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A History of Germany in the Middle Ages
"The fortunes and misfortunes of a Charlemagne and Henry IV., of a Barbarossa, a Henry VI. and an Emperor Frederick II... The rise and fall of the mediæval German Empire is in itself a subject boundlessly interesting, boundlessly important. ...See how Europe has come to be what it is, and how near it came to being something quite different! If Italy had remained under the sway of Germany, if Frederick Barbarossa or his successors had done away with the papal power, as they often seemed about to do, would the fate of England and France have been the same?"Ernest F. Henderson
229 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 22, 2024
This book was published in 1894, and while there has been a great deal of additional scholarship since then, it remains one of the best single volume treatments of Germany between the 400s and the 1200s. Its writing is surprisingly modern, and it is easy to read. Many books of that era inherited the verbose style of the Victorians, who seemed to operate on the principle of why use one word when you can use ten.
It is also history written in the top-down style that was popular for centuries. It focuses on kings, princes, and popes, and there is almost nothing about the common people who suffered and died at the hands of the nobles. The book repeatedly mentions invasions of territory and “devastating” the land, without pausing to remind the reader that this meant rape, pillage, murder, and likely starvation for the survivors. Readers who want a more modern perspective on the consequences of war in this era should consider Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century or Paul Collins’s The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century.
The book’s emphasis is on statecraft, the alliances, deals, negotiations and betrayals that shaped the history of the times. This was before the rights of succession as we know them were in place, where the crown automatically passes to one of the monarch’s children, and then to others in the bloodline if there are no direct heirs. Germany at this time was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and kings were elected by the great noble houses, who were usually jealous of each other, and often outright enemies.
Battles and campaigns are mentioned, but only in reference to their effects on political and strategic concerns, and it was a bit surprising to me to see great events get such short shrift. For instance, the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 is covered in only a few sentences even though it was a key event in shaping modern Europe. Had the Germans won France as we know it would not have existed.
Across the centuries a pattern emerged and was repeated time and again: the king died, several powerful men staked their claims to the crown, and often two were elected by different factions. Each of them then entered into negotiations to sway uncommitted princes and dukes through cash payments, grants of crown lands, or lucrative perks such as being allowed to mint their own money. One of these would gain an advantage and the other would submit or war would follow. Battles would be fought, castles and towns taken, and eventually the loser would yield or flee. The new king would then reward his followers, negotiate with the increasingly aggressive and assertive Church, hold assemblies and publish laws. He also had his knights to deal with, and while they were usually given some land and peasants to farm it, the real riches were from plunder, so there were armies to be raised and foreign territory to invade. When the king died, and many of them died young, the entire process would repeat.
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, his empire was split up among his sons, then split again and again among successive generations, many constantly at war with one another. Germany had shrunk to a series of independent duchies before strong kings emerged and vast territories were incorporated into the kingdom. At its height Germany would stretch from the Baltic to the Balkans, and from Poland to Sicily (the Wikipedia entry for Kingdom of Germany has a map showing it in the tenth century).
The Catholic church had shaken off fealty to Constantinople and was emerging from its own dark ages, where popes had long been pawns of the various Roman robber baron families, created and discarded as needed. As stronger men were elected to the position the Church began to consolidate its power and assert itself as the final authority over all the kingdoms of the earth.
In Germany the king once had the unquestioned authority to appoint bishops and archbishops, but gradually this changed into approving the appointments decided by the prelates, and then to surrendering this power altogether and accepting the Church’s selections. The Pope was not slow to use excommunication when his will was thwarted, which extended not only to the king and his court but to any church that continued to support him. Popes used this ban so extensively that it eventually came to be seen as just an inconvenience, of use mostly to rebels who sought to add the Church’s endorsement to support their claims.
The Church comes across as high handed and imperious, often shortsightedly shifting alliances in whatever scheme would temporarily advance its claims against the secular powers in Italy, Germany, or France. However, it should be remembered that civilization in Europe was under assault and in danger of collapse during much of the Middle Ages: Vikings attacked from the north and west, Magyars and Slavs from the east, and Saracens from the south. It was the sinews of the Church that held Europe together, keeping literacy and the memory of Greece and Rome alive. It bound the people and the nations with a common religion which, as the Crusades showed, could be mobilized for mighty undertakings. The kings and princes would have squabbled away the world for their own petty advantages, and it was the Church that kept the flame of civilization alive until the Renaissance brought better days.
The book ends with the final destruction of the house of kings, which would lead to Germany becoming a jumble of independent entities for six hundred years. When Prussia united it in 1871 Germany by then comprised 39 states, 10 episcopal cities ruled by bishops, and four independent imperial cities.
For those with an interest in this time period, or those intrigued by the political machinations of crowns and games of thrones, this is an informative, well written book that will not disappoint the reader.
It is also history written in the top-down style that was popular for centuries. It focuses on kings, princes, and popes, and there is almost nothing about the common people who suffered and died at the hands of the nobles. The book repeatedly mentions invasions of territory and “devastating” the land, without pausing to remind the reader that this meant rape, pillage, murder, and likely starvation for the survivors. Readers who want a more modern perspective on the consequences of war in this era should consider Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century or Paul Collins’s The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century.
The book’s emphasis is on statecraft, the alliances, deals, negotiations and betrayals that shaped the history of the times. This was before the rights of succession as we know them were in place, where the crown automatically passes to one of the monarch’s children, and then to others in the bloodline if there are no direct heirs. Germany at this time was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and kings were elected by the great noble houses, who were usually jealous of each other, and often outright enemies.
Battles and campaigns are mentioned, but only in reference to their effects on political and strategic concerns, and it was a bit surprising to me to see great events get such short shrift. For instance, the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 is covered in only a few sentences even though it was a key event in shaping modern Europe. Had the Germans won France as we know it would not have existed.
Across the centuries a pattern emerged and was repeated time and again: the king died, several powerful men staked their claims to the crown, and often two were elected by different factions. Each of them then entered into negotiations to sway uncommitted princes and dukes through cash payments, grants of crown lands, or lucrative perks such as being allowed to mint their own money. One of these would gain an advantage and the other would submit or war would follow. Battles would be fought, castles and towns taken, and eventually the loser would yield or flee. The new king would then reward his followers, negotiate with the increasingly aggressive and assertive Church, hold assemblies and publish laws. He also had his knights to deal with, and while they were usually given some land and peasants to farm it, the real riches were from plunder, so there were armies to be raised and foreign territory to invade. When the king died, and many of them died young, the entire process would repeat.
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, his empire was split up among his sons, then split again and again among successive generations, many constantly at war with one another. Germany had shrunk to a series of independent duchies before strong kings emerged and vast territories were incorporated into the kingdom. At its height Germany would stretch from the Baltic to the Balkans, and from Poland to Sicily (the Wikipedia entry for Kingdom of Germany has a map showing it in the tenth century).
The Catholic church had shaken off fealty to Constantinople and was emerging from its own dark ages, where popes had long been pawns of the various Roman robber baron families, created and discarded as needed. As stronger men were elected to the position the Church began to consolidate its power and assert itself as the final authority over all the kingdoms of the earth.
In Germany the king once had the unquestioned authority to appoint bishops and archbishops, but gradually this changed into approving the appointments decided by the prelates, and then to surrendering this power altogether and accepting the Church’s selections. The Pope was not slow to use excommunication when his will was thwarted, which extended not only to the king and his court but to any church that continued to support him. Popes used this ban so extensively that it eventually came to be seen as just an inconvenience, of use mostly to rebels who sought to add the Church’s endorsement to support their claims.
The Church comes across as high handed and imperious, often shortsightedly shifting alliances in whatever scheme would temporarily advance its claims against the secular powers in Italy, Germany, or France. However, it should be remembered that civilization in Europe was under assault and in danger of collapse during much of the Middle Ages: Vikings attacked from the north and west, Magyars and Slavs from the east, and Saracens from the south. It was the sinews of the Church that held Europe together, keeping literacy and the memory of Greece and Rome alive. It bound the people and the nations with a common religion which, as the Crusades showed, could be mobilized for mighty undertakings. The kings and princes would have squabbled away the world for their own petty advantages, and it was the Church that kept the flame of civilization alive until the Renaissance brought better days.
The book ends with the final destruction of the house of kings, which would lead to Germany becoming a jumble of independent entities for six hundred years. When Prussia united it in 1871 Germany by then comprised 39 states, 10 episcopal cities ruled by bishops, and four independent imperial cities.
For those with an interest in this time period, or those intrigued by the political machinations of crowns and games of thrones, this is an informative, well written book that will not disappoint the reader.
September 21, 2021
En solid och odramatisk genomgång av kungalängden i tyskromerska riket från Pippin till Hohenstaufenättens slut och den påföljande anarkin. Inga stora åthävor, helt ok formuleringar, inga gigantiska nedslag med nya upptäckter - även om jag personligen fascinerades av beskrivningarna av hovintriger bland karolingerna. Fokuset är tydligt på regenterna, och de delar av den politiska situationen som påverkade dem. Detta ger mer gott än det kostar - en röd tråd skapas, och det tyskromerska rikets annars svårbegripliga politik blir begripligare; priset är att mindre ständigt närvarande delar av riket - såsom Böhmen eller Mecklemburg - nästan helt utelämnas.
Vill man bättra på sin tyrskromerska kunskap är denna bok mycket väl värd din tid.
Vill man bättra på sin tyrskromerska kunskap är denna bok mycket väl värd din tid.
April 25, 2014
This is another cheap Kindle version of a public domain book, this time offered by The Pergamum Collection (I got it for free some time ago). Originally written in 1894 as the first volume of an English guide to German history, it covers from Roman times to the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the mid-13th century.
While the difference in publishers is evident in the fact that the nature of OCR-related problems is different, the fact is that they are present, and show that no real proofing of the document was done. From several occurrences of “Charles the Pat” before finally showing up properly as “Charles the Fat” the last time he is named, to “Emperor Frederick II.,” showing up as “Emperor Frederick IL,” in the introduction, the book has a large collection of minor problems that would have been fixed with a pair of attentive eyes. Overall, though, the incidence of problems is probably less than the average for Lecturable, so I marginally recommend Pergamum over them.
The book itself is quite good. It is of course dated, and mostly concerned with the affairs of kings and rebellions, though it does have chapters on society and literature at the end, and is written with a great deal of enthusiasm for the subject. I’ve long wanted some sort of answers as to how the post-Carolingian Kingdom of the East Franks turned into the disunited Holy Roman Empire of the Renaissance, and this book does talk about the turning point in the process, with rise of cities and local leagues as the administration of the Empire comes apart as the Papacy takes apart the Hohenstaufens and their attempts to unite Italy around the Papal territories.
While the difference in publishers is evident in the fact that the nature of OCR-related problems is different, the fact is that they are present, and show that no real proofing of the document was done. From several occurrences of “Charles the Pat” before finally showing up properly as “Charles the Fat” the last time he is named, to “Emperor Frederick II.,” showing up as “Emperor Frederick IL,” in the introduction, the book has a large collection of minor problems that would have been fixed with a pair of attentive eyes. Overall, though, the incidence of problems is probably less than the average for Lecturable, so I marginally recommend Pergamum over them.
The book itself is quite good. It is of course dated, and mostly concerned with the affairs of kings and rebellions, though it does have chapters on society and literature at the end, and is written with a great deal of enthusiasm for the subject. I’ve long wanted some sort of answers as to how the post-Carolingian Kingdom of the East Franks turned into the disunited Holy Roman Empire of the Renaissance, and this book does talk about the turning point in the process, with rise of cities and local leagues as the administration of the Empire comes apart as the Papacy takes apart the Hohenstaufens and their attempts to unite Italy around the Papal territories.
August 4, 2017
Great book
A very well written history of Germany, its beginnings and the interactions of the people with the European and Italian countries around them. I can recognize many of the fiefdoms like Loraine, Normandy, Tuscany etc. I recommend this book for anyone that wants to know about the early beginnings of Central Europe.
A very well written history of Germany, its beginnings and the interactions of the people with the European and Italian countries around them. I can recognize many of the fiefdoms like Loraine, Normandy, Tuscany etc. I recommend this book for anyone that wants to know about the early beginnings of Central Europe.
July 27, 2024
A history of kings, popes and wars. At time quite a lot of details and repetitative from one king to the other. As others have mentiond this is a book written over a hundred years ago and it has a lot of views and ways of discribing events we would not use today.
A nice referense book, though
A nice referense book, though
March 17, 2021
I liked this book but it has a few problems. It needs an editor, having lots of spelling and punctuation errors, which seems strange for such an old text.
I wish it covered all the medieval period up to 1500, instead of stopping basically with the last hohenstaufens.
The last two chapters on cities and literature were interesting but seemed tacked on as an afterthought.
Still worth the read if you are interested in the subject.
I wish it covered all the medieval period up to 1500, instead of stopping basically with the last hohenstaufens.
The last two chapters on cities and literature were interesting but seemed tacked on as an afterthought.
Still worth the read if you are interested in the subject.
February 20, 2024
Ernest F Henderson’s A History of Germany in the Middle Ages is a narrative history of Germany from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty near the end of the 13th Century. While this is a history of Germany it is impossible to disentangle Germany in the middle ages from what today would be considered all or parts of other nations. Thus the Frankish and Carolingian Empire of the 8th and 9th centuries eventually came to incorporate not just Germany but France, the low countries, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and some of Spain. Despite dissolution towards the end of the 9th Century the Holy Roman Empire for much of the rest of the period covered still included the low countries, parts of France, Switzerland, Austria, Northern Italy and Czechia. And much of this narrative is how the German Kings and Emperors succeeded, or failed, to keep them together - in particular from approximately 1000 onwards much time was spent in Italy which is reflected in the narrative.
I started reading this to get some background for other books that I was reading that were more focused (principally A King’s Ransom) but having read several large chunks of it I thought it best to complete it and write a review. As such I read this simply because it is available online for free (as a result of its’ age - published 1894) as I did not have a book covering the relevant bits of history to go to.
With eight hundred years to cover we dash forward at a great rate - particularly the first 500 years. Even significant reigns usually (until the very end) only get a relatively short chapter at most. My aim with picking this up was to get such an overview, and it is therefore a bit harsh to criticise this book for being rather thinly spread - but it is. While we get some idea of the events that take place there is little analysis, and not enough detail for the reader to make their own views. We are essentially forced to go along with the author's interpretation because we almost always just get a single narrative.
Sometimes we are told which chronicaller said something. But we are also quite often left with a quote without any idea of where or who it is from. This is combined with a complete lack of foot/end noting that I always dislike. Though there are a few pages on the authorities consulted at the beginning and the introduction also discusses how chroniclers worked.
Given its’ age it should be no surprise that this is a political narrative with some religion attached. This is what chroniclers wrote about. The book predates the move to looking at society by half a century and also mostly ignores the economy. Where it does go into other topics it is oddly shunted off. Thus there are two short chapters at the end on internal developments; the towns and feudalism. And also on literature. This final one is by far the oddest chapter as it consists essentially of short summaries of major works of the middle ages in Germany with nothing telling us why they are important or worth summarising.
One final oddity is the ending of the narrative. For a book proclaiming itself a history of the middle ages it seems rather odd to end in the 1270s when the middle ages are normally considered to last roughly two centuries longer. There is some rationale for this; the Hohenstaufen dynasty ends, and with it attempts at imperial centralisation. But in other respects it is an odd time to choose as Germany over the next few decades becomes much more like the Holy Roman Empire known up to 1806, it would have been helpful to have shown that change. Just to make the decision even stranger that section on literature mentioned in the last paragraph runs further than the narrative to the end of the 13th Century which makes me wonder if the original intention was to go further.
Unless you just want a basic narrative I can't really recommend this book. Even then it is dated and not very incisive so I would imagine there would now be better alternatives.
I started reading this to get some background for other books that I was reading that were more focused (principally A King’s Ransom) but having read several large chunks of it I thought it best to complete it and write a review. As such I read this simply because it is available online for free (as a result of its’ age - published 1894) as I did not have a book covering the relevant bits of history to go to.
With eight hundred years to cover we dash forward at a great rate - particularly the first 500 years. Even significant reigns usually (until the very end) only get a relatively short chapter at most. My aim with picking this up was to get such an overview, and it is therefore a bit harsh to criticise this book for being rather thinly spread - but it is. While we get some idea of the events that take place there is little analysis, and not enough detail for the reader to make their own views. We are essentially forced to go along with the author's interpretation because we almost always just get a single narrative.
Sometimes we are told which chronicaller said something. But we are also quite often left with a quote without any idea of where or who it is from. This is combined with a complete lack of foot/end noting that I always dislike. Though there are a few pages on the authorities consulted at the beginning and the introduction also discusses how chroniclers worked.
Given its’ age it should be no surprise that this is a political narrative with some religion attached. This is what chroniclers wrote about. The book predates the move to looking at society by half a century and also mostly ignores the economy. Where it does go into other topics it is oddly shunted off. Thus there are two short chapters at the end on internal developments; the towns and feudalism. And also on literature. This final one is by far the oddest chapter as it consists essentially of short summaries of major works of the middle ages in Germany with nothing telling us why they are important or worth summarising.
One final oddity is the ending of the narrative. For a book proclaiming itself a history of the middle ages it seems rather odd to end in the 1270s when the middle ages are normally considered to last roughly two centuries longer. There is some rationale for this; the Hohenstaufen dynasty ends, and with it attempts at imperial centralisation. But in other respects it is an odd time to choose as Germany over the next few decades becomes much more like the Holy Roman Empire known up to 1806, it would have been helpful to have shown that change. Just to make the decision even stranger that section on literature mentioned in the last paragraph runs further than the narrative to the end of the 13th Century which makes me wonder if the original intention was to go further.
Unless you just want a basic narrative I can't really recommend this book. Even then it is dated and not very incisive so I would imagine there would now be better alternatives.
January 11, 2021
Not bad as an introduction to German history. Starting off with the battles between the Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire and ending with the colonization of Eastern Germany of the 1100-early 1300s. While a well written work, As other reviewers have noted, Henderson's style is to bounce from one king to another, going into detail on their reigns, their families, and the wars they engaged in, which honestly, can get a bit boring. Henderson would have been much better off creating an overarching narrative than going ruler by ruler.
August 5, 2018
Dated.
I'll start out by conceding that Henderson's prose wasn't bad. The reason for the poor review is that it's an outdated type of historical writing. 90% of the book is a catalog of the comings and goings of the kings of Germany. Interesting in its way, but well below the standards of modern historical writing.
I'll start out by conceding that Henderson's prose wasn't bad. The reason for the poor review is that it's an outdated type of historical writing. 90% of the book is a catalog of the comings and goings of the kings of Germany. Interesting in its way, but well below the standards of modern historical writing.
August 14, 2017
A good primer
For one whose ignorance of the HRE was nearly complete this book served to provide the requisite facts and characters to begin an education
For one whose ignorance of the HRE was nearly complete this book served to provide the requisite facts and characters to begin an education
September 7, 2017
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
March 17, 2019
Ver detailed. Not light reading
Excellent resource work but hard to follow. I would suggest maps showing the various lands for references, massive research of this book.
Excellent resource work but hard to follow. I would suggest maps showing the various lands for references, massive research of this book.
i-quit
December 11, 2019I just can’t get into this one. I give up.
January 13, 2022
Somewhat disjointed and filled with names of people we know little to nothing about. Maps would have been nice as well.
September 19, 2013
I feel like my low ranking is perhaps unfair to Mr. Henderson, but nevertheless I must give it that. I bought this ebook for $1, so no great loss.
The beginning 1/4 or so, which covered the fall of Rome and the Merovingian and Carolingian rulers of the Kingdom of the Franks, was my main interest beforehand and proven so in the book. I learned some good facts about this period.
Unfortunately, after that I got quite bored. Part of this is due to the extreme number of typos in the edition I read, which hampers reading. Also, not Henderson's fault, but it seemed like every German had the same name: Henry or Otto, with the occasional Frederick or Conrad thrown in. This made things very confusing. Also, the subject of the book became very repetitive after the Carolingians: some Henry (or Otto) is made king, he initially gets along with whatever Innocent or Gregory is pope, then they have a falling out, they excommunicate each other, there's a minor rebellion which almost always fails, the king dies of natural causes, and the circle repeats. Henderson throws things like the literature of the period as an overall summary in the final couple of chapters, a good example of things that could have been used throughout to break the monotony.
The beginning 1/4 or so, which covered the fall of Rome and the Merovingian and Carolingian rulers of the Kingdom of the Franks, was my main interest beforehand and proven so in the book. I learned some good facts about this period.
Unfortunately, after that I got quite bored. Part of this is due to the extreme number of typos in the edition I read, which hampers reading. Also, not Henderson's fault, but it seemed like every German had the same name: Henry or Otto, with the occasional Frederick or Conrad thrown in. This made things very confusing. Also, the subject of the book became very repetitive after the Carolingians: some Henry (or Otto) is made king, he initially gets along with whatever Innocent or Gregory is pope, then they have a falling out, they excommunicate each other, there's a minor rebellion which almost always fails, the king dies of natural causes, and the circle repeats. Henderson throws things like the literature of the period as an overall summary in the final couple of chapters, a good example of things that could have been used throughout to break the monotony.
November 1, 2017
This book was terrible. There were so many typos, grammatical errors, and Henries and Ottos that I can hardly believe I finished this book. The last few chapters were better written and more interesting.
Don't bother with this one. I can summarized it.
There was a war; the winner became King.
The King was anointed by the Pope.
Don't bother with this one. I can summarized it.
There was a war; the winner became King.
The King was anointed by the Pope.
January 17, 2018
Good book, very informative. Could have been a little less verbose, but I think this is partly due to the writing style of the era in which this book was written.
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