Ottonians The eastern division of the
Treaty of Verdun was called the
regnum Francorum Orientalium or
Francia Orientalis: the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks or simply East Francia. It was the eastern half of the old
Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum. The "east Franks" (or Austrasians) themselves were the people of
Franconia, which had been settled by Franks. The other peoples of East Francia were Saxons, Frisians, Thuringi, and the like, referred to as
Teutonici (or Germans) and sometimes as Franks as ethnic identities changed over the course of the ninth century. An entry in the
Annales Iuvavenses (or
Salzburg Annals) for the year 919, roughly contemporary but surviving only in a twelfth-century copy, records that
Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum, i.e. that "
Arnulf, Duke of the Bavarians, was elected to reign in the Kingdom of the Germans". Historians disagree on whether this text is what was written in the lost original; also on the wider issue whether the idea of the Kingdom as German, rather than Frankish, dates from the tenth or the eleventh century; but the idea of the kingdom as "German" is firmly established by the end of the eleventh century. In the tenth century, German writers already tended toward using modified terms such as "Francia and Saxony" or "land of the Teutons". The 12th century imperial historian
Otto von Freising reported that the election of
Henry the Fowler was regarded as marking the beginning of the kingdom, though Otto himself disagreed with this. Thus: From this point some reckon a kingdom of the Germans as supplanting that of the Franks. Hence, they say that Pope Leo in the decrees of the popes, called Henry's son Otto the first king of the Germans. For that Henry of whom we are speaking refused, it is said, the honor offered by the supreme pontiff. But it seems to me that the kingdom of the Germans—which today, as we see, has possession of Rome—is a part of the kingdom of the Franks. For, as is perfectly clear in what precedes, at the time of Charles the boundaries of the kingdom of the Franks included the whole of Gaul and all Germany, from the Rhine to Illyricum. When the realm was divided between his son's sons, one part was called eastern, the other western, yet both together were called the Kingdom of the Franks. So then in the eastern part, which is called the Kingdom of the Germans, Henry was the first of the race of Saxons to succeed to the throne when the line of Charles failed ... [western Franks discussed] ... Henry's son Otto, because he restored to the German East Franks the empire which had been usurped by the Lombards, is called the first king of the Germans—not, perhaps, because he was the first king to reign among the Germans. It is here and elsewhere that Otto distinguishes the first German king (Henry I) and the first German king to hold imperial power (
Otto I).
Henry II (r. 1002–1024) was the first to be called "King of the Germans" (
rex Teutonicorum). The Ottonians seem to have adopted the use of the "Teutonic" label as it helped them to counter critics who questioned how the Ottonians, who were neither Carolingian nor Frankish, could legitimately rule. The Ottonians, by calling themselves "German" kings, instead presented themselves as rulers of all peoples north of the Alps and east of the Rhine. This "German kingdom" was later regarded as a subdivision of the Empire alongside Italy, Burgundy and Bohemia.
Salians and Staufer In the late eleventh century the term "Kingdom of the Germans" (
Regnum Teutonicorum) had become utilised more favourably in Germany due to a growing sense of national identity; by the twelfth century, German historian
Otto of Freising had to explain that
East Francia was "now called the Kingdom of the Germans". In 1028, after his coronation as Emperor in 1027,
Conrad II had his son,
Henry III, elected King by the prince electors. When, in 1035, Conrad attempted to depose
Adalbero,
Duke of Carinthia, Henry, acting on the advice of his tutor,
Egilbert, Bishop of Freising, refused to allow it, as Adalbero was a vassal of the King, not the Emperor. The German magnates, having legally elected Henry, would not recognise the deposition unless their king did also. After many angry protests, Conrad finally knelt before his son and pleaded for his desired consent, which was finally given. However, Conrad II used the simple title "king" or on occasion "king of the Franks and Lombards" before Imperial coronation, while his son Henry III introduced the title "King of the Romans" before the Imperial coronation. His grandson Henry IV used both "king of the Franks and Lombards" and King of the Romans before Imperial coronation. Beginning in the late eleventh century, during the
Investiture Controversy, the
Papal curia began to use the term
regnum teutonicorum to refer to the realm of
Henry IV in an effort to reduce him to the level of the other kings of Europe, while he himself began to use the title
rex Romanorum or
King of the Romans to emphasise his divine right to the
imperium Romanum. This title was employed most frequently by the German kings themselves, though they did deign to employ "Teutonic" titles when it was diplomatic, such as
Frederick Barbarossa's letter referring to his receiving the
coronam Theutonici regni (crown of the German kingdom). Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the
regnum Alemanniae and
règne or ''royaume d'Allemagne
. The terms imperium
/imperator
or empire/emperor were often employed for the German kingdom and its rulers, which indicates a recognition of their imperial stature. However foreign sources combined the imperial titles with "Teutonic" and "Alemannic" which reference a denial of their Romanitas
or universal rule. The term regnum Germaniae'' begins to appear even in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. During the celebrations on the canonisation of Charlemagne in December 1165 and January 1166, Barbarossa also called Aachen the "head and seat of the German Kingdom". When
Pope Gregory VII started using the term
Regnum Teutonicorum, the concept of a "distinct territorial kingdom" separate from
Kingdom of Italy was already widely recognised on both sides of the Alps, and this entity was at least externally perceived as "German" in nature. Contemporary writers representing various German vassal rulers also adopted this terminology under papal influence. In the Papal-Imperial
Concordat of Worms of 1122, which put an end to the Investiture Controversy, the authority of the Emperor regarding Church offices in this "German kingdom" was legally distinguished from his authority in "other parts of the Empire". The Imperial chancery did adopt the "German" titles, albeit inconsistently. Pope Gregory began using the term Regnum Teutonicorum even before his conflict with Henry IV. He was highly successful at encouraging his German supporters such as Berthold of Reichenau or Bernold of St Blasien to use the terms "Regnum Teutonicorum" or "Teutonicae partes". Prior to the civil wars of Henry IV and the letters of Pope Gregory VII which address the German people as a whole, the loyalties of Germans were primarily focused on local regions such as Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Upper or Lower Lotharingia, East or West Saxony. Only from the mid-1070s was there a common political awareness of a "German Kingdom" as a single unit of political loyalty. The
March of Verona (which was annexed by
Duchy of Bavaria in 952) collapsed following the Veronese and the
Lombard Leagues in the 1160s. In the 13th century the term
Regnum Teutonicorum started being replaced in Germany by the similar
Regnum Alemanniae, possibly due to French or Papal influence, or alternatively due to the Staufer emperors' base of power in the
Duchy of Swabia, also known as
Alamannia. Emperor Frederick II even proclaimed his son Henry VII as
Rex Alemannie (King of Germany), to rule Germany under him while he ruled the rest of the empire. The
Kaiserchronik explicitly describes Henry as having rule of a separate German kingdom (
siniu Tiuschen riche) under the empire. Henry's successor Konrad IV was also called king-designate of Germany (rex Theutonie designatus) by a contemporary writer.
Post-Staufer period German writers after the Staufen period used variants of the term "
Regnum Alemanniae" to indicate the weakened reach of the emperors who now confined themselves mainly to German matters.
Anti-king Henry Raspe also described himself as "king of Germany and prince of the Romans". There were also scattered references to a political community of "Germans" excluding the rest of the empire. For instance, in 1349,
Charles IV met the nobles and burghers of "
regnum Alamannie", in 1355 he summoned the electors and burghers "
in regno Alemannie". However, this tendency to refer to a "German" polity after the collapse of the Staufen empire did not develop further in the following period. In 1349, Charles IV (King of the Romans) appointed the Duke of Brabant's son to govern on his behalf "in our
kingdom of the Romans throughout
Germania or
Theutonia". There was a strong reluctance by the Emperors to use "German" titles due to strong attachment to Roman symbolism, and it seemed to be actively avoided. References to "German" titles were less rare but still uncommon among vassals and chroniclers. From 1250 onward, the association between "Germans" and the whole Empire became stronger. As post-Staufer German monarchs were too weak to secure coronation as emperor, German writers became concerned that Germany was losing the prestige of Imperial status. The lack of concentration of power in one ruler or region also made the monarchy more attractive to all Germans. These led to more interest in connecting German identity to being heirs of Imperial Rome (
Translatio Imperii), by right of their military strength as defenders of Christendom. At the same time, the replacement of Latin with German in official documents entrenched the German character of the empire at large. In 1474, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" appeared, becoming more common after 1512. However, even after 1560, only 1 in 9 official documents mention "Germany", and most omitted the rest as well and simply called it "the Empire". In 1544, the
Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster) was published, which used "Germany" (
Teütschland) as synonymous with the empire as a whole.
Johann Jacob Moser also used "German" as a synonym for "Imperial". This conflated definition of "German" even included non-German speakers. In 1508,
Maximilian I, with papal approval, adopted the title "emperor elect" (
Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus). Subsequent rulers adopted that title after their coronation as kings. At the same time, the custom of having the
heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperor's lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title "king of the Romans" (
rex Romanorum) came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive. After the
Imperial Reform and
Reformation settlement, the German part of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into
Reichskreise (Imperial Circles), which in effect defined Germany against
imperial territories outside the Imperial Circles: imperial Italy, the
Crown of Bohemia, and the
Old Swiss Confederacy. Brendan Simms called the Imperial circles as "an embryonic German collective-security system" and "a potential vehicle for national unity against outsiders". Despite previously belonging to Burgundy, the
County of Burgundy and the
Savoyard state were included in the circles. In 1701,
Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III had to adopt the title
King in Prussia to respect the suzerainty of the kings of the Romans and Poland over Brandenburg and
Royal Prussia respectively. Bohemia, despite being a
prince-elector, remained excluded from the Council of Electors until 1708 for not being "German". Nevertheless, there are relatively few references to a German kingdom distinct from the Holy Roman Empire. ==See also==