The present state of Germany, or, An account of the extent, rise, form, wealth, strength, weaknesses and interests of that empire the prerogatives of the emperor, and the priviledges of the cleaors, princes, and free cities, adapted to the present circumstances of that nation / by a person of quality.

CHAP. III. Of the Origine of the States of the Em∣pire, and by what degrees they arrived to that Power they now have.

1. FOR the attaining an accurate know∣ledge of the German Empire, it is absolutely necessary to enquire by what steps those that are called the States of the Empire arrived to the Power they now possess; for without this it will not be possible to see what was the true cause that this State took such an irregular form. Now these States are Secular Princes, Earls, Bishops, and Cities, of the Rise of each of which we will discourse briefly. The Se∣cular Princes are Dukes or Earls, who have to these Titles some other added in the German Tongue, viz. Pfaltzgrave, Landt∣grave, Marggrave, and Burggrave; for to the best of my remembrance, none of the ancient Princes, except he of Anhalt, has the simple Stile of a Prince, without one of these Additions; yet some of them use the Title of Prince amongst their other Titles. Thus they of Austria are stiled Princes of Schwaben; the Dukes of Pome∣rania (now under the King of Sweden) the Princes of Rugen; the Landtgrave of Hussia and Hersfield, &c.

2. Amongst the ancient Germans, before they were subdued by the Franks, a Duke was a meer Military Officer; as appeareth plainly by the German word Heerzog, who for the most part were chosen on the account of their Valour, when a War was coming upon them: In Times of Peace, those that go∣verned them, and exercised Jurisdiction, and governed their Cities, Districts, and Villages, were for the most part chosen out of the Nobility, and were called Gre∣ven, or Graven, which is as much as Pre∣sident, though the Latin word Comes is more often used for it; because from the time of Constantine the Great downward, those who were employed in the Ministry or Ser∣vice of the Court, in the command of the Forces dispersed in the several Provinces of the Empire, or in administring Justice and the execution of the Laws, were all stiled Comites. After this, when the Franks had subdued Germany, and were become Masters of all its Provinces, they, after the manner of the Romans, sent Dukes to go∣vern the Provinces in it, that is, Presidents to govern them in Peace, and command their Forces in time of War: And to these they sometimes added Comites, for admini∣string Justice; and some Provinces were put under Comites only, and had no Dukes; but then all these that were thus employ∣ed by them, were meer Magistrates; but in length of time, it came to pass, that some persons were made Dukes for their

Lives, and the Son for the most part suc∣ceeded the Father: So that having so fair an opportunity in their hands, of establish∣ing themselves, they began to look on their Provinces as their Patrimony and In∣heritance. Nor can a Monarch commit a greater Error than the suffering these kinds of Administrations to become hereditary, especially where the Military Command is united to the Civil: And therefore I can scarce forbear laughing when I read this Custom, in some German Writers, defen∣ded, as commendable and prudent; for it is the Honour of a Prince to reward those who have deserved well of him: But then, if a Master should manumise all his Servants at once, I suppose he might, for the future, make clean his Shooes himself: A Father may be the fonder of a thing, because he knows he can leave it to his Son after him; but then the more passionately he loves his Son, the greater care he ought to take, that a Stranger may claim as little Right as is possible to it. Thus we usually take more care of what is our own, than of what belongs to another: But then a good Fa∣ther will not give his Estate to his Tenant, that he may use it so much the better. There is a cheaper way of preventing the Rebellions of Presidents, than that of grant∣ing Provinces to them, to be administred as an Inheritance. And 'tis a very silly thing to measure the Majesty of a Prince, by the number of those in his Dominions, who can with safety despise him and his So∣veraignty.

To say more were to no pur∣pose; for to expose the Stupidity of these men, it will be sufficient for us to consi∣der, that they are not ashamed to compare the German Lawyers with the Italian, French, and Spanish Writers; and yet the Writings of the greatest part of them shew, they never understood the first Principles of civil Prudence.

3. Charles the Great observing the Error committed by his Ancestors, took away the greatest part of the Dukedoms, which were of too great extent; and dividing the larger Provinces into smaller parts, com∣mitted them to the care of Counts, Comites, or Earls, some of which retained the sim∣ple Name of Counts, and others were call'd Pfaltzgraves or Pfaltzgraven, Comites Pa∣latini, Count Palatins, or Prefects of the Court-Royal, and in that capacity administred Ju∣stice within the Verge of the Court. Others were call'd Landegraves, that is, Presidents set over a whole Province. Others were call'd Marggraves, Presidents of the Marches or Borders, for repelling the Incursions of Enemies, and administring Justice to the Inhabitants. Others were called Burggraves, that is, Prefects or Go∣vernours of some of the Royal Castles or Forts. And these Offices and Dignities were not granted by Charles the Great, in Perpetuity or Inheritance, but with a Power reserved to himself, to renew his Grants to the same person, or bestow them on another, as he thought fit. But after

the Death of Charles the Great, his Poste∣rity returned to the Errors of the former Reigns, and not only the Sons were suf∣fered to succeed their Fathers in these Ma∣gistracies or Governments, but by a con∣junction or union of many Counties or Earldoms, or by the Will of some of his Successors, some Dukedoms were again for∣med, which contained great Extents of Lands. The Presidents employed by them in the Government of these Provinces, thought it a piece of Cowardice and Sloth in themselves not to take hold of these occasions and opportunities of establishing themselves and their Posterities, (as the nature of Mankind is prone to Ambition) especially when the Authority of the French Emperors declined, and became every day more contemptible, by reason of their in∣testine Dissentions and destructive Wars with one another. And in the first place, Otho Duke of Saxony, the Father, of Henry the Falconer, having under him a large and a warlike Nation, so established himself, that he wanted nothing but the Title to make him a King: And when Conrad I. Emperor of Germany, undertook to subdue and bring under Henry his Son, he miscar∣ried in the Attempt, and at his Death he advised the Nobility to bestow the Impe∣rial Dignity on this his prosperous Rival, thinking it the wisest course to give him what he could have taken by force, for sear he should canton himself, and disjoin his Dominions from the rest of Germany.

There are yet some Princes, who owe their Dominions to the Liberality of some of the Emperors; Examples of which occurr fre∣quently in the Histories of the Otho's; and whether this is consistent with the Laws of Monarchy, I am not now at leisure to enquire. After these Beginnings or Foun∣dations, Princes encreased their Power af∣terwards by Purchaces, by Hereditary De∣scents, not only in the Right of Blood; but also by mutual Pacts of Successions, which the Germans call, Confraternal Inheritances or Successions, which are of the same nature with that League between the potent Hou∣ses of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hassia, which is now in force: And by vertue of such a League, the Dukes of Saxony obtained the Earldom of Henneberg, and the House of Brandenburg the Right of Pomerania, though that League was not reciprocal; and yet it is apparent, these Leagues are injurious to the Emperor, who has the Right of a Lord over the Dominions of the Princes, and ought, upon a vacancy, to dispose of the Fee. Lastly, Some Estates have been seized by force, by some of them, when Germany was involved in Wars and Distur∣bances.

4. But then, in after times, when it ap∣peared, that the Power which these Princes had once gotten, could not be dissolved without distracting all Germany, and perhaps not so neither, without hazarding the Ruin of him that should attempt it, it seemed better to the succeeding Kings, especially

after they saw they could not obtain the Empire without it, to confirm their Pos∣session; so that from thenceforth they enjoyed their Territories as Fees, acknow∣ledged to depend on the Emperor, and swore Allegiance to him and the Empire, From hence it is, that by what means so∣ever the Princes got their Estates, they now hold them as Fees of the Empire: Yet the name of Vassal has not deprived these Princes of any considerable part of their Power and Grandeur; for, if I grant a man any part of my Estate, to be holden of me as a Fee, though I put him thereby into a full possession, yet I make him my Subject, and I, as the Lord of the Fee, may pre∣scribe what Laws or Conditions I please to the possession of what I thus grant: But then, he who consenteth to acknow∣ledge what he already hath, to be a Fee holden of the Party thus consented to, is supposed only to own the Lord of the Fee as a superiour Confederate in an unequal League, and so to respect his Majesty and reverence his Dignity. The Line of Charles the Great failing, Germany became perfect∣ly free, and many of the Nobility, before that time, had acquired to themselves great Dominions; when therefore it was thought fit to give the Regal Title to some one Person chosen out of the Nobility, that Germany might not return into her ancient weak, defenceless state, by being broken into small Governments: It is not to be thought, that the Princes were willing to

cast away their Dominions, or to submit them to the Absolute Dominion of ano∣ther; but rather to seek a strong Protector or Defender of their Rights. Thus the State of these Princes being once introdu∣ced and confirmed, it was fit that those who were afterwards exalted to that Dig∣nity by the Emperors, in the stead of any Families that happened to be extinguished, should also be advanced to the same state of Freedom and Power with the ancient Princes. And in the mean time, those that are well versed in Civil Prudence, or Po∣liticks, will easily acknowledge, that this Feudal Obligation of the Princes to the Emperor, only made them unequal Allies or Confederates, and not Subjects, properly so called; for it is inconsistent with the Per∣son or Notion of a Subject to exercise a Power of Life and Death over all those that are in his Dominions, or to appoint Magistrates as he thinks fit, to make Leagues, and levy Moneys to his own use, without being accountable for the same to the Royal Treasury, or giving to it any more than he himself shall think fit. But then, to force an Ally by the rest of the Confede∣rates, who offends against the Rules of the League, is very usual in all such cases, and there are many Examples of it both in an∣cient and modern Story. But to acknow∣ledge the Emperor to be the sole Judge of the Cases for which a Prince may deserve to be deprived of his Dominions, as it would pull up the Foundations of the Power of Ger∣man

Princes, so those who have alwaies opposed the Emperors that have attempted at any time to do it, have thought it a slavish and base Respect or Reverence to him, to betray their Rights so far, as to suffer him to do it.

5. From thenceforward, as it has ever happened in all Empires where the Power of the Subject has been formidable to the Soveraign, so more signally has it happe∣ned in Germany viz.

That when they had Emperors of great Wealth, or very much Reverence, on the Score of their eminent Virtues, the Princes were most obsequiou∣sly subject to them; but when they have had weak or unactive Emperors, they have had only a precarious Command over them.

And those Emperors again who have endeavour'd to pluck up this so deeply rooted Power of the Princes, and to reduce Germany into the condition of a true Monarchy or Kingdom, have sometimes pull'd Ruin down upon themselves, and have ever failed of their hopes, and gain∣ed nothing by it, but the disquieting them∣selves and others. Nor have those that endeavoured to do it by Craft made any progress, because some or other have found out the Design, and disappointed it; and if any thing were gained from the Princes at any time one way, it was lost another. Thus it is known to all men, what ill Successes, in the last Age, attended the Attempts of Charles V. and Ferdinand II. yet Luxury, Sloth, and Prodigality have

wonderfully weakened some of the Princes, because they took no care to augment or keep what they had. And several of the Families are also weakened by dividing their Patrimony and Dominions amongst their Brethren and Kindred: And some, without any fault of theirs, have been ruined by the Calamities of the Civil Wars.

6. I must in the next place speak some∣thing of the Bishops too. Now it is certain, that in the first times of Christianity the Bishops were elected and constituted by the Clergy and the Faithful People; af∣terwards, about the IV. Century, when Princes embraced the Christian Religion, a Custom was taken up by them of not suffe∣ring any person to be made a Bishop with∣out their Consent, because they very well understood, that it tended very much to the preservation of the publick Peace, to have good and peaceable men in that emi∣nent Office. The Kings of the Franks took up the same Custom, and would suffer none to be made Bishops in their Kingdom, but such as they approved of. And the Emperors of Germany continued the same Right till the Reign of Henry the Fourth: Gregory the Seventh began a Quarrel against this Prince on that Score, which was car∣ried on by his Successors, against the suc∣ceeding Emperors; till at length his Son Henry V. weary of the Broils this Con∣troversie had occasion'd, in the Diet of Worms, in the year 1122, renounced this

Imperial Priviledge of constituting and in∣vesting the Bishops; but yet the Emperor had still the Right of delivering to the elected Bishop the Regalia and Fees, by the delivery of a Crosier. Now it is not easie to conceive what the Emperor lost by the yielding this great point; for though his power before over the Secular Princes was not great, yet as long as the Church was subject to him, he could easily equal, or, if need was, overrule their Forces. In the Agreement between the Pope and Henry the Fifth, the Election of the Bishops was setled in the Clergy and People jointly, yet afterwards the Canons of the Cathedral Churches began to claim the sole power of chusing them, the Pope conniving at this their Usurpation, it being more for his In∣terest to have this Affair in a few hands, than in many. At length things came to this: That the Confirmation of the new ele∣cted Bishop was to be sought from Rome, whereas this, as well as the Consecration before, belonged to the Metropolitan. But then, the Examples of Men, provided be∣forehand with Bishopricks, by the power of the Pope, was very rare in Germany, and I suppose the reason was, because the Chap∣ters would scarce have submitted patiently to a Bishop, so obtruded on them (though it was practis'd frequently in other Coun∣tries.)

7. The Bishops of Germany are indebted to the Liberality of the first Emperors, for all those Provinces and great Revenues

they now enjoy; a fervent Piety and Zeal in those times ruling in the minds of Prin∣ces, because they thought the more they gave to the Church, the more they united themselves to God. Which Opinion is much abated in our times, because many now (how truly I know not) have taken up another, contrary to it, viz That over great Wealth, bestowed on Church men, tends rather to the extinguishing than nourishing of Piety and Religion. The Church-men also of those early times seem to have had the Grace of asking, without fear, whatever might seem convenient for the allaying the Hardships of their Profession. Thus the Bishops and Churches obtained of these good Princes not only Farms, Tithes, and Rents, but also whole Lordships, Counties, Dukedoms, with all the Regalia's or Royalties annexed to them, so that they became equal in all things to the Temporal Princes. But then, in truth, they obtained the Degree of Princes but in the times of the Otho's, and those that followed; and they got not the Regalia all at once, but by little and little, some at one time, and some at another: And from thence it comes, that some of the Bishops have not yet got them all, and others have them under the restraint of certain Limita∣tions. There were two other things con∣tributed very much to the accuring all these great Riches and Honours for the Church. 1. That many of the Nobility in those times took Orders, and became Church-men; and, 2. That all the little

Learning those barbarous Ages had, was in the Clergy. This occasion'd the calling the Bishops to Court, to give their Ad∣vice, and the employing them as Judges and Governours in the Provinces, because these things cannot be well perform'd without some Learning. And this was the true reason why the Office of Chan∣cellor was at first annexed to the princi∣pal Bishops Sees. I do also believe, that the Riches of the Church were very much improved by many Princes and Noblemen, who resigned their Estates, or a part of them, to the Bishops, and took them again as Fees from them, that they might so ob∣lige them to take the more care in recom∣mending them, and their Salvation, to God in their Prayers, and as their Families after∣wards were extinguished, their Estates were united to the Bishopricks. Who knows not also what vast Additions have been since made by the Wills of Dying Men, when a Nation that is naturally afraid of Heat and Thirst, saw they must buy off the Roasting in Purgatory, by that means which they feared above all men?

8. The Church-men might have been well contented with their Condition in Germany, though they had neither abjured Ambition nor Avarice: But then, as they of all men are desirous to have others un∣der them, so they could least endure to see others above them, and therefore thought this was still wanting to perfect their Hap∣piness in this World, because they were

still forced to receive all they had from the Emperor, and consequently were for∣ced to live in a dependence on him. If the Reverence I owe that most Sacred Order of Men, did not restrain me, I should say, they were the worst of men, who, as the event shews, abused the Im∣prudent Liberality of the Emperors, to the Ruin of that Majesty and Power that had raised and enriched, dignified and ennobled them. Certainly, he is not worthy of Li∣berty, who is not willing to own his Ma∣numissor for his Patron and Master. That therefore this Tribe of Levites might whol∣ly free themselves from the Subjection of the Laicks, the German Bishops strenuously solicited the Pope to send abroad his Vati∣can Thunders, and raised plenty of Com∣motions in the Empire, to second them, by both which they at last gained their Point: For the Archbishop of Mentz led the way, and the rest of the Flock follow∣ed him faithfully, and would never suffer their Prince to have any rest, till he would permit them to depend on no body but the Pope. This, as many think, brought a signal Mischief on the German State, viz. The having so many of its Members ac∣knowledge a Foreign Head, unless we can think the Pope was so fondly in love with Germany, that he desired nothing more than its Preservation, and that they at Rome knew better what was for the Good of Germany, than the very Germans them∣selves did.

9. It remains now, that we say some∣thing of the Free Cities. Germany, till the V. Century after Christ, had nothing but Villages, without Walls, or dispersed Hou∣ses, in all that part of it which lies to the East and North of the Rhine: Even in the IX. Century, there is only mention made of a City or two in that part which borders on the State of Venice: But then there were many Cities built by the Romans, much more earlily in that part which lies on the French side of the Rhine, of which the Ro∣mans were possess'd; as also between the Danube and the Alps, which belonged then to them, but was afterwards a part of Ger∣many. The reason why in those ancient Times they had no Cities, was first, be∣cause the old Germans had no skill in Ar∣chitecture; which Ignorance still appears in many places of this Country; and second∣ly, The Fierceness of the Nation, which made them averse to these kinds of Habi∣tations, as a fort of Prisons; and also, third∣ly, Because the Nobility placed their greatest Pleasure in Hunting, and therefore neither knew nor much valued the Conveniencies of having Cities and great Towns. Their Dyet then was very mean, their Furniture and Clothes cheap, and they neither knew nor regarded the Superfluous Effects of Wealth or Luxury; but after their Minds were civiliz'd and softned by Christianity, they began, by degrees, to affect the elegant way of living; the love of Riches, and a studied Luxury followed, and was brought

in from abroad, both which are nourished by great Cities: The Princes also having amass'd great Riches, took a Pride in buil∣ding Cities, and invited the Rusticks of Germany, and the Inhabitants of other Na∣tions, to settle in them, by the Grant of large Priviledges, especially after the Chri∣stian Religion had abolished Villenage or Slavery, and the Liberti or Freemen had no Lands to subsist on, they flew by Flocks to the Cities, and betook themselves to Manufactures and Trading. The Irru∣ption of the Hungarians forced Henry the Falconer to build many Cities and strong Holds in Saxony, and he made every ninth man be drawn out of the Country to in∣habit them: The Leagues afterwards be∣tween the Cities, for their mutual Defence and Trade, gave them great Security, and by consequence made them populous and rich. The principal of these Leagues is that made by the Cities on the Rhine, in the year 1255, in which some Princes desired to be included: The Hanse League was chiefly made on the account of Maritime Commerce, and grew to that height of Power, that they became terrible to the Kings of Sweden, Eng∣land, and Denmark. But then, after the year 1500. it became contemptible, because the lesser Cities, when they found the greater got all the profit, fell generally off, and de∣serted them. And the Nations upon the Ocean and Baltick Sea, by their example, began, about the same time also, to en∣courage Trade in their own Subjects, espe∣cially

the (English) Flandrians. and Hollan∣ders. Thus their Monopoly failing, their Strength fell with it.

10. Though in the beginning the Cities were in a better condition than the Vil∣lages, yet they were no less subject to the King or Emperor than they, and these Prin∣ces took care to have Justice exercised in them by their Counts or deputed Judges, as they call'd them. After this, by the enormous and imprudent Liberality of the Emperors, many of the Cities were gran∣ted to the Bishops, others to the Dukes and Counts, and the rest remained as before) only subject to the Emperor. In the XII, Century they began to take more liberty. as they found they could relie upon their Riches, because the Emperors, by reason of the Intestin Wars, were not able then to reduce them to a due Obedience; some Princes were but just advanced to the Im∣perial Dignity, and so were forced also to purchase the Favour and Assistance of the great Cities, by the Grants of new Privi∣ledges and Immunities, that they might employ them as a Bulwark against their Refractory Bishops and Princes; after this, by degrees they shaked off the Emperor's Advocates. The succeeding Emperors ob∣serving also, that the Bishops employed their Wealth against them, encouraged the Ci∣ties to oppose the Bishops. The Dukes of Schwaben failing, many small Cities in the Dukedom catched hastily at the opportunity of being made free; yet they did not ob∣tain

their Freedom all at once, but one af∣ter another, as they could gain the Favour of the Emperor; and that is one Reason that they have not all the same Priviledges, and some of them want a part of the Rega∣lia to this day. Some of them bought these Priviledges of their Dukes or Bishops, and others shook them off by force, and then entred into Treaties for the purging that Iniquity; for when these Princes were poor or low, their last Remedy was, to sell the richest of their Subjects their Liberty; and others, when they saw they could no longer keep them in subjection, took what they could get from them, and were unwil∣lingly contented with it.

Notes

• The Secular Princes of the Empire are either Dukes or Earls.
• The old Ger∣man Dukes military Offi∣cers, as
• Their Grevens or Earls were Judges in times of Peace.
• The Dukes and Earls made Officers for their Lives, and at last became he∣reditary Pro∣prietors.
• Charles the Great endea∣voured to re∣dress this error.
• But his Posteri∣ty returned to the former ill management.
• Otho Duke of Saxony, a King in Fact, though not in Title.
• Other Princes raised to this Dignity by the Emperors.
• Others by Pur∣chace, Inheri∣tance, or Ʋsur∣pation,
• In after times these Powers were confirmed by the Empe∣rors.
• Ʋpon the fail∣ing of the Line of Charles the Great, Germa∣ny was perfect∣ly Free.
• The Princes of Germany not Subjects, but Allies to the Emperor.
• Great Empe∣rors are well obeyed, the wea∣ker are despised.
• Luxury has impoverished some of the Princes.
• The election of the Bishops.
• Renounced by the Emperor.
• The Bishopricks of Germany endowed by the Emperors.
• When they be∣came very rich, they would not be subject to their Benefa∣ctors.
• Of the Free Ci∣ties.
• Why the Ger∣mans of old had no Cities.
• The Cities at first subject to the Kings or Emperors of Germany.