Lusatia

“ Lusatia had even before the battle of the White Mountain been subdued by the Elector of Saxony. The Lutheran Elector immediately guaranteed to his co-religionists the free exercise of their religion. In the course of the Thirty Years' War Lusatia was ceded to Saxony, and its connection with Bohemia, always a slight one, henceforth ceases entirely. Moravia for a moment appeared inclined to offer some resistance to the Austrians. Count Thurn, after the departure of King Frederick from Bohemia, proceeded to Moravia and endeavoured to induce the Estates to continue their resistance. ”

“ The Saxon army, now relieved from the necessity of marching into Lusatia, advanced towards Bohemia, where a combination of favourable circumstances seemed to ensure them an easy victory. In this kingdom, the first scene of this fatal war, the flames of dissension still smouldered beneath the ashes, while the discontent of the inhabitants was fomented by daily acts of oppression and tyranny. ”

“ Their land was formed into a separate march, which for about three centuries was sometimes attached to, and sometimes independent of, the margraviate of Meissen, its rulers being occasionally called margraves of Lusatia. ”

“ Two societies have been formed within the last twelve years, one at Breslau among the students of the university natives of Lusatia; the other at Bautzen among the scholars of the Gymnasium or High School; for the promotion of their native language and extending the knowledge of the antiquities of their country. Both these societies of the rising generation are favoured and assisted by gentlemen who take a general interest in Slavic affairs. Another learned society, called "The Scientific society of Upper Lusatia," a union of scholars, had been founded previously. ”

“ Of all the surviving Slavic tribes, we have seen that the nationality of the VENDES of Lusatia is most endangered. If formerly, as a race, they suffered from persecution and oppression, they have now for several centuries shared all the advantages of an enlightened education and wise institutions with their German countrymen ”

“ In Lusatia the mythical Wild Huntsman who, during violent storms, rides furiously across the heavens is called Dietrich von Bern. Living so long after Semiramis it is more surprising that his life should be made the theme of Middle High German poems and Old Norse sagas than that the Assyrian queen should have been made the subject of oriental myth and Greek legend. ”

“ These raids of smaller or larger Hussite bands into the neighbouring country continued during the summer and autumn of the year 1430. On December 21 the Orphans started on another foreign expedition, invading Lusatia, which had hitherto suffered less than the other neighbouring countries. ”

“ The good man, runs the story, was so terribly frightened, that forgetting all his good intentions, he took to his heels and ran home as fast as his legs could take him. In Lusatia, where the same superstition prevails, the souls of these unhappy children, which hover about in the form of will-o'-the-wisps, are said to be relieved from their unhappy wanderings so soon as any pious hand throws a handful of consecrated ground after them. ”

“ János knew his way, having ridden with my uncle in all this district during the late war. There was a very good inn, he told me, on the Burg Platz, in the shadow of the palace; and as nothing could suit my purpose better, to the “Silver Lion of Lusatia” we therefore turned our horses’ heads.
It was cheering, after our long wayfaring, and the dismal nightmare-like impression of our passage through the empty town, to see the casements of that same “Silver Lion” shine afar off ruddily ”

“ Ballads and ditties, known to have been sung centuries before in Hessia or on the Rhine, rose suddenly from the night of an unheeded existence: disguised, indeed, but easily recognized, in a Slavic dress, which bore indications of the same antiquity. [323]
2. Language of the Sorabians in Lower Lusatia.
Lower Lusatia, or the north-eastern part of the Lusatian territory, together with the adjacent circle of Cotbus in Brandenburg, has about the same number of Vendish inhabitants as the upper province. The dialect they speak has a strong affinity with the Polish ”

“ All the States of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia were invited to send delegates to the Diet, in order that some measures should be devised to provide for the government of the whole realm.
King Sigmund at this time was in Hungary protecting his dominions against the encroachments of the Turks; but he urged the lords still loyal to him to attend the Diet to protect his interests. Safe-conducts were provided for all, so that they might be secure, both against power and the laws. ”

“ HAUPT, MORITZ (1808–1874) , German philologist, was born at Zittau, in Lusatia, on the 27th of July 1808. His early education was mainly conducted by his father, Ernst Friedrich Haupt, burgomaster of Zittau, a man of good scholarly attainment, who used to take pleasure in turning German hymns or Goethe’s poems into Latin, and whose memoranda were employed by G. Freytag in the 4th volume of his Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit. From the Zittau gymnasium, where he spent the five years 1821–1826, Haupt removed to the university of Leipzig with the intention of studying theology ”

“ Dedo's son Dietrich II. inherited these lands, distinguished himself in warfare against the Poles, and married Matilda, daughter of Ekkard I., margrave of Meissen. Their son Dedo 11. obtained the Saxon east mark and lower Lusatia on the death of his uncle Ekkard II., margrave of Meissen, in 1046, but in 1069 he quarrelled with the emperor Henry IV. and was compelled to surrender his possessions. He died in 1075, and his lands were granted to his son Henry I., who in 1089 was invested with the mark of Meissen. ”

“ The Vendish villages [pg.401] are flourishing; the costumes of the peasants are heavy and rich; and to their general welfare the cheerful merry character of their ballads seems to bear testimony. Their melodies resemble the Bohemian, as much as their ballads do those of their neighbours; but German melodies also are frequently heard among them, and many translations of German popular ballads have become perfectly naturalized. That the language of Upper Lusatia approaches very near to the Bohemian, we have stated above. ”

“ He studied law at the university of Halle, and on completion of his academic studies returned home, married, and managed the family estates. In 1816 he afforded a home to his friend K. W. S. Contessa (1777–1825) , himself a poet, who had met with serious reverses of fortune; Contessa lived with Houwald, assisting and stimulating him in his literary work, for eight years. In 1821 Houwald was unanimously elected syndic for Lower Lusatia, an office which placed him at the head of the administration of the province. He died at Neuhaus, near Lübben, on the 28th of January 1845. ”

“ The Teutonic knights often required aid in their struggle against the pagans in Northern Europe, and the German princes frequently undertook warlike expeditions to Lithuania and the neighbouring districts as a substitute for the former crusades to the Holy Land, which many previous failures had rendered distasteful. After a great deal of desultory and indecisive fighting King John returned to Bohemia through Silesia, and succeeded in obtaining by treaty that part of Upper Lusatia which, after the death of Waldemar of Brandenburg, had remained in the hands of one of the Silesian princes. ”

“ The descendants of only two Vendish tribes have preserved their language; and even these, from powerful nations spread over the surface of at least 4800 geographical square miles, have shrunk into the comparatively small number of scarcely two hundred thousand individuals, now inhabitants of Upper and Lower Lusatia. Nearly all of them are peasants; for the higher classes, even if Slavic blood perhaps runs in their veins, are completely Germanized. These tribes are the Sorabians, Lat. ”

“ Sweden thus obtained control of the Baltic and a footing on the North Sea, and became an estate of the empire with three deliberative voices in the diet.
The elector of Brandenburg received the greater part of eastern Pomerania, and, as he had a claim on the whole duchy since the death of the last duke in 1635, he was indemnified by the bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden and Kammin, and the reversion of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, which came to him on the death of the administrator. Prince Augustus of Saxony, in 1680. The elector of Saxony was allowed to retain Lusatia. ”

“ Lusatia (Lausitz) , custom of “Carrying out Death” in, iv. 239, 247, 249;
the “Witch-burning” in, ix. 163.
See also Lausitz
Luschan, Professor F. von, on kings of Dahomey and Benin in animal forms, iv. 85 n. 3, 86 n. 1;
on images stuck with nails, ix. 70 n. 1
Lushais of Assam, men dressed as women, women dressed as men, among the, vi. 255 n. 1;
their belief in demons, ix. 94;
sick children passed through a coil among the, xi. 185 sq.
Lussac, in Vienne, death of the Carnival on Ash Wednesday at, iv. 226;
Midsummer fires at, x. 191
Lute-playing, charm for, i. ”

“ The Lusatian Serbs believe that the Džiwje Žony ("Wild Women") are white beings who reveal themselves at noon or at evening. They like to spin hemp; and if a girl spins or combs it for them, they reward her by leaves that become gold. ”

“ A German war vessel has sunk the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. A mighty asset which lay on the enemy’s side of the scale is destroyed. Property to the value of many millions is annihilated, and an immeasurable store of moral power and self-confidence of a people whose whole life is centered in the prosperity of its shipping and commerce sank to the bottom with the proud vessel. ”

“ And now the Lusitania came with a fresh shock as an iterated example of German state policy. It proclaimed glaringly to the eyes of all men what the Teutonic thing is, what it means to the world. The Latin has been cruel and bloody in his deeds, like all men, but he has never made a cult of inhumanity, never justified it as a principle of statecraft. Italians, prone to hate as to love, prone especially to hate the Teuton, those aliens who have lusted after their richness and beauty all these centuries, felt the Lusitania murders to the depths of their souls. ”

“ THE SOUL OF THE MAN WHO SANK THE LUSITANIA
The crowning horror of Germany's barbarities came with the sinking of the Lusitania. Perhaps nothing less shocking could have made us see how much less cruel Nature is at her worst than man in his madness may be. ”

“ The impression created by the sinking of the Lusitania will extend far beyond the borders of Germany and England, and we may at once assume that neutral voices also will arise to deeply deplore the loss of a large number of passengers. Every human life is, of course, valuable, and its loss deplorable, but, measured by the methods of this world war, by the methods introduced by our enemies, forcing us to retaliatory measures in self-defence, the death of non-combatants is a matter of no consequence. ”

“ The Lusitania grows larger and larger in European memory and imagination. It looks as if it would become [pg II-49] the great type of war atrocities and barbarities. I have seen pictures of the drowned women and children used even on Christmas cards. And there is documentary proof in our hands that the warning, which was really an advance announcement, of that disaster was paid for by the German Ambassador and charged to his Government. It is the Lusitania that has caused European opinion to regard our foreign policy as weak. It is not the wish for us to go to war. No such general wish exists. ”

“ On the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania it is natural and fitting that Americans should review all that has happened since a wanton murder first brought to this side of the Atlantic a nascent realization of the issue that was being decided on a world battlefield.
There will be no anger and no passion in American minds. We have never asked, never desired, that the slaughter should be avenged. ”

“ And they talk with every other American in this Kingdom. It is often made unpleasant for Americans in the clubs and in the pursuit of their regular business and occupations; and it is always our inaction about the Lusitania. Our controversy with the British Government causes little feeling and that is a sort of echo of the Lusitania. They feel that we have not lived up to our promises and professions. ”

“ About 1 P.M. we noticed that the Lusitania was steering a zigzag course. Land had been in sight for three hours, distinctly visible twelve miles away. Looking through my glasses, I could see on the port side of the Lusitania, between us and land, what appeared to be a black, oblong object, with four dome-like projections. ”

“ On the other side of a stone pier rose the huge Lusitania with her four funnels. Everyone on our tender moved expectantly forward. There was an official cry: “Britishers first!” The chosen of the Lord! But the horde of ignorant foreigners came surging ahead. Miscellaneously we crowded up the gangway. Another gangway sloped for us on to the Lusitania. Several British policemen and stewards faced us to keep us in line. At so many guardian angels we began to feel depressed.
Medical inspection. The instant we put foot on the deck of the Lusitania, this was our first business. ”

“ It may, however, be possible to find a formula that will skim over the points of contention, as was done in the Arabic case. In spite of all the outcry over here there is no doubt that the American Government and the greater part of public opinion would be only too delighted if we could find a graceful way of settling the Lusitania question without a conflict. What is required in the first place is:
"1. A. declaration on our side that the attack on the Lusitania should be regarded as an act of reprisal and, therefore, not within the scope of existing international law. ”