P. 189, c. 1.—“Charlemagne.” After the death of Charlemagne, 814, the kingdom fell to his son Louis. In 843 it was divided between the three sons of the latter. The kingdom remained with the Carlovingian house until 911, when the dynasty became extinct. The entire country was divided into many territories or states ruled by dukes, and the election of the king was given to them. After the death of the last of the Carlovingians the electors chose Conrad I., a Franconian, after whom the Saxons held the throne until 1024. The Franconians succeeded, ruling until 1125, when the Hohenstauffen dynasty began. This latter ended with the death of Conrad IV., in 1254. “Interregnum.” The first meaning of the word is the time between the death of one king and the accession of his successor; hence a time in which the execution of the government is suspended. Here it refers to an extended period between the death of Conrad IV., 1254, and the rise of the house of Hapsburg. Rudolph I. was the first of this line, and was chosen in 1273, but the house did not become strong until about the time of the Reformation, after which time until the death of the empire, in 1806, it was almost stationary on the throne. “Dark Ages.” In the broadest sense the term “dark ages” refers to a period extending from the fifth century to about the middle of the fifteenth, in which the intellectual activity of Europe was at its lowest point, and corresponding almost to the middle ages. As used here, however, “dark ages” refers to a period in the literary life of Germany, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. After the time of the Minnesänger and the poets of chivalry there followed nearly two hundred years of great decay in literature. Hallam in his “Literary History,” quotes Herren as saying that the thirteenth century was one of the most unfruitful for the study of ancient literature, and Leibnitz as declaring that the tenth century was a golden age of learning compared with the thirteenth; and says himself: “The fourteenth century was not in the slightest degree superior to the preceding age.”