Holy Roman Research Articles

Government Use of Print: Official Publications in the Holy Roman Empire, 1500–1600, by Saskia Limbach

<i>Government Use of Print: Official Publications in the Holy Roman Empire, 1500–1600</i>, by Saskia Limbach

The Prussian Army’s First Spymaster: Colonel Heinrich von Brandt and the Nachrichtenbüro, 1866–1876

Abstract Heinrich von Brandt was the father of German military intelligence. He was responsible for conducting espionage operations for the General Staff in the period of the foundation of the German Empire and made a significant contribution to Prussia’s victory over France in 1871. Yet his important role has been completely neglected in histories of the Prussian army during this period. This study uses source material believed to have been lost during the Second World War to reconstruct the life and work of the first chief of the Nachrichtenbüro from 1866 to 1876.

Ships as Communication Vessels: Photographic Travels into the Polynesian Sea

Abstract Beginning in 1889, Emperor Wilhelm ii of the German Empire intensified shipbuilding in order to secure the German Empire colonies around the globe, including the colony of ‘Deutschland-Neuguinea’. This article investigates the ship as a vessel of transcultural communication in the conflicting histories of German colonialism. On the one hand, ships encountered foreign territories, and expanded German trade markets, while simultaneously prompting curiosity to learn about foreign and ‘exotic’ cultures. On the other hand, a belief in Western superiority that led to massive repression of indigenous people cast a shadow over the process of getting to know ‘the other’. Sailors not only implemented the Empire’s seek for new territories and maintained colonial ‘order’ in occupied countries, but also led to a second blossoming of travel photography. Taking up the ‘Kodakification’ of the world, understood as growing accessibility of different camera types, seamen acted as amateur photographers and brought home a kaleidoscope of impressions of the outer rims of the empire. This article discusses the photographic travel albums of crewmembers of the German gunboat S.M.S. Bussard in the collection of the German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven. The seamen’s photographic perspective created a specific visual commemoration of German colonialism on the intersection of love of travel and the concept of white supremacy. In this regard, the battleship steamer S.M.S. Bussard serves as a conflicted medium, in that it enabled transcultural contact, but most importantly was used as a military weapon to defeat the indigenous’ uprising against Western colonialization.

Topos XIX-wiecznego Śląska w cyklu powieści historycznych Michaela Meinerta Hochwald-Saga (Saga Wysokiego Lasu)

The article is devoted to the first three volumes of Michael Meinert’s Hochwald-Saga (The High Forest Saga) series, whose action takes place in Silesia in the 19th century; these are are: Gescheiterte Flucht (Failed Escape), Der zerrissene Graf (Lost count) and Ehrlicher Schwindler (Honest swindler). In these works, the author breaks away from the stereotypical perception of Silesia as a space of memory, the critical turning point of which was the end of World War II. He does not create images of a “lost homeland” – Silesia becomes an attractive historical space for him precisely because of its past character, and is a fascinating setting for novels with historical plots. At the same time, he revives the history of Silesia as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later of the German Empire. He also creates images of space, assigning them additional meanings, which is in line with the idea of space semantisation promoted by Yuri Lotman. An extremely important element in the composition of Meinert’s works is the creation of Silesia as a sacred space in which existential, axiological and theological questions are asked. In his understanding, places become a humanised space which has its own characteristic identity and often depicts the emotional states or character traits of the novel’s figures; moreover, it plays an important role in shaping their attitudes and values. The purpose of this text is to analyse the poetics of Meinert’s above-mentioned novels with particular emphasis on the topos of Silesia, its characteristics, and the role and functions it plays in them. As it is closely related to the poetics of place, attention is also paid to selected aspects of geopoetics in the sense proposed by Elżbieta Rybicka.

Russian-French Agreements of 1891-1893 in International Relations at Turn of 19th and 20th Centuries

The article is dedicated to Russia’s European policy from the formation of the German Empire in 1871 to the beginning of World War I. It examines the historical conditions, reasons, and nature of the Russo-French military-political alliance of 1891-1893. The role of Emperor Alexander III in the political rapprochement between Russia and France on an anti-German and anti-Austrian basis is demonstrated. The existence of mutual interest between Russia and France in forming a military-political alliance is revealed. The Bierk Treaty of 1905 between Emperors Wilhelm II and Nicholas II is analyzed, showing that this treaty fundamentally contradicted the development of military-political cooperation between Russia and France and therefore was not implemented. The conclusion is drawn regarding the significance of the Russo-French alliance of the early 1890s for the foreign policy and historical destiny of the Russian Empire. Germany's interest in strengthening its influence on the foreign policy of the Russian Empire is shown. It is proven that Germany’s attempts to attract Russia to its side did not succeed, and Russia maintained its alliance with France, which was more significant for it during the period under consideration, despite the fact that ultimately this alliance led to the involvement of the Russian Empire in a world war.

Дипломатична місія чеського короля Вацлава ІІ до французького монарха Філіппа IV Красивого на початку XIV ст.

The purpose of the scientifi c study is to reveal the preconditions and to trace the progress of diplomatic mission organization of the Czech King Václav II to France in order to conclude an alliance agreement with the local monarch Philip IV the Handsome from the Capeting dynasty, directed against the pope Boniface VIII and the German ruler Albrecht I Habsburg. Th e methodological basis of the work is the principles of historicism, objectivity and scientifi c credibility. Historical-systemic and analytical methods have been used. Th e research was prepared on the basis of analysis of sources. It is about documents of the Czech diplomatic mission, as well as about the annals and chronicles that were kept in Prague and in certain re- gions of the Holy Roman Empire. It’s focused on works of leading Czech and German scientists on the outlined issues. Th e scientifi c novelty consists in the detailed clearing up of preconditions of the diplomatic mission organization of the Czech King Václav II to the French king Philip IV the Handsome, clarifying its purpose and probable reasons of fi asco of the action. Conclusions. Vaclav II hoped to fi nd a reliable ally in person of the French monarch who would be able to provide him with assistance in his confrontation with Pope Boniface VIII and German King Albrecht I Habsburg. However, all eff orts of Vaclav II to get closer to Philip IV the Handsome failed. Th e reason of the failure should be sought in the fact that Philip IV the Handsome man- aged to deal with the pope on his own, and the fi ght against Albrecht I Habsburg he did not consider his priority. Although the relationship between German and French kings became cool, however the fi nal line was not passed. Th e position of Philip IV the Handsome could be infl u- enced by family relations of the Capetings with the Neapolitan line of the Anjou family, whose representative claimed the Hungarian throne. One way or another, but the mission to Philip IV the Handsome remained unfi nished, the alliance between the Czech kingdom and France, which Vaclav II so longed for, was not concluded.

Transit Experiences

Abstract Between the 1870s and 1914, millions of Eastern Europeans moved to the United States. Little is known about the actual journeys of Polish, Jewish, and other migrants. A closer look at the experiences of transmigrants reveals a sophisticated system that was managed by Germany's two largest steamship lines, the Hamburg-America Line and the Bremen-based North German Lloyd. In the early 1880s, the United States shifted to a more thorough screening of arriving migrants, refusing admission to a growing number of “undesirables.” In 1885, Germany's largest state, Prussia, implemented a restrictive immigration policy, much earlier than other states in and beyond Europe. The steamship lines convinced the Prussian state not to prevent migrants from Eastern Europe from crossing its territory. Before 1914, migrant aid associations also established a good accord with different state agencies in Europe and North America. They intervened on behalf of migrants who had been detained, often successfully. State officials embraced non-state actors because they solved protracted problems and relieved states of a financial burden. The article examines the origins of the privately handled transmigration system in Imperial Germany and raises the question whether it was beneficial for average migrants.

German Influences on Ottoman Film Propaganda during World War I

abstract: When the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, it lacked the experience of other European countries in using modern propaganda techniques to mobilize its population for the war effort. The German Empire assisted the Ottomans to set up a propaganda machine in which cinema, the most modern visual technology of the time, also had a role to play. Through the analysis of primary sources such as films, photographs, memoirs, letters, and reports, this article sheds light on the forgotten role of the Germans in introducing film propaganda to the Ottomans during World War I.

German-Polish Reconciliation and Sino-Japanese Reconciliation: Comparative Reflections

Certain parallels exist between the perception of Germany in Poland and Japan in China. This similarity was observed by Chinese historian Yinan He. Poland and China associate their neighbouring nations with a negative, bellicose stereotype that harks back to the Second World War. However, this war is perceived as merely the latest incident in a long history of transgressions. Post-war, both countries came under communist rule, further demonising the former enemy. In the 1970s, both China/Japan and Poland/(West) Germany set aside historical grievances in favour of immediate diplomatic normalisation. In the 1980s and 1990s in Poland, this superficial reconciliation evolved into genuine reconciliation, thanks largely to the efforts of the Catholic Church and the joint membership of Poland and a united Germany in NATO and the EU. Concurrently in Japan, but particularly in communist China, practices of elite mythmaking only served to accentuate historical animosities. In East Asia, there appears to be a mutual lack of willingness for true reconciliation and forgiveness

Clipeus Christianitatis. Egy nagymúltú európai szállóige képi megjelenítésének változatai Magyarországon a 17. század második felében és a 18. század elején

The news of the peace of Westphalia in the autumn of 1648 certainly elicited great sighs of relief all over Europe, though contentedness was not yet universal. In countries over which the menace of the expansion and further advance of the Ottoman Empire loomed larger, the news generated a period of great hopes. This applied first of all to Hungary and Croatia where an optimistic public feeling began to spread wide. The main sources of this optimism were the influential politicians and their statements, who were both mouthpieces and shapers of the general attitude. Who were convinced that after 30 years of warfare a period of regeneration ought to come, and sooner or later – not in the distant future – what they had been painfully missing for decades, exactly since the reign of Emperor rudolph (†1612, rudolph I as king of Hungary): a major concerted anti-Ottoman military undertaking would be launched, a comprehensive campaign with the participation and support by Europe’s Christian countries initiated and controlled by the ruler of the Holy roman Empire and also king of Hungary ferdinand III. As the contemporary utterance of the politicizing Hungarian estates reveal, this optimistic expectation was paired with a zealous manifestation of a readiness to act. They voiced their great resolve with which the eligible population would take part and fight as effectively as their reserves allowed against the porte. This uncompromising intrepidity, the fight against the Ottomans at any price was fed – in addition to many glorious examples in the past – by several contemporary events. Clashes with great casualties which made great stirs in the Hungarian and European public life. Contemporaries hailed the fallen, including those of the ill-starred military encounter at vezekény on 26 August 1652, as inflaming examples of perseverance. In the eye of the contemporaries those killed in the clash – including four members of the aristocratic Esterházy family – set an inspiring example of moral courage in the teeth of Turkish superiority in numbers: in a hopeless battle they chose perseverance to the end, that is, heroic self-sacrifice, instead of surrendering. In addition to numerous quondam utterances including some quality works of literature testifying to the intrepidity and fighting value of the Hungarian estates, two works of the applied arts were also created with the aim of perpetuating the glorious memory of the fallen heroes.The historic military events of the last one and a half decades in the 17th century – the triumphant termination of the Ottoman wars in Hungary, the expulsion of the Turks – overruled the original meaning of the time-honoured adage known all over Europe, the idea that Hungary was one of the safeguards/bulwarks of the western Christian community. Although it might have lost its topicality, it did not fall out of public remembrance. It underwent some modification, some shift of tone, the militant slogan of mobilization giving way to reference to the heroic deeds of the forefathers, to the glorious past, the historical merits of the kingdom, of Hungaria. Added to this – by way of a conclusion – is the profound conviction rooted in historical experience that it was not in vain to persevere above their strength against the pagan world power in calamitous times. To the contrary, the nation owed her well-nigh miraculous survival to it. After all, the fact that her disintegration and perdition could be avoided must have been by the will of divine providence. This idea is conveyed in a visual language by an extremely effective composition, an engraving made in Augsburg in the first decade of the 18th century undoubtedly upon a Hungarian commission. What were the Archabbot of pannonhalma p. Aegidius Karner’s ideas or intentions to have this engraving made? In the closing section of the paper an attempt is made to answer this question.

„Zucht und lehr“ – Johann Wilhelm Simlers Teutsche Gedichte (1648)

Abstract Swiss literature between Niklaus Manuel as an example of a 16th century poet and Albrecht von Haller as a writer of the Age of Enlightenment has been little researched – despite the fact that a large body of literature dealing with a particularly ‘Swiss’ language, culture, and poetry can be linked to the political status of the sovereign confederation in the 17th century. This article presents the book Teutsche Gedichte by the Zurich author Johann Wilhelm Simler in the context of its creation as well as its reception. The work was first published in 1648, the year of the separation of the Confederate cantons from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and at the end of the Thirty Years’ War. Due to its resounding success, it was reprinted three times until 1688. In addition to various epigrams, doctrinal and occasional poems, the collection consists mainly of sacred and secular songs, printed in four-part notation. The melodies were written by various composers. As well as working with musicians, Simler also collaborated closely with the Zurich engraver Conrad Meyer. We would like to highlight Simler’s work as a cultural broker in the cultural scene of his city and for Swiss poetry in the German-speaking world.

Pastoral Care and Community in Late Medieval Germany: Albert of Diessen's Mirror of Priests by Deeana Copeland Klepper (review)

Pastoral Care and Community in Late Medieval Germany: Albert of Diessen's Mirror of Priests by Deeana Copeland Klepper (review)

Walther Flemming: life path and scientific legacy

The main stages of Walther Flemming life and activity are considered in the article. Walther Flemming (21.04.1843–4.08.1905) is German biologist, anatomist, one of the most famous histologists of the 19th century and the founder of cytogenetics. He studied medicine at four famous universities of the German Empire – in Göttingen, Tübingen, Berlin and Rostock. After defending his thesis, in 1868 he started teaching anatomy and histology at Würzburg, Amsterdam and Rostock universities, Germany and Charles Ferdinand University, the Czech Republic. During the last 25 years of his life, he was a professor of anatomy at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, Germany and headed one of its departments – the anatomical institute.&#x0D; At the beginning of W. Flemming scientific activity, his research mostly concerned histology and anatomy, as well as the development of histological methods and fixation of microscopic specimens. However, the main works of the scientist are devoted to study cell division process and the chromosomes distribution in daughter nuclei. He firstly introduced the concept of “mitosis”, which he studied on stained microscopic preparations, using salamander epithelial cells as a source of biological material. W. Flemming described the processes in the nucleus, distinguished “progressive” and “regressive” phases of cell division. He demonstrated that the cells contain areas that absorb basophilic dyes. These areas were later called chromatin; other structures remained unstained under such conditions and were therefore called achromatin. W. Flemming studied the structure and functions of the spindle during cell division, and he also studied the polar structure, which he called centriole. The scientist found that indirect division usually occurs not only in vertebrates, but also in invertebrates and protists. He established that two successive, morphologically distinct divisions of nuclear occur during spermatogenesis, resulting in the division of chromatin into two daughter cells. Thus, W. Flemming’s research contributed to the development of cell biology and its branches.

“One Would at Least Like to Be Asked”

Abstract As the leading public intellectual of postwar West Germany, Jürgen Habermas was a prominent opponent of the unification of the two Germanies after 1989. While his fears regarding the identity, collective memory, Western orientation, and economic power of a united Germany are important, in contrast to the existing literature, I argue that Habermas's objections are primarily procedural, focusing on the normative deficiencies in Chancellor Helmut Kohl's executive-led, administrative approach to reunification. In Habermas's eyes this procedure short-circuited the democratic processes of public opinion- and will-formation necessary to fulfill the normative presuppositions of popular self-determination. Methodologically, I make this point by reading Habermas's “short political writings” alongside his theoretical writings, especially his early postwar readings of the German constitutional theory. In addition to reframing the debate over his opposition to unification, I also oppose realist critiques of his work by showing that Habermas's theoretical writings have direct implications for contemporary politics.

The Suicidal “Spirit of 1914”: Self-Destruction, National Sacrifice, and the Spontaneous Mobilization in Germany

AbstractThis article examines the spectrum of suicidal behaviors in Germany at the outbreak of World War I. It argues that the recorded suicides of August 1914 highlight core vectors that eventually led to Imperial Germany's collapse in 1918: the mass shattering of socioemotional ties and moral certainties, engendered by political and military authorities’ decisions to prosecute the war, as well as those they undertook during the conflict. But the spectrum extended beyond these recorded suicides and ironically included the quintessential “war-enthusiastic” figure: the warvolunteer (Kreigsfreiwilliger), who willingly joined the military despite widespread public knowledge of the new war's massive lethality. The self-destructiveness of this volunteerism was then largely concealed by its emotionally resonant moral coding by both state and nonstate actors as “national sacrifice,” in line with the “spirit of 1914.” Right from the beginning, suicide was not the “flipside” of sacrifice, but its largely unspoken, implicit shadow: what sacrifice risked becoming in the absence of an adequate victory.

« Aussy avant les filz que les filles, et les filles que les filz » : les droits successoraux des filles de famille dans la coutume de Liège et dans les actes de la pratique du xvie siècle

Summary « Aussy avant les filz que les filles, et les filles que les filz » : inheritance rights of daughters according to the custom of Liège and in deeds of the 17th century. – In the 16th century, the customary law of Liège, a middle-sized estate of the Holy Roman Empire governed by a prince-bishop, excluded daughters from inheriting censal property located outside the ‘franchise’ of the states’ cities. However, such property – lands and buildings subjected to cens and annuities (‘cens’ and ‘rentes’) – often constituted a significant part of the parental estate. Aware of the issue, and of the risks that the law might lead to situations of conflicts, including legal proceedings, between their children, many parents, together or separately, derogated from the customary rule in their will. An aspect which has more rarely been brought to the fore by legal scholarship, marriage contracts were also a means to divide the inheritance equally among children.

Between Depression, Stagnation and Development

After a century and a half of partition, Poland was reborn in the autumn of 1918, though its geopolitical and economic situ- ation remained precarious. On the one hand, there were armed conflicts during which the new borders of the Republic were being shaped, and on the other hand, the economy of the young state was plagued by an economic depression that undermined the foundations of its existence. It took several years to recover from the crises. The main difficulty that successive governments had to face was the need to integrate the three different fiscal and economic systems and policies that had been inherited from the partitioning states: the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Czarist Russia. It is noteworthy that in the early 1920s two courses of recovery from economic depression were contemplated. The first (“the German course”) was based on the introduction of a new currency with extensive support for the economy with international loans. The second, called “the Austrian course,” relied solely on bolstering the economy with foreign loans. In the end, the Poles, under the leadership of Prime Minister and Treasury Minister Władysław Grabski, chose a third path: their own. It consisted of, in particular, a rapid collection of property tax, a sweeping currency reform, increasing the profitability of state monopolies, and implementing audits of public spend- ing. All of these measures, which underwent regular modifi- cations, yielded reasonably favorable socio-economic results. Their consequence was a long, arduous but steady recovery of Poland from the post-war economic slump.

Fateful Periods: Routinisation of a Wittenberg Chronological and Eschatological Concept within Bohemian University Humanism (c. 1550–1620)

The article deals with ways in which one of the most important chronological tools of Lutheran historical writing and eschatology—the “fateful periods” that were based on Daniel’s prophecy and predicted originally the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and the End of the World—was modified when it spread from Wittenberg to the University of Prague. The study does not seek to illustrate the importance of apocalyptic imagination by adding further examples of Central European provenance; rather, its goal is to demonstrate how eschatological discourses became absorbed into scholarly material, how they were rewritten and reapplied in individual humanist texts and, particularly, how their meanings and functions changed in the process of cultural exchange. Calculations based on “fateful periods” of 500 or 250 years were made part of the ordinary curriculum of the University of Prague and became one of the basic intellectual themes employed by non-theologians in various subjects, for example in different historical narratives, strategies for seeking patronage or as a tool for producing a community and shared identity among humanist scholars.

Antisemitism, dance, and the law in the late medieval Holy Roman Empire

Antisemitism, dance, and the law in the late medieval Holy Roman Empire

From the Holy Roman Empire to the Land of the Tsars: One Family’s Odyssey, 1768–1870 , by Alexander M. Martin

From the Holy Roman Empire to the Land of the Tsars: One Family’s Odyssey, 1768–1870 , by Alexander M. Martin