180 



GERMANY 



Belgium, and even followed them into their 

 original seats in Germany in two short cam- 

 paigns. The tranquillity which was established 

 through his exertions was, however, so seriously 

 disturbed again by 15 B.C. that Augustus felt it 

 necessary to make a serious effort to subjugate 

 these troublesome neighbours of Gaul. Accord- 

 ingly Drusus was sent (12 B.C.) at the head of 

 eight legions across the frontier ; and in four cam- 

 paigns he was so far successful that he subdued 

 the Batavians, Frisians, and other tribes as far as 

 the Elbe, and likewise the Chatti on the Main. 

 After the death of Drusus in 9 B.C. Tiberius con- 

 quered the Tencteri and Usipetes, who lived on the 

 middle Rhine, and afterwards the Sicambri and 

 others settled on the lands at its mouth. In 6 A.D. 

 the work was taken up by Varus ; but Varus, in 

 attempting to consolidate the Roman power by 

 depriving the Germans of their national institu- 

 tions and imposing upon them those of the empire, 

 provoked a general revolt of the subject peoples. 

 The animating spirit of this patriotic movement 

 was Arminius (Q.V.), chief of the Cherusci, who not 

 only overthrew Varus, and slew him and his legions 

 (9 A.D.) at one blow in the Teutoburg Forest, 

 but with irresistible elan swept the Romans before 

 him until he had expelled them from German 

 soil. The struggle was renewed by Germanicus, 

 who defeated Arminius and avenged the Roman 

 honour, but at length, in 16 A.D., withdrew his 

 legions. Henceforth the Romans contented them- 

 selves with guarding their long frontier next 

 Germany ; and in this task they succeeded for 

 some time as much by stirring up dissension 

 amongst the chiefs of their foemen as by their 

 own military skill. Yet they managed to bring 

 the Frisians and Batavians under their influence, 

 until in 69 a fierce revolt broke out amongst 

 the latter people, a revolt which was only quelled 

 after a terrible struggle. About one hundred years 

 later the Germans began to reverse the order of 

 things. In the period 166-174 Aurelius' was 

 engaged in beating back a formidable incursion 

 of the Marcomanni and Quadi into Roman terri- 

 tory. From the 3d century we no longer read of 

 single tribes, but of great confederations of tribes, 

 as the Goths, Alemanni, Franks, Frisians, Saxons, 

 Thuringians, and others. These powerful com- 

 binations began to harass the Romans all along 

 their frontier line, from the mouth of the Rhine 

 to the middle Danube, attacking the towns and 

 forts, and breaking down the walls they had built 

 to keep this boundary. In 375 began the movement 

 before which Rome eventually succumbed. The 

 Huns invaded Europe, and by their coming gave 

 rise to what is known as the ' Volkerwanderungen ' 

 or 'Migrations of the Peoples.' The races who lay 

 next to Roman territory were being pressed upon 

 more and more by those behind, upon whom the 

 full brunt of the Hunnic attack had fallen, and at 

 last they began to pour across the boundary in 

 such broad deep streams that the dams of the 

 Romans were broken completely down before their 

 onrush. Of the history of Germany itself we learn 

 little more that is authentic until we come down to 

 the times of the Franks, except that the Slavic 

 nations following in the wake of the Huns seized 

 and occupied the lands left vacant by the German 

 emigrants who had gone Romewards, and that of 

 the confederations still remaining at home in their 

 original lands the most important were the Ale- 

 manni, the Thuringians, Saxons, Bavarians, and 

 Franks. The historian turns his attention more 

 especially towards the last-named, since by them 

 the kingdoms of France and Germany were subse- 

 quently formed. See FRANCE, and FRANKS. 



After the gradual expulsion or retirement of 

 the Romans from Germany, the country neces- 



sarily became subdivided into numerous petty 

 states, each governed by its own chief. The 

 erection of the Franko-Merovingian empire in 

 France had given preponderance to the Frankish 

 power on both sides of the Rhine, and when 

 Charlemagne succeeded in 771 to the German as 

 well as the Gallic possessions of his father, Pepin 

 the Short, he found himself possessed of an amount 

 of territory and a degree of influence which speedily 

 enabled him to assert supremacy over the whole 

 of the west of Germany, while his conquests over 

 the heathen Saxons in the north, and the Avars 

 who then held Pannonia in the south-east, ex- 

 tended his German dominions from the North Sea 

 to the Alps, and from the Rhine as far as Hungary. 

 With Charlemagne, who received the imperial 

 crown at the hands of the pope in 800, began the 

 long line of emperors and kings who occupied the 

 German throne for more than a thousand years ; 

 and with him, too, ended the stability of the vast 

 fabric which he had reared on the ruins of Roman 

 power, for at his death in 814 no member of his 

 family was competent to wield the imperial sceptre. 

 Although in 843 some portions of his German 

 possessions fell, in accordance with the treaty of 

 Verdun, to his grandson Ludwig, surnamed ' the 

 German,' who was recognised as king of Germany 

 or East Francia, the final and absolute partition 

 did not take place till 887, when Arnulf seized the 

 eastern throne. On the extinction, in 911, of the 

 degenerate Carlovingian dynasty in the person of 

 Ludwig 'the Child,' the provincial rulers, who, 

 together with the archbishops, bishops, and abbots, 

 constituted the chief members or the diet or 

 national assembly, arrogated to themselves (in 

 imitation of the practice of the nobles of the 

 ancient German tribes ) the right of electing their 

 sovereign, who, however, could not assume the 

 imperial title till he had been crowned by the 

 pope. At this period there were in Germany five 

 nations the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians, 

 and Lorrainers. The Franks, as the descendants 

 of those who had conquered the land and founded 

 the empire, enjoyed a pre-eminence over the others ; 

 and hence, on the extinction of the Carlovingian 

 race, the choice of the prince-electors seems to have 

 fallen almost as a matter of course on the chief of 

 the Franks, the Duke of Franconia, who reigned 

 as king of Germany from 911 to 918, under the 

 title of Conrad I. At his own instigation, his 

 rival and adversary, Henry, Duke of Saxony, was 

 chosen as his successor, and proved himself an able 

 and warlike prince. The conquests of this great 

 prince over the Danes, Slavs, and especially over 

 the terrible Magyars, were confirmed and extended 

 by his son and successor, Otho I. ( 936-973 ), who 

 carried the boundaries of the empire beyond the 

 Elbe and Saale, and who, by his acquisition of 

 Lombardy, laid the foundation of the relations 

 which existed for many ages between the rulers of 

 Germany and the Italian nation. Otho's corona- 

 tion-festival was eventful, as it formed the pre- 

 cedent for the exercise of those offices which, till 

 the dissolution of the empire, were regarded as 

 connected with the dignity of the secular electors ; 

 for on that occasion, while the emperor dined with 

 his three spiritual electors, he was waited upon 

 by the secular princes the Elector of Bavaria 

 ( afterwards of Saxony ) serving as grand-marshal ; 

 of Swabia (afterwards of Bohemia), as grand- 

 cupbearer; and of Lorraine (afterwards of Bran- 

 denburg), as arch-chamberlain. 



Otho II. (973-983), Otho III. (983-1002), and 

 Henry II. (1002-24) belonged to the House of 

 Saxony, which was succeeded by that of Franconia, 

 in the person of Conrad II. (1024-39), an able 

 ruler, wno added Burgundy to the empire. His 

 son and successor, Henry III. (1039-56), tempo- 



