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OERMAmr. 



QERMANT. 



IS 



TIm eivil wan which diTideJ U>e RotnaiM withdraw their attaotion 

 Cor aMB* tim« from Oermaay, and the Sigamfari ravaged Qallia with 

 kKfmaikj. After they had dateted LoUiiu, the legate of the emperor 

 AagoatiM (B.C IS), he himaalf iMataned to the defence of OalUa ('VelL 

 Fal' Q. 97) ; and ia order to oppoae the inroads of the Oermana, he 

 areeted laTeral fortreMea on the Rhine, utd gave hii itepson Drusua 

 the oommaiid of the foroea atationed on the banka of that rirer. 

 Dntsoa made aevwal aocoeaaftal exmditiona againat the Oermanio 

 n a t iotu, and peoetrated aa far aa the Elba. After the death of Drusua 

 (B.C. 9), his brother Tibetiua commanded for two years the legions 

 s t a t ioned on the Rhine, Tiberius employed policy rather than force 

 againat the Gemaoa. He engaged many of them to enter the Roman 

 ssrrioe; and when he was again (JuD. i) entrusted with the same 

 e nmmand , he penetrated aa {ar as the banks of the Elbe ; and Oermany 

 would iiaTe perhapa become a Roman province if the imprudence of 

 his auooesaor, Quintilios Varus, bad not deatroyed all the advantages 

 alrsady gained. The violent measnrea which he adopted to chauge 

 the manners and institutions of the Oermana caused a general conspi- 

 racy against the foreign invaders. Arminiua, who was educated at 

 Rome, and who had served in the Roman armiea, was at the head of 

 thia conspiracy. The legions of Varus were attacked by the Oermana 

 in the forest of Teutoburg (a.i>. 9), and entirely deatroyed. This 

 defeat of the Romana was followed by the loss of all their oonquests 

 beyond the Kliine ; and the Oermanio nation of the Cherusci, among 

 whom Arminiua waa bom, became the most powerful nation in Ger 

 many. Four years afterwarda, Oermanicus reetored foretime the 

 fortunes of the Roman arms, but without regaining the former acqui- 

 ■itionsi From that time the Romans seem to l^ve abandoned the 

 idea of attending their conquesta in that direction, and to have con- 

 tsBted the m selvea with repelling the inroads which the Oennaos occa- 

 sionally made on their firontien. The Uermans were also prevented 

 from making any serious attempts against the Romans by the internal 

 wars which diatraoted them for many years. They again attacked 

 the Roman empire under Domitian, Kerva, and Trajan, the last of 

 whom entirely defeated them. From this time their attacks on the 

 Roman empire became more frequent and more formidable, and their 

 history beeomea blended with that of the decline of the Roman 

 smpirs, on the ruius of which they established several new states. We 

 shall pass over the period to the death of Charlemagne, under whose 

 ■ueoeasors the modem history of Oermany begins. Those who would 

 ■tody the state of Ancient Germany may refer to the ' Germania ' of 

 Tacitus, and to the work of Mannert on Ancient Germany, published 

 in 1829, as well as to several other German works on the subject, but 

 paiticulariy those of Berth and Ledebuhr. 



Modem Hutorg. — Louis, sumamed the Germanic, son of Louis Le 

 Dabonnair, and grandson of Charlemagne, vras, by the treaty of 

 Verdun, S4S, the first king of the Germans. Oermany was divided 

 at that time from France by the Khine, and po s s e ss e d on its left bank 

 only Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, with their respective districts. Under 

 the reign of Louia were establisht^d the margraves ; and burgs, that is, 

 fortified towna or castles, were foimded in order to prevent the inroads 

 of the Normans as well as of the Slavonians. This emperor increased 

 his dominions by the acquiaition of Cologne, Treves, Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 Utrecht, Mats, Strasbuig, Basel, and many other towns and districts 

 which he inherited from his nephew, Lotharius IL Louis died in 

 876, and his three sons, Oarloman, Louis the Younger, and Charles the 

 Fat, divided his empirs. In 884 Germany was re-united to France 

 by the accession of Charlaa the Fat to the throne of the last-named 

 country, who thus became aorereign of almost all the empire pos- 

 sessed by his grsat predecessor Chu'lemagne. But the Germans (in 

 8S7) renounced their allegiance to him, and raised to the throne his 

 nephew, Amulph of Carinthia, a natural son of his brother Carloman, 

 who waa crowned emperor in 890, after a victory over Berengar, duke 

 of Frittli. He died in 899, and was succeeded by his infant son Louis, 

 who died in 911, and with whom the Carlovingian dynasty ended in 

 Germany. Otho, duke of Saxony, having refused the imperial dignity 

 oa account of his great age, Conrad, the first duke of Franconia, was 

 el«el«d emperor of Germany. After Conrad's death (918), Henry the 

 Fowler, dolco of Saxony, was elected emperor. From that time the 

 esvwa of Oermaay remamad elective until the dth of August, 1806, on 

 wkiah day tha ampafor Fraads II. abdicated the imperial crown of 

 OanDasT, and dadarsd the dissolution of the Oermanio empire. 

 Haary the Fowler died in 9S6, and the imperial dignity continued in his 

 lOStilthedeathorOthoIILin 1002. The emperon of Oermany 

 1 the titla of Roman emperors from the time of Otho I., who 

 at Roma in 962 : wbeo a suooeasor to the throne was 

 I during the amparor'a Ufstina, he waa called the king of Roma. 

 Oomad IL (1014-49) u ig au laad tha feudal system, and first endea- 

 voovd to pat aa and to tlia fiMtioas and quarrels then universally 

 nrsvalent, by the astabUBfanieat of the so-called peace of God, Freuga 

 bai. He extrodad the limita of the smpirs by the incorporation of 

 BafmadT. His sueonaor, Hsory IIL (1039-56), humbled the Roman 

 aaa by dapoaing thiaa socsaasiva popes, but the papal influence was 

 agaia isi * oia J 1^ Orsgoty VIL, who maintained a protracted stmggls 

 wllh tiM anparor Haaiy IV. (10S6-1106). 



The H iiii l si ^"^ during the reign of this emperor, which was 

 oonataatly diatarbed by Us qoarrels with the Romaa see, as well as 

 wiUiUwpow«(ftilTa«alaofttMasnBaoaiDpiN, H«Of7 V. (1106-26), 



son of the forcgoin);, waa a prince without any talenta, and of a bad 

 character. Under hia reign the great vassals of the empire baoaoM 

 entirely independent, and thus the division of Oaimaoy uto several 

 statea waa established. The reign of Frederick I^ or Barbaroasa 

 (1162-90), a prince of ability, is memorable for the establishment of 

 the Hanaeatio League. The reign of Frederick II., who died in 1260, 

 ia after that of Charlemagne perhaps the most remarkable period of 

 the middle agea. His son, Conrad IV., waa oppcaad by William of 

 Holland, and died in 1264. Upon Conrad's death there were several 

 competitors for the Imperial crown, among whom was Richard, eail 

 of Cornwall, brother of Henry III. of Kuglaod. The parties who 

 supported the different competitors took advantage of the disturbed 

 state of the empire in order to strengthen their own power. Peaoa 

 was restored by the aooesaion of Rudolph I., count of Habsburg 

 (1272-91). This great prince destroyed the strongholds of the nobles, 

 who exercised constant depredations on the adjacent country, 

 and established order by severe measures. Rudolph is the founder 

 of the Habsbuig dynasty, which through a female line still reigns in 

 Austria. 



After Henry's death Louis of Bavaria was elected emperor; he 

 reigned from 1314 to 1347. The reign of Charles IV. of Luxembourg, 

 king of Boheniia(1347-78)ia particularly remarkable by the constitution 

 of the empire which he proclaimed (in 135)}) under the name of the 

 Golden Bull. This constitution regulated the rights, privileges, and 

 duties of the electors ; the manner and formalities of the election 

 and coronation of an emperor ; the coinage, customs, and other 

 articles relating to the commerce of the empire ; the rights and 

 obligations of the free imperial cities, kc Charles's son, Wencealaus 

 (1378-1410), was a weak prince, whose reign waa disturbed by internal 

 commotions and distinguished by the commencement of Huss'a 

 reformation. After the death of Wenceslaus, his brother Sigismund 

 ascended the throne (1411-37). During hia reign the council of 

 Constance was held, when Huse was executed, a transaction which 

 gave rise to the wars of the Hussites. 



The long reign of Frederick IIL (1439-93), a weak-minded prince, 

 was marked by the great progress of science, which was promoted by 

 the foundation of many universities in Germany. Frederick's son, 

 Maximilian I. (1493-1519), was a prince of a superior mind and 

 character. He put an end to many abuses which had desolated tha 

 empire, particularly private feuds. He improved the oiigauiaatiou of 

 the courts of justice, introduced a system of police for the better 

 security of the inhabitants, and established (in 1516) the post. He 

 gave also a new and better organisation to the army, being himself 

 an accomplished military commander. It waa also during his reign 

 that the reformation of Luther began (1517), at the university of 

 Wittemberg, which had been founded in 1502. The Kefonnation 

 led to protracted and bitter disnensions, owing to the refusal of the 

 emperor to grant religious liberty to the Protestants. Entire tole- 

 ration was first granted to the Protestants by Ferdinand I. (1556- 

 1564), a prince of a mild and conciliatory character, the grandson 

 of Maximilian I., who became emperor on the abdication of hia 

 brother, Chariea V., in 1556. Under Matthias (1612-19), tha 

 Thirty Years' War commenced in 1618. Matthias was followed by 

 Ferdinand II. (1619-37), a bigoted Roman Catholic, whose fanatical 

 mal against the Protestants, as well as his political ambition, 

 continued to involve Oermany in the Thirty Years' War. The 

 treaty of Weatphalia, which terminated the war in 1648, esta- 

 blished a new organisation of the German empire. By this treaty, 

 which served as the basis of the constitution of Germany till the 

 formation of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806, the religioua 

 and political liberties of the Germans were established on a sure 

 footing. The sovereignty of the states of the empire was acknow- 

 ledged, aa well as their right to form alliances among themselves and 

 with foreign states, provided none were concluded against tha 

 emperor or the empire. It was also declared that the emperor should 

 not, without the consent of tha statea, put any one of them under 

 the ban of the empire. The Palatine of the Rtiine, who had lost hia 

 statea, recovered them by that treaty and was created an elector. 

 The Protestants were confirmed in all the liberties which they 

 possessed before the war, and the estatea of the Roman Catholic 

 Church, which had been seised by the Protestants and possessed by 

 thom in 1624, were left in their hands, but those seized after this 

 time were restored to the Roman Catholics. The members of the 

 lleformed Church received equal rights with the Lutherans. Several 

 bishoprics and abbeys were seculaiued, and given as an indemnity to 

 different statesi All the sovereigns were put under an obligation not 

 to penecuta their subjecta who professed a religion different from 

 their own. Alsatia was ceded to France ; Sweden receiveil a part of 

 Pomeraaia, Bremen, Verden, Wismar, and a sum of 5,000,000 dollars 

 for its army; Brandenburg received the secularised bishoprics of 

 Halberstadt, Minden, Kamin, and the expectation of the possession of 

 Magdeburg ; Mecklenburg, the secularised bishoprics of Schwerin and 

 Rataeburg. Hanover waa invested with the right to have one of its 

 princes created, alternately with a Roman Catholic, sovereign bishop 

 of Osaabriick, and also received some convents with their estates. 

 The abbey of Hirschfeldt and 600,000 dollars were given to Hesse- 

 CasseL Austria consented to all these measures in order to preserve 

 bar harsditaiy statas^ Hollaod waa acknowledged by Spain aa aa 



