492 1250—54. to make a new spring at his enemies, but when to the world he seemed to have lost everything, the prospects of his si1p- GERMANY border countries which had hitherto been dependent upon or connected with Germany. Denmark and Poland [nis'roRv. ' Conrad porters were dark indeed. They acknowledged Conrad IV. rendered no homage tliencefortli to the German crown, and “'- as their lawful sovereign, but he, too, fought in Italy rather Burgundy was gradually absorbed by France. than at home, and the country continued till his death, The country was not now divided into a few diichies Classe in 1254, to be torn by the two contending factions. which, with skilfiil management, might still on difiicult 0‘ the With King Conrad IV. the llollellstlttilliitlall (lline caniedto e}mergenci(i1as liave been made ‘:0 actltogether. P'l‘he age of :‘i‘:)l:1“]' an end in German ', and William of o an receive a t ie great iic ies was past. 1 s we iave seen, )8.'3.l'l8. was ' nominal allegiance. 5 In two yiparslhe follol'ed lifislareldeces Sl101l‘l1 pf e)3l'.ell1Sl‘e lpngs, over which nlew (hikes ;eI‘§3 placed, sors and then there was a dou le e ection, t iat 0 p ioiiso, aiic tie 11c iy o .'axony was a toget ier l'U{el1 up. king of Castile, aml Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother of Swabia and Franconia also ceased to have dukes, aml Henry III. of England. Richard was crowned, but he Lorraine gave place to the duchy of Brabaiit aiidotlier small went to Germany only three times, and the majority of his immediate states. Thus there were prcl-ates, dukes, pals- subjects probably hardly knew his name. Alphonso never graves, margraves, laiidgraves, coiiiits—forniiiig together even visited the country of which he also claimed to be the a large body each of whom claimed to have no superior sovereign. save the emperor, whose authority they and their predeces- Periodof The age of the Hohenstaufen emperors is, in many sors had slowly destroyed. All immediate nobles were not H°l‘°"' respects, the most interesting in the medizeval history of princes; but even petty knights or barons, who possessed
- ,t:_‘:,§g_ Germany. Everywhere there were dramatic contrasts of little more than the rudetowers from which they descended
' i ' character: in the innumerable struggles of the time we _are upon passing travellers, if their only lord was the emperor, struck, now by heroic devotion, again by almost incredible recognized no law save their own will. Another independ- selfishiiess ; a gay enjoyment of the world as it is existed ent element of the state was composed of the imperial cities. side by side with almost superhuinan spirituality. Chivalry So long as the emperor really reigned, they enjoyed only was in full bloom, with much in its nature that was fan- sue 1 liberties as they could wring from him, or as he voliiii- tastic and insincere, but keeping alive a beautiful ideal of tarily conferred. But when the sovereigii’s power decayed, manliness, courtesy, and generosity. Vomen never held a the imperial cities were really free republics, governing higher place, nor, on the whole, did they ever respond more themselves according to their own ideas of law and justice. nobly to the honours freely lavished upon them. The Besides the imperial cities, and the princes and other im- excitement of the crusades, contact with the life of Italy mediate nobles, there were the mediate nobles, the men who (in that age presenting so many elements fitted to awaken held land in fief of the highest classes of the aristocracy, and even dull minds), and study of the Provencal poets revealed who, in virtue of this feudal relation, thought themselves worlds that had been hitherto unknown ; while the national entitled to look down upon allodial proprietors or freemeii, genius for the first time flowered in the romances and lyrics and upon simple burghers. There were also mediate towns, of the Minnesitnger. In the cities, magnificent churches in acknowledging the supremacy of some lord other than the the Gothic style gave expression to high aspiration, and sovereign. Beneath all these, forming the mass of the gratified a cultivated feeling for art. And the problems agricultural population, were the peasantry and the serfs, of government were seen in new lights, partly from the the latter attached to the land, the former ground down by study of Roman law which passed from Italy to Germany, heavy taxes. partly from the sunmiaries of native custom in the “ Sacli- The period which followed the death of Conrad IV., called Great senspiegel” and “Scliwabenspiegel.” Altogether, Germany the Great Interregium, was made good use of by the princes int”? has seen no more fascinating epoch, none more full of life, for the extension of their territories and the confirinatioii ‘mm’ movement, and colour. of their authority. On several occasions the crown had The Political Yet it was in this age that the German nation utterly seemed to be on the verge of becoming hereditary ; but the 01°C“ 0 Germany settled. Clflamcter lost its political strength. Even after Lothair the Saxon, a line of sovereigns rigidly confining themselves to their own kingdom might have mastered the many influences which were making for disunion. But the Hohen- staufen family, like their Saxon and Fianconian pre- decessors, would be content with nothing short of world- dominion ; and thus the crown which had once been sigiiifi- cant of power and splendour gradually sank into contempt. Under the strong rule of Frederick Barbarossa and his son the process was temporarily stopped, but only to advance the more rapidly when they were gone. During the con- fusion of the civil war carried on by Otto IV. and Philip, the princes, being subject to hardly any check, seized crown lands and crown rights; and the mischief was too extensive to be undone by Frederick II. In 1220, in order to secure jealousy of the papacy, and the growing influence of the aristocracy, had succeeded in keeping it elective. Although each election needed the sanction of the whole class of immediate nobles, the right of appointing the king had long been virtually in the hands of the leading princes. Duriiig the iiiterregiium, mainly through the influence of Pope Urban IV., it was definitely transferred to the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves, the houses of Wittelsbach and Saxony, the niargrave of Brandenburg, and the king of lohemia. After this the electors became a distinct element in the state. Their importance consisted in this, that they could maintain the existing disiinion by imposing rigid con- ditions oii candidates for the crown, and by taking care that it should be conferred on no prince likely to be dangerous to the aristocracy. the adhesion of the church to his son Henry, he formally confirmed the spiritual princes in their usiirpatioiis, agreeing not to introduce into their territories. without their consent, Up to the time of the interregnum the territories of a I)ivi prince were never divided among his descendants, the reason of 1}! being that, although the private fiefs of the princes were 1'31‘ new coinage, or customs, or tolls. Fifteen years later the rebel king, Henry, was isolated by similar advantages being granted to the secular princes. The two pragmatic sanc- tions in which Frederick made these concessions formed the lawful basis of the independence of the princely class. Such authority as he reserved he could ill exercise from a distant land in which his energies were otherwise occupied. His immediate successors can hardly be said to have exer- cised any authority whatever; and they lost hold of the hereditary, their offices as rulers were in theory at the dis- posal of the crown. This principle was now set aside. Otto, duke of Bavaria, of the house of Wittelsbach, had become by marriage lord also of the Ilhenish palatinate. After his death these extensive lands were ruled in common by his two sons ; but a formal division soon took place, by which the powerful family of Wittelsbacli was separated into two branches, the Palatine and the Bavarian. The
small duchy of Saxony was also divided into two diichies,