Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/419

 Emperor Charles V and his Vast Realms 305 cities, like Nuremberg, Frankfort, and Cologne, just as independ- ent as the great duchies of Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Saxony. Lastly there were the knights, whose possessions might consist of a single strong castle with a wretched vil- lage lying at its foot. The tiny realms of the knights were often insufficient to support them, and they turned to robbery for a liv- ing and plundered the merchants and towns- people. It is clear that these states, little and big, being all tangled up with one another, would be sure to have frequent disputes among themselves and be constantly fighting one another. The em- peror, as we have seen, was not power- ful enough to keep order, and each ruler had to defend himself when he was attacked. CHARLES V AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT (Bv TITIAN) 515. The Imperial Title Hereditary in the House of Austria. The dukes of Austria, belonging to the Hapsburg line, were among the most important of the German princes, and the electors had got into the habit of choosing the emperor from that family. So the imperial title became, to all intents and purposes, hereditary in the Hapsburg line. The Hapsburgs were, however, far more interested in adding to their family domains than in advancing the interests of Germany as a whole. Indeed, the Holy Roman