The German Question, Part Eight

Very slightly updated/edited July 6, 2015

Just to back track for a moment, for quite some time the German emperors were seen as heads of the German Church, something that caused bitter resentment by the various popes of those times. The Saxon and Frankish emperors gradually established a more centralized form of power, represented by the emperor, by having administrators spread throughout the land. This caused resentment by the nobility. It was therefore not uncommon for the Papacy and the German nobility to act as allies against the emperors from time to time. When the Hohenstaufen family succeeded the Saxons and Franks* as emperors, they eventually turned much of their attention to Italy, often actually even living in Italy, not in Germany (a much broader geographical entity in those times). This neglect of German lands by the ruling Hohenstaufens suited the German nobility just fine, as they gained power at the expense of the imperial throne. Some German emperors tried to regain some of the lost power, and all of this squabbling led to what was really an off and on civil war.

By the mid 1300s, the emperor issued a "Golden Bull;" that is a decree with a golden seal. This edict set more precise rules for the election of the German emperor by giving the vote to seven "electors" (Kurfürsten in German); three Church authorities (the archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne) and four secular leaders (the Palatine Count (Pfalzgraf in German), the King of Bohemia,** the Duke (Herzog in German) of Saxony, and the Margrave (Markgraf in German, and a "Graf" is really the equivalent to a "count" or "earl" in English) of Brandenburg***). A majority vote was all that was needed, and any dissenters could not block the wishes of the majority (previously that had not been the case). As you can see, the religious leaders were in the minority, and this further diminished the Pope's already scant involvement in German affairs. While that may have been a good thing for the Germans, the fact that provincial leaders held so much power in selecting the emperor made the emperor's position relatively weak; a condition that essentially lasted until the end of the empire.

Next...the Germans move eastward. (A Word History is below the notes)

* The large Germanic tribe the Franks dominated the area now known as France. Their tribal name even became the name “France,” and their language, Frankish in English, became the term “French.” Not all Franks lived in this region, however, as one branch lived in what became part of Germany; thus the “Frankish” emperors of Germany (Holy Roman Empire). As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, while Frankish gave a number of words to “French,” Frankish was gradually absorbed into, and became a part of, the more extensive Latin-based language already present when the Franks conquered the area. That absorption process took several centuries to complete, and modern French has far fewer active words of Frankish heritage than long ago.

** Bohemia, essentially the modern Czech Republic, and a former part of Czechoslovakia, had been controlled by Germanic tribes going back to the B.C. era. Some of these Germanic tribes moved around, or even moved out of the area, over the centuries, and they were replaced, at least partially, by incoming Slavic tribes. These Slavic tribes also moved around, for instance to avoid the Mongols, and Germanic (or maybe German might now be more appropriate) people moved back in. The area was very mixed, with Germans living basically in a sort of semicircle around the Slavic core, but with some Germans even living within that core area. In the early 1300s, Heinrich of Luxemburg became German emperor, and shortly thereafter, his son Johann was invited to become King of Bohemia, thus making Bohemia an integral part of the empire.

*** Brandenburg is the area that today contains Berlin and the entire area around that city. Back long ago, you may remember from an earlier part, Mark Brandenburg was established as a border defense area, a "Mark," or "March," of the early Holy Roman Empire.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Eke-This word goes back to the Indo European root "aug," which had the notion/concept of "increasing, growing, adding to/supplementing." The Old Germanic offshoot was "aukan." This gave Anglo-Saxon "eacan," likewise with the general meaning of "increase/supplement." There was also Old English "eke/eac," or some form of it, but sources were unclear on the spelling, which meant "also, in addition, besides." There are various forms of the word in the other Germanic languages, as for example: German has "auch," Low German has various forms, including "ak/ok," Dutch has "ook," Norwegian and Danish have "ogsa," and Swedish has "ochsa," all with the same meaning "also/too/in addition." Icelandic has "auka," with the meaning "increase, add to." In American English it is commonly used in reference to just barely achieving something, as in, "Bill and Mary were able to eke out a win by a fraction of a point in the skating competition." 

The German Question, Part Seven

So we're now in the era circa 1000 A.D. and the term "German" is more appropriate for the Germanic peoples living in what are now modern Holland (The Netherlands), two-thirds of Belgium, Alsace, a part of Lorraine, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and about two-thirds of Switzerland. (See this article for more info on Germanic/German meanings:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-we-call-them-these-names.html )

As we've seen, following Charlemagne's death, his vast holdings had been divided, thus bringing a demise to his original empire. In 962 A.D., under Otto I, the eastern region of the original empire was revived with the name, "Holy Roman Empire." The name was chosen to show that the mantle of the Roman Empire had been picked up once again, and that the empire would be a protector of Christendom. The Crusades had the Germans sending substantial contingents of men to the Middle East as part of the German-led "Holy Roman Empire." The Crusades brought many heroes to Christendom, including to the Germans. Many warriors returned home and were rewarded for their services with land and noble titles. It was during this general time frame that "feudalism" developed. (See Word History below)

Feudalism was an important part of the history of many European countries, and it certainly had a major impact on the historical development of the Germans, more so to the negative side. Feudalism is a complicated subject, but an important part of it was basically a system where "lords" ruled their lands by providing land to some number of men, "vassals," who then vowed to provide military aid to that ruler. Typically, the land was not granted outright, but "leased" to the vassal, who had the right to earn whatever income he could from that land. With the Germans, the system actually was in place regarding the emperor, as he was dependent upon a large network of "lords" to provide him with military forces. This dependency weakened the role of the emperor, although the power of the emperor, in some cases, was certainly tied to his own personality. Some emperors had forceful personalities that garnered them support, others were much weaker, with the latter being the rule, not the exception. On the other hand, the power of the local and regional nobles increased with this situation, thus forming the basis for a number of "states" within the empire. Some of these "states" eventually came to be called kingdoms (and were thus ruled by "kings"), others were called principalities (ruled by princes), duchies (ruled by "dukes") or arch duchies (ruled by archdukes).* Collectively these various regional rulers came to be called "the German princes," regardless of their specific titles. Throughout this struggle for power, the Papacy was always looming large, looking to expand its power, too. All of this led to a very fragmented power structure, seldom with a central authority.

Otto I and his immediate successors were Saxon emperors and they were followed by Frankish emperors through much of the 11th Century and into the 12th Century, when another Saxon became the emperor. Then followed the Hohenstaufen dynasty, which had developed in Swabia, in southwestern Germany (now known as the home of Mercedes, the famous auto company, which is in the city of Stuttgart). Frederick I, a Hohenstaufen, is perhaps best remembered for his nickname, Barbarossa, which was used later by Hitler as a code name for his invasion of the Soviet Union. The Hohenstaufens eventually came to be deeply involved in Italy, much of which had been a part of the empire. Ever so gradually, however, the Papacy eroded German control over Italy. Due to marriages, some of the Hohenstaufens spent far more time in Italy, namely Sicily, than in the German areas. This further weakened imperial power within the German lands, as governing authority was essentially turned over to the increasingly powerful rulers of the "states."

* Just for the sake of example, Bavaria was a kingdom, while Austria was an arch duchy. The number of these "states" constantly changed, but frequently they numbered in the hundreds, and occasionally in the thousands!!! It was no wonder the Germans remained so divided for centuries, with so many local/regional rulers.

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Feudal-Like the word "fee," covered in "The German Question, Part Four," this word goes back to Indo European "peku," which meant "cattle" and ultimately "property." Latin got the word from Germanic (presumably from Frankish) as "feudum," which meant a type of "estate provided in exchange for service." From this developed Latin "feudalis," which English seems to have acquired in the early 1600s as "feudal." People in the Middle Ages did not see "feudalism" as a form of societal structure, and that term was not applied to the system in those times, but rather came along much later and was used by historians. Feudal is much connected with "fee," and for those interested, here is the link to that article, with the Word History at the end:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/03/german-question-part-four.html