Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia Volume 1 of 3

By Leopold von Ranke

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Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia Volume 1 of 3 is the first installment of the classic history by Leopold von Ranke.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles River Editors
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781518347467

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MEMOIRS OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG AND HISTORY OF PRUSSIA VOLUME 1 OF 3

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Leopold von Ranke

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Copyright © 2015 by Leopold von Ranke

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TRANSLATORS’ PREFACE.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

FIRST BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

SECOND BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

THIRD BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia Volume 1 of 3

By

Leopold von Ranke

TRANSLATORS’ PREFACE.

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THE GERMAN TITLE OF THE work now laid before the English public is ‘Neun Bücher Preussischer Geschichte’ (Nine Books of Prussian History)—an imitation of Herodotus, for which we have, with the consent of the author, substituted a name more suitable to the English dress in which we have endeavoured to clothe Professor Ranke’s book.

Though it would be more than needless for us to offer any comment on the Author’s well-known ability, we may venture to remark that Professor Ranke has devoted some eight or ten years to the examination of materials especially relating to the period embraced by this history; he was, moreover, one of the Commission appointed to superintend the preparation of the new edition of the Great Frederick’s works now in course of publication at Berlin, and has thus been enabled to gain a fresh insight into several portions of that monarch’s life, and to throw a new light upon several of his actions.

With respect to our own share in the present work, we can only plead that we have done our best to give intelligible English names to institutions, forms, offices, &c., unknown in England, and for the most part long since extinct in Prussia. It is impossible to find precise English equivalents for the offices of Landrath, Schulze, Landdroste, &c.—indeed the same title is sometimes applied to very different officers in different provinces: for instance, in the ancient dukedom of Cleves, now incorporated with Prussia, the Droste answered to the first civil magistrate of a borough, or to the French "maire;’’ while in Hanover and some other parts of Germany the Droste was more like the lord-lieutenant of a county. Nor is it at all easier to render into English the details of the administration of justice, finance, and the like, which we have done in such English terms as seemed to us most nearly analogous to the German original. We mention these very peculiar difficulties of our task in extenuation of any mistakes into which we may have been betrayed by our very limited knowledge, and of those defects of style into which we may have fallen from our anxiety to render the author’s very words with the utmost truth and exactness. We are bound to add that we were furnished by Professor Ranke with the proof sheets of his work some time before its publication in Germany, though not long enough to enable us to finish the translation in time to be published simultaneously with the original, according to the wish of the author.

A. & L. D. G.

Queen Square, Westminster,

December, 1848.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

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IF AT THE BEGINNING OF the eighteenth century France had not entirely subjected the Spanish peninsula to her influence, she had at any rate, spite of all opposition, laid the basis of her future domination. Austria, chiefly owing to the success of her Hungarian campaigns, had taken her footing firmly as a great power. Russia, in the midst of the dangerous aggressions of Sweden, had acquired preponderance in the north. England, united with Holland, and freed from all foreign influences, held in her strong grasp the balance of power in Europe. The four great States stood confronting one another like so many planets, each pursuing its peculiar course in accordance with the laws of nature. Of the remaining States, some had been vanquished in war, others were inextricably involved in the policy of foreign countries. The north of Germany had borne its share in victory, and had no mind to be carried away in the vortex of its mighty neighbours. There was still room left for an independent European power, and Prussia determined to fill it. The purpose of the following book is to describe the events by which this was accomplished. From small beginnings—like every really living power—Prussia had already risen to considerable eminence, when, impelled not so much by conscious ambition as by the duty of self-preservation, she endeavoured to secure for herself a position independent on every side. After a brief glance at her early history, we will examine the epoch of her elevation, and the dangerous contests through which she secured her position—more especially the latter years of Frederick William I., and the earlier of that Frederick whom posterity has called the Great.

This prince has himself written about the events in which he played the decisive part; he has narrated the battles he fought. His writings, for the most part founded on reports drawn up as the events occurred, composed too—as they originally stood—under the inspiration of the most immediate recollection, and intended, above all, to commemorate the great deeds of his army, are invaluable monuments of truthfulness and sagacity: they unite keen observation with comprehensive and right royal views.

As a literary work, they contain many happy passages of description. That which has been said of Caesar’s Commentaries applies with even greater force to Frederick’s Memoirs. No one could be tempted to treat them as mere historical materials: it is with reluctance that I venture even to quote passages from them, so completely do they bear the stamp of their time, and, above all, of the genius whence they sprung.

It was, however, impossible for this active and gifted monarch, in whose life these very writings are events, to take an historical view of himself. The wish has continually been felt and expressed to obtain a deeper and more minute insight into the history of Prussia, and especially into that of Frederick II., than he himself has given. There is a general conviction that the gradual course of events may yet be traced with greater accuracy—that a fuller and a closer insight into history may yet be obtained; more especially if free access be granted to the archives of the State, where the most authentic information, in the shape of reports and letters, written day by day during the progress of the events themselves, is deposited.

This advantage has been afforded me in the most ample manner in Berlin, and I cannot be sufficiently grateful for it.

In accordance with the object I had in view, I first of all most carefully examined the voluminous documents relating to the State policy of Frederick William I. With regard to the internal administration of the country, I have still left a rich harvest for future students; my only wish is that this harvest may be duly gathered. A great history of the Prussian government might be written by a man unfettered by theory, able to appreciate the immediate wants of the state at each step of its progress, to estimate each particular crisis in connexion with the existence of the State as a whole, and thus to advance step by step from ancient to more modern times. Neither could I give the negotiations with foreign countries in all their detail, as Puffendorf has done for another period; for I was not writing the history of Frederick William’s reign; I merely wanted to trace out the general direction and aim of his policy. Even in this, however, I could not help coming across Frederick II.; and I have been enabled for the first time to explain, out of the original documents, the real nature of the dissensions in which he was involved with his father. I will not positively assert that all that has hitherto been assumed on this subject is false, whilst I pass it over in silence; but the discrepancy which I found between the undoubtedly authentic documents and the version of the affair which has been commonly received, inspired me with such distrust of the latter, that even had it been possible in any degree to reconcile the one statement with the other, I could not have brought myself to repeat it. And let none find fault because I have interwoven much that is personal and characteristic with the history of a State: it is in the spirit of the epoch of which I had to treat that the one should be most intimately blended with the other. It is only after the accession of Frederick II. that the restriction which this imposed upon the progress of the country was removed. Then, for the first time, the nation, which during several well-employed years of peace had come to maturity, entered with vigour upon its appointed career, under the guidance of a prince who always looked to the main point, judged promptly and correctly, took great resolutions, and in a struggle for life and death attained the position needful for his purpose. If the study of Frederick’s own writings is enough to deprive one of all courage to undertake an historical work on this period, that courage revives when, on searching the archives, we discover the abundant activity—which Frederick scarcely mentions, but by which he marked each day with genius and energy, and influenced the common course of events,—the support afforded to him both in the council and in the field by men of the rarest gifts, many of whom have yet to be recalled to fame,—the untiring energy with which his people followed him through every danger.

But unless I chose wilfully to expose myself to the influence of a partial view, it was incumbent upon me not to limit my inquiries to one quarter only, however important that might be: I ought in justice to hear both friend and foe.

In this respect the neighbouring courts of Dessau and of Dresden afforded me some information; in the former, the papers of Prince Leopold, who was a warmer adherent of Frederick than has usually been supposed; in the latter, the correspondence of Frederick’s opponent, Count Brühl,—as far as I was allowed to examine this or any other evidence of the policy of the court of Dresden of that day. But it was of incomparably greater importance for me to search the archives of Paris and London, the two great centres of European politics. In the rich collection of documents preserved in the archives of the Foreign Office at Paris, the King of Prussia fills a most prominent place: at any rate there was no lack among the French of watchful endeavour to understand him—his lightest words, as well as his most elaborate speeches, were carefully recorded. At the same time we are enabled to comprehend the far-reaching line of policy with which Frederick was for a long time so intimately connected.

In London, on the other hand, the system of the opposite party was revealed to me. In the circles which are here described, Maria Theresa, Frederick’s great opponent, appears in full activity. I should think myself happy were I to succeed in pourtraying her well-known character and womanly heroism in more definite and intelligible lines than has hitherto been done.

During the course of my labours I felt the difficulty of keeping my subject matter constantly in view, and while occupied with the examination of countless documents, bearing upon the most difficult questions of foreign or domestic policy, I frequently felt the insufficiency of my powers. But adverse criticisms of quite a different nature await me: I will neither enumerate nor attempt to obviate them. I only rely for a just estimate of my book upon the same liberal spirit which opened to me the archives whence I have drawn my materials.

The ancients wrote the history of their own times with an uncompromising regard to truth; I only ask toleration for the endeavour to bring as faithfully as I am able before my readers events which occurred a hundred years ago, and in so doing to disregard the party attachments and hostilities of the present day.

MEMOIRS

OF THE

HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG

AND

HISTORY OF PRUSSIA.

FIRST BOOK.

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CHAPTER I.

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OF THE ORIGIN AND RISE OF THE POWER OF BRANDENBURG AND PRUSSIA.

BY THE SIDE OF THE great princes who founded or extended the supreme power in Germany, history gives a place to other heroes whose undying glory it is to have opposed the former in their career: it would indeed be difficult to decide which of the two have contributed most largely to the developement of the nation.

The great sovereigns inspired the German nation with the consciousness of its own unity; and by the foundation of the Empire they not only won for Germany a high rank amongst nations, but gave her a resistless impulse towards civilization, made way for the spread of Christianity, and established public order upon a solid foundation. On the other hand, those territorial princes who opposed these monarchs defended the freedom of the national genius, which was not in harmony with ideas developed in other countries and under other circumstances, and often propounded without examination or due perception of their import. They likewise prevented the destruction of individual life and liberty by the pressure of the external forms in which these ideas had been clothed during the course of these events.

After devoting to the former the attention due to their personal character, and to the importance of their achievements, we ought not to leave the latter unnoticed: they present a series of characters which become more and more remarkable as we advance from one epoch to another.

At first these territorial princes, when not themselves enabled by birth or by the fortune of war to grasp at the imperial crown, could not fail to succumb in the struggle against a power which was of necessity strong both within and without its own dominions, called upon as it was to resist the pressure of so many powerful and barbarous foes. But the nation has not forgotten their efforts. One of them especially, Duke Ernest of Swabia, is still remembered as a man who preferred forfeiting the Emperor’s favour to breaking faith with his friend; and when for this offence he was excommunicated by the bishops and outlawed by the princes of the Empire, he retreated into the depths of the forest, where, seeing himself surrounded and overpowered by foes, he purposely sought his death.

But a time came when men of this stamp acquired a new importance, and, above all, an invincible support, in the rising power of the territorial sovereignty which was deeply rooted in the German nation.

Henry the Lion affords perhaps the most remarkable illustration of this crisis in German history. It is true that the contest for power and consideration in which he engaged with the Emperor mainly benefited the Pope and the Lombards; but when he afterwards determined to be what he really was by birth—a German territorial prince—and when he defended the inheritance of his fathers in lower Saxony against the imperial armies, he set an example which was followed by many princely families and by many towns and provinces upon which contests were forced, or which sought them of their own accord. Frederick the Warlike, again, had to fight many a hard battle for the territorial independence of Austria, upon which the house of Habsburg afterwards mainly founded its power. In central Germany another Frederick, he of the Bitten Cheek, a prince of the house of Wettin, made his name famous. At one time he no longer possessed a single castle wherein to reside, not a single war-horse to carry him into battle. A chronicle of the time describes him wandering as a fugitive through the country, in such guise that a herdsman tending his flock might have seized him; but soon after we find him gaining victories, the memory of which has fed the pride of his countrymen for generations. He withstood the armies of two Emperors, both inflamed by the greatest lust of conquest. Frederick himself perished body and soul in the struggle, but he left the land of his fathers undiminished to his house. I do not pretend here to examine whether it would not have been better, as some have asserted, if this or that opponent of the Emperor had been compelled to yield to him. The German people was accustomed to consider the imperial crown as the collective property of the princes and estates in whom the power of disposing of that dignity was vested. Should he upon whom it was conferred make use of the power with which it endowed him to increase the might of his own house, each individual prince felt himself fully justified in resistance. Not one of all the opponents of the different Emperors for a moment entertained the thought of destroying the Empire, upon which they themselves leant for support; they merely wished to defend their own political existence against any undue exercise of the imperial power. In this view taken by the territorial princes the towns and circles fully agreed. Of all the Emperors—and many of them possessed most brilliant qualities—not one since Otho the Great has been distinguished by any title of honour given by the people. The Emperors were fortunate if they were not altogether forgotten. Among the territorial princes, on the contrary, we meet with many bearing such names as the Joyous, the Bold, the Iron, the Earnest, the Glorious, the Wise, and the Good. They stood much more within the reach of popular sympathy; in them the power and importance of personal character were far more plainly shown, and provincial pride was enlisted in their favour; while the Emperor moved in so remote a sphere that he never awakened in the minds of the people any real interest or fellow-feeling; these indeed can never be excited by mere admiration.

By degrees, however, a complete change took place in the relations between the princes and the Emperor.

In earlier times the Emperor, in his imperial character, was looked upon as the firm and living centre of the whole German nation: by him the governors of the several provinces were appointed or dismissed. Subsequently, however, the estates, and more especially the territorial princes, came to be considered as those in whom alone was vested a really firm and enduring power; the Emperor was regarded as a vicegerent, to whom certain powers had been confided, and from whom they might, if necessary, be taken away.

It was under these circumstances that the temporal princes of Germany leagued themselves together for the performance of the greatest undertaking which they had ever collectively attempted.

We do not mean to attribute to the views of a certain number of German princes the origin of the religious or theological idea which led to the Protestant Reformation—that had a far deeper source; but the princes and the estates gave to the movement that support and assistance which were necessary to prevent it from being crushed at its very beginning.

Their original scheme was a purely national one. They wished, by giving to the estates a more active influence in the affairs of government, to remodel the Empire, which in its actual state of weakness was inefficiently and partially administered, and thus to restore it to its former power and energy. But this brought them into collision with the abuses which had crept into the government of the church, and gave rise to the project of remodelling the spiritual as well as the temporal power, and, in accordance with the views of those teachers who were opposed to the old doctrines, to give to it a more purely national character.

Most of the temporal princes were agreed upon this point; the corporate bodies, with but few exceptions, joined the princes, and the greater part of the nation eagerly gave in its adhesion to these views. But they were met by a strong opposition, chiefly on the part of the powerful ecclesiastical portion of the German hierarchy, and were forced to stop very far short of the aim which they had in view. After many tedious disputes at the Diets, after engaging in a war against the Emperor full of perilous reverses, this idea had to be given up; the princes and estates were forced to confine themselves to merely defensive measures.

Something, however, was effected: that which could not be carried out with respect to the government of the Empire was achieved in particular provinces and districts subject to princes or to corporations, and acquired a permanent existence. The imperial government, as it was then constituted, and the Emperor, were bound by laws to recognise this innovation, and to extend to the new order of things the universal peace and protection of the Empire.

Even this result was of immense importance. The German nation thus gained a high position in the region of intellectual life; it was the first to break through the pale of that hierarchy which encircled western Europe (as similar forms of belief encompassed the East), and to give a place in the world to the original idea of positive religion unfettered by arbitrary dogmas. This tendency found a ready acceptance in all parts of Europe, but was more especially suited to the peculiar genius and nature of the German mind, from the unfathomed depths of which it arose with resistless might. There are many who look upon this epoch—the second half of the sixteenth century—as the golden and classic age of German culture, which indisputably was never more generally diffused than at that time; and we should be disposed to agree with them, were it not that mere theological disputations occupied far the greater share of the mental activity of the time. The princes who so actively assisted in this work found their own power established on a firmer basis by its achievement. In all cases the exclusion or the remodelling of the ecclesiastical powers strengthened the union between the estates of the various provinces and their respective princes. During this period, too, the developement of the provincial Diets—especially in the north and in the east of Germany—was most remarkable. In one point only, that of the ecclesiastical constitution, some innovations were made; and even in this case they were as slight as possible: all other traditional institutions were preserved and strengthened.

This one innovation was, however, sufficient to call into existence a danger which threatened the whole movement. This it was that first embarrassed the destinies of the German people and of the German spirit.

Catholicism, which had been so vigorously attacked by the German nation and had been driven out of so many wide districts, had in the mean time been purged of many errors and abuses, but was once more filled with the spirit of persecution; and it had now regained full possession of southern Europe, where the greatest monarchy then existing, namely the Spanish, into whose coffers the wealth of the Indies flowed, displayed unlimited devotion to its interests. Catholicism once more spread over Germany, and in spite of all opposition took possession of the ecclesiastical provinces. Among the temporal princely houses there were two which, although they had long wavered, had at length not only refused to join the rest, but had also become the most zealous supporters of the restored Catholic doctrines: these were the houses of Austria and Bavaria. It is obvious that the latter power wasted its energies upon a mistaken line of action. Austria, on the contrary, although in fact merely a territorial principality like the rest, had been so long in possession of the imperial dignity, that she had an evident and mighty interest in reviving the idea of the ancient power of the Empire. The religious differences had strengthened, instead of weakening, the power of the imperial throne: the great ecclesiastical bodies, which formerly had often opposed the Emperor, now looked mainly to him for support, and the prospect was now opened to him of recovering his power over the whole of Germany by means of an alliance among the spiritual estates of the Empire.

This was the origin of that war which for thirty years devastated Germany. Never was a nation visited by a heavier calamity than the thirty years’ war, which combined all the evils of civil and foreign warfare, and perilled the political and intellectual existence of the nation. As, however, we shall have to return to this subject hereafter, we need now only allude to the consequences which are known to every one—namely, that, although at one moment it appeared as if Protestantism, and those territorial princes who supported it, would be annihilated, or at any rate reduced to the minimum of independence, the event was quite otherwise; the territorial princes not only retained their full independence, but even rose to greater influence than ever: whereas the imperial power, though it was upheld by its alliance with the ecclesiastical estates of the Empire, and thus retained considerable might, was surrounded by so many barriers, or rather opposing influences, that it could never again venture such an attempt as the last upon the liberties of others.

Thus then the power of the territorial princes advanced to another grade. At the beginning of the new movement they had been kept under owing to their imperfectly defined political station; but soon they separately rose to power by their individual force, and joined their efforts with those of the nation at large. They thus strengthened their influence with the estates without wholly shaking off the authority of the imperial Crown. Latterly, however, the territorial princes of the north and east of Germany rendered themselves nearly independent of the Emperor, and, what was more important, they obtained a voice in the affairs of Europe. These princes had clearly become too strong for the preservation of the unity and external power of the nation. At all events, their new might imposed upon them grave and onerous duties. The first—which still appears to us to be the most important of all—was to oppose the influence which foreign states had acquired during the war, and which threatened to deprive Germany of the consideration of Europe, and to destroy her internal unity. The second duty was so to arrange the public affairs of their own territories as to promote order and to increase the general welfare and influence of the nation at large.

Under these conditions, and, if we are not mistaken, impressed with an unusually strong sense of its duties, the house of Brandenburg and Prussia took its place by the side of the other princely houses, and gradually rose to be one of the most powerful of them all.

The uncontrollable course of events had rendered essential to the German princes the assumption of an independent position towards Germany and Europe, and the establishment of forms of government suited to the wants and capabilities of their respective states: this was indeed attempted by several other powers, but by none was it so successfully carried out as by the house of Brandenburg.

The purpose of our first Book is to show the means by which this was effected, chiefly during the course of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries: but we must first revert to the earliest period of the history of Brandenburg, in order to take a general though cursory view of the origin and developement of its power.

CHAPTER II.

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VIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG.

THE MARCH OF BRANDENBURG IS one of those districts which was first peopled by the advance of the German nation towards the east during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was in the beginning, like Silesia, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Prussia, and Livonia, a German colony settled upon an almost uncultivated soil: from the very first, however, it seems to have given the greatest promise of vigour.

In the adjacent districts the Slavonic princes had themselves favoured the immigration of the German race into their territories, and it is unquestionable that in so doing they acted in contradiction to their origin and past history. On the remote shores where the Teutonic knights established themselves there arose moreover an internal spirit of opposition between the settlers whom the order had drawn thither, and who remained fixed to the soil, and the ever-fluctuating society of the order itself, which was entitled to sovereign power over them. In the March of Brandenburg, on the other hand, the princely house under whose guidance the colonization had been effected formed a cognate centre, round which the settlers naturally gathered. Possession was taken of the soil upon the ground of the rights of the princely Ascanian house—we know not whether these rights were founded upon inheritance, purchase, or cession. The process of occupation was so gradual that the institutions of the old German provinces, like those constituting the northern march, had time to take firm root in the newly-acquired territory; and owing to the constant necessity for unsheathing the sword, the colonists acquired warlike habits which tended to give them spirit and energy. Manifold as were the rights and privileges conceded to the numerous nobles who settled in these districts for the purpose of cultivating and defending the soil,—to the bishops and abbots who took upon themselves military as well as ecclesiastical functions,—to the corporations of the towns and villages,—the powerful influence of the margrave predominated over these various social elements, and served to connect and to advance the whole. The Ascanians were a warlike but cultivated race, incessantly acquiring new possessions, but generous and openhanded; and new life followed in their footsteps. They soon took up an important political position among the German princely houses: their possessions extended over a great part of Thuringia, Moravia, Lausitz, and Silesia: the electoral dignity which they assumed gave to them and to their country a high rank in the Empire. In the Neumark and in Pomerellen the Poles retreated before them, and on the Pomeranian coasts they protected the towns founded by the Teutonic order from the invasion of the Danes. It has been asked whether this race might not have greatly extended its power; but they were not destined even to make the attempt.

It is said that at the beginning of the fourteenth century nineteen members of this family were assembled on the Margrave’s Hill near Rathenau. In the year 1320, of all these not one remained, or had even left an heir.

The fact that a false Ascanian prince of the name of Waldemar found adherents proves how deeply rooted was the love for this race in the hearts of the people. In like manner, after the extinction of the family of Hohenstaufen, there appeared a new Frederick II.; and a false Sebastian and a false Demetrius gained followers after the old dynasties had died out in Portugal and in Russia. These facts show the vitality of genealogical attachments and the reluctance felt by nations in early times no longer to see at their head the descendants of their old hereditary ruling houses.

In Brandenburg, moreover, it really appeared as if the extinction of the ruling family would entail ruin upon the country. It had formed a close alliance with the imperial power—which at that moment was the subject of contention between the two great families of Wittelsbach and Luxemburg—was involved in the quarrels of those two races, injured by all their alternations of fortune, and sacrificed to their domestic and foreign policy, which was totally at variance with the interests of Brandenburg. At the very beginning of the struggle the March of Brandenburg lost its dependencies. Shortly afterwards an Archbishop of Magdeburg and a Duke of Mecklenburg could with impunity commit acts of violence and rapine upon the country. At length a powerful noble family, in the possession of above twenty strongholds, and at the head of an armed band of followers supported by blackmail and protection money, usurped an irregular sort of princely power:—One day one of the family of the Quitzows was received by some town under his protection with the sound of music and rejoicing, and was thus accompanied to his house. The next day this same protector, whose claim to protection money had not been discharged to his satisfaction, thought himself entitled to drive off the cattle from the common pasture-ground: and when a body of burghers pursued him, he attacked and dispersed them and threw the richest and most considered among them into the dungeons of his castle. War and plunder were the rule, peace and