HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter VII. - Margraviate of Culmbach: Baireuth, Anspach.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter VII. - Margraviate of Culmbach: Baireuth, Anspach.
by Thomas Carlyle
In the Year 1248, in his Castle of Plassenburg,--which is now a
Correction-House, looking down upon the junction of the Red and
White Mayn,--Otto Duke of Meran, a very great potentate, more like
a King than a Duke, was suddenly clutched hold of by a certain
wedded gentleman, name not given, "one of his domestics or
dependents," whom he had enraged beyond forgiveness (signally
violating the Seventh Commandment at his expense); and was by the
said wedded gentleman there and then cut down, and done to death.
"Lamentably killed, jammerlich erstochen,"
says old Rentsch. [P. 293. Kohler, Reichs-Historie,
p. 245. Holle, Alte Geschichte der Stadt Baireuth
(Baireuth, 1833), pp. 34-37.] Others give a different
color to the homicide, and even a different place; a controversy
not interesting to us. Slain at any rate he is; still a young man;
the last male of his line. Whereby the renowned Dukes of Meran
fall extinct, and immense properties come to be divided among
connections and claimants.
Meran, we remark, is still a Town, old Castle now abolished, in
the Tyrol, towards the sources of the Etsch (called ADIGE by
Italian neighbors). The Merans had been lords not only of most of
the Tyrol; but Dukes of "the Voigtland;"--Voigtland, that is
BAILLIE-LAND, wide country between Nurnberg and the Fichtelwald;
why specially so called, Dryasdust dimly explains, deducing it
from certain Counts von Reuss, those strange Reusses who always
call themselves HENRY, and now amount to HENRY THE EIGHTIETH AND
ODD, with side-branches likewise called Henry; whose nomenclature
is the despair of mankind, and worse than that of the Naples
Lazzaroni who candidly have no names!--Dukes of Voigtland, I say;
likewise of Dalmatia; then also Markgraves of Austria; also Counts
of Andechs, in which latter fine country (north of Munchen a day's
ride), and not at Plassenburg, some say, the man was slain.
These immense possessions, which now (A.D. 1248) all fall asunder
by the stroke of that sword, come to be divided among the slain
man's connections, or to be snatched up by active neighbors, and
otherwise disposed of.
Active Wurzburg, active Bamberg, without much connection, snatched
up a good deal: Count of Orlamunde, married to the eldest Sister
of the slain Duke, got Plassenburg and most of the Voigtland:
a Tyrolese magnate, whose Wife was an Aunt of the Duke's, laid
hold of the Tyrol, and transmitted it to daughters and their
spouses,--the finish of which line we shall see by and by:--
in short, there was much property in a disposable condition.
The Hohenzollern Burggraf of Nurnberg, who had married a younger
Sister of the Duke's two years before this accident, managed to
get at least BAIREUTH and some adjacencies; big Orlamunde, who had
not much better right, taking the lion's share. This of Baireuth
proved a notable possession to the Hohenzollern family: it was
Conrad the first Burggraf's great-grandson, Friedrich, counted
"Friedrich III." among the Burggraves, who made the acquisition
in this manner, A.D. 1248.
Onolzbach (On'z-BACH or "-brook," now called ANSPACH) they got,
some fourscore years after, by purchase and hard money down
("24,000 pounds of farthings," whatever that may be), [A.D. 1331:
Stadt Anspach, by J. B. Fischer (Anspach,
1786), p. 196.] which proved a notable twin possession of the
family. And then, in some seven years more (A.D. 1338), the big
Orlamunde people, having at length, as was too usual, fallen
considerably insolvent, sold Plassenburg Castle itself, the
Plassenburg with its Town of Culmbach and dependencies, to the
Hohenzollern Burggraves, [Rentsch, p. 157.] who had always ready
money about them. Who in this way got most of the Voigtland, with
a fine Fortress, into hand; and had, independently of Nurnberg and
its Imperial properties, an important Princely Territory of their
own. Margraviate or Principality of CULMBACH (Plassenburg being
only the Castle) was the general title; but more frequently in
later times, being oftenest split in two between brothers
unacquainted with primogeniture, there were two Margraviates
made of it: one of Baireuth, called also "Margraviate On the
Hill;" and one of Anspach, "Margraviate Under the Hill:" of which,
in their modern designations, we shall by and by hear more
than enough.
Thus are the Hohenzollern growing, and never declining: by these
few instances judge of many. Of their hard labors, and the storms
they had to keep under control, we could also say something:
How the two young Sons of the Burggraf once riding out with their
Tutor, a big hound of theirs in one of the streets of Nurnberg
accidentally tore a child; and there arose wild mother's-wail;
and "all the Scythe-smiths turned out," fire-breathing, deaf to a
poor Tutor's pleadings and explainings; and how the Tutor, who had
ridden forth in calm humor with two Princes, came galloping home
with only one,--the Smiths having driven another into boggy
ground, and there caught and killed him; [Rentsch, p. 306 (Date
not given; guess, about 1270).] with the Burggraf's commentary on
that sad proceeding (the same Friedrich III. who had married
Meran's Sister); and the amends exacted by him, strict and severe,
not passionate or inhuman. Or again how the Nurnbergers once, in
the Burggraf's absence, built a ring-wall round his Castle;
entrance and exit now to depend on the Nurnbergers withal! And how
the Burggraf did not fly out into battle in consequence, but
remedied it by imperturbable countenance and power of driving.
With enough of the like sort; which readers can conceive.
BURGGRAF FRIEDRICH III.; AND THE ANARCHY OF NINETEEN YEARS.
This same Friedrich III., Great-grandson of Conrad the first
Burggraf, was he that got the Burggraviate made hereditary in his
family (A.D. 1273); which thereby rose to the fixed rank of
Princes, among other advantages it was gaining. Nor did this
acquisition come gratis at all, but as the fruit of good service
adroitly done; service of endless importance as it proved.
Friedrich's life had fallen in times of huge anarchy; the
Hohenstauffen line gone miserably out,--Boy Conradin, its last
representative, perishing on the scaffold even (by a desperate
Pope and a desperate Duke of Anjou); [At Naples, 25th October,
1268.] Germans, Sicilian Normans, Pope and Reich, all at daggers-
drawn with one another; no Kaiser, nay as many as Three at once!
Which lasted from 1254 onwards; and is called "the Interregnum,"
or Anarchy "of Nineteen Years," in German History.
Let us at least name the Three Kaisers, or Triple-elixir of
No-Kaiser; though, except as chronological landmarks, we have not
much to do with them. First Kaiser is William Count of Holland,
a rough fellow, Pope's protege, Pope even raising cash for him;
till William perished in the Dutch peat-bogs (horse and man,
furiously pursuing, in some fight there, and getting swallowed up
in that manner); which happily reduces our false Kaisers to two:
Second and Third, who are both foreign to Germany.
Second Kaiser is Alphonso King of Castille, Alphonso the Wise,
whose saying about Ptolemy's Astronomy, "That it seemed a crank
machine; that it was pity the Creator had not taken advice!" is
still remembered by mankind;--this and no other of his many
sayings and doings. He was wise enough to stay at home; and except
wearing the title, which cost nothing, to concern himself very
little about the Holy Roman Empire,--some clerk or two dating
"TOLETI (at Toledo)," did languidly a bit of official writing
now and then, and that was all. Confused crank machine this of
the German Empire too, your Majesty? Better stay at home, and
date "TOLETI."
The Third false Kaiser--futile call him rather, wanting clear
majority--was the English Richard of Cornwall; younger Son of John
Lackland; and little wiser than his Father, to judge by those
symptoms. He had plenty of money, and was liberal with it;--no
other call to Germany, you would say, except to get rid of his
money;--in which he succeeded. He lived actually in Germany,
twice over for a year or two:--Alphonse and he were alike shy of
the Pope, as Umpire; and Richard, so far as his money went, found
some gleams of authority and comfortable flattery in the Rhenish
provinces: at length, in 1263, money and patience being both
probably out, he quitted Germany for the second and last time;
came home to Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire here, [Gough's
Camden, i.339.] more fool than he went. Till his
death (A.D. 1271), he continued to call himself, and was by many
persons called, Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire;--needed a German
clerk or two at Berkhamstead, we can suppose: but never went back;
preferring pleasant Berkhamstead, with troubles of Simon de
Montfort or whatever troubles there might be, to anything Germany
had to offer him.
These were the Three futile Kaisers: and the LATE Kaiser Conrad's
young Boy, who one day might have swept the ground clear of them,
perished,--bright young Conradin, bright and brave, but only
sixteen, and Pope's captive by ill luck,--perished on the
scaffold; "throwing out his glove" (in symbolical protest) amid
the dark mute Neapolitan multitudes, that wintry morning. It was
October 25th, 1268,--Dante Alighieri then a little boy at
Florence, not three years old; gazing with strange eyes as the
elders talked of such a performance by Christ's Vicar on Earth.
A very tragic performance indeed, which brought on the Sicilian
Vespers by and by; for the Heavens never fail to pay debts,
your Holiness!--
Germany was rocking down towards one saw not what,--an Anarchic
Republic of Princes, perhaps, and of Free Barons fast verging
towards robbery? Sovereignty of multiplex Princes, with a Peerage
of intermediate Robber Barons? Things are verging that way.
Such Princes, big and little, each wrenching off for himself what
lay loosest and handiest to him, found it a stirring game, and not
so much amiss. On the other hand, some voice of the People, in
feeble whimperings of a strange intensity, to the opposite effect,
are audible to this day. Here are Three old Minstrels
(MINNESANGER) picked from Manesse's Collection by an obliging
hand, who are of this date, and shall speak each a word:--
No. 1 LOQUITOR (in cramp doggerel, done into speech): "To thee,
O Lord, we poor folk make moan; the Devil has sown his seeds in
this land! Law thy hand created for protection of thy children:
but where now is Law? Widows and orphans weep that the Princes do
not unite to have a Kaiser."
No. 2: "The Princes grind in the Kaiser's mill: to the Reich they
fling the siftings; and keep to themselves the meal. Not much in
haste, they, to give us a Kaiser."
No. 3: "Like the Plague of Frogs, there they are come out;
defiling the Reich's honor. Stork, when wilt thou appear, then,"
and with thy stiff mandibles act upon them a little? [Mentzel,
Geschichte der Deutschen, p. 345.]
It was in such circumstances, that Friedrich III., Burggraf of
Nurnberg, who had long moaned and striven over these woes of his
country, came to pay that visit, late in the night (1st or 2d of
October, 1273), to his Cousin Rudolf Lord of Hapsburg, under the
walls of Basel; a notable scene in History. Rudolf was besieging
Basel, being in some feud with the Bishop there, of which
Friedrich and another had been proposed as umpires; and Friedrich
now waited on his Cousin, in this hasty manner,--not about the
Basel feud, but on a far higher quite unexpected errand,--to say,
That he Rudolf was elected Kaiser, and that better times for the
Holy Roman Empire were now probable, with Heaven's help. [Rentsch,
pp. 299, 285, 298.] We call him Cousin; though what the kindred
actually was, a kindred by mothers, remains, except the general
fact of it, disputable by Dryasdust. The actual visit, under the
walls of Basel, is by some considered romantic. But that Rudolf,
tough steel-gray man, besieging Basel on his own quarrel, on the
terms just stated, was altogether unexpectedly apprised of this
great news, and that Cousin Friedrich of Nurnberg had mainly
contributed to such issue, is beyond questioh. [Kohler, pp. 249,
251.] The event was salutary, like life instead of death,
to anarchic Germany; and did eminent honor to Friedrich's judgment
in men.
Richard of Cornwall having at last died, and his futile German
clerks having quitted Berkhamstead forever,--Alphonso of Castille,
not now urged by rivalry, and seeing long since what a crank
machine the thing was, had no objection to give it up; said so to
the Pope,--who was himself anxious for a settled Kaiser, the
supplies of Papal German cash having run almost dry during these
troubles. Whereupon ensued earnest consultations among leading
German men; Diet of the Empire, sternly practical (we may well
perceive), and with a minimum of talk, the Pope too being held
rather well at a distance: the result of which was what we see.
[29th September, 1273.] Mainly due to Friedrich of Nurnberg, say
all Historians; conjoining with him the then Archbishop of Mainz,
who is officially President Elector (literally CONVENER of
Electors): they two did it. Archbishop of Mainz had himself a
pleasant accidental acquaintance with Rudolf,--a night's lodging
once at Hapsburg, with escort over the Hills, in dangerous
circumstances;--and might the more readily be made to understand
what qualities the man now had; and how, in justness of insight,
toughness of character, and general strength of bridle-hand, this
actually might be the adequate man.
KAISER RUDOLF AND BURGGRAF FRIEDRICH III.
Last time we saw Rudolf, near thirty years ago, he was some
equerry or subaltern dignitary among the Ritters of King Ottocar,
doing a Crusade against the Prussian Heathen, and seeing his
master found Konigsberg in that country. Changed times now!
Ottocar King of Bohemia, who (by the strong hand mainly, and money
to Richard of Cornwall, in the late troubles) has become Duke of
Austria and much else, had himself expected the Kaisership; and of
all astonished men, King Ottocar was probably the most astonished
at the choice made. A dread sovereign, fierce, and terribly
opulent, and every way resplendent to such degree; and this
threadbare Swiss gentleman-at-arms, once "my domestic" (as Ottocar
loved to term it), preferred to me! Flat insanity, King Ottocar
thought; refused to acknowledge such a Kaiser; would not in the
least give up his unjust properties, or even do homage for them or
the others.
But there also Rudolf contrived to be ready for him. Rudolf
invaded his rich Austrian territories; smote down Vienna, and
all resistance that there was; [1276 (Kohler, p. 253).] forced
Ottocar to beg pardon and peace. "No pardon, nor any speech of
peace, till you first do homage for all those lands of yours,
whatever we may find them to be!" Ottocar was very loath;
but could not help himself. Ottocar quitted Prag with a
resplendent retinue, to come into the Danube country, and do
homage to "my domestic" that once was. He bargained that the sad
ceremony should be at least private; on an Island in the Danube,
between the two retinues or armies; and in a tent, so that only
official select persons might see it. The Island is called CAMBERG
(near Vienna, I conclude), in the middle of the Donau River:
there Ottocar accordingly knelt; he in great pomp of tailorage,
Rudolf in mere buff jerkin, practical leather and iron;--hide it,
charitable canvas, from all but a few! Alas, precisely at this
moment, the treacherous canvas rushes down,--hung so on purpose,
thinks Ottocar; and it is a tent indeed; but a tent without walls;
and all the world sees me in this scandalous plight!
Ottocar rode home in deep gloom; his poor Wife, too, upbraided
him: he straightway rallied into War again; Rudolf again very
ready to meet him. Rudolf met him, Friedrich of Nurnberg there
among the rest under the Reichs-Banner; on the Marchfeld by the
Donau (modern WAGRAM near by); and entirely beat and even slew and
ruined Ottocar. [26th August, 1278 (Kohler, p. 253.)] Whereby
Austria fell now to Rudolf, who made his sons Dukes of it; which,
or even Archdukes, they are to this day. Bohemia, Moravia, of
these also Rudolf would have been glad; but of these there is an
heir of Ottocar's left; these will require time and luck.
Prosperous though toilsome days for Rudolf; who proved an
excellent bit of stuff for a Kaiser; and found no rest, proving
what stuff he was. In which prosperities, as indeed he continued
to do in the perils and toils, Burggraf Friedrich III. of Nurnberg
naturally partook: hence, and not gratis at all, the Hereditary
Burggrafdom, and many other favors and accessions he got. For he
continued Rudolf's steady helper, friend and first-man in all
things, to the very end. Evidently one of the most important men
in Germany, and candor will lead us to guess one of the worthiest,
during those bad years of Interregnum, and the better ones of
Kaisership. After Conrad his great-grandfather he is the second
notable architect of the Family House;--founded by Conrad;
conspicuously built up by this Friedrich III., and the first STORY
of it finished, so to speak. Then come two Friedrichs as
Burggrafs, his son and his grandson's grandson, "Friedrich IV."
and "Friedrich VI.," by whom it was raised to the second story and
the third,--thenceforth one of the high houses of the world.
That is the glimpse we can give of Friedrich first Hereditary
Burggraf, and of his Cousin Rudolf first Hapsburg Kaiser.
The latest Austrian Kaisers, the latest Kings of Prussia,
they are sons of these two men.
