Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/16

PRUSSIA [HISTORY. to resist the barons, which saved industry and commerce from extinction at a time of unbridled laAvlessness, when the central power could do nothing for their aid. In the pecuniary embarrassments of the margraves also originated the power of the Stande, or estates, consisting of the noblesse, the clergy, and the towns. The first recorded instance of a diet co-operating with the ruler occurs in 1 170, and in 1280 we find the margraves solemnly binding themselves not to raise a " bede " or special voluntary con- tribution (like the English " benevolence ") without the consent of their estates. By 1355 the estates had secured the appointment of a permanent councillor, without whose concurrence the decrees of the margraves were invalid. In the century that followed the extinction of the Ascanians liberty degenerated into licence, and the land was given over to an almost total anarchy. Only the most powerful towns were able to maintain their independence, and many of them and of the clergy paid regular black-mail to the nearest nobles. Thus rotten within, it is no wonder that the electorate completely lost its independent political importance. The The Hohenzollenis. The new ruler who had to face this Hohen- s t a te of affairs was a member of an old Swabian family, ' which took its name of Hohenzollern from the ancestral castle in the Swabian Alb. Recent investigation has traced back the line to Hunfrid, duke of Rhsetia and Istria at the beginning of the 9th century, a member of the widely-spread family of the Burkardingians, while it finds the actual progenitors of the Swabian branch of the family in two Alemannian dukes of the 10th century. At a later period the Hohenzollerns were conspicuous for their loyal services to the Hohenstauffen emperors, under whom they acquired extensive possessions in Franconia and Moravia, and also the office of burgrave of Nuremberg (1191). They were ultimately recognized as among the most powerful princes of the empire, and, though they never attained to the electoral dignity, they frequently exercised considerable influence in the transference of the imperial crown. Rudolf of Hapsburg owed his succession in 1273 to the exertions of one Hohenzollern burgrave, and Louis the Bavarian owed the victory of Miihldorf (1322) to another. The two sons of the first burgrave, Conrad and Frederick, divided their inheritance between them, the former retaining the Franconian estates and the dignity of burgrave, the latter the ancestral possessions in Swabia. From the first of these descended the rulers of Prussia, while the other line also still exists in the person of the mediatized prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Elector Frederick (1415-1440), who as elector of Brandenburg Freder- assumed the style of Frederick I., showed himself equal to the troublesome task before him, and would have been still more successful had his interests been limited to the elec- torate. By a prudent mixture of lenity and firmness, which did not shrink from actual fighting, he controlled the law- lessness of the Quitzows and other robber barons, restored a fair degree of internal order, and made his subjects feel that the central power was a fact that could not be ignored. While thus regulating the affairs of Brandenburg, Frederick was also a conspicuous figure in imperial politics, especially in the Hussite wars. His candidature for the imperial throne in 1438 may be regarded as the first occasion on which the houses of Hohenzollern and Hapsburg came into Freder- competition. Frederick was succeeded in Brandenburg by ick II. hi s son Frederick II. (1440-1470), and in his Franconian possessions by his son Albert. The former followed in his father's footsteps by taking energetic measures to consoli- date his power and restore the electorate to its former extent. His chief struggle was with the large towns, which had cordially welcomed the Hohenzollerns as cham- pions against the freebooting barons, but were unwilling to allow any intervention in their own affairs. Frederick subdued the resistance of Berlin, among other towns, and by a somewhat unwarrantable stretch of his prerogative erected a royal castle within its walls. He also regained possession of the Neumark, which had been given in pledge to the Teutonic Order in 1402, and would have added Lusatia and Pomerania to his domains if the emperor had not placed obstacles in his way. A long-standing feud with the archbishop of Magdeburg was also finally settled in this reign. Under his brother and successor Albert (1470-1486), surnamed "Achilles " from his chival- Albert rous valour and military talent, the Franconian lands were (Achilles; again united with Brandenburg. Albert allowed his devo- tion to the emperor to interfere to some extent with his own interests, but he carried on successful wars with Mecklenburg and Pomerania, and effectually resisted the attempts of the Teutonic knights to repossess themselves of the Neumark. His name is best remembered by the Dispositio Achillea, a family ordinance providing for the future separation of Brandenburg and Ansbach-Baireuth, and establishing the custom of primogeniture in each. According to Hallam, this was the first instance of the legal establishment of primogeniture, and, when we con- sider the effect it had in keeping the Brandenburg posses- sions together, while those of Saxony (for instance) were frittered away among younger sons and their descendants, we shall not fail to discern its importance in determining Prussia's future. With the accession of John (1486-1499), John surnamed " Cicero " on account of his eloquence or of his (Cicero), knowledge of Latin, begins a short period in which the rulers of Brandenburg take little share in imperial politics. At home John found his hands full in repressing the dis- orders that had arisen through Albert's long absence from the electorate, and he acted with such vigour and address that he succeeded in obtaining from the towns an import- ant excise on beer, frequently refused to his father. The old claim to feudal supremacy over Pomerania, dating from the days of the Ascanians, was compromised in 1493 for an assurance of eventual succession on the extinction of the Pomeranian dukes. The next elector, Joachim I. Joachim (1499-1535), acquired the surname of "Nestor" from his 1 - ( Nes - encouragement of learning, which he showed inter alia by the foundation of a university at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. He also effected an important internal reform by the intro- duction of Roman law, looking upon this as an easier way of securing uniformity of procedure than by a codification of the heterogeneous common law of his dominions. The inconvenience arising from the fact that the supreme court followed the sovereign from place to place was now re- moved in Brandenburg, as a short time before in England, by the establishment of a fixed and central court of final jurisdiction (Kammergerichfy. This court had its seat at Berlin, which had recently become the capital and resi- dence of the electors. In curbing the lawlessness of the nobles, who were yet far from being perfectly disciplined, Joachim showed as strong a hand as his predecessors. He adhered strenuously to his Roman Catholic belief in spite of the fact that Protestantism had been embraced by his own family and by most of his subjects, and he regarded with abhorrence the attitude of the Protestant princes towards the emperor. In violation of the family law, Joachim I. bequeathed the Neumark to his younger son John, and thus Joachim II. (1535-1571) succeeded to only Joachim a part of the paternal possessions. John seems to have H- been the more vigorous and decided of the two brothers, and led the way in announcing his transition to the Pro- testant faith, followed by Joachim in 1539. John also joined the Schmalkald League, but was induced to retire from it by his brother, who succeeded in conjoining an adoption of the Reformation in his own dominions with