GERMANY. 
fcattered rains, afcrlbed by the natives to the power of 
the damon, now I'erve only to excite tlte wonder of the 
Swabian peafants. 
Marcus Aurelias was the next among' t'le Roman 
emperors wlro meditated the conqued of Germany, and 
whofe numerous legions menaced its armies with ap- 
proaclting deftruftion. Ris great dellgns were cut fliort 
by his death ; after which the Germanic nations became 
every day mere and more formidable to the Romans. 
Far from being able to invade and attempt the furtlier 
conqued of thefe northern countries, the Romans had 
now the greated difficulty to reprefs the incurdons of 
their armies, which th/eatened Rome itfelf. The im¬ 
mediate dedroyers of the Roman empire were the Fle- 
ruli; who, under their leader Odoacer, dethroned Au- 
gudulus the lad Roman emperor, and proclaimed Odo- 
accr king of Italy, A. D. 476. The Heruli were foon 
expelled by the Odrogoths ; and tliefe in their turn 
were fubdued by Judinian, wiio re-annexed Italy to the 
eadern empire. But tlie popes found means to obtain 
the temporal as well as fpiritual jurildidtion over a 
conliderablc pare of tlie couniry, while the Lombards 
fubdued the relL Thefe lad proved very troublefome 
to the popes, and at 1 ngth befieged Adrian I. in his 
capital. In this didrofs he applied to Charles the Great, 
king of France; who conquered both Italy and Ger¬ 
many, and was crowned emperor of the wed in the year 
800.—See tlie articles France and Rome. 
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was the fird who 
united the warlike dates of Germany under the fame 
feeptre. The Alemanni, fo formidable to the Romans, 
became the faithful vaddls of Charlemagne ; and their 
country was inlcribed within the modern limits of Al- 
face, Swabia, and Swiderland. The Bavarians, with a 
liberal indulgence of their laws and manners, were lefs 
patient of a mader : but the north of Germany, from 
the Rhine and beyond the Elbe, dill remained hodile 
and pagan ; nor was it till after a war of thirty-three 
years, that the Saxons bowed under the yoke of Char¬ 
lemagne. The idols and their wordiip were extirpated: 
the foundation of eight biffioprics, of Munlter, Ofna- 
burgh, Paderborn, and Minden, of Bremen, Verden, 
Hildedieim, and Halberdadt, dedne, on either iide of 
the Wefer, the bounds of ancient Saxony ; thefe epif- 
copal feats condituted the fird I'chools and cities of that 
favage land. Beyond the Elbe, the Slavl, or Sclavo- 
nians, overfpread the modern dominions of Pruffia, Po¬ 
land, and Bohemia. The conqued or converdon of 
the two former countries, is of a more recent age ; hut 
the drd union of Bohemia with the Germanic body may 
be judly alcribed to the arms of Charlemagne, the di d 
conqueror of the invincible nations of Germany ; which, 
with his redoration of the wedern empire, forms a grand 
epocha in the chronology of the world. 
Charlemagne, and his poderity, continued to reign 
over the Germanic empire until the extinftion of the 
Carlovingian race. Louis le Debonaire, king of France 
and emperor of Germany, the I'on and iuccedbr of 
Charlemagne, dividing at his death his immenfe terri¬ 
tories among his cliildren, Germany was made the por- 
'tioa of his-fon Louis, who thence’received the name of 
“ Louis the German,” and v/as crowned king of that 
country, by the dtle of Louis II. hisfather, Le Debonaire, 
having been conddered as Louis I. In 870, this prince 
reduced half of the Lotharingian kingdom under his 
fubjedfion; and his I'on, Louis III. lurnamed the 
Younger, nine years after, reduced the other half. 
Louis the Younger lharing his paternal kingdom with 
his two other brothers, Carlman was made king of Ba¬ 
varia, Louis of Eait Frapeonia, and Charles the Fat of 
Aiemannia; but the latter, furviving both his bro¬ 
thers, not only inherited their kingdoms, but obtained 
all Italy and France j yet governed in lo injudicious a 
■jnanner, that in 887 he was depofed by tlie German 
fh.tes, who condituted Aruulph, Carlman’s natural fon^ 
I 
411 
king of Germany. This prince defeated the Normans, 
who had made great devaftations in Germany ; and, by 
the allidance pf the Huns, I'ubdued the Bohemians. 
To him fticceeded his fon Louis IV. furnamed the 
Child; at whole death, in 911, the race of Charlemagne 
became extindl. The affairs of Germany under the 
government of thefe kings, are already recorded under 
the article France, vol. vii. p. 654-561, to which the 
reader is referred. Wlien the empire railed by Charle¬ 
magne had thus fallen away, the different princes of the 
dates of Germany affuiiied the right of eleffion, and 
gave a new and lingt’lar turn to their own importance, 
as well as to the pretenlions of thcLr fovereign, totally 
unwarranted by any precedent or example in the annals 
of other countries. Thus, while in the other kingdoms 
of Europe, the dignity of the great lords, who were 
all originally allodial or independent barons, was dimi- 
niffied by the' power of the king, as in France, and by 
"the inlluence of tlie people, as in Great Britain; in 
Germany, on the other hand, the pow'er of the electors 
was raifed upon the ruins of the emperor’s fupremucy, 
and of the people’s jurifdiftion ; from which remote 
period, the right of the cleElors has been recognized and 
employed without interruption, until the recent lubju- 
gation of Germany by Napoleon emperor of France. 
From the EXTINCTION of the POSTERITY 
OF Charlemagne, to the election of 
RODOLPHUS I. Founder of the AUSTRIAN 
DYNASTY. 
After the death of Louis IV. the lad king of Ger¬ 
many, the princes of the empire afl'embled at the place 
now called Worms, and offered the imperial diadem to 
Otho duke of Saxony ; but being unwilling to accept a 
dignity for which his advanced age rendered him unfit, 
he requeded that they would apply their invitation to 
Conrad duke of Franconia, whom he knew to be a prince 
of merit and capacity, and who was defeended from 
Louis I. Conrad therefore was unanimoully eledted to 
fill the German throne, by the title of emperor, A.D. 912 ; 
and he immediately took the neceffary precautions to 
edablifli and fupport his authority. U nderdanding that 
his prefence was necefl'ary to quell fome dilcontents in. 
Lorrain, he marched thither with great expedition ; 
and, by feveral popular acts, conciliated the edeem and 
affection of the natives. Fie then perfuaded the duke 
of Saxony, who had affembled a powerful army, to fuf- 
pend his intended hodilities ; and cruflied three alarm¬ 
ing rebellions, which were luccedively raifed againd 
him. The Hungarians, however, made a languinary 
irruption into his dominions, and, after marking their 
progrefs with fire and fword, compelled Conrad to pur- 
chale a peace upon very difadvantageous terms ; but, 
notwithdanding all the exertions of his enemies, he re. 
tained the feeptre, and condudted the affairs of the em¬ 
pire with profperity and prudence till the time of his 
death. Perceiving at length his approaching difl'olu- 
tion, he convened the princes and dates of the empire, 
and ferioully exhorted them to raife Henry duke ot 
Saxony, and fon of Otho, to the imperial throne ; al¬ 
though that nobleman had infulted him by open rebel¬ 
lion, and had made an attempt upon his life by means 
of a poifoned bracelet. 'I'hus he nobly facrificed his 
refenrment to the public intered, and fent the crow'ii, 
feeptre, and imperial regalia, to his intended fucceffor. 
Conrad I. then expired, after a virtuous and patriotic 
reign of feven years. 
Early in the enfuing year, 919, the dukes of Bavaria, 
Franconia, and Swabia, with the heads ot other dates 
of Germany, affembled at the place now called Fritz- 
lar, and bedowed the imperial dignity upon Henry duke 
of Saxony, whom hidorians have didinguidied by ti.e 
epithet of the Fowler, on account of his predileHion for 
tliat amufement. Tliis prince had no fooner adumed 
the reins of government, than he prudently laboured to 
® promote 
