Toward A Modern Europe The Reformation, 30 Years War & Language Standardization
The Splintering Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies in 1250 Subsequent attempts by various emperors to pull things back together fail miserably This lack of political unity retards the development of a single, unified, national German language
The Splintering - HRE 1400
Written Standard(s) Legal usage, commerce & the spread of printing leads to regional standards Cities become more important - 1100 small cities by 1400 - Köln largest city (pop. 30,000), Straßburg, Nürnberg, Ulm, Frankfurt a.m., Zürich & Augsburg 5 Universities before 1400, 8 more after 1500 90% of population remains illiterate
Written Standards Dutch/Flemish Kölsch East Middle German - colonization done by 1315 Southeastern - Bavarian/Schwäbisch Southwestern - Alemanisch (Swiss)
The Reformation Up until the early 1500 s, there are only the Catholic and Orthodox churches Each controls its territory with a firm grip Catholic church - indulgence selling & generally swanky lifestyle of leadership
The Reformation In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther publishes 95 theses (critical of nepotism, usury, indulgences, etc.) Along with Huldrych Zwingli & John Calvin (Jean Calvin) this launches the protestant reformation
The Reformation Printing fuels the fire - both Reformation and Counter-Reformation books, pamphlets, posters, etc. abound. Aids in the development of supra-regional standards
The Reformation Luther set out to translate the Bible into German Luther invents his own philosophy of translation which is not wholly unsound linguistically speaking This promotion of German fuels nationalism & distance from Rome
Luther s Translation den man mus nicht die buchstaben inn der lateinischen sprachen fragen / one must not the letters in the Latin language ask wie man sol Deutsch reden / wie diese esen thun / sondern / man mus die how one should German speak like these asses do but rather one must the mutter jhm hause / die kinder auff der gassen / den gemeinen man auff the mother in the home the children in the streets the common man in dem marckt drumb fragen / vnd darnach dolmetzschen / so verstehen sie the market about this ask and accordingly translate so understand they es den / vnd merken / das man Deutsch mit jn redet it then and notice that one German with him speaks
Reformation Consequences While Luther did not standardize German, he got the ball rolling in many ways The Catholic Church, however, fought back The split between Catholic and Protestant came to a head in the 30 Years War By the end (1648) Germany s population dropped from 26 million to 15 million!
The Counter-Reformation Catholic lands had support of Rome Habsburg dynasty (Austria, Spain) plus Catholic lands of the HRE on the one side Danes, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Bohemians on the other side
The Thirty Years War Mainly fought on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. Germany, Bohemia) Armies didn t have supply lines - they foraged Not one war but a series of different ones: Bohemian - Pfälzisch (1618-1623) Danish - Niedersächsisch (1623-1629) The Swedish War (1630-1635) The Swedish - French War (1635-1648) Ran concurrently with the Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands
The Thirty Years War Step by step description Ended by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), at which time all parties, in their war exhaustion, agreed that: Each prince would decide the religion of his own state (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist) Minority religious groups could practice their faith in public during allotted hours and privately at will Each party was sovereign over its people Independent Netherlands recognized - NOT part of HRE!
Europe in 1648
The Eighty Years War Protracted war (1568-1648) between Calvinist Dutch Protestants and Spanish Catholics Up to this point, modern NL, Belgium Luxemburg and parts of northern France belonged to the HRE, and were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs Begins as Spanish Inquisition is opposed by Dutch Protestants under the leadership of Willem van Oranje
The Eighty Years War Protestants protest idolatry by storming churches In 1588 the protestant Dutch provinces unite as the Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden Southern provinces remain Spanish / Catholic
Linguistic Fallout German remains a collection of dialects, although as nationalism progresses, so does standardization (slowly) - not really resolved until German independence in 1871 Dutch now exists in two places: the Dutch Republic & the Spanish Netherlands The Dutch of the Dutch Republic becomes a national language, with all the trappings. Dutch in the Spanish Netherlands remains more dialectal
Linguistic Fallout The exit of the Dutch Republic from the HRE also signals the beginning of the need to define what language they speak First Dutch grammar appears in 1584