GERMANY. (LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.) 



427 



919), particularly the three Othos, and under the 

 Franconian emperors (from 1024). In the tenth cen- 

 tury, there were several distinguished chapter and 

 abbey schools, which were endowed with libraries. 

 To this period belong the writers of chronicles, Egin- 

 hard, Wittikind, Dithmar, Lambert, Bruno; the phi- 

 losophical and miscellaneous writers, Alcuin and llha- 

 banus Maiirus (776 85G), and particularly those who 

 wrote in German ; Otfried of Weissenburg, whose 

 metrical translations of the Gospels is remarkably 

 foithful and concise (see Otfried}; Notker (abbot of 

 Saint Gall, died 1022) ; Willeram (abbot of Ebers- 

 berg, in Bavaria, died 1085), and the author of the 

 hymn to St Anno. 



II. A second period commences with the Suabian 

 emperors (1138), and extends to the time of the re- 

 formation, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. 

 Germany had begun to be settled and cultivated in 

 its interior, and cities were founded. The monastic 

 schools, the expeditions to Italy, the crusades, the 

 commerce, which took its way from the East through 

 Germany, had diffused knowledge. Acquaintance 

 with foreign countries, with science and refinement, 

 had contributed much to the cultivation of the nation, 

 particularly of the nobility. The court of the empe- 

 rors of the Hohenstaufen dynasty spoke the Suabian 

 uialect, and made it the general language of litera- 

 ture. The Minnesingers (see that article ; see also 

 German Poetry), and, after them, the Mastersingers 

 (q. v.), used and refined this language, asthevehicle 

 of the German romantic poetry. The privileges, 

 rights, and laws of German countries and cities, began 

 to be collected and put into writing in the beginning 

 of the thirteenth century. The Roman law had been 

 made the subject of treatises as early as the eleventh 

 century, and applied to German institutions. Histo- 

 ries were also written, such as the Chronicle of 

 bishop Otho of Freysingen, and his history of Frede- 

 ric I. ; the works of Henry of Herford (died 1370) 

 Gobelinus Persona (1420), and many others in the 

 Latin language. The Chronicle of Ottocar of Hor- 

 neck, in rhyme, (born 1264), is the oldest great histo- 

 rical work in the German language. Sebastian 

 Franke's Chronicle of the World is the first universal 

 history. Philosophy, which had before consisted 

 merely of translations of the philosophical works of 

 the ancients, and 'of the Arabians, was now more 

 diligently cultivated ; it was combined with theo- 

 logy, and used for the defence of the church, by 

 which it was in turn influenced. Among the school- 

 men, several Germans were distinguished in the be- 

 ginning of the thirteenth century, among whom was 

 the Dominican, Albertus Magnus of Lauingen on 

 the Danube (died 1280), who taught metaphysics in 

 Paris, and in several German cities, and made exten- 

 sive researches in natural philosophy. As a theolo- 

 gical writer, the mystic John Tauler (died 1361) 

 exercised a great influence. In the following century, 

 the Strasburg theologian, Geyler of Kaisersberg, 

 Sebastian Brant, a severe satirist (born 1458, died 

 1520), and his successor Thomas Murner (born 1475), 

 were distinguished. At the end of this period, 

 mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics were dili- 

 gently studied in Germany, and several important 

 discoveries were made. In the fourteenth century, 

 the establishment of universities, and, in the fifteenth, 

 the invention of the art of printing, made new epochs 

 in literature. The ruin of the Greek empire (1453), 

 the scholars of which fled to Italy, and spread the 

 perms of a new civilization over all Europe, by ren- 

 dering the classical authors more generally known, 

 co-operated powerfully with the circumstances above 

 mentioned. The spirit of inquiry, which was excited 

 in the universities by the study of the ancients, was 

 the chief cause of the efforts in favour of a reforma- 



tion. Among those who, at a very early period, pro- 

 moted the progress of learning and civilization, are 

 Rodolphus Agricola, (1442 85), professor in the uni- 

 versity of Heidelberg, Conrad Celtes, (1459 1508}, 

 Johannes Trithemius (14621516), and, above all, 

 Reuchlin, professor in Tubingen (1454 1525), and 

 Ulric of Hutten (1458 1523), Melanchthon, Joachim 

 Camerarius,and the celebrated Erasmus of Rotterdam. 

 III. Modern Literature, from the Reformation to 

 our own Times. 1. With Luther, who, by his mas- 

 terly translation of the Christian Scriptures, created 

 the German prose and the High German language of 

 literature, was united Melanchthon, the mild and 

 learned disciple of Reuchlin. Luther was more active 

 in public, while Melanchthon laboured for the 

 improvement of schools and the diffusion of learning. 

 Latin schools and libraries were established by the 

 Protestant princes, and theology and philology 

 mutually assisted each other. But after the dogma- 

 tical system of the Protestant church had become 

 more settled, less attention was paid to the study of 

 the ancient languages ; a scholastic and polemical 

 theology prevailed, to which mystical doctrines were 

 beneficially opposed. Melanchthon had already en- 

 deavoured, by philosophical compendiums, to supplant 

 the scholastic philosophy ; and from that time efforts 

 were made to approach the original peripatetic doc- 

 trines. The mystics attached themselves either to the 

 Cabbala, to which Reuchlin was led by his study of 

 the Hebrew literature, or to chemistry and astronomy, 

 which at that time, however, differed little from 

 alchemy and astrology. At the head of the mystics 

 were the celebrated Paracelsus, Valentine Weigel, 

 Jacob Bohme, and others. In the natural sciences, 

 the great metallurgist, George Agricola of Meissen, 

 and Conrad Gesner (L5<12), the father of natural his- 

 tory, were distinguished. Theophrastus Paracelsus 

 (1526) gave a new impulse to chemistry, applied it 

 with success to medicine, and invented several chemi- 

 cal preparations. Medicine, mathematics, and mecha- 

 nics, also, made some progress. Durer wrote a work 

 on perspective, in the German language. In astro- 

 nomy, Copernicus and Tycho Brahe were succeeded 

 by Kepler. The jurists of this period occupied them- 

 selves with the Roman law, and their science was 

 increased by the church regulations of the Protestants. 

 The foundation of the German political law was laid 

 by the introduction of several fundamental laws of the 

 empire, in the sixteenth century. The civil code was 

 formed by collecting the laws already existing, and 

 was followed by the criminal code of Charles V., 

 called the Carolina, (q. v.) History was less culti- 

 vated. The Chronicle of Carion (1532) excited 

 general interest, and was translated into several lan- 

 guages. The universal history of Sleidanus, written 

 in Latin, was more celebrated. Particular history 

 was more attended to. In the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, the chronicles and documents of the middle 

 ages were collected, and the history of foreign nations 

 was cultivated. The centuriators of Magdeburg (see 

 Centuries of Magdeburg) wrote on ecclesiastical his- 

 tory with diligence and accuracy. Literary history 

 commenced with Conrad Gesner ; and, in 1564, a 

 catalogue of the books at the Frankfort fair was 

 published. Learned societies and mutual correspon- 

 dence maintained a connexion among the scholars of 

 Germany. 2. The thirty years' war threatened to 

 destroy all the work of civilization in Germany ; but 

 it could not interrupt the private labours of the retired 

 scholar, although it left him destitute of all public 

 encouragement. During this war, the German lan- 

 guage and poetry received a new impulse from the 

 Silesian poets, as they are called Martin Opitz, 

 (1597 1639), Flemming, Andrew Gryphius, &c.,and 

 from the foundation of several literary societies (for 



