A Study Of The Rise Of Imperial Ministeriales In Medieval Germany(c.1050-1200)

A study of the rise of imperial ministeriales in medieval Germany (c. 1050-1200)by Ning Yii (Institute for Medieval Studies) Supervised by Prof. Dr. Wang Ya-pingThe imperial ministeriales was a special social class in medieval German history and in Germany only. For a long time historians pay a strong attention to the contribution of imperial ministeriales in the making of territorial states. The origin of imperial ministeriales was ministeriales who appeared in the high middle times first. The churches and monasteries appointed them as financial administrators and directors to agriculture production on their lands. Ministeriales were un-free men from the aspect of law and they obtained high social levels through their services. Though they were un-free men but compared to serfs that they had no fixed lots in manor and they were not at work on agricultural production; compared to the nobles, those ministeriales had not their own estates. The imperial ministeriales emerged and rose in German society during 11th and 12th centuries. The royal families of Salian and Staufen appointed many imperial ministeriales as imperial offices to support them to rebuild monarchy. The political situation and economic structure in Germany in that period, namely from 11th to 12th centuries, had a deep slow change; on the political situation Germany transferred from monarchy to local governing, namely territorial states; on the other hand, the commerce resumed and new cities established, social lives were in deep changing in Germany. Under that circumstance, theimperial ministeriales kept collecting political and economic rights to improve their social level and later established local governing by them. They had contributed the making of territorial states in Germany. At 13lh century, the imperial ministeriales turned to the kernel of nobilities.But in China, the study to imperial ministeriales is still a virgin field for scholarly research. The purpose of this thesis is to give a preliminary study of imperial ministeriales, and to analyze the influences of imperial ministeriales. I think that my studies on imperial ministeriales in medieval German times will contribute our knowledge and understanding to that epoch.More specifically, the format consists of four chapters:Chapter I part one seeks the signification of "imperial ministeriales" that based on the research of etymology and try to make the conception of "imperial ministeriales" in my thesis clear. The second part analyzes the origin of imperial ministeriales and ways to become an imperial ministeriales.Chapter II part one, provides a glimpse of the history of imperial ministeriales during from 11th to 12th centuries. The second part offers an analysis on the rise of imperial ministeriales, and the relationships between their social level improvement and their contributions to the making of territorial states. This part deals with the background of that epoch also.Chapter III introduces decrees and edicts, which concerned the rights of imperial ministeriales. The second part discusses protections of rights of imperial ministeriales.Chapter IV is an intensive discussion on entering the social group of imperial ministeriales, and the transformation of them. Meanwhile, this part concludes the contents and viewpoints of the whole thesis.