Hesse (-Darmstadt) and the Rhine, Grand Duchy of
Years: 1806 - 1918
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Sixteen states in present-day Germany, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbundakte) in Paris on July 12, 1806, join together in a confederation (the treaty calls it the états confédérés du Rhinelande, with a precursor in the League of the Rhine).
Napoleon is its "protector".
Liechtenstein is given full sovereignty, leading to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire after eight hundred and forty-four years.
According to the treaty, the confederation is to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) want unlimited sovereignty.
Instead of a monarchical head of state, as the Holy Roman Emperor had had, its highest office is held by Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former Arch Chancellor, who now bears the title of a Prince-Primate of the confederation.
As such, he is President of the College of Kings and presides over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body although it will never actually assemble.
The President of the Council of the Princes is the Prince of Nassau-Usingen.
In return for their support of Napoleon, some rulers are given higher statuses: Baden, Hesse, Cleves, and Berg are made into grand duchies, and Württemberg and Bavaria become kingdoms.
States are also made larger by incorporating the many smaller "Kleinstaaten", or small former imperial member states.
They have to pay a very high price for their new status, however.
The Confederation is above all a military alliance: the members have to maintain substantial armies for mutual defense and supply France with large numbers of military personnel.
As events play out the members of the confederation will find themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs.
Francis II gives up his title of Emperor and declares the Holy Roman Empire dissolved on August 6, following an ultimatum by Napoleon.
In the years that follow, twenty-three more German states will join the Confederation; Francis's Habsburg dynasty will rule the remainder of the empire as Austria.
Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein, and Swedish Pomerania stay outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and Principality of Erfurt, which will be annexed by the French empire after the defeat of Prussia in the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt in October, while the surrounding Thuringian states join the Confederation.
According to the treaty, the confederation is to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) want unlimited sovereignty.
Instead of a monarchical head of state, as the Holy Roman Emperor had been, its highest office is held by Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former Arch Chancellor, who now bears the title of a Prince-Primate of the confederation.
As such, he is President of the College of Kings and presides over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body though it never actually assembles.
The President of the Council of the Princes is the Prince of Nassau-Usingen.
The Confederation is above all a military alliance: the members have to supply France with large numbers of military personnel.
In return for their cooperation, some state rulers are given higher statuses: Baden, Hesse, Cleves, and Berg are made into grand duchies, and Württemberg and Bavaria become kingdoms.
States are also made larger by incorporating the many smaller Kleinstaaten, or small former imperial member states.
This collection is commonly known as Grimms' Fairy Tales among English speakers.
The first edition contains eighty-six stories.
Professor Friedrich Carl von Savigny, a jurist and historian, and the founder of the school of law at the University of Marburg, had become a huge personal and professional influence on the brothers.
Throughout their time at the university, the brothers had become quite close with Savigny and had been able to use his personal library as they developed a keen interest n German law, history, and folklore.
Savigny had asked Jacob to join him in Paris as an assistant and Jacob had gone with him for a year.
While he was gone, Wilhelm became very interested in German literature and started collecting books.
Once Jacob returned to Kassel in 1806, he decided to quit studying law and instead spent his full efforts on German literature.
While Jacob studied literature and took care of their siblings, Wilhelm received his degree in law at Marburg.
In 1808, their mother died and it was very hard on Jacob because he took the position in the family as a father figure, while also trying to be a brother.
From 1806 to 1810, the Grimm family had barely enough money to properly feed and clothe themselves.
During this time, Jacob and Wilhelm were concerned about the stability of the family and began collecting folk tales.
Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano were good friends of the brothers and wanted to publish folk tales, so they asked the brothers to collect oral tales for publication.
The Grimms collected many old books and asked friends and acquaintances in Kassel to tell tales and to gather stories from others.
Jacob and Wilhelm sought to collect these stories in order to write a history of old German Poesie and to preserve history.
Amos Elon will write in his 2002 book The Pity of It All: A History of the Jews in Germany, 1743–1933:
In some places, attempts were made to return Jews to their old medieval status. The free city of Frankfurt reinstated parts of the medieval statute that restricted the rights of Jews. As of 1816 only twelve Jewish couples were allowed to marry each year. The 400,000 gulden the community had paid the city government in 1811 in return for its emancipation were declared forfeited. In the Rhineland, which had reverted to Prussian control, Jews lost the citizenship rights they had been granted under the French and were no longer allowed to practice certain professions. The few who had been appointed to public office before the war were summarily dismissed.
The most likely explanation is that it is based on the traditional herding cry of German shepherds.
After several days troops are called in.
The Jewish population flees the city and spends several days in tents in the vicinity.
Several Jews are killed during the riots in Würzburg.
They restrain the culprits and make citizen's arrests.
With the exception of Heidelberg, townspeople generally remain passive bystanders.