Germany in the early modern period
The German-speaking states of the early modern period (c. 1500–1800) were divided politically and religiously. Religious tensions between the states comprising the Holy Roman Empire had existed during the preceding period of the Late Middle Ages (c. 1250–1500), notably erupting in Bohemia with the Hussite Wars (1419–1434). The defining religious movement of this period, the Reformation, led to unprecedented levels of violence and political upheaval for the region.
Usually considered to have begun with the publication of the
This period also saw the emergence of the
The 16th century
German Renaissance
The
German Reformation
The
In Northern Europe, Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther's
Although Charles V fought the Reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessor Maximilian I saw the beginning of the Reformation. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Empire were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of the secular universal empire.
The printing press and literacy
The Reformation and printing press combined to mark a major breakthrough in the spread of literacy. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. By 1530, over 10,000 publications are known, with a total of ten million copies. The Reformation was thus a media revolution. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad" church. From there, it became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular agendas. Reformist writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.[1]
Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), the great painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.[2]
Baroque period and Thirty Years' War
The
The major impact of the Thirty Years' War, fought mostly by
The
Rise of Prussia and the end of the Holy Roman Empire
The
Silesia
When Emperor Charles VI failed to produce a male heir, he bequeathed lands to his daughter Maria Theresa by the "Pragmatic sanction" of 1713. After his death in 1740 the Prussian king Frederick the Great attacked Austria and invaded Silesia in the First Silesian War (1740–1742). Austria lost and in the Treaty of Berlin (1742) Prussia acquired nearly all of Silesia. Prussia's victory weakened Austria's prestige and Maria Theresa, and gave Prussia an effective equality with Austria within the Holy Roman Empire" for the next century.[7][8]
French Revolutionary Wars and final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently. The
Mediatisation was the process of annexing the lands of one sovereign monarchy to another, often leaving the annexed some rights. Secularisation was the redistribution to secular states of the secular lands held by an ecclesiastical ruler such as a bishop or an abbot.
The Empire was formally dissolved on 6 August 1806 when the last Holy Roman Emperor
The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by a new union, the German Confederation, in 1815, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the North German Confederation, a forerunner of the German Empire which united the German-speaking territories outside of Austria and Switzerland under Prussian leadership in 1871. This later served as the predecessor-state of modern Germany.
Science and philosophy
History of Germany |
---|
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535)
- Paracelsus (1493–1541)
- Georg Pictorius (c. 1500-1569)
- Johann Weyer (1516–1588)
- Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1525–1609)
- Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577–1644)
- Franz Kessler (1580–1650)
- Otto von Guericke (1602–1686)
- Adrian von Mynsicht (1603–1638)
- Johann Friedrich Schweitzer (1625–1709)
- Gottfried Leibniz(1646–1716)
- Christian Thomasius (1655–1728)
- Christian Wolff (1679–1754)
- Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768)
- Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–1766)
- Leonhard Euler (1707–1783)
- Christian August Crusius (1715–1775)
- Johann Bernhard Basedow (1723–1790)
- Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
- Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777)
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781)
- Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786)
- Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788)
- Johannes Nikolaus Tetens (1736–1807)
- Thomas Abbt (1738–1766)
- Johann Augustus Eberhard (1739–1809)
- Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819)
- Johann Gottfried von Herder(1744–1803)
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
List of emperors
Early Modern
- Maximilian I, 1508–1519 (emperor-elect)
- Charles V, 1530–1556 (emperor-elect 1519–1530)
- Ferdinand I, 1558-1564 (emperor-elect)
- Maximilian II, 1564–1576 (emperor-elect)
- Rudolf II, 1576–1612 (emperor-elect; enumerated as successor of Rudolf Iwho was German King 1273–1291 but not Emperor)
- Matthias, 1612–1619 (emperor-elect)
- Ferdinand II, 1619–1637 (emperor-elect)
- Ferdinand III, 1637–1657 (emperor-elect)
- Leopold I, 1658–1705 (emperor-elect)
- Joseph I, 1705–1711 (emperor-elect)
- Charles VI, 1711–1740 (emperor-elect)
- Charles VII Albert, 1742–1745 (emperor-elect, House of Wittelsbach)
- Francis I, 1745–1765 (emperor-elect)
- Joseph II, 1765–1790 (emperor-elect)
- Leopold II, 1790–1792 (emperor-elect)
- Francis II, 1792–1806 (emperor-elect)
See also
- Early Modern High German
- Baroque period German literature
- 18th-century German literature
- Brandenburg-Prussia
- House of Hohenzollern
- Electorate of Bavaria
- Kingdom of Bohemia (1526–1648)
- Kingdom of Bohemia (1648–1867)
- Dutch Republic
- Early Modern Switzerland
- Royal Hungary(1541–1699)
- Croatia in the Habsburg Empire
References
- ^ Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (1994)
- ISSN 0024-7499
- ^ "The Thirty-Years-War". Western New England College. Archived from the original on 9 October 1999. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ "Thirty Years War — Infoplease.com". www.infoplease.com. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ "Thirty Years' War". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ Richard W. Rahn (21 December 2006). "Avoiding a Thirty Years War". The Washington Post. www.discovery.org. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
- ^ Reed Browning, "New Views on the Silesian Wars," Journal of Military History, Apr 2005, Vol. 69#2 pp 521-534
- ^ Christopher Clark, The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 (2006) pp 190-201
Further reading
- Hughes, Michael. Early Modern Germany, 1477-1806 (1992) excerpt
- Robisheaux, Thomas. Rural Society and the Search for Order in Early Modern Germany (2002)
- Sabean, David. Power in the Blood: Popular Culture and Village Discourse in Early Modern Germany (1988)
- Smith, Helmut Walser, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History (2011), 862 pp; 35 essays by specialists; Germany since 1760 excerpt
- Strauss, Gerald, ed. Pre-reformation Germany (1972) 452pp
- Wilson, Peter H.The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy (2009)
- Wunder, Heide. He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany (1998)
Religion
- Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1978) excerpt and text search
- Dickens, A. G. Martin Luther and the Reformation (1969), basic introduction by leading scholar
- Gawthrop, Richard, and Gerald Strauss. "Protestantism and literacy in early modern Germany," Past & Present, 1984 #104 pp 31–55 online[dead link]
- Junghans, Helmar . Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times, 1483–1546. (book plus CD ROM) (1998)
- Karant-Nunn, Susan C. The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany (2012)
- Midelfort, H. C. Erik. Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany: A Ship of Fools (2013)
- Ranke, Leopold von. History of the Reformation in Germany (1847) 792 pp; by Germany's foremost scholar complete text online free
- Smith, Preserved. The Life and Letters of Martin Luther. (1911) complete edition online free
Historiography
- Brady, Thomas A. "From Revolution to the Long Reformation: Writings in English on the German Reformation, 1970-2005," Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 2009, Vol. 100, pp 48–64, in English
- von Friedeburg, Robert. "Dickens, the German Reformation, and the issue of nation and fatherland in early modern German history," Historical Research, Feb 2004, Vol. 77 Issue 195, p79-97
- Wilson, Peter H. "Historiographical Reviews: Still a Monstrosity? Some Reflections on Early Modern German Statehood,"