Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/186

 174 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE Eotenburg, 1484-1501; Schlierbach, 1460; Schmal- kalden, 1509 ; Schonberg, 1490 ; Schweinsberg, 1506 ; Soden, 1464 ; Sontra, 1483-1493 ; Spangenberg, 1486 ; Spiesscappel, 1500-1504 ; Steinau, 1481 and 1511 ; Trendelburg, 1458 ; Wiichtersbach, 1514 ; Waldcappeb 1501 ; Wehrda, 1490 ; Wetter, 1506 ; WiUingshausen, 1511 ; Windecken, 1495 ; and Wolfterode, 1515. From this list we learn that one-fourth of the churches which, despite the ravages of the war, are still standing in this imperial province date from the latter end of the fifteenth century. To turn to another district, we find that nearly half of the churches of any note in both the Alsatian districts of Kaisersberg and Eappoltsweiler belong to the same period. 1 All this goes to prove how influential at this period the Church, for whose service all these buildings were erected, must have been throughout the whole of Germany. Such a multitude of beautiful places of worship could not have been built had not a Christian spirit of piety and devotion pervaded all classes of society. It was not the love of art which superinduced piety, but the pious character of the people combined with its high mental culture expressed itself in a love of Christian works of art. The nation put forth its best efforts in these works, and all participated in the expense by larger or smaller alms according to their means. To see this we have only to look at the building accounts of the church at Xanten, from which we learn that the foreman of the works received from one a bed, from another a coat, from a third a measure of corn, 1 See Straub, Statistique monumentale des Cantons de Kayserberg et de Bibauville. Strasburg, 1860.