Chief Towns.—The seaports of the colony are Tanga (pop. about 6000), Bagamoyo 5000 (with surrounding district some 18,000), Dar-es-Salaam 24,000, Kilwa 5000, (these have separate notices), Pangani, Sadani, Lindi and Mikindani. Pangani (pop. about 3500) is situated at the mouth of the river of the same name; it serves a district rich in tropical products, and does a thriving trade with Zanzibar and Pemba. Sadani is a smaller port midway between Pangani and Bagamoyo. Lindi (10° 0′ S., 39° 40′ E.) is 80 m. north of Cape Delgado. Lindi (Swahili for The Deep Below) Bay runs inland 6 m. and is 3 m. across, affording deep anchorage. Hills to the west of the bay rise over 1000 ft. The town (pop. about 4000) is picturesquely situated on the north side of the bay. The Arabboma, constructed in 1800, has been rebuilt by the Germans, who have retained the fine sculptured gateway. Formerly a rendezvous for slave caravans Lindi now has a more legitimate trade in white ivory. Mikindani is the most southern port in the colony. Owing to the prevalence of malaria there, few Europeans live at the town, and trade is almost entirely in the hands of Banyans.Inland the principal settlements are Korogwe, Mrogoro, Kilossa, Mpapua and Tabora. Korogwe is in the Usambara hills, on the north bank of the Pangani river, and is reached by railway from Tanga. Mrogoro is some 140 m. due west of Dar-es-Salaam, and is the first important station on the road to Tanganyika. Kilossa and Mpapua are farther inland on the same caravan route. Tabora (pop. about 37,000), the chief town of the Wanyamwezi tribes, occupies an important position on the central plateau, being the meeting-place of the trade routes from Tanganyika, Victoria Nyanza and the coast. In the railway development of the colony Tabora is destined to become the central junction of lines going north, south, east and west.On Victoria Nyanza there are various settlements. Mwanza, on the southern shore, is the lake terminus of the route from Bagamoyo: Bukoba is on the western shore, and Schirati on the eastern shore; both situated a little south of the British frontier. On the German coast of Tanganyika are Ujiji (q.v.), pop. about 14,000, occupying a central position; Usumbura, at the northern end of the lake where is a fort built by the Germans; and Bismarckburg, near the southern end. On the shores of the lake between Ujiji and Bismarckburg are four stations of the Algerian “White Fathers,” all possessing churches, schools and other stone buildings. Langenburg is a settlement on the north-east side of Lake Nyasa. The government station, called New Langenburg, occupies a higher and more healthy site north-west of the lake. Wiedhafen is on the east side of Nyasa at the mouth of the Ruhuhu, and is the terminus of the caravan route from Kilwa.Productions.—The chief wealth of the country is derived from agriculture and the produce of the forests. From the forests are obtained rubber, copal, bark, various kinds of fibre, and timber (teak, mahogany, &c.). The cultivated products include coffee, the coco-nut palm, tobacco, sugar-cane, cotton, vanilla, sorghum, earth-nuts, sesame, maize, rice, beans, peas, bananas (in large quantities), yams, manioc and hemp. Animal products are ivory, hides, tortoise-shell and pearls. On the plateaus large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep are reared. The natives have many small smithies. Gold, coal, iron, graphite, copper and salt have been found. Garnets are plentiful in the Lindi district, and agates, topaz, moonstone and other precious stones are found in the colony. The chief gold and iron deposits are near Victoria Nyanza. In the Mwanza district are conglomerate reefs of great extent. Mining began in 1905, Mica is mined near Mrogoro. The chief exports are sisal fibre, rubber, hides and skins, wax, ivory, copra, coffee, ground-nuts and cotton. The imports are chiefly articles of food, textiles, and metals and hardware. More than half the entire trade, both export and import, is with Zanzibar. Germany takes about 30% of the trade. In the ten years 1896-1905 the value of the external trade increased from about £600,000 to over £1,100,000. In 1907 the imports were valued at £1,190,000, the exports at £625,000.Numerous companies are engaged in developing the resources of the country by trading, planting and mining. The most important is theDeutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft, founded in 1885, which has trading stations in each seaport, and flourishing plantations in various parts of the country. It is the owner of vast tracts of land. From 1890 to 1903 this company was in possession of extensive mining, railway, banking and coining rights, but in the last-named year, by agreement with the German government, it became a land company purely. The company has a right to a fifth part of the land within a zone of 10 m. on either side of any railway built in the colony previously to 1935. In addition to the companies a comparatively large number of private individuals have laid out plantations, Usambara and Pare having become favourite districts for agricultural enterprise. In the delta of the Rufiji and in the Kilwa district cotton-growing was begun in 1901. The plantations are all worked by native labour. The government possesses large forest reserves.Communications.—Good roads for foot traffic have been made from the seaports to the trading stations on Lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika and Victoria. Caravans from Dar-es-Salaam to Tanganyika take 60 days to do the journey. The lack of more rapid means of communication hindered the development of the colony and led to economic crises (1898-1902), which were intensified, and in part created, by the building of a railway in the adjacent British protectorate from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza, the British line securing the trade with the lake. At that time the only railway in the country was a line from Tanga to the Usambara highlands. This railway passes through Korogwe (52 m. from Tanga) and is continued via Mombo to Wilhelmstal, a farther distance of 56 m. The building of a trunk line from Dar-es-Salaam to Mrogoro (140 m.), and ultimately to Ujiji by way of Tabora, was begun in 1905. Another proposed line would run from Kilwa to Wiedhafen on Lake Nyasa. This railway would give the quickest means of access to British Central Africa and the southern part of Belgian Congo. On each of the three lakes is a government steamer. British steamers on Victoria Nyanza maintain communication between the German stations and the take terminus of the Uganda railway. The German East Africa Line of Hamburg runs a fleet of first-class steamers to East Africa, which touch at Tanga, Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar. There is a submarine cable from Dar-es-Salaam to Zanzibar, and an overland line connecting all the coast stations.Administration, Revenue, &c.—For administrative purposes the country is divided into districts (Bezirksämter), and stations (Stationsbezirke). Each station has a chief, who is subordinate to the official of his district, these in their turn being under the governor, who resides in Dar-es-Salaam. The governor is commander of the colonial force, which consists of natives under white officers. District councils are constituted, on which the European merchants and planters are represented. Revenue is raised by taxes on imports and exports, on licences for the sale of land and spirituous liquors, and for wood-cutting, by harbour and other dues, and a hut tax on natives. The deficiency between revenue and expenditure is met by a subsidy from the imperial government. In no case during the first twenty-one years’ existence of the colony had the local revenue reached 60% of the local expenditure, which in normal years amounted to about £500,000. In 1909, however, only the expenditure necessary for military purposes (£183,500) was received by way of subsidy.
Chief Towns.—The seaports of the colony are Tanga (pop. about 6000), Bagamoyo 5000 (with surrounding district some 18,000), Dar-es-Salaam 24,000, Kilwa 5000, (these have separate notices), Pangani, Sadani, Lindi and Mikindani. Pangani (pop. about 3500) is situated at the mouth of the river of the same name; it serves a district rich in tropical products, and does a thriving trade with Zanzibar and Pemba. Sadani is a smaller port midway between Pangani and Bagamoyo. Lindi (10° 0′ S., 39° 40′ E.) is 80 m. north of Cape Delgado. Lindi (Swahili for The Deep Below) Bay runs inland 6 m. and is 3 m. across, affording deep anchorage. Hills to the west of the bay rise over 1000 ft. The town (pop. about 4000) is picturesquely situated on the north side of the bay. The Arabboma, constructed in 1800, has been rebuilt by the Germans, who have retained the fine sculptured gateway. Formerly a rendezvous for slave caravans Lindi now has a more legitimate trade in white ivory. Mikindani is the most southern port in the colony. Owing to the prevalence of malaria there, few Europeans live at the town, and trade is almost entirely in the hands of Banyans.
Inland the principal settlements are Korogwe, Mrogoro, Kilossa, Mpapua and Tabora. Korogwe is in the Usambara hills, on the north bank of the Pangani river, and is reached by railway from Tanga. Mrogoro is some 140 m. due west of Dar-es-Salaam, and is the first important station on the road to Tanganyika. Kilossa and Mpapua are farther inland on the same caravan route. Tabora (pop. about 37,000), the chief town of the Wanyamwezi tribes, occupies an important position on the central plateau, being the meeting-place of the trade routes from Tanganyika, Victoria Nyanza and the coast. In the railway development of the colony Tabora is destined to become the central junction of lines going north, south, east and west.
On Victoria Nyanza there are various settlements. Mwanza, on the southern shore, is the lake terminus of the route from Bagamoyo: Bukoba is on the western shore, and Schirati on the eastern shore; both situated a little south of the British frontier. On the German coast of Tanganyika are Ujiji (q.v.), pop. about 14,000, occupying a central position; Usumbura, at the northern end of the lake where is a fort built by the Germans; and Bismarckburg, near the southern end. On the shores of the lake between Ujiji and Bismarckburg are four stations of the Algerian “White Fathers,” all possessing churches, schools and other stone buildings. Langenburg is a settlement on the north-east side of Lake Nyasa. The government station, called New Langenburg, occupies a higher and more healthy site north-west of the lake. Wiedhafen is on the east side of Nyasa at the mouth of the Ruhuhu, and is the terminus of the caravan route from Kilwa.
Productions.—The chief wealth of the country is derived from agriculture and the produce of the forests. From the forests are obtained rubber, copal, bark, various kinds of fibre, and timber (teak, mahogany, &c.). The cultivated products include coffee, the coco-nut palm, tobacco, sugar-cane, cotton, vanilla, sorghum, earth-nuts, sesame, maize, rice, beans, peas, bananas (in large quantities), yams, manioc and hemp. Animal products are ivory, hides, tortoise-shell and pearls. On the plateaus large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep are reared. The natives have many small smithies. Gold, coal, iron, graphite, copper and salt have been found. Garnets are plentiful in the Lindi district, and agates, topaz, moonstone and other precious stones are found in the colony. The chief gold and iron deposits are near Victoria Nyanza. In the Mwanza district are conglomerate reefs of great extent. Mining began in 1905, Mica is mined near Mrogoro. The chief exports are sisal fibre, rubber, hides and skins, wax, ivory, copra, coffee, ground-nuts and cotton. The imports are chiefly articles of food, textiles, and metals and hardware. More than half the entire trade, both export and import, is with Zanzibar. Germany takes about 30% of the trade. In the ten years 1896-1905 the value of the external trade increased from about £600,000 to over £1,100,000. In 1907 the imports were valued at £1,190,000, the exports at £625,000.
Numerous companies are engaged in developing the resources of the country by trading, planting and mining. The most important is theDeutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft, founded in 1885, which has trading stations in each seaport, and flourishing plantations in various parts of the country. It is the owner of vast tracts of land. From 1890 to 1903 this company was in possession of extensive mining, railway, banking and coining rights, but in the last-named year, by agreement with the German government, it became a land company purely. The company has a right to a fifth part of the land within a zone of 10 m. on either side of any railway built in the colony previously to 1935. In addition to the companies a comparatively large number of private individuals have laid out plantations, Usambara and Pare having become favourite districts for agricultural enterprise. In the delta of the Rufiji and in the Kilwa district cotton-growing was begun in 1901. The plantations are all worked by native labour. The government possesses large forest reserves.
Communications.—Good roads for foot traffic have been made from the seaports to the trading stations on Lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika and Victoria. Caravans from Dar-es-Salaam to Tanganyika take 60 days to do the journey. The lack of more rapid means of communication hindered the development of the colony and led to economic crises (1898-1902), which were intensified, and in part created, by the building of a railway in the adjacent British protectorate from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza, the British line securing the trade with the lake. At that time the only railway in the country was a line from Tanga to the Usambara highlands. This railway passes through Korogwe (52 m. from Tanga) and is continued via Mombo to Wilhelmstal, a farther distance of 56 m. The building of a trunk line from Dar-es-Salaam to Mrogoro (140 m.), and ultimately to Ujiji by way of Tabora, was begun in 1905. Another proposed line would run from Kilwa to Wiedhafen on Lake Nyasa. This railway would give the quickest means of access to British Central Africa and the southern part of Belgian Congo. On each of the three lakes is a government steamer. British steamers on Victoria Nyanza maintain communication between the German stations and the take terminus of the Uganda railway. The German East Africa Line of Hamburg runs a fleet of first-class steamers to East Africa, which touch at Tanga, Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar. There is a submarine cable from Dar-es-Salaam to Zanzibar, and an overland line connecting all the coast stations.
Administration, Revenue, &c.—For administrative purposes the country is divided into districts (Bezirksämter), and stations (Stationsbezirke). Each station has a chief, who is subordinate to the official of his district, these in their turn being under the governor, who resides in Dar-es-Salaam. The governor is commander of the colonial force, which consists of natives under white officers. District councils are constituted, on which the European merchants and planters are represented. Revenue is raised by taxes on imports and exports, on licences for the sale of land and spirituous liquors, and for wood-cutting, by harbour and other dues, and a hut tax on natives. The deficiency between revenue and expenditure is met by a subsidy from the imperial government. In no case during the first twenty-one years’ existence of the colony had the local revenue reached 60% of the local expenditure, which in normal years amounted to about £500,000. In 1909, however, only the expenditure necessary for military purposes (£183,500) was received by way of subsidy.
History.—Until nearly the middle of the 19th century only the coast lands of the territory now forming German East Africa were known either to Europeans or to the Arabs. When at the beginning of the 16th century the Portuguese obtained possession of the towns along the East African coast, they had been, for periods extending in some cases fully five hundred years, under Arab dominion. After the final withdrawal of the Portuguese in the early years of the 18th century, the coast towns north of Cape Delgado fell under the sway of the Muscat Arabs, passingfrom them to the sultan of Zanzibar. From about 1830, or a little earlier, the Zanzibar Arabs began to penetrate inland, and by 1850 had established themselves at Ujiji on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Arabs also made their way south to Nyasa. This extension of Arab influence was accompanied by vague claims on the part of the sultan of Zanzibar to include all these newly opened countries in his empire. How far from the coast the real authority of the sultan extended was never demonstrated. Zanzibar at this time was in semi-dependence on India, and British influence was strong at the court of Bargash, who succeeded to the sultanate in 1870. Bargash in 1877 offered to Sir (then Mr) William Mackinnon a lease of all his mainland territory. The offer, made in the year in which H.M. Stanley’s discovery of the course of the Congo initiated the movement for the partition of the continent, was declined. British influence was, however, still so powerful in Zanzibar that the agents of the German Colonization Society, who in 1884 sought to secure for their country territory on the east coast, deemed it prudent to act secretly, so that both Great Britain and Zanzibar might be confronted with accomplished facts. Making their way inland, three young Germans, Karl Peters, Joachim Count Pfeil and Dr Jühlke, concluded a “treaty” in November 1884 with a chieftain in Usambara who was declared to be independent of Zanzibar. Other treaties followed, and on the 17th of February 1885, the German emperor granted a charter of protection to the Colonization Society. The German acquisitions were resented by Zanzibar, but were acquiesced in by the British government (the second Gladstone administration). The sultan was forced to acknowledge their validity, and to grant a German company a lease of his mainland territories south of the mouth of the Umba river, a British company formed by Mackinnon taking a lease of the territories north of that point. The story of the negotiations between Great Britain, Germany and France which led to this result is told elsewhere (seeAfrica, section 5). By the agreement of the 1st of July 1890, between the British and German governments, and by agreements concluded between Germany and Portugal in 1886 and 1894, and Germany and the Congo Free State in 1884 and later dates, the German sphere of influence attained its present area. On the 28th of October 1890 the sultan of Zanzibar ceded absolutely to Germany the mainland territories already leased to a German company, receiving as compensation £200,000.
While these negotiations were going on, various German companies had set to work to exploit the country, and on the 16th of August 1888 the German East African Company, the lessee of the Zanzibar mainland strip, took over the administration from the Arabs. This was followed, five days later, by a revolt of all the coast Arabs against German rule—the Germans, raw hands at the task of managing Orientals, having aroused intense hostility by their brusque treatment of the dispossessed rulers. The company being unable to quell the revolt, Captain Hermann Wissmann—subsequently Major Hermann von Wissmann (1853-1905)—was sent out by Prince Bismarck as imperial commissioner. Wissmann, with 1000 soldiers, chiefly Sudanese officered by Germans, and a German naval contingent, succeeded by the end of 1889 in crushing the power of the Arabs. Wissmann remained in the country until 1891 as commissioner, and later (1895-1896) was for eighteen months governor of the colony—as the German sphere had been constituted by proclamation (1st of January 1897). Towards the native population Wissmann’s attitude was conciliatory, and under his rule the development of the resources of the country was pushed on. Equal success did not attend the efforts of other administrators; in 1891-1892 Karl Peters had great trouble with the tribes in the Kilimanjaro district and resorted to very harsh methods, such as the execution of women, to maintain his authority. In 1896 Peters was condemned by a disciplinary court for a misuse of official power, and lost his commission. After 1891, in which year the Wahehe tribe ambushed and almost completely annihilated a German military force of 350 men under Baron von Zelewski, there were for many years no serious risings against German authority, which by the end of 1898 had been established over almost the whole of the hinterland. The development of the country was, however, slow, due in part to the disinclination of the Reichstag to vote supplies sufficient for the building of railways to the fertile lake regions. Count von Götzen (governor 1901-1906) adopted the policy of maintaining the authority of native rulers as far as possible, but as over the greater part of the colony the natives have no political organizations of any size, the chief burden of government rests on the German authorities. In August 1905 serious disturbances broke out among the Bantu tribes in the colony. The revolt was due largely to resentment against the restrictions enforced by the Germans in their efforts at civilization, including compulsory work on European plantations in certain districts. Moreover, it is stated that the Herero in rebellion in German South-west Africa sent word to the east coast natives to follow their example, an instance of the growing solidarity of the black races of Africa. Though the revolt spread over a very large area, the chief centre of disturbance was the region between Nyasa and the coast at Kilwa and Lindi. Besides a number of settlers a Roman Catholic bishop and a party of four missionaries and nuns were murdered in the Kilwa hinterland, while nearer Nyasa the warlike Wangoni held possession of the country. The Germans raised levies of Masai and Sudanese, and brought natives from New Guinea to help in suppressing the rising, besides sending naval and military contingents from Germany. In general, the natives, when encountered, were easily dispersed, but it was not until March 1906 that the coast regions were again quiet. In July following the Wangoni were beaten in a decisive engagement. It was officially stated that the death-roll for the whole war was not below 120,000 men, women and children. In 1907 a visit was paid to the colony by Herr B. Dernburg, the colonial secretary. As a result of this visit more humane methods in the treatment of the natives were introduced, and measures taken to develop more fully the economic resources of the country.
Authorities.—S. Passarge and others,Das deutsche Kolonialreich, Erster Band (Leipzig, 1909); P. Reichard,Deutsch Ostafrika, das Land und seine Bewohner(Leipzig, 1892); F. Stuhlmann,Mit Emin Pasha im Herzen von Afrika(Berlin, 1894); Brix Foerster,Deutsch-Ostafrika; Geographie und Geschichte(Leipzig, 1890); Oscar Baumann, InDeutsch-Ostafrika während des Aufstands(Vienna, 1890),Usambara und seine Nachbargebiete(Berlin, 1891), andDurch Massailand zur Nilquelle(Berlin, 1894). For special studies see P. Samassa,Die Besiedelung Deutsch-Ostafrikas(Leipzig, 1909); A. Engler,Die Pflanzenwelt Ost-Afrikas und der Nachbargebiete(Berlin, 1895-1896) and other works by the same author; Stromer von Reichenbach,Die Geologie der deutschen Schutzgebiete in Afrika(Munich and Leipzig, 1896); W. Bornhardt,Deutsch-Ostafrika(Berlin, 1898); F. Fullerborn,Beiträge zur physischen Anthropologie der Nord-Nyassaländer(Berlin, 1902), a fine series of pictures of native types, andDas Deutsche Nyassa- und Ruwuma-gebiet, Land und Leute(Berlin, 1906); K. Weule,Native Life in East Africa(London, 1909); Hans Meyer,Der Kilimandjaro(Berlin, 1900) andDie Eisenbahnen im tropischen Afrika(Leipzig, 1902); J. Strandes,Die Portugiesenzeit von Deutsch- u. Englisch-Ostafrika(Berlin, 1899), a valuable monograph on the Portuguese period. See also British Official Reports on East Africa (specially No. 4221 ann. ser.), the German White Books and annual reports, theMitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebiete, and theDeutsches Kolonialblatt, published fortnightly at Berlin since 1890. TheDeutscher Kolonial-Atlashas maps on the 1:1,000,000 scale.
Authorities.—S. Passarge and others,Das deutsche Kolonialreich, Erster Band (Leipzig, 1909); P. Reichard,Deutsch Ostafrika, das Land und seine Bewohner(Leipzig, 1892); F. Stuhlmann,Mit Emin Pasha im Herzen von Afrika(Berlin, 1894); Brix Foerster,Deutsch-Ostafrika; Geographie und Geschichte(Leipzig, 1890); Oscar Baumann, InDeutsch-Ostafrika während des Aufstands(Vienna, 1890),Usambara und seine Nachbargebiete(Berlin, 1891), andDurch Massailand zur Nilquelle(Berlin, 1894). For special studies see P. Samassa,Die Besiedelung Deutsch-Ostafrikas(Leipzig, 1909); A. Engler,Die Pflanzenwelt Ost-Afrikas und der Nachbargebiete(Berlin, 1895-1896) and other works by the same author; Stromer von Reichenbach,Die Geologie der deutschen Schutzgebiete in Afrika(Munich and Leipzig, 1896); W. Bornhardt,Deutsch-Ostafrika(Berlin, 1898); F. Fullerborn,Beiträge zur physischen Anthropologie der Nord-Nyassaländer(Berlin, 1902), a fine series of pictures of native types, andDas Deutsche Nyassa- und Ruwuma-gebiet, Land und Leute(Berlin, 1906); K. Weule,Native Life in East Africa(London, 1909); Hans Meyer,Der Kilimandjaro(Berlin, 1900) andDie Eisenbahnen im tropischen Afrika(Leipzig, 1902); J. Strandes,Die Portugiesenzeit von Deutsch- u. Englisch-Ostafrika(Berlin, 1899), a valuable monograph on the Portuguese period. See also British Official Reports on East Africa (specially No. 4221 ann. ser.), the German White Books and annual reports, theMitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebiete, and theDeutsches Kolonialblatt, published fortnightly at Berlin since 1890. TheDeutscher Kolonial-Atlashas maps on the 1:1,000,000 scale.
(F. R. C.)
GERMAN EVANGELICAL SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA,a Protestant church dating from October 1840, and known, in its early years, as the German Evangelical Association of the West. It was formed by six German ministers who had been ordained in Prussia and were engaged in missionary and pioneer work in Missouri and Illinois. The original organization was strengthened in 1858 by amalgamation with the German Evangelical Church Association of Ohio, and later by the inclusion of the German United Evangelical Synod of the East (1860), the Evangelical Synod of the North-West (1872) and the United Evangelical Synod of the East (1872). The church bases its position on the Bible as interpreted by the symbols of the Lutheran and Reformed churches so far as they are in agreement, points of difference being left to “that liberty of conscience which, as a component part of the basis of man’s ultimateresponsibility to God himself, is the inalienable privilege of every believer.” The church, which has (1909) 985 ministers and some 238,000 communicant members, is divided into seventeen districts, with officers responsible to the General Synod, which meets every four years. There are boards for home and foreign missions, the latter operating chiefly in the Central Provinces of India. The literature of the church is mainly in German, though English is rapidly gaining ground.
GERMANIC LAWS, EARLY.Of those Germanic laws of the early middle ages which are known asleges barbarorum, we here deal with the principal examples other than Frankish, viz. (1)Leges Wisigothorum, (2)Lex Burgundionum, (3)Pactus AlamannorumandLex Alamannorum, (4)Lex Bajuvariorum, (5)Lex Saxonum, (6)Lex Frisionum, (7)Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum, and (8)Leges Langobardorum. All these laws may in general be described as codes of procedure and tariffs of compositions. They present somewhat similar features with the Salic law, but often differ from it in the date of compilation, the amount of fines, the number and nature of the crimes, the number, rank, duties and titles of the officers, &c. For the Salic law and other Frankish laws, seeSalic Law, and for the edict of Theodoric I., which was applicable to the Ostrogoths and Romans, seeRoman Law.
For the whole body of the Germanic laws see P. Canciani,Barbarorum leges antiquae(Venice, 1781-1789); F. Walter,Corpus juris germanici antiqui(Berlin, 1824);Monumenta Germaniae historica, Leges. For further information on the codes in general, see H.M. Zöpfl,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(4th ed., Heidelberg, 1871-1876); J.E.O. Stobbe,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtsquellen(Brunswick, 1860-1864); Paul Viollet,Histoire du droit civil français(2nd ed., Paris, 1893); H. Brunner,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906).
For the whole body of the Germanic laws see P. Canciani,Barbarorum leges antiquae(Venice, 1781-1789); F. Walter,Corpus juris germanici antiqui(Berlin, 1824);Monumenta Germaniae historica, Leges. For further information on the codes in general, see H.M. Zöpfl,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(4th ed., Heidelberg, 1871-1876); J.E.O. Stobbe,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtsquellen(Brunswick, 1860-1864); Paul Viollet,Histoire du droit civil français(2nd ed., Paris, 1893); H. Brunner,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906).
1.Leges Wisigothorum.—Karl Zeumer’s edition of these laws in the 4to series of theMon. Germ. Hist.throws new light on all questions relating to their date and composition. It is now certain that the earliest written code of the Visigoths dates back to King Euric (466-485). Besides his own constitutions, Euric included in this collection constitutions of his predecessors, Theodoric I. (419-451), Thorismund (451-453), and Theodoric II. (453-466), and he arranged the whole in a logical order. Of this code fragments of chapters cclxxvi. to cccxxxvi.1have been discovered in a palimpsest MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris (Latin coll., No. 12161), a fact which proves that the code ran over a large area. Euric’s code was used for all cases between Goths, and between them and Romans; in cases between Romans, Roman law was used. At the instance of Euric’s son, Alaric II., an examination was made of the Roman laws in use among Romans in his dominions, and the resulting compilation was approved in 506 at an assembly at Aire, in Gascony, and is known as the Breviary of Alaric, and sometimes as theLiber Aniani, from the fact that the authentic copies bear the signature of thereferendariusAnian.
Euric’s code remained in force among the Visigoths of Spain until the reign of Leovigild (568-586), who made a new one, improving upon that of his predecessor. This work is lost, and we have no direct knowledge of any fragment of it. In the 3rd codification, however, many provisions have been taken from the 2nd, and these are designated by the word “antiqua”; by means of these “antiqua” we are enabled in a certain measure to reconstruct the work of Leovigild.
After the reign of Leovigild the legislation of the Visigoths underwent a transformation. The new laws made by the kings were declared to be applicable to all the subjects in the kingdom, of whatever race—in other words, they became territorial; and this principle of territoriality was gradually extended to the ancient code. Moreover, the conversion of Reccared I. (586-601) to orthodoxy effaced the religious differences among his subjects, and all subjects,quaChristians, had to submit to the canons of the councils, which were made obligatory by the kings. After this change had been accepted, Recceswinth (649-672) made a new code, which was applicable to Visigoths and Romans alike. This code, known as theLiber judiciorum, is divided into 12 books, which are subdivided intotituliand chapters (aerae). It comprises 324 constitutions taken from Leovigild’s collection, a few of the laws of Reccared and Sisebut, 99 laws of Chindaswinth (642-653), and 87 of Recceswinth. A recension of this code of Recceswinth was made in 681 by King Erwig (680-687), and is known as theLex Wisigothorum renovata; and, finally, some additamenta were made by Egica (687-702). In Zeumer’s edition of theLeges Wisigothorumthe versions of Recceswinth and Erwig, where they differ from each other, are shown in parallel columns, and the laws later than Erwig are denoted by the sign “nov.”
For further information see the preface to Zeumer’s edition; H. Brunner,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906); Ureña y Smenyaud,La Legislacion Gotico-hispana(Madrid, 1905).
For further information see the preface to Zeumer’s edition; H. Brunner,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906); Ureña y Smenyaud,La Legislacion Gotico-hispana(Madrid, 1905).
2.Lex Burgundionum.—This code was compiled by King Gundobald (474-516), very probably after his defeat by Clovis in 500. Some additamenta were subsequently introduced either by Gundobald himself or by his son Sigismund. This law bears the title ofLiber Constitutionum, which shows that it emanated from the king; it is also known as theLex GundobadaorLex Gombata. It was used for cases between Burgundians, but was also applicable to cases between Burgundians and Romans. For cases between Romans, however, Gundobald compiled theLex Romana Burgundionum, called sometimes, through a misreading of the MSS., theLiber Papianior simplyPapianus. The barbarian law of the Burgundians shows strong traces of Roman influence. It recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand sanctions the judicial duel and thecojuratores(sworn witnesses). The vehement protest made in the 9th century by Agobard, bishop of Lyons, against theLex Gundobadashows that it was still in use at that period. So late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the Burgundians invoked as personal law in Cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code.
The text of theLex Burgundionumhas been published by F. Bluhme in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 525; by Karl Binding in theFontes rerum Bernensium(vol. i., 1880); by J.E. Valentin Smith (Paris, 1889 seq.); and by von Salis (1892) in the 4to series of theMon. Germ. hist.Cf. R. Dareste, “La Loi Gombette,” in theJournal des savants(July 1891).
The text of theLex Burgundionumhas been published by F. Bluhme in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 525; by Karl Binding in theFontes rerum Bernensium(vol. i., 1880); by J.E. Valentin Smith (Paris, 1889 seq.); and by von Salis (1892) in the 4to series of theMon. Germ. hist.Cf. R. Dareste, “La Loi Gombette,” in theJournal des savants(July 1891).
3.Pactus AlamannorumandLex Alamannorum.—Of the laws of the Alamanni, who dwelt between the Rhine and the Lech, and spread over Alsace and what is now Switzerland to the south of Lake Constance, we possess two different texts. The earlier text, of which five short fragments have come down to us, is known as thePactus Alamannorum, and from the persistent recurrence of the expression “et sic convenit” was most probably drawn up by an official commission. The reference to affranchisementin ecclesiashows that it was composed at a period subsequent to the conversion of the Alamanni to Christianity. There is no doubt that the text dates back to the reign of Dagobert I.,i.e.to the first half of the 7th century. The later text, known as theLex Alamannorum, dates from a period when Alamannia was independent under national dukes, but recognized the theoretical suzerainty of the Frankish kings. There seems no reason to doubt the St Gall MS., which states that the law had its origin in an agreement between the great Alamannic lords and Duke Landfrid, who ruled the duchy from 709 to 730.
The two texts have been published by J. Merkel in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii., and by Karl Lehmann in the 4to series of the same collection.
The two texts have been published by J. Merkel in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii., and by Karl Lehmann in the 4to series of the same collection.
4.Lex Bajuvariorum.—We possess an important law of the Bavarians, whose duchy was situated in the region east of the Lech, and was an outpost of Germany against the Huns, known later as Avars. Parts of this law have been taken directly from the Visigothic law of Euric and from the law of the Alamanni. The Bavarian law, therefore, is later than that of the Alamanni. It dates unquestionably from a period when the Frankish authority was very strong in Bavaria, when the dukes were vassals of the Frankish kings. Immediately after the revolt of Bavaria in 743 the Bavarian duke Odilo was forced to submit to Pippin and Carloman, the sons of Charles Martel, and torecognize the Frankish suzerainty. About the same period, too, the church of Bavaria was organized by St Boniface, and the country divided into several bishoprics; and we find frequent references to these bishops (in the plural) in the law of the Bavarians. On the other hand, we know that the law is anterior to the reign of Duke Tassilo III. (749-788). The date of compilation must, therefore, be placed between 743 and 749.
There is an edition of theLex Bajuvariorumby J. Merkel in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by E. von Schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. Cf. von Schwind’s article in theNeues Archiv, vol. xxxi.
There is an edition of theLex Bajuvariorumby J. Merkel in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by E. von Schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. Cf. von Schwind’s article in theNeues Archiv, vol. xxxi.
5.Lex Saxonum.—Germany comprised two other duchies, Saxony and Frisia, of each of which we possess a text of law. TheLex Saxonumhas come down to us in two MSS. and two old editions (those of B.J. Herold and du Tillet), and the text has been edited by Karl von Richthofen in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, v. The law contains ancient customary enactments of Saxony, and, in the form in which it has reached us, is later than the conquest of Saxony by Charlemagne. It is preceded by two capitularies of Charlemagne for Saxony—theCapitulatio de partibus Saxoniae(A. Boretius i. 68), which dates undoubtedly from 782, and is characterized by great severity, death being the penalty for every offence against the Christian religion; and theCapitulare Saxonicum(A. Boretius i. 71), of the 28th of October 797, in which Charlemagne shows less brutality and pronounces simple compositions for misdeeds which formerly entailed death. TheLex Saxonumapparently dates from 803, since it contains provisions which are in theCapitulare legi Ribuariae additumof that year. The law established the ancient customs, at the same time eliminating anything that was contrary to the spirit of Christianity; it proclaimed the peace of the churches, whose possessions it guaranteed and whose right of asylum it recognized.
6.Lex Frisionum.—This consists of a medley of documents of the most heterogeneous character. Some of its enactments are purely pagan—thus one paragraph allows the mother to kill her new-born child, and another prescribes the immolation to the gods of the defiler of their temple; others are purely Christian, such as those which prohibit incestuous marriages and working on Sunday. The law abounds in contradictions and repetitions, and the compositions are calculated in different moneys. From this it would appear that the documents were merely materials collected from various sources and possibly with a view to the compilation of a homogeneous law. These materials were apparently brought together at the beginning of the 9th century, at a time of intense legislative activity at the court of Charlemagne.
There are no MSS. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon B.J. Herold’s edition (Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum libri, Basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by Karl von Richthofen in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 631.
There are no MSS. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon B.J. Herold’s edition (Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum libri, Basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by Karl von Richthofen in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, iii. 631.
7.Lex Angliorum el Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum.—In early times there dwelt in Thuringia, south of the river Unstrut, the Angli, who gave their name to thepagus Engili, and to the east, between the Saale and the Elster, the Warni (Werini, or Varini), whose name is seen in Werenofeld. In the 9th century, however, this region (then called Werenofeld) was occupied by the Sorabi, and the Warni and Angli either coalesced with the Thuringi or sought an asylum in the north of Germany. A collection of laws has come down to us bearing the name of these two peoples, theLex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum. This text is a collection of local customs arranged in the same order as the law of the Ripuarians. Parts of it are based on theCapitulare legi Ribuariae additumof 803, and it seems to have been drawn up in the same conditions and circumstances as the law of the Saxons. There is an edition of this code by Karl von Richthofen in theMon. Germ. hist.,Leges, v. 103. The old opinion that the law originated in south Holland is entirely without foundation.
8.Leges Langobardorum.—We possess a fair amount of information on the origin of the last barbarian code, the laws of the Lombards. The first part, consisting of 388 chapters, is known as theEdictus Langobardorum, and was promulgated by King Rothar at a diet held at Pavia on the 22nd of November 643. This work, composed at one time and arranged on a systematic plan, is very remarkable. The compilers knew Roman law, but drew upon it only for their method of presentation and for their terminology; and the document presents Germanic law in its purity. Rothar’s edict was augmented by his successors; Grimoald (668) added nine chapters; Liutprand (713-735), fifteen volumes, containing a great number of ecclesiastical enactments; Ratchis (746), eight chapters; and Aistulf (755), thirteen chapters. After the union of the Lombards to the Frankish kingdom, the capitularies made for the entire kingdom were applicable to Italy. There were also special capitularies for Italy, calledCapitula Italica, some of which were appended to the edict of Rothar.
At an early date compilations were formed in Italy for the use of legal practitioners and jurists. Eberhard, duke and margrave of Rhaetia and Friuli, arranged the contents of the edict with its successive additamenta into aConcordia de singulis causis(829-832). In the 10th century a collection was made of the capitularies in use in Italy, and this was known as theCapitulare Langobardorum. Then appeared, under the influence of the school of law at Pavia, theLiber legis Langobardorum, also calledLiber Papiensis(beginning of 11th century), and theLombarda(end of 11th century) in two forms—that given in a Monte Cassino MS. and known as theLombarda Casinensis, and theLombarda Vulgata.
There are editions of theEdictus, theConcordia, and theLiber Papiensisby F. Bluhme and A. Boretius in theMon. Germ. hist., Leges, iv. Bluhme also gives the rubrics of theLombardae, which were published by F. Lindenberg in hisCodex legum antiquarumin 1613. For further information on the laws of the Lombards see J. Merkel,Geschichte des Langobardenrechts(1850); A. Boretius,Die Kapitularien im Langobardenreich(1864); and C. Kier,Edictus Rotari(Copenhagen, 1898). Cf. R. Dareste in theNouvelle Revue historique de droit français et étranger(1900, p. 143).
There are editions of theEdictus, theConcordia, and theLiber Papiensisby F. Bluhme and A. Boretius in theMon. Germ. hist., Leges, iv. Bluhme also gives the rubrics of theLombardae, which were published by F. Lindenberg in hisCodex legum antiquarumin 1613. For further information on the laws of the Lombards see J. Merkel,Geschichte des Langobardenrechts(1850); A. Boretius,Die Kapitularien im Langobardenreich(1864); and C. Kier,Edictus Rotari(Copenhagen, 1898). Cf. R. Dareste in theNouvelle Revue historique de droit français et étranger(1900, p. 143).
(C. Pf.)
1The lacunae in these fragments have been filled in by the aid of the law of the Bavarians, where the chief provisions are reproduced.
1The lacunae in these fragments have been filled in by the aid of the law of the Bavarians, where the chief provisions are reproduced.
GERMANICUS CAESAR(15B.C.-A.D.19), a Roman general and provincial governor in the reign of Tiberius. The name Germanicus, the only one by which he is known in history, he inherited from his father, Nero Claudius Drusus, the famous general, brother of Tiberius and stepson of Augustus. His mother was the younger Antonia, daughter of Marcus Antonius and niece of Augustus, and he married Agrippina, the granddaughter of the same emperor. It was natural, therefore, that he should be regarded as a candidate for the purple. Augustus, it would seem, long hesitated whether he should name him as his successor, and as a compromise required his uncle Tiberius to adopt him, though Tiberius had a son of his own. Of his early years and education little is known. That he possessed considerable literary abilities, and that these were carefully trained, we gather, both from the speeches which Tacitus puts into his mouth, and from the reputation he left as an orator, as attested by Suetonius and Ovid, and from the extant fragments of his works.
At the age of twenty he served his apprenticeship as a soldier under Tiberius, and was rewarded with the triumphal insignia for his services in crushing the revolt in Dalmatia and Pannonia. InA.D.11 he accompanied Tiberius in his campaign on the Rhine, undertaken, in consequence of the defeat of Varus, with the object of securing the German frontier. In 12 he was made consul, and increased his popularity by appearing as an advocate in the courts of justice, and by the celebration of brilliant games. Soon afterwards he was appointed by Augustus to the important command of the eight legions on the Rhine. The news of the emperor’s death (14) found Germanicus at Lugdunum (Lyons), where he was superintending the census of Gaul. Close upon this came the report that a mutiny had broken out among his legions on the lower Rhine. Germanicus hurried back to the camp, which was now in open insurrection. The tumult was with difficulty quelled, partly by well-timed concessions, for which the authority of the emperor was forged, but chiefly owing to his personal popularity. Some of the insurgents actually proposed that he should put himself at their head and secure the empire for himself, but their offer was rejected with indignation. In order to calm the excitement Germanicus determined at once on an active campaign. Crossing the Rhine, he attacked and routed the Marsi, and laid waste the valley of the Ems.In the following year he marched against Arminius, the conqueror of Varus, and performed the last rites over the remains of the Roman soldiers that still lay there unburied, erecting a barrow to mark the spot. Arminius, however, favoured by the marshy ground, was able to hold his own, and it required another campaign before he was finally defeated. A masterly combined movement by land and water enabled Germanicus to concentrate his forces against the main body of the Germans encamped on the Weser, and to crush them in two obstinately contested battles. A monument erected on the field proclaimed that the army of Tiberius had conquered every tribe between the Rhine and the Elbe. Great, however, as the success of the Roman arms had been, it was not such as to justify this boastful inscription; we read of renewed attacks from the barbarians, and plans of a fourth campaign for the next summer.
But the success of Germanicus had already stirred the jealousy and fears of Tiberius, and he was reluctantly compelled to return to Rome. On the 26th of May 17 he celebrated a triumph. The enthusiasm with which he was welcomed, not only by the populace, but by the emperor’s own praetorians, was so great that the earliest pretext was seized to remove him from the capital. He was sent to the East with extraordinary powers to settle a disputed succession in Parthia and Armenia. At the same time Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, one of the most violent and ambitious of the old nobility, was sent as governor of Syria to watch his movements. Germanicus proceeded by easy stages to his province, halting on his way in Dalmatia, and visiting the battlefield of Actium, Athens, Ilium, and other places of historic interest. At Rhodes he met his coadjutor Piso, who was seeking everywhere to thwart and malign him. When at last he reached his destination, he found little difficulty in effecting the settlement of the disturbed provinces, notwithstanding Piso’s violent and persistent opposition. At Artaxata Zeno, the popular candidate for the throne, was crowned king of Armenia. To the provinces of Cappadocia and Commagene Roman governors were assigned; Parthia was conciliated by the banishment of the dethroned king Vonones.
After wintering in Syria Germanicus started for a tour in Egypt. The chief motive for his journey was love of travel and antiquarian study, and it seems never to have occurred to him, till he was warned by Tiberius, that he was thereby transgressing an unwritten law which forbade any Roman of rank to set foot in Egypt without express permission. On his return to Syria he found that all his arrangements had been upset by Piso. Violent recriminations followed, the result of which, it would seem, was a promise on the part of Piso to quit the province. But at this juncture Germanicus was suddenly attacked at Epidaphne near Antioch by a violent illness, which he himself and his friends attributed to poison administered by Plancina, the wife of Piso, at the instigation of Tiberius. Whether these suspicions were true is open to question; it seems more probable that his death was due to natural causes. His ashes were brought to Rome in the following year (20) by his wife Agrippina, and deposited in the grave of Augustus. He had nine children, six of whom, three sons and three daughters, survived him, amongst them the future emperor Gaius and the notorious Agrippina, the mother of Nero. The news of his death cast a gloom over the whole empire. Nor was Germanicus unworthy of this passionate devotion. He had wiped out a great national disgrace; he had quelled the most formidable foe of Rome. His private life had been stainless, and he possessed a singularly attractive personality. Yet there were elements of weakness in his character which his short life only half revealed: an impetuosity which made him twice threaten to take his own life; a superstitious vein which impelled him to consult oracles and shrink from bad omens; an amiable dilettantism which led him to travel in Egypt while his enemy was plotting his ruin; a want of nerve and resolution which prevented him from coming to an open rupture with Piso till it was too late.
He possessed considerable literary abilities; his speeches and Greek comedies were highly spoken of by his contemporaries. But the only specimen of his work that has come down to us is the translation in Latin hexameters (generally attributed to him, although some consider Domitian the author), together with scholia, of thePhaenomenaof Aratus, which is superior to those of Cicero and Avienus (best edition by A. Breysig, 1867; 1899, without the scholia). A few extant Greek and Latin epigrams also bear the name Germanicus.
In addition to monographs by A. Zingerle (Trent, 1867) and A. Breysig (Erfurt, 1892), there are treatises on the German campaigns by E. von Wietersheim (1850), P. Höfer (1884), F. Knoke (1887, 1889), W. Fricke (1889), A. Taramelli (1891), Dahm (1902).See Tacitus,Annals, i.-iv. (ed. Furneaux); Suetonius,Augustus, Tiberius; J.C. Tarver,Tiberius(1902); Merivale,Hist. of the Romans under the Empire, chs. 42, 43; H. Schiller,Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit, i. 1 (1883), pp. 227, 258, 261-266, 270-276; M. Schanz,Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, pt. ii. (2nd ed., 1901), and Teuffel-Schwabe,Hist. of Roman Literature(Eng. tr., 1900), 275.
In addition to monographs by A. Zingerle (Trent, 1867) and A. Breysig (Erfurt, 1892), there are treatises on the German campaigns by E. von Wietersheim (1850), P. Höfer (1884), F. Knoke (1887, 1889), W. Fricke (1889), A. Taramelli (1891), Dahm (1902).
See Tacitus,Annals, i.-iv. (ed. Furneaux); Suetonius,Augustus, Tiberius; J.C. Tarver,Tiberius(1902); Merivale,Hist. of the Romans under the Empire, chs. 42, 43; H. Schiller,Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit, i. 1 (1883), pp. 227, 258, 261-266, 270-276; M. Schanz,Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, pt. ii. (2nd ed., 1901), and Teuffel-Schwabe,Hist. of Roman Literature(Eng. tr., 1900), 275.
GERMANIUM(symbol Ge, atomic weight 72.5); one of the metallic elements included in the same natural family as carbon, silicon, tin and lead. It was discovered in 1886 by C. Winkler in argyrodite, a mineral found at Freiberg in Saxony. On examination of the metal and its salts it was shown to be identical with the hypothetical elementekasilicon, whose properties had been predicted by D. Mendeléeff many years previously. The element is of extremely rare occurrence, being met with only in argyrodite and, to a very small extent, in euxenite. It may be obtained from argyrodite by heating the mineral in a current of hydrogen; or by heating the dioxide to redness with carbon. It forms grey coloured octahedra of specific gravity 5.496 at 20° C., melting at 900° C.; it burns at a red heat, is insoluble in hydrochloric acid, but dissolves inaqua regia, and is also soluble in molten alkalis. Two oxides of germanium are known, thedioxide, GeO2, being obtained by roasting the sulphide and treatment with nitric acid. It is a white powder, very slightly soluble in water, and possesses acid properties. By heating with a small quantity of magnesium it is converted intogermanious oxide, GeO. By heating the metal with chlorine,germanic chloride, GeCl4, is obtained as a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 86-87° C., it is decomposed by water forming a hydrated germanium dioxide.Germanium dichloride, GeCl2, andgermanium chloroform, GeHCl3, have also been described.
Germanium compounds on fusion with alkaline carbonates and sulphur form salts known asthiogermanates. If excess of a mineral acid be added to a solution of an alkaline thiogermanate a white precipitate ofgermanium disulphide, GeS2, is obtained. It can also be obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through a solution of the dioxide in hydrochloric acid. It is appreciably soluble in water, and also in solutions of the caustic alkalis and alkaline sulphides. By heating the disulphide in a current of hydrogen,germanious sulphide, GeS, is formed. It sublimes in thin plates of a dark colour and metallic lustre, and is soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis. Alkyl compounds of germanium such asgermanium tetra-ethyl, Ge(C2H5)4, a liquid boiling at 160° C., have been obtained. The germanium salts are most readily recognized by the white precipitate of the disulphide, formed in acid solutions, on passing sulphuretted hydrogen. The atomic weight of the element was determined by C. Winkler by analysis of the pure chloride GeCl4, the value obtained being 72.32, whilst Lecoq de Boisbaudran (Comptes rendus, 1886, 103, 452), by a comparison of the lines in the spark spectrum of the element, deduced the value 72.3.
GERMAN LANGUAGE.Together with English and Frisian, the German language forms part of the West Germanic group of languages. To this group belongs also Langobardian, a dialect which died out in the 9th or 10th century, while Burgundian, traces of which are not met with later than the 5th century, is usually classed with the East Germanic group. Both these tongues were at an early stage crushed out by Romance dialects, a fate which also overtook the idiom of the Western Franks, who, in the so-calledStrassburg Oaths1of 842, use the Romance tongue, and are addressed in that tongue by Louis the German.
Leaving English and Frisian aside, we understand byDeutscheSprachethe language of those West Germanic tribes, who, at their earliest appearance in history, spoke a Germanic tongue, and still speak it at the present day. The chief of these tribes are: the Saxons, the Franks (but with the restriction noted above), the Chatti (Hessians), Thuringians, Alemannians and Bavarians. This definition naturally includes the languages spoken in the Low Countries, Flemish and Dutch, which are offsprings of the Low Franconian dialect, mixed with Frisian and Saxon elements; but, as the literary development of these languages has been in its later stages entirely independent of that of the German language, they are excluded from the present survey.
The German language, which is spoken by about seventy-one millions, and consequently occupies in this respect the third place among European languages, borders, in the west and south, on Romance languages (French, Italian), and also to some extent on Slavonic. On Italian and Slovenian territory there are several German-speaking “islands,” notably the Sette and Tredici Communi, east and north-east of the Lake of Garda, and the “Gottschee Ländchen” to the south of Laibach. The former of these is, however, on the point of dying out. Neighbours on the east, where the boundary line runs by no means as straight as on the west or south, are the Magyars and again Slavonic races. Here, too, there are numerous “islands” on Hungarian and Slavonic territory. Danes and Frisians join hands with the Germans in the north.2
In the west and south the German language has, compared with its status in earlier periods, undoubtedly lost ground, having been encroached upon by Romance tongues. This is the case in French Flanders, in Alsace and Lorraine, at any rate before the war of 1870, in the valleys south of Monte Rosa and in southern Tirol; in Styria and Carinthia the encroachment is less marked, but quite perceptible. On the east, on the other hand, German steadily spread from the days of Charles the Great down to recent times, when it has again lost considerable ground in Bohemia, Moravia and Livonia. At the time of Charles the Great the eastern frontier extended very little beyond the lower Elbe, following this river beyond Magdeburg, whence it passed over to the Saale, the Bohemian forest and the river Enns (cf. the map in F. Dahn,Urgeschichte der germanischen und romanischen Völker, vol. iii.). Partly as a result of victories gained by the Germans over the Avars and Slavs, partly owing to peaceful colonization, the eastern boundary was pushed forward in subsequent centuries; Bohemia was in this way won for the German tongue by German colonists in the 13th century, Silesia even a little earlier; in Livonia German gained the upper hand during the 13th century, while about the same time the country of the Prussians was conquered and colonized by the knights of the Teutonic order. The dialect which these colonists and knights introduced bore the Middle German character; and this, in various modifications, combined with Low German and even Dutch elements, formed the German spoken in these newly-won territories. In the north (Schleswig), where at the time of Charles the Great the river Eider formed the linguistic boundary, German has gained and is still gaining on Danish.
Before considering the development of the language spoken within these boundaries, a word of explanation is perhaps necessary with regard to the worddeutsch. As applied to the language,deutschfirst appears in the Latin formtheotiscus,lingua theotisca,teutisca, in certain Latin writings of the 8th and 9th centuries, whereas the original Old High German wordthiudisc,tiutisc(fromthiot,diot, “people,” and the suffix-isc) signified only “appertaining to the people,” “in the manner of the people.” Cf. also Gothicþiudiskoas a translation ofἐθνικῶς(Gal. ii. 14). It, therefore, seems probable that if the application of the word to the language (lingua theotisca) was not exactly an invention of Latin authors of German nationality, its use in this sense was at least encouraged by them in order to distinguish their own vernacular (lingua vulgaris) from Latin as well as from thelingua romana.3
In the 8th and 9th centuries German or “Deutsch” first appears as a written language in the dialects of Old High German and Old Low German. Of an “Urdeutsch” or primitive German,i.e.the common language from which these sharply distinguished dialects of the earliest historical period must have developed, we have no record; we can only infer its character—and it was itself certainly not free from dialectic variations—by a study of the above-named and other Germanic dialects. It is usual to divide the history of the German language from this earliest period, when it appears only in the form of proper names and isolated words as glosses to a Latin text, down to the present day, into three great sections: (1) Old High German (Althochdeutsch) and Old Low German (Old Saxon;Altniederdeutsch,Altsächsisch); (2) Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch) and Middle Low German (Mittelniederdeutsch); and (3) Modern High German and Modern Low German (NeuhochdeutschandNeuniederdeutsch). It is more difficult to determine the duration of the different periods, for it is obvious that the transition from one stage of a language to another takes place slowly and gradually.
The first or Old High German period is commonly regarded as extending to about the year 1100. The principal characteristic of the change from Old High German to Middle High German is the weakening of the unaccented vowels in final syllables (cf. O.H.G.tagā,gesti,geban,gābumand M.H.G.tage,geste,geben,gāben). But it must be remembered that this process began tentatively as early as the 10th century in Low German, and also that long, unaccented vowels are preserved in the Alemannic dialect as late as the 14th century and even later. Opinion is more at variance with regard to the division between the second and third periods. Some would date Modern High German from the time of Luther, that is to say, from about 1500. But it must be noted that certain characteristics attributed to the Modern German vowel system, such as lengthening of Middle High German short vowels, the change from Middle High Germanī,ū,iuto Modern High Germanei,au,eu(öu), of Middle High Germanie,uo,üeto Modern High Germanī,ū,ü, made their appearance long before 1500. Taking this fact into consideration, others distinguish a period of classical Middle High German extending to about 1250, and a period of transition (sometimes calledFrühneuhochdeutsch, or Early Modern High German) from 1250 to 1650. The principal characteristics of Modern High German would then consist in a greater stability of the grammatical and syntactical rules, due to the efforts of earlier grammarians, such as Schottelius, Gottsched and others, and the substitution of a single vowel sound for the varying vowels of the singular and plural of the preterite of strong verbs (cf. Middle High Germanschreib,schriben, and Modern High Germanschrieb,schrieben, &c.). The much debated question of the origins of Modern High German has been recently reopened by O. Behaghel (Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, l.c.661), who hopes that a more satisfactory solution may be arrived at by the study of certain syntactical peculiarities to be seen in the dialects of more recent periods.
As the middle ages did not produce a GermanSchriftspracheor literary language in the modern sense of the word, which—as is undoubtedly the case in Modern German—might have influenced the spoken language (Umgangssprache), the history of the language in its earlier stages is a history of different dialects. These dialects will, therefore, claim our attention at some length.
It may be assumed that the languages of the different West Germanic tribes enumerated above were, before the appearance of the tribes in history, distinguished by many dialectic variations;this was certainly the case immediately after the Migrations, when the various races began to settle down. But these differences, consisting presumably in matters of phonology and vocabulary, were nowhere so pronounced as to exclude a mutual understanding of individuals belonging to different tribes. One might compare the case of the Poles and Czechs of the present day. During the 6th century, however, a phonological process set in, which ultimately resulted in the separation of Germany into two great linguistic divisions, south and north, or, as the languages are called, High and Low German. This fundamental change, which is known as the second or High German Soundshifting (Lautverschiebung), spread northward from the mountainous districts in the south, and, whatever its cause may have been,4left behind it clear and easily recognizable effects on the Germanic voiced stopd, which became changed tot, and more especially on the voiceless stopst,pandk. Dialects which have shifted initialtandttin the middle of a word to the affricatetz(writtenz,tz) andpandkin corresponding positions to the affricatespfandkχ (writtench), further,t,pandkin the middle of words between vowels, to the double spirantzz(now writtenss,sz),ff,hh(writtench), are called High German; those in which these changes have not taken place form the Low German group, this group agreeing in this respect with English and Frisian.
Of these sound changes, that ofttotzandzz(ss) is the most universal, extending over the whole region in which shifting occurs; that ofktokχ (ch), the most restricted, being only found in Old Bavarian, and in the Swiss pronunciation,e.g.inchind. The remaining dialects occupy positions between the two extremes of complete shifting and the absence of shifting. Some Franconian dialects, for instance, leavepunchanged under certain conditions, and in one dialect at least, Middle Franconian,thas remained after vowels in certain pronominal forms (dat,wat,allet, &c.). On this ground a subdivision has been made in the High German dialects into (a) an Upper German (Oberdeutsch) and (b) a Middle German (Mitteldeutsch) group; and this subdivision practically holds good for all periods of the language, although in Old High German times the Middle German group is only represented, as far as the written language is concerned, by Franconian dialects.
As the scientific study of the German language advanced there arose a keen revival of interest—and that not merely on the part of scholars—in the dialects which were so long held in contempt as a mere corruption of theSchriftsprache.5We are still in the midst of a movement which, under the guidance of scholars, has, during the last three decades, bestowed great care on many of the existing dialects; phonological questions have received most attention, but problems of syntax have also not been neglected. Monumental works like Wenker’sSprachatlas des deutschen Reichesand dialect dictionaries are either in course of publication or preparing;6while the difficult questions concerned with defining the boundaries of the various dialects and explaining the reasons for them form the subject of many monographs.7
Beginning in the north we shall now pass briefly in review the dialects spoken throughout the German-speaking area.