They had conquered many lands from the heathenish Slavs and
Lithuanians who were living in the plain between the Baltic
Sea and the Carpathian Mountains, and the Franks administered
those outlying districts just as the United States used
to administer her territories before they achieved the dignity
of statehood.
The frontier state of Brandenburg had been originally
founded by Charlemagne to defend his eastern possessions
against raids of the wild Saxon tribes. The Wends, a Slavic
tribe which inhabited that region, were subjugated during the
tenth century and their market-place, by the name of Brennabor,
became the centre of and gave its name to the new province
of Brandenburg.
During the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, a succession of noble families exercised the functions of
imperial governor in this frontier state. Finally in the
fifteenth century, the House of Hohenzollern made its appear-
ance, and as Electors of Brandenburg, commenced to change a
sandy and forlorn frontier territory into one of the most efficient
empires of the modern world.
These Hohenzollerns, who have just been removed from
the historical stage by the combined forces of Europe and
America, came originally from southern Germany. They were
of very humble origin. In the twelfth century a certain Frederick
of Hohenzollern had made a lucky marriage and had been
appointed keeper of the castle of Nuremberg.
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