1.
German language
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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
2.
Stem duchy
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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
3.
East Francia
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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
4.
Imperial Estate
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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
5.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
6.
Hohenstaufen
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The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they ruled the Kingdom of Sicily. In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi, since they were dukes of Swabia from 1079, three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The name Staufen derives from Stauf, meaning chalice, and was applied to conical hills in Swabia in the Middle Ages. The family derives its name from the castle which the first Swabian duke of the lineage built there in the half of the 11th century. Staufen castle was finally called Hohenstaufen by historians in the 19th century. The name of the dynasty followed, but in recent decades the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name Staufer, the noble family first appeared in the late 10th century in the Swabian Riesgau region around the former Carolingian court of Nördlingen. A local count Frederick is mentioned as progenitor in a pedigree drawn up by Abbot Wibald of Stavelot at the behest of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1153. He held the office of a Swabian count palatine, his son Frederick of Buren married Hildegard of Egisheim-Dagsburg and their son Frederick I was appointed Duke of Swabia at Hohenstaufen Castle by the Salian king Henry IV of Germany in 1079. At the same time, Duke Frederick I was engaged to the kings approximately seventeen-year-old daughter, Fredericks brother Otto was elevated to the Strasbourg bishopric in 1082. Upon Fredericks death, he was succeeded by his son, Duke Frederick II, Frederick II remained a close ally of the Salians, he and his younger brother Conrad were named the kings representatives in Germany when the king was in Italy. Around 1120, Frederick II married Judith of Bavaria from the rival House of Welf, when the last male member of the Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V, died without heirs in 1125, a controversy arose about the succession. A civil war between Fredericks dynasty and Lothairs ended with Fredericks submission in 1134, after Lothairs death in 1137, Fredericks brother Conrad was elected King as Conrad III. In 1147, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, conrads brother Duke Frederick II died in 1147, and was succeeded in Swabia by his son, Duke Frederick III. When King Conrad III died without heir in 1152, Frederick also succeeded him. As royal access to the resources of the church in Germany was much reduced and he was soon crowned emperor in Italy, but decades of warfare on the peninsula yielded scant results. The Papacy and the prosperous city-states of the Lombard League in northern Italy were traditional enemies, under the skilled leadership of Pope Alexander III, the alliance suffered many defeats but ultimately was able to deny the emperor a complete victory in Italy. During Fredericks long stays in Italy, the German princes became stronger, offers of reduced taxes and manorial duties enticed many Germans to settle in the east in the course of the Ostsiedlung
7.
Kingdom of Germany
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The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire. Like Anglo-Saxon England and medieval France, it began as a conglomerate, East Francia was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911, after which the kingship was elective. The initial electors were the rulers of the duchies, who generally chose one of their own. After 962, when Otto I was crowned emperor, the formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. The term rex teutonicorum first came into use in the chancery of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, in the twelfth century, in order to stress the imperial and transnational character of their office, the emperors began to employ the title rex Romanorum on their election. Distinct titulature for Germany, Italy and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts, laws, there are nevertheless relatively few references to a German realm and an instability in the terms use. The eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun was called the regnum Francorum Orientalium or Francia Orientalis and it was the eastern half of the old Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum. The east Franks themselves were the people of Franconia, which had settled by Franks. Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the regnum Alemanniae, the term regnum Germaniae begins to appear even in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Therefore, throughout the Middle Ages, the convention was that the king of Germany was also Emperor of the Romans and his title was royal from his election to his coronation in Rome by the Pope, thereafter, he was emperor. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the trend toward a clearly conceived German kingdom found no real consolidation. The title of king of the Romans became less and less reserved for the emperor-elect but uncrowned in Rome, the reign was dated to begin either on the day of election or the day of the coronation. The election day became the starting date permanently with Sigismund, ultimately, Maximilian I changed the style of the emperor in 1508, with papal approval, after his German coronation, his style was Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus. That is, he was emperor elect, a term that did not imply that he was emperor-in-waiting or not yet fully emperor, at the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperors lifetime resumed. For this reason, the king of the Romans came to mean heir-apparent. The Archbishop of Mainz was ex officio arch-chancellor of Germany, as his colleagues the Archbishop of Cologne and Archbishop of Trier were, respectively, arch-chancellors of Italy and these titles continued in use until the end of the empire, but only the German chancery actually existed. The tripartite division of the Carolingian Empire effected by the Treaty of Verdun was challenged early on with the death of the Emperor Lothair I in 855. He had divided his kingdom of Middle Francia between his three sons and immediately the northernmost of the three divisions, Lotharingia, was disputed between the kings of East and West Francia, the war over Lotharingia lasted until 925
8.
Upper Burgundy
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The Kingdom of Upper Burgundy was a Frankish dominion established in 888 by the Welf king Rudolph I of Burgundy on the territory of former Middle Francia. It grew out of the Carolingian margraviate of Transjurane Burgundy southeast of the Jura Mountains together with the adjacent County of Burgundy in the northwest. The adjective upper refers to its location further up the Rhône river, as distinct from Lower Burgundy, Upper Burgundy was reunited with the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in 933, and eventually merged into the Imperial Kingdom of Arles. Transjurania originally was a duchy of the Carolingian Empire, covering the Central Plateau from the Jura Mountains up to the Great St Bernard Pass in the Western Alps and it thereby roughly corresponded to western Switzerland, i. e. When Charles died in 863, Lothair II also gained some northern districts of the deceaseds kingdom, the Provence territory in the south passed to the eldest brother King Louis II of Italy. The Transjurane duchy was ruled by Hucbert, a scion of the Bosonid dynasty, the younger son of Count Boso the Elder of Arles. Emperor Charles the Fat, son of Louis the German, by 884 had once again reunited all Carolingian territories, when Charles was deposed and died in 888, the Carolingian Empire collapsed. The nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy assembled at the Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum and elected the Transjurane margrave Rudolph I, son of Conrad II, arnulf acknowledged Rudolphs rule in Upper Burgundy, but finally declared his illegitimate son Zwentibold King of Lotharingia in 895. Rudolph was married with Guilla of Provence, probably a daughter of the Lower Burgundian king Boso, after his death in 912, he was succeeded by his son Rudolph II. His widow secondly married Count Hugh of Arles, who succeeded as King of Lower Burgundy in 924, Rudolph II attempted to enlarge his realm by attacking the adjacent territories of the German stem duchy of Swabia in the northwest. He advanced towards the Upper Rhine river and in 916 occupied the city of Basel, however, he again lost the Swabian estates of Thurgau and Zürichgau when he was defeated by the forces of Duke Burchard II in the 919 Battle of Winterthur. To make peace, he married Burchards daughter Bertha, from, Rudolph II began to campaign in the Kingdom of Italy, allied with the rebellious margrave Adalbert I of Ivrea and defeated Emperor Berengar I at Fiorenzuola in 923. The next year, he was crowned Italian king and his rule was however contested by insurgent nobles, they summoned his stepfather, the Lower Burgundian king Hugh of Arles, who marched gaianst Italy. In the pressurised situation, Rudolphs father-in-law Duke Burchard II of Swabia hurried to help, Hugh had Rudolph expelled from Italy and gained the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia in 926. In 933 Rudolph II finally came to terms with Hugh, he waived all claims to Italy and in return gained Hughs Lower Burgundian kingdom of Arles, thus re-uniting the two territories. Under the rule of Rudolphs descendants from the Elder House of Welf Conrad the Peaceful and Rudolph III, thereupon the King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor assumed the title of a Burgundian king. The title of a Burgundian rectorate, referring to the former Transjuranian margraviate, was re-created for the Swabian ducal House of Zähringen by King Lothair II of Germany in 1127
9.
Early Middle Ages
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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
10.
House of Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
11.
Alamannia
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Alamannia or Alemannia was the territory inhabited by the Germanic Alemanni after they broke through the Roman limes in 213. The Alemanni expanded from the Main basin during the 3rd century, raiding the Roman provinces, the term Swabia was often used interchangeably with Alamannia in the 10th to 13th centuries. Raetia Curiensis, although not part of Alemannia, was ruled by Alemannic counts, the territory corresponds to what was still the areal of Alemannic German in the modern period, i. e. French Alsace, German Baden and Swabia, German-speaking Switzerland and Austrian Vorarlberg. The Alamanni were pushed south from their area of settlement in the Main basin and in the 5th and 6th century settled new territory on either side of the Rhine. In Swabia, Hegowe, between Lake Constance, the upper Danube and the Swabian Jura, perahtoltaspara in the upper Neckar basin, left of the upper Danube as far as Ulm, including the source of the Danube. Swiggerstal, Filiwigawe, Trachgowe and Alba between the Neckar and the Danube, albegowe, Keltinstein and Augestigowe along the Lech forming the border to Bavaria. Rezia in the Northeastern corner, left of the Danube, linzgowe and Argungowe north of Lake Constance. Eritgau, Folcholtespara, Rammegowe and Illargowe on the side of the Danube. In Baden, Brisigowe along the Upper Rhine opposite Sundgau, and Mortunova, the pertinence of this territory to either Alamannia or Upper Burgundy was disputed. The county of Raetia Curiensis was absorbed into Alamannia in the early 10th century and it comprised the Ringowe and Retia proper. The Alemanni during the Roman Empire period were divided into a number of cantons or goviae, but there appears to have been the custom of the individual kings uniting under the leadership of a single king in military expeditions. Some kings of the Alemanni of the 4th and 5th centuries are known by name, the first being Chrocus, chnodomarius supported Constantius II in the rebellion of Magnentius. Chnodomarius was the leader of the Alemannic army in the battle of Strasbourg in 357, macrian, Hariobaud, Urius, Ursicinus, Vadomar, and Vestralp were Alemannic kings who in 359 made treaties with Julian the Apostate. Macrian was deposed in an expedition ordered by Valentinian I in 370, macrian appears to have been involved in building a large alliance of Alemannic tribes against Rome, which earned him the title of turbarum rex artifex. Macrian was killed on campaign against the Franks, in an ambush laid by the Frankish king Mallobaudes, gibuld is the last known king of the Alemanni. His raid on Passau is mentioned in the vita of Saint Lupus, the name of Gibulds successor who was defeated at Tolbiac is not known. Thereafter, Alamannia was a nominal dukedom within Francia, though ruled by their own dukes, it is not likely that they were very often united under one duke in the 6th and 7th centuries. The Alemanni most frequently appear as auxiliaries in expeditions to Italy, Rhaetia too, though Alamannic, was ruled by the Victorids coterminously with the Diocese of Chur
12.
Old Swiss Confederacy
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The Old Swiss Confederacy was a precursor of the modern state of Switzerland. It was a confederation of independent small states which formed during the 14th century. From a nucleus in what is now Central Switzerland, the confederacy expanded to include the cities of Zurich and this formed a rare union of rural and urban communes, all of which enjoyed imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire. Its success resulted in the addition of more confederates, increasing the number of cantons to thirteen by 1513, the confederacy pledged neutrality in 1515 and 1647, although many Swiss served privately as mercenaries in the Italian Wars and during the Early Modern period. After the Swabian War of 1499 the confederacy was a de facto independent state throughout the modern period. The Swiss Confederacy fell to invasion by the French Revolutionary Army in 1798, the adjective “old” was introduced after the Napoleonic era with Ancien Régime, retronyms distinguishing the pre-Napoleonic from the restored confederation. During its existence the confederacy was known as Eidgenossenschaft or Eydtgnoschafft, in reference to treaties among cantons, territories of the confederacy came to be known collectively as Schweiz or Schweizerland, with the English Switzerland beginning during the mid-16th century. From that time the Confederacy was seen as a single state, the foundation of the Confederacy is marked by the Rütlischwur or the 1315 Pact of Brunnen. Since 1889, the Federal Charter of 1291 among the communes of Uri, Schwyz. The initial pact was augmented by pacts with the cities of Lucerne, Zürich, in several battles with Habsburg armies, the Swiss were victorious, they conquered the rural areas of Glarus and Zug, which became members of the confederacy. From 1353 to 1481, the federation of eight cantons—known in German as the Acht Orte —consolidated its position, the members enlarged their territory at the expense of local counts—primarily by buying judicial rights, but sometimes by force. The Eidgenossenschaft, as a whole, expanded through military conquest, the Aargau was conquered in 1415, in both cases, the Swiss profited from weakness in the Habsburg dukes. In the south, Uri led a military territorial expansion that would by 1515 lead to the conquest of the Ticino, none of these territories became members of the confederacy, they had the status of condominiums. At this time, the eight cantons gradually increased their influence on neighbouring cities, individual cantons concluded pacts with Fribourg, Appenzell, Schaffhausen, the abbot and the city of St. Gallen, Biel, Rottweil, Mulhouse and others. These allies became closely associated with the confederacy, but were not accepted as full members, the Burgundy Wars prompted a further enlargement of the confederacy, Fribourg and Solothurn were accepted in 1481. In the Swabian War against Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the Swiss were victorious, the associated cities of Basel and Schaffhausen joined the confederacy as a result of that conflict, and Appenzell followed suit in 1513 as the thirteenth member. The federation of thirteen cantons constituted the Old Swiss Confederacy until its demise in 1798, the expansion of the confederacy was stopped by the Swiss defeat in the 1515 Battle of Marignano. Only Berne and Fribourg were still able to conquer the Vaud in 1536, the Reformation in Switzerland led to doctrinal division amongst the cantons
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Margraviate of Baden
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The Margraviate of Baden was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1803, in 1806, the Electorate of Baden, receiving territorial additions, became the Grand Duchy of Baden. The rulers of Baden belonged to the Swabian House of Zähringen, emperor Henry III had promised the ducal throne to the Zähringen scion Berthold, however, upon Henrys death in 1056 his widow Agnes of Poitou appointed Rudolf of Rheinfelden Duke of Swabia. Berthold renounced his rights and was compensated with the Duchy of Carinthia, not able to establish himself, he finally lost both territories, when he was deposed by King Henry IV of Germany during the Investiture Controversy in 1077. Berthold retired to his Swabian home territory, where he died the next year, like his father, Herman II insisted on his margravial title. He chose to establish his residence in Germany, as he had been born and his lordship of choice was Baden, where his father had gained the right to rule by marrying the heiress, Judit von Backnang-Sulichgau, Countess of Eberstein-Calw. In Baden, Herman II had Hohenbaden Castle built, construction began about 1100, and when completed in 1112, he marked the occasion by adopting the title of a Margrave of Baden. Because Baden was the capital, the new Margraviate was also known as Baden, Herman II would continue to be Margrave until his death in 1130. His son and grandson, Hermann III and Herman IV, added to their territories, around 1200, these lands were divided for the first time. Two lines, Baden-Baden and Baden-Hochberg, were founded, the latter was divided about a hundred years later to create the third line – Baden-Sausenberg. In the 12th and 13th centuries Baden was a loyal and steadfast supporter of the House of Hohenstaufen, even against its own relatives from Zähringen-Swabia, in 1219 he moved his seat of power to Pforzheim. He had to abandon his claims to Zähringen and Braunschweig, but he gained the title of Graf von Ortenau and Breisgau and his son and grandson, Herman VI, Margrave of Baden and Frederick I, Margrave of Baden, claimed the titles of Dukes of Austria and Styria. The Austrians rejected them as they did not want to be ruled by outsiders, Margrave Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden united all of the acquisitions in 1391. A soldier of renown, Bernard continued the mission of his predecessors. Since 1291, Baden-Pforzheim had its own Margraviate, but in 1361 it ran out of heirs, founded in 1190, it lasted until 1418, when it too died with no male heirs. Bernard, being the closest heir, claimed Baden-Hochberg, Baden-Sausenberg, continued its own Margraviate until 1503, when the lack of its own heirs sent it back to the House of Baden-Baden. The consolidation of the Margraviate came in 1442, in that year, one-half of the dominions of Lahr and Mahlberg was brought into the fold, creating the link between the two main areas, the Breisgau in the south and Baden-Baden in the north. In 1462 the dispute over the election of the new Archbishop of Mainz sent Charles I to fight the war against Frederick I, the Count Palatine of the Rhine
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Duchy of Burgundy
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Upon the extinction of the line with the death of Duke Philip I in 1361, the duchy fell back to King John II of France and the royal House of Valois. The Burgundian duchy rose to a complex of a European scale after in 1363 King John II of France ceded the duchy to his younger son Philip of Valois. By his marriage with Countess Margaret of Flanders, he laid the foundation for a Burgundian realm further north in the Low Countries collectively known as the Burgundian Netherlands. The Burgundian sphere, in its own right, was one of the largest ducal territories that existed at the time of the emergence of Early Modern Europe. Including the thriving regions of Flanders and Brabant, it was a centre of trade. After about one hundred years of Valois-Burgundy rule, however, the last duke Charles the Bold rushed to the Burgundian Wars and was killed in the 1477 Battle of Nancy. With the abdication of the Habsburg emperor Charles V in 1556, the Burgundians settled in the area around Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Mâcon, Autun and Châtillon-sur-Seine, and gave the name to the region. The Kingdom of the Burgundians was annexed by the Merovingian Kings of the Franks Childebert I in 534 following their defeat by the Franks and it was recreated, however, on several occasions when Frankish territories were redivided between the sons on the death of a Frankish king. As part of the Kingdom of the Franks, Burgundy maintained a semi-autonomous existence, with the Burgundians maintaining their own law code, however, southern Burgundy was pillaged by the Saracen invasion of the 8th century. When Charles Martel drove the invaders out, he divided Burgundy into four commands, Arles-Burgundy, Vienne-Burgundy, Alamanic Burgundy and he appointed his brother Childebrand governor of Frankish Burgundy. Under the Carolingians, Burgundian separatism lessened and Burgundy became a geographical term. As a vital military defender of the West Frankish border, Guerin was sometimes known by the Latin term for leader – Dux or Duke, by the time of Richard the Justiciar, the Duchy of Burgundy was beginning to emerge. Richard was officially recognised by the king as a duke, he stood as individual count of each county he held. As Duke of Burgundy, he was able to wield an increasing amount of power over his territory, to the collective body of his territory there came to be applied the term ducatus. Included in the ducatus of Richard were the regions of Autunais, Beaunois, Avalois, Lassois, Dijonais, Memontois, Attuyer, Oscheret, under Richard, these territories were given law and order, protected from the Normans, and served as a haven for persecuted monks. It was from his territories in Burgundy that he drew the resources needed to fight those who challenged his right to rule, under Hugh the Black came the beginning of what would be a long and troubled saga for Burgundy. His neighbours were the Robertian family, who held the title of Duke of Francia and this family, wanting to improve their standing in France and against the Carolingian kings, attempted to subject the duchy to the suzerainty of their own duchy. They failed, eventually, when they appeared close to success, they were forced to scrap the scheme, two brothers of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian King of France, took up the rule of Burgundy as duke
15.
House of Hohenzollern
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The House of Hohenzollern is a dynasty of former princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century, the first ancestor of the Hohenzollerns was mentioned in 1061. They may have derived from the Burchardinger dynasty, the Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which later became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. The Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia, germanys defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution. The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German monarchy, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia is the current head of the royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the head of the princely Swabian line. Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire and its ruling dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps, the Hohenzollern Castle still belongs to the family today. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, Burkhard I, Count of Zollern was born before 1025, the Zollerns received the comital title from Emperor Henry V in 1111. As loyal vassals of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to enlarge their territory. In 1218 the burgraviate passed to Fredericks younger son Conrad I, he became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch. 1150-1155 and 1160, Gotfried of Zimmern, 4th oldest son of Frederick I before 1171 – c,1200, Frederick III/I Count Frederick III of Zollern was a loyal retainer of the Holy Roman Emperors Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI. In about 1185 he married Sophia of Raabs, the daughter of Conrad II, after the death of Conrad II who left no male heirs, Frederick III was granted Nuremberg in 1192 as Burgrave Frederick I of Nuremberg-Zollern. Since then the name has been Hohenzollern. The younger brother, Conrad III, received the burgraviate of Nuremberg from his older brother Frederick IV in 1218, members of the Franconian line eventually became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Franconian line later converted to Protestantism, the cadet Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage, the family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. He ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398, from 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
16.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
17.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
18.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
19.
Liechtenstein
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Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in Central Europe. It is a monarchy with the rank of principality, headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east and it has an area of just over 160 square kilometres and an estimated population of 37,000. Divided into 11 municipalities, its capital is Vaduz and its largest municipality is Schaan, the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the world at 1. 5%. Liechtenstein has been known in the past as a tax haven, however. An alpine country, Liechtenstein is mainly mountainous, making it a winter sport destination, many cultivated fields and small farms are found both in the south and north. The country has a financial sector centered in Vaduz. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association, and while not being a member of the European Union and it also has a customs union and a monetary union with Switzerland. The oldest traces of human existence in Liechtenstein date back to the Middle Paleolithic era, neolithic farming settlements were founded in the valleys around 5300 BC. Hallstatt and La Tène cultures flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC possibly under influence from the Greek. One of the most important tribal groups in the Alpine region were the Helvetii, in 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar defeated the Alpine tribes, bringing the region under closer control of the Roman Empire. By 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor, Liechtenstein was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia. The area was maintained by the Roman military, which maintained a large legionary camp called Brigantium near Lake Constance, a Roman road ran through the territory. In 259/60 Brigantium was destroyed by the Alemanni, a Germanic people who settled in the area in around 450. In the Early Middle Ages, the Alemanni had settled the eastern Swiss plateau by the 5th century, Liechtenstein was at the eastern edge of Alemannia. In the 6th century, the region became part of the Frankish Empire following Clovis Is victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504. The area that later became Liechtenstein remained under Frankish hegemony until the empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD following the death of Charlemagne. The territory of present-day Liechtenstein belonged to East Francia until it was reunified with Middle Francia under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD
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Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
21.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
22.
Alemanni
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The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine river. In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis, mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the 7th century. The Pactus Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period, until the 8th century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. But after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility, during the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. According to Asinius Quadratus their name means all men and it indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. Other sources say the name derives from alahmannen which means men of sanctuary and not all men. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such mentioned and this etymology has remained the standard derivation of the term. Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of St, the name of Germany and the German language in several languages is derived from the name of this early Germanic tribal alliance. For details, see Names of Germany, the Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time they dwelt in the basin of the Main. Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor and they had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him, Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits. In retribution Caracalla then led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, the legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracallas army. True or not, Caracalla, pursued by devils of his own, Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries, whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome. This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni barbari, most of the Alemanni were probably at the time in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. At that time the frontier was being fortified for the first time
23.
Late antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century to, in the East, the early Islamic period, following the Muslim conquests in the mid–7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe, the term Spätantike, literally late antiquity, has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization by Alois Riegl in the early 20th century. Concurrently, some migrating Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths saw themselves as perpetuating the Roman tradition, Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-called Edict of Milan in 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East, Licinius. Monasticism was not the only new Christian movement to appear in Late Antiquity, notable in this regard is the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine. Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be distinctly seen between the laity and an increasingly celibate male leadership. Celibate and detached, the clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables. The Late Antique period also saw a transformation of the political and social basis of life in. The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities, archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in the Mediterranean basin. Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines, in Roman Britain, the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer of black earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. A similar though less marked decline in population occurred later in Constantinople. In Europe there was also a decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. In the western Mediterranean, the new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five Visigothic victory cities
24.
Swabia
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Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. This territory would include all of the Alemannic German area, but the concept of Swabia is more restricted. Swabians are the natives of Swabia and speakers of Swabian German and their number was estimated at close to 0.8 million by SIL Ethnologue as of 2006, compared to a total population of 7.5 million in the regions of Tübingen, Stuttgart and Bavarian Swabia. Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabias borders are not clearly defined, like all of Southern Germany, Swabia was part of the La Tène culture, and as such has a Celtic substrate. In the Roman era, it was part of the Raetia province, in the third century, it was gradually settled by the Elbe Germanic Suebi and other components that came to make up the Alemanni. The Alemanni were ruled by independent kings throughout the fourth and fifth centuries, Swabia became a duchy under the Frankish Empire in 496, following the Battle of Tolbiac. Swabia was one of the stem duchies of East Francia. Due to the foundation of the important abbeys of St. Gallen and Reichenau, in the following years the original duchy gradually broke up into many smaller units. Rudolf I of Habsburg, elected in 1273 as emperor, tried to restore the duchy, but met the opposition of the higher nobility who aimed to limit the power of the emperor. The rural regions were merged into the Reichslandvogtei of Swabia, which was given as Imperial Pawn to Duke Leopold III of Austria in 1379 and again to Sigismund and he took the title of a Prince of Swabia and integrated the Landvogtei of Swabia in the realm of Further Austria. Charlemagnes family is known to have hailed from Swabia, the major dynasties that arose out of the region were the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns, who rose to prominence in Northern Germany. Also stemming from Swabia are the dynasties of the dukes of Württemberg. The Welf family went on to rule in Bavaria and Hanover, smaller feudal dynasties eventually disappeared, however, for example, branches of the Montforts and Hohenems lived until modern times, and the Fürstenberg survive still. The territory of Swabia as understood today emerges in the modern period. It corresponds to the Swabian Circle established in 1512, the Old Swiss Confederacy was de facto independent from Swabia from 1499 as a result of the Swabian War, while the Margraviate of Baden had been detached from Swabia since the twelfth century. Fearing the power of the princes, the cities and smaller secular rulers of Swabia joined to form the Swabian League in the fifteenth century. The region was divided by the Reformation. In the wake of the reorganization of the empire of 1803 by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss
25.
Suebi
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The Suebi was a large group of related Germanic peoples who lived in Germania in the time of the Roman Empire. They were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with his battles against Ariovistus in Gaul and they actually occupy more than half of Germania, and are divided into a number of distinct tribes under distinct names, though all generally are called Suebi. At one time, classical ethnography had applied the name Suevi to so many Germanic tribes that it appeared as if, in the first centuries AD, classical authors noted that the Suevic tribes, compared to other Germanic tribes, were very mobile and not reliant on agriculture. Various Suevic groups moved from the direction of the Baltic Sea, towards the end of the empire, the Alemanni, also referred to as Suebi, first settled in the Agri Decumates and then crossed the Rhine and occupied Alsace. An area in southwest Germany is still called Swabia, which derives from the Suebi. Other Suebi entered Gaul and some moved as far as Gallaecia, where they established the Kingdom of the Suebi, which lasted for 170 years until its integration into the Visigothic Kingdom. Notably, the Semnones, known to classical authors as one of the largest Suebian groups, also seem to have a name with this same meaning, alternatively, it may be borrowed from a Celtic word for vagabond. Caesar placed the Suebi east of the Ubii apparently near modern Hesse, in the position where later writers mention the Chatti, some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were the later Chatti or possibly the Hermunduri, or Semnones. Later authors use the term Suebi more broadly, to cover a number of tribes in central Germany. Whether or not the Chatti were ever considered Suevi, both Tacitus and Strabo distinguish the two partly because the Chatti were more settled in one territory, whereas Suevi remained less settled. The definitions of the greater ethnic groupings within Germania were apparently not always consistent and clear, whereas Tacitus reported three main kinds of German peoples, Irminones, Istvaeones, and Ingaevones, Pliny specifically adds two more genera or kinds, the Bastarnae and the Vandili. The Vandals were tribes east of the Elbe, including the well-known Silingi, Goths, and Burgundians, the modern term Elbe Germanic similarly covers a large grouping of Germanic peoples that at least overlaps with the classical terms Suevi and Irminones. In the time of Caesar, southern Germany was Celtic, in addition, also near the Hercynian forest Caesar believed that the Celtic Tectosages had once lived. All of these peoples had for the most part moved by the time of Tacitus, nevertheless, Cassius Dio wrote that the Suebi, who dwelt across the Rhine, were called Celts, which could mean that some Celtic groups were absorbed by larger Germanic tribal confederations. Strabo, in Book IV of his Geography also associates the Suebi with the Hercynian Forest and the south of Germania north of the Danube. He describes a chain of mountains north of the Danube that is like an extension of the Alps, possibly the Swabian Alps. In Book VII Strabo specifically mentions as Suevic peoples the Marcomanni, some of these tribes were inside the forest and some outside of it. Tacitus confirms the name Boiemum, saying it was a survival marking the old population of the place
26.
Rhine
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The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
27.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
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Vosges
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The Vosges, also called the Vosges Mountains, are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and it runs in a north-northeast direction from the Burgundian Gate to the Börrstadt Basin, and forms the western boundary of the Upper Rhine Plain. The Grand Ballon is the highest peak at 1424 m, followed by the Storkenkopf, and the Hohneck. The elongated massif is divided south to north into three sections, The Higher Vosges or High Vosges, extending in the part of the range from Belfort to the river valley of the Bruche. The rounded summits of the Hautes Vosges are called ballons in French, in addition, the term Central Vosges is used to designate the various lines of summits, especially those above 1000 metres in elevation. The French department of Vosges is named after the range, erosive glacial action was the primary catalyst for development of the representative highland massif feature. Geographically, the Vosges Mountains are wholly in France, far above the Col de Saverne separating them from the Palatinate Forest in Germany, the latter area logically continues the same Vosges geologic structure but traditionally receives this different name for historical and political reasons. From 1871 to 1918 the Vosges marked the border between Germany and France, due to the Franco-Prussian War, the Vosges in their southern and central parts are called the Hautes Vosges. These consist of a large Carboniferous mountain eroded just before the Permian Period with gneiss, granites, in the north, south and west, there are places less eroded by glaciers, and here Vosges Triassic and Permian red sandstone remains are found in large beds. The grès vosgien, are embedded sometimes up to more than 500 metres in thickness, the Lower Vosges in the north are dislocated plates of various sandstones, ranging from 300 to 600 metres high. The Col de Saales, between the Higher and Central Vosges, reaches nearly 579 m, both lower and narrower than the Higher Vosges, with Mont Donon being the highest point of this Nordic section. Both areas exhibit steeper slopes towards the Rhine River and a gradual descent on the other side. This occurs because both the Vosges and the Black Forest were formed by uplift, in a response to the opening of the Rhine Graben. The Rhine Graben is an extensional basin. When such basins form, the thinning of the crust causes uplift immediately adjacent to the basin, the temperature is much lower in the west front of the mountains than in the low plains behind the massif, especially in summer. On the eastern slope economic vineyards reach to a height of 400 metres, on the hand, in the mountains, it is a land of pasture. The Moselle, Meurthe and Sarre rivers and their numerous affluents all rise on the Lorraine side, in the High Moselle and Meurthe basins, moraines, boulders and polished rocks testify to the former existence of glaciers which once covered the top of the Vosges. Over the centuries, settlement increased gradually, as was typical for a forested region, forests were cleared for, inter alia, agriculture, livestock and early industrial factories and the water mills used water power
29.
Lech (river)
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The Lech is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a tributary of the Danube 264 kilometres in length with a drainage basin of 6,600 square kilometres. Its source is located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where the river rises from lake Formarinsee in the Alps at an altitude of 1,870 metres. It flows in a direction and crosses the German border, forming the Lechfall. Leaving the Alps, it enters the plains of the Allgäu at Füssen at an elevation of 790 metres in the German state of Bavaria, the river runs through the city of Füssen and through the Forggensee, a man-made lake which is drained in winter. Here, it forms rapids and a waterfall and it is not navigable, owing to its torrential character and the gravel beds which choke its channel. There is a magnificent view of the Lech valley from Neuschwanstein Castle. On more than one occasion, historic events have been decided on the banks of this river, in 278 Roman emperor Probus vanquished a larger invasion force of Burgundians and Vandals, which had been raiding the Roman province of Rhaetia. At Lechfeld, a plain between the Lech and the Wertach near Augsburg, Otto I defeated the Magyars in August 955. In the Battle of Rain in April 1632, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden defeated and mortally wounded Johan Tzerclaes, Verlag – J. Eberl KG, Immenstadt 2001. Dr. Bernhard Raster, Nutzung und anthropogene Veränderung des Lechs in historischer Zeit, bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Altbayerische Flusslandschaften an Donau, Lech, Isar und Inn. = Ausstellungskatalog, Anton H. Konrad, Verlag Weißenhorn 1998, holdenrieds Druck- und Verlags GmbH, o. J. Norbert Müller, Augsburger Ökologische Schriften, Heft 2, stadt Augsburg 1991, ISSN 0941-2123 Lech, Fluss. The Lech in Füssen Hochwassernachrichtendienst Bayern Alle möglichen Daten über die bayerischen Flüsse, aktuelle Pegelstände, langjährige Abflussdaten, Einzugsgebiet, life-Naturschutzprojekt Tiroler Lech Lebensraum Lechtal Bericht über eine Kajaktour
30.
Chiavenna
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Chiavenna is a comune in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region of Lombardy. It is the centre of the Alpine Valchiavenna region, the historic town is a member of the Cittaslow movement. Chiavenna is located about 100 kilometres north of Milan and about 40 kilometres northwest of Sondrio, the town is situated on the right bank of the river Mera about 16 kilometres north of Lake Como. The river course leads up to Val Bregaglia in the east, in the north, the Valle Spluga stretches up to Passo dello Spluga and the road to Chur in the Grisons. Chiavenna borders the municipalities, Mese, Piuro, Prata Camportaccio. The municipality of Chiavenna contains the frazioni Campedello, Loreto, Pianazzola, as of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,263 and an area of 11.1 kilometres. In Roman times Clavenna was a town of Rhaetia, on the Italian side of the Alps, north of the head of the Lacus Larius and it was by one or other of these passes that Stilicho crossed the Alps in midwinter, a feat celebrated by Claudian. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the city marked the limit of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. Clavenna was retaken by the Romans in the century during the reign of Justinian. Clavenna probably derived some importance from its position at the junction of two passes, as does the modern town of Chiavenna, which is the chief town of the surrounding district. Chiavenna received town privileges from the Bishops of Como, in medieval times, the castello served as a residence of local counts controlling the Alpine passes in the north and east. Initially under the overlordship of the Dukes of Swabia, the town was acquired by the Italian Visconti in the 14th century from the bishop of Chur. At a similar time to the campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy. This put the Valtellina back under the control of the Prince Bishop of Chur, the Three Leagues was not part of Switzerland until Napoleons much later conquest. To this day, there is a statue of Peter de Salis in Chiavenna, during the favourable time of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, primary schools were created in every place, and the instruction was made obligatory for maids. Lombard and Venetic women where the first to be alphabetised in Italy, the Austrian administration build bold modern routes, created hospitals and brought the level of medicine in Milan up to the top for the time. A citizen of Chiavenna could study in the universities of Innsbruck, Vienna, Prague and he could serve in the imperial army, become an officer, accede to the higher administration, and be ennobled. After the proclamation of the Sabaudian Regno dItalia, Chiavenna followed the sort of the rest of Lombardy, a popular governor, 1771–1773 and 1781–1783
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Gotthard Pass
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The Gotthard Pass or St Gotthard Pass is a mountain pass in the Alps, connecting northern and southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and Andermatt in the German-speaking canton of Uri, and connects further Bellinzona to Lucerne, Basel, as early as 1236, Gotthard Pass was dedicated to the Roman Catholic Saint Gotthard of Hildesheim. The Gotthard Pass connects the cantons of Uri and Ticino, the pass itself is located within the latter canton, about 2 km south of the border with Uri, between the massifs of Pizzo Lucendro and Pizzo Centrale. The pass lies on the most important route between the canton of Ticino and central Switzerland as well as most of the northern part of the country. It is the most direct link between Zürich and Lugano and also some regions of Germany and Italy. The nearest towns are Hospental near Andermatt and Airolo, respectively in the valleys of Urseren, the region of Andermatt lies at the foot of the Furka and Oberalp passes connecting the Rhone and Rhine valleys thus making the Gotthard area a strategic place for transports and military. The hospice is located south of the pass at 2,091 metres, near the Lago della Piazza, Lago di Lucendro and Lago Sella are larger reservoir lakes accessible from the pass. From the north side the pass can be reached by crossing the Schöllenen, according to the oral histories of the nearby villages, seasonal deaths resulting from drowning reached a peak in April–May of most years and thus a safer crossing was required. The original bridge built under these conditions was one of so many devils bridges that the legends about them form a category in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales. The legend of this particular bridge states that the Reuss was so difficult to ford that a Swiss herdsman wished the devil would make a bridge, the Devil appeared, but required that the soul of the first to cross would be given to him. The mountaineer agreed, but drove a goat across ahead of him, angered by this trickery, the devil fetched a rock with the intention of smashing the bridge, but an old woman drew a cross on the rock so the devil could not lift it anymore. The rock is still there and, in 1977,300,000 Swiss francs were spent to move the 220 ton rock by 127 m in order to make room for the new Gotthard road tunnel. It carried only foot traffic and pack animals until 1775, when the first carriage made the journey on an improved road, several tunnels provide access through the pass. The 15 kilometres Gotthard Rail Tunnel was the first and opened in 1882 for railway traffic at a cost of around 200 workers lives and it bypassed the pass road, connecting Göschenen with Airolo. A17 kilometres motorway tunnel, the Gotthard Road Tunnel opened in 1980 and it was closed for two months in 2001 following a fatal fire. The Gotthard Base Tunnel was opened on 1 June 2016 and it is the longest rail tunnel in the world at 57.091 kilometres. A number of artists have been inspired by the dramatic scenery of the St. Gotthard Pass, the Schöllenen Gorge. Gotthard Pass is prominent in the manga series Wolfsmund by Mitsuhisa Kuji
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High Middle Ages
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The High Middle Ages or High Medieval Period was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, by 1250 the robust population increase greatly benefited the European economy, reaching levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. This trend was checked in the Late Middle Ages by a series of calamities, notably the Black Death but also including numerous wars, from about the year 780 onwards, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance led to scientific and philosophical revival of Europe, the first universities were established in Bologna, Paris, Oxford and Modena. The Vikings had settled in the British Isles, France and elsewhere, the Magyars had ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary was recognized in Central Europe, forming alliances with regional powers. With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, in the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began to settle new lands, some of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Roman Empire. In what is known as the clearances, vast forests. At the same time settlements moved beyond the boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers in Europe, beyond the Elbe River. The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual, the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle led Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of the period to develop Scholasticism, a combination of Catholicism and ancient philosophy. For much of the time period Constantinople remained Europes most populous city, in architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed during this era. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, beginning at the start of the 14th century, in England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland by force in 1169 and soon established throughout most of the country. Likewise, Scotland and Wales were subdued to vassalage at about the same time, the Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I, and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy, King John signed the Magna Carta into law, from the mid-tenth to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway, after Cnuts death in 1035, England and Norway were lost, and with the defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man, while Sweden, under Birger Jarl, however, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240, by the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, which reached its mark of unity
33.
Conrad I of Germany
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Conrad I, called the Younger, was the first non-Carolingian king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first elected king of East Francia and also the first one to be anointed and he was chosen as the king by the rulers of the East Frankish stem duchies after the death of young king Louis the Child. Prior to this election he had ruled the Duchy of Franconia from 906, Conrad was the son of duke Conrad of Thuringia and his wife Glismut, probably related to Ota, wife of the Carolingian emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and mother of Louis the Child. The Conradines, counts in the Franconian Lahngau region, had been supporters of the Carolingians. At the same time, they competed vigorously for predominance in Franconia with the sons of the Babenbergian duke Henry of Franconia at Bamberg Castle, in 906 the two parties battled each other near Fritzlar. Conrad the Elder was killed, as were two of the three Babenberg brothers, Conrad then became the undisputed duke of all Franconia. Nevertheless, he failed in his attempts to extend the rule of Conradines over the western Lotharingia after the death of his uncle, duke Gebhard. After the death of Louis the Child, Conrad was elected king of the East Francia on November 10,911 at Forchheim by the rulers of Saxony, the dukes prevented the succession to throne of Louis Carolingian relative Charles the Simple, king of West Francia. They chose the Conradine scion, who was related to the late king. Only Conrads rival, Reginar, duke of Lotharingia refused to him his allegiance. Exactly 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, Burchard II, Duke of Swabia demanded and received more autonomy. Arnulf of Bavaria called on Magyars for assistance in his uprising, for this he was condemned to death as a traitor, but the powerful duke managed to avoid execution. In 913 Conrad I married the sister of the Swabian count Erchanger, cunigunde, widow of Liutpold and mother of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria, gave him two children, Cunigunda and Herman, both born in 913. In 913 Erchanger revolted against Conrad I, in 914 He captured Solomon III, Bishop of Constance, who was Conrad’s chief counselor. Erchanger was exiled but still managed to defeat royal army in a battle near the lake Constance and he was finally arrested for treason in assembly of nobles at Hohenaltheim in Swabia and on January 21,917 he was executed together with his brother Berthold. Conrads reign was a continuous and generally unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of king against the power of the local dukes. His military campaigns against Charles the Simple to regain Lotharingia and the Imperial city of Aachen were failures, Archbishop Ratbod of Trier even became West Frankish chancellor in 913
34.
Stockach
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Stockach is a town in the district of Konstanz, in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Hegau region, about 5 km northwest of Lake Constance,13 km north of Radolfzell and 25 km northwest of Konstanz. Stockach includes the city and 10 villages, The Counts of Nellenburg founded Stockach in the 13th century. In 1401 to the Landgraviate of Nellenburg owned the towns of Engen, Tengen, Radolfzell, the Counts of Nellenburg became extinct in 1422 and their estates were acquired by the House of Habsburg in 1465, hence Stockach was a part of Further Austria until 1805. In the Swabian War of 1499 the troops of the Three Leagues besieged the town, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria set fire to Stockach. During the French Revolutionary Wars of the Second Coalition two battles were fought here between the French First Republic and the Habsburg Monarchy in 1799 and 1800, in 1810 Stockach finally fell to the Grand Duchy of Baden
35.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
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Conradin
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Conrad, called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin, was the Duke of Swabia, King of Jerusalem, and King of Sicily. Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad IV of Germany and he is sometimes known as Conrad V of Germany. Though he never succeeded his father in Germany, he was recognized as king of the Germans, Sicily, having lost his father in 1254, he grew up at the court of his uncle and guardian, Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria. His guardians were able to hold Swabia for him, Jerusalem was held by a relative from the royal house of Cyprus as regent. In Sicily, his fathers half-brother Manfred continued as regent, little is known of his appearance and character except that he was beautiful as Absalom, and spoke good Latin. Innocents successor, Pope Alexander IV, continuing this policy, offered the Hohenstaufen lands in Germany to King Alfonso X of Castile and forbade Conradins election as king of the Romans. Having assumed the title of King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Conradin took possession of the Duchy of Swabia in 1262, and remained for some time in his duchy. Conradins first invitation to Italy came from the Guelphs of Florence, they asked him to arms against Manfred. Louis refused this invitation on his nephews behalf, count Guido de Montefeltro representing Henry of Castile, Senator of Rome, offered him the support of the eternal city. Pledging his lands, Conradin crossed the Alps and issued a manifesto at Verona setting forth his claim on Sicily. Notwithstanding the defection of his uncle Louis and of other companions who returned to Germany, the threats of Clement IV, only Palermo and Messina remained loyal to Charles. The revolt spread to Calabria and Apulia, in November of the same year the Church excommunicated him, but his fleet won a victory over that of Charles, and in July 1268, Conradin himself entered with immense enthusiasm in Rome. Having strengthened his forces, he marched towards Lucera to join the Saracen troops settled there since the time of his grandfather. On 23 August 1268 his multi-national army of Italian, Spanish, Roman, Arab and German troops encountered that of Charles at Tagliacozzo and he was tried as a traitor, and on 29 October 1268 he and Frederick were beheaded. With Conradins death at 16, the legitimate Hohenstaufen line became extinct, in the 14th century Codex Manesse, a collection of medieval German lyrics, preserved at Heidelberg, there appear two songs written by Conradin, and his fate has formed the subject of several dramas. His hereditary Kingdom of Jerusalem passed to the heirs of his great-great-grandmother Isabella I of Jerusalem, Conradins grandmothers first cousin Mary of Antioch also staked her claim on basis of proximity of blood, which she later sold to Conradins executioner Charles of Anjou. The general heiress of his Kingdom of Sicily and the Duchy of Swabia was his aunt Margaret, half-sister of his father Conrad IV and married with Albert and their son Frederick claimed Sicily and Swabia on her right. However, these met with little favor
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Rudolf I of Germany
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Rudolf I, also known as Rudolf of Habsburg,1 May 1218 –15 July 1291, was Count of Habsburg from about 1240 and the elected King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. Rudolfs election marked the end of the Great Interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire after the death of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II in 1250, the territories remained under Habsburg rule for more than 600 years, forming the core of the Habsburg Monarchy and the present-day country of Austria. Rudolf was the first king of the Romans of the Habsburg dynasty, Rudolf was born on 1 May 1218 at Limburgh Castle near Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl in the Breisgau region of present-day southwestern Germany. He was the son of Count Albert IV of Habsburg and of Hedwig, around 1232, he was given as a squire to his uncle, Rudolf I, Count of Laufenburg, to train in knightly pursuits. At his fathers death in 1239, he inherited estates from him around the ancestral seat of Habsburg Castle in the Aargau region of present-day Switzerland as well as in Alsace. In 1242, Hugh of Tuffenstein provoked Count Rudolf through contumelious expressions, in turn, the Count of Habsburg had invaded his domains, yet failed to take his seat of power. As the day passed on, Count Rudolf bribed the sentinels of the city and gained entry, then in 1244, to help control Lake Lucerne and restrict the neighboring forest communities of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, Rudolf built near its shores Neuhabsburg Castle. In 1245 Rudolf married Gertrude, daughter of Count Burkhard III of Hohenberg and he received as her dowry the castles of Oettingen, the valley of Weile, and other places in Alsace, and he became an important vassal in Swabia, the former Alemannic German stem duchy. That same year, Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV at the Council of Lyon, Rudolf sided against the Emperor, while the forest communities sided with Frederick. This gave them a pretext to attack and damage Neuhabsburg, Rudolf successfully defended it and drove them off. As a result, Rudolf, by siding with the Pope, gained more power, in 1254, he engaged with other nobles of the Staufen party against Bertold II, Bishop of Basle. When night fell, he penetrated the suburbs of Basle and burnt down the local nunnery, Pope Innocent IV excommunicated him and all parties involved. As penance, he took up the cross and joined Ottokar II, whilst there, he oversaw the founding of the city of Königsberg, which was named in memory of King Ottokar. The disorder in Germany during the interregnum after the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty afforded an opportunity for Count Rudolf to increase his possessions. His wife was a Hohenberg heiress, and on the death of his childless maternal uncle Count Hartmann IV of Kyburg in 1264, he also seized his valuable estates. Successful feuds with the Bishops of Strasbourg and Basel further augmented his wealth and reputation, including rights over various tracts of land that he purchased from abbots and these various sources of wealth and influence rendered Rudolf the most powerful prince and noble in southwestern Germany. In the autumn of 1273, the prince-electors met to choose a king after Richard of Cornwall had died in England in April 1272. Rudolfs election in Frankfurt on 1 October 1273, when he was 55 years old, was due to the efforts of his brother-in-law
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King of the Romans
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King of the Romans was the title used by the German king following his election by the princes from the time of Emperor Henry II onward. The title was predominantly a claim to become Holy Roman Emperor and was dependent upon coronation by the Pope, the title originally referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of Emperor at the hands of the Pope. Later it came to be used solely for the apparent to the Imperial throne between his election and his succession upon the death of the Emperor. The territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century, during this time, the kings claim to coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex in order to imply that Henrys authority was merely local, Henry continued to regularly use the title Romanorum Rex until he finally was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. Henrys successors imitated this practice, and were also called Romanorum Rex before, candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of the Germanic stem duchies. As these units broke up, rulers of principalities and even non-Germanic rulers were considered for the position. The only requirements generally observed were that the candidate be a male, a Catholic Christian. The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates, often in the city of Frankfurt after 1147. They were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Saxon duke, after the Investiture Controversy, Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation. Consequently, among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome, the Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until the Empires dissolution in 1806. After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans, though the ceremony was no more than a symbolic validation of the election result, it was solemnly celebrated. The details of Ottos coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, the kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at the coronation of Conrad II. In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral, at some time after the ceremony, the king would, if possible, cross the Alps, to receive coronation in Pavia or Milan with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy. Finally, he would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope, in such cases, the king might retain the title King of the Romans for his entire reign. At this time Maximilian also took the new title King of the Germans or King in Germany, the following were ruling Kings of the Romans, i. e. men who ruled the Kingdom without subordination to another King but who had not yet been crowned Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy, no person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Emperor. However, the Emperor could, and often did, have an elected to succeed him after his death
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John Parricida
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John Parricida or John the Parricide, also called John of Swabia, was the son of the Habsburg duke Rudolf II of Austria. By killing his uncle, King Albert I of Germany, he foiled the first attempt of the Habsburg dynasty to install a hereditary monarchy in the Holy Roman Empire. John was born shortly before or after the death of his father Rudolf II and his mother was Agnes of Bohemia, daughter of the Přemyslid king Ottokar II of Bohemia. Consequently, he was a grandson of both a King of the Romans and a King of Bohemia. He passed his days at the Bohemian court and the town of Brugg in the Swabian home territory of the Habsburgs. When he came of age, he demanded a portion of the estates from his uncle. His wishes, however, were not gratified nor did he receive any of the compensations in the Swabian territories of Further Austria, in 1306, King Albert even placed his son, Duke Rudolf III, on the Bohemian throne, denying his nephews right of inheritance. Thereupon John, mocked as Duke Lackland, with several companions of Swabian nobility formed a plan to murder the king. The next day, King Albert on his way home became separated from his attendants when crossing the Reuss River near Windisch, John rode toward his uncle and split his skull without a word. He escaped the vengeance of Alberts sons, and from that point his fate remained unknown, in the same year, the prince-electors chose the Luxembourg count Henry VII as Alberts successor, who placed John under the imperial ban. John allegedly fled to Italy and found refuge in a Pisa monastery, tell rejects the comparison but directs him to Italy, advising him to seek papal absolution. Historical dramas were written by August Gottlieb Meißner and Julius Grosse and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
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Clovis I
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He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries. Clovis was the son of Childeric I, a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks, and Basina, in 481, at the age of fifteen, Clovis succeeded his father. Clovis is important in the historiography of France as the first king of what would become France and his name is Germanic, composed of the elements hlod and wig, and is the origin of the later French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France. Dutch, the most closely related language to Frankish, reborrowed the name as Lodewijk from German in the 12th century. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508, numerous small Frankish kingdoms existed during the 5th century. After the collapse of Roman power in the last days of 406 the Salian Franks had expanded to the south of the military highway Boulogne-Cologne. The powerbase of Clovis father was the area around Tournai, in the current province of Hainault, upon the death of his father, Merovech in 457 Childeric I, Clovis father, became king of the subgroup of the Salian Franks based around Tournai. In 463 he fought in conjunction with Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul, Childeric died in 481 and was buried in Tournai, Clovis succeeded him as king, aged just 15. Under Clovis, the Salian Franks came to dominate their neighbours, historians believe that Childeric and Clovis were both commanders of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda and were subordinate to the magister militum. Clovis then had the Frankish king Chararic imprisoned and executed, a few years later, he killed Ragnachar, the Frankish king of Cambrai, along with his brothers. Another victory followed in 491 over a group of Thuringians to the east. By this time Clovis had conquered all the Frankish kingdoms to the west of the River Maas and he secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great. With the help of the Ripuarian Franks he narrowly defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac in 496 and he made Paris his capital and established an abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the Seine. In 500 Clovis fought a battle with the Burgundian kingdom at Dijon but was unable to subdue them, the battle added most of Aquitaine to Clovis kingdom and resulted in the death of the Visigothic king Alaric II. According to Gregory of Tours, following the Battle of Vouillé, since Clovis name does not appear in the consular lists, it is likely he was granted a suffect consulship. Clovis became the first king of all Franks in 508, after he had conquered Cologne and this contrasted with Catholicism, whose followers believe that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three persons of one being. By the time of the ascension of Clovis, Gothic Arians dominated Christian Gaul and this included his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian princess who was a Catholic in spite of the Arianism that surrounded her at court. Clotilde evangelized Clovis to convert to Catholicism, which he initially resisted, Clotilde had wanted her son to be baptized, but Clovis refused to allow it, so Clotilde had the child baptized without Cloviss knowledge
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.