Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-11
fIIE HHOiIENZOLLERNS,
Their Or iiain-I7ow she Duchy Of Prus.
sia Came TO EheEi.
--Edsm ANsn Pee.
ln,rbert Tutte in Earper's agsalne.l

s,h CAsuetO Then.
lH.ruert Tut in Earpers agazne.l
The dynasty of Hohenzollrrns in Prus-
sia has greater antiquity than any other
of the chief reigning houses of Europe :;
for, although they did not receive their
sceptle at the hands of Sigismond until
the early part of the fifteenth century,
they have transmitted it, without inter
ruption and without dispute, during the
whole subsequent period. How different
within that time have been the fortunes
ot mnny other royal houses In Eng
land the succession has been so often
changed by force and by law that the
principle of hereditary right is become
mere tradition of Tory jurists. The
9uarrels OF rival pretendersin i'll Spain have
wasted the splendid legacy of Ferdinand
and Isabella. The Bourbons have twice
acquired and twice lost the throne of
france. The ancestors of the Roman
Oils had just become dOmiciled in Russia
rs subjects of the Tartar Cars, the Turks
We're still besieging Constantinople, and
the family of Hapsburg- Lorraine had
not entered the peerage of Europe, when
Burggrave Frederic of Hohenzollern be-
came Margrave and Elector of Branden-
burg.
The family take their name from the
heights of Zollern-Hohen-zol zollern-the
ancestral seat in the Suabian Alps and
they first appear in positive history about
the time that the Emperor Henry w.
was making his penitent pilgrimage to
the papal courtat Canossa. Beyond this
all is conjecture. But conjecture is free /;
and while the loyal and learned DIR. Ger
nitius, the first biographer of the race,
connects his heroes with the noble italian
family of Colonna, the Elector Albert
Achilles, more ambitious and less pru-
dent, boldly placed his ancestors among
the fugitives who followed Eneas from
Troy AS myth, this is perhaps as good
as any other; but the historian can trace
the house back safely only about eight
hundred years, or to the middle of the
eleventh century. A hundred years later
the Count Of Zollern became, by fortu-
nate marriage, Burggrave of Nuremberg.
The family thus reunited extensive pos
sessions throughout Germany and though
not Electors, the Counts were grandees,
and powerful grandees, of the Empire
What their own contemporaries thought
of them is fortunately not known--fortu-
nately, because it leaves their panegyrlsts
at liberty to ascribe to them all manner Of
vlrtues-hdelity, moderation, courage,
piety, even learning; while it is notorl-
Gus that their ueighbors were brawling
and dissolute baron., robbing peasants
and traders, faying Jews, and transfer
ring their feudal allegiance with polite
fidelity from one pretender to another in
the Empire. But the remarkable virtues
OF this family We're not long preserved
under the control of a single head. The
tyrA nf ,i
Nuremberg, made II partition of their in
heritance, one of them retaining Nurem
berg and the burggraviate the other
the older possessions i'll Suabia. 1t il
from the first of these that the present
royal family Of Prussia is descended, tht
line being represented early in the fif
teenth century by Burggraye Frederic
VI
The Duchy Of Prussia lies along tn,
coast of the Baltic, east Of the river Wis
tula. Tho uatlves--the Prusslans, O
Po-Russlans were Sav8 by race, heather
by religion, fishermen and hunters by oc
cupntlon and they were ever ready t,
fight, and fight bravely, for their religion
their homes, and their independence
But the Church could not tolerate thei
religion, and sought to carry them tn
Gospel Of Peace on the point of the sword
With the sword the barbariaus resisted
and more than ono pious expeditio
marched into fatal disaster. At length
WAS determined to call in the Teutoni
Knights-an order Of chivalry founde
during the Crusadcs, and in the earl
part oftEethirteenth century settled witt
out employment Mt Venice, Those Yea
ous adyeuturers responded with eager
ness to the appeal. They received gran
Of the country from the Pope and tn
Emperor, set about the conquest wit
energy and method, and eventually sui
dued the natives under their uuthorit
and that Of the Church. For two cer
turies they governed we'll The countr
was prosperous, and the knights, thoug
n privileged caste, averse to labor, set
least an example of temperance an
equity, But luxury and idleness bega
finally to work their effects, and by I'll
fifteenth century the knights had lo
their habits OF sobriety, their sense
justice, their valor and skill in battle. ]
wars with Poland they were repeated
unsuccessful, and paid for their defea
by the loss Of territory The post
Grand Master Of the order went beggir
all over Europe. 1t had ceased to be
post either Of honor or of power. Bl
early in the sixteenth century the choit
fell upon Albert Hohenzollern, of Il
Nuremberg branch of the family, and /
accepted, with the resolution to resto
the wasted fortunes of the colony. I'll
task was difficult. The princes of IL
Empire, to whom Albert applied for hel
gave only advice. Martin Luther, who
he consulted, also gave advice, and {
that he acted. He adopted the Reform
ton, secularized the order, and create
the Duchy of Prussia, he himself beir
Duk",, and vassal OF the republic
Poland.
With this revolution begins the cha
Of circumstances which led to the aco .