Germany

Germany

• Compared to Western Europe, Germany's development was delayed and never reached the same high level.
• Germany became an independent state in 843 (Treaty of Verdun).
• In the 10th century the Saxon dynasty ruled; a strong, Carolingian-type centralized state characterized this period, without feudal fragmentation.
• Emperor Otto relied more heavily on the Church organization; churchmen fulfilled secular functions.
• During the 11th-century Investiture Controversy, the Church withdrew from royal authority, and the old system collapsed.
• In the 12th century, a collection of territorial principalities emerged; by the 14th century there were about 40 states, later even more; until the 19th century there was no unified German state.
• The King of Bohemia was a vassal of the Empire; many duchies and counties were formed—differing mainly in title, but equally powerful within their own territories.
• The imperial cities formed independent city-states with their surrounding territories, though they were smaller than the Italian ones.
• From the 13th century, the principalities came into the hands of hereditary dynasties.
• The emperor was elected in Frankfurt and crowned in Aachen.
• Not every German king was crowned German emperor; from the 15th century onward, the German king was also the German emperor.
• The reason for fragmentation: because of the emperors' Italian policy, they could not prevent domestic developments; they sought to establish order at home from a solid Italian base.
• In Germany, the king's authority over the feudal system did not prevail.
• The king could not rely on underdeveloped towns; even in the 13th century there was no strong urban bourgeoisie.
• Urban development peaked in the 14th–15th centuries, but these were still medium-sized cities.
• At the end of the 12th century, Frederick Barbarossa pledged to regrant escheated lands; he renounced commanding every level of the feudal hierarchy, limiting authority to his direct vassals.
• In the 12th century there was conflict between the Saxon Welfs (Henry the Lion) and the Swabian Hohenstaufens (Frederick Barbarossa); the former were defeated.
• Frederick Barbarossa had his opponent condemned by court, confiscated his fief, and made concessions because of the coalition formed against him.
• In 1220 Frederick II granted privileges to ecclesiastical princes, transferring royal regalian rights to them; secular princes received similar rights in 1231.
• The German Golden Bull of 1356 (Charles IV) recognized the autonomy of the territorial princes.
• The estates (clergy, nobility, towns) gained a role in governance; in the estates' assembly they voted on taxation, receiving concessions in return. The estates developed not within the framework of the Empire, but within the individual principalities.
• The free peasantry was numerous; due to peasant emancipations, in some places they formed a fourth estate.
• Bavarian ducal family: the Wittelsbachs (1180–1918); Brandenburg: the Luxemburgs, later the Hohenzollerns; Saxony: the Wettins; Austria: the Habsburgs.
• 1251–1273: Interregnum, many kings.
• With papal support, the system of seven prince-electors was established; the most powerful was the Archbishop of Mainz.
• They elected emperors who were not too powerful, so as not to threaten them.
• In the 13th–15th centuries emperors came from three ruling houses: Habsburg, Luxemburg, Wittelsbach.
• These relatively small aristocratic families sought to acquire large territories: the basis of Habsburg power was Austria, Styria, Carinthia; the Luxemburgs' base was Bohemia.
• At the end of the 14th century, Louis of Bavaria was defeated by the Angevins and deposed; thereafter the Germans no longer intervened in Italian affairs.
• The cities were in constant struggle with territorial lords; they formed alliances (Bund): the Hanseatic League—about 200 cities belonged to it in the 14th century; in the 15th–16th centuries it declined.