Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/17

Rh HISTORY. PRUSSIA a careful avoidance of conflict with the emperor and Roman Catholic party. The church ordinance which he framed for Brandenburg was drawn up in such a way that the head of the state became likewise the head of the state church, and henceforth he regarded him- self, like Henry VIII. of England, as standing towards his own country in the place of the pope. The public introduction of the new faith was accomplished without difficulty, and the clergy witnessed the secularization of their property with much equanimity. The funds thus acquired by Joachim, a prince of magnificent ideas and of lavish expenditure, were of great service to him ; but part of them he devoted to the encouragement of science and art. A compact of mutual right of eventual inheritance made in 1537 with the duke of Liegnitz and Brieg was of great ultimate importance as affording Frederick II. a pretext for his claims to Silesia. A still more useful arrangement of a similar kind was carried out by Joachim in 1569, when he secured the right of succession to the duchy of Prussia. Branden- Between the accession of the Hohenzollern dynasty and burg the period at which we have now arrived the area of iTl^ t Brandenburg had been increased to nearly 15,000 square 1571. miles, and its material prosperity had grown in at least an equal ratio. It was still, however, far from being a com- pact or united state, nor had it as yet any pretension to an independent part on the European stage. Perhaps the most marked internal change was the increase in the power of the estates, resulting in great measure from the financial needs of the electors. Their gradual progress towards com- plete recognition as a co-ordinate branch of government may be said to have culminated in the formal declaration of Joachim II., that he would never undertake any action of importance affecting the welfare of his subjects without first consulting the estates. Yet alongside of this growth of the estates there were other causes at work paving the way for the future absolutism of the rulers. Thus the new ecclesiastical constitution brought the elector, as head of the church, into immediate relation with all classes of the people, and the abolition of the distinction between mediate and immediate subjects in the religious sphere prepared the way for a similar position in secular matters. So too the introduction of Roman law accustomed the mind to dwell on the central authority and administration, and its very terminology promoted the conception of the elector as a "royal" ruler. A more important cause, however, than either of these was the gradual decline of the power of the towns, with the accompanying revival of that of the nobles. The practical independence and com- parative wealth of the towns had been followed by intestine feuds, in which the patricians were arrayed against the guilds, and these not only weakened the towns directly, but also gave the electors frequent pretexts to interfere and curtail their privileges. At the end of the reign of Joachim II. the elector and the diet, the noblesse and the municipalities, were still in a state of comparative and promising equilibrium. But it was evident that the power . of the diet was now almost wholly confined to its command of the purse, and that an elector who could make himself independent of its subsidies would be in a position to defy its claims ; while it was equally evident that the growing weakness of the towns was incapacitating them for any effectual resistance to an ambitious prince, who might utilize the congenial support of the noblesse as a stepping- stone to arbitrary power. The short-sighted and selfish neglect of general questions now making way among the separate sections of the diet, and their increasing tendency to appear at those sittings only in which their own peculiar interests were under discussion, also helped to free the hands of the electors. The condition of the peasantry had been steadily deteriorating, and their personal rights were already seriously encroached upon. Under Joachim's son, John George (1571-1598), who John permanently reunited the Neumark with Brandenburg, the George, tendencies just noticed received emphatic expression. All vacant official positions were filled with members of the noblesse, who also received the right of exacting compul- sory service from the peasants and other similar privileges. The elector, who acquired the name of "Oekonom" or steward from his admirable financial management, soon reduced the large debt left by his father, and, leaning on the support he had earned from the barons, was able to act with great independence towards the other elements of the diet. During his undisturbed reign the material prosperity of Brandenburg advanced considerably, and the population was increased by numerous Protestant refugees from France and Holland. Joachim Frederick (1598- Joachim 1608) had the good sense and resolution to oppose the Frederic testament of his father, which had assigned the Neumark to his younger brother, and in the Gera Bond executed a solemn ratification of the Dispositio Achillea. Ansbach and Baireuth were formally relinquished to the younger line, and have never since, except from 1791 to 1806, formed part of the Prussian dominions. This reign is memorable for the establishment of a state council (Staatsrath), which served in some degree as a ministerial cabinet, and may be characterized as the nucleus of the bureaucracy of modern Prussia. John Sigismund (1608-1619) does not seem to John have been a man of marked personal character, but his 8 '^ 8 ' reign is of great importance in the history of Brandenburg mund< on account of the extensive territorial enlargement that fell to its lot. The contingency which had been contem- plated in the treaty with Prussia in 1569 was realized on the death of Duke Albert in 1618 ; and John Sigismund, whose title was strengthened by his marriage with the late duke's daughter, inherited the duchy. His marriage also brought him a claim to the duchies of Cleves and Jiilich and other lands near the Rhine, but this title was disputed by the count palatine of Neuburg. The count was a Roman Catholic, and his contest with the elector soon became a mere incident in the great conflict that now broke out between the two religions. The disputed territories were occupied by Spanish and Dutch troops, and neither claimant derived much advantage from them till after the Thirty Years' War. For a time, however, the outlying possessions of John Sigismund touched on both sides the limits of modern Prussia. In 1613 the elector, either from pure conviction or from a desire to conciliate the Reformed diet of Cleves, announced his adoption of the Reformed (Calvinistic) type of Protestantism, an action that gave great offence in his older dominions. He made, however, no attempt to induce his subjects to follow his example, and may be said to have inaugurated the policy of religious toleration that has since been characteristic of Prussian rulers. During his reign his territories were more than doubled in extent, covering at his death an area of 31,000 square miles ; but the elector of Brandenburg could not yet claim to rank above those of Bavaria and Saxony. Ducky of Prussia, The duchy of Prussia, thus ac- Duchy o quired by the elector, formed the eastern half of the ter- ritory bearing the name of Preussen, and stretched along the Baltic Sea from the Vistula to the Memel. It still remained a Polish fief, and was separated from the rest of the electoral dominions by West Prussia, which the Teutonic Order had been forced to resign to Poland a century and a half before. The native Prussians were of a race akin to the Letts and Lithuanians, and their name (Pruzi, Prutheni) was probably derived from a Lettish root meaning " intelligence." l Towards the end of the 1 The traditionary connexion of the name with the proximity of