The Present State of Germany. Samuel Pufendorf

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СКАЧАТЬ objection made on the account of the use of the German Language by Charles the Great, may be thus easily answered. The Gauls having been long subject to the Romans, by degrees lost their own Tongue, and embraced that of their Conquerors; so that at last there were scarce any footsteps of the old Celtick left amongst <9> them: But then the Franks [, when they entered Gaul,] brought their German [Teutonicam] Tongue along with them, and without doubt did not presently forget it. But then, as the Franks neither destroyed nor expelled the [ancient] Gauls; but only assumed the Government and Soveraignity of the Country, [from whence it]^a came to pass, that those who were descended of the Franks, were employed in the great Affairs, and the [ancient] Gauls, as a conquered People, were kept under. But then as two Rivers of different colour, uniting in one stream, may for some time preserve each his proper colour, [but at length the greater stream will certainly change the lesser into its own colour];^b so in the beginning the Gauls had their Tongue, and the Franks theirs, till in length of time a third was made out of both mixed and twisted together, in which yet the Latin is the predominant. The plain cause of which is, That the Gauls were more numerous than the Franks, and it was much harder for them to learn the German, than it was for the Franks to learn the Gallick Latin{; for with what difficulty Foreigners learn the German Tongue, I my self know by experience}. From hence it proceeds, that [the most ancient Writers of this Nation]^c call the vulgar Latin the Rustick or Countryman’s Tongue, because the Nobility and Gentry still used the German, whilst the Countrymen and the rest of the [ancient] Gauls had no knowledge of any other than the Latin. And thus we see it is in our own times, in Livonia and Curland, where the old Inhabitants are by the Germans <10> reduced into the condition of meer Rusticks; for all the Nobility, and the Inhabitants of the Cities, speak the Sclavonian [rusticanam] Tongue, and the German, but the Countrymen do scarce understand one German word of ten.

      Thus Charles the Great might easily understand the German Tongue, because the Franks, [who were a German Nation,]⁺ had not quite laid aside the use of it; and also because the Franks, before his time, had conquered a great part of Germany, and he went on with the work, and reduced all the rest under his Dominion. Nor was it possible in that unlearned Age to converse with the Germans in any other than their own Language.

      |[But then he that observes, that [here] there is [are] two very different Questions confounded into one [by most people], will very accurately determine this Controversie]|;^a for if the Question be, Whether Charles the Great were of a Gallick or a German Original? without doubt it will be answered, That he was not a Gaul but a German, or which is all one, a FRANK. But if the Question be, [What Countryman]^b he was? France [Gallia], and not Germany, is to be assigned him, and therefore in this respect he was no German, but a Gaul, or [rather a] Gallo-Frank.

      {I fear I shall make the Reader think I take him for a stupid person, if I should dwell any longer on so plain a thing; and yet I will presume to give the Germans a known example:} If you fall upon a Nobleman of Livonia [among them], and ask him what Countryman [cujas] he is, he will reply a Livonian, and not a German; but then, if you still insist, and ask him of what Lineage, <because Livonia is inhabited by two nationalities [duplex natio],> <11> he will say, he is descended of the Germans, and not of the Livonians.

      The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions.

      7. This Prince (Charles the Great) had under him divers Nations [regiones], which he had acquired by very different Titles: He enjoy’d France as his Inheritance, devolved to him from his Father by [right of] Succession. For though we read in their Histories, that the ancient Franks had lodged in the Nobility and People of that Nation, some Authority in the constituting their Kings; yet I conceive, it was rather [like] a solemn Ina[u]guration, and an acknowledgment of their Loyalty and Obedience to the new King, than a Free Election;²¹ for they rarely departed from the Order of a Lineal [sanguinis] Succession, but when there were Factions, or the next Heir in the Line was wholly unfit for Government.

      A part of Germany was, before this time, united [by Conquest]⁺ to the Crown of France, and the rest of it was subdued by the victorious Arms of Charles the Great. Whether any part of this Country freely and willingly submitted to him out of Reverence to his Greatness, is very uncertain. He also by his Arms conquered the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, the Pope of Rome affording him a Pretence for it; after which, he was by the Pope and People of Rome saluted Emperor of Rome, and Augustus. Now, what he gain’d by this Title, we shall by and by inform you.²²

      Germany a part of the Kingdom of France.

      8. Thus, under Charles the Great, Germany became a part of the Kingdom of France, and was [sufficiently subject to the]^a Absolute Empire or Soveraignty of those Princes. <12> During this state of Affairs, it was divided into divers Provinces, which were governed by [prefects called] Counts or Earls, and Marquesses, who were for the most part of French extraction. Yet [in these times]⁺ the Saxons enjoy’d a greater shew [retained a fuller kind] of Liberty, because Charles the Great had not been able to reduce them without a long and tedious War, and was at last to perfect the Work, and establish his Soveraignty, necessitated to admit them to a participation of the Priviledges [jura] enjoy’d by the Franks, and to unite them into one Nation with their Conquerors. That he might further assure himself of this fierce Nation, which was so impatient of Servitude; he call’d in the assistance of the Priests, who were ordered to teach them the Christian Faith [religione], and to inculcate into them how much they were obliged to those who had shewn them the way of obtaining Eternal Life. On this account many Bishopricks and Abbies in Germany [were founded by Charles the Great].^a

      Germany was in the same estate [condition] under Saint Lewis [Louis the Pious,] the Son of Charles, but that the Authority [and power] of the Prefects or Governours of the Provinces began to grow greater<, and the clergy, their wealth swelled by the Princes’ indulgence, grew considerably haughtier as well>.²³

      The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father’s Kingdom.

      9. But afterwards, when the Children of this Lewis had divided their Father’s Kingdom amongst them (which was the first and principal cause of the Ruin of the French [Francicae] Power, and of the Caroline Family) Germany became separated from the [rest of the] French Empire, and was a distinct Kingdom under Lewis II. Son of St. Lewis.^b <And although soon, under Charles the Fat [crassus], it was combined with the rest of France [Francia] again, a short time later, when Arnulf was king, it was torn away once more and henceforth maintained its own separate affairs as Germany.> To it was afterwards added a great part of the Belgick France [Galliae], [(or of <13> the Low Countries, as it is now called)]⁺ which lies towards the Rhine, which for the most part was inhabited by German Nations [Teutonic peoples], [and] which from Lotharius another of the Sons of St. Lewis, was then called [the Kingdom of]⁺ Lorrain, though at this day only a very small part of that Kingdom retains the old name.

      During the destructive Wars, which followed after these times, between the Posterity of Charles the Great, not only the German Nobility [procerum] gained exorbitant Power, but the very Family of Charles was at last totally extinguished, or at least deprived of the Crown of France, (for to this day [the Dukes of Lorrain <and others>, and the Electors Palatine, pretend to be descended of that Family)]^c and the Germans chose themselves Kings out of the Nobility of their own Nation; from which times Germany [became again a free СКАЧАТЬ