Part 23

Two difficulties are met with in giving an account of the sources of German history. In the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries it is hard, if not impossible, to disentangle the history of Germany from that of the rest of the Frankish empire of which it formed part; in fact it is not until the time of the dissensions between the sons of the emperor Louis I. that there are any signs of demarcation between the East and the West Franks, or, in other words, any separate history of Germany. The second difficulty arises later and is due to the connexion of Germany with the Empire. Germany was always the great pillar of the imperial power; for several centuries it was the Empire in everything but in name, and yet its political history is often overshadowed by the glamour of events in Italy. While the chroniclers were recording the deeds of Frederick I. and of Frederick II. in the peninsula, the domestic history of Germany remained to a large extent unwritten.

Among the early German chroniclers the Saxon Widukind, the author of the _Res gestae Saxonicae_, is worthy of mention. He was a monk of Corvey, and his work is the best authority for the early history of Saxony. Lambert, a monk of Hersfeld, and Widukind's countryman, Bruno, in his _De bello Saxonico_, tell the story of the great contest between the emperor Henry IV. and Pope Gregory VII., with special reference to the Saxon part of the struggle. But perhaps the ablest and the most serviceable of these early writers is Otto of Freising, a member of the Babenberg family. Otto was also related to the great house of Hohenstaufen, a relationship which gave him access to sources of information usually withheld from the ordinary monastic annalist, and his work is very valuable for the earlier part of the career of Frederick I. Something is learned, too, from biographies written by the monks, of which Einhard's _Vita Karoli Magni_ is the greatest and the best, and Wipo's life of the emperor Conrad II. is valuable, while another Carolingian courtier, Nithard, has a special interest as, almost alone among these early chroniclers, being a soldier and not a monk.

The monastic writers remain our chief authorities until the great change brought about by the invention of printing, although a certain amount of work was done by clerical writers attached to the courts of various rulers. Parallel with this event the revival of learning was producing a great number of men who could write, and, more important still, of men who were throwing off the monastic habits of thought and passing into a new intellectual atmosphere. The Renaissance was followed by the fierce controversies aroused by the Reformation, and the result was the output of an enormous mass of writings covering every phase of the mighty combat and possessing every literary virtue save that of impartiality. But apart from these polemical writings, many of which had only an ephemeral value, the Renaissance was the source of another stream of historical literature. Several princes and other leading personages, foremost among whom was the emperor Maximilian I., had spent a good deal of time and money in collecting the manuscripts of the medieval chroniclers, and these now began to be printed. The chronicle of Otto of Freising, which appeared in 1515, and the _Vita_ of Einhard, which appeared six years later, are only two among the many printed at this time. The publication of collections of chronicles began in 1529, and the uncritical fashion in which these were reproduced made forgeries easy and frequent. There was, indeed, more than a zeal for pure learning behind this new movement; for both parties in the great religious controversy of the time used these records of the past as a storehouse of weapons of offence. The Protestants eagerly sought out the writings which exposed and denounced the arrogance of the popes, while the Romanists attempted to counter them with the numerous lives of the saints.

But before the raw material of history thus began to increase enormously in bulk, it had already begun to change its character and to assume its modern form. The _Chronicle_ still survived as a medium of conveying information, though more often than not this was now written by a layman; but new stores of information were coming into existence, or rather the old stores were expanding and taking a different form. Very roughly these may be divided into six sections. (1) Official documents issued by the emperors and other German rulers. (2) Treaties concluded between Germany and other powers and also between one German state and another. (3) Despatches sent to England, Spain and other countries by their representatives in various parts of Germany. (4) Controversial writings or treatises written to attack or defend a given position, largely the product of the Reformation period. (5) The correspondence of eminent and observant persons. (6) An enormous mass of personal impressions taking the form of Commentaries, Memoirs and Diaries (_Tagebucher_). Moreover, important personages still find eulogistic biographers and defenders, e.g. the fanciful writings about the emperor Maximilian I. or Pufendorf's _De rebus gestis Friderici Wilhelmi Magni electoris Brandenburgici_.

Through the dust aroused by the great Reformation controversy appear the dim beginnings of the scientific spirit in the writing of history, and in this connexion the name of Aventinus, "the Bavarian Herodotus," may be mentioned. But for many years hardly any progress was made in this direction. Even if they possessed the requisite qualifications the historiographers attached to the courts of the emperor Charles V. and of lesser potentates could not afford to be impartial. Thus new histories were written and old ones unearthed, collected and printed, but no attempt was made to criticize and collate the manuscripts of the past, or to present two sides of a question in the writings of the present. Among the collections of authorities made during the 16th and 17th centuries those of J. Pistorius (Frankfort, 1583-1607), of E. Lindenbrog (Frankfort, 1609) and of M. Freher (Frankfort, 1600-1611), may be noticed, although these were only put together and printed in the most haphazard and unconnected fashion. Passing thus through these two centuries we reach the beginning of the 18th century and the work done for German historical scholarship by the philosopher Leibnitz, who sought to do for his own country what Muratori was doing for Italy. For some years it had been recognized that the collection and arrangement of the authorities for German history was too great an undertaking for any one man, and societies under very influential patronage were founded for this purpose. But very slight results attended these elaborate schemes, although their failure did not deter Leibnitz from pursuing the same end. The two chief collections which were issued by the philosopher are the _Accessiones historicae_ (1698-1700) and the _Scriptores rerum Brunsvicensium_; the latter of these, containing documents centring round the history of the Welf family, was published in three volumes at Hanover (1707-1711). Leibnitz worked at another collection, the _Origines Guelficae_, which was completed and issued by his pupils (Hanover, 1750-1780), and also at _Annales imperii occidentis Brunsvicenses_, which, although the most valuable collection of the kind yet made, was not published until edited by G. H. Pertz (Hanover, 1843-1846). Other collections followed those of Leibnitz, among which may be mentioned the _Corpus historicum medii aevi_ of J. G. Eccard (Leipzig, 1723) and the _Scriptores rerum Germanicarum_ of J. B. Mencke (Leipzig, 1728). But these collections are merely heaps of historical material, good and bad; the documents therein were not examined and they are now quite superseded. They give, however, evidence of the great industry of their authors, and are the foundations upon which modern German scholarship has built.

In the 19th century the scientific spirit received a great impetus from the German system of education, one feature of which was that the universities began to require original work for some of their degrees. In this field of scientific research the Germans were the pioneers, and in it they are still pre-eminent, with Ranke as their most famous name and the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_ as their greatest production. The _Monumenta_ is a critical and ordered collection of documents relating to the history of Germany between 500 and 1500. It owes its origin mainly to the efforts of the statesman Stein, who was responsible for the foundation of the _Gesellschaft fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde_, under the auspices of which the work was begun. The _Gesellschaft_ was established in 1819, and, the editorial work having been entrusted to G. H. Pertz, the first volume of the _Monumenta_ was published in 1826. The work was divided into five sections: _Scriptores_, _Leges_, _Diplomata_, _Epistolae_ and _Antiquitates_, but it was many years before anything was done with regard to the two last-named sections. In the three remaining ones, however, folio volumes were published regularly, and by 1909 thirty folio volumes of _Scriptores_, five of _Leges_ and one of _Diplomata imperii_ had appeared. But meanwhile a change of organization had taken place. When Pertz resigned his editorial position in 1874 and the _Gesellschaft_ was dissolved, twenty-four folio volumes had been published. The Prussian Academy of Sciences now made itself responsible for the continuance of the work, and a board of direction was appointed, the presidents of which were successively G. Waitz, W. Wattenbach, E. Dummler and O. Holder-Egger. Soon afterwards as money became more plentiful the scope of work was extended; the production of the folio volumes continued, but the five sections were subdivided and in each of these a series of quarto volumes was issued. The titles of these new sections give a sufficient idea of their contents. The _Scriptores_ are divided into _Auctores antiquissimi_, _Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum_, _Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum_, _Libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum_, _Gesta pontificum Romanorum_ and _Deutsche Chroniken_, or _Scriptores qui vernacula lingua usi sunt_. The _Leges_ are divided into _Leges nationum Germanicarum_, _Capitularia regum Francorum_, _Concilia_, _Constitutiones imperatorum et regum_ and _Formulae_. Three quarto volumes of _Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae_ and one of _Diplomata Karolingorum_ had been published by 1909. Work was also begun upon the _Antiquitates_ and the _Epistolae_. The sections of the former are _Poetae Latini medii aevi_, _Libri confraternitatum_ and _Necrologia Germaniae_, and of the latter _Epistolae saeculi XIII._ and _Epistolae Merovingici et Karolini aevi_. Meanwhile the publication of the _Scriptores_ proper continues, although the thirty-first and subsequent volumes are in quarto and not in folio, and the number of volumes in the whole undertaking is continually being increased. The archives of the _Gesellschaft_ have been published in twelve volumes, and a large number of volumes of the _Neues Archiv_ have appeared. Some of the MSS. have been printed in facsimile, and an index to the _Monumenta_, edited by O. Holder-Egger and K. Zeumer, appeared in 1890. The writings of the more important chroniclers have been published separately, and many of them have been translated into German.

It will thus be seen that the ground covered by the _Monumenta_ is enormous. The volumes of the _Scriptores_ contain not only the domestic chroniclers, but also selections from the work of foreign writers who give information about the history of Germany--for example, the Englishman Matthew Paris. In the main these writings are arranged in chronological order. Each has been edited by an expert, and the various introductions give evidence of the number of MSS. collated and the great pains taken to ensure textual accuracy on the part of the different editors, among whom may be mentioned Mommsen and Lappenberg. Other great names in German historical scholarship have also assisted in this work. In addition to Waitz the _Leges_ section has enjoyed the services of F. Bluhme and of H. Brunner, and the _Diplomata_ section of T. Sickel, H. Bresslau and E. Muhlbacher.

The progress of the _Monumenta_ stimulated the production of other works of a like nature, and among the smaller collections of authorities which appeared during the 19th century two are worthy of mention. These are the _Fontes rerum Germanicarum_, edited by J. F. Bohmer (Stuttgart, 1843-1868), a collection of sources of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, and the _Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum_, edited by Ph. Jaffe (Berlin, 1864-1873). Another development followed the production of the _Monumenta_, this being the establishment in most of the German states of societies the object of which was to foster the study of local history. Reference may be made to a _Verein_ for this purpose in Saxony and to others in Silesia and in Mecklenburg. Much has also been done in Prussia, in Brandenburg, in Bavaria, in Hanover, in Wurttemberg and in Baden, and collections of authorities have been made by competent scholars, of which the _Geschichtsquellen der Provinz Sachsen und angrenzender Gebiete_ (Halle, 1870, fol.), which extends to forty volumes, the smaller _Scriptores rerum Prussicarum_ (Leipzig, 1861-1874), and the seventy-seven volumes of the _Publikationen aus den koniglichen preussischen Staatsarchiven, veranlasst und unterstutzt durch die konigliche Archiverwaltung_ (Leipzig, 1878, fol.), may be cited as examples. The cities have followed the same path and their archives are being thoroughly examined. In 1836 an _Urkundenbuch_ of Frankfort was published, and this example has been widely followed, the work done in Cologne, in Bremen and in Mainz being perhaps specially noticeable. Moreover an historical commission at Munich has published twenty-eight volumes in the series _Die Chroniken der deutschen Stadte vom 14. bis ins 16. Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1862, fol.). Lastly, many documents relating to the great families of Germany, among them those of Hohenzollern and of Wittelsbach, have been carefully edited and given to the world.

With this great mass of material collected, sifted and edited by scholars of the highest standing it is not surprising that modern works on the history of Germany are stupendous in number and are generally of profound learning, and this in spite of the fact that some German historians--Gregorovius, Pauli and Lappenberg, for example--have devoted their time to researches into the history of foreign lands.

The earliest period is dealt with by K. Zeuss in _Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme_ (Munich, 1837; new ed., Gottingen, 1904); and then by F. Dahn in his _Urgeschichte der germanischen und romanischen Volker_ (Berlin, 1880-1889) and his _Die Konige der Germanen_, volumes of which have appeared at intervals between 1861 and 1909.

The Carolingian time is covered by E. Dummler's _Geschichte des ostfrankischen Reichs_ (Leipzig, 1887-1888), and then follow Ranke's _Jahrbucher des deutschen Reichs unter dem sachsischen Hause_ (Berlin, 1837-1840), W. von Giesebrecht's _Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit_ (1855-1888), and F. Raumer's _Geschichte der Hohenstaufen_.

For the reigns of Lothair the Saxon and Conrad III. P. Jaffe's books, _Geschichte des deutschen Reiches unter Lothar dem Sachsen_ (Berlin, 1843) and _Geschichte des deutschen Reiches unter Conrad III._ (Hanover, 1845), may be consulted.

The chief histories on the period between the fall of the Hohenstaufen and the Renaissance are: T. Lindner, _Deutsche Geschichte unter den Habsburgern und Luxemburgern_ (Stuttgart, 1888-1893); O. Lorenz, _Deutsche Geschichte im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert_ (Vienna, 1863-1867); J. Aschbach, _Geschichte Kaiser Sigmunds_ (Hamburg, 1838-1845); K. Fischer, _Deutsches Leben und deutsche Zustande von der Hohenstaufenzeit bis ins Reformationszeitalter_ (Gotha, 1884); V. von Kraus, _Deutsche Geschichte im Ausgange des Mittelalters_ (Stuttgart, 1888-1905), and A. Bachmann, _Deutsche Reichsgeschichte im Zeitalter Friedrichs III. und Maximilians I._ (Leipzig, 1884-1894).

The two greatest works on the Reformation period are L. von Ranke's _Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation_ (Leipzig, 1882) and J. Janssen's _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters_ (1897-1903). Other works which may be mentioned are: F. B. von Bucholtz, _Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinands I._ (Vienna, 1831-1838); C. Egelhaaf, _Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation_ (Berlin, 1893), and F. von Bezold, _Geschichte der deutschen Reformation_ (Berlin, 1890).

For the years after the Reformation we have Ranke, _Zur deutschen Geschichte--Vom Religionsfrieden bis zum 30-jahrigen Kriege_ (Leipzig, 1888); M. Ritter, _Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation und des dreissigjahrigen Krieges_ (Stuttgart, 1887, fol.); G. Droysen, _Geschichte der Gegenreformation_ (Berlin, 1893); A. Gindely, _Rudolf II. und seine Zeit_ (Prague, 1862-1868) and _Geschichte des dreissigjahrigen Krieges_ (Prague, 1869-1880). Gindely's book is, of course, only one among an enormous number of works on the Thirty Years' War.

For the period leading up to the time of Frederick the Great we have B. Erdmannsdorffer, _Deutsche Geschichte vom Westfalischen Frieden bis zum Regierungsantritt Friedrichs des Grossen_ (Berlin, 1892-1893); and then follow Ranke, _Zur Geschichte von Osterreich und Preussen zwischen den Friedensschlussen von Aachen und Hubertusburg_ (Leipzig, 1875) and _Die deutschen Machte und der Furstenbund_ (Leipzig, 1871-1872); K. Biedermann, _Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1854-1880); W. Oncken, _Das Zeitalter Friedrichs des Grossen_ (Berlin, 1880-1882); A. von Arneth, _Geschichte Maria Theresias_ (Vienna, 1863-1879); L. Hausser, _Deutsche Geschichte vom Tode Friedrichs des Grossen bis zur Grundung des Deutschen Bundes_ (Berlin, 1861-1863), and K. T. von Heigel, _Deutsche Geschichte vom Tode Friedrichs des Grossen bis zur Auflosung des alten Reichs_ (Stuttgart, 1899, fol.).

For the 19th century we may mention: H. von Treitschke, _Deutsche Geschichte im 19. Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1879-1894); H. von Sybel, _Die Begrundung des deutschen Reiches durch Wilhelm I._ (Munich, 1889-1894); G. Kaufmann, _Politische Geschichte Deutschlands im 19. Jahrhundert_ (Berlin, 1900), and H. von Zwiedeneck-Sudenhorst, _Deutsche Geschichte von der Auflosung des alten bis zur Grundung des neuen Reiches_ (Stuttgart, 1897-1905). These are perhaps the most important, but there are many others of which the following is a selection: K. Fischer, _Die Nation und der Bundestag_ (Leipzig, 1880); K. Klupfel, _Geschichte der deutschen Einheitsbestrebungen bis zu ihrer Erfullung_ (Berlin, 1872-1873); H. Blum, _Die deutsche Revolution_ 1848-1849 (Florence, 1897) and _Das deutsche Reich zur Zeit Bismarcks_ (Leipzig, 1893); W. Maurenbrecher, _Grundung des deutschen Reiches_ (Leipzig, 1892); H. Friedjung, _Der Kampf um die Vorherrschaft in Deutschland_ 1859-1866 (Stuttgart, 1897); C. von Kaltenborn, _Geschichte der deutschen Bundesverhaltnisse und Einheitsbestrebungen von 1806-1856_ (Berlin, 1857); J. Jastrow, _Geschichte des deutschen Einheitstraumes und seiner Erfullung_ (Berlin, 1885), and P. Kloppel, _Dreissig Jahre deutscher Verfassungsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1900).

For the most recent developments of German politics see H. Schulthess, _Europaischer Geschichtskalender_ (Nordlingen, 1861, fol., a work similar to the English _Annual Register_); W. Muller and K. Wippermann, _Politische Geschichte der Gegenwart_ (Berlin, 1868, fol.); the _Statistisches Jahrbuch des deutschen Reichs_, and A. L. Lowell, _Governments and Parties in Continental Europe_ (1896).

A good general history of Germany is the _Bibliothek deutscher Geschichte_, edited by H. von Zwiedeneck-Sudenhorst (Stuttgart, 1876, fol.). Other general histories, although on a smaller scale, are K. Lamprecht, _Deutsche Geschichte_ (Berlin, 1891-1896); O. Kammel, _Deutsche Geschichte_ (Dresden, 1889); K. Biedermann, _Deutsche Volks- und Kulturgeschichte_ (Wiesbaden, 1885); T. Lindner, _Geschichte des deutschen Volks_ (Stuttgart, 1894); the _Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte_, edited by B. Gebhardt (Stuttgart, 1901), and K. W. Nitzsch, _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes bis zum Augsburger Religionsfrieden_ (Leipzig, 1883-1885).

Special reference is deservedly made to three works of the highest value. These are J. G. Droysen's great _Geschichte der preussischen Politik_ (Berlin, 1855-1886); the _Deutsche Reichstagsakten_, the first series of which was published at Munich (1867, fol.) and the second at Gotha (1893-1901); and the collection known as the _Regesta imperii_, which owes its existence to the labours of J. F. Bohmer. Nearly the whole of the period between 751 and 1347 is covered by these volumes; the charters and other documents of some of the German kings being edited by Bohmer himself, and new and enlarged editions of certain sections have been brought out by J. Ficker, E. Winkelmann and others. Much useful information on the history of different periods is contained in the lives of individual emperors and others. Among these are H. Prutz, _Kaiser Friedrich I._ (Danzig, 1871-1874); F. W. Schirrmacher, _Kaiser Friedrich II._ (Gottingen, 1859-1865); H. Ulmann, _Kaiser Maximilian I._ (Stuttgart, 1884-1891); F. von Hurter, _Geschichte Kaiser Ferdinands II._ (Schaffhausen, 1857-1864), and H. Blum, _Furst Bismarck und seine Zeit_ (Munich, 1895). There is also the great series of volumes, primary and supplementary, forming the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_ (Leipzig, 1875, fol.), in which the word _deutsche_ is interpreted in the widest possible sense.

Apart from political histories there are useful collections of laws and other official documents of importance, and also a large number of valuable works on the laws and constitutions of the Germans and on German institutions generally. Among the collections are M. Goldast, _Collectio constitutionum imperialium_ (1613; new and enlarged edition, 1673); the _Capitulationes imperatorum et regum Romana-Germanorum_ (Strassburg, 1851) of Johann Limnaus, and the _Corpus juris Germanici antiqui_ (Berlin, 1824) of F. Walter. Collections dealing with more recent history are J. C. Glaser's _Archiv des norddeutschen Bundes. Sammlung aller Gesetze, Vertrage und Aktenstucke, die Verhaltnisse des norddeutschen Bundes betreffend_ (Berlin, 1867); W. Jungermann's _Archiv des deutschen Reiches_ (Berlin, 1873, fol.), and the _Acta Borussica. Denkmaler der preussischen Staatsverwaltung im 18. Jahrhundert_ (Berlin, 1892, fol.). Mention may also be made of C. C. Homeyer's edition of the _Sachsenspiegel_ and L. A. von Lassberg's edition of the _Schwabenspiegel_; the many volumes of Wallenstein's letters and papers; the eighteen volumes of the _Urkunden und Aktenstucke zur Geschichte des Kurfursten Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg_ (Berlin, 1864, fol.); and the thirty volumes of the _Politische Korrespondenz Friedrichs des Grossen_ (Berlin, 1879-1905). Modern writers on these subjects distinguished for their learning are G. Waitz (_Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte_, Kiel and Berlin, 1844, fol.) and G. L. von Maurer (_Geschichte der Stadteverfassung in Deutschland_, Erlangen, 1869-1871, and other cognate writings), their works being valuable not only for the early institutions of the Germans, but also for those of other Teutonic peoples. Other works on the German constitution and German laws are K. F. Eichhorn, _Deutsche Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte_ (Gottingen, 1843-1844); R. Schroder, _Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1889 and again 1902); H. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1887-1892), and _Grundzuge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1901-1903), and E. Mayer, _Deutsche und franzosische Verfassungsgeschichte vom 9.-11. Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1899).

Manners and customs are dealt with in J. Scherr's _Deutsche Kultur- und Sittengeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1852-1853); J. Lippert's _Deutsche Sittengeschichte_ (Vienna and Prague, 1889); O. Henne am Rhyn's _Kulturgeschichte des deutschen Volkes_ (Berlin, 1886); the _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes und seiner Kultur im Mittelalter_ (Leipzig, 1891-1898) of H. Gerdes, and F. von Loher's _Kulturgeschichte der Deutschen im Mittelalter_ (Munich, 1891-1894). Among the works on husbandry may be mentioned: K. Bucher, _Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft_ (Tubingen, 1893); K. T. von Inama-Sternegg, _Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1879-1901), and K. Lamprecht, _Deutsches Wirtschaftsleben im Mittelalter_ (Leipzig, 1886). For antiquities see M. Heyne, _Funf Bucher deutscher Hausaltertumer von den altesten geschichtlichen Zeiten bis zum 16. Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1899-1903), and L. Lindenschmit, _Handbuch der deutschen Altertumskunde_ (Brunswick, 1880-1889). For the history of the German church see A. Hauck, _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_ (Leipzig, 1887-1903); F. W. Rettberg, _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_ (Gottingen, 1846-1848), and J. Friedrich, _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_ (Bamberg, 1867-1869). For finance see K. D. Hullmann, _Deutsche Finanzgeschichte des Mittelalters_ (1805); for the administration of justice, O. Franklin, _Das Reichshofgericht im Mittelalter_ (Weimar, 1867-1869), and A. Stolzel, _Die Entwicklung des gelehrten Richtertums in deutschen Territorien_ (Stuttgart, 1872); for the towns and their people see J. Jastrow, _Die Volkszahl deutscher Stadte zu Ende des Mittelalters und zu Beginn der Neuzeit_ (Berlin, 1886); F. W. Barthold, _Geschichte der deutschen Stadte und des deutschen Burgertums_ (Leipzig, 1850-1854), and K. Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden der germanischen Volker im Mittelalter_ (Leipzig, 1891); and for manufactures and commerce see J. Falke, _Die Geschichte des deutschen Handels_ (Leipzig, 1859-1860); H. A. Mascher, _Das deutsche Gewerbewesen von der fruhesten Zeit bis auf die Gegenwart_ (Potsdam, 1866); F. W. Stahl, _Das deutsche Handwerk_ (Giessen, 1874); the numerous writings on the history of the Hanseatic League and other works. The nobles and the other social classes have each their separate histories, among these being C. F. F. von Strantz, _Geschichte des deutschen Adels_ (Breslau, 1845), and K. H. Roth von Schreckenstein, _Die Ritterwurde und der Ritterstand_ (Freiburg, 1866).