GERMANY 



GERMANY 



military settlement of the Romans 

 along the valleys of the Ehine and 

 the Danube. After the defeat of 

 Varus by Arminius in A.D. 9, these 

 rivers were regarded as the bound- 

 aries of the empire, and conse- 

 quently their castra or camps were 

 established along or near the two 

 valleys. From these sprang many 

 of the German cities of to-day, for 

 instance Cologne, Mainz, Cleves, 

 Augsburg, Spires, and Worms; 

 therein through the dark ages that 

 followed there lingered traces of Ro- 

 man civilization and of Christianity. 



Now and again, in the early 

 centuries, the Romans moved 

 across from these rivers into Ger- 

 many, but without achieving any 

 real successes in the interior. 

 Tacitus, in his Germania, names a 

 large number of tribes dwelling in 

 Germany, but most of these are 

 names only, and in any case their 

 importance only lasted for a few 

 years, for in a century or two most 

 of them had disappeared from 

 history. They belonged to three 

 main groups, however, Celts, Teu- 

 tons, and Slavs, although anything 

 approaching exactitude is here im- 

 possible. The cardinal fact is that 

 from them the existing German 

 people emerged, and that to-day 

 the predominance of one or the 

 other of these elements is evident 

 in the various parts of the country. 

 For example, there is a strong 

 Slav element in the original king- 

 dom of Prussia, and a strong Celtic 

 one in Bavaria. 



Germany and Deutschland 



From one of these names came 

 our word Germany. Julius Caesar 

 referred to a group of tribes as 

 Germani, while later Tacitus used 

 it, although for a different group. 

 The latter author perpetuated it, 

 moreover, in his invaluable work, 

 and thus it became the Lathi, and 

 later the English, name for the 

 country. The Latin -speaking Ger- 

 mans of the monasteries, however, 

 when their land was part of the 

 Frankish empire, called it Fran- 

 cia, and later, as a single Ger- . 

 man speech came into existence, 

 the word Deutsch was evolved. 

 From this came Deutschland, al- 

 though it was not generally used 

 until the 15th century, this delay 

 being due to the inclusion of Ger- 

 many in the Holy Roman Empire 

 with the sonorous description of; its 

 ruler as Imperator Romanorum. 



Gradually, as in Britain, the 

 Roman power grew weaker, and in 

 the 3rd and 4th centuries the 

 Romans were compelled to fight 

 hard against the tribes who refused 

 any longer to acknowledge their 

 authority. Among these was the 

 confederation known as the Alam- 

 anni, who carried the war on to 



Roman soil. From the east came 

 an inrush of Huns, who swept 

 across the land, and then with the 

 appearance of the Franks the his- 

 tory becomes a little clearer. 



During these years there had 

 been evidently a great deal of 

 movement among the tribes. Some 

 had disappeared, although this 

 may only have been a change of 

 name, the impression of a conquer- 

 ing upon a conquered people. At 

 all events, from about 600, certain 

 tribes or groups of tribes bearing 

 familiar names appear, and from 

 these a fairly continuous story can 

 be traced. 



Kingdom of Clovis 



The chief of these tribes were the 

 Franks, the Saxons, and the Bava- 

 nans. The Franks settled in both ' 

 France and Germany, and the state 

 they founded covered a consider- 

 able portion of each, which were 

 thus united, a fact which does some- 

 thing to explain the long struggles 

 for the possession of Alsace-Lor- 

 raine and the neighbourhood. 

 Under Clovis, who died in 511, they 

 became a kingdom, and this king- 

 dom of the Franks grew into the 

 empire of Charlemagne, the Frank- 

 ish part of Germany being that ly- 

 ing along the Rhine, while its ruler 

 had a more or less vague authority 

 over other parts. In addition to this 

 kingdom, Germany appears at this 

 time to have been divided into Swa- 

 bia, Saxony,Thuringia,and Bavaria, 

 with an eastern portion inhabited 

 by Slav tribes, some of whose names 

 are still perpetuated in Pomerania, 

 Brandenburg, and elsewhere. 



The kingdom of Clovis became 

 that of the Merovingian kings of 

 the Franks, under whose feeble 

 rule the German tribes conquered 

 by Clovis and his immediate suc- 

 cessors became again independent. 

 Then followed the rise of Pippin 

 of Heristal and the Caroling! an 

 family. Pippin and Charles Martel 

 recovered the lost authority of the 

 Franks ovSr the Bavarians and the 

 Thuringians, who were included in 

 the great empire of Charlemagne. 



Having become the king of the 

 Franks, Charlemagne soon made his 

 rule effectual in western Germany, 

 save only over the Saxons. A war 

 with them was decided upon, and 

 after a struggle lasting for about 30 

 years they were brought under his 

 authority. He turned his arm also 

 against the Slavs, who for many 

 years had been troubling the eastern 

 part of Germany, fighting success- 

 fully against a combination known 

 as the Avars. To his people Charle- 

 magne was great because he gave 

 them what they needed, protection . 

 from their enemies. 



Under the Carolingians Germany 

 became largely a Christian country. 



Christianity had been introduced 

 by the Romans and in the cities 

 had never entirely died out, but it 

 was only when it was accepted by 

 the king that it spread rapidly. 

 Clovis had been converted to Chris- 

 tianity, and in the- three centuries 

 after him most of the German mon- 

 asteries and the older bishoprics 

 were founded. The Englishman 

 who was renamed Boniface was 

 one of many itinerant preachers of 

 the faith, and to their efforts it 

 owed much. Much of the progress 

 made was doubtless superficial, 

 and many of the converts were cer- 

 tainly doing nought but obeying 

 the orders of a king when they were 

 baptized, but the establishment of 

 monasteries and churches, which 

 became centres of learning and the 

 civilizing and humanising agencies 

 that grew up hi and around a 

 Christian community, were of 

 incalculable benefit to the people. 



Closely associated with this reli- 

 gious movement was the revival of 

 learning. Much has been written 

 about the scholars, Alcuin and 

 others, whom Charlemagne gath- 

 ered around him, while his love 

 of learning was revealed in other 

 ways. The revival which he encour- 

 aged produced a literature, almost 

 wholly monastic, narrow in outlook, 

 but yet of great value for the life 

 of the age. Schools, again solely 

 under ecclesiastical influence, were 

 founded, and in other ways civiliza- 

 tion made great strides forward. 



Early Characteristics 

 About the social and economic 

 life of the Germans at this time 

 only generalisations are possible. 

 Without stressing too much the 

 quoted remark of Tacitus about 

 their hatred of town life, it is cer- 

 tain that the vast majority of them 

 lived in the country. Trade, the 

 father of towns, was yet in its in- 

 fancy, and the nearest approach to 

 a town community was the group 

 of dwellings housing its dependents 

 that sprang up around a rich abbey, 

 the palace of a king, or the seat of a 

 bishop. There were settled the 

 smiths who made and repaired the 

 weapons of war and of hunting, and 

 probably a number of other skilled 

 craftsmen whose work was of a 

 more ornamental kind. 



The tilling of the soil and the 

 care of cattle were evidently the 

 main occupationa of the people, 

 although much of their food was 

 doubtless the spoil of the chase, for 

 forests abounded, and from them a 

 plentiful supply of wood was ob- 

 tained. The building and repairing 

 of the dwellings was done by the 

 people themselves. Clothing was 

 provided by domestic labour, while 

 there were some rude industries, 

 such as the making of pottery. 



