中世纪世界生活手册（二）

2022-11-05 00:11 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

第一部分历史

公元500-1500年间，世界发生了巨大的变化。西罗马帝国于476年瓦解，其战利品被日耳曼部落瓜分。西哥特人、法兰克人、伦巴第人和其他一些民族在伊比利亚半岛、法国、勃艮第、德国和意大利各地建立了自己的王国。从曾经庞大统一的罗马帝国中产生了三个主要势力：拜占庭的东罗马帝国、教皇势力和伊斯兰哈里发。拜占庭帝国代表了罗马遗产在东方的延续性。在西方，罗马天主教会填补了政治、文化、知识、宗教和行政方面的真空，而交战中的日耳曼部落却没有能力填补这一真空。如果说拜占庭和教皇制度体现了罗马的连续性，那么，伊斯兰教则代表了激进的变革和另一种连续性。伊斯兰教不仅是一种新宗教，还对基督教罗马和拜占庭构成了神学挑战。伊斯兰帝国构成了一个新的政治、经济和文化秩序，其力量、财富和先进性远远超过了其在拉丁西方的对手。然而，在征服了中东的拜占庭领土后，伊斯兰帝国吸收了古希腊人的知识和科学传统，并将这些传统重新引入欧洲。

Tremendous changes occurred in world history between 500 and 1500. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, the spoils of which were divided among Germanic tribes. The Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, and others carved out kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, France, Burgundy, Germany, and the Italian states. Out of a once vast united Roman Empire arose three main powers: the Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium, the papacy, and the Islamic caliphate. The Byzantine Empire represented the continuity of the Roman legacy in the East. In the West the Roman Catholic Church would fill the political, cultural, intellectual, religious, and administrative vacuum that the warring Germanic tribes were ill equipped to fill. If Byzantium and the papacy embodied continuity with Rome, Islam represented both radical change and continuity. Islam was not only a new religion that posed a theological challenge to Christian Rome and Byzantium. The Islamic empire constituted a new political, economic, and cultural order whose power, wealth, and sophistication far exceeded those of its rivals in the Latin West. Yet having conquered Byzantine territories in the Middle East, the Islamic empire absorbed the intellectual and scientific traditions of the ancient Greeks and would reintroduce these into Europe.

尽管罗马帝国在第四世纪就已经正式皈依基督教，但在中世纪之初，欧洲的大多数民族仍然是异教徒。第五至第十二世纪出现了巨大的传教活动浪潮，最终使不列颠群岛、斯堪的纳维亚半岛、中欧、巴尔干半岛、罗斯和波罗的海地区实现了基督教化，人们要么接受天主教，要么接受东正教。教皇的权力随着基督教的扩张而上升，但这一权力将受到西方强大王国的挑战和制约，这些王国对教皇日益增长的世俗权威感到不满，但又需要教皇来支持自己的合法性。拜占庭皇帝和牧首之间类似的紧张关系引发了重大的教义争论，为东正教和拉丁基督教之间的大分裂奠定了基础。到了中世纪晚期，商业革命和西欧城镇的兴起使西方基督教商人有能力与伊斯兰势力和拜占庭帝国的全球经济网络相竞争。

Although the Roman Empire had officially converted to Christianity in the fourth century, at the outset of the Middle Ages most of the peoples of Europe were still pagans. The fifth to 12th centuries witnessed a great wave of missionary activity, culminating in the Christianization of the British Isles, Scandinavia, Central Europe, the Balkans, Russia, and the Baltics, either to Catholic or to Orthodox Christianity. The power of the papacy increased with the expansion of Christianity, but this power would be challenged and checked by the emergence of strong Western kingdoms resentful of the temporal authority of the popes yet needing them to bolster their own legitimacy. Similar tensions between Byzantine emperors and patriarchs sparked major doctrinal controversies that would lay the basis of the Great Schism between Orthodox and Latin Christendom. By the High Middle Ages, the commercial revolution and the rise of towns in western Europe placed Western Christian merchants in a position to compete on par with the global economies and networks of Islam and Byzantium.

基督教徒、穆斯林和犹太社区在西欧、拜占庭和伊斯兰教的帝国中交织在一起。在罗马灭亡之前，犹太人和基督徒曾在不同时期感受到罗马人的愤怒；在罗马改朝换代之后，犹太人将越来越多地成为基督教迫害的对象。基督教的惊人崛起成为犹太教革命的催化剂。为了维护和加强其宗教，拉比学者们写下了口述法，并将生活的各个方面编入《塔木德》中。因此，犹太人社区在整个散居地保持了显著的完整性和同质性，即使他们在文化上与他们所属的伊斯兰和基督教世界同化。中世纪时期，基督教徒、穆斯林和犹太人之间的文化、知识和商业合作与影响碰撞出许多 “黄金时代”。它也沾染了十字军东征、圣战、世俗战争和社会暴力的鲜血，因为宗教少数群体被屠杀或被流放出基督教和伊斯兰教的领域。具有讽刺意味的是，中世纪的结束是以宗教间的关系为深刻标志的：1453年奥斯曼帝国对君士坦丁堡的征服，格拉纳达的陷落以及犹太人和许多穆斯林被驱逐出西班牙，犹太人被驱逐出德国并迁往波兰，犹太人的财富、犹太人和穆斯林的技术使发现之旅成为可能，以及西方人文主义和理性主义的崛起，如果没有穆斯林和犹太知识分子将古典知识传入西方，就不可能出现新的局面。

Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities intermingled in the empires of Western Europe, Byzantium, and Islam. Before the Fall of Rome, Jews and Christians had at different times felt the wrath of the Romans; after Rome’s conversion, Jews would increasingly fall victim to Christian persecution. The stunning rise of Christendom became the catalyst for a revolution in Judaism. To preserve and reinforce their religion, rabbinic scholars wrote down the Oral Law and codified every aspect of life in the Talmud. As a result, Jewish communities maintained a remarkable integrity and homogeneity throughout the Diaspora, even as they assimilated culturally to the Islamic and Christian worlds to which they also belonged. The medieval period was peppered with many “golden ages” of cultural, intellectual, and commercial cooperation and influence among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It was also stained with the blood of the Crusades, jihad, and secular wars and social violence as religious minorities were massacred or exiled from Christian and Islamic realms. It is perhaps ironic to note that the close of the Middle Ages is marked so profoundly by interfaith relations: the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the fall of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews and many Muslims from Spain, the expulsion of Jews from Germany and their relocation to Poland, the voyages of discovery made possible by Jewish wealth and Jewish and Muslim technology, and the ascendancy of Western humanism and rationalism that would not have been possible without the transmission of classical knowledge into the West by Muslim and Jewish intellectuals.

西欧历史概况

基督教在西罗马帝国的发展

天主教（或尼西亚三位一体主义，见第5页）基督教成为西罗马帝国以及后来的西欧王国的主导宗教，考虑到它在第一世纪的巴勒斯坦仅作为一个犹太教派的卑微起源，这是历史上一个了不起的事件。我们必须认识到，基督教从一开始就是一个传教士的宗教，并把传教作为宗教活动的一个基本组成部分。还必须记住，基督教的扩展是不平衡的，缺乏统一性，这本身就反映了早期基督教团体及其多个教会的杂乱组合，这些团体和教会的共存展现着基督教的历史发展。此外，基督教的所有表现形式都必须与其他宗教传统竞争。罗马多神论、希腊化的哲学传统（如斯多葛主义），以及新的宗教运动，如禁欲主义、二元论的摩尼教。那么，基督教是如何扩张并成为帝国的官方宗教的呢？

That Catholic (or Nicene Trinitarian, see page 5) Christianity would become the dominant religion of the Western Roman Empire and later of the kingdoms of western Europe is a remarkable event in history considering its humble origins as a Jewish sect in first-century Palestine. It must be remembered that Christianity was from its very beginning a missionary religion and understood proselytization to be a fundamental part of religious practice. Further, it must also be recalled that the expansion of Christianity was uneven and lacking in uniformity, itself a reflection of the motley mix of early Christian groups and their multiple churches that coexisted and would mark the history of Christianity. In addition, Christianity in all its manifestations had to compete with other religious traditions: Roman cults, Hellenistic philosophical traditions such as Stoicism, as well as new religious movements such as ascetic, dualistic Manicheism. How then did Christianity expand and become the official religion of the empire?

基督教的开始是一种城市现象。正如《圣保罗书》和《使徒行传》所示，第一批传教士在地中海的主要大都市组建了教会，其中以安提阿、亚历山大和罗马最为重要，这一趋势将在整个罗马帝国持续下去。像犹太人一样，基督徒不愿意认同罗马帝国的多神论。在第二和第三世纪，由于罗马帝国在其北部边境面临着来自日耳曼部落越来越多的威胁，罗马当局开始将基督教团体的活动，特别是他们拒绝遵守国教的行为，视为潜在的煽动行为。罗马人对基督徒的怀疑在帝国的迫害中达到了顶点，这些迫害首先由德西乌斯皇帝（249-251）发起，并得到瓦勒良皇帝（253-260）和戴克里先皇帝（284-305）的支持。当时的基督徒拒绝服从帝国的法令——遵守国教，祈求罗马诸神在与入侵的哥特人的战争中帮助罗马。

Christianity began as an urban phenomenon. As the Letters of Saint Paul and the Acts of the Apostles indicate, the first missionaries formed churches in the major metropolises of the Mediterranean, with Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome being the most important, and this trend would continue throughout the Roman Empire. Like Jews, Christians were loath to participate in Roman imperial polytheistic cults. In the second and third centuries, as the Roman Empire experienced increasing threat from Germanic tribes along its northern frontiers, the Roman authorities began to regard the activities of Christian communities, and particularly their refusal to observe the state religion, as potentially seditious. Roman suspicion of Christians would reach its apogee in the imperial persecutions first ordered by Emperor Decius (r. 249–251) and seconded by Emperors Valerian (253–260) and Diocletian (r. 284– 305), when Christians refused to obey the imperial decree to observe the state religion and supplicate the Roman gods to aid Rome in its wars with the invading Goths.

基督教：从受迫害的教派到国家宗教

戴克里先在303年至305年期间实施的迫害特别残酷，但基督徒殉道者的坚定和勇气引起了（甚至对自己宗教深信不疑的）异教徒的同情心。戴克里先在东方的副手凯撒-伽列里乌斯（Caesar Galerius）遵循其上司制定的政策，对基督徒的迫害也同样激烈。然而，伽列里乌斯的妻子是基督徒，她对受压迫的同胞的同情心可能促使她敦促丈夫结束迫害。305年，成为东方皇帝的伽列里乌斯发布了一项《宽容诏书》，他给予基督徒宽恕，条件是他们要为帝国的安全，向他们的神祈祷。西方皇帝君士坦丁（306-337年）和他的东方同行利西尼乌斯（308-324年）更进一步，于313年联合发布了《米兰敕令》，给予基督教和所有其他宗教平等的合法地位，并将迫害期间被没收的财产还给基督徒。君士坦丁因在东方建立了一个新的首都——君士坦丁堡（也被称为新罗马）而闻名，它位于博斯普鲁斯河畔的拜占庭（拜占斯）。

The persecutions inflicted under Diocletian between 303 and 305 were particularly brutal, but the steadfastness and courage of the Christian martyrs aroused the sympathy of even convinced pagans. Diocletian’s deputy in the East, Caesar Galerius, followed the policy established by his superior and was just as vigorous in his persecution of the Christians. Galerius’s wife was Christian, however, and her sympathies for her oppressed coreligionists may have moved her to urge her husband to put an end to the persecutions. In 311, shortly before his death, Galerius, who had become emperor of the East in 305, issued an Edict of Toleration that granted an indulgence to Christians provided they pray to their god for the safety of the republic. The Western emperor Constantine (r. 306–337) and his Eastern counterpart Licinius (r. 308–324) went even further in their joint issuing of the Edict of Milan in 313, which accorded Christianity and all other religions an equal status of legitimacy and restored to Christians properties that had been confiscated during the period of the persecutions. Constantine is famous for having built a new capital in the East, Constantinople (also called the New Rome), in Byzantium on the Bosphorus River.

尼西亚会议（325年）和《狄奥多西法典》

四世纪初，基督教被关于基督在救赎历史中的作用的教义争论所困扰。为了结束争论，君士坦丁在325年召开了第一次尼西亚会议，会议确认耶稣与天父具有相同的属性，反对亚历山大的牧师阿里乌斯（约280-336）提出的阿里乌斯信仰，即基督只是具有类似的属性。尼西亚会议定义了正统的“公教”基督教，而短暂统一帝国的皇帝狄奥多西一世（379-395）在389-392年的狄奥多西法令中承认这一基督教分支为官方国教。狄奥多西法令取消了非尼西亚基督徒的教会职务，并通过宣布异教节日为工作日、禁止血祭仪式、关闭罗马神庙和解散罗马圣母院，废除了罗马宗教的最后残余。这些行动并没有完全消除基督教的敌对教派；阿里乌主义（亚流主义）继续蔓延，一些向野蛮人传教的最成功的是阿里乌派，大多数日耳曼部落也是如此，这些部落后来导致了西罗马帝国的消亡。尽管如此，尼西亚会议和狄奥多西法令确实为尼西亚基督教在未来几个世纪里在西罗马帝国和东罗马帝国的至高地位奠定了基础。

In the early fourth century Christianity was riven by doctrinal controversies over the role of Christ in salvation history. In an attempt to end the controversies, Constantine convoked the first Council of Nicaea in 325, which confirmed Jesus as of the same substance as the Father against the Arian belief, propounded by the priest Arius of Alexandria (c. 280–336), that Christ was only of a similar substance. The Nicene formula would define orthodox “catholic” Christianity, and it was this branch of Christianity that Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395), who had briefly reunited the empire, recognized as the official state religion in the Theodosian decrees of 389–392. The Theodosian decrees removed non-Nicene Christians from ecclesiastical office and abolished the last visible remnants of Roman religion by declaring pagan feasts as workdays, banning ritual blood sacrifice, closing Roman temples, and disbanding the Vestal Virgins of Rome. These actions did not entirely do away with rival sects of Christianity; Arianism continued to spread, and some of the most successful missionaries to the barbarians were Arians, as were most of the Germanic tribes that would subsequently cause the demise of the Western Empire. Nevertheless, the Council of Nicaea and the Theodosian decrees did establish the basis for the supremacy of Nicene Christianity in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires in the coming centuries.

主教的出现

随着基督教在帝国的城市中心和军队中的扩张，该宗教逐渐在农村扎根。禁欲主义者从基督在沙漠中的40天静修中得到启发，退休后生活在罗马帝国的偏远地区，背离了城市文明。虽然有些苦行者回避所有的人际接触，但大多数人会组成苦行社区，致力于祈祷、禁食和其他自我否定的行为，并从事体力劳动。这些苦行僧团体是六世纪出现的修道院团体的先驱。

Along with Christianity’s expansion in the urban centers of the empire and among the ranks of the army, the religion took root in the countryside. Anchorites took inspiration from Christ’s 40-day retreat in the desert and retired to live in remote areas of the Roman Empire, turning their back on urban civilization. While some ascetics shunned all human contact, most would form ascetic communities, devoting themselves to prayer, fasting and other acts of self-denial, and manual labor. These ascetic communities were the precursors of the monastic communities that emerged in the sixth century.

基督教的成功归功于一种组织结构的发展，这种结构能够维持其成员，使其持续增长，并促进教会的团结。最初，这种凝聚力是通过选举教会长老（长老）和执事（“服务者”）来实现的，他们组织并资助社区的传教与慈善工作。决定性的发展是创立了episkopos（主教）的形象，被任命为协调和监督拥有一个以上教会的城市中心的基督教社区的活动。主教还负责监督在其管辖区域附近建立的禁欲主义团体的活动。在各教会之间的教派和教义分歧越来越大的情况下，主教们在大公会议上会面，以解决基本争端并确定官方教会教义。随着越来越多的富人和贵族家庭接受基督教并向教会提供大量捐款，主教也被授权管理其新获得的财富。

The success of Christianity is owed to the development of an organizational structure that sustained its members, perpetuated its growth, and fomented church unity. Initially this cohesion was achieved through the election of church presbyters (elders) and deacons (“those who serve”) who organized and patronized the community’s missionary and charitable work. The decisive development was the creation of the figure of the episkopos (bishop) appointed to coordinate and oversee the activities of Christian communities in urban centers that had more than one church. Bishops also oversaw the activities of ascetic communities established near the region under their jurisdiction. In the wake of growing sectarian and dogmatic differences among the churches, bishops met at ecumenical councils to resolve fundamental disputes and define official church dogma. As more and more wealthy and aristocratic families embraced Christianity and made substantial donations to the church, the bishop also became empowered to administer its newly acquired property and wealth.

主教还在罗马当局面前代表教会的利益，这一角色在帝国的迫害中会获得更大的声望。许多主教殉教，而其他主教则确保这些人的牺牲将成为其他基督徒的骄傲和鼓舞源泉，鼓励他们坚定地保持自己的信仰。在狄奥多西法令颁布后，主教们有效地建立了一个与帝国权威平行的宗教政府。主教管理一个教区（一个主要城市及其周边地区），与罗马行政官所管理的省级教区相一致。帝国变成了基督教国家，主教们与政府同步行动，执行帝国的法令并承担行政责任，使他们能够填补476年西罗马帝国解体后出现的行政、社会和文化真空。

The bishop also represented the interests of the church to Roman authorities, a role that would acquire greater prestige during the imperial persecutions. Many bishops were martyred, while others ensured that those deaths would be a source of pride and inspiration to other Christians, encouraging them to remain resolute in their faith. In the aftermath of the Theodosian decrees, bishops effectively created a religious government in parallel to the imperial authority: A bishop governed a diocese (a major city and its surrounding territory) coterminous with the provincial dioceses that Roman magistrates governed. Now that the empire was Christian, bishops acted in tandem with the government, enforcing imperial decrees and assuming administrative responsibilities that would enable them to fill the administrative, social, and cultural vacuum that ensued after the fall of the Roman Empire in 476.

部落群体被罗马社会和军事同化

在第四和第五世纪入侵西欧的日耳曼部落，于476年从罗马手中夺取绝对权力后，其同化进程进一步加快。新的日耳曼统治者适应了罗马行政管理、税收、钱币、礼仪和供养制度的许多特点。一些人采用拉丁语作为官方语言。罗马法影响了西哥特人，他们的国王亚拉里克二世在其《亚拉里克教规》（506）中参照了罗马法。另一方面，我们不能说是完全同化，许多日耳曼部落保留了他们的习俗和传统制度，如继承制度。此外，在东哥特-意大利形成了一种双重管理制度，哥特人管理自己的人口和其他非罗马人口，而罗马官员则管理罗马人口。

The assimilation of the Germanic tribes who invaded western Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries accelerated after they seized definitive power from Rome in 476. The new Germanic rulers adapted many of the features of Roman administration, taxation, coinage, ceremonial, and patronage systems. Some adopted Latin as the official language. Roman law influenced the Visigoths, whose king, Alaric II, codified it in his Breviary of Alaric (506). On the other hand, one cannot speak of a complete assimilation. Many of the Germanic tribes retained their customs and traditional institutions, such as the system of inheritance. Moreover, in Ostrogoth Italy a dual system of administration developed in which the Goths governed their own and other non-Roman populations, while Roman officials governed the Roman populace.

这些日耳曼部落的语言、文化和社会组织与罗马文明形成了巨大的反差；因此罗马人用贬义词‘野蛮人’来形容他们。日耳曼人部落是由酋长领导的部落，他们是猎人和战士，主要靠畜牧业和突袭敌人的掠夺为生，而妇女和奴隶则致力于耕作。哥特式日耳曼部落意识到罗马的弱点，他们越过莱茵河和多瑙河，入侵巴尔干省。

The language, culture, and social organization of these Germanic tribes contrasted greatly with the civilization of Rome; hence the Roman use of the pejorative term barbarians to describe them. Organized into tribes led by chieftains, the Germanic men were hunters and fighters who largely subsisted on animal husbandry and raiding their enemies for plunder, while the women and slaves dedicated themselves to farming. Perceiving the weakness of Rome, Gothic Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine and Danube Rivers and invaded the Balkan provinces.

野蛮人的入侵

330年，在拜占庭建立的君士坦丁堡，即“新罗马”，是对罗马旧都消亡的默许。本世纪初，罗马政府所在地不得不向北转移到米兰，以躲避汪达尔人的入侵威胁。同样的压力迫使另一次转移到亚得里亚海沿岸的拉文纳。政府所在地的转移并没有缓解西方帝国所陷入的政治混乱。这种混乱不仅是由来自日耳曼部落的持续军事压力造成的，也是由西部各省相对于拜占庭东部的社会组织的衰弱造成的。首先，西方政府不得不将其所有资源用于保护其边境。因此，它不能再维护和保护道路；尽管对公民征收越来越高的税款，但贸易的下降和经济的停滞加剧了这一情况。同时，上层阶级放弃了已经比东方少得多的城市，建立了坚固的乡村庄园（称为latifundia），这是一种原封建制度，被殖民工人（coloni）为庄园主服务，以换取经济援助和面对野蛮人入侵者威胁的保护。

The founding of Constantinople, “the New Rome,” in Byzantium in 330 was a tacit admission of the demise of the old capital of Rome. Earlier in the century the seat of government in Rome had to be transferred farther north to Milan in order to escape the threat of Vandal invaders. The same pressure forced yet another transfer to Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. The transfers of the seat of government did not mitigate the political disarray into which the Western Empire had fallen. This disarray was nurtured not only by the constant military pressure from the Germanic tribes, but also by the weakening social organization of the Western provinces vis-à-vis the Byzantine East. To begin with, the Western government had to deploy all its resources in protecting its frontiers. Consequently, it could no longer maintain and protect the roads; a decline of trade and a stagnation of the economy, despite the imposition of ever higher taxes upon its citizens, resulted. At the same time the upper classes abandoned the cities, which already were far fewer than those in the East, and established fortified country estates, called latifundia, a protofeudal system in which colonized workers (coloni) served the owner of the estate in exchange for economic aid and protection from the barbarian invaders.

到了五世纪初，饥荒、瘟疫、过度征税和军事指挥官之间的内讧使西方帝国很容易成为其敌人的猎物。西哥特人在国王亚拉里克一世（约370-410）的领导下，于410年洗劫了罗马。匈奴人阿提拉和他的军队在452年入侵意大利，汪达尔人在455年再次洗劫了罗马。日耳曼和匈奴酋长以罗马皇帝罗慕路斯·奥古斯都的名义进行实际统治，但当西哥特将军奥多亚塞（434-493）于476年废黜罗慕路斯时，这种虚构终于结束了，这也是西罗马帝国灭亡的传统日期。

By the early fifth century, famine, pestilence, overtaxation, and infighting between military commanders rendered the Western Empire easy prey for its enemies. The Visigoths, led by King Alaric I (c. 370–410), sacked Rome in 410. Attila the Hun and his army invaded Italy in 452, and the Vandals sacked Rome again in 455. Germanic and Hun chieftains exercised de facto rule in the name of the Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus, but this fiction was finally ended when the Visigothic general Odoacer (434–493) deposed Romulus in 476, the traditional date given for the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

日耳曼部落瓜分了西方帝国的领土。奥斯特罗戈特人统治着意大利；西哥特人统治着高卢南部和西班牙；汪达尔人控制着非洲和地中海西部；盎格鲁人和撒克逊人统治着英国；勃艮第人统治着普罗旺斯；法兰克人统治着高卢北部。除英国外，日耳曼统治者尊重并保留了许多罗马文化、语言、法律和政府机构，并将这些与日耳曼机构混合在一起。法兰克人、奥斯特罗戈特人、西哥特人和勃艮第人都宣称服从拜占庭皇帝。日耳曼统治者也是基督徒，尽管他们是阿里安基督教的追随者，在尼西亚基督教被宣布为官方教会教义的地区进行统治。如前所述，罗马沦陷后，主教们保持了教会的组织和机构的完整，这一事实可能促成了法兰克人皈依罗马认可的普世（"公教"）教会的关键决定。

The Germanic tribes carved up the Western Empire’s territories: The Ostrogoths ruled Italy; the Visigoths ruled southern Gaul and Spain; the Vandals controlled Africa and the western Mediterranean; the Angles and the Saxons ruled Britain; the Burgundians ruled Provence; and the Franks ruled northern Gaul. Except in Britain, the Germanic rulers respected and retained much of Roman culture, language, law, and governmental institutions, mixing these with Germanic institutions. The Franks, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Burgundians professed obedience to the Byzantine emperor. The Germanic rulers were also Christians, albeit followers of Arian Christianity, ruling over territories in which Nicene Christianity had been decreed the official church doctrine. As noted, after the fall of Rome the bishops maintained the church’s organization and institutions intact, a fact that may have contributed to the critical decision of the Franks to convert to the universal (“catholic”) church endorsed by Rome.

墨洛温王朝

法兰克王朝是由墨洛温王朝的克洛维一世（Clovis I the Merovingian，481-511）建立的，他是一位雄心勃勃而又务实的统治者。他联合了所有分散的法兰克部落，征服了邻近的勃艮第和西哥特王国（486-507），并赢得了本地高卢罗马人的支持。他从高卢、勃艮第、奥斯特拉西亚和纽斯特利亚中打造了一个名为法兰西的新王国，即法兰克人的土地。墨洛温王朝信仰阿利乌教派，但克洛维在496年左右皈依了尼西亚基督教，使他受到了高卢罗马人、教区主教和拜占庭皇帝阿纳斯塔修斯一世（Anastasius，491-518年）的青睐，后者在508年提名他为名誉执政官。克洛维以传统的罗马方式庆祝他的提名，在图尔举行“进入”仪式（Adventus），在那里他向人群分发钱币。

The Frankish dynasty was founded by Clovis I the Merovingian (r. 481–511), an ambitious and pragmatic ruler who united all the disparate Frankish tribes, conquered the neighboring Burgundian and Visigoth kingdoms (486–507), and won the support of the native Gallo-Romans. He forged a new kingdom called France, the land of the Franks, out of Gaul, Burgundy, Austrasia, and Neustria. The Merovingians were Arians, but Clovis’s conversion to Nicene Christianity circa 496 endeared him to the Gallo-Roman population, the diocesan bishops, and the Byzantine emperor Anastasius (r. 491–518), who nominated him honorary consul in 508. Clovis celebrated his nomination in traditional Roman fashion, staging a ritual “entry” (Adventus) into the capital at Tours, where he dispensed coins to the crowd.

尽管拥有罗马统治的一些特征，克洛维和他的继任者还是按照墨洛温传统进行独立治理。王权是基于神话中的勇士英雄的后裔，而合法性则体现在统治者持续的军事成功上。墨洛温王朝的国王将王国作为他的个人领地来统治，在他死后由他的所有儿子平分。与晚期罗马四君主制一样，墨洛温王国被认为是一个由多个统治者统治的单一实体，可以在一个统治者的领导下重新统一，这在克洛泰尔一世（558-561年）和克洛泰尔二世（584-629年）的统治期间短暂发生过。国王在经济上也是自给自足的，由保留给王室的土地（王室直辖区）的生产税收（fisc）来支持。墨洛温王朝试图维持一个单一的中央集权政府，但由于自相残杀、争夺王国控制权的内战以及地方大亨们渴望尽可能多地保留自治权而遭到挫败。

Despite assuming some trappings of Roman rule, Clovis and his successors governed independently and according to Merovingian tradition. Kingship was based on mythical descent from a warrior hero, and legitimacy manifested itself in the continued military success of the ruler. The Merovingian king ruled the kingdom as his personal fiefdom, which would be equally divided among all his sons upon his death. As was the Late Roman Tetrarchy, the Merovingian kingdom was conceived of as a single entity governed by multiple rulers, which could be reunited under one ruler, as occurred briefly during the reigns of Clotaire I (r. 558–561) and Clotaire II (r. 584–629). The king was also meant to be selfsufficient economically, supported by the taxes (fisc) from the production of the lands reserved to the Crown (the royal desmesne). Merovingian attempts to maintain a single, centralized government were thwarted by fratricide, civil wars for control of the realm, and local magnates who yearned to retain as much autonomy as possible.

为了安抚后者，墨洛温王朝的国王任命当地的大人物为伯爵（Comites，国王的伙伴和尊贵的皇家仆人，国王的“公共代理人”），这是一种新型的皇家官员，负责在他们没有世袭权利的领土上进行防御、管理和裁决争端。伯爵需向国王提供自己的士兵，而他们会获得国王土地授予以确保其忠诚度。他们有义务向国王提供军事支持，并以传统的墨洛温王朝的方式对国王进行礼节性的认可，将他举在盾牌上。伯爵形象的建立是为了削弱土地贵族的权力，他们更有可能获得其统治下民众的忠诚。然而，这种策略适得其反，因为墨洛温贵族之间的内讧实际上加强了地方权贵的力量，他们能够将墨洛温王朝的贵族们玩弄于股掌之间，并勒索更多的权力以换取其军事支持。

To appease the latter, the Merovingian kings appointed the local magnates to be counts (comites), a novel type of royal official responsible for the defense, administration, and adjudication of disputes in territories over which theyhad no hereditary claim. Counts would supply their own soldiers, who received land endowments to ensure their loyalty. They were obliged to lend military support to the king and would in turn ritually recognize him in the traditional Merovingian way by hoisting him up on their shields. The creation of the figure of the count was meant to undermine the power of the landed aristocrats, who would be more likely to command the loyalty of the populations under their rule. This tactic backfired, however, because the internecine infighting among the Merovingian nobles actually strengthened the hand of the counts, who were able to play one Merovingian against another and extort more power in exchange for their military support.

王室权力被另一个由墨洛温王朝创建的机构进一步削弱：宫廷市长，即王室法院的首席官员。达戈贝尔特一世（Dagobert I，623-639年）是最后一位对整个王国行使实权的墨洛温国王，他死后，纽斯特利亚、奥斯特拉西亚和勃艮第的宫廷市长们增加了自己的政治权力。Arnulfings家族，又称Pippinids家族，是法兰克贵族家族，其成员担任皇宫市长的职务。赫斯塔尔的丕平（Pippin the Younger，约635-714）于680年担任奥斯特拉西亚的市长，687年担任纽斯特利亚和勃艮第的市长，在法兰克人的宫廷中行使实际权力，直到他去世。丕平的儿子查理·马特（714-741年）是图尔战役（732年）中战胜穆斯林军队的传奇人物，他实际上统治了整个法兰克王国。751年，当马特的继任者矮子丕平（Pippin the Short，751-768年）说服教皇扎卡里（Zachary，741-752年）批准他加冕并废黜墨洛温国王希尔德里克三世（Chideric III，743-751年）时，这种事实上的加洛林王朝统治局面正式确立。加洛林王朝将继续统治神圣罗马帝国的西欧各地，直到987年。

Royal power was further weakened by another Merovingian-created institution: the mayor of the palace, the chief official of the royal courts. After the death of Dagobert I (r. 623–639), the last Merovingian king to exercise real power over the entire realm, the mayors of the palace in Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy increased their political power. The Arnulfings, also known as the Pippinids, were the Frankish noble family whose members held the position of mayor of the palace. Pippin the Younger (c. 635–714) assumed the mayorship of Austrasia in 680 and of Neustria and Burgundy in 687 and exercised de facto power in the Frankish court until his death. Pippin’s son, Charles Martel (r. 714–741), the legendary victor over the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours (732), effectively ruled the entire Frankish kingdom. This situation of de facto Carolingian rule—so named after Charles Martel—was formalized in 751 when Martel’s successor, Pippin the Short (r. 751–768), convinced Pope Zachary (741–752) to sanction his coronation and depose the Merovingian king, Chideric III (r. 743–751). The Carolingians would continue to reign over various parts of western Europe in the Holy Roman Empire until 987.

加洛林王朝

加洛林王朝的国王们渴望复兴西罗马帝国，这一想法在800年教皇利奥三世（795-816）为该王朝最杰出的成员查理曼（768-814）加冕为奥古斯都皇帝（Imperator Augustus）时得到了实现。799年，罗马人民袭击了利奥三世，废黜了他，并将他禁锢在一个修道院里。查理曼拒绝接受废黜，并于800年12月前往罗马，代表教皇召开会议。利奥得到了平反，为了表示感谢，他给查理曼加冕为奥古斯都皇帝。利奥认为恢复皇帝的职位很重要，这不仅是为了保护自己，也是为了对抗拜占庭的伊苏里亚王朝，其统治者伊苏里亚的利奥（717-741年）曾强行推行圣像破坏运动（“打破圣像”），禁止对圣像的崇拜。教皇为皇帝加冕的先例将在以后与世俗统治者的交往中为教廷服务。同时，帝王头衔也符合查理曼自己的野心。加洛林王朝的法兰克人相信，他们是古罗马皇帝的神圣继承人，他们作为新的 “亚伯拉罕的子孙”得到了统治帝国的神圣授权。查理曼的一位继承人在写给他的“竞争对手”拜占庭皇帝巴西尔一世（867-886年）的信中说：“法兰克人给主带来了许多实绩，不仅是迅速相信，而且还使其他人皈依救赎之路……由于我们因着对基督的信仰，是亚伯拉罕的后裔……我们因着正确的思想，得到了罗马帝国的正统。希腊人因为他们的……错误思想，已经不再是罗马人的皇帝了”（Rietbergen 94）。

The Carolingian kings aspired to revive the Western Roman Empire, an idea that would come to fruition in the crowning of the dynasty’s most illustrious member, Charlemagne (r. 768–814), as Imperator Augustus (August Emperor) in 800 by Pope Leo III (795–816). A year earlier in 799, the people of Rome attacked Leo III, deposed him, and confined him to a monastery. Charlemagne refused to accept the deposition and traveled to Rome in December 800 to hold a council on the pope’s behalf. Leo was vindicated and, in gratitude, crowned Charlemagne emperor. Leo deemed it important to revive the office of emperor not only to protect himself but also to counter the Byzantine Isaurian dynasty, whose ruler Leo the Isaurian (r. 717–741) had imposed the doctrine of iconoclasm (“breaking of images”), forbidding the worship of images as a form of “idolatry.” The precedent of a pope’s crowning an emperor would serve the papacy in its later dealings with secular rulers. At the same time the imperial title suited Charlemagne’s own ambitions. The Carolingian Franks were convinced that they were the divinely appointed heirs of the ancient Roman emperors who had received a holy dispensation to rule the empire as the new “seed of Abraham.” In a letter one of Charlemagne’s heirs wrote to his “competitor” the Byzantine emperor Basil I (r. 867–886), “the Frankish race has borne the Lord much fruit, not only by being quick to believe, but also by converting others to the way of salvation. . . . As we, through our faith in Christ, are the seed of Abraham, . . . we have received the government of the Roman Empire for our right thinking. The Greeks for their . . . wrong thinking, have ceased to be Emperors of the Romans” (Rietbergen 94).

在他统治期间，查理曼领导了一系列的军事行动，为他的王国增加了伦巴第（776年）、萨克森（772年开始，804年征服）和西班牙边疆区（巴塞罗那边疆区）（778-812）。(著名的龙塞斯瓦耶斯隘口战役是在778年发生的，在这次战役中，巴斯克军队谋杀了布列塔尼边疆区的领主罗兰）。在他的儿子们的帮助下，查理曼继续在多瑙河平原（794年）和波西米亚（805-806年）消灭了阿瓦尔人。查理曼于814年去世，他的王国包括法国、比利时、荷兰、瑞士、德国西部、意大利大部分地区、西班牙东北部和科西嘉岛。

During his reign Charlemagne led a series of military campaigns that added to his realm Lombardy (776), Saxonia (begun in 772 and conquered in 804), and the Spanish March (778–812). (The acclaimed Battle of Roncesvalles Pass during which Basque forces murdered Roland, the lord of the Breton March, dates from 778.) With the aid of his sons, Charlemagne went on to annihilate the Avar Huns in the Danubian plain (794) and the Slavs in Bohemia (805–806). At the time of his death in 814, the realm included France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, western Germany, most of Italy, northeastern Spain, and the island of Corsica.

加洛林王朝保持了墨洛温王朝的习惯，即任命当地的大人物为伯爵，以治理、管理司法和保卫这个庞大的帝国。然而，与墨洛温王朝不同的是，加洛林王朝利用土地贵族成员担任这些职位，希望通过这种方式确保贵族的忠诚度。在这一点上，加洛林王朝遇到了与墨洛温王朝相同的问题，即必须与野心勃勃的伯爵的专制主义作斗争。法兰克教会是加洛林王朝特别重要的盟友。在加洛林王朝的军队制服敌人后，传教士的“军队”被派往各地，以赢得人们的支持，使他们皈依尼西亚基督教。事实证明，作为政府官员，教会人士的忠诚度略高于非宗教贵族。

The Carolingians maintained the Merovingian custom of appointing local magnates as counts to govern, administer justice, and defend the sprawling empire. Unlike the Merovingians, however, the Carolingians filled these positions with members of the landed aristocracy, hoping in this way to ensure the loyalty of the nobility. In this the Carolingians encountered the same problem as their Merovingian predecessors, having to contend with the despotism of ambitious counts. The Frankish Church was a particularly important ally of the Carolingians. After the Carolingian armies subdued their enemies, “armies” of missionaries were sent forth to win over the hearts and minds of the people and convert them to Nicene Christianity. Moreover, churchmen proved to be slightly more loyal than lay aristocrats as government officers.

加洛林王朝的分裂：公元843年的《凡尔登条约》

查理曼大帝的帝国遵循了使墨洛温王国灭亡的同样的不可控制的模式。国王不得不越来越多地依靠强大的伯爵来帮助管理王国，但他们只是削弱了国王的权力。在他的统治末期，查理曼与他唯一幸存的儿子和继承人虔诚者路易（814-840年）分享了国王的称号。在路易统治时期，帝国并没有保持完整，因为法律规定他必须在查理曼的儿子们之间平均分配王国。路易的儿子洛泰尔和日耳曼人路易在833年反叛并击败了虔诚者路易。843年，凡尔登条约将查理曼的帝国正式分给了剩下的三位加洛林王朝的王子。洛泰尔（卒于855年）统治着洛塔林吉亚，这块领土包括荷兰、比利时、瑞士、阿尔萨斯-洛林和意大利；秃头查理（卒于877年）声称拥有法国（西法兰克）；而日耳曼人路易则统治着德国（东法兰克）。

Charlemagne’s empire followed the same pattern of ungovernability that brought down the Merovingian kingdom. Increasingly, he had to rely on powerful counts to help manage his realm, but they only diminished his power. Toward the end of his reign, Charlemagne shared the imperial title with his only surviving son and successor, Louis the Pious (r. 814–840). The empire did not remain intact beyond Louis’s reign, since he was bound by law to distribute his kingdom equally among his sons. Louis’s sons Peppin and Louis the German rebelled against him and defeated him in 833. In 843 the Treaty of Verdun formally divided Charlemagne’s empire among the three remaining Carolingian princes: Lothar (d. 855) ruled over Lotharingia, a territory including Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Alsace-Lorraine, and Italy; Charles the Bald (d. 877) claimed France; and Louis the German ruled Germany.

从长远来看，《凡尔登条约》打破了政治权力的平衡，因为帝国在虔诚者路易的儿子们去世后继续被分割。在随后出现的政治真空中，土地贵族们地位上升，并能够在教皇和国王争夺权力的过程中，将他们的利益相互抵消。《凡尔登条约》最持久的后果之一是神圣罗马帝国的建立，由奥托一世大帝（962-973年）于962年正式建立。神圣罗马帝国的起源是由遗留给日耳曼人路易的东法兰克领土组成的。

In the long run, the Treaty of Verdun upset the balance of political power as the empire continued to be subdivided at the death of Louis the Pious’s sons. In the ensuing political vacuum, landed aristocrats gained ground and were able to play off the interests of popes and kings against one another as each jockeyed for power. One of the most enduring consequences of the Treaty of Verdun was the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, officially refounded in 962 by Otto I the Great (r. 962–973). In its origins, the Holy Roman Empire was forged out of the eastern Frankish territories bequeathed to Louis the German.

神圣罗马帝国

公元899年，加洛林王朝最后一位拥有西方皇帝头衔的阿努尔夫去世后，这个头衔就被废弃了，直到教皇约翰十二世（955-964年）于962年将皇帝头衔授予奥托一世，以感谢他在意大利与对手的斗争中给予他帮助。在随后达成的名为“奥托尼亚姆特权”的协议中，奥托保证教皇对意大利的世俗权力，以换取教皇的承诺，即所有未来的教皇将向皇帝宣誓效忠。神圣罗马帝国一直持续到1806年。尽管帝国权力与教皇之间的关系最初很紧密，但在帝国漫长的历史中，与教皇在精神和世俗权力上的冲突、控制意大利的斗争，以及对平衡皇帝权力与统治构成帝国的各自领土权贵们政治愿望的常年追求，都是帝国的标志。

Following the death of Arnulf, the last of the Carolingians to bear the title of Emperor of the West, in 899, the title fell into disuse until Pope John XII (r. 955–964) bestowed the imperial title upon Otto I the Great in 962 in gratitude for aiding him in his struggles against his rivals in Italy. In a subsequent agreement called the Ottonian Privilege, Otto guaranteed the pope’s secular authority over Italy in exchange for the pope’s pledge that all future popes would swear fealty to the emperor. The Holy Roman Empire lasted until 1806. Despite the initial marriage of convenience between the Imperial power and papacy, the empire’s long history is marked by conflicts with the pope over spiritual and temporal authority, the struggle to control Italy, as well as the perennial quest to balance the power of the emperor against the political aspirations of the potentates who ruled the respective territories constituting the empire.

几个世纪以来，神圣罗马帝国由五个日耳曼王朝统治：奥托王朝（962-1002年）、萨利安王朝（法兰克尼亚王朝，1024-1125年）、霍亨斯陶芬王朝（1137-1254年），随后是大间歇期（1254-73年），随着哈布斯堡王朝的建立（1273-1806年）而结束。哈布斯堡王朝被1347年至1437年的卢森堡王朝所打断。帝国的地理范围也随时间变化，但最终包括德国、奥地利、阿尔萨斯-洛林、摩拉维亚、波西米亚、勃艮第、意大利、荷兰、瑞士、波兰部分地区和克罗地亚。从结构上看，帝国是一个由当地诸侯王、王族或公爵管理的帝国产业联盟；由主教或大主教管理的被称为王族主教区的封建领土；以及帝国的自由城市，即从前的王族主教区，它们从主持工作的主教那里获得独立，直接服从于皇帝。

Over the centuries the Holy Roman Empire was ruled by five Germanic dynasties: the Ottonians (r. 962–1002), the Salasians (r. 1024– 1125), the Hohenstaufens (1137–1254), followed by the Great Interregnum (1254–73), which ended with the installation of the Habsburgs (1273–1806). The Habsburg dynasty was interrupted by the Luxembourg dynasty from 1347 to 1437. The geographical limits of the empire also changed over time but ultimately comprised Germany, Austria, Alsace-Lorraine, Moravia, Bohemia, Burgundy, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, parts of Poland, and Croatia. Structurally the empire was a confederation of Imperial estates governed by a local king, prince, or duke; feudal territories called prince-bishoprics governed by a bishop or archbishop; and imperial free cities, former prince-bishoprics that gained their independence from the presiding bishop and were subject directly to the emperor.

在意识形态上，神圣罗马帝国皇帝认为自己是基督的世俗代言人，与作为基督精神代言人的天主教教皇和拜占庭皇帝截然不同。但实际上，神圣罗马帝国的皇帝从未行使过拜占庭皇帝那样的权力和宗主权。这是因为他们遵循日耳曼的王权制度，由选定的“选举人”选择“罗马人的国王”，然后由教皇确认其为皇帝。卢森堡皇帝查理四世（1355-78年）抓住了巴比伦之囚期间教皇制度被削弱和分裂的机会，成功地在1356年的金谕中取消了教皇批准和确认要求。与此同时，金诏书削弱了皇帝对地方公爵和王族的权力，他们赢得了对“领土统治”的承认，即独立管理其领土的权利。

Ideologically the Holy Roman Emperors conceived of themselves as temporal vicars of Christ in contradistinction to the Catholic popes, who were the spiritual vicars of Christ, and to the Byzantine emperors. In reality, however, the Holy Roman Emperors never exercised the degree of power and suzerainty of their Byzantine counterparts. This is because they followed the system of German kingship whereby a select number of “electors” chose the “King of the Romans,” whom the pope then would confirm as emperor. Seizing upon the opportunity that a weakened and schismatic papacy afforded during the Babylonian Captivity, the Luxembourg emperor Charles IV (r. 1355–78) succeeded in eliminating the requisite of papal approval and confirmation in the Golden Bull of 1356. At the same time, however, the Golden Bull diminished the emperor’s power with respect to the local dukes and princes, who won the recognition of “territorial rule,” the right to govern their territories independently.

对皇帝权力的结构性限制是由皇帝们自己的政策和装腔作势所促成的。由于热衷于模仿古罗马帝国和查理曼帝国的辉煌，奥托王朝、萨利安王朝和霍亨斯陶芬王朝都痴迷于获得对意大利的控制权及控制教皇制度。与意大利和教廷的政治纠葛在亨利四世屈辱地走到卡诺萨（卡诺莎之行）时达到了顶峰。当这位顽固不化的皇帝坚持保留任命主教的权利时，教皇格雷戈里报复性地将他逐出教会。由于担心被逐出教会而失去政治权力，亨利赤脚穿越阿尔卑斯山，寻求教皇的赦免。然而，这只是成功地将注意力从帝国的德国中心地带转移开来，使当地的公爵、王族和国王能够以牺牲皇帝的利益来加强他们的权力。在教皇国方面，萨利安王朝皇帝在11世纪的“叙任权斗争”（见第19页）中在教皇手中遭受的失败，与霍亨斯陶芬皇帝腓特烈一世（巴巴罗萨，1155-90年）和腓特烈二世（1220-50年）从教皇和伦巴第联盟手中夺取教皇国控制权的失败相似。事实上，伦巴第联盟是一个由伦巴第公社组成的联盟，他们在1167年联合起来，反对巴巴罗萨入侵意大利，反对他在伦巴第的所有城镇任命德意志官员。该联盟在1187年击溃了巴巴罗萨的军队。

The structural limitations on the emperor’s power were fueled by the policies and the pretenses of the emperors themselves. In their zeal to emulate the glories of the ancient Roman Empire and Charlemagne’s empire the Ottonians, Salasians, and Hohenstaufens were obsessed with gaining mastery over Italy and controlling the papacy. Political embroilments with Italy and the papacy culminated in Henry IV’s humiliating Walk to Canossa. When the intransigent emperor insisted upon reserving the right to invest bishops, Pope Gregory retaliated by excommunicating him. Fearing the loss of political power as a result of his excommunication, Henry “humiliated” himself by crossing the Alps barefoot to seek the pope’s pardon. Yet this only succeeded in diverting attention from the German heartland of the empire, enabling the local dukes, princes, and kings to strengthen their power at the expense of the emperor. With respect to the Papal States, the defeat the Salasian emperors suffered at the hands of the papacy during the Investiture Controversy (see p. 19) of the 11th century found its parallel in the failure of the Hohenstaufen emperors Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1155–90) and Frederick II (r. 1220–50) to wrest control of the Papal States from the papacy and the Lombard League. Indeed, the Lombard League was an alliance of the communes of Lombardy that had banded together in 1167 to oppose Barbarossa’s invasion of Italy and his appointment of German officials in all the towns of Lombardy. The league routed Barbarossa’s forces in 1187.

13世纪，当腓特烈二世通过继承西西里岛和那不勒斯而在意大利站稳脚跟后，他将目光投向了整个半岛，这场斗争再次浮现。教皇英诺森三世承诺为腓特烈二世加冕为皇帝，条件是他放弃对西西里岛和那不勒斯的控制，并进行十字军东征以夺回耶路撒冷。腓特烈被英诺森的继任者和诺理三世加冕为皇帝（1216-27）。和诺理三世急于遵守第四次拉特朗公会议关于发动第五次十字军东征的决定，没有向腓特烈施压，要求他放弃“两个西西里”，因为他需要这位皇帝来资助对穆斯林的战争。令人难以置信的是，腓特烈在意大利的野心使他把在德意志的皇权让给了德意志贵族，从而加剧了该地区的领土分裂和冲突。同时，教皇派和帝国派之间持续不断的竞争，分别被称为归尔甫派（Guelphs）和吉伯林派（Ghibellines），使教皇国分裂了几个世纪。

The struggle resurfaced in the 13th century when Frederick II, having gained a toehold in Italy through his inheritance of Sicily and Naples, set his sights on ruling the entire peninsula. Pope Innocent III had promised to crown Frederick II emperor on the condition that he relinquish control of Sicily and Naples and undertake a crusade to recapture Jerusalem. Frederick was crowned emperor by Innocent’s successor, Honorius III (1216–27). Desperate to comply with the Lateran IV order to launch a fifth crusade, Honorius did not pressure Frederick to give up the “Two Sicilies” because he needed the emperor to finance the war against the Muslims. Incredibly, Frederick’s ambitions in Italy were such that he abdicated Imperial power in Germany to the German nobles, thereby fueling territorial fragmentation and conflict in that region. Meanwhile, the ongoing rivalry between the papal and imperial factions, known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, respectively, divided the Papal States for centuries.

公元1254年至1273年的大间歇期，是霍亨斯陶芬在德国的自由放任政策的直接结果，不可挽回地削弱了皇帝的权力。帝国头衔在两个非德国统治者之间产生了争议，随后三个德意志家族，即哈布斯堡家族、卢森堡家族和维特尔斯巴赫家族之间的竞争将以有利于哈布斯堡家族的方式解决。但在空位时代期间，德意志的王公们已经巩固了他们在政治上独立于皇帝的地位，康拉德四世皇帝在上述1356年的金谕中被迫承认这种独立。皇帝们在忠诚的、帝国任命的主教团和帝国自由城市的支持下，部分地抵消了德意志诸侯的压力。科隆、美因茨、特里尔和奥格斯堡，等等，其中一些城市将形成强大的联盟，如汉萨联盟，该联盟成立于12世纪的吕贝克，这是一个由德国城市组成的行会，直到15世纪都还主导着北海和巴尔干海的贸易。

The Great Interregnum of 1254 to 1273, which transpired as a direct result of the Hohenstaufen’s laissez-faire policies in Germany, irremediably weakened the powers of the emperor. The Imperial title was disputed between two non-German rulers, and subsequently rivalries among three German families, the Habsburgs, the Luxembourgs, and the Wittelsbachs, would be resolved in favor of the Habsburgs. But during the Interregnum the German princes had solidified their political independence from the emperor, an independence that Emperor Conrad IV was forced to recognize in the aforementioned Golden Bull of 1356. The emperors were partially able to counter the weight of the German princes with the support of loyal imperially appointed prince-bishoprics and Imperial free cities: Cologne, Mainz, Trier, and Augsburg, among others. Some of these cities would form powerful alliances, such as the mercantile Hanseatic League, founded in 12th-century Lübeck as a guild of German cities that dominated trade in the North Sea and Balkan Sea until the 15th century.

为了应对在德国的损失，卢森堡和哈布斯堡的皇帝也将注意力转向向东扩展其权力和影响力。康拉德将他的家族转移到波西米亚，吞并了勃兰登堡，占领了波兰的西里西亚，并在布拉格建立宫廷。他的继任者西吉斯蒙德试图通过干预解决教皇的大分裂问题和指挥对波希米亚胡斯派异端的斗争来重新树立帝国在教皇面前的威信。在中世纪末期，哈布斯堡王朝主要致力于保卫其东部边界不受奥斯曼土耳其人的侵扰。

To counter their losses in Germany, the Luxembourg and Habsburg emperors also turned their attentions to extending their power and influence eastward. Conrad transferred his family to Bohemia, annexed Brandenburg, captured Polish Silesia, and established his court in Prague. His successor, Sigismund, attempted to reassert Imperial prestige vis-à-vis the papacy in his intervention in resolving the great papal schism and marshaling the fight against the heretical Bohemian Hussites. By the close of the Middle Ages, the Habsburgs were mainly reduced to defending their eastern borders from the encroachment of the Ottoman Turks.

神圣罗马帝国也有一些值得注意的高光时刻。虔诚的奥托王朝以查理曼大帝为榜样，利用传教士使其领地内的被征服民族皈依，并建立主教区和教区作为基督教文明的传播者。回想起来，腓特烈二世的统治代表了帝国历史的高潮，他自己的同时代人称赞他是“世界的奇迹”（Stupor Mundi）。两西西里王国拥有许多现代国家的特征。腓特烈消除了封建主义，颁布了《梅尔菲宪法》，建立了管理所有臣民的统一法律体系和类似议会的代表大会制度，并促进了名副其实的自由市场经济。他还建立了宏伟的那不勒斯世俗大学，配备了最好的基督教、犹太教和穆斯林学者。腓特烈博学多才，不仅赞助艺术和科学，还创作音乐，并撰写了科学精确的《捕鸟的艺术》（用鸟打猎的艺术，关于鸟类学和猎鹰的拉丁文专著）。

There were some notable high points to the Holy Roman Empire. The devout Ottonians followed the example of Charlemagne in using missionaries to convert the conquered peoples within their domains and establishing bishoprics and dioceses as conveyors of Christian civilization. In retrospect, the reign of Frederick II represents the high point in the empire’s history, and his own contemporaries lauded him as the “Wonder of the World” (Stupor Mundi). The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies bore many of the hallmarks of a modern state. Frederick eliminated feudalism and promulgated the Constitutions of Melfi, which established a uniform system of laws governing all subjects and a parliamentlike institution of representative assemblies and promoted a veritable free-market economy. He also built the magnificent secular University of Naples, staffed with the best Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars. Learned and polyglot, Frederick not only patronized the arts and sciences but composed music and wrote the scientifically accurate De arte venandi cum avibus (Art of hunting with birds).