GIFT OF
Prof* Yoshi S. Kuno
HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION
IN GERMANY
HISTORY
OF THE
REFORMATION IN GERMANF
LEOPOLD VON RANKE
TRANSLATED BY SARAH AUSTIN
EDITED BY
ROBERT A. JOHNSON, M.A. (OxoN.)
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED
NEW YORK : E. P. BUTTON & CO.
1905
PRINTED BY
BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED,
GUILDFORD.
J
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
IT is, perhaps, necessary to offer some apology for the space occupied
by the notes, in consequence of the plan I have adopted in respect of
a large portion of them. The German authorities cited are chiefly
contemporaneous many of them unprinted, and drawn from different
parts of the vast empire through which the German tongue is spoken.
They abound in ^obsolete and provincial forms if indeed the word
provincial can be applied to any of the varieties of a language, no
one of which then claimed a metropolitan authority, and present diffi-
culties, which even a German, if unprepared by special studies, often finds,
to say the least, extremely perplexing.
To secure the reader, therefore, against any errors I may have fallen
into, and in order that, if important, they may be pointed out, I have
placed the original within reach. I hope the translations may give some
idea of the light these notes throw on individual as well as national char-
acter. We find in them one source of the vigour and animation of the
portraits, and the dramatic vivacity of the scenes, with which this history
abounds. We See that the author has lived with his heroes, and listened
to their own homely and expressive language.
I have much greater need of the indulgent construction of the reader
in behalf of some few notes which I have ventured to add. Nothing but
my own belief, and the assurance of others, that they were absolutely
necessary to the understanding of certain passages in the work, would have
induced me to risk such a departure from my proper province. Names
of institutions and of offices scarcely ever admit of a translation. Words
analogous in form, or allied in origin, generally express a totally different
set of acts or functions in different countries, and can therefore only mis-
lead. And if such names convey false ideas, others again convey none at
all. Being compelled to endeavour to affix some tolerably distinct notions
to the words of this class which I had to interpret, I ventured to think that
the little information I had gathered for myself might not be unacceptable
to the less learned of my readers. The scanty nature of it will hardly
surprise them, and will, I hope, be pardoned. I have at least sought it
in the most authentic and unquestioned sources.
I may perhaps be allowed to say, in extenuation of any defects in the
SJ199177
vi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
translation, that I have found it by far more difficult and laborious than
any I had before attempted : indeed, had I clearly foreseen all the diffi-
culty and labour, it is probable I should not have undertaken it, especially
when cut off from the assistance and the resources which England or
Germany would have afforded me. Those who are acquainted with the
original will, I am sure, be disposed to regard my attempt to put it into
English with indulgence ; and of those who are not, I must ask it. While
the gravity and importance of the subject demanded an unusually scrupu-
lous fidelity, the difficulty of combining that fidelity with a tolerable
attention to form, has been far greater than I ever encountered. If in
translating the " History of the Popes," I was anxious not to discolour,
in the slightest degree, the noble impartiality which distinguishes that
work, I have felt it equally incumbent on me not to heighten or diminish
by a shade the more decidedly protestant tone which the author has given
to his " History of the Reformation." Whatever, therefore, might be
my desire to offer to the English public a book not altogether uncouth or
repulsive in style, it has always been inferior to my anxiety not to misrepre-
sent the author, as much as that has been subordinate to my sense of the
reverence due to the subject, and to truth.
S. A.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
FROM the first ten years of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the
thirty years' war, the constitution and political condition of Germany
were determined by the periodical diets and the measures there resolved on.
The timpt:rcas long past in which the public affairs of the country were
determined by one supreme will ; but its political life had not yet (as at
a later period) retreated within the several boundaries of the constituent
members of the empire. The imperial assemblies exercised rights and
powers which, though not accurately defined, were yet the comprehensive
and absolute powers of sovereignty. They made war and peace ; levied
taxes ; exercised a supreme supervision, and were even invested with
executive power. Together with the deputies from the cities, and the
representatives of the counts and lords, appeared the emperor and the
sovereign princes in person. It is true they discussed the most important
affairs of their respective countries in their several colleges, or in com-
mittees chosen from the whole body, and the questions were decided by
the majority of voices. The unity of the nation was represented by these
assemblies. Within the wide borders of the empire nothing of importance
could occur which did not here come under deliberation ; nothing new
arise, which must not await its final decision and execution here.
In spite of all these considerations, the history of the diets of the empire
has not yet received the attention it deserves. The Recesses 1 of the
1 The Recess (Abschied literally, Departure ; called by the jurists of the
empire, Recessus, was the document wherewith the labours of the diet were
closed, and in which they were summed up. All the resolutions of the assembly,
or the decisions of the sovereign on their proposals or petitions, were collected into
one whole, and the session, or, according to the German expression, day (Tag),
was thus closed with the publication of the Recess. Each separate law, after
having passed the two colleges, that of the electors and that of the princes,
received the emperor's assent or ratification, and had then the force of law. It
was called a Resolution of the Empire (Reichsschluss or Reichscondusum). The
sum of all the decisions or acts of a diet was called the Reichsabschied.
The correspondence of this with the English term Statute will be seen in the
following extract : " For all the acts of one session of parliament taken together
make properly but one statute ; and therefore when two sessions have been held
in one year we usually mention stat. i or 2. Thus the Bill of Rights is cited as
i W. & M. st. 2, c. 2 ; signifying that it is the second chapter or act of the second
statute, or the laws made in the second session of parliament in the first year of
King William and Queen Mary." Blackstone's Comment, vol. i., p. 85, 15th ed.
The earliest Recesses of the empire are lost. Since the year 1663, as the diet
remained constantly sitting down to 1806, no recess, properly so called, could
be published. TRANSL.
vii
viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE
diets are sufficiently well known ; but who would judge a deliberative
assembly by the final results of its deliberations ? Projects of a syste-
matic collection of its transactions have occasionally been entertained,
and the work has even been taken in hand ; but all that has hitherto been
done has remained in a fragmentary and incomplete state.
As it is the natural ambition of every man to leave behind him some
useful record of his existence, I have long cherished the project of devoting
my industry and my powers to this most important work. Not that I
nattered myself that I was competent to supply so large a deficiency ;
to exhaust the mass of materials in its manifold juridical bearings ; my
idea was only to trace with accuracy the rise and development of the
constitution of the empire, through a series (if possible unbroken) of the
Acts of the Diets.
Fortune was so propitious to my wishes that, in the autumn of 1836,
I found in the Archives of the city of Frankfurt a collection of the very
kind I wanted, and was allowed access to these precious documents with
all the facility I could desire.
The collection consists of ninety-six folio volumes, which contain the
Acts of the Imperial Diets from 1414 to 1613. In the earlier part it is
very imperfect, but step by step, in proportion as the constitution of the
empire acquires form and development, the documents rise in interest.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, from which time the practice
of reducing public proceedings to writing was introduced, it becomes so
rich in new and important materials, that it lays the strongest hold on the
attention. There are not only the Acts, but the reports of the deputies
from the cities the Rathsfreunde, which generally charm by their
frankness and simplicity, and often surprise by their sagacity. I profited
by the opportunity to make myself master of the contents of the first
sixty-four of these volumes, extending down to the year 1551. A
collection of Imperial Rescripts occasionally afforded me valuable
contributions.
But I could not stop here. A single town was not in a condition to
know all that passed. It was evident that the labours of the electoral and
princely colleges were not to be sought for in the records of a city.
In the beginning of the year 1837, I received permission to explore the
Royal Archives of the kingdom of Prussia at Berlin, and, in the April of
the same year, the State Archives of the kingdom of Saxony at Dresden,
for the affairs of the empire during the times of Maximilian I. and Charles V.
They were of great value to me ; the former as containing the records of
an electorate ; the latter, down to the end of that epoch, those of a sovereign
principality. It is true that I came upon many documents which I had
already seen at Frankfurt ; but, at the same time, I found a great number
AUTHOR'S PREFACE ix
of new ones, which gave me an insight into parts of the subject hitherto
obscure. None of these collections is, indeed, complete, and many a
question which suggests itself remains unanswered ; yet they are in a high
degree instructive. They throw a completely new light on the character
and conduct of such influential princes as Joachim II. of Brandenburg,
and still more, Maurice of Saxony.
Let no one pity a man who devotes himself to studies apparently so
dry, and neglects for them the delights of many a joyous day. It is true
that the companions of his solitary hours are but lifeless paper, but they are
the remnants of the life of past ages, which gradually assume form and
substance to the eye occupied in the study of them. For me (in a preface
an author is bound to speak of himself a subject he elsewhere gladly
avoids) they had a peculiar interest.
When I wrote the first part of my History of the Popes," I designedly
treated the origin and progress of the Reformation with as much brevity
as the subject permitted. I cherished the hope of dedicating more exten-
sive and profound research to this most important event of the history of
my country.
This hope was now abundantly satisfied. Of the new matter which I
found, the greater part related, directly or indirectly, to the epoch of the
Reformation. At every step I acquired new information as to the cir-
cumstances which prepared the politico-religious movement of that time ;
the phases of our national life by which it was accelerated ; the origin and
working of the resistance it encountered.
It is impossible to approach a matter originating in such intense mental
energy, and exercising so vast an influence on the destinies of the world,
without being profoundly interested and absorbed by it. I was fully
sensible that if I executed the work I proposed to myself, the Reformation
would be the centre on which all other incidents and circumstances would
turn.
But to accomplish this, more accurate information was necessary as
to the progress of opinion in the evangelical 1 party (especially in a political
point of view), antecedent to the crisis of the Reformation, than any that
could be gathered from printed sources. The Archives common to the
1 It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark, that I have retained this word
throughout the following work in its original acceptation; viz., as denoting the
party which, at the time of the Reformation, adhered to the Confession of Augs-
burg ; the party which declared the Gospel the sole rule of faith. In our own age
and country it has been assumed by a party which stands in nearly the same
relation to the Church of England as the party called pietistical (pietistisch) to
the Lutheran Church of Germany. But this did not seem to me a sufficient reason
for removing it from its proper and authorized place in German history. The
word protestant hardly occurs in the original volumes ; and as it suggests another
train of ideas and sentiments, I have not introduced it. TRANSL.
x AUTHOR'S PREFACE
whole Ernestine line of Saxony, deposited at Weimar, which I visited in
August, 1837, afforded me what I desired. Nor can any spot be more
full of information on the marked epochs at which this house played so
important a part, than the vault in which its archives are preserved. The
walls and the whole interior space are covered with the rolls of documents
relating to the deeds and events of that period. Every note, every draft
of an answer, is here preserved. The correspondence between the Elector
John Frederick and the Landgrave Philip of Hessen would alone fill a long
series of printed volumes. I endeavoured, above all, to make myself
master of the two registers, which include the affairs of the empire and of the
League of Schmalkald. As to the former, I found, as was to be expected
from the nature of the subject, many valuable details ; as to the latter, I
hence first drew information which is, I hope, in some degree calculated to
satisfy the curiosity of the public.
I feel bound here publicly to express my thanks to the authorities to
whom the guardianship of these various archives is entrusted for the
liberal aid often not unattended with personal trouble which I received
from them all.
At length I conceived the project of undertaking a more extensive
research into the Archives of Germany. I repaired to the Communal
Archives of the house of Anhalt at Dessau, which at the epoch in question
shared the opinions and followed the example of that of Saxony ; but I
soon saw that I should here be in danger of encumbering myself with too
much matter of a purely local character. I remembered how many other
documents relating to this period had been explored and employed by
the industry of German inquirers. The work of Buchholtz 1 on Ferdi-
nand I. contains a most copious treasure of important matter from those
of Austria, of which too little use is made in that state. The instructive
writings of Stumpf and Winter 2 are founded on those of Bavaria. The
Archives of Wiirtemberg were formerly explored by Sat tier ; 3 those of
Hessen, recently, by Rommel 4 and Neudecker. For the more exclusively
ecclesiastical view of the period, the public is in possession of a rich mass
of authentic documents in the collection of Walch, and the recent editions
of Luther's Letters by De Wette ; and still more in those of Melanchthon
by Bretschneider. The letters of the deputies from Strasburg and Niirem-
1 Buchholtz, F. B., Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinands I., 9 vols. Vienna,
1831-38.
2 Winter, V. A., Geschichte der evangelischen Lehrein Baiern, 2 parts. Munich,
1809-10.
3 Sattler, C. F., Geschichte des Herzogthums Wiirtemberg, 5 parts. Ulm,
1764-68.
4 Rommel, Ch. v., Geschichte von Hessen, 10 vols. Marburg and Cassel,
1820-58.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi
berg, 1 which have been published, throw light on the history of particular
diets. It is hardly necessary for me to mention how much has lately
been brought together by Forstemann respecting the Diet of Augsburg
of 1530, so long the subject of earnest research and labour.
Recent publications, especially in Italy and England, lead us to hope
for the possibility of a thorough and satisfactory explanation of the
foreign relations of the empire.
I see the time approach in which we shall no longer have to found
modern history on the reports even of contemporary historians, except
in so far as they were in possession of personal and immediate knowledge
of facts ; still less, on works yet more remote from the source ; but on the
narratives of eye-witnesses, and the genuine and original documents.
For the epoch treated in the following work, this prospect is no distant
one. I myself have made use of a number of records which I had found
when in the pursuit of another subject, in the Archives of Vienna, Venice,
Rome, and especially Florence. Had I gone into further detail, I should
have run the risk of losing sight of the subject as a whole ; or in the neces-
sary lapse of time, of breaking the unity of the conception which had
arisen before my mind in the course of my past researches.
And thus I proceeded boldly to the completion of this work ; persuaded
that when an inquirer has made researches of some extent in authentic
records, with an earnest spirit and a genuine ardour for truth, though
later discoveries may throw clearer and more certain light on details,
they can only strengthen his fundamental conceptions of the subject :
for truth can be but one.
1 Recent works on this correspondence are : Virch, H., und Winckelmann, O.,
Politische Korresp. der Stadt Strasburg im Zeitalter der Reformation, 3 vols.
Strasburg, 1879-98.
Liidewig, S., Die Politik Niirnbergs im Zeitalter der Reformation. Gottingen,
1893.
ERRATA
Page 739, note 2, line 8, for " his Provisional Government"
read " the Provisional Government " ; line 9, for " Thurian
Dampier" read " Thurian Dangin."
CONTENTS
PAGE
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE - xv
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION - - xxi
INTRODUCTION.
VIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF GERMANY i
BOOK I.
ATTEMPT TO REFORM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE.
1486-1517 - 40
BOOK II.
EARLY HISTORY OF LUTHER AND OF CHARLES V. 1517-1521.
I. ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION - in
II. DESCENT OF THE IMPERIAL CROWN FROM MAXIMILIAN TO
CHARLES V. - 158
III. FIRST DEFECTION FROM THE PAPACY, 1519-20 - 192
IV. DIET OF WORMS. A.D. 1521 - 223
BOOK III.
ENDEAVOURS TO RENDER THE REFORMATION NATIONAL AND
COMPLETE. 1521-1525.
I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG OCTOBER, 1521, TO MARCH, 1522 - 248
II. TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL TENDENCIES OF THE COUNCIL OF REGENCY,
1521-1523 - - 263
III. DIFFUSION OF THE NEW DOCTRINES, 1522-1524 277
IV. OPPOSITION TO THE COUNCIL OF REGENCY DIET OF 1523-24 - 295
V. ORIGIN OF THE DIVISION IN THE NATION - - 316
VI. THE PEASANTS' W T AR 334
VII. FORMATION OF THE ADVERSE RELIGIOUS LEAGUES DIET OF AUGS-
BURG, DECEMBER, 1525 - 359
BOOK IV.
FOREIGN RELATIONS FOUNDATION OF THE NATIONAL
CHURCHES OF GERMANY. 1521-1528.
I. FRENCH AND ITALIAN WARS, DOWN TO THE LEAGUE OF COGNAC,
1521-1526 - - 372
II. DIET OF SPIRE, A.D. 1526 - - 417
III. CONQUEST OF ROME, A.D. 1527 - 429
IV. OCCUPATION OF BOHEMIA AND HUNGARY - - 446
V. FOUNDATION OF EVANGELICAL STATES - 459
xiii
xiv CONTENTS
BOOK V.
PAGE
FORMATION OF A CATHOLIC MAJORITY. 1527-1530.
RETROSPECT.
I. CHANGES IN THE GENERAL POLITICAL RELATIONS OF EUROPE.
1527, 1528 488
II. GERMANY DURING THE AFFAIR AND TIMES . OF PACK - 500
III. REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND - 509
IV. POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE YEAR 1529 - 532
V. DIET OF SPIRES, A.D. 1529 552
VI. DISSENSIONS AMONG THE PROTESTANTS - 562
VII. THE OTTOMANS BEFORE VIENNA - - 574
VIII. CHARLES V. IN ITALY 586
IX. DIET OF AUGSBURG, 1530 - 595
BOOK VI.
ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALD.
I530-I535-
I. FOUNDATION OF THE LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALD - 631
II. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND 640
III. ATTEMPTS AT A RECONCILIATION OF THE TWO PROTESTANT PARTIES - 648.
IV. CATASTROPHE OF THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND 654
V. THE REFORMATION IN THE CITIES OF LOWER GERMANY. CONCLU-
SION OF THE LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALD - 665
VI. OTTOMAN INVASION. FIRST PEACE OF RELIGION. 1531, 1532 - 676
VII. INFLUENCE OF FRANCE. RESTORATION OF WURTEMBURG 1533,
1534 693
VIII. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION DURING THE YEARS 1532-1534 710
IX. ANABAPTISTS IN MUNSTER. CURSORY AND GENERAL VIEW OF
ANABAPTISM - 728
X. BtJRGERMEISTER WULLEN WEBER OF LtJBECK - 757
INDEX - 776
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THIS short bibliography is compiled for the use of the general reader. No
contemporary authorities are given ; for these and for fuller lists of secondary
authorities the elaborate bibliographies given in the following works may be
consulted : The Cambridge Modern History, Vols. I. and II. (ut infra) ;
Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale ; Dahlmann Waitz, Quellenkunde
der deutschen Geschichte.
A. GENERAL.
JOHNSON (A. H.). Europe in the Sixteenth Century : 1495-1598 (Periods of
European History). 73. 6d. Rivington, 1897.
Cambridge Modern History, Vol. I., Chaps, ix., xvi., xvii., xviii. ; Vol. II.,
Chaps, ii.-viii., x., xi., xix. Each i6s. net. Cambridge Press, 1902-1904.
Containing some admirable monographs on various aspects of the period.
ZELLER (J.). Histoire d'Allemagne, Vol. V. : La Reformation. Paris, 1854.
GEIGER (L.). Renaissance und Humanismus in Italien und Deutschland (Oncken's
Allgemeine Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen). Berlin, 1882.
BEZOLD (F. VON). Geschichte der deutschen Reformation (Oncken's series).
Berlin, 1890.
Both the above are excellent surveys of the whole period.
JANSSEN ( J.). Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters.
Freiburg-i.-B., 1897.
- The same, translated by M. A. Mitchell and A. M. Christie ; sub tit., History
of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages. 6 vols. 753. Paul,
1896-1903.
CREIGHTON (Bp. M.). History of the Papacy, Vols. III.-V. Each 6s. Longman
(1882-94), 1897.
By far the best book on the subject in English.
RANKE (LEOPOLD VON). Die romischen Papste. ^
- The same, translated by Mrs. S. Austin; sub tit., History of the Popes of
Rome. 3 vols. 303. Murray, 1866.
PASTOR (Luowic). Geschichte der Papste.
- The same, translated by F. J. Antrobus, 4 vols. 483. net. Paul, 1891-95.
The best book from the Roman-Catholic point of view.
XV
xvi BIBLIOGRAPHY
GREGOROVIUS (F.). Geschichte der Stadt Roma in Mittelalter, Vol. VIII.
The same, translated by Annie Hamilton. 93. Bell, 1902.
Allgemeine deutsche Biographic.
HERZOG'S Realencyclopadie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche.
These can always be consulted with confidence on any individual characters.
B. SPECIAL.
ALMAN. Kaiser Maximilian I.
RANKE (LEOPOLD VON). Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation.
Leipzig, 1881-82.
The English translation cannot be recommended.
STRAUSS (D. F.). Ulrich von Hutten. Second edition. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1874.
The same, translated by Mrs. George Sturge. 1874.
GEIGER (L.). Johann Reuchlin : sein Leben und seine Werke. Leipzig, 1871.
FROUDE (J. A.). Life and Letters of Erasmus. 33. 6d. Longman (1894), 1899.
An interesting book, \vhich, however, must be read with caution.
SEEBOHM (F.). The Oxford Reformers of 1498. Third edition. 145. Longman,
1896.
John Colet Erasmus Thomas More.
ARMSTRONG (E.). The Emperor Charles V. 2 vols. 2 is. net. Macmillan, 1902.
The best English life of the Emperor.
BAUMGARTEN (H.). Geschichte Karls V. 3 vols. Stuttgart, 1885-92.
The best German life of the Emperor.
MIGNET (F. A. M.). Rivalite de Fra^ois I. et de Charles V. Second edition.
2 vols. Paris, 1875.
The best book on the military side.
MAURENBRECHER (W.). Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der Reformationszeit.
Leipzig, 1874.
Karl V. und die deutschen Protestanten. Diisseldorf, 1865.
Geschichte der katholischen Reformation. Nordlingen, 1880.
STIRLING MAXWELL (Sir W.). The Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles V. 1852.
LINDSAY (T. M.). Luther and the German Reformation. 33. Clark, Edinburgh,
1900.
BEARD (CHARLES). The Hibbert Lectures, 1883 : The Reformation in the Six-
teenth Century and Modern Thought. 43. 6d. Williams and Norgate (1883),
1885.
Martin Luther and the German Reformation. i6s. Paul, 1889.
KOSTLIN (J.). Martin Luther : sein Leben und seine Schriften. 2 vols.
STAHELIN (R.). Huldreich Zwingli und sein Reformationswerk. Halle, 1883.
HENRY (P.). Das Leben Calvins, 3 vols. Hamburg, 1835-44.
The same, translated by Stebbing ; sub tit., The Life and Times of Calvin.
2 vols. 1849.
BIBLIOGRAPHY xvii
GUIZOT (F. P. G.). La vie de Quatre grands Chretiens. Paris, 1873.
- The same, translated ; sub tit., Great Christians of France. 6s. Macmillan
(1869), 1878.
Calvin.
KAMPSCHULTE (F. W.). Johann Calvin in Genf.
BAX (E. BELFORT). The Peasants' War in Germany. 6s. Sonnenschein, 1899.
LAMPRECHT (K.). Die Entwickelung des rheinischen Bauernstandes (West-
deutsche Zeitschrift fiir Geschichte, Bd. VI.).
BRANDENBURG (E.). Moritz von Sachsen. Leipzig, 1898.
C. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Consult Clarendon Press Historical Atlas, Nos. 37, 38, 39, and 47. Also Spruncr-
Menke's Historical Atlas, Nos. 43, 73, and 74.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF LEADING
EVENTS
1508. Luther goes to Wittenberg.
1512. Opening of the Fifth Lateran Council.
1513. Death of Julius II. Accession of Leo X.
1515. Accession of Francis I.
Battle of Marignano.
1 516. French Concordat with Leo X.
Death of Ferdinand of Aragon.
Treaty of Noyon.
1517. Close of the Fifth Lateran Council.
Publication of Luther's Theses.
1518. Luther before the Cardinal-Legate at Augsburg.
Zwingli at Zurich.
1519. Death of the Emperor Maximilian.
Election of Charles V. to the Empire.
1520. Luther excommunicated.
Publication of Luther's "Appeal to the Christian Nobility."
Coronation of Charles V. at Aachen.
1521. Diet of Worms. Luther placed under the ban of the Empire.
Outbreak of war. Milan occupied by the imperial and papal forces.
Death of Leo X.
1522. Election of Adrian VI.
Luther returns to Wittenberg.
Battle of Bicocca.
The Knights' War in Germany.
Capture of Rhodes by the Turks.
1523. First public Disputation at Zurich.
Defection of the Constable of Bourbon.
Bonnivet in Italy.
Death of Adrian VI. Succession of Clement VII.
1524. Retreat of Bonnivet.
The Peasants' War in Germany.
Francis I. crosses the Alps.
1525. Battle of Pavia.
Prussia becomes a secular Duchy.
1 526. Treaty of Madrid.
Charles V. marries Isabella of Portugal.
League of Cognac.
xix b 2
xx CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF LEADING EVENTS
Recess of Spire.
Battle of Mohacz.
Raid of the Colonna on Rome.
Ferdinand elected King of Bohemia and Hungary.
1527. The sack of Rome.
Invasion of Italy by Lautrec.
1528. France and England declare war on~the Emperor.
Siege of Naples by Lautrec. Defection of Andrea Doria.
1529. Diet of Spire. " The Protest."
Civil War in Switzerland. First Peace of Cappel.
Treaty of Barcelona.
Peace of Cambray.
Siege of Vienna by the Turks.
Conference of Marburg.
1530. Last imperial coronation by the Pope.
Diets of Augsburg. Confession of Augsburg.
Capture of Florence.
Revolt against the Bishop at Geneva.
1531. Ferdinand elected King of the Romans.
Henry VIII. " Supreme Head of the Church " in England.
Battle of Cappel and death of Zwingli.
League of Schmalkald.
1532. Inquisition established at Lisbon.
Annates abolished in England.
Religious Peace of Nuremburg.
Second conference at Bologna.
1533. English Acts in restraint of appeals to Rome.
Wullenweber Burgomaster of Liibeck.
Address of Cop. Flight of Calvin.
1534. Anabaptist rising at Minister.
Ulrich recovers Wiirtemburg.
Peace of Cadan.
The Grafenfehde.
Ignatius Loyala founds the Society of Jesus.
Death of Clement VII. Accession of Paul III.
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
LEOPOLD VON RANKE was one of the leaders of the modern scientific
school of German historians, which reckons Niebuhr as its father, and
'includes, among others, the names of Mommsen, Giesebrecht, Waitz,
Droysen, and Von Sybel, several of them pupils of Von Ranke himself.
Although these writers did not deny the value of artistic presentation,
they cared much more that the presentation should be accurate. Ranke
tells us that he was taught this lesson by observing the irreconcilable
divergencies between the accounts of contemporary writers, and by the
liberties Sir Walter Scott took with historical fact in his novels. He was
thus led to the conclusion that " a strict representation of facts, be it ever
so narrow or unpoetical, is, beyond doubt, the first law." 1 Yet " all
hangs together critical study of genuine sources, impartiality of view,
objective description ; the end to be aimed at is the representation of the
whole truth " 2 Accordingly, Ranke and his comrades of the scientific
school applied to the criticism of original authorities the most stringent
canons of evidence. They discounted the prejudices and the want of
opportunities in the case of memoirs and biographies, and insisted more
especially on the value of public documents, letters and the despatches
of ambassadors. 3 Their work was much facilitated by the great advance
which had lately been made in facility of access to State archives, and by
the publication of many of the most important documents and despatches.
The relations of the greater Powers of Europe had just at the close of
the fifteenth century shown a marked increase of intimacy, though by
no means of friendship, and this naturally led to a correspondingly notice-
able increase of diplomacy. The plentiful crop of diplomatic documents
which resulted began only towards the middle of the nineteenth century
to be opened to the student, and hence, perhaps, one of the reasons which
led Ranke to devote his main attention to the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. In his first attempt at historical writing, his " History of Latin
and Teutonic Nations," published in 1824, he tells us that it was at the
1 Latin and Teutonic Nations, translation, p. 6.
2 History of England, translation, vol. v., p. 428.
3 Cf. Ranke's Zur Kritik neuerer Geschichtschreiber, which forms the Ap-
pendix to his Geschichte der Romanischen und Germanischen Volker a work
which has unfortunately not yet been translated into English.
xxi
xxii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
close of the fifteenth century that the nations of Europe first definitely
realized in the Italian wars the fundamental unity which underlay their
common civilization, a civilization which was in all cases founded on a
fusion of Romanic and German elements. Ranke first set himself to
demonstrate this fundamental unity, but the complexity of his task and
the ever-increasing mass of material led him to abandon the attempt,
after having brought his sketch up to the year 1518. Henceforth he
devoted himself to the study of separate countries, chiefly, however, in
the centuries of his original choice. The side which most attracted him
was the religious movement, so far, at least, as this was interwoven with
political issues. Thus most of his writings 1 aim at tracing the special
form taken in each country by the great movement of the Reformation.
In the volume before us it is with the relations of Church and State
in Germany that he is mainly interested. His purpose is to show that
just as the mediaeval history of Germany had turned upon the contest
between the Empire and the Papacy, so that of the sixteenth century
centred round the struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Though he does not deny the influence of personal character on the de-
velopment of the plot, he insists more especially on the effect of the German
Constitution and of the Empire, both the products of past history, upon
the course of the Reformation in that country. According to his method,
he seeks for the interpretation of events chiefly in the despatches of ambas-
sadors, and in the political correspondence of contemporary statesmen,
? while somewhat neglecting the faiths and aspirations expressed in the
general literature of the age.
This limitation of the scope of history is less apparent in the work
before us than in others, but for all that " The History of the Reformation
in Germany " may be said to present a somewhat external picture of the
times.
Our author investigates the causes of events, but the feelings of the
victorious and of the oppressed, or the economic or social side of history,
he passes by with scant attention. Yet it may fairly be claimed that the
history of a nation at any time, and above all at such a period of intel-
lectual and social as well as spiritual upheaval as this which he has
under review, to be altogether intelligible, should not be limited to war,
1 The most important are :
History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations, translated by Ashworth.
History of the Popes, translated by S. Austin.
Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg during the i6th and i/th Centuries,
translated by Sir A. and Lady Duff-Gordon.
History of England, principally in the i/th Century, translated by several hands.
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the i6th and i/th Centuries, translated
by M. A. Garvey.
, EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xxiii
diplomacy, and government, but should cover the whole field of human
thought and action, and even, we may add, of sentiment.
Ranke has been called a lyrical writer of history. " His point of view
is not that of the narrative, but of reflection on the narrative. ... It
is not his purpose first to make us acquainted with the subject, as is usually
the intention of historical writers. He assumes such acquaintance . . ~
and adds to it only the last touches of colour, often in quite unexpected
places." 1
" He draws in broad outlines, and then fills up the details. ' I have
made,' he says, ' this attempt to represent the general through the par-
ticular, directly, and without multiplicity of detail.' The truth of the
picture, no doubt, depends upon the discrimination and honesty with
which the choice of details is made." 2
But there is another of Ranke's characteristics as a writer which stood
him in good stead. He enjoyed a certain aloofness and detachment of
mind which gave him a power of rare impartiality. As Lord Acton has
said of Bishop Creighton, himself a follower of Ranke, " He is not striving
to prove a case, or burrowing towards a conclusion, but wishes to pass
through scenes of raging controversy with a serene curiosity ; . . . avoid-
ing both alternatives of the prophet's mission, he will neither bless nor
curse, and seldom invites his readers to execrate or admire." 3
Like a skilful physician, he diagnoses the disease in cold, critical tones.
He rarely rouses our enthusiasm or excites our indignation. This pecu-
liarity is well illustrated by Ranke's answer to the divine who claimed him
as a fellow- worker on the Reformation. " You," said Ranke, " are in
the first place a Christian. I am a historian. There is a great gulf between
us." 4 And Ranke tells us himself that the " History of the Reformation "
was undertaken as a balance to the " History of the Popes," because he
doubted whether in his former work he had done complete justice to the
Protestants. 5 Not that he was indifferent to religion, or without strong
convictions on questions of his own day, but as a historian he felt it his
duty not to take sides or to plead a cause.
The " History of the Reformation in Germany " is probably Ranke's
greatest achievement. Nowhere are his great historical gifts better seen.
His patience in research, his power of grouping facts to illustrate a central
id*ea, his talent for analysis of character, his calmness and sobriety of
1 Zeller, Ausgewahlte Brief e von Friedrich Strauss ; quoted in the Journal of
the American Historical Association, 1896, vol. i., 77.
2 Ibid., p. 76.
:5 English Historical Review, vol. ii., p. 573.
4 E. Spiiler, Portraits contemporains.
5 Zur eigenen Lebensgeschichte von Leopold von Ranke, herausgegeben von
A. Dove, p. 52.
xxiv EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
judgment, and his peculiar method of pausing to reflect on the conclusions
and the lessons which the facts have brought out all are used to the best
advantage. Nevertheless, the work cannot be considered to provide a
complete or exhaustive account of a most complex period, and in addition
Mrs. Austin's translation unfortunately only gives us three out of the
original five volumes, and thus takes us down to the end only of the second
of the three periods into which the historian has divided his book.
To fill up the gap it will be necessary for the student to have recourse
to other authors, who give many details, and deal with many aspects
which have been neglected in Ranke's treatment of the period. More-
over, what we may call the " documentary age " was only just beginning
when Ranke wrote, and much important material has been published and
classified since.
In order to assist the reader in his study of the period a short Biblio-
graphy of the more important histories which have appeared since Ranke
wrote has been added to the present edition, and for the rest, anyone who
really wishes fully to understand the Reformation should read some parts
at least of the contemporary literature, an ample proportion of which is
now readily accessible to the general public.
Yet, although such supplementary reading is essential if we wish to
make for ourselves a living picture of the past, as an introduction to the
period Ranke's great work has never been surpassed. The student will
find that he is led through the tangled maze of policy and of controversy
by a sure and certain guide. He will be taught the main issues and the
leading principles which were gradually evolving themselves, and will
thus obtain a firm outline based on scientific study, which he can subse-
quently fill up at pleasure.
The following references may be found useful for an account of Ranke's life,
and for a further criticism of his work :
Journal of American Historical Association, 1896, vol. i., p. 67, accompanied
at p. 1265 by a complete list of his writings.
English Historical Review, vol. i., 1896 : article on German Schools of History,
by Lord Acton.
Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. Ixxvi., 1886, p. 693 et .seq.
Revue Historique, vol. xxxi., 1886, p. 364.
Zur eigenen Lebengeschichte von L. von Ranke, herausgegeben von A. Dove.
Guglia E. L. von Ranke : Ranke's Leben und Werke.
HISTORY
OF THE
REFORMATION IN GERMANY
INTRODUCTION.
VIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF GERMANY.
FOR purposes of discussion or of instruction, it may be possible to sever
ecclesiastical from political history ; in actual life, they are indissolubly
connected, or rather fused into one indivisible whole.
As indeed there is nothing of real importance in the moral and intel-
lectual business of human life, the source of which does not lie in a profound
and more or less conscious relation of man and his concerns to God and
divine things, it is impossible to conceive a nation worthy of the name,
or entitled to be called, in any sense, great, whose political existence is
not constantly elevated and guided by religious ideas. To cultivate,
purify and exalt these, to give them an expression intelligible to all
and profitable to all, to embody them in outward forms and public acts,
is its necessary as well as its noblest task.
It is not to be denied that this process inevitably brings into action two
great principles which seem to place a nation at variance with itself.
Nationality (i.e. the sum of the peculiar qualities, habits, and sentiments
of a nation) is necessarily restricted within the bounds marked out by
neighbouring nationalities ; whereas religion, ever since it was revealed
to the world in a form which claims and deserves universality, constantly
strives after sole and absolute supremacy.
In the foundation or constitution of a State, some particular moral or
intellectual principle predominates ; a principle prescribed by an inherent
necessity, expressed in determinate forms and giving birth to a peculiar
condition of society, or character of civilisation. But no sooner has a
Church, with its forms of wider application, embracing different nations,
arisen, than it grasps at the project of absorbing the State, and of reducing
the principle on which civil society is founded to complete subjection :
the original underived authority of that principle is, indeed, rarely acknow-
ledged by the Church.
At length the universal religion appears, and, after it has incorporated
itself with the consciousness of mankind, assumes the character of a great
and growing tradition, handed down from people to people, and com-
municated in rigid dogmas. But nations cannot suffer themselves to be
debarred from exercising the understanding bestowed on them by nature,
or the knowledge acquired by study, on an investigation of its truth. In
every age, therefore, we see diversities in the views of religion arise in
different nations, and these again react in various ways on the character
and condition of the State. It is evident, from the nature of this struggle,
how mighty is the crisis which it involves for the destinies of the human
race. Religious truth must have an outward and visible representation,
in order that the State may be perpetually reminded of the origin and"
the end of our. earthly existence ; of the rights of our neighbours, and the
i
INTRODUCTION
kindred of all the nations of the earth ; it would otherwise be in danger
of degenerating into tyranny, or of hardening into inveterate prejudice,
into intolerant conceit of self, and hatred of all that is foreign. On the
other hand, a free development of the national character and culture
is necessary to the interests of religion. Without this, its doctrines can
never be truly understood nor profoundly accepted : without incessant
alternations of doubt and conviction, of assent and dissent, of seeking
and finding, no error could be removed, no deeper understanding of truth
attained. Thus, then, independence of thought and political freedom
are indispensable to the Church herself ; she needs them to remind her
of the varying intellectual wants of men, of the changing nature of her
own forms ; she needs them to preserve her from the lifeless iteration of
misunderstood doctrines and rites, which kill the soul.
It has been said, the State is itself the Church, but the Church has
thought herself authorised to usurp the place of the State. The truth
is, that the spiritual or intellectual life of man in its intensest depth and
energy unquestionably one yet manifests itself in these two institutions,
which come into contact under the most varied forms ; which are con-
tinually striving to pervade each other, yet never entirely coincide ; to
exclude each other, yet neither has ever been permanently victor or
vanquished. In the nations of the West, at least, such a result has never
been obtained. The Calif ate may unite ecclesiastical and political power
in one hand ; but the whole life and character of western Christendom
consists of the incessant action and counter-action of Church and State ;
hence arises the freer, more comprehensive, more profound activity of
mind, which must, on the whole, be admitted to characterise that portion
of the globe. The aspect of the public life of Europe is always determined
by the mutual relations of these two great principles.
Hence it happens that ecclesiastical history is not to be understood
without political, nor the latter without the former. The combination
of both is necessary to present either in its true light ; and if ever we are
able to fathom the depths of that profounder life where both have their
common source and origin," it must be by a complete knowledge of this
combination.
But if this is the case with all nations, it is most pre-eminently so with
the German, which has bestowed more persevering and original thought
on ecclesiastical and religious subjects than any other. The events of
ten centuries turn upon the struggles between the Empire and the Papacy,
between Catholicism and Protestantism. We, in our days, stand midway
between them.
My design is to relate the history of an epoch in which the politico-
religious energy of the German nation was most conspicuous for its growth
and most prolific in its results. I do not conceal from myself the great
difficulty of this undertaking ; but, with God's help, I will endeavour to
accomplish it. I shall first attempt to trace my way through a retrospect
of earlier times.
CAROLINGIAN TIMES.
ONE of the most important epochs in the history of the world was the
commencement of the eighth century ; when, on the one side, Mahomme-
danism threatened to overspread Italy and Gaul, and on the other, the
CAROLINGIAN TIMES 3
ancient idolatry of Saxony and Fricsland once more forced its way across
the Rhine. In this peril of Christian institutions a youthful prince of
Germanic race, Karl Martell, arose as their champion ; maintained them
with all the energy which the necessity for self-defence calls forth, and
finally extended them into new regions. For, as the possessor of the
sole power which still remained erect in the nations of Roman origin
the Pope of Rome allied himself with this prince and his successors ;
as he received assistance from them, and bestowed in return the favour
and protection of the spiritual authority, the compound of military and
sacerdotal government which forms the basis of all European civilisation
from that moment arose into being. From that time conquest and con-
version went hand in hand. " As soon," says the author of the life of
St. Boniface, " as the authority of the glorious Prince Charles over the
Frisians was confirmed, the trumpet of the sacred word was heard." It
would be difficult to say whether the Prankish domination contributed
more to the conversion of the Hessians and Thuringians, or Christianity
to the incorporation of those races with the Prankish empire. The war
of Charlemagne against the Saxons was a war not only of conquest but of
religion. Charlemagne opened it with an attack on the old Saxon
sanctuary, the Irminsul ; l the Saxons retorted by the destruction, of
the church at Fritzlar. Charlemagne marched to battle bearing the
relics of saints ; missionaries accompanied the divisions of his army ;
his victories were celebrated by the establishment of bishoprics ; baptism
was the seal of subjection and allegiance ; relapse into heathenism was also
a crime against the state. The consummation of all these incidents is to
be found in the investiture of the aged conqueror with the imperial crown.
A German, in the natural course of events and in the exercise of regular
legitimate power, occupied the place of the Caesars as chief of a great
part of the Romance world ; he also assumed a lofty station at the side
of the Roman pontiff in spiritual affairs ; a Prankish synod saluted him,
as " Regent of the true religion." The entire state of which he was the
chief now assumed a colour and form wherein the spiritual and temporal
elements were completely blended. The union between emperor and
pope served as a model for that between count and bishop. The arch-
deaconries into which the bishoprics were divided, generally, if not uni-
versally, coincided with the Gauen, or political divisions of the country.
As the counties were divided into hundreds, so were the archdeaconries
into deaneries. The seat of them was different ; but, in respect of the
territory over which their jurisdiction extended, there was a striking
correspondence. 2 According to the view of the lord and ruler, not only
was the secular power to lend its arm to the spiritual, but the spiritual
to aid the temporal by its excommunications. The great empire reminds
us of a vast neutral ground in the midst of a world filled with carnage
and devastation ; where an iron will imposes peace on forces generally
in a state of mutual hostility and destruction, and fosters and shelters
the germ of civilisation ; so guarded was it on all sides by impregnable
marches.
1 The Saxon idol, identified in later Germanic mythology with the Teutonic
hero Hermann, the conqueror of Varus. Cf. Milman, History of Latin Christianity,
Bk. v. c. i.
2 See Wenck, Hessischo Landesgeschichte, ii. 469.
I 2
4 INTRODUCTION
But every age could not produce a man so formed to subdue and to
command ; and for the development of the world which Charlemagne
founded, it remained to be seen what would be the mutual bearing of the
different elements of which it was composed ; whether they would blend
with or repel each other, agree or conflict : for there can be no true and
enduring vitality without the free motion of natural and innate powers
and propensities.
It was inevitable that the clergy would first feel its own strength. This
body formed a corporation independent even of the emperor : originating
and developed in the Romance nations, whose most remarkable product
it had been in the preceding century, it now extended over those of Ger-
manic race ; in which, through the medium of a common language, it
continually made new proselytes and gained strength and consistency.
Even under Charlemagne the spiritual element was already bestirring
itself with activity and vigour. One of the most remarkable of his capitu-
laries is that wherein he expresses his astonishment that his spiritual and
temporal officers so often thwart, instead of supporting each other, as it
is their duty to do. He does not disguise that it was the clergy more
especially who exceeded their powers : .to them he addresses the question,
fraught with reproach and displeasure, which has been so often repeated
by succeeding ages how far they are justified in interfering in purely
secular affairs ? He tells them they must explain what is me'ant by
renouncing the world ; whether that is consistent with large and costly
retinues, with attempts to persuade the ignorant to make donations of
their goods and to disinherit their children ; whether it were not better
to foster good morals than to build churches, and the like. 1
But the clergy soon evinced a much stronger propensity to ambitious
encroachment.
We need not here inquire whether the pseudo-Isidorian decretals were
invented as early as the reign of Charlemagne, or somewhat later ; in the
Prankish church, or in Italy : at all events, they belong to that period,
are connected with a most extensive project, and form a great epoch
in our history. The project was to overthrow the existing constitution
of the church, which, in every country, still essentially rested on the
authority of the metropolitan ; to place the whole church in immediate
subjection to the pope of Rome, and to establish a unity of the spiritual
power, by means of which it must necessarily emancipate itself from the
temporal. Such was the plan which the clergy had even then the bold-
ness to avow. A series of names of the earlier popes were pressed into
the service, in order to append to them forged documents, to which a
colour of legality was thus given. 2
And what was it not possible to effect in those times of profound his-
torical ignorance, in which past ages were only beheld through the twilight
of falsehood and fantastic error ? and under princes like the successors
1 " Capitulare interrogationis de iis quae Karolus M. pro communi omnium
utilitate interroganda constituit Aquisgrani 811." Monum. Germanics Histor.
ed. Pertz, iii., p. 106.
2 A passage from the spurious Acts of the Synods of Pope Silvester is found
in a Capitulary of 806. See Eichhorn, Ueber die spanische Sammlung der
Quellen des Kirchenrechts in den Abhandll. der Preuss. Akad. d. W. 1834.
Philos. Hist. Klasse, p. 102.
CAROLINGIAN TIMES 5
of Charlemagne, whose minds, instead of being elevated or purified, were
crushed by religious influences, so that they lost the power of distinguish-
ing the spiritual from the temporal province of the clerical office ?
It is indisputable that the order of succession to the throne which
Louis the Pious, in utter disregard of the warnings of his faithful adherents,
and in opposition to all German modes of thinking, established in the
year Si/, 1 was principally brought about by the influence of the clergy.
"The empire," says Agobardus, "must not be divided into three; it
must remain one and undivided." The division of the empire seemed to
endanger the unity of the church : and, as the emperor was chiefly deter-
mined by spiritual motives, the regulations adopted were enforced with
all the pomp of religious ceremonies, by masses, fasts, and distributions
of alms ; every one swore to them ; they were held to be inspired by God
himself.
After this, no one, not even the emperor, could venture to depart from
them. Great, at least, were the evils which he brought upon himself by
his attempt to do so, out of love to a son born at a later period of his life.
The irritated clergy made common cause with his elder sons, who were
already dissatisfied with the administration of the empire. The supreme
pontiff came in person from Rome and declared in their favour ; and a
universal revolt was the consequence. Nor did this first manifestation
of their power satisfy the clergy. In order to make srire of their advantage,
they formed the daring scheme of depriving the born and anointed
emperor, on whom they could now no longer place reliance, of his con-
secrated dignity a dignity which, at any rate, he owed not to them,
and of bestowing it immediately on the successor to the throne who had
been nominated in 8 1 7, and who was the natural representative of the unity
of the empire. If, on the one hand, it is indisputable that, in the eighth
century, the spiritual authority contributed greatly to the establishment
of the principle of obedience to the temporal government, it is equally
certain that, in the ninth, it made rapid strides towards the acquisition
of power into its own hands. In the collection of capitularies of Bene-
dictus Levita, it is treated as one of the leading principles, that no consti-
tution in the world has any force or validity against the decisions of the
popes of Rome ; in more than one canon, kings who act in opposition to
this principle are threatened with divine punishment. 2 The monarchy
of Charlemagne seemed to be about to be transformed into an ecclesiastical
state.
I do not hesitate to affirm that it was mainly the people of Germany
who resisted this tendency ; indeed, that it was precisely this resistance
which first awakened Germany to a consciousness of its own importance
as a nation. For it would be impossible to speak of a German nation,
in the proper sense of the word, during the preceding ages. In the more
remote, the several tribes had not even a common name by which they
recognised each other : during the period of their migration, they fought
1 Fauriel, Histoire de la Gaule Merid., iv. 47, examines this point more in
detail.
2 Benedict! Capitularia, lib. ii., p. 322. " Velut praevaricator catholicse fidei
semper a Domino reus existat quicunque regum canonis hujus censuram per-
miserit violandam." Lib. iii. 346. " Constitutiones contradecreta praesulum
Romanorum iiullius sunt iiiomciiti."
6 INTRODUCTION
with as much hostility among themselves as against the stranger, and
allied themselves as readily with the latter as with those of common race.
Under the Merovingian kings they were further divided by religious
enmities ; the Saxons, in presence of Frankish Christianity, held the
more pertinaciously to their forms of government and to their ancient
gods. It was not till Charlemagne had united all the Germanic tribes,
with the exception of those in England and Scandinavia, in one and
the same temporal and spiritual allegiance, that the nation began to
acquire form and consistency ; it was not till the beginning of the ninth
t century, that the German name appeared as contra-distinguished from the
1 Romance portion of the empire. 1
i It is worthy of eternal remembrance, that the first act in which the
Germans appear as one people, is the resistance to the attempt of the
v clergy to depose their emperor and lord.
The ideas of legitimacy which they had inherited from their past political
life and history, as members of tribes, would never have led them to
derive it from the pretended grace of God, that is to say, from the
declaration of the spiritual authorities. They were attached to Louis
the Pious, who had rendered peculiar services to the Saxon chiefs ; their
aversion to his deposition was easily fanned into a flame : at the call of
Louis the Germanic, who kept his court in Bavaria, the other tribes,
Saxons, Swabians, and Franks, on this side the Carbonaria, 2 gathered
around his banner ; for the first time they were united in one great object.
As they were aided by an analogous, though much feebler, movement in
the south of France, the bishops soon found themselves compelled to
absolve the emperor from the penance they had imposed, and to acknow-
ledge him again as their lord. The first historical act of the united nation
is this rising in favour of their born prince against the spiritual power.
Nor were they any longer inclined to consent to such a deviation from
their own law of succession, as was involved in the acknowledgment of a
single heir to the whole monarchy. When, after the death of Louis the
Pious, Lothair, in spite of all that had passed, made an attempt to seize
the reins of the whole empire, he found in the Germans a resistance, at
first doubtful, but every moment increasing, and finally victorious. From
them his troops received their first important defeat on the Riess, which
laid the foundation of the severance of Germany from the great monarchy. 3
Lothair relied on his claims recognised by the clergy ; the Germans,
combined with the southern French, challenged him to submit them to
the judgment of heaven by battle. Then it was that the great array of the
Frankish empire split into two hostile masses ; the one containing a
preponderance of Romance, the other of Germanic elements. The former
defended the unity of the Empire ; the latter demanded, according to
their German ideas, its separation. There is a ballad extant on the
battle of Fontenay, in which one of the combatants expresses his grief
at this bloody war of fellow-citizens and brethren ; " on that bitter night
1 Riihs Erlauterung der zehn ersten Capitel von Tacitus Germania, p. 103 ;
Mone : Geschichte des Heidenthums im Nordlichen Europa, Th. ii., p. 6.
2 A famous forest near Louvain in Hainault.
3 In Retiense. (Annales Ruodolfi Fuldensis ; Monumenta Germanic Hist.,
i., p. 352.) According to Lang (Baierische Gauen, p. 78), belonging to the Swabian
territory.
CAROLINGIAN TIMES 7
in which the brave fell, the skilful in fight." For the destiny of the West
it was decisive. 1 The judgment of heaven was triumphantly pronounced
against the claims of the clergy ; three kingdoms were now actually
established instead of one. The secular Germanic principles which, from
the time of the great migration of tribes, had extended widely into the
Romance world, remained in possession of the field : they were steadfastly
maintained in the subsequent troubles.
On the extinction of one of the three lines in which the unity of the
empire should have rested, dissensions broke out between the two others,
a main feature of which was the conflict between the spiritual and secular
principles.
The king of the French, Charles the Bald, had allied himself with the
clergy ; his armies were led to the field by bishops, and he abandoned
the administration of his kingdom in a great measure to Hinkmar, arch-
bishop of Rheims. Hence, when the throne of Lotharingia became vacant
in the year 869, he experienced the warmest support from the bishops
of that country. " After," say they, " they had called on God, who
bestows kingdoms on whom He will, to point out to them a king after
His own heart ; after they had then, with God's help, perceived that the
crown was of right his to whom they meant to confide it," they elected
Charles the Bald to be their lord. 2 But the Germans were as far now
as before from being convinced by this sort of public law. The elder
brother thought his claims at least as valid as those of the younger ; by
force of arms he compelled Charles to consent to the treaty of Marsna,
by which he first united transrhenane Germany with that on the right bank
of the Rhine. This same course of events was repeated in the year 875,
when the thrones of Italy and the Empire became vacant. At first,
Charles the Bald, aided now by the pope, as heretofore by the bishops,
took possession of the crown without difficulty. 3 But Cartmann, son of
Louis the Germanic, resting his claim on the right of the elder line, and
also on his nomination as heir by the last emperor, hastened with his
Bavarians and high "Germans to Italy ; and in spite of the opposition of
the pope, took possession of it as his unquestionable inheritance. If this
were the case in Italy, still less could Charles the Bald succeed in his
attempts on the German frontiers. He was defeated in both countries ;
the superiority of the Germans in arms was so decisive that, at length,
they became masters of the whole Lotharingian territory. Even under
the Carolingian sovereigns, they marked the boundaries of the mighty
empire ; the crown of Charlemagne, and two thirds of his dominions, fell
into their hands : they maintained the independence of the secular power
with dauntless energy and brilliant success.
SAXON AND PRANKISH EMPERORS.
THE question which next presents itself is, what course was to be pursued
if the ruling house either became extinct, or proved itself incapable of
1 AngilberUis dc bella qnae fuit Fontancto.
' " Caroli Secundi Coronatio in Regno Hlotharii, 869." Monum., iii. 512.
" Papa invitante Romam perrexit. Ecato Petro multa ct prctiosa muncia
offerens, in imperatorem urictus est."- Annales Hincwiari Remensis, 875 et 876 ;
Monum. Germ., i. 498.
8 INTRODUCTION
conducting the government of so vast an empire, attacked on every side
from without, and fermenting within.
In the years from 879 to 887, the several nations determined, one after
another, to abandon the cause of Charles the Fat. The characteristic
differences of the mode in which they accomplished this are well worthy
of remark.
In the Romance part of Europe the clergy had a universal ascendancy.
In Cisjurane Burgundy it was " the holy fathers assembled at Mantala,
the holy synod, together with the nobles," who " under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit," elected Count Boso king. 1 We find from the decretal
for the election of Guido of Spoleto x , that " the humble bishops assembled
together from various parts at Pavia chose him to be their lord and king, 2
principally because he had promised to exalt the holy Roman church,
and to maintain the ecclesiastical rights and privileges." The conditions
to which Odo of Paris gave his assent at his coronation are chiefly in
favour of the clergy : he promises not only to defend the rights of the
church, but to extend them to the utmost of his information and ability. 3
Totally different was the state of things in Germany. Here it was more
especially the temporal lords, Saxons, Franks, and Bavarians, who, under
the guidance of a disaffected minister of the emperor, assembled around
Arnulf and transferred the crown to him. The bishops (even the bishop
of Mainz) were rather opposed to the measure ; nor was it till some years
afterwards that they entered into a formal negotiation 4 with the new
ruler : they had not elected him ; they submitted to his authority.
The rights and privileges which were on eveiy occasion claimed by
the clergy, were as constantly and as resolutely ignored by the Germans.
They held as close to the legitimate succession as possible ; even after the
complete extinction of the Carolingian race, the degree of kindred with
it was one of the most important considerations which determined the
choice of the people, first to Conrad, and then to Henry I. of Saxony.
Conrad had, indeed, at one time, the idea of attaching himself to the
clergy, who, even in Germany, were a very powerful body : Henry, on
the contrary, was always opposed to them. They took no share in his
election ; the consecration by the holy oil, upon which Pepin and Charle-
magne had set so high a value, he declined ; as matters stood in Germany,
it could be of no importance to him. On the contrary, we find that as in
his own land of Saxony he kept his clergy within the strict bounds of
obedience, so in other parts of his dominions he placed them in subjection
to the dukeo 5 ; so that their dependence on the civil power was more
complete than ever. His only solicitude was to stand well with these
1 " Nutu Dei, per suffragia sanctorum, ob instantem necessitatem." 'Electio
Bosonis ; Monum., iii. 547.
2 " Nos humiles episcopos ex diversis partibus Papiae convenientibus pro
ecclesiarum nostrarum ereptione et omnis Christian! tatis salvatione," &c.
Electio Widoms Regis, Monum., iii. 554.
3 Capitulum Odonis Regis. Ibid.
4 " De collegio sacerdotum gnaros direxerunt mediatores ad prefatum regem,"
&c. Arnulfi Concilium Triburience, Monum., iii. 560. He says, " Nos, quibus
regni cura et solicitude ecclesiarum commissa est."
5 " Totius Bajoariae pontifices tuae subjaceant potestati," is the promise of
Liutprand the king to Duke Arnulf. Buchner, Geschichte der Baiern, iii. 38,
shows what use the latter made of it. See Waiz, Henry I., p. 49.
CAROLINGIAN TIMKS 9
great feudatories, whose power was almost equal to his own, and to fulfil
other duties imperatively demanded by the moment. As he succeeded
in these objects, as he obtained a decisive victory over his most dan-
gerous enemies, re-established the Marches, which had been broken at all
points, and suffered nothing on the other side the Rhine that bore the
German name to be wrested from him, the clergy were compelled by
necessity to adhere to him : he bequeathed an undisputed sceptre to his
house. It was by an agreement of the court and the secular nobles that
Otho was selected from among Henry's sons as his successor to the throne.
The ceremony of election was attended only by the dukes, princes, great
officers of state, and warriors ; the elected monarch then received the
assembled body of the clergy. 1 Otho could receive the unction without
scruple ; the clergy could no longer imagine that they conferred a right
upon him by that ceremony. Whether anointed or not, Otho would have
been king, as his father had been before him. And so firmly was this
sovereignty established, that Otho was now in a position to revive and
carry through the claims founded by his Carolingian predecessors. He
first completely realised the idea of a Germanic empire, which they had
only conceived and prepared. He governed Lotharingia and administered
Burgundy ; a short campaign sufficed to re-establish the rights of his
Carolingian predecessors to the supreme power in Lombardy. Like
Charlemagne, he was called to aid by a pope oppressed by the factions
of Rome ; like him, he received in return for his succour the crown of
the western empire (February 2, 962). The principle of the temporal ^ <.
government, the autocracy, which from the earliest times had held in check
the usurpations of ecclesiastical ambition, thus attained its culminating
point, and was triumphantly asserted and recognised in Europe.
At the first glance it would seem as if the relation in which Otho now
stood to the pope was the same as that occupied by Charlemagne ; on a
closer inspection, however, we find a wide difference.
Charlemagne's connexion with the see of Rome was produced by mutual
need ; it was the re.sult of long epochs of a political combination embracing
the development of various nations ; their mutual understanding rested
on an internal necessity, before which all opposing views and interests
gave way. The sovereignty of Otho the Great, on the contrary, rested on
a principle fundamentally opposed to the encroachment of spiritual
influences. The alliance was momentary ; the disruption of it inevitable.
But when, soon after, the same pope who had invoked his aid, John XII.,
placed himself at the head of a rebellious faction, Otho was compelled
to cause him to be formally deposed, and to crush the faction that supported
him by repeated exertions of force, before he could obtain perfect obedi-
ence ; he was obliged to raise to the papal chair a pope on whose co-
operation he could rely. The popes have often asserted that they trans-
ferred the empire to the Germans ; and if they confined this assertion
to the Carolingian race, they are not entirely wrong. The coronation of
Charlemagne was the result of their free determination. But if they
allude to the German emperors, properly so called, the contrary of their
1 Widukiveli Annales, lib. ii. " Duces ac praefectorum principes cum caetera
principum militumque manu fecerunt eum regem ; dum ea geruntur a ducibus
ac ca^tero magistratu, pontifex maximus cum universe sacerdotali online pnc-
btolabatur."
io INTRODUCTION
statement is just as true ; not only Carlmann and Otho the Great, but
their successors, constantly had to conquer the imperial throne, and to
defend it, when conquered, sword in hand.
It has been said that the Germans would have done more wisely if
they had not meddled with the empire ; or at least, if they had first
worked out their own internal political institutions, and then, with matured
minds, taken part in the general affairs of Europe. But the things of this
world are not wont to develop themselves so methodically. A nation
is often compelled by circumstances to increase its territorial extent,
before its internal growth is completed. For was it of slight importance
to its inward progress, that Germany thus remained in unbroken con-
nexion with Italy ? the depository of all that remained of ancient civilisa-
tion, the source whence all the forms of Christianity had been derived. The
mind of Germany has always unfolded itself by contact with the spirit of
antiquity, and of the nations of Roman origin. It was from the contrasts
which so continually presented themselves during this uninterrupted con-
nexion, that Germany learned to distinguish ecclesiastical domination
from Christianity.
For however signal had been the ascendancy of the secular power, the
German people did not depart a hair's breadth either from the doctrines
of Christianity, the ideas upon which a Christian church is founded, or
even from the forms in which they had first received those doctrines and
ideas. In them the nation had first risen to a consciousness of its exist-
ence as a united body ; its whole intellectual and moral life was bound
up with them. The German imperial government revived the civilising
and Christianising tendencies which had distinguished the reigns of Karl
Martell and Charlemagne. Otho the Great, in following the course marked
out by his illustrious predecessors, gave it a fresh national importance by
planting German colonies in Slavonic countries, simultaneously with
the diffusion of Christianity. He germanised as well as converted the
population he had subdued. He confirmed his father's conquests on the
Saale and the Elbe, by the establishment of the bishoprics of Meissen
and Osterland. After having conquered the tribes on the other side the
Elbe in those long and perilous campaigns where he commanded in person,
he established there, too, three bishoprics, which for a time gave an
extraordinary impulse to the progress of conversion. 1 In the midst of all
his difficulties and perplexities in Italy he never lost sight of this grand
object ; it was indeed while in that country that he founded the arch-
bishopric of Magdeburg, whose jurisdiction extended over all those other
foundations. And even where the project of Germanising the population
was out of the question, the supremacy of the German name was firmly
and actively maintained. In Bohemia and Poland bishoprics were erected
under German metropolitans ; from Hamburg Christianity found its
way into the north ; missionaries from Passau traversed Hungary, nor
is it improbable that the influence of these vast and sublime efforts ex-
tended even to Russia. The German empire was the centre of the con-
quering religion ; as itself advanced, it extended the ecclesiastico-military
State of which the Church was an integral part ; it was the chief repre-
sentative of the unity of western Christendom, and hence arose the neces-
sity under which it lay of acquiring a decided ascendancy over the papacy.
1 Adanii Brem. Histor. Ecclesiastica, lib. ii., c. 17.
CAROLINGIAN TIMES n
This secular and Germanic principle long retained the predominancy
it had triumphantly acquired. Otho the Second offered the papal chair
to the abbot of Cluny ; and Otho the Third bestowed it first on one of
his kinsmen, and then on his instructor Gerbert. All the factions which
threatened to deprive the emperor of this right were overthrown ; under
the patronage of Henry III., a German pope defeated three Roman candi-
dates for the tiara. In the year 1048, when the see of Rome became
vacant, ambassadors from the Romans, says a contemporaneous chronicler,
proceeded to Saxony, found the emperor there, and entreated him to give
them a new pope. He chose the Bishop of Toul, (afterwards Leo IX.),
of the house of Egisheim, from which he himself was descended on the
maternal side. What took place with regard to the head of the church
was of course still more certain to befall the rest of the clergy. Since
Otho the Great, in all the troubles of the early years of his reign, succeeded
in breaking down the resistance which the duchies were enabled by their
clan-like composition to offer him, the ecclesiastical appointments
remained without dispute in the hand of the emperor.
How magnificent was the position now occupied by the German nation,
represented in the persons of the mightiest princes of Europe and united
under their sceptre ; at the head of an advancing civilisation, and of the
whole of western Christendom ; in the fulness of youthful, aspiring strength !
We must here however remark and confess, that Germany did not
wholly understand her position, nor fulfil her mission. Above all, she did
not succeed in giving complete reality to the idea of a western empire,
such as appeared about to be established under Otho I. Independent
and often hostile, though Christian, powers arose through all the borders
of Germany ; in Hungary, and in Poland, in the northern as well as in
the southern possessions of the Normans ; England and France were
snatched again from German influence. Spain laughed at the German
claims to a universal supremacy ; her kings thought themselves emperors ;
even the enterprises nearest home those across the Elbe were for a
time stationary or retrograde.
If we seek for the causes of these unfavourable results, we need only
turn our eyes on the internal condition of the empire, where we find an
incessant and tempestuous struggle of all the forces of the nation. Un-
fortunately the establishment of a fixed rule of succession to the imperial
crown was continually prevented by events. The son and grandson of
Otho the Great died in the bloom of youth, and the nation was thus
compelled to elect a chief. The very first election threw Germany and
Italy into a universal ferment ; and this was shortly succeeded by a second
still more stormy, since it was necessary to resort to a new line the
Franconian. How was it possible to expect implicit obedience from the
powerful and refractory nobles, out of whose ranks, and by whose will,
the emperor was raised to the throne ? Was it likely that the Saxon
race, which had hitherto held the reins of government, would readily and
quietly submit to a foreign family ? It followed that two factions arose,
the one obedient, the other opposed, to the Franconian emperor, and
filled the empire with their strife. The severe character of Henry III.
excited universal discontent. 1 A vision, related to us by his own chan-
1 Hermannus Contractus ad an. 1053. " Regni tarn primores quam inferiores
magis magisque mussitantes, regem so ipso deteriorem fore causabantur."
12 INTRODUCTION
cellor, affords a lively picture of the state of things. He saw the emperor,
seated on his throne, draw his sword, exclaiming aloud, that he trusted
he should still avenge himself on all his enemies. How could the emperors,
thus occupied during their whole lives with intestine dissensions, place
themselves at the head of Europe in the important work of social improve-
ment, or really merit the title of supreme Lords of the West ?
It is remarkable that the social element on which they propped their
power was again principally the clergy. Even Otho the Great owed his
triumph over intestine revolt and discord, in great measure to the support
of the bishops ; for example, of his brother Bruno, whom he had created
Archbishop of Cologne, and who, in return, held Lotharingia in allegiance
to" him : it was only by the aid of the clergy that Otho conquered the
Pope. 1 The emperors found it expedient to govern by means of the
bishops ; to make them the instruments of their will. The bishops were
at once their chancellors and their counsellors ; the monasteries, imperial
farms. The uncontrollable tendency, at that time, of all power and
office to become hereditary would naturally render the heads of the
church desirous of combining secular rights, which they could dispose of
at pleasure, with their bishoprics. Hence it happened, that just at the
time when the subjection of the clergy to the imperial authority was the
most complete, their power acquired the greatest extension and solidity.
Otho I. already began to unite the temporal powers of the count with
the proper spiritual authority of the bishop. We see from the registers
of Henry II. that he bestowed on many churches two and three countships ;
on that of Gandersheim, the countship in seven Gauen or districts. As
early as the eleventh century the bishops of Wiirzburg succeeded in totally
supplanting the secular counts in their diocese, and in uniting the spiritual
and temporal power ; a state of things which the other bishops now strove
to emulate.
It is evident that the station of an emperor of Germany was no less
perilous than august. The magnates by whom he was surrounded, the
possessors of the secular power out of whose ranks he himself had arisen,
he could hold in check only by an unceasing struggle, and not without
force. He must find a prop in another quarter, and seek support from
the very body who were in principle opposed to him. This rendered it
impossible for him ever to attain to that predominant influence in the
general affairs of Europe which the imperial dignity would naturally
have given him. How strongly does this everlasting ebb and flow of
contending parties, this continual upstarting of refractory powers, con-
trast with the tranquillity and self-sufficiency of the empire swayed by
Charlemagne ! It required matchless vigour and fortitude in an emperor
even to hold his seat.
In this posture of affairs, the prince who possessed the requisite vigour
and fortitude, Henry III., died young (A.D. 1056), and a child, six years old,]
in whose name the government was carried on by a tottering regency,
filled his place : one of those incidents which turn the fortunes of a world.
1 Rescriptum patrum in concilio, in Liutprand, lib. vi., contains the remarkable
declaration : " Excommunicationem vestram parvipendemus, earn potius in
vos retorquebimus."
EMANCIPATION OF THE PAPACY 13
EMANCIPATION OF THE PAPACY.
THE ideas which had been repressed in the ninth century now began to
revive ; and with redoubled strength, since the clergy, from the highest
to the lowest, were become so much more powerful.
Generally speaking, this was the age in which the various modifications
of spiritual power throughout the world began to assume form and sta-
bility ; in which mankind found repose and satisfaction in these con-
ditions of existence. In the eleventh century Buddhaism was re-estab-
lished in Thibet ; and the hierarchy which, down to the present day,
prevails over so large a portion of Eastern Asia, was founded by the
Lama Dschu-Adhischa. The Califate of Bagdad, heretofore a vast empire,
then took the character of a spiritual authority, and was greatly indebted
to that change for the ready reception it met with. At the same period,
in Africa and Syria arose the Fatimite Califate, founded on a doctrine of
which its adherents said, that it was to the Koran what the kernel is to
its shell.
In the West the idea of the unity of the Christian faith was the pervading
one, and had taken strong hold on all minds (for the various conversions
which awakened this or that more susceptible nation to fresh enthusiasm
belong to a later period). This idea manifested itself in the general efforts
to crush Mahommedanism : inadequately represented by the imperial
authority, which commanded but a limited obedience, it now came in
powerful aid of the projects and efforts of the hierarchy. For to whom
could such an idea attach itself but to the bishop of the Roman Church,
to which, as to a common source, all other churches traced back their
foundation ; which all western Europeans regarded with a singular
reverence ? Hitherto the Bishop of Rome had been thrown into the
shade by the rise and development of the imperial power. But favouring
circumstances and the main course of events now united to impel the
papacy to claim universal and supreme dominion.
The minority of the infant emperor decided the result. At the court
of Rome, the man who most loudly proclaimed the necessity of reform
the great champion of the independent existence of the church the man
ordained by destiny to make his opinion the law of ages, Hildebrand, the
son of a carpenter in Tuscany, acquired supreme influence over all affairs.
He was the author and instigator of decrees, in virtue of which the papal
elections were no longer to depend on the emperor, but on the clergy of
the Church of Rome and the cardinals. He delayed not a moment to
put them in force; the very next election was conducted in accordance
with them.
In Germany, on the contrary, people were at this time entirely occupied
with the conflicts of the factions about the court ; the opposition which
was spread over Italy and Germany (and to which Hildebrand also be-
longed) at length got a firm footing in the court itself : the adherents of
the old Saxon and Salic principles, (for example, Chancellor Guibert) were
defeated ; the court actually sanctioned an election which had taken
place against its own most urgent interest ; the German rulers, plunged in
the dissensions of the moment, abandoned to his fate an anti-pope who
maintained himself with considerable success and who was the repre-
sentative of the ancient maxims.
I 4 INTRODUCTION
Affairs, however, changed their aspect when the youthful Salian, with
all his spirit and talents, took the reins of government into his own hand.
He knew his rights, and was determined to assert them at any price.
But things had gone so far that he fell into the most perilous situation at
the very outset of his career.
The accession to the throne of a young monarch, by nature despotic
and violent, and hurried along by vehement passions, quickly brought
the long-fermenting internal discords of Germany to an open breach. The
German nobles aspired after the sort of independence which th'ose of
France had just acquired. In the year 1073 the Saxon princes revolted ;
the whole of Saxony, says a contemporary, deserted the king like one man.
Meanwhile at Rome the leader of the hostile party had himself gained
possession of the tiara, and now advanced without delay to the great work
of emancipating not only the papacy but the clergy from the control of
the emperor. In the year 1074 he caused a law to be proclaimed by his
synod, the purpose and effect of which was to wrest the nomination to
spiritual offices from the laity ; that is, in the first place, from the emperor.
Scarcely was Henry IV. seated on his throne when he saw its best
prerogatives, the crown and consummation of his power, attacked and
threatened with annihilation. He seemed doomed to succumb without a
contest. The discord between the Saxons and Upper Germans, which
for a time had been of advantage to him, was allayed, and their swords,
yet wet with each other's blood, were turned in concert against the
emperor ; he was compelled to propitiate the pope who had excommuni-
cated him, to travel in the depth of winter to do that penance at Canossa
by which he so profoundly degraded the imperial name.
Yet from that very moment we may date his most strenuous resistance.
We should fall into a complete error were we to represent him to our-
selves as crossing the Alps in remorse and contrition, or as convinced of
the rightfulness of the claims advanced by the pope. His only object was
to wrest from his adversaries the support of the spiritual authority, the
pretext under which they threatened his highest dignity. As he did not
succeed in this, as the absolution he received from Gregory was not so
complete as to restrain the German princes from all further hostilities, 1
as, on the contrary, they elected another sovereign in spite of it, he
plunged into the most determined struggle against the assumptions of
his spiritual as well as of his temporal foes. Opposition and injury roused
the man within him. Across those Alps which he had traversed in peni-
tential lowliness, he hurried back burning with warlike ardour ; in Carinthia
an invincible band of devoted followers gathered around him. It is
interesting to follow him with our eye, subduing the spiritual power in
Bavaria, the hostile aristocratical clans in Swabia ; to see him next
marching upon Franconia and driving his rival before him ; then into
Thuringia and the Meissen colonies, and at length forcing him to a battle
on the banks of the Elster, in which he fell. Henry gained no great
victories ; even on the Elster he did not so much as keep the field ; but
he was continually advancing ; his party was continually gaining strength ;
he held the banner of the empire aloft with a steady and vigorous grasp.
1 Lambertus Schaffnaburgensis : (Pistor. L, p. 420.) " His conditionibus
absolutus est ut . . . . accusationibus responderet et ad papae sententiam vel
retineret regnum .... vel aequo animo amittcret."
EMANCIPATION OF THE PAPACY 15
After a few years he was able to return to Italy (A.D. 1081). The empire
had been so long and so intimately allied with the episcopal power that its
chief could not be without adherents among the higher clergy : synods
Avere held in the emperor's behalf, in which it was resolved to maintain
the old order of things. The excommunications of the pope were met by
counter-excommunications. Chancellor Guibert, who had suffered for
his adherence to Salic principles, was nominated pope under the auspices
of the emperor ; and after various alternations of success in war, was at
length conducted in triumph to Rome. Henry, like so many of his
predecessors, was crowned by a pope of his own creation. The second
rival king whom the Saxons opposed to him could gain no substantial
power, and held it expedient voluntarily to withdraw his pretensions.
We see that the emperor had attained to all that is attainable by war
and policy, yet his triumph was far from being as complete and conclusive
as we might thence infer ; for the result of a contest is not always decided
on a field of battle. The ideas of which Gregory was the champion were
intimately blended with the most powerful impulses of the general develop-
ment of society ; while he was a fugitive from Rome, they gained possession
of the world. No later than ten years after his death his second successor
was able to take the initiative in the general affairs of the West a power
which was conclusive as to results. One of the greatest social movements,
recorded in history the Crusades was mainly the result of his policy ;
and from that time he appeared as the natural head of the Romano-
Germanic sacerdotal and military community of the West. To such
weapons the emperor had nothing to oppose.
The life of Henry, from this time till its close, has something in it which
reminds us of the antique tragedy, in which the hero sirrks, in all the glory
of manhood and the fulness of his powers, under an inevitable doom.
For what can be more like an overwhelming fate than the power of opinion,
which extends its invisible grasp on every side, takes complete possession
of the minds of men, and suddenly appears in the field with a force beyond
all control ? Henry saw the world go over, before his eyes, from the
empire to the papacy. An army brought together by one of the blind
popular impulses which led to the crusades, drove out of Rome the pope
he had placed on the throne : nay, even in his own house he was encoun-
tered by hostile opinions. His elder son was infected with the zeal of
the bigots by whom he was incited to revolt against his father ; the
younger was swayed by the influence of the German aristocracy, and, by
a union of cunning and violence, compelled his own father to abdicate.
The aged warrior went broken-hearted to his grave.
I do not think it necessary to trace all the various alternations of the
conflict respecting the rights of the church.
Even in Rome it was sometimes deemed impossible to force the emperor
to renounce his claims. Pope Paschal at one time entertained the bold
idea of giving back all that the emperors had ever granted to the church,
in order to effect the radical separation of the latter from the state. 1
As this proved to be impracticable, the affairs of the church were again
1 Heinrici Encyclica de Controversia sua cum Papa. Monum., iv. 70. The
emperor asked, most justly, what was to become of the imperial authority, if
it were to lose the right of investiture after the emperors had transferred so large
a share of their privileges to the bishops.
1 6 INTRODUCTION
administered for a time by the imperial court under Henry V., as they had
been under Henry IV. 1
But this too was soon found to be intolerable ; new disputes arose, and
after long contention, both parties agreed to the concordat of Worms, 2
according to which the preponderant influence was yielded to the emperor
in Germany, and to the pope in Italy ; an agreement, however, which
was not expressed with precision, and which contained the germ of new
disputes.
But though these results were little calculated to determine the rights
of the contending powers, the advantages which gradually accrued to
the papacy from the course of events were incalculable. From a state
of total dependence, it had now attained to a no less complete emancipa-
tion ; or rather to a preponderance, not indeed as yet absolute, or denned,
but unquestionable, and every moment acquiring strength and con-
sistency from favouring circumstances.
RELATION OF THE PAPACY TO THE PRINCES OF THE EMPIRE.
THE most important assistance which the papacy received in this work
of self-emancipation and aggrandisement arose from the natural and
tacit league subsisting between it and the princes of the Germanic empire.
The secular aristocracy of Germany had, at one time, made the strongest
opposition, on behalf of their head, to the encroachments of the Church ;
they had erected the imperial throne, and had invested it with all its power :
but this power had at length become oppressive to them ; the supremacy
of the imperial government over the clergy, which was employed to keep
themselves in subjection, became their most intolerable grievance. It
followed that they at length beheld their own advantage in the emanci-
pation of the papacy.
It is to be observed that the power of the German princes and that of
the popes rose in parallel steps.
Under Henry III., and during the minority of his successor, both had
laid the foundation of their independence : they began their active career
together. Scarcely had Gregory VII. established the first principles
of his new system, when the princes also proclaimed theirs ; the principle,
that the empire should no longer be hereditary. Henry IV. maintained
his power chiefly by admitting in detail the claims which he denied in the
aggregate : his victories had as little effect in arresting the progress of
the independence of the great nobles as of the hierarchy. Even as early
as the reign of Henry V. these sentiments had gained such force that the
unity of the empire was regarded as residing rather in the collective body
of the princes than in the person of the emperor. For what else are we
to understand from the declaration of that prince that it was less dan-
gerous to insult the head of the empire than to give offence to the princes ? 3
1 Epistola Friderici Coloniensis archiepiscopi : Codex Vdalrici Babenbergensis,
n. 277. " Synodales episcoporum conventus, annua consilia, omnes denique
ecclesiastici ordinis administrationes in regalem curiam translata sunt."
' 2 The concordat of Worms settled the quarrel concerning investitures. The
Pope retained the rights of investing with the ring and crozier, but acknowledged
the freedom of election.
3 " Unius capitis licet summi dejectio reparabile dampnum est, principum autem
conculcatio ruina regni est." Fragmentum de Hoste facienda. Monum., iv. 63.
THE PAPACY AND THE PRINCES 17
an opinion which they themselves sometimes expressed. In Wurzburg
they agreed to adhere to their decrees, even if the king refused his assent
to them. They took into their own hands the arrangement of the disputes
with the pope which Henry found it impossible to terminate : they were
the real authors of the concordat of Worms.
In the succeeding collisions of the papacy with the empire everything
depended on the degree of support the emperor could, on each occasion,
calculate on receiving from the princes.
I shall not here attempt to give a complete view of the times of the
Guelphs and the Hohenstaufen ; it would not be possible, without entering
into a more elaborate examination of particulars than is consistent with
the object of this short survey : let us only direct our attention for a
moment to the grandest and most imposing figure with which that epoch
presents us Frederick I.
So long as Frederick I. stood well with his princes he might reasonably
entertain the project of reviving the prerogatives of the empire, such as
they were conceived and laid down by the emperors and jurists of ancient
Rome. He held himself entitled, like Justinian and Theodosius, to
summon ecclesiastical assemblies ; he reminded the popes that their
possessions were derived from the favour and bounty of the emperor,
and admonished them to attend to their ecclesiastical duties. A disputed
election furnished him with a favourable occasion of acquiring fresh
influence in the choice of a pope.
His position was, however, very different after the fresh rupture with his
powerful vassal, Henry the Lion. The claims of that prince to a little
town in the north of Germany, Goslar in the Harz, which the emperor
refused to admit, decided the affairs of Italy, and hence of the whole of
western Christendom. In consequence of this, the emperor was first
stripped of his wonted support ; he was beaten in the field ; and, lastly,
he was compelled to violate his oath, and to recognise the pope he had
rejected.
It is true that, having turned his arms against his rebellious vassal, he
succeeded in breaking up Henry's collective power : but this very success
again was advantageous to the princes of the second rank, by whose
assistance he obtained it, and whom, in return, he enriched with the spoils
of his rival ; while the advantage which the papacy thus gained was
never afterwards to be counter-balanced.
The meeting of Frederick I. and Alexander III. at Venice is, in my
opinion, far more important than the scene at Canossa. At Canossa, 1
a young and passionate prince sought only to hurry through the penance
enjoined upon him : at Venice, 2 it was a mature man who renounced
the ideas which he had earnestly and strenuously maintained for a quarter
of a century; he was compelled to acknowledge that his conduct towards
the church had been dictated rather by love of power than of justice. 3
1 At Canossa Henry IV. submitted to Gregory VII., 1077. Cf. Milman, Hist.
of Latin Christianity, Bk. vii., c. 2.
2 The Pacification of Venice. Reconciliation between Frederick I. and
Alexander III. Cf. Milman, Bk. viii., c. ix.
" Dum in facto ecclesiae potius virtutem potentiae quam rationem justitiae
volumus exercere, constat nos in errorem merito devenisse." Oratio Impera-
toris in Conventu Veneto. Monum., iv. 154.
2
1 8 INTRODUCTION
Canossa was the spot on which the combat began ; Venice beheld the
triumph of the church fully established.
For whatever might be the indirect share which the Germans had in
bringing about this result, both the glory and the chief profit of the victory
fell entirely to the share of the papacy. From this moment its domination
began.
This became apparent on the first important incident that occurred ;
viz., when, at the end of tlie twelfth century, a contest for the crown arose
in Germany.
The papacy, represented by one of the most able, ambitious, and daring
priests that ever lived, who regarded himself as the natural master of
the world Innocent III. did not hesitate an instant to claim the right
of deciding the question.
The German princes were not so blinded as not to understand what
this claim meant. They reminded Innocent that the empire, out of rever-
ence for the see of Rome, had waived the right which it incontestably
possessed to interfere in the election of the pope ; that it would be an
unheard-of return for this moderation, for the pope to assume an influence
over the election of the emperor, to which he had no right whatever.
Unfortunately, however, they were in a position in which they could take
no serious steps to prevent the encroachment they deprecated. They
must first have placed on the throne an emperor equally strong by nature
and by external circumstances, have rallied round him, and have fought
the papacy under his banners. For such a course they had neither the
inclination, nor, in the actual state of things, was it practicable. They
had no love for the papacy, for its own sake ; they hated the domination
of the clergy ; but they had not courage to brave it. Innocent's resolute
spirit was again victorious. In the struggle between the two rivals, the
one a Guelph, the other a Hohenstaufe, he at first supported the Guelph 1
because that family was well inclined to the church ; but when, after
the accession of this prince to power, and his appearance in Italy, he
manifested the usual antipathy of the empire to the papacy, Innocent
did not hesitate to set up a Hohenstaufe 2 in opposition to him. He
had contended against the Hohenstaufen with the resources of the Guelphic
party : he now attacked the Guelphs with those of the Hohenstaufen.
It was a struggle in which the agitations of the rest of Europe were mingled.
Events, both near and remote, took a turn so favourable, that Innocent's
candidate again remained master of the field.
From that time the papacy exercised a leading influence over all German
elections.
When, after the lapse of many years, Frederick II., (the Hohenstaufe
whom he had raised to power,) attempted in some particulars to restore
the independence of the empire, the pope thought himself justified in
again deposing him. Rome now openly avowed her claim to hold the
reins of secular as well as spiritual authority.
" We command you," writes Innocent IV. to the German princes in
1246, "since our beloved son, the Landgrave of Thuringia, is ready to
take upon himself the office of emperor, that you proceed to elect him
unanimously without delay." 3
1 The Guelph, i.e., Otto IV. 2 Frederick II., son of Henry VI.
13 Ex Actis Innocentii. Monum., iv. 361.
THE PAPACY AND THE PRINCES 19
He formally signifies his approbation of those who took part in the
election of William of Holland ; he admonishes the cities to be faithful
to the newly-elected emperor, that so they may merit the apostolical as
well as the royal favour.
In a very short time no trace of any other order of things remained in
Germany. Even at the ceremony of homage, Richard of Cornwall was
compelled to dispense with the allegiance of the cities, until it should
be seen whether or not the pope might choose to prefer another aspirant
to the throne.
After Richard's death Gregory X. called upon the German princes to
prepare for a new election : he threatened that if they delayed, he and
his cardinals would nominate an emperor. The election being terminated,
it was again the pope who induced the pretender, Alfonso of Castile, to
abandon his claim and to give up the insignia of the empire ; and who
caused the chosen candidate, Rudolph of Hapsburg, to be universally
acknowledged. 1
What trace of independence can a nation retain after submitting to
receive its head from the hands of a foreign power ? It is manifest that
the same influence which determines the elections, must be resistless
in every other department of the state.
The power of the princes of Germany had, it is true, been meanwhile on
the increase. In the thirteenth century, during the struggles between the
several pretenders to the throne, and between the papacy and the empire,
they had got possession of almost all the prerogatives of sovereignty ; they
likewise took the most provident measures to prevent the imperial power
from regaining its vast preponderance. At the end of the thirteenth and
the beginning of the fourteenth century the emperors were chosen almost
systematically out of different houses. Consciously or unconsciously,
the princes acted on the maxim, that when power began to be consolidated
in one quarter it must be counterbalanced by an increase of authority in
another ; as, for example, they curbed the already considerable power of
Bohemia by means of the house of Hapsburg, and this again, by those of
Nassau, Luxemburg, or Bavaria. None of these could attain to more
than transient superiority, and in consequence of this policy, no princely
race rose to independence : the spiritual princes, who conducted the
larger portion of the public business, were almost of more weight than
the temporal.
This state of things tended greatly to increase the power of the papacy,
on which the spiritual princes depended ; and to which the temporal
became very subordinate and submissive. In the thirteenth century
they even made the abject declaration that they were planted in Germany
by the church of Rome, and had been fostered and exalted by her favour. 2
The pope was, at least, as much indebted to the German princes as they
were to him ; but he took good care not to allude to his obligations, and
nobody ventured to remind him of them. His successive victories over
the empire had been gained by the assistance of many of the temporal
powers. He now possessed, uncontested, the supreme sovereignty of
Europe. Those plans of papal aggrandisement which were first avowed
1 Gerbert, Introductio ad Cod. Epist. Rudolfi, c. iv., n. 30.
a Tractatus cum Nicolao III. Papa, 1279. " Romana ecclesia Germaniam
decoravit plantans in ea principes tanquam arbores electas." Monum. iv., 42.
2 2
20 INTRODUCTION
in the ninth century, and afterwards revived in the eleventh, were, in
the thirteenth, crowned with complete success.
During that long period a state of things had been evolved, the outlines
of which may, I think, be traced in a few words.
The pretensions of the clergy to govern Europe according to their
hierarchical views pretensions which arose directly out of the ecclesi-
astical institutions of Charlemagne were encountered and resisted by
the united body of the German people, still thoroughly imbued with the
national ideas of ancient Germania. On this combined resistance the
imperial throne was founded. Unfortunately, however, it failed to acquire
perfect security and stability ; and the divisions which soon broke out
between the domineering chief and his refractory vassals, had the effect
of making both parties contribute to the aggrandisement of that spiritual
power which they had previously sought to depress. At first the emperors
beheld in a powerful clergy a means of holding their great vassals in check,
and endowed the church with liberal grants of lands and lordships ; but
afterwards, when ideas of emancipation began to prevail, not only in the
papacy but in all spiritual corporations, the temporal aristocracy thought
it not inexpedient that the emperor should be stripped of the resource
and assistance such a body afforded him : the enfeebling of the imperial
authority was of great advantage, not only to the church, but to them.
Thus it came to pass that the ecclesiastical element, strengthened by the
divisions of its opponents, at length obtained a decided preponderance.
Unquestionably the result was far different in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries from what it would have been in the ninth. The secular power
might be humbled, but could not be annihilated ; a purely hierarchical
government, such as might have been established at the earlier period,
was now no longer within the region of possibility. The national develop-
ment of Germany had been too deep and extensive to be stifled by the
ecclesiastical spirit ; while, on the other hand, the influence of ecclesi-
astical ideas and institutions unquestionably contributed largely to its
extension. The period in question displayed a fulness of life and intelli-
gence, an activity in every branch of human industry, a creative vigour,
which we can hardly imagine to have arisen under any other course of
events. Nevertheless, this was not a state which ought to satisfy a great
nation. There could be no true political freedom so long as the most
powerful impulse to all public activity emanated from a foreign head.
The domain of mind, too, was enclosed within rigid and narrow boundaries.
The immediate relation in which every intellectual being stands to the
Divine Intelligence was veiled from the people in deep and abiding
obscurity.
Those mighty developments of the human mind which extend over
whole generations, must, of necessity, be accomplished slowly ; nor is it
always easy to follow them in their progress.
Circumstances at length occurred which awakened in the German
nation a consciousness of the position for which nature designed it.
OPPOSITION TO THE PAPACY 21
FIRST ATTEMPTS AT RESISTANCE TO THE ENCROACHMENTS OF THE
PAPACY.
THE first important circumstance was, that the papacy, forgetting its
high vocation in the pleasures of Avignon, 1 displayed all the qualities of a
prodigal and rapacious court, centralising its power for the sake of imme-
diate profit.
Pope John XXII. enforced his pecuniary claims with the coarsest
avidity, and interfered in an unheard-of manner with the presentation to
German benefices : he took care to express himself in very ambiguous
terms as to the rights of the electoral princes ; while, on the contrary,
he seriously claimed the privilege of examining into the merits of the
emperor they had elected, and of rejecting him if he thought fit ; nay,
in case of a disputed election, such as then occurred, of administering the
government himself till the contest should be decided 2 : lastly, he actually
entered into negotiations, the object of which was to raise a French prince
to the imperial throne.
The German princes at length saw what they had to expect from such
a course of policy. On this occasion they rallied round their emperor, and
rendered him real and energetic assistance. In the year 1338 they unani-
mously came to the celebrated resolution, that whoever should be elected
by the majority of the prince-electors should be regarded as the true and
legitimate emperor. When Louis the Bavarian, wearied by the long con-
flict, wavered for a moment, they kept him firm ; they reproached him
at the imperial diet in 1334 with having shown a disposition to accede
to humiliating conditions. A change easily accounted for ; the pope
having now encroached, not only on the rights of the emperor, but on
the prescriptive rights of their own body on the rights of the whole
nation.
Nor were these sentiments confined to the princes. In the fourteenth
century a plebeian power had grown up in Germany, as in the rest of
Europe, by the side of the aristocratic families which had hitherto exercised
almost despotic power : not only were the cities summoned to the imperial
diets, but, in a great proportion of them, the guilds, or trades, had got
the municipal government into their own hands. These plebeians em-
braced the cause of their emperor with even more ardour than most of
the princes. The priests who asserted the power of the pope to excom-
municate the emperor were frequently driven out of the cities ; these
1 Cf. Creighton's Popes, vol. i., p. 31. From 1305-1370 the popes lived at
Avignon and were the creatures of the French king. " The Babylonish captivity,"
as it was called, was followed, on the death of Gregory XI. in 1378, by the Great
Schism.
2 " Attendentes quod imperil Romani regimen, cura et administratio (another
time he says, imperil Romani jurisdictio, regimen et administratio), tempore
quo illud vacare contingit, ad nos pertineat, sicut dignoscitur pertinere."
Liter CB Johannis in Rainaldus, 1319; and Olenschlager, Geschichte des Rom.-
Kaiserthums, 6-c., in der ersten Hdlfte des i^ten Jahrhunderts, p. 102. In the
year 1323 he declares that he has instituted a suit against Lewis the Bavarian ;
" super eo quod electione sua per quosdam qui vocem in electione hujusmodi habere
dicuntur, per sedem apostolicam, ad quam electionis hujusmodi et personae electae
examinatio, approbatio, admissio ac etiam reprobatio et repulsio noscitur per-
tinere, non admissa," &c. Olenschlager, Urk., n. 36.
22 INTRODUCTION
were then, in their turn, laid under excommunication ; but they never
would acknowledge its validity ; they refused to accept absolution when
it was offered them. 1
Thus it happened that in the present instance the pope could not carry
the election of his candidate, Charles of Luxemburg ; nobles and commons
adhered almost unanimously to Louis of Bavaria : nor was it till after
his death, and then only after repeated election and coronation, that
Charles IV. was gradually recognised.
Whatever he might previously have promised the pope, that sovereign
could not make concessions injurious to the interests of his princes : on
the contrary, he solemnly and firmly established the rights of the electors,
even to the long-disputed vicariate (at least in all German states). A
germ of resistance was thus formed.
This was fostered and developed by the disorders of the great schism,
and by the dispositions evinced by the general councils.
It was now, for the first time, evident that the actual church no longer
corresponded with the ideal that existed in men's minds. Nations assumed
the attitude of independent members of it ; popes were brought to trial
and deposed ; the aristocratico-republican spirit, which played so great
a part in the temporal states of Europe, extended even to the papacy (the
nature of which is so completely monarchical), and threatened to change
its form and character.
The ecclesiastical assembly of Basle entertained the project of estab-
lishing at once the freedom of nations and the authority of councils ; a
project hailed with peculiar approbation by Germany. Its decretals of
reformation were solemnly adopted by the assembly of the imperial diet : 2
the Germans determined to remain neutral during its controversies with
Eugenius IV. ; the immediate consequence of which was, that they were
for a time emancipated from the court of Rome. 3 By threatening to go
over to his adversary, they forced the pope, who had ventured to depose
two spiritual electors, to revoke the sentence of deposition.
Had this course been persevered in with union and constancy, the
German Catholic church, established in so many great principalities, and
splendidly provided with the most munificent endowments in the world,
would have acquired a perfectly independent position, in which she
might have resisted the subsequent polemical storms with as much firm-
ness as that of England.
Various circumstances conspired to prevent so desirable a result.
In the first place, it appears to me that the disputes between France
and Burgundy reacted on this matter. France was in favour of the ideas
of the council, which, indeed, she embodied in the pragmatic sanction ;
Burgundy was for the pope. Among the German princes, some were in
the most intimate alliance with the king, others with the duke.
The pope employed by far the most dexterous and able negotiator. If
we consider the character of the representative and organ of the German
1 e.g. Basel. Albertus Argentinensis in Urstisius, 142.
a Johannes de Segovia : Koch, Sanctio pragmatica, p. 256.
3 Declaration in Miiller, Reichstagstheater, unter Fred. III., p. 31. "In
sola ordinaria jurisdictione citra praefatorum tarn papae quam concilii supremam
auctoritatem ecclesiasticae politiae gubernacula per dioceses et territoria nostra
gubernabimus."
OPPOSITION TO THE PAPACY 23
opposition, Gregory of Heimburg, who thought himself secure of victory,
and, when sent to Rome, burst forth at the very foot of the Vatican into
a thousand execrations on the Curia ; -if we follow him there, as he
went about with neglected garb, bare neck, and uncovered head, bidding
defiance to the court, and then compare him with the polished and supple
yEneas Sylvius, full of profound quiet ambition and gifted with the happiest
talents for rising in the world ; the servant of so many masters, and the
dexterous confidant of them all ; we shall be at no loss to divine which
must be the successful party. Heimburg died a living death in exile,
and dependent on foreign bounty ; yneas Sylvius ended his career,
wearing the triple crown he had so ably served. At the very time we are
treating of, ^Eneas had found means to gain over some councillors, and
through them their sovereigns, and thus to secure their defection from
the great scheme of national emancipation. He relates this himself with
great satisfaction and self-complacency ; nor did he disdain to employ
bribery. 1
The main thing, however, was, that the head of the empire, King
Frederick III., adhered to the papal cause. The union of the princes,
which, while it served as a barrier against the encroachments of the
church, might have proved no less perilous to himself, was as hateful to
him as to the pope. .ZEneas Sylvius conducted the negotiation in a manner
no less agreeable to the interests and wishes of the emperor than to those
of the pope : the imperial coffers furnished him with the means of cor-
ruption.
Hence it happened that on this occasion also the nation failed to attain
its object.
At the first moment, indeed, the Basle decretals were accepted at Rome,
but under the condition that the Holy See should receive compensation
for its losses. This compensation, however, was not forthcoming ; and
Frederick III., who treated on the part of the empire, at length conceded
anew to Rome all her old privileges, which the nation had been endeavour-
ing to wrest from her.- It would have been impossible to carry such a
measure at the diet ; the expedient of obtaining the separate consent
of the princes to this agreement was therefore resorted to.
The old state of things was thus perpetuated. Ordinances which the
papal see had published in 1335, and which it had repeated in 1418, once
more formed, in the year 1448, the basis of the German concordat. It
is hardly necessary to say that the opposition was not crushed. It no
1 Historia Friderici III. ap. Kollar, Analecta, ii., p. 127.
2 In the second half of the foregoing century attention had been strongly
drawn to the assertion, that all the decrees of the council of Basle, which had not
been expressly altered by the concordat, acquired legal validity in virtue of the
same. Against this, Spittler has made the objection, that the brief runs thus :
" donee per legatum concordatum fuerit vel per legatum aliter fuerit ordinatum ;"
and, assuming that an "aliter " is wanting in the first part of the sentence, has
concluded that the whole of the decrees had only been suffered to hold good
'till the conclusion of the concordat. (Werke, viii., p. 473.) But in the relation
of ^neas Sylvius in Koch, Sanctio pragmatica, p. 323, the " aliter " missed by
Spittler stands expressly next to " concordatum ;" " usque quo cum legato
aliter fuerit concordatum." (Vide Koch, ii., 24.) The sense of these words
cannot therefore be doubted. For in no case can it be supposed that " aliter "
had been left out with any sinister design.
24 INTRODUCTION
longer appeared on the surface of events ; but deep below it, it only
struck root faster and acquired greater strength. The nation was exasper-
ated by a constant sense of wrong and injustice.
ALTERED CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE.
THE most remarkable fact now was, that the imperial throne was no longer
able to afford support and protection. The empire had assumed a position
analogous to that of the papacy, but extremely subordinate in power
and authority.
It is important to remark, that for more than a century after Charles IV.
had fixed his seat in Bohemia, no emperor appeared, endowed with the
vigour necessary to uphold and govern the empire. The bare fact that
Charles's successor, Wenceslas, was a prisoner in the hands of the
Bohemians, remained for a long time unknown in Germany : a simple
decree of the electors sufficed to dethrone him. Rupert the Palatine only
escaped a similar fate by death. When Sigismund of Luxemburg, (who
after many disputed elections, kept possession of the field,) four years
after his election, entered the territory of the empire of which he was to
be crowned sovereign, he found so little sympathy that he was for a
moment inclined to return to Hungary without accomplishing the object
of his journey. The active part he took in the affairs of Bohemia, and
of Europe generally, has given him a name ; but in and for the empire,
he did nothing worthy of note. Between the years 1422 and 1430 he
never made his appearance beyond Vienna; from the autumn of 1431
to that of 1433 he was occupied with his coronation journey to Rome ;
and during the three years from 1434 to his death he never got beyond
Bohemia and Moravia : l nor did Albert II., who has been the subject
of such lavish eulogy, ever visit the dominions of the empire. Frederick III.,
however, far outdid all his predecessors. During seven-and-twenty years,
from 1444 to 1471, he was never seen within the boundaries of the empire.
Hence it happened that the central action and the visible manifestation
of sovereignty, inasfar as any such existed in the empire, fell to the share
of the princes, and more especially of the prince-electors. In the reign
of Sigismund we find them convoking the diets, and leading the armies
into the field against the Hussites : the operations against the Bohemians
were attributed entirely to them. 2
In this manner the empire became, like the papacy, a power which
acted from a distance, and rested chiefly upon opinion. The throne,
founded on conquest and arms, had now a pacific character and a con-
servative tendency. Nothing is so transient as the notions which are
handed down with a name, or associated with a title ; and yet, especially
in times when unwritten law has so much force, the whole influence of rank
or station depends on the nature of these notions. Let us turn our atten-
tion for a moment to the ideas of Empire and Papacy entertained in the
fifteenth century.
1 The acts of his reign are dated from Ofen, Stuhlweissenburg, from Cronstadt
" in Transylvanian Wurzland," from the army before the castle of Taubenburg
in Sirfey (Servia). Haberlin, Reichsgeschichte, v. 429, 439.
2 Matthias Doring in Mencken, iii., p. 4. " Eodem anno principes electores
exercitum grandem habentes contra Bohemos se transtulerunt ad Bohemiam."
ALTERED CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE 25
The emperor was regarded, in the first place, as the supreme feudal
lord, who conferred on property its highest and most sacred sanction ;
as the supreme fountain of justice, from whom, as the expression was, all
the compulsory force of law emanated. It is very curious to observe
how the choice that had fallen upon him was announced to Frederick III.,
by no means the mightiest prince in the empire ; how immediately there-
upon the natural relations of things are reversed, and " his royal high
mightiness " promises confirmation in their rights and dignities to the
very men who had just raised him to the throne. 1 All hastened to obtain
his recognition of their privileges and possessions ; nor did the cities
perform their act of homage till that had taken place. Upon his supreme
guarantee rested that feeling of legitimacy, security and permanence,
which is necessary to all men, and more especially dear to Germans.
" Take away from us the rights of the emperor," says a law-book of that
time, " and who can say, this house is mine, this village belongs to me ? "
A remark of profound truth ; but it followed thence that the emperor
could not arbitrarily exercise rights of which he was deemed the source.
He might give them up ; but he himself must enforce them only within
the narrow limits prescribed by traditional usage, and by the superior
control of his subjects. Although he was regarded as the head and
source of all temporal jurisdiction, yet no tribunal found more doubtful
obedience than his own.
The fact that royalty existed in Germany had almost been suffered to
fall into oblivion ; even the title had been lost. Henry VII. thought it
an affront to be called King of Germany, and not, as he had a right to be
called before any ceremony of coronation, King of the Romans. 2 In the
fifteenth century the emperor was regarded pre-eminently as the successor
of the ancient Roman Caesars, whose rights and dignities had been trans-
ferred, first to the Greeks, and then to the Germans in the persons of
Charlemagne and Otho the Great ; as the true secular head of Christen-
dom. Emperor Sigismund commanded that his corpse should be exposed
to view for some days ; in order that everyone might see that " the Lord
of all the world was dead and departed." 3
" We have chosen your royal grace," say the electors to Frederick III
(A. D. 1440), " to be the head, protector, and governor of all Christendom."
They go on to express the hope that this choice may be profitable to the
Roman church, to the whole of Christendom, to the holy empire, and
the community of Christian people. 4 Even a foreign monarch, Wladislas
of Poland, extols the felicity of the newly-elected emperor, in that he was
about to receive the diadem of the monarchy of the world. 5 The opinion
was confidently entertained in Germany that the other sovereigns of
Christendom, especially those of England, Spain, and France, were legally
subject to the crown of the empire : the only controversy was, whether
1 Letter of the Frankfort Deputies, July 5, 1440. Frankfurter Arch.
2 Henrici VII. Bannitio Florentine, Pertz. iv. 520, " supprimentes (it is there
said) ipsius veri nominis (Regis Romanorum) dignitatem in ipsius opprobrium et
despectum."
3 Eberhard Windeck in Mencken, Scriptt. i. 1278.
4 Letter of the Prince-Electors, Feb. 2, 144o,;in Chmcl's Materialien zur Oestreich,
Gesch. No. ii., p. 70.
:> Litera; Vladislai ap. Kollar, Anal., ii., p. 830.
26 INTRODUCTION
their disobedience was venial, or ought to be regarded as sinful. 1 The
English endeavoured to show that from the time of the introduction of
Christianity they had never been subject to the empire. 2 The Germans,
on the contrary, not only did what the other nations of the West were
bound to do they not only acknowledged the holy empire, but they had
secured to themselves the faculty of giving it a head ; and the strange
notion was current that the electoral princes had succeeded to the rights
and dignities of the Roman senate and people. They themselves expressed
this opinion in the thirteenth century. " We," say they, " who occupy
the place of the Roman senate, who are the fathers and the lights of the
empire." 3 .... In the fifteenth century they repeated the same opinion. 4
" The Germans," says the author of a scheme for diminishing the burthens
of the empire, " who have possessed themselves of the dignities of the
Roman empire, and thence of the sovereignty over all lands." 5 ....
When the prince-electors proceeded to the vote, they swore that " accord-
ing to the best of their understanding, they would choose the temporal
head of all Christian people, i.e., a Roman king and future emperor."
Thereupon the elected sovereign was anointed and crowned by the Arch-
bishop of Cologne, who enjoyed that right on this side the Alps. Even
when seated on the coronation chair at Rheims, the King of France took
an oath of fealty to the Roman empire. 6
It is obvious in what a totally different relation the Germans stood to the
emperor, who was elevated to this high dignity from amidst themselves, and
by their own choice, from that of even the most puissant nobles of other
countries to their natural hereditary lord and master. The imperial dignity,
stripped of all direct executive power, had indeed no other significancy
than that which results from opinion. It gave to law and order their
living sanction ; to justice its highest authority ; to the sovereignties of
Germany their position in the world. It had properties which, for that
period, were indispensable and sacred. It had a manifest analogy with
the papacy, and was bound to it by the most intimate connection.
The main difference between the two powers was, that the papal enjoyed
1 Petrus de Andlo de Romano Imperio : an important book, not indeed with
reference to the actual state of Germany, but to the ideas of the time in which it
was written. It dates from between 1456, which year is expressly mentioned,
and 1459, in which year happened the death of Diedrich of Mainz, of whom it
speaks. The author says, ii. c. 8 : " Hodie plurimi reges plus de facto quam de jure
imperatorem in superiorem non recognoscunt et suprema juraimperii usurpant."
8 Cuthbert TunstaU to King Henry VIII., Feb. 12, 1517, in Ellis's Letters,
series i. vol. i., p. 136. " Your Grace is not nor never sithen the Christen faith
the kings of England wer subgiet to th'Empire, but the crown of England is an
Empire of hitself, mych bettyr than now the Empire of Rome : for which cause
your Grace werith a close crown."
3 Conradi IV. electio 1237 : Pertz, iv. 322.
4 P. de Andlo ii., iii. " Isti principes elec tores successerunt, in locum senatus
populique Romani."
5 Intelligentia Principum super Gravaminibus Nationis Germanicae. MS. at
Coblenz. See Appendix.
6 ./Eneas Sylvius (Historia Friderici III. in the Kollar's Anal. ii. 288.) tries to
make a distinction between the three crowns, and to assign them to the different
kingdoms ; but in this case we do not ask what is true, but what was commonly
thought. The opinions which he disputes are exactly those of importance in our
eyes ; namely, those generally entertained.
ALTERED CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE 27
that universal recognition of the Romano-Germanic world which the
imperial had not been able to obtain : but the holy Roman church and
the holy Roman empire were indissolubly united in idea ; and the Germans
thought they stood in a peculiarly intimate relation to the church as well
as to the empire. There is extant a treaty of alliance of the Rhenish
princes, the assigned object of which was to maintain their endowments,
dioceses, chapters, and principalities, in dignity and honour with the
holy Roman empire and the holy Roman church. The electors lay claim
to a peculiar privilege in ecclesiastical affairs. In the year 1424, and
again in 1446, they declare that the Almighty has appointed and authorised
them, that they should endeavour, together with the Roman king, the
princes, lords, knights, and cities of the empire, and with all faithful
Christian people, to abate all crimes that arise in the holy church and
Christian community, and in the holy empire. 1
Hence we see that the German people thought themselves bound in
allegiance to the papal, no less than to the imperial authority ; but as the
former had, in all the long struggles of successive ages, invariably come
off victorious, while the latter had so often succumbed, the pope exercised
a far stronger and more wide-spread influence, even in temporal things,
than the emperor. An act of arbitrary power, which no emperor could
ever have so much as contemplated the deposition of an electoral prince
of the empire was repeatedly attempted, and occasionally even accom-
plished, by the popes. They bestowed on Italian prelates bishoprics as
remote as that of Camin. By their annates, pallia, and all the manifold
dues exacted by the curia, they drew a far larger (Maximilian I. said, a
hundred times larger) revenue from the empire, than the emperor : their
vendors of indulgences incessantly traversed the several provinces of the
empire. Spiritual and temporal principalities and jurisdictions were so
closely interwoven as to afford them continual opportunities of interfering
in the civil affairs of Germany. The dispute between Cleves and Cologne 2
about Soest, that between Utrecht and East Friesland about Groningen,
and a vast number of others, were evoked by the pope before his tribunal.
In 1472 he confirmed a toll, levied in the electorate of Treves 3 : like the
emperor, he granted privilegia de non evocando.*
Gregory VII. 's comparison of the papacy to the sun and the empire to
the moon was now verified. The Germans regarded the papal power as
in every respect the higher. When, for example, the town of Basle founded
its high school, it was debated whether, after the receipt of the brief
containing the pope's approbation, the confirmation of the emperor was
still necessary ; and at length decided that it was not so, since the inferior
power could not confirm the decisions of the superior, and the papal see
was the well-head of Christendom. 5 The pretender to the Palatinate,
Frederick the Victorious, whose electoral rank the emperor refused to
acknowledge, held it sufficient to obtain the pope's sanction, and received
no further molestation in the exercise of his privileges as member of the
empire. The judge of the king's court having on some occasion pro-
1 Miiller Rtth. Fr. iii. 305. 2 Schiiren, Chronik von Cleve, p. 288.
3 Hontheim, Prodromus Historiae Trevirensis, p. 320.
4 The privilege of exemption from having causes evoked to the Court of the
Emperor granted to the Electors and to some princes.
5 Ochs, Geschichte von Basel, iv., p. 60.
28 INTRODUCTION
nounced the ban of the empire on the council of Lubeck, the council
obtained a cassation of this sentence from the pope. 1
It was assuredly to be expected that the emperor would feel the humili-
ation of his position, and would resist the pope as often and as strenuously
as possible.
However great was the devotion of the princes to the see of Rome,
they felt the oppressiveness of its pecuniary exactions ; and more than
once the spirit of the Basle decrees, or the recollections of the proceedings
at Constance, manifested themselves anew. We find draughts of a league
to prevent the constitution of Constance, according to which a council
should be held every ten years, from falling into utter desuetude. 2 After
the death of Nicholas V. the princes urged the emperor to seize the favour-
able moment for asserting the freedom of the nation, and at least to take
measures for the complete execution of the agreement entered into with
Eugenius ; but Frederick III. was deaf to their entreaties. ^Eneas Sylvius
persuaded him that it was necessary for him to keep well with the pope.
He brought forward a few common-places concerning the instability of
the multitude, and their natural hatred of their chief ; just as if the
princes of the empire were a sort of democracy : the emperor, said he,
stands in need of the pope, and the pope of the emperor ; it would be
ridiculous to offend the man from whom we want assistance. 3 He himself
was sent in 1456 to tender unconditional obedience to Pope Calixtus.
This immediately revived the old spirit of resistance. An outline was
drawn of a pragmatic sanction, in which not only all the charges against
the papal see were recapitulated in detail, and redress of grievances
proposed, but it was also determined what was to be done in case of a
refusal ; what appeal was to be made, and how the desired end was to
be attained. 4 But what result could be anticipated while the emperor,
far from taking part in this plan, did everything he could to thwart it ?
He sincerely regarded himself as the natural ally of the papacy.
The inevitable effect of this conduct on his part was, that the discontent
of the electors, already excited by the inactivity and the absence of the
emperor, occasionally burst out violently against him. As early as the
year 1456 they required him to repair on a given day to Niirnberg, for
that it was his office and duty to bear the burthen of the empire in an
honourable manner : if he did not appear, they would, at any rate, meet,
and do what was incumbent on them. 5 As he neither appeared then nor-
afterwards, in 1460 they sent him word that it was no longer consistent
with their dignity and honour to remain without a head. They repeated
their summons that he would appear on the Tuesday after Epiphany, and
accompanied it with still more vehement threats. They began seriously to
take measures for setting up a king of the Romans in opposition to him.
1 Sartorius, Gesch. des Hanse, ii.. p. 222.
2 e.g. Resolution of the spiritual Electors, &c. : Properly, a report upon the
means of restoring tranquillity to the empire, and upon the necessity of a council,
of about the year 1453, in the archives of Coblenz.
3 Gobellini Commentarii de Vita Pii, ii., p. 44.
4 ^nese Sylvii Apologia ad Martirmm, Mayer, p. 710 ; and the above-cited
Intelligentia.
5 Frankfurt, Sep. 10., 1456 ; a hitherto unknown and very remarkable docu-
ment. Frankf. Arch.
ALTERED CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE 29
From the fact that George Podiebrad, king of Bohemia, was the man
on whom they cast their eyes, it is evident that the opposition was directed
against both emperor and pope jointly. What must have been the con-
sequence of placing a Utraquist 1 at the head of the empire ? This increased
the zeal and activity of Pope Pius II. (whom we have hitherto known
as ^Eneas Sylvius), in consolidating the alliance of the see of Rome with
the emperor, who, on his side, was scarcely less deeply interested in it.
The independence of the prince-electors was odious to both. As one of
the claims of the emperor had always been, that no electoral diet should
be held without his consent, so Pius II., in like manner, now wanted to
bind Diether, Elector of Mainz, to summon no such assembly without
the approbation of the papal see. Diether's refusal to enter into any
such engagement was the main cause of their quarrel. Pius did not conceal
from the emperor that he thought his own power endangered by the
agitations which prevailed in the empire. It was chiefly owing to his
influence, and to the valour of Markgrave Albert Achilles of Brandenburg,
that they ended in nothing.
From this time we find the imperial and the papal powers, which had
come to a sense of their common interest and reciprocal utility, more
closely united than ever.
The diets of the empire were held under their joint authority ; they were
called royal and papal, papal and royal diets. In the reign of Frederick,
as formerly in that of Sigismund, we find the papal legates present at the
meetings of the empire, which were not opened till they appeared. The
spiritual princes took their seats on the right, the temporal on the left,
of the legates : it was not till a later period that the imperial commissioners
were introduced, and proposed measures in concert with the papal
functionaries.
It remains for us to inquire how far this very singular form of govern-
ment was fitted to satisfy the wants of the empire.
STATE OF GERMANY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
WE have seen what a mighty influence had, from the remotest times, been
exercised by the princes of Germany.
First, the imperial power and dignity had arisen out of their body,
and by their aid ; then, they had supported the emancipation of the
papacy, which involved their own : now, they stood opposed to both.
Although strongly attached to, and deeply imbued with, the ideas of
Empire and Papacy, they were resolved to repel the encroachments of
either : their power was already so independent, that the emperor and
the pope deemed it necessary to combine against them.
If we proceed to inquire who were these magnates, and upon what
their power rested, we shall find that the temporal hereditary sovereignty,
the germ of which had long existed in secret and grown unperceived,
shot up in full vigour in the fifteenth century ; and (if we may be allowed
to continue the metaphor), after it had long struck its roots deep into the
earth, it now began to rear its head into the free air, and to tower above
all the surrounding plants.
1 Utraquists, also called Calixtins. The moderate party among the Hussites,
\vho demanded the participation by the laity of the cup in the sacrament.
30 INTRODUCTION
All the puissant houses 1 which have since held sovereign sway date
their establishment from this epoch.
In the eastern part of north Germany appeared the race of Hohenzollern ;
and though the land its princes had to govern and to defend was in the last
stage of distraction and ruin, they acted with such sedate vigour and
cautious determination, that they soon succeeded in driving back their
neighbours within their ancient bounds, pacifying and restoring the
marches, and re-establishing the very peculiar bases of sovereign power
which already existed in the country.
Near this remarkable family arose that of Wettin, and, by the acquisi-
tion of the electorate of Saxony, soon attained to the highest rank among
the princes of the empire, and to the zenith of its power. It possessed the
most extensive and at the same time the most nourishing of German
principalities, as long as the brothers, Ernest and Albert, held their united
court at Dresden and shared the government ; and even when they separ-
ated, both lines remained sufficiently considerable to play a part in the
affairs of Germany, and indeed of Europe.
In the Palatinate we find Frederick the Victorious. It is necessary to
read the long list of castles, jurisdictions, and lands which he won from all
his neighbours, partly by conquest, partly by purchase or treaty, but which
his superiority in arms rendered emphatically his own, to form a con-
ception what a German prince could in that age achieve, and how widely
he could extend his sway.
The conquests of Hessen were of a more peaceful nature. By the
inheritance of Ziegenhain and Nidda, but more especially of Katzeneln-
bogen, a fertile, highly cultivated district, from which the old counts had
never suffered a village or a farm to be taken, whether by force or purchase,
it acquired an addition nearly equal to its original territory.
A similar spirit of extension and fusion was also at work in many other
places. Julich and Berg formed a junction. Bavaria-Landshut was
strengthened by its union with Ingolstadt ; in Bavaria-Munich, Albert
the Wise maintained the unity of the land under the most difficult cir-
cumstances ; not without violence, but, at least in this case, with bene-
ficial results. In Wurtemberg, too, a multitude of separate estates were
gradually incorporated into one district, and assumed the form of a German
principality.
New territorial powers also arose. In East Friesland a chieftain at
length appeared, before whom all the rest bowed ; Junker 2 Ulrich Cirksena,
who, by his own conquests, extended and consolidated the power founded
on those of his brother and his father. He also conciliated the adherents
of the old Fokko Uken, who were opposed to him, by a marriage with
Theta, the granddaughter of that chief. Hereupon he was solemnly
proclaimed count at Emden, in the year 1463. But it was to Theta, who
was left to rule the country alone during twenty-eight years, that the new
sovereignty chiefly owed its strength and stability. This illustrious woman,
whose pale, beautiful countenance, brilliant eyes and raven hair survive in
her portrait, was endowed with a vast understanding and a singular
capacity for governing, as all her conduct and actions prove.
1 See Table opposite.
2 Junker, literally, the younger son of a noble house, became the title of the
lesser aristocracy of Germany. It corresponds pretty nearly to squire in its
common English acceptation. TRANSL.
"THE PUISSANT HOUSES OF GERMANY."
I. HOUSE OF WETTIN IN SAXONY.
Frederick I., 1381-1428.
PROTKSTANT. CATHOLIC,
(Ernestine, Electoral Branch at Wit- (Albertine, at Meissen.)
tenburg.) Albert, 1485-1500.
Ernest, 1464-1486.
Duke George, 1500-1535.
Frederick the Wise, 1486-1525 (defends Henry (his brother, becomes a Pro-
Luther). I testant), 1529-1541.
John (his brother), 1525-1532.
Maurice, 1541-1553 (secures the Elec-
John Frederick, 1532-1554. torate).
II. HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN.
Younger Branches. Electoral Branch.
A. Albert of Prussia, Grand Master of Descended from Frederick I.,
the Teutonic Order, 1512-1568. 1417-1440.
Secularises his Duchy, 1525. Albert Achilles, 1470-1486.
B. Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of |
Culmbach, 1536-1557. John Cicero, 1486-1499.
C. John of Austria, Margrave of Neu- |
mark, brother of Joachim II., Joachim I., 1499-1535.
ob. 1571- |
Joachim II., 1535-1571. (Becomes a
Protestant in 1539, though he
never breaks with the Emperor. )
III. THE HOUSE OF WITTELSBACH.
i. Bavaria.
Albert II., 1460-1508.
William I., 1508-1550.
2. Palatinate.
Frederick the Victorious, 1451-1476.
Philip (his nephew), 1476-1508.
Lewis V., 1508-1544.
Frederick II. (his brother), 1544-1552.
(becomes a Protestant).
There were two other branches :
i. Ingoldstadt, united to Landshut, 1445.
ii. Landshut, which became extinct on the death of George the Rich, 1503.
IV. HOUSE OF GUELPH.
Duke Ernest I. of Luneburg, 1532- Duke Henry IV. of Wolfenbuttel,
1541. 1541-1568.
V. HOUSE OF CLEVES-JULICH.
William III. of Julichand Berg,
| ob. 1 5 1 1 .
Mary - = John III., Duke of Cleves, 1521-1539.
L
Anne William,
= Henry VIII. of 1539-1592.
England.
VI. HOUSE OF HESSE.
William II., 1500-1509.
Philip I., 1509-1567.
VII. HOUSE OF WiJRTEMBURG.
Ulrich L, 1503-1550, became a Protestant, 1534.
32 INTRODUCTION
Already had several German princes raised themselves to foreign
thrones. In the year 1448, Christian I., Count of Oldenburg, signed the
declaration or contract which made him king of Denmark : in 1450, he
was invested with the crown of St. Olaf, at Drontheim ; in 1457, the Swedes
acknowledged him as their sovereign ; in 1460, Holstein did homage to
him, and was raised on his account to the rank of a German duchy. These
acquisitions were not, it is true, of so stable and secure a character as they
at first appeared ; but, at all events, they conferred upon a German
princely house a completely new position both in Germany and in
Europe.
The rise of the princely power and sovereignty was, as we see, not the
mere result of the steady course of events ; the noiseless and progressive
development of political institutions ; it was brought about mainly by
adroit policy, successful war and the might of personal character.
Yet the secular princes by no means possessed absolute sovereignty ;
they were still involved in an incessant struggle with the other powers of
the empire.
These were, in the first place, the spiritual principalities (whose privileges
and internal organisation were the same as those of the secular, but whose
rank in the hierarchy of the empire was higher), in which nobles of the
high or even the inferior aristocracy composed the chapter and filled the
principal places. In the fifteenth century, indeed, the bishoprics began
to be commonly conferred on the younger sons of sovereign princes : the
court of Rome favoured this practice, from the conviction that the chapters
could only be kept in order by the strong hand and the authority of
sovereign power j 1 but it was neither universal, nor was the fundamental
principle of the spiritual principalities by any means abandoned in con-
sequence of its adoption.
There was also a numerous body of nobles who received their investi-
ture with the banner, like the princes, and had a right to sit in the same
tribunal with them ; nay, there were even families or clans, which, from
all time, claimed exemption from those general feudal relations that
formed the bond of the state, and held their lands in fee from God and his
blessed sun. They were overshadowed by the princely order ; but they
enjoyed perfect independence notwithstanding.
Next to this class came the powerful body of knights of the Empire,
whose castles crowned the hills on the Rhine, in Swabia and Franconia ;
they lived in haughty loneliness amidst the wildest scenes ; girt round by
an impregnable circle of deep fosses, and within walls four-and-twenty
feet thick, where they could set all authority at defiance : the bond of
fellowship among them was but the stricter for their isolation. Another
portion of the nobility, especially in the eastern and colonised princi-
palities in Pomerania and Mecklenburg, Meissen and the Marches, were,
however, brought into undisputed subjection ; though this, as we see in
the example of the Priegnitz, was not brought about without toil and
combat.
There was also a third class who constantly refused to acknowledge any
feudal lord. The Craichgauer and the Mortenauer would not acknow-
1 " Si episcopum potentem sortiantur, virgam correctionis timent." JEneas
Sylvius.
THE EMPIRE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 33
ledge the sovereignty of the Palatine, nor the Bolder and Lowen-rittcr, 1
that of Bavaria. We find that the Electors of Mainz and Treves, on
occasion of some decision by arbitration, feared that their nobles would
refuse to abide by it, and knew not what measure to resort to in this con-
tingency, except to rid themselves of these refractory vassals and with-
draw their protection from them. 2 It seems, in some cases, as if the relation
of subject and ruler had become nothing more than a sort of alliance.
Still more completely independent was the attitude assumed by the
cities. Opposed to all these different classes of nobles, which they re-
garded as but one body, they were founded on a totally different principle,
and had struggled into importance in the midst of incessant hostility. A
curious spectacle is afforded by this old enmity constantly pervading all
the provinces of Germany, yet in each one taking a different form. In
Prussia, the opposition of the cities gave rise to the great national league
against the supreme power, which was here in the hands of the Teutonic
Order. On the Wendish coasts was then the centre of the Hanse, by which
the Scandinavian kings, and still more the surrounding German princes,
were overpowered. The Duke of Pomerania himself was struck with
terror, when, on coming to succour Henry the Elder of Brunswick, he
perceived by what powerful and closely allied cities his friend was encom-
passed and enchained on every side. On the Rhine, we find an unceasing
struggle for municipal independence, which the chief cities of the ecclesias-
tical principalities claimed, and the Electors refused to grant. In Fran-
conia, Niirnberg set itself in opposition to the rising power of Brandenburg,
which it rivalled in successful schemes of aggrandisement. Then followed
in Swabia and the Upper Danube (the true arena of the struggles and the
leagues of imperial free cities), the same groups of knights, lords, prelates
and princes, who here approached most nearly to each other. Among the
Alps, the confederacy formed against Austria had already grown into a
regular constitutional government, and attained to almost complete inde-
pendence. On every side we find different relations, different claims and
disputes, different means of carrying on the conflict ; but on all, men felt
themselves surrounded by hostile passions which any moment might blow
into a flame, and held themselves ready for battle. It seemed not im-
possible that the municipal principle might eventually get the upper hand
in all these conflicts, and prove as destructive to the aristocratic, as that
had been to the imperial, power.
In this universal shock of efforts and powers, with a distant and feeble
chief, and inevitable divisions even among those naturally connected and
allied, a state of things arose which presents a somewhat chaotic aspect ;
it was the age of universal private warfare. The Fehde 3 is a middle term
1 In 1488 Albert IV., of Bavaria, imposed a tax instead of personal service.
The Order of Knights, having vainly protested against this, formed the association
called the Lion League (Lowenbund), and entered into alliance with the Swabian
League. The other associations were probably of a similar kind. TRANSL.
2 Jan. 12. 1458. Document in Hontheim, ii., p. 432. " So sail der von uns,
des undersaiss he ist, siner missig gain und ime queine schirm, zulegunge oder
handhabunge widder den anderen von uns doin." " Then shall that one of us,
whose vassal he is, abandon him and yield him no protection, support or defence
against the rest of us."
3 Some resemblance in sound probably led to the use of the word feud (feodum),
as the equivalent of Fehde (faida), a confusion which, however sanctioned by
3
34 INTRODUCTION
between duel and war. Every affront or injury led, after certain for-
malities, to the declaration, addressed to the offending party, that the
aggrieved party would be his foe, and that of his helpers and helpers' -
helpers. The imperial authorities felt themselves so little able to arrest
this torrent, that they endeavoured only to direct its course ; and, while
imposing limitations, or forbidding particular acts, they confirmed the
general permission of the established practice. 1
The right which the supreme, independent power had hitherto reserved
to itself, of resorting to arms when no means of conciliation remained, had
descended in Germany to the inferior classes, and was claimed by nobles
and cities against each other ; by subjects against their lords, nay, by
private persons, as far as their means and connections permitted, against
each other.
In the middle of the fifteenth century this universal tempest of con-
tending powers was arrested by a conflict of a higher and more important
nature the opposition of the princes to the emperor and the pope ; and
it remained to be decided from whose hands the world could hope for any
restoration to order.
Two princes appeared on the stage, each of them the hero of his nation,
each at the head of a numerous party ; each possessed of personal qualities
strikingly characteristic of the epoch Frederick of the Palatinate, and
Albert of Brandenburg. They took opposite courses. Frederick the
Victorious, distinguished rather for address and agility of body than for
size and strength, owed his fame and his success to the forethought and
caution with which he prepared his battles and sieges. In time of peace
he busied himself with the study of antiquity, or the mysteries of alchemy ;
poets and minstrels found ready access to him, as in the spring-time of
poetry ; he lived under the same roof with his friend and songstress,
Clara Dettin of Augsburg, whose sweetness and sense not only captivated
custom, I have thought it better to avoid. Eichhorn (Deutsche Staats und
Rechtsgeschichte, vol. L, p. 441) says : " In case of robbery, murder, &c., the
injured party, or his heirs, was not bound to pursue the injurer at law ; but
private help or self-revenge (Privathiilfe und Selbstrache) Fehde (faida), was
lawful ; and the Befehdete (faidosus) could only escape this by paying the ap-
pointed fine." For the earliest mention of this fine, he refers to Tacitus (Germ.
21). It is remarkable too that the authority from which he quotes these terms
is, the laws of Friesland, a country where, as is well known, feudalism never
existed. And indeed the parties by whom diffidations (Fehdebriefe) were often
sent, were obviously subject to no feudal relations. Although we appear to have
lost the English cognate of the Anglo-Saxon Fcehthe (capitalis inimicitia), it is
found in the Scotch feid, fede, feyde (see Gawin Douglas, Jamieson's Diet., &c.),
and in most of the Teutonic languages. TRANSL.
1 e.g. the " Reformation " of Frederick III. of 1442 orders, " dass nymand dem
andern Schaden tun oder zufiigen soil, er habe ihn derm zuvor zu landlaufigen
Rechten erf order t." " that none should do, or cause to be done, injury to
another, unless he have previously challenged him, according to the customary
laws of the land." The clause of the golden bull, de Diffidationibus, is then
repeated.*
* The clause is as follows : " Eos qui de cetero adversus aliquos justam diffi-
dationis causam se habere fingentes, ipsos in locis, ubi domicilia non obtinent
aut ea communiter non inhabitant, intempestive difndant ; declaramus dainna
per incendia, spolia, vel rapinas, diffidatis ipsis, cum honore suo inferre non posse. "
Bulla Aurea. cap. xvii. TRANS.
THE EMPIRE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 35
the prince, but were the charm and delight of all around him. He had
expressly renounced the comforts of equal marriage and legitimate heirs ;
all that he accomplished or acquired was for the advantage of his nephew
Philip.
The towering and athletic frame of Markgrave Albert of Brandenburg
(surnamed Achilles), on the contrary, announced, at the first glance, his
gigantic strength: he had been victor in countless tournaments, and
stories of his courage and warlike prowess, bordering on the fabulous,
were current among the people ; how, for example, at some siege he had
mounted the walls alone, and leaped down into the midst of the terrified
garrison ; how, hurried on by a slight success over an advanced party of
the enemy, he had rushed almost unattended into their main body of 800
horsemen, had forced his way up to their standard, snatched it from its
bearer, and after a momentary feeling of the desperateness of his position,
rallied his courage and defended it, till his people could come up and com-
plete the victory. /Eneas Sylvius declares that the Markgrave himself
assured him of the fact. 1 His letters breathe a passion for war. Even
after a defeat he had experienced, he relates to his friends with evident
pleasure, how long he and four others held out on the field of battle ; how
he then cut his way through with great labour and severe fighting, and how
he was determined to re-appear as soon as possible in the field. In time
of peace he busied himself with the affairs of the empire, in which he took
a more lively and efficient part than the emperor himself. We find him
sharing in all the proceedings of the diets ; or holding a magnificent and
hospitable court in his Franconian territories ; or directing his attention
to his possessions in the Mark, which were governed by his son with all
the vigilance dictated by the awe of a grave and austere father. Albert
is the worthy progenitor of the warlike house of Brandenburg. He be-
queathed to it not only wise maxims, but, what is of more value, a great
example.
About the year 1461 these two princes embraced, as we have said,
different parties. Frederick, who as yet possessed no distinctly recognised
power, and in all things obeyed his personal impulses, put himself at the
head of the opposition. Albert, who always followed the trodden path of
existing relations, undertook the defence of the emperor and the pope : 2
1 Historia Friderici III., in the part first published by Kollar, Anal., ii., p. 166.
' 2 In the collection of imperial documents in the Frankfurt Archives, vol. v.,
there is a very remarkable report by Johannes Brun of an audience which he
had of Albrecht Achilles in Oct. 1461. He had to entreat him for a remission of
the succours demanded. Markgrave Albrecht would not grant this : " Auch
erzalte er, was Furnemen gen unssen gn. Herrn den Keyser gewest ware und wy
ein Gedenken nach dem Ryche sy, auch der Kunig von Behemen ganz Meynung
habe zu Mittensommer fur Francfort zu sin und das Rych zu erobern, und
darnach wie u. g. H. der Keiser yne, sine Schweher von Baden und Wirtenberg
angerufen und yne des Ryches Banyer bevolhen habe, iiber Herzog Ludwig, um
der Geschicht willen mit dem Bischof von Eystett, den von Werde und Din-
kelsbol und umb die Pene, darin er deshalben verf alien sy ; in den Dingen
er uf niemant gebeitet oder gesehen, sondern zu Stund mit den sinen und des
von Wirtenberg mit des Rychs Banyer zu Feld gelegen und unsern Herrn den
Keyser gelediget und die Last uf sich genommen, darin angesehen sine Pflicht,
und was er habe das er das vom Ryche habe, und meyne Lip und Gut von u. H.
dem Keiser nit zu scheiden." " He also recounted what manner of enterprise
32
36 INTRODUCTION
fortune wavered for a time between them. But at last the Jorsika, as
George Podiebrad was called, abandoned his daring plans. Diether of
Isenburg was succeeded by his antagonist, Adolf of Nassau ; and Frederick
the Palatine consented to give up his prisoners : victory leaned, in the
main, to the side of Brandenburg. The ancient authorities of the Empire
and the Church were once more upheld.
These authorities, too, now seemed seriously bent on introducing a better
order of things. By the aid of the victorious party, the emperor found
himself, for the first time, in a position to exercise a certain influence in
the empire ; Pope Paul II. wished to fit out an expedition against the
Turks : with united strength they proceeded to the work at the diet of
Niirnberg (A.D. 1466.). 1
It was an assembly which distinctly betrayed the state of parties under
which it had been convoked. Frederick the Palatine appeared neither in
person nor by deputy ; the ambassadors of Podiebrad, who had fallen into
fresh disputes with the papal see, were not admitted : nevertheless, the
resolutions passed there were of great importance. It was determined
for the next five years to regard every breach of the Public Peace 2 as a
there had been against our gracious lord the emperor, and how there was a
design upon the empire ; also how the king of Bohemia had the full intention
of being at Frankfort at midsummer, and of getting possession of the empire ;
and how, thereupon, our gracious lord the emperor had summoned him, his
brothers-in-law of Baden and Wurtemberg, and committed the banner of the
empire to him rather than to Duke Ludwig, by reason of the affair with the
bishop of Eystett, those of Werde and Dinkelsbol, and of the punishment he had
incurred on that account : in these things he had tarried or looked for no one,
but forthwith taken the field with his men and those of him of Wurtemberg, with
the banner of the empire, and relieved our lord the emperor and taken the burthen
upon himself, and had therein beheld his duty : and that what he had, he had
from the empire, and had no thought of separating his life and lands from the
cause of the emperor." As to the prayer of the cities, he says : " wywol yme
das Geld nutzer ware und er mer schicken wolle mit den die er in den Sold gewonne
denn mit den die in von den Stadten zugeschicket werden, ye doch so stehe es
ime nit zu und habe nit Macht eynich Geld zu nehmen und des Reisers Gebote
abzustellen." " Although money was needful to him, and he should spend
more with troops he took into his pay than with those the cities should send him,
still it would not become him, and he had not power anyhow to take money and
to set aside the emperor's command." Dispositions such as befit a prince of
the empire. It were much to be wished there were someone capable of giving
a more, full and accurate account of the life and deeds of this remarkable prince.
1 Proceedings at the papal and imperial diet held at Niirnberg on account of
the Turkish campaign, in the 4th vol. of the Frankfort Acts of the Diet of the
Empire, as published by Schilter and Miiller, with some small variations.
2 Landfriede Peace of the land. The expression, public peace, which, in
deference to numerous and high authorities I have generally used in the text, is
liable to important objections. A breach of the public peace means, in England,
any open disorder or outrage. But the Landfriede (Pax publica) was a special
act or provision directed against the abuse of an ancient and established institu-
tion, the Fehderecht (jus diffidationis, or right of private warfare). The attempts
to restrain this abuse were, for a long time, local and temporary ; as for example,
in the year 1382, Markgrave Sigismund of Brandenburg, ^,nd some of the neigh-
bouring princes concluded a Landfriede for six years. In such cases tribunals
called Peace Courts (Friedensgerichte), for trying offences against the Landfriede,
were instituted and expired together with the peace. The first energetic measure
THE EMPIRE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 37
crime against the majesty of the empire, and to punish it with the ban. It
was found that the spiritual tribunals must come in aid of the temporal
sword ; and accordingly the pope denounced the heaviest spiritual penalties
against violators of the Public Peace. The emperor formally adopted
these resolutions at an assembly at Neustadt, in the year 1467, and for
the first time revoked the articles of the Golden Bull and the Reformation
of 1442, in which private wars were, under certain conditions, permitted. 1
A peace was proclaimed, " enjoined by our most gracious lord the king of
the Romans, and confirmed by our holy father the pope," as the electors
express themselves.
Some time afterwards at Regensburg, in the year 1471 the allied
powers ventured on a second yet more important step, for the furtherance
of the war against the Turks, which they declared themselves at length
about to undertake : they attempted to impose a sort of property tax on
the whole empire, called the Common Penny, 2 and actually obtained an
edict in its favour. They named in concert the officers charged with the
collection of it in the archiepiscopal and episcopal sees ; and the papal
legate threatened the refractory with the sum of all spiritual punishments,
exclusion from the community of the church. 3
These measures undoubtedly embraced what was most immediately
necessary to the internal and external interests of the empire. But how
was it possible to imagine that they would be executed ? The combined
powers were by no means strong enough to carry through such extensive
and radical innovations. The diets had not been attended by nearly
sufficient numbers, and people did not hold themselves bound by the reso-
lutions of a party. The opposition to the emperor and the pope had not
of the general government to put down private wars was that of the diet of
Niirnberg (1466).
Peace of the realm, internal or domestic peace (as distinguished from foreign
or international), would come nearer to the meaning of Landfriede. It is suffi-
cient, however, if the reader bears in mind that it is opposed not to chance
disorder or tumult, but to a mode of voiding differences recognised by the law,
and limited by certain forms and conditions ; as, e.g. that a Befehdete (faidosus)
could not be attacked and killed in church or in his own house. See Eichhorn,
Deutsche Staats-und-Rechtsgeschichte, vol. ii., p. 453. TRANSL.
1 The constitution of the i8th August, 1467, in Miiller Rtth., ii. 293. The
provisions for the maintenance of peace contained in those laws were not to be
annulled, "dann allain in den Artickel der gulden Bull, der do inhellt von Wider-
sagen, und in den ersten Artickel der Reformation, der da inhellt von Angreifen
und Beschedigen ; dieselben Artickel sollen die obgemeldten funf Jar ruhen,
auf dass zu Vehde Krieg und Aufrur Anlass vermitten und der Fride Stracks
gehalten werde." " Then alone in the article of the Golden Bull, concerning
challenges, and the first article of the Reformation, concerning assaults and
damages : these articles shall remain unaltered the above-mentioned five years,
that all occasion of challenge, war, and disorder be avoided, and peace be
thoroughly maintained." Unluckily the worthy Miiller read Milbenstadt for
Neuenstadt in this important passage, a mistake which has found its way into
a number of the histories of the empire.
2 Das gemeine Pfennig, I have not been able to find in any French or English
writer the literal translation of this name given to the first attempt at general
taxation in the empire but I have retained it as characteristic of the age, and
of the nature of the tax. TRANSL.
3 The Duke of Cleves was named executor for Bremen, Miinster, and Utrecht ;
Duke Ludwig of Bavaria, for Regensburg and Passau.
38 INTRODUCTION
attained its object, but it still subsisted : Frederick the Victorious still
lived, and had now an influence over the very cities which had formerly
opposed him. The collection of the Common Penny was, in a short
time, not even talked of ; it was treated as a project of Paul II., to whom
it was not deemed expedient to grant such extensive powers.
The proclamation of the Public Peace had also produced little or no
effect. After some time the cities declared that it had occasioned them
more annoyance and damage than they had endured before. 1 It was
contrary to their wishes that, in the year 1474, it was renewed with all
its actual provisions. The private wars went on as before. Soon after-
wards one of the most powerful imperial cities, Regensburg, the very place
where the Public Peace was proclaimed, fell into the hands of the Bavarians.
The combined powers gradually lost all their consideration. In the year
1479 the propositions of the emperor and the pope were rejected in a mass
by the estates of the empire, and were answered with a number of com-
plaints.
And yet never could stringent measures be more imperiously demanded.
I shall not go into an elaborate description of the evils attendant on the
right of diffidation or private warfare (Fehderecht) : they were probably not
so great as is commonly imagined. Even in the century we are treating
of, there were Italians to whom the situation of Germany appeared happy
and secure in comparison with that of their own country, where, in all
parts, one faction drove out another. 2 It was only the level country and
the high roads which were exposed to robbery and devastation. But even
so, the state of things was disgraceful and insupportable to a great nation.
It exhibited the strongest contrast to the ideas of law and of religion upon
which the Empire was so peculiarly founded.
One consequence of it, was, that as every man was exclusively occupied
with the care of his own security and defence, or could at best not extend
his view beyond the horizon immediately surrounding him, no one had
any attention to bestow on the common weal ; not only were no more
great enterprises achieved, but even the frontiers were hardly defended.
In the East, the old conflict between the Germans and the Lettish and
Slavonian tribes was decided in favour of the latter. As the King of Poland
found allies in Prussia itself, he obtained an easy victory over the Order, 3
and compelled the knights to conclude the peace of Thorn (A.D. 1466),
1 " Dass die erbb. Stadte und die jren in Zeitten sollichs gemainen Friden und
wider des Inhalt und Mainung mer Ungemachs Beschadigung verderblicher
Rest Schaden und Unfrid an jren Leuten Leiben und Guten gelitten, dann sy
vorher in vil Jaren und Zeytten je empfangen." " That the hereditary cities
and their people, in times of such common peace, and contrary to the intent and
meaning, had suffered under more inconvenience, damage, cost, mischief, and
disturbance, to the persons and possessions of their inhabitants, than had been
undergone before during many years and seasons." Proceedings at Regensburg,
1474. Frankfurter A A., vol. viii.
2 ^Eneas Sylvius, Dialogi de Autoritate Concilii, introduces in the second
of these dialogues a Novanese, who calls out to the Germans : " Bona vestra
vere vestra sunt : pace omnes fruimini et libertate in communi, magisque ad
naturam quam ad opinionem vivitis. Fugi ego illos Italiae turbines." Kollar,
Anal., ii. 704.
3 For a history of this Teutonic Order cf. Lodge, The Close of the Middle
Ages (Rivington), p. 454, or the excellent article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
THE EMPIRE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 39
by which the greater part of the territories of the Order were ceded to him,
and the rest were held of him in fee. Neither emperor nor empire stirred
to avert this incalculable loss. In the West, the idea of obtaining the Rhine
as a boundary first awoke in the minds of the French, and the attacks of
the Dauphin and the Armagnacs were only foiled by local resistance.
But what the one line of the house of Valois failed in, the other, that of
Burgundy, accomplished with brilliant success. As the wars between
France and England were gradually terminated, and nothing more was
to be gained in that field, this house, with all its ambition and all its good
fortune, threw itself on the territory of Lower Germany. In direct de-
fiance of the imperial authority, it took possession of Brabant and Holland ;
then Philip the Good took Luxemburg, placed his natural son in Utrecht,
and his nephew on the episcopal throne of Liege ; after which an unfortu-
nate quarrel between father and son gave Charles the Bold an opportunity
to seize upon Guelders. A power was formed such as had not arisen
since the time of the great duchies, and the interests and tendencies of
which were naturally opposed to those of the empire. This state the
restless Charles resolved to extend, on the one side, towards Friesland, on
the other, along the Upper Rhine. When at length he fell upon the
archbishopric of Cologne and besieged Neuss, some opposition was made
to him, but not in consequence of any concerted scheme or regular arma-
ment, but of a sudden levy in the presence of imminent danger. The
favourable moment for driving him back within his own frontiers had been
neglected. Shortly after, on his attacking Lotharingia, Alsatia, and
Switzerland, those countries were left to defend themselves. Meanwhile,
Italy had in fact completely emancipated herself. If the emperor desired
to be crowned there, he must go unarmed like a mere traveller ; his ideal
power could only be manifested in acts of grace and favour. The King of
Bohemia, who also possessed the two Lusatias and Silesia, and an exten-
sive feudal dominion within the empire, insisted loudly on his rights, and
would hear nothing of the corresponding obligations.
The life of the nation must have been already extinct, had it not, even
in the midst of all these calamities, and with the prospect of further
imminent peril before it, taken measures to establish its internal order and
to restore its external power ; objects, however, not to be attained with-
out a revolution in both its spiritual and temporal affairs.
The tendency to development and progress in Europe is sometimes more
active and powerful in one direction, sometimes in another. At this
moment temporal interests were most prominent; and these, therefore,
must first claim our attention.
BOOK I.
ATTEMPT TO REFORM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE
14861517
SIMILAR disorders, arising from kindred sources and an analogous train
of events, existed in all the other nations of Europe. It may be said, that
the offspring and products of the middle ages were engaged in a universal
conflict which seemed likely to end in their common destruction.
The ideas upon which human society is based are but partially and im-
perfectly imbued with the divine and eternal Essence from which they
emanate ; for a time they are beneficent and vivifying, and new creations
spring up under their breath. But on earth nothing attains to a pure and
perfect existence, and therefore nothing is immortal. When the times
are accomplished, higher aspirations and more enlightened schemes spring
up out of the tottering remains of former institutions, which they utterly
overthrow and efface ; for so has God ordered the world.
If the disorders in question were universal, the efforts to put an end to
them were not less so. Powers called into life by the necessity of a change,
or growing up spontaneously, arose out of the general confusion, and with
vigorous and unbidden hand imposed order on the chaos.
This is the great event of the fifteenth century. The names of the
energetic princes of that time, whose task it was first to awaken the nations
of Europe to a consciousness of their own existence and importance, are
known to all. In France we find Charles VII. and Louis XI. The land
was at length delivered from the enemy who had so long held divided sway
in it, and was united under the standard of the Lilies ; the monarchy was
founded on a military and financial basis ; crafty, calculating policy
came in aid of the practical straightforward sense which attained its ends,
because it aimed only at what was necessary ; all the daring and insolent
powers that had bid defiance to the supreme authority were subdued or
overthrown : the new order of things had already attained to sufficient
strength to endure a long and stormy minority.
Henry VII. of England, without attempting to destroy the ancient
liberties of the nation, laid the foundation of the power of the Tudors on
the ruins of the two factions of the aristocracy, with a resolution nothing
could shake and a vigour nothing could resist. The Norman times were
over ; modern England began. At the same time Isabella of Castile
reduced her refractory vassals to submission, by her union with a power-
ful neighbour, by the share she had acquired in the spiritual power, and
by the natural ascendancy of her own grand and womanly character, in
which austere domestic virtue and a high chivalrous spirit were so singu-
larly blended. She succeeded in completely driving out the Moors and
pacifying the Peninsula. Even in Italy, some stronger governments
were consolidated ; five considerable states were formed, united by a free
alliance, and for a while capable of counteracting all foreign influence. At
the same time Poland, doubly strong through her union with Lithuania,
climbed to the highest pinnacle of power she ever possessed ; while in
Hungary, a native king maintained the honour and the unity of his nation
at the head of the powerful army he had assembled under his banner.
However various were the resources and the circumstances by which it
40
BOOK I.] FOUNDATION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION 41
was surrounded, Monarchy the central power was everywhere strong
enough to put down the resisting independencies ; to exclude foreign
influence ; to rally the people around its standard, by appealing to the
national spirit under whose guidance it acted ; and thus to give them a
feeling of unity.
In Germany, however, this was not possible. The two powers which
might have effected the most were so far carried along by the general
tendency of the age, that they endeavoured to introduce some degree of
order ; we have seen with what small success. At the very time in which
all the monarchies of Europe consolidated themselves, the emperor was
driven out of his hereditary states, and wandered about the other parts
of the empire as a fugitive. 1 He was dependent for his daily repast on the
bounty "of convents, or of the burghers of the imperial cities ; his other
wants were supplied from the slender revenues of his chancery : he might
sometimes be seen travelling along the roads of his own dominions in a
carriage drawn by oxen ; never and this he himself felt was the majesty
of the empire dragged about in meaner form : the possessor of a power
which, according to the received idea, ruled the world, was become an object
of contemptuous pity.
If anything was to be done in Germany, it must be by other means,
upon other principles, with other objects, than any that had hitherto been
contemplated or employed. <
FOUNDATION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION. 2
IT is obvious at the first glance, that no attempt at reform could be suc-
cessful which did not originate with the States themselves. Since they
had taken up so strong a position against the two co-ordinate higher
powers, they were bound to show how far that position was likely to prove
beneficial to the public interests.
It was greatly in their favour that the emperor had sunk into so deplor-
able a situation.
Not that it was their intention to make use of this to his entire overthrow
or destruction ; on the contrary, they were determined not to allow him to
fall. What for centuries only one emperor had accomplished, and he, in
the fulness of his power and by dispensing extraordinary favours (viz. to
secure the succession to his son), Frederick III. achieved in the moment of
the deepest humiliation and weakness. The prince-electors met in the year
1486, to choose his son Maximilian king of the Romans. In this measure,
Albert Achilles of Brandenburg, took the most prominent and active part.
Notwithstanding his advanced age, he came once more in person to Frank-
furt : he caused himself to be carried into the electoral chapel on a litter,
whence, at the close of the proceedings, he presented the sceptre ; he was
in the act of performing his high function as archchamberlain of the empire,
when he expired. It could not escape the electors, that the claims of the
house of Austria to the support of the empire were greatly strengthened
1 See Unrest, Chronicon Austriacum ; Hahn. 660-688. Kurz, Oestreich
nnter Friedrich III., vol. ii.
2 For an outline of the Germanic Constitution cf. Cambridge Modern History,
vol. i., p. 288. Johnson, Europe in the Sixteenth Century, p. 106. Wolf, Deutsche
Geschichte im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation, p. 1-113 (more fully).
4 2 FOUNDATION OP [BOOK 1.
by this event. Maximilian, the son-in-law of Charles the Bold, who had
undertaken to uphold the rights of the house of Burgundy in the Nether-
lands, encountered there difficulties and misfortunes not much inferior to
those which beset his father in Austria, and must, on no account, be
abandoned. His election could hardly be regarded as fully accomplished,
until the countries which had hitherto maintained a hostile attitude were
subjected to him, and thus restored to the empire. It was precisely by
determining to send succours in both directions, that the states acquired
a two-fold right to discuss internal affairs according to their own judg-
ment. They had rendered fresh services to the reigning house, which
could not defend its hereditary possessions without their aid, and their
voices must now be heard.
At this moment, too, a coolness arose between the emperor and the
pope. There was a large party in Europe which had always regarded the
rise of the Austrian power with dislike, and was now greatly offended at
the election of Maximilian to the Roman throne. To this party, in con|
sequence of the turn Italian affairs had taken, Pope Innocent VII. belonged.
He refused the emperor aid against the Hungarians, and even against the
Turks. The imperial ambassador found him, as Frederick complained to
the diet, " very awkward to deal with " (gar ungeschickt), 1 and could do
nothing with him. There was also a difference with the pope about the
nomination to the see of Passau, as well as about a newly-imposed tithe.
In short, the intervention of the Rqrnan see was, for a moment, sus-
pended. For the first time, during a long period, we find numerous
assemblies of German princes without the presence of a papal legate.
Under these circumstances the deliberations of the States were opened
with a better prospect of useful results.
It was evidently not necessary to begin from the beginning ; all the
elements of a great commonwealth were at hand. The diets had long
been regarded as the focus of legislation and of the general government :
peace (Landfriede) had been proclaimed throughout the realm ; an im-
perial court of justice existed ; as long ago as the Hussite war a census had
been taken with a view to the general defence of the empire. Nothing
remained but to give to these institutions that steady and pervading
action which they had hitherto entirely wanted.
To this effect deliberations were incessantly held from the year 1486 to
1489. Ideas embracing the whole land of the German people, and directed
to the restoration of its unity and strength, were in active circulation. In
order to obtain a more complete and accurate conception of the several
important points, we will consider them, not in their historical connection
either with each other or with contemporaneous events, but each
separately.
The first was the Public Peace, which had again been broken on every
side, and now, proclaimed anew in 1486, had been rendered clear by some
more precise provisions annexed in 1487 ; yet it differed little from those
which had gone before it. The execution of it was now, as heretofore,
left to the tumultuous levy of the neighbourhood within a circle of from
si;c to ten miles (German) ; nay, the declaration of 1487 expressly declares
that a party in whose favour sentence had been pronounced might use
1 Miiller, Rtth. unter Friedrich III. v. 122.
BOOK I.] A NEW CONSTITUTION 43
force to secure its execution. 1 The only difference was that the co-opera-
tion of the pope was no longer invited. There was no further mention of
sending papal conservators with peculiar powers of executing justice, in
order to the maintenance of the Public Peace. This, however, rendered
it doubtful whether the clergy, to whom the pope and the church were
much more proximate and formidable than the emperor and the state,
would choose to regard themselves as bound by the peace. No othei
means could be found to obviate this evil than that the emperor should
declare, as the bishops had done in regard to their own nobility, that he
would put the disobedient out of the favour and protection of the law, and
would not defend them from any aggression or injury.
We see what a state of violence, insubordination, and mutual inde-
pendence still prevailed, and even manifested itself in the laws ; and how
necessary it was to establish internal regulations, by the firmness and
energy of which arbitrary power might be held in check, and the encroach-
ments of an authority which, at the very first meeting of the estates, was
regarded as foreign, might be repelled.
The most essential point was to give to the imperial diets more regular
forms and greater dignity ; and especially to put an end to the resistance
offered to their edicts by the cities.
The cities, which were so often hostilely treated by the other estates,
and which had interests of so peculiar a nature to defend, held themselves
from the earliest period studiously aloof. During the Hussite war they
were even permitted to send into the field a separate municipal army
under a captain of their own appointment. 2 In the year 1460 they de-
clined going to council with the princes, or uniting in a common answer
to the emperor's proposals. 3 In the year 1474 the deputies refused to
approve the Public Peace concluded by the emperor and princes, and
obstinately persisted that they would say nothing to it till they had con-
sulted their friends. 4 In 1486 the princes having granted some subsidies
1 Miiller, Rtth. Fr. VI., 115. " Wo aber der, der gewaltige Tate furneme und
iibe, das thete uf behapte Urtheil, so solt dariiber nyemant dem Bekriegten das
mahl Hilf zuzuschicken schuldig seyn." " When, however, anyone, under-
taking and exercising acts of violence, does so upon judgment received in
his favour, then shall no one be bound to send help thereupon to him who is
attacked."
2 In the year 1431. Datt de Pace Publica, 167.
3 Protocol in Miiller, i., p. 782 : with this addition, however, ." Sie wolten
solch friindlich Fiirbringen ihren Frunden beriimen." " They would commend
so friendly a proposition to their friends."
4 The answer given by them in Miiller, ii., p. 626, is vague and obscure. In
the Frankfurt Archives (vol. viii.) it runs thus : " Als die des Friedens nothurftig
und begerlich sind, setzen sy (die Stadte) in kein Zweifel, E. K. M. (werde)
gnediglich darob und daran seyn, dass der vestiglich gehandhabt und gehalten
werde : dazu sy aber irenthalb zvi reden nit bedacht sind, auch kein Befel haben,
unterteniglich bittend, das S. K. M. das also in Gnaden und Guten von in versten
und sy als ir allergnedigster Herr bedenken wolle." " As they have need, and
are desirous of peace, they (the cities) make no doubt, your Imperial Majesty
will graciously strive to bring about that it be firmly maintained and kept ; but
beyond this they have no thought of speaking on their own behalf, nor have
any command so to do, submissively entreating, that his Imperial Majesty will
therefore take this in good and gracious understanding from them, and think
of them like their most gracious master." It is evident that their acceptance
44 FOUNDATION OF [BOOK I.
to the emperor to which the cities were called upon to contribute, they
resisted, and the more strenuously, since they had not even been sum-
moned to the meeting at which the grant was made. Frederick replied
that this had not been done, because they would have done nothing with-
out sending home for instructions.
It was evident that this state of things could not be maintained. The
imperial cities justly deemed it an intolerable grievance that they should
be taxed according to an arbitrary assessment, and a contribution de-
manded of them as if it were a debt ; on the other hand, it was just as
little to be endured that they should obstruct every definite decision, and
send home to consult their constituents on every individual grant.
So powerful was the influence of the prevailing spirit of the times, that,
in the year 1487, the cities came to a resolution to abandon the course
they had hitherto pursued.
The emperor had summoned only a small number of them to the diet
of this year ; they determined, however, this time to send the whole body
of their deputies, and not to require them to send home for instructions.
The Emperor Frederick received them at the castle at Niirnberg, sitting on
his bed, " of a feeble countenance," as they express themselves, 1 and
caused it to be said to them that he was glad to see them, and would
graciously acknowledge their coming. The princes, too, were well satisfied
therewith, and allowed the cities to take part in their deliberations. Com-
mittees were formed a practice that afterwards became the prevailing
one in which the cities too were included. The first which sat to deliber-
ate on the Public Peace consisted of six electors, ten princes, and three
burghers. From the second, to consider the measures to be adopted
against the Hungarians, the cities were at first excluded, but afterwards
were summoned at the express desire of the emperor. Our reporter,
Dr. Paradies of Frankfurt, was one of the members of this committee.
Nor was the share taken by the burgher delegates barren of substantial
results ; of the general grant of 100,000 gulden, nearly the entire half,
(49,390 gulden) was at first assessed to them : they struck off about a
fifth from this estimate, and reduced it to 40,000 gulden, which they
apportioned to each city at their own discretion.
At the next diet, in 1489, the forms of general deliberation were settled.
For the first time, the three colleges, electors, princes, and burghers,
separated as soon as a measure was proposed ; each party retired to its
own room, the answer was drawn up by the electoral college, and then
presented for acceptance to the others. Thenceforth this continued to
be the regular practice. At this juncture there was a possibility of the
constitution of the empire assuming a form like that which arose out of
similar institutions in other countries, viz. that the commons, who regarded
themselves (in Germany as elsewhere) as the emperor's lieges (Leute),
as in an especial manner his subjects, might have made common cause
with him against the aristocracy, and have formed a third estate, or
is only very general, and that they would not suffer the more essential resolutions
to be pressed upon them ; the emperor at last concedes the point relating to the
instructions.
1 Dr. Ludwig zum Paradies of Frankfurt, Monday after Judica, April 2, 1487.
With this diet of the empire begin the detailed reports of the Frankfurt deputies.
The earlier ones were more fragmentary. Its. A., vol. xii.
BOOK I.] A NEW CONSTITUTION 45
Commons' House. Sigismund was very fond of joining his complaints of
the princely power with theirs ; he reminded them that the empire had
nothing left but them, since everything else had fallen into the hands of
the princes ; he liked particularly to treat with them, and invited them to
come to him with all their grievances. 1 But the imperial power was far
too weak to foster these sympathies to any practical maturity, or to give
a precise and consistent form to their union ; it was incapable of affording
to the cities that protection which would have excited or justified a volun-
tary adherence to the head of the empire on their part. The German
Estates generally assumed a very different form from all others. Else-
where the lords spiritual and temporal used to meet separately : in Ger-
many, on the contrary, the electors, who united the spiritual and temporal
power in their own persons, had so thoroughly defined a position, such
distinct common privileges, that it was not possible to divide them. Hence
it happened that the princes formed a single college of spiritual and tem-
poral members : the committees were generally composed of an equal
number of each. The cities in Germany were not opposed, but allied to
the magnates. These two estates together formed a compact corporation,
against which no emperor could carry any measure, and which represented
the aggregate power of the empire.
In the consciousness of their own strength and of the necessity of the
case, they now made a proposal to the emperor, which, however moderate
in its tone, opened the widest prospect of a radical change in the consti-
tution.
It was obvious that if order and tranquillity were really restored, and
all were compelled to acknowledge him as the supreme fountain of justice,
the emperor would necessarily acquire an immense accession of power.
This the estates were little inclined to concede to him ; the less, since
justice was so arbitrarily administered in his tribunal, which was there-
fore extremely discredited throughout the empire. As early as the year
1467, at the moment of the first serious proclamation of the Public Peace,
a proposal was made to the emperor to establish a supreme tribunal of a
new kind for the enforcement of it, to which the several estates should
nominate twenty-four inferior judges 2 from all parts of Germany, and the
emperor only one as president. 3 To this Frederick paid no attention : he
appointed his tribunal after, as he had before, alone ; caused it to follow
his court, and even decided some causes in person ; revoked judgments
that had been pronounced, and determined the amount of costs and fees at
his pleasure. He of course excited universal discontent by these pro-
ceedings ; people saw clearly that if anything was to be done for the
empire, the first step must be to establish a better administration of
1 See Sigismund's Speech to the Friends of the Council at Frankfurt. Printed
by Aschbach, Geschichte Kaiser Sigmunds, i. 453. He there says, he will discuss
with them " was ir Brest (Gebrechen) sy," " what may be their wants."
2 The passage, as Harpprecht, Archiv. i. par. 109. gives it, is quite unintelligible,
for instead of urtailsprecher (utterer of a sentence), urthel sprechen (to pronounce
sentence) is printed, just as if the states themselves were to sit in judgment. It
is more exact and connected in Konig von Konigsthal, ii. p. 13.
3 The words in the text are Urtheiler and Richter. As Urtheil is judgment
or decision, and Recht, law or right, these titles seem to imply some analogy with
the offices of the English jury and judge. TRANSL.
46 FOUNDATION OF [BooK I.
justice. The subsidies which they granted the emperor in the year 1486
were saddled with a condition to that effect. The estates were not so
anxious to appoint the j udges of the court, as to secure to it first a certain
degree of independence ; they were even willing to grant the judge and his
assessors a right of co-optation for the offices becoming vacant. The
main thing, however, was, that the judge should have the faculty of sen-
tencing the breakers of the Public Peace to the punishment upon which
the penal force of the law for the preservation of that peace the punish-
ment of the ban mainly rested, as well as the emperor himself ; and also
that it should rest with him to take the necessary measures for its execu-
tion. So intolerable was the personal interference of the emperor esteemed,
that people thought they should have gained everything if they could
secure themselves from this evil. They then intended in some degree to
limit the power of the tribunal, by referring it to the statutes of the par-
ticular part of the empire in which the particular case arose, and by having
a fixed tax for the costs and fees. 1
But the aged emperor had no mind to renounce one jot of his traditional
power. He replied, that he should reserve to himself the right of pro-
claiming the ban, " in like manner as that had been done of old " (immaas-
sen das vor Alters gewesen). The appointment of assessors also must in
future take place only with his knowledge and consent. Local statutes
and customs should only be recognised by the court in as far as they were
consistent with the imperial written law, i.e. the Roman (a curious proof
how much the Idea of the Empire contributed to the introduction of the
Roman law) : with regard to taxing the costs and fees, he would be
unrestrained, as other princes were, in their courts of justice and chan-
ceries. 2 He regarded the supreme tribunal of the realm in the light of a
patrimonial court. It was in vain that the electors observed to him
that a reform of the supreme court was the condition attached to their
grants ; in vain they actually stopped their payments, and proposed
other and more moderate conditions : the aged monarch was inflexible.
Frederick III. had accustomed himself in the course of a long life to
regard the affairs of the world with perfect serenity of mind. His contempo-
raries have painted him to us ; one while weighing precious stones in a
goldsmith's scales ; another, with a celestial globe in his hand, discoursing
with learned men on the positions of the stars. He loved to mix metals,
compound healing drugs, and in important crises, predicted the future
himself from the aspects of the constellations : he read a man's destiny in
his features or in the lines of his hand. He was a believer in the hidden
powers that govern nature and fortune. In his youth his Portuguese
wife, with the violent temper and the habitual opinions of a native of
the South, urged him in terms of bitter scorn to take vengeance for some
injury : he only answered, that everything was rewarded, and punished,
and avenged in time. 3 Complaints of the abuses in his courts of justice
made little impression on him : he said " things did not go quite right or
smooth anywhere." On one occasion representations were made to
him by the princes of the empire, against the influence which he allowed
1 Essay on an Ordinance of the Imperial Chamber ; Miiller, vi. 29.
2 Moruta Caesareanorum ; Miiller, vi. 69.
3 Griinbeck, Historia Friderici et Maximiliani in Chmel, Oestreichischer
Geschichtsforscher, i., p. 69,
BOOK I.] A NEW CONSTITUTION 47
his councillor Priischenk to exercise : he replied, " every one of them had
his own Priischenk at home." In all the perplexities of affairs he evinced
the same calmness and equanimity. In 1449, when the cities and princes,
on the eve of war, refused to accept him as a mediator, he was content :
he said he would wait till they had burnt each other's houses and destroyed
each other's crops ; then they would come to him of their own accord,
and beg him to bring about a reconciliation between them ; which shortly
after happened. The violences and cruelties which his hereditary
dominions of Austria suffered from King Matthias did not even excite his
pity : he said they deserved it ; they would not obey him, and therefore
they must have a stork as king, like the frogs in the fable. In his own
affairs he was more like an observer than a a party interested ; in all
events he saw the rule by which they are governed, the universal, in-
flexible principle which, after short interruptions, invariably recovers its
empire. From his youth he had been inured to trouble and adversity.
When compelled to yield, he never gave up a point, and always gained the
mastery in the end. The maintenance of his prerogatives was the govern-
ing principle of all his actions ; the more, because they acquired an ideal
value from their connection with the imperial dignity. It cost him a
long and severe struggle to allow his son to be crowned king of the Romans ;
he wished to take the supreme authority undivided with him to the grave :
in no case would he grant Maximilian any independent share in the ad-
ministration of government, but kept him, even after he was king, still as
" son of the house ;" 1 nor would he ever give him anything but the count-
ship of Cilli : " for the rest, he would have time enough." His frugality
bordered on avarice, his slowness on inertness, his stubbornness on the
most determined selfishness : yet all these faults are rescued from vul-
garity by high qualities. He had at bottom a sober depth of judgment,
a sedate and inflexible honour ; the aged prince, even when a fugitive
imploring succour, had a personal bearing which never allowed the majesty
of the empire to sink. All his pleasures were characteristic. Once, when
he was in Nurnberg, he had all the children in the city, even the infants
who could but just walk, brought to him in the city ditches ; he feasted
his eyes on the rising generation, the heirs of the future ; then he ordered
cakes to be brought and distributed, that the children might remember
their old master, whom they had seen, as long as they lived. Occasionally
he gave the princes his friends a feast in his castle. In proportion to his
usual extreme frugality was now the magnificence of the entertainment :
he kept his guests with him till late in the night (always his most vivacious
time), when even his wonted taciturnity ceased, and he began to relate
the history of his past life, interspersed with strange incidents, decent
jests and wise saws. He looked like a patriarch among the princes, who
were all much younger than himself.
The Estates saw clearly that with this sort of character, with this
resolute inflexible being, nothing was to be gained by negotiation or
stipulation. If they wished to carry their point they must turn to the
young king, who had indeed no power as yet, but who must shortly
succeed to it. On his way from the Netherlands, whence he was hastening
to rescue Austria from the Hungarians, for which end he had the most
1 Letter from Maximilian to Albert of Saxony, 1492, in the Dresden Archives.
48 FOUNDATION OF [Boox I.
urgent need of the assistance of the empire, they laid their requests before
him and made a compliance with these the conditions of their succours.
Maximilian, reared in the constant sight of the troubles and calamities
into which his father had fallen, had, as often happens, adopted contrary
maxims of conduct ; he looked only to the consequences of the moment :
he had all the buoyant confidence of youth ; nor did he think the safety
of the empire involved in a tenacious adherence to certain privileges.
His first appearance in public life was at the diet at Niirnberg, in 1439,
where he requited the support granted him by the empire with ready
concessions as to the administration of justice. He could indeed only
promise to use every means to induce his father to have the Imperial
Chamber (Kammergericht) established as soon as possible on the plan
proposed. In this, as was to be expected, he did not succeed ; but he
was at all events morally bound to fulfil the expectations he had raised :
it was a first step, though the consequences of it lay at a distance. This
promise was registered in the recess 1 of the diet. 2
This was the most important point of the administration of the empire.
All internal order depended on the supreme court of justice. It was of
the highest moment that it should be shielded from the arbitrary will of
the emperor, and that a considerable share in the constitution of it should
be given to the States.
Maximilian too now received the succours he required for the restoration
of the Austrian power. While one of the bravest of German princes,
Albert of Saxony, called the Right Arm of the empire, gradually, to use
his own expression, " brought the rebellious Netherlands to peace," 3
Maximilian himself hastened to his ancestral domains. Shortly before,
the aged Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol had allowed himself to be per-
suaded to give the emperor's daughter, who had been confided to him,
in marriage to Duke Albert of Bavaria-Munich ; and had held out to that
prince the hope that he would leave him Tyrol and the Vorlande as an
inheritance. But the sight of Maximilian awakened in the kindhearted
and childless old man a natural tenderness for the manly and blooming
scion of his own race ; he now dwelt with joy on the thought that this
was the rightful heir to the country, and instantly determined to bequeath
it to him. At this moment King Matthias of Hungary, who was still in
possession of Austria, died. The land breathed again, when the rightful
young prince appeared in the field surrounded by the forces of the empire
and by his own mercenaries ; drove the Hungarians before him, delivered
Vienna from their hands, and pursued them over their own borders. We
find this event recorded, even in the journals of private persons, as the
happiest of their lives 4 : a district that had been mortgaged raised the
mortgage money itself, that it might belong once more to its ancient
lords.
Such was the vast influence of the good understanding between Maxi-
1 " Recess," cf. translator's note, Preface to vol. i.
2 Miiller, vi., p. 171. A register of this imperial diet in the Frankfurt Archives,
vol. xiii.
3 From a letter of Albrecht to his son, in Langenn, Duke Albert, p. 205.
4 Diarium Joannis Tichtelii, in Rauch, Scriptt. Rer. Austriacarum, ii. 559.
He writes the name of Maximilian four times, one after the other, as if unable to
write it often enough for his own satisfaction.
BOOK I.J A NEW CONSTITUTION 49
milian and the States of the empire, on the rc-cstablishmeiit of the power
of Austria. It had, at the same time, another great effect in conducing
to the conciliation of one of the most eminent of the princes, and to the
consolidation of all internal affairs.
The Dukes of Bavaria, in spite of the family alliance into which they
had been forced with the emperor by the marriage above mentioned,
adhered to the opponents of Austria the Roman see, and King Matthias. 1
They would hear nothing of furnishing aids to the emperor against the
king ; they refused to attend the diets, or to accept their edicts : on
the contrary, they made encroachments on the domains of their neigh-
bours, enlarged the jurisdiction of their own courts of justice, and threat-
ened neighbouring imperial cities for example, Memmingen and Bibrach.
Regensburg had already fallen into the possession of Duke Albert of
Munich.' 2
Immediately after the renewal of the Public Peace, in the year 1487,
it became evident that there was no chance of its being observed if these
partial and turbulent proceedings were not put an end to.
This was the immediate and pressing cause of the Swabian league, 3
concluded in February 1488, by the mediation of the emperor, 4 and some
of the more powerful princes. The order of knights, who the year before
had renewed their old company of St. George's shield, quickly joined the
league, as did also the cities. They mutually promised to oppose a
common resistance to all strangers who sought to impose foreign (i.e. not
Swabian) laws upon them, or otherwise to injure or offend them. But
in order to secure themselves from disputes or disorders among themselves,
and at the same time to observe the Public Peace for this general object
was, from the very first, included among the more particular ones, and
gave the whole union a legitimate character, they determined to settle
their mutual differences by the decision of arbitrators, and appointed a
1 In Lent, 1482, Albert and George determined, " with their several states,
that, without the countenance of the holy father, help should not be given to
King Matthias against the emperor." " Mit ihr beder Landschaft dass man
ohne Gunst des h. Vaters dem Kaiser wider Konig Matthias nit helfen sollte."
Anonymous contemporary Chronicle in Freiberg's Collection of Historical Papers
and Documents, i. 159. All these circumstances deserved a closer examination.
For the modern relations and political system of these states did not begin so
late as is believed. From Hagek, Bohmischer Chronik, p. 828, it appears that
the Bohemians would not put up with their exclusion from the election of Max-
imilian. They entered into a league with Matthias, drawing Poland into it also.
(Pelzel. Geschichte von Bohmen, i. 494.) The deputies of Matthias tried to set
the Italian princes in motion. (Philippus Bergomas, Supplementum Chroni-
corum.) France likewise belonged to this party. The reason why Bavaria
joined it is evident. The eyes of her dukes were always turned either towards
Lombardy or the Netherlands. Freiberg : Geschichte der Baierischen Land-
stande, i. 655.
2 Pfister, Geschichte von Schwaben, v., p. 272.
3 A league of cities, princes, and knights, founded 1488, primarily with the
object of maintaining order in Swabia.
4 In his very first address the emperor declares the object of the league to be,
that the states, " bei dem heiligen Reiche und ihren Freiheiten bleiben," " should
remain in adherence to the holy empire, and in possession of their liberties."
Datt, de Pace Pub., 272. Who could believe that for the history of this most
important of all early leagues we have still to refer chiefly to Datt ?
4
50 FOUNDATION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION [BOOK I.
council of the league, composed of an equal number of members chosen
from each body. In a very short time the league was joined by neigh-
bouring princes, especially Wiirtenberg and Brandenburg, and formed,
as contra-distinguished from the knights and the cities, a third body,
taking equal share in its council, submitting to the decisions of the arbi-
trators, and promising, in case of a war, to send the contingent agreed upon
into the field. Here, in the very focus of the old quarrels, a firm and
compact union of the several classes arose, affording a noble representation
of the Ideas of the constitution of the empire, and of public order and
security ; though its main and proximate object was resistance to the
encroachments of Bavaria. Nevertheless, Duke Albert held himself
aloof in haughty defiance, while the emperor, relying on the league, would
hear of no reconciliation till the pride of the Duke was humbled. At
length resort was had to arms. In the spring of 1492 the troops of the
league and of the empire assembled on the Lechfeld. Frederick of Bran-
denburg, " whose doublet had long been hot against Bavaria," carried
the banner of the empire ; Maximilian was there in person. At this
moment Albert, abandoned by his kinsmen, at strife with his knights,
felt that he could not withstand such an overwhelming force ; he relin-
quished the opposition which he had hitherto maintained, consented
to give up Regensburg, and to abandon all claims founded on the assign-
ments made by Sigismund. By degrees even the old emperor was appeased,
and received his son-in-law and his grand-daughters with cordiality.
After some time Albert himself found it expedient to join the Swabian
league.
We see that the reign of Frederick III. was by no means so insignificant
as is commonly believed. His latter years especially, so full of difficulties
and reverses, were rich in great results. The house of Hapsburg, by the
acquisition of Austria and the Netherlands, had acquired a high rank in
Europe. A short campaign of Maximilian's sufficed to establish its claims
to Hungary. 1 The intestine wars of Germany were almost entirely
suppressed. The Swabian league gave to the house of Austria a legiti-
mate influence over Germany, such as it had not possessed since the time
of Albert I. The diets had acquired a regular form, the Public Peace was
established and tolerably secured, and important steps were taken towards
the formation of a general constitution. What form and character this
should assume, mainly depended on the conduct of Maximilian, on whom,
at the death of his father (August 19, 1493), the administration of the
empire now devolved.
DIET OF WORMS, 1495.
IDEAS had long been universally current, and schemes suggested, pregnant
with far more extensive and important consequences than any we have
yet contemplated.
Among the most remarkable were those put forth by Nicholas von Kus,
whose capacious and prophetic mind was a storehouse of new and just
1 The treaty of Oedenburg, 1463, July 29, had already secured the succession
to the house of Austria, upon the extinction of the Hunniads. The new treaty,
1491, Nov. 7, the Monday after the feast of St. Leonard, renewed this right in
case of failure of male issue from Wladislas.
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS, 1495 51
views on the most various subjects. At the time of the council of Basle
he devoted himself with earnest zeal and perspicacious judgment to the
internal politics of the empire. He began by observing that it was impos-
sible to improve the church without reforming the empire ; since it was
impossible to sever them, even in thought. 1 He therefore urgently recom-
mends, though an ecclesiastic, the emancipation of the secular authority.
He is entirely opposed to the right claimed by the papacy, of transferring
the empire to whom it will : he ascribes to the latter a mystical relation
to God and Christ, absolute independence, and even the right and the
duty of taking part in the government of the church. He desires that
the confusion arising from the jurisdiction of the spiritual and temporal
courts be put an end to. He proposes a plan for superior courts of justice,
each provided with three assessors, chosen from the nobles, clergy, and
citizens respectively, 2 and empowered not only to hear appeals from the
inferior courts, but to decide the differences between the princes in the
first instance : it was only by such means, he thought, that the legal
practice could be brought into greater harmony with the principles of
natural justice. Above all, however, he looked to the establishment of
yearly diets for the revival of the authority, unity, and strength of the
empire (Reich] ; for he clearly perceived that no such results were to be
expected from the power of the emperor (Kaiserthum} alone. 3 Either
in May or in September he would have a general meeting of the Estates
held at Frankfurt, or other convenient city, in order to arrange any
existing dissensions, and to pass general laws, to which every prince
should affix his signature and seal, and engage his honour to observe
them. He strenuously contends that no ecclesiastic shall be exempted
from their operation ; otherwise he would want to have a share in the
secular power, which was to be exercised for the general good. He goes
1 Nicolai Cusani de Concordantia Catholica, lib. iii. Schardius, Sylloge de
Jurisdictione Imperiali, f. 465.
2 Lib. iii. c. xxxiii. : " Pronunciet et citet quisque judicum secundum condi-
tionem disceptantium personarum, nobilis inter nobiles, ecclesiasticus inter
ccclesiasticos, popularis inter populares : nulla tamen definitiva feratur nisi ex
communi deliberatione omnium trium. Si vero unus duobus dissenserit, vincat
opinio majoris numeri." It is not to be believed that the customs of German
law also had not given rise to many complaints. It is here said : " Saepe sim-
plices pauperes per cavillationes causidicorum extra causam ducuntur, et a tota
causa cadunt, quoniam qui cadit a syllaba, cadit a causa : ut saepe vidi per
Treverensem diocesim accidere. Tollantur consuetudines quse admittunt jura-
men turn contra quoscunque et cujuscunque numeri testes." iii. c. 36.
3 This is one passage among many in which the want of two words correspond-
ing to Reich and Kaiserthum, both Englished by empire, is grievously felt :
Reich, and its numerous derivatives and compounds, Reichstag, Reichsab-
schied, &c., always relate to the great Germanic body called the Empire. Kaiser-
thum, the office and state of Kaiser, relates to the personal dignity, power,
functions, &c., of the individual occupying the imperial throne. As it is im-
possible every time these words occur to resort to a long paraphrase, the meaning
is often lost or obscured. Reich is also applied to a monarchical state, and then
stands in a like relation to Konigthum (the kingly office or state) ; somewhat
as realm do^es to royalty. The title of a former section presents a difficulty of
a somewhat similar nature, it is, Papstthum and Fiirstenthum Popedom
and Princedom : for the former we have Papacy ; for the latter abstraction,
nothing. TRANSL.
42
52 DIET OF WORMS, 1495 [BOOK I.
on to remark that, in order seriously to maintain order and law and to
chastise the refractory, it is necessary to have a standing army ; for to
what end is a law without the penal sanction ? He thinks that a part
of the revenues of the numerous tolls granted to individuals might be
kept back by the state, and a fund thus formed, the application of which
should be every year determined at the diet. There would then be no
more violence ; the bishops would devote themselves to their spiritual
duties ; peace and prosperity and power would return.
It is clear that the reforms suggested by this remarkable man were
precisely those which it was the most important to put in practice ; indeed
the ideas which are destined to agitate the world are always first thrown out
by some one original and luminous mind. In the course of time some
approach was made, even on the part of the authorities of the empire, to
the execution of these projects.
Even during their opposition to Frederick III. in 1450 1460, the Electors
were of opinion that the most salutary measure for the empire would be,
when they were with the emperor in person for example, in an imperial
city, to form a sort of consistory around him, like that of the cardinals
around the pope, and from this central point to take the government of
the empire into their own hands, and to provide for the preservation of
public order. It was their notion that a permanent court of justice should
be established, like that of the parliament 1 of Paris, whose judgments
should be executed by certain temporal princes in the several circles of
the empire ; the ban should be pronounced by the emperor according
to justice and conscience, and should then be duly executed and obeyed. 2
Similar suggestions appeared from time to time. In the archives of
Dresden there is a report of a consultation of the year 1491, in which
dissatisfaction is expressed with the plan of a supreme court of justice,
and a scheme of a general government and military constitution for the
whole empire, not unlike that of Nicholas von Kus, is proposed ; an
annual diet for the more important business of the general government,
and a military force, ready for service at a moment's notice, proportioned
to the six circles into which it was proposed to divide the empire, and
under twelve captains or chiefs.
With the accession of a young and intelligent prince, a tendency to
improvement and a leaning towards innovation took the place of the
invincible apathy of the old emperor ; and these dispositions, both in the
chief of the empire and the Estates, were strengthened by other circum-
stances attending the new reign.
Maximilian had received some offences of an entirely personal nature
from the King of France. According to the terms of a treaty of peace,
that prince was to marry Maximilian's daughter, and, till she reached
years of maturity, she was confided to French guardianship : Charles
now sent her back. On the other hand, Maximilian was betrothed to
the princess and heiress of Brittany, an alliance on which the people of
Germany founded various plans reaching far into the future, and hoped
to draw that province under the same institutions as they intended to
give to the empire. Charles VIII., however, got the young princess into
1 Cf. Cheruel, Dictionnaire des Institutions de la France.
2 Final Edict of the spiritual Electors. See p. 58., n. i.
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS, 1405 53
his power by violence, and forced her to accept Ms hand. 1 The rights of
the empire were immediately affected by these hostile acts. Whilst
Maximilian was preparing to go to Rome to be crowned, and cherished
the hope of restoring the imperial dignity and consideration in Italy, the
French, anticipating him, crossed the Alps, marched unchecked through
the Peninsula from north to south, and conquered Naples. We cannot
affirm that Charles VIII. had any positive design of seizing the imperial
crown ; but it is undeniable that a power, such as he acquired throughout
Italy by the nature and the success of his enterprise, was calculated to
oppose a direct obstacle to the revival of the authority of the German
empire.
Irritated by such reiterated wrongs, and deeply impressed with the
necessity of making a stand against French aggression ; availing himself
of his incontestable right to demand succours from the States for his
journey to Rome ; urged likewise by his Italian allies, Maximilian now
appeared at Worms, and on the 26th March opened his diet with a descrip-
tion of the political state of Europe. " If we continue," exclaimed he,
" to look on passively at the proceedings of the French, the holy Roman
Empire will be wrested from the German nation, and no man will be
secure of his honour, his dignity, or his liberties." He wished to invoke
the whole might and energy of the empire to take part in this struggle.
Independent of a hasty levy to keep alive the resistance of Italy, he like-
wise demanded a permanent military establishment for the next ten or
twelve years, in order that he might be able to defend himself, " wherever
an attack was attempted against the Holy Empire." He pressed for it
with impetuous earnestness ; he was in a position in which the interests
of the public were identical with his own.
The Estates also, which had assembled in unusual numbers, were fully
impressed with the necessity of resisting the French. But in the first
place, they regarded affairs with more coolness than the young emperor ;
and, secondly, they deemed the accession of a new sovereign who had
already pledged himself to them and was now in need of considerable
assistance, a moment well adapted for the prosecution of their schemes
of reform and the introduction of order into their internal affairs. They
met the warlike demands of the king with one of the most comprehensive
schemes ever drawn up for the constitution of the empire.
They too assumed the necessity of a strong military organisation, but
they found the feudal system, now in its decline, no longer available ;
they deemed it better to impose a general tax, called the Common Penny.
This tax was to be levied, not according to the territorial extent, but
to the population of the several parts of the empire. The application of
it was not to devolve on the king, but to be entrusted to a council of the
empire composed of members of the States, the cities included. This
1 The old emperor says in his proclamation of the 4th of June, 1492, " Rather
would we depart in peace and blessedness from this world, than suffer so un-
christianlike and foul a deed to remain unpunished, and the Holy Empire and
German people to put up with this scandalous and irreparable injury under our
rule." " Wir lieber von dieser Welt seliglich scheiden, dann einen solchen
unkristlichen snoden Handel ungestrafft beleiben und das heil Reich und deutsche
Nation in diesen lesterlichen und unwiederpringlichen Vail bei unserer Regierung
wachsen lassen wolten."
54 DIET OF WORMS, 1495 [BOOK I.
council was to be invested with large general powers. It was to execute
the laws, to put down rebellion and tumult ; to provide for the reintegra-
tion of any domains that had been subtracted from the empire ; to conduct
the defensive war against the Turks and other enemies of the Holy Empire
and of the German nation ; in short, it is evident that it was to have the
sum of the powers of government in its hands j 1 and certainly a large
share of independence was to be awarded to it for that purpose. The
weightiest affairs it was bound to lay before the king and the electors,
subject to the revision of the latter ; but in all other respects the members
were to be freed from the oath whereby they were bound to the king and
the Estates, and act only in conformity with the duties of their office. 2
The ideas by which this project was dictated show a very strong public
spirit ; for it was by no means the king alone whose power was limited.
The general interests of the country were represented in a manner which
would admit of no division or exclusion. How utterly, for example, is
the idea of a general tax, to be collected by the parish priest, and delivered
under his responsibility to the bishop, at variance with any further aug-
mentation of the influence of the territorial lords ! Which among them
would have been strong enough to resist a central national power, such as
this must have become ?
The first result, however, would have been that the power of the monarch
not indeed that which he exercised in the usual troubled state of things,
but that which he claimed for better times would have been limited.
It remained now to be seen what he would say to this project. The
fiefs which he granted out, the knightly festivities^devised in^his honour,
or given by him in return, the manifold disputes between German princes
which he had to accommodate, occupied him fully. It was not till the
22nd of June that he gave his answer, which he published as an amendment
of the project. On closer examination, however, its effect was in fact
entirely to annul it. He had said at the beginning that he would accept
the project with reservation of his sovereign prerogatives ; now, he de-
clared that he thought these assailed in every clause. I will give an ex-
ample of the alterations he made. According to the project, the council
of the empire was charged to see that no new tolls were erected without the
previous knowledge of the electors ; a precaution suggested by the tolls
continually granted by Frederick and Maximilian. The clause, in its
altered state, set forth that the council of the empire should itself take
care to erect no toll without the previous knowledge of the king.
Strange that such a complete reversal of an original scheme should be
announced as an amendment ! but such were the manners, such the
courtesy of that time. The opposition in temper and opinion was not the
less violent on that account. A visible irritation and ill-humour prevailed
1 See the first scheme which the elector of Mainz communicated first to the
king, and then to the cities. Protocol in Datt, de Pace Pub., p. 830. The
protocol is the same with that found in the Frankfurt Acts, vol. xv.
2 The latter is a provision of the larger draft, p. 838, nr. 17. " Sollen dieselben
President und Personen des vorgemeldten Rathes aller Geliibd und Aide damit
sie uns oder inen (denen von welchen sie gesetzt worden) verbunden oder ver-
strickt waren, genntzlich ledig seyn." " The same president and persons of
the before-mentioned council shall be wholly freed from all promise and oath,
having the effect of binding them to, or connecting them with, us or them "
(those by whom they had been appointed).
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS, 1495 55
at the diet. The king one day summoned to his presence the princes on
whose friendship he could most confidently rely, Albert of Saxony,
Frederick of Brandenburg, and Eberhard of Wiirtenberg, to consult them
on the means of maintaining his sovereign dignity. 1
So directly opposed were the views of the monarch and those of the
States at the very commencement of this reign. Both parties, however,
made the discovery that they could not attain their ends in the way they
had proposed to themselves. Maximilian clearly perceived that he should
obtain no subsidies without concessions. The States saw that, at present
at least, they would not be able to carry through their scheme of a general
government. 2 While trying, however, to hit upon some middle course,
they came back to experiments attempted under Frederick III.
In the first place, they settled the basis of that Public Peace which has
rendered this diet so celebrated. On a more accurate examination, wo
find indeed that it is in detail rather less pacific than the former ones ; as,
for example, it restores a right, lately abrogated, of the injured party to
make forcible seizure of a mortgaged estate ; the only advantage was, that
this peace was proclaimed, not as before for a term of years, but for ever.
By this act the law, in fact, ceased to contemplate the possibility of any
return to the old fist law (Faustrecht).
The question of the Imperial Chamber (Kamtnergericht], or supreme
court of justice for the empire, was next discussed. Maximilian had
hitherto treated this tribunal exactly as his father had done : he made
it follow his court ; in 1493 it accompanied him to Regensburg, in 1494 to
Mechlin and Antwerp, in 1495 to Worms. We have, however, seen that
he was bound by the concessions he made in 1489 to reform the administra-
tion of justice. When, therefore, the proposals formerly laid before his
father were submitted to him, he felt himself compelled to accept them.
Under what pretext, indeed, could he have rejected an institution, the
establishment of which he had so solemnly undertaken to promote with all
his might ? This, however, was one of the most important events in the
history of the empire. Maximilian gave his assent to the maxim that the
statute law should have force in the supreme court, and that no more than
the regular fees should be exacted ; above all, he ceded to the judge the
office of proclaiming the ban of the empire in his name ; nay, he bound
himself not to remove the ban when pronounced, without the consent of
the injured party. When we reflect that the judicial power was the highest
attribute of the imperial crown, we feel all the importance of this step.
Nor was it only that the supreme court of the empire was secured from the
1 Notice in the Archives of Berlin, which contains, however, only fragmentary
remarks upon this imperial diet.
2 Later Declaration of the Elector Berthold of Mainz in Datt, p. 871. " Daruf
ware erst fiirgenommen ain Ordnung im Reich aufzurichten und Sr. ko. Mt.
furgehalten, darab S. M. etwas Beswarung und Missfallens gehabt, hetten die
Stende davon gestanden." " Thereupon it was first determined to establish a
regular government in the empire and submitted to his Royal Majesty, so that
if H.M. had any objection or dislike to it, the States would have desisted from
it." Whether Miiller, Rtth. unter M. (i. 329), be right in maintaining that a
second scheme of a similar kind had also been presented, whereupon Maximilian
had offered to appoint, instead of the imperial council, a court council, I must
leave undetermined. It would, in fact, have been but another evasive propo-
sition.
56 DIET OF WORMS, 1405 [BooK I.
arbitrary interference which had hitherto been so injurious to it its
offices were also appointed by the Estates. The king nominated only the
president (Kammevrichter) ; the assessors were appointed by the Estates ;
and the cities, to their great joy, were invited to propose certain candidates
for that office : a committee was then appointed to examine and decide
on the presentations. 1 Later jurists have disputed whether the court
derived its penal sanction solely from the emperor, or from the emperor and
the princes : but this much is certain, that it changed its whole character ;
and from a simply monarchical institution, became dependent on the whole
body of the States. It followed, of course, that it was no longer an append-
age to the court and a companion of the emperor's travels ; but held its
stated sittings in one fixed spot in the empire.
This great concession was met by the States with a grant of the Com-
mon Penny, on the produce of which they allowed the king, who seemed
intensely desirous of it on account of the state of his affairs in Italy, to
raise a loan. The tax itself is a combination of poll-tax and property- tax,
not very different from that formerly levied by the kings of Jerusalem, and
also occasionally proposed in Germany ; for example, in the year 1207,
by King Philip. In the fifteenth century, frequent mention of such taxes
is made as being applied sometimes to the maintenance of the Hussite,
sometimes of the Turkish war. The Common Penny was levied on the
following plan : Half a gulden was levied on every five hundred, a whole
one on every thousand, gulden ; among persons of small means, every
four-and-twenty above fifteen years of age, without exception, men and
women, priests and laymen, were to contribute one gulden ; the more
wealthy were to pay according to their own estimate of their property.
The idea of taxation was still in some degree mixed up with that of alms ; 2
the priests were to admonish the people from the pulpit to give something
more than what was demanded. The whole plan was still extremely im-
perfect. Its importance consisted only in its being (as the whole course
of the transaction proved) a serious attempt at a general systematic taxa-
tion of the empire, destined for purposes both of peace and war, for the
maintenance of the supreme courts of justice, the payment of the Italian
allies, and the equipment of an army against the Turks.
It was in accordance with this character of a general tax that the choice
of the treasurer of the empire, whose office it was to receive the money
from the commissioners or collectors stationed in all parts of the country,
was also entrusted to the States. Maximilian engaged to levy the Common
Penny in the Austrian and Burgundian dominions upon the same plan,
and to set the example herein to all other sovereigns.
But if the collection of the money could not safely be entrusted to the
king, still less could its application. After the proposal for a council of
the empire had been suffered to drop, the idea of a yearly meeting of the
Estates of the empire for the purpose of controlling the public expenditure,
first suggested by Nicholas von Kus, and then proposed in the project of
1491, was revived. This assembly was to meet every year on the first of
February, to deliberate on the most important affairs, internal and ex-
1 Notice from a document of later date in Harpprecht, Staats-archiv. des
Reichskammergerichts, ii., p. 249.
2 So the taxes levied by the contemporary King of England, Henry VIII.,
were called ' benevolences.' TRANSL.
BOOK I.I DIET OF WORMS, 1405 57
ternal. To this body the treasurer of the empire was to deliver the money
he had received from the taxes ; and in it was to be vested the exclusive
power of deciding on the application of the same : neither the king nor
his son was to declare war without its consent ; every conquest was to
accrue to the empire. 1 To this body was also committed a peremptory
authority for the maintenance of the Public Peace. The question was,
when this tribunal (thus rendered independent of the crown and emanating
from the Estates) should have pronounced the ban, to whom the execution
of it was to be entrusted. The king of the Romans wished that it should
be left to him. The States, true to the principle on which their legislation
was founded, committed it to the annual assembly of the empire.
It is obvious that the States, though they gave up their original plan,
kept constantly in view the idea on which it was founded. In the conflict
of the interests of the monarch and those of the States, the balance clearly
inclined in favour of the latter. Maximilian had cause to complain that
he was made to feel this personally ; that he had been forced to withdraw,
and to wait before the door, till the resolution was passed. He was often
inclined to dissolve the diet ; and it was only the want of a fresh subsidy
(which he then obtained) that restrained him. 2 On the 7th of August, he
accepted the project in the form last given to it.
There is a grand coherency in its provisions. All Germans are once
more seriously and practically regarded as subjects of the empire ; and
the public burthens and public exertions were to be common to all. If the
States thus lost something of their independence, they received in com-
pensation (according to their ancient organisation and their respective
ranks) a legitimate share in the supreme administration of justice, as well
as of the government. The king submitted himself to the same ordin-
ances, and to the same community. He retained undiminished the
supreme dignity, the prerogatives of a sovereign feudal lord ; but in the
conduct of public business, he was to be regarded only as president of the
college of the Estates of the empire. The constitution proposed was a
mixture of monarchical and federal government, but with an obvious pre-
ponderance of the latter element ; a political union, preserving the forms
of the ancient hierarchy of the empire. The question whether these pro-
jects could be carried into execution, was now of the highest importance
to the whole future destiny of Germany.
Resolutions of so comprehensive a kind can be regarded as views only ;
as ideas, to which an assembly has expressed its assent, but to the execu-
tion of which there is a long way yet to be traversed. It is the ground-
plan of a building which is intended to be built ; but the question remains
whether the power and the means will correspond with the intention.
1 Maintenance of Peace and Law established at Worms. Miiller, Rtth.
Max., i., p. 454.
2 This second grant amounted to 150,000 gulden. " Damit S. Konigl. Gnad
unserm h. Vater Papst und Italien, bis der gemein Pfennig einbracht werde,
clester stattlicher Hiilfe thun mochte." " In order that his Royal Grace may be
so much the more able to give more liberal help to our holy father the pope and
Italy, until the Common Penny be collected." To collect the loan, the king
despatched emissaries to single states ; e.g. Prince Magnus of Anhalt and Dr.
Heinrich Friese to the following ; the Abbot of Fulda, contributing 300 gulden ;
the two Counts of Hanau, 500 ; the Count of Eisenberg, 300 ; the city of Freiberg,
400 ; and the city of Frankfort, 2,100. Instruction in Comm. Archiv. at Dessau.
58 DIET OF LINDAU, 1496 [BOOK I.
DIFFICULTIES. DIET OF LINDAU, 1496.
A GREAT obstacle to the execution of the resolutions of the diet occurred
at once in the defective nature of its composition. A large number of
powerful Estates had not been present, and as the obligatory force of the
resolutions of an assembly upon those not present was as yet far from
being determined, it was necessary to open separate negotiations with the
absent. Among others, the Elector of Cologne was commissioned to
negotiate with the bishops in his neighbourhood, those of Utrecht, Miinster,
Osnabriick, Paderborn, and Bremen ; the Elector of Saxony with Li'me-
burg, Grubenhagen, and Denmark ; and it was by no means certain what
would be their success. Here again we find the possibility assumed that
someone might not choose to be included in, or to consent to, the Public
Peace. 1
A still more important organic defect was, that the knightly order had
taken no part in the diet. It is manifest that the mighty development
which a government composed of different estates (eine stdndische Ver-
fassung) had reached in England, mainly rests on the union of the lower
nobility and the cities in the House of Commons. In Germany it was not
the ancient usage to summon the nobility to the diet. The consequence
of this was, that the nobles refused to conform to the resolutions passed at
it, especially when (as in the present case) these related to a tax. The
Franconian knights assembled in December at Schweinfurt, and declared
that they were free Franconians, nobles of the empire, bound to shed their
blood, and in every war to guard the emperor's crown and sceptre at the
head of all their youth capable of bearing arms ; but not to pay taxes,
which was contrary to their liberties, and would be an unheard of innova-
tion. This declaration had the assent of all their compeers. Unions of
the same kind were formed in the several circles. 2
We observed how much stress was laid at an earlier period on the
spiritual authorisation. The consequence of the want of it now was that
the abbots of the empire refused to recognise the authority of so purely
secular a tribunal as the Imperial Chamber.
There were yet other Estates whose obedience was very doubtful. The
Duke of Lorraine declared that, beyond the jurisdiction of his own
tribunals, he was amenable to no other authority than that of the king in
person. The Swiss confederates did not indeed as yet dispute the sove-
reignty or the jurisdiction of the empire, but at the first exercise of it they
were offended and irritated into resistance. The king of Poland declared
that Dantzig and Elbing were Polish cities, and rejected all claims made
upon them on the part of the empire. As the first effect of a vigorous
medicine is to set the whole frame in agitation, so the attempts to organise
the Germanic body had the immediate result of calling into activity the
hostile principles hitherto in a state of repose.
But if so strong an element of resistance existed on the side of the States,
to whom the resolutions were clearly advantageous, what was to be ex-
pected from the king, whose power they controlled, and on whom they
had been forced ? In contriving the means for their execution, every-
1 Recess and ordinances in Miiller, 459.
2 Miiller, Rtth. 688, 689.
BOOK I.] DIET OF LINDAU, 140^ 59
thing had been calculated on his sympathy and co-operation ; whereas
he incessantly showed that he set about the task with repugnance.
He certainly organised the Imperial Chamber according to its new
forms. It held its first sittings at the Grossbraunfels at Frankfurt-on-
Main, 1 on the 3rd of November. On the 2ist of February it exercised its
right of pronouncing the ban for the first time : the judge and his assessors,
doctors and nobles, appeared in the open air ; the proclamation of the
ban, by which the condemned was deprived of the protection of the law, 2
and all and every man permitted to attack his body and goods, was publicly
read and torn in pieces. Yet the king was far from allowing the court of
justice to take its free course. On more than one occasion he commanded
it to stop the proceedings in a cause ; he would not suffer his fiscal, when
judgment was given against him, to pay the usual fine of the defeated
party : he sent an assessor from the Netherlands whom his colleague re-
fused to admit, because he had not been regularly appointed ; he made no
provision for the pay of the assessors as he was bound at first to do : after
appointing Count Eitelfriedrick of Zollern, against the will of the States,
who preferred another, 3 he very soon removed him, because he wanted
him for other business. Nor did he take any measures for collecting
the Common Penny in his own dominions, as he had promised. The meet-
ing had been, as we saw, fixed for the ist of February, but he did not appear,
and consequently it did not take place. 4
It is a matter of astonishment that the reputation of founder of the con-
stitution of the empire has so long and so universally been given to a
sovereign, on whom the measures tending to that object were absolutely
forced, and who did far more to obstruct than to promote their execution.
There is no doubt that all attempts at reform would have been utterly
defeated, had not the king's designs been counteracted by a prince who
had embraced most of the opinions on which it was founded ; who had
been the chief agent in bringing it thus far, and was not inclined now to let
it drop Berthold, Elector of Mainz, born Count of Henneberg. 5 Even
under Frederick III., whose service he entered at an early age, he had taken
1 Excerpta ex Collectaneis Jobi de Rorbach ; Harpprecht, ii. 216. In the
Frankfurt Imp. Archives, a letter is still extant from Arnold Schwartzenberg to
the council of Frankfurt, dated on the Friday after the Feast of the Assumption
(Aug. 21 ) : " Item uf Samstag U L F. Abend hat Graf Hug von Wernberg
nach mir geschickt, und vorgehalten, das Kammergericht werde gelegt gen
Frankfurt, wo man ein Huss dazu bekommen mocht und ein Stuben daneben
zum Gespreche." " Also upon the evening of Saturday, the feast of Our
Blessed Lady, Count Hugh of Wernberg sent to me and represented, that the
Imperial Chamber was transferred to Frankfurt, where it might be possible to
get a house, and a room close to it for conferences." The price of meat and fish
was to be determined, and the citizens were to be admonished to behave in a
seemly and discreet manner (" zimlich und glimpflich ") towards the members.
" Ans dem Frieden in den Unfrieden gesetzt "literally, put out of the
peace into unpeace." TRANSL.
3 To the Prince Magnus of Anhalt, 'he says in one of his own notes, " Con-
ventus me elegerunt, sed revocavit rex."
4 In the Frankfurt Archives, we meet with several letters from Julich, Colin,
Mainz, &c., bespeaking a lodging, but also a letter dated from Frankfurt itself
on the Saturday after Invocavit, to the effect that no one had as yet appeared.
r > Of the Romhilde line, born in 1442. Diploma tische Geschichte cles Hauses
Henneberg, p. 377.
60 DIET OF LINDAU, 1406 [BOOK I.
an active share in all attempts to introduce better order into the affairs of
the empire. In 1486, he became Elector of Mainz, and from that time
might be regarded as the most eminent member of the States. There are
men, whose whole existence is merged in their studies or their business :
there we must seek them if we wish to know them ; their purely personal
qualities or history attract no attention. To this class of men belonged
Berthold of Mainz. Nobody, so far as I have been able to discover, has
thought it worth while to give to posterity a description of his personal
appearance or characteristics : but we see him distinctly and vividly in
the administration of his diocese. At first people feared his severity ; for
his administration of justice was as inexorable as it was impartial, and his
economy was rigorous ; but in a short time everybody was convinced that
his austere demeanour was not the result of temper or of caprice, but of
profound necessity : it was tempered by genuine benevolence ; he lent a
ready ear to the complaints of the poorest and the meanest. 1 He was
peculiarly active in the affairs of the empire. He was one of the vener-
able men of that age, who earnestly strove to give to ancient institutions
which had lost their original spirit and their connection with higher things,
the new form adapted to the necessities of the times. He had already
conducted the negotiations of 1486 ; he next procured for the towns the
right of sitting in the committees ; it was mainly to him that Germany
owed the promises made by Maximilian in the year 1489, and the projects
of Worms were chiefly his work. In every circumstance he evinced that
serene and manly spirit, which, while it keeps its end steadily in view, is
not self-willed as to the means or manner of accomplishing it, or pertina-
cious on merely incidental points ; he was wearied or discouraged by no
obstacles, and a stranger to any personal views : if ever a man bore his
country in his inmost heart, it was he.
In the summer of 1496, at the diet of Lindau, this prince acquired a
degree of independent power such as he had not enjoyed before.
In the midst of the troubles of that summer, Maximilian thought
he discerned the favourable moment in which he needed only to show
himself in Italy, in order, with the help of his allies there, to re-establish
the supremacy of the imperial power. He summoned the States to repair
to Lindau, whither they were to bring the amount of the Common Penny,
together with as many troops as it would suffice to pay, and whence
they were immediately to follow him ; at the same time declaring that he
would not wait for them, but must cross the Alps without delay with what
force God had given him.
While he put this in execution, and, equipped rather as for some romantic
enterprise of knight-errantry than for a serious expedition, rushed on
to Italy, the States of the empire gradually assembled in Lindau. They
brought neither troops, money, nor arms ; their attention was directed
exclusively to internal affairs. How greatly in acting thus they relied
on Elector Berthold is shown (among other documents) by the instructions
to the ambassador of Brandenburg, ordering him implicitly to follow the
course pursued by that prince. 2
1 Serarius, Res Moguntinae, p. 799.
2 In the Berlin Archives there is a Convolute concerning this Diet of the Empire,
which, along with the Instruction, contains ist, the letters received up to the
time of the arrival of the deputies, and the propositions made by the foreign
BOOK 1.] DIET OF LINDAU, 1496 01
On the 3ist of August, 1496, the princes, as many as were assembled,
embarked in boats and fetched the king's son, Archduke Philip of Bregenz,
across the river ; on the 7th of September, the first sitting was held. The
Elector of Mainz took his place in the centre ; on his right sat the princes,
the archduke, for the first time, amongst them ; on his left, the ambas-
sadors or delegates of those who did not appear in person ; in front of him
stood the deputies of the cities. In the middle was a bench for the king's
councillors, Conrad Stiirzel and Walter von Andlo.
The Elector conducted the proceedings with unquestioned authority.
If he absented himself, which was never but for a short time, they were
stopped ; when he returned, he was the chief speaker, whether in the
assembly or the committee ; he brought forward the propositions, de-
manded the grants, and found means to keep the plenipotentiaries steady
to them. He did not conceal the grief he felt at seeing the empire in such
a state of decline. " Even in the time of Charles IV. and Sigismund,"
exclaimed he, " the sovereignty of the empire was acknowledged in Italy,
which is now no longer the case. The king of Bohemia is an elector of
the empire, and what does he do for the empire ? has he not even wrested
Moravia and Silesia from it ? Prussia and Livonia are liable to incessant
attacks and oppression, and no one troubles himself about them ; nay,
even the little which remains to the empire is daily wrested from it, and
given to one or the other. The ordinances of Worms were made to
preserve the empire from decay ; but the union and mutual confidence
which alone could sustain it are wanting. Whence comes it that the
Confederation enjoys such universal respect ? that it is feared by Italians
and French, by the pope, nay, by everybody ? The only reason is that
it is united and of one mind. Germany ought to follow the example.
The ordinances of Worms should be revived, not to prate about, but to
execute them." 1
Berthold's was that powerful eloquence which is the expression of con-
victions founded on actual experience. The committee resolved to look
into the matter, and to see that the empire was better ordered. On the
motion of the Brandenburg ambassador, the members examined their
credentials, and found that they were sufficient for that purpose. Such
being the dispositions of the States, affairs now took a decisive turn.
The Imperial Chamber, which had closed its sittings in June, was induced
to open them again in November. It was determined to appropriate the
tax which was to be levied on the Jews in Regensburg, Niirnberg, Worms,
and Frankfurt, to the payment of the assessors. The Elector insisted
that the sentences of the court should be executed, that no sovereign
should recall his assessor, and that the cities should have justice against
the princes. It was resolved to transfer the chamber to Worms : the
deputies ; 2nd, the protocol of the proceedings on the Friday after the feast of
St. Dionysius, Oct. 14. What is especially remarkable in this protocol is, that
the most distinguished of the plenipotentiaries, Erasmus Brandenburg, parish
priest of Cotbus, was a member of the committee, and is the reporter of its trans-
actions. The greater part is in his handwriting.
1 These words were spoken by the Elector on the 28th Nov. A similar effusion
is cited in Scherer's extract, and in Fels, Erster Beitrag zur Reichsgesch. Preface,
7. In these contributions is to be found the protocol of Lindau, contained in
the Frankf. A., A. vol. xvi.
62 DIET OF LINDAU, 1496 [Boox I.
reason assigned for which was, that it was easier from thence to reach
the four universities of Heidelberg, Basle, Mainz, and Cologne, whenever
it was necessary " to ask the law."
On the 23rd of December, the edict for levying the Common Penny was
renewed in the most stringent form. The knights (Ritterschaft) who
complained of the demand made upon them by the king, were reminded
that it was not the king who imposed this tax, but the empire ; that it
was the most equal and the least oppressive that could be devised, and
would be of advantage to their Order, if they would only get to horse and
endeavour to earn the pay for which this fund was in part raised.
Another meeting of the States was appointed to consider of the dis-
bursement of the Common Penny.
Other points were discussed ; the necessity of instant and effective
succours for the attacked ; new regulations of the courts of justice and of
the mint ; above all, the firmest determination was expressed to maintain
unaltered the measures passed at Worms. Should any attempt be made
to thwart or oppose them or those of the diet of Lindau, the matter was
to be referred to the Archbishop of Mainz, who should be authorised
thereupon to convoke other members, in order that an answer from the
whole body of the States might be given, and public order and tranquillity
be defended by them in concert. 1
All these resolutions the Archbishop carried without much difficulty.
If there was occasionally some attempt at opposition on the part of the
envoys of the princes, those of the electors and of the cities always sup-
ported him and compelled the former to give way. They were, therefore,
incorporated in the Recess ; the usual practice as to which was, that
each member should first write out for himself the resolutions which had
been passed : these were then compared in the assembly, a fixed formula
was determined on, and signed by the whole body.
On the loth of February 1497, the diet of Lindau was closed. The
States thanked the Archbishop for the trouble he had taken, and entreated
his pardon for their negligences. The Elector, on the other hand, excused
himself for having, perhaps, sometimes addressed them with too great
earnestness, and exhorted them faithfully to enforce the resolutions that
had been passed, each in his own territory or sphere, that so the empire
might be profited.
DIET OF WORMS AND FREIBURG, I49/, 1498.
THE matter was, however, but half settled ; the difficulties which had
arisen among the States had been removed, but as yet no influence had
been obtained over the king, whose co-operation and executive power
were indispensable.
Maximilian's romantic enterprise had ended as was to be expected :
the same excitable fancy which had flattered him with exaggerated hopes,
1 In order to avoid the appearance of a conspiracy, it had been previously
resolved, " Die Handhabung, zu Worms versigelt, vorzunehmen und aus der-
selben ain Grund und Einung und Verstendtniss zu nehmen und was des zu
wenig seyn will zu erweitern." " To take the declaration sealed at Worms, and
from it to construct a groundwork, union, and agreement, and in those respects
\vhere it may come short, to enlarge it." Brandenburg Protocol.
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS AND FREIBURG, 1497-8 63
had prevented him from perceiving the true state of affairs. After a
short time the allies, whose assistance was all he had to rely on, had
quarrelled among themselves ; he had returned to Germany filled with
shame, disgust and vexation. Here he found the finances of his hereditary
domains exhausted and in the utmost disorder ; the empire in an attitude
of defiance and sullen reserve, and disastrous tidings following each other
in quick succession. When Louis XII. ascended the throne in 1498,
Maximilian hoped that troubles would arise in France, and that his allies
would support him in a fresh attack upon that power. The very contrary
took place : Louis, by pacific and prudent measures, won from his subjects
a degree of consideration such as no king had ever before possessed ; the
Italian league endeavoured to bring about an accommodation with him :
but the most unexpected thing was, that Maximilian's own son, Archduke
Philip, instigated by his Netherland councillors, without consulting his
father, entered into a treaty with France, in which he promised not to
agitate any of his claims on Burgundy so long as Louis XII. lived, and
never to attempt to enforce them by arms, or otherwise than by amicable
and legal means. The only consideration in return for this vast con-
cession was the surrender of a few strong places. Maximilian learned
this when he had already begun his preparations for war ; in June 1498,
in a state of the most violent irritation, he summoned the assembly of
the empire which he could no longer do without.
The assembly had opened its sittings, as had been determined, in
Worms, 1 but had transferred them at the king's reqnest to Freiburg.
Although, in consequence of the proceedings at Lindau, affairs were in a
much better state than before, the Common Penny began to be really
collected, the Imperial Chamber at Worms held its regular sittings for the
administration of justice, and the diet itself exercised an uncontested
jurisdiction as between the several Estates, in the more weighty and
difficult cases ; yet it was daily felt that so long as the king remained in
the equivocal and half hostile attitude he had assumed, nothing perma-
nent would be accomplished. Before the very eyes of the assembled
States, Elector John of Trevcs, with the help of his secular neighbours,
Baden, the Palatinate, Hessen and Juliich, invaded the town of Boppard,
and forced it to submit and to do homage to him. The Swiss resisted a
sentence of the Imperial Chamber against St. Gall, held the most insolent
language, and were very near issuing formal diffidations. The States
pointed out to the king, in remonstrances incessantly reiterated, that, with-
out his presence, neither the Public Peace could be maintained, nor the
law executed, nor the taxes duly collected.
At length, on the 8th June, 1498, he arrived in Freiburg, but neither
1 Transactions of the States of the Holy Empire at the Royal Diet at Worms,
Fr. A., vol. xvii. We see by them, amongst other things, as a matter of complete
certainty, that Maximilian did not appear at Worms. As Haberlin (Reichs-
geschichte, ix. 84), however, assumes that he did, he must have been deceived
by certain documents which were only laid before the Imperial Diet in the
King's name. At Freiburg, July 3rd, the Tuesday after the Visitation of the
Holy Virgin, Maximilian made excuses for not having appeared at Worms : " he
had been obliged to establish an excellent government (Regiment) in his here-
ditary states," &c., " it had been commented on as folly in him," &c., "but
now he was present." (Brand. Protocol.)
64 DIET OF WORMS [BooK I.
with the views, nor in the temper, that his subjects wished. His soul was
galled by the failure of all his plans ; deeply wounded by the defection
of the Netherlands, and ardently excited by the thought of a war with
France ; the more, I think, from a feeling of the difficulty, nay, impracti-
cability of it. At the very first audience (28th June) he vented all this
storm of passion upon the princes. He said that he did not come to
ask their advice, for he was resolved to make war upon France, and he
knew that they would dissuade him : he only wished to hear whether
they would support him as they were bound to do, and as they had pro-
mised at Worms. It was possible that he might accomplish nothing
decisive ; but, at any rate, he would give the king of France a slap in the
face (Backenstreich), such as should be remembered for a hundred years.
" I am betrayed by the Lombards," said he, " I am abandoned by the
Germans : but I will not allow myself again to be bound hand and foot
and hung upon a nail, as I did at Worms. War I must make, and I will
make, let people say what they may. Rather than give it up, I would
get a dispensation from the oath that I swore behind the altar at Frank-
furt ; for I have duties not only to the empire, but to the House of Austria :
I say this, and I must say it, though I should be forced on that account
to lay the crown at my feet and trample on it."
The princes listened to him with amazement. " Your Majesty," replied
the Elector of Mainz, " is pleased to speak to us in parables, as Christ did
to his disciples !" They begged him to bring his proposals before the
assembly, which would then proceed to deliberate upon them. 1 Strange
meeting of this monarch with this assembly ! Maximilian lived in the
interests of his House ; in the contemplation of the great political relations
of Europe ; in the feeling that he was 'the bearer of the highest dignity
of Christendom, which was now in jeopardy : he was ambitious, warlike,
and needy. The States, on the other hand, had their attention fixed
on internal affairs ; what they desired above all things was a government
of order and law ; they were cautious, pacific, frugal : they wanted to
check and control the king ; he to excite and hurry on the States.
Nothing less than the singular prudence, moderation, and sense which
distinguished the Archbishop of Mainz were necessary to prevent a total
breach between them.
He conciliated the king by placing before his eyes the prospect of the
revenue likely to accrue from the Common Penny. He prevailed on the
assembly to offer the king immediate payment of the sum formerly pro-
mised at Worms ; on the understanding that Maximilian should himself
contribute to the fuller and more exact collection of the tax by his own
example and assistance. This brought on a more distinct explanation.
Every individual was called upon to state how much of the Common
Penny he had collected. A slight review of these statements will
give us an insight into the situation of the German princes of that
day.
Elector Berthold of Mainz has collected and paid in the tax ; but some
persons in his dominions had resisted. To these he has announced that
they subjected themselves to the ban of the empire, from which he would
1 The Brandenburg protocol, our chief source of information regarding the
Diet of Freiburg, adds, the king spoke " with many marvellous words and ges-
tures, so as to be completely obscure and incomprehensible."
BOOK I.I AND FREIBURG, 1407-8 65
not protect them. Cologne and Treves have received only a part of their
share of the tax : they have met with not less refractory subjects, who
excused themselves with the delays of the Netherlands. The Electors of
Brandenburg and of Saxony have collected the greater part of the tax,
and are ready to pay it in ; but there are certain lords in Saxony of whom
the Elector says, he can do nothing with them ; he does not answer for
them. 1 The ambassador of the Elector Palatine, on the other hand,
has not even instructions to give any distinct explanation ; George of
Landshut, too, gave only an evasive answer. Albert of Bavaria expressed
himself better disposed, but he complained of the great number of recalci-
trants he met with. Nor was this to be regarded as a pretext : the
Bavarian states had, in fact, made great difficulties ; they had enough
to do with the wants of their own country ; they thought it strange that
the empire, also, should make claims upon them. 2 The resistance in Fran-
conia was not less vehement ; the Margraves of Brandenburg were forced
in some cases to resort to distraint. The cities, already prepared for
contributions of this kind, had a much easier task. Only three out of
the whole number were still in arrear Cologne, Miihlhausen, and Nord-
hausen ; the others had paid in their whole contingent.
Although the matter was, as we see, far from being perfectly accom-
plished, it was put into a good train, and Maximilian was highly satisfied
with the result. He now condescended to give a report of what his own
hereditary dominions had raised. From Austria, Styria, and Tyrol he
had collected 27,000 gulden ; in the Netherlands, on the contrary, great
resistance had been made. "Some," says the king's report, "those of
the Welsch (i.e. foreign, not German) sort, said they were not under the
empire. Those who hold to the German nation, on the other hand,
declared that they would wait and see what their neighbours on the Rhine
did."
Unfortunately it is impossible, from the reports before us, to arrive
at any statistical results. The payments were too unequal, and the
accounts are generally wanting.
It was, however, for the moment a great point gained, that the States
could either pay the king the money he required immediately, or at least
promise it with certainty. He was thus induced, on his side, to devote
his attention and interest to the affairs of the empire.
The Public Peace was guarded with fresh severe clauses, especially
against the abettors of the breakers of it. The president of the Imperial
Chamber was empowered, in peculiarly weighty and dangerous cases, to
call together princes of the empire at his own discretion, and to require
their help. A former proposition of the Imperial Chamber, viz. to confer
the right of representation on the heir, was at length carried, in spite
of the objection that a third part of the nation held to the rules of the
Sachsenspiegel 3 (Mirror of Saxony), which were at direct variance with
1 In the Instruction of the Elector of Brandenburg it was further said, " Scarcely
half of the Common Penny had been got in, on account of the great mortality.
His electoral Grace would either deliver up what had been hitherto received
separately, or would be responsible for the whole together."
- Freiberg, Gesch. der Baier. Landst., i., 568. 663.
3 A collection of old Saxon or Frisian Laws of the beginning of the thirteenth
century.
5
66 DIET OF WORMS AND FREIBURG, 1498 [Boox I.
that right. 1 A regular criminal procedure was taken into consideration,
chiefly on account of the frequent illegal infliction of the punishment of
death. In order to put a stop to the confusion in the currency, it was
resolved to coin all gulden of the size and form of the gulden of the Rhenish
electors. In short, this diet of Freiburg, which opened so stormily, gradu-
ally despatched more business of various kinds than any that had yet met.
The question now remained what view the States would take of European
affairs. The French had made the proposal that Genoa and Naples
should be ceded to them, in which case they would not disturb Milan, and
would conclude a permanent peace on all other points ; a proposal which,
if sincere, had much to recommend it, and was especially agreeable to
the German princes. They argued that Genoa was little to be depended
upon in any case, and was seeking a new master every day ; and what
had the empire to do with Naples and Sicily ? It would, in fact, be far
more advantageous to them to have a powerful prince there, who could
hold the Turks in check. The sovereignty of Italy was a matter of indiffer-
ence to them ; they declared themselves generally opposed to all alliances
with the Welsch (non-Germans). Such, however, was not the opinion
of the electors, and least of all, the ecclesiastical. They reminded their
opponents that Genoa had been called by Frederick I. a chamber of the
empire ; that Naples was a fief of the papal see, and must therefore be
held by the King of the Romans, the steward of the church. But above
all, that they must not suffer the King of France to become too powerful,
lest he should attempt to get possession of the empire. They would
not abate a single iota of the idea of the Germanic empire, with which
indeed their own importance was indissolubly associated. These senti-
ments, which rendered them at once partisans of the king, were at length
triumphant : the negotiations which Frederick of Saxony had set on foot
with Louis XII. fell to the ground : at the moment when the States had
placed the institutions of the empire on something like a firm footing,
they were forced into a war.
TwoTgreat conflicting tendencies had been at work from the beginning
of this reign ; that of the king, to hurry the nation into warlike enter-
prises and that of the States, to establish its internal tranquillity. They
now seemed resolved on concession, union, and concert. The king had
confirmed and established the proceedings of Worms, which were dis-
agreeable to him ; and the States acceded to his desire to defend the
majesty of the empire by arms.
EVENTS OF THE WAR.
IT remained however to be asked, whether either party had distinctly
conceived, or maturely weighed, what they were about to undertake.
There may be governments to which war is a source of strength ; but
it can never be so to those which have a strong federative element, yet in
1 A very important protocol, which serves to complete the others, in Harpp-
recht, ii., p. 341. In the Berlin Archives, we find the document, which Miiller,
ii. 442, gives under the title " An Explanation of the Imperial Chamber," with
some additions, however ; e.g. " with respect to the article concerning the suc-
cession of daughters and grandchildren, this article has been deferred till the
arrival of the king's majesty." The presence of the king himself was needful
to bring the affair to a conclusion.
BOOK I.] EVENTS OF THE WAR, 1408 67
which the danger attendant on failure is not common to the whole body.
For Germany, nothing was more necessary than peace, in order that
institutions yet in their infancy might be allowed tranquil growth, and
identify themselves with the habits of the people ; and the scarcely
recognised principle of obedience have time to take root. The collection
and expenditure of the Common Penny needed above all to become
habitual. But the diet at which these measures had been concluded was
hardly closed when the nation rushed forth to war.
Nor was this all. The power they were about to attack was the earliest
and the most completely consolidated of any in Europe ; a new sovereign,
who had long enjoyed universal consideration, had assumed the reins
of government and commanded the entire and cordial obedience of his
subjects. Such was the monarch, and such the kingdom, which Maxi-
milian, in daring reliance on the assistance of the empire, now proceeded
in person to attack. After having regained for his troops the advantages
they had lost in Upper Burgundy, 1 he fell upon Champagne with a con-
siderable army. A truce was now offered by the enemy, which he
declined.
I do not doubt that the leading princes saw the danger of the course
Maximilian was taking ; but they could not prevent it. The agreement
they had come to at Freiburg was obtained solely by the consent of the
States to assist him in his campaign : they must let him try his fortune.
The great superiority of the political position which Louis XII. had
contrived to acquire now manifested itself. He had gained over the
old allies of Maximilian in Spain, Italy, and even the Netherlands. Milan
and Naples, which he had resolved to attack, had no other allies than the
King of the Romans himself.
But even in Germany itself, Louis found means to excite enmities
sufficient to furnish Maximilian with occupation. The Palatinate had
always maintained a good understanding with France ; active negoti-
ations were set on foot with Switzerland and the Grisons. Duke Charles
of Gueldres, (of the house of Egmont, deposed by Charles the Bold, but
which had never renounced its claims,) was the first to take up arms.
Maximilian was driven out of Champagne by incessant rain and the
overflow of the rivers. He turned his arms upon Gueldres, and, with
the assistance of Juliers and Cleves, gained some advantages ; but they
were not decisive : the country adhered faithfully to Duke Charles, who
had secured its attachment by granting it new privileges. Hence it
happened, that Maximilian could not attend the assembly of the empire
fixed to be held on the eve of St. Catherine (November 2ist) at Worms,
indispensable as that was to the completion and execution of the ordinances
agreed on : this meeting, where, if he had been present, resolutions of the
utmost practical importance would probably have been passed, broke
up without doing any thing. 2 But, besides this, the troubles in Switzer-
1 The Fugger MS. relates at length that the Germans had kept the advantage
in a skirmish, Sept. 22, 1498, and had reconquered castles they had previously
lost. It is incredible that Maximilian, as Zurita asserts, should have had 25,000
infantry and 5,000 horse in the field.
- Letter from Maximilian to Bishop Henry of Bamberg : Harpprecht, ii. 399.
The king invited the assembly to meet at Cologne, where, however, many of th
members did not appear, as their instructions only spoke of Worms.
52
68 EVENTS OF THE WAR, 1498 [BOOK I.
land now broke out in the form of regular war. The empire was as yet
far from renouncing its sovereignty over the confederated cantons : it
had cited them before the imperial chambers, nor had any objection been
taken to the legality of such a proceeding ; the Common Penny had been
levied in them ; so lately as at the diet of Freiburg, the resolution was
passed, " to keep the powerful cities of the Confederation, which bear
the imperial eagle in their arms, in their duty and allegiance to the empire,
and to invite them again to attend the meetings of the States. But
these invitations could have no effect in a country where the want of
internal peace was not felt, because they had secured it for themselves and
were already in possession of a tolerably well-ordered government. A party
which had always been hostile to the King of the Romans, and which found
it more expedient to earn French money than to adhere to the empire,
gained the upper hand. In this state of things, the Grisons, who were
threatened by Tyrol on account of the part they had taken, injurious to
the peace of the empire, by sheltering persons under the king's ban, found
immediate assistance from the confederates. In one moment the whole
frontier, Tyrol and Grisons, Swabia and Switzerland, stood in hostile
array.
Strange that the measures taken to introduce order into the empire
should have had results so directly contrary to the views with which they
were undertaken ! The demands of the diet and of the imperial chamber
set the Swiss Confederation in a ferment ; the summoning of the Grisons
to deliver up a fugitive under ban occasioned their defection. If, on the
other side, the city of Constance, after long hesitation, joined the Swabian
league, this act was regarded with the utmost disgust by the Swiss, because
the city possessed the jurisdiction over the Thurgau, a district of which
it had obtained possession some years before. Independently of this,
there existed, ever since the formation of the league, a hatred between
Swabia and Switzerland which had long vented itself in mutual insults
and now broke out in a wild war of devastation.
The constitution of the empire was far from being strong enough
its unity was far from having sunk deeply enough into the mind and
consciousness of the people to allow it to put forward its full strength
in the conflict with France : the States convened, or rather huddled
together in the utmost hurry at Mainz, passed partial and infirm reso-
lutions ; it was, in fact, only the members of the Swabian league who
supported the king, and even these were not inclined to risk their lives
in a battle with sturdy peasants.
Under these circumstances, the empire was in no condition to make a
successful resistance to those designs of King Louis upon Italy which Maxi-
milian had vainly desired to prevent. Whilst the Upper Rhine was torn
by private wars, the French crossed the Alps and took Milan without diffi-
culty. Maximilian was compelled to make a very disadvantageous peace
with the Swiss, by which not only the jurisdiction of the Thurgau was lost,
but their general independence was fixed on an immovable basis.
A successful war would have strengthened the constitution of the
empire : the inevitable effect of these reverses was to overthrow or, at the
least/to modify it.
BOOK I.] DIET OF AUGSBURG, 1500 69
DIET OF AUGSBURG, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
THE immediate result of this assembly was that the authority of the king
was even more limited than before ; the principle of representative govern-
ment (stdndische Princip} gained another victory, by which it appeared
to have secured a fresh and lasting ascendancy. 1
At the diet which was opened at Augsburg on the loth of April, 1500,
it was agreed that the means which Tiad been hitherto adopted for the
establishment of a military organization and a more regular government
were insufficient. The prospect of collecting the Common Penny was too
remote ; events succeeded each other too rapidly to allow of the possi-
bility of the States constantly assembling first for the purpose of guiding
or controlling them. Adhering to the idea which had got possession of
their minds, they now resolved to try other means to the same end. They
proposed to collect the forces they wanted by a sort of levy. Every four
hundred inhabitants, assembling according to their parishes, were to fur-
nish and equip one foot soldier, a method which had been tried some time
before in France : the cavalry proportioned to this infantry was to be
raised by the princes, counts, and lords, according to a certain scale. A
tax was to be laid on those who could not take an active share in the war,
clergy, Jews, and servants, and the amount was to form a fund for the war ;
propositions which, as it will be seen, are immediately connected with the
former ones, and which assume an equally complete and comprehensive
unity of the empire. Maximilian embraced them with joy ; he made his
calculations, and gave the Spanish ambassador to understand that he
would shortly have 30,000 men in the field. On the other hand, he adopted
a plan which he had rejected five years before, and which must have been
odious to a man of his character ; he now acknowledged the necessity of
having a permanent imperial council, which might relieve him and the
States from incessant recurrence to the diets, and to whose vigilance and
energy the execution of the ordinances when issued might be entrusted. 2
A committee was formed for a fresh discussion of this institution, and its
suggestions were then submitted to the general assembly of the States.
Every member had the right of proposing amendments in writing.
The business was treated with all the gravity it deserved. There were
two points to be considered ; the composition, and the rights and functions,
of the proposed council. In the first place, a position suited to their high
1 Stdndische Princip is not literally " representative principle," or rather, it is
that and something more. Standisch, the adjective of Stand, (status, class,
order), as applied to government, signifies representation of the several states
or orders of the nation. The English and the Swedish constitutions are sttin-
disch ; the American, though representative, is not standisch at all, since there
are no Stdnde to represent. I may here point out another difficulty arising out
of the double and often equivocal use of the word state, which represents both
Staat and Stand two words of totally different meaning. Staat, the state, is
the whole civil and political body of the nation ; Stand (status) is a class or order
of the nation. The United States of America are Staaten ; the States of the
Empire were Stdnde. TRANSL.
2 Protocol of the Imperial Diet of Augsburg, in the Frankfurt Archives,
vol. xix., unfortunately not so circumstantial as might be wished ; e.g. the
objections which the cities had made, contained in three bills or advertisements,
are not inserted, " because every city deputy knew them."
70 DIET OF AUGSBURG [BOOK I.
rank, and to the influence they had hitherto possessed in the country, was
assigned to the electors. Each of them was to send a delegate to the coun-
cil ; one of them, according to regular rotation, to be always present. The
much more numerous college of princes was less favourably treated. The
intention had at first been to let the spiritual side be represented according
to the archbishoprics ; the temporal, according to the so-called countries,
Swabia, Franconia, Bavaria, and the Netherlands j 1 but these divisions
neither corresponded with the idea of a compact and united empire, nor
with the existing state of things ; and the assembly now preferred to in-
clude spiritual and temporal princes together within certain circles or dis-
tricts. Six of these were marked out, and were at first called provinces of
the German nation, Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Upper Rhine, West-
phalia, and Lower Saxony ; they were, however, not as yet called by these
names, but were distinguished according to the several states which in-
habited them. 2 The interests whose disseverance would, in any case,
have been absurd and purposeless, were thus more closely united. Counts
and prelates and cities were all included within these circles. It was also
determined that one temporal prince, one count and one prelate should
always have a seat in the council. Austria and the Netherlands were to
send two delegates. Little notice had at first been taken of the cities ;
nor, indeed, in spite of the original intention, had they at a later period
been admitted to a place in the imperial chamber ; but they thought this
extremely injurious to them, and the more unjust, since the burthen of
raising the funds for the expenses of the States must fall mainly upon them ;
and at length they succeeded in obtaining the right of sending two members
to the imperial council. The cities which were to enjoy this privilege in
turn were immediately named : Cologne and Strasburg for the circle of
the Rhine ; Augsburg and Ulm for the Swabian ; Number g and Frank-
furt for the Franconian ; Liibeck and Gosslar for the Saxon : the delegates
were always to be sent by two of these districts. 3 A curious illustration
of the old and fundamental principle of the Germanic empire, that every
right should be attached as soon as created, in a certain form, to a certain
place ; so that the general right wears the air of a special privilege.
Thus the three colleges of which the diet consisted were also the com-
ponent parts of the imperial council, which may, indeed, be regarded as a
permanent committee of the States. The king had no other right there
than to preside in person, or to send a representative (Statthalter). The
preponderance was doubtless on the side of the States, and especially in
the hands of the electors, who were now so firmly united and so strongly
represented.
This council, the character of which was so decidedly that of class
1 These are Salzburg, Magdeburg, Bremen, and Besanon ; the electorates
were of course excluded ; the Netherlands on the Maass were instead of Saxony.
Datt, de Pace Publica, p. 603.
2 Order of the Regency (Regiment) established at Augsburg, in the collec-
tions of the Recesses of the Imperial Diets.
3 Chiefly from the letter of Johann Reysse to the City of Frankfurt, Aug. 17,
1500. "So die Fiirsten kainen von Stetten zu Reichsraidt verordnet batten,
so haben die Stette bedacht," &c. " As the princes had appointed none of the
cities to the council of the empire, the cities had therefore bethought them-
selves," &c. He further remarks, that the princes immediately caused three
candidates to be proposed to them from each city, out of whom they chose one.
BOOK I.J AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, 1500 71
representation (stdndisch), was immediately invested with the most im-
portant powers. Everything that regarded the administration of j ustice
and the maintenance of public tranquillity ; everything relating to the
measures of defence to be taken against the infidels and other enemies ;
foreign as well as internal affairs, lay within its domain ; it had power " to
originate, to discuss, to determine." It is evident that the essential
business of the government was transferred to it, and indeed it assumed
the title of the government or regency of the empire 1 (Reichsregiment). 2
It seemed now as if not only the judicial but the legislative and adminis-
trative parts of the government must assume a thoroughly representative
(standisch] character.
If Maximilian suffered himself to be persuaded to make such large con-
cessions in Augsburg, it was, doubtless, only because the preparations for
war depended upon them ; because he hoped by this means to obtain from
the States a durable, voluntary, cordial and effective support in his foreign
enterprises. On the i4th of August, after everything was concluded, he
urged the States to take example from him, and to do something for the
empire, as he had done. He worked himself up, as it were intentionally,
to the expectation that this would take place ; he wished to believe it ;
but his hopes alternated with secret fears that, after all, it would not take
place, and that he should have surrendered his rights in vain. He be-
trayed the greatest agitation of mind ; a feeling of impending danger and
of present wrong, as he himself expressed it. Whilst he reminded the
assembly of the oaths and vows by which each of them was bound to the
holy empire, he added that unless more and better was done than before,
he would not wait till the crown was torn from his head, he would rather
himself cast it down at his feet. 3
Very little time elapsed before he got into various disputes with the
States. He was obliged to consent to publish an edict against the dis-
obedient, the penalties attached to which were of a less severe nature than
he deemed necessary.
A Captain-general of the empire, Duke Albert of Bavaria, was appointed,
with whom Maximilian speedily felt that he could never agree.
The armament of the succours agreed upon did not proceed, in spite of
the new council of the empire, which assembled in the year 1500. In
April, 1501, the lists of the population of the several parishes, which were
the necessary basis of the whole levy, were not yet sent in.
1 That this was regarded as a sort of abdication is shown by the expression
of the Venetian ambassador. Relatione di S. Zaccaria Contarini, venuto orator
del re di Romani 1502 : in Sanuto's Chronicle, Vienna Archives, vol. iv. " Fo
terminate et fo opinion del re rinontiar il suo poter in 16, nominati il senato
imperial, quali fossero quelli avesse (i quali avessero) a chiamar le diete e tuor le
imprese."
2 The translation commonly in use for Reichsregiment (council of regency)
does not convey any definite or correct idea to the mind of the reader, nor does
any better suggest itself. Das Regimen tis as nearly as possible the govern-
ment, according to the common and inaccurate use of the word, but that is far
too vague and general. What its powers and functions were we see in the text.
Eichhorn (vol. iii., p. 127) says : " This institution was agreeable neither to the
emperor nor to the States. For the former it was too independent, and for the
latter, too active ; and hence it remained only two years assembled." TRANSL.
3 Letter from Reysse, Aug. 17.
72 DIET OF AUGSBURG [BooK I.
Lcistly, the imperial council assumed an attitude utterly disagreeable
to the king. Negotiations were set on foot, and a truce concluded, with
Louis XII. of France, whom Maximilian had thought to crush with the
weight of the empire. The council was not averse to grant the king of
France Milan as a fief of the empire, at his request. 1
At this the whole storm of anger and disgust which Maximilian had so
long with difficulty restrained burst forth. He saw himself thralled and
fettered as to internal affairs, and as to external, not supported. His
provincial Estates in Tyrol remarked to him how insignificant he was
become in the empire.
He appeared for a moment at the Council of Regency in Niirnberg, but
only to complain of the indignities offered him, 2 and of the increasing dis-
orders of the empire. He remained but a few days.
It had been determined that the Council of Regency should be em-
powered to summon an assembly of the States in cases of urgency. The
state of things now appeared to that body highly urgent, and it did not
delay to use the right conferred upon it. The king did everything he
could to thwart it.
Another ordinance bound the king not to grant the great fiefs without
consulting the electors. As if to punish the States for their negotiations
with Louis XII., he now granted, of his own sole authority, the fief of
Milan to this his old enemy. 3
But if the king had not power enough to enforce order in the empire, he
had enough to trouble that which was as yet but imperfectly established.
In the beginning of the year 1502, everything that had been begun in
Augsburg had fallen into a state of utter dissolution. The Council of
Regency and the assessors of the imperial chamber, who neither received
- their salaries nor were allowed to exercise their functions, dispersed and
went home. To the king, this was rather agreeable than otherwise. He
erected a court of j ustice exactly similar to that of his father, with assessors
arbitrarily appointed, over which he presided himself. It is evident from
one of his proclamations that he meditated establishing in like manner a
government (Regiment] nominated solely by himself, and, by its means,
carrying into execution the plan of a military organisation determined on
in Augsburg.
This conduct necessarily excited a universal ferment. A Venetian
ambassador, Zaccharia Contarini, who was in Germany in the year 1502,
1 Miiller Reichstagsstaat, p. 63.
2 In this Maximilian was not entirely wrong. It is not to be believed to what
lengths the French Ambassador went. He said without reserve, that the reason
why Maximilian took the part of Naples so warmly was, that he had been paid
30,000 ducats, though the negotiator of the affair had pocketed one half of the
sum, and the remainder only had come into the hands of the emperor. He
said the King of France had no thought of injuring the empire. But if they
made war on him, then the king would find his way into the enemies' quarters
as readily as they into his. And yet to this ambassador the council of the empire
gave a testimonial to the effect that if he had not accomplished the king's object,
the fault lay not in him but in circumstances. Recreditive, May 25, 1501 ;
Muller, p. no.
3 Contarini alleges the following very peculiar motive : " Lo episcopo di
Magonza voleva per il sigillo 8o m due. onde parse al re di Romani d'acordarsi
et aver lui questi danari."
BOOK I.] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, 1500 73
was astonished at the great unpopularity of the king, how ill people spoke
of him, how little they respected or cared for him. Maximilian himself
said, " He would he were Duke of Austria, then people would think some-
thing of him ; as King of the Romans he received nothing but indignities." 1
Once more did the electors resolve jointly and resolutely to oppose his
will. On the 3oth of June, 1 502, at a solemn congress at Gelnhausen, they
bound themselves to hold together in all important affairs ; to act as one
man at the imperial diets, and always to defend the wishes of the majority ;
to allow of no oppressive mandates, no innovations, no diminution of the
empire ; and, lastly, to meet four times every year, for the purpose of
deliberating on the public affairs and interests. It does not distinctly
appear whether they really, as was reported, came to the resolution to
dethrone the king ; but what they did was in fact the same thing. With-
out consulting him, they announced a meeting of the empire on the ist of
the November following ; every member communicated to the one seated
next him the topics on which they were to deliberate. They were the same
which had formed the subject of all former deliberations of the Germanic
body : the Turkish war, the relations with the pope, the public expendi-
ture, but, above all, the establishment of law, tranquillity and order ; with
a view to the maintenance of which, some new ordinances were presently
inserted, to come into force after the Imperial Chamber and Council of
Regency should cease to exist. 2
The Elector Palatine, who had rather opposed the former measures of
the diet, now that it had come to a breach with the king, distinguished
himself by his active and zealous co-operation.
Maximilian was in the greatest perplexity. While he complained that
attacks were made on the sovereignty which was his of right as crowned
king of the Romans, while he sought to take credit for having of his own
accord established the Council of Regency and the Chamber, 3 he did not
feel himself strong enough to forbid the proposed assembly of the empire ;
he therefore took the course of proclaiming it himself ; announcing that he
would be present at it, and would take counsel with the princes and electors
on an expedition against the Turks ; the necessity for which daily became
more urgent. This was, in truth, not very unlike the conduct of King
Rupert, or the manner in which, at a later period, the kings of France put
themselves at the head of factions which they could not subdue. But the
electoral princes of Germany would not even make this concession. Some
had already arrived at Gelnhausen for the proposed diet ; among them a
papal legate ; and many others had bespoken dwellings, when a procla-
mation of the Elector Palatine of the i8th of October was circulated,
putting off the diet. 4
1 Relatione, 1. c. of 1502. " II re e assai odiato, a poca obedientia in li tre
stadi : questi senatori electi e venuti niniici del re : adeo il re dice mal di loro
e loro del re. II re a ditto piu volte vorria esser duca d'Austria, perche saria
stimato duca, che imperator e vituperate."
2 I found them in the Archives of Berlin and Dresden ; to the Duke of Saxony
they had sent the united electors of Brandenburg and Saxony. Miiller has but
a very unsatisfactory notice of the subject.
3 Letter from Schwabischwerd, Nov. 2, Frankf. R.A., torn. xx.
4 Hinsburg, near Frankfurt, Oct. 20. (Thursday after Galli.) Gelnhausen
sent to Frankfurt the letter of the elector Berthold, which arrived on the ipth,
wherein the latter also declared " the diet appointed at Gelnhausen was delayed
from special causes, and removed to another place."
74 DIET OF AUGSBURG [BOOK I.
To compensate for this they held an extraordinary meeting in Wiirz-
burg, at which they renewed their opposition, and announced a general
assembly of the empire for the next Whitsuntide.
Maximilian, who was about to set out on a journey to the Netherlands,
issued a proclamation, in which he invited the States to repair to his
court, and to consult with him concerning the Turkish war and Council
of Regency. 1
Of the meeting summoned by the king there exists not a trace ; that
appointed by the electors, however, certainly took place in June, 1503, at
Mainz, though we are unable to discover whether it was numerously
attended. Maximilian's measures were here opposed, on the ground that
they were inj urious to the empire. As there was nothing to be feared from
his Council of Regency (since he was obliged to confess that he had been
unable to find fitting members), the meeting contented itself with attacking
his tribunal. They declared to him that no prince of the empire would
consent to submit to its decisions. They reminded him of the ordinances
passed at Worms and Augsburg, and urged him to adhere to them.
Such was the result of the attempts made in the year 1 503 to constitute
the Germanic body.
The authority of the empire was restored neither in Italy, nor in the
Swiss Confederation, nor on the eastern frontier, where the Teutonic
knights were incessantly pressed upon by the Poles and Russians. At
home, the old disorders had broken out new. Not only had the attempt
to establish a firm and durable constitution for war and peace utterly
failed, but there was no longer any tribunal of universally recognised
authority.
The highest powers in the nation, the king and his electors, had fallen
into irreconcilable discord. In Elector Berthold, especially, Maximilian
beheld a dangerous and determined foe. It had already been reported to
him from Augsburg that Mainz had spoken contemptuously of him to the
other princes ; and obsequious people had given him a list of not less
than twenty- two charges which the Elector brought against him. Max-
imilian had stifled his anger, and had said nothing ; but the impression
now made upon him by every opposition he encountered, by every con-
sequence of the Augsburg constitution that he had not anticipated, was
the more profound ; he ascribed everything to the crafty schemes of the
sagacious old man. A hostile and bitter correspondence took place
between the king and the arch-chancellor. 2 Maximilian retorted upon his
adversary a list of charges, twenty-three in number ; one more than those
brought against himself by Mainz, which he still kept concealed, but with
whose contents he only fed his resentment the more constantly in secret. 3
A state of things most perilous to himself.
1 Antorf, April 7, Fr. A. " Des Reichsregiments wegen der Personen so
daran geordnet seyen wir dann nit so paid erlangen haben miigen und dadurch
wiederum in Anstand kommen ist." " As to the Council of Regency, on account
of the persons fitted for it, we have not been able to create it so quickly, and
accordingly it is again delayed."
2 Gudenus IV., 547, 551.
3 " Konigl Maj Anzeigen, item die Ursach darumb des Reichs Regiment und
Wolfart zu Augspurg aufgericht stocken beliben ist." " Declarations of his
Royal Majesty, also the cause why the government and welfare of the empire
established at Augsburg have stood stock-still." Frank/. A. A,
BOOK I.] IMPROVED FORTUNES OF MAXIMILIAN 75
The other Electors adhered firmly to Berthold, who, in the midst of all
these troubles, had formed a fresh and strict alliance with the Palatinate.
The cities clung to him as closely as ever. There was a general feeling
through the nation that the fate of Wenceslas was impending over Maxi-
milian ; that he would be deposed. It is said that the Elector Palatine
had formally proposed this measure in the electoral council ; that shortly
after, the king arrived one day unexpectedly at a castle belonging to that
prince where his wife was residing, and that during their morning's repast,
he gave her to understand that he was perfectly acquainted with her hus-
band's designs. Such, however, was the grace and charm of his manner
and the imposing dignity of his person and bearing, that the project was
abandoned. 1 However this may be, his affairs were in as bad a situation
as possible. The European opposition to Austria once more obtained that
influence on the interior of Germany, formerly acquired through Bavaria,
and now through the Palatinate, which maintained a close connection
with France and Bohemia.
Yet Maximilian had still powers and resources in store ; and it was the
Palatinate which soon afforded him an opportunity to rally and to apply
them.
IMPROVED FORTUNES OF MAXIMILIAN. DIET OF COLOGNE AND CONSTANCE ;
1505 AND
IN the first place Maximilian had connected himself with one of the most
powerful houses of Europe. 2 The marriage of his son Philip with the
Infanta Johanna of Spain not only directly opened very brilliant prospects
to his family, but indirectly afforded it a defence against the aggressions of
France, in the claims, the policy, and the arms of Spain. After a momen-
tary good understanding in Naples, a war had just broken out between
these two powers, the results of which inclined in favour of Spain ; so
that the consideration of France began to decline in Germany, and the
public confidence in the fortunes of Austria to revive.
Moreover, Maximilian had (which was much more important) a party
at home among the States. If the electors and the cities in alliance with
Mainz were hostile to him, he had won over devoted friends and adherents
among the princes, both spiritual and temporal.
For the name and state of King of the Romans was not an empty sound.
In the general affairs of the realm his power might be controlled ; but the
functions and the sacred dignity of sovereign head of the empire still gave
him considerable influence over individual families, districts and towns.
He was exactly the man to turn this influence to advantage.
By means of unremitting attention and timely interference he gradually
succeeded in getting a certain number of bishoprics filled according to his
wishes. We find among them the names of Salzburg, Freisingen, Trent,
Eichstadt, Augsburg, Strasburg, Constance, Bamberg : all these sees were
1 Anecdote in Fugger, the truth of which, however, I will not warrant.
2 The marriage that gave Spain to the Hapsburgs :
Maximilian Mary of Burgundy.
Archduke Philip = Juana, d. of Ferdinand and Isabella
Charles V.
76 IMPROVED FORTUNES OF MAXIMILIAN [BOOK I.
now, as far as their chapters would permit, partisans of Maximilian, and
favourers of his projects. 1 In these ecclesiastical affairs his connection
with the pope was especially useful to him. For example, when a prebend
of the cathedral of Augsburg became vacant in 1500, it was the papal
legate who conferred it on the king's chancellor, Matthew Lang (the vacancy
having occurred in a papal month). The chapter raised a thousand
objections ; it would admit no man of the burgher class, and, least of all,
a son of a burgher of Augsburg : but Maximilian said, one who was good
enough to be his councillor and chancellor was good enough to be an
Augsburg canon. At a solemn mass Matthew Lang was unexpectedly
placed among the princes, and afterwards seated within the altar. At
length the canons were satisfied, upon Lang's promising them that if he
delegated to another the business of the provostship, he would appoint no
one whom the chapter did not approve.
Still more direct was the influence which Maximilian gained over the
secular princes. In most cases he attached them to his cause, partly by
military service, partly by the favours which he had to dispense as head
of the empire. Thus the sons of Duke Albert of Saxony were indissolubly
bound to the Netherland policy of Austria by the possession of Friesland,
which Maximilian granted to their father as a reward of his services. Albert's
son-in-law, too, Erich of Calenberg, connected through him with the house
of Austria, gained fame in the Austrian wars : the whole house of Guelph
was attached to Austria. Henry der Mittlere 2 of Liineburg, as well as his
cousins, won new privileges and reversions of estates in the service of the
king. In the same position stood Henry IV. of Mecklenburg. 3 Bogis-
law X. of Pomerania did not indeed accept the service offered him at his
return from the East ; nevertheless Maximilian thought it expedient to
conciliate him by the grant of the tolls of Wolgast and other favours. 4
The granting of tolls was, indeed, with Maximilian, as with his father, one
means of carrying on the government : Julich, Treves, Hessen, Wurten-
berg, Liineburg, Mecklenburg, the Palatinate even, and many others,
acquired at different times new rights of toll. Other houses transferred
to Austria their ancient alliances with Burgundy. Count John XIV. of
Oldenburg alleged that a secret treaty had existed between his ancestors
and Charles the Bold, in consideration of which the king promised to sup-
port him in his claims on Delmenhorst. 5 Count Engilbert of Nassau
fought by the side of Charles at Nancy, and of Maximilian at Guinegat, for
which he was made Stadtholder-General of the Netherlands in 1501. From
this moment we may date the firm establishment of the power of that house
(which shortly after gained possession of Orange) in the Low Countries. 6
Hessen and Wiirtenberg were won over by Maximilian himself. He at
length determined to grant the Landgrave of Hessen the investiture which
he had always refused his father. At the diet of 1495 ne presented himself
1 Pasqualigo, Relatione di Germania (MS. in the Court Library at Vienna),
to whom I am indebted for this remark, says of the bishops : " Li quali tutti
dependono dal re come sue fatture, e seguono le voglie sue."
* Der Mittlere the mid-brother of three. TRANSL.
3 Liitzow, Geschichte von Meklenburg, ii., p. 458.
4 Kanzow, Pomerania, ii., p. 260. Barthold im Berlin Kal. 1838, p. 41.
6 Hamelmann, Oldenb. Chronik., p. 309.
Arnoldi, Gesch. v. Oranien, ii. 202.
BOOK I.] PARTISANS OF MAXIMILIAN 77
in front of the throne with the great red banner, upon which, round the
arms of Hessen, were displayed not only the bearings of Waldeck, but of
Katzenelnbogen, Diez, Ziegenhain, and Nidda : the banner was so splendid
that it was not torn up, as was usual on such occasions, but was borne in
solemn procession and consecrated to the Virgin Mary. 1 Such was the
investiture of the house of Hessen ; and we find that William der Mittlere-
took an ardent share in Maximilian's campaigns.
Still more intimate was the connection of Wiirtenberg with Austria.
Maximilian put the seal to the acquisitions of centuries made by the
counts of that house by consolidating them into a duchy ; from that time
he took a warmer interest in the affairs of that state than of any other : in
the year 1503, in defiance of the law, he declared the young Duke Ulrich
of age when only in his sixteenth year, and thus secured his entire devotion.
The Markgraves of Brandenburg were still true to the ancient allegiance
of their founder. 2 Later historians complain bitterly of the costly jour-
neys and the frequent campaigns of Markgrave Frederick, whose succours
always far exceeded his contingent. We find his sons also, from the year
1500, commanding small bodies of men in the Austrian service.
These princes were, for the most part, young men who delighted in war
and feats of arms, and at the same time sought profit and advancement in
the king's service. The gay and high-spirited Maximilian, eternally in
motion and busied with ever-new enterprises, good-natured, bountiful,
most popular in his manners and address, a master of arms and all knightly
exercises, a good soldier, matchless in talents and inventive genius, was
formed to captivate the hearts and to secure the ardent devotion of his
youthful followers.
How great was the advantage this gave him was seen in the year 1504,
when the Landshut troubles broke out in Bavaria. Duke George the Rich
of Landshut, who died on the ist of December, 1503, in defiance of the
feudal laws of the empire and the domestic treaties of the house of Bavaria,
made a will, in virtue of which both his extensive and fertile domains, and
the long-hoarded treasures of his house, would fail, not to his next agnates,
Albert and Wolfgang of Bavaria-Munich, but to his more distant cousin,
nephew, and son-in-law, Rupert of the Palatinate, second son of the
elector, to whom, even during his lifetime, he had ceded his most important
castles.
Had the Council of Regency continued to exist, it would have been
empowered to prevent the quarrel between the Palatinate and Bavaria
which this incident rekindled with great violence ; or had the imperial
Chamber still been constituted according to the decrees of Worms and
Augsburg, members of the States of the empire would have had a voice in
the decision of the question of law : but the Regency had fallen to nothing,
and the court of justice was constituted by the king alone, according to his
own views ; he himself was once more regarded as " the living spring of
the law," 3 and everything was referred to his decision.
1 The ballad on this subject, which Miiller, Rtth. unter Max. I., 538, has
inserted, is of later date ; the thing itself is correct.
2 Frederick of Hohenzollern, Margrave of Nuremburg. Given the Electorate
of Brandenburg by the Emperor Sigismund , 1417.
3 Expression of Lamparter in his address to the States at Landshut ; Frei-
berg, ii. ( p. r i78. Gesch. der baier. Landstande, ii., p. 38.
78 IMPROVED FORTUNES OF MAXIMILIAN [Boox I.
His conduct in this case was extremely characteristic. He insisted
upon the preservation of peace : he then appeared in person, and presided
at long sittings of the diet, in order to preserve a good temper and under-
standing : he did not shrink from the labour of hearing both parties, even
to the fifth statement of each ; and, lastly, he summoned the judge and
assessors of his chamber to assist him in forming a just and lawful decision. 1
But in all these laudable efforts he had chiefly his own interest (he calls it
himself by that name) in view.
He now called to mind all the losses he had sustained on account of
Bavaria ; for example, how the expedition to the Lechfeld had caused him
to neglect the defence of his rights in Brittany and Hungary. He found,
on the one side, that Duke George had incurred heavy penalties by his
illegal will ; on the other, that Albert's claims, founded on family con-
tracts, were not incontestably valid, since those contracts had never
been confirmed by the emperor or the empire. Hereupon he set
himself up a claim to one part of the land in dispute, and a not incon-
siderable one.
Duke Albert, the King's brother - in - law, was quickly persuaded to
acquiesce, and at length published a formal renunciation of the disputed
districts. This was not surprising ; he was not yet in actual possession
of them, and he hoped by this compliance to establish a claim to still
larger acquisitions. On the other hand, the Count Palatine Rupert was
utterly inflexible. Whether it were that he reckoned on his father's
foreign alliances, or that the hostile spirit of the electoral college towards
the king gave him courage, he rejected all these proposals of partition.
Maximilian had an interview with him one night, and told him that his
father would bring ruin on himself and his house : but it was all in vain ;
Rupert immediately afterwards had the audacity to take possession in
defiance of the king.
Upon this Maximilian lost all forbearance. The lands and securities
left by Duke George were awarded by a sentence of the Chamber to the
Duke of Bavaria-Munich ; the crown fiscal demanded the proclamation
of the ban, and on the same day (23d April, 1504) the King of the Romans
uttered it in person in the open air. 2
The neighbours of the Palatine attached to the king's party only waited
for this proclamation to break loose upon him from all sides. The recol-
lection of all the injuries they had been compelled to endure from " that
wicked Fritz " (so they called Frederick the Victorious), and the desire to
avenge themselves and redress their wrongs, was aroused within them.
Duke Alexander the Black of Veldenz, Duke Ulrich of Wiirtenberg, Land-
grave William of Hessen, who led the Mecklenburg and Brunswick auxili-
aries, fell with devastating bands upon the Rhenish Palatinate. 3 In the
territory on the Danube, the troops of Brandenburg, Saxony, and Calen-
berg joined the magnificent army which Albert of Munich had collected.
The Swabian league, once so dangerous an enemy, was now his most
determined partisan ; Numberg, which indeed wished to make conquests
1 Harpprecht, Archiv. des Kammergerichts, ii., p. 178.
2 Freiberg, passim, ii., p. 52.
3 Trithemius, Zayner, and others, describe this devastation minutely. See
Ranke, Gesch. der romanisch-german. Volker, p. 231.
BOOK I.] BAVARIAN DISPUTES 70
for itself, sent succours to the field four times as great as had originally been
required of it. 1 The King of the Romans first appeared on the Danube.
It added not a little to his glory, that it was he who had gone in quest of
a body of Bohemian troops the only allies who had remained faithful to
the Count Palatine and had completely defeated them behind his own
Wagenburg, near Regensburg. He then marched on the Rhine ; the
bailiwick of Hagenau fell into his hands without resistance. Here, as on
the Danube, his first care was to take possession of the places to which he
himself had claims. The Palatinate, in any case little able to withstand
so superior and general an assault, was now totally incapacitated by the
death of the young and war-like Count Palatine, the author of the whole
disturbance, who fell in battle. The old elector was obliged to employ
another son (whom he had sent to be educated at the court of Burgundy)
as his mediator with Maximilian. An assembly of the empire, which had
been talked of in the summer of 1504, had at that time been evaded by
the king. It was not till the superiority of his arms was fully established
in February, 1505, that he concluded a general truce, and summoned a diet
at Cologne (which assembled in the June of that year), for the settlement
of all the important questions arising out of this affair, and now once
more referred to his decision. 2
How different was his present from his former meeting with the States !
He now appeared among them at the close of a war successfully terminated,
with added renown of personal valour, surrounded by a band of devoted
adherents, who hoped to retain by his favour the conquests they owed to
their own prowess ; respected even by the conquered, who surrendered
their destiny into his hands. Nor was this all. The affairs of Europe
were propitious. Maximilian's son Philip was become King of Castile,
upon the death of his mother-in-law. Many a good German cherished the
hope that his mighty and glorious chief was destined to chase the Turks
from Europe, and to add the crown of the Eastern empire to that of the
West. They thought that the united force of the empire was so great,
that neither Bohemians, Swiss, nor Turks could withstand it. 3
The first matter discussed at Cologne was the decision of the Landshut
differences. The king had the power of determining the fate of a large
German territory. He recurred to the proposals which he had made
1 In the true historical accounts of the cities usurped by Nurnberg, etc., 1791,
par. 15, this reproach is again brought against that city.
2 One of the strangest reports of these occurrences is to be found in the Viaggio
in Alemagna di Francesco Vettori, Paris, 1837, p. 95, from the mouth of a gold-
smith at Ueberlingen. First, the Count Palatine is in league with the Swiss
and the French ; even the Swiss war is brought about by him : hereupon Max-
imilian concludes a treaty with France at Hagenau, in 1502 (it took place, as
we know, in 1505), and forthwith attacks the Count Palatine, who calls upon
the Bohemians for help, but then leaves them himself in the lurch, so that they
get beaten. This is another example how rapidly history turns into myth ;
every detail is incorrect, while the whole is not entirely devoid of truth. Vettori
himself finds the statements of the goldsmith wanting in order, and not to be
depended on ; but he readily admits them into his book, which has more the
air of the Decameron than of a Diary of a Journey.
3 The sentiment of the admirable song, " die behemsch Schlacht " (the Bo-
hemian Fight), 1 504, by Hormayr, from some publication of the day, and repeated
by Soltau, p. 198.
8o IMPROVED FORTUNES OF MAXIMILIAN [BOOK I.
before the beginning of the war : for the issue of the Count Palatine
Rupert, he founded the new Palatinate on the other side the Danube,
which was to yield a rent of 24,000 gulden ; the constituent parts of it
were calculated to produce that amount. Landshut now, indeed, de-
volved on the Munich line, but not without considerable diminution :
the dukes themselves had been compelled to pay by cessions of lands for
the succours they had received ; the king kept back what he had advanced
to others before the sentence was pronounced : not only did he not sacri-
fice, he promoted, his own interests. The Palatinate sustained still
greater losses ; the loans, the claims to ceded lands, and the king's claims,
were more considerable in that territory than in any other. It availed
little that the old elector could not bring himself to accept the terms
offered him ; he was only the more entirely excluded from the royal
favour : some time later his son was obliged to conform to them. If the
possessions of the two houses of Wittelsbach were regarded as a whole,
it had suffered such losses by this affair as no house in Germany had for
ages sustained ; and it left so deep and lasting a resentment as might have
proved dangerous to the empire, had not their mutual animosity been
enkindled anew by the war, and rendered all concert between them im-
possible.
The position of Maximilian was, however, necessarily changed, even
as to the general policy of the empire, by the course things had taken.
The union of the electors was broken up. The humiliation of the
Palatinate was followed by the death of the Elector of Treves in the year
1503, to whose place Maximilian, strengthened by his alliance with the
court of Rome, succeeded in promoting one of his nearest kinsmen, the
young Markgrave James of Baden; 1 and, on the 2ist December, 1504, by
the death of the leader of the electoral opposition, Berthold of Mainz.
How rarely does life satisfy even the noblest ambition ! It was the lot of
this excellent man to live to see the overthrow of the institutions which he
had laboured so earnestly to establish, and the absolute supremacy of
the monarch on whom he had sought to impose legal and constitutional
restraints.
Maximilian had now a clear field for his own enterprises. It seemed to
him possible to use the ascendancy which he felt he had acquired, for the
establishment of organic institutions. Whilst he endeavoured to ascertain
why the measures taken at Augsburg had failed (the blame of which he
mainly attributed to Berthold of Mainz), he published a plan for carrying
them into execution, with certain modifications. 2
His idea was, at all events, to form a government (Regiment) composed
of a viceroy, chancellor, and twelve counsellors of the empire ; and for
their assistance, and under their supervision, to appoint four marshals,
each with twenty-five knights, for the administration of the executive
power in the districts of the Upper and Lower Rhine, the Danube, and
the Elbe. The imposition of the Common Penny was again expressly
mentioned.
But a glance is sufficient to show the wide difference between this scheme
1 Browerus, p. 320. He saw the Brief by which the Pope recommended the
candidate of the King of the Romans.
2 Protocol of the Imperial Diet in the Frankfurt Acts, which adds considerably
to the particulars found in Miiller's Reichstagsstaat.
BOOK I.] DIET OF COLOGNE, 1505 81
and the former. The king insisted on having the right of summoning this
governing body to attend his person and court ; it was only to be em-
powered to decide in the more insignificant cases ; in all matters of impor-
tance it was to recur to him. He would himself nominate a captain-general
of the empire, if he could not come to an understanding with Albert of
Bavaria.
In short, it is clear that the obligations and burdens of government
would have remained with the states ; the power would have fallen to
the lot of the king.
His ascendancy was, however, not yet so great as to induce, or to com-
pel, the empire to accept such a scheme as this at his hands.
Was it indeed possible to revert to institutions which had already
proved so impracticable ? Was not the sovereignty of the lords of the
soil far too firmly and fully developed to render it probable that they would
lend or even submit themselves to such extensive and radical changes ?
The only condition under which this could have been imagined possible
was, that a committee chosen from the body of the princes should be in-
vested with the sovereign power ; but that they would voluntarily abandon
their high position in favour of the king, it would have been absurd to
expect.
The diet of Cologne is remarkable for this that people began to cease
to deceive themselves as to the real state of things. The opinions which
prevailed during the last years of Frederick's and the first of Maximilian's
reign ; the attempts made to establish an all-embracing unity of the
nation, a combined action of all its powers, a form of government
which might satisfy all minds and supply all wants, are to be held in eternal
and honourable remembrance ; but they were directed towards an un-
attainable Ideal. The estates were no longer to be reduced to the condition
of subjects properly so called : the king was not contented to be nothing
more than a president of the estates. It was therefore necessary to
abandon such projects.
The estates assembled at Cologne did not refuse to afford succours to
the king, but neither by a general tax (Common Penny) nor by an assess-
ment of all the parishes in the empire, but by a matricula. 1 The difference
is immeasurable. The former plans were founded on the idea of unity, and
regarded the whole body of the people as common subjects of the empire ;
the matricula, in which the States were rated severally, according to their
resources, was, in its very origin, based on the idea of the separateness of
the territorial power of the several sovereigns.
They declined taking any share in a central or general government
(Reichsregiment) of the empire. They said his majesty had hitherto ruled
wisely and well ; they were not disposed to impose restraints upon him.
Public opinion took a direction far less ideal, far less satisfactory to
those who had cherished aspirations after a common fatherland, but one
more practical and feasible.
Maximilian demanded succours for an expedition against Hungary ; not
against the king, with whom, on the contrary, he was on a good footing,
1 The Matricula partook of the nature both of census and rate or assessment.
It was the list of the contingents, in men and money, which the several States
were bound to furnish to the empire, and was founded on their population and
pecuniary resources respectively. TRANSL.
6
82 DIET OF COLOGNE, 1505 [BOOK I.
but against a portion of the Hungarian nobles. The last treaty, by which
his hereditary rights were recognised, had been agreed to only by a few of
them individually ; it was not confirmed at the diet. The Hungarians
now began to declare that they would never again raise a foreigner to the
throne, alleging that none had consulted the interests of the nation. A
resolution to this effect, which was as offensive to their monarch as it was
injurious to the rights of Austria, was solemnly passed and sent into all
the counties. 1 This Maximilian now resolved to oppose. He observed
that the maintenance of his rights was important not only to himself but
to the Holy Empire, for which Bohemia had been recovered, and with
which Hungary was, through him, connected.
In a proclamation, in which the edicts concerning the Council of Regency
(Regiment] and the Common Penny were expressly repealed, Maximilian
asked for succours of four or five thousand men for one year. He ex-
pressed a hope that this might perhaps also suffice for his expedition to
Rome. The States assented without difficulty : they granted him four
thousand men for a year, raised according to a matricula. The levy was
to consist of 1058 horse, and 3038 foot. Of these, the secular princes were
to furnish the larger proportion of horse, namely, 422 ; the cities the
larger of foot, 1106: on the whole, the electors had to bear about a
seventh, the archbishops and bishops a half, the prelates and counts not
quite a third ; of the remaining seven parts, about one half was borne by
the secular princes, the other half by the States.
These more moderate levies had at least one good result they were
really executed. The troops which had been granted, were, if not entirely
(which the defective state of the census rendered impossible), yet, in great
measure, furnished to the king, and did him good service. His appearance
on the frontier at the head of forces armed and equipped by the empire,
made no slight impression in Hungary ; some magnates and cities were
quickly reduced to obedience. As a son was just then born to King
Wladislas, whereby the prospect of a change of dynasty became more
remote, the Hungarian nobles determined not exactly to revoke their
decree, but not to enforce it. A committee of the States received uncon-
ditional powers to conclude a peace, which was accordingly concluded in
July 1506 at Vienna; Maximilian having again reserved to himself his
hereditary right. Although the recognition of the states of Hungary
expressed by accepting this treaty is only indirect, Maximilian thought
his own rights and those of the German nation sufficiently guaranteed by
this treaty.
He now directed his attention and his forces upon Italy. Till he was in
possession of the crown and title of emperor he did not think he had
attained to his full dignity. 2
It was evident, however, that he would not be able to accomplish his
purpose with the small body of men that followed him from Hungary.
1 Istuanfty, Historia Regni Hungarici, p. 32.
2 In his declaraton to the states, Maximilian designates the convention of
Vienna as a treaty " whereby his Imperial Majesty and the German nation,
God willing, might suffer no loss of their rights in the kingdom of Hungary,
when the crown becomes vacant :" " dadurch I. K. Mt. und deutsche Nation,
ob Gott will, an ihrer erblichen und andern Gerechtigkeit des Konigreichs Ungern,
wenn es zu Fallen kommt, nicht Mangel haben werde."
BOOK I.I DIET OF CONSTANCE, 1507 83
Louis XII., with whom he had shortly before concerted the most inti-
mate union of their respective houses, was led into other views by his
States. He no longer thought it advisable to permit the eimbitious,
restless Maximilian, sustained by the power of a warlike nation, to get a
footing in Italy. In this the Venetians agreed. At the moment when
Maximilian approached their frontiers, they hastened (favoured by a
revolt among the Landsknechts, which gave them time) to organise a very
strong defence. Maximilian saw that, if he would obtain the crown, he
must conquer it by force of arms and in strenuous warfare. He hastened
to summon a new diet.
Once more, in the spring of 1 507, the States assembled, in the plenitude
of their loyalty and devotion to the king. They were still under the
influence of recent events ; strangers were astonished at their unanimity,
and at the high consideration the king of the Romans enjoyed among
them. A remark made by the Italians is not without foundation that a
calamity which had befallen the king had been of advantage to him in the
affairs of Germany. 1 His son Philip had hardly ascended the throne of
Castile when he died unexpectedly in September, 1506. The German
princes had always regarded the rising greatness of this young monarch
with distrust. They had feared that his father would endeavour to make
him elector, or vicar of the empire, and, after his own coronation, king of
the Romans ; and this first idea of a union of the imperial authority with
the power of Burgundy and of Castile had filled them with no little alarm.
The death of Philip freed them from this fear ; the sons he left were too
young to inspire anxiety. The princes felt disposed to attach themselves
the more cordially to their king ; the more youthful hoped to conquer new
and large fiefs in his service.
On the 27th of April, 1507,2 Maximilian opened the diet at Constance, in
the immediate neighbourhood of Italy. Never was he more impressed
with the dignity of his station than at this moment. He declared, with a
sort of shame, that he would no longer be a little trooper (kein kleinerReiter),
he would get rid of all trifling business, and devote his attention only to
the great affairs. He gave the assembly to understand that he would not
only force his way through Italy, but would engage in a decisive struggle
for the sovereignty of Italy. Germany, he said, was so mighty that it-
ought to receive the law from no one ; it had countless foot soldiers, and
at least sixty thousand horses fit for service ; they must now make an
effort to secure the empire for ever. It would all depend on the heavy
fire-arms ; the true knights would show themselves on the bridge over the
Tiber. He uttered all this with animated and confiding eloquence. " I
wish," writes Eitelwolf von Stein to the elector of Brandenburg, " that
your grace had heard him."
1 Somaria di la Relatione di Vic. Querini, Doctor, ritornato dal Re di Romani,
1507, Nov. Sanuto's Chronicle, Vienna Archives, torn. vii. He is of opinion,
that the Elector of Saxony indulged the hope of one day getting possession of
the crown. " II re a gran poder in Alemagna," he also says, " e molto amato.
perche quelli non 1' ubediva e morti."
2 Tuesday after the feast of St. Mark. Letter from Eitelwolf von Stein to
the elector of Brandenburg, April 6, 1507, in the Berlin Archives. The previous
accounts are incorrect.
62
84 DIET OF CONSTANCE, 1507 [BOOK I.
The States replied, that they were determined to aid him, according to
their several means, to gain possession of the imperial crown. 1
There remained, indeed, some differences of opinion between them.
When the king expressed his determination of driving the French out
of Milan, the States dissented. They were only disposed to force a passage
through the country in defiance of them, for a regular war with France
was not to be engaged in without negotiations. Nor would they grant
the whole of the supplies the king at first demanded. Nevertheless, the
subsidy which they assented to, in compliance with a second proposal
of his, was unusually large. It amounted to three thousand horse, and
nine thousand foot.
Maximilian, who doubted not that he should accomplish some decisive
stroke with this force, now promised, on his side, to govern any conquest
he might make according to the counsels of the States. He hinted that
the revenue she might derive from these new acquisitions would perhaps
suffice to defray the charges of the empire. 2
The States accepted this offer with great satisfaction. Whatever,
whether land or people, cities or castles, might be conquered, was to
remain for ever incorporated with the empire.
This good understanding as to foreign affairs, was favourable to some
progress in those of the nation. The diet of Cologne, while it gave up all
the projects of institutions founded upon a complete community of interests
and of powers, had continued to regard a restoration of the Imperial
Chamber as necessary. This, however, they had never been able to
accomplish : the Chamber which Maximilian had established by his own
arbitrary act had held no sittings for three years ; the salaries of the
procurators had even been stopped. 3 Now, however, the diet assembled
at Constance resolved to re-establish the Imperial Chamber according to
1 Answer of the States, Frankf. A. A., torn, xxiii. : " They had appeared at
this Imperial Diet, at his majesty's request, as his lieges fully inclined to advise,
and according to their ability to aid in obtaining the imperial crown, and to offer
resistance to the design of the King of France, which he is practising against the
holy empire." " Sie syen uf diesen Richstag uf irer Mt. Erfordern als die Gelior-
same erschienen, ganz Gemiits zu raten und ires Vermogens die kaiserliche Krone
lielfen zu erlangen und des Konigs von Frankreich Fiirnemen, des er wider
das h. Reich in Uebung steht, Widerstand zu tun."
2 In the declaration in which he asks for 12,000 men, he adds : " And if the
Sates now show themselves in such measure ready and prompt with help, then
is his imperial majesty willing to act after their counsel, with respect to what
money, goods, land and people will be requisite, how the same should be managed
and applied, how also the conquered domains and people are to be treated and
supported by the empire, so that the burdens in all future times may be taken
off the Germans, and, according to what is reasonable, laid upon another nation ;
also, how every king of the Romans may be supported honourably in due state
without heavily burdening the German nation." " Und wo sich die Stend des
Reichs jetzo dermaassen dapferlich mit der Hilf erzaigen, so ist k. Mt. willig
jetzo nach irem Rat zu handeln, was von Geld Gut Land und Liiten zuston wird,
wie dasselb gehandelt und angelegt werden soil, wie auch die eroberte Herr-
schaften und Lut by dem Rich zu hanndhaben und zu erhalten syn, dadurch
die Burden in ewig Zeiten ab den Deutschen und der Billichait nach uf andre
Nation gelegt, auch ein jeder romisch Konig eehrlich und statlich on sunder
Beswerung deutscher Nation erhalten werden mog."
3 Harpprecht, ii., 240, 253.
BOOK I.] DIET OF CONSTANCE, 1507 85
the edicts of Worms. In the nomination of the members of it the electors
were to retain their privileges ; for the other estates, the division into
circles which had been determined on in Augsburg was adopted, so that
it was not entirely suffered to drop : no notice was taken of the cities.
The question now was, how this tribunal was to be maintained ? Maxi-
milian was of opinion that it would be best that each assessor should be at
the charge of the government which had appointed him : he would take
upon himself that of the judges and the chancery of the court. Unquestion-
ably however the States were right in desiring to avoid the predominancy
of private interests which this arrangement would have favoured : l they
offered to tax themselves to a small amount in order to pay the salaries
of the law officers. They did not choose that the court should be stripped
of the character of a tribunal common to the whole body of the States,
which had originally been given to it. With this view they determined
that every year two princes, one spiritual, the other temporal, should
investigate its proceedings, and report upon them to the States,
If we pause a moment and reflect on what preceded the diet of Con-
stance, and on what followed it, we perceive its great importance. The
matricular assessment (or register of the resources of the empire) and the
Imperial Chamber were, during three centuries, the most eminent insti-
tutions by which the unity of the empire was represented ; their definitive
establishment and the connexion between them were the work of that
diet. The ideas which had given birth to these two institutions were
originally founded on opposite principles ; but this was exactly what
now recommended them to favour ; the independence of the several
sovereignties was not infringed, while the idea of their community was
kept in view.
Another extremely important affair, that of Switzerland, was also
decided here.
Elector Berthold had been desirous of incorporating the Swiss in the
diet, and giving them a share in all the institutions he projected. But
exactly the reverse ensued. The Confederates had been victorious in a
great war with the King of the Romans. In the politics of Europe they
generally adhered to France, and they continued to draw one city after
another into their league ; and yet they pretended to remain members and
subjects of the empire. This was a state of things which became manifestly
intolerable when disputes with France arose. Whenever war broke out
with France and Italy, a diversion was to be feared on the side of Switzer-
land, the more dangerous because it was impossible to be prepared for it.
The diet resolved to come to a clear understanding on this point. An
embassy was sent by the States of the empire to Switzerland for that
purpose.
The members of it were, however, by no means confident of success.
" God send his Holy Spirit upon us," exclaims one of them : " if we
accomplish nothing, we shall bring down war upon the Swiss, and be
compelled to regard them as our Turks."
1 " Es sy not, das Cammergerichte als ain versampt Wesen von ainem Wesen
unterhalten und derselbtige underhaltung nit zertetlt werden." " It is needful
that the imperial chamber, as a collective body, be maintained by one body,
and that the maintenance of the same be not divided." Protocol of the Imperial
Diet in Harpprecht, ii. 443.
86 DIET OF CONSTANCE, 1507 [BOOK I.
But the Confederates had already, in the course of their service/ fallen
out with the French, so that the ambassadors found them more tractable
than they had expected. They recalled all their troops still in Italy at
the first admonition. They promised without the slightest hesitation
to remain faithful to the empire. A deputation from them appeared at
Constance, and was most graciously received by the king, who kept them
there at his own expense and dismissed them with presents, after entering
into an agreement to take into pay, in the next war, six thousand Swiss
under the banners of the empire.
On the other hand, Maximilian made a most important concession
to them. He formally emancipated them from the jurisdiction of the
imperial courts ; declaring that neither in criminal nor in civil causes
should the Confederation, or any member of it, be subject to be cited
before the imperial chamber or any other royal tribunal. 1
This measure decided the fate of Switzerland to all succeeding ages.
At the very time when the empire agreed to subject itself to a general
assessment and enrolment, and to the jurisdiction of the imperial chamber,
it abandoned all claim to impose them on the Swiss : on the contrary, it
took their troops into its pay and renounced its jurisdiction over them.
They were, as Maximilian expressed himself, " dutiful kinsmen of the
empire," who however must be kept in order when they were re-
fractory.
Although i t is not to be disputed that the real political grounds of these
concessions was the increasing inclination of the Swiss to a separation
from the empire, still it was the most fortunate arrangement for that
moment. The quarrel was for a time appeased. Maximilian appeared
more puissant, more magnificent than ever. Foreigners did not doubt
that he would have, as they heard it affirmed, thirty thousand men to
lead into the field : the warlike preparations which they encountered in
some of the Swabian cities filled them with the idea that the empire was
rousing all its energies.
Maximilian indulged the most ambitious and romantic hopes. He
declared that with the noble and efficient aid granted to him, he hoped
to reduce to obedience all those in Italy who did not acknowledge the
sovereignty of the holy empire. But he would not stop there. When
he had once reduced that country to order, he would confide it to one of
his captains, and would himself march without delay against the infidels ;
for he had vowed this to Almighty God.
The slow march of the imperial troops, the procrastination of the Swiss,
the well-defended Venetian passes, doubly difficult to force in the approach-
ing winter season, were indeed calculated to rouse him from these dreams
of conquest, and turn his attention on what was really attainable. But his
high spirit did not quail. On the second of February he caused a religious
ceremony to be performed in Trent, as a consecration of his intended
expedition to Rome. Nay, as if the very object for which he was going
thither was already accomplished, he assumed, on the very same day,
the title of elected emperor of the Romans. 2 Foreigners always called
him so, and he well knew that the pope, at this moment his ally, would
not oppose it. He was led to this act by different motives : on the one
1 Fryheitsbull bei Anshelm, iii. 321.
2 There is a closer examination of this point in the Excursus upon Fugger.
BOOK I.] VENETIAN WAR. DIET OF WORMS, 1508 87
side, the sight of the formidable opposition he had to encounter, so that
he already feared he should not succeed in getting to Rome ; on the other,
the feeling of the might and independence of the empire, for which he
was anxious at all events to rescue the prerogative of giving a supreme
head to Christendom : the mere ceremony of coronation he did not regard
as so essential. To Germany, too, his resolution was of the utmost im-
portance : Maximilian's successors have always assumed the title of
Emperor immediately after their coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle ; though
only one of the whole line was crowned by the pope. 1 Although Pope
Julius appeared well pleased at this assumption, it was, in fact, a symptom
of the emancipation of the German crown from the papacy. Intimately
connected with it, was the attempt of Maximilian at the same time to
revive the title of King of Germany, which had not been heard for cen-
turies. Both were founded 011 the idea of the unity and independence
of the German nation, whose chief was likewise the highest personage in
Europe. They were expressions of that supremacy of the nation which
Maximilian still asserted : a supremacy, however, which rapidly declined.
VENETIAN WAR. DIET OF WORMS.
IT had been debated at Constance whether the imperial forces should first
attack the French or the Venetian possessions in Italy. Whatever con-
quests might be made, it was not the intention of the diet to grant them
out as fiefs (Milan had not even been restored to the Sforza), but to retain
them in the hands of the empire, as a source of public revenue.
Among the princes some were advocates for the Milanese, others, who
like the dukes of Bavaria had claims against Venice, for the Venetian,
expedition. Even among the imperial councillors, difference of opinion
prevailed. Paul von Lichtenstein, who was on good terms with Venice,
was for attacking Milan ; Matthew Lang and Eitelfritz of Zollern, on
the other hand, deemed it easier to make conquests from the Venetians
than from the French. 2
The latter opinion at length prevailed. The Venetians were not to be
brought to declare that they would not take part against the king of the
Romans : on the other hand, France held out hopes that if no attempt
was made upon Milan, she would offer no obstacle to the steps taken by
1 The title of Emperor, though commonly given to Maximilian, belonged, of
right, only to those who had been crowned at Rome by the hands of the Pope,
conditions which, as we shall see, Maximilian was never able to fulfil. At the
head of the " Holy Roman Empire (Reich) of the German Nation," stands the
King, elected by the German estates of the empire, who, however, by his election
and his coronation in Germany (at Aachen) obtains only the rights and title of
King of the Romans (Romischen Konigs), and acquires the rights and title of
Roman Emperor (Romischen Kaisers) only by his coronation at Rome ; to
which all the vassals of the empire must accompany him, and which the Pope,
if he be lawfully and duly elected, cannot refuse him. His successor bears the
title of King of the Romans. Eichhorn, Deutsche Staats-und Rechts-geschichte,
vol. ii., p. 365. TRANSL.
2 Relatione cli Vicenzo Qnirini. He mentioned some of the council by name
as " nostri capitali inimici :" for a time, Maximilian said : " I Venetian! non
mi a fato dispiacer e Franza si. E su queste pratichc passa il tempo."
88 VENETIAN WAR [BooK I.
the empire for the assertion of its other claims in Italy. 1 Strongly as the
Alps were defended, Maximilian was not to be deterred from trying his
fortune there. At first he was successful. " The Venetians," he says, in
a letter to the Elector of Saxony, dated the loth of March, " paint their
lion with two feet in the sea, one on the plain country, the fourth on the
mountains ; we have nearly caught the foot on the Alps ; there is only
one claw missing, which, with God's help, we will have in a week ; and
then we hope to conquer the foot on the plain. 2
But he had engaged in an enterprise which was destined to plunge his
affairs in general, and those of Germany in particular, into inextricable
difficulties.
In Switzerland, spite of all treaties, the French faction, especially
supported by Lucerne, soon revived ; 3 the confederate troops hung back.
This so greatly weakened the German forces (the emperor having intended
to draw two thirds of the infantry from Switzerland), that the Venetians
soon had the advantage of the imperialists. They did not rest satisfied
with driving the Germans from their territory, they fell on the emperor's
own dominions, just where he was least prepared for an attack. Gorz,
Wippach, Trieste, and forty-seven places, more or less strongly fortified,
rapidly fell into their hands.
! Germany was struck with astonishment and consternation. After
subsidies which had appeared so considerable, after the exertions made
by every individual for the empire, after such high-raised expectations,
the result was shame and ignominy. It was in vain that the emperor
alleged that the levies had not been furnished complete ; the fault of this
was in part ascribed to himself. The Duke of Liineburg, for example,
had never received the estimate of his contingent. But, putting that
aside : To set out without having the least assurance of success ! to
risk his whole fortunes on the levies of a Swiss diet ! The common lot
loss of reputation for one abortive undertaking now fell with double
and triple force on Maximilian, whose capacity and character had always
been doubted by many.
Compelled to return immediately to Germany, Maximilian's first act
was to call the electors together. The elector palatine he did not include
with the rest ; Brandenburg was too far ; he contented himself with
sending a messenger to him. But the others assembled in the beginning
of May 1508, at Worms. Maximilian declared to them that he called
on them first, on whom the empire rested as on its foundations, for their
1 Pasqualigo, Relatione. " Non sarai molto difficil cosa che la (S. M.) diriz-
zasse la sua impresa contra questo stato, massime per il dubbio che li e firmato
nell' animo che le Ecc ze Vostre siano per torre 1'arme in mano contra a lei quando
la fusse sul bello di cacciar li Frances! d' Italia, et a questo ancora 1' inclineria
assai li onorati partiti che dal re di Francia li sono continuamente offerti ogni
volta che la voglia lassar la impresa di Milano e ricuperar le altre jurisditioni
imperiali che ha in Italia."
2 Letter from Sterzing, March i, accompanied by a letter from Hans Renner
of the same date. He also has the best hopes.
3 In the Relatione della Nazione delli Suizzeri 1508, Informm. politiche,
torn, ix., the different persons who brought about this change are mentioned,
but their names are difficult to decipher in our copy : " Amestaver at Zug,
Nicolo Corator at Solothurn, Manforosini at Freiburg." Lucerne was the centre
of the whole movement.
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORhfS, 1508 89
aid in his great peril : he craved their counsel how he might best obtain
valiant, safe, and effective succours ; but, he added, without employing
the Swabian league, whose help he should stand in need of elsewhere ; and
without convoking a diet of the empire. 1
Among the assembled princes, Frederick of Saxony was the most power-
ful. By his advice they declined the emperor's invitation to meet him in
Frankfurt ; principally because they found it impossible to come to tiny
resolution without a previous conference with the other states of the
empire. 2 Maximilian replied that he was in the most perilous situation
in the world ; if the troops of the empire, whose pay was in arrear, were
now to withdraw, his country of Tyrol was inclined to join the French
and the Venetians, out of resentment against the empire, by which it was
not protected : he could in no case wait for a diet ; the loss of time would
be too great ; the utmost that could be done would be hastily to call
together the nearest princes. 3 The electors persisted in demanding a diet.
They would not believe that the Swabian league entertained the thought
of separating itself from the other states ; to grant any thing on their
own responsibility and in the absence of the others, said they, would
bring hostility upon them, and be useless to the king. 4 They were worked
upon by the pressing and obvious exigency of the case, only so far as to
facilitate a loan of the emperor's, by their intercession and guarantee.
The consequences of war must, in every age and country, have an
immense influence on the current of internal affairs. We have seen how
all the attempts to give to the empire a constitution agreeable to the wishes
and opinions of the States were ultimately connected with the alliance
by which Maximilian was elected king of the Romans, Austria and the
Netherlands were defended, and Bavaria reduced to subjection. On
the other hand, at the first great reverse the unfortunate combat with
Switzerland, that constitution received a shock from which it never
recovered. The position too which the king himself assumed, rested on
the success of his arms in the Bavarian war. It was no wonder, there-
fore, that after the great reverses he had now sustained, the whole fabric
of his power tottered, and the opposition which seemed nearly subdued
arose in new strength. Success is a bond of union ; misfortune decom-
poses and scatters.
Nor was this state of the public mind changed by the circumstance that
Maximilian, favoured by the disgust which the encroachments of the
Venetians had excited in other quarters, now concluded the treaty of
Cambrai, by which not only the pope and Ferdinand the Catholic, but the
King of Bavaria, against whom he had just made war, combined with him
1 The instruction for Matthias Lang, Bishop of Gurk ; Adolf, Count of Nassau ;
Erasmus Dopier, prebendary of St. Sebaldus at Nurnberg ; and Dr. Ulrich von
Schellenberg, is dated the last day of April, the feast of St. Wendel, 1 508. (Weimar
Archives.)
2 The Archives at Weimar contain the advice of Frederick, and the answer.
(May 8, Monday after Misericordia.)
3 Letters of Maximilian from Linz, May 7, and from Siegburg, May 10.
(Weimar Archives.)
4 Answer, dated May 13, Saturday after Misericordia. (Weimar Archives.)
In return for their guarantee, they desired some security from the emperor.
The latter replied, " he could bind himself to nothing further, than to release
them from their guarantee within a^year's time, upon his good faith."
90 VENETIAN WAR [BOOK I.
against Venice. 1 This hasty renunciation of the antipathy to France
which he had so loudly professed, this sudden revolution in his policy,
was not calculated to restore the confidence of the States.
Perhaps the present might really have been the moment in which,
with the co-operation of such powerful allies, conquests might have been
made in Italy ; but there was no longer sufficient concert among the
powers of Germany for any such undertaking. On the 2ist of April,
1509, the emperor made his warlike entry into the city of Worms (where
after long delays, the States had assembled), 2 armed from head to foot,
mounted on a mailed charger, and followed by a retinue of a thousand
horsemen, among whom were Stradiotes and Albanians. He was destined
to encounter such an opposition as never awaited him before.
He represented to the States the advantages which would accrue to
the empire from the treaty just concluded, and exhorted them to come
to his aid with a formidable levy of horse and foot as quickly as possible,
at least for a year. 3 The States answered his appeal with complaints
of his internal administration. A secret discontent, of which the fiery
impetuous Maximilian seemed to have no suspicion, had taken possession
of all minds.
The chief complaints arose from the cities ; and indeed with good
reason.
Under Elector Berthold they had risen to a very brilliant station,
and had taken a large share in the general administration of affairs. All
this was at end since the dissolution of the Council of Regency (Regiment).
Nor were any municipal assessors admitted into the Imperial Chamber.
Nevertheless, they were compelled to contribute not only to all the other
taxes, as well as to the expenses of the administration of justice, but the
rate imposed on them at Constance was disproportionately high. Even
at Cologne they were not spared, as we saw ; they were compelled to fur-
nish nearly two sevenths of the subsidies ; but at Constance a full third
of the whole amount of foot soldiers and of money was levied upon
1 Matthias von Gurk informs the elector Frederick, Sept. 24, that he was going
with certain councillors and the daughter of the emperor to a place on the French
frontier, in order to treat concerning the peace with the Cardinal de Rohan, who
was also to come thither. " Frau Margareta handelt und muet sich mit allem
Vleiss und Ernst umb ain Frid." " The Lady Margaret negotiates and exerts
herself with all industry and earnestness for a peace."
2 By a letter of summons, Cologne, May 31, 1508, after the above-mentioned
meeting of the electors, " ein eilender Reichstag," " a speedy diet of the empire "
was announced for July 16 ; deferred at Boppart, June 26, " bis wir des Reichs
Nothdurft weiter bedenken," " till we have further considered the necessities
of the empire," at Cologne, July 16., fixed for All Saints' day; at Brussels
Sept. 12, this term is once more resolved upon ; at Mechlin, Dec. 22, the reason
of the fresh delay is explained, viz. the negotiations with France ; at last,
March 15, 1509, the emperor renews his letter of summons, and fixes the term
for Judica. Fr. Ar., vols. xxiv. and xxv.
3 Verhandelung der Stennde des h. Reichs uff dem kaiserlichen Tage zu Worms
ao dni 1509. Frankft. Ar. vol. xxiv. Address of his majesty, Sunday, April 22,
at one o'clock. " Wo S. Heiligkeit nit gewest, hatte Kaiser. Mt. den Verstand
und Practica nit angenommen." Had it not been for his holiness, his imperial
majesty would not have accepted the treaty. Yet he remarks, the affair " werde
sich liederlich und mit klcinen Kosten ausfiihren lassen," " might be executed
easily and at little cost."
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS, 1509 91
them. 1 Nay, as if this was not enough, immediately after the diet the emperor
caused the plenipotentiaries of the cities to be cited before the fiscal of the
empire, who called them to account for the continuance of the great
merchants' company, which had been forbidden by previous imperial
edicts, and demanded a fine of 90,000 gulden for carrying on unlawful
traffic. The merchants loudly protested against this sentence ; they said
that they were treated like serfs ; it were better for them to quit their
native country, and emigrate to Venice or Switzerland, or even France,
where honourable trade and dealing was not restricted ; but they were
forced at last to compound by means of a considerable sum. The cities
were not so weak, however, as to submit quietly to all this ; they had
held town-meetings (Sttidtetag] and had determined to put themselves
in an attitude of defence at the next imperial diet ; 2 the members of the
Swabian league as well as the others. They had not the slightest inclina-
tion to strain their resources against a republic with which they carried
on the most advantageous commercial intercourse, and which they were
accustomed to regard as the model and the natural head of all municipal
communities. 3
Among the princes, too, there was much bad blood. The demands of
the imperial chamber, the irregularities in the levies of men and money
which we shall have occasion to notice again, had disgusted the most
powerful among them. The Palatinate was still unreconciled. The old
Count Palatine was dead ; his sons appeared at Worms, but they could
not succeed in obtaining their fief. The warlike zeal which had recently
inflamed many for the emperor, had greatly subsided after the bad results
of his first campaign.
But the circumstance which made a stronger impression than all the
rest, was the conduct of Maximilian with regard to his last treaties. At
the diet of Constance, the States had proposed sending an embassy to
France in order to renew negotiations with that power ; for they did not
choose to commit the whole business of the empire implicitly to its chief.
Maximilian had at that time rejected all these proposals, and professed
1 Accounts in the genuine Fugger. It appears to me that the sum amounted
to 20,000 gulden. See Jager, Schwabisches Stadtewesen, 677.
2 The resolutions of these municipal diets deserve much more accurate examina-
tion. A letter from the Swabian league, Oct. 21, 1508, calls to mind, " welcher-
maass auf vergangen gemeinem Frei und Reichsstett-Tag zu Speier der Besch-
werden halben, so den Stettboten uf dem Reichstag zu Costnitz begegnet sind,
gerathschlagt und sunderlich verlassen ist, so die Rom. Konigl. Mt. weiderum
ein Reichstag fiirnehmen wird, dass alsdann gemeine Frei und Reichsstette gen
Speier beschrieben werden sollten." " In what manner, at a former common
diet of the free and imperial cities held at Spires by reason of complaints with
regard to the treatment the deputies of the cities had met with at the imperial
diet at Constance, it had been discussed and specially resolved on, in case his
majesty, the King of the Romans, should again propose a diet of the empire,
that then the free and imperial cities should be convened in common at
Spires."
3 Very curious indications of the light in which Venice was regarded by the
trading towns of Germany are still to be found at Nurnberg. That magnificent
city endeavoured in all its institutions to imitate the queen of the Adriatic. I
have seen, in MS., an application from the council of Nurnberg to the senate of
Venice for the rules of an orphan asylum, in which this sentiment is strongly
expressed. TRANSL.
92 VENETIAN WAR [BooK I.
an irreconciliable enmity to the French. Now, on the contrary, he had
himself concluded a treaty with France, and without consulting the
States ; nay, he did not even think himself called upon to communicate
to them the treaty when ratified. 1 No wonder if these puissant princes,
who had so lately entertained the project of uniting all the powers of the
empire in a government constituted by themselves, were profoundly
disgusted. They reminded the emperor, that they had told him at
Constance that the grant he then received was the last ; and that he,
on his side, had abandoned all claim to further aids. He was persuaded,
they said, by his councillors, that the empire must help him as often
as he chose to require help ; but this notion must not be allowed to take
root in his mind, or they would have perpetually to surfer from it.
A very strong opposition thus arose on various grounds to the king's
proposals. It made no change in public opinion, that the French obtained
a brilliant victory over the Venetians, and that the latter for a moment
doubted whether they should be able to retain their possessions on the
main land. On the contrary, the first obstacle to the victorious career
of the league of Cambrai was raised in Germany. At the same moment
in which the Venetian cities in Apulia, Romagna and Lombardy fell into
the hands of the allies after the battle of Aguadello, a committee of the
States advised, and the whole body thereupon resolved, that an answer
should be sent to the emperor, refusing all succours. They declared
that they were neither able to support him in the present war, nor were
they bound to do so. Unable, because the last subsidies had been
announced to their subjects as final, and no fresh ones could be levied
without great difficulties and discontents : not bound, since the treaty
had not even been communicated to them, as was the custom from time
immemorial in all cases of the kind. 2
The emperor's commissioners (for he had quitted the diet again himself
a few days after his arrival, in order to hasten the armaments on the
Italian frontier, )3 were in the utmost perplexity. What would the church,
what would France, say if the holy empire alone did not fulfil its conditions ?
1 The Weimar Archives contain an opinion upon the necessity of refusing
succours, in which persons are especially complained of, " so bei S. Kais. Mt.
sein und sich allwege geflissen Ks. Mt. dahin zu bewegen Hilf bei den S tend en
des Reiches zu suchen zu solchem Furnemen, das doch ohne Rad und Bewusst
der Stennde des h. Reichs beschehen ist : " " who are about his imperial
majesty, and in all ways strive to move his imperial majesty to seek help from
the states of the empire, towards such undertaking, which, however, has
been entered upon without the advice and knowledge of the states of the holy
empire."
2 Transactions, &>c. " Dweile die, Stende des Reichs davon kein griindliches
Wissen tragen, so hab I. Ks. Mt. wohl zu ermessen, dass wo ichts darin begriffen
oder verleipt das dem h. Reich jetzo oder in Zukunft zu Nachtheil thate reichen,
es were mit Herzogthum Mailand oder anderm, dem Reich zustandig, class s^e
darin nit willigen konnen." " Seeing that the states of the empire have no
thorough knowledge thereof, his imperial majesty has to consider well that if
any thing be therein contained or embodied which might tend now or hereafter
to the injury of the holy empire, be it with regard to the duchy of Milan, or any
other belonging to the empire, they cannot give their consent thereunto."
3 Not out of anger, as has been commonly believed. He declared as early
as the 22d of April, that he could not await the conclusion, and went away
two days afterwards, before the diet had fully met : the real proposition of the
BOOK I.] DIET OF WORMS, 1508 93
The States declined any further explanation on the matter ; if the com-
missioners had any proposition to make concerning law and order, con-
cerning the administration of justice, or the coinage, the States were
ready to entertain it. The commissioners asked whether this was the
unanimous opinion of all the States ; the States replied, that was their
unanimous resolution. The commissioners said, that nothing then
remained for them but to report the matter to the emperor, and await his
answer.
It may easily be imagined what a tempest of rage he fell into. From
the frontiers of Italy from Trent he dispatched a violent answer,
printed, though sealed. He began by justifying his own conduct ; especi-
ally the conclusion of the last treaty, for which he had power and authority,
" as reigning Roman Emperor, according to the ordinance of the Almighty,
and after high counsel and deliberation ; " he then threw the blame of his
reverses back on the States, alleging, as the cause of them, the incom-
pleteness of the subsidies. Their inability he could not admit. They
should not try to amass treasure, but think of the oath they had sworn,
and the allegiance they owed to him. Nor was that the cause of their
refusal ; it was the resentment which some had conceived because their
advice was not taken.
Before this answer arrived, the States had dispersed. No final Recess
was drawn up.
DIET OF AUGSBURG, I $10; OF TREVES AND COLOGNE, 1512.
BEFORE I proceed further, I feel bound to make the confession that the
interest with which I had followed the development of the constitution
of the empire, began to decline from this point of my researches.
That at so important a moment, when the most desirable conquest was
within their grasp a conquest which would have more than freed them
from the burdens they bore so reluctantly, and would have constituted
an interest common to all the States they came to no agreement, shows
that all these efforts were doomed to end in nothing, and that the impossi-
bility of reaching the proposed end lay in the nature of things.
Although the emperor by no means took the active, creative part which
has been ascribed to him in the establishment of national institutions, he
evinced a strong inclination towards them ; he had a lofty conception
of the unity and dignity of the empire ; and occasionally he submitted
to constitutional forms, the effect of which was to limit his power. Nor
were there ever States so profoundly convinced of the necessity of founding
settled coherent institutions, and so ready to engage in the work, as those
over which he presided. Yet these two powers could not find the point
of coincidence of their respective tendencies.
The States saw in themselves, and in their own union, the unity of the
diet took place only on May 16, Wednesday before the Feast of the Assumption,
Casimir of Brandenburg acting as his Lieutenant (Statthalter), Adolf von Nassau
and Frauenberg as his councillors. Frankf. Ar., vol. xxiv. The letters of the
Frankfurt friend of the council (Roths freund), Johannes Frosch, repeat nearly
what is contained in the Archives, with some additions. It appears from both
that no final resolution was come to, although Miiller and Fels seem to imply
the contrary.
94 THE EMPEROR AND THE STATES [BOOK I.
empire. They had in their minds a government composed of representa-
tives of the several orders in the empire (stcindisches Regiment] such as
really existed in some of the separate territories of the empire ; by which
they thought to maintain the dignity of the emperor, or, if occasion de-
manded, to set fixed bounds to his arbitrary rule ; and to introduce
regularity and order into the establishments for war, finance, and law,
even at the expense of the power of the territorial sovereigns. But the
calamities of an ill-timed campaign, and the dissatisfaction of the
emperor with the part they took in foreign affairs, had destroyed their
work.
Maximilian then undertook to renovate the empire by means of similar
institutions, only with a firmer maintenance of the monarchical principle ;
resolutions to that effect were actually passed, not indeed of such a radical
and vital character as those we have just mentioned, but more practicable
in their details : but when these details came to be carried into execution,
misunderstandings, reluctances without end appeared, and suddenly every
thing was at a stand-still.
The States had been more intent on internal, Maximilian on external,
affairs ; but neither would the king so far strip himself of his absolute
power, nor the States part with so much of their influence, as the other
party desired. The States had not power to keep the emperor within
the circle they had drawn round him, while the emperor was unable to
hurry them along in the path he had entered upon.
For such is the nature of human affairs, that little is to be accomplished
by deliberation and a nice balance of things : solid and durable foundations
can only be laid by superior strength and a firm will.
Maximilian always maintained, and not without a colour of probability,
that the refusal of the empire to stand by him gave the Venetians fresh
courage. 1 Padua, which was already invested, was lost again, and Maxi-
milian besieged this powerful city in vain. In order to carry on the war,
he was obliged to convoke the States anew. On the 6th of March, 1510,
a fresh imperial diet was opened at Augsburg. 2 Maximilian represented
the necessity of once more bringing an army against Venice. Already he
had extended the empire over Burgundy and the Netherlands, and estab-
lished an hereditary right to Hungary ; he would now annex to it these
rich domains, on which the burdens of the state might fall, instead of
resting wholly on Germany.
The prospect thus held out produced a certain impression on the States,
yet they still remained very pacific. They wished to bring the affair to
a conclusion by a negotiation with Venice. The Republic had already
promised a payment of 100,000 gulden down, and 10,000 gulden yearly
tax, and the diet was extremely inclined to treat on this basis. This will
1 Rovereyt, Nov. 8, 1509. " Als uns der Stend Hilf und Beistand vorzigen
und abgeschlagen, und den Venedigern das kund, wurden sy mehr gestarkt,
suchten erst all ir Vermogen und bewegten daneben den gemein Popl in Stetten."
" When the help and assistance of the states was withdrawn and refused us,
and this became known to the Venetians, they felt further strengthened,
examined into all their resources, and moreover stirred up the common people
in the cities." Frankf. AY.
2 Haberlin is uncertain whether the imperial diet had been summoned for
the feast of the three kings, or for the i2th of Jan. The summons is addressed
to the observers of the feast of the three kings, i.e. Jan. 13.
BOOK I.] DIET Ol< AUGSBURG, 1510 95
appear intelligible enough, when it is remembered with how much diffi-
culty a grant of a few hundred thousand gulden was obtained. It would
at least have relieved them from the small Lax raised for the support of
the Imperial Chamber, which was collected with great difficulty. 1
To the emperor, however, these offers appeared almost insulting. lie
calculated that the war had cost him a million ; that Venice derived an
annual profit of 500,000 gulden from Germany ; he declared that he would
not suffer himself to be put off so.
The misfortune was now, as before, that he could not inspire the States
with his own warlike ardour. All projects that recalled the Common Penny
or the four-hundredth man, were rejected at the first mention. A grant
was indeed at length agreed on ; they consented to raise succours according
to the census and rate (matricula) fixed at Cologne (for they rejected that
of Constance), and to keep them in the field for half a year : 2 but how
could they hope to drive the Venetians from the terra firma by so slight
an effort ? The papal nuncio spoke on the subject in private to some of
the most influential princes. They answered him without reserve, that
the emperor was so ill-supported because he had undertaken the war
without their advice.
It followed by a natural reaction, that Maximilian felt himself bound
by no considerations towards the empire. When he was requested at
Augsburg not to give up his conquests at his own pleasure, he replied, that
the empire did not support him in a manner that would make it possible
to do otherwise ; he must be at liberty to conclude treaties, and to make
cessions as he found occasion. So little advance was made at this dfet
towards a good understanding and co-operation between the emperor
and the States.
The emperor rejected even the most reasonable and necessary proposals.
The States required that he should refrain from all interference with the
proceedings of the Imperial Chamber. This had been the subject of
continual discussion, and was at total variance with the idea upon which
the whole institution was founded. Maximilian, however, did not scruple
to reply, that the Chamber sometimes interfered in matters beyond its
competence : that he could not allow his hands to be tied.
No wonder if the States refused to assent to a plan which he submitted
to them for the execution of the sentences of the Imperial Chamber, not-
withstanding its remarkable merits. Maximilian proposed to draw out a
scheme of a permanent levy for the whole empire, calculated on the scale
1 Proceedings at the Imperial Diet held at Augsburg in 1510. (Fr. Ar.)
Answer of the States, second Wednesday after Judica. They advised the
measure, in order neither to let the matter drop entirely for the future, " oder
viel nachtheiliger und beschwerlicher Rachtigung annehmen zu mussen, als
jetzt clem heiligen. Reich zu Ehr und Lob erlangt werden moge : "- -" nor to be
obliged to accede to a more disadvantageous and oppressive arrangement, than
might now be got to the honour and praise of the holy empire."
' 2 The emperor desired a free promise of " the grant made at Constance for
as long as his majesty should have need of it." Pie was willing to give a secret
promise in return, that he wanted them for one year only. The States proposed
the levy of Cologne. The emperor replied that this shocked him ; that many
of the States were able to contribute more than that singly. They persisted,
however, and all they resolved on was, to grant the levy of Cologne for half, as
they had before done for a whole, year.
96 VENETIAN WAR [BooK I.
of Cologne, of from one to fifty thousand men, so that, in any exigency,
nothing would be needed but to determine the amount of the subsidy
required. For, he said, a force was necessary to chastise the rebellious
who break the Public Peace or disregard the ban of the Chamber, or
otherwise refuse to perform the duties of subjects of the empire. The
fame of such an organisation would also intimidate foreign enemies. A
committee might then sit in the Imperial Chamber, charged with the
duty of determining the employment of this force in the interior: 1 This
was evidently a consistent mode of carrying out the matricular system.
Maximilian, with the acuteness and sagacity peculiar to him, had once
more touched and placed in a prominent light the exact thing needed.
The States declared that this scheme was the offspring of great wisdom
and reflection ; but they were not to be moved to assent to it they
would only engage to take it into consideration at the next diet. This
was natural enough. The very first employment of the levy would have
certainly been in Maximilian's foreign wars. The emperor's councillors,
too, with whom the States were extremely dissatisfied, would have gained
a new support in their demands.
It was not to be expected that affairs would turn out otherwise than
they did.
No new disputes arose at Augsburg : to all appearance a tolerable
harmony prevailed, but in essentials no approach was made to union.
Maximilian carried on the Venetian war for a few years longer, with
various success, and involved in ever new complications of European
policy. He interwove some threads in the great web of the history of
that age, but all his attempts to draw the empire into a fuller participation
in his views and actions were vain : neither the cities, nor even the Jews
who inhabited them, gave ear to his demands for money ; the results of
his levies were so inadequate that he was obliged to dismiss them as
useless ; the utmost he could hope was, that the succours granted him
in Augsburg would arrive at last. The surrender of one city after
another, the loss of the hope of some alleviation of the public burthens,
were partly the consequence, partly the cause, of all these misunder-
standings.
In April, 1512, a diet again assembled at Treves, whence its sittings were
afterwards transferred to Cologne. 2
The emperor began by renewing his proposal for a permanent rate and
census, and by praying for a favourable answer. The princes answered,
that it was impossible to carry this measure through in their dominions,
1 Commissioners for the maintenance of the law. " Also dass Kais. Mt.
Jemand dazu verordnet, desgleichen auch das Reich von jedem Stand etliche,
mit voller Gewalt, zu erkennen, ob man Jemand der sich beklagt dass ihm
Unrecht geschehen, Hiilfe schuldig sey und wie gross." " So that his imperial
majesty do appoint some one ; in the same manner, also, the empire, certain
persons from each state, with full power to discover whether help, and to what
extent, be due to any man complaining that wrong has been done him." In
each quarter of the empire was to be a president, who would summon help
upon such discovery. There was also to be a general captain for the empire.
2 The acts of this diet are to be found tolerably complete in vol. xxxi. of the
Frankfurt Collection. The letters of the Frankfurt deputy, Jacob Heller, from
the 4th of May to the 29th of June, are dated from Treves ; one on the i2th of
July from Cologne, in vol. xxix.
BOOK I.] DIET OF TREVES AND COLOGNE, 1512 9;
and with their subjects ; they begged him to propose to them other ways
and means. Maximilian replied, that he trusted they would then at least
revert to the resolutions of the year 1 500, and grant him the four-hundredth
man that he might gain the victory over the enemy, and a Common Penny
wherewith to maintain the victory when gained. The States did not
venture entirely to reject this proposal, feeling themselves, as they did,
bound by the promises made at Augsburg. The scheme of a Common
Penny was now resumed, but with modifications which robbed it of all its
importance : they lowered the rate extremely ; before, they had deter-
mined to levy a tax of one gulden on every thousand, capital ; now, it
was to be only one on every four thousand. 1 They likewise exempted
themselves : before, princes and lords were to contribute according to
their property ; now they alleged they had other charges for the empire,
to defray out of their own exchequer. Even the representations of the
knights were immediately yielded to ; they were only to be bound to include
their vassals and subjects within the assessment. Maximilian made less
objection to this, than to the insufficiency of the tax generally ; but the
States answered that the common people were already overladen with
burthens, and that it would be impossible to extort more from them.
He then requested that at least the tax might be granted until so long
as it should have produced a million of gulden. The States replied that
the bare mention of such a sum would fill the people with terror.
The emperor's other proposition, concerning the execution of the
sentences of the Imperial Chamber, was received and discussed with
greater cordiality. Rejecting the division of the empire into four quarters,
which Maximilian, like Albert II., had once thought of adopting, the
States conceived the idea of employing the division into circles (hitherto
used only for the elections for the Council of Regency and the Imperial
Chamber) for that purpose, and of rendering it more generally applicable
to public ends. The electoral and imperial hereditary domains were also
to be included among the circles. Saxony and Brandenburg, with their
several houses, were to form the seventh ; the four Rhenish electorates
the eighth, Austria the ninth, Burgundy the tenth circle. In each
a captain or governor was to be appointed for the execution of
the law.
But this subject also gave rise to the most important differences. The
emperor laid claim to the nomination of these captains, and demanded
moreover a captain-general, whom he might employ in war, and a council
of eight members who should reside at his court ; a sort of ministry
(Regiment], from whose participation in affairs he promised himself
peculiar influence in the empire. The States, on the contrary, would
hear nothing either of these councillors, or of the captain-general, and
they insisted on reserving to themselves the nomination of the captains
of their circles.
These points gave rise to fresh and violent disputes at Cologne, in
August, 1512. On one occasion the emperor refused to receive the answer
sent by the States, which, he said, was no answer, and should not remain a
moment in his hands.
1 This was the principle : Whoever possessed 50 gulden was to pay ^ of a
Rhenish gulden ; between 50 and 100, T V > IO anc ^ 4 o ^ > 4 ant ^ 1000, ^ ;
looo and 1500, i ; 2000 and 4000, \ ; 4000 and 10,000, i gulden.
98 INTESTINE DISORDERS [BOOK I.
It was only through the zealous endeavours of the Elector of Mainz, that
the proposal for the eight councillors was at length accepted. Their chief
office was to be that of putting an end 'to quarrels by conciliation. Of the
captain-general, no further mention occurs. I do not find that there was
any intention of limiting the circles in the nomination of the subordinate
captains. The subsidy was granted in the way determined by the States,
and the emperor abandoned his demand for a million.
At length, therefore, resolutions were passed, and finally embodied in a
Recess of the empire.
When, however, we come to examine whether it was executed, we find
not a trace of it. There was a numerous party which had never, from the
first, assented to the resolutions, though they had not been able to prevent
their adoption ; at the head of which was one of the most experienced and
the most respected princes of the empire Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
The projected subsidy was never even called for, much less raised. The
eight councillors were never appointed, nor the captains, whether supreme
or subordinate. The division of the empire into ten circles did not assume
any positive character till ten years later.
INTESTINE DISORDERS.
HAD the attempts to give a constitution to the empire succeeded, a con-
siderable internal agitation must necessarily have ensued, until an adapta-
tion and subordination of the several parts to the newly-created central
power had taken place. But that attempts had been made, and had not
succeeded, that existing institutions had been rudely shaken, and no real
or vital unity been produced, could result in nothing but a universal
fermentation.
The reciprocal rights and duties of the head of the empire and the States,
were now for the first time thrown into utter uncertainty and confusion.
The States had demanded a share in the jurisdiction and the government ;
the emperor had conceded some points and had held tenaciously to others ;
no settled boundary of their respective powers had been traced. It was
an incessant series of demands and refusals extorted grants, inadequate
supplies without sincere practical efforts, without material results, and
hence, without satisfaction on any side. Formerly the union of the
electors had, at least, possessed a certain independence, and had represented
the unity of the empire. Since 1504 this also was dissolved. Lastly,
Mainz and Saxony had fallen into a bitter strife, which entirely broke up
the college. The only institutions which had come to any real maturity
were the Imperial Chamber and the matricula. But how carelessly was
this constructed ! Princes who no longer existed, except in old registers,
were entered in the list ; while no notice was taken of the class of mediate
proprietors which had gradually arisen. Countless appeals were the con-
sequence. The emperor himself named fifteen secular, and five spiritual
lords, whose succours belonged to the contingent of his own dominions,
and not to the matricula of the empire ; Saxony named fifteen secular
lords and three bishops ; l Brandenburg, two bishops and two counts ;
1 In the Archives at Dresden there is an instruction from Duke George for
Dr. G. von Breyttenbach, according to which the latter was to declare at Worms
(in 1509), " das wir uns nicht anders zu erinnern wissen, denn das alles, so wir
BOOK I.J INTESTINE DISORDERS 99
Cologne, four counts and lords ; every one of the greater States put for-
ward mediate claims which had not been thought of. A number of cities,
too, were challenged. Gelnhausen, by the Palatinate ; Gottingen, by the
house of Brunswick ; Duisburg, Niederwcsel, and Soest, by Juliers ;
Hamburg, by Holstein. 1 /In the acts of the diets we find the memorial of
an ambassador of Denmark-Holstein to the States of the empire, wherein
he pleads that he has travelled two hundred miles (German) to the
emperor, but could obtain no answer either from him or his councillors ;
and now addressed himself to the States, to inform them that there was a
city called Hamburg, lying in the land of Holstein, which had been assessed
as an imperial city, but of which his gracious masters were the natural
hereditary lords and sovereigns.' 2 There was no dispute about the prin-
ciple. It was always declared' in the Recesses, that the States should
retain their right over all the succours which belonged to them from
remote times ; yet in every individual case the question and the conflicting
claim were always revived. Even the most powerful princes had to com-
plain that the fiscal of the Imperial Chamber issued penal mandates
against their vassals.
In short, the Imperial Chamber excited opposition from every side.
The princes felt themselves controlled by it, the inferior States, not pro-
tected. Saxony and Brandenburg reminded the diet that they had only
subjected their sovereign franchises to the chamber under certain con-
ditions. Joachim I. of Brandenburg complained that this tribunal re-
ceived appeals from the courts of his dominions ; which had never been
done in his father's time. 3 The knights of the empire, on the other hand,
were discontented at the influence exercised by the powerful princes over
the chamber ; when a prince, they said, saw that he would be defeated, he
found means to stop the course of justice. Maximilian, at least, did not
think their complaints unfounded: "Either," says he, "the poor man
can get no justice against the noble, or if he does, it is ' so sharp and fine
pointed ' that it avails him nothing." Nor were the cities backward with
their complaints. They thought it insufferable that the judge should
receive the fiscal dues ; they prayed for the punishment of the abandoned
men by whose practices many cities were, without any crime or offence,
uf dem Reychstage zu Costnitz zu Underhaltung des Kammergerichtes
zu geben bewilligt, mit Protestation beschehen, also das dye Bischoffe und
Stifte desgleichen Graven und Herrn die uns mit Lehen verwandt und auch
in unsern Fiirstenthumen sesshaftig seyn, welche auch an dem Kammergericht
nie gestanden, ichtes dabei zu thun nicht schuldig, bei solcher Freiheit bleiben."
" That we have no other remembrance than that all which we consented to give
at the diet at Constance for the maintenance of the Imperial Chamber, was
accompanied with a protest ; that thus the bishops and chapters of such counts
and lords as hold of us by feudal tenure and are vassals of our principalities,
and who have never appeared before the Imperial Chamber and are under no
obligation to do so, continue to be exempt."
1 Proceedings concerning the Imperial Chamber, and such as claim exemption
from its jurisdiction : Harpprecht, Staats Archiv, iii., p. 405.
2 We know that he did not succeed. The decision of the imperial diet of
1510 is the main foundation of the freedom of the empire possessed by Hamburg.
Liinig, Reichsarch. Pars Spec. Cont., iv., p. 965.
3 Letter from Frederick of Saxony to Renner, on the Wednesday after the
feast of the Three Kings, 1509 (Weim. Ar.) ; Joachim I. die crps. Christi, 1510.
72
ioo INTESTINE DISORDERS [BooK I.
dragged before the court : in the year 1512 they again demanded that two
assessors appointed by the cities should have seats in the chamber j 1 of
course, all in vain.
The natural consequence of this inability of the supreme power either to
enforce obedience or to conciliate approbation and respect, was an universal
striving after separate and independent power a universal reign of force,
which singularly characterizes this period. It is worth while to try to
bring before us the several States under this aspect.
I. In the principalities, the power of the territorial lord was much
extended and increased. In particular ordinances we clearly trace the
idea of a legislation for the whole territory, intended to supersede local
unions or associations, traditional rules and customs ; and of an equally
general supervision, embracing all the branches of administration. A
remarkable example of this may be found in the ordinances issued by
Elector Berthold for the government of his archbishopric. 2 In some
places, a perfect union and agreement subsisted between the princes and
their estates ; e.g. in the dominions of Brandenburg, both in the Mark and
Franconia : the estates contract debts or vote taxes to pay the debts of
the sovereign. 3 In other countries, individual administrators become
conspicuous. We distinguish the names of such men as George Gossenbrod
in Tyrol, created by Maximilian, Regimentsherr (master or chief of the
government), and keeping strict watch over all the hereditary rights of the
sovereign. In Styria, we find Wallner, the son of the sacristan of Altot-
tingen in Bavaria who accumulated the treasure of Landshut ; in Onolz-
bach, the general accountant Prucker, who for more than thirty years
conducted the whole business of the privy chancery and the chamber of
finance. It is remarkable too that these powerful officials seldom came to
a good end. We often see them dragged before the tribunals and con-
demned to punishment : Wallner was hanged at the door of the very house
in which he had entertained princes, counts, and doctors as his guests ;
Gossenbrod was said to have ended his life by poison ; Wolfgang of
Kolberg, 4 raised to the dignity of count, died in prison ; Prucker was
forced to retreat to a prebend in Plassenburg. 5 In order to put an end to
the arbitrary acts of the detested council of their duke, the Wiirtenbergers
extorted the treaty of Tubingen in 1514. Here and there we see the
princes proceeding to open war in order to extend their territory. In the
year 1511 Brunswick, Luneburg, Bremen, Minden, and Cleves fell with
united forces on the country of Hoya, which could offer them no resist-
ance. In 1514, Brunswick, Liineburg, Calenberg, Oldenburg, and Duke
George of Saxony, turned their arms against the remnant of the free
Frieslanders in the marshes. The Butjadinger swore they would rather
die than live exposed to the incessant vexations of the Brunswick officials,
1 Jacob Heller to the city of Frankfurt, June 1 1 . " Wir Stett sein der Meintmg
auch anzubringen zween Assessores daran zu setzen auch Gebrechen und Mangel
der Versammlung fiirzutragen." " We cities are of the opinion that we should
introduce two assessors to sit there (in the court), and to bring forward the
abuses and detects of the assembly."
2 Bodmann, Rheingauische Alterthumer, ii. 535.
a Buchholz, Geschichte der Mark, iii. 363. Lang, i., p. in.
4 Report in the Fugger MS.
6 Lang, i., p. 147.
BOOK I.] INTESTINE DISORDERS KM
and flew to arms behind the impassable ramparts of their country ; but
a traitor showed the invading army a road by which it fell upon their rear ;
they were beaten, and their country partitioned among the conquerors,
and the Worsaten and Hadeler compelled to learn the new duty of obedi-
ence to a master. 1
In some cases the princes tried to convert the independence of a bishop
into complete subjection ; as, for example, Duke Magnus of Lauenburg
demanded of the bishop of Ratzeburg the same aids 2 as were granted him
by his States, perhaps with twofold violence, because that prelate had
formerly served in his chancery ; he encountered a stout resistance, and
had to resort to open force. 3 Or a spiritual prince sought to extort un-
wonted obedience from the knights of his dominions, who thereupon, with
the aid of a secular neighbour, broke out in open revolt ; as the dukes of
Brunswick took the knights of Hildesheim, and the counts of Henneberg
the chapter of Fulda and the nobility connected with it, under their pro-
tection.
II. For the increasing power of the princes was peculiarly oppressive to
the knights. In Swabia the associations of the knights of the empire
(Reichsritterschaft] consolidated themselves under the shelter of the
league. In Franconia there were similar struggles for independence ;
occasionally (as, for instance, in 1511 and 1515), the six districts (Orte) of
the Franconian knights assembled, mainly to take measures for subtracting
their business under litigation from the tribunals of the sovereign : the
results of these efforts, however, were not lasting ; here and on the Rhine
every thing remained in a very tumultuous state. We still see the war-
like knights and their mounted retainers, in helm and breastplate and with
bent cross-bow before them for as yet the horsemen had no fire-arms
riding up and down the well-known boundary line, marking the halting
places, and lying in ambush day and night in the woods, till the enemy
whom they are watching for appears ; or till the train of merchants and
their wares, coming from the city they are at war with, is seen winding
along the road : their victory is generally an easy one, for their attack is
sudden and unexpected ; and they return surrounded by prisoners and
laden with booty to their narrow stronghold on hill and rock, around which
they cannot ride a league without descrying another enemy, or go out to
the chase without harness on their back : squires, secret friends, and
comrades in arms, incessantly come and go, craving succour or bringing
warnings, and keep up an incessant alarm and turmoil. The whole night
long are heard the howlings of the wolves in the neighbouring forest.
While the States of the empire were consulting at Treves as to the means
of ensuring the execution of the laws, Berlichingcn and Selbitz seized the
train of Niirnberg merchants coming from the Leipzig fair, under the con-
1 Rehtmeier, Braunschweigsche Chronik, ii., p. 86 1.
2 Bede precaria ; (beten, to pray) grants of money to the prince on extra-
ordinary occasions, such as attendance on the emperor, the marriage of a daughter,
&c. TRANSL.
:5 Chytraeus, Saxonia, p. 222. By Masch, Gesch. von Ratzeburg, p. 421, we
perceive that there were many other points of dispute. On the 28th of March,
1507, bishop and chapter were obliged to promise, " that when the sovereign
received a land-tax from his knights, it should be paid by the peasants on the
church lands just as by the peasants of any other lords."
: ." *. INTESTINE DISORDERS [BOOK i.
voy of Bamberg, and thus began the open war against the bishop and the
city. The decrees of the diet were of little avail. 1 Gotz von Berlichingen
thought himself entitled to complain of the negotiations that were opened ;
for otherwise he would have overthrown the Niirnbergers and their Bur-
germeister " with his gold chain round his neck and his battle-mace in his
hand." 2 At the same time another notorious band had collected under
the command of the Friedingers in Hohenkrahn (in the Hegau), originally
against Kaufbeuern, to avenge the affront offered to a nobleman who had
sued in vain to the fair daughter of a citizen : afterwards they became a
mere gang of robbers, who made the country unsafe ; so that the Swabian
league at length stirred itself against them, and the emperor himself sent
out his best men, the Weckauf (Wake up) of Austria, and the Burlebaus,
at whose shots, as the historical ballad says, " the mountain tottered,
the rocks were rent, and the walls riven, till the knights fled, their people
1 Emperor and States disputed as to the amount of the levy necessary. The
emperor thought they wanted to put the affair off, and reminded them that
what had happened to-day to Bamberg, might happen to-morrow to another
city. If the succours demanded appeared too considerable, he would ask
Bamberg to be content with a hundred horses fit for service. This the States
agreed to ; but only under the condition that the ban must be first proclaimed
against outlaws or suspected persons before the troops were employed. (Frankf.
A.) The universal state of division extended even to this matter.
2 Gotzens von Berlichingen ritterliche Thaten. Ausgabe von Pistorius,
p. 127. Milliner's Chronicle (MS.) relates the whole affair, after the documents
in the Niirnberg Archives, in the following manner : The attack was made
between Forchheim and Neusess, May 18, 1512, by a band of 130 horse; 31
persons were carried off ; the damage done amounted to 8800 gulden ; the
horses were foddered and the booty divided in a wood near Schweinfurt. The
prisoners were concealed by the knights of Thiingen, Eberstein, Buchenau. The
council of Niirnberg hereupon took 500 foot soldiers into their pay, and announced
to the Great Council their determination to do every thing to bring the perpe-
trators to punishment. Meanwhile, " sol ten sie ihre Kaufmannschaft so enge
es seyn konnte, einziehen, bis die Leufte etwas besser wiirden : " " they must
draw in their dealings as much as possible till the ways became somewhat better."
And he actually produces a proclamation of ban of the i$th of July, accom-
panied, however, by a proposal for a commission before which the accused might
clear themselves. Some did thus clear themselves ; others not. Among the
last are mentioned, Caspar von Rabenstein, Balthasar and Reichart Steinriick,
Wilhelm von Schaumburg, Dietrich and Georg Fuchs, Conrad Schott. Among
them are many Wiirzburg officials, who were jointly declared under ban by
the Imperial Chamber. As in the mean time a number of fresh attacks had
taken place, at Vilseck, Ochsenfurt, Mergentheim (in which the Commander of
the Order at Mergentheim had drawn suspicion upon himself), the Swabian
league at last came forward with an armed force, to which the Niirnbergers
added 600 men on foot, a squadron of cavalry, and a small body of artillery.
Gangolf von Geroldseck led the troops of the league ; their first move was against
Frauenstein, belonging to Hans von Selbitz : several castles were carried, and
lands taken, and at last the way was opened to a treaty. The emperor decreed
that the knights should pay 14,000 gulden as compensation. Miiller asserts that
of this sum the Bishop of Wurzburg paid 7000 gulden, the Count Palatine
Luclwig 2000, the Duke of Wiirtenberg as much, the Master of Mergentheim
looo, and Gotz himself 2000. He infers that those princes, " dieser Fehd heimlich
verwandt gewesen," " had been privily concerned in this Feid." On the
other hand, he speaks with praise of the bishop of Bamberg and Markgrave
Frederick of Brandenburg.
BOOK I.] INTESTINE DISORDERS 103
surrendered, and the castle was razed to the ground." 1 But there was also
many a castle in Bavaria, Swabia, and Franconia for which a similar fate
was reserved. The insecurity of the roads and highways was greater than
ever ; even poor travelling scholars who begged their way along, were set
upon and tortured to make them give up their miserable pittance. 2 " Good
luck to us, my dear comrades," cried Gotz to a pack of wolves which he
saw fall upon a flock of sheep, " good luck to us all and every where." He
took it for a good omen.
Sometimes this fierce and lawless chivalry assumed a more imposing
aspect, and constituted a sort of tumultuary power in the state. Franz
von Sickingen had the audacity to take under his protection the enemies
of the council which had just been re-established in Worms by the emperor ;
he began the war with that city by seizing one of its vessels on the Rhine.
He was immediately put under ban. His answer to this was, instantly
to appear before the walls of that city, to fire upon it with carronades and
culverins, lay waste the fields, tear up the vineyards, and prevent all
access to the town. The Whitsuntide fair could not be held either in 1515
or 1516. The States of the circle of the Rhine assembled, but dared not
come to any resolution ; they thought that could only be done at an im-
perial diet. 3 It is indisputable that some princes, out of opposition either
to the emperor or to the Swabian league, favoured, or at least connived at,
these acts of violence. The knights were connected with the party
among the princes which was inclined neither to the emperor nor to the
league. *
III. The cities were exposed to annoyance and injury from all sides ;
from the imperial government, which continually imposed fresh burthens
upon them ; from these lawless knights, and from the princes, who in
1512 agitated the old question of the Pfahlburger. 4 But they made a
most gallant defence. How many a robber noble did Liibeck drag from
his stronghold ! Towards the end of the fifteenth century that city con-
cluded a treaty with neighbouring mediate cities, the express object of
which was to prevent the landed aristocracy from exceeding the powers
they had hitherto exercised. It availed nothing to King John of Denmark
that the Emperor Maximilian for a time favoured his attempts. In the
year 1 509, the Hanse towns or rather a part of them, attacked his islands,
beat his ships at Helsingor, carried away his bells for their chapels, and re-
mained absolute masters on the open sea. A Liibeck vessel boarded by
three Danish ones near Bornholm beat off two of them and captured the
third : in the year 1511 the Liibeck fleet returned to the Trave with
eighteen Dutch ships as prizes. 5
1 Anonymi Carmen de Obsidione et Expugnatione Arcis Hohenkrayen, 1512.
Fugger, both MS. and printed. Gassari Annales ad ann. 1512.
2 Plater's Lebensbeschreibung. The period he speaks of is about the year
1515, as he immediately afterwards mentions the battle of Marignano.
3 Zorn's Wormser Chronik. in Hunch's Sickingen, iii.
4 Pfahlburger (from Pfahl, pale or stake) were originally persons inhabiting
a town, but not enjoying all the rights of citizenship. (See Golden Bull, cap. 16.)
They were often free peasants, subject to the sovereign lord's jurisdiction, but
not his serfs. It seems that they availed themselves of the protection and
security afforded by the cities to the prejudice of the lord's feudal rights, and
formed associations to resist him. (See Eichhorn, ii. 162.)
5 Becker, Geschichte von Liibek, vol. i., p. 488.
104 INTESTINE DISORDERS [BooK I.
Nor did the inland cities make a less spirited resistance to those aggres-
sions from which they were not protected by the Swabian league. How
admirably did Nurnberg defend herself ! For every injury she sustained,
she carried her vengeance home to the territory of the aggressor, and her
mounted bands frequently made rich captures. Woe to the nobles who
fell into their hands ! No intercession either of kinsmen or of neighbouring
princes availed to save them ; the council was armed with the ever-ready
excuse that the citizens absolutely demanded the punishment of the
offender. In vain did he look out from the bars of his prison towards the
forest, watching whether his friends and allies were not coming to his
rescue : Berlichingen's story sufficiently shows us with how intense a dread
even those of her neighbours who delighted the most in wild and
daring exploits regarded the towers of Nurnberg. Noble blood was
no security either from the horrors of the question or the axe of the
executioner. 1
Sometimes, indeed, commercial difficulties arose for example, in the
Venetian war which could not be met with the same vigour by the inland
towns as the Hanseats displayed at sea, but the effects of which they found
other means to elude. All intercourse with Venice was in fact forbidden,
and the Scala which had obtained the proclamation of the ban, often
arrested the merchandise travelling along that road ; though this was done
only in order to extort money from the owners for its redemption. I find
that one merchant had to pay the emperor three thousand ducats transit
duty, on three hundred horse-load of goods : the Tyrol government had
formerly appointed a commissary in Augsburg, whose business it was to
collect regular duties on those consignments of goods the safety of which
it then guaranteed. The towns accommodated themselves to the times
as they could ; thankful that their trade was not utterly destroyed. The
connexion with the Netherlands, established by the house of Austria, had
^meanwhile opened a wide and magnificent field for commercial enterprise.
f Merchants of Nurnberg and Augsburg shared in the profits of the trade
v . to the East and West Indies. 2 Their growing prosperity and indispensable
assistance in all pecuniary business gave them influence in all courts, and
especially that of the emperor. In defiance of all decrees of diets, they
maintained " their friendly companies ;" associations to whose hands the
smallest affairs as well as the largest were committed. There is sufficient
ground for the belief that they gave occasion to many just complaints of
the monopoly which was thus vested in few hands ; since the importers
of wares had it in their power to regulate the price at will. 3 But they
nevertheless maintained a strong position in the assemblies of the empire.
The abortive results of the diets held from 1509 to 1513 were chiefly
caused by their opposition. They found means to get the proposed mea-
sures concerning the Pfahlbiirger, in virtue of which goods were to pay
duty, not to the town in which the owner of them lived, but to the sovereign
1 Milliner's Chronicle is full of anecdotes of this kind.
2 Gassarus (Annales in Mencken, i. 1743) names those of the Welser, Gossen-
brot, Fugger, Hochstetter, Foelin ; the last are without doubt the Vehlin. He
reckons the dividends from the first voyage to Calcutta at 175 per cent.
3 Jager, Schwabisches Stadtewesen, i. 669. As early as 1495, the plan was
entertained of taxing the great companies. Datt., p. 844, nr. 16. Things
remained in this state from one diet to another.
BOOK I.] INTESTINE DISORDERS 105
or lord in whose dominions that town was situated, indefinitely adjourned.
(A.D. 1512. ) l
It is evident that the peaceful security, the undisturbed prosperity,
which arc often ascribed to those times, had no existence but in imagination.
The cities kept their ground only by dint of combination, and of unwearied
activity, both in arms and in negotiation.
There was also a vehement and continual ferment in the interior of the
towns. The old struggle between the town councils and the commons or
people was continually revived by the increasing demands for money made
by the former and resisted by the latter ; in some places it led to violence
and bloodshed. In the year 1510 the Vierherr 2 Heinrich Kellner was exe-
cuted in Erfurt for having, in the financial straits of the city, allowed the
house of Saxony to redeem Capellendorf for a sum of money : all the
following years were marked with violence and disorder. In Regensburg
the aged and honest Lykircher, who had frequently held the offices of
chamberlain, hansgrave, and judge of the peace, was brought to trial ;
and, though the treasonable acts of which he was accused were never
proved against him, was barbarously tortured in the Holy Week of 1513,
and shortly afterwards put to death. 3 In Worms, first the old council,
and afterwards its successor, was driven out. In Cologne the commons
were furiously incensed against the new contributions with which they
were vexed ; and still more against an association or company called the
Garland, to which the most criminal designs were imputed. 4 Similar
disturbances took place in Aix-la-Chapelle, Andernach, Speier, Hall in
Swabia, Lubeck, Schweinfurt, and Niirnberg : 5 in every direction we meet
with imprisonments, banishments, executions. Domestic grievances were
often aggravated by the suspicion of a criminal understanding with
neighbouring states. In Cologne it was Guelders ; in Worms and Regens-
burg, Austria ; in Erfurt Saxony, which was the object of their suspicions.
The feeling of public insecurity burst forth in acts of the wildest violence.
IV. Nor was this excitement and agitation confined to the populations
of towns ; throughout the whole breadth of the empire, the peasantry
was in an equal state of ferment. The peasants of the Swiss mountains
had completely changed their relation to the empire : from the condition
of subjects, they had passed to that of free and independent allies : those
of the marches of Friesland on the contrary had succumbed to the neigh-
1 A counter representation from Wetzlar and Frankfurt " Es wiirde dem Reich
und ihnen ein merklicher Abbruch seyn und wider ihre Privilegien laufen."-
" It would be a signal injury to the empire and to them, and go against their
privileges." (Fr. A.)
- Vierherr and Hansgraf are among the numerous titles of magistrates used
in different parts of Germany. The former was probably the title of the four
chief magistrates, like the four Syndics of Hamburg. The Hansgraf was a sort
of president of the board of trade (if I may so apply the words) in the Hanse
towns. There are still, I am told, two Hansgraf en in Liibeck. TRANSL.
3 Chronicle of Regensburg, vol. iv., part iii.
4 Rhythmi de Seditione Coloniensi in Senkenberg, Selecta Juris et Hist., iv.,
nr. 6.
5 Baselii Auctarium Naucleri, p. 1016. " Ea pestis pessimae rebellionis
adversus senatum in plerisque civitatibus irrepsit. Trithemius (Chronic.
Hirsaug., ii., p. 689) reckons them up, adding the remarks, " et in aliis quarum
vocabula memoriae non occurrunt."
io6 INTESTINE DISORDERS [BOOK I.
bouring sovereigns ; the Ditmarschers alone stood for a while after a
glorious and successful battle, like a noble ruin amidst modern edifices.
The antagonist principles which, in distant lands and from the furthest
marches of the empire, gave rise to these conflicts, came into contact under
a thousand different forms in the heart of the country. The subsidies
for the empire and its growing necessities fell ultimately on the peasant ;
the demands of the sovereign, of the holders of church lands, and of the
nobility, were all addressed to him. 1 On the other hand, in some countries
the common people were made to bear arms ; they formed the bands of
landsknechts which acquired and maintained a name amongst European
troops ; they once more felt the strength that was in them. The example
of the Swiss was very seducing to the south of Germany. In the country
round Schletstadt, in Alsatia, a society of discontented citizens and
peasants, the existence and proceedings of which were shrouded in the
profoundest secrecy, was formed as early as the year 1493. Traversing
almost impassable ways, they met at night on solitary mountains, and
swore never in future to pay any tax which was not levied with their
own free consent ; to abolish tolls and duties, to curtail the privileges of
the clergy, to put the Jews to death without ceremony, and to divide
their possessions. They admitted new msmbers with strange ceremonies,
specially intended to appal traitors. Their intention was in the first place
to seize on Schletstadt, immediately after to display the banner with the
device of the peasant's shoe, 2 to take possession of Alsatia, and to call
the Swiss to their aid. 3 But in spite of the fearful menaces which accom-
panied the admission to the society, they were betrayed, dispersed, and
punished with the utmost severity. Had the Swiss in 1499 understood
their own advantage and not excited the hatred of their neighbours by
their cruel ravages, the people along their whole frontier would, as con-
temporaries affirm, have flocked to join their ranks. An incident shows
the thoughts that were afloat among the people. During the negotiations
preceding the peace of Basle, a peasant appeared in the clothes of the
murdered Count of Fiirstenberg. " We are the peasants," said he, " who
punish the nobles." The discovery and dispersion of the conspiracy
above-mentioned by no means put an end to the Bundschuh. In the
year 1 502 traces of this symbol were found at Bruchsal, from whence the
confederates had already gained over the nearer places, and were extending
their ramifications into the more remote. They declared that in answer
to an inquiry addressed to the Swiss they received an assurance that the
Confederation would help the right, and risk life and limb in their cause.
There was a tinge of religious enthusiasm in their notions. They were to
say five Pater nosters and Ave Marias daily. Their war-cry was to be,
1 Rosenblut complains that the noble draws his maintenance from the peasant,
and yet does not insure him any peace ; that he is constantly pushing his demands
further, whereupon the peasant answers with abuse, and the noble rides down
his cattle.
2 The Bundschuh ; the large rude shoe bound on the foot with thongs of
leather, commonly worn by the Swabian peasantry and borne on their
banner in the servile war to which they were driven by intolerable oppression.
The Bund or league of the peasants was afterwards called the Bundschuh.
TRANSL.
3 Herzog, Edelsasser Chronik, c. 71, p. 162.
BOOK I.] INTESTINE DISORDERS 107
" Our Lady !" They were to take Bruchsal, and then march forth and
onward, ever onward, never remaining more than twenty-four hours in
a place. The whole peasantry of the empire would join them, of that there
was no doubt ; all men must be brought into their covenant, that so the
righteousness of God might be brought upon earth. 1 But they were
quickly overpowered, scattered, and their leaders punished with death.
The imperial authorities had often contemplated the danger of such
commotions. Among the articles which the electors projected discussing
at their diet of Gelnhausen, one related to the necessity of alleviating the
condition of the common people. 2 It was always the conclusive argument
against taxes like the Common Penny, that there was reason to fear they
would cause a rebellion among the people. In the year 1513, the authori-
ties hesitated to punish some deserters from the Landsknechts, because
they were afraid that they might enter into a combination with the
peasants, whose permanent conspiracy against the nobles and clergy had
been discovered from the confessions of some who had been arrested in
the Breisgau. In the year 1514, they rose in open and complete rebellion
in Wiirtenberg under the name of Poor Kunz (der armer Kunz) : the
treaty of Tubingen did not satisfy the peasants ; it was necessary to put
them down by force of arms. 3 We hear the sullen mutterings of a fierce
untamed element, incessantly going on under the very earth on which we
stand.
While such was the state of Germany, the emperor was wholly occupied
with his Venetian war ; at one time fighting with the French against the
Pope and the Venetians, at another with the Pope and the English against
the French : the Swiss, now in alliance with him, conquer Milan and
lose it again ; he himself, at the head of Swiss and Landsknechts, makes
an attempt to recover it, but in vain. We see him repeatedly travelling
from Tyrol to the Netherlands, from the sea-coast back to the Italian Alps ;
like the commander of a beleaguered fortress, hurrying incessantly from
bastion to bastion, and watching the propitious moment for a sortie.
But this exhausted his whole activity ; the interior of Germany was
abandoned to its own impulses.
A diet was appointed to be held at Worms again, in the year 1513; and
on the ist June we find a certain number of the States actually assembled.
The emperor alone was wanting. At length he appeared, but his business
did not allow him to remain : under the pretext that he must treat in
person with the dilatory electors of Treves and Cologne, he hurried down
the Rhine, proposing to the States to follow him to Coblentz. They chose
rather to disperse altogether. 4 " Of a truth," writes the Altburgermeister
1 Frankf. ' Acten, vol. xx. Baselii Auctarium, p. 997.
2 " Der mit Fron Diensten Atzung Steure geistlichen Gerichten und andern
also merklich beschwert ist, dass es in die Harre nicht zu leiden feyn wird."-
" Who is so signally burthened with feudal services, taxes, ecclesiastical courts,
and other things, that in the long run it will not be to be borne."
3 Wahraftig Unterrichtung der Ufrur bei Sattler Herzoge, i., App. no. 70.
4 In the Frankfurt Acts, vol. xxx., there is a letter from Worms to Frankfurt,
according to which the States present, " prima Junii nechst verruckt einhelliglicli
entschlossen und den kaiserlichen. Commissarien fur endlich Antwort geben, dass
sie noch zehn Tag allhie bei einander verziehen und bleiben, und wo inen in mitler
Zeit nit weiter Geschefte oder Befel von Kais. Mt zukommen, wollen sie alsdann
sich alle wieder von dannen anheim thun." " On the first of June just past,
io8 INTESTINE DISORDERS [BOOK I.
of Cologne to the Frankfurters, " you have done wisely that you stayed
at home ; you have spared much cost, and earned equal thanks."
It was not till after an interval of five years (A.D. 1517), when not only
Sickingen's private wars threw the whole of Upper Germany into confusion,
but the universal disorder of the country had become intolerable, that a
diet was held again ; this time at Mainz, in the chapter house of which
city it was opened on the ist July.
The imperial commissioners demanded vast succours for the suppression
of the disturbances not, as before, every four hundredth, but every fiftieth
man ; the States, however, did not deem it advisable to resort to arms.
The poor husbandman, already suffering under the torments of want and
famine, might, " in his furious temper," be still further exasperated ; the
rage which had long gnawed at his heart might burst forth ; a universal
rebellion was to be feared. They desired rather to put down the pre-
vailing disturbances by lenity and conciliation ; they entered into negotia-
tions on all sides even with Sickingen ; above all, they appointed a com-
mittee to inquire into the general state of the country, and into the causes
of the universal outbreak of disturbances. The imperial commissioners
wanted to dissolve the assembly on the ground that they could do nothing
without ascertaining the opinion of his imperial majesty ; but the States
would not consent to be put off so : the sittings of the committee, two
members of which were nominated by the cities, were solemnly opened
by a mass for the invocation of the Holy Ghost (Missa Sancti Spiritus).
On the /th August, 1517, they laid their report before the diet.
It is very remarkable that the States discover the main source of the
whole evil in the highest and most important institution that had been
founded in the empire in the Imperial Chamber ; and in the defects in
its constitution and modes of procedure. The eminent members of that
tribunal, they said, were gone, and incapable ones put in their places.
The procedure was protracted through years ; one great cause of which
was, that the court received so many appeals on trifling matters that
the important business could not be despatched. Nor was this all. The
court had not free course ; it was often ordered to stay all proceedings. If,
after long delays and infinite trouble, a suitor succeeded in getting judg-
ment pronounced, he could not get it executed ; his antagonist obtained
mandates to prevent its execution. The consequence was, that the highest
penalties of the law, the ban and reban (Acht und Aberacht), had no longer
terrors for any one. The criminal under ban found shelter and protection ;
and as the other courts of justice were in no better condition in all,
incapable judges, impunity for misdoers, and abuses without end disquiet
and tumult had broken out in all parts. Neither by land nor by water
were the ways safe ; no safe-conduct, whether of the head or the members
unanimously resolved, and give this their final answer to the imperial commis-
sioners, that they shall tarry and remain here together ten days longer, and if,
meantime, no further business or command reach them from his imperial majesty,
they shall all in that case betake themselves thence home." In an address of
the 20 th of August, Maximilian announces a new diet of the empire, " Die geringe
Anzahl der erschienenen Stande habe ihren Abschied genommen, da sie sich
keiner Handlung verfangen mogen." " The small number of states which had
appeared, had taken their leave, as they were unwilling to meddle with any
business."
BOOK I.] INTESTINE DISORDERS 109
of the empire, was the least heeded ; there was no protection, whether
for subjects or for such foreigners as were entitled to it : the husbandman,
by whose labours all classes were fed, was ruined ; widows and orphans
were deserted ; not a pilgrim or a messenger or a tradesman could travel
along the roads, whether to fulfil his pious duty, or to deliver his message,
or to execute his business. To these evils were added the boundless luxury
in clothing and food ; the wealth of the country all found its way into
foreign lands, especially to Rome, where new exactions were daily invented:
lastly, it was most mischievous to allow the men at arms, who had some-
times been fighting against the emperor and the empire, to return to their
homes, where they stirred up the peasantry to rebellion.
And while such was the statement of public grievances, the particular
petitions and remonstrances were countless. The inhabitants of Worms
complained of " the inhuman private warfare (Fehde) which Franciscus
von Sickingen, in despite and disregard of his honour, carried on against
them ;" to which the deputies from Spires added, that Sickingen's troops
had the design to burn down the Spital of their city. Muhlhausen com-
plained in its own name, and those of Nordhausen and Goslar, that they
paid tribute for protection and were not protected : Liibeck enumerated
all the injuries it sustained from the King of Denmark, from nobles and
commons ; it could obtain no help from the empire, by which it was so
heavily burthened ; it must pay its money to the Imperial Chamber,
which always gave judgment against it, and never in its favour. Other
towns said nothing of their grievances, because they saw it was of no
avail. Meantime the knights held meetings at Friedberg, Gelnhausen,
Bingen, and Wimpfen, whither the emperor sent delegates to appease them.
Anna of Brunswick, the widowed Landgravine of Hessen, appeared in
person at the diet, and uttered the bitterest complaints : she said she
could obtain no justice in Hessen; that she vainly followed the emperor
and the Imperial Chamber from place to place ; her dowry of Melsungen
was consumed ; she was reduced to travel about like a gipsy, with a
solitary maid-servant, and to pawn her jewels and even her clothes ; she
could not pay her debts, and must soon beg her bread.
" Summa Summarum," writes the delegate from Frankfurt, " here is
nothing but complaint and wrong ; it is greatly to be feared that no
remedy will be found." 1 The States made the most urgent appeals to
the emperor : they conjured him for God's sake, for the sake of justice,
for his own, for that of the holy empire, of the German nation, nay of all
Christendom, to lay these things to heart ; to remember how many
mighty states had fallen, through want of inward tranquillity and order ;
to look carefully into what was passing in the minds of the common
people, and to find a remedy for these great evils.
Such were the words addressed to him ; but they were but words. A
remedy a measure of the smallest practical utility was not so much as
1 Philip Fiirstenberg, July 26. In the 32d vol. of the Frankf. A., where
generally the transactions of this diet are to be found. " Wo Kais. Mt.," he
says, on the i6th of Aug., of the representations which were made, " dieselbig
als billig und wol ware verwilligen wiirde, hofft ich alle Dinge sollten noch gut
werden, wo nicht, so helf uns Gott." " If his imperial majesty would comply
with the same, as were reasonable and right, I should hope that all things might
yet go well ; if not, then God help us."
no INTESTINE DISORDERS [BOOK I.
suggested ; the diet was dissolved without having even proceeded to one
resolution.
And already the excited mind of the nation was turned towards other
evils and other abuses than those which affected its civil and political
condition.
In consequence of the intimate union between Rome and Germany,
in virtue of which the Pope was always a mighty power in the empire, a
grave discussion on spiritual affairs had become inevitable. For a time,
they had fallen into the back-ground, or been the subject only of chance
and incidental mention : now, however, they attracted universal atten-
tion ; the vigorous and agitated spirit of the nation, weary and disgusted
with the present and the past, and eagerly striving after the future, seized
upon them with avidity. As a disposition was immediately manifested
to go to the bottom of the subject, and to proceed from a consideration of
the external interference of the church, to a general and thorough exami-
nation of its rights, this agitation speedily acquired an importance which
extended far beyond the limits of the internal policy of Germany.
BOOK II.
EARLY HISTORY OF LUTHER AND OF CHARLES V.
15171521.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION.
WHATEVER hopes we may entertain of the final accomplishment of the
prophecies of an universal faith in one God and Father of all which have
come down to us in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it is certain
that after the lapse of more than ten centuries that faith had by no means
overspread the earth. The world was filled with manifold and widely
differing modes and objects of worship.
Even in Europe, the attempts to root out paganism had been but
partially successful ; in Lithuania, for example, the ancient worship of
the serpent endured through the whole of the i5th and i6th centuries,
and was even invested with a political significance ; l and if this was the
case in Europe, how much more so in other portions of the globe. In every
clime men continued to symbolise the powers of nature, and to endeavour
to subdue them by enchantments or to propitiate them by sacrifices :
throughout vast regions the memory of the dead was the terror of the
living, and the rites of religion were especially designed to avert their
destructive interference in human things ; to worship only the sun and
moon supposed a certain elevation of soul, and a considerable degree of
civilisation.
Refined by philosophy, letters, and arts, represented by vast and
powerful hierarchies, stood the mightiest antagonists of Christianity
the Indian religion and Islam ; and it is remarkable how great an internal
agitation prevailed within them at the epoch of which we are treating.
Although the Brahminical faith was, perhaps, originally founded on
monotheistic ideas, it had clothed these in a multiform idolatry. But at
the end of the 1 5th and beginning of the i6th century, we trace the progress
of a reformer in Hindostan. Nanek, a native of Lahore, endeavoured to
restore the primitive ideas of religion, and to show the advantages of a
pure morality over a merely ceremonial worship : he projected the aboli-
tion of castes, nay, even a union of Hindoos and Moslem ; he presents one
of the most extraordinary examples of peaceful unfanatical piety the
world ever beheld. 2 Unfortunately, his efforts were unsuccessful. The
notions he combated were much too deeply rooted ; even those who called
themselves his disciples the Sikhs paid idolatrous honours to the man
who laboured to destroy idolatry.
A new and very important development of the other branch of the
religions of India Buddhism also took place in the fifteenth century.
1 ^Eneas Silvius de Statu Europae, c. 20. Alexander Guagninus in Resp.
Poloniae. Elz., p. 276.
2 B'hai Guru the B'hale in Malcolm's Translation, Sketch of the Sikhs. Asiatic
Researches, xvi. 271. That holy man made God the Supreme known to all he
restored to virtue her strength, blended the four castes into one established
one mode of salutation.
in
ii2 ORIGIN OF RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION [BOOK II.
The first regenerated Lama appeared in the monastery of Brepung, and
was universally acknowledged throughout Thibet ; the second incarnation
of the same (from 1462 to 1542) had similiar success in the most remote
Buddhist countries j 1 from that time hundreds of millions revere in the
Dalailama at Lhassa the living Buddha of the present, the unity of the
divine trinity, and throng thither to receive his blessing. It cannot be
denied that this religion had a beneficial influence on the manners of rude
nations ; but, on the other hand, what fetters does such a fantastic deifi-
cation of human nature impose on the mind ! Those nations possess the
materials for forming a popular literature, a wide diffusion of the know-
ledge of the elements of science, and the art of printing ; but the literature
itself the independent exercise and free utterance of the mind, can
never exist ; 2 nor are such controversies as those between the married and
unmarried priests, or the yellow and the red professions which attach
themselves to different chiefs, at all calculated to give birth to it. The
rival Lamas make pilgrimages to each other, and reciprocally recognise
each other's divine character.
The same antagonism which prevailed between Brama and Buddha,
subsisted in the bosom of Islam, from its very foundation, between the
three elder Chalifs and Ali ; in the beginning of the sixteenth century
the contest between the two sects, 3 which had been dormant for awhile,
broke out with redoubled violence. The sultan of the Osmans regarded
himself (in his character of successor to Abubekr and the first Chalifs) as
the religious head of all Sunnites, whether in his own or foreign countries,
from Morocco to Bokhara. On the other hand, a race of mystic Sheiks
of Erdebil, who traced their origin from Ali, gave birth to a successful
warrior, Ismail Sophi, who founded the modern Persian monarchy, and
secured once more to the Shiites a powerful representation and an illus-
trious place in history. Unfortunately, neither of these parties felt the
duty or expediency of fostering the germ of civilisation which had lain
in the soil since the better times of the early Chalif at. They only developed
the tendency to despotic autocracy which Islam so peculiarly favours, and
worked up political hostility to an incredible pitch of fury by the stimu-
lants of fanaticism. The Turkish historians relate that the enemy who
had fallen into Ismail's hands were roasted and eaten. 4 The Osman, Sultan
Selim, on the other hand, opened the war against his rival by causing all
the Shiites in his land, from the age of seven to seventy, to be hunted out
and put to death in one day ; " forty thousand heads," says Seadeddin,
1 Fr. Georgi Alphabetum Tibetanum, p. 326, says of it : " Pergit inter Tar-
taros ad amplificandam religionem Xacaicam in regno Kokonor cis murum
magnum Sinorum : inde in Kang : multa erigit asceteria : redit in Brepung."
He bears the name of So-nam-kiel vachiam-tzho, and is notwithstanding the old
Reval-Kedun, who died in 1399.
2 Hodgson, Notice sur la Langue, la Literature, et la Religion des Boudhistes.
" L'ecriture des Tibetains n'est jamais employee a rien de plus utile que des
notes des affaires ou de plus instructif que les reves d'une mythologie absurde,"
<S-c. The objections of Klaproth, Nouv. Journ. Asiatique, p. 99, are not in
my opinion of much weight, as the question is not concerning a literature, which
may be old, or the existence of which may be unknown, but a living one of the
present day.
3 Sunnites and Shiites, the two great parties amongst the Mahommedans.
4 Hammer, Osmanische Gesch., ii. 345.
CHAP. I.] ORIGIN OF RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION 113
" with base souls." The antagonists were, as we perceive, worthy of
each other.
In Christendom, too, a division existed between the Graeco-Oriental
and the Latin Church, which, though it did not lead to acts of such savage
violence, could not be healed. Even the near approach of the resistless
torrent of Turkish power which threatened instant destruction, could not
move the Greeks to accede to the condition under which the assistance
of the West was offered them the adoption of the distinguishing formulae
of confession except for the moment, and ostensibly. The union which
was brought about at Florence, 1 in the year 1439, with so much labour,
met with little sympathy from some, and the most violent opposition from
others : the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, loudly
protested against the departure from canonical and synodal tradition,
which such an union implied ; they threatened the Greek emperor with
a schism on their own part, on account of the indulgence he showed to
the Latin heterodoxy. 2
If we inquire which of these several religions had the greater external
and political strength, we are led to the conclusion that Islam had un-
questionably the advantage. By the conquests of the Osmans in the 1 5th
century, it had extended to regions where it had been hitherto unknown,
almost on the borders 3 of Europe ; combined too with political institutions
which must inevitably lead to the unceasing progress of conversion. It
reconquered that sovereignty over the Mediterranean which it had lost
since the eleventh century. Its triumphs in India soon equalled those
in the West. Sultan Baber was not content with overthrowing the
Islamite princes who had hitherto held that land. Finding, as he ex-
pressed it, " that the banners of the heathen waved in two hundred cities
of the faithful that mosques were destroyed and the women and children
of the Moslem carried into slavery," he proclaimed a holy war against the
Hindoos, as the Osmans had done against the Christians. On the eve
of a battle he resolved to abjure the use of wine ; he repealed taxes which
were inconsistent with the Koran, and enkindled the ardour of his troops
by a vow sworn upon this their sacred book ; his reports of his victories
'are conceived in the same spirit of religious enthusiasm, and he thus earned
the title of Gazi. 4 The rise of so mighty a power, actuated by such ideas,
necessarily gave a vast impulse to the propagation of Islam throughout
the East.
But if, on the other hand, we endeavour to ascertain which of these
different systems possessed the greatest internal force, which was preg-
nant with the most important consequences to the destiny of the human
1 For the Council of Florence brought about under Eugenius IV., 1439, cf.
Creighton, vol. ii., p. 184. The well-known fresco in the Riccardi Palace com-
memorates this meeting of the Eastern and Western Churches.
2 Passages from their letter of admonition in Gieseler Kirchengeschichte,
ii. 4., p. 545.
3 Borders of Europe, or more accurately, of Western Europe. The Turks'
first conquest in Europe was that of Gallipoli, 1358. By the close of the fifteenth
century they had taken Constantinople (1453) and most of the Balkan Peninsula.
Cf. Cambridge Modern History, vol. i., c. iii., and Clarendon Press Historical
Geography Series, No. viii.
4 Baber's own Memoirs, translated into English by Leyden and Erskine, into
German by Kaiser, 1828, p. 537, and the two lirmans thereto annexed.
8
1 14 ORIGIN OF RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION [BOOK II.
race, we can as little fail to arrive at the conviction (whatever be our
religious faith), that the superiority was on the side of Latin Christendom.
Its most important peculiarity lay in this that a slow but sure and
unbroken progress of intellectual culture had been going on within its
bosom for a series of ages. While the East had been convulsed to its very
centre by torrents of invasion like that of the Mongols, the West had
indeed always been agitated by wars, in which the various powers of society
were brought into motion and exercise ; but neither had foreign tribes
overrun the land, nor had there been any of those intestine convulsions
which shake the foundations of a society in an early and progressive
stage of civilisation. Hence all the vital and productive elements of
human culture were here united and mingled : the development of society
had gone on naturally and gradually ; the innate passion and genius for
science and for art constantly received fresh food and fresh inspiration,
and were in their fullest bloom and vigour ; civil liberty was established
upon firm foundations ; solid and symmetrical political structures arose
in beneficent rivalry, and the necessities of civil life led to the combination
and improvement of physical resources ; the laws which eternal Providence
has impressed on human affairs were left to their free and tranquil opera-
tion ; what had decayed crumbled away and disappeared, while the
germs of fresh life continually shot up and nourished : in Europe were
found united the most intelligent, the bravest, and the most civilised
nations, still in the freshness of youth.
Such was the world which now sought, like its eastern rival, to extend
its limits and its influence. Four centuries had elapsed since, prompted
by religious motives, it had made attempts at conquest in the East ; but
after a momentary success these had failed only a few 1 fragments of
these acquisitions remained in its possession. But at the end of the
fifteenth century, a new theatre for boundless activity was opened to the
West. It was the time of the discovery of both Indies. All elements of
European culture the study of the half-effaced recollections of antiquity,
technical improvements, the spirit of commercial and political enterprise,
religious zeal all conspired to render the newly- discovered countries
tempting and profitable. All the existing relations of nations, however,
necessarily underwent a change ; the people of the West acquired a new
superiority, or at least became capable of acquiring it.
Above all, the relative situation of religions was altered. Christianity,
especially in the forms it had assumed in the Latin Church, gained a fresh
and unexpected ascendancy in the remotest regions. It was therefore
doubly important to mankind, what might be the present or the future
form and character of the Latin Church. The Pope instantly put forth
a claim, which no one contested, to divide the countries that had been,
or that yet might be found, between the two States by which they were
discovered.
1 E.g., Crete and Cyprus, which were in the hands of Venice, and a few settle-
ments on the Persian Gulf in the hands of the Portuguese.
CHAP. I.] RELATION OF PAPACY TO RELIGION 1 1
POSITION OF THE PAPACY WITH REGARD TO RELIGION.
THE question, at what periods and under what circumstances the distin-
guishing doctrines and practices of the Romish Church were settled,
and acquired an ascendancy, merits a minute and elaborate disserta-
tion.
It is sufficient here to recall to the mind of the reader, that this took
place at a comparatively late period, and precisely in the century of the
great hierarchical struggles.
It is well known that the institution of the Seven Sacraments, 1 whose
circle embraces all the important events of the life of man, and brings them
into contact with the church, is ascribed to Peter Lombard, who lived in
the twelfth century. 2 It appears upon inquiry that the notions regarding
the most important of them, the Sacrament of the Altar, were by no
means very distinct in the church itself, in the time of that great theo-
logian. It is true that one of those synods which, under Gregory VII.,
had contributed so much to the establishment of the hierarchy, had
added great weight to the doctrine of the real presence by the condemna-
tion of Berengar : but Peter Lombard as yet did not venture to decide
in its favour : the word transubstantiation first became current in his
time ; nor was it until the beginning of the thirteenth century, that the
idea and the word received the sanction of the church : this, as is well
known, was first given by the Lateran confession of faith in the year 1215;
and it was not till later that the objections which till then had been con-
stantly suggested by a deeper view of religion, gradually disappeared.
It is obvious, however, of what infinite importance this doctrine became
to the service of the church, which has crystallized (if I may use the
expression) around the mystery it involves. The ideas of the mystical
and sensible presence of Christ in the church were thus embodied in a living
image ; the adoration of the Host was introduced ; festivals in honour
of this greatest of all miracles, incessantly repeated, were solemnized.
Intimately connected with this is the great importance attached to the
worship of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, in the latter part of the
middle ages.
The prerogatives of the priesthood are also essentially connected with
this article of faith. The theory and doctrine of the priestly character
were developed ; that is, of the power communicated to the priest by
ordination, " to make the body of Christ " (as they did not scruple to say) ;
" to act in the person of Christ." It is a product of the thirteenth century,
and is to be traced principally to Alexander of Hales and Thomas Aquinas. 3
This doctrine first gave to the separation of the priesthood from the laity,
1 The Seven Sacraments, e.g. :
i. Baptism. 2. Confirmation. 3. The Eucharist. 4. Penance.
5. Extreme Unction. 6. Holy Orders. 7. Matrimony.
2 It would amount to little, if what Schrockh ( Kirchengeschichte, xxviii.,
p. 45.) assumes were true ; viz., that Otto of Bamberg had already preached this
doctrine to the Pomeranians ; but it has been justly remarked, that the biography
of Otto, in which this statement appears, was written at a later time.
3 See the researches of Thomas Aquinas concerning the Birth of Christ,
" Utrum de purissimis sanguinibus virginis formatus fuerit, &c." Summ;e,
pars iii. quaestio 31. It is evident what value was set upon the point.
82
n6 POSITION OF THE PAPACY [BooK II.
which had indeed other and deeper causes, its full significancy. People
began to see in the priest the mediator between God and man. 1
This separation, regarded as a positive institution, is also, as is well
known, an offspring of the same epoch. In the thirteenth century, in spite
of all opposition, the celibacy of the priesthood became an inviolable law.
At the same time the cup began to be withheld from the laity. It was
not denied that the efficacy of the Eucharist in both kinds was more com-
plete ; but it was said that the more worthy should be reserved for the more
worthy for those by whose instrumentality alone it was produced. " It
is not in the participation of the faithful," says St. Thomas, " that the
perfection of the sacrament lies, but solely in the consecration of the
elements." 2 And in fact the church appeared far less designed for instruc-
tion or for the preaching of the Gospel, than for the showing forth of the
great mystery ; and the priesthood is, through the sacrament, the sole
depository of the power to do this ; it is through the priest that sanctifi-
cation is imparted to the multitude.
This very separation of the priesthood from the laity gave its members
boundless influence over all other classes of the community.
It is a necessary part of the theory of the sacerdotal character above
alluded to, that the priest has the exclusive power of removing the obstacles
which stand in the way of a participation in the mysterious grace of God :
in this not even a saint had power to supersede him. 8 But the absolution
which he is authorized to grant is charged with certain conditions, the most
imperative of which is confession. In the beginning of the thirteenth
century it was peremptorily enjoined on every believer as a duty, to confess
all his sins, at least once in a year, to some particular priest.
It requires no elaborate argument to prove what an all-pervading
influence auricular confession, and the official supervision and guidance
of consciences, must give to the clergy. With this was connected a com-
plete, organized system of penances.
Above all, a character and position almost divine was thus conferred
on the high-priest, the pope of Rome ; of whom it was assumed that he
occupied the place of Christ in the mystical body of the church, which
embraced heaven and earth, the dead and the living. This conception of
the functions and attributes of the pope was first filled out and perfected
in the beginning of the thirteenth century ; then, too, was the doctrine
of the treasures of the church, on which the system of indulgences rests,
first promulgated. Innocent III. did not scruple to declare, that what he
did, God did, through him. Glossators added, that the pope possessed
the uncontrolled will of God ; that his sentence superseded all reasons :
with perverse and extravagant dialectic, they propounded the question,
whether it were possible to appeal from the pope to God, 4 and answered
it in the negative ; seeing that God had the same tribunal as the pope,
and that it was impossible to appeal from any being to himself.
1 " Sacerdos," says Thomas, " constituitur medius inter Deum et populum.
Sacerdos novae legis in persona Christi operatur." Summae, pars iii. quaestio 22,
art. 4, concl.
2 "Perfectio hujus sacramenti non est in usu fidelium sed in consecratione
materiae." Pars iii. qu. 80, a. 12, c. 2 m .
3 Summae Suppl. Qu. 17, a. 2, c. i m . " Character et potestas conficiendi et
potestas clavium est unum et idem." But I refer to the entire question.
4 Augustini Triumphi Summa in Gieseler, Kirchengeschi elite, ii. iii. 95.
CHAP. I.] WITH REGARD TO RELIGION 117
It is clear that the papacy must have already gained the victory over
the empire, that it could no longer have any thing to fear, either from
master or rival, before opinions and doctrines of this kind could be
entertained or avowed. In the age of struggles and conquests, the theory
of the hierarchy gained ground step by step with the fact of material power.
Never were theory and practice more intimately connected.
Nor was it to be believed that any interruption or pause in this course
of things took place in the fifteenth century. The denial of the right of
the clergy to withhold the cup was first declared to be heresy at the council
of Constance : Eugenius IV. first formally accepted the doctrine of the
Seven Sacraments ; the extraordinary school interpretation of the miracu-
lous conception was first approved by the councils, favoured by the popes,
and accepted by the universities, in this age. 1
It might appear that the worldly dispositions of the popes of those
times, whose main object it was to enjoy life, to promote their dependents
and to enlarge their secular dominions, would have prejudiced their
spiritual pretensions. But, on the contrary, these were as vast and as
arrogant as ever. The only effect of the respect inspired by the councils
was, that the popes forbade any one to appeal to a council under pain
of damnation. 2 With what ardour do the curalist writers labour to demon-
strate the infallibility of the pope ! John of Torquemada is unwearied
in heaping together analogies from Scripture, maxims of the fathers and
passages out of the false decretals, for this end ; he goes so far as to main-
tain that, were there not a head of the church who could decide all contro-
versies and remove all doubts, it might be possible to doubt of the Holy
Scriptures themselves, which derived their authority only from the
church ; which, again, could not be conceived as existing without the
pope. 3 In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the well-known
Dominican, Thomas of Gaeta, did not hesitate to declare the church a
born slave, who could have no other remedy against a bad pope, than to
pray for him without ceasing. 4
Nor were any of the resources of physical force neglected or abandoned.
The Dominicans, who taught the strictest doctrines in the universities
and proclaimed them to the people from the pulpit, had the right to
enforce them by means of fire and sword. Many victims to orthodoxy
were offered up after John Huss 5 and Jerome of Prague. The contrast
between the worldly-mindedness and sensuality of Alexander VI. and
Leo X., and the additional stringency and rigour they gave to the powers
of the Inquisition, is most glaring. 6 Under the authority of similarly
1 Baselii Auctarium Naucleri, p. 993.
2 Bull of Pius II. of the iSthof Jan., 1460. (XV. Kal. Febr., not X., as Rain.
has it.) Bullar. Cocq. torn. iii. pars iii., p. 97.
3 Johannes cle Turrecremata de Po testate Papali (Roccaberti, torn, xiii.),
c. 112. "Credendum est, quod Romanus pontifex in judicio eorum quae ficlei
sunt, spiritu sancto regatur et pet 1 consequens in illis non erret : alias possit quis
eadem facilitate dicere, quod erratum sit in electione quatuor evangeliorum et
epistolarum canonis." He laments, however, over the "multa turba adversavi-
orum et inimicorum Romanse sedis," who will not believe this.
4 De Autoritate Papae et Concilii. Extracts in Rainaldus, 1512, nr. 18.
3 For John Huss and his follower Jerome of Prague cf. Creighton's " Popes,"
vol. i., c. 4.
Decretals in Rainaldus, 1498, nr. 25, 1516, nr. 34-
n8 POSITION OF THE PAPACY [BOOK II.
disposed predecessors, this institution had recently acquired in Spain a
more fearful character and aspect than it had ever yet presented to the
world ; and the example of Germany shows that similar tendencies were
at work in other countries. The strange distortion of the fancy which
gave birth to the notion of a personal intercourse with Satan, served as the
pretext for bloody executions ; the " Hexenhammer J>1 (Hammer for
Witches) was the work of two German Dominicans. The Spanish Inqui-
sition had originated in a persecution of the Jews : in Germany, also,
the Jews were universally persecuted in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, and the Dominicans of Cologne proposed to the emperor to estab-
lish an Inquisition against them. They had even the ingenuity to invent
a legal authority for such a measure. They declared that it was necessary
to examine how far the Jews had deviated from the Old Testament,
which the emperor was fully entitled to do, since their nation had formally
acknowledged before the judgment-seat of Pilate the authority of the
imperial majesty of Rome. 2 If they had succeeded, they would certainly
not have stopped at the Jews.
Meanwhile the whole intellectual energy of the age flowed in the channels
marked out by the church. Germany is a striking example to what an
extent the popular mind of a nation of the West received its direction
from ecclesiastical principles.
The great workshops of literature, the German universities, were all
more or less colonies or branches of that of Paris either directly sprung
from it, like the earlier ; or indirectly, like the later. Their statutes
sometimes begin with a eulogy on the Alma Mater of Paris. 3 From that
most ancient seat of learning, too, had the whole system of schoolmen, the
controversy between Nominalism and Realism, the preponderancy of the
theological faculty, " that brilliant star from which every thing received
light and life," passed over to them. In the theological faculty the
Professor of Sentences 4 had the precedency, and the Baccalaureus who
read the Bible was obliged to allow him to determine the hour of his lec-
ture. In some universities, none but a clerk who had received at least
inferior ordination, could be chosen Rector. The whole of education,
from the first elements to the highest dignities of learning, was conducted in
1 A court for the trial of Witchcraft.
2 Report in Reuchlin's Augenspiegel (Mirror), printed by v. d. Hardt, Historia
Liter. Reformationis, iii. 61.
3 Principium Statutorum Facultatis Theologicse Studii Viennensis ap. Kollar
Analecta, i. 137, p. 240, n. 2. Statute of Cologne in Bianco, Endowments for
Students at Cologne, p. 451 : " Divinae sapientiae fluvius descendens a patre
luminum ab alveo Parisiens. studii tanquam cisterna conductu capto per
canalia prorumpit Rheni partes ubertando." University of Paris founded
circum 1170. Cf. Rash d all, History of the Universities in the Middle Ages,
vol. i., pp. 273 ff. The genealogy is as follows : From the university of Paris
issued those of Prague, Vienna, Heidelberg, and Cologne ; from Prague, Leipzig,
Rostock, Greifswald ; and for the greater part, Erfurt ; from Cologne, Louvain
and Treves ; from Vienna, Freiburg, and, according to the Statutes, Ingolstadt.
At Basle and Tubingen at first, deference was paid to Bologna also; but even
in Basle, the first Bursa was called the Parisian and in Tubingen the first teacher
of Theology was a magister from Paris.
4 Professor Sententiarum, the expositor of the " Sententiae " of Peter Lombard.
TRANSL.
CHAP. I.J \Vl'iLl REGARD TO RELIGION 119
one and the same spirit. Dialectical distinctions intruded themselves
into the very rudiments of grammar ; l and the elementary books of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries were constantly retained as the ground-
work of learning : 2 here, too, the same road was steadily pursued which
had been marked out at the time of the foundation of the hierarchical
power.
Art 3 was subject to the same influences. The minsters and cathedrals,
in which the doctrines and ideas of the church are so curiously symbolised,
rose on every side. In the year 1482, the towers of the church of St.
Sebaldus at Niirnberg were raised to their present height ; in 1494, a new
and exquisitely wrought gate was added to Strasburg minster ; in 1500,
the king of the Romans laid the first stone of the choir of the Reichsgot-
teshaus (Church of the Empire) St. Ulrich, in Augsburg, with silver trowel,
rule, and hod ; he caused a magnificent block of stone to be brought from
the mountains, out of which a monument was to be erected " to the well-
beloved lord St. Ulrich, our kinsman of the house of Kyburg :" upon it
was to stand a king of the Romans, sword in hand. 4 In 1513, the choir of
the cathedral of Freiburg, in 1517, that of Bern, was finished ; the porch
on the northern transept of the church of St. Lawrence in Niirnberg dates
from 1520. The brotherhoods of the masons, and the secrets which arose
in the workshops of German builders, spread wider and wider. It was not
till a later period that the redundancy of foliage, the vegetable character,
which so remarkably distinguishes the so-called gothic architecture
became general. At the time we are speaking of, the interior of churches
was principally adorned with countless figures, either exquisitely carved in
wood, or cast in precious metals, or painted and enclosed in gold frames,
which covered the altars or adorned the aisles and porches. It is not the
province of the arts to produce ideas, but to give them a sensible form ;
all the creative powers of the nation were now devoted to the task of repre-
senting the traditional conceptions of the church. Those wondrous
representations of the Mother of God, so full of sweet and innocent grace,
which have immortalized Baldung, Schaffner, and especially Martin
Schon, are not mere visions of an artist's fancy ; they are profoundly con-
nected with that worship of the Virgin which was then peculiarly general
and fervent. I venture to add that they cannot be understood without
the rosary, which is designed to recall the several joys of the Holy Mary;
the angelic salutation, the journey across the mountains, the child-bearing
without pain, the finding of Jesus in the temple, and the ascension ; as the
prayer-books of that time more fully set forth.
These prayer-books are altogether singular monuments of a simple and
credulous devotion. Thoro are prayers to which an indulgence for 146
1 Geiler, Navicula : " In prima parte de subjecto attributionis et de habitibus
intellectualibus, quod scire jam est magistrorum provcctorum."
2 Johannes de Garlandia, Alexander's Doctrinale. Dufrcsne, Praefatio ad
Glossarium, 42, 43.
3 For an account of German painters and engravers of the fifteenth century
cf. Head, Schools of Painting in Germany, bk. iii. c. i. For Architecture of the
period, cf. Ferguson, History of Architecture, vol. ii. bk. iv. c. 5, or Denis and
Bezold, Die Kirkliche Baukunst des Abendlandes, vol. ii., pp. 249 ff.
4 Account in the Fugger MS. We remember that St. Ulrich was the first
saint canonised by a pope (Johannes, xv. 973) for the whole church.
120 POSITION OF THE PAPACY [BOOK II.
days, others to which one for 7000 or 8000 years are attached : one
morning benediction of peculiar efficacy was sent by a pope to a king of
Cyprus ; whosoever repeats the prayer of the venerable Bede the requisite
number of times, the Virgin Mary will be at hand to help him for thirty
days before his death, and will not suffer him to depart unabsolved. The
most extravagant expressions were uttered in praise of the Virgin : " The
eternal Daughter of the eternal Father, the heart of the indivisible
Trinity :" it was said, " Glory be to the Virgin, to the Father, and to the
Son." 1 Thus, too, were the saints invoked as meritorious servants of
God, who, by their merits, could win our salvation, and could extend
peculiar protection to those who believed in them ; as, for example, St.
Sebaldus, " the most venerable and holy captain, helper and defender
of the imperial city of Nurnberg."
Relics were collected with great zeal. Elector Frederick of Saxony
gathered together in the church he endowed at Wittenberg, 5005 particles,
all preserved in entire standing figures, or in exquisitely wrought reliquaries,
which were shown to the devout people every year on the Monday after
Misericordia. 2 In the presence of the princes assembled at the diet, the
high altar of the cathedral of Treves was opened, and " the seamless coat
of our dear Lord Jesus Christ," found in it ; the little pamphlets in which
this miracle was represented in wood-cuts, and announced to all the world,
are to be found in the midst of the acts of the diet. 3 Miraculous images of
Our Lady were discovered ; one, for example, in Eischel in the diocese of
Constance ; at the Iphof boundary, by the road-side, a sitting figure of
the Virgin, whose miracles gave great offence to the monks of Birklingen,
who possessed a similar one ; and in Regensburg, the beautiful image, for
which a magnificent church was built by the contributions of the faithful,
out of the ruins of a synagogue belonging to the expelled Jews. Miracles
were worked without ceasing at the tomb of Bishop Benno in Meissen ;
madmen were restored to reason, the deformed became straight, those in-
fected with the plague were healed ; nay, a fire at Merseburg was ex-
tinguished by Bishop Bose merely uttering the name of Benno ; while
those who doubted his power and sanctity were assailed by misfortunes. 4
When Trithemius recommended this miracle-worker to the pope for
canonization, he did not forget to remark that he had been a rigid and
energetic supporter of the church party, and had resisted the tyrant
Henry IV. 5 So intimately were all these ideas connected. A confra-
ternity formed for the purpose of the frequent repetition of the rosary
(which is, in fact, nothing more than the devout and affectionate recollec-
tion of the joys of the Holy Virgin), was founded by Jacob Sprenger, the
1 Extracts from the prayer-books : Hortulus Anime, Salus Animae, Gilgengart,
and others in Riederer, Nachrichten zur Buchergeschichte, ii. 157-411.
2 The second Sunday after Easter, so called from the Introit for that Sunday
in the Roman Missal, which begins, "Misericordia Domini plena est terra," and
gives the key to the variable parts of the Mass. Zaygung des Hochlobwiirdigsten
Heiligthums, 1509. (The Showing of the most venerable Relics, 1509.) Extract
in Heller's Lucas Kranach, i., p. 350.
3 Chronicle of Limpurg in Hontheim, p. 1122. Browerus is again very solemn
on this occasion.
4 Miracula S. Bennonis ex impresso, Romae 1521, in Mencken, Scrip tores Rer.
Germ. ii. p. 1887.
5 His letter in Rainaldus, 1506, nr. 42.
CHAP. I.J WITH REGARD TO RELIGION 121
violent and fanatical restorer of the Inquisition in Germany, the author
of the " Hexenhammer."
For it was one single and wondrous structure which had grown up out
of the germs planted by former ages, wherein spiritual and temporal
power, wild fancy and dry school-learning, the tenderest devotion and the
rudest force, religion and superstition, were mingled and confounded, jtnd
were bound together by some mysterious quality common to them all ;
and, amidst all the attacks it sustained, and all the conquests it achieved
amidst those incessant conflicts, the decisions of which constantly
assumed the character of laws, not only asserted its claim to universal
fitness for all ages and nations for this world and the next but to the
regulation of the minutest particulars of human life.
I know not whether any man of sound understanding any man, not
led astray by some phantasm, can seriously wish that this state of things
had remained unshaken and unchanged in Europe ; whether any man
persuades himself that the will and the power to look the genuine, entire
and unveiled truth steadily in the face the manly piety acquainted with
the grounds of its faith could ever have been matured under such in-
fluences. Nor do I understand how any one could really regard the diffu-
sion of this most singular condition of the human mind (which had been
produced by circumstances wholly peculiar to the West) over the entire
globe, as conducive to the welfare and happiness of the human race. It is
well known that one main ground of the disinclination of the Greeks to a
union with the Roman church, lay in the multitude of rules which were
introduced among the Latins, and in the oppressive autocracy which the
See of Rome had arrogated to itself. 1 Nay, was not the Gospel itself kept '
concealed by the Roman church ? In the ages in which the scholastic
dogmas were fixed, the Bible was forbidden to the laity altogether, and
even to the priesthood, in the mother tongue. It is impossible to deny
that, without any serious reference to the source from which the whole
system of faith had proceeded, men went on to construct doctrines and to
enjoin practices, shaped upon the principle which had become the dominant
one. We must not confound the tendencies of the period now before us
with those evinced in the doctrines and practices established at the Council
of Trent ; at that time even the party which adhered to Catholicism had
felt the influences of the epoch of the Reformation, and had begun to
reform itself : the current was already arrested. 2 And this was absolutely
necessary. It was necessary to clear the germ of religion from the thou-
sand folds of accidental forms under which it lay concealed, and to place
it unencumbered in the light of day. Before the Gospel could be preached
to all nations, it must appear again in its own lucid, unadulterated purity.
It is one of the greatest coincidences presented by the history of the
world, that at the moment in which the prospect of exercising dominion
over the other hemisphere opened on the Romano-Germanic nations of the
1 Humbertus de Romania (in Petrus de Alliaco de Reform. Eccles. c. 2.)
" dicit quod causa dispositiva schismatis Graecorum inter alias una fuit propter
gravamina Romans ecclesiae in exactionibus, excommunicationibus, et statutis."
2 I hold it to be the fundamental error of Mohler's Symbolik, that he considers
the dogma of the Council of Trent as the doctrine from which the Protestants
seceded ; whilst it is much nearer the truth to say, that itself produced Pro-
testantism by a reaction.
122 OPPOSITION RAISED BY [BOOK II.
Latin church, a religious movement began, the object of which was to
restore the purity of revelation.
Whilst other nations were busied in the conquest of distant lands,
Germany, which had little share in those enterprises, undertook this
mighty task. Various events concurred to give that direction to the mind
of the country, and to incite it to a strenuous opposition to the See of
Rome.
OPPOSITION RAISED BY THE SECULAR POWERS.
THE efforts to obtain a regular and well compacted constitution, which for
some years had occupied the German nation, were very much at variance
with the interests of the papacy, hitherto exercising so great an influence
over the government of the empire. The pope would very soon have been
made sensible of the change, if that national government which was the
object of such zealous and ardent endeavours had been organised.
The very earliest projects of such a constitution, in the year 1487, were
accompanied with a warning to the pope to abolish a tithe which he had
arbitrarily imposed on Germany, and which in some places he had actually
levied. 1 In 1495, when it became necessary to form a council of the
empire, the intention was expressed to authorize the president to take into
consideration the complaints of the nation against the church of Rome. 2
Scarcely had the States met the king in 1498, when they resolved to re-
quire the pope to relinquish the Annates which he drew to so large an
amount from Germany, in order to provide for a Turkish war. In like
manner, as soon as the Council of Regency was formed, an embassy was
sent to the pope to press this request earnestly upon him, and to make
representations concerning various unlawful encroachments on the gift
and employment of German benefices. 3 A papal legate, who shortly
after arrived for the purpose of causing the jubilee to be preached, was
admonished by no means to do anything without the advice and know-
ledge of the imperial government ; 4 care was taken to prevent him from
granting indulgences to breakers of the Public Peace : on the contrary,
he was charged expressly to .uphold it ; imperial commissioners were
appointed to accompany him, without whose presence and permission he
could not receive the money when collected.
We find the Emperor Maximilian occasionally following the same course.
In the year 1510 he caused a more detailed and distinct statement of the
grievances of the German nation to be drawn up, than had hitherto
existed; he even entertained the idea of introducing into Germany 5 the
Pragmatic Sanction, which had proved so beneficial to France. In the
year 1511 he took a lively interest in the convocation of a council at Pisa :
we have an edict of his, dated in the January of that year, wherein he
declares that, as the court of Rome delays, he will not delay ; as emperor,
1 Letter, with the seals of Mainz, Saxony, and Brandenburg ; June 26. 1487,
in Miiller, Rtth. Fr. vi. 130.
a Datt, de Pace Piibl., p. 840.
3 Instructions of the Imperial Embassy. Miiller, Reichstagsstaat, 117.
4 Articuli tractati et conclusi inter Rev lliain Dominationem D nuni Legatum
ac senatum et conventum Imperii in Miiller, Reichstagsstaat, p. 213.
6 Avisamenta Germanicae Nationis in Freher, ii. 678. Yet more remarkable
is the Epitome pragmaticae sanctionis in Goldast's Constitutt. Imp., ii. 123.
CHAP. I.] THE SECULAR POWERS 123
steward and protector of the Church, he convokes the council of which she
is so greatly in need. In a brief dated June, he promises to those assembled
his protection and favour till the close of their sittings, " by which they
will, as he hopes, secure to themselves the approbation of God and the
praise of men." 1 And, in fact, the long-cherished hope that a reform in
the church would be the result of this council, was again ardently indulged.
The articles were pointed out in which reforms were first anticipated.
For example, the cumulation of benefices in the hands of the cardinals
was to be prevented ; a law was demanded, in virtue of which a pope
whose life was stained with notorious vice, might be summarily deposed. 2
But neither had the council authority enough to act upon ideas of this
sort, nor was Maximilian the man to follow them out. He was of too
weak a nature ; and the same Wimpheling who drew up the statement of
grievances, remarked to him how many former emperors had been de-
posed by an incensed pope leagued with the princes of the empire cer-
tainly no motive to resolute perseverance in the course he had begun.
Independent of this, every new turn in politics gave a fresh direction to
his views on ecclesiastical affairs. 3 After his reconciliation with Pope
Julius II. in 1513, he demanded succours from the empire in order to take
measures against the schism which was to be feared. Had there really
been reason to fear it, he himself would have been mainly to blame for
the encouragement he had given to the Council of Pisa.
It is sufficiently clear that this opposition to Rome had no real prac-
tical force. The want of a body in the state, armed with independent
powers, crippled every attempt, every movement, at its very commence-
ment. But, in the public mind, that opposition still remained in full
force ; loud complaints were incessantly heard.
Hemmerlin, whose books were in those times extensively circulated and
eagerly read exhausted the vocabulary for expressions to paint the cheating
and plunder of which the court of Rome was guilty. 4
In the beginning of the sixteenth century there were the bitterest com-
plaints of the ruinous nature of the Annates. 5 It was probably in itself
the most oppressive tax in the empire : occasionally a prelate in order
to save his subjects from it, tried to mortgage some lordship of his see.
Diether of Isenburg was deposed chiefly because he was unable to fulfil
the engagements he had entered into concerning his Pallium. The more
frequent the vacancies, the more intolerable was the exaction. In Passau,
for example, these followed in 1482, 1486, 1490, 1500 : the last-appointed
1 Triburgi XVI. mensis Januarii and Muldorf V. Junii in Goldast, i. 421, 429.
2 In the Fugger MS. the decrees which were expected are noted down.
;J Baselius, mo. " Admonitus prudentium virorum consilio quern incaute
pedern cum Gallis contra pontificem firmaverat, citius retraxit."
4 Felix Malleolus, Recapitulatio de Anno Jubileo. " Pro nunc de prsesentis
pontincis summi et aliorum statibus comparationis praeparationem fecimus, et
nunc facie ad faciem experientia videmus quod nunquam visus est execrabilioris
exorbitationis direptionis deceptionis circumventionis derogationis decerptationis
depraedationis expoliationis exactionis corrosionis et omnis si audemus dicere
simoniacae pravitatis adinventionis novas et renovationis usus et exercitatio
continua quam nunc est tempore pontincis modern! (Nicolas V.) et in dies
dilatatur."
5 The first-fruits in a year's revenue paid by bishops, abbots, and holders of
benefices.
124 OPPOSITION RAISED BY [BOOK II.
bishop repaired to Rome in the hope of obtaining some alleviation of the
burthens on his see ; but he accomplished nothing, and his long residence
at the papal court only increased his pecuniary difficulties. 1 The cost of
a pallium 2 for Mainz amounted to 20,000 gulden ; the sum was assessed on
the several parts of the see : the Rheingau, for example, had to con-
tribute 1000 gulden each time. 3 In the beginning of the sixteenth century
vacancies occurred three times in quick succession 1505, 1508, 1513 ;
Jacob von Liebenstein said that his chief sorrow in dying was that his
country would so soon again be forced to pay the dues ; but all appeal to
the papal court was fruitless ; before the old tax was gathered in, the
order for a new one was issued.
We may imagine what was the impression made by the comparison of
the laborious negotiations usually necessary to extract even trifling
grants from the diet, and the great difficulty with which they were col-
lected, with the sums which flowed without toil or trouble to Rome. They
were calculated at 300,000 gulden yearly, exclusive of the costs of law pro-
ceedings, or the revenues of benefices which lapsed to the court of Rome. 4
And for what purpose, men asked themselves, was all this ? Christendom
had, nevertheless, lost two empires, fourteen kingdoms, and three hundred
towns within a short space of time : it was continually losing to the Turks ;
if the German nation were to keep these sums in its own hands and expend
them itself, it would meet its hereditary foe on other terms, under the
banners of its valiant commanders.
The financial relations to Rome, generally, excited the greatest atten-
tion. It was calculated that the barefooted monks, who were not per-
mitted by their rule to touch money, collected a yearly income of 200,000
gulden ; the whole body of mendicant friars, a million.
Another evil was the recurrence of collisions between the temporal and
spiritual jurisdictions, which gradually became the more frequent and
obvious, the more the territorial sovereignties tended towards separation
and political independence. In this respect Saxony was pre-eminent.
In the different possessions of the two lines, not only the three Saxon
bishops, but the archbishops of Mainz and Prag, the bishops of Wurz-
burg and Bamberg, Halberstadt, Havelberg, Brandenburg and Lebus,
had spiritual jurisdiction. The confusion which must, at all events, have
arisen from this, was now enormously increased by the fact that all dis-
1 Schreitwein, Episcopi Patavienses, in Rauch, Scriptt., ii. 527.
2 The symbol of archiepiscopal authority. A collar of white lamb's-wool with
two bands hanging in the front and back of the wearer, and decorated with six
black crosses.
8 This is shown by the Articles of the inhabitants of the Rheingau in Schunck's
Beitragen, i. p. 183. Jacob of Treves also reckons in 1500, " Das Geld, so sich
an dem papstlichen Hofe f iir die papstlichen Bullen und Briefe, dariiber A nnaten,
Minuten, Servitien, und anders demselben anhangend, zu geben gebiiret," " the
money, which it behoves to give to the papal court for the papal bulls and briefs,
moreover annats, minutes, services, and the rest belonging to the same," at
20,000 guldens. Document in Hontheim, ii., ser. xv.
4 This is, for instance, the calculation of the little book, Em klagliche Klag
(A mournful Complaint) 1521, which, however, I am not for adopting. It might
very likely be impossible to reckon the gains of the Romish court. The tax of
the annates at Treves, for instance, legally amounted to 10,000 gulden, and yet
the actual charge was 20,000.
CHAP. I.] THE SECULAR POWERS 125
putes between laity and clergy could only be decided before spiritual
tribunals, so that high and low were continually vexed with excommunica-
tion. In the year 1454, we find Duke William complaining that the evil
did not arise from his good lords and friends the bishops, but from the
judges, officials, and procurators, who sought therein only their own profit.
In concurrence with the counts, lords, and knights of his land, he issued
certain ordinances to prevent this abuse, 1 in support of which, privileges
granted by the popes were alleged ; but in 1490 the old complaints were
revived, the administration of justice in the temporal courts was greatly
obstructed and thwarted by the spiritual, and the people were impoverished
by the consequent delays and expenses. 2 In the year 1518, the princes of
both lines, George and Frederick, combined to urge that the spiritual juris-
diction should be restricted to spiritual causes, and the temporal to tem-
poral ; the diet to decide what was temporal and what was spiritual.
Duke George was still more zealous in the matter than his cousin. 3 But
the grievances and complaints which fill the proceedings of the later diets
were universal, and confined to no class or portion of the empire.
The cities felt the exemptions enjoyed by the clergy peculiarly burthen-
some. It was impossible to devise any thing more annoying to a well-
ordered civic community, than to have within their walls a corporate
body which neither acknowledged the jurisdiction of the city, nor con-
tributed to bear its burthens, nor deemed itself generally subject to its
regulations. The churches were asylums for criminals, the monasteries
the resort of dissolute youth ; we find examples of monks who made use
of their exemption from tolls, to import goods for sale, or to open a tavern
for the sale of beer. If any attempt was made to assail their privileges,
they defended themselves with excommunication and interdict. We find
the municipal councils incessantly occupied in putting some check to this
evil. In urgent cases they arrest offenders even in sanctuary, and then
take measures to be delivered from the inevitable interdict by the inter-
position of some powerful protector ; they are well inclined to pass over
the bishops and to address themselves directly to the pope ; they try to
effect reforms in their monasteries. They thought it a very questionable
arrangement that the parish priest should take part in the collection of the
Common Penny ; the utmost that they would concede was that he should
be present, but without taking any active share. 4 The cities always
vehemently opposed the emperor's intention of appointing a bishop to be
judge in the Imperial Chamber.
The general disapprobation excited by the church on such weighty
points, naturally led to a discussion of its other abuses. Hemmerlin
zealously contends against the incessant augmentation of ecclesiastical
property, through which villages disappeared and districts became waste ;
against the exorbitant number of holidays, which even the council of
Basle had endeavoured to reduce ; against the celibacy of the clergy, to
1 Ordinance of Duke William ; Gotha, Monday after Exaudi, 1454, in Miiller,
Rtth. Fr., i. 130.
2 Words of an ordinance of Duke George in Langenn's Duke Albrecht, p. 319.
3 Articles of the negotiations of the diet, as my gracious lord has caused them
to be given in 1518. In the Dresden Archives.
4 Jager, Schwabisches Stiidtewesen : Milliner's Niirnberger Annalen, in
several passages.
126 CHARACTER AND TENDENCIES OF [BOOK II.
which the rules of the Eastern Church were much to be preferred ; against
the reckless manner in which ordination was granted, as, for example,
that two hundred priests were yearly ordained in Constance : he asks to
what all this is to lead. 1
Things had gone so far that the constitution of the clergy was offensive
to public morals : a multitude of ceremonies and rules were attributed
to the mere desire of making money ; the situation of priests living in a
state of concubinage and burthened with illegitimate children, and often,
in spite of all purchased absolutions, tormented in conscience and oppressed
with the fear that in performing the sacrifice of the mass they committed
a deadly sin, excited mingled pity and contempt : most of those who
embraced the monastic profession had no other idea than that of leading
a life of self-indulgence without labour. People saw that the clergy took
from every class and station only what was agreeable, and avoided what
was laborious or painful. From the knightly order, the prelate borrowed
his brilliant company, his numerous retinue, the splendidly caparisoned
horse, and the hawk upon his fist : with women, he shared the love of
gorgeous chambers and trim gardens ; but the weight of the mailed coat,
the troubles of the household, he had the dexterity to avoid. If a man
wishes to enjoy himself for once, says an old proverb, let him kill a fat
fowl ; if for a year, let him take a wife ; but if he would live joyously all
the days of his life, then let him turn priest.
Innumerable expressions of the same sentiment were current ; the
pamphlets of that time are full of them. 2
CHARACTER AND TENDENCIES OF THE POPULAR LITERATURE.
THIS state of the public mind acquired vast importance from its coinci-
dence with the first dawnings of a popular literature which thus, at its
very commencement, became deeply and thoroughly imbued with the
prevalent sentiment of disapprobation and disgust towards the clergy.
It will be conceded on all sides that in naming Rosenbliit and Sebastian
Brant, the Eulenspiegel (Owlglass) and the edition of Reineke Fuchs
(Reynard the Fox) of the year 1498, we cite the most remarkable pro-
ductions of the literature of that time. 3 And if we inquire what character-
istic they have in common, we find it to be that of hostility to the Church
of Rome. The Fastnachtsptele (Carnival Sports) of Hans Rosenblut
have fully and distinctly this character and intention ; he introduces the
Emperor of Turkey, in order through his mouth to say the truth to all
classes of the nation. 4 The vast success of the Eulenspiegel was not to
be attributed so much to its clownish coarseness and practical jokes, as
1 The books De Institutione novorum Officiorum, and De Libertate Ecclesi-
astica, are especially remarkable with reference to this matter.
2 Wimpheling also mentions, " scandalum odium murmur populi in omnem
clerum."
3 For a further account of these writings and writers, cf. Geiger, Renaissance
und Humanismus in Deutschland, pp. 1344 ft., or Creighton, vol. v. c. i. ii., or
Cambridge Modern History, vol. i. c. xvi. xvii.
4 In the description also of the battle of Hembach in Reinhart's Beitrage
zur Historie Frankenlandes, the nobles are mentioned " as a sharp scourge,
which chastises us on account of our sins ; " " their hearts are harder than
adamant."
CHAP. I.] POPULAR LITERATURE 127
to the irony which was poured over all classes ; the wit of the boor, " who
scratches himself with a rogue's nails," put that of all others to shame.
It was under this point of view alone that the German writer recast the
fable of the fox ; he saw in it the symbolic representation of the defects
and vices of human society, and he quickly detected its application to
the several classes of men, and laboured to develop the lesson which the
poet reads to each. The same purpose is obvious to the first glance in
Brant's Ship of Fools. The ridicule is not directed against individual
follies : on the one side is vice, nay crime, on the other, lofty aspirations
and pursuits which rise far above vulgar ends, (as, for example, where
the devotion of the whole mind to the task of describing cities and
countries, the attempt to discover how broad is the earth, and how wide
the sea,) are treated as folly. 1 Glory and beauty are despised as transient ;
" nothing is abiding but learning."
In this general opposition to the prevailing state of things, the defects
in the ecclesiastical body are continually adverted to. The Schnepperer
declaims violently against the priests, " who ride high horses, but will
not do battle with the heathen." The most frequent subject of derision
in the Eulenspiegel is the common priests, with their pretty ale-wives,
well-groomed nags, and full larders ; they are represented as stupid and
greedy. In Reineke too the Papemeierschen priests' households, peopled
with little children play a part. The commentator is evidently quite in
earnest ; he declares that the sins of the priests will be rated more highly
than those of the laity on account of the evil example they set. Doctor
Brant expresses his indignation at the premature admission into the
convent, before the age of reason ; so that religious duties are performed
without the least sentiment of devotion : he leads us into the domestic
life of the uncalled priests, who are at last in want of the means of sub-
sistence, while their soul is heavy laden with sins ; " for God regardeth
not the sacrifice which is offered in sin by sinful hands." 2
This, however, is not the exclusive, nor, indeed, the principal matter
of these books ; their significance is far more extensive and general.
While the poets of Italy were employed in moulding the romantic
materials furnished by the middle ages into grand and brilliant works,
these excited little interest in Germany : Titurel and Parcival, for example,
were printed, but merely as antiquarian curiosities, and in a language even
then unintelligible.
While, in Italy, the opposition which the institutions of the middle ages
encountered in the advancing development of the public mind, took the
form of satire, became an element of composition, and as it were the
inseparable but mocking companion of the poetical Ideal ; in Germany
that opposition took up independent ground, and directed its attacks
immediately against the realities of life, not against their reproduction
in fiction.
In the German literature of that period the whole existence and conduct
of the several classes, ages and sexes were brought to the standard of the
sober good sense, the homely morality, the simple rule of ordinary life ;
which, however, asserted its claim to be that " whereby kings hold their
crowns, princes their lands, and all powers and authorities their due value."
1 Dr. Brant's Narrenschiff., 1506, f. 83.
2 The ;2nd Fool. fol. 94.
128 CONDITION AND CHARACTER OF [BOOK II.
The universal confusion and ferment which is visible in the public
affairs of that period, proves by inevitable contrast, that the sound common
sense of mankind is awakened and busy in the mass of the nation ; and
prosaic, homely, vulgar, but thoroughly true, as it is, constitutes itself
judge of all the phenomena of the world around it.
We are filled with admiration at the spectacle afforded by Italy, where
men of genius, reminded by the remains of antiquity around them of the
significance of beautiful forms, strove to emulate their predecessors, and
produced works which are the eternal delight of cultivated minds ; but
their beauty does not blind us to the fact that the movement of the
national mind of Germany was not less great, and that it was still more
important to the progress of mankind. After centuries of secret growth
it now became aware of its own existence, broke loose from tradition, and
examined the affairs and the institutions of the world by the light of its
own truth.
Nor did Germany entirely disregard the demands of form. In Reinecke
Fuchs, it is curious to observe how the author rejects every thing appro-
priate to the style of romantic poetry ; how he seeks lighter transitions,
works out scenes of common life to more complete and picturesque reality,
and constantly strives to be more plain and vernacular (for example, uses
all the familiar German names) : his main object evidently is to popularise
his matter, to bring it as much as possible home to the nation ; and his
work has thus acquired the form in which it has attracted readers for more
than three centuries. Sebastian Brant possesses an incomparable talent
for turning apophthegms and proverbs ; he finds the most appropriate
expression for simple thoughts ; his rhymes come unsought, and are
singularly happy and harmonious. " Here," says Geiler von Keisersperg,
" the agreeable and the useful are united ; his verses are goblets of the
purest wine ; here we are presented with royal meats in finely wrought
vessels." 1 But in these, as well as in many other works of that time,
the matter is the chief thing ; the expression of the opposition of the
ordinary morality and working-day sense of mankind to the abuses in
public life and the corruptions of the times.
At the same period another branch of literature, the learned, took an
analogous direction ; perhaps with even greater force and decision.
CONDITION AND CHARACTER OF LEARNED LITERATURE.
UPON this department of letters Italy exercised the strongest in-
fluence.
In that country neither the metaphysics of the schools, nor romantic
poetry, nor Gothic architecture, had obtained complete dominion : recol-
lections of antiquity survived, and at length in the fifteenth century,
expanded into that splendid revival which took captive all minds and
imparted a new life to literature.
1 Geiler, Navicula Fatuorum, even more instructive as to the history of morals,
than the original ; J, u. " Est hie," he continues, " in hoc speculo veritas
moralis sub figuris sub vulgari et vernacula lingua nostra teutonica sub verbis
similitudinibusque aptis et pulchris sub rhitmis quoque concinnis et instar
cimbalorum concinentibus."
CHAP. I.] LEARNED LITERATURE 129
This reflorescence of Italy in time reacted on Germany, though at first
only in regard to the mere external form of the Latin tongue.
In consequence of the uninterrupted intercourse with Italy occasioned
by ecclesiastical relations, the Germans soon discovered the superiority
of the Italians ; they saw themselves despised by the disciples of the
grammarians and rhetoricians of that country, and began to be ashamed
of the rudeness of their spoken, and the poverty of their written language.
It was not surprising, therefore, that young aspiring spirits at length
determined to learn their Latin in Italy. At first they were only a few
opulent nobles a Dalberg, a Langen, 1 a Spiegelberg, who not only ac-
quired knowledge themselves, but had the merit of bringing back books,
such as grammatical treatises and better editions of the classics, which
they communicated to their friends. A man endowed with the peculiar
talent necessary for appropriating to himself the classical learning of the
age then arose Rudolf Huesmann of Groningen, called Agricola. His
scholarship excited universal admiration ; he was applauded in the schools
as a Roman, a second Virgil. 2 He had, indeed, no other object but his
own advancement in learning ; the weary pedantries of the schools were
disgusting to him, nor could he accommodate himself to the contracted
sphere assigned to a learned man in Germany. Other careers which he
entered upon did not satisfy his aspirations, so that he fell into a rapid
decline and died prematurely. He had, however, friends who found it
less difficult to adapt themselves to the necessities of German life, and to
whom he was ever ready to afford counsel and help. A noble and intimate
friendship was formed in Deventer, between Agricola and Hegius, who
attached himself to him with all the humility and thirst for knowledge
of a disciple ; he applied to him for instruction, and received not only
assistance but cordial sympathy. 3 Another of his friends, Dringenberg,
followed him to Schletstadt. The reform which took place in the Low
German schools of Miinster, Hervord, Dortmund, and Hamm, emanated
from Deventer, which also furnished them with competent teachers. In
Nurnberg, Ulm, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Memmingen, Hagenau, Pforzheim,
&c., we find schools of poetry of more or less note. 4 Schletstadt at one
time numbered as many as nine hundred students. It will not be imagined
that these literati, who had to rule, and to instruct in the rudiments of
learning, a rude undisciplined youth compelled to live mainly on alms,
possessing no books, and wandering from town to town in strangely
1 Hamelmann published in 1580 an Oratio de Rodolpho Langio, which has
some merit, but which has also given rise to many errors.
2 Erasmi Adagia. Ad. de Cane et Balneo.
3 Adami, Vitae Philosophorum, p. 12, mentions this correspondence " unde
turn ardor proficiendi, turn candor in communicando elucet."
4 They are so called, e.g. in the Chronicle of Regensburg. A list of the schools,
very incomplete, however, is given by Erhard, Hist, of the Restoration of the
Sciences, i. 427. Eberlin von Giinzburg names in 1521, as pious schoolmasters,
" deren trewe Unterweisung fast geniitzt," whose faithful instruction had been
profitable," Crato and Sapidus at Schletstadt, Mich. Hilspach at Hagffenau,
Spinier and Gerbellius at Pforzheim, Brassicanus and Henrichmann at Tubingin,
Egid. Krautwasser at Stuttgart and Horb, Joh. Schmidlin at Memmingen, also
Cocleus at Niirnberg, and Nisenus at Frankfurt. See Dr. Karl Hagen, Deutch-
lands literarische und religiose Verhaltnisse im Reformations Zeitalter, 1841,
vol. i., pp. 164-237.
9
i 3 o LEARNED LITERATURE [BOOK II.
organized bands, called Bachantes and Schiitzen, 1 were very eminent
scholars themselves, or made such ; nor was that the object : their merit,
and a sufficient one, was that they not only kept the public mind steady
to the important direction it had taken, but carried it onwards to the best
of their ability, and founded the existence of an active literary public.
The school-books hitherto in use gradually fell into neglect, and classical
authors issued from the German press. As early as the end of the fifteenth
century, Geiler of Keisersberg, who was not himself devoted to these
pursuits, reproached the learned theologians with their Latin, which, he
said, was rude, feeble, and barbarous neither German nor Latin, but
both and neither. 2
For since the school learning of the universities, which had hitherto
entirely given the tone to elementary instruction, adhered to its wonted
forms of expression, a collision between the new and humanistic method,
now rapidly gaining ground, and the old modes, was inevitable. Nor
could their collision fail to extend from the universal element of language
into other regions.
It was this crisis in the history of letters that produced an author
whose whole life was devoted to the task of attacking the scholastic forms
prevailing in universities and monasteries ; the first great author of the
modern opposition, the champion of the modern views, a low German,
Erasmus of Rotterdam.
On a review of the first thirty years of the life of Erasmus, we find that
he had grown up in ceaseless contradiction with the spirit and the systems
which presided over the conventual life and directed the studies of that
time ; indeed that this had made him what he was. We might say that
he was begotten and born in this contradiction, for his parents had not
been able to marry, because his father was destined to the cloister. He
had not been admitted to a university, as he wished, but had been kept
at a very imperfect conventual school, from which he soon ceased to derive
any profit or satisfaction ; and, at a later period, every art was practised
to induce him to take the vows, and with success. It was not till he had
actually taken them, that he felt all the burthen they imposed : he regarded
it as a deliverance when he obtained a situation in a college at Paris :
but here, too, he was not happy ; he was compelled to attend Scotist
lectures and disputations ; and he complains that the unwholesome food
and bad wine on which he was forced to live, had entirely destroyed his
health. But in the meanwhile he had come to a consciousness of his own
powers. While yet a boy, he had lighted upon the first trace of a new
method of study, 3 and he now followed it up with slender aid from without,
but with the infallible instinct of genuine talent ; he had constructed
for himself a light, flowing style, formed on the model of the ancients, not
by a servile imitation of particular expressions, but in native correctness
1 Platter's Autobiography places this practice in a very lively manner before
us. (Thomas Platter, after the autograph manuscript lately edited by Fechner,
Basle, 1840.)
2 Geiler, Introductorium, ii. c. " Quale est illud eorum Latinum, quo utuntur,
eliam dum sederint in sede majestatis suae, in doctoralis cathedra lecturse !"
3 He cannot, however, be properly considered as a scholar of Hegius.
" Hegium," he says in the Compendium Vitse, " testis diebus audivi." It was
the exception.
CHAP. I.J ERASMUS 131
and elegance far surpassing anything which Paris had to olier. He now
emancipated himself from the fetters which bound him to the convent
and the schools, and boldly trusted to the art of which he was master,
for the means of subsistence. He taught, and in that way formed con-
nections which not only led to present success, but to security for the
future ; he published some essays which, as they were not less remarkable
for discreet choice of matter than for scholarly execution, gained him
admirers and patrons ; he gradually discovered the wants and the tastes
of the public, and devoted himself entirely to literature. He composed
school-books treating of method and form of instruction ; translated from
the Greek, which he learned in the process ; edited the classics of antiquity,
and imitated them, especially Lucian and Terence. His works abound with
marks of that acute and nice observation which at once instructs and
delights ; but great as these merits were, the grand secret of his popularity
lay in the spirit which pervades all he wrote. The bitter hostility to the
forms of the devotion and the theology of that time, which had been ren-
dered his habitual frame of mind by the course and events of his life,
found vent in his writings ; not that this was the premeditated aim or
purpose of them, but it broke forth sometimes in the very middle of a
learned disquisition in indirect and unexpected sallies of the most
felicitous and exhaustless humour. In one of his works, he adopts the
idea, rendered so popular by the fables of Brant and Geiler, of the element
of. folly which mingles in all human affairs. He introduces Folly herself
as interlocutor. Moria, the daughter of Plutus, born in the Happy
Islands, nursed by Drunkenness and Rudeness, is mistress of a powerful
kingdom, which she describes and to which all classes of men belong.
She passes them all in review, but dwells longer and more earnestly on
none than on the clergy, who, though they refuse to acknowledge her
benefits, are under the greatest obligations to her. She turns into ridicule
the labyrinth of dialectic in which theologians have lost themselves,
the syllogisms with which they labour to sustain the church as Atlas
does the heavens, the intolerant zeal with which they persecute every
difference of opinion. She then comes to the ignorance, the dirt, the
strange and ludicrous pursuits of the monks, their barbarous and objur-
gatory style of preaching ; she attacks the bishops, who are more solicitous
for gold than for the safety of souls ; who think they do enough if they
dress themselves in theatrical costume, and under the name of the most
reverend, most holy, and most blessed fathers in God, pronounce a blessing
or a curse ; and lastly, she boldly assails the court of Rome and the pope
himself, 1 who, she says, takes only the pleasures of his station, and leaves
its duties to St. Peter and St. Paul. Amongst the curious woodcuts,
after the marginal drawings of Hans Holbein, with which the book was
adorned, the pope appears with his triple crown.
This little work brought together, with singular talent and brevity,
matter which had for some time been current and popular in the world,
gave it a form which satisfied all the demands of taste and criticism, and
fell in with the most decided tendency of the age. It produced an inde-
1 Mw/xcts ey/cii/wop. Opp. Erasini, t. iii. " Quasi sint ulli hostes ecclesiae
perniciosiores quarii impii pontifices, qui et silentio Christum sinunt abolescere
et quaestuariis legibus alligant et coactis interpretationibus adulterant et pesti-
lente vita jugulant."
92
132 CONDITION AND CHARACTER OF [BooK II.
scribable effect : twenty-seven editions appeared even during the lifetime
of. Erasmus ; it was translated into all languages, and greatly contributed
to confirm the age in its anticlerical dispositions.
But Erasmus coupled with this popular warfare a more serious attack
on the state of learning. The study, of Greek had arisen in Italy in the
fifteenth century ; it had found its way by the side of that of Latin into
Germany and France, and now opened a new and splendid vista, beyond
the narrow horizon of the ecclesiastical learning of the West. Erasmus
adopted the idea of the Italians, that the sciences were to be learned
from the ancients ; geography from Strabo, natural history from Pliny,
mythology from Ovid, medicine from Hippocrates, philosophy from
Plato ; and not out of the barbarous and imperfect school-books then in
use : but he went a step further he required that divinity should be
learned not out of Scotus and Thomas Aquinas, but out of the Greek
fathers, and, above all, the New Testament. Following in the track of
Laurentius Valla, whose example had great influence generally on his mind,
he showed that it was not safe to adhere to the Vulgate, wherein he pointed
out a multitude of errors ; l and he then himself set about the great work,
the publication of the Greek text ; which was as yet imperfectly and
superficially known to the West. Thus he thought, as he expresses it,
to bring back that cold word-contender, Theology, to her primal sources ;
he showed the simplicity of the origin whence that wondrous and com-
plicated pile had sprung, and to which it must return. In all this he had
the sympathy and assent of the public for which he wrote. The prudence
wherewith he concealed from view an abyss in the distance, from which
that public would have shrunk with alarm, doubtless contributed to his
success. While pointing out abuses, he spoke only of reforms and improve-
ments, which he represented as easy ; and was cautious not to offend
against certain opinions or principles to which the faith of the pious clung. 2
But the main thing was his incomparable literary talent. He worked
incessantly in various branches, and completed his works with great
rapidity ; he had not the patience to revise and polish them, and accord-
ingly most of them were printed exactly as he threw them out ; but this
very circumstance rendered them universally acceptable ; their great
charm was that they communicated the trains of thought which passed
through a rich, acute, witty, intrepid, and cultivated mind, just as they
arose, and without any reservations. Who remarked the many errors
which escaped him ? His manner of narrating, which still rivets the atten-
tion, then carried every one away. He gradually became the most
celebrated man in Europe ; public opinion, whose pioneer he had been,
adorned him with her fairest wreaths ; presents rained upon his house
" at Basle ; visitors flocked thither, and invitations poured in from all
1 In the edition of Alcala de Henares, on the other hand, the Greek text has
been changed according to the Vulgate ; e.g. i Job. v. 7. SchrockH, KGsch.
xxxiv. 83. As to the rest, this adherence to the Vulgate was regarded at a later
period, and especially when his canonization was talked of, as the chief merit
of Ximenes, " ut hoc modo melius intelligeretur nostra vulgata in suo rigore et
puritate." Ada Toletana in Rainaldus, 1517, nr. 107.
- A few years later he thus describes his situation : " Adnixus sum ut bona,
literae, quas scis hactenus apud Italos fere paganas fuisse, consuescerent de
Christo loqui." Epistola ad Cretium, 9 Sept., 1526. Opp. III. i., p. 953.
CHAP. I.I LEARNED LITERATURE 133
parts. 1 His person was small, with light hair, blue, half-closed eyes, ful
of acute observation, and humour playing about the delicate mouth
his air was so timorous that he looked as if a breath would overthrow
him, and he trembled at the very name of death. 2
If this single example sufficed to show how much the exclusive theology
of the universities had to fear from the new tendency letters had acquired,
it was evident that the danger would become measureless if the spirit of
innovation should attempt to force its way into these fortresses of the
established corporations of learning. The universities, therefore, de-
fended themselves as well as they could. George Zingel, pro-chancellor
of Ingolstadt, who had been dean of the theological faculty thirty times in
three-and-thirty years, would hear nothing of the introduction of the study
of heathen poets. Of the ancients, he would admit only Prudentius ; of
the moderns, the Carmelite Baptista of Mantua : these he thought were
enough. Cologne, which had from the very beginning opposed the intro-
duction of new elementary books, 3 would not allow the adherents of the
new opinions to settle in their town : Rhagius was banished for ten years
by public proclamation ; Murmellius, a pupil of Hegius, was compelled
to give way and to become teacher in a school ; Conrad Celtes of Leipzig
was driven away almost by force ; Hermann von dem Busch could not
maintain his ground either in Leipzig or Rostock ; his new edition o
Donatus was regarded almost as a heresy. 4 This was not, however, uni-
versal. According to the constitution of the universities, every man had,
at leas-t after taking his degree as Master of Arts, a right to teach, and it
was not every one who afforded a reason or a pretext for getting rid of him. 5
In some places, too, the princes had reserved to themselves the right of
appointing teachers. In one way or another, teachers of grammar and
of classical literature did, as we find, establish themselves ; in Tubingen,
Heinrich Bebel, who formed a numerous school ; in Ingolstadt, Locher,
who, after much molestation, succeeded in keeping his ground, and left
a brilliant catalogue of princes, prelates, counts, and barons, who had been
his pupils ; 6 Conrad Celtes in Vienna, where he actually succeeded in
establishing a faculty of poetry in the year 1501 ; and in Prague, Hier-
onymo Balbi, an Italian, who gave instructions to the young princes, and
1 He afterwards complains of the want of contradiction. " Longe plus
attulissent utilitatis duo tresve fidi monitores quam multa laudantium millia
Epp. III. i. 924.
2 Compare this passage with Holbein's well-known portrait, by which it was
doubtless inspired.
3 According to Chytraus (Saxonia, p. 90). Conrad Ritberg, the bishop of
Munster, was warned by the university of Cologne against the establishment
of a school upon the new method, but he, who had himself been in Italy, was
far more strongly worked on by the recommendations which Langen had brought
with him thence ; e.g. even from Pope Sixtus.
4 Hamelmann, Oratio de Buschio, nr. 49.
5 Erasmi Epistolse, i., p. 689. In the Epp. Obsc. Vir. ed. Munch, p. 102, a
Socius from Moravia is complained of who wanted to lecture at Vienna without
having taken a degree.
6 " Qui nostri portarunt signa theatri." Catalogus Illustrium Auditorum
Philomusi. " Doctorum insignium magistrorum nobilium ac canonicorum
infinitum pene numerum memorare nequeo, qui ore magnifico laudisonaque
voce me praeceptorem salutare gestiunt. Haec citra omnem jactantiam appo-
suirmis." Extract in Zapf. Jacob Locher, called Philomusus, p. 27.
134 LEARNED LITERATURE [BOOK II.
took some share in public affairs. In Freiburg the new studies were con-
nected with the Roman law ; Ulrich Zasius united the two professorships
in his own person with the most brilliant success ; Pietro Tommai of
Ravenna, and his son Vincenzo, were invited to Greifswald, and after-
wards to Wittenberg in the same double capacity : l it was hoped that the
combined study of antiquity and law would raise that university. Erfurt
felt the influence of Conrad Muth, who enjoyed his canonry at Gotha "in
blessed tranquillity " (" in gluckseliger Ruhe ") as the inscription on his
house says : he was the Gleim of that age the hospitable patron of
young men of poetical temperament and pursuits. Thus, from the time
the new spirit and method found their way into the lower schools, societies
of grammarians and poets were gradually formed in most of the univer-
sities, completely opposed to the spirit of those establishments as handed
down from their fountain-head, Paris. They read the ancients, and per-
haps allowed something of the petulance of Martial, or the voluptuousness
of Ovid, to find its way into their lives ; they made Latin verses, which,
stiff and barbarous as they generally were, called forth an interchange of
admiration ; they corresponded in Latin, and took care to interlard it
with a few sentences of Greek ; they Latinised and Grsecised their names. 2
Genuine talent or accomplished scholarship were very rare ; but the life
and power of a generation does not manifest itself in mere tastes and
acquirements : for a few individuals these may be enough, but, for the
many the tendency is the important thing. The character of the univer-
sities soon altered. The scholars were no longer to be seen with their
books under their arms, walking decorously after their Magister ; the
scholarships were broken up, degrees were no longer sought after that of
bachelor especially (which was unfrequent in Italy) was despised. On
some occasions the champions of classical studies appeared as the pro-
moters of the disorders of the students ; 3 and ridicule of the dialectic
theologians, nominalists as well as realists, was hailed with delight by the
young men.
The world, and especially the learned world, must be other than it is
for such a change to be effected without a violent struggle.
The manner, however, in which this broke out is remarkable. It was
not the necessity of warding off a dangerous attack or a declared enemy
that furnished the occasion : this was reserved for the most peaceful of
the converts to the new system, who had already fulfilled the active task
of life, and at that moment devoted himself to more abstruse studies,
John Reuchlin.
Reuchlin, probably the son of a messenger at Pforzheim, was indebted
to his personal gifts for the success which attended him in his career. A
fine voice procured him admittance to the court of Baden ; his beautiful
handwriting maintained him during his residence in France ; the pure
pronunciation of Latin which he had acquired by intercourse with
1 Tiraboschi also mentions them, vi., p. 410. Their catastrophe at Cologne
s not yet, however, thoroughly cleared up.
2 Chrachenberger entreats Reuchlin to find some Greek name, " quo honestius
in Latinis literis quam hoc barbaro uti possim." Lynz, Febr. 19, 1493.
" Acta Facultatis Artium Friburgensis in Riegger, Vita Zasii, i. 42. " Con-
clusum, ut dicatur doctori Zasio, quod scholaribus adh 
