What are the features of feudal fragmentation in Germany in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries? Detailed answer

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What are the features of feudal fragmentation in Germany in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries? Detailed answer

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What are the features of feudal fragmentation in Germany in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries?

A characteristic feature of the political life of Germany in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries. was the strengthening of the system of territorial principalities. The country failed to overcome feudal fragmentation. Socio-economic shifts in the development of the country did not lead to the formation of a single economic center, to which all regions of the country would gravitate. For many German lands and cities closely connected with transit foreign trade, the unification of the country was not a vital necessity. Regional centralization was the economic basis of the so-called territorial principalities, that is, compact territories within which the ruling elite had relatively complete power. Territorial princes encouraged the development of cities in their lands, founded new trade and craft centers. The links of such economically and politically wealthy lands with the central royal power were weakening. In medieval Germany, there was no union of royal power and cities, which was a necessary condition for overcoming the political fragmentation of the country.

Lacking a solid social base, the German emperors were forced to maneuver between the regional princes and thus contribute to their further strengthening. This policy was pursued by Frederick I Barbarossa and his successor Frederick II. Legislative consolidation of the independence of local princes led to even greater fragmentation of the country. The emperors, abandoning the great-power policy, themselves more and more turned into territorial princes.

Economic changes associated with the growth of crafts and trade, and in the fourteenth century. did not lead to the emergence of all-German market relations and a single economic center.

In the XIV-XV centuries. increased social tension between cities and princes, on whose lands these cities developed. Weak imperial power could not protect the interests of the townspeople, merchants from the arbitrariness of local princes. Under these conditions, the cities were forced to unite in unions.

The largest of these alliances was the North German Hansa. By the middle of the fourteenth century. The Hansa embraced with its influence almost all German cities located on the shores of the North and Baltic Seas. Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen became the core of the union. They sought to concentrate in their hands all intermediary trade in the basin of the Baltic and North Seas.

In the conditions of political fragmentation that prevailed in Germany, the Hanseatic League acted as an independent political force. However, with all its might, the Hanseatic League did not become the economic and political core of Germany. The union had neither a common administration, nor a common finance, nor a common fleet. Each city that was a member of the Hanse conducted its own affairs.

In the fourteenth century the political fragmentation of Germany was legally fixed in the "Golden Bull" issued by Emperor Charles IV in 1356.

According to the document, the princes were recognized for their full sovereignty in the principalities: the right to judge, collect duties, mint coins, and exploit natural resources. The Golden Bull proclaimed that the empire was a political organization of sovereign princes. Germany became more and more fragmented, its center - more and more weak. Nevertheless, the search for ways to the imperial form did not stop. At the end of the 80s. XV century in Southwestern Germany, a large political and military association arose - the Swabian Union. Formally, it was an association of knights and imperial cities of Southwestern Germany, which was joined by individual large princes.

At the Reichstags of 1495 and 19500, which were at the head of the Swabian League, the princes carried out a project of "imperial reform". It was decided to proclaim in the empire "zemstvo peace", that is, the prohibition of internal wars, and to create an all-imperial administration and an imperial court to settle disputes between the princes. However, for fear of undermining the sovereignty of their territories, the princes did not want the imperial institutions to have real military and financial power and their own executive bodies. The "imperial reform" did not achieve its goal: instead of eliminating petty holdings and political fragmentation, it only strengthened them even more.

Author: Irina Tkachenko

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Who was Theseus' father?

The Athenian king Aegeus was married twice, but none of the wives bore him a child. He asked the Delphic oracle how to get an heir, and he warned the king not to untie the ends of the wineskin until he returned to Athens, or one day he would have to die of sadness.

Aegeus could not interpret this answer in any way, and on the way home he stopped at Troezen to see his friend Pittheus. He immediately understood the words of the oracle and, having drunk the guest, put him to bed with his daughter Ephra. Some time later that night, Poseidon also took possession of her. So Ephra gave birth to Theseus, who had two fathers at once: one was a mortal, the other was a god. The paternity of Poseidon was subsequently confirmed as follows.

When the grown-up Theseus went to Crete to kill the monstrous Minotaur, he had a squabble with the Cretan king Minos. Each of them called the other fatherless, after which Minos declared Zeus his father, and Theseus - Poseidon. Throwing a ring with a seal into the waves, Minos suggested that Theseus get it from the bottom of the sea and thereby confirm his relationship with Poseidon. Theseus dived into the sea, where a flock of dolphins honorably escorted him to Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon. The sea queen sent the Nereids in all directions, who quickly found the ring of Minos and gave it to Theseus, and Amphitrite herself handed him a golden crown decorated with stones.

Appearing from the sea, Theseus held in his hands both a ring and a crown of divine beauty, which was subsequently worn by Ariadne, the daughter of Minos.

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