1.
Konstanz
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Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was for more than 1200 years residence of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Konstanz, Konstanz is situated on Lake Constance. The Rhine river, which starts in the Swiss Alps, passes through Lake Constance and leaves it, considerably larger, car ferries provide access across Lake Constance to Meersburg, and the Katamaran provides a shuttle service for pedestrians to Friedrichshafen. At the old towns southern border lies the Swiss town of Kreuzlingen, Konstanz is subdivided into 15 wards or districts. The island of Mainau belonged to the ward of Litzelstetten, a municipality until its incorporation into Konstanz on December 1,1971. The first traces of civilization in Konstanz date back to the late Stone Age, during the reign of Augustus, the Celts living south of the Danube were conquered by the Romans. Around 40 AD, the first Romans settled on the site and this small town on the left bank of the Rhine was probably first called Drusomagus and belonged to the Roman province of Raetia. The remains of the late Roman fortress Constantia were discovered in 2003, around 585 the first bishop took up residence in Konstanz and this marked the beginning of the citys importance as a spiritual centre. By the late Middle Ages, about one quarter of Konstanzs 6,000 inhabitants were exempt from taxation on account of clerical rights, trade thrived during the Middle Ages. Konstanz owned the bridge in the region, which crossed the Rhine. Its linen production had made a name for the city. In 1192, Konstanz gained the status of Imperial City so it was subject only to the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1414 to 1418, the Council of Constance took place, during which, on 6 July 1415, John Hus and it was here that the Papal Schism was ended and Pope Martin V was elected during the only conclave ever held north of the Alps. Ulrich von Richentals illustrated chronicle of the Council of Constance testifies to all the happenings during the Council as well as showing the everyday life of medieval Konstanz. The Konzilgebäude where the conclave was held can still be standing by the harbour. Close by stands the Imperia, a statue that was erected in 1993 to satirically commemorate the Council, in 1460, the Swiss Confederacy conquered Thurgau, Konstanzs natural hinterland. In the Swabian War of 1499, Konstanz lost its last privileges over Thurgau to the Confederation, the Protestant Reformation took hold in Konstanz in the 1520s, headed by Ambrosius Blarer. Soon the city declared itself officially Protestant, pictures were removed from the churches, and the bishop moved to Meersburg
2.
Meersburg
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Meersburg is a town of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany at Lake Constance. It is known for its medieval city, the lower town and upper town are reserved for pedestrians only, and connected by two stairways and a steep street. The name of the town means Castle on the Sea, referring to a castle which, the commune obtained the status of free city in 1299, though nominally still under the Bishop of Constance. In 1803 it was annexed to the Land of Baden, after World War II, Meersburg was in the French military occupation area in Germany. The town is home to two castles, the Old Castle and the New Castle, the Old Castle, built by Merovingian King Dagobert I in the seventh century, accepts visitors. German poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff lived there for eight years, the New Castle was built in the eighteenth century. Originally the residence of the bishop of Constance, it was used for various purposes after the Secularization of 1803, there is an entity of Half-timber houses. Also two medieval town-gates can be seen, which are the remainders of the fortification, Meersburg is the northern terminus of a car ferry to Constance. At the opposite side Meersburg is connected to the region by the B31, to exit to Meersburg and to go to the car ferry, one takes B33 to Meersburg and Constance. Meersburg is also reachable by boats from Lake Constance to Überlingen, to Lindau, Bregenz. One of Germanys most celebrated poets, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, lived her final years at Meersburg Castle and she also owned the small vine-covered villa known as Fürstenhäusle. The famous eighteenth-century doctor Franz Anton Mesmer died in 1815 in Meersburg and is buried near the old wall of the graveyard about 0.5 kilometres northeast of the upper town-gate Obertor, the Meersburg vineyards at the northern banks of Lake Constance are famous within Germany. The rosée Weissherbst wine is a specialty of the region
3.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
4.
Early modern period
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The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals, and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, Venice, the early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization, politically and economically. Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, plants, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
5.
Council of Constance
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The Council of Constance is the 15th century ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants, the Council also condemned Jan Hus as a heretic and facilitated his execution by the civil authority. It also ruled on issues of sovereignty, the rights of pagans. The Council is important for its relationship to ecclesial Conciliarism and Papal supremacy, the councils main purpose was to end the Papal schism which had resulted from the confusion following the Avignon Papacy. After thirty years of schism, the Council of Pisa had sought to resolve the situation by deposing the two claimant popes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. The council claimed that in such a situation, a council of bishops had greater authority than just one bishop, therefore, many voices, including Sigismund, King of the Romans and of Hungary, pressed for another council to resolve the issue. That council was called by John XXIII and was held from 16 November 1414 to 22 April 1418 in Constance, according to Joseph McCabe, the council was attended by roughly 29 cardinals,100 learned doctors of law and divinity,134 abbots, and 183 bishops and archbishops. Sigismund arrived on Christmas Eve 1414 and exercised a profound and continuous influence on the course of the council in his capacity of imperial protector of the Church, an innovation at the Council was that instead of voting as individuals, the bishops voted in national blocs. The vote by nations was in great measure the work of the English, German, the four nations consisted of England, France, Italy, and Germany, with Poles, Hungarians, Danes, and Scandinavians counted with the Germans. While the Italian representatives made up half of those in attendance, they were equal in influence to the English, many members of the new assembly strongly favored the voluntary abdication of all three popes, as did King Sigismund. Although the Italian bishops who had accompanied John XXIII in large numbers supported his legitimacy, partly in response to a fierce anonymous attack on his character from an Italian source, on 2 March 1415 he promised to resign. However, on 20 March he secretly fled the city and took refuge at Schaffhausen in territory of his friend Frederick, haec Sancta Synodus marks the high-water mark of the Conciliar movement of reform. The Church declared the first sessions of the Council of Constance an invalid and illicit assembly of bishops, the acts of the Council were not made public until 1442, at the behest of the Council of Basel, they were printed in 1500. The creation of a book on how to die was ordered by the council, in part because of the constant presence of the King, other rulers demanded that they have a say in who would be pope. This would pave the way for the end of the Western Schism, on 4 July 1415 the Bull of Gregory XII which appointed Malatesta and Cardinal Dominici of Ragusa as his proxies at the council was formally read before the assembled Bishops. The cardinal then read a decree of Gregory XII which convoked the council, thereupon, the Bishops voted to accept the summons. Prince Malatesta immediately informed the Council that he was empowered by a commission from Pope Gregory XII to resign the Papal Throne on the Pontiffs behalf and he asked the Council whether they would prefer to receive the abdication at that point or at a later date. The Bishops voted to receive the Papal abdication immediately, former Pope Gregory XII was then created titular Cardinal Bishop of Porto and Santa Ruffina by the Council, with rank immediately below the Pope
6.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
7.
Electorate of Mainz
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In the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz was the Primate of Germany, a purely honorary dignity that was unsuccessfully claimed from time to time by other Archbishops. There were only two other ecclesiastical Prince-electors in the Empire, the Electorate of Cologne and the Electorate of Trier. The Archbishop-Elector of Mainz was also archchancellor of Germany and, as such, ranked first among all ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Empire and his political role, particularly as an intermediary between the Estates of the Empire and the Emperor, was considerable. The episcopal see was established in ancient Roman times in the city of Mainz, the first bishops before the 4th century have legendary names, beginning with Crescens. The first verifiable Bishop of Mainz was Martinus in 343, the ecclesiastical and secular importance of Mainz dates from the accession of St. Boniface to the see in 747. Boniface was previously an archbishop, but the honor did not immediately devolve upon the see itself until his successor Lullus, another early bishop of Mainz was Aureus of Mainz. However, the office came to prominence upon its elevation to an archdiocese in 780-782. During the early age, the archdiocese of Mainz was the largest ecclesiastical province of Germany. In 1802, Mainz lost its archiepiscopal character, Dalberg retained the Aschaffenburg area as the Principality of Aschaffenburg. In 1810 Dalberg merged Aschaffenburg, Frankfurt, Wetzlar, Hanau, the modern Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz was founded in 1802 when Mainz lost its archdiocese status and became a mere diocese within the territory of France. In 1814 its jurisdiction was extended over the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt, since then it has had two cardinals and via various concordats was allowed to retain the medieval tradition of the cathedral chapter electing a successor to the bishop. Elector of Mainz Mainz Cathedral Primas Germaniae Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz Official website of the modern Diocese Map of the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1789
8.
Lake Constance
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Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water, the Obersee, the Untersee, and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps and its shorelines lie in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, and the Swiss cantons of Thurgau, St Gallen and Schaffhausen. Freshwater Lake Constance is central Europes third largest, after Lake Balaton and it is 63 km long, and at its widest point, nearly 14 km. It covers approximately 571 km2, and is 395 m above sea level, the greatest depth is 252 metres in the middle of the eastern part. Its volume is approximately 10×10^9 m3, the regulated Rhine flows into the lake in the southeast, through the Obersee, the city of Konstanz and the Untersee, and flows out near Stein am Rhein. The lake itself is an important drinking water source for southwestern Germany, the culminating point of the lakes drainage basin is the Tödi at 3,614 metres above sea level. Car ferries link Romanshorn to Friedrichshafen, and Konstanz to Meersburg, Lake Constance was formed by the Rhine Glacier during the ice age and is a zungenbecken lake. The Rhine, the Bregenzer Ache, and the Dornbirner Ache carry sediments from the Alps to the lake, thus decreasing the depth. Lake Constance was first mentioned by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela about 43 AD and he noted that the Rhine flows through two lakes, and gave them the Latin names Lacus Venetus and Lacus Acronius. Pliny the Elder used the name Lacus Brigantinus, after the Roman city of Brigantium, the lake is also colloquially known as the Swabian Sea. The lake was frozen in the years 1077,1326,1378,1435,1465,1477,1491,1517,1571,1573,1600,1684,1695,1709,1795,1830,1880, and 1963. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of fish were caught by 150 professional fishermen in 2001 which was below the ten year average of 1,200 tonnes per year. The Lake Constance trout was almost extinct in the 1980s due to pollution, Lake Constance is the home of the critically endangered species of trout Salvelinus profundus, and formerly also the now extinct Lake Constance whitefish. After the Council of Constance, the Latin-speaking Catholic world gave the lake its current international name and it was derived from the city of Konstanz, that, in turn, was named after a Roman emperor. The German name, Bodensee, derives from the town of Bodman, Lake Constance is the only area in Europe where no borders exist, because there is no legally binding agreement as to where the borders lie between Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Legal questions pertaining to transport and fishing are regulated in separate treaties. One concerns a houseboat which was moored in two states, another concerns the rights to fish in the Bay of Bregenz, in relation to the latter, an Austrian family was of the opinion that it alone had the right to fish in broad portions of the bay. However, this was accepted neither by the Austrian courts nor by the organs, a 100-year flood around June 1999 raised the level about 2 metres above normal, flooding harbors and many shoreline buildings and hotels
9.
Reichenau Island
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Reichenau Island is an island in Lake Constance in southern Germany. It lies almost due west of the city of Konstanz, between the Gnadensee and the Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance. With a total surface of 4.3 square kilometres and a circumference of 11 kilometres. The highest point, the Hochwart, stands some 43 metres above the surface and 438.7 metres above mean sea level. A low road bridge allows the passage of boats but not of sailing-boats. The island was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 because of its monastery, the abbeys Münster is dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Mark. Two further churches were built on the island consecrated to Saint George and to Saints Peter, the famous artworks of Reichenau include the Ottonian murals of miracles of Christ, unique survivals from the 10th century. The abbeys bailiff was housed in a stone building to which two more storeys of timber framing were added in the 14th century, one of the oldest timber-frame buildings in south Germany. Among the Abbeys far-flung landholdings was Reichenau, a village on the upper Rhine in the municipality of Tamins in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, today the island is also famous for its vegetable farms. The Wollmatinger Ried next to the island is a nature preserve. The Alemannic name of the island was Sindleozesauua, but it was known as simply Ow, Auua – Latinized as Augia, later also Augia felix or Augia dives, hence Richenow. Pirmins conflict with Santfrid resulted in his leaving Reichenau in 727, under his successor Haito the monastery began to flourish. It gained influence in the Carolingian dynasty, under Abbot Waldo of Reichenau, Abbot Reginbert of Reichenau built up the important book collection. Abbot Walahfrid Strabo, who was educated at Reichenau, was renowned as a poet, the Abbey stood along a main north–south highway between Germany and Italy, where the lake passage eased the arduous route. An example of the production is the Pericopes of Henry II, made for the Emperor. Reichenau has preserved its precious relics, which include the pitcher from the wedding at Cana, the Abbey reached its apex under Abbot Berno of Reichenau. During his time, important scholars, such as Hermannus Contractus, when the abbey lands were secularized and the monks disbanded under Napoleon, part of Reichenaus famed library was preserved in the state library at Karlsruhe. The Geographus Bavarus and several important documents may be found in the Bavarian State Library in Munich
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Habsburg lands
Teutonic bailiwicks