connection with St. Gall, through his chaplain, Solomon III., its abbot.
He governed the East Frankish kingdom with firmness and great ability.
The military glory of the Carolingians seemed to be restored when he
defeated the Normans brilliantly at Loewen on the river Dyle.
Unfortunately this vigorous ruler died after a short reign, leaving his
crown to his only son, Louis "the Child," then only six years of age.
Through the reign of this sickly prince (900-911) the country was torn
by party struggles, and the invasions of the Hungarians increased the
distresses of the time. Contemporary writers seem hardly able to express
the horror they felt at the very sight of the Asiatics, who appeared
even loathsome to them. Arnulf was reproached with having launched them
upon Europe when he led them against his enemies, the Maehren; whilst
Charlemagne's policy had been altogether opposed to this, he having shut
them in by raising gigantic walls on the Danube against the Avars. These
were followers of the Huns of the fifth century, and resembled them by
their savage warfare and indescribable habits.
"Woe to the realm whose king is a child," writes Solomon III. to a
befriended bishop; "all are at variance, count and vassals, shire and
boundary neighbours; the towns rise in rebellion, the laws are trampled
under foot, and we are at the mercy of the savage hordes." Such was the
condition of the country at the opening of the tenth century. Solomon,
who wrote these lamentations, was himself a powerful political ruler no
less than a Church potentate. Next to Archbishop Hatto, of Mayence, who
governed during the minority of Louis, Solomon was the most influential
man at the German Court, and wielded its destinies after Hatto's death.
This high-born Churchman, educated as a secular priest at St. Gall,
became secretary, chaplain, and chancellor, at the German Court, and
enjoyed the friendship of four successive monarchs. Promoted by Arnulf
to the Abbey of St. Gall in 890, and shortly afterwards to the see of
Constance, he thus combined the dignities of the two rival institutions.
Subtle, versatile, and indefatigable, this high ecclesiastic was the
most consummate courtier and man of the world. Handsome and magnificent,
he captivated his hearers in the council by the clearness of his
argument and his ready wit; and melted the people to tears by his
eloquence in the pulpit. His leadership at St. Gall promoted the
magnificence of the abbey, and formed it into a prominent literary and
political centre. It was, however, robbed of its ascetic character,
Solomon being wanting in genuine piety, for one thing.
The absolute rule of this powerful prelate greatly checked the national
risings of the Swabian leaders, for he strenuously maintained the
oneness of Church and State. Conrad I. (911-919), the last of the East
Frankish kings, gave all his energies to the one aim of strengthening
and solidifying his rule by the suppression or abolition of the
dukedoms, which he saw undermined the power of the sovereign. Relying on
the support of the clergy, he was strongly influenced by Solomon's
insinuations when he put forth his bloody measures against the Swabian
pretenders.
During the reign of Louis the Child the state of anarchy had begotten
numerous national risings, which led to the establishment of the
Bavarian, Frankish, and Saxon duchies. At its very close a similar
attempt was ventured upon in Alamannia. Burkhard, Marquis of
Chur-Rhaetia, afterwards Graubuenden, one of the most eminent of the
Swabian grandees, put forward claims to the duchy. His sons were
banished, and, it was whispered, by Solomon's machinations (911). Yet
all this was no check on the aspirations of the two brothers, Erchanger
and Bertold, brothers-in-law to the king, who aspired to the Duchy of
Swabia. They, too, fell victims to the policy of the prelate, whose
hatred was intensified when they laid hands on his person to arrest him.
Conrad called a Synod to assist him, and heavy punishment was awarded
the pretenders. However, the king had them beheaded, no doubt to please
his chancellor.
[Illustration: THE FURKA PASS.]
The cruel fate of the two made a deep impression on the people. Next
year, when Burkhard, son of the unfortunate marquis, returned to his
country whence he had fled--for he had joined in the rising of the two
brothers, and had been summoned before the Synod--he was unanimously
elected by the nobility and people (917). It was no small mortification
to both king and bishop to have their designs thus thwarted, the
principle they had so vigorously opposed being carried out. The annals
of St. Gall bear witness to the fact that Solomon was implicated in the
murders, for though usually exalting his merits, they report that the
mighty prelate repented of his cruel actions, since he wandered as a
pilgrim to Rome, contrite, weeping and lamenting, to do penance for his
sins.
Conrad I., at the close of his reign, acknowledged that his policy had
been a mistaken one by giving the crown to his most powerful antagonist,
the Saxon leader, Duke Henry, whose power he had striven to abrogate.
Henry I., called "the Fowler" and the "City Founder" (919-936), was the
first German ruler who erected a true German kingdom. With quick
discernment he founded the authority of the Crown on the union of the
tribes, by reconciling their leaders and enforcing their submission
through the ascendency of his own powerful Saxon tribe. Binding them by
oath of fealty without detracting from their honour, he met with no
opposition. His son, Otho I., the "Great," obtained the imperial crown
in Rome, and increased the greatness of his new kingdom. Thus we find
East Helvetia with Chur-Rhaetia forming part of Alamannia, and presently
the whole country was absorbed into, and its destinies bound up with,
the vast empire.
Burkhard I., assuming the title of "Duke of Alamannia by Divine Right,"
bent to Henry's royal supremacy with little objection, no doubt feeling
it a safeguard to his own position. His successors likewise held to
Germany, and were faithful adherents of the emperors, who in their turn
strove to knit Swabia more closely with the empire. This alliance was
highly valued by them; they had to pass through Chur-Rhaetia on their
expeditions to Italy; the Alamanni were famous for their prowess; and
their religious institutions, St. Gall, Rheinau, and Reichenau, were
famous centres of culture. Swabia became a highly valuable fief to be
granted at the pleasure of the emperors. On the death of Burkhard, who
fell in a skirmish whilst accompanying his son-in-law, Rudolf of
Burgundy, to the south, as we have seen above, the duchy devolved on the
son of Otho I., and then on Burkhard II. of Chur-Rhaetia. He never
swerved from his policy of holding to the empire, and his marriage with
Otho's niece, whose beauty and courage and literary skill were
celebrated in ballad and chronicle, drew the union still closer. On her
husband's death, Hadwig inherited the title and his estates, but the
duchy was granted to a friend of Otho II. She retired to her favourite
residence, her manor on Mount Hohentwiel, near Lake Constance, where she
lived in deep seclusion till her death in 994. A good Greek scholar and
fond of learning, she invited young Ekkehard II. of St. Gall to her
castle, and made him her chaplain and her tutor in classical studies.
Hadwig is the central figure in Scheffel's brilliant novel "Ekkehard,"
which glows with life and sparkling humour, and is a fanciful rendering
of the amusing narratives contained in the St. Gall annals. The
chronicler and the poet combining have produced an immortal work, and
shed a lasting glory on the cloisters of St. Gall.
Another famous monastic institution that sprung up about this time,
_i.e._, under the Saxon emperor Otto, and obtained, like Loretto,
European fame as a place of pilgrimage, was that of Einsiedeln, in
Canton Schwyz.
In 1024 the Duchy of Swabia was vested in Ernest II., stepson of the
Emperor Conrad II. of the Salic dynasty. A fierce struggle arose on the
question of the succession to the Burgundian throne. Ernest claimed
through his mother, and Conrad through his wife, niece to Rudolf III.
Seeing his hopes frustrated Ernest, with his friend Werner of Kyburg,
and his party, fell upon the imperial troops, and bloody frays occurred.
Ernest was imprisoned, and the manor of Kyburg besieged; but both
friends escaped, and again combined in new opposition to Conrad. In
order to break their union, the emperor promised his son installation in
Burgundy if he would deliver up his friend. But this was indignantly
refused, the struggle began anew, and the gallant youths fell in a
skirmish in 1030. Ernest was long a chief figure in mediaeval heroic
poetry.
GENEALOGICAL TABLES.
I. THE CARLOWINGIANS (so far as they concern this history).
Charles Martel, 741.
|
+-----------------+--------------+
| |
Carlomann. Pippin the Short, 768.
|
+-------------------------------+-------+
| |
Charlemagne, 814. Carlomann, 771.
|
+------+---------+----------------------------+
| | |
Charles, 811. Pippin, 810. Louis the Pious, 840=
(1) Irmengare. (2) Judith.
| |
+---------------------+------------------+-----+ Charles the Bald, 877.
| | |
Lothair I., 855. Pippin, 838. Louis the German, 876.
| |
+---+----------+--------------+ +----+---------+----------+
| | | | | |
Louis II. Lothair II. Charles of Provence. Carlomann, Louis, Charles III.,
875. 867. 880. 882. 888.
| |
Irmengard=Count Boso of Burgundy. Arnulf of Kaernthur, 899 (natural son).
|
Louis the Child, 911.
II. DESCENT OF THE SAXON EMPERORS.
Lindolf (made Duke of part of Savoy by Louis the German).
|
Duke Otto, 912.
|
Henry I., 936 (the "Fowler").
|
+-------------------------------------------+
| |
Otto I., 973. (the "Great"). Henry of Bavaria.
| |
+----------------------------+ Henry the Quarrelsome (of Bavaria), 995.
| | | |
Lindolf, Lintgarde. Otto II., |
Duke of Swabia. Emperor, 983. Henry II., Emperor, 1024.
|
Otto II., Emperor, 1002.
* * * * *
III. Salic (Frankish) Emperors.
Conrad II., 1038 (great grandson of Lintgarde).
|
Henry III., 1038-1056.
|
Henry IV., 1056-1106.
|
Henry V., 1106-1125.
(The Hohenstaufen follow.)
FOOTNOTES:
[19] It is perhaps preferable to use the word _Swabia_ instead of
_Alamannia_ so often. Freeman in his essay on the Holy Empire speaks of
the Swabian Emperors, the Hohenstaufen.
[20] Dierauer.
VII.
BURGUNDY AND SWABIA UNDER THE GERMAN EMPERORS.
To return to the kingdom of Burgundy. Rudolf had greatly extended his
dominions; in 919 he added to them the land between the Aare and the
Reuss, and in 933 Lower Burgundy, which he had obtained in exchange for
the Italian crown. The kingdom now comprised West Switzerland, Provence,
Dauphine, and Franche Comte. During the king's absence on military
expeditions, and during the minority of Conrad, Bertha, the "Spinning
Queen," held the reins of government. She is represented on the seal of
the document founding the convent of Payerne--one of her authenticated
foundations--with the spinning wheel, and the words _Bertha humilis
regina_ below. This Alpine queen, called by the French Swiss the "Mother
of their liberties," was a model of industry and economy. Like
Charlemagne, she was an excellent housekeeper, and even knew how many
eggs had been laid on her estates. Humble in bearing, yet firm and
strong, this lady fortified the country against the invasions of the
Hungarians and Saracens. The gap between the Alps and Mount Jura was
strengthened by a line of towers still to be seen, though crumbling from
age, at Neuchatel, La Moliere, Moudon, Gourze. These towers were almost
inaccessible, and possessed thick walls, narrow windows, and doors
which, being ten feet above the ground, could only be got at by means of
ladders. At the first signal of alarm, seigneur and peasantry hurried to
these strongholds carrying with them whatever they were able; when they
had entered, the ladders were drawn in, and there the people remained
till the wild hurricane of savagery had blown over. Gradually the
Burgundians rallied as regular troops to meet the hordes in open battle.
Herself always busy, Bertha hated idleness, and wherever she went she
was to be found spinning, even on the road. Who has not heard of the
humble and graceful queen, riding on her palfrey, spindle in hand, going
from house to house, visiting castle, convent, farm, homestead, and hut,
doing deeds of piety and benevolence? Once, when the Queen of Payerne,
as she was often called, was on her circuits of inspection she met with
a peasant girl keeping her flocks, and spinning. Delighted with the
girl's industry, she gave her a handsome present. Next day all the
ladies of her suite appeared before her with spindles in their hands.
Smiling at the sight, she said, "My ladies, the young peasant girl, like
Jacob, has been the first to receive the blessing." Space will not allow
us to dwell longer on the memory of the "Spinning Queen" which is most
dear to the French Swiss. It should be added, however, that the
Burgundian traditions respecting this queen are doubtless mixed with
mythological elements. In the German religious myths, Bertha (_Berchta_,
_Perahta_,) means what is bright and pure and orderly: she is the
Goddess of Fertility, and the Mother of the Earth, and bestows rich
blessings on mankind.
On the death of his father, which had left him a mere child, Bertha's
son Conrad had been educated at the Court of Otho the Great. Fearing
that Burgundy might become the prey of aggressive neighbours, the
emperor stepped in and made himself protector of the queen, and tutor to
the children, and naturally exerted much influence on the country.
Conrad, coming of age, ruled wisely, and for more than half a century
(937-993), Burgundy flourished. His beautiful sister Adelheid was first
Queen of Italy, but after Lothair's untimely death, became Empress of
Germany, Otho I. wishing to unite Italy with his own empire, making her
his wife.
The reign of Rudolf III. (993-1032) was greatly harmful to the country,
which was fast declining in prestige and prosperity. Better fitted for
the cloister than for the throne, he lavished his wealth and estates on
the clergy, with the view of enlisting their help against the
encroaching feudal vassals. In the end, indeed, he was so reduced that
he was compelled to live on alms from his priests. His own incapacities
drove him to seek protection from the empire. Having no children, he
appointed his nephew, the Emperor Henry II., heir to his kingdom, and
even during his own lifetime he arranged to give up the reigns of
government to Henry. The opposition of the Burgundian nobles and the
emperor's death prevented this shameful arrangement from actually coming
into force. The next emperor, Conrad II., prosecuted the claim against
his stepson, Ernest II., as has been told above, and was crowned king at
the Cluniacensian convent, founded by Bertha at Payerne, (1033). His
elevation to the Burgundian throne was confirmed in the following year
by a brilliant assembly of Burgundian, German, and Italian bishops and
nobles, at Geneva. Shortly before his death in 1038, he had his son
Henry installed in the kingdom, and the oath of fealty to him was taken
by the Burgundian nobles at the Diet of Solothurn. Switzerland was thus
very closely allied with the empire; Henry III. holding the reins of
government as King of Burgundy and Duke of Alamannia or Swabia. This
third amalgamation with the empire told more lastingly and influentially
on the country than either the Roman or the Frankish rule had done; to a
great extent it stamped on the people the German character and spirit.
These external changes, these shifting scenes, these various masters and
systems of government, naturally affected the internal condition of the
country as well. Of the social life of the country, however, we know
very little. The chroniclers of the period are monks, or noble
ecclesiastics who wrote of, and for their own class, and the people did
not enter into their concerns. But the political changes were very
great. The Frankish county administrations fell into disuse through the
increase of immunities granted to royal and ecclesiastical foundations,
by which they were exempted from obedience to the county officers. The
counts themselves, who had formerly held office at the sovereign's
pleasure, gradually made their dignities into hereditary fiefs, which
became family property in wealthy and powerful houses. Thus, at the
close of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century we already
find in Switzerland a number of counts, such as the Nellenburger, in
Zurichgau; the Lenzburger, in Aargau; the Burkharde, in Chur-Rhaetia; the
Kyburger, at Winterthur, near Zurich. The greatest changes, however,
were effected by the growth of feudalism, which had arisen indeed under
Charlemagne, but had to some extent been checked by him. Feudalism
outgrew all other systems, and entirely disarranged the social scale.
The free peasantry shrank to a small number, and there sprang up a
martial nobility of high functionaries, who held offices in the army or
courts of justice, and exerted much influence. On the native soil, on
the very meeting-places where the old German people had assembled to
deal with civil and judicial matters, eminent men founded families which
grew into reigning houses. These men, combining political discernment
with military ability and experience, rose above their fellows, and
assumed the highest offices. The distresses, the dissensions, the
intestine wars, and particularly the invasions by savage hordes, drove
people to seek the protection of powerful lords, even at the risk of
losing their own independence. In most cases the people became "unfree,"
or serfs. Society thus was divided into distinct classes; the old
German democracy gave place to a highly aristocratic order, the nobility
ruling over the people. Thus, we find Switzerland, like other European
countries, struggling through her age of feudalism, and centuries must
yet pass before she succeeds in establishing a system of government
which alone will suit her peculiar character.
At that stage of history the welfare of the country depended to a great
extent on the personal character of the imperial sovereigns. They
visited Swabia and Burgundy, enforcing order and discipline, holding
diets at important places, and assigning prerogatives to secular and
religious foundations. In truth, these imperial visits promoted greatly
the development of rising cities. Of the German emperors none came so
often to Switzerland as the powerful Salic ruler, Henry III. When he
left Burgundy--he was often at Basel and Solothurn--the people felt,
says a contemporary writer, as if the sun had gone down. Henry II. and
Henry III. held imperial diets at Zurich, and the latter used to reside
there for weeks together, and lavished privileges and gifts on her
religious foundations. He promoted festivals in the royal palace
(Pfalz), in the Lindencourt; and Zurich was the meeting-place for his
Burgundian and Italian subjects, the capital of Swabia, and residence of
the Swabian dukes, where they here established their mint. His wise
administration tended greatly to destroy all political difference and
hostile feeling between the two Helvetias.
This national concord (1057-77) was still further strengthened by the
rule of Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who for twenty years swayed the destinies
of the country as "Rector of Burgundy" and Duke of Alamannia. The regal
and ducal power had been bestowed upon him by the Empress Agnes, on the
death of Henry III., whose son-in-law he was. Rudolf was from the manor
of Rheinfelden, near Basel, and was a distant connection of the
Burgundian royal family. He held vast estates on Geneva lake, and in
Swabia, and thus met with no opposition on the part of the nobility of
Burgundy. But this long period of peace was suddenly and sadly
interrupted by a terrible catastrophe which fell upon the empire; the
fierce antagonism which arose between Gregory VII. and Henry IV. The
emperor was unwilling to submit to the excessive encroachments of the
Church, or, rather the Pontiff, on his prerogatives, and like William I.
of England, entirely repudiated the Pope's claims, and tried to check
his encroachments. The "Conqueror" indeed had gained so much power that
the Pope could not issue excommunications against English subjects
except by William's permission, but Henry IV. fell a victim to the
Interdict. Never was sovereign more humiliated by the Papal power, nor
more humiliated himself to escape the terrible punishment, for
interdicts were fearful weapons in the hands of the Pontiffs of the
Middle Ages. The story of this long struggle--how the emperor failed to
carry his point--his wanderings across the Alps in the depth of
winter--his submission at Canossa--for all this, full of thrilling
interest as it is, the reader must be referred to the history of
Germany.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF LAUSANNE.]
On the deposition of Henry, our Rudolf of Rheinfelden was elected king
by the opposing party, and was thence called the Popish king
(Pfaffenkoenig); thus Switzerland, it is almost needless to say, was
drawn into the struggle and convulsed by intestine wars. The bishops of
Lausanne, Geneva, and Basel; the seigneurs of Grandson and Neuchatel,
clung to the emperor; the counts of Geneva and Toggenburg, the houses of
Habsburg, Kyburg, and Savoy, and the clergy of Alamannia and Chur-Rhaetia
sided with the new king. St. Gall rallied round its valiant abbot,
Ulrich III., to uphold the cause of Henry. The wars were continued with
alternate successes and reverses on each side, till the death of Rudolf
in 1080 on the Grona, near Leipzig, it was said by the hand of Godefroi
de Bouillon, the famous crusader, who fought on the side of Henry. The
intensity of bitter feeling gradually abated. Henry even tried to
establish his royal authority in Burgundy, but in Alamannia new quarrels
broke out on the question of the succession to the duchy. Two native
Swabian dukes contended for the duchy, Frederick von Staufen,
grandfather of Frederick Barbarossa, the ancestor of the illustrious
dynasty, and Duke Bertold von Zaeringen, brother-in-law and heir to the
estates of the son of the late Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who died shortly
after his father. The differences were settled by a diet at Mayence, in
1097, and Frederick von Staufen, son-in-law to Henry, who had staunchly
upheld and fought for the imperial cause in the Popish quarrels, was
invested with the Swabian duchy. Yet his power on the Swiss side of the
Rhine was more nominal than real, and it was exerted by Bertold II. of
Zaeringen, who received in compensation for the loss of the duchy the
ducal title, and the _Reichsvogtei Zuerich_ (a kind of prefecture),
together with the royal prerogatives over the secular and religious
institutions of the city. For Zurich was then the noblest and most
conspicuous town in Swabia, as Bishop Otto von Freysingen, the most
prominent historian of the Middle Ages, asserts. This severance of Swiss
Alamannia, and particularly of the imperial prefecture of Zurich, from
the empire tended greatly to bring about the gradual political
separation. Under the Zaeringer came again a long period of comparative
peace.
VIII.
THE REIGN OF THE HOUSE OF ZAERINGEN.
(1050-1218.)
The rule of the Dukes of Zaeringen ushered in a long period of
comparative peace (1100-1218), which improved the social and material
condition of the people. Yet this time of peace was every now and again
interrupted in the west by feuds with the Burgundian nobles. This
Swabian family took their name from the ancestral manor of Zaeringen,
near Freiburg, in the Breisgau (Black Forest). The vast estates they had
derived from the House of Rheinfelden on its extinction reached from
Lake Geneva to the rivers Aare and Emme, and gave them a dominant
position in the country at the opening of the twelfth century.