But though the exclusive privilege of chusing the em peror was confined to the electors, they formed only one branch of the diet. The other two branches consisted of the princes, and of the free and imperial cities of Germany. In process of time, the college of princes and prelates purg ed themselves of a promiscuous multitude. They reduced To four representative votes the long series of independent counts, and totally excluded the nobles, 60,000 of whom had often appeared in the.field of election. The cities of the origin and first state of which lAas been al ready noticed, insensibly became divided into the free cities, or those which held immediately of the emperor, and had a voice at the diet ; the mixed cities, or those under the protection of some prince, which had no voice ; and the municipal cities, entirely subject to the states. The Ilanse towns also arose during the same period. They were ori• ginally united for the support and encouragement of their commerce. Bremen and several sea-ports in Livonia first established the confederacy. At one time 80 towns were included in it. They were divided into four classes : the Vandallic, or the cities on the Baltic, between Hamburgh and Pomerania ; over these Lubeck presided : the Rhina rian, or cities on the Rhine, at the head of which was Co logne : the Saxon, the cities in Saxony' and Westphalia, over which Brunswick presided : and the Prussian, the cities in Prussia and Livonia, at the head of which was Dantzic. From the beginning of the 15th century, Lubec was regarded as the head of the whole confederacy. In the following century it declined ; in the middle of the 17th, it was almost wholly confined to Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen. Their political existence terminated in 1806.
Another important event in this period of the history of Germany, is the division of the territories of the empire in to circles. The first division of Germany was into the Up per and Lower, or southern and northern states. The line dividing them was supposed to be drawn easterly from the mouth of the Mayne. It was afterwards geographically divided into the states lying on the principal rivers, as the Danube, Rhine, &c. Maximilian the First divided it into ten circles, viz. Bavaria, Franconia, Suabia, Lower and Up per Saxony, Lower and Upper Rhine, Westphalia, Austria, and Burgundy ; but the last, comprising High Burgundy Or Franche Compte, and the 17 provinces of the Nether lands, was soon afterwards separated from the empire.
During the same period, the diets which had been fre quently held, were regularly and solemnly established, con sisting, as has been already noticed, of three classes : the college of electors, of ecclesiastical and secular princes, and of imperial towns. This division was finally establish ed at Frankfort in 1580. The three colleges deliberated separately. The agreement of them all, as well as the consent of the emperor, was necessary to form a resolu tion or law of the empire.
Maximilian I. also established the imperial chamher, and the Aulie council. The president of the former was ap pointed by the emperor ; the assessors by the states. The Court Palatine, or Ana Council, was established as a check on the imperial chamber. During the vacancy of the throne, its powers were suspended ; but the imperial council acted under the vicars of the empire. There was
no appeal from one to the other ; the Bernier resort was the diet. From the accession of the house of Austria to the imperial throne, the history of Germany may properly be sought for under the article AUSTRIA. It will be necessary here, however, to notice the leading events ; first, from the division of the house of Hapsburg into its Spanish and German lines, till the final extinction of the latter in the house of Lorraine, or the period between 1558 and 1745 ; and, secondly, from the marriage of Maria Theresa, till the abdication, by the emperor of Germany of the imperial government of the empire, and the formation of the confe deration of the Rhine, or the period between 1745 and 1806.
The principal events in Germany during the first peri od, were the war of thirty years, which began in 1618 and ended in 1648 ; the war for the succession of Spain, which began in 1700 and ended in 1713 ; the war for the succes sion of Poland, which began 1733 and ended 1735 ; and the war for the succession of Austria, which began in 1740 and ended in 1748. The war of thirty years was principally owing to the religious disputes of the 16th century, At the diet of Augsburg, 1530, the Protestant princes of Ger many delivered in their confession of faith, and afterwards formed the league of Smalkald against the Emperor. At the peace of Passau, the free exercise of the Lutheran re ligion was permitted. In consequence of the disputes re garding the succession to the duchies of Cleves and Ju liers, the Protestant princes formed a confederacy, called the Evangelical Union, at the head of which was the Elec tor Palatine. To this the Catholics opposed the confede racy called the Catholic League, and placed at its head the Duke of Bavaria. From 1618, when open war began, till the peace of Westphalia in 1648, Germany was a scene of devastation. By this peace, the empire underwent consi derable changes : the Swedes obtained Pomerania ; the house of Brandenburg obtained Magdeburg, 'Minden, &c. ; Alsace was conquered by France ; and Lusatia ceded to Saxony. The war for the succession of Spain not produc ing any changes in the Germanic empire, need not be par ticularly noticed : the same remark applies to the war for the succession of Poland.
In Charles VI. the male stock of the house of Haps burg expired : in his grandson Joseph, the two lines of this family, after a separation of 1100 years, were reunited. On the decease of Charles VI. Maria Theresa, his only daughter succeeded him. The first event of importance, after her accession, was the war of seven years. In conse quence of the King of Prussia invading Saxony and Bo hemia, the Aulic Council voted his conduct a breach of the public peace ; and the diet of the empire passed a decree to the same effect. This made it a war of that kind, which the publicists of Germany call a war of execution of the empire. The event of the war was, that a mutual oblivion and restitution took place. The next war was occasioned by the extinction of the house of Bavaria : it ended in the peace of Saxe-Tesehen, by which the right of the Elector "Palatine to the succession was allowed, with the exception of some districts of land between the Danube, the Inn, and the Salze, which were ceded to Austria.