Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . the timeof Luthers birth the poverty-striclien Fredericlc III (Maxi-milians father) might have been seen picking up a free mealat a monastery or riding behind a slow _^ but economical oxteam. The realpower in Germanylay in the hands ofthe more importantvassals. First and fore-most among these weie theseven electors, so called because, since the thirteenth century, they had enjojed theright to elect the emperoiThree of them were arch-bishops — kings in all
Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . the timeof Luthers birth the poverty-striclien Fredericlc III (Maxi-milians father) might have been seen picking up a free mealat a monastery or riding behind a slow _^ but economical oxteam. The realpower in Germanylay in the hands ofthe more importantvassals. First and fore-most among these weie theseven electors, so called because, since the thirteenth century, they had enjojed theright to elect the emperoiThree of them were arch-bishops — kings in all butname of considerable terri-tories on the Rhine, namely,the electorates of Mayence,Treves, and Cologne. Nearthem, to the south, was theregion ruled over by the electorof the Palatinate; to thenortheast were the territoriesof the electors of Brandenburgand of Saxony; the king ofBohemia made the seventh ofthe group. Beside these states, the do-minions of other rulers scarcely less important than the electorsappear on the map. Some of these territories, like Wiirtemberg,Bavaria, Hesse, and Baden, are famihar to us to-day as members. Fig. 77. The Walls ofrothenburg One town in Germany, Rothen-burg, on the little river Tauber,once a free imperial city, retainsits old walls and towers intact andmany of its old houses. It givesthe visitor an excellent idea of howthe smaller imperial towns lookedtwo or three hundred years ago 282 Medieval and Modern Times The towns No centralpower tomaintainorder Neighbor-hood war of the German Empire, but all of them have been much enlargedsince the sixteenth century by the absorption of the little statesthat formerly lay within and about them. The towns, which had grown up since the great economicrevolution that had brought in commerce and the use of moneyin the thirteenth century, were centers of culture in the north ofEurope, just as those of Italy were in the south. Nuremberg,the most beautiful of the German cities, still possesses a greatmany
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Keywords: ., bookauthorrobinson, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
