What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Under the whole world, it is not the royal land, which has always been the basic concept of imperial rule in China's feudal society. Since Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin released his military power with a cup of wine, and the Qing Kangxi Emperor tried to withdraw San Francisco, and the kings of successive dynasties have all worked hard to strengthen centralized power.
In medieval Germany, however, this was not the case, as a land owned by an individual, which existed in The history of Germany for more than six hundred years and did not affect the course of German history.
Why would autonomy be allowed to exist in Germany for a long time?
First, it is Germany's own historical causes that give rise to its autonomous existence.
The internal structure of Germany has always been based on tribes as a unit to form the entire country, so the Germanic people's sense of national identity is weak. Germany, which literally means a collective name for some of the Germanic tribes of the Middle Ages, was once part of the Frankish Empire.
It was not until Emperor Louis died and the Frankish Empire fell apart, and it was not until 962 AD, when the Holy Roman Empire was established, that the German nation finally had its own kingdom.
However, the tribal structure that has always existed has not disappeared with the unification of the country, and the tribes of Saxons, Franks, and Thuringians still exist, and these tribes have no affiliation and are independent. Although these Germanic peoples of Germany had a unified language and writing, they still did not form a complete national whole.
If in medieval Germany, a German wanted to introduce himself to the outside world, he must first say which tribe he belonged to, not say that he was German.
The Germanic sense of belonging stemmed from their own tribe, not from the state. Without a sense of national identity, the existence of a state is only a symptom. Over time, the former tribes slowly developed into princely states, and their territories, which later became autonomous.
Second, the support from the upper echelons of rulers sprouted autonomously.
In fact, successive german monarchs have always encouraged or acquiesced in the expansion of autonomy. As early as Germany expanded its territory outward, the rulers would divide the new territory by lottery among the major nobles, and this was the earliest autonomy.
The Rulers of Germany used this distribution of land to encourage the nobility to expand their territory. It was in this way that the original Germany grew.
This attitude of encouragement did not change after the formation of a unified state. In fact, in general, after the unification of state power, the monarch will strengthen the centralization of power in order to consolidate his position. But the German monarch was an exception.
This is due to the fact that in the Middle Ages the German regime was not simply in the hands of the monarch, but higher than the imperial power was the theocracy of the church. Since the founding of the Holy Roman Empire, there have been constant conflicts between the emperor and the pope. The struggle for imperial and theocracy plunged Germany into a protracted internal struggle.
The struggle caused great loss of Germany's domestic demand. Over time, the power of imperial and divine power has been weakened, and the separatist forces have taken this opportunity to continue to develop. Both imperial and theocracy needed to win the support of the princes, so the rulers also acquiesced to the development and growth of their own initiative and were happy to see it succeed.
Over time, some powerful vassal states continued to annex the small vassal states around them, the scope of autonomy continued to expand, and the power of the princes became stronger, until the imperial power could no longer control them. The German political system also gradually became a loose federal system.
In 1356, the Golden Edict promulgated by Charles IV established provisions in the form of law to protect the rights and interests of local princes and safeguarded the rights of the separatist forces.
Because of the long existence of this separatist force, it has always been protected and encouraged by the upper rulers. Thus, the autonomy that arises is also protected. In the minds of most Germans in the Middle Ages, land became a private property. At no time, under any circumstances, the State may dispose of land without permission. The autonomous lords had the support of the people, and their position was once again consolidated.
There are also provisions in Roman law that private property is sacrosanct. To regain one's autonomy is to overturn the law oneself and lose credibility.
Therefore, even if the superiors had intended to take back the land, they had to take into account the pressure of public opinion and the powerful separatist forces at that time. To abolish autonomy is to oppose the whole country.
Third, the support of foreign forces has further strengthened the power of those who control it autonomously
Germany has always been in the center of The European countries, and its military location is very important. The Germanic peoples have always been known throughout Europe for their competitiveness. In the long years of foreign wars, they plundered resources, encroached on land, and were strong in combat. It has been the object of caution for other countries.
After the Thirty Years' War in the 16th century, France, Sweden, and Russia around Germany all established centralized power, and they began to expand outward.
The future development of Germany, which is in the middle zone, directly determines the survival and development of neighboring countries. If the mighty Germans were to form a unified nation-state, which would be a great threat to the rest of the surrounding countries.
Therefore, other European countries do not want to see Germany unified and strong, and they hope that Germany will remain scattered. No one wants to see the opponent become stronger step by step, and for a time all countries have invariably intervened forcefully in the unification of Germany.
The main means by which these countries intervened in German unification was to prop up the princes of the German rulers who were autonomous. The princes within Germany, more or less aided by foreign powers, grew stronger, confronted each other, increasingly contradicted each other, and there was no possibility of reconciliation.
This meant that Germany's centralized power was once again weakened and could no longer compete with the princes. The dispersed German power also made the outside countries feel a little at ease.
The chaotic struggle between imperial and theocracy within Germany in 1648 led to the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, but this treaty was also fueled by external countries. This peace treaty gave all the princely states within Germany the same rights and status, and there was no longer a distinction between high and low.
The peace treaty continued to deepen Germany's divisions, autonomous recovery became more difficult, and the process of German reunification was once again shelved.
The Peace of Westphalia is signed
Finally, the emergence of the budding of capitalism also created the conditions for the long-term existence of autonomy
With the development of the commodity economy, the budding of capitalism began to emerge in Germany. And those supported nobles and princes also successfully completed the transformation of identity, holding a lot of money, they earned a lot of money in the land transaction, as if they became new nobles.
These new aristocrats already had an advantage in political status and at the same time had a large amount of land resources. The power of the new aristocracy continued to grow, and in order to earn more wealth, they began to use their unique advantages to strengthen and consolidate the long-term existence of German autonomy.
The backwardness of the German feudal system in this period became increasingly prominent, and it could no longer meet the needs of national development. At the same time, a new force has risen in Germany, which is a group of private landlords who have grown rapidly by taking advantage of the development of the commercial economy, which is the predecessor of the German capitalists.
Not satisfied with the small plots of land they owned, they began to exchange a lot of money for autonomy with the nobles in order to obtain more land resources.
It can be said that the earliest germs of capitalism were propped up by the aristocracy with autonomy. These new aristocrats and private landowners became a new force for autonomy. A large number of autonomous buying and selling transactions have led to a rapid increase in the number of autonomous lands in Germany and a further expansion of its scale. The backward feudal system was no longer able to control this situation, and could only regard it as bigger and remain indifferent.
The emergence of Germany's autonomy is related to Germany's special political structure, and whether it is the internal power center of Germany or the external state forces have been trying to maintain the existence of autonomy, the emergence of the late budding capitalism has provided an economic guarantee for the existence of autonomy.
Although in the later period, after the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia implemented reforms and finally completed german unification, until now, the problem of autonomy has not been fully solved.