History of the Middle Ages
GA 51
8 November 1904, Berlin
Translator Unknown
IV. Arabic Influence in Europe
A common prejudice is expressed in the maxim: Human evolution moves forward in regular succession, the unfolding of historical events makes no leaps. This is connected with another prejudice; for we are also told that Nature makes no leaps. This is repeated over and over again; but it is untrue both for Nature and for History. We never see Nature making mighty progress without leaps. Her progress is not gradual; on the contrary, small processes are followed by important results, and the most important of all result from leaps. Many cases could be enumerated in which Nature advances in such a way, that we can observe a transition of forms into their exact opposite.
In History this is particularly important, because there we have two significant occurences, which gradually prepared, but then ebbed away, only to make their eventual advance in a forward leap:
1. The founding of the free cities at the beginning of the Middle Ages.
2. The great inventions and discoveries at the end of the Middle Ages.
History moves very quickly forward at the change from the 11th to the 12th century. New forms of society evolve from old ones. From the fact that many men left their homes, to settle in the cities, sprang up—throughout Germany, France, England, Scotland, and as far as Russia and Italy—cities with new conditions of life, new organisations, laws and constitutions. At the end of the Middle Ages we find the great discoveries, the voyages to India, America, etc., and the world-wide invention of printing. All this shows us what a radical change has been affected through the birth of the new spirit of Science—through Copernicus.
Two incisions were made by this; and if we are to study the Middle Ages thoughtfully, these two occurances must be place in the right light. They appear as leaps, but such an event is gradually prepared, until with the force of an avalanche it breaks forth, and rushes forward in a flood. If we pursue them step by step, it will become clear that these two events had been prepared in the life of the Germani. We shall see through what circumstances it was that such great power was given to the Franks, such influence over the configuration of European relationships. For this purpose we must understand the character of that race, the necessary metamorphosis of industrial relationships, and the powerful penetration of Christianity in the 4th century. These two things indicate the alteration in the life of the Germani. They condition the evolution of the Middle Ages. It would be useless to follow all the wanderings of the Germani, to see how Odoacer dethroned the last West Roman Emperor, how the Goths were driven out of Italy by the Emperor Justinian, how the Longobards seized possession of Northern Italy—we see the same circumstances enacted over and over again.
In the southern regions, where the Gemani found political and industrial conditions already firmly established, the idiosyncrasies of their own tribes disappeared; they lost all significance. We hear nothing more of the Goths, Gepidae, etc., they have vanished, even to their names. In contrast to this, the Franks had arrived at free, not yet fixed, condition, where serious appropriation was as yet non-existent, and through this political configuration, the Franks became the ruling race.
Now we must see how these developed in the empire of the Franks, that which we call the Merovingian kingdom. It was actually nothing but many small kingdoms, formed in the most natural way. The Merovingians remained as victors, after they had overcome the others who were originally their equals. All these kingdoms had been formed in the following way: some little tribe wandered in, subjugated the inhabitants and divided the land in such a way that all the members received small or large properties. Thus all dominion was based on land ownership. The most powerful received the largest domain. For the tilling of these properties, a great number of people were employed, some taken from the inhabitants, but part were prisoners of war, made into workers. Simply through this difference between the ownership of less of more land, were power relationships developed. The largest landowner was the king. His power was based on his property—that is the characteristic trait. Out of these powerful relationships, the relationships of rights were formed, and it is interesting to observe how this came about. Certainly we find among the Germanic tribes, laws founded on customs evolved in ancient times, before we have any knowledge of them. Among the smaller tribes all the people assembled to administer justice; later, the members of the tribe only came together on March 1st, to take counsel about their concerns. But now the great landowner was not responsible to the others for what he did on his own property. True, we find a conservative clinging to the old prescriptive laws among the different tribes. We find them preserved for long periods among the Saxons, Thuringians and Frisians, also among the Cheruscans, whose tribe kept them longer than has been generally believed. It was different where large landowning had developed, because the proprietor, absolute in his own domain, became also irresponsible. This irresponsibility gave rise to a new legal position, in which the jurisdiction of power, the authority of the police, was exercised. If another man committed an offence, he was called to account for it; if the irresponsible one did it, the same offence was looked upon as lawful. What was illegal among those without power, was legal among the powerful. They were able to change might into right.
Now, in this way the Franks could farther extend their power, and, especially in the northeast, could conquer great territories. At a time when war followed war, the less powerful were dependent on the protection of the mightier. Thus arose the fief and vassal system, which called forth a selection of powerful men. Then an arrangement for transferring certain rights by means of contracts sprang up.
The great landed property, the king's estate, required special legal conditions, which could be transferred to others by the king or the owner. Together with the land, the jurisdiction and the police authority would be transferred. King's law and the law of the small vassal came into being. As the result of this innovation we see the development of a powerful official class, not on a basis of stipend, but of land owning. Such justiciaries were the highest judges. In the beginning, when they still had to take into consideration the rights of powerful tribes, they were bound to respect ancient laws. Gradually, however, their position became that of an absolute judicature, so that, in course of time, side by side with the kingdom, there was formed in France a kind of official aristocracy which grew to be a rival of the kingship.
Thus in the 6th century, a rivalry developed between the sovereign and the new nobility, and this attained the greatest significance.
The original governing race, which sprang from the Merovingians, the large land owners, was succeeded by the Carlovingians who had originally belonged to the official aristocracy. They had been mayors of the palace to the ruling race, which had been overthrown by the rivalry of the aristocratic officials. Essentially, therefore, it was the possession of large property that was the basis of power relations; and the strongest moral current of the church, had to initiate its rule in this roundabout way through the large land owner.
It was the characteristic feature of the Frankish Church that, to begin with, it represented nothing but a number of large land owners; we see the rise of bishoprics and abbacies, and of vassals who placed themselves under the protection of the Church, in order to receive fiefs from it. Thus, side by side with the large, worldly land owners, clerical proprietors also arose. This is the reason why we see so little depth, and why the spiritual element which we find in Christianity is essentially due to foreign influence. It was not the Frankish race, but men of the British Isles who succeeded in creating those mighty currents which then flowed out eastwards. In the British Isles, many learned men and pious monks were deeply engaged in work. Real work was being done, as we may see, in particular, by the resumption of Platonism and its alliance with Christianity. We see mysticism, dogmatism, but also enthusiasm and pathos, issuing from here. From here come the first missionaries: Columba, Gallus and Winfried-Boniface, the converter of the Germans. And because these first missionaries had nothing in their mind but the spiritual side of Christianity they were not inclined to conform to the conditions of the Frankish tribes. Theirs was the healing virtue, and they found, especially through Boniface, their chief influence exercised among the East Germani. For this reason, Rome acquired an increasing influence at this time in the empire of the Franks. Two heterogenous elements combined together: the rugged force of the Germani and the spiritual strength of Christianity. They fitted in to each other in such a way that it seems wonderful how these tribes submitted to Christianity, and how Christianity itself modified its nature, to adapt itself to the Germani. These missionaries worked differently from the Frankish kings, who spread Christianity by force of arms. It was not forced into their souls as something alien; their places of worship and sacred customs were preserved; their practices and personalities so respected that old institutions were made use of to diffuse the new content. It is interesting to notice how what is old becomes the garment, what is new becomes the soul. From the Saxon tribe we possess an account of the Life of Jesus: all the details concerning the figure of Jesus were clothed in Germanic dress. Jesus appears as a German duke; his intercourse with the disciples resembles a tribal assembly. This is how the life of Jesus is presented in Heiland.
Ancient heroes were transformed into saints; ancient festivals and ritual customs became Christian. Much of what appears today as exclusively Christian was transferred at that time from heathen customs. In the Frankish empire, on the contrary, we see in ecclesiastical Christianity a means of consolidating power; a Frankish code of law begins with an invocation to “Christ, Who loves the Franks above all other peoples.” In the days when the British missionaries represented the moral influence of Christianity, the influence of the Roman Church also increased considerably. The Frankish kings sought alliance with the papacy. The Longobards had seized possession of Italy, and harassed the bishop of Rome, in particular. They were Aryan Christians. That was why the Roman bishop turned first to the Franks for help, at the same time tendering his influence to the Franks. So the Frankish king became the protector of the pope; and the pope anointed the king. Hence the Frankish kings derived their exalted position, their dignity, from this consecration by the pope. It was an enhancement of what the Franks saw in Christianity. All this took place in the west, in the 7th centure. This alliance between the papacy and the Frankish authority, formed a gradual preparation for the subsequent rule of Charlemagne. Thus we see the accomplishment of important spiritual and social changes. This alone, however, would not have led to an event which proved to be of the greatest importance, a material revolution: the founding of cities. For something was lacking in the Frankish Christian culture, although it had efficiency, intellect and depth.
That which we call Science, purely external Science, did not exist for them. We have followed a merely material and moral movement. What Science there was among them had remained at the same level as at their first contact with Christianity. And just as the Frankish tribes took no interest in the improvement of their simple agriculture, and never thought of developing it economically, similarly the Church only sought to build up its moral influence. Primitive tillage offered no special difficulties, such as, in Egypt, have led to the evolution of physics, geometry and technical science. Everything here was simpler, more primitive; thus the financial trading, which was already in use, gave place again to barter.
So European culture needed a new stimulus, and cannot be understood without taking this stimulus into account. Out of Asia, form the far East, whence Christianity once came, came now this new culture, from the Arabs. The religion founded there by Mahomet is, in its content, simpler than Christianity. The spiritual content of Mohammedanism is, essentially, based on simple monotheistic ideas confined to a divine fundamental Being, whose nature and form is not closely investigated, but to whose will men surrender, because they have faith. Hence this religion produces proud confidence in this will, a confidence which leads to fatalism, to a complete self-surrender. This is how it became possible for these tribes to extend Arabian rule, in a few generations, over Syria, Mesopotamia and North Africa, as far as to the realm of the Visigoths in Spain, so that, as early as the turn of the 7th to the 8th century, Moorish rulers were established there, and implanted their own culture in place of that of the Visigoths.
Thus something quite new, of an entirely different nature, flowed into European culture. The spirit of Arabism culture was not filled with dogma concerning angels and demons, etc., but precisely with that which was lacking in the Christian Germanic tribes namely, with external science. Here we find all such sciences—medicine, chemistry, mathematical thinking—well developed. The practical spirit brought over from Asia to Spain found employment now in seafaring, etc. It was brought over at a moment when an unscientific spirit had established its kingdom there The Moorish cities became centers of serious scientific work; we see here a culture which cannot fail to be admired by all who know it. Humboldt says of it: “This depth, this intensity, this exactitude of knowledge is unexampled in the history of culture.” The Moorish intellectuals had width of outlook and depth of thought; and not only did they, like the Germani, embrace Greek science, they developed it farther. Aristotle also contiuned to live among them, but with the Arabs, it was the true Aristotle who was honoured, with a wide outlook, as the father of Science. It is interesting to see how the Alexandrine culture, started in Greece, continued its existence here, and with this we tough upon one of the most remarkable currents in the human mind. The Arabs laid the foundations of Objective Science. From them, this flowed, in the first place, into the Anglo-Saxon monasteries in England and Ireland, where the old energetic Celtic blood now dwelt. It is strange to see what active intercourse had been introduced between them and Spain, and how, where profundity of mind and capacity to think were present, Science revived through the medium of the Arabs.
And it is a remarkable phenomenon that the Arabs who, to begin with, took possession of the whole of Spain, were soon outwardly conquered by the Franks under Charles Martel a the Battle of Poiters in 732. By this victory the physical strength of the Franks overcame the physical strength of the Moors. But the spiritual strength of the Arabs remained invincible; and just as, once, Greek culture rose triumphant in Rome, so Arab culture conquered the West, in opposition to the victorious Germani. Now, when the science which was needed to extend the horizon of trade and world intercourse, when city culture, arose, we see that it was Arab influence which made themselves felt here. Quite new elements flowing in sought to adapt themselves to the old.
We see expressed by Walther von der Vogelweide the perplexity which may assail anyone who follows, with an open mind, the conflicting currents of the Middle Ages. The poet saw how the Germanic tribes were striving for power, and how an opposing current was flowing from Christianity. That which flowed through the Middle Ages was transmuted by Walther von der Vogelweide into feeling, in the following sorrowful description:
No answer came into my mind
How men might come by these three things,
So that no man need to perish.
Two are honour and worldly goods;
These often do each other harm
The third, the chiefest of them all,
Is simply pleasing God. I longed to have them in one shrine
Alas, that that can never be!
For worldly goods and honour
Dwell not, within one human heart,
Together with the grace of God.
Hindrances are everywhere,
Faithlessness sets endless snares,
Haughty force lays all men low.
Thus Peace and Right are done to death.
Never will the Three find refuge
Till these two are healed and well.
We shall see shortly how difficult it was for the man of the Middle Ages to combine these three things in their heart, and how these three gave rise to the great struggles which rent that age asunder
Vierter Vortrag
Es ist ein gebräuchliches Vorurteil das Wort: die menschliche Entwickelung gehe in einem regelmäßigen, sukzessiven Gange vorwärts, die Entfaltung der geschichtlichen Ereignisse mache nirgends Sprünge. Allmähliches und sukzessives Fortschreiten sei Entwickelung. Das hängt zusammen mit einem anderen Vorurteil: denn auch von der Natur heißt es, sie mache keinen Sprung. Das wird immer wieder gesagt, es ist aber unrichtig für die Natur wie für die Geschichte. Wir sehen in der Natur nirgends, wenn es sich um gewaltige Fortschritte handelt, Sprungloses. Nicht allmählich ist ihr Gang, sondern aus kleinen Vorgängen ergeben sich wichtige Folgen; das Allerwichtigste geschieht doch durch Sprünge. Man könnte viele Fälle aufzählen, wo die Natur durchaus in solcher Weise fortschreitet, daß wir ein Übergehen der Formen geradezu in ihr Gegenteil beobachten können.
In der Geschichte ist dies besonders wichtig, weil wir da zwei solche bedeutende Ereignisse haben, die sich zwar allmählich vorbereiten, dann abfluten, aber doch ein sprunghaftes Vorwärtsschreiten bedeuten. Erstens die Begründung der freien Städte am Anfang des Mittelalters und zweitens die großen Erfindungen und Entdeckungen am Ende des Mittelalters. Die Geschichte rückt rascher vor um
die Wende des 11. zum 12. Jahrhundert. Es entwickeln sich neue Gesellschaftsformen aus alten; daraus, daß viele Menschen ihre Wohnsitze verlassen und sich in den Städten niederlassen, entstehen durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England, Schottland, bis nach Rußland und Italien, solche Städte mit neuen Lebensbedingungen, Ordnungen, Rechten und Verfassungen. Dann am Ende des Mittelalters finden wir die großen Entdeckungen, die Seereisen nach Indien, Amerika und so weiter, die weltumfassende Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst. Alles das zeigt uns, welche radikale Veränderung hervorgerufen ist durch das Aufkeimen des neuen Wissenschaftsgeistes, durch Kopernikus.
Damit sind zwei Einschnitte gegeben, und will man sinnvoll das Mittelalter betrachten, so müssen diese zwei Ereignisse in richtige Beleuchtung gestellt werden. Man könnte sagen, alles deutet hin auf diese großen Ereignisse. Sie nehmen sich aus wie Sprünge; aber es bereitet sich solch ein Ereignis langsam vor, um dann mit lawinenartiger Kraft hervorzubrechen und vorwärts zu fluten. Wenn wir sie weiter verfolgen, wird sich schrittweise zeigen, wie diese beiden Ereignisse sich vorbereitet haben im Leben der Germanen. Wir werden sehen, durch welche Umstände gerade dem Frankenvolke jene Macht zuteil wurde, jener Einfluß auf die Gestaltung der europäischen Verhältnisse. Man muß dazu den Charakter dieses Volkes verstehen, die notwendige Umgestaltung der Gesellschaftsverhältnisse und den machtvollen Einschlag durch das Christentum im 4. Jahrhundert. Diese zwei Dinge bedeuten die Änderung im Leben der Germanen. Sie bedingen die Entwickelung des Mittelalters. Es wäre nutzlos, alle diese Wanderungen der Germanen weiter zu verfolgen, zu sehen, wie Odoaker den letzten weströmischen Kaiser entthronte, wie die Goten durch Kaiser Justinian aus Italien vertrieben werden, wie die Langobarden von Norditalien Besitz ergreifen — wir sehen immer dieselben Verhältnisse sich abspielen.
In südlichen Gegenden, wo die Germanen festgefügte politische, wirtschaftliche Verhältnisse vorfinden, verschwanden die Eigentümlichkeiten dieser Völkerschaften; sie haben jede Bedeutung verloren. Wir hören nichts mehr von Goten, Gepiden und so weiter; sie sind bis auf den Namen verschwunden. Im Gegensatz dazu waren die Franken in noch nicht gefestigte, freie Verhältnisse, wo noch kein ernster Besitz bestand, gelangt. Durch diese politische Konfiguration wurden die Franken das maßgebende Volk.
Nun müssen wir sehen, wie in diesem Frankenreich sich dieses Gebilde entwickelt hat, das wir als merowingisches Königreich bezeichnen. Es war eigentlich nichts anderes als die vielen kleinen Königreiche, die sich auf natürlichste Weise bildeten. Die Merowinger blieben als Sieger, nachdem sie die anderen ihnen ursprünglich Gleichen überwunden hatten. Alle diese Königreiche hatten sich auf folgende Weise gebildet; irgendein kleiner Stamm wanderte ein, unterjochte die Einwohner, verteilte das Land, so daß alle Mitglieder kleinere und größere freie Besitztümer erhielten. So wurden alle solche Gebiete auf Grundbesitz begründet. Der Mächtigste erhielt das größte Gebiet. Zur Bebauung desselben wurde eine große Anzahl von Leuten gebraucht, die aus der Bevölkerung entnommen wurde, zum Teil wurden auch Gefangene aus den Kriegen zu Arbeitern gemacht. Nur durch diesen Unterschied des kleineren und größeren Grundbesitzes bildeten sich die Machtverhältnisse heraus. Der größte Grundbesitzer war eben der König. Seine Macht beruht auf dem Grundbesitz, das ist das Charakteristische. Aus diesen Machtverhältnissen bildeten sich die Rechtsverhältnisse heraus, und es ist interessant zu beobachten, wie auf dieser Grundlage die Rechtsverhältnisse sich entwickeln. Allerdings finden wir bei den alten germanischen Stämmen ihre Gewohnheitsrechte, die sich in alten Zeiten, in die wir keinen Einblick mehr haben, entwickelt hatten. Bei den kleineren Stämmen versammelten sich alle Leute, um Recht zu sprechen; später kamen die Stammesgenossen nur am 1. März zusammen, um über ihre Angelegenheiten zu beraten. Jetzt war aber der Großgrundbesitzer den anderen gegenüber unverantwortlich für das, was er tat auf seinem Gebiet. Zwar finden wir ein konservatives Festhalten an den alten Rechtsgewohnheiten bei den verschiedenen Stämmen. Lange bewahrt finden wir sie besonders bei den Sachsen; Thüringern, Friesen, auch bei den Cheruskern, deren Stamm sich länger erhalten hat als man gewöhnlich glaubt. Anders war es, wo Großgrundbesitz sich entwickelte, weil der Besitzer, da er auf seinem Gebiete unumschränkt war, auch unverantwortlich wurde. Er hatte die Macht, Gerichtsbarkeit, Polizeigewalt auszuüben. Aus der Unverantwortlichkeit bildete‘ sich ein neuer Rechtsstand heraus. Wenn ein anderer einen Verstoß beging, wurde er zur Verantwortung gezogen; wenn es der Unverantwortliche tat, wurde derselbe Verstoß als Recht angesehen. Was bei den nicht Mächtigen Unrecht war, das war bei den Mächtigen Recht. Er hatte die Möglichkeit, Macht in Recht umzuwandeln.
Nun bedenke man, daß auf diese Weise namentlich im Nordwesten die Franken ihre Macht weiter ausdehnen konnten, große Gebiete erobern konnten. In einer Zeit, wo Krieg und immer Krieg war, waren die weniger Mächtigen auf den Schutz der Mächtigen angewiesen. Da entstand das Lehn- und Vasallenwesen, das eine Auslese der Mächtigsten hervorrief. Es entstand die Art und Weise, durch Verträge gewisse Rechte zu übertragen. Der große Grundbesitz, das Königsgut erlangte besondere Rechtsverhältnisse, die vom König oder vom Besitzer auch auf andere übertragen werden konnten. Mit dem Land zugleich wurde die Gerichtsbarkeit und die Polizeigewalt übertragen. Es entstand Königsrecht und Recht der kleinen Vasallen. Dadurch, daß eine solche Umlagerung eintrat, sehen wir ein mächtiges Beamtentum sich entwickeln, nicht auf Grund von Besoldung, sondern von Grundbesitz. Solche Gerichtsherren waren oberste Richter. Anfangs, wo sie auf die Rechte mächtiger Stämme noch Rücksicht zu nehmen hatten, waren sie verpflichtet, alte Rechte zu respektieren. Aber allmählich wurde dieses Verhältnis ein absolutes Richtertum, so daß in der Folge im Frankenreich neben dem Königtum eine Art Beamtenadel sich bildete, der zum Rival des Königtums heranwuchs. Erst war er abhängig, dann wurde er mächtig und Rival. So mußte sich schon im 6. Jahrhundert im Frankenreich immer stärker die Rivalität zwischen dem Königtum und dem Beamtenadel entwickeln, und dieser zur größten Bedeutung gelangen.
Das ursprüngliche Herrschergeschlecht, das aus den Großgrundbesitzern hervorgegangen ist, die Merowinger, wird abgelöst von den Karolingern, die ursprünglich zu dem Beamtenadel gehörten. Sie bildeten die Hausmeier, Majordomus, des ersten Herrschergeschlechtes, das durch die Rivalität des Beamtenadels gestürzt wurde. Im wesentlichen war es also der Großgrundbesitz, der hier die Machtverhältnisse begründete, und die mächtigste moralische Strömung, die Kirche, mußte auf diesem Umwege des Großgrundbesitzes ihre Herrschaft einleiten.
Das Charakteristische bei der fränkischen Kirche ist, daß sie zunächst nichts als eine Anzahl von Großgrundbesitzungen darstellt: wir sehen Bistümer und Abteien entstehen, und Vasallen, die, wie sonst unter dem Schutz der Großgrundbesitzer, in den Schutz der Kirche sich begeben, um von ihr Lehen zu empfangen. So bildeten sich neben weltlichen geistliche Großgrundbesitzer. Dies ist der Grund, warum wir so wenig Tiefe und Wissenschaft wahrnehmen, und daß das, was wir an Geistigem dort im Christentum finden, wesentlich fremden Einflüssen zu verdanken ist. Nicht innerhalb des Frankenvolkes, sondern durch Angehörige des angelsächsischen, besonders des keltischen Stammes auf den britischen Inseln, ist es gelungen, jenen mächtigen Strom zu schaffen, der sich dann nach Osten ergoß. Auf den britischen Inseln wirkten bedeutende Gelehrte, fromme Mönche in ernster Vertiefung. Hier ist wirklich gearbeitet worden, wie wir im einzelnen an der Wiederaufnahme des Platonismus und seiner Vereinigung mit dem Christentum sehen. Wir sehen Mystik, Dogmatismus, aber auch Enthusiasmus und begeistertes Pathos von hier ausgehen. Von hier aus kommen die ersten Bekehrer: Columban, Gallus und Winfrid-Bonifatius, der Bekehrer der Deutschen. Und diese ersten Missionare, weil sie nichts als das Geistige des Christentums im Auge hatten, sind nicht geneigt, den Verhältnissen des Frankenstammes sich anzupassen. Sie sind die treibende Kraft und haben auch, besonders Bonifatius, ihren Haupteinfluß bei den östlichen Germanen. — Deswegen greift im Frankenreiche in dieser Zeit ein steigender Einfluß von Rom aus Platz. — Wir müssen nun sehen, was vorher gestaltend gewirkt hat. Da haben wir zwei heterogene Elemente, die sich einander anpassen: die rauhe Kraft des Germanen und die geistige Lehre des Christentums. Wunderbar erscheint es, wie diese Stämme sich dem Christentum anpassen und wie das Christentum sich selbst wandelt, um sich dem Germanentum anzupassen. Anders arbeiten diese Sendboten als die fränkischen Könige, die mit der Gewalt der Waffen das Christentum ausbreiteten. Nicht als etwas Fremdes wird es in ihre Seele gedrängt: geschont werden die Kultusstätten, heilige Sitten, Gebräuche und Personen, so geschont, daß alte Einrichtungen benutzt wurden, um den neuen Gehalt auszugießen. Interessant ist es, wie das Alte das Kleid, das Neue die Seele wird. Wir besitzen aus jener Zeit, aus dem sächsischen Stamm, eine Schilderung des JesusLebens: Sie nahmen die Gestalt des Jesus, aber alle Einzelheiten wurden germanisch überkleidet, Jesus erscheint als deutscher Herzog, der Verkehr mit den Jüngern gleicht einer Volksversammlung. So wird im «Heliand» das Leben Jesu dargestellt.
Alte Helden werden in Heilige verwandelt, Feste, Kultusgebräuche in christliche. Vieles von dem, was heute die Leute für christliches Alleingut halten, ist damals eingewandert von heidnischen Gebräuchen. Im Frankenreich dagegen müssen wir sehen, daß die Franken im Christentum nichts anderes sehen als ein Mittel zur Befestigung ihrer Machtverhältnisse: ein fränkisches Rechtsbuch beginnt mit einer Berufung auf Christus, der die Franken liebt vor allen anderen Völkern.
Das sind so Arten, wie diese beiden welthistorischen Strömungen ineinanderwachsen. In der Zeit, wo die britischen Missionare den moralischen Einfluß des Christentums vertreten, steigt auch der Einfluß der römischen Kirche bedeutend. Ausgehend von dem, was hier vorgearbeitet war, suchen die Frankenkönige Anlehnung an das Papsttum. Die Langobarden hatten Italien besetzt und beunruhigten namentlich den Bischof von Rom. Sie waren arianische Christen. Das bewirkte, daß der römische Bischof sich zunächst hilfesuchend an die Franken wandte, aber zugleich seinen Einfluß den Franken anbot. So wurde der fränkische König Schützer des Papstes, und der Papst salbte den König: daher leiteten die fränkischen Könige ihre besondere Stellung, den besonderen Glanz ihrer Würde von dieser Heiligung durch den Papst ab. Das war eine Verstärkung dessen, was die Franken im Christentum gesehen hatten. Dies alles vollzieht sich im wesentlichen im 7. Jahrhundert. Durch dieses Bündnis zwischen Papsttum und Frankenherrschaft bereitete sich die spätere Krönung Karls des Großen langsam vor. So sehen wir also mächtige soziale und geistige Veränderungen sich vollziehen. Aber das allein hätte nicht zu jenem Ereignis geführt, das ich als eines der wichtigsten bezeichnete, als eine materielle Revolution: die Begründung von Städten. Denn es fehlte der fränkisch-christlichen Kultur etwas, trotzdem Tüchtigkeit, Geist und Tiefe da waren.
Nicht vorhanden war, was man als Wissenschaft, als rein äußerliche Wissenschaft bezeichnet. Lediglich eine materielle und eine moralische Bewegung haben wir verfolgt. Das, was an Wissenschaft vorhanden war, war stehengeblieben auf derselben Höhe wie zur Zeit der Berührung mit dem Christentum. Und wie die Frankenvölker kein Interesse hatten an der Verbesserung ihrer einfachen Agrikultur, nicht daran dachten, sie wissenschaftlich auszubilden, ebenso suchte die Kirche nur ihren moralischen Einfluß auszubauen. Der primitive Ackerbau bot keine besonderen Schwierigkeiten, die wie in Ägypten zur Entwickelung der Physik, der Geometrie, der Technik geführt hätten. Alles war hier einfacher, ursprünglicher; so wie auch die schon bestehende Geldwirtschaft wieder durch Naturalwirtschaft ersetzt worden war.
So brauchte die europäische Kultur einen neuen Einschlag, und man versteht sie nicht, wenn man nicht diesen Einschlag würdigt. Vom Fernen Osten her, woher einst das Christentum gekommen, aus Asien kommt diese neue Kultur durch die Araber. Die Religion, die durch Mohammed dort gegründet worden war, ist in ihrem religiösen Gehalt einfacher als das Christentum. Der innere Gehalt des Mohammedanismus gründet sich im wesentlichen auf einfache monotheistische Ideen, die sich beschränken auf ein göttliches Grundwesen, dessen Natur und Gestalt man nicht besonders erforscht, das man nicht ergründet, in dessen Willen man sich aber ergibt, das man glaubt. Deshalb ist diese Religion dazu geschaffen, ein ungeheures Vertrauen in diesen Willen hervorzurufen, das zum Fatalismus führt, zur willenlosen Ergebung. Daher war es möglich, daß in wenigen Menschenaltern diese Stämme die arabische Herrschaft ausdehnten über Syrien, Mesopotamien, Nordafrika bis zu dem Reich der Westgoten in Spanien, so daß bereits um die Wende des 7. zum 8. Jahrhundert die Mauren ihre Herrschaft dort ausbreiteten und an die Stelle der westgotischen ihre eigene Kultur setzten.
So strömt etwas ganz Neues, Andersgeartetes in die europäische Kultur. Auf eigentlich geistigem, religiösem Gebiet hat diese arabische Kultur nur einen einfachen Inhalt, der in der Seele gewisse Kräfte begründete, aber nicht viele Vorstellungen erwirkte, nicht den Geist besonders in Anspruch nahm. Dieser Geist war nicht erfüllt vom Nachdenken über Dogmen, über Engel und Dämonen und so weiter. Aber war der Geist nicht damit erfüllt, so mit dem, was den christlich-germanischen Stämmen damals fehlte: mit äußerer Wissenschaftlichkeit. Fortgebildet finden wir hier alle jene Wissenschaften, wie Medizin, Chemie, mathematisches Denken. Der praktische Geist, der aus Asien mit nach Spanien gebracht war, fand nun in Seefahrten und so weiter Betätigung. Er wurde hinübergebracht in einer Zeit, wo dort ein wissenschaftsloser Geist sein Reich begründet hatte. Die maurischen Städte wurden Stätten ernster, wissenschaftlicher Arbeit: wir sehen da eine Kultur, die jeder, der sie kennt, nur bewundern kann, von der ein Humboldt sagte: «Diese Weite, diese Intensität, diese Schärfe des Wissens ist ohne Beispiel in der Kulturgeschichte.» Diese maurischen Gelehrten sind voll Weitblick und Tiefsinn und haben nicht nur wie die Germanen die griechische Wissenschaft übernommen, sondern vorgebildet. Aristoteles lebte auch bei diesen fort, aber bei den Arabern der wahre Aristoteles als Vater der Wissenschaft, verehrt mit großem Weitblick. Es ist interessant zu sehen, wie das, was in Griechenland vorgebildet war, die alexandrinische Kultur, dort fortlebte, und damit haben wir eine der merkwürdigsten Strömungen im menschlichen Geistesleben berührt. Die Araber lieferten die Grundlagen zur objektiven Wissenschaft. Diese strömte zunächst von da aus ein in die angelsächsischen Klöster in England und Irland, wo das alte energische keltische Blut lebte. Eigentümlich war es zu sehen, was für ein reger Verkehr zwischen ihnen und Spanien eingeleitet wurde, und wie dort, wo Tiefsinn und Fähigkeit zum Denken vorhanden war, die Wissenschaft durch Vermittlung der Araber auflebte.
Und es ist eine merkwürdige Erscheinung, wenn wir weiter sehen, daß die Araber, die anfangs ganz Spanien in Besitz nahmen, bald äußerlich besiegt wurden in der Schlacht bei Poitiers 732 durch die Franken unter Karl Martell, Damit siegte äußerlich die physische Kraft der Franken über die physische Kraft der Mauren. Aber unbesiegbar bleibt die geistige Kraft der Araber, und so wie einst die griechische Bildung erobernd in Rom auftritt, so erobert sich die arabische Bildung den Westen, den siegreichen Germanen gegenüber. Wenn nun die Wissenschaft, die man braucht, um den Gesichtskreis für Handel und Weltverkehr auszubreiten, wenn die Städtekultur entsteht, so sehen wir, daß es arabische Einflüsse sind, die hier sich geltend machen, ganz neue Elemente, die hier einströmen, und die versuchen, sich den alten anzupassen.
Daß jemand wohl verwirrt werden konnte, der mit freiem Blick diese sich widerstrebenden Strömungen im Mittelalter verfolgte, sehen wir an Walther von der Vogelweide zum Ausdruck kommen. Der Dichter sah, wie die Germanenvölker nach äußerer Macht strebten, sah vom Christentum eine entgegengesetzte Strömung ausgehen. — Denn ich bitte Sie zu beachten, daß das Christentum erst später jene Form annahm, die ihm dann anhaftete. — Bei Walther von der Vogelweide sehen wir in Empfindung umgewandelt, was das Mittelalter durchströmte, in der wehmütigen Schilderung:
Gar bänglich bedachte ich mir,
Weshalb man auf der Welt wohl sei.
Es fiel mir keine Antwort bei,
Wie man drei Ding’ erwürbe,
Daß keins davon verdürbe.
Die zwei sind Ehr’ und weltlich Gut,
Das oft einander Schaden tut;
Das dritt” ist Gott gefallen,
Das wichtigste von allen.
Die wünscht’ ich mir in einen Schrein.
Doch leider kann das nimmer sein,
Daß weltlich Gut und Ehre
Und Gottes Huld je kehre
Ein in dasselbe Menschenherz.
Sie finden Hemmnis allerwärts:
Untreu legt allenthalben Schlingen,
Gewalt darf alles niederzwingen,
So Fried’ als Recht sind todeswund,
Und nimmer finden Schutz die drei,
Eh’ diese zwei nicht sind gesund.
Wir wollen dann weiter sehen, wie schwer es dem Mittelalter selbst wurde, diese drei Dinge im Herzen zu vereinigen, und wie sie die großen Kämpfe hervorgerufen haben, die das Mittelalter zerrissen.
Fourth Lecture
It is a common prejudice that human development proceeds in a regular, successive manner, and that the unfolding of historical events never takes leaps. Gradual and successive progress is development. This is connected with another prejudice: for it is also said of nature that it makes no leaps. This is said again and again, but it is incorrect for nature as well as for history. Nowhere in nature do we see anything gradual when it comes to tremendous progress. Its course is not gradual, but small processes lead to important consequences; the most important things happen through leaps. One could list many cases where nature progresses in such a way that we can observe a transition of forms into their very opposite.
This is particularly important in history, because we have two such significant events that, although they develop gradually and then subside, nevertheless represent a leap forward. First, the founding of the free cities at the beginning of the Middle Ages, and second, the great inventions and discoveries at the end of the Middle Ages. History moves more rapidly around
the turn of the 11th to the 12th century. New forms of society develop from old ones; as many people leave their homes and settle in cities, such cities with new living conditions, orders, rights, and constitutions arise throughout Germany, France, England, Scotland, and as far as Russia and Italy. Then, at the end of the Middle Ages, we find the great discoveries, the voyages to India, America, and so on, and the invention of printing, which spread throughout the world. All of this shows us the radical change brought about by the emergence of the new scientific spirit, by Copernicus.
These are two turning points, and if we want to make sense of the Middle Ages, we must put these two events in the right perspective. One could say that everything points to these great events. They appear to be leaps, but such events are slowly prepared, only to then break out with avalanche-like force and flood forward. If we follow them further, it will gradually become clear how these two events were prepared in the life of the Germanic peoples. We will see through what circumstances the Frankish people in particular were granted that power, that influence on the shaping of European conditions. To do this, one must understand the character of this people, the necessary transformation of social conditions, and the powerful impact of Christianity in the 4th century. These two things signify the change in the life of the Germanic peoples. They determine the development of the Middle Ages. It would be pointless to follow all these migrations of the Germanic peoples, to see how Odoacer dethroned the last Western Roman emperor, how the Goths were driven out of Italy by Emperor Justinian, how the Lombards took possession of northern Italy — we always see the same circumstances unfolding.
In southern regions, where the Germanic tribes encountered established political and economic conditions, the peculiarities of these peoples disappeared; they lost all significance. We hear nothing more of the Goths, Gepids, and so on; they have disappeared except in name. In contrast, the Franks had arrived in a region where conditions were not yet established, where there was no serious ownership. This political configuration made the Franks the dominant people.
Now we must see how this structure, which we call the Merovingian kingdom, developed in this Frankish empire. It was actually nothing more than the many small kingdoms that formed in the most natural way. The Merovingians remained victorious after overcoming their original equals. All these kingdoms had formed in the following way: a small tribe migrated in, subjugated the inhabitants, and distributed the land so that all members received smaller and larger freehold properties. Thus, all such areas were based on land ownership. The most powerful received the largest area. A large number of people were needed to cultivate it, who were taken from the population; in some cases, prisoners of war were also made to work. It was only through this difference in smaller and larger landholdings that the balance of power developed. The largest landowner was the king. His power was based on land ownership, which is characteristic. Legal relationships developed from these power relationships, and it is interesting to observe how legal relationships developed on this basis. However, we find that the ancient Germanic tribes had their customary laws, which had developed in ancient times that we no longer have any insight into. In the smaller tribes, all the people gathered to administer justice; later, the tribesmen only came together on March 1 to discuss their affairs. Now, however, the large landowner was not accountable to the others for what he did on his land. We do find a conservative adherence to the old legal customs among the various tribes. We find them preserved for a long time, especially among the Saxons, Thuringians, Frisians, and also among the Cherusci, whose tribe survived longer than is commonly believed. The situation was different where large landholdings developed, because the owner, being unrestricted in his territory, also became unaccountable. He had the power to exercise jurisdiction and police authority. This irresponsibility gave rise to a new legal status. If someone else committed an offense, they were held accountable; if the irresponsible person did so, the same offense was considered lawful. What was wrong for the powerless was right for the powerful. They had the opportunity to transform power into law.
Now consider that in this way, especially in the northwest, the Franks were able to further expand their power and conquer large areas. In a time when there was war and always war, the less powerful were dependent on the protection of the powerful. This gave rise to the feudal system and vassalage, which brought about a selection of the most powerful. A system developed whereby certain rights were transferred through contracts. Large estates, the royal domain, acquired special legal status, which could be transferred by the king or the owner to others. Along with the land, jurisdiction and police power were also transferred. Royal law and the law of the lesser vassals came into being. As a result of this shift, we see a powerful bureaucracy developing, not on the basis of salary, but on the basis of land ownership. Such lords of the manor were supreme judges. In the beginning, when they still had to take the rights of powerful tribes into account, they were obliged to respect old rights. But gradually this relationship became one of absolute jurisdiction, with the result that in the Frankish Empire, alongside the monarchy, a kind of bureaucratic nobility formed, which grew to rival the monarchy. At first it was dependent, then it became powerful and a rival. Thus, as early as the 6th century, rivalry between the monarchy and the bureaucratic nobility developed more and more strongly in the Frankish Empire, and the latter attained the greatest importance.
The original ruling dynasty, which emerged from the large landowners, the Merovingians, was replaced by the Carolingians, who originally belonged to the bureaucratic nobility. They formed the majordomos, or chief stewards, of the first ruling dynasty, which was overthrown by the rivalry of the bureaucratic nobility. Essentially, it was large-scale land ownership that established the balance of power here, and the most powerful moral force, the Church, had to initiate its rule via this detour of large-scale land ownership.
The characteristic feature of the Frankish Church is that it initially represents nothing more than a number of large estates: we see bishoprics and abbeys emerging, and vassals who, as usual under the protection of the large landowners, place themselves under the protection of the Church in order to receive fiefs from it. Thus, alongside secular landowners, ecclesiastical landowners emerged. This is the reason why we perceive so little depth and scholarship, and why what we find of spiritual value in Christianity there is essentially due to foreign influences. It was not within the Frankish people, but through members of the Anglo-Saxon, especially the Celtic tribe on the British Isles, that it was possible to create that powerful stream which then flowed eastward. On the British Isles, important scholars and pious monks worked in serious contemplation. Real work was done here, as we can see in detail from the revival of Platonism and its union with Christianity. We see mysticism, dogmatism, but also enthusiasm and inspired pathos emanating from here. The first converts came from here: Columban, Gallus, and Winfrid-Bonifatius, the converter of the Germans. And these first missionaries, because they had nothing but the spiritual aspect of Christianity in mind, were not inclined to adapt to the conditions of the Frankish tribe. They were the driving force and, especially Boniface, had their main influence on the eastern Germanic peoples. — That is why the Frankish Empire was subject to a growing influence from Rome at that time. We must now see what had previously had a formative effect. Here we have two heterogeneous elements that adapt to each other: the rough strength of the Germanic tribes and the spiritual teachings of Christianity. It seems miraculous how these tribes adapt to Christianity and how Christianity itself changes in order to adapt to Germanic culture. These emissaries work differently from the Frankish kings, who spread Christianity by force of arms. It is not forced upon their souls as something foreign: places of worship, sacred customs, traditions, and individuals are spared, so spared that old institutions were used to pour out the new content. It is interesting how the old becomes the garment and the new becomes the soul. We have a description of the life of Jesus from that time, from the Saxon tribe: they took the form of Jesus, but all the details were clothed in Germanic garb; Jesus appears as a German duke, and his interactions with his disciples resemble a popular assembly. This is how the life of Jesus is portrayed in the “Heliand.”
Ancient heroes are transformed into saints, festivals and cult practices into Christian ones. Much of what people today consider to be exclusively Christian actually migrated from pagan customs at that time. In the Frankish Empire, on the other hand, we must recognize that the Franks see Christianity as nothing more than a means of consolidating their power: a Frankish law book begins with an invocation of Christ, who loves the Franks above all other peoples.
These are some of the ways in which these two world-historical currents intertwine. At a time when British missionaries were representing the moral influence of Christianity, the influence of the Roman Church also increased significantly. Based on what had been prepared here, the Frankish kings sought support from the papacy. The Lombards had occupied Italy and were causing particular concern to the Bishop of Rome. They were Arian Christians. This led the Roman bishop to first turn to the Franks for help, but at the same time offer his influence to the Franks. Thus, the Frankish king became the protector of the pope, and the pope anointed the king: hence, the Frankish kings derived their special position and the special splendor of their dignity from this sanctification by the pope. This reinforced what the Franks had seen in Christianity. All this took place mainly in the 7th century. This alliance between the papacy and Frankish rule slowly paved the way for the later coronation of Charlemagne. So we see powerful social and spiritual changes taking place. But that alone would not have led to the event that I described as one of the most important, as a material revolution: the founding of cities. For something was missing from Frankish-Christian culture, even though it possessed competence, spirit, and depth.
What was missing was what we call science, purely external science. We have only pursued a material and moral movement. What science there was remained at the same level as at the time of contact with Christianity. And just as the Frankish peoples had no interest in improving their simple agriculture, nor did they think of training themselves scientifically, so the Church sought only to expand its moral influence. Primitive agriculture did not present any particular difficulties that would have led to the development of physics, geometry, and technology, as in Egypt. Everything here was simpler, more primitive; just as the existing monetary economy had been replaced by a natural economy.
European culture therefore needed a new influence, and it cannot be understood without appreciating this influence. This new culture came from the Far East, where Christianity had once originated, from Asia, via the Arabs. The religion founded there by Mohammed is simpler in its religious content than Christianity. The inner content of Mohammedanism is essentially based on simple monotheistic ideas, which are limited to a divine fundamental being whose nature and form are not particularly explored or investigated, but whose will one submits to and believes in. Therefore, this religion is designed to evoke tremendous trust in this will, which leads to fatalism and passive submission. This made it possible for these tribes to extend Arab rule over Syria, Mesopotamia, North Africa, and even the Visigothic Empire in Spain within a few generations, so that by the turn of the 7th to the 8th century, the Moors had already spread their rule there and replaced Visigothic culture with their own.
Thus, something completely new and different flows into European culture. In the spiritual and religious sphere, this Arab culture has only a simple content, which established certain forces in the soul, but did not produce many mental images, did not particularly engage the mind. This spirit was not filled with reflection on dogmas, angels and demons, and so on. But if the mind was not filled with this, it was filled with what the Christian-Germanic tribes lacked at that time: external scientific knowledge. Here we find all those sciences, such as medicine, chemistry, and mathematical thinking, developed to a high level. The practical spirit that had been brought from Asia to Spain now found expression in seafaring and so on. It was brought over at a time when a spirit devoid of science had established its empire there. The Moorish cities became places of serious, scientific work: we see a culture there that anyone who knows it can only admire, of which Humboldt said: “This breadth, this intensity, this sharpness of knowledge is unprecedented in cultural history.” These Moorish scholars are full of vision and profundity and have not only adopted Greek science like the Germanic peoples, but have also shaped it. Aristotle also lived on among them, but among the Arabs, the true Aristotle was revered as the father of science, with great vision. It is interesting to see how what was pioneered in Greece, Alexandrian culture, lived on there, and with that we have touched on one of the most remarkable currents in human intellectual life. The Arabs provided the foundations for objective science. This initially flowed from there into the Anglo-Saxon monasteries in England and Ireland, where the old energetic Celtic blood lived on. It was peculiar to see what lively communication was initiated between them and Spain, and how, where profundity and the ability to think were present, science revived through the mediation of the Arabs.
And it is a remarkable phenomenon when we see further that the Arabs, who initially took possession of the whole of Spain, were soon defeated in battle at Poitiers in 732 by the Franks under Charles Martel. Thus, the physical strength of the Franks prevailed over the physical strength of the Moors. But the spiritual power of the Arabs remains invincible, and just as Greek culture once conquered Rome, so Arab culture conquered the West, the victorious Germanic tribes. When the science needed to broaden the horizons of trade and world commerce emerges, when urban culture arises, we see that it is Arab influences that assert themselves here, completely new elements that flow in and attempt to adapt to the old ones.
We see in Walther von der Vogelweide's work that anyone who observed these conflicting currents in the Middle Ages with an open mind could well have been confused. The poet saw how the Germanic peoples strove for external power and saw a countercurrent emanating from Christianity. — For I ask you to note that Christianity only later took on the form that then became associated with it. — In Walther von der Vogelweide, we see what permeated the Middle Ages transformed into feeling in the melancholic description:
I thought anxiously,
Why one should be in the world.
I could find no answer,
How to acquire three things,
That none of them would perish.
The two are honor and worldly goods,
Which often harm each other;
The third is pleasing to God,
The most important of all.
I wish I could place them in a shrine.
But unfortunately, it can never be
That worldly goods and honor
And God's grace ever return
To the same human heart.
They find obstacles everywhere:
Unfaithfulness lays snares everywhere,
Violence may crush everything,
Peace and justice are mortally wounded,
And the three will never find protection,
Until these two are healthy.
Let us then see how difficult it became for the Middle Ages itself to unite these three things in the heart, and how they caused the great struggles that tore the Middle Ages apart.