Federal Republic of Germany

B

Beginnings of a German State

In the late 5th century the Frankish chieftain Clovis defeated the Romans, and he established a kingdom that included most of Gaul and south-west Germany. He converted his subjects, believers in the Arian heresy, to orthodox Christianity.

B

1

Carolingian Germany

Clovis’s work was carried on in the 8th century by Charlemagne, who fought the Slavs south of the Danube, annexed southern Germany, and ferociously subdued and converted the pagan Saxons in the north-west. As champion of Christianity and supporter of the papacy against the restive people of Rome, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome in 800. This milestone event revived the Roman imperial tradition in the west, but it also set a precedent for the dependence of the emperors on papal approval.

The Carolingian Empire was based on the social structure of the late Roman Empire. The official language of the court and the Church was Latin, but Franks in Gaul adopted the Latinate vernacular that became French, and Franks and other Germanic peoples in the east spoke various languages that became German. The only relic of Old High German is the Hildebrandslied (“Lay of Hildebrand”), a fragmentary 8th-century poem, based on early pagan heroic tales, about the tragic duel between a father and son.

Carolingian rulers encouraged missionary work among the Germans. St Willibrord founded the monastery of Echternach, and St Boniface founded Reichenau and Fulda and reformed the Frankish Church. Non-Frankish Germans, however, retained much pagan belief beneath their newly acquired faith. The Heliand, a 9th-century epic, depicts Christ as a Saxon warrior king.

B

2

East Francia

The Carolingian Empire, unwieldy and prey to tribal dissension, did not long survive Charlemagne’s death in 814. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), the empire was divided among his three grandsons. One received West Francia (modern France). Another acquired the imperial title and an area running from the North Sea through Lotharingia (Lorraine) and Burgundy to Italy. The third, Louis the German, received East Francia (modern Germany). The Treaty of Mersen (870) divided the middle kingdom, with Lotharingia going to East Francia and the rest to West Francia. In 881 Charles the Fat of East Francia, heir of Louis the German, received the imperial title. Six years later he was deposed by Arnulf, the last Carolingian emperor.

B

3

The Tribal Duchies

By the 10th century East Francia was being buffeted by new waves of pagan Danes, Magyars, and Moravians from the north and east and was virtually torn apart by rival peoples fighting. The Carolingians had granted tribal military leaders (dukes) and appointed officials (counts and margraves) lands as temporary fiefs for their services to the state, and many of the high clergy had also received fiefs. As royal authority declined, these feudal lords, or princes, provided local government and defence. The secular lords gradually made their fiefs hereditary. The greatest of them were the rulers of five stem (tribal) duchies—Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Lorraine. Lesser warriors joined princely retinues out of tribal loyalty and in exchange for smaller grants of land and other gifts. Common people lost the right to bear arms. They worked the fields of warriors and Churchmen in return for protection and a share of the crops. Thus, the Carolingian governmental system blended with the German tradition of free tribesmen to form a society in which a military nobility was supported by an agricultural peasantry of freemen and serfs.

By ancient German tradition, the kings were elected. Because no noble family wanted to be subject to another family or to a strong king, weak kings were often chosen, and none could safely assume the loyalty of his nobles. These conditions delayed for centuries the consolidation of a strong German state.

C

Early Middle Ages

Medieval German kings had three major concerns. One was checking the rebellious princes—usually with the help of Churchmen. The second was controlling Italy and being crowned emperor of the West by the pope, a policy considered an essential part of the Carolingian heritage. The third was expansion to the north and east.