Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI. Germany. 1. When and how was the empire of Charlemagne divided? After the Battle of Fontenay in which the sons of Charlemagne fought with each other over the vast inheritance left by him, the empire was divided into three portions—France, Germany, and Italy, and Germany was assigned to Louis. 843.
2. What happened when the Carolingian race became extinct? The Diet or Great Council consisting of the provincial rulers and the dignitaries of the Church assumed the right of electing the emperor, subject to the pope's confirmation, by whom alone he could be crowned. 3. What races occupied Germany? France, Saxons, Bavarians, and Swabians. 4. What was the difference between France and Germany
in the growth of the monarchy? In France, the crown gradually absorbed the different fiefs and formed one powerful kingdom, while in Germany the states continued jealous, disunited, and often hostile. 5. Who were the first rulers of Germany? Conrad, Duke of the Franks, and after a troubled reign he named, with singular nobleness, Henry of Saxony, his chief enemy, as his successor. 6. What was the great event of his reign?
An eruption of the Magyars or Hungarians, a barbarous tribe. He and his son Otto I defeated them in two great battles, and they settled down peaceably, and by the year 1000 became Christian. 7. What did Henry do to protect the people against their barbarous enemies? He founded walled towns and built fortresses around which villages soon grew up. 8. How did the Berger class arise from this?
He ordered every ninth man to live in one of these bergs, as the fortresses were styled, which gave them the name of Berger. They became the great support of the crown in the disputes with the nobles. 9. How long did the Saxon dynasty last? 10. What ruler of this dynasty was especially notable? Otto the Great, 936-973. He held the German tribes together and also subdued Italy,
being crowned by the Pope Emperor of the West. 11. What did this re-establish? The Holy Roman Empire. 12. What effect did this have on Germany? While the emperors were absent for years sometimes, protecting their Italian interests, the dukes and counts at home were becoming sovereign princes, and Germany, instead of growing into a united nation, remained a group of almost independent states.
13. What dynasty ruled during the 11th century? The Franconian dynasty. 14. What was the notable event of the reign of Henry IV, 1056-1106? His contest with Pope Gregory VII. 15. Who was Pope Gregory, and what was his aim? Hildebrand, son of a poor carpenter, monk of Cluny, and confidential advisor of five popes. He was resolved to reform the Church and make it supreme over the civil power.
16. How was Henry IV humiliated? Resisting the Pope, he was excommunicated, and the German princes threatened to elect a new king. He sought the forgiveness of the Pope, and was forced to stand barefoot on the frosty earth at Canossa three days before he was allowed to enter the castle and receive the kiss of peace. 17. What dynasty ruled during the 12th and half of the 13th century? The Hohenstaufen dynasty.
18. Who was the first king? Conrad III of Swabia. 19. For what is his reign noted? For the beginning of the civil wars between the papal and imperial parties, called respectively the Guls and the Gebellians, these contests harassed Germany and Italy for nearly three centuries. 20. Who was the most powerful emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty? Frederick Barbarossa, Redbeard, 1152 to 1190.
21. With whom did he engage in contest? With the cities of northern Italy that claimed the rights of republics, although at first defeated, they subsequently triumphed and the emperor submitted to the demands of the Pope. 22. What was Frederick obliged to do in order to be crowned emperor? To hold the Pope's stirrup. 23. What was the great interregnum? The twenty years that succeeded the reign of Conrad IV, the last Hohenstaufen king.
German patriotism sank so low that at one time the crown was offered to the highest bidder. 24. Who was finally chosen king? Count Rudolf of Habsburg, 1273 to 1291. He was a brave, noble-hearted man who sought to restore order, punish the robber knights, and abolish private wars. 25. Who were the electors? The leading princes who had usurped the right of choosing the king. 26. What influence did the cities have in the Middle Ages? They formed a powerful
restraint upon the feudal lords. As there was perpetual war between the cities and the nobles, the former were compelled to ally themselves for mutual protection. 27. What was the Hanseatic League? A league of over eighty cities that had its own fleets and armies, and was respected by foreign kings. It attained its highest prosperity in the 14th century. 28. What line came into power in the latter half of the 13th century?
The Habsburg or Austrian line. 29. What was the Golden Bull? A decree issued 1356 by Charles IV of the House of Habsburg, determining the prerogatives and powers of the electors and the mode of election. This made the electors the most powerful persons in the empire, and perpetuated the divisions of Germany. 30. What did Charles IV found? The first university of Germany at Prague. It became so famous as soon
to number 7,000 students. 31. What was the Council of Constance? A council called by the emperor Sigismund to settle the dispute between three different claimants for the papal chair. 18,000 clergymen, including cardinals and bishops, with a vast concourse of learned men, knights, and ambassadors from the Christian powers were present. 32. Who was summoned to appear before it, and why? John Hus, rector of the University of Prague,
having attacked certain doctrines of the church. 33. How was he treated? He came under a safe conduct from the emperor, and was then tried, convicted of heresy, and burned at the stake. 34. What became of his ashes? They were thrown into the Rhine to prevent his followers from gathering them. 35. Who shared his fate the next year? Jerome of Prague, his friend and disciple. 36. To what did this lead? A furious war of 16 years, in the first part of which the Bohemians,
or Hussites, were led by the famous John Ziska. They defeated the armies of Sigismund in many battles. 37. How did the Hohenzollern House come into power? Sigismund, being in want of money, sold Brandenburg and its electoral dignity for 400,000 gold florins to Frederick, Count of Hohenzollern. 38. What throne do his descendants occupy today? The throne of Prussia. 39. What was the first Diet of Worms? A council summoned by Maximilian, 1495. It decreed a
perpetual peace, abolished the right of private war, and established the imperial chamber of justice. 40. What was the Alllick Council? A court of appeal from the lower courts in Germany, founded by the emperor. 41. What did the reign of Maximilian mark? The end of the Middle Ages. This monarch is known in German history as the Last of the Knights. 42. What great religious movement was begun under the reign of Maximilian? The Reformation. 43. Who was the foremost leader
in it? Martin Luther. He preached against the doctrines of the Church of Rome and awakened intense excitement throughout Germany. 44. Who succeeded Maximilian? His grandson, Charles V, one of the greatest monarchs of ancient or modern times. 45. How did he treat Luther? He summoned him to answer for heresy at the Diet of Worms, 1521, and as Luther would not recant, he was denounced as a heretic, and he and his supporters were put
under the ban of the empire. 46. Why were the Lutherans called Protestants? When the Catholics passed a decree forbidding any further change in religion, the Lutherans formally protested against this action, from which they were called Protestants. 47. What was the next important event in the history of Germany? The Thirty Years' War, which was begun in 1618 in Bohemia, on account of the attempt of King Ferdinand to extinguish Protestantism in his dominions.
48. What was the result of this war? The religious independence of the Protestant states was established, Holland and Switzerland were made free, and the German empire stripped of its ancient power and splendor. The name German Emperor was henceforth merely an empty title of the Austrian rulers. 49. What action was taken by the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo? A German confederation of 39 states was formed. A permanent diet was to sit at Frankfurt
on Main, Austria having its presidency. 50. When was the monarchy re-established? In 1848, when Frederick William IV put himself forward as the leader of the movement for German unity, he was supported by the army, and finally a new constitution with a limited suffrage was granted. 51. What were Prussia and Austria each striving for? The leadership in Germany, and it was only settled by a seven-weeks war in 1866, in which Austria was defeated and shut out of Germany.
52. When was Germany finally united? In 1871, when King William was proclaimed Emperor of Germany in the Palace of Versailles during the Siege of Paris. End of chapter 11 End of 1001 Questions and Answers on General History by Benjamin Hathaway
