Germany during the Crusades
Overview
By "Germany" I mean the Holy Roman Empire, with a special emphasis on the German regions. Germany simply did not exist in any meaningful political sense at this time. When historians speak of Germany in the Middle Ages, they mean those areas of the Holy Roman Empire where German in one form or another was spoken. At the end of the 11th century, this included the Rhine River valley, Saxony, Bavaria, and not much more. Nothing east of the Elbe River was as yet German.
This Germany was an assemblage of states, each more or less independent of the others. Over all these was a king, usually bearing the title of "King of the Romans", though modern historians will also use "King of the Germans." It was traditional by this time that only this German king could also be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, though this could be done only by the pope or a papal legate. This king also traditionally acquired the title of King of Italy, by which was meant northern Italy, the old Lombard kingdom.
It was not at all established yet whether the position was elective or hereditary. In practice, so long as the current king had a son, the title passed uncontested, but no family was able to produce a consistent line of heirs. When a line failed, the new king was chosen by the German princes. We call this an election, but you should not confuse that with our sort of elections. It was closer to lobbying for a government appointment. Likely candidates tried to line up enough German princes on their side. At some point, the princes assembled and chose a new king (electio literally means selecting out). Which princes got to do the choosing? That, too, was not fully settled during the Crusading centuries, but it always included major lords like the Duke of Bavaria as well as key ecclesiastical princes such as the Archbishops of Trier and Cologne.
The lack of a clear hereditary dynasty, coupled with the influence of the electors on the course of the Empire made political stability in Germany elusive. The situation was further complicated by the interference of the papacy in German affairs. Finally, the German emperors lacked the royal demesne enjoyed by the French and English kings. The Emperor was expected to have his own family lands and to finance his rule from there. Sometimes a lordship fell vacant and reverted to the Emperor. In France, the Capetian kings generally held on to such lands, adding them to the royal demesne. In Germany, however, the custom was to grant the lordship out again quickly, so the German crown was never able to increase.
It gets worse. Because the German emperor was also the King of Italy, he found his attention drawn there frequently. Northern Italy was rich and was a prize not to be lost; at the same time, the Italian city-states resisted every move toward imperial control, and the papacy generally connived with them in this. The result was that we see the German emperors regularly crossing the Alps to try to enforce their will in Italy, rarely successfully.
In short, the great barons ran Germany, or rather, each baron ran his particular corner of it. Among the leading powers were the Duke of Bavaria, the Duke of Saxony,
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The Drang nach Osten
One other political development in Germany should be mentioned: the German expansion into eastern Europe. In 1100, Latin Christendom had barely moved beyond the frontiers established by Charlemagne. Germany beyond the Elbe was inhabited by pagan Slavic tribes who had resisted every attempt to conquer or convert them. Poland and Denmark had both recently converted, Hungary somewhat earlier, but Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were still pagan, as were Bohemia and Moravia.
Two hundred years later, only Lithuania remained pagan. It was the Germans who accomplished this transformation, and large numbers of German settlers moved into eastern Europe. This of course had profound implications in later centuries, but during our period the movement in significant in two respects: one, because the movement soon appropriated the method of the crusade to aid in the expansion, and crusading against the pagan Slavs became a major sideline in Germany; and two, because the expansion altered the balance of power of German politics (not to mention the politics of the Baltic region) by the creation of whole new territories.
Economic Conditions
The economic growth enjoyed in other parts of Europe came to Germany as well. The expansion eastward brought large areas under cultivation and inaugurated a new trade route, between the east (Livonia and Russia) and western Europe. The main carriers of this trade were German merchants, operating from cities like Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen and Rostock. They also settled in the eastern towns, forming cultural and social enclaves that (during our period, at least) came to rule both the economy and the politics of those places. From these ports came timber, wheat, furs, amber, pitch, and fish. A second route, overland, grew more slowly, but was responsible for the growth of towns like Frankfurt am Oder.
The Rhine River valley had long been settled, but it now emerged as a major trade route. Cities flourished along its banks, and it was here that most of the economic wealth of Germany was concentrated. Here, too, were most of the great archbishoprics, including the three ecclesiastical electors. Trade goods from the eastern Mediterranean flowed in through Genoa and Venice. From Genoa they tended to go into France, but in the 12th century new passes were opened over the Alps. Commerce flowed from Venice over the mountains and into the upper Rhine region. Thus, as Venice flourished, so did the Rhine. By the end of our period, German merchants formed the largest group of foreign merchants in the city.