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2007 - Sketch of German History Before Birth of Herman Grothaus in 1670

Written and Submitted by: Vivian M. Taylor
Added: 5 Jan 2007

Germany has not always been a nation. In fact, it was not unified as a modern nation until 1871, under the leadership of King Wilhelm I [William] of Prussia and his chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. Wilhelm then became Kaiser [Emperor] of the second German Empire. Even that unity did not last past World War II: Germany was divided into sectors by the victorious Allies, and these sectors were solidified into the democratic West Germany and communist East Germany. The two Germanys were reunited into one on October 3, 1990.

During the Middle Ages, there was a great deal of factionalism resulting from the regional differences of the many tribes which had settled in Europe. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, extended his rule over much of western Europe and was crowned emperor on Christmas Day, A.D. 800. The Carolingian Empire revived the ideal of unity from the Roman Empire and gave a common heritage to modern France, Germany, and Italy. “Charlemagne” is French for Charles the Great; Germans called him “Karl der Grosse.” Charlemagne’s only surviving son, Louis the Pious (who ruled from 814 to 840), was a weak ruler who wasted his resources on civil wars. His three remaining sons divided the empire by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 and set the pattern for subsequent political divisions: Charles the Bald took Neustria and Aquitaine (the core of modern France); Louis the German took the lands east of the Rhine (modern Germany), including part of the modern Austria; and Lothair received the imperial title plus a narrow strip between the other two and about two-thirds of Italy. Lotharingia included the area that would become the political football of Europe for centuries—the modern Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Saar, Lorraine, Alsace, Franche Comte, Switzerland, Savoy, Dauphine, Provence, and most of Italy.

When the last direct descendant of the Carolingian Louis the German died in 911, the powerful dukes who controlled the various regions of Germany elected Conrad of Franconia as king. This separation from the Carolingians marked the clear beginning of Germany as a separate political entity. It was a loose federation of powerful dukes under a weak king until 962, when Otto I “the Great” established the first German empire, later called the Holy Roman Empire. It was strong in the early centuries but then gradually declined until it was described much later as “neither holy nor Roman nor an empire.” Napoleon I ended it officially when he reorganized the area in 1806 as the Confederation of the Rhine.

The Protestant Reformation in Germany began in 1517 with Martin Luther’s publication of his ninety-five theses. A combination of factors—including religious dissatisfaction with some practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, the political ambitions of most of the German princes, economic frustrations, the spread of literacy after the invention of the printing press about 1450, and even the distraction of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by the Turkish armies pushing toward Vienna—contributed to the success of the Reformation. In 1555 the Religious Peace of Augsburg brought a temporary end to the military struggles between Protestants and Catholics for control of various German territories and provided that the ruler of each German state should choose the religion for his subjects. The choice had to be made between only Catholicism and Lutheranism, however; Calvinism was not recognized as an option.

The Catholic Counter Reformation responded with the Council of Trent to review Catholic doctrines and practices and the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit priesthood) to try to win back the people in Europe and promote missionary work in the Americas and Asia. There was a great deal of tension in Germany.

In 1609 the Catholic Duke of Cleves died without leaving a male heir. His lands, in northwestern Germany, included Cleves, Jülich, Berg, Mark, and Ravensberg (in which Bielefeld was a prominent town). Most of the people in these territories were Protestant, and seven Protestant and Catholic German princes claimed the inheritance through descent from or marriage to one of the female relatives of the duke. The three most serious candidates (all Protestants) were John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg from 1608 to 1619; Wolfgang William of Neuburg, a count in the Palatine; and John Frederick, Duke of Saxony. Decisions in cases of disputed inheritances were to be made by Emperor Rudolf II, who was Catholic and wanted the territories to remain under a Catholic ruler. Before the emperor had made his decision, the Brandenburg elector and Palatine count invaded and occupied the territories with troops. During the next five years, other German Protestant and Catholic forces came to help one faction or another. The Palatine count converted to Catholicism to get Spain to send help, and the Brandenburg elector changed from Lutheranism to Calvinism to enlist aid from Holland. The dispute was settled in 1614 with a treaty by which the Palatine count received Jülich and Berg, and the Brandenberg elector got Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg. Thus in 1614 the town of Bielefeld became part of the holdings of the Electorate of Brandenberg (in northeastern Germany).

From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty Years’ War ravaged the people of Germany. Armies lived off the land and burned, raped, and looted. What began as a religious struggle with political overtones ended as a political war with religious aspects. In the last phase, the Catholic Cardinal Richelieu of France supported Protestant German forces in order to prevent the Catholic Hapsburg emperor (who controlled Austria and much of Germany) and his relatives who held Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from encircling France with Hapsburg lands. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 gave legal status to Calvinism along with Catholicism and Lutheranism, restored ownership of property to the owners in 1618 (except Catholic church holdings confiscated by Protestants before 1624), and essentially gave sovereignty to more than 300 German political entities. The real authority of the emperor was limited to the lands which he held directly. City-states, bishoprics, abbacies, and counties enjoyed as much freedom as large duchies and electorates. This was the political situation in which Herman Grothaus’s father was born about 1650 and Herman himself in 1670.

There had been a significant loss of life and property during the Thirty Years’ War. In some areas up to a quarter of the population may have died from military action or starvation. For an entire generation (though not always in the same districts) crops and livestock had been confiscated or destroyed, and homes and churches had been looted and burned. Both business and agriculture continued to suffer in the decades after the war. Money was scarce, people clipped edges off the coins, and less pure metal was used in minting coins. The port cities at the mouths of the Rhine, Weser, Oder, and Elbe rivers were controlled by foreign countries. The territorial lords became absolute rulers, and the middle and lower classes were hard pressed. It is no wonder that many German people began to consider the economic, religious, and political advantages of migrating to the British colonies in America.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

Herman Grothaus was born in 1670, according to a transcription of his tombstone. At that time Bielefeld was part of the County of Ravensberg in the Electorate of Brandenburg during the rule of Frederick William “the Great Elector.” This area was part of the Holy Roman Empire. When Herman migrated to America in 1709, Bielefeld was part of the Kingdom of Prussia (and still part of the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Holy Roman Empire). Frederick I was King of Prussia. Bielefeld became part of Westphalia in the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807 and part of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1945.

Vivian M. Taylor

Footnotes:

• This article was written and submitted by Vivian M. Taylor in 2006. It was added to the website on 5 Jan 2007.
• 1764 - Journal of Johannes Herbergs: "Hermen [Grothus] came from Bielefeld"
• 2007 - Changes In Bielefeld's Political Status

Sources:

Rodes, John E. Germany: A History. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. The World Almanac and Book of Facts: 2006. New York: World Almanac Books, 2006.