.German the gradual expulsion or retirement of the Romans from Germany, the country necessarily became subdivided into numerous petty states, each governed by its own chief. The erection of the Franko-Merovingian empire in France had given preponderance to the Frankish power on both sides of the Rhine, and when Charlemagne succeeded, in 771, to the German as well as the Gallic possessioils of his father, Pepin d'Heristal, he found himself possessed of an amount of territory and a degree of influence which speedily enabled him to assert supremacy over the whole of the w. of Germany, while liis conquests over the heathen Saxons in the n., and the Avari who then held Pannonia in the s,e., extended his Germain dominions from the North sea to the Alps, and from the Rhine as far as Hungary. With Charlemagne, who received the imperial crown at the hands of the pope in 800, began the long line of emperors and kings who occupied the German throne for more than a thousand years; and with him, too, the vast fabric, which he had reared on the ruins of Roman power, lost its stability, for at his death in 814, no member of his family was competent to wield the imperial scepter, although in 843 some portions of hisGerman possessions fell, in accordance with a family compact, to his grandson Ludwig, surnamed "the German," who was recognized as king of Germany. On the extinction, in 911, of the degenerate Carlovingian dynasty in the person of Ludwig "the child," the provincial rulers, who, together with the archbishops, bishops, and abbots, constituted the .chief members Of the diet or national assembly, arrogated to themselves (in imitation of the practice of the nobles of the ancient German tribes) the right of electing their sovereign, who, however, could not assume the imperial title till•he had been crowned by the pope, At this period, there were in Germany five nations—the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians, and Lorrainers. The Franks, as the descendents of those who had conquered the land and founded the empire; enjoyed a pre-eminence over the others; and hence, on the extinc tion of the Carlovingian race, the choice of the prince-electors seems to have fallen, almost as a matter of course, on the chief of the Franks, the duke or count of Franconia,' who reigned as king of Germany from 911 to 918, under the title of Conrad I. At his own instigation, his rival and adversary, Henry, duke of Saxony, was chosen as his successor, and proved himself an able. and warlike The conquests which he gained over the Panes, Slaves, and Magyars were confirmed and extended by his son and successor, Otho I. (936-973), who carried the boundaries of the empire beyond the Elbe and Scale, and who, by his acquisition of Lombardy, laid the foundation of the relations which existed for many ages between the rulers or Germany and the Italian nation. Otho's coronation-festival was eventful, as it formed the precedent for the exercise of those offices which, till the dissolution of the empire, were regarded as connected with the dignityof the secular electors, for on that occasion, while the emperor dined with his three spiritual electors, he was waited upon by the secular princes—the elector of Bavaria (afterwards Saxony)serving as grand-marshal; of Swabia (afterwards Bohemia), as grand-cuphearer; and of Lorraine (afterwards Brandenburgh), as arch-chamberlain.
Otho H. (973-983), Otho III. (983-1002), and Henry II. (1002-1024), belonged to the house of Saxony, which was succeeded by that of Franconia, in the person of Conrad If. (1024-1089), an able ruler, who added Burgundy to the empire. His son and successor, Henry III. (1039-1056), extended German supremacy over Hungary, part of which he conquered and annexed to Lower Austria, while he repressed the insolence and des potism of the temporal and spiritual princes of Germany, and gained the respect of his contemporaries by his zeal for justice and his valor in the field. The minority of his son
and successor, Henry IV. (1050-1106), enabled the nobles to recover much of their former power, and to apply a check to the further consolidation of the imperial authority, which had been considerably extended under the two preceding reigns. Henry's con stant quarrels with the astute Gregory VII. entangled him in difficulties and mortifica tions which only ended with his life; and which plunged Germany into anarchy and disorder and entailed upon the empire destructive wars which convulsed the whole of continental Europe for more than two centuries. With his son and successor, Henry V. (1106-1125), the male line of the Franconian dynasty became extinct; and after the crown had been worn (1125-1188) by Lothaire of Saxony, who made a bold attempt to recover some of the prerogatives of which, at his election, the empire had been deprived through papal intrigues, the choice of the electors, after a season of dissention and intrigue, fell upon Conrad III., duke of Franconia, the first of the Hohenstauffen dynasty (1138-1152). His reign, in which the civil wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines began, was distracted by the dissensions of the great feudatories of the empire, while the strength of Germany was wasted in the disastrous crusades, in which Conrad took an active part. -On his death, the electoral college for the 'first time met at Frankfurt, which retained the honor of being time place at which the sovereign was elected and crowned till the dissolution of the enipite in the 19th Century. (1152-1190), surnamed Barharossa, duke of Swabia, was, at the recommendation of his uncle Conrad, chosen as his successor, and the splendor of his reign fully warranted the selection. By the force of his character, Frederick acquired an influence over the diets which had not been possessed by any of his immediate predecessors, and during his reign many impor tant changes were effected in the mutual relations of the great duchies and counties of Germany, while we now for the first time hear of the hereditary right possessed by cer tain princes to exercise the privilege of election. Unfortunately for Germany, this great monarch suffered the interests of his Italian dominions to draw him away from those of his own country, whilst his participation in the crusades, in which both he and the flower of his chivalry perished, was only memorable for the misfortunes which it entailed on the empire. The interval between the death of Frederick Barbarossa (1190) and the accession of Rudolf I. (1273), the first of the Hapsburg line, which, through a female branch, still reigns in Austria, was one of constant struggle, internal dissension, and foreign wars. Individually, the princes of the Holtenstauffen dynasty were popular monarchs, their many noble and chivalrous qualities having endeared them to the people, while one of the race, Frederick II. (1212-1250), was, after Charlemagne, perhaps the most remarkable sovereign of the middle ages; but their ambitious designs on Italy, and their constant but futile attempts to destroy the papal power, were a source of misery to Germany, and with Frederick II. ended the glory of the empire, till it was partially revived by the Austrian house of Hapsburg. His son Conrad IV. (1250-1254), after a brief and troubled reign, was succeeded by various princes, who, in turn, or in some cases contemporaneously, bore the imperial title without exercising its legitimate func tions or authority. This season of anarchy was terminated at the accession of Rudolf I. (1273-1291), who, by the destruction of the strongholds of th2 nobles, and the stringent enforcement of the laws, restored order.' His chief efforts were, however, directed to the aggrandizement of his Austrian possessions, which embraced Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Tyrol.