Chapter XXIV: The Empire in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Centuries

70. The Peace of Constance (1183)

With the election of Frederick Barbarossa as emperor, in 1152, a new stage of the great papal-imperial combat was entered upon, though under conditions quite different from those surrounding the contest in the preceding century [see Chap. XVI]. The Empire was destined to succumb in the end to the papacy, but with a sovereign of Frederick's energy and ability at its head it was able at least to make a stubborn fight and to meet defeat with honor. The new reign was inaugurated by a definite announcement of the Emperor's intention to consolidate and strengthen the imperial government throughout all Germany and Italy. The task in Germany was far from simple; in Italy it was the most formidable that could have been conceived, and this for the reason that the Italian population was largely gathered in cities with strong political and military organization, with all the traditions of practical independence, and with no thought of submitting to the government of an emperor or any other claimant to more than merely nominal sovereignty.

Trouble began almost at once between Frederick and the free commune of Milan, though war was averted for a time by the oaths taken to the Emperor on the occasion of his first expedition across the Alps in 1154. Between that date and 1158 the consuls of the city were detected in treacherous conduct and, the people refusing to disavow them, in the latter year the Emperor again crossed the Alps, bent on nothing less than the annihilation of the commune and the dispersion of its inhabitants. He carried with him a larger army than a head of the Holy Roman Empire had ever led into Italy. The Milanese submitted, under conditions extremely humiliating, and Frederick, after being assured by the doctors of law at the new university of Bologna that he was acting quite within the letter of the Roman law, proceeded to lay claim to the _regalia_ (royal rights, such as tolls from roads and rivers, products of mines, and the estates of criminals), to the right to levy an extraordinary war tax, and to that of appointing the chief civic magistrates. Disaffection broke out at once in many of the communes, but chiefly at Milan; whereupon Frederick came promptly to the conclusion that the time had arrived to rid himself of this irreconcilable opponent of his measures. The city was besieged and, after its inhabitants had been starved into surrender, almost completely destroyed (1162).

Only temporarily did the barbarous act have its intended effect; the net result was a widespread revival of the communal spirit, which expressed itself in the formation of a sturdy confederacy known as the Lombard League. One of the League's first acts was to rebuild Milan, under whose leadership the struggle with the Emperor was actively renewed. In 1168 a new city was founded at the foot of the Alps near Pavia to serve as a base of operations in the campaign which the League proposed to wage against the common enemy. It was given the name Alessandria (or Alexandria) in honor of Pope Alexander III., who was friendly to the cause of the cities. In 1174 Frederick began an open attack on the League, but in 1176, at Legnano, he suffered an overwhelming defeat, due largely to his failure to receive reinforcements from Germany. The adjustment of peace was intrusted to an assembly at Venice in which all parties were represented. The result was the treaty of Venice (1177), the advantages of which were wholly against the Empire. A truce of six years was granted the cities, with the understanding that all details were to be arranged within, or at the expiration of, that time.

When the close of the period arrived, in 1183, Frederick no longer dreamed of subduing and punishing the rebellious Italians, but instead was quite ready to agree to a permanent peace. The result was the Peace of Constance, which has been described as the earliest international agreement of the kind in modern history. By this instrument the theoretical overlordship of the Emperor in Italy was reasserted, though in fact it had never been denied. Beyond this, however, the communes were recognized as essentially independent. Those who had enjoyed the right to choose their own magistrates retained it; their financial obligations to the Emperor were clearly defined; and the League was conceded to be a legitimate and permanent organization. By yielding on numerous vital points the Empire had vindicated its right to exist, but its administrative machinery, so far as Italy was concerned, was still further impaired. This machinery, it must be said, had never been conspicuously effective south of the Alps. As for Frederick, he set out in 1189 upon the Third Crusade, during the course of which he met his death in Asia Minor without being permitted to see the Holy Land.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica_, Legum Sectio
IV. (Weiland ed.), Vol. I., pp. 411-418. Adapted from
translation in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, _Source
Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York, 1905,) pp. 199-202.

[Sidenote: Concessions to the cities of the League]

=1.= We, Frederick, emperor of the Romans, and our son Henry, king
of the Romans,[547] hereby grant to you, the cities, territories,
and persons of the League, the _regalia_ and other rights within
and without the cities, as you have been accustomed to hold them;
that is, each member of the League shall have the same rights as
the city of Verona has had in the past, or has now.

=2.= The members of the League shall exercise freely and without
interference from us all the rights which they have exercised of
old.

=3.= These are the rights which are guaranteed to you: the
_fodrum_,[548] forests, pastures, bridges, streams, mills,
fortifications of the cities, criminal and civil jurisdiction, and
all other rights which concern the welfare of the city.

[Sidenote: How the regalia remaining to the Emperor were to be
determined]

=4.= The _regalia_ which are not to be granted to the members of
the League shall be determined in the following manner: in the case
of each city, certain men shall be chosen for this purpose from
both the bishopric and the city; these men shall be of good repute,
capable of deciding these questions, and such as are not prejudiced
against either party. Acting with the bishop of the diocese, they
shall swear to inquire into the questions of the _regalia_ and to
set aside those that by right belong to us. If, however, the cities
do not wish to submit to this inquisition, they shall pay to us an
annual tribute of 2,000 marks in silver as compensation for our
_regalia_. If this sum seems excessive, it may be reduced.

=5.= If anyone appeals to us in regard to matters which are by this
treaty admitted to be under your jurisdiction, we agree not to hear
such an appeal.

=8.= All privileges, gifts, and concessions made in the time of the
war by us or our representatives to the prejudice or injury of the
cities, territories, or members of the League are to be null and
void.

[Sidenote: The consuls]

=9.= Consuls[549] of cities where the bishop holds the position of
count from the king or emperor shall receive their office from the
bishop, if this has been the custom before. In all other cities the
consuls shall receive their office from us, in the following
manner: after they have been elected by the city they shall be
invested with office by our representative in the city or
bishopric, unless we are ourselves in Lombardy, in which case they
shall be invested by us. At the end of every five years each city
shall send its representative to us to receive the investiture.

=10.= This arrangement shall be observed by our successor, and all
such investitures shall be free.

=11.= After our death, the cities shall receive investiture in the
same way from our son and from his successors.

[Sidenote: Appeals to the Emperor]

=12.= The Emperor shall have the right of hearing appeals in cases
involving more than 25 pounds, saving the right of the church of
Brescia to hear appeals. The appellant shall not, however, be
compelled to come to Germany, but he shall appeal to the
representative of the Emperor in the city or bishopric. This
representative shall examine the case fairly and shall give
judgment according to the laws and customs of that city. The
decision shall be given within two months from the time of appeal,
unless the case shall have been deferred by reason of some legal
hindrance or by the consent of both parties.

=13.= The consuls of cities shall take the oath of allegiance to
the Emperor before they are invested with office.

[Sidenote: The oath of fidelity]

=14.= Our vassals shall receive investiture from us and shall take
the vassal's oath of fidelity. All other persons between the ages
of 15 and 70 shall take the ordinary oath of fidelity to the
Emperor unless there be some good reason why this oath should be
omitted.

=17.= All injuries, losses, and damages which we or our followers
have sustained from the League, or any of its members or allies,
are hereby pardoned, and all such transgressors are hereby received
back into our favor.

=18.= We will not remain longer than is necessary in any city or
bishopric.

=19.= It shall be permitted to the cities to erect fortifications
within or without their boundaries.

[Sidenote: Recognition of the League's right to exist]

=20.= It shall be permitted to the League to maintain its
organization as it now is, or to renew it as often as it desires.

71. Current Rumors Concerning the Life and Character of Frederick II.

Frederick II. (1194-1250), king of Naples and Sicily and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was a son of Emperor Henry VI. and a grandson of Frederick Barbarossa. When his father died (1197) it was intended that the young child's uncle, Philip of Hohenstaufen, should occupy the imperial throne temporarily as regent. Philip, however, proceeded to assume the position as if in his own right and became engaged in a deadly conflict with a rival claimant, Otto IV., during which the Pope, Innocent III., fanned the flames of civil war and made the situation contribute chiefly to the aggrandizement of papal authority in temporal affairs. In 1208 Philip was assassinated and in the following year Otto received the imperial crown at Rome. Almost immediately, however, disagreement broke out between the Pope and the new Emperor, chiefly because of the latter's ambition to become king of Sicily. Repenting that he had befriended Otto, Innocent promptly excommunicated him and set on foot a movement--in which he enlisted the services of Philip Augustus of France--to supplant the obnoxious Emperor by Frederick of Sicily (the later Frederick II.). Otto was a nephew of Richard I. and John of England and the latter was easily persuaded to enter into an alliance with him against the papal-French-Sicilian combination. The result was the battle of Bouvines [see p. 297], in 1214, in which John and Otto were hopelessly defeated. Meanwhile, in 1212, Frederick had received a secret embassy from Otto's discontented subjects in Germany, offering him the imperial crown if he would come and claim it. In response he had gathered an army and, with the approval of Innocent and of Philip Augustus, had crossed the Alps for the purpose of winning over the German people from Otto to himself. The battle of Bouvines (in which Frederick was not engaged, but from which he profited immensely) was the death-blow to Otto's cause and Frederick was soon recognized universally as head of the Empire.

The reign of Frederick II. (1212-1250) was a period of large importance in European history. The Emperor's efforts and achievements--his crusade, his great quarrel with Gregory IX. and Innocent IV., his legislation, his struggles with the Lombard League--were full of interest and significance, but, after all, not more so than the purely personal aspects of his career. Mr. Bryce has a passage which states admirably the position of Frederick with reference to his age and its problems. A portion of it is as follows: "Out of the long array of the Germanic successors of Charles [Charlemagne], he is, with Otto III.,[550] the only one who comes before us with a genius and a frame of character that are not those of a Northern or a Teuton. There dwelt in him, it is true, all the energy and knightly valor of his father Henry and his grandfather Frederick I. But along with these, and changing their direction, were other gifts, inherited perhaps from his half Norman, half Italian mother and fostered by his education in Sicily, where Mussulman and Byzantine influences were still potent, a love of luxury and beauty, an intellect refined, subtle, philosophical. Through the mist of calumny and legend it is but dimly that the truth of the man can be discerned, and the outlines that appear serve to quicken rather than appease the curiosity with which we regard one of the most extraordinary personages in history. A sensualist, yet also a warrior and a politician; a profound law-giver and an impassioned poet; in his youth fired by crusading fervor, in later life persecuting heretics while himself accused of blasphemy and unbelief; of winning manners and ardently beloved by his followers, but with the stain of more than one cruel deed upon his name, he was the marvel of his own generation, and succeeding ages looked back with awe, not unmingled with pity, upon the inscrutable figure of the last emperor who had braved all the terrors of the Church and died beneath her ban, the last who had ruled from the sands of the ocean to the shores of the Ionian Sea. But while they pitied they condemned. The undying hatred of the papacy threw round his memory a lurid light; him and him alone of all the imperial line, Dante, the worshipper of the empire, must perforce deliver to the flames of hell."[551]

The following selections from the _Greater Chronicle_ of Matthew Paris comprise some of the stories which were current in Frederick's day regarding his manners, ideas, and deeds. Frederick was far ahead of his age and it was inevitable that the qualities in him which men could not understand or appreciate should become the grounds for dark rumors and unsavory suspicions. Matthew Paris was an English monk of St. Albans. It is thought that he was called _Parisiensis_, "the Parisian," because of having been born or educated in the capital of France. He seems to have confined his attention wholly to the study of history, and mainly to the history of his own country. His _Chronicle_ takes up the story of English and continental affairs in detail with the year 1235 (where Roger of Wendover had stopped in his _Flowers of History_) and continues to the year 1259. His book has been described as "probably the most generally useful historical production of the thirteenth century."[552]

Source--Matthaeus Parisiensis, _Chronica Majora_ [Matthew
Paris, "Greater Chronicle"]. Adapted from translation by J. A.
Giles (London, 1852), Vol. I., pp. 157-158, 166-167, 169-170;
Vol. II., pp. 84-85, 103.

[Sidenote: Frederick suspected of heresy]

[Sidenote: Accusation of friendly relations with the Saracens]

In the course of the same year [1238] the fame of the Emperor
Frederick was clouded and marred by his jealous enemies and rivals;
for it was imputed to him that he was wavering in the Catholic
faith, or wandering from the right way, and had given utterance to
some speeches, from which it could be inferred and suspected that
he was not only weak in the Catholic faith, but--what was a much
greater and more serious crime--that there was in him an enormity
of heresy, and the most dreadful blasphemy, to be detested and
execrated by all Christians. For it was reported that the Emperor
Frederick had said (although it may not be proper to mention it)
that three imposters had so craftily deceived their contemporaries
as to gain for themselves the mastery of the world: these were
Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet [Mohammed]; and that he had impiously
given expression to some wicked and incredible ravings and
blasphemies respecting the most holy Eucharist. Far be it from any
discreet man, much less a Christian, to employ his tongue in such
raving blasphemy. It was also said by his rivals that the Emperor
agreed with and believed in the law of Mahomet more than that of
Jesus Christ. A rumor also crept amongst the people (which God
forbid to be true of such a great prince) that he had been for a
long time past in alliance with the Saracens, and was more friendly
to them than to the Christians; and his rivals, who were
endeavoring to blacken his fame, attempted to establish this by
many proofs. Whether they sinned or not, He alone knows who is
ignorant of nothing....

[Sidenote: Frederick's seizure of the lands belonging to a bishop]

[Sidenote: Refusing to restore them, he is excommunicated]

In Lent, of the same year [1239], seeing the rash proceedings of
the Emperor, and that his words pleaded excuse for his
sins,--namely, that by the assistance of some of the nobles and
judges of Sardinia he had taken into his own possession, and still
held, the land and castles of the bishop of Sardinia, and
constantly declared that they were a portion of the Empire, and
that he by his first and chief oath would preserve the rights of
the Empire to the utmost of his power, and would also collect the
scattered portions of it,--the Pope[553] was excited to the most
violent anger against him. He set forth some very serious
complaints and claims against the Emperor and wrote often boldly
and carefully to him, advising him repeatedly by many special
messengers, whose authority ought to have obtained from him the
greatest attention, to restore the possessions he had seized, and
to desist from depriving the Church of her possessions, of which
she was endowed by long prescription. And, like a skilful
physician, who at one time makes use of medicines, at another of
the knife, and at another of the cauterizing instrument, he mixed
threats with entreaties, friendly messages with fearful
denunciations. As the Emperor, however, scornfully rejected his
requests, and excused his actions by arguments founded on reason,
his holiness the Pope, on Palm Sunday, in the presence of a great
many of the cardinals, in the spirit of glowing anger, solemnly
excommunicated the said Emperor Frederick, as though he would at
once have hurled him from his imperial dignity, consigning him with
terrible denunciations to the possession of Satan at his death;
and, as it were, thundering forth the fury of his anger, he excited
terror in all his hearers....[554]

[Sidenote: Frederick accuses the Pope of ingratitude and jealousy]

The Emperor, on hearing of this, was inflamed with violent anger,
and with oft-repeated reproaches accused the Church and its rulers
of ingratitude to him, and of returning evil for good. He recalled
to their recollection how he had exposed himself and his property
to the billows and to a thousand kinds of danger for the
advancement of the Church's welfare and the increase of the
Catholic faith, and affirmed that whatever honors the Church
possessed in the Holy Land had been acquired by his toil and
industry. "But," said he, "the Pope, jealous at such a happy
increase being acquired for the Church by a layman, and who desires
gold and silver rather than an increase of the faith (as witness
his proceedings), and who extorts money from all Christendom in the
name of tithes, has, by all the means in his power, done his best
to supplant me, and has endeavored to disinherit me while fighting
for God, exposing my body to the weapons of war, to sickness, and
to the snares of his enemies, after encountering the dangers of the
unsparing billows. See what sort of protection is this of our
father's! What kind of assistance in difficulties is this afforded
by the vicar of Jesus Christ"!...[555]

[Sidenote: Further accusation of an alliance with the Saracens]

[Sidenote: His neglect of pious and charitable works]

"Besides, he is united by a detestable alliance with the
Saracens,--has ofttimes sent messages and presents to them, and in
turn received the same from them with respect and alacrity...; and
what is a more execrable offense, he, when formerly in the country
beyond sea, made a kind of arrangement, or rather collusion, with
the sultan, and allowed the name of Mahomet to be publicly
proclaimed in the temple of the Lord day and night; and lately, in
the case of the sultan of Babylon [Cairo], who, by his own hands,
and through his agents, had done irreparable mischief and injury to
the Holy Land and its Christian inhabitants, he caused that
sultan's ambassadors, in compliment to their master, as is
reported, to be honorably received and nobly entertained in his
kingdom of Sicily. He also, in opposition to the Christians, abuses
the pernicious and horrid rites of other infidels, and, entering
into an alliance of friendship with those who wickedly pay little
respect to and despise the Apostolic See, and have seceded from
the unity of the Church, he, laying aside all respect for the
Christian religion, caused, as is positively asserted, the duke of
Bavaria, of illustrious memory, a special and devoted ally of the
Roman Church, to be murdered by the assassins. He has also given
his daughter in marriage to Battacius, an enemy of God and the
Church, who, together with his aiders, counsellors, and abettors,
was solemnly expelled from the communion of the Christians by
sentence of excommunication. Rejecting the proceedings and customs
of Catholic princes, neglecting his own salvation and the purity of
his fame, he does not employ himself in works of piety; and what is
more (to be silent on his wicked and dissolute practices), although
he has learned to practice oppression to such a degree, he does not
trouble himself to relieve those oppressed by injuries, by
extending his hand, as a Christian prince ought, to bestow alms,
although he has been eagerly aiming at the destruction of the
churches, and has crushed religious men and other ecclesiastical
persons with the burden and persecution of his yoke. And it is not
known that he ever built or founded either churches, monasteries,
hospitals, or other pious places. Now these are not light, but
convincing, grounds for suspicions of heresy being entertained
against him."...

[Sidenote: Frederick's wrath at his excommunication]

When the Emperor Frederick was made fully aware of all these
proceedings [i.e., his excommunication at Lyons] he could not
contain himself, but burst into a violent rage and, darting a
scowling look on those who sat around him, he thundered forth: "The
Pope in his synod has disgraced me by depriving me of my crown.
Whence arises such great audacity? Whence proceeds such rash
presumption? Where are my chests which contain my treasures?" And
on their being brought and unlocked before him, by his order, he
said, "See if my crowns are lost now;" then finding one, he placed
it on his head and, being thus crowned, he stood up, and, with
threatening eyes and a dreadful voice, unrestrainable from
passion, he said aloud, "I have not yet lost my crown, nor will I
be deprived of it by any attacks of the Pope or the council,
without a bloody struggle. Does his vulgar pride raise him to such
heights as to enable him to hurl from the imperial dignity me, the
chief prince of the world, than whom none is greater--yea, who am
without an equal? In this matter my condition is made better: in
some things I _was_ bound to obey, at least to respect, him; but
now I am released from all ties of affection and veneration, and
also from the obligation of any kind of peace with him." From that
time forth, therefore, he, in order to injure the Pope more
effectually and perseveringly, did all kinds of harm to his
Holiness, in his money, as well as in his friends and relatives.

72. The Golden Bull of Charles IV. (1356)

The century following the death of Frederick II. (1250) was a period of unrest and turbulence in German history, the net result of which politically was the almost complete triumph of the princes, lay and clerical, over the imperial power. By 1350 the local magnates had come to be virtually sovereign throughout their own territories. They enjoyed the right of legislation and the privileges of coining money and levying taxes, and in many cases they had scarcely so much as a feudal bond to remind them of their theoretical allegiance to the Empire. The one principle of action upon which they could agree was that the central monarchy should be kept permanently in the state of helplessness to which it had been reduced. The power of choosing a successor when a vacancy arose in the imperial office had fallen gradually into the hands of seven men, who were known as the "electors" and who were recognized in the fourteenth century as possessing collective importance far greater than that of the emperor. Three of these seven--the archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne--were great ecclesiastics; the other four--the king of Bohemia, the margrave of Brandenburg, the duke of Saxony, and the count palatine of the Rhine--were equally influential laymen. This electoral college first came into prominence at the election of Rudolph I. (of the House of Hapsburg) at the end of the Interregnum in 1273. From that time until the termination of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 these seven men (eight after 1648 and nine after 1692) played a part in German history not inferior to that of the emperors. They imposed upon their candidates such conditions as they chose, and when the bearer of the imperial title grew restive and difficult to control they did not hesitate to make war upon him, or even in extreme cases to depose him. It has been well said that never in all history have worse scandals been connected with any sort of elections than were associated repeatedly with the actions of these German electors.

The central document in German constitutional history in the Middle Ages is the Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV. (1347-1378), promulgated in 1356. For a century prior to the reign of Charles the question of the imperial succession had been one of extreme perplexity. The electoral college had grown up to assume the responsibility, but this body rested on no solid legal basis and its acts were usually regarded as null by all whom they displeased, with the result that a civil war succeeded pretty nearly every election. Charles was shrewd enough to see that the existing system could not be set aside; the electors were entirely too powerful to permit of that. But he also saw that it might at least be improved by giving it the quality of legality which it had hitherto lacked. The result of his efforts in this direction was the Golden Bull, issued and confirmed at the diets of Nuernberg (Nuremberg) and Metz in 1356. The document, thenceforth regarded as the fundamental law of the Empire, dealt with a wide variety of subjects. It confirmed the electorship in the person of the king of Bohemia which had long been disputed by a rival branch of the family;[556] it made elaborate provision for the election of the emperor by the seven magnates; it defined the social and political prerogatives of these men and prescribed the relations which they should bear to their subjects, to other princes, and to the emperor; and it made numerous regulations regarding conspiracies, coinage, immunities, the forfeiture of fiefs, the succession of electoral princes, etc. In a word, as Mr. Bryce has put it, the document "confessed and legalized the independence of the Electors and the powerlessness of the crown."[557] Only a few selections from it can be given here, particularly those bearing on the methods of electing the emperor.

Source--Text in Wilhelm Altmann und Ernst Bernheim,
_Ausgewaehlte Urkunden zur Erlaeuterung der
Verfassungsgeschichte Deutschlands im Mittelalter_ ["Select
Documents Illustrative of the Constitutional History of
Germany in the Middle Ages"], 3rd ed., Berlin, 1904, pp.
54-83. Adapted from translation in Oliver J. Thatcher and
Edgar H. McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York,
1905), pp. 284-295 _passim_.

[Sidenote: Guarantee of safety of travel for the electors]

I. =1.= We decree and determine by this imperial edict that,
whenever the electoral princes are summoned according to the
ancient and praiseworthy custom to meet and elect a king of the
Romans and future emperor, each one of them shall be bound to
furnish on demand an escort and safe-conduct to his fellow electors
or their representatives, within his own lands and as much farther
as he can, for the journey to and from the city where the election
is to be held. Any electoral prince who refuses to furnish escort
and safe-conduct shall be liable to the penalties for perjury and
to the loss of his electoral vote for that occasion.

[Sidenote: Penalties for violation of the safe-conduct of the
electors]

=2.= We decree and command also that all other princes who hold
fiefs from the Empire, by whatever title, and all counts, barons,
knights, clients, nobles, commoners, citizens, and all corporations
of towns, cities, and territories of the Empire, shall furnish
escort and safe-conduct for this occasion to every electoral prince
or his representatives, on demand, within their own lands and as
much farther as they can. Violators of this decree shall be
punished as follows: princes, counts, barons, knights, clients, and
all others of noble rank, shall suffer the penalties of perjury,
and shall lose the fiefs which they hold of the emperor or any
other lord, and all their possessions; citizens and corporations
shall also suffer the penalty for perjury, shall be deprived of all
the rights, liberties, privileges, and graces which they have
received from the Empire, and shall incur the ban of the Empire
against their persons and property. Those whom we deprive of their
rights for this offense may be attacked by any man without
appealing to a magistrate, and without danger of reprisal; for they
are rebels against the state and the Empire, and have attacked the
honor and security of the prince, and are convicted of
faithlessness and perfidy.

[Sidenote: Supplies for the use of the electors]

=3.= We also command that the citizens and corporations of cities
shall furnish supplies to the electoral princes and their
representatives on demand at the regular price and without fraud,
whenever they arrive at, or depart from, the city on their way to
or from the election. Those who violate this decree shall suffer
the penalties described in the preceding paragraph for citizens and
corporations. If any prince, count, baron, knight, client, noble,
commoner, citizen, or city shall attack or molest in person or
goods any of the electoral princes or their representatives, on
their way to or from an election, whether they have safe-conduct or
not, he and his accomplices shall incur the penalties above
described, according to his position and rank.

[Sidenote: The electors to be summoned by the archbishop of Mainz]

=16.= When the news of the death of the king of the Romans has been
received at Mainz, within one month from the date of receiving it
the archbishop of Mainz shall send notices of the death and the
approaching election to all the electoral princes. But if the
archbishop neglects or refuses to send such notices, the electoral
princes are commanded on their fidelity to assemble on their own
motion and without summons at the city of Frankfort,[558] within
three months from the death of the emperor, for the purpose of
electing a king of the Romans and future emperor.

=17.= Each electoral prince or his representatives may bring with
him to Frankfort at the time of the election a retinue of 200
horsemen, of whom not more than 50 shall be armed.

[Sidenote: How a vote might be forfeited]

=18.= If any electoral prince, duly summoned to the election, fails
to come, or to send representatives with credentials containing
full authority, or if he (or his representatives) withdraws from
the place of the election before the election has been completed,
without leaving behind substitutes fully accredited and empowered,
he shall lose his vote in that election.

[Sidenote: The oath taken by the electors]

II. =2.=[559] "I, archbishop of Mainz, archchancellor of the Empire
for Germany,[560] electoral prince, swear on the holy gospels here
before me, and by the faith which I owe to God and to the Holy
Roman Empire, that with the aid of God, and according to my best
judgment and knowledge, I will cast my vote, in this election of
the king of the Romans and future emperor, for a person fitted to
rule the Christian people. I will give my voice and vote freely,
uninfluenced by any agreement, price, bribe, promise, or anything
of the sort, by whatever name it may be called. So help me God and
all the saints."

[Sidenote: Provision to ensure an election]

=3.= After the electors have taken this oath, they shall proceed to
the election, and shall not depart from Frankfort until the
majority have elected a king of the Romans and future emperor, to
be ruler of the world and of the Christian people. If they have not
come to a decision within thirty days from the day on which they
took the above oath, after that they shall live upon bread and
water and shall not leave the city until the election has been
decided.

[Sidenote: Order of precedence of the three archbishops]

III. =1.= To prevent any dispute arising between the archbishops of
Trier, Mainz, and Cologne, electoral princes of the Empire, as to
their priority and rank in the diet,[561] it has been decided and
is hereby decreed, with the advice and consent of all the electoral
princes, ecclesiastical and secular, that the archbishop of Trier
shall have the seat directly opposite and facing the emperor; that
the archbishop of Mainz shall have the seat at the right of the
emperor when the diet is held in the diocese or province of Mainz,
or anywhere in Germany except in the diocese of Cologne; that the
archbishop of Cologne shall have the seat at the right of the
emperor when the diet is held in the diocese or province of
Cologne, or anywhere in Gaul or Italy. This applies to all public
ceremonies--court sessions, conferring of fiefs, banquets,
councils, and all occasions on which the princes meet with the
emperor for the transaction of imperial business. This order of
seating shall be observed by the successors of the present
archbishops of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz, and shall never be
questioned.

[Sidenote: Seating arrangement at table]

IV. =1.= In the imperial diet, at the council-board, table, and all
other places where the emperor or king of the Romans meets with the
electoral princes, the seats shall be arranged as follows: On the
right of the emperor, first, the archbishop of Mainz, or of
Cologne, according to the province in which the meeting is held, as
arranged above; second, the king of Bohemia, because he is a
crowned and anointed prince; third, the count palatine of the
Rhine; on the left of the emperor, first, the archbishop of
Cologne, or of Mainz; second, the duke of Saxony; third, the
margrave of Brandenburg.

[Sidenote: The order of voting]

=2.= When the imperial throne becomes vacant, the archbishop of
Mainz shall have the authority, which he has had from of old, to
call the other electors together for the election. It shall be his
peculiar right also, when the electors have convened for the
election, to collect the votes, asking each of the electors
separately in the following order: first, the archbishop of Trier,
who shall have the right to the first vote, as he has had from of
old; then the archbishop of Cologne, who has the office of first
placing the crown upon the head of the king of the Romans; then the
king of Bohemia, who has the priority among the secular princes
because of his royal title; fourth, the count palatine of the
Rhine; fifth, the duke of Saxony; sixth, the margrave of
Brandenburg. Then the princes shall ask the archbishop of Mainz in
turn to declare his choice and vote. At the diet, the margrave of
Brandenburg shall offer water to the emperor or king, to wash his
hands; the king of Bohemia shall have the right to offer him the
cup first, although, by reason of his royal dignity, he shall not
be bound to do this unless he desires; the count palatine of the
Rhine shall offer him food; and the duke of Saxony shall act as his
marshal in the accustomed manner.

[Sidenote: Judicial privileges of the electors confirmed and
enlarged]

XI. =1.= We decree also that no count, baron, noble, vassal,
burggrave,[562] knight, client, citizen, burgher, or other subject
of the churches of Cologne, Mainz, or Trier, of whatever status,
condition, or rank, shall be cited, haled, or summoned to any
authority before any tribunal outside of the territories,
boundaries, and limits of these churches and their dependencies, or
before any judge, except the archbishop and their judges.... We
refuse to hear appeals based upon the authority of others over the
subjects of these princes; if these princes are accused by their
subjects of injustice, appeal shall lie to the imperial diet, and
shall be heard there and nowhere else.

=2.= We extend this right by the present law to the secular
electoral princes, the count palatine of the Rhine; the duke of
Saxony, and the margrave of Brandenburg, and to their heirs,
successors, and subjects forever.

[Sidenote: The electors to meet annually]

XII. =1.= It has been decided in the general diet held at
Nuernberg[563] with the electoral princes, ecclesiastical and
secular, and other princes and magnates, by their advice and with
their consent, that in the future, the electoral princes shall meet
every year in some city of the Empire four weeks after Easter. This
year they are to meet at that date in the imperial city of
Metz.[564] On that occasion, and on every meeting thereafter, the
place of assembling for the following year shall be fixed by us,
with the advice and consent of the princes. This ordinance shall
remain in force as long as it shall be pleasing to us and to the
princes; and as long as it is in effect, we shall furnish the
princes with safe-conduct for that assembly, going, staying, and
returning.

FOOTNOTES:

[547] Henry VI. succeeded his father as emperor, reigning from 1190 to 1197.

[548] The term (meaning literally "fodder") designates the obligation to furnish provisions for the royal army. The right of demanding such provisions was now given up by the Emperor.

[549] The consuls--often twelve in number--were the chief magistrates of the typical Italian commune.

[550] Otto III., emperor 983-1002. Otto is noted chiefly for his visionary project of renewing the imperial splendor of Rome and making her again the capital of a world-wide empire.

[551] James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), pp. 207-208. For the reference to Dante see the _Inferno_, Canto X.

[552] James H. Robinson, _Readings in European History_ (Boston, 1904), Vol. I., p. 244.

[553] Gregory IX., (1227-1241).

[554] Frederick was excommunicated and anathematized on sixteen different charges, which the Pope carefully enumerated. All who were bound to him by oath of fealty were declared to be absolved from their allegiance.

[555] At the Council of Lyons, in 1245, the Emperor was again excommunicated. The ensuing paragraph comprises a portion of Pope Innocent IV.'s denunciation of him upon that occasion.

[556] Charles IV. was himself king of Bohemia, so that for the present the Emperor was also one of the seven imperial electors.

[557] James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), p. 234.

[558] Frankfort lay on the river Main, a short distance east of Mainz. "It was fixed as the place of election, as a tradition dating from East Frankish days preserved the feeling that both election and coronation ought to take place on Frankish soil."--James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), p. 243.

[559] The preceding section specifies that Mass should be celebrated the day following the arrival of the electors at Frankfort, and that the archbishop of Mainz should administer to his six colleagues the oath which he himself has taken, as specified in section 2.

[560] The three archbishops were "archchancellors" of the Empire for Germany, Gaul and Burgundy, and Italy respectively. The king of Bohemia was designated as cupbearer, the margrave of Brandenburg as chamberlain, the count palatine as seneschal, and the duke of Saxony as marshal.

[561] The diet was the Empire's nearest approach to a national assembly. It was made up of three orders--the electors, the princes, and the representatives of the cities.

[562] An official representative of a king or overlord in a city.

[563] Nuernberg (or Nuremberg) is situated in Bavaria, in south central Germany.

[564] Metz lay on the Moselle, above Trier. Apparently this clause providing for a regular annual meeting of the electors was inserted by Charles in the hope that he might be able to make use of the body as an advisory council in the affairs of the Empire. The provision remained a dead letter, for the reason that the electors were indifferent to the Emperor's purposes in the matter.