Germany in the High Middle Ages, c. 1050-1200

219 Pages·1986·4.809 MB·English

by  Horst Fuhrmann, Timothy Reuter

GERMANY IN THE
HIGH MIDDLE AGES
c. 1 0 5 0 - 1 2 0 0
HORST FUHRMANN
Translated by Timothy Reuter

Cambridge medieval textbooks
GERMANY IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
Germany in the High Middle Ages opens with a wide-ranging and yet detailed
description of the conditions under which men lived and their attitudes of
mind during the period 1050-1200; against this background it proceeds to
analyse the fundamental political, social, economic and cultural changes of
the period in central Europe. Professor Fuhrmann considers the social
transformation brought about by the emergence of new classes such as
ministeriales and burghers, and examines the intellectual renewal reflected
in the rise of scholasticism and the foundation of the universities. He also
describes thes gradual erosion of the power of the German rulers, which led
to the Empire losing its position as the leading power in Europe, and yet
was accompanied by a last flowering under the Staufen emperors and the
chivalric culture with which they were closely associated. Throughout the
book these changes are contracted with contemporary developments else­
where in Europe, especially in France, England and Italy.
HORST FUHRMANN is President of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica
and Professor of History at the University of Regensburg.

GERMANY IN THE
HIGH MIDDLE AGES
c. 1050 — 1200
HORST FUHRMANN
Translated by Timothy Reuter
■V
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© Cambridge University Press 1986
First published. 1986
Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge
British Library cataloguing in publication data
Fuhrmann, Horst
Germany in the high Middle Ages c. 1050-1200. -
(Cambridge medieval textbooks)
I. Germany - History - 843-1273
I. Title II. Deutsche Geschichte im hohen Mittelalter. English
943'.02 DD141
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Fuhrmann, Horst.
Germany in the high Middle Ages c. 1050- 1200.
Translation of: Deutsche Geschichte im hohen Mittelalter.
Bibliography
Includes index,
i. Germany - History - 843- 1273. I. Title.
DD141.F8313 1986 943'.023 85-29988
isbn o 521 26638-6
ISBN o 521 31980-3 (pbk.)
1 GERMAN HISTORY IN THE HIGH MIDDLE
AGES - CONCEPTS, EXPLANATIONS, FACTS i
The three ‘essentials’ of history - space, time, and man i
1 The medieval view of space, time, and man 2
2 Space, time, man: facts and findings 6
Germany in the Europe of the high Middle Ages 16
1 Middle Ages and ‘high Middle Ages’ - Europe and
the ‘West’ 16
2 Germany, the Germans and their neighbours 19
3 The economy of the Empire 23
4 The period from 1050 to 1200 as a turning-point in
European and German history 27
2 ‘PROGRESS AND PROMISE’: THE GERMAN
EMPIRE IN THE MID ELEVENTH CENTURY 31
Social stratification and the structure of government
in the Ottoman and Salian period 31
Rex et sacerdos - the priestly kingship of Henry III
(1039-56) 38
Strengths and weaknesses of Salian kingship 40
Henry III as Roman patricius and the German popes 43
The beginnings and aims of church reform 46
The distance from the rest of Europe: France, England,
and the North 49
VI Contents
3 FROM CHRISTUS DOMINI TO ANTICHRIST:
THE KING OF GERMANY AND THE
INVESTITURE CONTEST 51
The reign of Henry IV and its consequences 52
1 The papacy and the regency government 52
2 Canossa: the turning-point 58
3 The Libelli de Ute and the beginnings of scholastic
thought ' 69
4 The expansion of the West and the First Crusade 73
5 The town as an institution and a way of life 77
The rise of the secular state and the priestly church 81
1 The Investiture Contest in France and England 81
2 The beginnings of Henry V’s reign 84
3 The road to the Concordat of Worms (1122) 87
4 POLITICAL REORIENTATION AND EMERGENT
DIVERSITY: FROM SALIAN IMPERIAL CHURCH
SYSTEM TO STAUFER KINGSHIP 96
The results of the Investiture Contest 97
1 The kingdom of Germany 97
2 The rest of Europe 102
‘The love of learning and the desire for God’: church
and spirituality in the age of Bernard of Clairvaux 109
Lothar III: kingship without a future 116
1 Lothar as a ‘legal antiking’ 117
2 Lothar III and the position on the eastern frontier 122
Conrad III: kingship without imperial glory 125
1 Conrad’s election and the Welf opposition 125
2 European alliances and the Second Crusade 128
5 THE CENTRE-POINT OF THE GERMAN
MIDDLE AGES: FREDERICK BARBAROSSA
AND HIS AGE 135
The election of Frederick I and the new policy of balance 137
Frederick and the Empire before the Alexandrine schism 142
1 The revival of imperial rule in imperial Italy and
the breach with the Curia 142
2 Frederick’s German policy 149
3 The Staufer idea of empire 153
Contents vii
Empire and papacy in the struggle for supremacy 157
1 Papal schism and diplomacy to the death of
Alexander III (1181) 157
2 Staufer government in Germany 162
New forms of government 167
1 The fall of Henry the Lion and the so-called ‘new
estate of imperial princes’ 168
2 Kingship and feudalism in France and England 171
3 International alliances and the Third Crusade 173
4 The chivalric ethos of the Staufer period 177
Henry VI and the shift in the Empire’s centre of gravity 180
1 The German kingdom and the Sicilian inheritance 180
2 Plans and beginnings 183
Bibliography 187
Index 196