Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Western SIV Today Episode three hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty eight The Empire. Today we begin what will
Speaker 1: be the biggest story arc we have done on this program,
Speaker 1: the Thirty Years War. Given the sheer length of the war,
Speaker 1: I suppose that makes sense, it is also deliciously complicated.
Speaker 1: In college, I had professor tell me once that a
Speaker 1: thing of complexity is a joy for all time. If
Speaker 1: he was right, and I think he was, then these
Speaker 1: next series of episode will be quite the joy. Indeed,
Speaker 1: in order to understand the war and its far reaching
Speaker 1: consequences for Europe and the West, we have to dig
Speaker 1: into the early modern Holy Roman Empire. I've talked about
Speaker 1: the Empire in this show before, but not really to
Speaker 1: the same extent as England, France, or Spain. The Holy
Speaker 1: Roman Empire was very different from those kingdoms. It wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily worse, though it is often portrayed as such, but
Speaker 1: it was very different. In the seventeenth century, historian Samuel
Speaker 1: Huffendorff declared the Empire a quote unquote monstrosity for the
Speaker 1: writing that it was neither kingdom nor republic. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure he was entirely right. The events that gripped the
Speaker 1: empire after sixteen eighteen were certainly dramatic, but they weren't
Speaker 1: the first major tests for the emperor or his government
Speaker 1: since Charlemagne cobbled the whole thing together roughly six hundred
Speaker 1: years earlier. Today, we begin our study in detail of
Speaker 1: the Holy Roman Empire because it's necessary to explain the
Speaker 1: Thirty Years War, but also because it tells us so
Speaker 1: much about early modern Europe and early modern state craft.
Speaker 1: So the first thing that you want to understand is
Speaker 1: start to talk about the Holy Roman Empire is the
Speaker 1: fact that it's large. There were literally millions of peasants
Speaker 1: and common folk living it over two two hundred towns
Speaker 1: and at least one hundred and fifty thousand villages, including
Speaker 1: numerous monasteries, convents, and other communities across the empire. It
Speaker 1: was the level of communities that things got done, People
Speaker 1: got married, children were born, work was organized, crops harvested,
Speaker 1: goods made in exchange. It was these communities that would
Speaker 1: dominate a monumental publishing venture by Matthias Marian that was
Speaker 1: begun while the war was still at its height in
Speaker 1: the sixteen thirties and not completed until about forty years
Speaker 1: later called the Topographia Germani. The work contains scarcely any
Speaker 1: description of the natural environment. Instead, it talks about the
Speaker 1: empire by region, all the settlements that Marian and the
Speaker 1: various collaborators he was working with, the things he had visited,
Speaker 1: the places he had heard of, and then he described
Speaker 1: them in alphabetical order. This is what gives us our
Speaker 1: understanding of the empire today. The numerous engravings that he
Speaker 1: put into the work perfectly illustrate the three elements of
Speaker 1: these communities and how they relate to the structure of
Speaker 1: the empire overall. If you look at the engravings, you
Speaker 1: will see that each settlement is shown clearly against the countryside,
Speaker 1: delineating the community as its own distinct and social space.
Speaker 1: Most were located on or by rivers, which, of course
Speaker 1: were essentially over communications at this time, as walls for
Speaker 1: carrying away garbage and providing some sort of a rudimentary
Speaker 1: barrier against intruders. Unlike modern rivers, those of the seventeenth
Speaker 1: century still followed their natural course. They swelled with heavy
Speaker 1: rain or melted snow, and they spread out wherever there
Speaker 1: were low lying meadows. Larger streams changed course over time,
Speaker 1: leaving islands or inlets that different bridge builders incorporated into
Speaker 1: the structures to span over these water features. Medieval walls
Speaker 1: surrounded towns and larger villages, often using rivers or streams
Speaker 1: to provide a ditch around the settlement. These high, but
Speaker 1: relatively thin walls, with their prominent towers and gatehouses all
Speaker 1: visible in the engravings, were being supplemented by additional, more
Speaker 1: modern outer defenses to protect now by the seventeenth century
Speaker 1: against artillery bombardment. Some cities had acquired these defenses already
Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century, but most built them or modernized
Speaker 1: existing structures in the sixteen twenties, once the danger of
Speaker 1: war had become apparent. The thick, low lying walls with
Speaker 1: massive stone fronted bastions spread outwards around the medieval core,
Speaker 1: sometimes encompassing newer suburbs, other times simply sweeping them away.
Speaker 1: Only those that experienced eye could make out the elaborate
Speaker 1: geometrical patterns that they cut into the ground, Since the
Speaker 1: military system of wall outworks and ditches were largely hidden
Speaker 1: from view on the ground by additional banks of earth
Speaker 1: pushed further into the countryside. The few buildings that remained
Speaker 1: outside the walls were either used for industrial purposes think
Speaker 1: of things like sawmills, or they were ecclesiastical foundations, like
Speaker 1: existing monetaries or convents. The ones that had survived the
Speaker 1: Reformation and continued to exist. Even the smallest village or
Speaker 1: hamlet was fenced, were shut and barred every single night.
Speaker 1: The walled environment meant that cottages and homes were always
Speaker 1: built very close together because space was at a premium.
Speaker 1: But this also meant that fire was an ever present danger.
Speaker 1: The most prominent feature of any town was its church,
Speaker 1: or I should say church is. Even the smaller towns
Speaker 1: have three or four. You could see their spires rising
Speaker 1: above the town walls. Generally, these were the only buildings
Speaker 1: in town made of stone, and they were also the
Speaker 1: focal point of community life. The only other buildings that
Speaker 1: a traveler might have noticed were the symbols of secular
Speaker 1: power that could be a town hall, a palace, or
Speaker 1: simply a bailiff's house. Every town had some such building
Speaker 1: because towns and cities in the Empire, unlike in England
Speaker 1: or in France, had considerable autonomy over their own affairs.
Speaker 1: Towns could, for example, decide who got to live there
Speaker 1: and who had to leave. Towns also set their own
Speaker 1: societal norms and could take punitive actions against any transgressors.
Speaker 1: It was the Imperial Constitution that linked these thousands of settlements,
Speaker 1: binding them in a series of hierarchical, ordered and often
Speaker 1: overlapping jurisdictions. The word Germany did appear in the title
Speaker 1: of Marian's work, but it actually covered the Empire, an
Speaker 1: area that still stretched over almost seven hundred thousand kilometers.
Speaker 1: It included not only all of modern Germany, Austria, Luxembourg,
Speaker 1: and the Czech Republic, but also much of western Poland
Speaker 1: and Alsals and Lorraine, which are now in modern day France.
Speaker 1: Missing in Marion, Most of the modern Netherlands in Belgium
Speaker 1: were actually still associated with the Empire in the year
Speaker 1: sixteen hundred, as was a further around seventy thousand Kaloismeters
Speaker 1: of northern Italy, even if these regions were not represented
Speaker 1: in imperial institutions as a whole. The Empire symbolized the
Speaker 1: late medieval universal idea of a single Christendom. Its ruler
Speaker 1: was the only Christian monarch with an imperial title, elevating
Speaker 1: him above all other crown heads. His pretensions to be
Speaker 1: the secular head of Europe rested on the idea that
Speaker 1: the Empire was a direct continuation of ancient Rome. The
Speaker 1: universal ideal was of course, very distant from the area
Speaker 1: of practical politics and the localities, ensuring that the emperor
Speaker 1: did not rule the numerous communities directly. His authority was
Speaker 1: always mediated through the empire's hierarchy of jurisdictions, and these
Speaker 1: were in turn related to medieval and feudal origins. The
Speaker 1: emperor was considered to be the superior lord over a
Speaker 1: host of lesser authorities bound by all these various chains
Speaker 1: of vassalage. As between these lords had grown sharper, particularly
Speaker 1: as the Empire had to deal with a variety of
Speaker 1: internal and external problems. Since roughly the year fourteen eighty,
Speaker 1: a fundamental division had emerged between those lords who were
Speaker 1: immediately under the emperor's jurisdiction and those mediate authorities who
Speaker 1: were subordinate to intervening lords. Immediate lords possessed full imperial thiefs,
Speaker 1: which were called reich Islam, held directly from the Empire
Speaker 1: in his capacity as their feudal overlord. These thiefs were
Speaker 1: generally composed of other lesser thiefs that were held then
Speaker 1: by mediate lords or lesser lords. Again, you have to
Speaker 1: think of feudalism like a giant pyramid scheme. If a
Speaker 1: lord had jurisdiction over a village, he could expect the
Speaker 1: deference of everyone who lived there, a share of the produce,
Speaker 1: and some of their time in the form of a
Speaker 1: labor requirement. This is where loyalties started to overlap. However,
Speaker 1: lords could hold authority over multiple towns and fiefs. The
Speaker 1: problem is that this might make a lord a vassal
Speaker 1: to multiple greater lords, each of whom might be in
Speaker 1: conflict at any given time. I cannot stress the importance
Speaker 1: of this conflicting loyalty situation. In the Thirty Years War enough,
Speaker 1: nobles were often faced with a question of who they
Speaker 1: wanted to support. That made the situation a lot more
Speaker 1: fluid than it might have been in a more traditional
Speaker 1: kingdom like England or France. Most rights were required by
Speaker 1: inheritance and were held by the fifty to sixty thousand
Speaker 1: noble families living throughout the Empire. The vast majority of
Speaker 1: these were the so called territorial nobles, the landindell possessing
Speaker 1: only less writes subject to the superior jurisdiction of an
Speaker 1: exclusive group of lords, those who held what were called
Speaker 1: imperial fiefs. There were around one hundred and eighty lay
Speaker 1: and one hundred and thirty spiritual fiefs that collectively constituted
Speaker 1: the territories of the Empire. They varied considerably in size,
Speaker 1: and there was no direct correlation between geographical extent and
Speaker 1: political power. The Empire had taken shape when its population
Speaker 1: had been concentrated in the south and in the west.
Speaker 1: The density of settlements in these parts enabled them to
Speaker 1: sustain a higher concentration of lordships than the more sparsely
Speaker 1: populated north and east. Those territories were not even fully
Speaker 1: incorporated into the Imperial constitution until the beginning of the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century. Consolidation of this constitution forged to get the
Speaker 1: other the lay and spiritual lords, into three separate groups.
Speaker 1: By the critical year of fifteen twenty one. The smallest
Speaker 1: but most senior group were the seven electors who held
Speaker 1: feafths associated with the Golden Bull of thirteen fifty six.
Speaker 1: These had the exclusive right to choose each emperor. The
Speaker 1: prevailing social distinction gave precedence to the clergy as the
Speaker 1: quote unquote first state over the nobility, an account of
Speaker 1: the societal function of praying for the entire community's salvation.
Speaker 1: The premier electorate was therefore the Archbishop of Manse, followed
Speaker 1: by his colleagues in Colonne and Trier, none of whom
Speaker 1: held more than one hundred thousand subjects. The secular electors
Speaker 1: were headed by the Kingdom of Bohemia, the only land
Speaker 1: with a distinct royal title in the Empire. Bohemia was
Speaker 1: also the largest electorate, covering over fifty thousand square kilometers,
Speaker 1: with a population of one point five million living in
Speaker 1: one hundred and two towns, three hundred and eight market centers,
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty eight castles, over thirty thousand villages
Speaker 1: and hamlets, and about two thousand parish churches. Brandenburg was
Speaker 1: the next electorate in size, but it was the most
Speaker 1: junior in status, covering thirty six thousand kilometers but with
Speaker 1: only three hundred and fifty thousand people. Saxony was smaller
Speaker 1: but more densely populated, with around one point two million subjects.
Speaker 1: The Palatinate ranked second after Bohemia, covered around eleven thousand
Speaker 1: kilometers in two parts there was a lower part on
Speaker 1: the Rhine and an upper part in northern Bavaria. The
Speaker 1: Palatinate had a combined population of around six hundred thousand. Together,
Speaker 1: the electors held around a fifth of the territory of
Speaker 1: the Empire and about a sixth of its total population.
Speaker 1: The other imperial fiefs fell broadly into one of two types.
Speaker 1: Fifty spiritual and thirty three lay fiefs were held by
Speaker 1: the lords of princely rank, though their actual titles ranged
Speaker 1: from things like archbishop and bishop through duke and marquis.
Speaker 1: All lay fiefs were formally acquired by inheritance or purchase.
Speaker 1: In both cases the transfer was subject to the emperor's approval.
Speaker 1: Spiritual leaders, including the three electors, were chosen by the
Speaker 1: cathedral or the local abbey of the principal church in
Speaker 1: the land, again subject formally to the emperors and in
Speaker 1: this case also the pope's agreement. The number of princes
Speaker 1: was always less than the total number of fiefs, since
Speaker 1: it was possible for the electors to acquire additional princely fiefs,
Speaker 1: while existing princes could held more than one, and prince
Speaker 1: bishops might seek election in another area. In this case,
Speaker 1: the Habsburgs were the most successful of all the princely
Speaker 1: families in accumulating influence in this traditional way. They had
Speaker 1: acquired not only the eleven Austrian provinces, but also Bohemia
Speaker 1: and its associated lands, together with seventeen Netherlands provinces, which
Speaker 1: gave the Habsburgs over three hundred thousand kilometers of territory
Speaker 1: about two fifths of the entire Empire held by one family.
Speaker 1: Parts of Hungary also fell to that dynasty in fifteen
Speaker 1: twenty six. As a result, the Habsburgs governed over seven
Speaker 1: million subjects by sixteen hundred, compared with around seventeen million
Speaker 1: people in the rest of the Empire. This territorial base
Speaker 1: ensured the dynasty's basic monopoly of imperial title. Between fourteen
Speaker 1: thirty eight and the end of the empire in eighteen
Speaker 1: oh six, they stood heads and shoulders over every other
Speaker 1: noble family in the land, few of whom had more
Speaker 1: than one hundred thousand subjects. The second group of around
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty fiefs were smaller and lacked full
Speaker 1: princely status, ruled by a local count, just a lord
Speaker 1: or prelate, most of whom never had more than a
Speaker 1: thousand subjects, a further four hundred baroneal and knightly families
Speaker 1: held a further fifteen hundred fiefs directly from the Emperor,
Speaker 1: who had been declared his imperial knights or reich Strader. Individually,
Speaker 1: these holdings were no larger than those of the far
Speaker 1: more numerous territorial nobility, who lacked the status of imperial immediacy.
Speaker 1: They had ceased to play a significant role in imperial
Speaker 1: politics even by the mid sixteen s entry. The majority
Speaker 1: of communities fell under one or more of the jurisdictions
Speaker 1: that had just mentioned, But the Empire was unique in
Speaker 1: one respect. There were eighty or so quote free and
Speaker 1: imperial cities end quote that were subject only to the emperor.
Speaker 1: These were mostly in the old heartland of the Empire,
Speaker 1: to the south and the west. They were also the
Speaker 1: largest settlements in the Empire. Augsburg was the biggest, with
Speaker 1: around forty eight thousand inhabitants. At the time, it was
Speaker 1: around four times the size of Berlin. Several other cities,
Speaker 1: including Nuremberg and Hamburg, had around forty thousand people each.
Speaker 1: After these major cities were the smaller but still critical
Speaker 1: population centers like Frankfurt and Achan, which had about half
Speaker 1: as many people. The majority of the smaller cities only
Speaker 1: held around four thousand people each. However, these cities were
Speaker 1: incredibly independent because their only lord was the emperor. Their
Speaker 1: direct relationship with imperial authority gave these free cities a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of power and made them economic powerhouses because
Speaker 1: no nearby petty lord was siphoning off their profits. Now,
Speaker 1: the Holy Roman Empire did have an imperial constitution. The
Speaker 1: constitution in part explained how power was supposed to be
Speaker 1: shared between the emperor and his vassals. However, the constitution
Speaker 1: was extremely hierarchical, and as a result, the rights and
Speaker 1: responsibilities under said constitution were shared unequally. The emperor was
Speaker 1: the ultimate overlord, but his powers were left quite intentionally vague.
Speaker 1: By the time we get to the Thirty Years War,
Speaker 1: the emperorship was effectively dominated by the Habsburg family, but
Speaker 1: it was not a hereditary position. The Holy Roman Emperor
Speaker 1: had to be elected. It was possible for the emperor
Speaker 1: to designate a successor, who, if he was acceptable to
Speaker 1: the electors, gained the title of King of the Romans.
Speaker 1: This was kind of like the Prince of Wales in England.
Speaker 1: But I don't want you to think that this was
Speaker 1: some kind of democracy. The emperor was considered to have
Speaker 1: quote unquote princely qualities, so the position was not opened
Speaker 1: to anyone. The growth of Habsburg resources made that dynasty
Speaker 1: the obvious choice, since imperial prerogatives confer executive authority but
Speaker 1: supplied very few means by which you might put that
Speaker 1: authority into effect. The electors expected the emperor to use
Speaker 1: his own lands to fund not only his personal court
Speaker 1: and imperial institutions, but also much of the defense of
Speaker 1: the empire against the Ottomans and of course other later
Speaker 1: Christian enemies. However, they recognized that changes in warfare made
Speaker 1: this impossible without at least saw assistance from the rest
Speaker 1: of the Empire. The princes and cities accepted this. The
Speaker 1: willingness to contribute imperial taxes became sort of the criteria
Speaker 1: for imperial power, marking them out from all the other
Speaker 1: lords and towns that merely paid into territorial treasuries. Imperial
Speaker 1: contributions later became known as quote unquote Roman months. It
Speaker 1: was named so after the cost of the escort that
Speaker 1: was intended to take Charles the Fifth to his coronation
Speaker 1: in Rome. Each territory was assessed a tax according to
Speaker 1: a scale fixing its share of a single month's pay
Speaker 1: for twenty four thousand soldiers. Taxes could be raised as
Speaker 1: fractions or multiples of this basic quota. They might be
Speaker 1: levied either as a one off payment or spread across
Speaker 1: several months, even years. The Empire did have a sort
Speaker 1: of representative body in addition to the executive authority held
Speaker 1: by the Emperor. This was called the Reichstog, but the
Speaker 1: Reichstog was not a parliament in the traditional sense. Essentially,
Speaker 1: whether a territory got representation in the Reichstog was determined
Speaker 1: by whether or not it was on the official tax
Speaker 1: registry in fifteen twenty one. The Reichstag could not constrain
Speaker 1: the Emperor in the way the English Parliament might constrain
Speaker 1: the actions of James the First, but the Emperor was
Speaker 1: supposed to consult his leading subjects on important matters. True
Speaker 1: to the hierarchical nature of the Empire, there were three
Speaker 1: separate colleges in the Reichstag, Electors, princes, and city. Each
Speaker 1: college or part took its decision by a simple majority vote.
Speaker 1: Once a mutually acceptable decision had been worked out between
Speaker 1: the three colleges, a collective decision was presented to the
Speaker 1: Emperor as a quote unquote recommendation. He was free to
Speaker 1: accept it or reject it. If he accepted it, it
Speaker 1: was called an imperial recess. By the time of the
Speaker 1: war in sixteen eighteen, working with the reichs Dog had
Speaker 1: become the only effective way the Emperor could secure a
Speaker 1: binding agreement on all of his territories. As a result,
Speaker 1: the Reichstag met fairly regularly, voting consistently, for example, to
Speaker 1: support the war against the Ottomans. In fourteen ninety five,
Speaker 1: the reichs Dog declared a perpetual public peace, requiring the
Speaker 1: Emperor and all his vassals submit their disagreements to a
Speaker 1: new imperial court called the Reichschmergate. Note I did not
Speaker 1: take German in high school. This new well court was
Speaker 1: set up in the imperial city of Spire. This was
Speaker 1: not a court, though in the traditional sense. Its job
Speaker 1: wasn't to determine guilt or innocence, but rather to search
Speaker 1: and find a mutually agreeable solution to problems. It has however,
Speaker 1: been largely blamed for failing to secure agreements to issues
Speaker 1: that led to the Thirty Years War. If the court
Speaker 1: came to a decision, it was enforced by lesser courts
Speaker 1: throughout the md Empire, backed up by the Emperor himself.
Speaker 1: Except in his dynastic lands, the Emperor had little direct
Speaker 1: say over the lives of his imperial subjects, or were
Speaker 1: always under the control of one or more territorial lords.
Speaker 1: As imperial estate members, the territorial lords enjoyed their own
Speaker 1: special set of liberties, marking them out from their subjects
Speaker 1: and their vassals. These liberties gave them the privilege of
Speaker 1: being consulted by the Emperor and a sharing collective governance,
Speaker 1: but they also brought the responsibility of defending the rights
Speaker 1: and autonomies of their territories and peoples. Here's where the
Speaker 1: checks and balances of the imperial system of government are
Speaker 1: most evident. Each lord or prince sought to maintain his
Speaker 1: or her particular place within the imperial hierarchy. No one ever,
Speaker 1: and I do mean ever, thought of independence. Even the
Speaker 1: largest electors lacked the resources for an independent political existence.
Speaker 1: All the rulers derived their authority and status from membership
Speaker 1: of the Empire, setting themselves apart from aristocrats in other
Speaker 1: countries who were the subjects of mere kings. As Imperial
Speaker 1: Estate members, they were distinguished between the emperor and the Empire.
Speaker 1: They were loyal to both, but their ties to the
Speaker 1: Emperor remained highly personal, whereas ties to the Empire were
Speaker 1: collective and more corporate in nature. In fifteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: when Maximilian the Second was crowned, marked the last time
Speaker 1: that all the electors attended the vote in person. From
Speaker 1: that point on, electors by and large sent trained lawyers
Speaker 1: who acted as delegates. The election of an emperor was
Speaker 1: always portrayed, like that of a pope, as a unanimous decision.
Speaker 1: Now in the end, the Empire was a cumbersome legal
Speaker 1: patchwork that made decisive action difficult, but it did make
Speaker 1: the entire structure stronger because it allowed local interests to
Speaker 1: be overseen by local actors. Thus it was much more
Speaker 1: federal in nature than England or Spain. Critically, while the
Speaker 1: inhabitants of the Empire might fight over the interpretation of
Speaker 1: the imperial and constitution, no one ever disputed its right
Speaker 1: to exist. It was that overriding belief that the Empire
Speaker 1: was in the end good for Central Europe. That gave
Speaker 1: it the strength to endure the horrific war that was
Speaker 1: about to unfold. Now. Next week I want to dive
Speaker 1: into the religious divisions within the Empire that are very
Speaker 1: much going to play a massive role in the war
Speaker 1: to come between now and then. If you'd like more
Speaker 1: Western Sieve, check out the link in the show notes.
Speaker 1: You can get a free trial to Western SIV two
Speaker 1: point zero and get caught up to speed in really
Speaker 1: great detail, all about the ongoings of the decline and
Speaker 1: fall of the Roman Republic.