1.
Low German
–
Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media
Low German
–
City limits sign: this city is called
Emlichheim in
Standard German and Emmelkamp in Low German (and Dutch)
Low German
–
Approximate area in which Low German/Low Saxon dialects are spoken in Europe.
Low German
–
A public school in Witmarsum Colony (
Paraná,
Southern Brazil), teaches in the
Portuguese language and in Plautdietsch.
2.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
German language
–
Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)
German language
–
The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into German by
Martin Luther helped establish modern German
German language
–
Examples of German language in
Namibian everyday life
German language
–
German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922
3.
Stem duchy
–
The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Frankish Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined in the late 9th century, the old tribal areas assumed new identities as the subdivisions of the realm and these are the five stem duchies, Bavaria, Franconia, Lotharingia, Saxony and Swabia. The term Stammesherzogtum as used in German historiography dates to the mid-19th century, the terms applicability, and the nature of the stem duchies in medieval Germany consequently have a long history of controversy. The overly literal or etymologizing English translation stem duchy was coined in the early 20th century, while later authors tend to clarify the term by using the alternative translation tribal, use of the term stem duchies has become conventional. The derivation of the German people from a number of German tribes developed in 18th to 19th century German historiography and ethnography and this concept of German stems relates to the early and high medieval period and is to be distinguished from the more generic Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity. A distinction was made between the ancient stems, which were in existence in the 10th century, and recent stems. The delineation of the two concepts is necessarily vague, and as a result the concept has a history of political, the terms Stamm, Nation or Volk variously used in modern German historiography reflect the Middle Latin gens, natio or populus of the medieval source material. Traditional German historiography counts six Altstämme or ancient stems, viz. Bavarians, Swabians, Franks, all of these were incorporated in the Carolingian Empire by the late 8th century. The customary or tribal laws of these groups were recorded in the medieval period. Franconian, Saxon and Swabian law remained in force and competed with imperial law well into the 13th century, the use of Stämme, tribes, rather than Völker nations, peoples, emerged in the early 19th century in the context of the project of German unification. Karl Friedrich Eichhorn in 1808 still used Deutsche Völker German nations, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann in 1815 asked for unity of the German nation in its tribes. This terminology became standard and is reflected in the preamble of the Weimar constitution of 1919, reading Das deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen The German nation, united in its tribes. The division remains in current use in the classification of German dialects into Franconian, Alemannic, Thuringian, Bavarian. In the Free State of Bavaria, the division into Bavarian stems remains current for the populations of Altbayern, within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria, which had been conquered by Charlemagne, in German historiography they are called the jüngere Stammesherzogtümer, or more recent tribal duchies, although the term stem duchies is common in English. The duchies are often called younger in order to them from the older duchies which were vassal-states of the Merovingian monarchs. Certainly, their names had already appeared during the Migrations, yet, their political institutional, and biological structures had more often than not thoroughly changed. The kingdom was divided in 864–865 among the sons of Louis the German, after the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child, in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom
Stem duchy
–
Linguistic map of
Old High German (Alemannic and Bavarian),
Old Frankish,
Old Saxon and
Old Frisian at the time of
Otto I.
Stem duchy
–
Duchy of Saxony
Stem duchy
–
The
Eastern Frankish Kingdom (919–1125) with the later stem duchies:
Saxony in yellow,
Franconia in blue,
Bavaria in green,
Swabia in light orange, and
Lotharingia in pink
4.
Carolingian Empire
–
The Carolingian Empire was a large empire in western and central Europe during the early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lombards of Italy from 774. In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in an effort to revive the Roman Empire in the west during a vacancy in the throne of the eastern Roman Empire. The unity of the empire and the right of the Carolingians continued to be acknowledged. In 884, Charles the Fat reunited all the kingdoms for the last time, but he died in 888 and the empire immediately split up. With the only remaining male of the dynasty a child, the nobility elected regional kings from outside the dynasty or, in the case of the eastern kingdom. The size of the empire at its inception was around 1,112,000 square kilometres, in southern Italy, the Carolingians claims to authority were disputed by the Byzantines and the vestiges of the Lombard kingdom in the Principality of Benevento. Use of the term Carolingian Empire is a modern convention, the language of official acts in the empire was Latin. The empire was referred to variously as universum regnum, Romanorum sive Francorum imperium, Romanum imperium or even imperium christianum. Only the remaining Saxon realms, which he conquered, Lombardy. Further, Martel cemented his place in history with his defense of Christian Europe against a Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732, the Iberian Saracens had incorporated Berber lighthorse cavalry with the heavy Arab cavalry to create a formidable army that had almost never been defeated. Christian European forces, meanwhile, lacked the powerful tool of the stirrup, in this victory, Charles earned the surname Martel. Edward Gibbon, the historian of Rome and its aftermath, called Charles Martel the paramount prince of his age, Pepin III accepted the nomination as king by Pope Zachary in about 751. Charlemagnes rule began in 768 at Pepins death and he proceeded to take control over the kingdom following his brother Carlomans death, as the two brothers co-inherited their fathers kingdom. Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in the year 800, the Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charlemagne covered most of Western Europe, as the Roman Empire once had. Prior to the death of Charlemagne, the Empire was divided among members of the Carolingian dynasty. These included King Charles the Younger, son of Charlemagne, who received Neustria, King Louis the Pious, who received Aquitaine, and King Pepin, Pepin died with an illegitimate son, Bernard, in 810, and Charles died without heirs in 811. Although Bernard succeeded Pepin as King of Italy, Louis was made co-Emperor in 813, Louis the Pious often had to struggle to maintain control of the Empire
Carolingian Empire
–
The Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent, with the three main divisions of 843 and tributary nations to the east.
Carolingian Empire
–
A coin depicting
Charlemagne with the inscription KAROLVS IMP AVG (Karolus imperator augustus)
Carolingian Empire
–
Louis the Pious on a sesquisolidus
Carolingian Empire
–
Carolingian empire 843-888
5.
East Francia
–
East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a successor state of Charlemagnes empire and precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. Until 911 it was ruled by Carolingian dynasty and it was created after the 840-43 civil war between Charlemagnes grandchildren which ended with the Treaty of Verdun which divided the former empire into three kingdoms. In August 843, after three years of war following the death of emperor Louis the Pious on 20 June 840. The division of lands was based on the Meuse, Scheldt. The contemporary East Frankish Annales Fuldenses describes the kingdom being divided in three and Louis acceding to the eastern part, while West and Middle Francia contained the traditional Frankish heartlands, the East consisted mostly of lands only annexed to the Frankish empire in the eighth century. These included the duchies of Alemannia, Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, as well as the northern and eastern marches with the Danes, in 869 Lotharingia was divided between West and East Francia under the Treaty of Meersen. The short lived Middle Francia turned out to be the theatre of Franco-German wars up until the 20th century, all the Frankish lands were briefly reunited by Charles the Fat, but in 888 he was deposed by nobles and in East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia was elected king. The increasing weakness of royal power in East Francia meant that dukes of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Saxony, Kings increasingly had to deal with regional rebellions. Because Conrad I was one of the dukes, he found it hard to establish his authority over them. Duke Henry of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and struggle against Arnulf, on his deathbed Conrad I chose Henry of Saxony as the most capable successor. This kingship changed from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne, by his death in July 936 Henry had prevented collapse of royal power as was happening in West Francia and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. After Otto I was crowned as the Emperor in Rome in 962 the era of the Holy Roman Empire began, the term orientalis Francia originally referred to Franconia and orientales Franci to its inhabitants, the ethnic Franks living east of the Rhine. The use of the term in a sense, to refer to the eastern kingdom, was an innovation of Louis the Germans court. Since eastern Francia could be identified with old Austrasia, the Frankish heartland, under his grandson, Arnulf, the terminology was largely dropped and the kingdom, when it was referred to by name, was simply Francia. When it was necessary, as in the Treaty of Bonn with the West Franks, Henry I refers to himself as rex Francorum orientalium, king of the East Franks, in the treaty. By the 12th century, the historian Otto of Freising, in using the Carolingian terminology had to explain that the kingdom of the Franks was now called the kingdom of the Germans. The regalia of the Carolingian empire had divided by Louis the Pious on his deathbed between his two faithful sons, Charles the Bald and Lothair. Louis the German, then in rebellion, received nothing of the jewels or liturgical books associated with Carolingian kingship
East Francia
–
The parting of Carolingian Empire by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. From Histoire Et Géographie - Atlas Général Vidal-Lablache, 1898.
6.
Imperial State
–
An Imperial State or Imperial Estate was a part of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet. Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise significant rights and privileges and were immediate and they were thus able to rule their territories with a considerable degree of autonomy. The system of imperial states replaces the regular division of Germany into stem duchies in the early medieval period. From 1489, the imperial Estates represented in the Diet were divided into three chambers, the college of prince-electors, the college of imperial princes and the college of imperial cities. Counts and nobles were not directly represented in the Diet in spite of their immediate status, Imperial knights had immediate status but were unrepresented in the Diet. Imperial Estates could be either ecclesiastic or secular, the secular Estates, most notably, the four Prince-Electors of the County Palatine of the Rhine, Saxony, Brandenburg and Bohemia, later also Bavaria and Hanover. Imperial Princes including Grand Dukes, Dukes, Counts Palatine, Margraves and Landgraves, Reichsgrafen the Free, until 1582 the votes of the Free and Imperial Cities were only advisory. None of the rulers below the Holy Roman Emperor ranked as kings, the status of Estate was normally attached to a particular territory within the Empire, but there were some reichsständische Personalisten, or persons with imperial statehood. Originally, the Emperor alone could grant that status, but in 1653, the creation of a new Estate required the assent of the College of Electors and of the College of Princes. The ruler was required to agree to accept imperial taxation and military obligations, furthermore, the Estate was required to obtain admittance into one of the Imperial Circles. Theoretically, personalist Estates were forbidden after 1653, but exceptions were often made, once a territory attained the status of an Estate, it could lose that status under very few circumstances. A territory ceded to a foreign power ceased to be an Estate, from 1648 onwards, inheritance of the Estate was limited to one family, a territory inherited by a different family ceased to be an Estate unless the Emperor explicitly allowed otherwise. Finally, a territory could cease to be an imperial Estate by being subjected to the Imperial ban, in the German mediatization between 1803 and 1806, the vast majority of the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire were mediatised. They lost their imperial immediacy and became part of other Estates, the number of Estates was reduced from about three hundred to about thirty. Mediatisation went along with secularisation, the abolition of most of the ecclesiastical Estates and this dissolution of the constitution of the structure of the empire was soon followed by the dissolution of the empire itself, in 1806. Rulers of Imperial States enjoyed precedence over other subjects in the Empire, Electors were originally styled Durchlaucht, princes Hochgeboren and counts Hoch- und Wohlgeboren. In the eighteenth century, the electors were upgraded to Durchläuchtigste, princes to Durchlaucht, Imperial States enjoyed several rights and privileges. Rulers had autonomy inasmuch as their families were concerned, in particular and they were permitted to make treaties and enter into alliances with other Imperial States as well as with foreign nations
Imperial State
–
Ordines Sacri Romani Imperii ("Orders of the Holy Roman Empire") by
Anton III Wierix (1606).
7.
Holy Roman Empire
–
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
Holy Roman Empire
–
The Holy Roman Empire at its maximal extent, in the 13th century
Holy Roman Empire
–
Imperial Banner
Holy Roman Empire
–
An illustration from
Schedelsche Weltchronik depicting the structure of the Reich: The Holy Roman Emperor is sitting; on his left are three ecclesiastics; on his right are four secular electors.
Holy Roman Empire
–
Double-headed eagle with coats of arms of individual states, symbol of the Holy Roman Empire (painting from 1510)
8.
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
–
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Originally, possessors of the title bore it as immediate vassals of the Empire, secular or ecclesiastical. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, the first came to be reckoned as royalty in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, the actual titles used by Imperial princes varied considerably for historical reasons, and included archdukes, dukes, margraves, landgraves, counts palatine, princely counts, as well as princes. The estate of princes or Reichsfürstenstand was first established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages. Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire, from the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. The resolutions of the Diet of Augsburg in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Most of the Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806, ecclesiastical Princes were the Prince-Bishops as well as the actual Prince-abbots. They comprised a number of entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals, sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Prince of Piombino was another example, nobles allowed to bear the princely title, but who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet, individual or shared, such as the House of Kinsky. This included nobles who lacked immediacy, but who were allowed, motu proprio, by the Emperor to enjoy the title, although this courtesy tended to become hereditary for families, the right to princely status was called Personalist and could be revoked by the Emperor. List of states in the Holy Roman Empire List of Imperial Diet participants German mediatization Structure of Princes of The Holy Roman Empire
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
–
Grave of the Prince of the Holy Roman Empire Johann Siebenhirter (*1420-†1508) at the parish church
Millstatt
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
–
Heraldic crown of a prince of the
Holy Roman Empire.
9.
Middle Ages
–
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
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
10.
Charlemagne
–
Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and he was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state which Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne was the oldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He became king in 768 following his fathers death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, carlomans sudden death in 771 in unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his fathers policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and he campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden. Charlemagne reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peters Basilica. Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe, as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and his rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagnes empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and these and other machinations led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for thirteen years and he was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. He married at least four times and had three sons, but only his son Louis the Pious survived to succeed him. By the 6th century, the western Germanic Franks had been Christianised, Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire. Following the Battle of Tertry the Merovingians declined into powerlessness, for which they have dubbed the rois fainéants. Almost all government powers were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace, in 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry. He became the governor of the entire Frankish kingdom. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom, Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Herstal was eventually succeeded by his illegitimate son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. After 737, Charles governed the Franks in lieu of a king, Charles was succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne. In 743, the brothers placed Childeric III on the throne to curb separatism in the periphery and he was the last Merovingian king. Carloman resigned office in 746, preferring to enter the church as a monk, Pepin brought the question of the kingship before Pope Zachary, asking whether it was logical for a king to have no royal power
Charlemagne
–
A coin of Charlemagne with the inscription KAROLVS IMP AVG (Karolus Imperator Augustus)
Charlemagne
–
Francia, early 8th century
Charlemagne
–
External video
Charlemagne
–
Moorish Hispania in 732
11.
House of Welf
–
The House of Welf was a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The House of Welf is the branch of the House of Este. The first member was Welf IV, he inherited the property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III, Duke of Carinthia and Verona, the last male Welf of the Elder House, died in 1055. Welf IV was the son of Welf IIIs sister Kunigunde of Altdorf and her husband Albert Azzo II of Este, in 1070, Welf IV became duke of Bavaria. Since the Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria from 1120–1126, was the first of the three dukes of the Welf dynasty called Henry. His wife Wulfhild was the heiress of the house of Billung, possessing the territory around Lüneburg in Lower Saxony and their son, Henry the Proud was the son-in-law and heir of Emperor Lothair of Supplinburg and became also duke of Saxony on Lothairs death. Lothair left his territory around Brunswick, inherited from his mother of the Brunonen family and her husband Henry the Proud became then the favoured candidate in the imperial election against Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen. But Henry lost the election, as the other princes feared his power and temperament, Henry the Lion recovered his fathers two duchies, Saxony in 1142, Bavaria in 1156 and thus ruled vast parts of Germany. In 1168 he married Matilda, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sister of Richard Lionheart, gaining ever more influence. His first cousin, Emperor Frederick I of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to get along with him, Henry made his peace with the Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1185, and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick without recovering his two duchies. Bavaria had been given to Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria, Henry died at Brunswick in 1195. Henrys son Otto of Brunswick was elected King of the Romans and he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215. Otto was forced to abdicate the throne by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II. He was the only Welf to become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry the Lions grandson Otto the Child became duke of a part of Saxony in 1235, the new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and died there in 1252. The subsequent history of the dukedom and its subordinate principalities was characterized by divisions and reunifications. The subordinate states that were created, and which had the legal status of principalities within the duchy were generally named after the residences of their rulers. The estates of the different dynastic lines could be inherited by a line when a family died out. The individual subordinate principalities continued to exist until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, following the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, the territories became part of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick
House of Welf
–
The possessions of the Guelfs in the days of Henry the Lion
House of Welf
–
Kunigunde of Altdorf, sister of Welf III, wife of
Albert Azzo II of Este, Margrave of Milan, parents of Welf IV
House of Welf
–
Welf V, Duke of Bavaria (1073-1120)
House of Welf
–
Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria (1075-1126) and his wife Wulfhild of
Billung
12.
Ascanian
–
The House of Ascania is a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, after Anhalt, the Ascanians are named after Ascania Castle, Schloss Askanien, which is located near and named after Aschersleben. The castle was seat of the County of Ascania, a title that was subsumed into the titles of the princes of Anhalt. The earliest known member of the house, Esiko, Count of Ballenstedt, first appears in a document of 1036, from Odo, the Ascanians inherited large properties in the Saxon Eastern March. Esikos grandson was Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, who died in 1123, by Ottos marriage to Eilika, daughter of Magnus, Duke of Saxony, the Ascanians became heirs to half of the property of the House of Billung, former dukes of Saxony. Ottos son, Albert the Bear, became, with the help of his mothers inheritance, but he lost control of Saxony soon to the rival House of Guelph. However, Albert inherited the Margraviate of Brandenburg from its last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, in 1157, Albert, and his descendants of the House of Ascania, then made considerable progress in Christianizing and Germanizing the lands. As a borderland between German and Slavic cultures, the country was known as a march, in 1237 and 1244 two towns, Cölln and Berlin were founded during the rule of Otto and Johann, grandsons of Margrave Albert the Bear. The emblem of the House of Ascania, red eagle and bear, in 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end. After the Emperor had deposed the Guelph rulers of Saxony in 1180, Ascanians returned to rule the Duchy of Saxony, however, even in eastern Saxony, the Ascanians could establish control only in limited areas, mostly near the River Elbe. In the 13th century, the Principality of Anhalt was split off from the Duchy, and later, catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762–1796, was a member of the House of Ascania, herself the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. County, Principality, and Duchy of Anhalt, c. und seine Zeit, Bonn,1991 Ducal Family of Anhalt official web site Marek, Miroslav
Ascanian
–
House of Ascania
13.
John I, Duke of Saxony
–
Duke John I of Saxony was the elder son of Duke Albert I of Saxony and his third wife Helen of Brunswick and Lunenburg, a daughter of Otto the Child. John and his younger brother Albert II jointly ruled the Duchy of Saxony after the death of their father Albert I in 1260, in 1269,1272, and 1282 the brothers gradually divided their governing competences within the three territorially unconnected Saxon areas, thus preparing a partition. As part of this arrangement John I became Burgrave of Magdeburg in 1269, in the imperial election in 1273, Albert II represented the jointly ruling brothers. John I resigned in 1282 in favour of his three minor sons Eric I, John II and Albert III, later John I entered the Franciscan monastery in Wittenberg, becoming its warden, which position he held until he died. John Is sons and their uncle Albert II continued the joint rule in Saxony, the last document, mentioning Albert II with his nephews as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295. In 1270, John married Ingeborg Birgersdotter of Småland, a daughter or grandchild of Birger jarl, John II Eric I Albert III Sophia, prioress in Plötzkau
John I, Duke of Saxony
–
Coat-of-arms of John I
14.
Albert II, Duke of Saxony
–
Albert II of Saxony was a son of Duke Albert I of Saxony and his third wife Helen of Brunswick and Lunenburg, a daughter of Otto the Child. He supported Rudolph I of Germany at his election as Roman king, after the death of their father Albert I in 1260 Albert II jointly ruled the Duchy of Saxony with his elder brother John I, and thereafter with the latters sons. In 1269,1272 and 1282 the brothers divided their governing competences within the three territorially unconnected Saxon areas, thus preparing a partition. In the imperial election in 1273 Albert II represented the jointly ruling brothers, in return Rudolph I had married his daughter Agnes of Habsburg to Albert II. When the County of Brehna was reverted to the Empire after the extinction of its family the king enfeoffed Duke Rudolf. In 1290 Albert II gained the County of Brehna and in 1295 the County of Gommern for Saxony, on 27 April 1292 Albert II, with his nephews still minor, wielded the Saxon electoral vote, electing Adolf of Germany. The last document, mentioning the joint government of Albert II with his nephews as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295, Albert II received Saxe-Wittenberg around the eponymous city and Belzig. Albert II thus became the founder of the Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg
Albert II, Duke of Saxony
–
Woodcut by Balthasar Mencius (Menz), 1596, showing Albert II holding the Saxon coat-of-arms. Inscription: Churfürst Albrecht II. (trl. Prince-Elector Albert II)
15.
Saxe-Lauenburg
–
The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, was a reichsfrei duchy that existed 1296–1803 and 1814–1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial center was in the district of Herzogtum Lauenburg and originally its eponymous capital was Lauenburg upon Elbe. This land was ceded to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 and it is now part of the Lower Saxon Harburg. The Amt Neuhaus proper, then including areas on both sides of the Elbe, which was ceded to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, today, this is all part of Lower Saxon Lüneburg. Now it is part of todays Lower Saxon Cuxhaven, in 1203, King Valdemar II of Denmark conquered the area later comprising Saxe-Lauenburg, but it reverted to Albert I, Duke of Saxony in 1227. In 1260, Albert Is sons Albert II and John I succeeded their father, in 1269,1272 and 1282, the brothers gradually divided their governing competences within the three territorially unconnected Saxon areas along the Elbe river, thus preparing a partition. The last document, mentioning the brothers and their uncle Albert II as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295. A deed of 20 September 1296, mentions the Vierlande, Sadelbande, the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing, John II, the eldest brother, wielded the electoral privilege for the Lauenburg Ascanians, however, rivalled by their cousin Rudolph I of Saxe-Wittenberg. In 1314, the dispute escalated into the election of two hostile German kings, the Habsburg Frederick III, the Fair, and his Wittelsbach cousin Louis IV, however, only Louis the Bavarian finally asserted himself as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The Golden Bull of 1356, however, conclusively named the dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg as electors and this acquisition included much of the trade route between Hamburg and Lübeck, thus providing a safe passage for freight between the cities. Eric III only retained a life tenancy, in 1401, Eric III died without issue. The Lauenburg Elder Line was thus extinct in the male line, in the same year, Eric IV, supported by his sons Eric and John, forcefully captured the pawned areas without making any repayment, before Lübeck could take possession of them. Lübeck acquiesced for the time being, in 1420, Eric V attacked Prince-Elector Frederick I of Brandenburg and Lübeck allied with Hamburg in support of Brandenburg. Armies of both opened a second front and conquered Bergedorf, Riepenburg castle and the Esslingen river toll station. From the 14th century, Saxe-Lauenburg termed itself as Lower Saxony, however, Saxony as a naming for the area comprising the older Duchy of Saxony in its borders before 1180 still prevailed. The naming of Lower Saxony became more colloquial and the Saxon Circle was later renamed into Lower Saxon Circle, in 1659, Duke Julius Henry decreed in his general disposition to also esteem the woodlands as heart and dwell of the Principality of Lower Saxony. Magnus did not promote the spreading of Lutheranism in the rest of his duchy, in 1566, Francis I appointed the Superintendent Franciscus Baringius as the first spiritual leader of the church in the duchy, not including Hadeln. Francis I conducted a thrifty reign and resigned in favour of his eldest son Magnus II once having exploited all his means in 1571
Saxe-Lauenburg
–
Bergedorf Castle in
Bergedorf, former seat of the Lauenburg Elder Line
Saxe-Lauenburg
–
Flag
Saxe-Lauenburg
–
Treaty of Perleberg, 1420
Saxe-Lauenburg
–
Lauenburg Castle in
Lauenburg upon Elbe by the end of the 16th century, till its destruction in 1616 seat of the Lauenburg Younger Line.
16.
Saxe-Wittenberg
–
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity until their duchy was elevated to the Electorate of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356. The Eastphalian count Otto of Ballenstedt, ancestor of the House of Ascania, had married Eilika, as the Billung male line became extinct upon Magnuss death in 1106, Otto hoped to succeed him, however King Henry V of Germany enfeoffed Count Lothair of Supplinburg. During the following long-term dispute between Henry and Lothair, Otto was able to gain the title of a Saxon duke, Lothair was elected King of the Romans in 1125 and in 1134 he vested Ottos son Albert the Bear with the Saxon Northern March. Upon his death in 1137, Albert once again strived for the Saxon duchy, however, his rule was strongly contested by the local nobility and in 1142 Albert finally had to resign as duke in favour of Henry the Prouds son Henry the Lion. Albert later took part in the Wendish Crusade of 1147 and in 1157 established the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the third chance for the Ascanians came, when in 1180 ambitious Henry the Lion was deposed as Saxon Duke by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Frederick partitioned Saxony among his allies into more than a dozen immediate territories, among the supporters, Archbishop Philip of Cologne received the largest share as the newly created Duchy of Westphalia. The Saxon ducal title at least passed to late Alberts youngest son, Count Bernhard of Ballenstedt, after Albert Is death in 1260 his two heirs, John I and his younger brother Albert II ruled jointly. He consolidated his position by marrying Agnes, daughter of Rudolph of Habsburg, Alberts attempts to secure the succession in the lands of the extinct Counts of Brehna were more successful, when their fiefs were reverted to the Empire in 1290, the king enfeoffed his son Rudolph. In 1295 Albert II could again enlarge his Saxon territory, when he acquired the County of Gommern, the last document, mentioning the joint government of Albert II with his nephews as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295. The Vierlande, Sadelbande, the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing, Duke Albert II received the Wittenberg lands around the eponymous city, Brehna and Gommern. He thus became the founder of the Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg, when Rudolph succeeded his father Albert II as Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg in 1298, he and the Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg rivallingly claimed the Saxon electoral privilege. Upon the assassination of his brother-in-law King Albert I in 1308, in 1314 both duchies participated in the double election of the German kings, Frederick III, the Fair from the House of Habsburg and his Wittelsbach cousin Louis IV, the Bavarian. However, only Louis the Bavarian, co-elected with Saxe-Lauenburgs vote, Rudolph I in turn allied with the rivaling House of Luxembourg. He supported Count Charles IV of Luxembourg as anti-king to Louis IV and on that account exclusively received the Saxon electoral dignity with the Golden Bull of 1356, Saxe-Wittenberg thereupon came to be known as the Electorate of Saxony. When the Ascanian line in the Electorate of Saxony died out in 1422, King Sigismund granted the Electorate to Margrave Frederick IV of Meissen from the House of Wettin, who united the Meissen and the Saxon lands of Wittenberg under his rule. He assumed the title and thereby transferred the state of Saxony up the Elbe river to his Meissen residence. His lands were also called Upper Saxony to distinguish them from the territory of the stem duchy
Saxe-Wittenberg
–
Duchy of Saxony-Wittenberg (dark green)
Saxe-Wittenberg
–
Coat of arms
Saxe-Wittenberg
–
Wittenberg: Castle and
All Saints' Church
Saxe-Wittenberg
–
Saxon Kurkreis, after 1554
17.
Old Saxony
–
Adam of Bremen, writing in the 11th century, compared the shape of Old Saxony to a triangle, and estimated from angle to angle the distance was eight days journey. In area Old Saxony was the greatest of the German tribal duchies and it included the entire territory between the lower Elbe and Saale rivers almost to the Rhine. Between the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser it bordered the North Sea, the only parts of the territory which lay across the Elbe were the counties of Holstein and Ditmarsch. But not even with these four groups was the term of tribal division reached. For the Saxon “nation” was really a collection of clans of kindred stock. For example, the Nordalbingians alone were divided into groups, Holsteiners, Sturmarii, Bardi. Old Saxony is the place from which most of the raids, the region was called Old Saxony by the later descendants of Anglo-Saxon migrants to Britain, and their new colonies in Wessex and elsewhere were the New Saxony or Seaxna. Social differences were jealously guarded by social prescription, so tenaciously did the Saxons cling to their ancient customary law that clear traces of these social survivals persisted in Saxony down through the Middle Ages. Nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they join in the worship of Herthum, that is to say. —Tacitus, Germania,40, translated 1877 by Church and Brodribb, Tacitus believed that these tribal precursors of the Saxons were the original and ancient inhabitants of this land. Modern linguistic and archaeological evidence tends to support this, ptolemys Geographia, written in the 2nd century, is sometimes considered to contain the first mentioning of the Saxons. Some copies of this text mention a tribe called Saxones in the area to the north of the lower River Elbe, thought to derive from the word Sax or stone knife. However, other copies call the same tribe Axones, and it is considered likely that it is a misspelling of the tribe that Tacitus in his Germania called Aviones. These earliest known tribal Saxons inhabited Northern Albingia, a region bordering the northern bank of the mouth of River Elbe in what is now Western Holstein and this broader domain is called Old Saxony. The Chauci, according to Tacitus, also lived in the area later known as Old Saxony and were highly respected among Germanic tribes. He describes them as peaceful, calm, and levelheaded, at some point they may have merged with, or were perhaps synonymous to, the Saxons. The traditional date for this invasion is 449 and is known as the Adventus Saxonum, for the most part, the Saxon lands were a broad plain, save on the south, where they rose into hills and the low mountainous country of the Harz and Hesse. This low divide was all that separated the country of the Saxons from their ancient enemies and ultimate conquerors, the lack of clear physical definition along this border, from time immemorial, had been the cause of incessant tribal conflict between them
Old Saxony
–
Map showing the
Saxons ' homeland in traditional region bounded by the three rivers:
Ems,
Eider and
Elbe Src:
Edward Augustus Freeman 's The Historical Geography of Europe
Old Saxony
–
Conversion of the Saxons, A. de Neuville, c.1869
18.
County of Oldenburg
–
The County of Oldenburg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1448 Christian I of Denmark, Count of Oldenburg became King of Denmark, one of his grandsons, Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp was the first Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. When the main lineage of the House of Oldenburg, i. e. Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg died in 1667, Charles Frederick of the line of the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp married Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, daughter of Peter the Great. His first cousin, Frederick August I became Duke of Oldenburg in 1774, one of his brothers, Adolf Frederick became King of Sweden. Another brother, Prince Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp, was father of Peter I, subsequent Rulers of Oldenburg were all his descendants. The town was first mentioned in 1108, at that time known under the name of Aldenburg and it became important due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river. Oldenburg became a county in the shadow of the much more powerful Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The earliest recorded inhabitants of the now called Oldenburg were a Teutonic people- the Chauci. The genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg can be traced to the Saxon hero Widukind, elimars descendants appear as vassals of the dukes of Saxony and were occasionally rebellious. They were given the title of princes of the Empire when the emperor Frederick I dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1189, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the bishop of Münster also frequently warred with the counts of Oldenburg. In 1448, the son and heir of Count Dietrich, named Christian but called Fortunatus, although far from the Danish borders, Oldenburg then became a Danish exclave. The control over the town was left to the kings brothers, in 1450, Christian became king of Norway and in 1457 king of Sweden, in 1460 he inherited the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein, which significantly affected Oldenburgs future. In 1454, he handed over Oldenburg to his brother Gerhard, however, in 1483 Gerhard was compelled to abdicate in favor of his son, and he died whilst on a pilgrimage in Spain. Early in the 16th century, Oldenburg was again enlarged at the expense of the Frisians, protestantism was introduced into the county by Count Anton I, who also suppressed the monasteries. However, he remained loyal to Charles V during the war of the league of Schmalkalden, one of Antons brothers, Count Christopher of Oldenburg also won a reputation as a soldier. Antons grandson, Anton Günther, who succeeded in 1603 significantly enlarged and enriched his territories and he thus considered himself the wisest prince who ever had ruled Oldenburg. Jever had been acquired before his ascension, but in 1624 he added Knipphausen and Varel to his lands, thus and he also obtained from the emperor the right to levy tolls on vessels passing along the Weser, a lucrative grant. In 1607 he erected a Renaissance castle, Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and turmoil and its population and power grew considerably
County of Oldenburg
–
Guard house and the Lamberti-Church
County of Oldenburg
–
Map of the County of Oldenburg in the
Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle
19.
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
–
The Archdiocese of Bremen is a historical Roman Catholic diocese and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state, named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen within the Holy Roman Empire. The prince-archbishopric consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory, the city of Bremen was de facto and de jure not part of the prince-archbishopric but belonged to the archdiocese. Most of the prince-archbishopric lay rather in the area to the north of the city of Bremen, between the Weser and Elbe rivers, even more confusingly, parts of the prince-archbishopric belonged in religious respect to the neighbouring diocese of Verden, making up 10% of its diocesan territory. Verden itself had a double identity too—as the diocese of Verden, each prince-bishopric had the status of an Imperial Estate, each of which were represented in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1500 on the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen belonged to the Saxon Circle, the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, on the other hand, belonged to the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle and sent its own representative to the Diet. Even when the two prince-bishoprics were ruled in union, in order to maintain the two seats in the Diet they were never formally united in a real union. The same is true for the collectively governed Duchies of Bremen and Verden which emerged in 1648 from the secularised two prince-bishoprics and these forgeries have drawn a veil before the early history of the Hamburg-Bremen. The foundation of the diocese belongs to the period of the activity of Willehad on the lower Weser. The diocese was conceivably at that time a suffragan of the archbishops of Cologne, when, after the death of Bishop Leuderich, the see was given to Ansgar, it lost its independence, and from that time on was permanently united with the Archdiocese of Hamburg. The new combined see was regarded as the headquarters for work in the Nordic countries. Ansgars successor, Rimbert, the apostle of the north, was troubled by onslaughts first by Normans and then by Wends. Sergius prohibited the chapter at Hamburgs Concathedral to found suffragan dioceses of its own, after the Obodrite destruction of Hamburg in 983 the Hamburg chapter was dispersed. So Archbishop Unwan appointed a new chapter with twelve canons, with three taken from Bremen Cathedral chapter, and the three colleges of Bücken, Harsefeld and Ramelsloh. The see of Hamburg-Bremen attained its greatest prosperity and later had its deepest troubles under Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg and he was after Hamburg-Bremens upgrade to the rank of a Patriarchate of the North and failed completely. Hamburg stopped being used as part of the diocese’s name, the next two archbishops, Liemar and Humbert, were determined opponents of Pope Gregory VII. At the stripping of the Duchy of Saxony in 1180 all of these suffragan bishops achieved for parts of their territories the status of imperially immediate prince-bishoprics. The Bishopric of Livonia was a suffragan of Bremen in the years 1186-1255, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his allies, many of them vassals and former supporters of his paternal cousin Duke Henry III, the Lion, had defeated the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria. In 1180 Frederick I Barbarossa stripped Henry the Lion of his duchies, in 1168 the Saxon clan of the Ascanians, allies of Frederick I Barbarossa, had failed to install their family member Count Siegfried of Anhalt, on the see of Bremen
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
–
The Bremian
ecclesiastical province (dark grey) with its remaining three suffragans around 1500, thus after disentangling Bremen's Scandinavian suffragan dioceses, as well as neighbouring provinces in Central Europe.
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
–
Coat of arms
20.
Archbishopric of Bremen
–
The Archdiocese of Bremen is a historical Roman Catholic diocese and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state, named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen within the Holy Roman Empire. The prince-archbishopric consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory, the city of Bremen was de facto and de jure not part of the prince-archbishopric but belonged to the archdiocese. Most of the prince-archbishopric lay rather in the area to the north of the city of Bremen, between the Weser and Elbe rivers, even more confusingly, parts of the prince-archbishopric belonged in religious respect to the neighbouring diocese of Verden, making up 10% of its diocesan territory. Verden itself had a double identity too—as the diocese of Verden, each prince-bishopric had the status of an Imperial Estate, each of which were represented in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1500 on the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen belonged to the Saxon Circle, the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, on the other hand, belonged to the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle and sent its own representative to the Diet. Even when the two prince-bishoprics were ruled in union, in order to maintain the two seats in the Diet they were never formally united in a real union. The same is true for the collectively governed Duchies of Bremen and Verden which emerged in 1648 from the secularised two prince-bishoprics and these forgeries have drawn a veil before the early history of the Hamburg-Bremen. The foundation of the diocese belongs to the period of the activity of Willehad on the lower Weser. The diocese was conceivably at that time a suffragan of the archbishops of Cologne, when, after the death of Bishop Leuderich, the see was given to Ansgar, it lost its independence, and from that time on was permanently united with the Archdiocese of Hamburg. The new combined see was regarded as the headquarters for work in the Nordic countries. Ansgars successor, Rimbert, the apostle of the north, was troubled by onslaughts first by Normans and then by Wends. Sergius prohibited the chapter at Hamburgs Concathedral to found suffragan dioceses of its own, after the Obodrite destruction of Hamburg in 983 the Hamburg chapter was dispersed. So Archbishop Unwan appointed a new chapter with twelve canons, with three taken from Bremen Cathedral chapter, and the three colleges of Bücken, Harsefeld and Ramelsloh. The see of Hamburg-Bremen attained its greatest prosperity and later had its deepest troubles under Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg and he was after Hamburg-Bremens upgrade to the rank of a Patriarchate of the North and failed completely. Hamburg stopped being used as part of the diocese’s name, the next two archbishops, Liemar and Humbert, were determined opponents of Pope Gregory VII. At the stripping of the Duchy of Saxony in 1180 all of these suffragan bishops achieved for parts of their territories the status of imperially immediate prince-bishoprics. The Bishopric of Livonia was a suffragan of Bremen in the years 1186-1255, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his allies, many of them vassals and former supporters of his paternal cousin Duke Henry III, the Lion, had defeated the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria. In 1180 Frederick I Barbarossa stripped Henry the Lion of his duchies, in 1168 the Saxon clan of the Ascanians, allies of Frederick I Barbarossa, had failed to install their family member Count Siegfried of Anhalt, on the see of Bremen
Archbishopric of Bremen
–
The Bremian
ecclesiastical province (dark grey) with its remaining three suffragans around 1500, thus after disentangling Bremen's Scandinavian suffragan dioceses, as well as neighbouring provinces in Central Europe.
Archbishopric of Bremen
–
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen within the Holy Roman Empire (as of 1648), the episcopal residence (in
Vörde) shown by a red spot.
21.
Low German language
–
Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media
Low German language
–
City limits sign: this city is called
Emlichheim in
Standard German and Emmelkamp in Low German (and Dutch)
Low German language
–
Approximate area in which Low German/Low Saxon dialects are spoken in Europe.
Low German language
–
A public school in Witmarsum Colony (
Paraná,
Southern Brazil), teaches in the
Portuguese language and in Plautdietsch.
22.
Settlement geography
–
Settlement geography is a branch of geography that investigates the earths surfaces part settled by humans. Traditionally, it belongs to cultural geography and is divided into the geography of urban settlements, thereby, settlements are mostly seen as elements of the cultural landscape that developed over time. Apart from Australia, Europe and India, the term is rarely used in English-speaking geography. One of the last English books on settlement geography was published by Cambridge University Press in the 90s, however, it is a traditional and actual branch in many other countries. This point of view is represented by many planning strategies such as the unified settlement planning. Hence, a geography of settlements that considers the urban. Further it is used in prehistoric, historic and present-focusing geographic research, as an applied science, it projects future settlement development and contributes to the sustainable development of human-environmental systems. Circles of Sustainability Human settlement Sustainable development UN-HABITAT
Settlement geography
–
Chacas, a rural settlement in the Peruvian Andes.
Settlement geography
–
The Swiss
Limmat Valley, a periurban settlement structure.
Settlement geography
–
City of London
Settlement geography
–
Sub-fields
23.
Saxons
–
The Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes first mentioned as living near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany, in the late Roman empire. They were soon mentioned as raiding and settling in many North Sea areas, as well as pushing south inland towards the Franks. Significant numbers settled in parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages. Many Saxons however remained in Germania, where they resisted the expanding Frankish Empire through the leadership of the semi-legendary Saxon hero, the Saxons earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein. This general area also included the probable homeland of the Angles, Saxons, along with the Angles and other continental Germanic tribes, participated in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. The British-Celtic inhabitants of the isles tended to refer to all of these collectively as Saxons. It is unknown how many Saxons migrated from the Continent to Britain, the Saxons may have derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax has a symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon. The Elizabethan era play Edmund Ironside suggests the Saxon name derives from the Latin saxa, Their names discover what their natures are, More hard than stones, in the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English, is the Scottish Gaelic Sassenach and it derives from the Scottish Gaelic Sasunnach meaning, originally, Saxon, from the Latin Saxones. Scots- or Scottish English-speakers in the 21st century usually use it as a term for an English person. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people, Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language, England in Scottish Gaelic is Sasainn. Other examples include the Welsh Saesneg, Irish Sasana, Breton saoz, and Cornish Sowson, Sowsnek, the label Saxons was also applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to southeastern Transylvania. From Transylvania, some Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town, Sas-cut, sascut is located in the part of Moldavia that is today part of Romania. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the term Saxony over the centuries to denote now the country of Germany
Saxons
–
Europe in the late 5th century. Most names shown are the Latin names of 5th century peoples, with the exceptions of
Syagrius (king of a
Gallo-Roman rump state),
Odoacer (
Germanic king of Italy), and
(Julius) Nepos (nominally last Western Roman emperor, de facto ruler of
Dalmatia).
Saxons
–
The
Saxon Steed on the first known Saxons flag (700-785)
Saxons
–
Alfred the Great.
Saxons
–
1868 illustration of
Augustine addressing the Saxons
24.
Early Middle Ages
–
The Early Middle Ages marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, lasting from the 6th to the 10th century CE. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Early Middle Ages largely overlap with Late Antiquity. The term Late Antiquity is used to emphasize elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, the period saw a continuation of trends begun during late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, and increased immigration. The period has been labelled the Dark Ages, a characterization highlighting the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time, especially in Northwestern Europe. However, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, continued to survive, many of these trends were reversed later in the period. In 800 the title of emperor was revived in Western Europe by Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire greatly affected later European social structure, Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of the feudal system, which introduced such innovations as three-field planting and the heavy plow. Barbarian migration stabilized in much of Europe, although Northern Europe was greatly affected by the Viking expansion, starting in the 2nd century, various indicators of Roman civilization began to decline, including urbanization, seaborne commerce, and population. Archaeologists have identified only 40 percent as many Mediterranean shipwrecks from the 3rd century as from the first, estimates of the population of the Roman Empire during the period from 150 to 400 suggest a fall from 65 million to 50 million, a decline of more than 20 percent. Some scholars have connected this de-population to the Dark Ages Cold Period, Early in the 3rd century Germanic peoples migrated south from Scandinavia and reached the Black Sea, creating formidable confederations which opposed the local Sarmatians. In Dacia and on the north of the Black Sea the Goths. The arrival of the Huns in 372–375 ended the history of these kingdoms, the Huns, a confederation of central Asian tribes, founded an empire with a Turkic-speaking aristocracy. They had mastered the art of shooting composite recurve bows from horseback. The Goths sought refuge in Roman territory, agreeing to enter the Empire as unarmed settlers, however many bribed the Danube border-guards into allowing them to bring their weapons. The discipline and organization of a Roman legion made it a fighting unit. The Romans preferred infantry to cavalry because infantry could be trained to retain the formation in combat, while cavalry tended to scatter when faced with opposition. While a barbarian army could be raised and inspired by the promise of plunder, the legions required a government and taxation to pay for salaries, constant training, equipment. The decline in agricultural and economic activity reduced the empires taxable income, in the Gothic War, the Goths revolted and confronted the main Roman army in the Battle of Adrianople. The general decline in discipline also led to the use of smaller shields, not wanting to share the glory, Eastern Emperor Valens ordered an attack on the Therving infantry under Fritigern without waiting for Western Emperor Gratian, who was on the way with reinforcements
Early Middle Ages
–
Die Hunnen im Kampf mit den Alanen, (The Huns in battle with the Alans by
Johann Nepomuk Geiger, 1873). The
Alans, an
Iranian people who lived north and east of the
Black Sea, were Europe's first line of defence against the Asiatic Huns. They were dislocated and settled throughout the Roman Empire
Early Middle Ages
–
Charlemagne 's empire (814)
Early Middle Ages
–
The
Mausoleum of Theodoric in
Ravenna is the only extant example of
Ostrogothic architecture.
Early Middle Ages
–
A
paten from the
Treasure of Gourdon
25.
Saxon Wars
–
In all, eighteen battles were fought in what is now northwestern Germany. They resulted in the incorporation of Saxony into the Frankish realm, despite repeated setbacks, the Saxons resisted steadfastly, returning to raid Charlemagnes domains as soon as he turned his attention elsewhere. This agreement saved the Saxons leaders exceptional rights in their homeland, Widukind was baptized in 785 and buried in the only Germanic church without a spire. The Saxons were divided into four subgroups in four regions, nearest to the ancient Frankish kingdom of Austrasia was Westphalia, and farthest away was Eastphalia. In between these two kingdoms was that of Engria and north of three, at the base of the Jutland peninsula, was Nordalbingia. In mid-January 772, the sacking and burning of the church of Deventer by a Saxon expedition was the Casus belli for the first war waged by Charlemagne to the Saxons. It began with a Frankish invasion of Saxon territory and the subjugation of the Engrians, Irminsul may have been a hollow tree trunk, presumably representing the pillar supporting the skies—similar to the Nordic tree Yggdrasil and apparently a common belief among the Germanic peoples. Charlemagnes campaign led all the way to the Weser River and destroyed several major Saxon strongholds, armed confrontations continued unabated for years. Charlemagnes second campaign came in the year 775, then he marched through Westphalia, conquering the fort of Sigiburg, and crossed Engria, where he defeated the Saxons again. Finally, in Eastphalia, he defeated them, and their leader Hessi converted to Christianity and he returned through Westphalia, leaving encampments at Sigiburg and Eresburg. All of Saxony, except for Nordalbingia was under his control, after warring in Italy, he returned very rapidly to Saxony for the third time in 776, when a rebellion destroyed his fortress at Eresburg. The Saxons were once brought to heel, though Widukind fled to the Danes. Charlemagne built a new camp at Karlstadt, in 777, he called a national diet at Paderborn to integrate Saxony fully into the Frankish kingdom. The chief purpose of the diet was to bring Saxony closer to Christianity, missionaries, mainly Anglo-Saxons from England, were recruited to carry out this task. Charlemagne issued a number of decrees designed to break Saxon resistance, in summer 779, Charlemagne again went into Saxony and conquered Eastphalia, Engria, and Westphalia. At a diet near Lippspringe, he divided the land into missionary districts and he himself assisted in several mass baptisms. He then returned to Italy, and there was no Saxon revolt, from 780 to 782, the land had peace. Charlemagne returned in 782 to Saxony and instituted a code of law and appointed counts, the laws were severe on religious issues, namely the native paganism of the Saxons
Saxon Wars
–
Charlemagne and the Saxons, A. de Neuville, c. 1869
Saxon Wars
–
Map of the Frankish Empire from 481 to 814
Saxon Wars
–
Conversion of the Saxons, A. de Neuville, c. 1869
26.
Francia
–
The kingdom was founded by Clovis I, crowned first King of the Franks in 496. The tradition of dividing patrimonies among brothers meant that the Frankish realm was ruled, nominally, even so, sometimes the term was used as well to encompass Neustria north of the Loire and west of the Seine. Most Frankish Kings were buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, modern France is still named Francia in Spanish and Italian. The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller Germanic tribes, such as the Sicambri, Bructeri, Ampsivarii, Chamavi and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine. Some of these peoples, such as the Sicambri and Salians, already had lands in the Roman Empire, in 357 the Salian king entered the Roman Empire and made a permanent foothold there by a treaty granted by Julian the Apostate, who forced back the Chamavi to Hamaland. As Frankish territory expanded, the meaning of Francia expanded with it, after the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus. Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c, around 428 the Salian king Chlodio, whose kingdom included Toxandria and the civitatus Tungrorum, launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The kingdom of Chlodio changed the borders and the meaning of the word Francia permanently, Francia was no longer barbaricum trans Rhenum, but a landed political power on both sides of the river, deeply involved in Roman politics. Chlodios family, the Merovingians, extended Francia even further south, the core territory of the Frankish kingdom later came to be known as Austrasia. Chlodios successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Roman exclave of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni, Clovis defeated the Visigoths and conquered their entire kingdom with its capital at Toulouse, and conquered the Bretons and made them vassals of Francia. He conquered most or all of the neighbouring Frankish tribes along the Rhine, by the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy, the Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance, dividing their lands among their sons. Cloviss sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul, Theuderic I made his capital at Reims, Chlodomer at Orléans, Childebert I at Paris, and Chlothar I at Soissons. During their reigns, the Thuringii, Burgundes, and Saxons and Frisians were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, the fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Rhaetia, Noricum, and part of Venetia
Francia
–
The partition of the Frankish kingdom among the four sons of
Clovis with
Clotilde presiding, Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis (Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse).
Francia
Francia
–
The political divisions of
Gaul at the inception of
Clovis 's career (481). Note that only the
Burgundian kingdom and the province of
Septimania remained unconquered at his death (511).
Francia
–
The division of Francia on
Clovis 's death (511). The kingdoms were not geographic unities because they were formed in an attempt to create equal-sized fiscs. The discrepancy in size reveals the concentration of Roman fiscal lands.
27.
Treaty of Verdun
–
The treaty signed in Verdun-sur-Meuse ended the three-year Carolingian Civil War. Lothairs brother Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald refused to acknowledge Lothairs suzerainty, each of the three brothers was already established in one kingdom, Lothair in Italy, Louis the German in Bavaria, and Charles the Bald in Aquitaine. In the settlement, Lothair retained his title as emperor and, Lothair received Middle Francia and his domain later became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received the two cities, Aachen and Rome, and the imperial title, but it conferred only nominal overlordship of his brothers lands. Louis the German received the eastern portion, Charles the Bald received the western portion, which later became France. Pepin II was granted the kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles, Charles received all lands west of the Rhône, which was called West Francia. Lothairs eldest son, Louis II inherited Italy and his fathers claim to the Imperial, the division of the Frankish realm by the Treaty of Verdun, carried out without any regard to linguistic and cultural continuities, resulted in conflicts in Western Europe until the 20th century. Since the Middle Frankish Kingdom combined lengthy and vulnerable borders with poor internal communications as it was severed by the Alps, it was not a viable entity. This made it difficult for a ruler to reassemble Charlemagnes empire. Only Charles the Fat achieved this briefly, in 855, the northern section became fragile Lotharingia, which became disputed by the more powerful states that evolved out of West Francia and East Francia. Generations of kings of France and Germany were unable to establish a rule over Lothair’s kingdom. In 1766, it passed to France after the death of Stanislaw Leszcyznski, in 1871, Alsace-Lorraine became German, after the victory of Prussia and its German allies over the French in the Franco-Prussian War. In 1919, it became French again by the Treaty of Versailles, in 1940, Germany reannexed Alsace-Lorraine following Germanys successful invasion of France. Finally, in 1945, after World War II, Alsace-Lorraine was solidified as French territory, the collapse of the Middle Frankish Kingdom also compounded the disunity of the Italian Peninsula, which persisted into the 19th century. Oaths of Strasbourg Treaty of Prüm Treaty of Meerssen Treaty of Ribemont Media related to Treaty of Verdun at Wikimedia Commons
Treaty of Verdun
–
The Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent, with the three main divisions of 843. Pink area indicates
West Francia. Green area indicates
Middle Francia. Yellow area indicates
East Francia.
28.
Stem duchies
–
The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Frankish Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined in the late 9th century, the old tribal areas assumed new identities as the subdivisions of the realm and these are the five stem duchies, Bavaria, Franconia, Lotharingia, Saxony and Swabia. The term Stammesherzogtum as used in German historiography dates to the mid-19th century, the terms applicability, and the nature of the stem duchies in medieval Germany consequently have a long history of controversy. The overly literal or etymologizing English translation stem duchy was coined in the early 20th century, while later authors tend to clarify the term by using the alternative translation tribal, use of the term stem duchies has become conventional. The derivation of the German people from a number of German tribes developed in 18th to 19th century German historiography and ethnography and this concept of German stems relates to the early and high medieval period and is to be distinguished from the more generic Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity. A distinction was made between the ancient stems, which were in existence in the 10th century, and recent stems. The delineation of the two concepts is necessarily vague, and as a result the concept has a history of political, the terms Stamm, Nation or Volk variously used in modern German historiography reflect the Middle Latin gens, natio or populus of the medieval source material. Traditional German historiography counts six Altstämme or ancient stems, viz. Bavarians, Swabians, Franks, all of these were incorporated in the Carolingian Empire by the late 8th century. The customary or tribal laws of these groups were recorded in the medieval period. Franconian, Saxon and Swabian law remained in force and competed with imperial law well into the 13th century, the use of Stämme, tribes, rather than Völker nations, peoples, emerged in the early 19th century in the context of the project of German unification. Karl Friedrich Eichhorn in 1808 still used Deutsche Völker German nations, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann in 1815 asked for unity of the German nation in its tribes. This terminology became standard and is reflected in the preamble of the Weimar constitution of 1919, reading Das deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen The German nation, united in its tribes. The division remains in current use in the classification of German dialects into Franconian, Alemannic, Thuringian, Bavarian. In the Free State of Bavaria, the division into Bavarian stems remains current for the populations of Altbayern, within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria, which had been conquered by Charlemagne, in German historiography they are called the jüngere Stammesherzogtümer, or more recent tribal duchies, although the term stem duchies is common in English. The duchies are often called younger in order to them from the older duchies which were vassal-states of the Merovingian monarchs. Certainly, their names had already appeared during the Migrations, yet, their political institutional, and biological structures had more often than not thoroughly changed. The kingdom was divided in 864–865 among the sons of Louis the German, after the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child, in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom
Stem duchies
–
Linguistic map of
Old High German (Alemannic and Bavarian),
Old Frankish,
Old Saxon and
Old Frisian at the time of
Otto I.
Stem duchies
–
Duchy of Saxony
Stem duchies
–
The
Eastern Frankish Kingdom (919–1125) with the later stem duchies:
Saxony in yellow,
Franconia in blue,
Bavaria in green,
Swabia in light orange, and
Lotharingia in pink
29.
Henry the Fowler
–
Henry the Fowler was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the elected king of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet the Fowler because he was fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king. By his death in July 936 Henry had prevented collapse of royal power, as had happened in West Francia, Henry died on July 2,936 in his royal palace in Memleben, one of his favourite places. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor, in 906 he married Hatheburg von Merseburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously been a nun, the marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henrys son Thankmar, the annulment placed a question mark over Thankmars legitimacy. Later that year he married Matilda, daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwig and Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey where Henry is buried. Henry became Duke of Saxony after his fathers death in 912, an able ruler, he continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the weakening kingdom of East Francia, and was frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South in Duchy of Franconia. On December 23,918 Conrad I, king of East Francia and Franconian duke, although Henry had rebelled against Conrad I between 912 and 915 over the lands in Thuringia, Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Kingship now changed from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne and were proud of their identity, Henry, as Saxon, was the first non-Frank on the throne. Conrads choice was conveyed by his brother, duke Eberhard III of Franconia at the Imperial Diet of Fritzlar in 919, the assembled Franconian and Saxon nobles elected Henry to be king with other regional dukes not participating in election. Henry, who was elected to kingship by only Saxons and Franconians at Fritzlar, had to subdue other dukes, Duke Arnulf of Bavaria did not submit until Henry defeated him in two campaigns in 921. Henry besieged his residence at Ratisbon and forced Arnulf into submission, Arnulf had crowned himself as king of Bavaria in 919, but in 921 renounced crown and submitted to Henry while maintaining large autonomy and the right to mint his own coins. Duke Burchard II of Swabia soon swore fealty to the new King, Henry was too weak to impose absolutist rule, and regarded his kingdom as a confederation of stem duchies rather than as a feudal monarchy and saw himself as primus inter pares. In 920 king of West Francia Charles the Simple invaded and marched as far as Pfeddersheim near Worms, on November 7,921, Henry and Charles met and concluded a treaty of friendship. Henry then saw an opportunity to wrest Lotharingia when a war over royal succession began in West Francia after coronation of king Robert I. In 923 Henry crossed the Rhine twice, capturing a part of the duchy. The eastern part of Lotharingia was left in Henrys possession until October 924, in 925 duke Gilbert of Lotharingia rebelled
Henry the Fowler
–
Henry's seal from a document of 30 March 925. He is portrayed as a warrior, with a spear and shield. The words are HEINRICUS REX (King Henry).
Henry the Fowler
–
Legend of the German crown offered to Henry,
Hermann Vogel (1854–1921)
Henry the Fowler
–
Himmler at Henry's grave, 1938
30.
List of German monarchs
–
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over the German territories of central Europe from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843, until the collapse of the German Empire in 1918. The Kingdom of Germany started out as the section of the Frankish kingdom. The rulers of the area thus called themselves rex Francorum, king of the Franks. The kings reacted by using the title rex Romanorum, King of the Romans. This title remained until the end of the Empire in 1806, the Kingdom of Germany was never entirely hereditary, rather, ancestry was only one of the factors that determined the succession of kings. The king was elected by the leading nobility in the realm. Gradually the election became the privilege of a group of princes called electors, in the Middle Ages, the king did not assume the title Emperor until crowned by the pope. Moving to Italy, he was usually first crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, after which he assumed the title of rex Italiae, after this he would ride on to Rome and be crowned emperor by the pope. See Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor for more details, maximilian I was the first king to bear the title of Elected Emperor. After the failure in 1508 of his attempt to march to Rome and be crowned by the pope and his successor Charles V also assumed that title after his coronation in 1520 until he was crowned emperor by the pope in 1530. From Ferdinand I onwards, all emperors were Elected Emperor, although they were referred to as emperors. At the same time, chosen successors of the held the title of king of the Romans. See King of the Romans for more details, rival kings, anti-kings, and junior co-regents are italicized. The title King of the Romans, used under the Holy Roman Empire, is considered equivalent to King of Germany, a king was chosen by the German electors and would then proceed to Rome to be crowned emperor by the pope
List of German monarchs
–
Louis the German (Ludwig II der Deutsche)
List of German monarchs
–
Louis the Younger (Ludwig III der Jüngere)
List of German monarchs
–
Carloman (Karlmann)
List of German monarchs
–
Charles the Fat (Karl III der Dicke)
.svg)
