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Royal Ancestors
from
Germany
INTRODUCTION
For almost 2000
years after its initial appearance in history, the region
comprising present-day Germany was occupied by a multiplicity of
independent or semi-independent states. The inhabitants of the
region possessed all of the prerequisites for political union,
including a common racial background and language, mutual
customs and institutions, and a community of religion. Indeed,
nominal statehood was achieved on several occasions during the
Middle Ages, but in each instance the body politic proved to be
structurally weak and incapable of withstanding the splintering
effect of feudalism. After each period, all of relatively brief
duration, centralized authority collapsed and the nation
disintegrated into numerous principalities. The political chaos
implicit in this process was compounded by frequent partitions
or amalgamations of the Germanic states.
The ethnological and
geographical origins of the Teutonic linguistic stocks are
obscure. it is probable that various tribes of the stock had
infiltrated central Europe long before the beginning of the
Roman era, but not until 113 BC, when the Cimbri and Teutons
defeated a Roman army in what is now Austria, did any of the
tribes begin to figure in written history. During the next
century the Romans clashed with their northern neighbors on
numerous occasions, particularly after Gaius Julius Caesar
launched his conquest of Gaul in 58 BC. He found several
tribes, collectively known as the Germani (from a Celtic word
meaning “The Shouters”), in possession of Gaelic territory east
of the Vosges Mountains. Within three years, Caesar subjugated
part of the invaders and pursued the remainder across the Rhine
to their ancestral homeland, called Germania. Roman armies were
generally successful in Germania until 9 AD. In that year
Arminius, who was a chieftain of the Cherusci, led an uprising
against the Romans, and annihilated three Roman legions. The
victorious Germanic tribes compelled their erstwhile overlords
to withdraw to the west bank of the Rhine. After the
short-lived retaliatory campaigns of Germanicus Caesar, Rome
adopted a policy of containing its warlike neighbors. The
strongly defended frontiers of the Roman Empire insured
generally peaceful relations with the Germani during the 1st
and 2nd centuries AD. Several important towns,
including Cologne, Augsburg, Tier, and Bonn, were established in
Germania during this period. Of greater importance, the
Germanic tribes, formerly a multitude of semi-nomadic groupings,
began to federate and coalesce into nations. Outstanding among
these nations were the Almanni, Goths, Suevi, Frisii, Lombards,
Vandals, Saxons, Franks, and Burgundians. The Roman emperors,
beset by internal and foreign difficulties, accepted some of the
Germanic groupings as allies in the 3rd and 4th
centuries, and allowed them to settle within the imperial
domain. With the decline of Roman power in the 5th
century, the Goths, Burgundians, Franks, and other tribal
groups, yielding to pressure from the invading Huns, overran
vast portions of Roman territory, including Gaul. Before the
end of the century, the Franks, under the leadership of Clovis,
were masters of Gaul and a large part of the region east of the
Rhine. The kingdom of the Franks, became the nucleus of the
Frankish empire, which embraced most of present-day France and
Germany.
The internal strife
that developed after the death in 814 of Charlemagne under whom
the Frankish kingdom attained imperial proportions, was
adjudicated in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun. By the terms of
the settlement, the empire was divided among Charlemagne’s three
grandsons, with Louis II receiving the east portion, a rough
approximation of modern Germany. The west portion,
corresponding in general to Lotharingia, Burgundy, and
Lombardy. This intermediate kingdom shortly disintegrated into
various principalities, which for centuries afterward were the
source of rivalry and friction between the east and west
Franks. Besides territorial rivalries, linguistic differences
served to worsen relations between the two great divisions of
the Franks, the west Franks having abandoned their native tongue
and assimilated the Latinized speech of Gaul.
In the new German
realm, as in other kingdoms of Europe, royal authority was
largely nominal. The feudal chieftains, particularly those of
the duchies of Saxony, Swabia, and Bavaria, retained absolute
control of their domains, and the right to elect their
sovereign. For the most part, the authority of Louis II was
limited to his personal possessions, mainly in the duchy of
Franconia. Louis’ chief son Charles, known as “The Fat”,
secured control of the other parts of the former Frankish Empire
in 884, the expanded kingdom collapsed when, in 887, Charles was
deposed.
Henry I is generally
recognized as the first ruler of stature to appear in Germany,
Duke of Saxony, who obtained the throne in 919, with the support
of Franconia. Shortly after his accession, Henry extended his
authority over the Swabians, and Bavarians, creating for the
first time a united Germany. He also secured the vassalage of
the Duke of Lotharingia, defeated the Moravians and other Slavic
tribes, and repulsed the Magyars, a marauding tribe that had
long threatened to engulf east Germany. During the reign of
Henry’s son and successor Otto I, a capable ruler and soldier,
royal authority in Germany was still further consolidated. A
number of feudatory rebellions were suppressed, Bohemia subdued,
and including the Danes, was annexed. In many respects Otto
created, during the early years of his reign, the foundations
for an enduring state. In 951, however, he intervened in the
affairs of Lombardy, starting a chain of events that culminated
in a general rebellion in Germany. The king finally triumphed,
in 955, when his forces decisively defeated the Magyars, then in
alliance with the rebel chieftains. This victory ended the
Magyar threat to east Germany. ON the other hand, the threat of
feudal usurpation of royal authority remained, and Otto seeking
to lessen this threat, determined to enlist the prestige and
power of the church on the side of the crown.
He soon began to
divide the duchies under his direct control into smaller units,
most of which were awarded to Church dignitaries. Otto also
appointed many prelates to important administrative posts. The
displays of friendliness to Rome were accompanied, in 961, by an
important favor to Pope John XII, who was then at loggerheads
with Berengar II of Italy. At the Pope’s request, Otto invaded
Italy and deposed Berengar. In 962, in recognition of Otto’s
services, John XII awarded him the Imperial crown and title. The
coronation, which rivaled, in terms of sovereignty, the imperial
structure originally bestowed in 800 on Charlemagne, inaugurated
the German-Italian political union known after 1155 as the Holy
Roman Empire.
Having secured the
imperial title and complete control of the Church in Germany,
Otto swiftly brought the papacy under his personal domination.
The vast secular and spiritual powers of the emperor rested on
shaky foundations, however. Through the creation of numerous
ecclesiastical and lay principalities, he had given impetus to
the divisive forces at work within Germany; the political
situation in Italy, particularly in the south portion of the
peninsula, verged on anarchy; the Empire lacked an efficient
administrative apparatus; and, finally, the Imperial subversions
of traditional papal authority contained the seeds of mortal
conflict between Church and state.
The Eastern Franks
The
question of when German history began is a matter of discussion,
often with strong political overtones. Did it begin in 843 when
the Treaty of Verdun gave Louis the German the lands east of the
Rhine? Or did it begin in 887 when Arnulf of Carinthia
partially restored the territory of the Carolingian empire?
Some historians have suggested 911, when Conrad I was elected
king, while others suggest the coronation of Otto the Great in
936, or the imperial coronation of Otto in Rome in 962. In 911
the four East Frankish people – the Franks, Swabians, Bavarians,
and Saxons – formed the kingdom of Germany. In 925 were added
the Lothringians some of where were French-speaking. The
kingdom corresponded roughly to the former Western Germany and
lay on the eastern borders of Christian Europe.
The Carolingian
Dynasty
Ruler/Ancestor |
Born |
Reign |
Died |
Charlemagne |
747 |
768-814 |
814 |
Louis "The Pius" |
778 |
814-840 |
840 |
Arnulf |
893 |
887-899 |
911 |
Medieval Civilization
Ruler/Ancestor |
Born |
Reign |
Died |
Henry I |
875 |
919-936 |
936 |
Otto I "The Great" |
912 |
936-973 |
973 |
Otto II |
955 |
973-983 |
983 |
Salic Frankish Empire
Ruler/Ancestor |
Born |
Reign |
Died |
Conrad II |
990 |
1024-1039 |
1039 |
Henry III |
1017 |
1039-1056 |
1056 |
Henry IV |
1050 |
1056-1106 |
1106 |
Hohenstaufen Dynasty
Ruler/Ancestor |
Born |
Reign |
Died |
Frederick I Barbaroso |
1122 |
1152-1190 |
1190 |
Philip of Swabia |
1180 |
1198-1208 |
1208 |
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