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The Thirty Years War, 1618–48

David Parrott

in The Practice of Strategy: From Alexander the Great to the Present

The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of ... More

The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of conflicts that merged together rather than a single war. David Parrott argues that the Thirty Years War reflected different, albeit interconnected, sets of aims and security concerns: the struggle over the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, focused upon the reach and influence of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy; the conflict between the Spanish Habsburg monarchy and the breakaway United Provinces; and the hostility between the French monarchy and the Habsburg Imperial system. Other concerns, especially mounting religious tensions, gravitated around these political issues, leading to the successive involvement of additional states. While some warring parties periodically sought compromise within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, military victories led to political opportunism that prolonged the war.Less

Juridical Equality

David Sorkin

in Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries

This chapter details how the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire constituted the central European region of emancipation. Some historians would contend that the Holy Roman Empire's “archaic, traditionalist ... More

This chapter details how the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire constituted the central European region of emancipation. Some historians would contend that the Holy Roman Empire's “archaic, traditionalist constitution created a society that tolerated religious and ethnic differences to a far greater degree than the more centralized states of Western Europe”; in other words, “early modern central Europe was a pluralistic, complex society more tolerant of differences than England, France or Spain.” Whether this observation is accurate or not, it concerns toleration, not parity. Jews in the Holy Roman Empire fell behind Jews to the east and west in their political status. They gained neither collective corporate privileges nor the civic rights of emerging civil societies. To be sure, their juridical equality in the courts of the Holy Roman Empire marked a significant elevation in status. The Court Jews' extensive individual privileges were also an elevation in status, yet only for a miniscule elite. In sum, Jews in the Holy Roman Empire did not keep pace with their brethren east and west, thus making the transition to emancipation, when it came, a painful rupture.Less

The Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy

T. C. W. BLANNING

in The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660–1789

This chapter begins by giving an introduction to the influence of French culture in Germany. It then discusses the rise of the Habsburg monarchy and its culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Next, it ... More

This chapter begins by giving an introduction to the influence of French culture in Germany. It then discusses the rise of the Habsburg monarchy and its culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Next, it notes that the monarchy’s rise was determined in large measure by politics. The nobles of the Württemberg cultural complex acknowledged only the Holy Roman Emperor as their sovereign, were not subject to the Duke of Württemberg, and were not represented in the duchy’s Estates. This chapter notes that for the great majority in Germany, the main currency of imperial competition was cultural achievement. So the representational display expressed in palaces, academies, opera houses, hunting establishments, and the like was not pure self-indulgence, nor was it deception; it was a constitutive element of power itself. The chapter also examines the lives of other well-known figures in Germany and how they influenced their country.Less

The Reassertion of Empire

Stuart Elden

in The Birth of Territory

This chapter looks at the establishment of the Carolingian Empire. It begins with a discussion of the Donation of Constantine: which claimed to be a text from the fourth century, was forged in the ... More

This chapter looks at the establishment of the Carolingian Empire. It begins with a discussion of the Donation of Constantine: which claimed to be a text from the fourth century, was forged in the late eighth century, and finally exposed as such in the fifteenth century by Nicholas of Cusa and Lorenzo Valla. The chapter then moves to a discussion of the crowning of Charlemagne, and the practices of political ritual and naming that accompanied it. A range of works are analysed to show what precisely was being established: a new Roman Empire, a political form of Christendom, or more simply a Frankish kingdom. The position of Europe, particularly in relation to the rise of Islam, is discussed. The chapter moves to a discussion of cartography from Rome to the Medieval period. Cartography is a key political practice that both represents and produces political space. Jerusalem is often centrally located on maps of this time, providing a context in which to understand the crusades undertaken to recapture it. The chapter ends with a discussion of feudalism, stressing the political-economic importance of property in land and practices that went alongside it.Less

Liberal internationalism and the uses of history

Casper Sylvest

in British Liberal Internationalism, 1880-1930: Making Progress?

This chapter investigates the historical language of internationalist ideology as it was displayed in the writings of three prominent liberal historians who informed and augmented liberal ... More

This chapter investigates the historical language of internationalist ideology as it was displayed in the writings of three prominent liberal historians who informed and augmented liberal internationalism: James Bryce, John Morley and Lord Acton. Their different approaches to the emerging discipline and the practice of history reflect the broad appeal of historical representations and its relationship to political debates. The Holy Roman Empire covered the ideas which bolstered that empire, and one of the most fascinating episodes of the story – what Bryce termed the ‘theory of the Medieval Empire’ – now appeared outrageously anachronistic. Morley's Cobden represented the pinnacle of an honest and simple liberalism. The Life of Gladstone is above all the story of the young conservative High Church disciple who became the grand old man of liberalism. Acton's spirit was truly the spirit of a combative internationalism that would have an army of historians on its side.Less

The Ordering of Movement

Luca Scholz

in Borders and Freedom of Movement in the Holy Roman Empire

Early modern authorities attempted to promote, restrict, and channel the movement of goods and people for reasons that ranged from economic considerations to political motives and public health. In ... More

Early modern authorities attempted to promote, restrict, and channel the movement of goods and people for reasons that ranged from economic considerations to political motives and public health. In practice, however, these interferences only had mixed success. In the Holy Roman Empire’s dense landscape of ill-defined, overlapping political entities, the control over moving goods and people was a permanent point of contention. While the Empire’s history has often been written in distinctly diachronic terms, this study approaches the Empire in a spatial perspective and stresses its interest beyond the bounds of German history. Conflicts around the ordering of movement were often framed as matters of safe conduct, a quasi-sovereign right to authorize and protect the movement of various goods and people. While safe conduct always maintained a protective function, at the hands of the Empire’s territorial authorities it became a powerful instrument of political, fiscal, and symbolic power as well as a vehicle for gaining control over important thoroughfares.Less

3. Humanism at Court

David H. Price

in Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books

This chapter argues that Johannes Reuchlin's political and scholarly careers are intrinsically connected. It discusses his tenure as minister in Württemberg and the Palatinate, as well as his ... More

This chapter argues that Johannes Reuchlin's political and scholarly careers are intrinsically connected. It discusses his tenure as minister in Württemberg and the Palatinate, as well as his associations with the universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, and his term on the court of the Swabian League. While it is easy to see the direct advantages of humanist rhetoric, moral philosophy, and history as preparatory courses for careers in government, it is even more important to observe the indirect impact of humanism as it came to inform the culture of European governments in the broadest terms. The chapter depicts the evolution of political life in the Holy Roman Empire (and the Hapsburg dynasty) under the influence of the early Renaissance and describes Reuchlin's career as governmental minister and judge, including his high-level work in arbitration of territorial disputes. Moreover, Reuchlin's literary achievements, especially his creation of humanist drama, grew out of humanist culture at universities and courts.Less

The Rediscovery of Roman Law

Stuart Elden

in The Birth of Territory

This chapter discusses the importance of Roman law, and in particular its codification under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to the question of territory. The main focus is on the two most important ... More

This chapter discusses the importance of Roman law, and in particular its codification under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to the question of territory. The main focus is on the two most important post-glossators or commentators: Bartolus of Sassoferrato and Baldus de Ubaldis. They put the law to work in fourteenth century Italian cities, and crucially made the argument that territorium and jurisdiction went together. Crucially territorium becomes not simply a property of a ruler, but the object of rule itself. These are practical arguments - Bartolus’s work on river boundary law, for instance, is a combination of legal argument and practical techniques. The final part of the chapter looks at how this work provided a missing basis for assertions of temporal power: in distinction to the universal aspirations of the papacy, temporal power was geographically determined. Within his kingdom, the king had the same power as the Emperor in the Empire. The legacy of this work is found in the reform of church law of Nicholas of Cusa and in secular legal theorists such as Francisco de Vitoria’s writing on colonisation and Hugo Grotius’s work on the law of the sea and the rights of war and peace.Less

Associations and the Discourses of Peace, Common Weal, and Empire

Duncan Hardy

in Associative Political Culture in the Holy Roman Empire: Upper Germany, 1346-1521

Associations such as alliances and leagues were not merely functional tools. The rhetoric found in treaties and correspondence suggests that some members of associations perceived their participation ... More

Associations such as alliances and leagues were not merely functional tools. The rhetoric found in treaties and correspondence suggests that some members of associations perceived their participation as an activity freighted with political and moral significance. Almost all alliance and league foundation treaties and renewals contain appeals to clusters of ideas, centred on the concepts of divinely ordained peace, the common good of the community, and the Holy Roman Empire (conceptually linked, from the late fifteenth century, to the ‘German nation’). These discourses can only be found in this precise form in one other setting: the imperial diets and Empire-wide correspondence and legislation that they produced. This indicates that members of associations claimed to be involving themselves in the most significant and legitimate spheres of political activity in the Empire, even when their immediate objectives were modest and localized, or the legality of their alliances was challenged by other authorities.Less

James Bryce and the Future1: CENTENARY ESSAY

William Ranulf Brock

in Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 115 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, I

James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. ... More

James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. His essay, ‘Holy Roman Empire’, established his reputation as a historian, and he also qualified as a barrister. In his address to the British Academy, ‘The Next Thirty Years’ (1917), Bryce outlined a strategy for higher education. Article by William Brock FBA.Less

Introduction

Duncan Hardy

in Associative Political Culture in the Holy Roman Empire: Upper Germany, 1346-1521

Interpretations of the Holy Roman Empire have always been fraught and contested, particularly regarding the late medieval and early modern period. German historians have offered two main ... More

Interpretations of the Holy Roman Empire have always been fraught and contested, particularly regarding the late medieval and early modern period. German historians have offered two main interpretations of the Empire in recent decades. The first sees it as a patchwork of territorial states, and the second as a Reichsverfassung: a constitutional system characterized by disjunctive or oppositional forces. This Introduction sets out how this book will re-conceptualize the Empire as a more coherent political entity, using Upper Germany as a wide-ranging case study. Viewed comparatively, the evidence from the period between 1346 and 1521 suggests that all kinds of political actors shared in the same structures, dynamics, and assumptions—the same ‘political culture’. In particular, elites constantly interacted within the framework of associations such as alliances and leagues, which are the main focus of this book, and force us to view the Empire as a more interconnected political landscape.Less

Popular Sovereignty, Civil Association, and the Respublica: Johannes Althusius and the German Publicists

Daniel Lee

in Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought

This chapter considers the critical reception of Bodin’s theory of sovereignty in early modern German political thought, with special focus on the most important German reply to Bodin’s République, ... More

This chapter considers the critical reception of Bodin’s theory of sovereignty in early modern German political thought, with special focus on the most important German reply to Bodin’s République, the Politica Methodice Digesta of Johannes Althusius. In investigating the Politica, I show that the grounds of Althusius’ principal disagreement with Bodin concerned the latter’s indifferentism on the question of form. For Althusius, sovereignty could only be popular sovereignty, a thesis which he defended with an analysis of the associational, ‘symbiotic’ nature of sovereignty as a collective right activated by a shared communal life. I also stress how much Althusius, despite his populist orientation, nevertheless retained the fundamentals of Bodin’s concept of sovereignty as indivisible. I contrast Althusius’ analysis with later theoretical developments, including the doctrine of double sovereignty, introduced by German Publicist writers such as Arumäeus, Limnaeus, and Besold, as a corrective to Bodin’s analysis of the Empire.Less

Historical, Cultural, and Literary Background

Howard Jones and Martin H. Jones

in The Oxford Guide to Middle High German

This chapter describes the context in which the texts chosen for study originated and in which the use of German as a written language developed during the Middle High German period. No prior ... More

This chapter describes the context in which the texts chosen for study originated and in which the use of German as a written language developed during the Middle High German period. No prior knowledge of the period is presupposed; key concepts are explained as they arise. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first explains the formation of the kingdom of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire and examines the relationship between them. The second section describes the structure and working of German society under the following headings: the church; kingship and the secular nobility (including discussion of knighthood and chivalry); peasants and the rural economy; towns and townspeople. The third section surveys the principal types of texts that provide the basis for the study of Middle High German. The survey covers religious literature, courtly literature, chronicles, legal and administrative texts, and medical and other specialist literature.Less

Keeping Up with the French: Jean Renart’s Francophile Empire in the Roman de la rose

Eliza Zingesser (ed.)

in Stolen Song: How the Troubadours Became French

This chapter examines Jean Renart's Roman de la rose (early thirteenth century). It specifically assesses the way in which francophone lyric and other French artistic objects—the symbolic ... More

This chapter examines Jean Renart's Roman de la rose (early thirteenth century). It specifically assesses the way in which francophone lyric and other French artistic objects—the symbolic significance of which has previously been dismissed by critics—are circulated with a peculiar frenzy by the elite of the Holy Roman Empire in Rose. Renart implies that instead of taking an interest in the artistic traditions more native to the Empire—such as Minnesang (the German analog of troubadour and trouvère song)—the cultural elite of the Empire are infatuated with French cultural products. The chapter then looks at the processes through which Occitan song is assimilated into the broader francophone lyric landscape, one of which is linguistic Gallicization. This process has resulted in this text, as elsewhere in the French reception of the troubadours, in occasional moments of nonsensicality, and the chapter documents the various ways in which this nonsensicality is accounted for within the narrative. Finally, it considers the ramifications of this staging of French culture (including Gallicized Occitan) within the narrative.Less

Introduction

in Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the history of alchemy in the Holy Roman Empire. The book investigates what kinds of people actually practiced alchemy in ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the history of alchemy in the Holy Roman Empire. The book investigates what kinds of people actually practiced alchemy in early modern central Europe and where they acquired their skills. It highlights the role of entrepreneurial alchemists in the economy of central Europe, explaining how the alchemists' work placed them firmly in the midst of the worldly negotiations of contracts, commerce, and state formation, and also discusses the case of the Betruger or fraud alchemist.Less