[Sidenote: 1438-1519]

[Sidenote: IV. 2. State of German Literature, from the Suabian Dynasty
to Charles V.]

Good or evil is seldom unmixed: civil contests and dissensions,
generally produce both public and private misery; sometimes, however,
they generate mental excitement. This is favourable to Literature and
Science. Its good effects appeared in the contests between the Popes and
the Emperors. Great were the public and the private calamities which
they caused, both in church and state; but they promoted inquiry and
intellectual exertions. These were often attended with happy results.
Irnerius, by birth a German, had studied Justinian's law at
Constantinople. Towards the year 1130, he was appointed professor of
civil law at Bologna: the contests between the popes and the emperors
produced a warfare of words among the disciples of Irnerius. It has been
mentioned that the German emperors pretended to succeed to the empire of
the Cæsars. The language and spirit of the Justinianean code, being
highly favourable to this claim, the emperors encouraged the civilians,
and in return for it, had their pens at command. The decree of Gratian
was favourable to the pretensions of the popes; and on this account was
encouraged by the canonists. Hence, generally speaking, the civilians
were partisans of the emperors, the canonists of the popes. From their
adherence to the law of Justinian, the former were called Legistæ; from
their adherence to the decree of Gratian, the latter were called
Decretistæ. The controversy was carried on with great ardour and
perseverance; the schools both of Italy and Germany resounded with the
disputes, and in both, numerous tracts in support of the opposite
claims, were circulated. The question necessarily carried the