Читать книгу The Present State of Germany - Samuel Pufendorf - Страница 17

CHAPTER I

Of the Origine of the German Empire.

The ancient Bounds of Germany.

1. GERMANY [Germania magna] of old was bounded |[to the East by the Danube, to the West by the Rhine]|,^a towards Poland¹ it had then the same bounds it has now, and all the other parts were washed by the Ocean; so that then under this Name, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were included, with all the Countries to the Botner Sea;² which three Kingdoms [partes] were by most of the ancient Writers call’d by the name of Scandinavia. <This is still so in the case of Scania,³ the province first encountered by those coming from the Continent and, for this reason, first frequented by outsiders, whose name seems to have been extended to the whole peninsula.> But then, I think, the Countries on the East of that Bay [of Bothnia], were not rightly ascribed to, or included in, the bounds of the ancient Germany; for the <2> present Finlanders have a Tongue so different from that spoken by the Swedes and other Germans, as clearly shews that Nation to be of another extraction. To this I may add, that what Tacitus⁴ writes of the Manners of the most Northern Germans, will not all agree with the Customs of the Finlanders, but is wonderfully agreeable to those of the Laplanders, who to this day live much after the same manner. It is probable therefore, that the Finni mentioned by the Ancients were the Estoitlanders in Livonia.⁵ Nor is it any wonder that Tacitus should not write very distinctly of this People, they being then [the most Northern Nation that was ever heard of, and]⁺ known only by an obscure Fame or general Report.

The present Bounds.

These Northern Countries have however for many Ages been under distinct Kings of their own [ruled separately], so that Germany has been taken to reach only to the Baltick Sea; and even here the King of Denmark has deprived it of a considerable part of the Promontory of Jutland [the Cimbrian Peninsula], which he claims as a part of his Kingdom, tho’ it lieth on this side of the Sound or Mouth of the Baltick Sea.⁶ But then [as if] by way of Reprisals she has enlarged her Borders to the South-East, beyond the Danube, to the Borders of Italy and Illyrica,⁷ and beyond the Rhine, to the West and North [cis Rhenum],⁸ she has gained [both the Alsatia’s, Lorrain, and the 17 united Provinces, which last were formerly called Gallia Belgica].^a <Yet a significant portion thereof has recently been joined by the French to their kingdom again.>⁹

The ancient State of it.

2. This vast Tract of Land was in those early times possessed by various Peoples <3> and Nations, who were much celebrated on the account of their numbers and valour; yet each of them [was under a distinct Regiment, very different from that used by their Neighbours],^a but then [except that] they had one common Original, and the same Language; and there was a great similitude in their Manners. The greatest part of them were under popular Governments; some had Kings, but that were rather to perswade their Subjects by their Authority, than to command them by the Soveraign Power [jubendi potestate];¹⁰ for that Nation was never able to brook an Absolute [total] Servitude.¹¹ This Ancient Germany was never reduced into one Empire [or Kingdom]⁺, wherein it was like the rest of her Neighbours, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and Britain,^b before they were conquered by the Romans. [But then, as Germany never was reduced by a Conquest, so it retained more lively traces and marks of the Primitive State of Mankind, which from separate and distinct Families by degrees united into larger Bodies or Kingdoms.]^c

The old German state dangerous & weak

But then, tho’ [this Independent Knot of States and small Kingdoms, by reason of its freedom, was very grateful to the Germans of those times],^d yet it was absolutely necessary they should frequently be engaged in mutual and destructive Wars, when they were so many and so small. This again exposed them to the Invasions of their neighbour Nations, though [they were a warlike People],^a because their scattered Forces were not united in one Empire for their defence. Neither had the <4> greatest part of these small States so much Politicks [foresight] as in due time to unite in Leagues against the dangers of their potent Enemies; but they perceived the Benefit of such a Concord, [only] when it was too late, and they by fighting separately for their Liberty, were one after another all conquered.¹²

The Franks the first Conquerors of Germany, of an unknown extraction.

3. The first that reduced Germany from that ancient state were the FRANKS, which Nation is of so controverted an Origine, that it is not easie to determine whether it were of Gallick or of German extraction.¹³ For, tho’ we should grant that all those Nations which the Greeks comprehended under the title of Celtae, that is, the Illyrians, Germans, Gauls, [Old]⁺ Spaniards, and Britains, did as it were, flow from the same Fountain, yet it is very notorious [well known], they afterwards much differed each from the others in Language and Manners, so that no man that is any thing versed in Antiquity, can in the least doubt of it.

The foolish Pride of some of the Gauls [i.e., French] occasioned this difference [controversy], who being ignorant that many of the Gallick People in the first Ages had ambitiously boasted they were of German extraction, [did in the later times envy Germany the honour of having been the Mother of the FRANKS].^a These men pretend, that great multitudes of men out of Gaule invaded Germany in ancient (but unknown) times [formerly], and passing beyond the Rhine, possessed themselves of all the Countries upon [the area around] the River Mayn, to the Hercynian Forest,¹⁴ and that after [this they returned, and conquering the Parts on the West of the <5> Rhine, recovered]^b the possession of their ancient Country, but so that a part of their Nation still inhabited on the Mayn, and left their Name¹⁵ to that Country [the surrounding region]. For the confirmation of this Opinion, they cite Livy, lib. 5. c. 134. Caesar de bello Gallico, lib. 6. Tacitus de moribus Germanorum, c. 28.¹⁶

The Franks were a German People.

1. Trebocci, Alsatia, the chief Towns of which were Breucomagus, (Bruomat) and Elcebus, (Schelstat). 2. Nemetes, the Inhabitants of the Bishoprick of Speyr. 3. Vangiones, the Inhabitants of Worms and Strasburg. 4. Treveri, the Inhabitants of the Archbishoprick of Triers. 5. The Chauci were the Inhabitants of East-Friesland, Groeningen, Breme, Lunenburg, and Hamburg, as they are placed by Ptolemy.

4. But to all this the Germans may truly reply, That the Testimony of these Latin Writers is not without just exceptions, because they testifie very faintly [hesitantly] of a thing which hapned long before their times, and concerning a [foreign] People too whose Antiquities were not preserved in any written Records. Nor is it at all probable, when the (1) Trebocci, (2) Nemetes, (3) Vangiones, & (4) Treveri,¹⁷ and some other [People who in those times lived on the West side of the Rhine, and yet owned themselves to be of German extraction; That the Franks should on the contrary pass the Rhine, and out of Gaul, make a Conquest in Germany].^c And yet, after all, though we should grant, that the Franks were at first a Gallick Colony, yet seeing they lived about 800 years in Germany, and both in their Language and Customs differed from the Gauls, and in both these agreed exactly with the Germans, they are for that cause to be reckon’d amongst the German Nations<; at least, their descendants have no reason to be ashamed of their German origins>.

This is certain in the mean time, that [till about 300 <6> Years after Christ],^a there is scarce any mention of the Franks made in any ancient History. |[From hence there arose two very different Opinions: whilst some believe those People, who are by Tacitus call’d the (5) Chauci, changed that name in after times, and call’d themselves the Franks; [and others]^b think, that a number of German People, or some parts [a coalition] of them, united in this name, and [out of a vain affectation of]^c Liberty, took up the name of FRANKS: for in the German Tongue FRANK signifies free [a free man]. And to this purpose they produce the Testimonies of Francis I, and Henry II, Kings of France, who in their Letters to the Diet of Germany say, they are of German Extraction. Tho’ it is very well known at the same time, to all wise men, to what purposes such ancient and overworn Relations of Kindred are for the most part pretended.]|^d

The Franks conquer Gaul, now France, and after it Germany.

5. But however this [may] be, the Franks for certain first passed the Rhine upon [among] the Ubii, [or Inhabitants of the Archbishoprick of Cologne,]⁺ and after they had conquered the far greatest part of Gaul, [(now call’d France)]⁺ <they founded the famous kingdom of France. Its kings, called Merovingians after its first dynasty,> turning as it were the course of their victorious Arms back again, [and having crossed the Rhine once more,] they conquered the greatest part of Germany, and subdued all the Countries between the Mayn and the Danube, and went Northward as far as Thuringia: After this Charles the Great extended his Conquests much further by subduing the Saxons, and Tassilon King of the Bavarians;¹⁸ so that not only the Countries possess’d by the old German Nations [populis] were all reduc’d <7> under his Obedience, but all those that lay upon the Baltick Sea, and that part of Poland which lies on the West of the Vistula, which was then inhabited by the Sclaves [Slavs]; for History saith, They also were either Tributaries to that Prince, or majestatem comiter coluisse, [i.e.,] were Homagers to his Crown.

Of what Nation Charles the Great was.

6. The greatest part of the German Writers have very fondly [anxiously] endeavoured to have it believed he was their Countryman, as being born at Ingelheim, a Town in the Bishoprick of Mentz, but now under the Elector Palatine; and in an ancient Charter of the Abby of Fuld [a], the Lands upon the River UNSTRUT in Thuring, are call’d The Lands of his Conception: And that he us’d the German Tongue,^a is apparent by the names of the Months used in his time, which {are still retained in Germany, and} are thought to have been introduced by him.

A Frank

By his Father,

And born in France.

But |[if the Germans would suffer me, (a Foreigner) to pass my judgment in this [their] Affair, tho’ I am not at all disposed to favour the French in their other pretences[, to the damage of the Germans]⁺; yet I would perswade them here freely and willingly to renounce their Pretences to Charles the Great, and the rather, because it can bring no injury [fraudi] to their present Empire. For it is certain, the Franks placed the Seat of their Empire in Germany [Gallia]]|;^a and it is no less certain, that the Father of Charles the Great was King of France [Franciae], and all his Progenitors had for many Ages lived in great Honour, and managed great Employments in that Kingdom. Besides, those parts of Germany, <8> which lie on the West of the Rhine,^b and were then subject to the Crown of France, were possess’d by them [only] as Accessions acquired to that Kingdom by Conquest, and were looked upon as conquered Provinces. And every man is esteemed to be of the same Nation his Father was, and in which he has placed the Seat of his Fortunes and Hopes after [passed down by] his Father and Ancestors.¹⁹ The sole consideration, That a man was born in this or that Country [locus], will hardly be allowed to make a man of a different Nation from his Father; |[unless we can [really] believe, that if the present King of Sweden had been born in Prussia, he had to have been esteemed a Prussian, and not a Swede]|.^c Nor was that part of Germany which lieth on the West of the Rhine, esteemed a part of France, till under Charles the Great it was united to that Kingdom: [And in the first times that followed],^d when his Posterity had divided their Ancestor’s Dominions amongst them, the Historians [also] frequently [begin to] distinguish between the Latin or Western France, and the German or Eastern France, which is the same with [Greater] Germany:^e And it is observed [Although it seems], that after the times of the Otho’s,²⁰ that name of Germany, by degrees, grew out of use.

Tho’ he used the German Tongue.

The objection made on the account of the use of the German Language by Charles the Great, may be thus easily answered. The Gauls having been long subject to the Romans, by degrees lost their own Tongue, and embraced that of their Conquerors; so that at last there were scarce any footsteps of the old Celtick left amongst <9> them: But then the Franks [, when they entered Gaul,] brought their German [Teutonicam] Tongue along with them, and without doubt did not presently forget it. But then, as the Franks neither destroyed nor expelled the [ancient] Gauls; but only assumed the Government and Soveraignity of the Country, [from whence it]^a came to pass, that those who were descended of the Franks, were employed in the great Affairs, and the [ancient] Gauls, as a conquered People, were kept under. But then as two Rivers of different colour, uniting in one stream, may for some time preserve each his proper colour, [but at length the greater stream will certainly change the lesser into its own colour];^b so in the beginning the Gauls had their Tongue, and the Franks theirs, till in length of time a third was made out of both mixed and twisted together, in which yet the Latin is the predominant. The plain cause of which is, That the Gauls were more numerous than the Franks, and it was much harder for them to learn the German, than it was for the Franks to learn the Gallick Latin{; for with what difficulty Foreigners learn the German Tongue, I my self know by experience}. From hence it proceeds, that [the most ancient Writers of this Nation]^c call the vulgar Latin the Rustick or Countryman’s Tongue, because the Nobility and Gentry still used the German, whilst the Countrymen and the rest of the [ancient] Gauls had no knowledge of any other than the Latin. And thus we see it is in our own times, in Livonia and Curland, where the old Inhabitants are by the Germans <10> reduced into the condition of meer Rusticks; for all the Nobility, and the Inhabitants of the Cities, speak the Sclavonian [rusticanam] Tongue, and the German, but the Countrymen do scarce understand one German word of ten.

Thus Charles the Great might easily understand the German Tongue, because the Franks, [who were a German Nation,]⁺ had not quite laid aside the use of it; and also because the Franks, before his time, had conquered a great part of Germany, and he went on with the work, and reduced all the rest under his Dominion. Nor was it possible in that unlearned Age to converse with the Germans in any other than their own Language.

|[But then he that observes, that [here] there is [are] two very different Questions confounded into one [by most people], will very accurately determine this Controversie]|;^a for if the Question be, Whether Charles the Great were of a Gallick or a German Original? without doubt it will be answered, That he was not a Gaul but a German, or which is all one, a FRANK. But if the Question be, [What Countryman]^b he was? France [Gallia], and not Germany, is to be assigned him, and therefore in this respect he was no German, but a Gaul, or [rather a] Gallo-Frank.

{I fear I shall make the Reader think I take him for a stupid person, if I should dwell any longer on so plain a thing; and yet I will presume to give the Germans a known example:} If you fall upon a Nobleman of Livonia [among them], and ask him what Countryman [cujas] he is, he will reply a Livonian, and not a German; but then, if you still insist, and ask him of what Lineage, <because Livonia is inhabited by two nationalities [duplex natio],> <11> he will say, he is descended of the Germans, and not of the Livonians.

The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions.

7. This Prince (Charles the Great) had under him divers Nations [regiones], which he had acquired by very different Titles: He enjoy’d France as his Inheritance, devolved to him from his Father by [right of] Succession. For though we read in their Histories, that the ancient Franks had lodged in the Nobility and People of that Nation, some Authority in the constituting their Kings; yet I conceive, it was rather [like] a solemn Ina[u]guration, and an acknowledgment of their Loyalty and Obedience to the new King, than a Free Election;²¹ for they rarely departed from the Order of a Lineal [sanguinis] Succession, but when there were Factions, or the next Heir in the Line was wholly unfit for Government.

A part of Germany was, before this time, united [by Conquest]⁺ to the Crown of France, and the rest of it was subdued by the victorious Arms of Charles the Great. Whether any part of this Country freely and willingly submitted to him out of Reverence to his Greatness, is very uncertain. He also by his Arms conquered the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, the Pope of Rome affording him a Pretence for it; after which, he was by the Pope and People of Rome saluted Emperor of Rome, and Augustus. Now, what he gain’d by this Title, we shall by and by inform you.²²

Germany a part of the Kingdom of France.

8. Thus, under Charles the Great, Germany became a part of the Kingdom of France, and was [sufficiently subject to the]^a Absolute Empire or Soveraignty of those Princes. <12> During this state of Affairs, it was divided into divers Provinces, which were governed by [prefects called] Counts or Earls, and Marquesses, who were for the most part of French extraction. Yet [in these times]⁺ the Saxons enjoy’d a greater shew [retained a fuller kind] of Liberty, because Charles the Great had not been able to reduce them without a long and tedious War, and was at last to perfect the Work, and establish his Soveraignty, necessitated to admit them to a participation of the Priviledges [jura] enjoy’d by the Franks, and to unite them into one Nation with their Conquerors. That he might further assure himself of this fierce Nation, which was so impatient of Servitude; he call’d in the assistance of the Priests, who were ordered to teach them the Christian Faith [religione], and to inculcate into them how much they were obliged to those who had shewn them the way of obtaining Eternal Life. On this account many Bishopricks and Abbies in Germany [were founded by Charles the Great].^a

Germany was in the same estate [condition] under Saint Lewis [Louis the Pious,] the Son of Charles, but that the Authority [and power] of the Prefects or Governours of the Provinces began to grow greater<, and the clergy, their wealth swelled by the Princes’ indulgence, grew considerably haughtier as well>.²³

The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father’s Kingdom.

9. But afterwards, when the Children of this Lewis had divided their Father’s Kingdom amongst them (which was the first and principal cause of the Ruin of the French [Francicae] Power, and of the Caroline Family) Germany became separated from the [rest of the] French Empire, and was a distinct Kingdom under Lewis II. Son of St. Lewis.^b <And although soon, under Charles the Fat [crassus], it was combined with the rest of France [Francia] again, a short time later, when Arnulf was king, it was torn away once more and henceforth maintained its own separate affairs as Germany.> To it was afterwards added a great part of the Belgick France [Galliae], [(or of <13> the Low Countries, as it is now called)]⁺ which lies towards the Rhine, which for the most part was inhabited by German Nations [Teutonic peoples], [and] which from Lotharius another of the Sons of St. Lewis, was then called [the Kingdom of]⁺ Lorrain, though at this day only a very small part of that Kingdom retains the old name.

During the destructive Wars, which followed after these times, between the Posterity of Charles the Great, not only the German Nobility [procerum] gained exorbitant Power, but the very Family of Charles was at last totally extinguished, or at least deprived of the Crown of France, (for to this day [the Dukes of Lorrain <and others>, and the Electors Palatine, pretend to be descended of that Family)]^c and the Germans chose themselves Kings out of the Nobility of their own Nation; from which times Germany [became again a free State, and had no dependance on the Crown of France].^a

Germany a free State.

Now, because the German State [respublica] is commonly call’d the Sacred Roman Empire, I think it will be worth my pains to enquire [briefly], How it first obtained this Title? what it has gained by it? and by what Right it now enjoys that Name? for the clear understanding of which it will be necessary shortly to recapitulate the state the [ancient] Roman Empire [in the West]⁺ was reduced to before the times of Charles the Great.

A short account of the Roman Empire.

10. It is very well and commonly known after what manner the People of Rome, after they had by the Success of their Arms subdued the noblest part of the then known World, were at last, by the ambition of a <14> few over potent Citizens engaged in Civil Wars, and at length brought under the Dominion of a single person. But then Augustus the Founder of the Roman Empire (or Monarchy) when he had by the assistance of the Army gained the Empire, [perswaded himself, that he should easily keep it by the same way].^b Therefore tho’ from thenceforward he seemed to leave some of the Affairs of the State to the disposal of the Senate, that it might still seem to have a share in the Government; yet he wholly kept in his own hands the Care and Government of the Army[, indicating the same by his adoption of the title Imperator]. But then it was his principal care to conceal from the Rabble of the Army, [as if it were the most important state secret, involving the most careful disguise,] That the Souldiers were the men who could set up and pull down the Emperors; which Secret, when it was once discovered, the State of the Empire became as miserable as the Condition of the Emperors.

[F]or the Empire being weakened by frequent intestine Wars, found it self also often exposed to the worst of men by a covetous and turbulent Rabble, [which oftentimes most wickedly murdered her best Princes, to her great damage and sorrow]:^a Nor could any of her Emperors after this entertain any hopes of firmly settling the Empire in their Families, but [was necessitated to be contented with a precarious Title amongst a parcel of mercenary Souldiers]:^b So that in truth the whole power of making the Emperors, was in the Army, (which is the common Attendant of all Military Monarchies, [or] where a strong and perpetual Army is kept together in any one <15> place), and the Senate and People of Rome were weak and vain Names, made use of to delude the simple common People, as if the free and voluntary consent of the whole Body [universorum] had constituted the Emperor.

That Kingdom [regnum], thus founded on a Military Licence, as it was unfit for continuance, was by Constantine the Great and Theodosius hastened to its fatal period: the first of these making Byzantium [(now called Constantinople)]⁺ the Seat of the Empire, and withdrawing the [strongest] Armies, which had till then been maintained on the [East of the Rhine<and the Danube>, for its preservation];^c and the lat[t]er by dividing the Empire between his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius, soft lasie Princes, and neither of them fit for such a Command<, who were also much weakened by the dishonesty of traitors>. From thence forward there were two Kingdoms for one, and this Division was no way useful, but only for the fitting the Western part by separating it from the Eastern, to be the more easie Prey to the barbarous Nations.²⁴ And accordingly, not long after this, an end was put to the Western Empire, and Rome was taken and sack’d by the <Herulians and> Goths which [i.e., Rome] before that had been deprived of all her Provinces by as good Right as she had got them, and now, in her turn, lost her beloved [own] Liberty, and became a part of the Gothick Kingdom.

Rome for some time under the Greek Emperors

11. After this, the Gothick Power being entirely ruin’d, Rome and a considerable part of Italy returned under the Obedience of the Greek Emperors, tho’ on the account of her former Majesty, and [for that Constantinople <16> was considered as the Metropolis; Italy]^a was rather treated by them as an Ally [or equal] than as a subject Province. But however [in fact], the Supremacy was acknowledged to be in the Emperor of Greece who exercised it in Rome and those other parts of Italy which were under his Jurisdiction by his Exarchs. But by degrees the Popes became weary of this Greek Empire [as well]. They lay the blame however on the Misgovernment [wilfullness] of the Exarchs, and because some of the Greek Emperors were too severe against Images,²⁵ which they [i.e., the Popes] yet judged a most useful Tool to instruct the Many [uneducated populace] in the Superficial Rites of Religion, which [i.e., the Many], as they said, was become incapable of receiving or bearing a more solid Piety; nor was it so profitable to the Priests, to let the People know, a good and holy Life would certainly please God. Perhaps also it was believed, the Church would be very much exalted in her Authority [splendoris], if the Pope could by degrees gain the Secular Empire, as he had already, in a good degree, assumed the Supremacy in Ecclesiastical or Sacred Affairs throughout the World. And in truth, it did not seem fit that he should live in subjection to the Slave of a Greek Emperor, (who sometimes was deprived of his Virilities)^b whom God had in trusted with such Power [authority], as his own Vicar in the World, that he being freed from the Care of the Church, [might be at the better]^a leisure to attend the Civil Affairs of the World, [and that they too had been delegated by God to the Pope],^b if it had not been apparent, that the holy <17> minds of these Bishops [prelates] were so taken with the Pleasures of Divine Affairs, that they wholly declined the being concerned in these prophane Employments.²⁶

The Lombards feared by the Popes.

But then, though the Greek Emperor was not much feared, both on the score of his distance, and also because he had enough to do to defend himself against the Saracens, [which then from the East fiercely and successfully attack’d the Empire];^c yet the Power of the Lombards was more dreadful, and hung like a mighty Tempest over all Italy, and had almost made themselves Masters of the Suburbs of Rome. And the Pope not being able alone to grapple with this Enemy, could bethink him of no body that was able to succour the See of Rome in this exigence, but the King of France; and he too was very much disposed to it by the Prospect of that Glory which would attend the rescuing from Injury [of] that Person, who like an unexhaustible Fountain dispensed to all Christian Souls the Waters of Divine Grace. The Pope also had before-hand very much obliged Pipin the Father, and Charles the Son, by his ready consenting, That Chilprick King of France should be shaven and turn’d into a Monastery:²⁷ Which could never be equally recompensed by those Princes, who might otherwise have had painful Scruples of Conscience to perswade themselves, That a Subject might lawfully shave his Prince, and make him, of a Monarch, become a Monk, who was guilty of no other fault, but his having committed more Power to a Potent Minister, than was consistent with the safety <18> of his Crown and Kingdom. And in this the FATES strangely befriended the French in giving them so plausible a pretence of invading and possessing {our}^a Italy, which has alwaies [been courted by the Ultra-montane Kingdoms].^b

Charles the Great Subdues the Lombards, and is made Emperor,

12. After then that Charles the Great had subdued all that part of Italy which was before subject to the Lombards, the Pope (who had a good share of the Prey) that he might shew his gratitude, and assure himself for the future a Potent Defender, declared Charles Emperor and Augustus, with the Approbation of the People<, at least as first citizen and head of that city’s clergy, which commonly participates in such inaugural activities>.

Now it is not easie to conceive what Charles got by this Title; in truth Rome long before this was not the Seat of the ancient Roman Empire,²⁸ being made first a Part of the Gothick Kingdom, and after that of the Eastern Empire. And therefore the Romans could not give that to Charles, which heretofore belonged to the Western Empire: for all that [Right was determin’d by Conquest and the Right of War, by Cession and Desertion, and was now for a long time in the peaceable possession of others].^a And even Rome her self was not sui juris [independent], and therefore could not give her self to another: And therefore Charles was at first in doubt, whether he should accept the Title, till he had made an agreement with the Greek Emperor, and obtained his consent. The Emperor of Constantinople who {was then weak, and} needed the Friendship of Charles yielded the point without any difficulty, to preserve Calabria, and those other [Ports he had yet left him in Italy].^b

Or rather Protector and Advocate of the See of Rome.

|[So that upon <19> the whole, Charles the Great, under the splendid Title of Emperor, borrowed from the ancient State of Rome (but in a very different sense) was made the Supreme Defender, Protector, and Advocate of the See of Rome, and of the States [properties]^c belonging to it, either by the Usurpation of the Pope, or the Liberality of others. Now whether this Defence and Protection included in it a Supreme Empire or Dominion [summi Imperii] over that See, as some Civilians [politicis] have said, seems a doubt to me, and I should rather think there was a kind of unequal League only entred between Charles and the See of Rome,]|^d That he should defend her [and her possessions] against all Invaders, or [and] by his Authority compose all internal Commotions, which might tend to the damage or dishonour of that See [the Church]; and on the other side, [That] the See of Rome should pay a due respect to his [Charles’s] Majesty, {and not undertake any thing which was of great consequence, without his Authority or Leave:} and in the first place, that no man should be admitted Pope against his will.

|[From whence it will appear, that the See of Rome from thenceforward became a particular State [civitatis], and, properly speaking, was not united [to the Kingdom of France].^a And that Charles the Great was not the Master of the See of Rome, and the States [properties] belonging to it, nor did he exercise a Soveraign Dominion [vim imperii] over her, by making Laws, imposing Tributes, creating Magistrates, or exercising any Jurisdiction, or the like. For [But] all these things are not above the Pretences of an Advocate, viz. To expel a Pope that entered by ill Arts, to reduce into <20> Order such as designed the Ruine of the Church, or any other signal damage [dishonor], or to subdue the Romans, or any other who should rebel against the Pope.]|^b

However, neither he nor any of his Successors would suffer France to be taken for a part of the Empire.

[Moreover,] Charles, and some of his Posterity, tho’ they seemed fond enough of the Titles of Emperors and Augusti, and on that account took upon them the Priority amongst the other European Princes, who willingly yielded it to them on that score; yet after all, for ought that appears to me, we shall never read, that [any of the Line of Charles the Great, call’d the Kingdom of France by that Name].^a

The Fall of the Caroline Race, the Rise of the Kingdom of Germany under Otho I.

13. When the Caroline Family began to decline, and the Germans had divided themselves from the Kingdom of France, and Italy was afflicted with great Commotions, there sprung up other States out of the Ruins of this House [the older powers], and amongst them Otho the First, King of Germany, who having overcome Berengarius,²⁹ and reduced the Kingdom of Italy, the Popes (who [could not trust to their States])^b thought fit to put Otho in possession of [nearly] the same Power [jure] [as defender] that had been enjoyed by the Family of Charles the Great, and consented, That for the future the Protection of the See of Rome should be united to the Kingdom of Germany, so that whosoever enjoyed that Kingdom, should [be the Protector of that See].^c

But then, after many of those old German Kings had [couragiously executed that Office upon]^d the See of Rome, and in the mean time the Wealth and Power not only of the See of Rome, but of the Bishopricks of Germany, was become very great, the Popes of Rome began to grow weary <21> of this German Protection too. The Causes of this were, 1. The Aversion common to all Nations, against a Foreign Dominion. 2. The Indignity which was offered hereby, to the Italick People, who having ever been celebrated for Civil Prudence {(it would be cowardly not to acknowledge that which outsiders attribute to us)},^e were by this kept under the Tutelage [wild rule] of the {less-politick [uncultivated]} Germans. 3. Besides, it was very uneasie to the Vicar of Jesus Christ to be any longer under the Guardianship of another, whose [the Pope’s] fingers [had long] itched to be giving Laws to all Princes. Therefore for the shaking off this Yoke, they [the Popes] took this course, viz. They found out ways, [by the means of the Bishops, to imbroil the Affairs of these Kings, sometimes in Germany, and at others in Italy, and the Pope seconded them with his Fulminations or Censures, which in those Ages were wonderful terrible].^a

Thus by degrees the Kings of Germany grew weary of Italy, and being content with their own Kingdom, left the See of Rome to the sole management [arbitrio] of the Popes, which they [these] had sought so many Ages, and by such a variety of Arts, to the embroiling [of] all Europe. After this the Kings of Germany {a long time omitted the being crowned at Rome, yet they} retained the old Titles of Emperors of Rome; and when they entred upon the Kingdom, the Defence of the See of Rome was in the first place enjoin’d them; from which care the Protestant Electors have since given the Emperor a Discharge.

The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire.

14. By all that has been said, it will appear how {childishly} they are mistaken, who think the Kingdom of Germany has succeeded in the <22> Place of the old Roman Empire, and that it is continued in this Kingdom; when in truth, that Empire which was seated at Rome, was destroyed many Ages before Germany became one Kingdom. |[And that Roman Empire which was given to Charles and Otho]|^b (which was nothing but the Advousion [defense] and Protection of the See of Rome) in length of time fixed its Name upon that Kingdom of Germany, tho’ the States [ditiones] of the Church [in Italy]⁺ never were united into one and the same Polity [civitatem] with the Kingdom of Germany, much less did either Charles or Otho submit their proper [own] Kingdoms to Rome, as the Metropolis or Seat of the Empire. In the mean time, because it was believed the very Title of Emperor of Rome, upon the account of the Greatness of that ancient Empire, had something of Majesty and Grandeur in it, it was frequently given to the Kings of Germany [only].^a And the consequence of this was, that Germany [too] was afterwards call’d the Roman Empire, by way of Honour. But the different Coronations [and inaugurations] which belong to them do not obscurely shew, that there is a real difference to be made between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany; and the later Emperors, since Maximilian I. after the Title of Roman Emperor, expresly subjoin that of King of Germany. The Germans also at this day do commonly call {their State}, The Roman Empire of the Teutonick Nation; which form of Speech seems to contain in it a contradiction, seeing it is very certain the present State of Germany [modernam Germanorum rempublicam] is not one and the same with the ancient Roman Empire. <23> Yet the Kings of Germany retain the Title which has been received, tho’ they have for a long time omitted the Reception of the Crown of Rome, and use very little of the ancient Rights of an Advocate, which belonged heretofore to them, because Princes do more easily part with the things in dispute, than with the Titles to them. Now, whether that Right they once had, is by the lapse of time expir’d, or preserved by the use of the Title only, we shall hereafter, when occasion is offered, enquire.³⁰

The Title of Roman Emperor damageable to Germany.

15. But in the mean time the Title of the Empire of Rome is so far from being any advantage, that it is manifest, it has been the cause of great Mischief and Inconvenience to Germany. Priests are <almost [fere]>^a alwaies ready to receive, but never part with any thing. And whereas all other Clients dispose their Masters to favour them by their Presents [services], if a Priest be not fed with new Presents, he presently snarles, and imputes his Blessing as a wonderful [boundless] Obligation.^b I should think, that the ancient Princes heaped their Bounties upon the Clergy of Germany, principally because they were made [to] believe [that] God [expected they should]^c provide plentifully for that Order of Men.

And what has been spent by Germans in Journies to Rome, for [obtaining] the Imperial Crown? What Treasures and Men have been consumed in Italick Expeditions, in composing the Commotions stirr’d up by the Popes, and in protecting them against refractory men that have attack’d them, is not to be conceived. Nor has any Foreigner got much by attacking [occupying] <24> Italy, {the Spaniards excepted, who have stuck so many years in the Bowels of our⁽ⁱ⁾ Country, that we have never yet been able to repell them.} Lastly, no Princes were oftner fulminated [banned] by that See than the German Emperors; nor was any of them more exercised by the frequent Seditions of the Churchmen than they. The principal cause[s] of all which misfortunes seem to have arisen from [hence, That they thought these Princes, who had this Title from the See of Rome, in which they took such pride, were obliged by it, above all other Men, to promote the Affairs of that See]:^d Or otherwise, because that Order of Men [is above all others unwilling to be subject to the Soveraignty of another, and with Mother-Church, is ever seeking how to shake off the hated Secular Authority].^a

{Yet I would have this understood with Salva reverentia sanctissimae sedis, [a saving the Reverence and Respect due]^b to that most Holy See, to whose Judgment I most devoutly submit all this.}