^^^^m ^^^^m ' M^ * mm. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Slielf3^50 i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2010 witii funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/youngfolkshistor04yong X /OUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OP GERMANY. BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE, Author of '"The Heir of Eedclyffe," '"Book of Golden Deeds," "Young Folks' History of ORAiSrSTON AND STOWE. NEW YORK: HUNT A.NI3 EATON. s COPYRIGHT BY LOTHROP & CO. I87B. PREFACE. nr^HERE is here an endeavor to sketch the main ■^ outlines of the history of the German Em- pire, though the number of states, each with a separate history, makes it difficult to trace the line clearly. The names are, for the most part, given in their German form, rather than by their English equivalents. CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. Elderfield, Otteubourn. CONTENTS. Chapter. 1. — The Ancient Germans . 2.— Yalhall 3. — The Germans and Eomans. 4. — The Nibelonig Heroes 5.— The Franks. 496—765 . 6.— Karl the Great. 768—814 7.— Ludwig I., the Pious. 814—840 Lothair I. 840—855. Ludwig II. 855—875 . Karl II., the Bald. 875—876 Karloman. 876—880 Karl III., the Thick. 880—887 Arnulf. 887—899 Ludwig IV., the Child. 899—612 8.— Konrad I. 912—917 Heinrich I. 917—936 Otto I., the Great. 936—973 9. — The Saxon Emperors — Otto II., the Red. 973—983 Otto IIL, the Wonder. 983—1000 St. Heinrich II. 1000—1024 . B.C. 60— A.D. 400 Pack. 13 21 30 40 47 60 83 93 VI. Contents. lO.- 11.— 12. 13. -The Franconian Line — Konrad II., the Salic. 1024—1039 Heinrich III. 1089—1054 Heinrich lY. 1054—1106 . Heinrich y. 1106—1114 Lotharll. 112.5—1137 Konrad ni. 1137—1152 -Friedrichl., Barbarossa. 1157—1178 -Friedrich I., Barbarossa {continued). Heinrich Yl. 1189—1197 1174—1189 14.- 15. 16.- 17.- 18. 19. 20.- 21.- 22. 23.- 24.—. 25.' 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. -Philip. 1198—1208 Otto lY. 1209—1218 . -Friedrich U. 1218 -Friedrich II. (continued). 1250 -Konrad lY. 1250—1254 Wilhelm. 1254—1256 Eichard. 1256—1257 -Eodolf. 1278. . -Adolf. 1291—1298 Albrecht. 1298 -Heinrich YII. 1308—1313 Ludwig Y. 1313—1347 -Gunther. 1347—1347 Karl lY. 1347—1378 -Wenzel. 1378—1400 -Euprecht. 1400—1410. Jobst. 1410—1410 Siegmund. 1411. Albrecht II. 1438—1440 Friedrich III. 1440—1482 -Friedrich III. 1482—1493 -Maximilian. 1493—1519 -Charles Y. 1519—1529 -Charles Y. 1530—1535 -Charles Y. 1535 -Ferdinand I. 1556—1564 -Maximilian II. 1564 -Kudolf II. 1576—1612 -Matthias. 1612—1619 -The Eevoltin Bohemia — Ferdinand II. 1619—1621 152 163 173 183 192 201 217 224 233 243 251 260 270 300 306 313 321 329 Contents. viL 35.— Oiistaf Adolf and Wallensteiii Ferdinand II. 1021—1634 36.— Ferdinand II. 1034—1637 Ferdinand III. 1037 37.— The Siege of Vienna — Leopold I. 1057—1087 38. — War of the Succession — Leopold I. 1635—1705 39.— Joseph L 1705—1711 40.— Karl YI. 1711—1740 41.— Karl YIL 1740 42.— Franz L 1745—1765 . 43.— Joseph IL 1765—1790 . 44.— Leopold II. 1790—1792 45.— Franz II. 1792 46.— Franz II. 1804—1806 47. — French Conquests — Interregnum. 1807—1815 48.— Interregnum. 1815—1835 49. — Interregnum. 1848 50.— Wilhelm I. 1870—1877 337 349 358 366 377 384 392 401 412 423 429 435 443 456 462 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Pagb. Ancient German Village - - - - 15 Sacrifice to Woden . - . _ . 17 Volkyria - - - - - - 23 The Elves 27 The Velleda warning Drusus - - - - 31 Germanicus burying the Slain _ _ _ 33 Brunhild's Flight 49 Battle of Tours 53 St. Boniface felling the Oak - - - - 57 Karl the Great and Witikind - - - _ Qi Karl the Great entering St. Peter's - - - 65 Karl the Great in his School - . _ _ 57 Haroun al Raschid's Gifts - . . _ 71 Ludwig the Pious ------ 74 Odo appealing to Karl the Fat - - - 81 The Last Tribute of the Magyars - - - - 85 Adelheid Hiding in the Corn - - - _ 90 Otto's Flight - 95 Opening the Tomb of Karl the Great - - 99 St. Henry - - 102 Heinrich IV. carried off - . . . 109 Penance of Heinrich IV. - . . _ 113 Lothar II. leading the Pope's Horse - - 119 The Women of Weinsberg _ _ . _ 123 Friedrich I. refuses the Milanese Submission - 129 Faithfulness of Sieveneichen - - - - 133 X. List of Illustrations. PAGE. Friedrich I., kneeling to Heinrich the Lion - 137 The Diet at Mainz - - - - - 143 Richard the Lion Heart and Heinrich YI. - - 147 Heinrich YI. 150 Murder of Philip _____ 155 Otto lY. finds his Bride dead - - - - 159 Friedrich II. putting on the Crown of Jerusalem - 167 Friedrich II. receiving Isabel of England - - 175 Execution of Conradin and Friedrich - - 189 German Castle ______ I93 Mediaeval Costume _ - - - _ 2IO Heinrich YIL - 213 Adolf ._-_._. 215 KarllY. 222 Arnold von Winkelried - _ . _ 227 Wenzel - - - - - - - 231 Huss at Constance _ _ _ . _ 235 Siegmund _.-._. 238 Albrecht H. _..--_ 244 Friedrich III. _ _ - . . 246 Maximilian and Albert Durer _ _ .. - 255 Maximilian - - - *- - - 261 Luther and his Thesis - . - - - 265 Charles Y. - - - - - - 271 Luther at Wartburg _ _ _ - _ 275 Charles Y. and Fugger _ _ _ - 285 Flight of Charles Y. - - . • - 293 Charles Y. in the Cloister, St. Just . _ . 297 Ferdinand I. - _ _ . . 301 Maximilian 11. ------ 307 Rudolf and Tycho Brahe - - - - 315 Matthias ------- 322 Friedrich Y 32T List of Illustrations. Ferdinand II. .... , PAGB. - 331 Wildenstein Castle _ . - - 339 Gustaf Adolf - . - . - - 342 Death of Wallenstein . 345 Bernhard of Saxe Weimar - 350 Peace of Westphalia - 355 Leopold I. .... . 359 Friedrich I. King of Prussia (Coronation) ■ 369 Marlborough and Eugene - 373 Joseph I. - - - - - 379 Karl YI. - 385 Maria Theresa .... ■ 393 KarlYIL . 397 The Queen of Poland • 405 Friedrich the Great and Zeithen - 409 Maria Theresa and Kaunitz 415 Joseph II. holding the Plough - 419 Leopold II. . - . - 427 Napoleon and Franz II. - - . 437 Queen Louise pleading with Napoleon - 445 Metternich and Napoleon - 449 The Allies entering Paris - 453 Wilhelm I. - - - - . - 473 rOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF GEEMANY CHAPTER I. THE ANCIENT GERMANS. THE history of the German Empire rightly begins with Karl the Great, but to under- stand it properly it will be better to go further back, when the Romans were beginning to know sometliing about the wild tribes who lived to the north of Italy, and to the coast of the Gaulish or Keltic lands. Almost all the nations in Europe seem to have come out of the north-west of Asia, one tribe after another, the fiercest driving the others farther and farther to the westward before them. Tribes of Kelts or Gauls had come first, but, though they were brave and fierce, they were not so sturdy as the great people that came after them, and were thus driven up into the lands bordering on the At- lantic Ocean; while the tribes that came behind them spread all over that middle part of Europe 13 14 Young Folks' History of Germany, which lies between the Alps and the Baltic sea. These tribes all called themselves Dcutsch, which meant the people ; indeed, most of them do so still, though we English only call those Dutch who live in Holland. Sometimes they were called Ger, War, or Spear-men, just as the Romans were called Qnirites; and this name. Spear-men or Germans, has come to be the usual name that is given to them together, instead of Deutsch as they call themselves, and from which the fine word Teutonic has been formed. The country was full of marshes and forests, with ranges of hills in which large rivers rose and strag- gled, widening down to their swampy mouths. Bears and wolves, elks and buffaloes, ran wild, and were hunted by the men of tlie German tribes. These men lived in villages of rude huts, surrounded by lands to which all had a right in common, and where they grew their corn and fed their cattle. Their wives were much more respected than those of other nations ; they were usually strong, brave women, able to advise their husbands and to aid them in the fight ; and the authority of fathers and mothers over their families was great. The men were either freemen or nobles, and they had slaves, generally prisoners or the people of conquered The Ancietit Germans, 16 countries. The villages were formed into wiiat were called hundreds, over whicli, at a meeting of the freemen from all of them, a chief Avas elected from among the nobles ; and many of the tril)es had kings, who always belonged to one family, descended, it was thought, from their great god Woden. ANCIENT GERMAN VILLAGE. The German tribes all believed in the great god Woden, his brother Frey, and his son Thor, who reigned in a gorgeous palace, and with their children were called the Asa gods. Woden was all-wise, and two ravens whispered in his ear all that passed on 16 Young Folks' History of Germany, the earth. The sun and moon were his eyes. The moon is so dull because he gave the sight of that eye for one draught of the well of wisdom at the foot of the great ash tree of life. He Avas a fearful god, who had stone altars on desolate heaths, where sacrifices of men and Av^omen were offered to him, and the fourth day of the week was sacred to him. Frey was gentler, and friendship, faith, and free- dom were all sacred to him. There is a little con- fusion as to whether Friday is called after him or Frigga, Odin's wife, to whom all fair things be- longed, and who had priestesses among the German maidens. Thor, or, as some tribes called him, Thunder, was the bravest and most awful of the gods, and was armed with a hammer called Miolner, or the Miller or Crusher. Thunder was thought to be caused by his swinging it through the air, and the mark in honor of him Avas "f , meant to be a likeness of his hammer. It was signed over^ boys when they were washed Avith water imme- diately after they Avere born ; and in some tribes they were laid in their father's shields, and had their first food from the point of his sword. These three were always the most honored of the Asa gods, though some tribes preferred one and The Ancient Grermans. 19 some the other; but Woden was always held to be the great father of all, and there were almost as many stories about the Asir as there were about the Greek gods, though we cannot be sure that all were known to all the tribes, and they were brought to their chief fulness in the branch of the race that dwelt in the far North, and who became Christians much later. Some beliefs, however, all had in com- mon, and we may understand hints about the old faith of the other tribes by the more complete northern stories. There was a great notion of battle going through everything. The Asa gods Avere summer gods, and their enemies were the forces of cold and darkness, the giants who lived in Jotenheim, the land of giants. All that was good was mixed up with light and summer in the old Deutsch notions ; all that was bad with darkness and cold. Baldur, the son of Woden, was beautiful, good, and glorious ; but Loki, the chief enemy, longed to kill him. ^His mother, Frigga, went round and made every crea- ture and plant swear never to hurt Baldur, but she missed one plant, the mistletoe. So when all his brothers were amusing themselves by throwing things at Baldur, knowing they could not hurt him, Loki slyly put in the hand of his blind brother 20 Young Folks' History of Germany, Hodur a branch of mistletoe which struck him dead. But Frigga so wept and prayed that it was decreed that Baldur might live again provided everything would weep for him; and everything accordingly did weep, except one old hag who sat under a tree, and would shed no tears for Baldur, so he might not live, only he was given back to his mother for half the year, and then faded and van- ished again for the other half. But Loki had his punishment, for he was chained under a crag with a serpent for ever dropping venom on his brow, though his wife was always catching it in a bowl, and it could only fall on him when she was gone to empty the bowl at the stream. It is plain that Baldur meant the leaves and trees of summer, and that the weeping of everything was the melting of the ice ; but there was mixed into the notion something much higher and greater re- specting the struggle between good and evil. CHAPTER IL VALHALL. THE hall of Woden was called Yalhall, * and thither were thought to go the souls of the brave. There were believed to be maidens called Yalkyr, or the choosers of the slain — Hilda, Guda, Truda, Mista, and others — who floated on swan's wings over the camps of armies before a battle and chose out who should be killed. Nor was such a death accounted a disaster, for to die bravely was the only way to the Hall of Woden, where the valiant enjoyed, on the other side of the rainbow bridge, the delights they cared for most in life — hunting the boar all day, and feasting on him all night ; drinking mead from the skulls of their conquered enemies. Shooting stars were held to be the track of weapons carried to supply the fresh *Val meant a brave death in battle. 21 22 Young Folks'^ History of Crermany, comers into Yalhall. Only by dying gallantly could entrance be won there ; and men would do anything rather than not die thus, rush on swords, leap from crags, drown themselves, and the like, for they believed that all who did not gain an en- trance to the Hall of the Slain became the prison- ers of Loki's pale daughter Hel, and had to live on in her cold, gloomy, sunless lands, sharing her bondage. For once Loki and his children, and the other evil beings of the mist land, had made a fierce at- tack on Woden, and had all been beaten and bound. Fenris, the son of Loki, was a terrible wolf, who was made prisoner and was to be bound by a chain ; but he would only stand still on condition that Tyr or Tiw, the son of \Yoden, should put his right hand into his mouth in token of good faith. The moment that Fenris found that he was chained, he closed his jaws and bit off the hand of Tiw, whose image therefore only had one hand, and who is the god after whom Tuesday is named. Valhall was not, however, to last for ever. There was to come a terrible time called the Twilight of the Gods, when Loki and Fenris would burst their chains and attack the Asa gods ; Woden would be slain by Fenris ; Thor would perish in the flood of Valhall. 25 poison cast forth by the terrible serpent Midgard ; and there would be a great outburst of fire, which would burn up Valhall and all mthin, as well as the powers of evil. Only two of the gods, Vidiu- and Wali, were to survive, and these would make again a new heaven and earth, in which the spirits of gods and men would lead a new and more glo- rious life. How much of all tliis grew up later and was caught from Christianity we cannot tell ; but there is reason to tliink that much of it was believed, and that heartily, making the German nations brave and true, and helping them to despise death. There were temples to the gods, where the three figures of Woden, Frey, and Thor were always together in rude carving, and sometimes with rougli jewels for eyes. Woden also had sacred oaks, and the great stone altars on heaths, raised probably by an earlier race, were sacred to him. Sometimes human sacri- fices were offered there, but more often sacred horses, for horses were the most sacred of their animals: they were kept in honor of the gods, auguries were drawn from their neighings, and at the great yearly feasts they were offered in sacri- fice, and their flesh was eaten. There were gods of the waters, Niord, and Egir, 26. Young Folks* History of G-ermany, who raised the great wave as the tide comes in at the mouth of rivers ; and his cruel daughter Rana, who went about in a sea chariot causing shipwrecks. Witches called upon her when they wanted to raise storms and drown their enemies at sea. One old German story held that Tiw * was the father of Man, and that man's three sons were Ing, Isk, and Er, the fathers of the chief Deutsch tribes. Isk (or Ash) was the father of the Franks and Allemans ; Ing, of the Swedes, Angles, and Saxons ; and Er, or Erman, of a tribe called by the Romans Herminiones. This same Er or Erman had a temple called Eresburg, with a marble pillar on which stood an armed warrior holding in one hand a banner bearmg a rose, in the other a pair of scales; his crest was a cock ; he had a bear on Ins breast, and on his shield was a lion in a field of flowers. A college of priests lived around ; and before the army went out to battle, they galloped round and round the figure in full armor, brandishing their spears and praying for victory ; and on their return they offered up in sacrifice, sometimes their prisoners, sometimes cowards who had fled from the foe. The image was called Irmansul — sul meaning a pillar ; and two pillars or posts were the great token * TJie same word as the Greek Zeus and Latin Deus. Valhatl 27, of home and settlement to the German nations. They were planted at the gate of their villages and towns, where one was called the Ermansaul, the other the Rolandsaul. And when a family were about to change their home, they uprooted the two wooden pillars of their own house and took them away. If they went by sea, they threw their pillars THE ELVES. overboard, and fixed themselves wherever these posts were cast up. Dutch fancy filled the woods, hills, and streams with spirits. There were Elves tliroughout the 28 Young Folks' History of G-ermany. woods and plains, shadowy creatures who sported in the night and watched over human beings for ^ood or harm. Tlie Bergmen dwelt in the hills, keeping guard over the metals and jewels hidden there, and forging wonderful swords that always struck home, and were sometimes given to lucky mortals, though they generally served for the fights in Valhall; and the waters had Necks and other spirits dangerous to those who loitered by the water-side. A great many of our best old fairy tales were part of the ancient German mytholog}^ and have come down to our own times as stories told by parents to their children. There Avere German women who acted as priest- esses to Frigga, or Hertha, the Earth, as she was often called. She had a great temple in Rugen, an isle in the Baltic ; her image was brought out thence at certain times, in a chariot drawn by white heifers, to bless the people and be washed in the Baltic waters. Orion's belt was called her distaff, and the gossamer marked her path over the fields when she brought summer ^vith her. When one of the northern tribes was going to start to the south to find new homes, their wives prayed to Frigga to give them good speed. She bade them stand forth the next morning in the rising - Valhall. 29 sun with their long hair let down over their chins. "Who are these long beards?" asked Woden. " Thou hast given them a name, so thou must give them the victory," said Frigga; and henceforth the tribes were called Longbeards, or Lombards. Before a battle, the matrons used to cast lots to guess how the fortunes of the day would go, doing below what the Valkyr did above. Sometimes a more than commonly wise woman would arise among them, and she was called the Wala, or Velleda, and looked up to and obeyed by all. CHAPTER HI. THE GERMANS AND ROMANS. B.C. 00— A. D. 400. JUST as it was with the Britons aird Gauls, the first we know of the Germans was when the Romans began to fight with them. When Julius Csesar was in Gaul, there was a great chief among the tribe called Schwaben — Suevi, as the Romans made it — called Ehrfurst,* or, as in Latin, Ariovistus, who had been invited into Gaul to settle the quarrels of two tribes of Gauls in the north. This he did by conquering them both ; but they then begged help from Csesar, and Ehrfurst was beaten by the Romans and driven back. Csesar then crossed the Rhine by a bridge of boats and ravaged the country, staying there for eighteen days. He was so struck with the bravery of the * Honor prince. 30 The Velleda Warning Drusui 32 Young Folks' History of Germant/. Germans that he persuaded their young men to serve in his legions, where they were very useful ; but they also learned to fight in the Roman fashion. Germany was let alone till the time of the Em- peror Augustus, when his step-son Drusus tried, to make it a province of Rome, and built fifty for- tresses along the Rhine, besides cutting a canal be- tween that river and the Yssel, and sailing along the coasts of the North sea. He three times en- tered Germany, and in the year B.C. 9, after beating the Marchmen, was just going to cross the Elbe, when one of the Velledas, a woman of great stature, stood before the army and said, " Thou greedy rob- ber ! wliither wouldst thou go? The end of thy misdeeds and of thy life is at hand." The Romans turned back dismayed ; and thirty days later Drusus was killed by a fall from his horse. Drusus' brother Tiberius went on with the at- tempt, and gained some land, while other tribes were allies of Rome, and all seemed likely to be conquered, when Quinctilius Varus, a Roman who came out to take the command, began to deal so rudely and harshly with the Germans that a young chief named Herman, of Arminius, was roused. He had secret meetings at night in the woods with other chiefs, and they swore to be faithful to one The Crermmis and Romans. 35 another in the name of their gods. When all was ready, information was given to Varus that a tribe in the north had revolted. He would not listen to Siegert or Segestes, the honest German who ad- vised him to be cautious and to keep Herman as a hostage, and set out with three legions to put it down; but his German guides led him into the thickest of the great Teutoberg forest, and the further they went the worse this grew. Trunks of trees blocked up the road, darts were hurled from behind trees, and when at last an open space was gained after three days' struggling through the wood, a huge host of foes was drawn up there, and in the dreadful fight that followed almost every Roman was cut off, and Varus tlirew himself on his own sword. Herman married the daughter of Siegert, and was cliief on the Hartz mountains, aided by his un- cle Ingomar ; but after five years, A.D. 14, the Em- peror Tiberius sent the son of Drusus — Avho was called already, from his father's successes, German- icus — against him. Some of the Germans, viewing Siegert as a friend of Rome, beset his village, and were going to burn it, when Germanicus came in time to disperse them and save Siegert. Thus- nelda, the wife of Herman, was with her father, 36 Young Folks' History of G-ermany. and was sent off as a prisoner to Rome with her baby ; wiiile Germanicus marched into the Teuto- berg wood, found the bones of the army of Varus, and burnt them on a funeral pile, making a speech callinc^ on his men to avengje their death. But Herman's horsemen fell on him and defeated hun, and if the Germans had not been so eager to plun- der they would have made a great many , prisoners. They drove the Romans back across the Rhine, and the next year w^ere ready for them, and had a tre- mendous battle on the banks of the AYeser. In tliis the Romans prevailed, and Herman himself was badly wounded, and was only saved by the fleetness of liis horse. However, he Avas not daunted, and still kept in the w^oods and harassed the Romans, once forcing them to take refuge in their ships. Tiberius grew jealous of the love the army bore to Germanicus, and sent for liim to return to Rome. Herman thus had saved his country, but he had come to expect more power than his chiefs thought liis due, and he was slain by liis own kinsmen, a.d. 19, when only thirty-seven years old. His wife and child had been shown in Germanicus' triumph, and he never seems to have seen them again. It was during this war that the great Roman historian The G-ermans and Romans. 37 Tacitus came to learn the liabits and manners of the Germans, and was so struck with their simple truth and bravery that he Y