The Kingdom of Germany grew out of East Francia in the tenth century.[1]
The eastern partition of the Treaty of Verdun of 843, or East Francia, encompassed a population that was never entirely Frankish, but also included large numbers of Saxons, Bavarii, Thuringii, Alemanni and Frisii. When the crown passed to a non-Frankish dynasty (the Liudolfings), the term regnum Teutonicum or Teutonicorum came into informal use. By the High Middle Ages, the German character of the united stem duchies was generally recognised.
As the other various states of the Carolingian then Holy Roman Empire removed themselves from its orbit, leaving solely Germany, her kings holding the imperial title and struggling for it,[2] the German state became synonymous with the Empire and in the time of the Renaissance, the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" united the two concepts of empire and kingdom. In that sense, the German kingdom survived until the abdication of Francis II in 1806.
The term rex Teutonicorum, or "king of the Germans", first came into recorded formal use during the Investiture Controversy perhaps as a polemical tool against the Emperor Henry IV by Pope Gregory VII in the late eleventh century.[3] 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 or "king of the Romans" on their election (by the prince-electors, seven German bishops and noblemen). The royal titles of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts, laws, and chanceries, remained nominally with the Holy Roman Emperors until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 or the abdication of Francis II in 1806.
Terminology
History of Germany
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The eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun was called the regnum Francorum Orientalium or Francia Orientalis: the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks or simply East Francia. It was the eastern half of the old Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum. The "east Franks" (or Austrasians) themselves were the people of Franconia, which had been settled by Franks. The other peoples of East Francia were Saxons, Frisians, Thuringii, and the like, referred to as Teutonici (or Germans) and sometimes as Franks as ethnic identities changed over the course of the ninth century.
An entry in the Annales Iuvavenses (or Salzburg Annals) sub anno 919, roughly contemporary but surviving only in a twelfth century copy, record that Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum, i.e. that "Arnulf, Duke of the Bavarians, was elected to reign in the Kingdom of the Germans".[4] Although some historians, such as Gillingham and Reindal, were sceptical about the contemporaneousness of this entry and more generally the 10th century German identity of the Kingdom, others such as Susan Reynolds and Beumann are less so and believe that the Kingdom had already taken its German identity, as opposed to eastern Frankish identity, by the 10th century.[5] However, there is general agreement that the German identity is firmly established by the eleventh century.[6]
Beginning in the late eleventh century, during the Investiture Controversy the Papal curia began to use the term regnum teutonicorum to refer to the realm of Henry IV in an effort to reduce him to the level of the other kings of Europe while he himself began to use the title rex Romanorum or King of the Romans to emphasise his divine right to the imperium Romanum. This title was employed most frequently by the German king themselves, though they did deign to employ "Teutonic" titles when it proved diplomatic, such as Frederick Barbarossa's letter to the pope referring to his receiving the coronam Theutonici regni (crown of the German kingdom). Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the regnum Alemanniae and règne or royaume d'Allemagne. The terms imperium/imperator or empire/emperor was often employed for German kingdom and its rulers, which indicates a recognition of their imperial stature but combined with "Teutonic" and "Alemannic" references a denial of their Romanitas and universal rule. The term regnum Germaniae (literally "Kingdom of Germany") begins to appear in even German sources beginning in the fourteenth century.
Therefore, throughout the Middle Ages, the convention was that the (elected) king of Germany was also Emperor of the Romans. His title was royal (king of the Germans, or from 1237 king of the Romans) from his election to his coronation in Rome by the Pope; thereafter, he was emperor. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, however, formal coronation by the pope happened less frequently: Henry VII in 1312, Charles IV in 1355, Sigismund in 1433, Frederick III in 1452, Charles V in 1530. The title of "king of the Romans" became less and less reserved for the emperor-elect but uncrowned in Rome; the emperor-elect was either known as German king or simply styled himself "imperator" (see the example of Louis IV below). The reign was dated to begin either from the day of election (Philip of Swabia, Rudolf of Habsburg) or the day of the coronation (Otto IV, Henry VII, Louis IV, Charles IV). 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, but only that he was emperor by virtue of the election rather than papal coronation (by tradition, the style of rex Romanorum electus was retained between the election and the German coronation). At the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperor's lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title king of the Romans (rex Romanorum, sometimes king of the Germans or rex Teutonicorum) came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive.[7]
Development
Carolingian age, 843–911
The tripartite division of the Carolingian Empire effected by the Treaty of Verdun was challenged very 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. Lothair II of Lotharingia died in 869 and the Treaty of Meerssen (870) divided his kingdom between East and West Francia, but the West Frankish sovereigns relinquished their rightful portion to East Francia by the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Ribemont determined the border between France and Germany until the fourteenth century. The Lotharingian nobility tried to preserve their independence of East of West Frankish rule by switching allegiance at will with the death of king Louis the Child in 911, but in 925 Lotharingia was finally ceded to East Francia by Rudolph of West Francia and it thereafter formed the Duchy of Lorraine within the East Frankish kingdom.
East Francia was itself divided into three parts at the death of Louis the German (875). Traditionally referred to as "Saxony", "Bavaria", and "Swabia" (or "Alemannia"), these kingdoms were ruled by the three sons of Louis in cooperation and were reunited by Charles the Fat in 882. Regional differences existed between the peoples of the different regions of the kingdom and the each region could be readily described by contemporaries as a regnum, though each was certainly not a kingdom of its own. The common Germanic language and the tradition of common rule dating to 843 preserved political ties between the different regna and prevented the kingdom from coming apart after the death of Charles the Fat. The work of Louis the German to maintain his kingdom and give it a strong royal government also went a long way to creating an East Frankish (i.e. German) state.
Stem duchies
One of the most controversial aspects of the development of medieval Germany is the creation of what in German historiography are called the jüngeres Stammenherzogtum, or "younger stem (or tribal) duchies." They are contrasted with the "older" stem duchies of the Merovingian era, namely Bavaria, Alemannia, and Thuringia. Bavaria and Alemannia (as Swabia) formed two of the younger duchies, while Saxony and Franconia were two other new creations. Whether or not Lorraine, Thuringia, and Frisia were stem duchies in the ninth and tenth centuries is debated. Just exactly what a stem duchy was is debated by scholars and probably depended on the viewpoint of contemporaries. While the dukes preferred to see themselves as representatives of their tribes to the king, the royal court preferred to view them as the king's delegated authorities in the regions of the kingdom.
Bavaria and Saxony had very different histories, but each saw the rise of one family to ducal prominence in the final decades of the ninth century, while Alemannia and Franconia, whose histories were likewise very different, struggled under the infighting of families and factions vying for power and influence. In Bavaria the Liutpoldings and in Saxony the Liudolfings creating dynasties which were to rule until well into the tenth century, while Franconia never succeeded in establishing a dynasty and came under direct royal rule after the failed rebellion of its duke, Eberhard, in 938. Alemannia (Swabia) failed to develop into a hereditary duchy until the late tenth century and then never formed as strong a polity as the more established stem duchies. By the late twelfth century, the power of the stem duchies had been broken by the kings.
Saxons and Salians, 911–1125
This section requires expansion.
The distinction between the kingdoms of Eastern Francia and Germany is to some extent the product of later retrospection. It is impossible to base this distinction on primary sources, as Eastern Francia remains in use long after Kingdom of Germany comes into use.[8] The 12th century imperial historian Otto von Freising reported that the election of Henry the Fowler was widely regarded as marking the beginning of the kingdom, though Otto himself disagreed with this. Thus: