DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3825#0102
94 GERMANY.
go much further North if it were necessary) ; though
foreign intercourse doubtless excited emulation, and
even the disputes of Henry IV. and V. with the
popes in the latter half of the 11th century, con-
tributed to awaken the national spirit by bringing
it into contact with that of other countries. The
poetry of passion, of gay and gallant feeling, burst
forth with all the freshness of novelty, and drove
dullness into the shade for a season; though in
Germany, as well as elsewhere, it returned when the
flame of chivalry had died away, and the church re-
sumed its benumbing influence over the mind.
During the reigns of the Saxon emperors, great
progress was made in many departments of litera-
ture not within our view; but with the Suabian
dynasty opens (at least so far as history has pre-
served its records) the splendid aera of early Ger-
man poetry, which flourished most amidst the storms
and dissensions that perpetually agitated the empire.
In the beginning of the 12th century the Suabian
family began its line of emperors with Conrad III.
Frederic duke of Suabia, surnamed Barbarossa or
Redbeard, was on the death of his uncle unani-
mously elected sovereign by the factious chieftains of
Italy and Germany. For a time all seemed inclined
to heal the divisions by which the empire had been
so long harassed : but the Germanic body was com-
posed of too discordant materials, and was too much
go much further North if it were necessary) ; though
foreign intercourse doubtless excited emulation, and
even the disputes of Henry IV. and V. with the
popes in the latter half of the 11th century, con-
tributed to awaken the national spirit by bringing
it into contact with that of other countries. The
poetry of passion, of gay and gallant feeling, burst
forth with all the freshness of novelty, and drove
dullness into the shade for a season; though in
Germany, as well as elsewhere, it returned when the
flame of chivalry had died away, and the church re-
sumed its benumbing influence over the mind.
During the reigns of the Saxon emperors, great
progress was made in many departments of litera-
ture not within our view; but with the Suabian
dynasty opens (at least so far as history has pre-
served its records) the splendid aera of early Ger-
man poetry, which flourished most amidst the storms
and dissensions that perpetually agitated the empire.
In the beginning of the 12th century the Suabian
family began its line of emperors with Conrad III.
Frederic duke of Suabia, surnamed Barbarossa or
Redbeard, was on the death of his uncle unani-
mously elected sovereign by the factious chieftains of
Italy and Germany. For a time all seemed inclined
to heal the divisions by which the empire had been
so long harassed : but the Germanic body was com-
posed of too discordant materials, and was too much