Chapter Two History of Mythic Germany

Amongst such a mighty multitude of men, the same make and form is found in all, eyes stern and blue, yellow hair, huge bodies, but fit only for sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.

Their country, though somewhat various in appearance, generally either bristles with forests or reeks with swamps; it is more rainy on the side of Gaul, bleaker on that of Noricum and Pannonia. It is productive of grain, but unfavorable to fruit-bearing trees; it is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for the most part undersized, and even the cattle have not their usual beauty or noble head.

— Tacitus, Germania

The God Tuisto was born of the soil. Tuisto's son, Mannus (from whence the word "man"), sired three sons, the fathers of the German tribes: the Ingaevones of the coast, the Herminones of the interior, and the Istaevones. These fierce and pureblooded peoples worshiped their many gods amid the primeval forest of their homeland. Tacitus, writing at the end of the 1st century AD, described them as brave, honest, and hospitable, but also greedy, uncouth, and drunken.

Over the last thousand years, Germany has repelled Roman incursions, has seen Hunnish and Magyar horsemen come and go, has borne witness to the great deeds of legendary Germans such as Hermann, Siegfried, Merovech, Charlemagne, and Frederick Barbarossa, and has undergone a gradual transformation from barbarian forest wilderness to the ruling kingdom of a great Christian empire.

At its height, the Roman Empire covered the whole of western Europe from the Great Western Sea to the River Rhine and the whole of southern Europe from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Danube. To close the angle between the two great rivers, during the reign of Domitian in the second half of the 1st century AD, the Romans built a line of fortifications, the limes, from a point near Rigomagus (Remagen) on the Rhine, to Abusina, upstream of Regina Castra (Regensburg) on the Danube.

The Rhine was a great trade route as well as being a protective moat for the settled lands to the west — the two Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior. On this west bank of the river and in the valley of the Mosel were many Roman cities — Colonia Agrippensis (Cologne), Bonna (Bonn), Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Moguntiacum (Mainz). In these cities were found all the normal forms of Roman life — the forum, the baths, the temples. In the pagan days of the Empire, temples dedicated to Mercury were common in these frontier towns, and his priests worked their magic to strengthen the integrity of the Empire through a "barricade" of magically-linked temples along the boundary.

While the Mercurians tried to restrain the wilderness of Germania Magna (as the land on the east bank of the Rhine was called), other Roman priests, dedicated to Diana, penetrated the interior in secret. In the tangle of forests, moor, and fen they found the tribes whom Tacitus described as Germans. They were hunters, fishers, the keepers of small herds of cattle, and the cultivators of small fields near their tribal settlements. They had no towns worthy of the name; they built huts of poles and thatch and mud, easy to build and readily abandoned when crop exhaustion or enemy pressure urged a tribal move. They worshiped the old Germanic gods, Vodans (Woden), Thunrs (Thunor), and Tius, and the goddess Fria; the priestesses of Diana discovered that the priests of these gods were magicians, as well. In enacting the myths surrounding the gods, these priests were able to take on characteristics from the tales they told, shifting shape, and, in extreme cases, taking on the powers of their deities. The priestesses of Diana set up temples to their goddess and adopted the ways of these wild sorcerers, absorbing the cult of the Mother Goddess into their own faith. There were also those called (by the Romans) the tempestarii, who had power over the weather, and thus the success of the crops. Unlike the shapechangers, who still exist in Pomerania (see Chapter 9: The Eastern Marches, Pomerania), the tempestarii are a dead tradition. However, Irmele filia Trianoma, whose mater was so influential in the founding of the Order of Hermes, was a tempestaria, and she founded a line of weathermages that still exist today (see Chapter 3: Tribunal History and Customs, Upon Being a Rhine Magus).

The Great Migration (Völkerwanderung) was no sudden wave, no dramatic bursting of the frontier walls. The German tribes had been moving westwards or southwards for many years. In about the 4th century, the Goths came and then west through Hungary and Italy, and eventually to Gaul (France) and Iberia. The Vandals from Prussia descended upon northern Italy, and the Burgundians entered into the territory that still bears their name. The Alemanni from southern Germany crossed the Rhine into eastern Gaul. The Saxons, Angles, and Jutes expanded from the coast of Jutland (Denmark) to the British Isles.

There was one dramatic irruption which was more violent and spectacular. In the middle of the 5th century, the Huns, a Mongolian folk, came on horseback as raiders under their dreaded chieftain Attila. They rode over the Hungarian plains and penetrated deep into Gaul before they were eventually checked at the battle of Chalons by an army lead by Merovech and the Roman general Aetius.

The Slavs moved into the river basins of the Vistula and Oder, which the German tribes had left vacant. By about 600 AD, the main westerly move of the German and Slav peoples had come to an end. East of the Rhine, between the old Roman frontiers and the Slavs, lived the Saxons, Swabians, Frisians, and Bavarians.

The Battle of the Teutoburger Forest

The Roman general Varus, marching into Germania Magna in 9 AD with three legions — the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth (and their supporting cavalry) — reached and fortified himself in camp at Minden. With auxiliary troops, the total force was thirty thousand. Hermann (known to the Romans as Arminius), the chief of the Cheruski (a local German clan), himself trained to war in Roman service, rallied the tribes around him. The Romans broke camp and marched to destruction. Hermann, like the rest of the Cheruski, was a devotee of Tius, the battle god of the Germans, and the magic of his priests, together with their mastery of the forest, gave the assembled tribesmen strength, speed, and stamina greater than that of their opponents.

The first dynasty of the Frankish kingdom, the Merovingians, are named after Merovech, a powerful 5th century chieftain and wizard. His mother was descended from the Jewish House of David, and was already pregnant by his father, Clodio, when she went swimming in the ocean and was seduced and impregnated a second time by a creature of Neptune called a Quinotaur. Thus Merovech had two fathers, and his royal bloodline was mixed with magic. Merovech remains shrouded in mystery, but among his many feats, he helped to repel Attila the Hun at the Battle of Chalons.

At the beginning of the 6th century, Merovech's grandson Clovis was the first of his line to receive baptism, being converted to Christianity by his Burgundian wife St. Clotilda. He united the Franks into a great kingdom after a series of military victories over the Romans, Visigoths, and Burgundians. The Merovingian sorcerer kings, with the blood of David and of the old gods, were blessed with kingly grace. Provided that they did not cut their hair, they were invincible in battle; they could heal by laying on of hands; they could make crops grow by walking across fields; they had divinatory powers and could interpret the calls of beasts. It is told that Clovis revealed the Holy Grail, which had been brought to Gaul by Mary Magdalene in the 1st century, to the Frankish kingdom.

The Merovingian dynasty fell from grace when two grandsons of Clovis, Sigebert and Chilperic, battled each other and divided the kingdom. The kings became corrupted and lost their powers, the Grail was lost, and over the next decades the Merovingian dynasty gradually faded away as the Frankish mayoral dynasty, later to become the Carolingians, rose to prominence.

Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus in Latin, Karl der Grosse in German) was, by any standard, one of the great figures of German and of west European history. From his palace at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) his influence and his activities radiated in every direction: into France, into Italy, and into Germany. For with Charlemagne the eastern trek, the reversal of the great migrations, began. He was to carry his Frankish rule, Christian bishops, and his Celtic-Roman scholarship into the midst of a kindred German people, the Saxons of the north German plain.

In three decisive campaigns Charlemagne marched his armies to the Elbe and Danube. Wherever he went he took with him his Christian bishops and teachers, many of these trained in England. In a few short years, Charlemagne had changed the picture of northern Germany; where previously there had been rude settlements of heathens there were now Christian bishoprics at Hamburg, Münster, Osnabrück, Paderborn, Minden, Bremen, Verden, Hildesheim, and Halberstadt.

On Christmas Day 800 AD, while on a visit to Rome, Charlemagne was crowned with the Imperial Crown and thus proclaimed the successor to the Roman Emperor. Charlemagne was both surprised and displeased at this papal act, but he was clearly fitted for the role. By 814, the extent of the Christian Frankish Empire was everything south and west of the Elbe, including Bavaria.

When Charlemagne died, two completely contradictory forces strove for mastery. The Church wished to maintain the power of the emperor and for that purpose apply the law of primogeniture, the inheritance of the title and estate by the eldest son. It was the Frankish tradition, however, that family property should be divided amongst all sons, and, from the point of view of Charlemagne's family, his kingdom was as divisible as if it had been a family estate. For a few short years after Charlemagne's death, his son Louis the Pious reigned alone, although his life was ceaselessly troubled by strife with his own sons. At his death the Frankish tradition triumphed, and in 843, at the town of Verdun, the three sons of Louis signed a treaty, dividing the great empire into three pieces. The territory of the west Franks went to Charles the Bald. The territory of the east Franks went to Louis the German. The eldest son Lothar gained the imperial title and with it a narrow strip of country between the two leading down as far as Italy.

The Nibelungenlied

The Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs) is the great story of the Burgundian people, who had settled in the city of Worms in the 5th century, and of their tragic fate. By the start of the 13th century, this tale has been immortalized as an epic poem, popular throughout the courts of Germany.

THE MARRIAGES OF SIEGFRIED AND GUNTHER

Siegfried, a knight from the city of Xanten on the lower Rhine, hears of the great beauty of Kriemhild, sister of the Burgundian king, Gunther, and decides to woo her. Upon his arrival in Worms, only Hagen, Gunther's most powerful vassal, recognizes him, and relates his heroic deeds: Siegfried firstly won a great treasure from the Nibelungs (two princes and brothers named Schilbung and Nibelung), by slaying them. After taking the Tarnkappe (a cloak of darkness) from Alberich, the dwarven treasurer of the Nibelungs, he rose to become ruler of Nibelungland. Hagen also tells of how Siegfried had killed the dragon Fafnir and bathed in its blood, after which his body became invulnerable. (In fact he had only one vulnerable spot, between his shoulder blades, where a large leaf had rested on his skin as he was soaked in the dragon's blood.)

King Gunther allows Siegfried to marry Kriemhild, on the condition that he helps him to gain the hand of Brünhild, the legendarily strong queen of Iceland. Siegfried agrees, and upon their arrival in Iceland, Brünhild is most disappointed that it is Gunther, instead of Siegfried, who has come to woo her. Nevertheless, she agrees to marry Gunther if he can best her in three contests of strength. With the use of the Tarnkappe, Siegfried manages to substitute himself for Gunther in the contest, and deceive Brünhild into thinking that Gunther has bested her. Returning to Worms, a double marriage is arranged: Gunther with Brünhild and Siegfried with Kriemhild. Of these four, only Brünhild is unhappy, since she is in love with Siegfried instead. Gunther's marriage immediately hits difficulties, as his new wife overpowers him on their wedding night and hangs him up on the wall. Siegfried again helps Gunther, and takes his place in the bedchamber, overpowering and restraining Brünhild, so that Gunther can deflower her. Brünhild loses her great strength, which relied on her maidenhood. However Siegfried also takes Brünhild's ring and girdle, and gifts them to Kriemhild. He returns home with his new wife, where he becomes king of the Nether Lands, and they live happily for ten years.

THE DEATH OF SIEGFRIED

In Worms, Brünhild remains unhappy in her marriage to Gunther, still unaware of how he cheated to gain her hand. Siegfried and Kriemhild return for a festival, at which Gunther treats him as an equal. Brünhild, however, thinks that Siegfried is a vassal of Gunther, and treats Kriemhild as her inferior, leading to a quarrel between the two queens. Kriemhild claims that Siegfried is braver and stronger than her brother Gunther, which she proves by revealing that it was Siegfried who had overpowered her in her bedchamber. She claims (wrongly) that it was Siegfried who had claimed her virginity, and reveals the belt and girdle. Brünhild is mortally embarrassed and Gunther has no choice but to confront Siegfried. Siegfried swears that he never claimed to be Brünhild's first man, which Gunther accepts.

Brünhild's humiliation lingers, and she conspires with Hagen (who is jealous of Siegfried's wealth and prowess) to kill Siegfried. Hagen persuades Gunther, with reluctance, to agree. He then deceives Kriemhild and manages to learn of Siegfried's sole weakness. Hagen goes on a hunt with Siegfried in the Odenwald, and challenges him to a race. As Siegfried quenches his thirst at a spring, Hagen seizes his javelin and thrusts it between Siegfried's shoulder blades, his only weak spot, and slays him. Kriemhild is inconsolable at the death of her husband. At his funeral, as Hagen and Gunther move around the bier, Siegfried's wounds run anew, revealing the traitors.

THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGS

Kriemhild stays at Worms, and after three years she is eventually reconciled with her brother Gunther. He persuades her to bring the Nibelung treasure to Burgundy, to which she has a right, as Siegfried's widow. Thus Kriemhild becomes fabulously wealthy, but her acts of generosity do not sit well with Hagen. Hagen also fears that she will use this money to raise an army to attack him. He therefore steals the treasure, and prevents Kriemhild from regaining it by sinking it in the Rhine. Gunther does not punish Hagen for this; apart from Hagen, he and his brothers are the only ones who know of where the hoard is sunk.

KRIEMHILD'S REVENGE

Some years later, Etzel (Attila), king of the Huns, decides to seek the hand of Kriemhild, who is still the most beautiful woman in the world. She is initially reluctant to marry a heathen, and she still mourns for Siegfried, yet she sees that the marriage will finally allow her to take revenge on Hagen. Etzel and Kriemhild marry in Vienna and travel to Etzelnburg, Etzel's capital in Hungary. After winning the trust of her new husband's vassals, she invites her brothers to a midsummer festival in Hungary, knowing that Hagen will also attend. Hagen however persuades Gunther to take an escort of a thousand armed men. In crossing the River Danube, Hagen encounters water sprites who warn him to turn back, foretelling that they are all doomed to die, bar one (a priest). Hagen tries to disprove the prophecy by murdering this priest, but he fails and the churchman escapes. Gunther and Hagen arrive at Etzel's court but are given a cold reception by Kriemhild. After a day, fighting breaks out, and many Huns are killed. Gunther allows Kriemhild and Etzel, with his vassal Dietrich of Bern, to leave the hall.

Hagen foolishly taunts Etzel, and the battle is renewed. Dietrich manages to overpower and capture Gunther and Hagen, but honorably offers to return them safely to their home. Kriemhild, however, confronts the imprisoned Hagen, demanding the return of Siegfried's treasure, in return for freedom to return to Burgundy. Hagen responds with mockery, so Kriemhild has Gunther beheaded, and brings his head to Hagen. Kriemhild again demands that he tell her the location of the treasure; when he refuses, she takes up Balmung (Siegfried's sword) and decapitates him. Upon discovering the bodies of Gunther and Hagen, Hildebrand (Dietrich's man-at-arms) retaliates by killing the queen. Thus the tale ends in tragedy with the death of all the leading participants, and the treasure of the Nibelungs remains lost.

Although united under the heirs of Louis the German, the great tribal groups of Saxons, Swabians, Bavarians, Burgundians, and east Franks (Franconians) were only prepared to acknowledge a nominal king provided that he did not interfere with their own internal affairs. Meanwhile, western Christendom was being harried by enemies from all directions. Moslem power was firmly entrenched in Spain, and Moslems were raiding the southern shores of Italy. The northern coasts were ravaged by Northmen and Danes. Then, across the plains of Europe appeared a new threat in the onward move of the Magyars. It was this last danger that caused the German clans to rally for a time under one leader, Henry the Fowler, duke of the Saxons, when the German crown passed to him in 919. In a battle at Riade on the River Unstrut in 933, he defeated the Magyar hordes. Such was the prestige gained by this victory that Henry was able to secure from the other tribes their consent to the succession of his son Otto, upon his death. The kingship was by no means hereditary, but the instinct of self-preservation made the other German tribes realize the wisdom of this strategy. Otto was crowned at Aachen in 936, and justified his election by a second victory over the Magyars at the Battle of the Lech in Bavaria in 955. The imperial coronation of Otto I in Rome (962) served to legitimize this vast acquisition; and the German kings, henceforth surnamed Emperor, became inextricably entangled in the politics of Italy.

Invasions of the Horsemen

The Magyars were horsemen who moved into the Hungarian plain in the last years of the 9th century, and almost immediately began to plunder the neighboring areas, first northern Italy, then Germany; and, on their longest raids, deep into France. Their advantages of speed and surprise made opposition difficult, and in open country their horsemanship was markedly superior to that of their German or Italian opponents. But in mountainous country and at river crossings, especially when returning home laden with booty, they were more vulnerable and German rulers thus had some successes against them. The threat was finally ended by the victory of Otto I at Lechfeld near Augsburg in 955, after which the Magyar leaders were executed and the assimilation of the Magyars into western Christendom began.

During this assimilation period, House Bjornaer adopted three Magyar shapechangers into the Order. The lineage of these brave and independent spirited Bjornaer with the heartbeast of a horse still exists within the House.

WIEDERICH OF HOUSE FLAMBEAU

Wiederich was the only survivor when the Magyars attacked the covenant of Sirmium in 930. Wiederich immediately joined Henry's army, determined to avenge himself upon the horseman invaders. It is known that the Magyars brought wizards with them, but whether Wiederich was responsible for killing them is not clear; nevertheless, they were not present when Henry defeated the Magyars at Riade. Wiederich was also part of Otto's army, and present at the Battle of the Lech.

STORY SEED: BLOOD ENEMIES

Wiederich's descendants, who still burn with historic resentment drilled into them by their masters, dog the steps of the Magyar-descended members of House Bjornaer. They have been known to scheme with all the forethought of a Tytalus when their "blood enemies" are located. A player character could play either part in the feud, or be caught in the crossfire.

The Ottonian Empire, lead by four emperors of the house of Welf in Saxony, emerged as the leading power west of the Adriatic, claiming equal status with Byzantium in the east. In 1033, the empire was expanded by the addition of Burgundy, and after 1037 the Italian magnates acquiesced to the lordship of the German king over northern Italy. Dynastic changes, from Saxon to Salian (1024) and then to Hohenstaufen (1138) made little difference to the empire's political structure. Although the Salian dynasty tried to establish primogeniture, it was never fully accepted, and partible inheritance of land is still the norm in Germany. Fortunately for the survival of the empire, inheritance was never an issue: each of the four Welf emperors had only one successor. Had it been otherwise, the empire would have either been divided between them, or fallen into infighting over inheritance. In fact, owing to an extraordinary series of coincidences, it was not until 1190 that an emperor (Frederick I) was survived by more than one son, by which time division of the empire was unthinkable.

The Invigilors

House Guernicus investigated Drogo Invigilor of Tremere, a member of Fengheld covenant who was closely associated with the Welfs; however, their suspicions that he was responsible for arranging accidents for the other heirs could not be proved. His filius, Friderich Invigilor, was similarly investigated for his association with the Salians, and Adelheid Invigilix filia Friderich now watches the Hohenstaufens. They are either very subtle with their manipulation, or guiltless; but the best Quaesitors of the Order cannot determine which.

German Nobility

The German nobility is divided into two groups, the princely nobility and the lesser nobility. The princely nobility have the right to attend a Diet (formal council) called by the emperor, and elect the King of the Germans.

PRINCELY NOBILITY

Beneath the Holy Roman Emperor himself and the important ranks of duke (Herzog) and archbishop (Erzbischof), lie a multitude of other noble titles. Fiefs are only inherited in the direct male line, but are often broken up, since primogeniture (sole inheritance) is not widely practiced in Germany. For this reason, many of the German provinces have fractured into a myriad of smaller estates. New estates are steadily provided by colonization in the eastern lands, and by the clearing of forests and the draining of swamps.

PRINCE-BISHOP (FÜRSTBISCHOF)

Many German bishops also serve a secular function as landed vassals of the king. The German kings endowed them with large holdings in previous centuries, before the Investiture Contest, in order to secure their support against ducal rivals. Bishops often delegate the administration of their fiefs to a lay advocate (Vogt) who, unlike them, has the power to impose capital punishment, and some of whom have grown to inherit estates in their own right.

LANDGRAVE (LANDGRAF)

The title of landgrave is used to denote a count whose jurisdiction spreads over a relatively large territory, greater than a typical county but smaller than a duchy, who enjoys significant regional administrative rights.

MARGRAVE (MARKGRAF)

The title of margrave, meaning "count of the March", was bestowed upon the military governor of an outlying or border province of the empire, a so-called March or Margravate. The estates of these rulers were large, and they held considerable powers relative to other, lesser counts. Rulership of the Marches is now usually inherited, since the establishment of the feudal system therein.

COUNT PALATINE (PFALZGRAF)

The title of count palatine title arose from the appointment of a judicial governor to a royal estate (Palatinate), which were often created to counterbalance the power of provincial dukes. Such estates and titles have become hereditary.

OTHER COUNTS

Other slightly lesser titles include burgrave (Burggraf), the military governor of a castle and its town and surrounding countryside,rhinegrave (Rheingraf), the governor of a Rhine castle with the right to collect tolls, altgrave (Altgraf), the count of a mountainous (Alpine) region with the right to collect tolls in a pass, and wildgrave (Waldgraf), the count with jurisdiction over an uncultivated or forest district.

LESSER NOBILITY

Members of the lesser nobility do not have the right to participate in the Diet that elects the German king.

BARON (FREIHERR)

A baron is a minor landed noble, usually a vassal of a duke, archbishop, or count.

MINISTERIALIS (DIENSTMAN)

The lowest noble rank is that of ministerialis, or unfree knight, originally a freeman who chose to enter bondage in exchange for the status and trappings of a knight. Although they are nobles, they are subject to the arbitrary authority of their lord, and can be bought and sold in the same way as serfs.

Luctatio

The covenant of Luctatio in the Roman Tribunal, between Milan and Verona, was founded in 1172. From the beginning it was heavily involved in the politics of the Lombard communes, and four members of House Tytalus assisted the Milanese in defeating Barbarossa at Legnano, and at their behest, a necromancer from the covenant of Vardian's Tomb created the plague that halted the emperor's army at the gates of Rome. Eule of Fengheld presented evidence of the hand of the Roman magi in this affair at the Tribunal of 1179, and at the Grand Tribunal of 1195, five magi of the Roman Tribunal were Marched.

Within 5 years of his succession, Frederick I had led his army across the Oder, not for territorial conquest, but to place his own candidate, Duke Vladislaw, on the throne of Poland. His struggles were firstly to expand and secure the imperial power in Italy, and secondly to win in Germany the age-long battle between the Hohenstaufens and the Welfs. In Italy he had to endure many disappointments. In 1176 at the battle of Legnano his army was thoroughly defeated by the militia of Milan. He failed to subdue the Helvetians and his army was smitten by pestilence before the gates of Rome. By no means all of his campaigns failed, however. His victory over the Welfs, and in particular, their great leader Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, was long in coming, but the end was decisive. The great duchy was broken up: Bavaria, the stronghold of the Welfs, was given to Otto of Wittelsbach as a principality, and the former lands of Saxony were given to supporters of the Hohenstaufens.

After Barbarossa's son died after only six years on the throne, emperors followed from outside the Hohenstaufen house, until, in 1212, Frederick II took the throne.

Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser is a young man, born early in the 13th century, who grows to become a great knight and poet of legend. He travels widely and discovers the Venusberg, the splendid subterranean home of Venus beneath a mountain in an unknown spot in Germany. Entranced, the knight spends a year here worshipping the beautiful goddess. Her spell is finally broken as Tannhäuser declares that his salvation rests with the Virgin Mary, and he makes good his escape. Remorseful, he then travels to Rome and pleads with the Pope to be absolved of his sins. Pope Urban replies that it is just as impossible for his papal staff to spread into bloom. Tannhäuser returns unfulfilled to Vienna, yet, three days later, the Pope's staff blossoms with flowers.

The Investiture Contest (1075-1122) was a crisis that threatened to divide the Church and the state. Since the days of the Carolingians, the Church had been subordinate to kings. Charlemagne had seen himself as "priest and king," and acted as head of both state and Church. Emperor Otto II and his successors had used the bishops as instruments of government and claimed the right to invest them with their spiritual as well as their secular offices. This was contested in 1075, when a Papal Bull forbade lay investiture of prelates, and sparked off five decades of conflict. Deeper issues concerned the leadership of the Church, such as the right of the clergy to elect their own prelates, and fears about the increasing secularization of the Church. The conflict came to a head under Pope Gregory VII who excommunicated Henry IV in 1085 and allied with his political enemies, forcing a humiliating penance from the emperor at Canossa. The affirmation of the leadership of Christendom by Pope Urban II at the preaching of the First Crusade showed how rapidly papal authority was advancing; and the offer of Pope Paschal II to renounce all feudal fiefs of the Church in return for freedom to elect and invest its own bishops and abbots in 1111 proved a deeply disturbing and unacceptable solution to the bishops.

At the city of Worms in 1122, Henry V reached an agreement (called the Concordat of Worms) with Pope Calixtus II, which technically brought the Investiture Contest to an end. The emperor conceded that the Church had the right to elect persons to ecclesiastical office, and he promised to support canonical election to bishoprics and abbacies. In return, the Pope conceded that the emperor had the right to be present at elections and to perform a lay investiture of German prelates before their consecration to spiritual office. This ensured imperial control of the dues and duties owed to him by bishops and abbots, who were also powerful feudal magnates. In practice, while a victory for the Church, the emperor still retained great influence over the appointment of prelates.

Free Imperial Cities

The majority of the cities in the German empire fall under the dominion of local counts, dukes, or bishops. Nevertheless some, the so-called Freie Reichsstädte (Free Imperial Cities), have secured their independence from local lords, and instead owe their allegiance directly to the emperor. These cities, some governed by councils, enjoy the benefits of trade without interference, and prosperity follows. By a similar token, it is usually in the emperor's interest to grant freedom to wealthy cities, thereby denying their wealth to local ducal rivals.

The Free Cities of Germany in 1220 are Dortmund, Esslingen, Goslar, Hamburg, Metz, Nördlingen, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Schwäbisch-Hall, Speyer, Ulm, Wetzlar, Wimpfen, and Worms.

From around 1140 internal colonization was reinforced by the Drang nach Osten, a focus on eastwards settlement, and several forest areas were cleared. This concerned the eastern frontier princes far more than the German kings. The latter were much more interested in the west, especially the Rhineland and Italy. Only in these economically advanced regions were the profits of lordship sufficient to sustain an emperor and his following. Above all, there was the magnetic pull of urban wealth in Lombardy and Tuscany. Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190) had one ambition — to restore the empire to its former glory. Consequently, he spent one third of his reign in Italy, where the growing independence of the Italian towns made it more difficult for the king to collect royal dues. The Hohenstaufens were twice involved in hostilities with the League of Lombard Cities (founded in 1167 and 1226) and were forced to compromise. However, the income from Italy was important to the empire's wealth, which perhaps prompted the conquest of Sicily by Henry VI (1194), making him and his son Frederick II the richest rulers in Europe.

The son of a German father and a Sicilian mother, Frederick was made king of Germany in 1212, and crowned emperor in 1220. He spends most of his time in Sicily, and despite making promises to set out on crusade to the Holy Land, he has not yet made any preparations to do so — a fact that greatly irritates the Pope.

Frederick loves his southern Italian home. Around his court are gathered some of the most brilliant men of intellect. He himself is a scholar and philosopher, embracing all aspects of his empire, not just the cold dull German subjects, but also his more sparkling Sicilians, his Milanese, and his Romance-speaking Burgundians. He has been described as stupor mundi (the amazement of the world), and writes poetry (in the Sicilian vernacular) and a book on falconry, The Art of Hunting with Birds. Many in the Church fear his tolerance towards both Moslems and magic — he has added a wizard by the name of Michael Scot to his court.

Frederick II finally heads out on crusade in 1227, after being excommunicated for his delays by Gregory IX. He secures Jerusalem (becoming its king in 1229) and negotiates the return of other important places with the sultan. He returns in triumph, and his ban is lifted. His involvement in the affairs of the northern Italian communes in the 1230s brings about another breakdown in imperial-papal relations. Gregory IX wages a war of propaganda against him, and the Pope's successor Innocent IV excommunicates him again in 1245.

After Frederick's death in 1250, his son Conrad and grandson Conradin continue to fight to maintain the position in Italy, but at the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268) Conradin falls into the hands of Charles of Anjou and is beheaded, ending the male line of the Hohenstaufens.