History of the Middle Ages
GA 51
1 November 1904, Berlin
Translator Unknown
III. The Impact of the Huns on the Germans
It is only necessary to mention one of all the facts which speak to the same purpose, in order to see what far-reaching changes preceded the fifth century. At the end of the fourth century we find the Visigoths east of the Danube; a century later the map shows them in Spain. And just as this race travelled from one end of Europe to the other, so did many more. They penetrated into countries where they met with different civilisations, and adopted other customs. To understand the revolution which a hundred years produced in Central Europe, we must cast a glance back to the previous historical epochs. If we follow the records of the Romans, we find warlike tribes along the Rhine, whose main occupation, apart from fighting, was the chase. Farther east we find agriculture and cattle raising among the Germani; and farther still the Romans speak of the tribes in the northeast as of something nebulous and obscure.
We are told that this race, which dwelt by the sea, worshipped the Sun, believing that it saw the Sun goddess rising from the ocean. Of the Semnones, who lived in the Electorate of Bradenburg, it is told that their divine service was characterised by blood sacrifices. True, with them it was not, as a rule, human beings, but animals, that were offered up to the Gods. Nevertheless their sacrificial services bore a reputation for cruelty, which distinguished them from other tribes. And there would be much besides to relate concerning this epoch.
Then followed a comparatively quiet time.
Gradually the frontiers of the Roman Empire were crossed by various tribes. To begin with, in the third century the Burgundians advanced against the Roman Empire in the southwest, and farther north the Franks, who invaded Gaul. Farther east, too, on the Danube, other tribes moved against the Roman Empire. Thus the Romans, with their highly developed culture, had to defend themselves againse those peoples. We find here a great difference in levels of culture. Among the Germani everywhere, a system of barter still prevailed, among the Romans money transactions had been developed. Trade among the Germani was a matter of exchange; trading with money was still unknown to them. We see the clash of highly developed culture with barbaric tribes.
Then the Huns broke in. In the year 375 occurred the first clash with the Herulern and the Ostrogoths, whose dwelling place was on the Black Sea. They were forced westwards, and consequently the Visigoths were also obliged to break up their settlements. Where were they to go but into the Roman Empire, which they inundated as far as the Danube. Already the Roman Empire was split into an East and West Empire, the former with Byzantium, the latter with Rome, as its capital. The East Roman ruler assigned dwelling places to the Visigoths; but they nevertheless first had to fight for them at the battle of Adrianople. There, in that neighbourhood, Ulfils wrote his translation of the Bible. Soon, however, the Visigoths were obliged to resume their wanderings. Slavonic tribes followed in their footsteps, pressing them farther westward. Under their king Alarich, they conquered Rome, and, in the fifth century, founded the Visigothic Empire in Spain.
The Ostrogoths followed them, and likewise sought to establish a dwelling place in the domain of the Roman Empire. The Germanic tribe of Vandals conquered Spain, then sailed over to Africa, and, in the region where Carthage once stood, founded a Vandal Empire, and thence harassed Rome with incursions. Thus the whole character of these races is such, that into every part of the new configuration of Christian Rome, the Germanic races pressed. From this type of conquest new configurations of quite a special character arose.
In the domain of the former Gauls, rose a mighty empire—the empire of the Franks—which, for a whole century, imprinted its stamp on Central Europe. Within it, above all grew up what is commonly called Roman Christianity. Those other races—Goths, Vandals—who, in rapid triumphal marches, had subdued for themselves parts of the Roman Empire, soon disappeared again, completely, out of History. With the Franks we see a mighty empire extending over Europe. What is the reason for this?
To find that out, we must cast a glance at the way in which these tribes extended their empire. It was done in this way: a third, or two-thirds, of the region which they had invaded, was divided among the conquerors. Thus the leaders received great tracts of land, which they cultivated for themselves. For this work the conquered inhabitants were employed; a part of the population became slaves, or unfree. This was the policy of the Visigoths in Spain, the Ostrogoths in Italy. You may suppose that, under the existing circumstances where the population lived at a high level of culture, this mode of procedure caused great hardship and could not be permanently maintained.
It was different in Gaul.
There, there were great forests and uninhabited tracts of land. There, too, the conquered regions were divided, and large portions fell to the leaders, so that the leaders became great landowners, and rulers over the vanquished tribes. Here, however, they were not trammelled by already existing circumstances; there was room for expansion. And, although the leaders became rulers, circumstances made it possible for this to happen without great oppression. In the days before folk migrations, members of one tribe had, in essentials, resembled one another. Freedom was a common Germanic possession; in a certain sense, every man was his own master, responsible to no one, on his own land and soil. The independence and power of the leaders increased, because so many had become dependent on them.
Hence, they were in a position to protect themselves better; and small proprietors placed themselves under the protection of greater. Thus arose a protective relationship of the powerful towards the less powerful. Many small feuds were carried on by many small landowners who could not adequately protect themselves, in dependence upon more powerful protectors. Some swore fealty in case of war; others relinquished parts of their property, or paid tribute to their protectors. Such dependents were called vassals. Others held land under feudal tenure from the big proprietors, as payment for their service in case of war; this was the fief. The powerful warriors were feudal lords, the others were vassals. Thus, in the most natural way in the world, proprietary relationships grew up.
The invasions of the Goths had no lasting effect. Those peoples who had forced their way into civilised lands, came to nothing; their power was soon broken.
It was different in Gaul. Here, where extensive tracts had still to be cleared, the immigration of new tribal masses could only be welcomed, in the interest of culture. The great men in the Empire of the Franks were unimpeded in the cultivation of their racial character.
The Goths and Vandals were wiped out, they and all the Germanic tribes who came into the regions where industry was already developed. We see the Franks as independent of an industrial foundation; and the Franks gave their impress to the character of the ensuing age, especially because they provided a base upon which evolving Christianity was able to expand. Although the Visigoths were originally Aryan Christians, other ideas were engrafted into their belief; among the industrial assumptions which were foreign to their nature, that was developed which may be regarded as the stamp of materialistic conditions. It was not so among the Frankish tribes, where the Church was the great landowner. Undaunted by material considerations, these abbots, bishops, priests and theologians devoted themselves to the service of religion. Unalloyed, as it emanated from the nature of these men, the characteristic culture of this form of Christianity was developed. The spiritual strivings of the free ranks were encouraged by the influx of the Celtic element. The Celts, whose fiery blood again manifested itself, became the teachers and leaders of the spiritually less active Franks. From Scotland and Ireland came Celtic monks and priests in great numbers, to spread their faith among the Franks.
All this made it possible for Christianity to be, at that time, not a mirror of external conditions, but to develop freely, unconstrained by material considerations. The conditions of Central Europe were determined by Christianity. All the knowledge of antiquity was thus preserved by Christianity for the Germanic tribes. Aristotle gave the spiritual kernel, which Christianity sought to grasp. At that time there was no dependence on Rome. The Christian life could develop freely in the Empire of the Franks. Plato's world of ideas found entrance too into this spiritual life. This was brought about especially through the influence of Scottish monks, above all through Scotus Erigene in his work De Divisioni Naturae, a work which is well-known as indicating a high level of spiritual life. Thus we see how spiritual life was being formed, unhindered by external conditions. Spiritual currents received their characteristic independently of industrial conditions. Later when the material pressure increased they accepted, retrospectively, the character of these conditions; then, however, when they themselves joined them, they exercised influence on them in their turn.
Several small kingdoms formed what we know as the Merovingian Empire, which later came under the power of one ruler.
From the foregoing description you will see that southern Christianity was bound to be different from that with which it was later amalgamated. The Christianity of the Franks was comparatively independent, and could make use of political relationships, to its own advantage. The farther the Roman rule was pressed back, the more clerics came from among the Franks. Their education lagged far behind that of the other clergy; the learned priests and monks were all Celts.
In these centuries, therefore, the most divine tribes were gradually shaken up together; the invasion of the Huns gave rise to these changes While that which has been described was taking shape within the actual currents of civilisation, great struggles had been going on outside. But what we call the evolution of civilisation was not essentially affected by these external struggles.
The Huns had penetrated far to the west; if we are not blind to what the old legends relate, we know that they pushed as far as the south of France.
In the old heroic poem of Walther on der Vogelweide, handed down to us in a Latin translation, we are told how the princes of the Germanic tribes, the Burgundians and Franks, had to scourge the Huns, among them that Walther, son of the prince of a Germanic tribe, who ruled in Aquitania. This heroic song narrates the feats of Walther, Hagen and Gunther. In continuous succession followed incursions of the Huns, harassing the Germanic races far into the west, until eventually the Franks, the Goths and what was left of the Roman race, formed the force which opposed the Huns in battle on the Catalaunian Plain in the year 451. This is the first defeat that the Huns suffered. Their rule, however, which had weighed heavily upon the peoples, left no lasting impression.
In manners and customs the Huns were so alien to the people of Europe, that their whole type and form is described as something quite peculiar. An important point was that this race formed a compact unity; a submissiveness, amounting to idolatry, under their king, Attila, made them an irresistible terror to other races. After their defeat on the Catalaunian Plain, this army received its last decisive defeat through Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, who withstood Attila, and induced him to retreat. Leo knew the power which Attila exercised over his people. But with all his power Attila did not know what was opposing him, namely, Christianity; therefore he bowed before it.
The rule of the Huns remained merely an episode; what came from the west made a much more lasting influence. After Attila's death in 453, his army soon collapsed. Neither was the rule of the Goths, Gepidae, or Vandals, of lasting duration; they found themselves hemmed in by conditions already settled, and were not able to maintain their own character. Things happened differently in France: the culture there proved faithful to the character of the Frankish tribe, and it may be seen how powerfully this race evolved. Later, however, we see too how this tribe forced other to accept Christianity. We see further that there existed nothing better calculated to develop material culture than Christianity; all sorts of culture forms received their stamp from external Christianity. And because they were able to maintain their free character, they provided a framework for mobile forms in which spiritual life could develop, and in this way the spiritual, industrial communities—monasteries, etc.—grew up. In process of time, however, spiritual and industrial culture were separated. Although the empire of Charlemagne considered itself a Christian empire, in spreading Christianity by force, it set itself in opposition to the spirit of Christianity. Hence Christianity was soon no longer suited to industrial life. The conditions of industrial life were felt to be oppressive—and thus the “free cities” originated.
This, in outline, is the evolution of spiritual and material evolution. You see that it was only when the spiritual currents no longer coincided with the material conditions, that this disparity found expression in a purely material culture, the city-culture. From these industrial formations grew out of material interests. The population which could not be supported on the land, pressed into the towns to find protection and security. Thus we see empires rising and falling, and new creations taking the place of old. We can, however, only understand their organisation, if we realise how the first model realm, the empire of the Franks, was formed. Not having pressed into already existing conditions, but going where space was offered for free expansion, this tribe had evolved its character and was able to develop its rule.
The tribes driven from their homes during the great folk migrations, were not only thoroughly mingled together, they were also newly constructed. Some had disappeared from History altogether, others had taken their place. This great metamorphosis was accomplished, not merely from outside, but still more in the deepest depth of their character. At the beginning of the epoch of the folk migrations, we see the various Germanic tribes asking a question of destiny. For the Goths, who had chosen for themselves a tolerant Christianity, this question signified extermination. For the Franks, confrontation with it under other freer, more favourable circumstances, it meant increase of power throughout the centuries. Whether or not for the good of all, we shall see in what follows.
Dritter Vortrag
Man braucht nur eine einzige Tatsache zu erwähnen von allen, die in derselben Weise sprechen, um zu sehen, was für durchgreifende Veränderungen im 5. Jahrhundert vor sich gegangen sind. Die Westgoten finden wir am Ende des 4. Jahrhunderts im Osten der Donau; ein Jahrhundert später zeigt sie uns die Karte in Spanien. Ebenso wie dieses Volk von einem Ende Europas zum anderen gezogen ist, so ist es mit vielen anderen. Sie zogen in Länder, wo sie andere Kulturen antrafen und andere Sitten annahmen.
Wir müssen einen Rückblick auf die vorhergegangene Geschichtsepoche werfen, um den Umschwung zu verstehen, den hundert Jahre in Mitteleuropa hervorriefen. Wir finden, wenn wir den Berichten der Römer folgen, längs des Rheins kriegerische Stämme, deren Hauptbeschäftigung außer den Kämpfen die Jagd bildet. Weiter nach Osten zu finden wir Ackerbau und Viehzucht bei den Germanen, und noch weiter im Nordosten Volksstämme, die am Meere wohnen und von denen die Römer berichten, als wären sie etwas ganz Dunkles und Nebelhaftes.
Es wird erzählt, daß dieses Volk die Sonne anbete und seinen Glauben daher habe, daß es die Sonnengöttin aus dem Meere hervorgehen sehe. Von dem Volke, das in diesen Gegenden in der Mark Brandenburg wohnte, den Semnonen, wird gesagt, daß sich ihr Gottesdienst durch seine blutigen Opfer auszeichnete. Bei ihnen wären zwar meist nicht Menschen, sondern Tiere den Göttern dargebracht worden, der Opferdienst hätte aber einen grausamen Charakter getragen, der ihn von dem der übrigen Stämme unterschied. Und noch manches sonst wäre zu schildern von dieser Zeit.
Es folgt dann zunächst eine verhältnismäßig ruhige Zeit.
Allmählich werden von den einzelnen Stämmen die Grenzen des römischen Reiches überschritten. Im 3. Jahrhundert dringen zuerst vor gegen das römische Reich im Südwesten die Burgunder und weiter nördlich die Franken, die in Gallien einfallen. Auch weiter nach Osten zu, an der Donau, rücken andere germanische Völkerschaften gegen das Reich. So mußten die Römer mit ihrer hochentwickelten Kultur jener Völker sich erwehren. Wir finden hier einen großen Unterschied der Kulturstufen. Bei den Germanen herrschte überall noch Naturalwirtschaft, bei den Römern ausgebildete Geldwirtschaft. Der Handel bei den Germanen war ein bloßer Tauschverkehr. Handel mit Geld kannte man noch nicht. Es ist bezeichnend, wie in Frankreich — unter dessen Bevölkerung sich so viel keltisches Blut findet — nach der römischen Eroberung vollständige Geldwirtschaft eingeführt war, diese bei der Eroberung durch germanische Stämme durch die Naturalwirtschaft wieder verdrängt wurde. So zeigt sich uns der Zusammenstoß hochentwickelter Kultur mit barbarischen Volksstämmen.
Dann brechen die Hunnen herein. Im Jahre 375 erfolgt der erste Zusammenstoß zunächst mit den Ostgoten, die am Schwarzen Meer ihren Wohnsitz hatten, und den Herulern. Sie werden nach Westen gedrängt, und dadurch werden auch die Westgoten genötigt, aus ihren Wohnsitzen aufzubrechen. Wohin sollen sie gehen als in das römische Reich, das sie bis an die Donau überfluten. Schon ist das Römerreich in ein ost- und weströmisches Reich zerspalten, jenes mit Byzanz, dieses mit Rom als Hauptstadt. Der oströmische Herrscher weist den Westgoten Wohnsitze an, deren Besitz sie sich jedoch erst in der Schlacht bei Adrianopel erstreiten mußten. Dort in jenen Gegenden schrieb Ulfila seine Bibelübersetzung. Doch bald mußten sie ihre Wanderung wieder fortsetzen. Nachrückende slawische Völkerschaften drängten sie weiter nach Westen. Unter ihrem König Alarich eroberten sie Rom und gründeten im 5. Jahrhundert in Spanien das westgotische Reich.
Die Ostgoten folgten ihnen nach und versuchten gleichfalls im Gebiete des römischen Reiches Wohnsitze zu begründen. Der germanische Stamm der Vandalen eroberte Spanien, schiffte dann nach Afrika hinüber, wo er in der Gegend, wo einst Karthago gestanden hatte, ein Vandalenreich begründete und von da aus durch Überfälle Rom beunruhigte. So ist der ganze Charakter dieser Völkerumwälzung der, daß in all die Teile, die die neue Gestalt des christlichen Roms bildete, sich diese Germanenvölker hineindrängten. Aus dieser Art der Eroberung gingen Neugestaltungen von ganz eigentümlichem Wesen hervor.
Auf dem Gebiete des vormaligen Gallien entsteht ein mächtiges Reich, das Frankenreich, welches Jahrhunderte lang ganz Mitteleuropa seinen Stempel aufdrückte. In ihm bildete sich vornehmlich das, was man gewöhnlich als «römisches Christentum» bezeichnet. Jene anderen Völker, die in raschem Siegeszuge sich Teile des römischen Reichs unterworfen haben, die Goten, die Vandalen, verschwinden bald wieder völlig aus der Geschichte. Bei den Franken sehen wir ein mächtiges Reich sich über Europa ausdehnen. Welches sind die Gründe hierfür?
Um diese zu finden, müssen wir einen Blick auf die Art werfen, wie diese Stämme ihr Reich ausdehnen. Es geschah das in der Weise, daß ein Drittel bis zwei Drittel des Gebietes, in das sie eindrangen, unter die Eroberer verteilt wurde. So erhielten die Anführer große Ländergebiete, welche sie nun für sich bearbeiten ließen. Zur Arbeit wurde die unterworfene Bevölkerung benutzt, die zum Teil zu Sklaven oder Unfreien geworden waren. So machten es die Westgoten in Spanien, die Ostgoten in Italien. Sie können sich denken, daß dieses Verfahren unter den schon bestehenden Verhältnissen, wo die Bevölkerung auf einer höheren Kulturstufe lebte, große Schwierigkeiten fand und sich auf die Dauer nicht zu halten vermochte.
Anders in Gallien. Dort gab es große Wälder und unbewohnte Landstriche. Auch hier verteilte man die eroberten Gebiete, und den Anführern fielen große Teile zu. Man war hier nicht in schon bestehende Verhältnisse hineingedrängt; es war die Möglichkeit zur Ausdehnung gegeben. Die Führer wurden hier zu Großgrundbesitzern und Herrschern über die unterworfenen Volksstämme. Aber die Verhältnisse ermöglichten es, daß dies ohne zu großen Zwang geschah. In den Zeiten vor der Völkerwanderung waren die Angehörigen eines Stammes einander im wesentlichen gleich gewesen. Die Freiheit war ein gemeinsames, germanisches Gut, und in gewissem Sinne war jeder sein eigener, niemand verantwortlicher Herr auf seinem eigenen Grund und Boden. Diese Unabhängigkeit und Macht der Führer dehnte sich nun dadurch aus, daß so viele Menschen von ihnen in Abhängigkeit gekommen waren.
Dadurch waren sie in der Lage, sich selber besser zu beschützen, und kleine Besitzer begaben sich in den Schutz der größeren. So entstand ein Schutzverhältnis des Mächtigen gegen den weniger Mächtigen. Die vielen kleinen Fehden führten viele kleine Besitzer, die sich selbst nicht ausgiebig genug verteidigen konnten, in ein Abhängigkeitsverhältnis zu den Mächtigeren. Sie gelobten Treue im Fall eines Krieges; andere traten Teile ihres Besitztums ab, oder bezahlten dem Schutzherrn einen Zins. Solche Abhängige hießen Vasallen. Anderen wurde von den großen Besitzern für ihren Dienst in Kriegsfällen ein Besitz auf Widerruf verliehen: das Lehen. Der Mächtige wurde der Lehnsherr, der andere Vasall. So bildeten sich auf die natürlichste Weise der Welt gewisse Besitzverhältnisse aus.
Die Eroberungszüge der Goten hatten keine dauernde Wirkung. Diejenigen Völker, die sich hineingeschoben hatten auf Kulturboden, kamen zu nichts, ihre Macht war bald gebrochen. — Anders in Gallien. Hier, wo weite Gebiete noch auszuroden waren, konnte das Eindringen neuer Volksmassen im Kulturinteresse nur begrüßt werden. Unbeengt waren die Großen im Reich der Franken in der Ausbildung ihres Volkscharakters.
Ausgelöscht sind die Goten und Vandalen, sie und all die germanischen Stämme, die in schon ausgebildete Wirtschaftsgebiete gekommen waren. Bei den Franken haben wir die Unabhängigkeit von dem wirtschaftlichen Unterbau, und die Franken drückten der Folgezeit den Charakter auf, namentlich auch dadurch, daß das sich ausbildende Christentum den Boden fand, sich in solcher Freiheit auch auszubreiten. Während die Westgoten ursprünglich arianische Christen waren, wurden ihrer Eigenart andere Vorstellungen eingeimpft; unter den ihrer Wesensart fremden wirtschaftlichen Vorbedingungen entwickelte sich das, was als Druck der materiellen Verhältnisse angesehen werden kann. Nicht so war es bei den Franken. Innerhalb der Frankenstämme war es, wo die Kirche Großgrundbesitzerin wurde. Unbeirrt durch die materiellen Verhältnisse konnten sich diese Äbte, Bischöfe, Priester, Gelehrte dem Dienste der Religion widmen. Rein, wie es aus dem Wesen des Empfindens dieser Leute hervorging, bildete sich die eigenartige Kultur dieses Christentums aus. Die geistigen Bestrebungen innerhalb des freien Frankentums wurden gefördert durch das Hereinströmen des keltischen Elementes. Das Keltentum, dessen feuriges Blut wieder zum Durchbruch kam, wurde zu Lehrern und Führern der geistig weniger regsamen Franken. Von Schottland und Irland herüber kamen keltische Mönche und Priester in großer Zahl, um im Frankenreich ihren Glauben zu verkündigen.
Das alles macht es möglich, daß das Christentum damals nicht ein Spiegelbild äußerer Verhältnisse war, sondern unbeengt vom materiellen Druck auf freiem Boden sich entwickeln konnte. Die Verhältnisse von Mitteleuropa wurden bestimmt durch das Christentum. Alles Wissen des Altertums wurde auf diese Weise durch das Christentum für die germanischen Völker aufbewahrt. Aristoteles gab den geistigen Kern, den das Christentum zu begreifen suchte. Damals gab es noch keine Abhängigkeit von Rom. Frei konnte sich das christliche Leben im Frankenreiche ausbilden. Auch Platos Ideenwelt fand Eingang in dieses geistige Leben. Besonders geschah dies durch schottische und irische Mönche, vor allem durch Scotus Erigena in seinem Werke «Über die Einteilung der Natur», einem Werke, das eine Höhe des Geisteslebens bedeutet. So sehen wir, wie unbeirrt von äußeren Verhältnissen, geistiges Leben sich gestaltet. Die geistigen Strömungen nehmen gerade da ihr charakteristisches Gepräge an, wo sie unabhängig sind von wirtschaftlichen Verhältnissen. Später, als der materielle Druck sich ausdehnt, nehmen sie rückwirkend den Charakter dieser Verhältnisse an, dann aber fließen sie selbst da hinein und beeinflussen diese wieder.
Mehrere kleine Königreiche bildeten das Reich, das wir als das der Merowinger kennen und das erst später unter die Gewalt eines einzigen gelangte.
Nach dem, was Ihnen geschildert wurde, werden Sie einsehen, daß das südlichere Christentum anders sein mußte als dieses fränkische Christentum, mit dem es sich später vermischte. Das fränkische Christentum war verhältnismäßig unabhängig und konnte die politischen Verhältnisse zu seinen Gunsten benutzen. Je mehr die römische Herrschaft zurückgedrängt wurde, ein um so größerer Teil des Klerus ging aus den Franken hervor, dessen Bildung weit hinter der der anderen Geistlichen zurückstand; die gelehrten Priester und Mönche aber waren alle Kelten.
So waren in diesen Jahrhunderten allmählich die verschiedensten Völkerschaften durcheinander gerüttelt worden; der Einfall der Hunnen hatte den Anlaß zu diesen Veränderungen gegeben. Während sich nun innerhalb der eigentlichen Kulturströmungen das gestaltete, was hier geschildert wurde, hatten sich äußerlich große Kämpfe abgespielt. Aber das, was wir die Kulturentwickelung nennen, wurde von diesen äußeren Kämpfen nicht wesentlich berührt.
Die Hunnen waren weit nach Westen vorgedrungen. Wenn wir nicht blind sind gegenüber dem, was alte Sagen verkünden, so wissen wir: sie waren bis nach Südfrankreich gelangt. In der alten Heldendichtung, die in lateinischer Sprache überliefert wurde, dem Waltharilied, wird erzählt, wie die Fürsten der germanischen Stämme, die Burgunder und Franken und so weiter, den Hunnen Geiseln geben mußten, darunter auch jenen Walthari, den Sohn des Fürsten des germanischen Volksstammes, der in Aquitanien herrschte. Von den Taten dieses Walther, des Hagen und des Gunther erzählt dieses Heldenlied. Fortwährend erfolgten nun Einfälle der Hunnen und beunruhigten die germanischen Völker weit nach Westen hin, bis endlich die Franken, Goten, sowie das, was vom römischen Volke noch übriggeblieben war, eine Macht bildeten, die sich den Hunnen im Jahre 451 entgegenstellte in der Schlacht auf den katalaunischen Feldern. Dies ist der erste Schlag, den die Herrschaft der Hunnen erlitt, eine Herrschaft, die schwer auf den Völkern lastete, die aber keinen dauernden Eindruck hinterließ.
Die Hunnen waren an Sitten und Gebräuchen ein den europäischen Völkern so fremdes Volk, daß die ganze Art und Gestalt der Hunnen als etwas ganz Seltsames geschildert wird. Wichtig war, daß dieses Volk eine kompakte Einheit bildete; eine bis zur Vergötterung sich steigernde Unterwürfigkeit unter ihren König Attila ließ sie den anderen Völkern gegenüber von unwiderstehlichem Schrecken erscheinen. Nach der Schlacht auf den katalaunischen Feldern empfing diese Macht ihren letzten, entscheidenden Schlag durch Leo den Großen, den Bischof von Rom, der Attila entgegentrat und ihn bewog, zurückzugehen. Volkspsychologisch ist dieses Geschehnis verständlich. Leo kannte die Macht, die Attila auf sein Volk ausübte. Attila aber bei all seiner Macht kannte das nicht, was ihm da entgegentrat: das Christentum; darum beugte er sich ihm.
Die Herrschaft der Hunnen blieb somit eine Episode; dauernde Wirkung hatte viel mehr das, was aus dem Westen kam. Nach Attilas Tode 453 zerfiel die Macht der Hunnen bald wieder; auch die Herrschaft der Goten, Gepiden, Vandalen und so weiter war nichts Dauerndes, sie fanden sich eingeschlossen in schon gegebene Verhältnisse und konnten sich in ihrer Eigenart nicht erhalten. Dies geschieht dagegen im Frankenreiche; diese Kultur erweist sich treu dem Charakter des Frankenstammes, und so ist zu sehen, wie dieses Volk sich mächtig entwickelt. Wir sehen später aber auch, wie dieser Stamm die anderen mit Gewalt zwingt, das Christentum anzunehmen. Wir sehen ferner, daß nichts Geeigneteres vorhanden ist, die materielle Kultur auszugestalten, als das Christentum; allerlei Kulturgebilde erhalten ihr Gepräge von dem äußeren Christentum. Und weil sie den Charakter frei erhalten können, geben sie den Rahmen für lose Gebilde, in denen sich das geistige Leben entwickeln kann: so entstehen die geistlichen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaften im Kloster und so weiter. Mit der Zeit aber entsteht eine Unzusammengehörigkeit der geistigen und wirtschaftlichen Kultur. Trotzdem das Reich Karls des Großen sich zu einem christlichen Reiche macht, aber mit Gewalt das Christentum ausbreitet, stellt es sich in Widerspruch zum Geist des Christentums. Daher paßt bald das Christentum nicht mehr zum Wirtschaftsleben. Die Verhältnisse des Wirtschaftslebens werden als drückende empfunden, und so entstehen die freien Städte.
Dies ist die Entwickelung der geistigen und der materiellen Kultur in großen Zügen. Die Verhältnisse in ihrer eigentlichen Bedeutung werden Ihnen vorgeführt. Sie sehen, wie erst als die geistigen Strömungen nicht mehr mit den materiellen Verhältnissen zusammenfielen, dieses Mißverhältnis seinen Ausdruck findet in der Entstehung einer rein materiellen Kultur, der Städtekultur. Denn aus materiellem Interesse waren diese Wirtschaftsgebilde entstanden. Die Bevölkerung, die es nicht aushalten konnte auf dem Lande, sie drängte hinein in die Städte, um dort Schutz und Sicherheit zu finden. So sehen wir neue Wirtschaftsgebilde entstehen, die von weittragendster Bedeutung werden sollten. Sie sehen Reiche entstehen und vergehen und neue Gebilde an die Stelle von alten treten. Sie sehen aber auch, daß wir ihren Organismus nur verstehen, wenn wir erkennen, wie sich das erste maßgebende Reich, das Frankenreich, gestaltete. Nicht hineingedrängt in schon bestehende Verhältnisse, sondern dort, wo Raum zu freier Ausdehnung geboten war, hatte sich das Wesen dieses Volksstammes entwikkelt und seine Herrschaft ausgestalten können.
Nicht nur gründlich durcheinandergerüttelt, sondern neu gebildet waren die Volksstämme, die durch die große Völkerwanderung aus ihren Wohnsitzen getrieben waren. Einige waren ganz aus der Geschichte verschwunden, andere traten an ihre Stelle. Nicht nur von außen, viel mehr im tiefsten Grunde ihres Charakters hatte sich die große Umwandlung vollzogen. Wir sehen bei Beginn der Epoche der Völkerwanderung die verschiedenen germanischen Völker die Frage an das Schicksal stellen. Für die Goten, die ein toJlerantes Christentum sich erwählt hatten, bedeutete diese Frage die Vernichtung, für die Franken, die unter anderen, freieren, für sie günstigeren Verhältnissen vor diese Frage gestellt wurden, bedeutete sie die Machtentfaltung auf Jahrhunderte hinaus. Ob zum Heile der Gesamtheit? Das werden wir in der Folge sehen.
Third lecture
One need only mention a single fact from all those who speak in the same vein to see what radical changes took place in the 5th century. At the end of the 4th century, we find the Visigoths east of the Danube; a century later, the map shows them in Spain. Just as this people moved from one end of Europe to the other, so did many others. They moved to countries where they encountered other cultures and adopted other customs.
We must look back at the previous historical epoch to understand the upheaval that took place in Central Europe over the course of a hundred years. If we follow the accounts of the Romans, we find warlike tribes along the Rhine whose main occupation, apart from fighting, is hunting. Further east, we find agriculture and cattle breeding among the Germanic tribes, and even further northeast, tribes living by the sea, which the Romans describe as if they were something completely obscure and nebulous.
It is said that this people worshipped the sun and believed that the sun goddess rose from the sea. The Semnones, a people who lived in these regions in the Mark Brandenburg, are said to have distinguished themselves through their bloody sacrifices. Although they mostly offered animals rather than humans to the gods, their sacrificial rites were cruel in nature, which distinguished them from those of the other tribes. There is much more to be said about this period.
This was followed by a relatively peaceful period.
Gradually, the individual tribes crossed the borders of the Roman Empire. In the 3rd century, the Burgundians were the first to invade the Roman Empire in the southwest, followed further north by the Franks, who invaded Gaul. Further east, on the Danube, other Germanic peoples also advanced against the empire. The Romans, with their highly developed culture, had to defend themselves against these peoples. We find a great difference in cultural levels here. The Germanic peoples still practiced a natural economy, while the Romans had a developed monetary economy. Trade among the Germanic peoples was merely barter. Trade with money was not yet known. It is significant that in France—where there is so much Celtic blood among the population—a complete monetary economy was introduced after the Roman conquest, only to be replaced by a natural economy when Germanic tribes conquered the country. This shows us the clash between a highly developed culture and barbarian tribes.
Then the Huns invade. In 375, the first clash occurs between the Ostrogoths, who lived on the Black Sea, and the Heruls. They are pushed westward, forcing the Visigoths to leave their homes as well. Where else can they go but to the Roman Empire, which they flood as far as the Danube? The Roman Empire is already divided into an Eastern and Western Roman Empire, the former with Byzantium as its capital, the latter with Rome. The Eastern Roman ruler assigns the Visigoths places to live, but they first have to fight for them in the Battle of Adrianople. It is there, in those regions, that Ulfila writes his translation of the Bible. But soon they had to continue their migration. Advancing Slavic peoples pushed them further west. Under their king Alaric, they conquered Rome and founded the Visigothic Empire in Spain in the 5th century.
The Ostrogoths followed them and also attempted to establish settlements in the territory of the Roman Empire. The Germanic tribe of the Vandals conquered Spain, then sailed across to Africa, where they founded a Vandal kingdom in the area where Carthage had once stood and from there disturbed Rome with raids. Thus, the whole character of this upheaval of peoples is that these Germanic peoples forced their way into all the parts that formed the new shape of Christian Rome. This type of conquest gave rise to transformations of a very peculiar nature.
In the territory of former Gaul, a powerful empire arose, the Frankish Empire, which left its mark on all of Central Europe for centuries. It was here that what is commonly referred to as “Roman Christianity” was primarily formed. Those other peoples who, in a rapid victorious advance, had subjugated parts of the Roman Empire, the Goths and the Vandals, soon disappeared completely from history. With the Franks, we see a powerful empire spreading across Europe. What are the reasons for this?
To find them, we must take a look at the way these tribes expanded their empire. This was done in such a way that one-third to two-thirds of the territory they invaded was distributed among the conquerors. Thus, the leaders received large areas of land, which they now had worked for themselves. The subjugated population, some of whom had become slaves or serfs, were used for labor. This was the case with the Visigoths in Spain and the Ostrogoths in Italy. You can imagine that this approach encountered great difficulties under the existing conditions, where the population lived at a higher cultural level, and was not sustainable in the long run.
The situation was different in Gaul. There were large forests and uninhabited areas of land. Here, too, the conquered territories were divided up, and the leaders received large portions. Here, they were not forced into existing conditions; there was room for expansion. The leaders became large landowners and rulers over the subjugated tribes. But the circumstances allowed this to happen without too much coercion. In the times before the migration of peoples, the members of a tribe had been essentially equal to one another. Freedom was a common Germanic asset, and in a sense, everyone was his own master, accountable to no one on his own land. This independence and power of the leaders now expanded as so many people became dependent on them.
This enabled them to protect themselves better, and small landowners placed themselves under the protection of the larger ones. This created a protective relationship between the powerful and the less powerful. The many small feuds led many small landowners, who were unable to defend themselves adequately, into a relationship of dependence on the more powerful. They pledged allegiance in the event of war; others ceded parts of their property or paid interest to their protector. Such dependents were called vassals. Others were granted property by the large landowners for their service in times of war: the fief. The powerful became the feudal lord, the others vassals. In this way, certain property relationships developed in the most natural way in the world.
The Goths' conquests had no lasting effect. Those peoples who had pushed their way into cultivated land came to nothing; their power was soon broken. — The situation was different in Gaul. Here, where vast areas still had to be cleared, the influx of new masses of people could only be welcomed in the interests of culture. The great powers in the Frankish Empire were unrestrained in the development of their national character.
The Goths and Vandals have been wiped out, along with all the Germanic tribes that had come to already developed economic areas. With the Franks, we have independence from the economic substructure, and the Franks left their mark on the subsequent period, notably because the emerging Christianity found fertile ground to spread in such freedom. While the Visigoths were originally Arian Christians, other mental images were instilled in them; under economic conditions that were alien to their nature, what can be regarded as the pressure of material circumstances developed. This was not the case with the Franks. It was within the Frankish tribes that the Church became a large landowner. Unperturbed by material circumstances, these abbots, bishops, priests, and scholars were able to devote themselves to the service of religion. Pure, as it emerged from the nature of these people's feelings, the unique culture of this Christianity developed. The spiritual aspirations within free Frankish society were promoted by the influx of the Celtic element. The Celts, whose fiery blood was once again coming to the fore, became teachers and leaders of the less spiritually active Franks. Celtic monks and priests came in large numbers from Scotland and Ireland to preach their faith in the Frankish Empire.
All this made it possible for Christianity at that time not to be a reflection of external circumstances, but to develop freely, unhindered by material pressures. The conditions in Central Europe were determined by Christianity. In this way, all the knowledge of antiquity was preserved for the Germanic peoples through Christianity. Aristotle provided the spiritual core that Christianity sought to comprehend. At that time, there was no dependence on Rome. Christian life was able to develop freely in the Frankish Empire. Plato's world of ideas also found its way into this spiritual life. This happened particularly through Scottish and Irish monks, above all through Scotus Erigena in his work “On the Division of Nature,” a work that represents a high point in spiritual life. Thus we see how spiritual life develops, undisturbed by external circumstances. Spiritual currents take on their characteristic form precisely where they are independent of economic conditions. Later, as material pressures expand, they retroactively take on the character of these conditions, but then they flow into them and influence them again.
Several small kingdoms formed the empire we know as that of the Merovingians, which only later came under the rule of a single king.
From what has been described to you, you will understand that Christianity in the south must have been different from the Frankish Christianity with which it later became mixed. Frankish Christianity was relatively independent and was able to use the political situation to its advantage. The more Roman rule was pushed back, the greater the proportion of the clergy came from the Franks, whose education lagged far behind that of other clergy; the learned priests and monks, however, were all Celts.
Thus, during these centuries, the most diverse peoples had gradually been shaken up; the invasion of the Huns had given rise to these changes. While what has been described here was taking shape within the actual cultural currents, great battles were being fought externally. But what we call cultural development was not significantly affected by these external struggles.
The Huns had advanced far to the west. If we are not blind to what ancient legends proclaim, we know that they had reached southern France. The ancient heroic poem, which has been handed down in Latin, the Walthari Song, tells how the princes of the Germanic tribes, the Burgundians and Franks and so on, had to give hostages to the Huns, including Walthari, the son of the prince of the Germanic tribe that ruled in Aquitaine. This heroic song tells of the deeds of this Walther, Hagen, and Gunther. The Huns continued their raids, unsettling the Germanic peoples far to the west, until finally the Franks, Goths, and what remained of the Roman people formed a force that opposed the Huns in 451 in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields. This was the first blow suffered by the Huns, a rule that weighed heavily on the peoples but left no lasting impression.
The Huns were a people so foreign to the customs and traditions of the European peoples that the whole nature and appearance of the Huns is described as something quite strange. It was important that this people formed a compact unit; their submissiveness to their king Attila, which rose to the level of deification, made them appear irresistibly terrifying to other peoples. After the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, this power received its final, decisive blow from Leo the Great, the Bishop of Rome, who confronted Attila and persuaded him to retreat. This event is understandable from a psychological point of view. Leo knew the power that Attila wielded over his people. Attila, however, for all his power, did not know what he was up against: Christianity; that is why he bowed to it.
The rule of the Huns thus remained an episode; what came from the West had a much more lasting effect. After Attila's death in 453, the power of the Huns soon declined again; the rule of the Goths, Gepids, Vandals, and so on was also not lasting; they found themselves enclosed in already existing conditions and were unable to preserve their own character. This, on the other hand, is what happens in the Frankish Empire; this culture proves faithful to the character of the Frankish tribe, and so we see how this people develops powerfully. Later, however, we also see how this tribe forces the others to accept Christianity by force. We also see that there is nothing more suitable for shaping material culture than Christianity; all kinds of cultural structures are influenced by external Christianity. And because they can retain their character freely, they provide the framework for loose structures in which spiritual life can develop: this is how spiritual economic communities arise in monasteries and so on. Over time, however, a disconnect develops between spiritual and economic culture. Although Charlemagne's empire makes itself a Christian empire, it spreads Christianity by force, which contradicts the spirit of Christianity. As a result, Christianity soon no longer fits in with economic life. The conditions of economic life are perceived as oppressive, and thus free cities arise.
This is the development of spiritual and material culture in broad strokes. The conditions in their actual meaning are presented to you. You can see how, only when the spiritual currents no longer coincided with the material conditions, this imbalance found expression in the emergence of a purely material culture, the culture of the cities. For these economic structures had arisen out of material interests. The population, unable to endure life in the countryside, flocked to the cities to find protection and security. Thus we see new economic structures emerging that were to become of far-reaching significance. You see empires arise and fall, and new structures replace old ones. But you also see that we can only understand their organism if we recognize how the first decisive empire, the Frankish Empire, was formed. Not forced into existing conditions, but where there was room for free expansion, the essence of this tribe had developed and its rule had been able to take shape.
The tribes that had been driven from their homes by the great migration were not only thoroughly shaken up, but also newly formed. Some had disappeared from history altogether, while others took their place. The great transformation had taken place not only externally, but also in the deepest depths of their character. At the beginning of the era of migration, we see the various Germanic peoples posing the question of fate. For the Goths, who had chosen a tolerant form of Christianity, this question meant destruction; for the Franks, who were faced with this question under different, freer, and more favorable circumstances, it meant the expansion of power for centuries to come. Was this for the good of the whole? We will see in the following.