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Nobles of Brandenburg

Before the house of Zollern acceded to the throne of Brandenburg, the nobility was quite lawless and independent. It had got possession of the sovereign's domains and of the public revenue, and regarded the prince merely as the first nobleman of the country, without considering itself at all bound to obey him. Indeed it only acted in conjunction with him, when his plans were compatible with its interest.

The first princes of the house of Zollern were engaged in a continual contest with the nobles in order to maintain their supremacy, and to recover the domains of which their predecessors had been deprived. In the sixteenth century, John Cicero was obliged to have recourse to an alliance with his commoners in order more effectually to combat his nobility. With their aid he awed the whole body, punished the robber knights, and destroyed fifteen of their castles. But though he, in some measure, prevented their manifestation, he could not totally eradicate their plundering propensities. During the reign of his successor, Joachim, some of the noblemen who filled offices at court amused themselves with highway robbery during the night. But the prince, far from tolerating these disgraceful proceedings, prosecuted the offenders inexorably, and when his favourite, Von Lindenburg, was found to have been guilty of the prevailing crime, he caused even him to be executed. The nobles were extremely irritated by this severity, and one of them, Von Otterstaedt, had the audacity to write over the door of the prince's bedchamber, "Joachim, take care of yourself, for if you fall into our hands we will hang you." He even went so far as to assemble a band of knights, and watch for an opportunity of carrying his menace into execution.

But the prince, warned of the plot, took measures to frustrate it; he arrested the chief, caused him to be hanged and quartered, and his head to be exposed over the gate of the town. The wild licentiousness of the nobility now began to yield to the influence of civilization. Impartial justice was administered by the government, public instruction encouraged, and the promulgation of Lutheran doctrines was of the greatest benefit to the morals of the country. The nobility began to assume the form of an institution of the country, and under George John, the grandson of Joachim, it took upon itself without reluctance to pay a third of the public debt.

Still, so long as they had means of opposition within reach, the nobles were not untrue to their pristine character of insubordination. They instinctively took advantage of any weakness or embarrassment of the sovereign to press their former claims. Duke Albert the First complained to his diet that he had not a florin a day for pocket-money. His youthful successor, Albert Frederick, who came to the throne in 1568, having manifested the intention of curbing the insolence of his nobles, they harassed and tormented him to such a degree that he became insane, and as they allowed him no medical relief, he remained so to the end of his life (1618). In this cruel conspiracy, the spiritual and temporal nobles were equally guilty.

During the Thirty Years' War, the nobility was the only class which managed to escape overwhelming misfortune. The peasants were impoverished, the towns sacked, and the sovereign, George William, reduced to utter insignificance. Such was the state of things two or three centuries ago in Germany, that unless a prince had courage enough to conquer, and talents to maintain a dignified position, the circumstances in which he was placed were so inimical to the establishment of monarchical power, that the first difficulty which presented itself was often sufficient to involve him in ruin.

The lawless excesses of the Prussian nobles continued to prevail more or less till the accession to the throne, in 1640, of the celebrated elector, Frederick William the Great. This prince sought an appropriate remedy for the public ills in a standing army. He combated with the greatest vigour and perseverance the open and secret antipathy of his nobility. He caused a Prussian nobleman who was intriguing against him at Warsaw to be arrested, and brought home to be executed, though this was contrary to the law of nations. At the head of a well-disciplined force, he paid very little attention to the remonstrances and objections with which the diet met his demands for supplies. At last he imposed taxes without demanding its consent, abolished the freedom from taxation which the nobles had hitherto enjoyed, gave the peasant legal protection against their oppression and caprice, and abrogated such of their privileges as were incompatible with good government. Opposition was useless against the courageous head of a victorious army, and a prince respected for his talents by all the cabinets of Europe.

The old state of things was completely reversed, and a nobility which but a few years before had insulted with impunity the sovereign power, now submissively subject to the slightest manifestations of its will. A radical change took place in the character of the body; and during the succeeding reign of Frederick I, of whose weakness they might have taken advantage, and whose extravagance was alone sufficient to irritate them, they no longer showed a desire of having recourse to their ancient schemes of opposition.

During the reigns of Frederick I, and of his successor, Frederick the Great, the circumstances in which the Prussian nobles were placed were very peculiar. The former prince had no court; he lived like a private nobleman, and was surrounded only by the officers of his army. The court of Frederick the Great was filled with foreigners, and was modelled in every respect after that of the French. Both princes were autocrats in every sense of die word, and in conferring the dignities of state, or offices of government, they neither of them listened to any foreign suggestion. And though their nobles found readier access to place, they were held more responsible than the untitled citizen. Rank alone was with these princes no title to promotion, and negligence or incapacity brought with them a summary dismissal. The nobles were no longer permitted to be guilty of capricious injustice towards the inferior classes. As they were not exempt from taxation, and as their estates were far from fertile, and but few of them entailed, none of the families amongst them could boast of very great riches, and many were comparatively poor.

To preserve an elevated position, they were forced to seek distinction in the civil or military service of the state. These were among the causes which earned for modern Prussia a fair name among European nations. The nobles manifested in anew form their ancient chivalry, in the campaigns of Frederick against the Swedes and the Turks, on the Rhine and in Poland. With a slender pay, they found glory a sufficient recompense. Thus during the whole of the eighteenth century, the Prussian nobles remained free from vices. With them the simpler virtues, and the dignity which springs from the consciousness of having performed honorable duties, supplied the place of elegance of manners and of the accomplishments which only flourish in the bosom of a luxurious peace.

Brandenburg began its inexorable rise to prominence starting in the late 1640s when Frederick William I, known as the Great Elector, succeeded his father as Markgrave of Brandenburg. Since the time of the Great Elector, Brandenburg-Prussia had carefully built the most efficient Army in northern Europe. A significant difference between the Prussian Army and most other European Armies was the concept of promotion based on merit, although admission to the officer corps was primarily reserved for members of the nobility. Companies and regiments were still the property of their "Chef", but efficient officers could rise to higher rank based on performance as well. In an era where the concept of uniformity of clothing, equipping, and drill were relatively new, Prussian soldiers could count on regular pay; annual uniform issue; and a dependable supply of weapons, food, and commissary goods. There was a systematic program of training and education at the individual and collective level as well.