Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/175

 INTRODUCTION 163 its religious and patriotic spirit it continued to flourish and to be a power all over the world. But in propor- tion as religious faith and earnestness dwindled, and ancient creeds and traditions were either forgotten or despised, art, too, declined. In proportion as men began to run after false gods and strove to resuscitate the dead world of heathendom, so artistic, creative, and ideal power gradually weakened, until it became altogether barren and lifeless. Many examples still remain to testify to the dignity of German art at the close of the Middle Ages, but all of them, from the splendid cathedral to the simplest article of household furniture, are but poor and broken fragments of the real beauty and greatness of that period. The most magnificent creations of German medieval art were either destroyed in the religious and political wars of the following centuries, the peasant wars, the Thirty Years' War, and the later French wars, or else carried away to perish in foreign lands. Even in times of peace, during the period of so-called ' en- lightenment,' there raged an incredibly fierce spirit of antagonism against everything in art that bore the German stamp of Christian teaching. M 2