. especially h. tumpel, "die mundarten des alten niedersachsischen gebietes zwischen 1300 und 1500" (paul und braune's beitrage, vii. pp. 1-104); _niederdeutsche studien_, by the same writer (bielefeld, 1898); bahnke, "uber sprach- und gaugrenzen zwischen elbe und weser" (_jahrbuch des vereins fur niederdeutsche sprachforschung_, vii. p. 77). [9] upper saxon and thuringian are sometimes taken as a separate group. [10] cf. w. braune, "zur kenntnis des frankischen" (_beitrage_, i. pp. 1-56); o. bohme, _zur kenntnis des oberfrankischen im 13., 14. und 15. jahrh._ (dissertation) (leipzig, 1893), where a good account of the differences between the rhenish franconian and south franconian dialects will be found. [11] cf. c. norrenberg, "lautverschiebungsstufe des mittelfrankischen" (_beitrage_, ix. 371 ff.); r. heinzel, _geschichte der niederfrankischen geschaftssprache_ (paderborn, 1874). [12] this is also the dialect of the so-called siebenburger sachsen. [13] cf. e. sievers, _oxforder benediktinerregel_ (halle, 1887), p. xvi.; j. meier, jolande (1887), pp. vii. ff.; o. bohme, l.c. p. 60. [14] lower hesse (the northern and eastern parts) goes, however, in many respects its own way. [15] on the high german dialects cf. k. weinhold, _alemannische grammatik_ (berlin, 1863); f. kauffmann, _geschichte der schwabischen mundart_ (strassburg, 1870); e. haendcke, _die mundartlichen elemente in den elsassischen urkunden_ (strassburg, 1894); k. weinhold, _bairische grammatik_ (1867); j.a. schmeller, _die mundarten baierns_ (munich, 1821); j.n. schwabl, _die altbairischen mundarten_ (munchen, 1903); o. brenner, _mundarten und schriftsprache in bayern_ (bamberg, 1890); j. schatz, _die mundart von imst_ (strassburg, 1897); j.w. nagl, _der vocalismus der bairisch-osterreichischen mundarten_ (1890-1891); w. gradl, _die mundarten westbohmens_ (munich, 1896); p. lessiak, "die mundart von pernegg in karnten" (paul and braune, _beitrage_, vol. xxviii.). [16] cf., for a hypothesis of two _umlautsperioden_ during the old high german time, f. kauffmann, _geschichte der schwabischen mundart_ (strassburg, 1890), s. 152. [17] cf. w. wilmanns, _deutsche grammatik_, i. (2nd edition) pp. 300-304. [18] wilmanns, l.c. pp. 273-280. it might be mentioned that, in modern high german, these new diphthongs are neither in spelling nor in educated pronunciation distinguished from the older ones. [19] cf. wilmanns, pp. 280-284. [20] ibid. pp. 129-132. [21] cf. k. lachmann, _kleinere schriften_, i. p. 161 ff.; mullenhoff and scherer's _denkmaler_ (3rd ed.), i. p. xxvii.; h. paul, _gab es eine mhd. schriftsprache?_ (halle, 1873); o. behaghel, _zur frage nach einer mhd. schriftsprache_ (basel, 1886) (cf. paul and braune's _beitrage_, xiii. p. 464 ff.); a. socin, _schriftsprache und dialekte_ (heilbronn, 1888); h. fischer, _zur geschichte des mittelhochdeutschen_ (tubingen, 1889); o. behaghel, _schriftsprache und mundart_ (giessen, 1896); k. zwierzina, _beobachtungen zum reimgebrauch hartmanns und wolframs_ (haile, 1898); s. singer, _die mhd. schriftsprache_ (1900); c. kraus, _heinrich von veldeke und die mhd. dichtersprache_ (halle, 1899); g. roethe, _die reimvorreden des sachsenspiegels_ (berlin, 1899); h. tumpel, _niederdeutsche studien_ (1898). [22] for literature bearing on the complicated question of the _druckersprachen_, readers are referred to the article "neuhochdeutsche schriftsprache," by w. scheel, in bethge's _ergebnisse ... der germanistischen wissenschaft_ (1902), pp. 47, 50 f. cf. also k. von bahder, _grundlagen des nhd. lautsystems_ (1890), pp. 15 ff. [23] a german _priamel_ mentions as an essential quality in a beautiful woman: "die red dort her von swaben." [24] cf. for a detailed discussion of the noun declension, k. boiunga, _die entwicklung der mhd. substantivflexion_ (leipzig, 1890); and, more particularly for the masculine and neuter nouns, two articles by h. molz, "die substantivflexion seit mhd. zeit," in paul and braune's _beitrage_, xxvii. p. 209 ff. and xxxi. 277 ff. for the changes in the gender of nouns, a. polzin, _geschlechtswandel der substantiva im deutschen_ (hildesheim, 1903). [25] cf. c. blanckenburg, _studien uber die sprache abrahams a s. clara_ (halle, 1897); h. strigl, "einiges uber die sprache des p. abraham a sancta clara" (_zeitschr. f. deutsche wortforschung_, viii. 206 ff.). [26] cf. f. kluge, _etymologisches worterbuch_ (6th ed.), pp. 508 ff. one can speak of: _studenten-, soldaten-, weidmanns-, bergmanns-, drucker-, juristen-, und zigeunersprache, und rotwelsch_. cf. f. kluge, _die deutsche studentensprache_ (strassburg, 1894); _rotwelsch_ i. (strassburg, 1901); r. bethge, _ergebnisse_, &c., p. 55 f. [27] cf. h. wunderlich, _unsere umgangssprache_ (weimar, 1894). [28] cf. th. siebs, _deutsche buhnenaussprache_ (2nd ed., berlin, 1901), and the same writer's _grundzuge der buhnensprache_ (1900). [29] w. braune, _uber die einigung der deutschen aussprache_ (halle, 1905); and the review by o. brenner, in the _zeitschrift des allgemeinen deutschen sprachvereins_, beihefte iv. 27, pp. 228-232. [30] cf. k. luick, _deutsche lautlehre mit besonderer berucksichtigung der sprechweise wiens und der osterreichischen alpenlander_ (1904); o. brenner, "zur aussprache des hochdeutschen" l.c., pp. 218-228. german literature. compared with other literatures, that of the german-speaking peoples presents a strangely broken and interrupted course; it falls into more or less isolated groups, separated from each other by periods which in intellectual darkness and ineptitude are virtually without a parallel in other european lands. the explanation of this irregularity of development is to be sought less in the chequered political history of the german people--although this was often reason enough--than in the strongly marked, one might almost say, provocative character of the national mind as expressed in literature. the germans were not able, like their partially latinized english cousins--or even their scandinavian neighbours--to adapt themselves to the various waves of literary influence which emanated from italy and france and spread with irresistible power over all europe; their literary history has been rather a struggle for independent expression, a constant warring against outside forces, even when the latter--like the influence of english literature in the 18th century and of scandinavian at the close of the 19th--were hailed as friendly and not hostile. it is a peculiarity of german literature that in those ages when, owing to its own poverty and impotence, it was reduced to borrowing its ideas and its poetic forms from other lands, it sank to the most servile imitation; while the first sign of returning health has invariably been the repudiation of foreign influence and the assertion of the right of genius to untrammelled expression. thus germany's periods of literary efflorescence rarely coincide with those of other nations, and great european movements, like the renaissance, passed over her without producing a single great poet. this chequered course, however, renders the grouping of german literature and the task of the historian the easier. the first and simplest classification is that afforded by the various stages of linguistic development. in accordance with the three divisions in the history of the high german language, there is an old high german, a middle high german and a new high german or modern high german literary epoch. it is obvious, however, that the last of these divisions covers too enormous a period of literary history to be regarded as analogous to the first two. the present survey is consequently divided into six main sections: i. the old high german period, including the literature of the old saxon dialect, from the earliest times to the middle of the 11th century. ii. the middle high german period, from the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 14th century. iii. the transition period, from the middle of the 14th century to the reformation in the 16th century. iv. the period of renaissance and pseudo-classicism, from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th. v. the classical period of modern german literature, from the middle of the 18th century to goethe's death in 1832. vi. the period from goethe's death to the present day. i. the old high german period (c. 750-1050) of all the germanic races, the tribes with which we have more particularly to deal here were the latest to attain intellectual maturity. the goths had, centuries earlier, under their famous bishop ulfilas or wulfila, possessed the bible in their vernacular, the northern races could point to their _edda_, the germanic tribes in england to a rich and virile old english poetry, before a written german literature of any consequence existed at all. at the same time, these continental tribes, in the epoch that lay between the migrations of the 5th century and the age of charles the great, were not without poetic literature of a kind, but it was not committed to writing, or, at least, no record of such a poetry has come down to us. its existence is vouched for by indirect historical evidence, and by the fact that the sagas, out of which the german national epic was welded at a later date, originated in the great upheaval of the 5th century. when the vernacular literature began to emerge from an unwritten state in the 8th century, it proved to be merely a weak reflection of the ecclesiastical writings of the monasteries; and this, with very few exceptions, old high german literature remained. translations of the liturgy, of tatian's _gospel harmony_ (c. 835), of fragments of sermons, form a large proportion of it. occasionally, as in the so-called _monsee fragments_, and at the end of the period, in the prose of notker labeo (d. 1022), this ecclesiastical literature attains a surprising maturity of style and expression. but it had no vitality of its own; it virtually sprang into existence at the command of charlemagne, whose policy with regard to the use of the vernacular in place of latin was liberal and far-seeing; and it docilely obeyed the tastes of the rulers that followed, becoming severely orthodox under louis the pious, and consenting to immediate extinction when the saxon emperors withdrew their favour from it. apart from a few shorter poetic fragments of interest, such as the _merseburg charms_ (_zauberspruche_), an undoubted relic of pre-christian times, the _wessobrunn prayer_ (c. 780), the _muspilli_, an imaginative description of the day of judgment, and the _ludwigslied_ (881), which may be regarded as the starting point for the german historical ballad, the only high german poem of importance in this early period was the _gospel book_ (_liber evangeliorum_) of otfrid of weissenburg (c. 800-870). even this work is more interesting as the earliest attempt to supersede alliteration in german poetry by rhyme, than for such poetic life as the monk of weissenburg was able to instil into his narrative. in fact, for the only genuine poetry of this epoch we have to look, not to the high german but to the low german races. they alone seemed able to give literary expression to the memories handed down in oral tradition from the 5th century; to saxon tradition we owe the earliest extant fragment of a national saga, the _lay of hildebrand_ (_hildebrandslied_, c. 800), and a saxon poet was the author of a vigorous alliterative version of the gospel story, the _heliand_ (c. 830), and also of part of the old testament (_genesis_). this alliterative epic--for epic it may be called--is the one poem of this age in which the christian tradition has been adapted to german poetic needs. of the existence of a lyric poetry we only know by hearsay; and the drama had nowhere in europe yet emerged from its earliest purely liturgic condition. such as it was, the vernacular literature of the old high german period enjoyed but a brief existence, and in the 10th and 11th centuries darkness again closed over it. the dominant "german" literature in these centuries is in latin; but that literature is not without national interest, for it shows in what direction the german mind was moving. the _lay of walter_ (_waltharilied_, c. 930), written in elegant hexameters by ekkehard of st gall, the moralizing dramas of hrosvitha (roswitha) of gandersheim, the _ecbasis captivi_ (c. 940), earliest of all the beast epics, and the romantic adventures of _ruodlieb_ (c. 1030), form a literature which, latin although it is, foreshadows the future developments of german poetry. ii. the middle high german period (1050-1350) (a) _early middle high german poetry._--the beginnings of middle high german literature were hardly less tentative than those of the preceding period. the saxon emperors, with their latin and even byzantine tastes, had made it extremely difficult to take up the thread where notker let it drop. williram of ebersberg, the commentator of the _song of songs_ (c. 1063), did certainly profit by notker's example, but he stands alone. the church had no helping hand to offer poetry, as in the more liberal epoch of the great charles; for, at the middle of the 11th century, when the linguistic change from old to middle high german was taking place, a movement of religious asceticism, originating in the burgundian monastery of cluny, spread across europe, and before long all the german peoples fell under its influence. for a century there was no room for any literature that did not place itself unreservedly at the service of the church, a service which meant the complete abnegation of the brighter side of life. repellent in their asceticism are, for instance, poems like _memento mori_ (c. 1050), _vom glauben_, a verse commentary on the creed by a monk hartmann (c. 1120), and a poem on "the remembrance of death" (_von des todes gehugede_) by heinreich von melk (c. 1150); only rarely, as in a few narrative poems on old testament subjects, are the poets of this time able to forget for a time their lugubrious faith. in the _ezzolied_ (c. 1060), a spirited lay by a monk of bamberg on the life, miracles and death of christ, and in the _annolied_ (c. 1080), a poem in praise of the archbishop anno of cologne, we find, however, some traces of a higher poetic imagination. the transition from this rigid ecclesiastic spirit to a freer, more imaginative literature is to be seen in the lyric poetry inspired by the virgin, in the legends of the saints which bulk so largely in the poetry of the 12th century, and in the general trend towards mysticism. andreas, pilatus, aegidius, albanius are the heroes of monkish romances of that age, and the stories of sylvester and crescentia form the most attractive parts of the _kaiserchronik_ (c. 1130-1150), a long, confused chronicle of the world which contains many elements common to later middle high german poetry. the national sagas, of which the poet of the _kaiserchronik_ had not been oblivious, soon began to assert themselves in the popular literature. the wandering _spielleute_, the lineal descendants of the jesters and minstrels of the dark ages, who were now rapidly becoming a factor of importance in literature, were here the innovators; to them we owe the romance of _konig rother_ (c. 1160), and the kindred stories of _orendel_, _oswald_ and _salomon und markolf_ (_salman und morolf_). all these poems bear witness to a new element, which in these years kindled the german imagination and helped to counteract the austerity of the religious faith--the crusades. with what alacrity the germans revelled in the wonderland of the east is to be seen especially in the _alexanderlied_ (c. 1130), and in _herzog ernst_ (c. 1180), romances which point out the way to another important development of german medieval literature, the court epic. the latter type of romance was the immediate product of the social conditions created by chivalry and, like chivalry itself, was determined and influenced by its french origin; so also was the version of the _chanson de roland_ (_rolandslied_, c. 1135), which we owe to another priest, konrad of regensburg, who, with considerable probability, has been identified with the author of the _kaiserchronik_. the court epic was, however, more immediately ushered in by eilhart von oberge, a native of the neighbourhood of hildesheim who, in his _tristant_ (c. 1170), chose that arthurian type of romance which from now on was especially cultivated by the poets of the court epic; and of equally early origin is a knightly romance of _floris und blancheflur_, another of the favourite love stories of the middle ages. in these years, too, the beast epic, which had been represented by the latin _ecbasis captivi_, was reintroduced into germany by an alsatian monk, heinrich der glichezaere, who based his _reinhart fuchs_ (c. 1180) on the french _roman de renart_. lastly, we have to consider the beginning of the _minnesang_, or lyric, which in the last decades of the 12th century burst out with extraordinary vigour in austria and south germany. the origins are obscure, and it is still debatable how much in the german minnesang is indigenous and national, how much due to french and provencal influence; for even in its earliest phases the minnesang reveals correspondences with the contemporary lyric of the south of france. the freshness and originality of the early south german singers, such as kurenberg, dietmar von eist, the burggraf of rietenburg and meinloh von sevelingen, are not, however, to be questioned; in spite of foreign influence, their verses make the impression of having been a spontaneous expression of german lyric feeling in the 12th century. the _spruchdichtung_, a form of poetry which in this period is represented by at least two poets who call themselves herger and "der spervogel," was less dependent on foreign models; the pointed and satirical strophes of these poets were the forerunners of a vast literature which did not reach its highest development until after literature had passed from the hands of the noble-born knight to those of the burgher of the towns. (b) _the flourishing of middle high german poetry._--such was the preparation for the extraordinarily brilliant, although brief epoch of german medieval poetry, which corresponded to the reigns of the hohenstaufen emperors, frederick i. barbarossa, henry vi. and frederick ii. these rulers, by their ambitious political aspirations and achievements, filled the german peoples with a sense of "world-mission," as the leading political power in medieval europe. docile pupils of french chivalry, the germans had no sooner learned their lesson than they found themselves in the position of being able to dictate to the world of chivalry. in the same way, the german poets, who, in the 12th century, had been little better than clumsy translators of french romances, were able, at the beginning of the 13th, to substitute for french _chansons de geste_ epics based on national sagas, to put a completely german imprint on the french arthurian romance, and to sing german songs before which even the lyric of provence paled. national epic, court epic and minnesang--these three types of medieval german literature, to which may be added as a subordinate group didactic poetry, comprise virtually all that has come down to us in the middle high german tongue. a middle high german prose hardly existed, and the drama, such as it was, was still essentially latin. the first place among the national or popular epics belongs to the _nibelungenlied_, which received its present form in austria about the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. combining, as it does, elements from various cycles of sagas--the lower rhenish legend of siegfried, the burgundian saga of gunther and hagen, the gothic saga of dietrich and etzel--it stands out as the most representative epic of german medieval life. and in literary power, dramatic intensity and singleness of purpose its eminence is no less unique. the vestiges of gradual growth--of irreconcilable elements imperfectly welded together--may not have been entirely effaced, but they in no way lessen the impression of unity which the poem leaves behind it; whoever the welder of the sagas may have been, he was clearly a poet of lofty imagination and high epic gifts (see nibelungenlied). less imposing as a whole, but in parts no less powerful in its appeal to the modern mind, is the second of the german national epics, _gudrun_, which was written early in the 13th century. this poem, as it has come down to us, is the work of an austrian, but the subject belongs to a cycle of sagas which have their home on the shores of the north sea. it seems almost a freak of chance that siegfried, the hero of the rhineland, should occupy so prominent a position in the _nibelungenlied_, whereas dietrich von bern (i.e. of verona), the name under which theodoric the great had been looked up to for centuries by the german people as their national hero, should have left the stamp of his personality on no single epic of the intrinsic worth of the _nibelungenlied_. he appears, however, more or less in the background of a number of romances--_die rabenschlacht_, _dietrichs flucht_, _alpharts tod_, _biterolf und dietlieb_, _laurin_, &c.--which make up what is usually called the _heldenbuch_. it is tempting, indeed, to see in this very unequal collection the basis for what, under more favourable circumstances, might have developed into an epic even more completely representative of the german nation than the _nibelungenlied_. while the influence of the romance of chivalry is to be traced on all these popular epics, something of the manlier, more primitive ideals that animated german national poetry passed over to the second great group of german medieval poetry, the court epic. the poet who, following eilhart von oberge's tentative beginnings, established the court epic in germany was heinrich von veldeke, a native of the district of the lower rhine; his _eneit_, written between 1173 and 1186, is based on a french original. other poets of the time, such as herbort von fritzlar, the author of a _liet von troye_, followed heinrich's example, and selected french models for german poems on antique themes; while albrecht von halberstadt translated about the year 1210 the _metamorphoses_ of ovid into german verse. with the three masters of the court epic, hartmann von aue, wolfram von eschenbach and gottfried von strassburg--all of them contemporaries--the arthurian cycle became the recognized theme of this type of romance, and the accepted embodiment of the ideals of the knightly classes. hartmann was a swabian, wolfram a bavarian, gottfried presumably a native of strassburg. hartmann, who in his _erec_ and _iwein_, _gregorius_ and _der arme heinrich_ combined a tendency towards religious asceticism with a desire to imbue the worldly life of the knight with a moral and religious spirit, provided the court epic of the age with its best models; he had, of all the medieval court poets, the most delicate sense for the formal beauty of poetry, for language, verse and style. wolfram and gottfried, on the other hand, represent two extremes of poetic temperament. wolfram's _parzival_ is filled with mysticism and obscure spiritual significance; its flashes of humour irradiate, although they can hardly be said to illumine, the gloom; its hero is, unconsciously, a symbol and allegory of much which to the poet himself must have been mysterious and inexplicable; in other words, _parzival_--and wolfram's other writings, _willehalm_ and _titurel_, point in the same direction--is an instinctive or, to use schiller's word, a "naive" work of genius. gottfried, again, is hardly less gifted and original, but he is a poet of a wholly different type. his _tristan_ is even more lucid than hartmann's _iwein_, his art is more objective; his delight in it is that of the conscious artist who sees his work growing under his hands. gottfried's poem, in other words, is free from the obtrusion of those subjective elements which are in so high a degree characteristic of _parzival_; in spite of the tragic character of the story, _tristan_ is radiant and serene, and yet uncontaminated by that tone of frivolity which the renaissance introduced into love stories of this kind. _parzival_ and _tristan_ are the two poles of the german court epic, and the subsequent development of that epic stands under the influence of the three poets, hartmann, wolfram and gottfried; according as the poets of the 13th century tend to imitate one or other of these, they fall into three classes. to the followers and imitators of hartmann belong ulrich von zatzikhoven, the author of a _lanzelet_ (c. 1195); wirnt von gravenberg, a bavarian, whose _wigalois_ (c. 1205) shows considerable imaginative power; the versatile spielmann, known as "der stricker"; and heinrich von dem turlin, author of an unwieldy epic, _die krone_ ("the crown of all adventures," c. 1220). the fascination of wolfram's mysticism is to be seen in _der jungere titurel_ of a bavarian poet, albrecht von scharfenberg (c. 1270), and in the still later _lohengrin_ of an unknown poet; whereas gottfried von strassburg dominates the _flore und blanscheflur_ of konrad fleck (c. 1220) and the voluminous romances of the two chief poets of the later 13th century, rudolf von ems, who died in 1254, and konrad von wurzburg, who lived till 1287. of these, konrad alone carried on worthily the traditions of the great age, and even his art, which excels within the narrow limits of romances like _die herzemoere_ and _engelhard_, becomes diffuse and wearisome on the unlimited canvas of _der trojanerkrieg_ and _partonopier und meliur_. the most conspicuous changes which came over the narrative poetry of the 13th century were, on the one hand, a steady encroachment of realism on the matter and treatment of the epic, and, on the other, a leaning to didacticism. the substitution of the "history" of the chronicle for the confessedly imaginative stories of the earlier poets is to be seen in the work of rudolf von ems, and of a number of minor chroniclers like ulrich von eschenbach, berthold von holle and jans enikel; while for the growth of realism we may look to the _pfaffe amis_, a collection of comic anecdotes by "der stricker," the admirable peasant romance _meier helmbrecht_, written between 1236 and 1250 by wernher der gartenaere in bavaria, and to the adventures of ulrich von lichtenstein, as described in his _frauendienst_ (1255) and _frauenbuch_ (1257). more than any single poet of the court epic, more even than the poet of the _nibelungenlied_, walther von der vogelweide summed up in himself all that was best in the group of poetic literature with which he was associated--the minnesang. the early austrian singers already mentioned, poets like heinrich von veldeke, who in his lyrics, as in his epic, introduced the french conception of _minne_, or like the manly friedrich von hausen, and the swiss imitator of provencal measures, rudolf von fenis appear only in the light of forerunners. even more original poets, like heinrich von morungen and walther's own master, reinmar von hagenau, the author of harmonious but monotonously elegiac verses, or among immediate contemporaries, hartmann von aue and wolfram von eschenbach, whose few lyric strophes are as deeply stamped with his individuality as his epics--seem only tributary to the full rich stream of walther's genius. there was not a form of the german minnesang which walther did not amplify and deepen; songs of courtly love and lowly love, of religious faith and delight in nature, patriotic songs and political _spruche_--in all he was a master. of walther's life we are somewhat better informed than in the case of his contemporaries: he was born about 1170 and died about 1230; his art he learned in austria, whereupon he wandered through south germany, a welcome guest wherever he went, although his vigorous championship of what he regarded as the national cause in the political struggles of the day won him foes as well as friends. for centuries he remained the accepted exemplar of german lyric poetry; not merely the minnesanger who followed him, but also the meistersinger of the 15th and 16th centuries looked up to him as one of the founders and lawgivers of their art. he was the most influential of all germany's lyric poets, and in the breadth, originality and purity of his inspiration one of her greatest (see walther von der vogelweide). the development of the german minnesang after walther's death and under his influence is easily summed up. contemporaries had been impressed by the dual character of walther's lyric; they distinguished a higher courtly lyric, and a lower more outspoken form of song, free from the constraint of social or literary conventions. the later minnesang emphasized this dualism. amongst walther's immediate contemporaries, high-born poets, whose lives were passed at courts, naturally cultivated the higher lyric; but the more gifted and original singers of the time rejoiced in the freedom of walther's poetry of _niedere minne_. it was, in fact, in accordance with the spirit of the age that the latter should have been walther's most valuable legacy to his successors; and the greatest of these, neidhart von reuental (c. 1180-c. 1250), certainly did not allow himself to be hampered by aristocratic prejudices. neidhart sought the themes of his _hofische dorfpoesie_ in the village, and, as the mood happened to dictate, depicted the peasant with humorous banter or biting satire. the lyric poets of the later 13th century were either, like burkart von hohenfels, ulrich von winterstetten and gottfried von neifen, echoes of walther von der vogelweide and of neidhart, or their originality was confined to some particular form of lyric poetry in which they excelled. thus the singer known as "der tannhauser" distinguished himself as an imitator of the french _pastourelle_; reinmar von zweter was purely a _spruchdichter_. more or less common to all is the consciousness that their own ideas and surroundings were no longer in harmony with the aristocratic world of chivalry, which the poets of the previous generation had glorified. the solid advantages, material prosperity and increasing comfort of life in the german towns appealed to poets like steinmar von klingenau more than the unworldly ideals of self-effacing knighthood which ulrich von lichtenstein and johann hadlaub of zurich clung to so tenaciously and extolled so warmly. on the whole, the spruchdichter came best out of this ordeal of changing fashions; and the increasing interest in the moral and didactic applications of literature favoured the development of this form of verse. the confusion of didactic purpose with the lyric is common to all the later poetry, to that of the learned marner, of boppe, rumezland and heinrich von meissen, who was known to later generations as "frauenlob." the _spruchdichtung_, in fact, was one of the connecting links between the minnesang of the 13th and the lyric and satiric poetry of the 15th and 16th centuries. the disturbing and disintegrating element in the literature of the 13th century was thus the substitution of a utilitarian didacticism for the idealism of chivalry. in the early decades of that century, poems like _der winsbeke_, by a bavarian, and _der welsche gast_, written in 1215-1216 by thomasin von zirclaere (zirclaria), a native of friuli, still teach with uncompromising idealism the duties and virtues of the knightly life. but in the _bescheidenheit_ (c. 1215-1230) of a wandering singer, who called himself freidank, we find for the first time an active antagonism to the unworldly code of chivalry and an unmistakable reflection of the changing social order, brought about by the rise of what we should now call the middle class. freidank is the spokesman of the _burger_, and in his terse, witty verses may be traced the germs of german intellectual and literary development in the coming centuries--even of the reformation itself. from the advent of freidank onwards, the satiric and didactic poetry went the way of the epic; what it gained in quantity it lost in quality and concentration. the satires associated with the name of seifried helbling, an austrian who wrote in the last fifteen years of the 13th century, and _der renner_ by hugo von trimberg, written at the very end of the century, may be taken as characteristic of the later period, where terseness and incisive wit have given place to diffuse moralizing and allegory. there is practically no middle high german literature in prose; such prose as has come down to us--the tracts of david of augsburg, the powerful sermons of berthold von regensburg (d. 1272), germany's greatest medieval preacher, and several legal codes, as the _sachsenspiegel_ and _schwabenspiegel_--only prove that the germans of the 13th century had not yet realized the possibilities of prose as a medium of literary expression. iii. the transition period (1350-1600) (a) _the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries._--as is the case with all transitional periods of literary history, this epoch of german literature may be considered under two aspects: on the one hand, we may follow in it the decadence and disintegration of the literature of the middle high german period; on the other, we may study the beginnings of modern forms of poetry and the preparation of that spiritual revolution, which meant hardly less to the germanic peoples than the renaissance to the latin races--the protestant reformation. by the middle of the 14th century, knighthood with its chivalric ideals was rapidly declining, and the conditions under which medieval poetry had flourished were passing away. the social change rendered the courtly epic of arthur's round table in great measure incomprehensible to the younger generation, and made it difficult for them to understand the spirit that actuated the heroes of the national epic; the tastes to which the lyrics of the great minnesingers had appealed were vitiated by the more practical demands of the rising middle classes. but the stories of chivalry still appealed as stories to the people, although the old way of telling them was no longer appreciated. the feeling for beauty of form and expression was lost; the craving for a moral purpose and didactic aim had to be satisfied at the cost of artistic beauty; and sensational incident was valued more highly than fine character-drawing or inspired poetic thought. signs of the decadence are to be seen in the _karlmeinet_ of this period, stories from the youth of charlemagne, in a continuation of _parzival_ by two alsatians, claus wisse and philipp colin (c. 1335), in an _apollonius von tyrus_ by heinrich von neuenstadt (c. 1315), and a _konigstochter von frankreich_ by hans von buhel (c. 1400). the story of siegfried was retold in a rough ballad, _das lied von hurnen seyfried_, the _heldenbuch_ was recast in _knittelvers_ or doggerel (1472), and even the arthurian epic was parodied. a no less marked symptom of decadence is to be seen in a large body of allegorical poetry analogous to the _roman de la rose_ in france; heinzelein of constance, at the end of the 13th, and hadamar von laber and hermann von sachsenheim, about the middle of the 15th century, were representatives of this movement. as time went on, prose versions of the old stories became more general, and out of these developed the _volksbucher_, such as _loher und maller_, _die haimonskinder_, _die schone magelone_, _melusine_, which formed the favourite reading of the german people for centuries. as the last monuments of the decadent narrative literature of the middle ages, we may regard the _buch der abenteuer_ of ulrich fuetrer, written at the end of the 15th century, and _der weisskonig_ and _teuerdank_ by the emperor maximilian i. (1459-1519) printed in the early years of the 16th. at the beginning of the new epoch the minnesang could still point to two masters able to maintain the great traditions of the 13th century, hugo von montfort (1357-1423) and oswald von wolkenstein (1367-1445); but as the lyric passed into the hands of the middle-class poets of the german towns, it was rapidly shorn of its essentially lyric qualities; _die minne_ gave place to moral and religious dogmatism, emphasis was laid on strict adherence to the rules of composition, and the simple forms of the older lyric were superseded by ingenious metrical distortions. under the influence of writers like heinrich von meissen ("frauenlob," c. 1250-1318) and heinrich von mugeln in the 14th century, like muskatblut and michael beheim (1416-c. 1480) in the 15th, the minnesang thus passed over into the meistergesang. in the later 15th and in the 16th centuries all the south german towns possessed flourishing meistersinger schools in which the art of writing verse was taught and practised according to complicated rules, and it was the ambition of every gifted citizen to rise through the various grades from _schuler_ to _meister_ and to distinguish himself in the "singing contests" instituted by the schools. such are the decadent aspects of the once rich literature of the middle high german period in the 14th and 15th centuries. turning now to the more positive side of the literary movement, we have to note a revival of a popular lyric poetry--the volkslied--which made the futility and artificiality of the meistergesang more apparent. never before or since has germany been able to point to such a rich harvest of popular poetry as is to be seen in the volkslieder of these two centuries. every form of popular poetry is to be found here--songs of love and war, hymns and drinking-songs, songs of spring and winter, historical ballads, as well as lyrics in which the old motives of the minnesang reappear stripped of all artificiality. more obvious ties with the literature of the preceding age are to be seen in the development of the _schwank_ or comic anecdote. collections of such stories, which range from the practical jokes of _till eulenspiegel_ (1515), and the coarse witticisms of the _pfaffe vom kalenberg_ (end of 14th century) and _peter leu_ (1550), to the religious and didactic anecdotes of j. pauli's _schimpf und ernst_ (1522) or the more literary _rollwagenbuchlein_ (1555) of jorg wickram and the _wendunmut_ (1563 ff.) of h.w. kirchhoff--these dominate in large measure the literature of the 15th and 16th centuries; they are the literary descendants of the medieval _pfaffe amis_, _markolf_ and _reinhart fuchs_. an important development of this type of popular literature is to be seen in the _narrenschiff_ of sebastian brant (1457-1521), where the humorous anecdote became a vehicle of the bitterest satire; brant's own contempt for the vulgarity of the ignorant, and the deep, unsatisfied craving of all strata of society for a wider intellectual horizon and a more humane and dignified life, to which brant gave voice, make the _narrenschiff_, which appeared in 1494, a landmark on the way that led to the reformation. another form--the beast fable and beast epic--which is but sparingly represented in earlier times, appealed with peculiar force to the new generation. at the very close of the middle high german period, ulrich boner had revived the aesopic fable in his _edelstein_ (1349), translations of aesop in the following century added to the popularity of the fable (q.v.), and in the century of the reformation it became, in the hands of burkard waldis (_esopus_, 1548) and erasmus alberus (_buch von der tugend und weisheit_, 1550), a favourite instrument of satire and polemic. a still more attractive form of the beast fable was the epic of _reinke de vos_, which had been cultivated by flemish poets in the 13th and 14th centuries and has come down to us in a low saxon translation, published at lubeck in 1498. this, too, like brant's poem, is a powerful satire on human folly, and is also, like the _narrenschiff_, a harbinger of the coming reformation. a complete innovation was the drama (q.v.), which, as we have seen, had practically no existence in middle high german times. as in all european literatures, it emerged slowly and with difficulty from its original subservience to the church liturgy. as time went on, the vernacular was substituted for the original latin, and with increasing demands for pageantry, the scene of the play was removed to the churchyard or the market-place; thus the opportunity arose in the 14th and 15th centuries for developing the _weihnachtsspiel_, _osterspiel_ and _passionsspiel_ on secular lines. the enlargement of the scope of the religious play to include legends of the saints implied a further step in the direction of a complete separation of the drama from ecclesiastical ceremony. the most interesting example of this encroachment of the secular spirit is the _spiel von frau jutten_--jutta being the notorious pope joan--by an alsatian, dietrich schernberg, in 1480. meanwhile, in the 15th century, a beginning had been made of a drama entirely independent of the church. the mimic representations--originally allegorical in character--with which the people amused themselves at the great festivals of the year, and more especially in spring, were interspersed with dialogue, and performed on an improvised stage. this was the beginning of the _fastnachtsspiel_ or shrovetide-play, the subject of which was a comic anecdote similar to those of the many collections of _schwanke_. amongst the earliest cultivators of the _fastnachtsspiel_ were hans rosenplut (fl. c. 1460) and hans folz (fl. c. 1510), both of whom were associated with nuremberg. (b) _the age of the reformation._--promising as were these literary beginnings of the 15th century, the real significance of the period in germany's intellectual history is to be sought outside literature, namely, in two forces which immediately prepared the way for the reformation--mysticism and humanism. the former of these had been a more or less constant factor in german religious thought throughout the middle ages, but with meister eckhart (? 1260-1327), the most powerful and original of all the german mystics, with heinrich seuse or suso (c. 1300-1366), and johannes tauler (c. 1300-1361), it became a clearly defined mental attitude towards religion; it was an essentially personal interpretation of christianity, and, as such, was naturally conducive to the individual freedom which protestantism ultimately realized. it is thus not to be wondered at that we should owe the early translations of the bible into german--one was printed at strassburg in 1466--to the mystics. johann geiler von kaisersberg (1445-1510), a pupil of the humanists and a friend of sebastian brant, may be regarded as a link between eckhart and the earlier mysticists and luther. humanism was transplanted to german soil with the foundation of the university of prague in 1348, and it made even greater strides than mysticism. its immediate influence, however, was restricted to the educated classes; the pre-reformation humanists despised the vernacular and wrote and thought only in latin. thus although neither johann reuchlin of pforzheim (1455-1522), nor even the patriotic alsatian, jakob wimpfeling (or wimpheling) (1450-1528)--not to mention the great dutch humanist erasmus of rotterdam (1466-1536)--has a place in the history of german literature, their battle for liberalism in thought and scholarship against the narrow orthodoxy of the church cleared the way for a healthy national literature among the german-speaking peoples. the incisive wit and irony of humanistic satire--we need only instance the _epistolae obscurorum virorum_ (1515-1517)--prevented the german satirists of the reformation age from sinking entirely into that coarse brutality to which they were only too prone. to the influence of the humanists we also owe many translations from the latin and italian dating from the 15th century. prominent among the writers who contributed to the group of literature were niklas von wyl, chancellor of wurttemberg, and his immediate contemporary albrecht von eyb (1420-1475). martin luther (1483-1546), germany's greatest man in this age of intellectual new-birth, demands a larger share of attention in a survey of literature than his religious and ecclesiastical activity would in itself justify, if only because the literary activity of the age cannot be regarded apart from him. from the volkslied and the popular _schwank_ to satire and drama, literature turned exclusively round the reformation which had been inaugurated on the 31st of october 1517 by luther's publication of the _theses against indulgences_ in wittenberg. in his three tracts, _an den christlichen adel deutscher nation_, _de captivitate babylonica ecclesiae_, and _von der freiheit eines christenmenschen_ (1520), luther laid down his principles of reform, and in the following year resolutely refused to recant his heresies in a dramatic scene before the council of worms. luther's bible (1522-1534) had unique importance not merely for the religious and intellectual welfare of the german people, but also for their literature. it is in itself a literary monument, a german classic, and the culmination and justification of that movement which had supplanted the medieval knight by the burgher and swept away middle high german poetry. luther, well aware that his translation of the bible must be the keystone to his work, gave himself endless pains to produce a thoroughly german work--german both in language and in spirit. it was important that the dialect into which the bible was translated should be comprehensible over as wide an area as possible of the german-speaking world, and for this reason he took all possible care in choosing the vocabulary and forms of his _gemeindeutsch_. the language of the saxon chancery thus became, thanks to luther's initiative, the basis of the modern high german literary language. as a hymn-writer (_geistliche lieder_, 1564), luther was equally mindful of the importance of adapting himself to the popular tradition; and his hymns form the starting-point for a vast development of german religious poetry which did not reach its highest point until the following century. the most powerful and virile literature of this age was the satire with which the losing side retaliated on the protestant leaders. amongst luther's henchmen, philipp melanchthon (1497-1560), the "praeceptor germaniae," and ulrich von hutten (1488-1523) were powerful allies in the cause, but their intellectual sympathies were with the latin humanists; and with the exception of some vigorous german prose and still more vigorous german verse by hutten, both wrote in latin. the satirical dramas of niklas manuel, a swiss writer and the polemical fables of erasmus alberus (c. 1500-1553), on the other hand, were insignificant compared with the fierce assault on protestantism by the alsatian monk, thomas murner (1475-1537). the most unscrupulous of all german satirists, murner shrank from no extremes of scurrility, his attacks on luther reaching their culmination in the gross personalities of _von dem lutherischen narren_ (1522). it was not until the following generation that the protestant party could point to a satirist who in genius and power was at all comparable to murner, namely, to johann fischart (c. 1550-c. 1591); but when fischart's rabelaisian humour is placed by the side of his predecessor's work, we see that, in spite of counter-reformations, the protestant cause stood in a very different position in fischart's day from that which it had occupied fifty years before. fischart took his stand on the now firm union between humanism and protestantism. his chief work, the _affentheuerlich naupengeheurliche geschichtklitterung_ (1575), a germanization of the first book of rabelais' satire, is a witty and ingenious monstrosity, a satirical comment on the life of the 16th century, not the virulent expression of party strife. the day of a personal and brutal type of satire was clearly over, and the writers of the later 16th century reverted more and more to the finer methods of the humanists. the satire of bartholomaeus ringwaldt (1530-1599) and of georg rollenhagen (1542-1609), author of the _froschmeuseler_ (1595), was more "literary" and less actual than even fischart's. on the whole, the form of literature which succeeded best in emancipating itself from the trammels of religious controversy in the 16th century was the drama. protestantism proved favourable to its intellectual and literary development, and the humanists, who had always prided themselves on their imitations of latin comedy, introduced into it a sense for form and proportion. the latin school comedy in germany was founded by j. wimpfeling with his _stylpho_ (1470) and by j. reuchlin with his witty adaptation of _maitre patelin_ in his _henno_ (1498). in the 16th century the chief writers of latin dramas were thomas kirchmair or naogeorgus (1511-1563), caspar brulow (1585-1627), and nikodemus frischlin (1547-1590), who also wrote dramas in the vernacular. the work of these men bears testimony in its form and its choice of subjects to the close relationship between latin and german drama in the 16th century. one of the earliest focusses for a german drama inspired by the reformation was switzerland. in basel, pamphilus gengenbach produced moralizing _fastnachtsspiele_ in 1515-1516; niklas manuel of bern (1484-1530)--who has just been mentioned--employed the same type of play as a vehicle of pungent satire against the mass and the sale of indulgences. but it was not long before the german drama benefited by the humanistic example: the _parabell vam vorlorn szohn_ by burkard waldis (1527), the many dramas on the subject of _susanna_--notably those of sixt birck (1532) and paul rebhun(1535)--and frischlin's german plays are attempts to treat biblical themes according to classic methods. in another of the important literary centres of the 16th century, however, in nuremberg, the drama developed on indigenous lines. hans sachs (1494-1576), the nuremberg cobbler and meistersinger, the most productive writer of the age, went his own way; a voracious reader and an unwearied storyteller, he left behind him a vast literary legacy, embracing every form of popular literature from _spruch_ and _schwank_ to complicated _meistergesang_ and lengthy drama. he laid under contribution the rich renaissance literature with which the humanistic translators had flooded germany, and he became himself an ardent champion of the "wittembergisch nachtigall" luther. but in the progressive movement of the german drama he played an even smaller role than his swiss and saxon contemporaries; for his tragedies and comedies are deficient in all dramatic qualities; they are only stories in dialogue. in the _fastnachtsspiele_, where dramatic form is less essential than anecdotal point and brevity, he is to be seen at his best. rich as the 16th century was in promise, the conditions for the development of a national drama were unfavourable. at the close of the century the influence of the english drama--brought to germany by english actors--introduced the deficient dramatic and theatrical force into the humanistic and "narrative" drama which has just been considered. this is to be seen in the work of jakob ayrer (d. 1605) and duke henry julius of brunswick (1564-1613). but unfortunately these beginnings had hardly made themselves felt when the full current of the renaissance was diverted across germany, bringing in its train the senecan tragedy. then came the thirty years' war, which completely destroyed the social conditions indispensable for the establishment of a theatre at once popular and national. the novel was less successful than the drama in extricating itself from satire and religious controversy. fischart was too dependent on foreign models and too erratic--at one time adapting rabelais, at another translating the old heroic romance of _amadis de gaula_--to create a national form of german fiction in the 16th century; the most important novelist was a much less talented writer, the alsatian meistersinger and dramatist jorg wickram (d. c. 1560), who has been already mentioned as the author of a popular collection of anecdotes, the _rollwagenbuchlein_. his longer novels, _der knabenspiegel_ (1554) and der goldfaden (1557), are in form, and especially in the importance they attach to psychological developments, the forerunners of the movement to which we owe the best works of german fiction in the 18th century. but wickram stands alone. so inconsiderable, in fact, is the fiction of the reformation age in germany that we have to regard the old _volksbucher_ as its equivalent; and it is significant that of all the prose writings of this age, the book which affords the best insight into the temper and spirit of the reformation was just one of these crude _volksbucher_, namely, the famous story of the magician _doctor johann faust_, published at frankfort in 1587. iv. the renaissance (1600-1740) the 17th century in germany presents a complete contrast to its predecessor; the fact that it was the century of the thirty years' war, which devastated the country, crippled the prosperity of the towns, and threw back by many generations the social development of the people, explains much, but it can hardly be held entirely responsible for the intellectual apathy, the slavery to foreign customs and foreign ideas, which stunted the growth of the nation. the freedom of lutheranism degenerated into a paralyzing lutheran orthodoxy which was as hostile to the "freiheit eines christenmenschen" as that catholicism it had superseded; the idealism of the humanists degenerated in the same way into a dry, pedantic scholasticism which held the german mind in fetters until, at the very close of the century, leibnitz set it free. most disheartening of all, literature which in the 16th century had been so full of promise and had conformed with such aptitude to the new ideas, was in all its higher manifestations blighted by the dead hand of pseudo-classicism. the unkempt literature of the reformation age admittedly stood in need of guidance and discipline, but the 17th century made the fatal mistake of trying to impose the laws and rules of romance literatures on a people of a purely germanic stock. there were, however, some branches of german poetry which escaped this foreign influence. the church hymn, continuing the great lutheran traditions, rose in the 17th century to extraordinary richness both in quality and quantity. paul gerhardt (1607-1676), the greatest german hymn-writer, was only one of many lutheran pastors who in this age contributed to the german hymnal. on the catholic side, angelus silesius, or johann scheffler (1624-1677) showed what a wealth of poetry lay in the mystic speculations of jakob boehme, the gifted shoemaker of gorlitz (1575-1624), and author of the famous _aurora, oder morgenrote im aufgang_ (1612); while friedrich von spee (1591-1635), another leading catholic poet of the century, cultivated the pastoral allegory of the renaissance. the revival of mysticism associated with boehme gradually spread through the whole religious life of the 17th century, protestant as well as catholic, and in the more specifically protestant form of pietism, it became, at the close of the period, a force of moment in the literary revival. besides the hymn, the volkslied, which amidst the struggles and confusion of the great war bore witness to a steadily growing sense of patriotism, lay outside the domain of the literary theorists and dictators, and developed in its own way. but all else--if we except certain forms of fiction, which towards the end of the 17th century rose into prominence--stood completely under the sway of the latin renaissance. the first focus of the movement was heidelberg, which had been a centre of humanistic learning in the sixteenth century. here, under the leadership of j.w. zincgref (1591-1635), a number of scholarly writers carried into practice that interest in the vernacular which had been shown a little earlier by the german translator of marot, paul schede or melissus, librarian in heidelberg. the most important forerunner of opitz was g.r. weckherlin (1584-1653), a native of wurttemberg who had spent the best part of his life in england; his _oden und gesange_ (1618-1619) ushered in the era of renaissance poetry in germany with a promise that was but indifferently fulfilled by his successors. of these the greatest, or at least the most influential, was martin opitz (1597-1639). he was a native of silesia and, as a student in heidelberg, came into touch with zincgref's circle; subsequently, in the course of a visit to holland, a more definite trend was given to his ideas by the example of the dutch poet and scholar, daniel heinsius. as a poet, opitz experimented with every form of recognized renaissance poetry from ode and epic to pastoral romance and senecan drama; but his poetry is for the most part devoid of inspiration; and his extraordinary fame among his contemporaries would be hard to understand, were it not that in his _buch von der deutschen poeterey_ (1624) he gave the german renaissance its theoretical textbook. in this tract, in which opitz virtually reproduced in german the accepted dogmas of renaissance theorists like scaliger and ronsard, he not merely justified his own mechanical verse-making, but also gave germany a law-book which regulated her literature for a hundred years. the work of opitz as a reformer was furthered by another institution of latin origin, namely, literary societies modelled on the _accademia della crusca_ in florence. these societies, of which the chief were the _fruchtbringende gesellschaft_ or _palmenorden_ (founded 1617), the _elbschwanenorden_ in hamburg and the _gekronter blumenorden an der pegnitz or gesellschaft der pegnitzschafer_ in nuremberg, were the centres of literary activity during the unsettled years of the war. although they produced much that was trivial--such as the extraordinary _nurnberger trichter_ (1647-1653) by g.p. harsdorffer (1607-1658), a treatise which professed to turn out a fully equipped german poet in the space of six hours--these societies also did german letters an invaluable service by their attention to the language, one of their chief objects having been to purify the german language from foreign and un-german ingredients. j.g. schottelius (1612-1676), for instance, wrote his epoch-making grammatical works with the avowed purpose of furthering the objects of the _fruchtbringende gesellschaft_. meanwhile the poetic centre of gravity in germany had shifted from heidelberg to the extreme north-east, to konigsberg, where a group of academic poets gave practical expression to the opitzian theory. chief among them was simon dach (1605-1659), a gentle, elegiac writer on whom the laws of the _buch von der deutschen poeterey_ did not lie too heavily. he, like his more manly and vigorous contemporary paul fleming (1609-1640), showed, one might say, that it was possible to write good and sincere poetry notwithstanding opitz's mechanical rules. in the previous century the most advanced form of literature had been satire, and under the new conditions the satiric vein still proved most productive; but it was no longer the full-blooded satire of the reformation, or even the rich and luxuriant satiric fancy of fischart, which found expression in the 17th century. satire pure and simple was virtually only cultivated by two low german poets, j. lauremberg (1590-1658) and j. rachel (1618-1669), of whom at least the latter was accepted by the opitzian school; but the satiric spirit rose to higher things in the powerful and scathing sermons of j.b. schupp (1610-1661), an outspoken hamburg preacher, and in the scurrilous wit of the viennese monk abraham a sancta clara (1644-1709), who had inherited some of his predecessor murner's intellectual gifts. best of all are the epigrams of the most gifted of all the silesian group of writers, friedrich von logau (1604-1655). logau's three thousand epigrams (_deutsche sinngedichte_, 1654) afford a key to the intellectual temper of the 17th century; they are the epitome of their age. here are to be seen reflected the vices of the time, its aping of french customs and its contempt for what was national and german; logau held up to ridicule the vain bloodshed of the war in the interest of christianity, and, although he praised opitz, he was far from prostrating himself at the dictator's feet. logau is an epigrammatist of the first rank, and perhaps the most remarkable product of the renaissance movement in germany. opitz found difficulty in providing germany with a drama according to the classic canon. he had not himself ventured beyond translations of sophocles and seneca, and johann rist (1607-1667) in hamburg, one of the few contemporary dramatists, had written plays more in the manner of duke heinrich julius of brunswick than of opitz. it was not until after the latter's death that the chief dramatist of the renaissance movement came forward in the person of andreas gryphius (1616-1664). like opitz, gryphius also was a silesian, and a poet of no mean ability, as is to be seen from his lyric poetry; but his tragedies, modelled on the stiff senecan pattern, suffered from the lack of a theatre, and from his ignorance of the existence of a more highly developed drama in france, not to speak of england. as it was, he was content with dutch models. in the field of comedy, where he was less hampered by theories of dramatic propriety, he allowed himself to benefit by the freedom of the dutch farce and the comic effects of the english actors in germany; in his _horribilicribrifax_ and _herr peter squentz_--the latter an adaptation of the comic scenes of the _midsummer night's dream_--gryphius has produced the best german plays of the 17th century. the german novel of the 17th century was, as has been already indicated, less hampered by renaissance laws than other forms of literature, and although it was none the less at the mercy of foreign influence, that influence was more varied and manifold in its character. _don quixote_ had been partly translated early in the 17th century, the picaresque romance had found its way to germany at a still earlier date; while h.m. moscherosch (1601-1669) in his _gesichte philanders von sittewald_ (1642-1643) made the _suenos_ of quevedo the basis for vivid pictures of the life of the time, interspersed with satire. the best german novel of the 17th century, _der abenteurliche simplicissimus_ (1669) by h.j. christoffel von grimmelshausen (c. 1625-1676), is a picaresque novel, but one that owed little more than its form to the spaniards. it is in great measure the autobiography of its author, and describes with uncompromising realism the social disintegration and the horrors of the thirty years' war. but this remarkable book stands alone; grimmelshausen's other writings are but further contributions to the same theme, and he left no disciples worthy of carrying on the tradition he had created. christian weise (1642-1708), rector of the zittau gymnasium, wrote a few satirical novels, but his realism and satire are too obviously didactic. he is seen to better advantage in his dramas, of which he wrote more than fifty for performance by his scholars. the real successor of _simplicissimus_ in germany was the english _robinson crusoe_, a novel which, on its appearance, was immediately translated into german (1721); it called forth an extraordinary flood of imitations, the so-called "robinsonaden," the vogue of which is even still kept alive by _der schweizerische robinson_ of j.r. wyss (1812 ff.). with the exception of j.g. schnabel's _insel felsenburg_ (1731-1743), the literary value of these imitations is slight. they represented, however, a healthier and more natural development of fiction than the "galant" romances which were introduced in the train of the renaissance movement, and cultivated by writers like philipp von zesen (1619-1689), duke anton ulrich of brunswick (1633-1714), a.h. buchholtz (1607-1671), h.a. von ziegler (1653-1697)--author of the famous _asiatische banise_ (1688)--and d.c. von lohenstein (1635-1683), whose _arminius_ (1689-1690) is on the whole the most promising novel of this group. the last mentioned writer and christian hofmann von hofmannswaldau (1617-1679) are sometimes regarded as the leaders of a "second silesian school," as opposed to the first school of opitz. as the cultivators of the bombastic and euphuistic style of the italians guarini and marini, and of the spanish writer gongora, lohenstein and hofmannswaldau touched the lowest point to which german poetry ever sank. but this aberration of taste was happily of short duration. although socially the recovery of the german people from the desolation of the war was slow and laborious, the intellectual life of germany was rapidly recuperating under the influence of foreign thinkers. samuel pufendorf (1632-1694), christian thomasius (1655-1728), christian von wolff (1679-1754) and, above all, gottfried wilhelm leibnitz (1646-1716), the first of the great german philosophers, laid the foundations of that system of rationalism which dominated germany for the better part of the 18th century; while german religious life was strengthened and enriched by a revival of pietism, under mystic thinkers like philipp jakob spener (1635-1705), a revival which also left its traces on religious poetry. such hopeful signs of convalescence could not but be accompanied by an improvement in literary taste, and this is seen in the first instance in a substitution for the bombast and conceits of lohehstein and hofmannswaldau, of poetry on the stricter and soberer lines laid down by boileau. the so-called "court poets" who opposed the second silesian school, men like rudolf von canitz (1654-1699), johann von besser (1654-1729) and benjamin neukirch (1665-1729), were not inspired, but they had at least a certain "correctness" of taste; and from their midst sprang one gifted lyric genius, johann christian gunther (1695-1723), who wrote love-songs such as had not been heard in germany since the days of the minnesang. the methods of hofmannswaldau had obtained considerable vogue in hamburg, where the italian opera kept the decadent renaissance poetry alive. here, however, the incisive wit of christian wernigke's (1661-1725) epigrams was an effective antidote, and barthold heinrich brockes (1680-1747), a native of hamburg, who had been deeply impressed by the appreciation of nature in english poetry, gave the artificialities of the silesians their death-blow. but the influence of english literature was not merely destructive in these years; in the translations and imitations of the english _spectator_, _tatler_ and _guardian_--the so-called _moralische wochenschriften_--it helped to regenerate literary taste, and to implant healthy moral ideas in the german middle classes. the chief representative of the literary movement inaugurated by the silesian "court poets" was johann christoph gottsched (1700-1766), who between 1724 and 1740 succeeded in establishing in leipzig, the metropolis of german taste, literary reforms modelled on the principles of french 17th-century classicism. he reformed and purified the stage according to french ideas, and provided it with a repertory of french origin; in his _kritische dichtkunst_ (1730) he laid down the principles according to which good literature was to be produced and judged. as opitz had reformed german letters with the help of ronsard, so now gottsched took his standpoint on the principles of boileau as interpreted by contemporary french critics and theorists. with gottsched, whose services in purifying the german language have stood the test of time better than his literary or dramatic reforms, the period of german renaissance literature reaches its culmination and at the same time its close. the movement of the age advanced too rapidly for the leipzig dictator; in 1740 a new epoch opened in german poetry and he was soon left hopelessly behind. v. the classical period of modern german literature (1740-1832) (a) _from the swiss controversy to the "sturm und drang."_--between opitz and gottsched german literature passed successively through the various stages characteristic of all renaissance literatures--from that represented by trissino and the french pleiade, by way of the aberrations of marini and the _estilo culto_, to the _art poetique_ of boileau. and precisely as in france, the next advance was achieved in a battle between the "ancients" and the "moderns," the german "ancients" being represented by gottsched, the "moderns" by the swiss literary reformers, j.j. bodmer (1698-1783) and j.j. breitinger (1701-1776). the latter in his _kritische dichtkunst_ (1739) maintained doctrines which were in opposition to gottsched's standpoint in his treatise of the same name, and bodmer supported his friend's initiative; a pamphlet war ensued between leipzig and zurich, with which in 1740-1741 the classical period of modern german literature may be said to open. the swiss, men of little originality, found their theories in the writings of italian and english critics; and from these they learned how literature might be freed from the fetters of pseudo-classicism. basing their arguments on milton's _paradise lost_, which bodmer had translated into prose (1732), they demanded room for the play of genius and inspiration; they insisted that the imagination should not be hindered in its attempts to rise above the world of reason and common sense. their victory was due, not to the skill with which they presented their arguments, but to the fact that literature itself was in need of greater freedom. it was in fact a triumph, not of personalities or of leaders, but of ideas. the effects of the controversy are to be seen in a group of leipzig writers of gottsched's own school, the _bremer beitrager_ as they were called after their literary organ. these men--c.f. gellert (1715-1769), the author of graceful fables and tales in verse, g.w. rabener (1714-1771), the mild satirist of saxon provinciality, the dramatist j. elias schlegel (1719-1749), who in more ways than one was lessing's forerunner, and a number of minor writers--did not set themselves up in active opposition to their master, but they tacitly adopted many of the principles which the swiss had advocated. and in the _bremer beitrage_ there appeared in 1748 the first instalment of an epic by f.g. klopstock (1724-1803), _der messias_, which was the best illustration of that lawlessness against which gottsched had protested. more effectively than bodmer's dry and uninspired theorizing, klopstock's _messias_, and in a still higher degree, his _odes_, laid the foundations of modern german literature in the 18th century. his immediate followers, it is true, did not help to advance matters; bodmer and j.k. lavater (1741-1801), whose "physiognomic" investigations interested goethe at a later date, wrote dreary and now long forgotten epics on religious themes. klopstock's rhapsodic dramas, together with macpherson's _ossian_, which in the 'sixties awakened a widespread enthusiasm throughout germany, were responsible for the so-called "bardic" movement; but the noisy rhapsodies of the leaders of this movement, the "bards" h.w. von gerstenberg (1737-1823), k.f. kretschmann (1738-1809) and michael denis (1729-1800), had little of the poetic inspiration of klopstock's _odes_. the indirect influence of klopstock as the first inspired poet of modern germany and as the realization of bodmer's theories can, however, hardly be over-estimated. under frederick the great, who, as the docile pupil of french culture, had little sympathy for unregulated displays of feeling, neither klopstock nor his imitators were in favour in berlin, but at the university of halle considerable interest was taken in the movement inaugurated by bodmer. here, before klopstock's name was known at all, two young poets, j.i. pyra (1715-1744) and s.g. lange (1711-1781), wrote _freundschaftliche lieder_ (1737), which were direct forerunners of klopstock's rhymeless lyric poetry; and although the later prussian poets, j.w.l. gleim (1719-1803), j.p. uz (1720-1796) and j.n. gotz (1721-1781), who were associated with halle, and k.w. ramler (1725-1798) in berlin, cultivated mainly the anacreontic and the horatian ode--artificial forms, which kept strictly within the classic canon--yet friedrich von hagedorn (1708-1754) in hamburg showed to what perfection even the anacreontic and the lighter _vers de societe_ could be brought. the swiss physiologist albrecht von haller (1708-1777) was the first german poet to give expression to the beauty and sublimity of alpine scenery (_die alpen_, 1734), and a prussian officer, ewald christian von kleist (1715-1759), author of _der fruhling_ (1749), wrote the most inspired nature-poetry of this period. klopstock's supreme importance lay, however, in the fact that he was a forerunner of the movement of _sturm und drang_. but before turning to that movement we must consider two writers who, strictly speaking, also belong to the age under consideration--lessing and wieland. as klopstock had been the first of modern germany's inspired poets, so gotthold ephraim lessing (1729-1781) was the first critic who brought credit to the german name throughout europe. he was the most liberal-minded exponent of 18th-century rationalism. like his predecessor gottsched, whom he vanquished more effectually than bodmer had done, he had unwavering faith in the classic canon, but "classic" meant for him, as for his contemporary, j.j. winckelmann (1717-1768), greek art and literature, and not the products of french pseudo-classicism, which it had been gottsched's object to foist on germany. he went, indeed, still further, and asserted that shakespeare, with all his irregularities, was a more faithful observer of the spirit of aristotle's laws, and consequently a greater poet, than were the french classic writers. he looked to england and not to france for the regeneration of the german theatre, and his own dramas were pioneer-work in this direction. _miss sara sampson_ (1755) is a _burgerliche tragodie_ on the lines of lillo's _merchant of london, minna von barnhelm_ (1767), a comedy in the spirit of farquhar; in _emilia galotti_ (1772), again with english models in view, he remoulded the "tragedy of common life" in a form acceptable to the _sturm und drang_; and finally in _nathan der weise_ (1779) he won acceptance for iambic blank verse as the medium of the higher drama. his two most promising disciples--j.f. von cronegk (1731-1758), and j.w. von brawe (1738-1758)--unfortunately died young, and c.f. weisse (1726-1804) was not gifted enough to advance the drama in its literary aspects. lessing's name is associated with winckelmann's in _laokoon_ (1766), a treatise in which he set about defining the boundaries between painting, sculpture and poetry, and with those of the jewish philosopher, moses mendelssohn (1729-1786) and the berlin bookseller c.f. nicolai (1733-1811) in the famous _literaturbriefe_. here lessing identified himself with the best critical principles of the rationalistic movement--principles which, in the later years of his life, he employed in a fierce onslaught on lutheran orthodoxy and intolerance. to the widening and deepening of the german imagination c.m. wieland (1733-1813) also contributed, but in a different way. although no enemy of pseudo-classicism, he broke with the stiff dogmatism of gottsched and his friends, and tempered the pietism of klopstock by introducing the germans to the lighter poetry of the south of europe. with the exception of his fairy epic _oberon_ (1780), wieland's work has fallen into neglect; he did, however, excellent service to the development of german prose fiction with his psychological novel, _agathon_ (1766-1767), which may be regarded as a forerunner of goethe's _wilhelm meister_, and with his humorous satire _die abderiten_ (1774). wieland had a considerable following, both among poets and prose writers; he was particularly looked up to in austria, towards the end of the 18th century, where the literary movement advanced more slowly than in the north. here aloys blumauer (1755-1789) and j.b. von alxinger (1755-1797) wrote their travesties and epics under his influence. in saxony, m.a. von thummel (1738-1817) showed his adherence to wieland's school in his comic epic in prose, _wilhelmine_ (1764), and in the general tone of his prose writings; on the other hand, k.a. kortum (1745-1824), author of the most popular comic epic of the time, _die jobsiade_ (1784), was but little influenced by wieland. the german novel owed much to the example of _agathon_, but the groundwork and form were borrowed from english models; gellert had begun by imitating richardson in his _schwedische grafin_ (1747-1748), and he was followed by j.t. hermes (1738-1821), by wieland's friend sophie von laroche (1730-1807), by a. von knigge (1752-1796) and j.k.a. musaus (1735-1787), the last mentioned being, however, best known as the author of a collection of _volksmarchen_ (1782-1786). meanwhile a rationalism, less materialistic and strict than that of wolff, was spreading rapidly through educated middle-class society in germany. men like knigge, moses mendelssohn, j.g. zimmermann (1728-1795), t.g. von hippel (1741-1796), christian garve (1742-1798), j.j. engel (1741-1802), as well as the educational theorists j.b. basedow (1723-1790) and j.h. pestalozzi (1746-1827), wrote books and essays on "popular philosophy" which were as eagerly read as the _moralische wochenschriften_ of the preceding epoch; and with this group of writers must also be associated the most brilliant of german 18th-century satirists, g.c. lichtenberg (1742-1799). such was the _milieu_ from which sprang the most advanced pioneer of the classical epoch of modern german literature, j.g. herder (1744-1803). the transition from the popular philosophers of the _aufklarung_ to herder was due in the first instance to the influence of rousseau; and in germany itself that transition is represented by men like thomas abbt (1738-1766) and j.g. hamann (1730-1788). the revolutionary nature of herder's thought lay in that writer's antipathy to hard and fast systems, to laws imposed upon genius; he grasped, as no thinker before him, the idea of historical evolution. by regarding the human race as the product of a slow evolution from primitive conditions, he revolutionized the methods and standpoint of historical science and awakened an interest--for which, of course, rousseau had prepared the way--in the early history of mankind. he himself collected and published the _volkslieder_ of all nations (1778-1779), and drew attention to those elements in german life and art which were, in the best and most precious sense, national--elements which his predecessors had despised as inconsistent with classic formulae and systems. herder is thus not merely the forerunner, but the actual founder of the literary movement known as _sturm und drang_. new ground was broken in a similar way by a group of poets, who show the results of klopstock's influence on the new literary movement: the gottingen "bund" or "hain," a number of young students who met together in 1772, and for several years published their poetry in the _gottinger musenalmanach_. with the exception of the two brothers, ch. zu stolberg (1748-1821) and f.l. zu stolberg (1750-1819), who occupied a somewhat peculiar position in the "bund," the members of this coterie were drawn from the peasant class of the lower _bourgeoisie_; j.h. voss (1751-1826), the leader of the "bund," was a typical north german peasant, and his idyll, _luise_ (1784), gives a realistic picture of german provincial life. l.h.c. holty (1748-1776) and j.m. miller (1750-1814), again, excelled in simple lyrics in the tone of the _volkslied_. closely associated with the gottingen group were m. claudius (1740-1815), the _wandsbecker bote_--as he was called after the journal he edited--an even more unassuming and homely representative of the german peasant in literature than voss, and g.a. burger (1748-1794) who contributed to the _gottinger musenalmanach_ ballads, such as the famous lenore (1774), of the very first rank. these ballads were the best products of the gottingen school, and, together with goethe's strassburg and frankfort songs, represent the highest point touched by the lyric and ballad poetry of the period. but the gottingen "bund" stood somewhat aside from the main movement of literary development in germany; it was only a phase of _sturm und drang_, and quieter, less turbulent than that on which goethe had set the stamp of his personality. johann wolfgang goethe (1749-1832) had, as a student in leipzig (1765-1768), written lyrics in the anacreontic vein and dramas in alexandrines. but in strassburg, where he went to continue his studies in 1770-1771, he made the personal acquaintance of herder, who won his interest for the new literary movement. herder imbued him with his own ideas of the importance of primitive history and gothic architecture and inspired him with a pride in german nationality; herder convinced him that there was more genuine poetry in a simple volkslied than in all the ingenuity of the german imitators of horace or anacreon; above all, he awakened his enthusiasm for shakespeare. the pamphlet _von deutscher art und kunst_ (1773), to which, besides goethe and herder, the historian justus moser (1720-1794) also contributed, may be regarded as the manifesto of the _sturm und drang_. the effect on goethe of the new ideas was instantaneous; they seemed at once to set his genius free, and from 1771 to 1775 he was extraordinarily fertile in poetic ideas and creations. his _gotz von berlichingen_ (1771-1773), the first drama of the _sturm und drang_, was followed within a year by the first novel of the movement, _werthers leiden_ (1774); he dashed off _clavigo_ and _stella_ in a few weeks in 1774 and 1775, and wrote a large number of _singspiele_, dramatic satires and fragments--including _faust_ in its earliest form (the so-called _urfaust_)--not to mention love-songs which at last fulfilled the promise of klopstock. goethe's lyrics were no less epoch-making than his first drama and novel, for they put an end to the artificiality which for centuries had fettered german lyric expression. in all forms of literature he set the fashion to his time; the shakespearian restlessness of _gotz von berlichingen_ found enthusiastic imitators in j.m.r. lenz (1751-1792), whose _anmerkungen ubers theater_ (1774) formulated theoretically the laws, or defiance of laws, of the new drama, in f.m. von klinger (1752-1831), j.a. leisewitz (1752-1806), h.l. wagner (1747-1779) and friedrich muller, better known as maler muller (1749-1825): the dramatic literature of the _sturm und drang_ was its most characteristic product--indeed, the very name of the movement was borrowed from a play by klinger; it was inspired, as _gotz von berlichingen_ had been, by the desire to present upon the stage figures of shakespearian grandeur impelled and tortured by gigantic passions, all considerations of plot, construction and form being regarded as subordinate to the development of character. the fiction of the _sturm und drang_, again, was in its earlier stages dominated by _werthers leiden_, as may be seen in the novels of f.h. jacobi (1743-1819) and j.m. miller, who has been already mentioned. later, in the hands of j.j.w. heinse (1749-1803), author of _ardinghello_ (1787), klinger, k. ph. moritz (1757-1793), whose _anton reiser_ (1785) clearly foreshadows _wilhelm meister_, it reflected not merely the sentimentalism, but also the philosophic and artistic ideas of the period. with the production of _die rauber_ (1781) by johann friedrich schiller (1759-1805), the drama of the _sturm und drang_ entered upon a new development. although hardly less turbulent in spirit than the work of klinger and leisewitz, schiller's tragedy was more skilfully adapted to the exigencies of the theatre; his succeeding dramas, _fiesco_ and _kabale und liebe_, were also admirable stage-plays, and in _don carlos_ (1787) he abandoned prose for the iambic blank verse which lessing had made acceptable in _nathan der weise_. the "practical" character of the new drama is also to be seen in the work of schiller's contemporary, o. von gemmingen (1755-1836), the imitator of diderot, in the excellent domestic dramas of the actors f.l. schroder (1744-1816) and a.w. iffland (1759-1814), and even in the popular medieval plays, the so-called _ritterdramen_ of which _gotz von berlichingen_ was the model. germany owes to the _sturm und drang_ her national theatre; permanent theatres were established in these years at hamburg, mannheim, gotha, and even at vienna, which, as may be seen from the dramas of c.h. von ayrenhoff (1733-1819), had hardly then advanced beyond gottsched's ideal of a national literature. the hofburgtheater of vienna, the greatest of all the german stages, was virtually founded in 1776. (b) _german classical literature._--the energy of the _sturm und drang_, which was essentially iconoclastic in its methods, soon exhausted itself. for goethe this phase in his development came to an end with his departure for weimar in 1775, while, after writing _don carlos_ (1787), schiller turned from poetry to the study of history and philosophy. these subjects occupied his attention almost exclusively for several years, and not until the very close of the century did he, under the stimulus of goethe's friendship, return to the drama. the first ten years of goethe's life in weimar were comparatively unproductive; he had left the _sturm und drang_ behind him; its developments, for which he himself had been primarily responsible, were distasteful to him; and he had not yet formed a new creed. under the influence of the weimar court, where classic or even pseudo-classic tastes prevailed, he was gradually finding his way to a form of literary art which should reconcile the humanistic ideals of the 18th century with the poetic models of ancient greece. but he did not arrive at clearness in his ideas until after his sojourn in italy (1786-1788), an episode of the first importance for his mental development. italy was, in the first instance, a revelation to goethe of the antique; he had gone to italy to find realized what winckelmann had taught, and here he conceived that ideal of a classic literature, which for the next twenty years dominated german literature and made weimar its metropolis. in italy he gave _iphigenie auf tauris_ (1787) its final form, he completed _egmont_ (1788)--like the exactly contemporary _don carlos_ of schiller, a kind of bridge from _sturm und drang_ to classicism--and all but finished _torquato tasso_ (1790). _wilhelm meisters lehrjahre_ (1795-1796) bears testimony to the clear and decisive views which he had acquired on all questions of art and of the practical conduct of life. long before _wilhelm meister_ appeared, however, german thought and literature had arrived at that stability and self-confidence which are the most essential elements in a great literary period. in the year of lessing's death, 1781, immanuel kant (1724-1804), the great philosopher, had published his _kritik der reinen vernunft_, and this, together with the two later treatises, _kritik der praktischen vernunft_ (1788) and _kritik der urteilskraft_ (1790), placed the germans in the front rank of thinking nations. under the influence of kant, schiller turned from the study of history to that of philosophy and more especially aesthetics. his philosophic lyrics, his treatises on _anmut und wurde_, on the _asthetische erziehung des menschen_ (1795), and _uber naive und sentimentalische dichtung_ (1795) show, on the philosophic and the critical side, the movement of the century from the irresponsible subjectivity of _sturm und drang_ to the calm idealism of classic attainment. in the same way, german historical writing had in these years, under the leadership of men like justus moser, thomas abbt, i. iselin, f.c. schlosser, schiller himself and, greatest of all, johannes von muller (1752-1809), advanced from disconnected, unsystematic chronicling to a clearly thought-out philosophic and scientific method. j.g.a. forster (1754-1794), who had accompanied cook round the world, and alexander von humboldt (1769-1859), gave germany models of clear and lucid descriptive writing. in practical politics and economics, when once the unbalanced vagaries of undiluted rousseauism had fallen into discredit, germany produced much wise and temperate thinking which prevented the spread of the french revolution to germany, and provided a practical basis on which the social and political fabric could be built up anew, after the revolution had made the old regime impossible in europe. men like wilhelm von humboldt (1767-1835) and the philosopher j.g. fichte (1762-1814) were, in two widely different spheres, representative of this type of intellectual eminence. meanwhile, in 1794, that friendship between goethe and schiller had begun, which lasted, unbroken, until the younger poet's death in 1805. these years mark the summit of goethe and schiller's classicism, and the great epoch of weimar's history as a literary focus. schiller's treatises had provided a theoretical basis; his new journal, _die horen_, might be called the literary organ of the movement--although in this respect the subsequent _musenalmanach_, in which the two poets published their magnificent ballad poetry, had more value. goethe, as director of the ducal theatre, could to a great extent control dramatic production in germany. under his encouragement, schiller turned from philosophy to poetry and wrote the splendid series of classic dramas beginning with the trilogy of _wallenstein_ and closing with _wilhelm tell_ and the fragment of _demetrius_; while to goethe we owe, above all, the epic of _hermann und dorothea_. less important were the latter's severely classical plays _die naturliche tochter_ and _pandora_; but it must not be forgotten that it was chiefly owing to schiller's stimulus that in those years goethe brought the first part of _faust_ (1808) to a conclusion. although acknowledged leaders of german letters, goethe and schiller had considerable opposition to contend with. the _sturm und drang_ had by no means exhausted itself, and the representatives of the once dominant rationalistic movement were particularly arrogant and overbearing. the literature associated with both _sturm und drang_ and rationalism was at this period palpably decadent; no comparison could be made between the magnificent achievements of goethe and schiller, or even of herder and wieland with the "family" dramas of iffland, still less with the extraordinarily popular plays of a. von kotzebue (1761-1819), or with those bustling medieval _ritterdramen_, which were especially cultivated in south germany. there is a wide gap between moritz's _anton reiser_ or the philosophic novels which klinger wrote in his later years, and goethe's _meister_; nor can the once so fervently admired novels of jean paul richter (1763-1825) take a very high place. neither the fantastic humour nor the penetrating thoughts with which richter's books are strewn make up for their lack of artistic form and interest; they are essentially products of _sturm und drang_. lastly, in the province of lyric and epic poetry, it is impossible to regard poets like the gentle f. von matthisson (1761-1831), or the less inspired g.l. kosegarten (1758-1818) and c.a. tiedge (1752-1841), as worthily seconding the masterpieces of goethe and schiller. thus when we speak of the greatness of germany's classical period, we think mainly of the work of her two chief poets; the distance that separated them from their immediate contemporaries was enormous. moreover, at the very close of the 18th century a new literary movement arose in admitted opposition to the classicism of weimar, and to this movement, which first took definite form in the romantic school, the sympathies of the younger generation turned. just as in the previous generation the _sturm und drang_ had been obliged to make way for a return to classic and impersonal principles of literary composition, so now the classicism of goethe and schiller, which had produced masterpieces like _wallenstein_ and _hermann und dorothea_, had to yield to a revival of individualism and subjectivity, which, in the form of romanticism, profoundly influenced the literature of the whole 19th century. (c) _the romantic movement._--the first romantic school, however, was founded, not as a protest against the classicism of weimar, with which its leaders were in essential sympathy, but against the shallow, utilitarian rationalism of berlin. ludwig tieck (1773-1853), a leading member of the school, was in reality a belated _sturmer und dranger_, who in his early years had chafed under the unimaginative tastes of the prussian capital, and sought for a positive faith to put in their place. friedrich holderlin (1770-1843), one of the most gifted poets of this age, demonstrates no less clearly than tieck the essential affinity between _sturm und drang_ and romanticism; he, too, forms a bridge from the one individualistic movement to the other. the theoretic basis of romanticism was, however, established by the two brothers, august wilhelm and friedrich schlegel (1767-1845 and 1772-1829), who, accepting, in great measure, schiller's aesthetic conclusions, adapted them to the needs of their own more subjective attitude towards literature. while schiller, like lessing before him, insisted on the critic's right to sit in judgment according to a definite code of principles, these romantic critics maintained that the first duty of criticism was to understand and appreciate; the right of genius to follow its natural bent was sacred. the _herzensergiessungen eines kunstliebenden klosterbruders_ by tieck's school-friend w.h. wackenroder (1773-1798) contained the romantic art-theory, while the hymns and fragmentary novels of friedrich von hardenberg (known as novalis, 1772-1801), and the dramas and fairy tales of tieck, were the characteristic products of romantic literature. the universal sympathies of the movement were exemplified by the many admirable translations--greatest of all, schlegel's _shakespeare_ (1797-1810)--which were produced under its auspices. romanticism was essentially conciliatory in its tendencies, that is to say, it aimed at a reconciliation of poetry with other provinces of social and intellectual life; the hard and fast boundaries which the older critics had set up as to what poetry might and might not do, were put aside, and the domain of literature was regarded as co-extensive with life itself; painting and music, philosophy and ethics, were all accepted as constituent elements of or aids to romantic poetry. fichte, and to a much greater extent, f.w.j. von schelling (1775-1854) were the exponents of the romantic doctrine in philosophy, while the theologian f.e.d. schleiermacher (1768-1834) demonstrated how vital the revival of individualism was for religious thought. the romantic school, whose chief members were the brothers schlegel, tieck, wackenroder and novalis, was virtually founded in 1798, when the schlegels began to publish their journal the _athenaeum_; but the actual existence of the school was of very short duration. wackenroder and novalis died young, and by the year 1804 the other members were widely separated. two years later, however, another phase of romanticism became associated with the town of heidelberg. the leaders of this second or younger romantic school were k. brentano (1778-1842), l.a. von arnim (1781-1831) and j.j. von gorres (1776-1848), their organ, corresponding to the _athenaeum_, was the _zeitung fur einsiedler_, or _trost-einsamkeit_, and their most characteristic production the collection of _volkslieder_, published under the title _des knaben wunderhorn_ (1805-1808). compared with the earlier school the heidelberg writers were more practical and realistic, more faithful to nature and the commonplace life of everyday. they, too, were interested in the german past and in the middle ages, but they put aside the idealizing glasses of their predecessors and kept to historic truth; they wrote historical novels, not stories of an imaginary medieval world as novalis had done, and when they collected _volkslieder_ and _volksbucher_, they refrained from decking out the simple tradition with musical effects, or from heightening the poetic situation by "romantic irony." their immediate influence on german intellectual life was consequently greater; they stimulated and deepened the interest of the german people in their own past; and we owe to them the foundations of the study of german philology and medieval literature, both the brothers jakob and wilhelm grimm (1785-1863 and 1786-1859) having been in touch with this circle in their early days. again, the heidelberg poets strengthened the national and patriotic spirit of their people; they prepared the way for the rising against napoleon, which culminated in the year 1813, and produced that outburst of patriotic song, associated with e.m. arndt (1769-1860), k. th. korner (1791-1813) and m. von schenkendorf (1783-1817). the subsequent history of romanticism stands in close relation to the heidelberg school, and when, about 1809, the latter broke up, and arnim and brentano settled in berlin, the romantic movement followed two clearly marked lines of development, one north german, the other associated with wurttemberg. the prussian capital, hotbed of rationalism as it was, had, from the first, been intimately associated with romanticism; the first school had virtually been founded there, and north germans, like heinrich von kleist (1777-1811) and zacharias werner (1768-1823)had done more for the development of the romantic drama than had the members of either romantic school. these men, and more especially kleist, prussia's greatest dramatic poet, showed how the capricious romantic ideas could be brought into harmony with the classic tradition established by schiller, how they could be rendered serviceable to the national theatre. at the same time, berlin was not a favourable soil for the development of romantic ideas, and the circle of poets which gathered round arnim and brentano there, either themselves demonstrated the decadence of these ideas, or their work contained elements which in subsequent years hastened the downfall of the movement. friedrich de la motte fouque (1777-1843), for instance, shows how easy it was for the medieval tastes of the romanticists to degenerate into mediocre novels and plays, hardly richer in genuine poetry than were the productions of the later _sturm und drang_; and e.t.a. hoffmann (1776-1822), powerful genius though he was, cultivated with preference in his stories, a morbid super-naturalism, which was only a decadent form of the early romantic delight in the world of fairies and spirits. the lyric was less sensitive to baleful influences, but even here the north german romantic circle could only point to one lyric poet of the first rank, j. von eichendorff (1788-1857); while in the poetry of a. von chamisso (1781-1838) the volatile romantic spirituality is too often wanting. others again, like friedrich ruckert (1788-1866), sought the inspiration which romanticism was no longer able to give, in the east; still another group, of which wilhelm muller (1794-1827) is the chief representative, followed byron's example and awakened german sympathy for the oppressed greeks and poles. apart from eichendorff, the vital lyric poetry of the third and last phase of romanticism must be looked for in the swabian school, which gathered round uhland. ludwig uhland (1787-1862) was himself a disciple of the heidelberg poets, and, in his lyrics and especially in his ballads, he succeeded in grafting the lyricism of the romantic school on to the traditions of german ballad poetry which had been handed down from burger, schiller and goethe. but, as was the case with so many other disciples of the heidelberg romanticists, uhland's interest in the german past was the serious interest of the scholar rather than the purely poetic interest of the earlier romantic poets. the merit of the swabian circle, the chief members of which were j. kerner (1786-1862), g. schwab (1792-1850), w. waiblinger (1804-1830), w. hauff (1802-1827) and, most gifted of all, e. morike (1804-1875) was that these writers preserved the romantic traditions from the disintegrating influences to which their north german contemporaries were exposed. they introduced few new notes into lyric poetry, but they maintained the best traditions intact, and when, a generation later, the anti-romantic movement of "young germany" had run its course, it was to wurttemberg germany looked for a revival of the old romantic ideas. meanwhile, in the background of all these phases of romantic evolution, through which germany passed between 1798 and 1832, stands the majestic and imposing figure of goethe. personally he had in the early stages of the movement been opposed to that reversion to subjectivity and lawlessness which the first romantic school seemed to him to represent; to the end of his life he regarded himself as a "classic," not a "romantic" poet. but, on the other hand, he was too liberal-minded a thinker and critic to be oblivious to the fruitful influence of the new movement. almost without exception he judged the young poets of the new century fairly, and treated them sympathetically and kindly; he was keenly alive to the new--and for the most part "unclassical"--development of literature in england, france and italy; and his own published work, above all, the first part of _faust_ (1808), _die wahlverwandtschaften_ (1809), _dichtung und wahrheit_ (1811-1814, a final volume in 1833), _westostlicher divan_ (1819), _wilhelm meisters wanderjahre_ (1821-1829) and the second part of _faust_ (published in 1832 after the poet's death), stood in no antagonism to the romantic ideas of their time. one might rather say that goethe was the bond between the two fundamental literary movements of the german classical age; that his work achieved that reconciliation of "classic" and "romantic" which, rightly regarded, was the supreme aim of the romantic school itself. vi. german literature since goethe (1832-1906) (a) _young germany._--with goethe's death a great age in german poetry came to a close. long before 1832 romanticism had, as we have seen, begun to lose ground, and the july revolution of 1830, the effects of which were almost as keenly felt in germany as in france, gave the movement its death-blow. meanwhile the march of ideas in germany itself had not been favourable to romanticism. schelling had given place to g. w.f. hegel (1770-1831), now the dominant force in german philosophy, and the hegelian metaphysics proved as unfruitful an influence on literature as that of fichte and schelling had been fruitful. the transference of romantic ideas to the domain of practical religion and politics had proved reactionary in its effects; romanticism became the cloak for a kind of neo-catholicism, and romantic politics, as enunciated by men like f. von gentz (1764-1832) and adam muller (1779-1829), served as an apology for the metternich regime in austria. only at the universities--in gottingen, heidelberg and berlin--did the movement continue, in the best sense, to be productive; german philology, german historical science and german jurisprudence benefited by romantic ideas, long after romantic poetry had fallen into decay. the day of romanticism was clearly over; but a return to the classic and humanitarian spirit of the 18th century was impossible. the social condition of europe had been profoundly altered by the french revolution; the rise of industrialism had created new economic problems, the march of science had overturned old prejudices. and in a still higher degree were the ideas which lay behind the social upheaval of the july revolution incompatible with a reversion in germany to the conditions of weimar classicism. there was, moreover, no disguising the fact that goethe himself did not stand high with the younger generation of german writers who came into power after his death. "young germany" did not form a school in the sense in which the word was used by the early romanticists; the bond of union was rather the consequence of political persecution. in december 1835 the german "bund" issued a decree suppressing the writings of the "literary school" known as "young germany," and mentioned by name heinrich heine, karl gutzkow, ludolf wienbarg, theodor mundt and heinrich laube. of these men, heine (1797-1856) was by far the most famous. he had made his reputation in 1826 and 1827 with _die harzreise_ and _das buch der lieder_, both of which books show how deeply he was immersed in the romantic traditions. but heine felt perhaps more acutely than any other man of his time how the ground was slipping away from beneath his feet; he repudiated the romantic movement and hailed the july revolution as the first stage in the "liberation of humanity"; while ultimately he sought in france the freedom and intellectual stimulus which germany withheld from him. heine suffered from having been born in an age of transition; he was unable to realize in a wholehearted way all that was good in the new movement, which he had embraced so warmly; his optimism was counteracted by doubts as to whether, after all, life had not been better in that old romantic germany of his childhood for which, to the last, he retained so warm an affection. personal disappointments and unhappiness added to the bitterness of heine's nature, and the supremely gifted lyric poet and the hardly less gifted satirist were overshadowed by the cynic from whose biting wit nothing was safe. heine's contemporary and--although he was not mentioned in the decree against the school--fellow-fighter, ludwig borne (1786-1837), was a more characteristic representative of the "young german" point of view; for he was free from romantic prejudices. borne gave vent to his enthusiasm for france in eloquent _briefe aus paris_ (1830-1833), which form a landmark of importance in the development of german prose style. with karl gutzkow (1811-1878), who was considerably younger than either heine or borne, the more positive aspects of the "young german" movement begin to be apparent. he, too, had become a man of letters under the influence of the july revolution, and with an early novel, _wally, die zweiflerin_ (1835), which was then regarded as atheistic and immoral, he fought in the battle for the new ideas. his best literary work, however, was the comedies with which he enriched the german stage of the 'forties, and novels like _die ritter vom geiste_ (1850-1851), and _der zauberer von rom_ (1858-1861), which have to be considered in connexion with the later development of german fiction. heinrich laube (1806-1884), who, as the author of lengthy social novels, and _reisenovellen_ in the style of heine's _reisebilder_, was one of the leaders of the new movement, is now only remembered as germany's greatest theatre-director. laube's connexion (1850-1867) with the burgtheater of vienna forms one of the most brilliant periods in the history of the modern stage. heine and borne, gutzkow and laube--these were the leading spirits of "young germany"; in their train followed a host of lesser men, who to the present generation are hardly even names. in the domain of scholarship and learning the "young german" movement was associated with the supremacy of hegelianism, the leading spirits being d.f. strauss (1808-1874), author of the _leben jesu_ (1835), the historians g.g. gervinus (1805-1871) and w. menzel (1798-1873), and the philosopher l.a. feuerbach (1804-1872), who, although a disciple of hegel, ultimately helped to destroy the latter's influence. outside the immediate circle of "young germany," other tentative efforts were made to provide a substitute for the discredited literature of romanticism. the historical novel, for instance, which romanticists like arnim had cultivated, fell at an early date under the influence of sir walter scott; wilhelm hauff, heinrich zschokke (1771-1848) and k. spindler (1796-1855) were the most prominent amidst the many imitators of the scottish novelist. the drama, again, which since kleist and werner had been without definite principles, was, partly under austrian influence, finding its way back to a condition of stability. in germany proper, the men into whose hands it fell were, on the one hand, undisciplined geniuses such as c.d. grabbe (1801-1836), or, on the other, poets with too little theatrical blood in their veins like k.l. immermann (1796-1840), or with too much, like e. von raupach (1784-1852), k. von holtei (1798-1880) and adolf mullner (1774-1829)--the last named being the chief representative of the so-called _schicksalstragodie_. in those years the germans were more seriously interested in their opera, which, under c.m. weber, h.a. marschner, a. lortzing and o. nicolai, remained faithful to the romantic spirit. in austria, however, the drama followed lines of its own; here, at the very beginning of the century, h.j. von collin (1771-1811) attempted in _regulus_ and other works to substitute for the lifeless pseudo-classic tragedy of ayrenhoff the classic style of schiller. his attempt is the more interesting, as the long development that had taken place in germany between gottsched and schiller was virtually unrepresented in austrian literature. m. von collin (1779-1824), a younger brother of h.j. von collin, did a similar service for the romantic drama. franz grillparzer (1791-1872), austria's greatest poet, began in the school of mullner with a "fate drama," but soon won an independent place for himself; more successfully than any other dramatist of the century, he carried out that task which kleist had first seriously faced, the reconciliation of the classicism of goethe and schiller with the romantic and modern spirit of the 19th century. it is from this point of view that works like _das goldene vliess_ (1820), _konig ottokars gluck und ende_ (1825), _der traum, ein leben_ (1834) and _des meeres und der liebe wellen_ (1831) must be regarded. as far as the poetic drama was concerned, grillparzer stood alone, for e.f.j. von munch-bellinghausen (1806-1871), his most promising contemporary, once so popular under the pseudonym of friedrich halm, soon fell back into the trivial sentimentality of the later romanticists. in other forms of dramatic literature austria could point to many distinguished writers, notably the comedy-writer, e. von bauernfeld (1802-1890), while a host of playwrights, chief of whom were f. raimund (1790-1836) and j. nestroy (1801-1862), cultivated the popular viennese farce and fairy-play. thus, in spite of metternich's censorship of the drama, the viennese theatre was, in the first half of the 19th century, in closer touch with literature than that of any other german centre. the transitional character of the age is best illustrated by two eminent writers whom outward circumstances rather than any similarity of character and aim have classed together. these were k.l. immermann, who has been already mentioned, and a. von platen-hallermund (1796-1835). immermann's dramas were of little practical value to the theatre, but one at least, _merlin_ (1832), is a dramatic poem of great beauty. in his novels, however, _die epigonen_ (1836) and _munchhausen_ (1838-1839), immermann was the spokesman of his time. he looked backwards rather than forwards; he saw himself as the belated follower of a great literary age rather than as the pioneer of a new one. the bankruptcy of romanticism and the poetically arid era of "young germany" left him little confidence in the future. platen, on the other hand, went his own way; he, too, was the antagonist both of romanticism and "young germany," and with immermann himself he came into sharp conflict. but in his poetry he showed himself indifferent to the strife of contending literary schools. he began as an imitator of the german oriental poets--the only romanticists with whom he had any personal sympathy--and with his matchless _sonette aus venedig_ (1825) he stands out as a master in the art of verse-writing and as the least subjective of all german lyric poets. in the imitation of romance metres he sought a refuge from the extravagances and excesses of the romantic decadence. meanwhile the political side of the "young german" movement, which the german bund aimed at stamping out, gained rapidly in importance under the influence of the unsettled political conditions between the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. the early 'forties were in german literature marked by an extraordinary outburst of political poetry, which may be aptly compared with the national and patriotic lyric evoked by the year 1813. the principles which triumphed in france at the revolution of 1848 were, to a great extent, fought out by the german singers of 1841 and 1842. begun by mediocre talents like n. becker (1809-1845) and r.e. prutz (1816-1872), the movement found a vigorous champion in georg herwegh (1817-1875), who in his turn succeeded in winning ferdinand freiligrath (1810-1876) for the revolutionary cause. others joined in the cry for freedom--f. dingelstedt (1814-1881), a.h. hoffmann von fallersleben (1798-1874), and a number of austrians, who had even more reason for rebellion and discontent than the north germans. but the best austrian political poetry, the _spaziergange eines wiener poeten_, 1831, by "anastasius grun" (graf a.a. von auersperg, 1806-1876), belonged to a decade earlier. the political lyric culminated in and ended with the year 1848; the revolutionists of the 'forties were, if not appeased, at least silenced by the revolution which in their eyes had effected so little. if freiligrath be excepted, the chief lyric poets of this epoch stood aside from the revolutionary movement; even e. geibel (1815-1884), the representative poet of the succeeding age, was only temporarily interested in the political movement, and his best work is of a purely lyric character. m. von strachwitz's (1822-1847) promising talent did not flourish in the political atmosphere; annette von droste-hulshoff (1797-1848), and the austrian, nikolaus lenau (1802-1850), both stand far removed from the world of politics; they are imbued with that pessimistic resignation which is, more or less, characteristic of all german literature between 1850 and 1870. (b) _mid-century literature._--when once the revolution of 1848 was over, a spirit of tranquillity came over german letters; but it was due rather to the absence of confidence in the future than to any hopefulness or real content. the literature of the middle of the century was not wanting in achievement, but there was nothing buoyant or youthful about it; most significant of all, the generation between 1848 and 1880 was either oblivious or indifferent to the good work and to the new and germinating ideas which it produced. hegel, who held the earlier half of the 19th century in his ban, was still all-powerful in the universities, but his power was on the wane in literature and public life. the so-called "hegelian left" had advanced so far as to have become incompatible with the original hegelianism; the new social and economic theories did not fit into the scheme of hegelian collectivism; the interest in natural science--fostered by the popular books of j. moleschott (1822-1893), karl vogt (1817-1895) and ludwig buchner (1824-1899)--created a healthy antidote to the hegelian metaphysics. in literature and art, on which hegel, as we have seen, had exerted so blighting an influence, his place was taken by the chief exponent of philosophic pessimism, arthur schopenhauer (1788-1860). schopenhauer's antagonism to hegelianism was of old standing, for his chief work, _die welt als wille und vorstellung_, had appeared as far back as 1819; but the century was more than half over before the movement of ideas had, as it were, caught up with him, before pessimism became a dominant force in intellectual life. the literature produced between 1850 and 1870 was preeminently one of prose fiction. the beginnings which the "young german" school had made to a type of novel dealing with social problems--the best example is gutzkow's _ritter vom geiste_--developed rapidly in this succeeding epoch. friedrich spielhagen (born 1829) followed immediately in gutzkow's footsteps, and in a series of romances from _problematische naturen_ (1860) to _sturmflut_ (1876), discussed in a militant spirit that recalls laube and gutzkow the social problems which agitated german life in these decades. gustav freytag (1816-1895), although an older man, freed himself more successfully from the "young german" tradition; his romance of german commercialism, _soll und haben_ (1855), is the masterpiece of mid-century fiction of this class. less successful was freytag's subsequent attempt to transfer his method to the _milieu_ of german academic life in _die verlorene handschrift_ (1864). as was perhaps only natural in an age of social and political interests, the historical novel occupies a subordinate place. the influence of scott, which in the earlier period had been strong, produced only one writer, wilhelm haring ("willibald alexis," 1798-1871), who was more than a mere imitator of the scottish master. in the series of six novels, from _der roland von berlin_ to _dorothe_, which alexis published between 1840 and 1856, he gave germany, and more particularly prussia, a historical fiction which might not unworthily be compared with the _waverley novels_. but alexis had no successor, and the historical novel soon made way for a type of fiction in which the accurate reproduction of remote conditions was held of more account than poetic inspiration or artistic power. such are the "antiquarian" novels of ancient egyptian life by georg ebers (1837-1898), and those from primitive german history by felix dahn (born 1834). the vogue of historical fiction was also transferred to some extent, as in english literature, to novels of american life and adventure, of which the chief german cultivators were k.a. postl, who wrote under the pseudonym of charles sealsfield (1793-1864) and friedrich gerstacker (1816-1872). of greater importance was the fiction which owed its inspiration to the romantic traditions that survived the "young german" age. to this group belongs the novel of peasant and provincial life, of which immermann had given an excellent example in _der oberhof_, a story included in the arabesque of _munchhausen_. a swiss pastor, albrecht bitzius, better known by his pseudonym "jeremias gotthelf" (1797-1854), was, however, the real founder of this class of romance; and his simple, unvarnished and naively didactic stories of the swiss peasant were followed not long afterwards by the more famous _schwarzwalder dorfgeschichten_ (1843-1854) of berthold auerbach (1812-1882). auerbach is not by any means so naive and realistic as gotthelf, nor is his work free from tendencies and ideas which recall "young german" rationalism rather than the unsophisticated life of the black forest; but the _schwarzwalder dorfgeschichten_ exerted a decisive influence; they were the forerunners of a large body of peasant literature which described with affectionate sympathy and with a liberal admixture of dialect, south german village life. with this group of writers may also be associated the german bohemian, a. stifter (1805-1868), who has called up unforgettable pictures and impressions of the life and scenery of his home. meanwhile, the low german peoples also benefited by the revival of an interest in dialect and peasant life; it is to the credit of fritz reuter (1810-1874) that he brought honour to the plattdeutsch of the north, the dialects of which had played a fitful, but by no means negligible role in the earlier history of german letters. his mecklenburg novels, especially _ut de franzosentid_ (1860), _ut mine festungstid_ (1863) and _ut mine stromtid_ (1862-1864), are a faithful reflection of mecklenburg life and temperament, and hold their place beside the best german fiction of the period. what reuter did for plattdeutsch prose, his contemporary, klaus groth (1819-1899), the author of _quickborn_ (1852), did for its verse. we owe, however, the best german prose fiction of these years to two writers, whose affinity with the older romanticists was closer. the north german, theodor storm (1817-1888) is the author of a series of short stories of delicate, lyric inspiration, steeped in that elegiac romanticism which harmonized so well with mid-century pessimism in germany. gottfried keller (1819-1890), on the other hand, a native of zurich, was a modern romanticist of a robuster type; his magnificent autobiographical novel, _der grune heinrich_ (1854-1855), might be described as the last in the great line of romantic fiction that had begun with _wilhelm meister_, and the short stories, _die leute von seldwyla_ (1856-1874) and _zuricher novellen_ (1878) are masterpieces of the first rank. in the dramatic literature of these decades, at least as it was reflected in the repertories of the german theatres, there was little promise. french influence was, in general, predominant; french translations formed the mainstay of the theatre-directors, while successful german playwrights, such as r. benedix (1811-1873) and charlotte birch-pfeiffer (1800-1868), have little claim to consideration in a literary survey. gustav freytag's admirable comedy, _die journalisten_ (1852), was one of the rare exceptions. but the german drama of this epoch is not to be judged solely by the theatres. at the middle of the century germany could point to two writers who, each in his way, contributed very materially to the development of the modern drama. these were friedrich hebbel (1813-1863) and otto ludwig (1813-1865). both of these men, as a later generation discovered, were the pioneers of that dramatic literature which at the close of the century accepted the canons of realism and aimed at superseding outward effects by psychological conflicts and problems of social life. hebbel, especially, must be regarded as the most original and revolutionary german dramatist of the 19th century. unlike his contemporary grillparzer, whose aim had been to reconcile the "classic" and the "romantic" drama with the help of spanish models, hebbel laid the foundations of a psychological and social drama, of which the most modern interpreter has been henrik ibsen. hebbel's first tragedy, _judith_, appeared in 1840, his masterpieces, _herodes und marianne_, _agnes bernauer_, _gyges und sein ring_, and the trilogy of _die nibelungen_ between 1850 and 1862. in this period of somewhat confused literary striving, there is, however, one body of writers who might be grouped together as a school, although the designation must be regarded rather as an outward accident of union than as implying conformity of aims. this is the group which maximilian ii. of bavaria gathered round him in munich between 1852 and 1860. a leading spirit of the group was emanuel geibel, who, as we have seen, set a model to the german lyric in this age; f. von bodenstedt (1819-1892), the popular author of _mirza schaffy_; and j.v. von scheffel (1826-1886), who, in his verse-romance, _der trompeter von sackingen_ (1854), broke a lance for a type of literature which had been cultivated somewhat earlier, but with no very conspicuous success, by men like o. von redwitz (1823-1891) and g. kinkel (1815-1882). the romance was, in fact, one of the favourite vehicles of poetic expression of the munich school, its most successful exponents being j. wolff (b. 1834) and r. baumbach (1840-1905); while others, such as h. lingg (1820-1905) and r. hamerling (1830-1889) devoted themselves to the more ambitious epic. the general tone of the literary movement was pessimistic, the hopelessness of the spiritual outlook being most deeply engrained in the verse of h. lorm (pseudonym for heinrich landesmann, 1821-1902) and h. leuthold (1827-1879). on the whole, the most important member of the munich group is paul heyse (b. 1830), who, as a writer of "novellen" or short stories, may be classed with storm and keller. an essentially latin genius, heyse excels in stories of italian life, where his lightness of touch and sense of form are shown to best advantage; but he has also written several long novels. of these, _kinder der welt_ (1873) and, in a lesser degree, _im paradiese_ (1875), sum up the spirit and tendency of their time, just as, in earlier decades, _die ritter vom geiste_, _problematische naturen_ and _soll und haben_ were characteristic of the periods which produced them. (c) _german literature after 1870._--in the years immediately following the franco-german war, the prevailing conditions were unfavourable to literary production in germany, and the re-establishment of the empire left comparatively little trace on the national literature. all minds were for a time engrossed by the _kulturkampf_, by the financial difficulties--the so-called _grundertum_--due to unscrupulous speculation, and, finally, by the rapid rise of social democracy as a political force. the intellectual basis of the latter movement was laid by ferdinand lassalle (1825-1864) and karl marx (1818-1883), author of _das kapital_ (vol. i, 1867). but even had such disturbing elements been wanting, the general tone of german intellectual life at that time was not buoyant enough to inspire a vigorous literary revival. the influence of hegel was still strong, and the "historical" method, as enunciated in _der alte und der neue glaube_ (1872) by the hegelian d.f. strauss, was generally accepted at the german universities. to many the compromise which h. lotze (1817-1881) had attempted to establish between science and metaphysics, came as a relief from the hegelian tradition, but in literature and art the dominant force was still, as before the war, the philosophy of schopenhauer. in his _philosophie des unbewussten_ (1869), e. von hartmann (1842-1906) endeavoured to bring pessimism into harmony with idealism. in lyric poetry, the dull monotony was broken by the excitement of the war, and the singers of the revolution of 1848 were among the first to welcome the triumph and unification of germany. at the same time, men of the older generation, like herwegh, freiligrath and geibel could ill conceal a certain disappointment with the new regime; the united germany of 1871 was not what they had dreamed of in their youth, when all hopes were set on the frankfort parliament. the novel continued to be what it was before 1870, the most vigorous form of german literature, but the novelists who were popular in the early 'seventies were all older men. laube, gutzkow and auerbach were still writing; fritz reuter was a universal favourite; while among the writers of short stories, storm, who, between 1877 and 1888, put the crown to his work with his _chroniknovellen_, and paul heyse were the acknowledged masters. it was not until at least a decade later that the genius of gottfried keller was generally recognized. the historical novel seemed, in those days, beyond hope of revival. gustav freytag, it is true, had made the attempt in _die ahnen_ (1872-1881), a number of independent historical romances linked together to form an ambitious prose epic; but there was more of the spirit of ebers and dahn in freytag's work than of the spacious art of scott, or of scott's disciple, willibald alexis. the drama of the 'seventies was in an even less hopeful condition than during the preceding period. the classical iambic tragedy was cultivated by the munich school, by a. wilbrandt (b. 1837), a. lindner (1831-1888), h. kruse (1815-1902), by the austrian f. nissel (1831-1893), and a. fitger (b. 1840); but it was characteristic of the time that halm was popular, while hebbel and grillparzer were neglected, it might even be said ignored. the most gifted german dramatist belonging exclusively to the decade between 1870 and 1880 was an austrian, ludwig anzengruber (1839-1889), whose _pfarrer von kirchfeld_ (1870) recalled the controversies of the _kulturkampf_. this was anzengruber's first drama, and it was followed by a series of powerful plays dealing with the life of the austrian peasant; anzengruber was, indeed, one of the ablest exponents of that village life, which had attracted so many gifted writers since the days of gotthelf and auerbach. but the really popular dramatists of this epoch were either writers who, like benedix in the older generation, cultivated the _bourgeoise_ comedy--a. l'arronge (b. 1838), g. von moser (1825-1903), f. von schonthan (b. 1849) and o. blumenthal (b. 1852)--or playwrights, of whom p. lindau (b. 1839) may be regarded as representative, who imitated french models. the only sign of progress in the dramatic history of this period was the marked improvement of the german stage, an improvement due, on the one hand, to the artistic reforms introduced by the duke of meiningen in the court theatre at meiningen, and, on the other hand, to the ideals of a national theatre realized at bayreuth by richard wagner (1813-1883). the greatest composer of the later 19th century is also one of germany's leading dramatists; and the first performance of the trilogy _der ring der nibelungen_ at bayreuth in the summer of 1876 may be said to have inaugurated the latest epoch in the history of the german drama. the last fifteen or twenty years of the 19th century were distinguished in germany by a remarkable literary activity. among the younger generation, which was growing up as citizens of the united german empire, a more hopeful and optimistic spirit prevailed. the influence of schopenhauer was on the wane, and at the universities hegelianism had lost its former hold. the sponsor of the new philosophic movement was kant, the master of 18th-century "enlightenment," and under the influence of the "neo-kantian" movement, not merely german school philosophy, but theology also, was imbued with a healthier spirit. l. von ranke (1795-1886) was still the dominant force in german historical science, and between 1881 and 1888 nine volumes appeared of his last great work, _weltgeschichte_. other historians of the period were h. von sybel (1817-1895) and h. von treitschke (1834-1896), the latter a vigorous and inspiring spokesman of the new political conditions; while j. burckhardt (1818-1897), author of the masterly _kultur der renaissance in italien_ (1860) and the friend of nietzsche, exerted an influence on german thought which was not confined to academic circles. literary criticism perhaps benefited most of all by the dethronement of hegel and the more objective attitude towards schopenhauer; it seemed as if in this epoch the germans first formed definite ideas--and ideas which were acceptable and accepted outside germany--as to the rank and merits of their great poets. a marked change came over the nation's attitude towards goethe, a poet to whom, as we have seen, neither the era of hegel nor that of schopenhauer had been favourable; schiller was regarded with less national prejudice, and--most important of all--amends were made by the new generation for the earlier neglect of kleist, grillparzer, hebbel and keller. the thinker and poet who most completely embodies the spirit of this period--who dealt the hegelian metaphysics its death-blow as far as its wider influence was concerned--was friedrich nietzsche (1844-1900). nietzsche had begun as a disciple of schopenhauer and a friend of wagner, and he ultimately became the champion of an individualistic and optimistic philosophy which formed the sharpest possible contrast to mid-century pessimism. the individual, not the race, the _herrenmensch_, not the slave, self-assertion, not self-denying renunciation--these are some of the ideas round which this new optimistic ethics turns. nietzsche looked forward to the human race emerging from an effete culture, burdened and clogged by tradition, and re-establishing itself on a basis that is in harmony with man's primitive instincts. like schopenhauer before him, nietzsche was a stylist of the first rank, and his literary masterpiece, _also sprach zarathustra_ (1883-1891), is to be regarded as the most important imaginative work of its epoch. nietzschean individualism was only one of many factors which contributed to the new literary development. the realistic movement, as it had manifested itself in france under flaubert, the goncourts, zola and maupassant, in russia under dostoievsky and tolstoi, and in norway under ibsen and bjornson, was, for a time, the dominant force in germany, and the younger generation of critics hailed it with undisguised satisfaction; most characteristic and significant of all, the centre of this revival was berlin, which, since it had become the imperial capital, was rapidly establishing its claim to be also the literary metropolis. it was the best testimony to the vitality of the movement that it rarely descended to slavish imitation of the realistic masterpieces of other literatures; realism in germany was, in fact, only an episode of the 'eighties, a stimulating influence rather than an accepted principle or dogma. and its suggestive character is to be seen not merely in the writings of the young _sturmer und dranger_ of this time, but also in those of the older generation who, in temperament, were naturally more inclined to the ideals of a past age. of the novelists of the latter class, a. wilbrandt, who has already been mentioned as a dramatist, has shown, since about 1890, a remarkable power of adapting himself, if not to the style and artistic methods of the younger school, at least to the ideas by which it was agitated; f. spielhagen's attitude towards the realistic movement has been invariably sympathetic, while a still older writer, theodor fontane (1819-1898), wrote between 1880 and 1898 a series of works in which the finer elements of french realism were grafted on the german novel. to the older school belong wilhelm jensen (b. 1837), and that fine humorist, wilhelm raabe (b. 1831), with whom may be associated as other humorists of this period, h. seidel (1842-1906) and w. busch (1832-1908). some of the most interesting examples of recent german fiction come, however, from austria and switzerland. the two most eminent austrian authors, marie von ebner-eschenbach (b. 1830), and ferdinand, von saar (1833-1906), both excel as writers of novellen or short stories--the latter especially being an exponent of that pessimism which is austria's peculiar heritage from the previous generation of her poets. austrians too, are peter rosegger (b. 1843), who has won popularity with his novels of peasant life, k.e. franzos (1848-1904) and l. von sacher-masoch (1835-1895). german prose fiction is, in switzerland, represented by two writers of the first rank: one of these, gottfried keller, has already been mentioned; the other, konrad ferdinand meyer (1825-1898), turned to literature or, at least, made his reputation, comparatively late in life. although, like keller, a writer of virile, original verse, meyer is best known as a novelist; he, too, was a master of the short story. his themes are drawn by preference from the epoch of the renaissance, and his method is characterized by an objectivity of standpoint and a purity of style exceptional in german writers. the realistic novels of the period were written by h. conradi (1862-1890), max kretzer (b. 1854), m.g. conrad (b. 1846), h. heiberg (b. 1840), k. bleibtreu (b. 1859), k. alberti (pseudonym for konrad sittenfeld, b. 1862) and hermann sudermann (b. 1857). a want of stability was, however, as has been already indicated, characteristic of the realistic movement in germany; the idealistic trend of the german mind proved itself ill-adapted to the uncompromising realism of the french school, and the german realists, whether in fiction or in drama, ultimately sought to escape from the logical consequences of their theories. even sudermann, whose _frau sorge_ (1887), _der katzensteg_ (1889), and the brilliant, if somewhat sensational romance, _es war_ (1894), are among the best novels of this period, has never been a consistent realist. it is consequently not surprising to find that, before long, german fiction returned to psychological and emotional problems, to the poetical or symbolical presentation of life, which was more in harmony with the german temperament than was the robuster realism of flaubert or zola. this trend is noticeable in the work of gustav frenssen (b. 1863), whose novel _jorn uhl_ (1901) was extraordinarily popular; it is also to be seen in the studies of child life and educational problems which have proved so attractive to the younger writers of the present day, such as hermann hesse (b. 1877), emil strauss (b. 1866), rudolf huch (b. 1862) and friedrich huch (b. 1873). one might say, indeed, that at the beginning of the 20th century the traditional form of german fiction, the _bildungsroman_, had come into its ancient rights again. mention ought also to be made of j.j. david (1859-1907), e. von keyserling (b. 1858), w. hegeler (b. 1870), g. von ompteda (b. 1863), j. wassermann (b. 1873), heinrich mann (b. 1871) and thomas mann (b. 1875). _buddenbrooks_ (1902) by the last mentioned is one of the outstanding novels of the period. some of the best fiction of the most recent period is the work of women, the most distinguished being helene bohlau (b. 1859), gabriele reuter (b. 1859), clara viebig (c. cohn-viebig, b. 1860) and ricarda huch (b. 1864). whether the latest movement in german poetry and fiction, which, under the catchword _heimatkunst_, has favoured the province rather than the city, the dialect in preference to the language of the educated classes, will prove a permanent gain, it is still too soon to say, but the movement is at least a protest against the decadent tendencies of naturalism. at no period of german letters were literature and the theatre in closer touch than at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries; more than at any previous time has the theatre become the arena in which the literary battles of the day are fought out. the general improvement in the artistic, technical and economic conditions of the german stage have already been indicated; but it was not until 1889 that the effects of these improvements became apparent in dramatic literature. before that date, it is true, ernst von wildenbruch (1845-1909) had attempted to revive the historical tragedy, but the purely literary qualities of his work were handicapped by a too effusive patriotism and a schillerian pathos; nor did the talent of richard voss (b. 1851) prove strong enough to effect any lasting reform. in october 1889, however, gerhart hauptmann's play, _vor sonnenaufgang_, was produced on the then recently founded _freie buhne_ in berlin; and a month later, _die ehre_ by hermann sudermann met with a more enthusiastic reception in berlin than had fallen to the lot of any german play for more than a generation. hauptmann (b. 1862), the most original of contemporary german writers, stands, more or less, alone. his early plays, the most powerful of which is _die weber_ (1892), were written under the influence either of an uncompromising realism, or of that modified form of realism introduced from scandinavia; but in _hanneles himmelfahrt_ (1893) he combined realism with the poetic mysticism of a child's dream, in _florian geyer_ (1895) he adapted the methods of realism to an historical subject, and in the year 1896 he, to all appearance, abandoned realism to write an allegorical dramatic poem, _die versunkene glocke_. hauptmann's subsequent work has oscillated between the extremes marked out by these works--from the frank naturalism of _fuhrmann henschel_ (1898) and _rose berndt_ (1903), to the fantastic mysticism of _der arme heinrich_ (1902) and _und pippa tanzt!_ (1906). the dramatic talent of hermann sudermann has developed on more even lines; the success of _die ehre_ was due in the first instance to the ability which sudermann had shown in adapting the ideas of his time and the new methods of dramatic presentation to the traditional german _burgerliches drama_. this is the characteristic of the majority of the many plays which followed of which _heimat_ (1893), _das gluck im winkel_ (1896) and _es lebe das leben!_ (1902) may be mentioned as typical. with less success sudermann attempted in _johannes_ (1898) a tragedy on lines suggested by hebbel. a keen observer, a writer of brilliant and suggestive ideas, sudermann is, above all, the practical playwright; but it is unfortunate that the theatrical element in his work too often overshadows its literary qualities. since 1889, the drama has occupied the foreground of interest in germany. the permanent repertory of the german theatre has not, it is true, been much enriched, but it is at least to the credit of contemporary german playwrights that they are unwilling to rest content with their successes and are constantly experimenting with new forms. besides hauptmann and sudermann, the most talented dramatists of the day are max halbe (b. 1865), o.e. hartleben (1864-1905), g. hirschfeld (b. 1873), e. rosmer (pseudonym for elsa bernstein, b. 1866), ludwig fulda (b. 1862), max dreyer (b. 1862), otto ernst (pseudonym for o.e. schmidt, b. 1862) and frank wedekind (b. 1864). in austria, notwithstanding the preponderant influence of berlin, the drama has retained its national characteristics, and writers like arthur schnitzler (b. 1862), hermann bahr (b. 1863), hugo von hofmannsthal (b. 1874) and r. beer-hofmann (b. 1866) have introduced symbolistic elements and peculiarly austrian problems, which are foreign to the theatre of north germany. the german lyric of recent years shows a remarkable variety of new tones and pregnant poetic ideas; it has, as is natural, been more influenced by the optimism of nietzsche--himself a lyric poet of considerable gifts--than has either novel or drama. detlev von liliencron (1844-1909) was one of the first to break with the traditions of the lyric as handed down from the romantic epoch and cultivated with such facility by the munich poets. an anthology of specifically modern lyrics, _moderne dichtercharaktere_ (1885) by w. arent (b. 1864), may be regarded as the manifesto of the movement in lyric poetry corresponding to the period of realism in fiction and the drama. representative poets of this movement are richard dehmel (b. 1863), k. henckell (b. 1864), j.h. mackay (b. 1864 at greenock), g. falke (b. 1853), f. avenarius (b. 1856), f. evers (b. 1871), f. dormann (b. 1870) and k. busse (b. 1872). a later development of the lyric--a return to mysticism and symbolism--is to be seen in the poetry of hofmannsthal, already mentioned as a dramatist, and especially in stefan george (b. 1868). epic poetry, although little in harmony with the spirit of a realistic age, has not been altogether neglected. heinrich hart (1855-1906), one of the leading critics of the most advanced school, is also the author of an ambitious _lied der menschheit_ (vols. 1-3, 1888-1896); more conservative, on the other hand, is _robespierre_ (1894), an epic in the style of hamerling by an austrian, marie delle grazie (b. 1864). attention may also be drawn to the popularity which, for a few years, the so-called _uberbrettl_ or cabaret enjoyed, a popularity which has left its mark on the latest developments of the lyric. associated with this movement are o.j. bierbaum (1865-1910), whose lyrics, collected in _der irrgarten der liebe_ (1901), have been extraordinarily popular, e. von wolzogen (b. 1855) and the dramatist f. wedekind, who has been already mentioned. whether or not the work that has been produced in such rich measure since the year 1889--or however much of it--is to be regarded as a permanent addition to the storehouse of german national literature, there can be no question of the serious artistic earnestness of the writers; the conditions for the production of literature in the german empire in the early years of the 20th century were eminently healthy, and herein lies the best promise for the future. bibliography.--(a) _general histories_, _anthologies_, &c.: a. koberstein, _grundriss der geschichte der deutschen nationalliteratur_ (1827; 5th ed. by k. bartsch, 5 vols., 1872-1874; 6th ed., vol. i., 1884); g.g. gervinus, _geschichte der poetischen nationalliteratur der deutschen_ (5 vols., 1835-1842; 5th ed. by k. bartsch, 1871-1874); a.f.c. vilmar, _geschichte der deutschen nationalliteratur_ (1848; 25th ed., 2 vols., 1900, with a continuation by a. stern); w. wackernagel, _geschichte der deutschen literatur_ (1851-1855; 2nd ed. by e. martin, 1879-1894); k. goedeke, _grundriss zur geschichte der deutschen dichtung_ (3 vols., 1857-1881; 2nd ed. by e. goetze and others, in 9 vols., 1884 ff.); w. menzel, _deutsche dichtung von der altesten bis auf die neueste zeit_ (1858-1859); h. kurz, _geschichte der deutschen literatur mit ausgewahlten stucken_ (3 vols., 1857-1859; 7th ed., 4 vols., 1876-1882); o. roquette, _geschichte der deutschen dichtung_ (2 vols., 1862; 3rd ed., 1878-1879); w. scherer, _geschichte der deutschen literatur_ (1883; 10th ed., 1905). english translation by mrs f.c. conybeare (2 vols., 1885; new ed., 1906); kuno francke, _german literature as determined by social forces_ (1896; 6th ed., 1903); f. vogt and m. koch, _geschichte der deutschen literatur_ (1897; 2nd ed., 2 vols., 1903); j.g. robertson, _history of german literature_ (1902); a. bartels, _geschichte der deutschen literatur_ (2 vols., 1901-1902), with the accompanying bibliographical summary, _handbuch zur geschichte der deutschen literatur_ (1906). there are also histories of the literature of separate countries and districts, such as j. bachtold, _geschichte der deutschen literatur in der schweiz_ (1887); r. krauss, _schwabische literaturgeschichte_ (2 vols., 1897-1899); j.w. nagl and j. zeidler, _deutsch-osterreichische literaturgeschichte_ (2 vols., 1899 ff.). the most comprehensive collection of german literature in selections is j. kurschner, _deutsche nationalliteratur_ (222 vols., 1882-1898). of general anthologies mention may be made of w. wackernagel, _deutsches lesebuch_ (4 vols., 1835-1872; new ed., 1882 ff.), and f. max muller, _the german classics from the fourth to the nineteenth century_ (1858; ed. by f. lichtenstein, 2 vols., 1886; new ed., 1906). for illustrations to the history of german literature, see g. konnecke, _bilderatlas zur geschichte der deutschen nationalliteratur_ (1887; 2nd ed., 1895). (b) _special periods_: i. _old high german and middle high german periods_: r. kogel and w. bruckner, "geschichte der althochdeutschen literatur," and f. vogt, "geschichte der mittelhochdeutschen literatur," in h. paul's _grundriss der germanischen philologie_ (2nd ed., vol. ii. pt. i., 1901); f. khull, _geschichte der altdeutschen dichtung_ (1886); j. kelle, _geschichte der deutschen literatur_, i.-ii. (1892-1896); r. kogel, _geschichte der deutschen literatur bis zum ausgang des mittelalters_, i. (1894-1897); w. golther, _geschichte der deutschen literatur von den ersten anfangen bis zum ausgang des mittelalters_ (in kurschner's deutsche nationalliteratur, vol. 163, pt. i., 1892); w. scherer, _geschichte der deutschen dichtung im 11. und 12. jahrhundert_, and by the same author, _geistliche poeten der deutschen kaiserzeit_ (both works in _quellen und forschungen_, 1874-1875); o. lyon, _minne- und meistersang_ (1882). there are numerous series of editions of medieval texts: k. mullenhoff and w. scherer, _denkmaler deutscher poesie und prosa aus den 8.-12. jahrhundert_ (2 vols., 3rd ed., 1892); m. heyne, _bibliothek der altesten deutschen literaturdenkmaler_ (14 vols., begun 1858); f. pfeiffer, _deutsche klassiker des mittelalters_ (12 vols., begun 1865), with the supplementary _deutsche dichtungen des mittelalters_, edited by k. bartsch (7 vols., 1872 ff.); k. goedeke, _deutsche dichtung im mittelalter_ (2nd ed., 1871); j. zacher, _germanistische handbibliothek_ (9 vols., begun 1869); h. paul, _altdeutsche textbibliothek_ (16 vols., begun 1882); _deutsche texte des mittelalters_, ed. by the berlin academy (1904 ff.). convenient editions of the minnesang are k. lachmann and m. haupt, _des minnesangs fruhling_ (4th ed. by f. vogt, 1888), and k. bartsch, _deutsche liederdichter des 12. bis 14. jahrh._ (4th ed. by w. golther, 1903). ii. _from 1350-1700._--l. geiger, _renaissance und humanismus in italien und deutschland_ (1882; 2nd ed. 1899); k. borinski, _geschichte der deutschen literatur seit dem ausgang des mittelalters_ (in kurschner's _deutsche nationalliteratur_, vol. 163, ii., 1898); h. palm, _beitrage zur geschichte der deutschen literatur des 16. und 17. jahrhunderts_ (1877); c.h. herford, _studies in the literary relations of england and germany in the sixteenth century_ (1886); c. lemcke, _von opitz bis klopstock_, i. (1871; 2nd ed. 1882); m. von waldberg, _deutsche renaissance-lyrik_ (1888), and _die galante lyrik_ (1885); f. bobertag, _geschichte des romans in deutschland_, i. (to 1700) (1877-1884); k. borinski, _die poetik der renaissance und die anfange der literarischen kritik in deutschland_ (1886). a vast quantity of the literature of these centuries has been republished by the stuttgarter literarischer verein (founded in 1839), whose publications now number considerably over two hundred volumes; further, w. braune, _neudrucke deutscher literaturwerke des 16. und 17. jahrhunderts_ (begun 1882); k. goedeke and j. tittmann, _deutsche dichter des 16. jahrhunderts_ (18 vols., 1867 ff.), and _deutsche dichter des 17. jahrhunderts_ (15 vols., 1869 ff.). a valuable anthology is k. goedeke's _elf bucher deutscher dichtung von sebastian brant bis auf die gegenwart_ (2 vols., 1849). since 1890 the _jahresberichte fur neuere deutsche literaturgeschichte_ have provided an exhaustive survey of all publications dealing with modern german literature. a useful practical bibliography for english readers, covering this and the succeeding periods, is j.s. nollen, _a chronology and practical bibliography of modern german literature_ (1903). iii. _the eighteenth century._--j. schmidt, _geschichte der deutschen literatur von leibniz bis auf unsere zeit_ (4 vols., 1862-1867; 2nd ed. 1886-1890); j. hillebrand, _die deutsche nationalliteratur im 18. und 19. jahrhundert_ (3 vols., 1845-1846; 3rd ed. 1875); h. hettner, _geschichte der deutschen literatur im 18. jahrhundert_ (4 vols., 1862-1870; 4th ed. by o. harnack, 1893-1895); j.w. schafer, _geschichte der deutschen literatur des 18. jahrhunderts_ (1855-1860; 2nd ed. by f. muncker, 1881); j.k. morikofer, _die schweizerische literatur des 18. jahrhunderts_ (1861); j.w. lobell, _entwickelung der deutschen poesie von klopstock bis zu goethes tod_ (3 vols., 1856-1865). there are also innumerable more special treatises, such as a. eloesser, _das burgerliche drama_ (1898); o. brahm, _das deutsche ritterdrama des 18. jahrhunderts_ (1880), &c. of collections of the literature of this and the following century, reference need only be made to the _bibliothek der deutschen nationalliteratur des 18. und 19. jahrhunderts_, published by brockhaus (44 vols., 1868-1891), and _deutsche literaturdenkmale des 18. und 19. jahrhunderts_, edited first by b. seuffert (1882-1894), and subsequently by a. sauer. iv. _the nineteenth century._--th. ziegler, _die geistigen und sozialen stromungen des neunzehnten jahrhunderts_ (1899; 2nd ed. 1901); r. von gottschall, _die deutsche nationalliteratur des 19. jahrhunderts_ (1854; 7th ed., 4 vols., 1900-1902); r.m. meyer, _die deutsche literatur des 19. jahrhunderts_ (1899; 4th ed. 1910); r.m. meyer, _grundriss der neueren deutschen literaturgeschichte_ (1902); c. busse, _geschichte der deutschen dichtung im neunzehnten jahrhundert_ (1901); r. haym, _die romantische schule_ (1870; 2nd ed. 1906); g. brandes, "den romantiske skole i tyskland" (1873), and "det unge tyskland" (1890), in _hovedstromninger i det 19de aarhundredes litteratur_, vols. ii. and vi. (german translations, 1887 and 1891; several subsequent editions, danish and german; english translations, ii. 1903, and vi. 1905); r. huch, _die blutezeit der romantik (2nd ed. 1901), and ausbreitung und verfall der romantik_ (1902); f. wehl, _das junge deutschland_ (1886); j. proelss, _das junge deutschland_ (1892); a. bartels, _die deutsche dichtung der gegenwart_ (7th ed., 1907); a. von hanstein, _das jungste deutschland_ (2nd ed., 1901); j.f. coar, _studies in german literature in the nineteenth century_ (1903); ch. petzet, _die blutezeit der deutschen politischen lyrik_ (1903); h. mielke, _der deutsche roman des 19. jahrhunderts_ (4th ed., 1900); s. friedmann, _das deutsche drama des 19. jahrhunderts_ (2 vols., 1900-1903); b. litzmann, _das deutsche drama in den literarischen bewegungen der gegenwart_ (4th ed., 1898). (j. g. r.) german reed entertainment. the dramatic and musical entertainment which for many years was known in london by the title of "german reed" was a form of theatrical enterprise deserving of commemoration in connexion with those who made it successful. mr thomas german reed (born in bristol in 1817, died 1888) married in 1844 miss priscilla horton (1818-1895), and in 1855 they started their entertainment at the "gallery of illustration," in waterloo place, london. from 1860 to 1877 they were assisted by john orlando parry (1810-1879), an accomplished pianoforte player, mimic, parodist and humorous singer; and the latter created a new type of musical and dramatic monologue which became very popular. his tradition was carried on after 1870 by mr corney grain (1844-1895), who, as a clever, refined, and yet highly humorous society entertainer (originally a barrister), was one of the best-known figures of his day. after the retirement of the elder german reeds, their son, alfred german reed (1846-1895), himself a capital actor, carried on the business in partnership with corney grain. the "german reed entertainment"--which was always patronized by a large class of people, many of whom objected on principle to going or taking their children to a regular theatre or a music-hall--retained its vogue for forty years at waterloo place and at the st george's hall, regent street. but the death of mr corney grain almost simultaneously with mr alfred german reed, in 1895, together with the changed public attitude towards the regular theatre, ended its career. german silver or nickel silver, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, prepared either by melting the copper and nickel together in a crucible, and adding piece by piece the previously heated zinc, or by heating the finely divided metals under a layer of charcoal. to destroy its crystalline structure and so render it fit for working, it is heated to dull redness, and then allowed to cool. german silver is harder than silver; it resembles that metal in colour, but is of a greyer tinge. exposed to the air it tarnishes slightly yellow, and with vinegar affords a crust of verdigris. at a bright red heat it melts, losing its zinc by oxidation unless protected from the atmosphere. at a heat above dull redness it becomes exceedingly brittle. german silver in various modifications of composition is much used in the arts. alloys, of which about 50% is copper and the residue zinc and nickel in about equal proportions take a fine polish, and are used as imitation silver for knives and forks. with a somewhat higher proportion of copper an alloy is formed suitable for rolling and for wire. in chinese _white silver_ or _packfong_ (paktong) the amount of copper is smaller, about 40%, with about 32% of nickel, 25 of zinc, and 2 or 3 of iron. german silver for casting contains 2 or 3% of lead, which like iron increases the whiteness of the alloy. german silver, having a high specific resistance and a low temperature coefficient, has been used for electrical resistance coils, and these qualities are possessed in a still greater degree in _manganin_, which contains manganese in place of zinc, its composition being 84% of copper, 12 of manganese and 4 of nickel. the addition of a trace of tungsten to german silver, as in _platinoid_, also largely increases the resistance. german south-west africa. this german possession is bounded w. by the atlantic, n. by angola, s. by the cape province, e. by bechuanaland and rhodesia, and is the only german dependency in africa suited to white colonization. it has an area of about 322,450 sq. m., and a population of bantu negroes and hottentots estimated in 1903 at 200,000.[1] the european inhabitants, in addition to the military, numbered 7110 in 1907, of whom the majority were german. _area and boundaries._--the boundary separating the german protectorate from the portuguese possessions of angola is the lower kunene, from its mouth in 17 deg. 18' s., 11 deg. 40' e. to the limit of navigability from the sea, thence in a direct line, corresponding roughly to the lat. of 17 deg. 20' s., to the river okavango, which it follows eastwards until the stream turns abruptly south (towards lake ngami). from this point a strip of german territory 300 m. long and about 50 m. broad, projects eastward until it reaches the zambezi a little above the victoria falls. on the south this narrow strip of land (known as the caprivi enclave) is separated from southern rhodesia by the kwando or chobe river. on the east the frontier between british and german territory is in its northern half the 21st degree of e. longitude, in its southern half the 20th degree. this frontier is drawn through desert country. the southern frontier is the orange river from its mouth to the 20 deg. e. the coast-line between the kunene and orange rivers is not wholly german. just north of the tropic of capricorn is the british enclave of walfish bay (q.v.). the northern part of the protectorate is known as ovampoland, the central portion as damara (or herero) land; the southern regions as great namaqualand. these names are derived from those of the dominant native races inhabiting the country. _physical features._--the coast-line is generally low and little broken by bays or promontories. in its entire length of about 800 m. it has no good natural harbour, and its bays--angra pequena, otherwise luderitz bay, sierra bay, sandwich harbour--are in danger of being filled with sand by the strong, cold, northerly coast current. swakopmund is an artificial harbour at the mouth of the river swakop. the small islands which stud the coast north and south of angra pequena belong to great britain. the coast-line is bordered by a belt of sand-dunes and desert, which, about 35 m. wide in the south, narrows towards the north. this coast belt is flanked by a mountain range, which attains its highest elevation in mount omatako (8972 ft.), in about 21 deg. 15' s., 16 deg. 40' e. n. e. of omatako is the omboroko range, otherwise known as the waterberg. south of omboroko, occupying the centre of the country, the range attains its highest average altitude. the following massifs with their highest points may be distinguished: gans (7664 ft.), nu-uibeb (7480 ft.), onyati (7201 ft.), awas (6988 ft.), komas (5331 ft.) and ganab (4002 ft.). in the s.e. are the karas mountains, which attain an elevation of 6570 ft. the mountains for the main part form the escarpment of the great kalahari plateau, which, gently rising from the interior towards the west, slopes again towards the south and north from the point of its highest elevation. the kalahari plateau changes the undulating character it has in the west to a perfect plain in the far east, where the watered and habitable country merges into the sterile kalahari desert. in the northern half of the country the central plateau contains much rich grass-land, while in the north-eastern region the omaheke desert has all the characteristics of the kalahari. there are no rivers of importance wholly within german south-west africa. the kunene (q.v.) has but a small portion of the southern bank in the colony, and similarly only part of the northern bank of the orange river (q.v.) is in german territory. several streams run south into the orange; of those the chief is the great fish river, which has a course of nearly 500 m. both the kunene and the orange carry water all the year round, but are not navigable. neither is the great fish river, which, however, is rarely dry. the okavango, which comes from the north and runs towards ngami (q.v.), is perennial, but like the kunene and orange, belongs only partly to the hydrographic system of the country. from the inner slopes of the coast chain many streams go n.e. to join the okavango. they cross the omaheke waste and are usually dry. ovampoland has a hydrographic system connected with the kunene, and, in seasons of great flood, with that of ngami. before the kunene breaks through the outer edge of the plateau, it sends divergent channels south-east to a large marsh or lake called etosha, which is cut by 17 deg. e. and 19 deg. s. of these channels the kwamatuo or okipoko, which is perennial, enters etosha at its n.w. corner. the lake when full extends about 80 m. w. to e. and 50 m. n. to s. from its s.e. corner issues the omuramba, which divides into two branches, known respectively as the omaheke and the ovampo. these streams have an easterly direction, their beds, often dry, joining the okavango. the other rivers of the protectorate have as a rule plenty of water in their upper courses in the rainy season, though some river beds are dry for years together. after a heavy thunderstorm such a river bed will be suddenly filled with a turbid current half a mile wide. the water is, however, before long absorbed by the thirsty land. only in exceptionally rainy years do the streams which cross the sand belt carry water to the ocean. but in the sand which fills the river beds water may be obtained by digging. of rivers running direct to the atlantic the little fish river enters the sea at angra pequena and the kuisip in walfish bay. the swakop rises in the hills near the waterberg, and north of it is the omaruru, which carries water for the greater part of the year. hot springs are numerous, and it is remarkable that those of windhoek flow more copiously during the dry than the rainy season. there are also many cold springs, and wells which contain water all the year. _geology._--gneiss and schist, with intrusive granites and porphyries, overlain to a great extent by sand and lateritic deposits, occupy the coast belt, coast mountains and the plateau of damaraland. in the huib and han-ami plateaus of great namaqualand the crystalline rocks are overlain by sandstones, slates, quartzites and jasper rocks, and these in turn by dolomites. they are probably equivalent to the transvaal and pretoria series (see transvaal: _geology_). the next oldest rocks are of recent geological date. the kalahari kalk, which extends over large areas to the south-east of ovampoland, may be of miocene age, but it has not yielded fossils. extensive tracts of alluvium occur in the basin of the ovampo, while the dunes and sand-tracts of the kalahari occupy the eastern regions. _climate._--on the coast the mean temperature is low, and there is little rainfall. moisture is supplied by dense fogs, which rise almost daily. south-west winds prevail. inland the climate is temperate rather than tropical, with bracing, clear atmosphere. there are considerable differences of temperature between day and night, and two well-marked seasons, one cold and dry from may to september, the other hot and rainy from october to april. in winter ice frequently forms during the night on open water on the plateau, but it never remains all day. the yearly rainfall is about 20 in. in the damara hills; there is more rain in the north than in the south, and in the east than in the west. in the greater part of the colony the climate is favourable for european settlement. _flora and fauna._--the vegetation corresponds exactly with the climate. in the dry littoral region are plants able to exist with the minimum of moisture they derive from the daily fog--_amarantaceae_, _sarcocaula_, _aloe dichotoma_, _aristida subacaulis_ and the wonderful _welwitschia_. farther inland are plants which spring up and disappear with the rain, and others whose roots reach permanent water. the former are chiefly grasses, the latter exist almost solely in or near river-beds. amongst the fine trees often seen here, the ana tree (_acacia albida_) is the most noteworthy, its seeds being favourite fodder for all domestic animals. _acacia giraffae_, _ac. horrida_, _adansonia sterculia_, near the kunene the _hyphaene ventricosa_, deserve special notice. the vegetation in the mountain valleys is luxuriant, and towards the north is of a tropical character. the palm zone extends a considerable distance south of the kunene, and here vegetation spreads over the sand-dunes of the coast plain, which are covered with grasses. large game, formerly abundant, especially pachyderms, is scarce. of antelopes the following species are plentiful in parts: springbok, steenbok, kudu, rietbok, pallah; of monkeys, the _cynocephalus porcarius_ is frequent. various kinds of hyenas and jackals with fine fur (_canis mesomelas_), also _felis caracal_, abound. the spring-hare (_pedestea caffer_) and rock-rabbit (_hyrax capensis_) may often be observed. of birds there are 728 species. crocodiles, turtles and snakes are numerous. _inhabitants._--among the natives of german south-west africa three classes may be distinguished. in the first class are the namaqua (hottentots) and bushmen. the namaqua probably came from the south, while the bushmen may be looked upon as an indigenous race. the hottentots, the purest existing types of that race, are divided into numerous tribes, independent of one another, such as the witbois, swartzbois, bondelzwarts. the bushmen are found scattered over the eastern parts of the country (see hottentots and bushmen). the second class consists of the mountain damara (hau-khoin), a race of doubtful affinities, probably of bantu-negro origin, but speaking the hottentot language. the third class belongs to the bantu-negro stock, and came from the north-east, expelling and enslaving the mountain damara, and settling in various parts of the country under different names. the most prominent are the herero, thorough nomads and cattle-breeders; while the ovampo (ovambo or ambo), in the northern part of the protectorate, are agriculturists. the herero (q.v.) are also known by the hottentot name damara, and by this name their country is generally called. the bastaards, who live in namaqualand, are a small tribe originating from a mingling of cape boers with hottentots. they are christians, and able to read and write. the other natives are spirit-worshippers, save for the comparatively few converts of the protestant missions established in the country. of white races represented the chief are germans and boers. in the s.e. boer settlers form the bulk of the white population. there are also numbers of british colonists in this region--emigrants from the cape. the immigration of germans is encouraged by subsidies and in other ways. _towns._--the chief port is swakopmund, built on the northern bank of the swakop river (the southern bank belonging to the british territory of walfish bay). the harbour is partially protected by a breakwater. there are also settlements at luderitz bay (white pop. 1909, over 1000) and at sandwich harbour. swakopmund is connected by a narrow gauge railway with windhoek, the administrative capital of the colony, situated in a hilly district 180 m. due east of the port, but 237 m. by the railway. karibib is the only place of consequence on the line. otyimbingue is a government station 70 m. w.n.w. of windhoek, and tsumeb a mining centre 240 m. n.n.e. of the same place. olukonda is a government post in ovampoland. in the s.e. corner of the colony, 30 m. n. of the orange river, is the town of warmbad. keetmanshoop, 100 m. n. of warmbad and 180 m. e. of luderitz bay, is the centre of a small mining industry. gibeon is a government station and missionary settlement about midway between keetmanshoop and windhoek. besides these places there are numbers of small native towns at which live a few white traders and missionaries. the missionaries have given biblical names to several of their stations, such as bethany and beersheba in namaqualand, and rehoboth in damaraland. in the caprivi enclave are a german residency and the site of the town of linyante, once the capital of the makololo dynasty of barotseland (see barotse). _industries._--agriculture is followed by the natives in the northern districts, but the chief industry is stock-raising. the scarcity of water in the southern parts is not favourable for agricultural pursuits, while the good grazing lands offer splendid pasturage for cattle, which the herero raise in numbers amounting to many hundred thousands. sheep and goats thrive well. horses have been imported from the cape. unfortunately the climate does not suit them everywhere, and they are subject to a virulent distemper. cattle and sheep also suffer from the diseases which are common in the cape colony. camels have been imported, and are doing well. wheat, maize and sorghum are the chief crops raised, though not enough is grown to meet even local requirements. near the coast the natives collect the kernels of the nara, a wild-growing pumpkin which, in the words of an early traveller, c.j. andersson, "are eaten by oxen, mice, men, ostriches and lions." about half the european settlers are engaged in agriculture. they raise maize, wheat, tobacco, fruit and vegetables. cotton cultivation and viticulture are carried on in some districts. minerals, especially copper, are plentiful in the country. the chief copper deposits are at tsumeb, which is 4230 ft. above the sea, in the otavi district. diamonds are found on and near the surface of the soil in the luderitz bay district, and diamonds have also been found in the neighbourhood of gibeon. a little pottery is made, and the hottentot women are clever in making fur cloths. in the north the ovampo do a little smith-work and grass-plaiting. the external trade of the country was of slow growth. the exports, previous to the opening up of the otavi mines, consisted chiefly of live stock--sent mainly to cape colony--guano, ivory, horns, hides and ostrich feathers. the chief imports are food stuffs, textiles and metals, and hardware. in 1903 the value of the exports was l168,560, that of the imports l388,210. the war which followed (see below, _history_) led to a great shrinking of exports, rendering the figures for the period 1904-1907 useless for purposes of comparison. about 85% of the imports are from germany. _communications._--the economic development of the country is largely dependent on transport facilities. the railway from swakopmund to windhoek, mentioned above, was begun in 1897, and was opened for traffic in july 1902. it cost nearly l700,000 to build. another narrow gauge railway, to serve the otavi copper mines, was begun in 1904 and completed in 1908. it starts from swakopmund and is 400 m. long, the terminus being at grootfontein, 40 m. s.e. of tsumeb. the highest point on this line is 5213 ft. above the sea. in 1906-1908 a railway, 180 m. long, was built from luderitz bay to keetmanshoop. this line is of the standard south african gauge (3 ft. 6 in.), that gauge being adopted in view of the eventual linking up of the line with the british railway systems at kimberley. a branch from seeheim on the keetmanshoop line runs s.e. to kalkfontein. besides railways, roads have been made between the chief centres of population. along these, in the desert districts, wells have been dug. across the awas mountains, separating windhoek from the central plateau, a wide road has been cut. in 1903 the colony was placed in telegraphic communication with europe and cape colony by the laying of submarine cables having their terminus at swakopmund. there is a fairly complete inland telegraphic service. there is regular steamship communication between hamburg and swakopmund, walfish bay and luderitz bay. regular communication is also maintained between cape town and the ports of the colony. _administration._--at the head of the administration is an imperial governor, responsible to the colonial office in berlin, who is assisted by a council consisting of chiefs of departments. the country is divided into various administrative districts. in each of these there is a _bezirksamtmann_, with his staff of officials and police force. in each district is a law court, to whose jurisdiction not alone the whites, but also the bastaards are subject. as in all german colonies, there is a court of appeal at the residence of the governor. the government maintains schools at the chief towns, but education is principally in the hands of missionaries. the armed force consists of regular troops from germany and a militia formed of bastaards. the local revenue for some years before 1903 was about l130,000 per annum, the expenditure about l400,000, the difference between local receipts and expenditure being made good by imperial subsidies. in 1908 local revenue had risen to l250,000, but the imperial authorities incurred an expenditure of over l2,000,000, largely for military purposes. on articles of export, such as feathers and hides, 5% _ad valorem_ duty has to be paid; on cattle and horses an export tax per head. there is a 10% _ad valorem_ duty on all imports, no difference being made between german and foreign goods. the sale of spirituous liquors is subject to a licence. _history._--the coast of south-west africa was discovered by bartholomew diaz in 1487, whilst endeavouring to find his way to the indies. he anchored in a bay which by reason of its smallness he named angra pequena. portugal, however, took no steps to acquire possession of this inhospitable region, which remained almost unvisited by europeans until the early years of the 19th century. at this time the country was devastated by a hottentot chief known as afrikander, who had fled thither with a band of outlaws after murdering his master, a boer farmer by whom he had been ill-treated, in 1796. in 1805 some missionaries (of german nationality) went into namaqualand in the service of the london missionary society, which society subsequently transferred its missions in this region to the rhenish mission, which had had agents in the country since about 1840. the chief station of the missionaries was at a hottentot settlement renamed bethany (1820), a place 125 m. e. by angra pequena. the missionaries had the satisfaction of stopping afrikander's career of bloodshed. he became a convert, a great friend of the mission, and took the name of christian. the proximity of great namaqualand to cape colony led to visits from british and dutch farmers and hunters, a few of whom settled in the country, which thus became in some sense a dependency of the cape. in 1867 the islands along the coast north and south of angra pequena, on which were valuable guano deposits, were annexed to great britain. at this time a small trade between the natives and the outside world was developed at angra pequena, the merchants engaged in it being british and german. the political influence of the cape spread meantime northward to the land of the herero (damara). the herero had been subjugated by jonker afrikander, a son of christian afrikander, who followed the early footsteps of his sire and had renounced christianity, but in 1865 they had recovered their independence. the rhenish missionaries appealed (1868) to the british government for protection, and asked for the annexation of the country. this request, although supported by the prussian government, was refused. in 1876, however, a special commissioner (w. coates palgrave) was sent by the cape government "to the tribes north of the orange river." the commissioner concluded treaties with the namaqua and damara which fixed the limits of the territories of the two races and placed the whole country now forming german south-west africa within the sphere of british influence. in the central part of damaraland an area of some 35,000 sq. m. was marked out as a british reservation. the instrument by which this arrangement was made was known as the treaty of okahandya. neither it nor the treaty relating to great namaqualand was ratified by the british government, but at the request of sir bartle frere, then high commissioner for south africa, walfish bay (the best harbour along the coast) was in 1878 annexed to great britain. german rule established. in 1880 fighting between the namaqua, who were led by jan afrikander, son of jonker and grandson of christian afrikander, and the damara broke out afresh, and was not ended until the establishment of european rule. in 1883 f.a.e. luderitz (1834-1886), a bremen merchant, with the approval of prince bismarck, established a trading station at angra pequena. this step led to the annexation of the whole country to germany (see africa, s 5) with the exception of walfish bay and the islands actually british territory. on the establishment of german rule jonker afrikander's old headquarters were made the seat of administration and renamed windhoek. the hottentots, under a chieftain named hendrik witboi, offered a determined opposition to the germans, but after a protracted war peace was concluded in 1894 and hendrik became the ally of the germans. thereafter, notwithstanding various local risings, the country enjoyed a measure of prosperity, although, largely owing to economic conditions, its development was very slow. herero war. in october 1903 the bondelzwarts, who occupy the district immediately north of the orange river, rose in revolt. this act was the beginning of a struggle between the germans and the natives which lasted over four years, and cost germany the lives of some 5000 soldiers and settlers, and entailed an expenditure of l15,000,000. abuses committed by white traders, the brutal methods of certain officials and the occupation of tribal lands were among the causes of the war, but impatience of white rule was believed to be the chief reason for the revolt of the herero, the most formidable of the opponents of the germans. the herero had accepted the german protectorate by treaty--without fully comprehending that to which they had agreed. to crush the bondelzwarts, an object attained by january 1904, the governor, colonel theodor leutwein, had denuded damaraland of troops, and advantage was taken of this fact by the herero to begin a long-planned and well-prepared revolt. on the 12th of january 1904 most of the german farmers in damaraland were attacked, and settlers and their families murdered and the farms devastated. reinforcements were sent from germany, and in june general von trotha arrived and took command of the troops. on the 11th of august von trotha attacked the herero in their stronghold, the waterberg, about 200 m. n. of windhoek, and inflicted upon them a severe defeat. the main body of the enemy escaped, however, from the encircling columns of the germans, and thereafter the herero, who were under the leadership of samuel maherero, maintained a guerrilla warfare, rendering the whole countryside unsafe. the germans found pursuit almost hopeless, being crippled by the lack of water and the absence of means of transport. to add to their troubles a herero bastard named morenga, with a following of hottentots, had, in july, recommenced hostilities in the south. on the 2nd of october 1904 von trotha, exasperated at his want of success in crushing the enemy, issued a proclamation in which he said: "within the german frontier every herero with or without a rifle, with or without cattle, will be shot. i will not take over any more women and children. but i will either drive them back to your people or have them fired on." in a later order von trotha instructed his soldiers not to fire into, but to fire over the heads of the women and children, and prince bulow ordered the general to repeal the whole proclamation. whenever they had the chance, however, the germans hunted down the herero, and thousands perished in the omaheke desert, across which numbers succeeded in passing to british territory near ngami. on the day following the issue of von trotha's proclamation to the herero, i.e. on the 3rd of october 1904, hendrik witboi sent a formal declaration of war to the germans. hendrik had helped to suppress the bondelzwarts rising, and had received a german decoration for his services, and his hostility is said to have been kindled by the supersession of colonel leutwein, for whom he entertained a great admiration. the witbois were joined by other hottentot tribes, and their first act was to murder some sixty german settlers in the gibeon district. both british and boer farmers were spared--the hottentots in this matter following the example of the herero. in november, considerable reinforcements having come from germany, the witbois were attacked, and hendrik's headquarters, reitmont, captured. another defeat was inflicted on hendrik in january 1905, but, lacking ammunition and water, the germans could not follow up their victory. as in damaraland, the warfare in namaqualand now assumed a guerrilla character, and the germans found it almost impossible to meet their elusive enemy, while small detachments were often surprised and sometimes annihilated. in may 1905 von trotha tried the effect on the hottentots of another of his proclamations. he invited them to surrender, adding that in the contrary event all rebels would be exterminated. a price was at the same time put on the heads of hendrik witboi and other chiefs. this proclamation was unheeded by the hottentots, who were in fact continuing the war with rifles and ammunition seized from the germans, and replenishing their stock with cattle taken from the same source. in the north, however, samuel maherero had fled to british territory, and the resistance of the herero was beginning to collapse. concentration camps were established in which some thousands of herero women and children were cared for. meanwhile, the administration of von trotha, who had assumed the governorship as well as the command of the troops, was severely criticized by the civilian population, and the non-success of the operations against the hottentots provoked strong military criticism. in august 1905 colonel (afterwards general) leutwein, who had returned to germany, formally resigned the governorship of the protectorate, and herr von lindequist, late german consul-general at cape town, was nominated as his successor. von trotha, who had publicly criticized prince bulow's order to repeal the herero proclamation, was superseded. he had in the summer of 1905 instituted a series of "drives" against the witbois, with no particular results. hendrik always evaded the columns and frequently attacked them in the rear. in november 1905 von lindequist arrived at windhoek. the new governor issued a general amnesty to the herero, and set aside two large reserves for those who surrendered. his conciliatory policy was in the end successful, and the ovampo, who threatened to give trouble, were kept in hand. the task of pacifying damaraland was continued throughout 1906, and by the close of that year about 16,000 herero had been established in the reserves. some 3000 had sought refuge in british territory, while the number who had perished may be estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000. the hottentots subdued. in namaqualand von lindequist found an enemy still unbroken. on the 3rd of november, however, hendrik witboi died, aged seventy-five, and his son and successor samuel isaac witboi shortly afterwards surrendered, and the hostility of the tribe ceased. morenga now became the chief of the rebel hottentots, and "drives" against him were organized. early in may 1906 an encounter between morenga and a german column was fought close to the british frontier of the bechuanaland protectorate. morenga fled, was pursued across the frontier, and wounded, but escaped. on the 16th of may he was found hiding by british patrols and interned. other hottentot chiefs continued the conflict, greatly aided by the immense difficulty the germans had in transporting supplies; to remedy which defect the building of a railway from luderitz bay to kubub was begun early in 1906. a camel transport corps was also organized, and boer auxiliaries engaged. throughout the later half of 1906 the hottentots maintained the struggle, the karas mountains forming a stronghold from which their dislodgment was extremely difficult. many of their leaders and numbers of the tribesmen had a considerable strain of white (chiefly dutch) blood and were fairly educated men, with a knowledge not only of native, but european ways; facts which helped to make them formidable opponents. gradually the resistance of the hottentots was overcome, and in december 1906 the bondelzwarts again surrendered. other tribes continued the fight for months longer, but by march 1907 it was found possible to reduce the troops in the protectorate to about 5000 men. at the height of the campaign the germans had 19,000 men in the field. in august 1907 renewed alarm was created by the escape of morenga from british territory. the cape government, regarding the chief as a political refugee, had refused to extradite him and he had been assigned a residence near upington. this place he left early in august and, eluding the frontier guards, re-entered german territory. in september, however, he was again on the british side of the border. meantime a force of the cape mounted police under major f.a.h. eliott had been organized to effect his arrest. summoned to surrender, morenga fled into the kalahari desert. eliott's force of sixty men pursued him through a waterless country, covering 80 m. in 24 hours. when overtaken (september 21st), morenga, with ten followers, was holding a kopje and fired on the advancing troops. after a sharp engagement the chief and five of his men were killed, the british casualties being one killed and one wounded. the death of morenga removed a serious obstacle to the complete pacification of the protectorate. military operations continued, however, during 1908. herr von lindequist, being recalled to berlin to become under-secretary in the colonial office, was succeeded as governor (may 1907) by herr von schuckmann. in 1908 steps were taken to establish german authority in the caprivi enclave, which up to that time had been neglected by the colonial authorities. discovery of diamonds. the discovery of diamonds in the luderitz bay district in july 1908 caused a rush of treasure-seekers. the diamonds were found mostly on the surface in a sandy soil and were of small size. the stones resemble brazilian diamonds. by the end of the year the total yield was over 39,000 carats. one of the difficulties encountered in developing the field was the great scarcity of fresh water. during 1909 various companies were formed to exploit the diamondiferous area. the first considerable packet of diamonds from the colony reached germany in april 1909. the output for the year was valued at over l1,000,000. authorities.--karl dove, _deutsch-sudwestafrika_ (berlin, 1903); w. kulz, _deutsch-sudafrika_ ... (berlin, 1909); t. leutwein, _elf jahre gouverneur in deutsch-sudwestafrika_ (berlin, 1908), an authoritative work, largely historical; p. rohrbach, _deutsche kolonialwirtschaft_, band 1: _sudwestafrika_ (berlin, 1907), a comprehensive economic study; i. irle, _die herero, ein beitrag zur landes-, volks- und missionskunde_ (gutersloh, 1906), a valuable summary of information concerning damaraland; major k. schwabe, _im deutschen diamantenlande_ (berlin, 1909); t. rehbock, _deutsch-sudwestafrika, seine wirtschaftliche erschliessung unter besonderer berucksichtigung der nutzbarmachung des wassers_ (berlin, 1898); c. von francois, _deutsch-sudwestafrika: geschichte der kolonisation bis zum ausbruch des krieges mit witbooi_, april 1893 (berlin, 1899), a history of the protectorate up to 1893; h. schintz, _deutsch-sudwestafrika, forschungsreisen durch die deutschen schutzgebiete gross-nama und hereroland, nach dem kunene, &c., 1884-1887_ (oldenburg, n.d. [1891]); h. von francois, _nama und damara_ (magdeburg, n.d. [1896]). see also for ethnology, "die eingeborenen deutsch-sudwestafrikas nach geschichte, charakter, sitten, gebrauchen und sprachen," in _mitteilungen des seminars fur orientalische sprachen_ (berlin and stuttgart) for 1899 and 1900; and g.w. stow, _the native races of south africa_ (london, 1905); ch. xvii. contains an account of the afrikander family. for geology consult a. schenk, "die geologische entwicklung sudafrikas (mit karte)," _peterm. mitt._ (1888); stromer von reichenbach, _die geologie der deutschen schutzgebiete in afrika_ (munich and leipzig, 1896). of early books of travel the most valuable are: f. galton, _tropical south africa_ (1853; new ed. 1889); charles j. andersson, _lake ngami_ (1856), _the okavango river_ (1861) and _notes of travel_ (1875). see also sir j.e. alexander, _an expedition of discovery into the interior of africa_ (london, 1838). reports on the german colonies are published by the british foreign office. the _kriegskarte von deutsch-sudwestafrika_ (berlin, 1904), in nine sheets on a scale of 1 : 800,000, will be found useful. (f. r. c.) footnote: [1] as the result of wars with the natives, the population greatly decreased. the number of adult (native) males in the colony at the beginning of 1908 was officially estimated at 19,900, a figure indicating a total population of little more than 100,000.