Throughout this period, commerce was always upon the increase; and literature, science and art, increased with it.  The monuments of the antient grandeur of the eternal city, began about this time to engage the attention of the inhabitants of Germany, and to attract to Rome many literary pilgrims.  They returned home impressed with admiration of what they had seen, and related the wonders to their countrymen.  “The gods themselves (they told their hearers) behold their images in Rome with admiration, and wish to resemble them.  Nature herself does not raise forms as beautiful as those, which the artist creates.  One is tempted to say that they breathe; and to adore the skill of the artist rather than the inhabitant of Olympus represented by his art.”  Thus the uncultivated Germans began to perceive the beauty of these relics of antiquity, and to feel the wish of imitation.  This first appeared on the seals of the emperors and bishops; several of distinguished beauty have reached our times.  The German artists soon began to engrave on precious stones, and to work in marble and bronze.  Four statues of emperors of the house of Saxony, of the workmanship of these times, are still to be seen at Spires; they are rudely fashioned, but are animated, and have distinct and expressive countenances.

[Sidenote:  III. 2.  State of German Literature during the Franconian Dynasty.]

When the emperors or nobility travelled, they were frequently accompanied by artists.  These sometimes made drawings of foreign churches and edifices, and on their return home, raised others in imitation of them.  Thus the cathedral at Bremen was built on the model of that of Benevento.  The cathedral of Strasburgh, and many other churches, were built about this time.

Music was considerably improved; the system of Guido Aretinus was no where understood better, or cultivated with greater ardour, than in Germany.  Some improvement was made in poetry, but it chiefly appeared in the songs of the common people.  A monk of Togernsee, in Bavaria, composed a collection of poems under the title of Bucolics; they resemble those of Virgil only in their title.  Lambert, of Aschaffenburgh, published a history of his own times, inferior to none which have reached us from the middle ages.

[Sidenote:  1024-1138]

Dialectic, however, still continued the favourite study; and the art of disputation was never carried so far:  the interest which the public took in these disputes was surprising.  When it was announced that two celebrated dialecticians were to hold a public dispute, persons flocked from all parts to witness the conflict; they listened with avidity, and with all the feelings of partisans.  This appears ridiculous; but, in the present times, is there no fancy which deserves equal ridicule?

IV. 1

The State of Germany, from the beginning of the Suabian Dynasty, till the Accession of the Emperor Charles V.